Roberta Reads

The Haunted House by Annabelle Sami My rating: 5 of 5 stars I absolutely love this series of books, so I was really pleased to receive an ARC of Agent Zaiba Investigates: The Haunted House. I was not disappointed! This book somehow manages to exceed my high expectations. I Zaiba so much, she’s smart, kind, and always tries to include everyone. Her family and friends are great, and by this point I feel like I know them pretty well. I particularly love the mystery in this story. It’s full of secret passages, hidden rooms, and intriguing clues. The selection of suspects is interesting, and all of them seem suspicious at one point or another. The illustrations that pepper the book are of the always excellent quality. They really bring the story to life, and come across well on my kindle. Overall, this is a fun and entertaining mystery, enjoyable for children and adults alike. I highly recommend it. I was given a free copy of this book, my opinions are my...

The Deadly Mystery of the Missing Diamonds by T.E. Kinsey My rating: 4 of 5 stars I have very much enjoyed the Lady Hardcastle series by T E Kinsey (and plan to do so many times more), so when I saw The Deadly Mystery of the Missing Diamonds available on Amazon First Reads, I thought I’d give it a try. I had no idea what to expect, as the blurb doesn’t really give much away. I enjoyed the 1920s setting, and the mystery was interesting. I found it a little slow moving occasionally, and it’s less in my wheelhouse (light, frothy, and silly) than the Lady Hardcastle books. However, there is still humour and banter, and the story is not heavy or dark. I really liked the characters (and, yes, there are links to the Lady Hardcastle series), and enjoyed solving the mystery, so I’ll definitely be continuing with the series. View all my reviews

Werewolves of London by Angie Fox My rating: 4 of 5 stars I love Angie Fox’s Southern Ghost Hunter series, so I was pleased to receive review copies of this newly rewritten series (you can see my reviews of The Monster MASH and The Transylvania Twist on my blog, amazon and goodreads). This series has Angie’s trademark humour, but is more serious than the Southern Ghost Hunter series. It also contains several topics that I really dislike reading about - war, and gods (who I mostly dislike because they’re always making war or other chaos). But in spite of that, I still enjoyed this book. It was fun to get back to the characters I enjoyed in the previous two books. I particularly enjoyed the way the MASH camp pulled together in this story. And a certain love interest from book 1 is back... There’s also a new (and not entirely stable) dragon in camp, so plenty of excitement in this book! I really enjoyed Medusa’s baby shower, and the birth scene was high...

A Postcard from Paris: the most romantic, escapist and uplifting read from the No.1 best seller by Alex Brown My rating: 4 of 5 stars I’ve been a fan of Alex Brown’s books for many years now. I just love her writing, and A Postcard from Paris is no exception. This is a little different from the very light hearted romances I normally read, and contains a topic (war) that I normally find too upsetting. But Alex Brown writes in such a way that I find it interesting, rather than harrowing. I really enjoyed the characters in this book, especially Annie and the new friends she meets in Paris. I think Annie’s character development is particularly good. Trixie is also a wonderful character, and I loved gradually discovering what she’d been up to in Paris. Paris makes a wonderful setting - the shop and apartment that Annie is working on was particularly wonderful. There’s a little bit of romance here and there too. Overall, I loved this story, with its strong...

Mystery by the Sea by Verity Bright My rating: 4 of 5 stars I’ve not read any of the previous books in this series, but I liked the cover and description, and enjoy other cozy crimes set in the 1920s, so I thought I’d give it a try. I’m glad I did. This story worked very well as a stand alone. Although there were a couple of points where I was aware that things had happened before, everything I needed to know was in this book, and I was never confused. I really enjoyed reading this book. The main characters (Lady Eleanor Swift and her staff) are well drawn, likeable, and entertaining. There’s a good array of mysterious and nefarious-looking suspects, and the mystery itself is fun and interesting. Brighton makes an excellent setting. I did find Lady Swift a little slow on the uptake to start with, on some things particularly (eg the photograph), but I think this is realistic, given the emotional strain she was under. I’ll be reading the previous four ...