MYSTERY!!! But not so much intrigue…

As I will readily admit, I am a huge fan of Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse series. After bewailing my lack of “Deadlocked”, the latest of the series, a coworker told me to try the Lily Bard series. This is another of Harris’s series about a young woman who lives in the southern town of Shakespeare. The first book in the series is “Shakespeare’s Landlord”.

Lily Bard is a mystery. She’s moved around for several years to try and escape a past that haunts her and finally settled in Shakespeare where she has become a cleaning woman for many local residents . Similar to Sookie, from the Sookie Stackhouse series, she is a strong willed woman working a blue collar job. Lilly practices martial arts and keeps herself separate from her neighbors. But when Lilly witnesses someone dragging away a body, she decides she can help figure out who the murderer is.  

I expected the book to have a few more references to Shakespeare or something that tied it more to the iconic bard. Instead what I found is another kick ass southern woman, but without all of the intrigue of Sookie. The only reasons I really kept going were to figure out who did it, and because it was such a short read. I don’t feel a need to continue with the series. Lilly was too off-putting, and that has a lot to do with her past, but I still could not recognize with her, which is something that’s essential for me to get into a book. There was not a lot of action either. The mystery itself was bland. Perhaps I was expecting the fun supernatural elements as in the Sookie series, but those are missing as well.

There are shelves of mysteries out there; ones with women with an ugly history looking to start over and ones with women who kick butt. I’d suggest you take a look into those in place of Lilly Bard. 

Grief and Loss Fall Flat...You win again July

It has not been a good month for books in the Miss Elizabeth household. I've been traveling recently, so I decided to stir it up with a book on CD. I chose "The Year of Pleasures" by Elizabeth Berg. I'm a sucker for a cover (damn you shallowness!), and thought the book sounded sweet plus it was a short listen. Well I liked this better than some books, but still it did not phase me.

The book is about a grieving widow in her early 50s. She just lost her husband who was the love of her life and has now uprooted herself and moved to...Illinois? Anywho, she makes new friends, finds old friends, grieves her husband, and struggles with how to move on. The title is mentioned within the book by a character who says when she lost her daughter, she spent a year finding one thing a day that made her happy, something she enjoyed doing no matter how small. I love that idea, but I don't think the book earned this title.

What I think the author was going for was one of those, 'we just lost something dear, girls stick together, best friend, women' books. In my opinion, it didn't hit the mark.

The author tried too hard to describe simplicities like trees, shops, topography and after a while, it just felt phony like the writing of any student trying to be poetic. Stop with the figurative language and get to the meat! God knows I'm guilty of some of this behavior in my own writing, but I expect more from an author.

Something that annoyed me throughout the book was the main character, Betta's, attitude towards today's generations and technology. She stuck her nose up and was exasperated with any form of new fangeled technology. Whenever this was mentioned, she usually associated younger generations with the inability to love life beyond the internet. As a twenty-something, I resent the implication that I'm unable to socialize, enjoy just sitting, or the beauty of nature. I understand the point she makes about many people being dependant on technology and children missing out on activities because they're stuck in front of a screen, but sweeping generalizations are annoying and never apply to all.

The subject of the book, loss, grief, loneliness, is one that many can relate to and will resonate with most audiences, but I didn't feel it went anywhere new. It felt cliche. I did appreciate the underlying values of friendship and life even if I wasn't overly thrilled with the delivery. One line that hit home with me was, "how necessary the near presence of others in keeping me civilized and sane". For anyone who has ever lived alone or holed themself up for a period of time I think they can relate.

Again, this book did not strike a chord in me. The characters were underdeveloped and the plot points fell through. The author tried for deep and meaningful, Steel Magnolias-esque, but it didn't reach that level because I never felt a connection with the main character. There's not much more to be said about this book. Find something with more heart.