Mini Comments

The following books were the last three books I've read in 2016.
I'm just writing some sentences about each one, just to wrap things up when it comes to 2016 reads and sort of leave the past year of readings already dealt with.

These three books are placed on reading order, older at the bottom. I think it was a great way to end the year although none of them made it to best list  :)

Comment: The Ice Child is a book I was quite expectant to read because it's the newest installment in the Patrick Hedstrom and Ericka Falck series by author Camilla Lackberg. I find this one of the best thriller/mysteries series I've been following lately so I was happy to read it. 

In this book, we keep on following the lives of all the known characters, their personal challenges and troubles make the story feel closer to us a s a reader. As always, there's mystery, a young girl is found on a road but she dies soon after and the investigation leads the police and Ericka to a certain group of characters. They find out the girl had a secret but when they realize they were looking at that secret through the wrong perspective, that makes it easier to follow some leads. Ericka is working on a new book too and interestingly, that and the crime look they can be related...

I think this isn't the strongest book in the series. The domestic side of the story felt interesting like all the others, but the crime didn't seem as well structured as others and even the end, although understandable from a realistic POV, seemed rushed and let out some loose ends I would have preferred to see done differently. All in all, good but not the best.

Grade: 7/10

Comment: The Good Neighbor is an m/m story by Clare London, featuring Dylan, a young man who has to endure the advice and gossip of two great-aunts on everything. Dylan is a teacher, he is happy where he lives and of what he does but yes, he does feel rather lonely. His aunts try to entertain him with stories about Josie, a neighbor that they think would be perfect for him. She is away often but Dylan takes care of her house mostly because he has been having an affair with Josie's brother Neal, someone who isn't often in town. But now Neal is around for one of his few escapades to see Dylan and of course Dylan is eager to see him as well. But is this secret relationship enough or is Dylan ready to change his expectations?

I liked this story for the most part but yes, the aunts comments and attitudes seemed very obvious and without any real importance to the main plot, which was Neal and Dylan's issues when it comes to be together. This is a short story so things happen quickly but the pages would have been better used to show the guys' relationship better instead of making it look like a silly comedy.

Grade: 6/10

Comment: The Firebrand is the story of Lucy Hathaway, the third heroine from the

Chicago Fire trilogy by author Susan Wiggs. Lucy is a fighter for woman's rights, after the fire, where her family lost all the money, she manages to find credit at a bank and have her own bookshop, dedicated to women's literature and women's rights publications. Lucy also saved a child from the great fire and she is now a proud mother. Everything changes when she goes to the bank and finds a man she used to be attracted to and to whom she proposed an affair, before the fire, not knowing he was married. He is now divorced and has the scars from the fire and is also the manager of the bank that will end Lucy's business if she doesn't get more profits. But one picture will change everything...

I liked this story, it has many amazing elements and I really liked the romance and the beginning of the plot. I was really enjoying it all until a certain element was added to the plot, which wasn't necessary in my opinion and made things start to drag...the romance was cute but it could have been much more vibrant. The HEA was what one would expect despite some noticeable loose ends. 

Grade: 8/10