Ivory Ghosts by Caitlin O'Connell

Ivory Ghosts: A Catherine Sohon Elephant Mystery by Caitlin O'Connell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

American wildlife biologist Catherine Sohon official work in a remote outpost in northeast Namibia as a census pilot tracking the local elephant population. But her real work is collecting evidence against ruthless ivory traffickers.

**********

Africa is becoming more and more a favorite continent for me when it comes to books. There is just something with the setting, the beautiful nature, the wildlife and of course back in my mind the movie Out of Africa. I admit I just can't stop thinking about the movie whenever I read a book set in Africa.

The story is good and Catherine is interesting characters, she lost her boyfriend almost a year before the story in this book and she is still hurting and traumatized about her memories of his death. There is no instalove in this book, sure there was towards the end warmer feelings between her and Jon Baggs, but they really didn't hit off in the beginning and I liked that. I like my main characters to quarrel instead of making googly eyes at each all the time.

I must admit that even though I liked the story I didn't find it riveting and I guess correctly who the main bad baddie was, there was just not many to choose from and it seemed so logical that it was that person that when it was revealed I was just: "I was right, damn it!" I don't know how it is with you guys and girls, but I enjoy being surprised by book endings.

But I liked the book and I would definitely read more from Caitlin O'Connell!

I received a copy from the publisher and TLC Book Tours in return for an honest review!

Identity Crisis: The Murder, the Mystery, and the Missing DNA by Jefferson Bass

Identity Crisis: The Murder, the Mystery, and the Missing DNA by Jefferson Bass
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm rewatching Bones and reading this book makes me really realize how easy everything is on TV when it comes to identifying bodies. Cold cases in real life aren't that easy to solve.

Nothing is easy in this book when it comes to identifying the remains of "Leoma Patterson". There isn't much left of her body, only the skull, and some bones and trying to figure out if the bones belong to Leoma or not took years instead of days. It was intriguing to read and also sometimes mind boggling. I'm no scientist so some of the explanations, like how to determine if the DNA is a match or not will I just have to take the experts word for it.

I have wanted to read "Jefferson Bass" (pseudonym Jon Jefferson, writer, and Dr. Bill Bass) fiction book series "Body Farm," but after reading this book I'm even more inclined to read the books!

I received this copy from the publisher through Edelweiss in return for an honest review!

The Last Moriarty by Charles Veley

The Last Moriarty by Charles Veley
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are enlisted by the Prime Minister to solve the murder of John D. Rockefellers security agent before the incident can derail an upcoming British-American summit. At the same time, a young woman contacts Holmes to help her find her parents.

I was quite looking forward to reading this book after seeing it on Amazon and was happy when I saw it on NetGalley. Now I'm glad that I didn't buy it since it was so predictable that it was hard to enjoy reading the book. Predictable and sometimes utterly jaw dropping ridicules. Especially when it comes to Sherlock Holmes, or I should say that all that is ridicules with this book has to do with Sherlock Holmes, because he is nothing like Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and that's the biggest problem with the book. Giving Sherlock Holmes a past story that really goes against the man that Doyle wrote about is something I just can't abide with.

I also had some problem with the story, the biggest problem was that the characters weren't that memorable. It felt like every time I picked up the book and they mentioned some name I just sat there thinking "who was he again?". Also, jealousy over a woman that's why professor Moriarty set out to destroy Holmes? Come on!

So no, this book didn't work for me. I'm picky when it comes to Sherlock Holmes stories. I want Sherlock Holmes to be Sherlock Holmes, not some romanticized version and I want a good story!

I received this copy from the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review!

Doctor Who: The Blood Cell by James Gross

Doctor Who: The Blood Cell by James Goss
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

I have been very bad with watching Doctor Who since they change the Doctor. Not that I didn't mind the change. I like Peter Capaldi as the Doctor; I just haven't had time to watch it. But among my countless ebooks did I find this book that I had requested from NetGalley and since I felt that I needed to get through some NetGalley books and since the book wasn't thick (a plus, take easy thin books first before the ones with many pages) did I feel that did was a good choice. Also, the book was interesting from the start, that's a plus.

I liked the story; I liked the fast-paced style of the book. I breezed through in a day and that felt good. The story was intriguing, why was the Doctor a prisoner, what was wrong with the prison? The ending was the only thing I felt didn't belong in a Doctor Who story. It was a lot more gruesome than I have ever experienced when it comes the show. Not bad, just yikes...

I received this copy from the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review!

Medium Dead: An Alexandra Gladstone Mystery by Paula Paul

Medium Dead: An Alexandra Gladstone Mystery by Paula Paul
My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

Paula Paul has written a very easy to read book. At least, that's my experience with this book. There is something so pleasant with a book that is so well-written that time just flies. But (here it comes) the story wasn't equally good and that's a bit of a drawback with the book.

The mystery wasn't that terribly interesting. Queen Victoria as a suspect for murders that should really be something special to read about, but it wasn't. The thing that really felt as a hinder when I read the book that it felt so obvious that nor the queen or the other suspects were the murderer that, it had to be someone else. At least, that is what I got from the story. Also, I'm sorry to say, Alexandra Gladstone is not a very interesting character, a female doctor in that time should be more interesting to read about than it was.

But I would read more from Paula Paul, just for the sake of seeing if her other books are better than this was and because I did enjoy her way of writing. I just wanted (needed) a must deeper and intense story than I got.

I received a copy from the publisher and TLC Book Tours in return for an honest review!

The Lewis Man by Peter May

The Lewis Man by Peter May
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A body is found in the peat bog on the isle of Lewis. The only clue to the body's identity is that he was related to a local farmer. But the local farmer Tormed Macdonald is a man with dementia and he has always claimed to be the only child.

It strange that the hardest reviews to write are actually for the books that I love. It's sometimes so hard to put into words how great a book is that I just want to say read it and you will see why it is so good.

The Lewis Man is such a book, just like the first book in the series; The Blackhouse. There is something so appealing with the story, the characters, the setting and of course the writing that I couldn't stop reading the book.

The case in this book is interesting, this is what I can remember the first book I have read when the suspect in a murder case has dementia and what makes the case even tougher is that the suspect is Tormod Macdonald, the father of ex-police Fin Macleod's first girlfriend. He may not be a police anymore,but he needs to try to find out the truth, even if it would mean hurting his relationship with Marsaili Macdonald.

It was a great read from the beginning to the end. The ending wasn't that intense as in the last book, but it was still very good and I'm looking forward to reading the last book in the trilogy.

The Rocheforts by Christian Laborie

The Rocheforts by Christian Laborie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It all started with a lie and a lie that decades later almost ruined two people's lives.

This is grand family saga concerning two families, the Rochefort, owner of Rochefort Industries manufacturers of denim and the Rouvière, owner of a prosperous farm.

Anselme Rochefort proposes to Donatien Rouvière that their families should unit, his son should marry Rouvière daughter. At first, this seems like a marvelous idea, but as the years go and the two families lives gets more and more get intertwined, despite that Anselme tries to stop it. He married off his son for a piece of land, but he doesn't want more of his children falling in love with any of the Rouvières. His greed could be the ruin of his family and a deep dark secret concerning his older's daughter's death could destroy the love of two young people.

When it comes to books that are almost 500 pages long you really need a story, a well-written story that can keep the readers interest up. Christian Laborie has really managed that. Even though the story of the two families' takes up decades as the children of Rochefort and Rouvière grow ups and new children were born it never really gets boring. I think one thing that makes everything work besides the good writing is that Laborie includes real life events like WW1. Reading a family set in a historical setting needs to in a good way incorporate everything that was happening around the time frame.

The big secret wasn't that secret, in my opinion, I just kept waiting for it to be reviled. But the ramification of it made the last part of the books really intense to read. I needed the truth to come out, it couldn't end so badly. This is actually a book that I really needed a Happy Ever After ending or else it would destroy me. I'm not a big fan of instalove, but damn it, some people just are meant to be!

I enjoyed reading this book very much and I'm looking forward to reading more books by Laborie in the future.

I received a copy from the publisher and france book tours in return for an honest review!

The Fisherman's Lily by Suzanne Spiegoski

The Fisherman's Lily by Suzanne Spiegoski
My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

Lily Dietz is a homicide detective in NYC. Together with her partner John Fremont is she investigating the brutal murder of an Asian-American girl. When another body turns up it starts to make clear to Lily that the murders somehow are connected to her and something that happened to her in the past. It doesn't make it easier that she is working close together with her ex that is now married to her best friend Janelle.

This a debut novel and I think that Suzanne Spiegoski has done a good job with the book. I had some problems getting into the story in the beginning, not that it was bad, just some words here and there felt a bit odd, but after a while the story took off and the writing felt much more evenly.

For most of the book, the story was OK. I wanted to know what the connection was between the murderer and Lily. Why was he obsessed with her? But I had some problems with her partner and ex-boyfriend; John Fremont, he is a character that just is so unlikeable that I can't understand why any women would want him, especially after I found out why he left Lily and then found out what was the reason for his married problems with Janelle, Lily's best friend whom he's been married for some years now. But I could live with that, Lily had her problems too.  She's an alcoholic and have some mental problems not to mention family problems. She is a mess, and this serial killer problem isn't making her life any easier.

But even though the story was mostly good I had some real problem with the ending. Besides the fact that it was predictable did Lily make some quite illogical decisions that were just so frustrating that I couldn't believe that she; as a cop didn't think about calling in for back up before she rushed in to save the day. Even though I enjoyed reading the book, the ending knocks off a half star. It was tragic, yes, but I mostly felt that Lily should have handled everything a bit different. But that's just me, other may find the ending more to the likening than I did.

In the end, I want to say that Suzanne Spiegoski has done a good job, how I feel about the book is just my thoughts and even though I felt that there were things that just didn't work with me was it a good written book and I would very much read more from her in the future.

I would like to thank the author for providing with a free copy of the book for an honest review!