Book Review: ‘Dragons and Dreams: Bedtime Stories’ by Becca Price

 

A few weeks ago, I was scouring the Amazon shelves looking for inexpensive, unknown books with five star reviews (yes, that’s how I save on my book money). I came across this hidden jewel: Dragons and Dreams, Bedtime Stories by Becca Price. For $3.99, it was at the top of my price range for a children’s e-book, given that it only has 64 pages. But I read an entertaining sample chapter and decided to spring for the bucks. Best money I ever spent.

There are no werewolves or vampires or cute hobbit-like creatures populating this book. Frankly, I am quite sick of those overwritten copycat characters. Instead, Dragons and Dreams gifted me classically-told stories, one of those rare “once upon a time” collections that are so light and charming.

I was introduced to a host of interesting characters such as the ornery but misconstrued dragon that flew into the mountain and panicked an entire village or a curious faerie and a talking sunflower, and of course, the obligatory princes and princesses with storyline reminiscent of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and the Brothers Grimm.
I particularly enjoyed “A Princess for Tea” about the misunderstood dragon, and “The Third Precious Thing,” a unique multi-perspective tale of a king and his three sons. The stories are told with hidden revelations so one can skim beneath the surface of the narrative.
This is a book even adults will enjoy. Five stars for this wonderful children’s book.

First published at blogcritic http://blogcritics.org/book-review-dragons-and-dreams-bedtime-stories-by-becca-price/

Book Review: The Cliff House Strangler by Shirley Tallman

So I am back, reviewing one of the Sarah Woolson cozies, this time titled The Cliff House Strangler by Oregon author Shirley Tallman. In this third installment of the series, 1880s female attorney Sarah Woolson leaves the prestigious, male-chauvinistic law firm of Shepard and Shepard to open her own financially struggling law office above a bake shop. The novel opens with Sarah Woolson and former colleague Robert Campbell participating in a Madame Karpova séance at the Cliff House, attended by a few members of the San Francisco elite. After being treated to an absorbing oft-hallucinogenic séance, we find that one of the attendees is brutally strangled in his chair.

The event plunges our dear Sarah into the investigation with bull-like determination and cat-like curiosity. Of course, no one believes her. After all, she is only a woman, and a female attorney at that, an occupation frowned upon in the old male-dominated San Francisco days. This causes Sarah to work triply hard on proving her case. When two more séance attendees are found murdered and Madame Karpova is arrested for the murder, the case takes on the mantle of conspiracy and city hall corruption. But of course, only Sarah recognizes this.

In this episode, Sarah’s headlong and determined character is consistent with the past two novels of the series, traits that endear us to her character. The narrative is a true cozy, giving us a flavor of 1880s San Francisco with its taxi carriages, horse-drawn buses, and narrow unpaved streets. The city neighborhoods are all there (Russian Hill, Nob Hill, the Barbary Coast, Market Street, Sutter Street, etc.), but seen from an older prism, one of the many engaging aspects of the novel.
Is it a light novel? Of course, it is. That’s what cozies are, but it is also thick with suspense and plot, not to mention a unique, completely absorbing setting. The narrative prose is smooth, consistent, and vintage Sarah. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Five deserving stars.

First published on August 2, 2013 at blogcritics.  http://blogcritics.org/book-review-the-cliff-house-strangler-a-sarah-woolson-mystery-by-shirley-tallman/