I went into Christmas from the Heart expecting a fluffy and cheesy romance, kind of like a Hallmark movie, which I confess I enjoy watching from time to time. So there I was, all settled in with my glass of wine and a warm blanket, cozy as can be. But almost immediately, I could tell this story lacked what a compelling Hallmark movie always has: a likable female lead.

Livi runs a charity, and a large part of her job is getting funding for it. But she's so pushy and obnoxious that it sets my teeth on edge. When Guy tells her that his company cannot contribute to her charity this year due to financial issues, she badgers him relentlessly while bad-mouthing him to everyone she knows. He feels bad, so he sends her a check for a few hundred dollars, to which she responds by writing a belittling thank-you note back. When they meet in person, and she doesn't know who he is but can see that he has money, she immediately latches onto him for funding, all the while bad-mouthing Guy to him, not knowing they're the same person. At some point, Livi even acknowledges that she feels entitled to the money.

Honestly, I'm a bit in shock that this is the characterization of the main female character. The author seems to be trying to say that Livi is the kind and generous charity do-gooder while Guy is the Scrooge, but actually wrote it such that Livi comes across as the gold-digging villain while Guy is the reasonable one. It makes no sense to me that Guy falls for Livi when she essentially acts like an entitled princess who must get her way.

Speaking of unlikable characters, there is a local guy Morris who pines for Livi in the story. He hangs around her like a puppy, running errands for her and basically acting like her slave. He badgers her constantly to get back together with him even though she has told him multiple times that she doesn't want to. But then she strings him along, sucking up to him so that he would do favors for her. The two of them deserve each other, so it's sad that they weren't the pairing that got together in the end.

Every year during this time, I try to fit in a few seasonal books to get in the spirit. But inevitably I get distracted, and the holidays seem to fly by in the blink of an eye. When January arrives, I look at my pile of holiday reads and admit defeat. But not this year. This year, I did it! It's just too bad it was a cold-hearted read instead of the heartwarming one I was hoping for.

Readaroo Rating: 2 stars

The premise of The Whisper Man is soo good. A serial killer whispers to kids to gain their trust, then abducts them in the dead of the night. The police thought they had caught The Whisper Man, but 20 years later, signs indicate someone using his modus operandi is back. And father and son duo Tom and Jack could be the next target.

The thing my brain can't wrap itself around is this: how can a thriller be so slow? Plodding doesn't even begin to describe the majority of it. The book crawls along, so sluggishly that I resorted to fidgeting and pinching myself just to break up the boredom while reading it. The investigation doesn't even get going until well into the second half of this book, where it takes up only a small part of it.

Instead, this book feels like a thin plot stuffed with a majority of filler. There was so many passages of self-defeating characters mentally beating themselves up, or thinking about how they can't get along with people while doing/saying stupid things to them. My mind wandered constantly. I wanted to give up so many times, and I would have if not for the excellent reviews.

Even the most exciting parts are written so that the climatic scenes happen off-page. I ask: why am I even reading this if I have to imagine all the best parts? The actual investigation is interesting enough, but there are no surprises there. It's written so that you can see everything coming from a mile away.

What I wanted is a thrilling mystery with some creepy vibes and great twists. But what I got instead is an indulgent treatise on how to wallow in self-pity and feel guilty over everything, while not getting along with your parent/child by being purposefully difficult. Nope, that isn't the same at all.

Readaroo Rating: 2 stars

One Person, No Vote chronicles the insidious practice of voter suppression that has not only shaped shameful parts of our nation's history, but is still in practice today. Hiding behind the fake battle cry of voter fraud, one party leverages strict voter ID requirements, voter roll purging, closing of voting stations, and gerrymandering to systematically diminish the voting power of certain demographics while inflating the influence of its own supporters.

You know, if I were in politics, and I realized my party's base was slowly shrinking over time because the vast majority of people didn't agree with me anymore, my first thought would be to figure out what was wrong with my policies and how I can change them to be more inclusive and attractive to a wider demographic. It would never occur to me to restrict voting IDs to only take valid driver's licenses, which I know a large percentage of the people who are voting against me don't have, then close every DMV in the area where they live, then move all the voting stations so far away from them and public transportation that they can't reach them, and then sit back and congratulate myself on a job well done. I mean, we do still live in a democracy, right? And this isn't some rare thing, happening in the middle of nowhere. Many states are actively attempting or have successfully achieved these measures.

Needless to say, this book was maddening to read. It made me feel so frustrated and angry to hear of all the injustices being perpetrated against these people who are already the most downtrodden of society, being its poor and minorities. This targeted disenfranchisement, if successful, ensures that their needs and their voices will never be heard or advocated for.

And yet, I can't rate this book higher because it was so tedious to read. It was dry, filled with paragraphs and paragraphs of data and statistics. It breaks down every aspect of modern voter suppression in the most technical way. And while it tries to tell the human side of the story, it does so from a macro level, not from an actual first person's perspective, which makes it really hard to get into the narrative and retain everything I read. The book's not that long, only 200 pages, and still it took me six days to get through it.

But even though this is tough to read at times, both due to the frustrating topic and the tedious way it's written, it's still a timely and relevant topic, one which is crucial to understanding the current state of our democracy and why recent politics has been the way it is. For that, I'm glad I picked up this book.

Readaroo Rating: 3 stars

I scare pretty easily, so I don't read a lot of spooky books. Growing up, I couldn't enjoy Goosebumps because those were too scary for me. One time I made the mistake of reading a random page and that was enough to keep me from falling asleep that night.

But I've been an adult for many years now (in age, if not in feeling), and I thought it's time I give spooky books another try. After all, they seem so fun. Unfortunately, The Widow of Pale Harbor was a poor choice, mostly because this book isn't scary or fun at all, but a big load of boring.

The first half of this book is mostly insta-love between Mrs. Carver and Gabriel Stone, the two main characters. What do they see in each other? Well, your guess is as good as mine. Whenever they meet, they're struck by how gorgeous the other person is, stare intensely at each other, blush a lot, and get tongue-tied. Then, over the smallest perceived insult, they'll feel terribly hurt and rebuff the other, only to meet again the next day and go through it all again. This happened over and over, for the entire first half of the book. It was so cringey and dull, like some sort of bad YA romance.

Then, past the halfway point, the pace picks up and things finally start to happen. But it quickly becomes evident to me what's going on, who's responsible, and even the reasons why. Except the characters in here are all very clueless and incompetent. They just bungle from place to place, making big messes while putting themselves and others in danger. It was all very tiring and frustrating.

In the end, this book just wasn't what I was expecting. I wanted something spooky and exciting. But what I got instead was a bad domestic thriller with grossly incompetent characters who spent the majority of time making googly eyes at each other. Sigh. My quest for a gently spooky book continues.

Readaroo Rating: 2 stars

In Maybe This Time, when Mimi visits the charming village of Goosebrook, she not only falls in love with the place, but also the people there, and in particular, kind and lovable Cal. But due to circumstances, it isn't the right time for them, and anyways she needs to get back to her city job and life. As time goes on and life throws in unforeseen complications, their paths are bound to cross again and again. But will it ever be the right time for them?

This book is Jill Mansell in top form. It's a light and fluffy read, but it still has many lovely, heartwarming moments, made all the more so because Mimi genuinely cares for Cal and wants him to be happy, even if it isn't with her. It explores that magic of meeting someone, discovering a special spark there, and then the bittersweet realization that it isn't meant to be. I found it to be a compelling angle for a love story and was thoroughly riveted. There are also a slew of adorable and sassy supporting characters, all contributing to the fun.

Typical for this genre, there were some cheesy parts, but they weren't overly so. I did find the ending to be a little bit abrupt. After everything Mimi had gone through. I wouldn't have minded the ending being a little more drawn-out. Nonetheless, this is such a sweet and uplifting story, and reading it filled me with warm fuzzies, which is just perfect for this time of the year.

Readaroo Rating: 4 stars

I've been looking for a good mystery series to sink my teeth into, and this just might be it.

Set in colonial Singapore, Singapore Sapphire introduces us to the strong and unflinching Harriet Gordon, who is trying to earn some money as a typist at a time when women are discouraged from education and working. When her first client is found murdered, she is drawn into the case, along with the kind and intelligent Inspector Curran. As more bodies show up, they soon realize this case is bigger than anyone initially thought.

I found the mystery to be quite fun. There were plenty of shady characters, and the story, once it got going, unfolded with one interesting event after another. It was also an unusual change of pace from most mysteries to have the police in here be portrayed as competent and kind. In fact, though this series focuses on Harriet and she pokes around as much as she can as a civilian, Inspector Curran plays a vital role in solving the case and saving the day.

I did find the pacing of this book to be a bit uneven, with the first quarter of it being quite slow and plodding. With this being the first book in the series, the characters and the setting understandably have to be introduced, though it felt like that was done a little too leisurely. But I'm really glad I stuck it out, because once I got past that part, the story picked up and became unceasingly entertaining.

Part of the reason this book initially attracted my attention is that I loved my visit to Singapore a few years ago, and it's always fun to read a story set in a place you've been. The author did an amazing job portraying the atmosphere of the place, with the heat, its oppressive humidity that's particularly rough for newcomers, the torrential rain storms, and its interesting mix of people from many different backgrounds. It was also fun to recognize places that we had visited while we were there.

This is the first book in the series, and it's an enjoyable and compelling start. I can't wait for more adventures from Harriet and Curran.

Readaroo Rating: 4 stars

I've been looking forward to reading I Am, I Am, I Am for so long because so many people have loved it. But I think this is a case where my expectations just didn't match what I got. I thought it would be a thrilling collection of essays about near death experiences. What I got was very little of that. Only a few of the experiences were even that interesting or nearing death while the rest were a stretch to fit that mold.

Probably the single thing I most disliked in this book was the author's writing style. It's over-embellished and florid, turning what could have been straightforward accounts into long-winded treatises. Most of the experiences were padded out with tangential ramblings, anecdotes, and various thoughts of her life and her philosophy. I can tell the author was trying to be insightful with her digressions, but it didn't come across that way to me. Instead, I was bored and often didn't see the point of what she was talking about.

I think another reason I didn't connect with this book is that the author and I have really different outlooks on life. She's ruled by emotions, doing whatever she feels like at the moment without accounting for danger. She often takes unnecessary risks with her life (like, how many times does one need to near-drown before being more careful in open water?), and it was frustrating to read this over and over. She also travels to far out, unsafe locations, usually with a young child, and it was exasperating to read about her putting not only her own life in danger, but also her children's.

In the end, this book just isn't for me. While there were a few interesting passages, I found most of it to be boring and irritating, and I'm glad I am done with it.

Readaroo Rating: 2 stars