Abandoned by Booklikes

Honestly I feel like I read this story somewhere else before. I just didn't find it that interesting and the story had a ridiculous coincidence in order to make the whole thing work. I always liked the idea that Harry made sure that every murder victim had their day, or tried to give them their day. Everyone counts, or no one counts as this character liked to say. That said, this just felt like a weird segue into the world of Harry Bosch.

"Switchblade" has Harry working cold cases. A young boy was found murdered in LA and it looks like a man that is already in jail for murder may have been the perpetrator. Harry interviews the suspect and does what he can to get the DA to file charges. However, Harry puts a link together and realizes that there is another way to make sure the murdered young man is finally given justice. 

I wonder if the story could have worked more if we had Harry bouncing ideas of of someone. Besides the perpetrator, we just have Harry also interacting with one of the women who works in the office and the DA. It just fell a bit flat in the end. 

This short story collection was not as satisfying to me as the last one I read. I think that's because the first story dragged, the second one was pretty horrifying and very good and then the last story didn't make a lot of sense to me. The ending didn't work for me either.

"Christmas Even" (3.5 stars)-We have Harry investigating a burglary that ended up a homicide. A pawnbroker finds a dead body in his store when he opens it. This leads Harry and his partner, Jerry Edgar trying to figure out what happened. This all takes place the day on Christmas Eve which of course has everyone wanting to smack Harry since they just want to wrap the case up and head home. Throw in some jazz and the story was all over the place I thought. We also get some insight into why Harry likes jazz and look, I can't help it, I don't like jazz music. I have tried. I don't get it and Harry's love of it was always one of the most puzzling things about the character to me. 

"Father's Day" (4.5 stars)-A young boy is found dead in his father's overheated car. Harry's partner Ignacio thinks that no matter what the father is liable for the death. However, once Harry starts digging her realizes that something else went on and we get a dark look at parenting in this one. There's a mention of a character from one of Connelly's other series so that was fun to read, but honestly this one wasn't that hard to figure out. 

"Angle of Investigation (3.5 stars)-Harry is now working cold cases and goes back to one of his first cases where he finds a woman and her dog murdered in her bathtub. The case leads back a surprising person. I just have to call BS though on the resolution in this one. I really think that the story could have been set up a bit better. I also found myself getting annoyed with Harry in this one. He's paired with Kiz in this one and I find myself not missing this character. 

"Suicide Run" is a compilation of three Harry Bosch stories. This series takes place between "Nine Dragons" and "The Drop." Per usual, here are my ratings for each story.

"Suicide Run" (5 stars)-Though the book takes place between "Nine Dragons" and "The Dragon", this story does not. We have Harry and Jerry Edgar working a probable suicide together. I forget what book had Edgar and Harry no longer partnered, but it's been a while. Harry and Edgar are called to a scene where they find a naked young woman named Lizbeth Grayson. It appears that Lizbeth committed suicide. However, small things are off that has Harry digging into whether someone else could have possibly murdered her. We also get a first look at Harry meeting Kizmin Rider as well.

"Cielo Azul" (4.5 stars)-This is an old case that involved Harry and his former partner, Frankie Sheehan. The two are called to a scene where a young girl is found dead. Due to a lead that is found during the autopsy, the two men come across FBI profiler, Terry McCaleb. This story had to take place during the late 1980s or early 1990s due to the story mentioning VICAP and how some detectives still don't trust it. I liked the look into this case and how Harry and McCaleb found out the guilty party. The end though takes place decades later with Harry wanting the name of the young girl who he found all those years ago and realizing that he may never be able to lay the case fully to rest. The main reason why I didn't give this a full 5 stars is that we got insight into Harry with the first few books and I don't know if he would have been like this earlier on. We got to see his feelings about the FBI and working cases too. 

"One-Dollar Jackpot" (3.5 stars)-Aww we get to see Harry and his former partner Ignacio again. I always felt like Connelly gave Ignacio a raw deal. This story was a bit confusing for me though I liked how Harry went about trying to solve it. We also get mention of Kiz in this one since one of the detectives on the scene who works this case with Harry knows her as well. 

What a great short story by Connelly! I had no idea that he even wrote some stand alone stories starring Harry Bosch. This one was great and we even get some interaction with a character familiar to longstanding readers, Rachel Walling. 

"Blue on Black" is a short story between Connelly's "Nine Dragons" and "The Drop." Harry thinks that a man that they have been following, named Denniger is responsible for two young women who are missing. Harry asks FBI agent Rachel Walling to look at what he has so far in order to help him figure out if Denniger is their man.

I liked how the story came together and the role that Rachel plays with things. Connelly is able to evoke so much emotion in this story with Harry wanting to make sure that the two young men have someone that stands for them. I know a lot of people complained this was too short, but to me I thought it was pitch perfect. It made me want to go back and re-read the Harry Bosch series. 

Ehhh not too much to say. I loved Hope and loathed Ryder. I am glad for the most part that Roberts latest contemporary romances do not have the whole alpha male who is an asshole, but secretly has a heart of gold thing. Most of the crap Ryder did to Hope was "negging" in the first two books (he refuses to use her name and calls her innkeeper) and I thought too many people kept giving him passes. The only reason why I gave this three stars was that Hope was great, that the trilogy seems to take place over a two year period, and it was nice to read a romance that didn't take place in New York. I think Roberts skipped past some really good sub-plots in order to get back to the "investigation" into Lizzy which I still didn't care about.

"The Perfect Hope" finds the Inn Boonsboro ready for the summer. Clare is married and expecting, Avery is engaged to get married the following year, and now Hope feels a bit lost. She was left hurt by the end of her last relationship and realizing that the man she was with, didn't love her, and his family really didn't care about her at all. When her friends propose Ryder (why you guys? Are there no other men) Hope considers it and then proposes a "situation with no strings" with Ryder. 

I just have to say this, Hope was too good for Ryder. I really wish that Roberts had some tension develop with her realizing that Ryder was set in his ways and wasn't opening himself up to her. The way he talked to her in this book and the last two books really set my teeth on edge. And I hated that Hope's supposed friends made it seem like well maybe he has a thing for you. Nope. Nope. Nope. 

Ryder doesn't change at all (IMHO) he just stays the same and then goes around and does the He-Man crap when a situation comes up involving Hope. I just wasn't feeling him at all since it didn't seem to me he was in love with Hope at all. The story put them together, but I wasn't seeing true love through the ages. 

The resolution to the whole ghost thing was eyeroll inducing. I went really a few times and just didn't care. I think for me that the series was just a platform to showcase Roberts new business and I wish that there had been more development of the last two romances in the series. I loved Clare and Beckett, loved Avery and felt meh about Owen, and then loved Hope and loathed Ryder. 

Well not too much to say except this was kind of boring. Roberts seems mostly fixated on the decorations in this one and not actually developing the characters. We have one moment of tension/plot that is quickly dealt with which didn't feel realistic to me. I liked Avery and Owen separately, but didn't really find their love story engaging at all. Also I just realized the whole ghost thing is reminding me way too much of "In the Garden" and it just started to bug me after a while. 

"The Last Boyfriend" follows the events of the last book several months later. We now have Clare and Beckett planning for their wedding and that of course has Avery thinking about romance. Avery starts to wonder about Owen after the two of them have a moment together. Owen likes his life and business perfectly ordered. When he decides to get involved with Avery, he realizes that he's going to have to let some things go if they are going to be able to have a future together.

I don't know. This book felt off to me somewhat. Too many things were happening. Owen and Avery are thinking about and then do start dating. We had Owen and Hope still trying to figure out "Lizzy's" identity. The Montgomery boys mother has more and more plans and Avery has a secret dream that may involve all of them. Clare is trying to get her wedding plans together. Someone from Avery's past returns and then we have a misunderstanding that left me wanting to smack Owen. Everything was just thrown at you in this book with people still screeching about the picture perfect inn. 

I do agree with some reviewers that Avery really was a great heroine and I have to say she was. I liked her spontaneity and why she got into cooking and I loved her dream and how that all came about. I do think that Roberts rushed through one of her sub-plots though. It could have given the book some needed tension.

Owen was just boring and reminded me of a dozen of Roberts male character tropes in her trilogies. 

The writing was fine, the flow was eh and I was ultimately bored when we got to the ending. I am going to say that I am glad that we get to see seasons/months change in this series. Often Roberts trilogies take place over a couple of weeks/months and it doesn't feel realistic to have people just falling in love back to back. 

Please note that I received this book via NetGalley. This did not affect my rating or review.

I did not finish this book at 10 percent. Sorry, the changing perspectives and formatting was too much for me to overcome. I really liked the synopsis which is why I chose this book and just felt let down in the end. I noticed a lot of reviewers mentioned the slowly moving story and honestly I just kept going this is boring, this is boring, who is this, and this is boring. 

"The Woman in the Green Dress" follows Fleur Richards. Fleur is waiting for her husband Hugh to return from The Great War (World War I) when she receives news of his death on Armistice Day. She supposedly leaves England for Australia (I didn't get that far).

What didn't help me while reading though is that we follow so many characters in this (and I only got to 10 percent). We are introduced to a character named Della. I still don't know what she was about since the formatting made it hard to "see" who was speaking. And then we followed Fleur and there was a male character whose name is eluding me right now. 

I just have to say my first impression of Fleur was she was weak as anything. She literally hides and doesn't speak to anyone and the book jumps to a character in Australia who I assume is important later. I think Cooper didn't set up enough time for readers to even care about Fleur's predicament. She throws us right into Armistice Day and then Fleur sees the Queen of England and then runs home to bad news. The book would have been better to show Fleur and Hugh in love so that you at least care when she receives news of his death. 

I think the writing wasn't doing a lot for me. The dialogue that I managed to get through felt stiff and forced. The book felt slow and also at the same time not as developed as it should have been. I know this is an ARC, but it was hard to get through this with the formatting being all over the place too. 

Good grief books two and three and tedious. 

Well now I’m interested. Dead man missing hands?? A writers group that seems filled with envy. What is happening?

DNF at 10 percent. This book is confusing and the poor formatting doesn’t help. I can’t tell who is speaking and I’ve been introduced so far to 4 (I think) characters. I still can’t tell you what is going on besides this is taking place directly after WWII I believe. 

Loved all three short stories!

Loved all three short stories!

Wow this was boring. I don't have anything else to add. 

Story number one featured Kiz and J. Edgar. I forgot how much book J. Edgar sucks though. 

Story number two is featuring Terry McCaleb.

Already hooked. Fun to see a younger Bosch with J. Edgar.