Book Review: The Body in the Woods

The Body in the Woods by April Henry
My rating: DNF
Publication Date: June 17, 2014
Source: Netgalley review copy

In this new series told from multiple perspectives, teen members of a search and rescue team discover a dead body in the woods.

Alexis, Nick, and Ruby have very different backgrounds: Alexis has spent her life covering for her mom’s mental illness, Nick’s bravado hides his fear of not being good enough, and Ruby just wants to pursue her eccentric interests in a world that doesn’t understand her. When the three teens join Portland County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue, they are teamed up to search for a autistic man lost in the woods. What they find instead is a dead body. In a friendship that will be forged in danger, fear, and courage, the three team up to find the girl’s killer—before he can strike one of their own.


The characters in this book are well written, and I feel like they all have their own voice, so that part of the story is good. Unfortunately the plot just isn't to my taste. I'm not really enjoying this at all, so I'm going to stop reading, about halfway through.

I've found that I don't really care about the mystery aspect of this, and it's just not my type of book. I feel like those who grew up on Nancy Drew and are still looking for that kind of thing may like it. Or even a new generation who is looking for books about teenagers solving mysteries might like it.

Review: The Mysterious Lady Law

Book Details

Title:
The Mysterious Lady Law

Author: 
Robert Appleton

Genre:
Steampunk

Page Count:
108 on my reader

Publishing Info:
January 31, 2011 by Carina Press

Why I Read It:
review copy from Netgalley

Grade:
C- (not really my thing)

Cover Thoughts:
The cover is quite possibly the best thing about the book.  I've always been drawn to steampunk covers, and that's probably why I keep trying steampunk, despite my bad luck with it. 

My Review

After her sister is mysteriously murdered, Julia accepts an offer from Lady Law to solve the case.  Lady Law has successfully solved every case she takes on.  No one knows how she does it, and therefore a lot of people are very suspicious of her.

This book was so short that I really couldn't get a feel for any of the characters, which makes it hard to care what happens to them.  There was a bit of a romance between Julia and a constable named Al, but I wasn't really feeling that either.

The Mysterious Lady Law is a steampunk set in Victorian London.  There were a whole lot of things that were described that I couldn't quite picture, which may be usual in the steampunk genre, but I think this story just needed to be fleshed out more.

A Sample of the Writing:
By five o'clock the gas lighter was already making his rounds, lighting the streetlamps with surgical precision.  Steam-powered cranes billowed white clouds as they raised workmen to dismantle scaffolding from the new submarine factory.  Tired shopkeepers dragged their advertisement stands inside, paid the window cleaners and errand boys, and then set about tidying their storefronts.  Men with faces blackened by oil and coal lumbered home from the factories.  As dusk descended, London wound down for the day.

I think the fact that I didn't care for this book may be chalked up to the fact that steampunk isn't really a genre (or sub-genre) that I enjoy.  I like the idea of it much more than the delivery, for the most part.  Fans of steampunk may very well enjoy this one, but I do think it suffers quite a bit because of it's length.  It's more of a novella, so if you're looking for a fleshed out story, this isn't it.  Still, I think there's definitely an audience for this book, it's just not me.

REVIEW - Finger Lickin' Fifteen

Title: Finger Lickin' Fifteen
Author: Janet Evanovich
Genre: Humorous Mystery
Got it from: Library
Why I read it: series book
Grade: A

Synopsis:
While recovering from an ill-timed makeup mishap, Lula is a witness to celebrity chef, Stanley Chipotle, losing his head - literally. Now Lula and Stephanie are on the hunt to identify the killers before Lula is next on the chopping block.
Meantime, Ranger's recruited Stephanie's help for a top secret mission. Someone on the inside at Rangeman is leaking client information, determined to bring the company down. No one is above suspicion, not even Ranger's right hand man, Tank.


My review:
I'll start off by saying this isn't great fiction.  It's formulaic, has very little character growth, and is repetitive of earlier novels.  But this is comfort reading for me.  That's why it gets such a grade.  There's not a lot to the story--it's the same old stuff, and even Stephanie (the main character) realizes that she's stuck and not going anywhere.  It was fun, though.  I laughed out loud a few times, and I'm not really a LOLer.

I would really like to see some resolution to this series, and maybe have it come to an end soon.  There's only so long that Stephanie can get together and break up with Morelli.  There's only so long the sexual tension with Ranger will remain interesting.  There's only so many times that Stephanie can lose the people she's trying to catch as they go out the back door/window, while she stands stupidly at the front door/in their front room.  I would love to see Janet Evanovich writing something new, not just rewriting old stories.