Hobin Luckyfeller's Fieldguide: Demoni Vankil by Jaime Buckley Review

Title: Hobin Luckyfeller’s Fieldguide: Demoni Vankil

Author: Jaime Buckley

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Page Count: 86 pages, 198 KB

Publish Date: September 21, 2011

Book Type: Ebook provided for review

Publisher: On the Fly Publications

ISBN: 9781614630067

ASIN: B005ONI5B4

Picture from Amazon

From Goodreads: An ancient puzzle box. 

Fourteen mysterious letters. 

A Council of Whispers. 

…and a clerk. 

Discover the 700 year old secret millions died to protect.

My Review: I love the font used for “Demoni Vankil.” It looks like it is scratched into the book. I also like how it looks like a leather bound book. Am I the only one who wishes that books were still made that way--with the fancy ribbon bookmark? Yeah? Probably.

I read Prelude to a Hero back in June and was very happy to be brought back into the world with Hobin Luckyfeller’s Fieldguide: Demoni Vankil. Although the characters were different, they were just as charming and I connected with them instantly. This book is set after Prelude to a Hero and is looking back on the events that happened before, during and after.  

Hobin Luckyfeller discovered a series of 14 letters that date back 700 years. During those 700 years, the accuracy of the events have gotten a little muddy and Hobin is delighted to be able to get a glimpse into the past (as was I).

Hobin was a great lead character. I loved trying to figure out the mystery and going through Eamon’s letters with him. After reading each letter, Hobin would share his thoughts and questions--I was pleased to see that I shared a lot of those thoughts and questions with him! 

I loved how each of the characters had distinct personalities. I felt like I really got to know Eamon through his letters and was racing through the book to see how his story ended. I’m fairly certain that I read this in one sitting if that is telling you anything.

This book has all of the qualities of a great mystery and a great fantasy molded together into a wonderful story. As a mystery and fantasy junkie, I couldn’t be more thrilled that those genres were combined!

Also, be sure to check out the website. A great resource for information on the series!

Thanks to Jaime Buckley for this review copy--I can’t wait to venture into this world again!

Long Gone by Alafair Burke Review

Title: Long Gone

Author: Alafair Burke

Genre: Adult, Mystery, Suspense

Page Count: 368 pages

Publish Date: June 21, 2011

Book Type: ARC provided by publisher for honest review

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

ISBN: 9780061999185

Picture from Amazon

From Goodreads: How well do you know your boss?

After a layoff and months of struggling, Alice Humphrey finally lands her dream job managing a new art gallery in Manhattan’s trendy Meatpacking District. According to Drew Campbell, the well-suited corporate representative who hires her, the gallery is a passion project for its anonymous, wealthy, and eccentric owner.

Everything is perfect until the morning Alice arrives at work to find the gallery gone—the space stripped bare as if it had never been there—and Drew Campbell’s dead body on the floor. Overnight, Alice’s dream job has vanished, and she finds herself at the center of a police investigation, with the evidence mounting against her. To prove her innocence and uncover the truth, Alice must undertake a dangerous search for answers that entangles her in a dark, high-tech criminal conspiracy and forces her to unearth long-hidden secrets involving her own family . . . secrets that could cost Alice her life.

My Review: Once you get to the end of the book, you really understand the idea behind the cover and I appreciate that. I’m not sure that it is super eye-grabbing, but it is nice! I really like the blurred image and once again, yay for red heads on book covers!

This book really reminded me how much I like a good mystery/suspense novel. Like many of my other favorite mysteries, Long Gone had many intertwining characters and plot lines. Sometimes it was hard to remember which character was which, but once I got a hold on who was who, it was easier. Every aspect of the mystery comes together, but not in super obvious ways. That is the nicest part. I was able to figure out some things, but others left me guessing! I thought some people were guilty and they ended up not being guilty and vice versa.

I know what it is like to be unemployed (granted, I am still in grad school), so I can only imagine how excited Alice was to be offered her dream job. Only for it to all be taken away from her. Ugh. That would be awful. I thought Alice’s emotions about this were pretty well developed and natural. Well done!

I’m really glad HarperCollins sent this book to me--I want to check out the other books written by Alafair Burke. Thank you! I definitely recommend this one to anyone who likes a good mystery.

Shaken by JA Konrath Review

Title: Shaken (Jack Daniels Mystery #7)

Author: J.A. Konrath

Genre: Mystery, Crime

Page Count: 304 Pages/675 KB

Book Type: Kindle

Publisher: AmazonEncore

ISBN: 0781035597213

AISN: B003M69XAM

Picture from Amazon

Warning, spoilers from the previous...

From Goodreads: Chicago cop Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels has chased, and caught, dozens of dangerous criminals over the course of her career. But she's about to meet her match.

When Jack wakes up in a storage locker, bound and gagged, she knows with chilling certainty who her abductor is.

He's called "Mr. K." More than two hundred homicides have been attributed to him. His victims have died in the most horrible ways imaginable. He's the essence of evil. Some think he's just an urban legend. But he's real. Jack has tangled with him twice in the past, and both times he managed to slip away.

Now Jack will finally have a chance to confront the maniac she's been hunting for over twenty-five years. Unfortunately, it won't be on her terms. In less than two hours, Mr. K is going to do to Jack what he's done to countless others. And Jack is going to learn that sometimes the good guys don't win...

My Review: I always like the covers of these books. All of the covers and titles reference drinks to go along with the main character, Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels. It’s funny that this series was one of the ones that got me to read again. I read the first one and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone both in a few days while on vacation. They really couldn’t be any more different.

You can find my review for the 5th Jack Daniels book, Fuzzy Navel, here. In the Kindle version of Shaken, you can either read the book in chronological order or the order in which Konrath wrote it which uses flashbacks. I chose to read this the way Konrath intended.

I really liked getting the chance to go back in time and see the start of Jack’s partnership with Herb. They have one of the best camaraderies in the book world. I love how we can see how this developed over the years. 

This one seemed to be a bit more serious than the previous ones since Jack was kidnapped. I usually prefer the comic relief of Herb and Harry, which did exist, but wasn’t as highlighted in Shaken. This one was an emotional roller coaster. They question the origins of good and evil throughout the novel and it really makes you think. Jack questions what exactly evil is, if evil even exists at all.   

The good thing about all of the flashbacks in this one is that I really think this could work as a standalone novel as well as part of the series. Although it isn’t my favorite of the series, I would say that first time readers could still give it a shot! 

Are you willing to give this series a chance?

Strange But True by John Searles Review

Title: Strange But True: A Novel
Author: John Searles
Genre: Fiction/Mystery
Page Count: 336
Book Type: Paperback (Owned)
Publisher: Harper Perennial 
ISBN: 9780060721794

From Goodreads: "After a mysterious fall from his New York City apartment, Philip Chase has moved back with his mother, Charlene, a bitter woman who has never fully accepted the death of her younger son, Ronnie, five years earlier. Numb from watching too much television, rereading a tragic biography, and trading snipes with his mother, Philip is in stasis." "But everything changes late one windy February night when Ronnie's high school girlfriend shows up on their doorstep. A sad young woman who still bears the scars of the accident that took Ronnie's life on the night of their prom, Melissa has unexpectedly found hope. She is nine months pregnant. And the father, she claims, is Ronnie." So begins this tale, which moves from one surprise to another as Philip and his mother confront not only Melissa's past but their own. Their desperate search for answers takes them on a poignant and emotional journey, ultimately placing them in the path of murder and revenge.

My Review: The cover is fairly average, I think. Nothing really special, but nothing horrible about it either. I like the top half and wish they would have kept that theme throughout rather than adding in the orangish color. If it was all in sepia tones, I think it would be more aesthetically pleasing.

This book really isn't quite like anything I normally read, which I think is a good thing. Sometimes, as readers, I feel like we get into "ruts" and read the same type of books over and over again. I like to branch out at least once a month--this month it was with Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton if you were wondering. If not, sorry. 

Seales doesn't sugar coat anything in this book and that is what I loved about it. The mystery does keep you turning the pages, but I just adored the realism of the whole situation. We are thrown into the perspectives of the different characters and we learn how each of them are dealing, or not dealing, with the unfortunate death of Ronnie. There are flashbacks throughout the novel and I just wanted to learn everything about the characters that I didn't want to stop reading. It is all about ripple effects and how everything that occurs effects something else. 

I would definitely suggest reading this one. It is thought provoking and this teenage tragedy sucked me in and kept me enthralled throughout.

Have you read this novel yet? I picked it up on the bargain table at a bookstore this winter and was very pleased.

Fuzzy Navel by J.A. Konrath Review

Title: Fuzzy Navel
Author: J.A. Konrath
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Page Count: 336
Book Type: Paperback (Owned)
Publisher: Hyperion
ISBN: 9780786891290

*Warning: synopsis will contain some spoilers since this is not the first in a series. You can jump to my review which will be spoiler free!*

From Goodreads: Things are going well for Lieutenant Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels of the Chicago Police Department. She has solved some of the city's toughest and most high-profile homicides. Her personal life is finally in order. Her friends and family are safe and happy. And she just got a call that eased her mind like nothing else could: Alex Kork, one of the most dangerous criminals Jack ever arrested, killed herself while in jail.

But things sour quickly when a group of vigilantes on a murderous spree decide to take down a cop and the people she cares about ... and they turn downright awful when Jack discovers that Kork may not be dead after all.

The next eight hours will be the worst of Jack's life. And that's saying something.

Fuzzy Navel is perfect for readers who like their mysteries with a shot of humor.

My Review: If you haven't read this series yet and you like mystery/crime books, you should probably start...just sayin'. They are centered around Lieutenant Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels of the Chicago Police Department. I don't want to say too much on the plot here since this is the 5th in the series, but I will say that this was my favorite one. It takes place in roughly 8 hours and you are at a go, go, go pace the whole time. These novels are literally laugh out loud funny while having a heavy plot at the same time. I needed the comedy to stomach some of the murders Jack deals with. The characters, especially her new and old partner, really grabbed my attention and made me fall in love with them (in a you crack me up sort of way). 

Just a warning, the content in these is heavy on the blood and sick murders, but the comedy balances it out nicely, I think. The first one in the series is called Whiskey Sour if you want to check them out. They are all named after drinks and have that drink on the cover. As of now, there are 6 total books.

Has anyone but me heard of this series? Are you willing to give them a try?

In the Woods by Tana French Review

Title: In the Woods
Author: Tana French
Genre: Mystery/Crime
Page Count: 429
Book Type: Paperback (Owned)
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 9780143113492

From Goodreads: As dusk approaches a small Dublin suburb in the summer of 1984, mothers begin to call their children home. But on this warm evening, three children do not return from the dark and silent woods. When the police arrive, they find only one of the children gripping a tree trunk in terror, wearing blood-filled sneakers, and unable to recall a single detail of the previous hours. 

Twenty years later, the found boy, Rob Ryan, is a detective on the Dublin Murder Squad and keeps his past a secret. But when a twelve-year-old girl is found murdered in the same woods, he and Detective Cassie Maddox—his partner and closest friend—find themselves investigating a case chillingly similar to the previous unsolved mystery. Now, with only snippets of long-buried memories to guide him, Ryan has the chance to uncover both the mystery of the case before him and that of his own shadowy past.

My Review: First off, the cover... love it. I adore how it is made of roots especially since the detective is sort of going back to his roots. The cover is what caught my eye in the story. I'm sorry, the cover is what draws me to a book, but I swear the synopsis is what finalizes my decision.

This is truly an amazing book all the way until the end. The chapters are quite long, but it was a nice read once I got used to all of the Irish terms and slang. This book had the potential to be one of my favorite books and then the end hit. I was severely disappointed. I have heard the companion book, which follows his partner on a new case is a lot better. I have it on my bookshelf, but I've been apprehensive about reading it since finishing this one. 

I would suggest picking this up as long as you like detective/psychological mystery books and that you are aware that the ending is, shall we say, less than satisfactory. 

Have you read this one or any of the following books? What were your thoughts?

Grave Secret by Charlaine Harris Review

Title: Grave Secret (Harper Connelly Mysteries Book #4)

Author: Charlaine Harris, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of the Sookie Stackhouse Novels

Genre: Mystery

Page Count: 306

Book Type: Library Hardcover 
Publisher: Berkley Hardcover

ISBN: 978-0-425-23015-2

From Amazon: Lightning-struck sleuth Harper Connelly and her stepbrother Tolliver take a break from looking for the dead to visit the two little girls they both think of as sisters. But, as always happens when they travel to Texas, memories of their horrible childhood resurface.

To make matters worse, Tolliver learns from his older brother that their father is out of jail and trying to reestablish contact with other family members. Tolliver wants no part of the man- but he may not have a choice in the matter.

Soon, family secrets ensnare them both, as Harper finally discovers what happened to her missing sister, Cameron, so many years before.

And what she finds out will change her world forever.

Review: As promised, I finished Grave Secret by Charlaine Harris this evening.  This was, by far, my favorite in the Harper Connelly series, which is a shame because I own the first three, but only picked this one up as a library book. Sometimes I have a hard time with the characters in this series. I feel that Charlaine Harris doesn't always allow you to get to know the minor characters as well and then when something happens to them, you don't feel quite as bad. Throughout the series, I was always interested in the disappearance of Harper's sister, Cameron. I was excited when right there in the description it says that we will find out what actually happened--which makes me think this is that last in the series? I'm not sure if Charlaine Harris is planning on writing any more. The description does not lie, and we do, in fact, find out what happened to Cameron. If you read my last post, you will know that I was waiting for a bird to carry a skull somewhere due to the cover, but that never happened, which left me a bit disappointed.


Over all, this book is a quick read and I would suggest picking up the series from the library if you like mysteries. I wouldn't tell you to bump it up to the top of your list, though. I regret physically buying the first three, but I did only get them in paperback, so it isn't quite so bad. I would much rather read the Sookie Stackhouse novels. Those are books that I could read over and over again, where I don't think I will be revisiting Harper anytime soon.


My library has started to add little comment cards in the backs of the books, which I think is amazing. Obviously I love sharing my thoughts on books and love reading other people's thoughts (have you seen the blogs I subscribe to?). There was only one comment before mine on this book and it said, "Very Good!!!". I wrote, "My favorite of the series! Still prefer the Sookie Stackhouse books."


Have you read this series? What are your thoughts? Also, do you prefer the Sookie Stackhouse novels over these or vice versa? Does your library put comment cards in their books? Let me know!