rjsetserauthor's reviews
857 reviews

The Cold Dish is now going to be the book I recommend to anyone looking for Western reads. 

Longmire has a dry, sarcastic sense of humor and each of the characters has such vibrant personalities that it's difficult to believe this is fiction. I had no prior introduction to Longmire before reading this book (for book club), but after this one, I'm a fan. Walt is such a loveable character.

"I'm a loveable slob." 

The depth of the male-emotion in this story, accompanied by strong female characters, also surprised me. When I think of "Westerns", my mind goes to John Wayne-type stories, so I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting so many solid female characters who played such large roles in the story. And I loved every one the women in this book. But even more, I loved how Walt carried himself and that we saw his emotionally vulnerable side (because I feel like men processing emotions isn't often shown in stories). He isn't perfect, but he's a pretty stand-up guy and I'm really glad he's our main character. 

"The older I get, the more I think I look like a muppet."
"Oh please, all the women in town chase you. Can you imagine if you were good-looking to boot?"

As far as the story goes, I never lost interest. It's the perfect pace of Walt living his life and trying to solve the case. It's both exciting and tugs on the heartstrings. Overall, I really enjoyed it! 

Content disclaimers: High cursing content and some mild s3xual jokes made. No on-page s3x, but the topic is prevalent considering the nature of the case and can become mildly descriptive. There's no gory descriptions regarding the cases, but the action does pick up towards the end, so expect a lot of *pew pew* action.

Don't care for the blood magic use.

I expected a quick mystery because of the page count (81 pages) but I didn't expect the story to feel like the synopsis of a longer novel. It was rushed, the storytelling was clipped and poorly edited, and the resolution was a little ridiculous. I wanted a cozy cat mystery, but this just didn't do it for me. Maybe the full series is better, but I read this to get a feel for the series as a whole, so it's unfortunate that I didn't care for it. 

"We're only alive by sheer luck, aren't we? We're a bunch of idiots." 

I laughed so much while reading Alchemist for Hire! It's a chaotic fantasy adventure that honestly felt like a DnD session. I'm fairly certain the characters were rolling dice to see if their plans would work, because the plot was so unpredictable and the characters never reacted the way I thought they would. Absolute chaos. Hysterical chaos, but still chaos. 

The dialogue is top-tier sarcasm. I highlighted so many conversations and often read them aloud to my husband because of their brilliance. There were even some instances where I didn't know if the characters were being serious or sarcastic, and I rarely encounter that kind of scenario where I'm second-guessing myself in books, so *hats off*.

"You are an exotic beauty, with eyes like stars, as far apart as they can be. The only thing that can rival the smoothness of your skin is the worn cobblestones of the palace courtyard." 

I do have some content disclaimers for you: Lots of cursing accompanied by vulgar language and topics that fall in line with dirty humor. Most of it was mild and, like I said, I laughed throughout most of the book, but my husband was in the military, so I've developed a sense of humor that most would not expect of me. There were a few jokes and situations that were a bit over the top for my taste, but for the most part, I'd say it's mild to medium on the scale of dirty humor, depending on your tolerance. 

Romance: S3xual jokes and conversations are prevalent, but there's no on-page spice. 
Action: Gore is mentioned and can get a little gross (my notes app has a few of the green emoji faces in it), but its involvement is more for humor than horror elements (if that makes sense?). 

Overall, I would read the rest of the series, but I would only recommend it to a *few* of my reader friends who have specific senses of humor :) 

I met this author at a signing, where she shared her beautiful story of overcoming darkness and why she wrote these books.

Her poetry is raw and holds nothing back. She's honest with her readers and her words reveal her struggles with inner demons. Her constant pull and shove of trying to overcome deadly thoughts throughout her poems is powerful imagery. I love the progress made through the collection, from dark to light, as we witness her overcoming her darkest moments and thriving in happiness and love towards the end.

Belle's Ruin is a science fiction adventure that blends today's military SAR techniques with intergalactic exploration for some bad-a characters and an interesting storyline!

From the first page, I was invested in Belle's ambitions and rooting for her whole-heartedly. Belle reminded me a lot of my sister (who is actually a SAR medic in the Navy), so she could do no wrong in my eyes. Her personality was realistic throughout her circumstances and I really enjoyed her as a main character. Grant was equally engaging, and I loved his role in the story, too (he's the SAR medic).

I never lost interest in the story, though there are many information-heavy scenes that will make little sense to average readers. Belle's Ruin is the kind of science fiction where everything has an explanation, and it sounds authentic and works for the story, but I have no idea how much of it is based on real theory or fictional theory. But I will say, everything sounds legit and I bought it, so I give it a thumbs-up for world-building.

My only critique is the ending was very rushed and fell a bit out of "character" for the storyline. Through most of the book, the characters are conscious of procedures, protocols, and safety with every decision they make, but at the end (and I'm being vague to exclude spoilers), not a single person questioned or raised concern about Belle's final decision. I had a list of concerns and had expected at least *some* pushback, but not a single person seemed concerned with the ramifications of her impulsive decision. Ah well. I'm still invested in Belle's story, so I'd like to read the rest of the series, but I do wish the ending wouldn't have been so rushed.

Content warnings: Some action and minor gore, but nothing I would classify has "horror". I didn't make note of cursing or vulgar language used. There's no sexual content aside from a kiss and scientific conversations about alien reproduction.