eyes.2c Reviews

The Guncle by Steven Rowley      ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Oh my goodness! I laughed, I shed a tear or two 🥲, I was choked up, I was never annoyed. I loved this! 💕 A gay uncle, struggling with the tragic death of his partner, has virtually retired from his film and television career and is marking time in Palm Springs. When his sister goes into rehab Gay Uncle Patrick (GUP) is suddenly presented with a young niece and nephew, Maisie and Grant, nine and six, who definitely don’t want to be there with him. How that changes and these three bond is complex, joyful and wonderful. Patrick’s sister is shocked that the children were left with him and begins a fight to take them into her care. This opens up another tension thread, feeding into the extended family story. Patrick with his Guncle Rules, alongside his often outrageously wonderful attempts to relate to the children, even as he battles with his loss, is heartwarming.  A fun, sensitive read! A Penguin Group—Putnam AR...

The Ladies Midnight Swimming Club by Faith HoganWeaver            ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The allure of the Irish coast beckons as several people work out life challenges in the picturesque town of Ballycove. Author Dan decides to leave Dublin and take time out to write a novel, and to investigate a question he’s wondered about most of his life. Elizabeth, wife of the village doctor, finds herself left with huge debts when her husband dies. As she faces the future she also faces the boundaries of her married life. Jo, a close friend of Elizabeth’s, persuades her divorced daughter and coincidentally a doctor to takeover the surgery until Elizabeth can move forward. Lucy’s son Niall accompanies her into what he views as a fresh new hell. He’s busting to join his father in Australia, Jo talks Elizabeth into joining her for late night swims—refreshing and releasing. Magical!  A  story with a nicely woven plot and so me wonderful highlights—the ladies swimming in ...

Tempting Fate (Goode Girls #4) by Kerrigan Byrne                ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I do like the Beauty and the Beast trope. You know, where the damaged bad guy, with big heart, falls in love with fragile miss who turns out to be not so fragile. Over protected? Yes! A few quirks? Yes, but never helpless! Felicity Goode is a lovely heroine, innocent and yet determined, kind and able to see to the heart of people, carrying her own set of burdens. Misunderstood and frequently misjudged. Shy, determined not to marry. The burden of being an heiress means she’s sort after by those desiring a wealthy bride and those with more nefarious ideas in mind. Threats against her has Felicity considering a body guard. Misunderstanding has Felicity employing a scarred hulking man she runs into as she navigated her way from the greenhouse to the house.  Gabriel Sauvageau had previously rescued Felicity from a masquerade for figures of the underbelly of London. A ...

The Wedding Night Affair (Ash and Juliana #1) by L.C. Sharp             ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ An interesting combination of murder and an enforced marriage during Regency times. It’s 1796 and Heiress Lady Juliana Uppingham has been married off to a swine of a man. The morning after her wedding she wakes to her husband’s dead body beside her with his blood pooling around them both. Sir Edmund Ashdowne, baronet, works out of Bow Street for the Fielding Brothers as a criminal lawyer. Juliana’s father the Earl of Hawksworth wants someone close to aristocracy to undertake the investigation. That’s Ashdowne. The plot charts its way through rather murky waters until the truth outs. It includes an underworld figure, the Raven, who’s working on binding various gangs together. The Fieldings see Raven as a major threat to the community and to the prevalence of law and order. Ash is concerned with Justice. He doesn’t want Juliana’s elevated place in society to mitigate her being b...

The Granite Coast Murders: A  Brittany Mystery (Kommissar Dupin #6)   by Jean-Luc Bannalec              ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Well a lucky happenstance had me wandering into the world of Commissaire Georges Dupin! Forced to take holidays, Dupin and his girlfriend, chief cardiologist Claire Lannoy, travel to the Côte de Granit Rose on the coast of northern Brittany. This is supposedly purely a holiday—no work. A sentence to madness and more for Dupin. Working is not to be entertained, so imagine workaholic Dupin’s glee when he finds himself smack bang in the middle of a murder, a disappearance, possible illegal mining and more. It’s wonderful to watch Dupin investigating without letting Claire know—and the local law enforcement who jealousy guard their provenance. The food descriptions are sensational. My mouth was watering. I loved the concentrated focus of Dupin’s train of thought, with leaps of inutuition, complimented by  seasoned understanding. I...

Thief of Souls (Inspector Lu Fei #1) by  Brian Klingborg                 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I rather think Klingborg has nailed it with his introduction of a new Police Officer and his crimal investigations in the countryside of modern Northern China. Inspector Lu Fei lives in a rural region as an officer with Public Security Bureau by preference. When a particularly grotesque murder is revealed right in his backyard, he contacts the Criminal Investigations Bureau in Beijing. An uneasy alliance ensues with Superintendent Song. The inquiry leads Lu to some strange places, including evidence of Party graft and corruption, and to the conclusion that they have a serial killer on their hands. A commentary on life in general in China, of how Lu came to be where he is, of historical happenings in the recent past effecting Lu’s decisions about his life, I found fascinating, as are the chapter introductions wth quotes from Chairman Mao. I must admit I wonder...

The Prophet (A Tabitha Hart Mystery #2) by Martine Bailey                ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Following on from The Almanac, Tabitha Hart and Nat are married and living with Nat’s natural father Sir John De Vallory of Bold Hall. Nat is his heir. Tabitha is pregnant. Riding out on Old May Day (1753) to view a huge tree known as the Mondrem Oak they come across a dead woman under the gigantic trees branches. Living nearby is a strange religious group, a cult, led by a charismatic preacher, Baptist Gunn, who combines a message of free love with scripture. Nat is much taken with his intellect, Tabitha is both puzzled and wary. After eating and drinking with the group she has what seems like hallucinations. I am repelled by Gunn. He’s an alarming mix of a charlatan and a religious fanatic, who seems to know more about Tabitha than she (and I) would like. He and his followers, mainly women,  are squatting here until they make their way to the Americas. This s...

Secret Mischief (Cragg & Fidelis Mystery #7) by Robin Blake               ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2 It all starts with a dead pig! April 1746, on a breezy April morning, Preston County Coroner Titus Gragg is called out to a neigboring village to investigate a murder. Much to his disgust the body turns out to be pig farmer Richard Giggleswick‘s prized animal! We have a boar assassination! The End! That however was never to be the end. The very next day Titus finds himself with Dr. Luke Fidelis journeying once more to Chimneystacks Farm to investigate the same farmer’s demise. Their discovery process takes them onto Liverpool to consult with Ambrose Parr, Farmer Giggleworth’s lawyer and man of business. A missing paper is alluded to by a frail, possibly demented mother More truth than fiction, this turns out to be a paper labelled Tontine Fund—whatever that might be? signed twenty years prior! Ah! and when they do realize what it is, the situation looks, as ...