Bogormen

Title: Good Omens
Author: Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 3.5/5
# pages: Audiobook ~9hrs
Date read: April 2020

According to The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (the world's only completely accurate book of prophecies, written in 1655, before she exploded), the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. Just before dinner.

So the armies of Good and Evil are amassing, Atlantis is rising, frogs are falling, tempers are flaring. Everything appears to be going according to Divine Plan. Except a somewhat fussy angel and a fast-living demon—both of whom have lived amongst Earth's mortals since The Beginning and have grown rather fond of the lifestyle—are not actually looking forward to the coming Rapture.

And someone seems to have misplaced the Antichrist . . .


I liked it well enough, but to be perfectly honest I didn't fall in love with the characters the way I did in the TV mini-series. But then it IS hard to live up to the charm of Michael Sheen and David Tennant and their amazing chemistry! ;-) The mini-series was incredibly true to the book though (although I was very surprised to see that a certain scene near the ending was missing from the book!!), and I did appreciate getting this second take on it.

Title: You Will Be Mine
Author: Natasha Preston
Genre: Suspense
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 304
Date read: December, 2017

ROSES ARE RED
VIOLETS ARE BLUE
WATCH YOUR BACK
I'M COMING FOR YOU

Lylah and her friends can't wait to spend a night out together. Partying is the perfect way to let loose from the stress of life and school, and Lylah hopes that hitting the dance floor with Chace, her best friend, will bring them closer together. She's been crushing on him since they met. If only he thought of her the same way...

The girls are touching up their makeup and the guys are sliding on their coats when the doorbell rings. No one is there. An envelope sits on the doormat. It's an anonymous note addressed to their friend Sonny. A secret admirer? Maybe. They all laugh it off.

Except Sonny never comes home. And a new note arrives:

YOUR TURN


This is the second book I've read by Natasha Preston (the first one being "Awake"), and I enjoyed this one every bit as much. It's absolutely chilling, and Natasha Preston's writing is so engaging that I put myself in Layla's shoes far too much, and found it very hard to put the book down - reading it in just a few sittings.

As with almost all suspense novels, the big question is always - does the ending hold up? Far too often it will be too far-fetched or unbelievable and the resolution unsatisfying. I kept wondering how Natasha Preston would wrap this up in a suitable manner, as I could see quite a few options that would indeed fall into those traps.

But fortunately Natasha Preston delivered. Yes, I'd guessed the culprit ahead of time... but only a few pages too soon, which to me is one of the marks of an excellent suspense novel - one where the reader can follow the clues along with the characters in the book and make an educated guess, but not one where the answer is screamed from the pages at a much too early stage.

I greatly enjoyed this, and will definitely be on the look out for more of Natasha Preston's work. The only reason I didn't give this 5 stars straight, is that I thought everything was wrapped up (or not) too quickly in the last few pages, and I'm left wondering if a sequel is in the works.

Title: If You've Got It, Haunt It
Author: Rose Pressey
Genre: Crime
Rating: 3.5/5
# pages: 304 pages
Date read: November, 2014

Cookie Chanel, owner of "It's Vintage, Y'all", loves hitting up estate sales to find new old clothes for her shop. But she gets more than she bargains for when Charlotte Meadows - deceased - decides to follow her home and threatens to haunt her until Cookie finds out who really murdered Charlotte. She doesn't trust that the police will do their job, but may be putting Cookie's life in danger by insisting she acts the sleuth herself.

I'm not typically a huge fan of whodunnits, but I will make an exception in the case of cozy mysteries if the "cozy" part is done right. And Rose Pressey managed to "do it right". I was greatly charmed by Cookie and her openminded friend Heather, who - though she couldn't see Charlotte herself - instantly believed Cookie that she was, in fact, there. Adding in a psychic cat who can communicate using an Ouija board, and the whimsy is hard to resist.

I greatly enjoyed it, even though I did think the confession at the end of the book too easily gained... but that's my common complaint with practically all mysteries and shouldn't be held against Rose Pressey's writing. She kept me very nicely entertained, and that's all I ask.