The Strawberry Patch Pancake House (#4) by Laurie Gilmore

29 Sep 2026 Leave a comment

by Amy in 1 Star, Audiobook, Romance Tags: , , , , , , ,

Published: 13 March 2025 (print)/ 13 March 2025 (audio) Goodreads badge
Publisher: HarperCollins/HarperCollins
Pages: 384/9 hrs and 3 mins
Narrator: Regina Reagan
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Romance
★ – 1.5 Stars

As a renowned chef, single-dad Archer never planned on moving to a small town, let alone running a pancake restaurant. But Dream Harbor needs a new chef, and Archer needs a community to help raise his daughter, Olive.

Iris has never managed to hold down a job for more than a few months. So when Mayor Kelly suggests Archer is looking for a nanny, and Iris might be available, she shudders at the thought. But in need of money she reluctantly agrees.

As Archer and Iris get used to their new roles, is it possible that they might have more in common than they first thought, or is Olive just determined to play match-maker…

This is definitely the last book of this series I’ll be reading. I wanted to stop about 10% of the way through but I decided the finish, if only to see it got as bad and as stupid as I thought. I had been committed to finishing the series, branching out my reading – especially in the romance department – but I might need to be more selective in the future.

From the start it’s like the romances where a completely single, clueless man is suddenly a father. If the choices are a grandmother who has been in the kid’s life or a random stranger why not make the random man take over? Why would you leave your kid with a short fling and not an actual relative or friend you know? You have no knowledge of what kind of father he’ll be? At least it happens right away so you know what you’re getting into with this romance. It even references the single dad tropes which felt too on the nose.

Archer is definitely the one with a chip on his shoulder. He creates the tension because he doesn’t want to be there and it is affecting everyone around him. He almost terminates Iris’ job because he can’t keep it in his pants. At least Iris calls the guy out for his behaviour. I didn’t quite mind he changed his tune. Realising his work/life balance needed adjusting was reasonable, doing a 180 on everything he ever wanted in his life is not.

After having an issue with a three year age gap in a previous book, now we have to contend with there being an issue of only one bathroom and the fact their rooms are across the hall from one another. Did they need a wider gap between their rooms? Have these people never lived in a regular sized house where one bathroom is the norm? Did one of them need to live in the backyard? Clearly these people need one floor and one bathroom for each member of the household. “Bathing in the same room” is not an issue. Unless you are doing it together, this is not a thing reasonable people think about.

Thank god we had the mystery of the pancakes to sustain us. Unlike the other books where there was no mystery despite the claim, the battle to get the recipe right was actually in the plot, actually a part of the plot, and actually had a satisfying conclusion. It is the only reason I kept going, even if I was going at 4x speed by the end and skipping chunks by the final hour or two.

The explicit scenes are minimal unlike previous books. The majority of the book is the two characters trying to avoid sleeping with each other out of professional ethics and the child, so that at least allowed more plot to be written. Didn’t stop the character thoughts though. Perpetually horny which felt over the top and unrealistic, especially as it was constantly mentioned.

The characters have no depth. It’s all surface level explained on the page stuff. It’s hard to believe a story that had real character depth in book one could have something so bland and unappealing in subsequent books. If each book if capable of being read individually, heaven help those who don’t know the backstories of these characters because without knowing about the mayor and the friends from previous books it’s all useless because they are names only. You have no idea who these people are.

Overall it was boring. It was nothing. I hated how Iris completely changes what she wants to get the happily ever after ending. Liking Olive, as Iris said frequently, was different to wanting her own kids and wanting to be pregnant. Skip to the final pages and boom, change of heart. It went against everything the book built up.

Without being too disparaging (I am trying to be reasonable), I can see why it’s a tiktok book/series. It is simple, easy, full of sexy scenes and easy to digest characters. But the lack of real plot and substance makes it lacking. They are the same simple formula over and over and while at the start it looked like there would be variety in the locations and the characters, Gilmore has given up as the series goes on as the characters become less dimensional and fulfilled. They are driven by their emotions and that is the only real development they get.

Despite my plan to continue with the series this is a big nope for me. I am out. They had been getting progressively worse reads as they went on and I have enough on my TBR I want to read than finishing a series I only started because of a pretty book cover and the (deceitful) lure of a cosy town mystery.

You can purchase The Strawberry Patch Pancake House via the following

QBD |  Dymocks | Booktopia

Wordery |  Blackwell’s | Angus & Robertson

Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust | Audible

The Wilderness by Steve McCarthy

01 May 2026 Leave a comment

by Amy in 1 Star, The Picture Book Corner Tags: , , ,

Published: 1st September 2022Goodreads badge
Publisher: Walker Books
Illustrator: Meg McLaren
Pages: 32
Format: Picture Book
★  – 1 Star

In this gorgeously illustrated whimsical tale, a young boy who fears the outdoors becomes lost in the forest . . . and discovers not only his courage but a new friend, too.

The Vasylenko family are all adventurers who love wild places and wild things. All, that is, except young Oktober. He also dreams of adventure, but it’s the kind that takes place between the pages of a book, indoors, where it’s safe and warm. Unlike the rest of his family, he dreads venturing out where it’s cold, wet, and home to a creature he calls the Wilderness. His father assures him the wilderness isn’t a monster, but out there, Oktober can only see slimy tails and sharp teeth and so many places for the terrible Wilderness to hide. One day on a hike, Oktober gets separated from his family, and because he doesn’t believe he’s brave enough to be an adventurer, he’s certain his fate is sealed. But maybe getting lost is just what Oktober needs to find courage and a new perspective . . . and an unexpected friend. With wry humor and marvelously rich and clever illustrations that readers will be happy to get lost in, Steve McCarthy’s debut as author-illustrator will speak to even the most timid and bookish of adventurers. 

It took three attempts to finish this book. It is long and wordy for a picture book and in the end I skimmed most of it. At 40 pages it’s not the longest but there is a lot of words on each page. One of the reasons it was hard to get through was because it wasn’t that engaging. The premise is good, but with no humour, no rhyme or rhythm to the words, it is also a little boring. It didn’t even cross over into the sweet or charming side.

The story is of Oktober who is scared of the outdoors and wants to have adventures in his books, unlike his siblings who have them in real life. One day when he is out with his family he finds myself lost and has to confront the uncertainty of The Wilderness.

I know there was supposed to be some wonder, or a lesson about taking chances or something but none of that comes across in the story. It doesn’t feel epic or grand, it’s flat and as much as I tried to stay focused on Oktober and his journey I had no interest.

The illustrations are vibrant full colour pages that are intricate and detailed, that’s what kept me trying again and again to read it. It’s rough to almost DNF a picture book but it really didn’t capture me.

You can purchase The Wilderness via the following

QBD |  Dymocks | Booktopia

Wordery |  Blackwell’s | Angus & Robertson

Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust

Somewhere in the Crowd by Katrina Logan

03 Sep 2024 Leave a comment

by Amy in 1 Star, Fiction Tags: , , , ,

Published: 20 April 2023Goodreads badge
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Pages: 304
Format: Paperback
Genre: Fiction
★  – 1.5 Stars

Four friends. Twelve years. One Eurovision . . .

Eurovision is always the highlight of Millie’s year. So when she and her best friend James get the chance to see the final live in Oslo, it’s a dream come true – until they get swept up the excitement and try to break backstage, along with carefree German singer Ingrid and charismatic Australian backpacker, Noah.

Getting thrown out of the stadium wasn’t exactly the plan, but it might just spark the friendship – and the pact – of a lifetime. The four of them are going to reunite for every final, every year, every Eurovision.

Over the years, the unlikely four celebrate iconic Eurovision moments all across Europe – and, most importantly, are there for each other during all their highs and lows, heartaches and triumphs. But real life takes them down increasingly different paths, their promise becomes harder and harder to keep. Can the magic of Eurovision bring them together one last time…?

A joyous and uplifting novel inspired by the iconic song contest, about friendship, love and finding where you belong

I picked this up initially because the cover caught my eye and then I realised it was about Eurovision and it sounded great. Unfortunately, it didn’t really turn out that way. Looking at the ratings afterwards it is a clear hit or miss, either 1-2 stars or 4-5 stars. I felt generous at 1.5.

The main problem was it was boring. I couldn’t stick with the character after a while. They were fine, the premise was fine, but there was nothing to keep me engaged. I skimmed the rest of the book, establishing I’d made the right decision as it didn’t really improve. I came back in properly at the end, the final few chapters, but it was the same. I hadn’t missed anything, not much had actually happened, and that was fine.

Eurovision is the pull but it is not the focus. Either they couldn’t mention anything actually happening for legal reasons? Or maybe being at Eurovision was the meeting point, but it isn’t actually about Eurovision itself, despite the claim. Even if they couldn’t mention the concert, surely the whole city wasn’t void of something interesting to explore or mention. From that angle there is no reason to include Eurovision at all, they could all agree to meet at a park once a year. I meant to check if it was based on a real year, with a few fake acts thrown in, but by the end I didn’t care much either way.

The friendship group never made sense either, it did feel this minor connection to a single year at Eurovision was the thing holding them all together. Perhaps if they didn’t meet at Eurovision there would be no common factor to keep these people in contact.

In terms of actual story, the book follows four friends as they live their lives after meeting one year at the Eurovision Song Contest. From there we see snippets of the rest of their year, from relationships to jobs, and other life events. Then they come together once more and have another Eurovision adjacent experience. The characters are flat and while seem interesting feel undeveloped on the page, there is certainly no reason to invest in them.

The scope of the book is twelve years, so a lot of life events happen. Which is why it’s fascinating to me how it can be so unengaging. It is also a fascinating inside to these four people’s lives where they can actually traverse Europe and meet up once a year, from what I picked up everyone is living nomadic and simple lives where spur of the moment decisions are frequent as are decisions to change countries on a whim. Which is perfectly fine, except I kept thinking about the cost of doing all of this versus the lives I’ve been shown.

It might be a book that speaks to you, if you love Eurovision you could be in the 4-5 star range, but if you’re concerned you’re at the opposite end, maybe skip this on and find another book that has a story around the annual celebration.

You can purchase Somewhere in the Crowd via the following

 Blackwell’s | Dymocks | Wordery

 Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust

As Good As Dead (#3) by Holly Jackson

16 Apr 2024 Leave a comment

by Amy in 1 Star, Audiobook, Thriller, Young Adult Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Published: 05 August 2021 (print)/05 August 2021 (audio) Goodreads badge
Publisher: Electric Monkey/HarperCollins UK Audio
Pages: 565/16 hours, 55 minutes
Narrator: Clare Corbett, Maryam Grace, Kristin Atherton, Jot Davies
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Young Adult Thriller
★   – 1.5 Stars

Pip is about to head to college, but she is still haunted by the way her last investigation ended. She’s used to online death threats in the wake of her viral true-crime podcast, but she can’t help noticing an anonymous person who keeps asking her: Who will look for you when you’re the one who disappears?
Soon the threats escalate and Pip realizes that someone is following her in real life. When she starts to find connections between her stalker and a local serial killer caught six years ago, she wonders if maybe the wrong man is behind bars.
Police refuse to act, so Pip has only one choice: find the suspect herself—or be the next victim. As the deadly game plays out, Pip discovers that everything in her small town is coming full circle . . .and if she doesn’t find the answers, this time she will be the one who disappears. . .

I had a lot of feelings about this book so I am going to be very careful and not turn it into a thousand word essay about why Jackson made the decisions she did. My notes and emotional responses are a wild read through and picking out the usable less spoilery ones has been hard because I need to vent about this book.

First things first. I was right. That’s important. Second, I am fascinating that the key moments, the moment you think should happen at the end happens around the halfway mark which is wild and sends your brain in a whole stack of directions about what the rest of the book could be filled with to match the intensity of those middle scenes.

The first half was great, as expected from the first two books, but the second half was a weird change that feels out of character, even for the change in Pip from the events of books one and two. I felt like I needed to skip to the end to find out the outcome to work out if the outlandish second half worked but I felt off. Twenty five plus chapters to go you know there must be consequences but the sudden shift in tone and character makes it hard to care. It’s fascinating to see this sudden shift in characters when you have gone through two and a half books with them.

As a whole this is an incredibly dark book. The second book, Good Girl, Bad Blood, was dark but this goes darker still as Pip has flashbacks and relives the events of the previous book. Corbett is a passionate narrator, lot of emotion in her narration. There’s critical emphasis on the important, tense, and emotional moments and it brings home Pip’s mental stability and the intensity of the events. What Jackson does incredibly well is show the effects of PTSD that’s left improperly treated. Pip’s trauma from books two is evident and there is a great demonstration of her emotional state worsening as the outcomes of book two play on her mind and she keeps lying to her friends, family, and therapist to seem ok.

Pip’s new idea for a podcast takes a while to settle. With no new ideas it’s a jump from idea to idea as Pip’s initial new focus is a cold case, before moving to her own life, or a supposedly closed case. I absolutely loved that Jackson shows the less glamourous side of true crime, especially true crime podcasts, and how the results of an investigation can takes its toll on the person investigating. I never understood the obsession with true crime podcasts but this is a great behind the scenes look at the impact and consequences that can come from it.

The structure of the book remains the same: additional voices to play different characters as well as the use of transcripts and files to look like a dossier is being compiled. I still love this style and it makes the experience unique and a great way to introduce information and tie it back into Pip’s research gathering.

I am pretty sure Pip becomes somewhat psychopathic in this book. I understand the reasoning Pip/Jackson is going for. I do. But the longer it went on it made less sense. If it was supposed to be a reflection of Pip’s broken mind I guess it makes sense. But Ravi should be the voice of reason but he isn’t. There are so many holes in Pip’s approach, it went beyond a plan to being a lot of effort when it was going to fail for so many reasons.

I am trying not to reveal too much, but the second half of this book made me so mad. Infuriated. There was no reason for the entire second half to exist. I don’t care what Pip thinks would happen, there are two books prior to say that wouldn’t be the case. You can’t even chalk it up to her mental state because that isn’t it at all. Her choices are illogical and what’s more infuriating is she ignores a huge amount of evidence. There is So. Much. Evidence. Jackson includes so many other reasonable options instead of what actually happens which is why it’s weird to have Pip ignore them.

I know it’s for the drama, and for Pip’s decisions and mental state but I found it hard that someone that smart, could be that stupid. But I guess we’re supposed to believe that when you are emotionally unstable already with trauma and PTSD, what’s one more? What she does to Max, what she does even before Max was unnecessary. It’s too far fetched that anyone would even succeed in doing what she does. It’s beyond absurd no matter how much true crime you knew about. Ludicrous is the only way to describe her plan.

I’ve wasted 17 hours of my life with this book. It was way too long and I felt betrayed by the ending because even after suffering through all those absurd decisions Jackson throws it back in our face. I can’t give it one star because I enjoyed the first half, but I can’t give it two because I hated the second half more and more the further I went. I ended up listening to it a 2x speed because I was suffering listening to this book, but it still dragged on. It was amazing how long the last few chapters took.

Read this book by all means, finish off the series and see the outcome of book two. My advice is stop at the half way point, work out your own new ending based on the evidence already given, and move on. You will only get baffled by the decisions Pip/Jackson has made. I made up a great new ending myself and tried to forget the second half ever happened.

You can purchase As Good as Dead via the following

QBD | Booktopia | Dymocks

Wordery | Angus and Robinson | Blackwell’s

 Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust | Audible

Dishing the Dirt (#26) by M. C. Beaton

23 Nov 2022 Leave a comment

by Amy in 1 Star, Agatha Raisin, Audiobook, Mystery Tags: , , , , , , ,

Published: 14th September 2015 (print)/11 February 2016 (audio) Goodreads badge
Publisher: Minotaur Books /Audible
Pages: 304/6 hrs and 29 mins
Narrator: Penelope Keith
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Cosy Mystery
★  – 1 Star

A therapist had moved into the village of Carsely and Agatha Raisin hates her. Not only was this therapist, Jill Davent, romancing Agatha’s ex-husband, but she had dug up details of Agatha’s slum background.

Added to that, Jill was counselling a woman called Gwen Simple from Winter Parva and Agatha firmly believed Gwen to have assisted her son in some grisly murders, although has no proof she had done so.

A resentment is different from a dislike and needs to be shared, so as the friendship between James and Jill grows stronger, the more Agatha does to try to find out all she can about her. When Jill is found strangled to death in her office two days’ later, Agatha finds herself under suspicion – and must fight to clear her name.

I have seen a few reviews mention an Agatha Raisin drinking game but you could also do a Bingo based on the formulaic events that happen in each book. I certainly think it would be a more interesting way of experiencing the series.

The stories are still going the same unengaging way – some character thinks they can solve the murder before Agatha or the police and then they get killed before they tell anyone. Everyone is rude and instantly jumps to abusing people and calling them a variety of colourful names. The immediate answer to any inconvenience is to threaten to kill someone which means of course that someone will end up dead in the next chapter. It’s the same every time and while formula is good, and expected in a cosy, there is no creativity, imagination, or variation on any of these. The plot is all over the place, there are random characters and scenes and none of it was important and if it was it was so late in the story I didn’t care. It’s flat and uninteresting and grating on the nerves.

I can’t decide if Beaton wants only murders now and minimal village life because there’s no village normalcy anymore. No ladies society, no fetes and no village people other than token characters like Mrs Bloxby who only pops in as a plot device half the time.

What doesn’t help is Penelope Keith, who normally is fabulous, has the same voice for many of these characters so they all screech in the same way. I guess when all the characters start being abusive and screeching you only can screech in one way.

Honestly the only saving grace is Charles who flits in and out as he pleases but he speaks his mind and there was a time a few books back I thought he and Agatha were going to get together which would do the series a huge favour. Charles is a delightful character, he has his flaws but the banter and dynamic between himself and Agatha is always enjoyable and I love seeing their interactions.

I’ve definitely decided that Beaton hates these characters and writing these books. It’s the only explanation for why they are so flat and feel like scenes tacked on to one another with no thought or care. I know Agatha’s behaviour and the outlandish behaviour by the entire cast are meant to be humorous but they end up making me angry at the stupidity of it all. Agatha hates everyone, all her friends annoy her and the solutions to everything are either get married and give up her job, or go on holiday and get over the trauma of nearly being murdered. Because when you’re attacked and almost strangled to death in your own kitchen it’s brushed over as a non-event and people expect you to recover immediately from your trauma. The fact Agatha is still shaken by it is the only redeemable part of her character because it shows she’s not completely hollow.

As if it couldn’t get any worse, Beaton, who published this book in 2016, has a scene with a man who initially is described as liking to wear dresses, but by the time Agatha meets him, she insults him, and Beaton can’t decide if he is a man who likes dresses, a cross dresser, or a trans woman because in the space of a few sentences she infers all three.

I had to pause the book in disgust when the word “Tranny” was used because it was so offensive, even if it was in relation to a shop name. This is unacceptable even for Agatha Raisin. The fact the sentence finishes with “for people like you” and then this person thanks her for helping them is pushing even my limits to finish this godawful series. The term transvestite is repeatedly used after this and it’s just wholly unpleasant. The whole series is filled with offensive terms, the earlier books repeatedly had Agatha threatening people by saying they should get AIDS so it isn’t beyond Beaton to use this kind of language but it was a surprise given this wasn’t the early 90s but published in a time I thought people, or even a few editors if she even uses them anymore, would know better.

I’m repeating myself here but the clear downfall of these stories was definitely extending them from four to six hours, or whatever the page length equivalent was. The extra length has completely lessened their quality. When they were shorter they were nice and concise mysteries which wrapped up while still having character depth and exploration. Now they are longer and the stories are drawn out, when the main mystery is solved another pops up and the remainder two hours is spent dragging it out. I also think as Ms Beaton ages her own opinions are bleeding onto the page and it ends up being a long rant about society and the youth and how no one is a lady anymore. It’s amazing she has time to fit a murder in amongst that.

You can purchase Dishing the Dirt via the following

QBD | Booktopia | Book Depository

Dymocks | Wordery | Angus and Robinson

 Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust | Audible

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