You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion

Once you've finished reading the book you've chosen for the long and the short of it challenge, report in this thread.

List your WoF name, link to the book you read and tell us which prompt you chose. Also give us a small blurb about your reactions to the book. If doing the page length prompt, please indicate the pages read using the determination methodology explained above.

WOF Marie UK

I read Opal Country a mystery / thriller set in new South Wales, Australia

It might have fit the long book if it had just 3 more pages but not to worry as it fits extreme South.

I got this book fro the Library to fit one of the Listamania lists for the Annual Challenge but it also fit another challenge for SRC and of course this one.

The setting is a remote are of NSW with a small mining community who are almost a law to themselves - run by a self elected mayor who spends all his time in a hot tub and wears tutus.
A quite horrific murder means Police are sent from further afield to investigate.
The main characters are Ivan Lucic a homicide detective from the big smoke and a one time local girl Nell Buchanan sent back to the town she grew up and first worked as a police officer.

I am not sure I particularly liked any of the characters - maybe this was because there were so many underlying elements- each is at some point investigated by professional standards. Nell has unresolved issues with the team in the locality and Ivan is also dealing with his first big case on his own.

This was a very easy narrative to follow and a pacy enough read. I am not sure all the rumbles under the investigation added to the narrative or simply confused the issue. However my interest was maintained throughout and the murder itself was dealt with well.


Overall it is a solid 3 star read and I wouldn't be averse to trying more in the series.

WOF - Karin

I read The Icarus Project by Laura Quimby and it turns out it's primarily set in the Canadian arctic. (304 pages hardcover) - mystery set in Canadian Arctic

13 year old Maya is allowed to travel to the Canadian Arctic with her dad who has been hired to check a possible new mammoth fossil find. It's not a mammoth, but what is it? She and another child of similar age (who always travels with his mother and is homeschooled). Yes, you guessed it, they become involved in this new find and--shockingly enough--are heroes in this story. It started off fine, but I felt it went off the rails relatively early on. I finished it in order to get a Q author. Sure, it's for kids, but for me it missed the mark (not the age-group reading level, but just as a story.)

WoF - Janice

I read Run for the Hills for the light & fluffy prompt.

It's a story of a half-siblings who were strangers to themselves and go on a road trip to find their run-away dad. The humour in the story is those that only siblings can bring. It's a story of lost and found family.

WoF Pragya

I read Marrying Off Mother: And Other Stories for the short prompt. (197 pages).

This was such a hilarious read, loved most of the stories, they had me laughing and very rarely books do that so I am definitely going to read more by the author. There are some animals in the stories but I felt most stories were about human nature, which is always fascinating to me.

WoF Katrisa
I was planning on doing the short length prompt, but one of my Toppler books is set in Alaska, so I will just use that one!
I read No Ordinary Hate which is mostly set in Alaska.
A hollywood mother finds her husband boinking the nanny and takes their kids to Alaska to avoid the paparazzi and finds a cute Alaskan man in the process.
This isn't my normal genre, but it was a cute enough story.

WoF Grainne

I read a book that was set in Iceland about the pirate raids along the coast but as they set sail from Iceland pretty soon into the book, it wasn't set significantly in Iceland. Luckily, one of the Toppler prompts led me to a book that was under 200 pages so I have selected that instead.

Coming Out: A Novel
It is about a coming-of-age ball that happens in N.Y. annually. It is really prestigious and an invite-only affair written by Danielle Steele. I like her style of writing and her character development. Definitely one of her shorter books, it still packed a punch. The style and the glamor of the event was beautiful to read. The family support was admirable too as she wove the story through the events. I'll definitely read a book by this author again.

Hardback 195 pages.

WoF Marnie

I listened to How the Penguins Saved Veronica for the extreme Southern location- Antarctica.

Eighty- five year old Veronica was searching for meaning and a place to leave her money. A penguin documentary lead her to a research colony in Antarctica. Along the way she reconnects with her grandson.

WoF: Kristie

I also read How the Penguins Saved Veronica for the extreme Southern location.

The book is set in Antarctica. Veronica wants to leave her millions to penguin researchers so they don't have to close up shop and she decides to spend some time with them there first. I enjoyed the story, but found the MC wasn't really fun to be around. I gave it 4 stars.

WoF: Lynn

Book: Guns of the Dawn
Task: Read a book that is over 500 pages
(I listened to the audio, the first paperback listed is 658 pages)

This was a frustrating and ultimately mid book. I loved the characters and it's written well but I didn't think much of the plot and it didn't really hold my interest. 3 Stars.

WoF Jayme

I read by Zoulfa Katouh for the "long" task.

This book is an important introduction to the impact that the Syrian Civil War has/had on its innocent civilian population and how the trauma/PTSD of war rages within even after the physical threat of war is over. Though I did have some problems with the stunted somewhat juvenile feel of the writing style (it is YA after all) the immense value of the book overrides my nitpicking.

One thing I do not agree with is the chosen cover. It is just to pretty for the topic, I understand why they chose it but - nope. 4 stars

WoF London Lori

I read Away with the Penguins
Task: Read a book set in the extreme north or south hemisphere. - Set in Antarctica

I didn’t enjoy this one as much as I’d hoped to. I was not very interested in the nephew and didn’t enjoy his pov sections. I would have enjoyed it more if the author had stuck to Veronica and we had learnt more about her. The plot often felt quite contrived and unbelievable as well. Not going to read the other books in the series.

WOF SharonBiskit

I read Unnatural Intent. I gave it three stars. It satisfies the extreme north qualification (far north Alaska) and is about animals in the north (and mentions other places) acting aggressive and migrating to unusual places.

I was not very connected to the main character, Letty Duquesne. I will not be reading other books in the series.

WoF Vicki

I read Night Film for the Long prompt; my copy was 595 pages

This book was pretty wild. I enjoyed the crazy journey but I'm not too sure about what to take away from it. I felt beaten over the head about living life to the fullest and living in the now but the characters with this philosophy were also terrible sometimes. Anyways, I liked our detective team and New York was a great setting. I wasn't crazy about the girl they were investigating, characters that are too wonderful always annoy me but everyone fell in love with her except our main detective. I enjoyed a scene near the end when he questions himself why everyone but him seemed to have been so mesmerized by her.

WoF Beth

I read Before Before: A Story of Discovery and Loss in Sierra Leone. My copy was 193 pages.

This book is by someone I know who spent 3 years in the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone prior to the horrible war there. She writes about her experience in the Peace Corps and about bringing her daughter back after the war to meet the surviving people in the village that she had lived in. It's touching and poignant. Her experience there led her direct a non-profit dedicated to rehabilitating the child soldiers from that and other wars and then an organization dedicated to bringing together teens from opposite sides of entrenched conflicts (Northern and Southern Cyprus, Northern Ireland/Ireland, Israel Palestine) to get to know one another by living for several weeks in pairs from opposing sides in a host home in the States and engaging in various activities. Her heart is huge and the book conveys her humility and compassion, and ponders the complexities of long-standing cultural interactions between nations through little gems of stories of her time in Sierra Leone.

Badges are posted. Please let me know if I've missed anyone.