Book 93, 2021

Sour Puss by Rita Mae Brown

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Last night, I finished Sour Puss by Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown. It's the 14th part of the "Mrs Murphy" mystery series. The main characters are Mary "Harry" Harristeen and her pets: Mrs Murphy, Tee Tucker, and Pewter.

Harry and her ex-husband, Fair, have rekindled their relationship and remarried to the delight of everyone in Crozet. The celebratory mood is banished, however, when a visiting professor vanishes and is later found murdered. When a combative neighbor is also killed, Harry thinks the two murders have something to do with the local vineyards. She has recently put in a quarter-acre of grapes and is curious as to how to connect the deaths. Unbeknownst to Harry, her pets know quite a bit more about the goings-on, but they have no way to let her know what they've discovered. When Harry arrives at the correct conclusion, will it be too late?

I enjoyed the story immensely. I had thought I would miss Harry working at the Post Office, but setting this installment around the aspect of vineyards was fresh and fun. I figured out who dunnit rather early, thanks to something Cooper said, and I cannot believe it took Harry so long to put two and two together. You're slipping, Harry! The animals played an important role, and not just the pets. Some of the local wild life helped out, either directly or indirectly.

Favorite lines:
♦ "Love isn't just a way to open your heart, it's armor against the world."
♦ "Horses stay awake at night thinking of ways to hurt themselves."
♦ "Coke and cheesecake don't go. I'm making tea."
♦ Abundance rests on the wings of bees.
♦ "I'm not insane, honey, just unsane. I greatly recommend it during trying times."
♦ "Ever notice how desperately people want to believe, want to have an answer, but don't want to work for it?"

A good book, overall. Four stars!

Book 94, 2021

The Art of Seducing a Naked Werewolf by Molly Harper

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



At work today I finished reading The Art of Seducing a Naked Werewolf by Molly Harper. It's the second book in her "Naked Werewolf" series. This time, the main character is Maggie Graham, pack alpha for a group of werewolves living in a secluded valley in Alaska.

After assuming the mantle of pack alpha, Maggie is learning the job is mostly tedious and boring. That is, until a human researcher arrives in Grundy, intent on learning if the rumors of lycanthropes in the area are true. Maggie needs to discourage him from prying and encourage him to leave, but Nick Thatcher is persistent. Too bad he's also handsome and brainy, and Maggie finds it difficult to stay away from him. She has bigger problems on her plate than one nosy researcher. A rival pack of werewolves has been encroaching on pack territory, and there may be a battle ahead. Worse, two of the males in her pack have been sniffing around, and Maggie isn't sure she wants to mate with either of them, especially when she continues to be distracted by Nick...

This was nothing but lighthearted fun. There were some tense moments, but it seemed any danger or drama was dealt with rather swiftly. That was fine; I don't need to spend the entirety of a book on tenterhooks. Maggie would rather gnaw off her paw than admit she's attracted to Nick, which led to some amusing moments. I enjoyed the fact that characters from the first book in the series played prominent roles. If I found anything dismaying, it was how everyone in Maggie's pack seemed to be throwing her at Nick or Nick at her...yet as a whole, werewolves frown on mating with humans. It made for some 'WTF?' moments.

Favorite lines;
♦ The best thing about being a werewolf was that you never needed a sports bra.
♦ "Baby showers should be reserved as punishment for betrayers in the Seventh Circle of Hell."
♦ "How many family conversations are going to be interrupted by me telling you, no, you can't kill someone and make it look like an accident?"
♦ Every village needed an idiot.
♦ She had a knack for relieving the tension in a room by pretending my rudeness away with cooking. Many, many chickens had given up their lives to cover my conversational shortcomings.
♦ Nothing about Mo screamed predatory or even vaguely threatening unless you cut her off from chocolate.
♦ "I guess he knew the way to that teeny-tiny Grinch heart of yours is through your stomach."
♦ I wondered where to put my hands. Well, I knew where I wanted to put them, but I think that would probably be a felony if I did it without warning him first.
♦ "What do you think of the Red Wings' chances this season?" // "They'll be fine until the Avalanche take the ice."
♦ "If I see a rabbit dressed in camo trying to jimmy the screen door with a hunting knife, I'll call for help."
♦ This was the saddest pie of all. // "He's moved on to meringue," said Mo, shaking her head. "This does not bode well." // "I'll talk to him," I promised her. // "You should. He asked this morning if I could get enough peaches to make a cobbler." // "No one says they're sorry with cobbler." // "Yeah, 'cause saying it with pie is super-normal."
♦ "When has telling someone to do what makes them happy ever resulted in a good decision? Remember when we told cousin Todd to do what made him happy and he came home with recently augmented boobs?"
♦ "Never piss off a porcupine, no matter how jolly he may seem."
♦ His face lit up as if I'd just offered him the Holy Grail, a Babe Ruth rookie card, and Megan Fox's phone number.
♦ "What if I throw an extra-large bag of Twizzlers into the deal?" // "No, no, no," I told him. "Twizzlers are fifth-or-sixth-date material. You have to start out slowly, with Goobers or Sour Patch Kids."
♦ Nick had disappeared like Wet Wipes on a porn set.
♦ I thought I was going to have to start fanning my face to keep from bursting into flames. Curse his sexy brains!
♦ "Nick won't tell me whether he has sisters. I figure, he's pretty, he would have to have pretty sisters."

Fun, funny, and I laughed out loud several times while reading it. Five stars!