Weekend Book Reviews

Lowcountry Book Club by Susan M Boyer is book five in the Liz Talbot Mystery series.  It does happen to be the first book I have read in the series.  I was easily able to get into the story and was not lost with any of the characters.  Liz and Nate are private investigators who get occasional help from Liz's childhood friend, Colleen.  Colleen happens to be a ghost.  At first I thought I would hate that aspect of the story line, but it quickly grew on me.  The characters were fun and the southern setting (South Carolina) was done appropriately.  The mystery portion moved along quickly and keep me interested until the very end.  I look forward to going back to read the previous books in this series!

I was really excited to read Failure: The Federal Miseducation of America's Children by Vicki E Alger.  The book was overloaded with facts and quotes, but it was lacking passion.  It seemed no more real and honest than the policies enacted by the bureaucrats.  I wanted to like the book and feel that it has an important message.  Failure fails to be intriguing enough to reach a wide audience.

Pure Food by Kurt Beecher Dammeier is all about clean eating from the chef's point of view.  The recipes are good especially for a beginning cook who is looking to get away from preservatives and processed foods.  It offers recipes with leftovers that can be turned into all new dishes.  I was a bit turned off by the addition of onions in the collard greens, but that might be the southerner coming out in me.  Overall a good cookbook for anyone starting out on a clean eating journey.

All is Not Forgotten by Wendy Walker deals with a difficult subject matter.  The main character, Jenny, is brutally attacked but given a treatment which erases her memories of the actual event.  It would make for a good book club discussion regarding the choices made by Jenny's parents.  My issue with the book was the narrator.  I found the narration to be dry and stilted.  The book had promise, but it is not one of my favorites.

disclosure:  I received these e-books from NetGalley but was not otherwise compensated for these reviews.  All opinions are my own!