Search Results : Julie Hyzy

Eggsecutive Orders by Julie Hyzy - Book Review

Jan 042012

Eggsecutive Orders by Julie Hyzy
Published by Berkley, an imprint of Penguin

This is the 3rd book in the White House Chef series. I have previously reviewed the first two books: State of the Onion and Hail to the Chef.

Ollie Paras is back, and she’s just as fabulous as ever. In Eggsecutive Orders, we see much less of the White House and the White House kitchen, because Ollie herself gets kicked out of her kitchen in the first few pages of the book. The night before the book begins, the President hosted a dinner that included the Joseph McCarthy of terrorism, the NSA’s Carl Minkus. Minkus has made plenty of enemies, so when he dies after dinner, the Secret Service suspects foul play - and the food service - immediately.

Julie Hyzy does a fabulous job keeping Ollie’s adventures fresh. I was initially a bit worried about how Ollie not being in the White House much would play out, but Hyzy added two new characters to the mix: Ollie’s mother and grandmother who were on their way to visit her from Chicago when the crisis comes to a head. To spice things up even more, Ollie has once more been prohibited from sticking her nose into the investigation, but this time her Secret Service boyfriend Tom is essentially a hostage to ensure her good behavior. He has been put in charge of keeping her in line, and his job depends on her staying out of trouble.

Although I really like Hyzy’s Manor House series, I had forgotten just how much fun the White House Chef series really is. Ollie is a fabulous protagonist: smart, sassy, and occasionally prone to embarrassing herself (but not too much). Even better, she’s just as engaging three books into the series as she was at the beginning, if not more so.

This series is an absolute joy to read, I highly recommend it. I know I’m looking forward to the next books in the series: Buffalo West Wing and the newly-released Affairs of Steak.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Personal copy.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

D.E.A.R. - Winter Break Reading

Nov 282011

Do you remember D.E.A.R? At my elementary school that meant “Drop Everything And Read,” something we typically did for 10 or 15 minutes every day. Best part of my day, really. As my TBR and Library piles are battling for supremacy and trying to sneak in around the review copies who have staked out places on my calendar, I’m thinking back to the simpler days of D.E.A.R., when I believed I had time to get to any book I wanted. And that, of course, got me fantasizing about a world where I really could just Drop Everything And Read for more than just 15 minutes a day.

So here’s the deal: I’ve now finished (or almost) every single book I plan to review in 2011. Some of the reviews may not be quite written yet, but they’re close. Part of this is possible because of the hiatus I will be taking around Christmas. The last content you will see from me this year is my ‘Best of 2011′ list, which will be appearing on Wednesday, December 21st (I can write it now, because it is pulled from among the books I reviewed this year, not necessarily everything I read this year). Then, there will be radio (RSS?) silence until January 1st, when you’ll get a great list of Winter 2012 books I’m looking forward to, in fact, it is already scheduled and waiting for you!

So what’s a girl to read between now and then?

Well, I’ve got a huge pile of books waiting for me: some library, some personal TBR, and a couple of 2011 books I’m still dying to read. The biggest part of the pile, though, is made up of 2012 books. I see this as a great chance to get to skip ahead to some of the books I’m most excited for, whenever they are being released. Usually those April books would have to wait, but now they’re getting a chance to be read early - if I get to them. I think of my winter reading pile as essentially a huge Readathon pile. I wouldn’t call it aspirational, precisely, because if I were to read all 50+ books (counting ebooks) on it, I would have a ridiculous amount of review writing to do. This, though, is the pile of everything I would love to read, if I get the chance and it strikes my fancy. This will be a serious time of mood reading for me, but I have a lot of great things to choose from, so I’m confident I will never be without a wonderful book.

Okay, top to bottom, left to right, and back to front those are:

Not Pictured:

The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson
A Partial History of Lost Causes by Jennifer DuBois
White Truffles in Winter by N.M. Kelby
Enchantments by Kathryn Harrison
All the Flowers in Shanghai by Duncan Jepson
The Crown by Nancy Bilyeau
Buffalo West Wing by Julie Hyzy
The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie
These Girls by Sarah Pekkanen

Back left:

The Ridge by Michael Kortya
Divergent by Veronica Roth
In Darkness by Nick Lake
The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabelle Wilkerson
Beyond the Beautiful Forever by Katherine Boo
A Good American by Alex George
The Underside of Joy by Sere Prince Halverson
Come in and Cover Me by Gin Phillips
The World We Found by Thrity Umrigar
The Time In Between by Maria Duenas

Back Center:

Reign of Madness by Lynn Cullen
Accidents of Providence by Stacia M. Brown
The Sister Queens by Sophie Perinot
Carry the One by Carol Anshaw

Back Right:

The Hangman’s Daughter by Oliver Potzsch
Among Others by Jo Walton
Eggsecutive Orders by Julie Hyzy
Paris Without End by Gioia Dilberto
The Song Remains the Same by Allison Winn Scotch
Sacre Bleu by Christopher Moore
Gods of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye
Defending Jacob by William Landay
Julia’s Child by Sarah Phnneo
The Demi-Monde: Winter by Rod Rees
The Bungalow by Sarah Jio
MWF Seeking BFF by Rachel Bertsche

Front Center:
The Journal of Best Practices by David Finch
Treasure Island!!! by Sara Levine
The Exile of Sara Stevensonby Darci Hannah
The Cailiffs of Baghdad, Georgia by Mary Helen Stefniak
The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson

I’ve also organized the books on my Nook into bookshelves, with a special ‘winter break reading’ bookshelf, so that I have the digital equivalent of a book pile. Here are the titles on there (yes, some are duplicates with the physical list), they are a mix of NetGalley and personal TBR ebooks:

11/22/63 by Stephen King
Accidents of Providence by Stacia M. Brown
The Baker’s Daughter by Sarah McCoy
The Bungalow by Sarah Jio
Changeless by Gail Carriger
Clair de Lune by Jetta Carlton
The Demi-Monde: Winter by Rod Rees
Destiny of the Republic by Candice Miller
The Forever Queen by Helen Hollick
The Iron King by Julie Kagwa
Julia’s Child by Sarah Pinneo
The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen
Kindred by Octavia Butler
The Lost Kingdom by Julia Flynn Siler

Night Strangers by Chris Bohalian
Poison by Sara Poole
The Reconstructionist by Nick Arvin
Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones
Theodora: Actress, Empress, Whore by Stella Duffy
The Tigress of Forli by Elizabeth Lev
To Defy a King by Elizabeth Chadwick
Voyager by Diana Gabaldon
The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown
The Wild Rose by Jennifer Donnelly
The Winter Palace by Eva Stachniak
The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley*

As I read through these books, I will start crossing them off the list, so you can see what I’ve read (if you care). I’ll try to also do a wrap-up post early in the new year.

Now the only question is: what do I read first???

Books Can Be Deceiving by Jenn McKinlay - Book Review

Jul 062011

Books Can Be Deceiving by Jenn McKinlay
Published by Berkley, an imprint of Penguin

This is the first book in the new Library Lover’s Mysteries series.

Lindsay always imagined that she would use her Library Science degree in a large and prestigious academic library, but things don’t always go as you plan, and she now finds herself as the new library director in the small town of Briar Creek. At least her best friend Beth is in Briar Creek as well, and even works at Lindsay’s library as the phenomenal children’s librarian. Lindsay may not have Beth around for long, however, because she has been accused first of plagiarizing the work of her boyfriend, a famous children’s author, but also of his murder after their public - and loud - breakup. Now Lindsay must fight to save her friend and find the real murderer, before it is too late.

A cozy mystery set anywhere around books is always something I am going to want to check out, and Books Can Be Deceiving sounded just perfect. What reader, after all, can resist crimes set in a library?

Books Can Be Deceiving, though, did not get off to the best start. Something about the opening couple of chapters was slightly awkward and not particularly engaging. I am used to Julie Hyzy’s cozies that suck the reader in from page one, and Books Can Be Deceiving did not accomplish that. One thing that kept pulling me out of the book was the fact that the Briar Creek Public Library book club was reading The Last Time I Saw Paris, a book also out from Berkley released only two months earlier. This would be unlikely to bother most readers, but I kept wondering about Jenn McKinlay and Lynne Sheene, wondering if they are friends, do they have the same agent, same editor, etc? It just distracted me and certainly did not help me with my already rocky immersion into the story.

Still, by the time the dead body was found, McKinlay had me. The writing gained confidence and became increasingly interesting as the story progressed, and by the end I was completely enthralled. Despite the less than stellar start, I can honestly say I am looking forward to the next book in this series.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Publisher.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

June 2011 Reading Wrap-Up

Jul 032011

June was a big month at Devourer of Books, with the entire week of June 6-10 devoted to Audiobook Week. Vacation saved me, though, Iand I still managed to finish 18 books, including 4 audiobooks, for a total of 3900 pages read and over 34 hours listened.

Below is a list of my posts from this past month, including a pick of the month, followed by a list of the other books I read in June.

What I Reviewed:

Audiobooks
Faith by Jennifer Haigh, narrated by Therese Plummer
Trespass by Rose Tremain, narrated by Juliet Stevenson
Sweet Jiminy by Kristin Gore, narrated by Hillary Huber
Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly, narrated by Emily Janice Card and Emma Bering
A Covert Affair by Jennet Connant, narrated by Jan Maxwell
Matched by Ally Condie, narrated by Kate Simses
Bossypants by Tina Fey, narrated by Tina Fey

Fiction
The First Husband by Laura Dave
The Little Women Letters by Gabrielle Donnelly
The Girl in the Garden by Kamala Nair
The Art of Forgetting by Camille Noe Pagan
Things We Didn’t Say by Kristina Riggle

Mystery
Grace Interrupted by Julie Hyzy
Three Act Tragedy by Agatha Christie

Zombies
Flip This Zombie by Jesse Petersen
Eat Slay Love by Jesse Petersen
Deadline by Mira Grant

Historical Fiction
Vlad: The Last Confession by C.C. Humphreys

Nonfiction
The Statues That Walked by Carl Lipo

Saturday Story Spotlight
Where’s Baby’s Birthday Cake by Karen Katz
A to Z by Sandra Boynton

Other Posts:
Cool Down with Agatha Christie - Endless Night discussion
2010-2011 My Audiobook Year - Audiobook Week Discussion
Sound Effects in Audiobooks - Audiobook Week Discussion
Audiobook Week Mid-Week Meme
Audiobooks for the Uninitiated - Audiobook Week Discussion
Audiobook Resources - Audiobook Week Discussion

Pick of the Month:

Faith by Jennifer Haigh, narrated by Therese Plummer

TSS: Birthday Wishes

Jun 262011

This has been a crazy week, we were on vacation for the first part of it, and have come home to Daniel’s birthday extravaganza! Our trip home also involved the fairly devastating loss of Daniel’s beloved Cookie Monster doll, which he sleeps with every night and the inability of United Airlines to return my phone call to the department of items lost on planes coming into O’Hare and let me know if they had it. Luckily, we got a replacement yesterday thanks to Sarah from Nerdy Apple Bottom.

Between getting some good reading time in on vacation and being too tired to do much else besides read in the afternoons this week after traveling with a toddler, I got a ton of reading done this week, including finishing two audiobooks:

And what I reviewed:

Grace Interrupted by Julie Hyzy - Book Review

Jun 222011

Grace Interrupted by Julie Hyzy
Published by Berkley, an imprint of Penguin

The first book in the Manor House Mystery series, please see my review of the first book in the series, Grace Under Pressure.

Things are finally settling down for Grace Wheaton and Marshfield Manor after the death of the head curator. The quiet only lasts until two women are caught trespassing near a group of Civil War re-enactors on the premises, wishing to do harm to one of the men, Zachary Kincade. Surprisingly, though, when Zachary turns up dead, these women aren’t the main suspects; Grace’s potential beau Jack Embers, previously accused of killing Zachary’s brother, is the one under suspicion.

Grace continues to be a compelling character. In Grace Interrupted she is dealing not only with another murder, but with accusations against the man she loves - okay, the man she has sort of a crush on and would like to finally get out on a date with.

As always, Hyzy does a great job crafting her mystery. Her murderer makes perfect sense and she does scatter clues, but the culprit is not so obvious that the reader isn’t kept guessing.

Grace Interrupted is just as lovely and fun as I expect of Hyzy. Recommended.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Publisher.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

May 2011 Reading Wrap-Up

Jun 052011

May started off really, really slowly as far as my reading went, but I sort of went full throttle at the end of the month and ended up having an amazing month. I finished 22 books including 5600 pages of print and 41 hours of audio. I’m still amazed I read that many books, particularly because the beginning of the month was like molasses, but I finished a book each day from the 13th to the 30th.

I will first be listing the books reviewed over the last month, and will include unreviewed books below, so you can see what will be coming up!

What I Reviewed:

Audiobooks
The Anatomy of Ghosts by Andrew Taylor, narrated by John Telfer

Fiction
Married with Zombies by Jesse Petersen
How to be an American Housewife by Margaret Dilloway
The Tragedy of Arthur by Arthur Phillips
The Arrivals by Meg Mitchell Moore
If Sons, Then Heirs by Lorene Cary

Mystery
Murder Under Cover by Kate Carlisle
Grace Under Pressure by Julie Hyzy
Towards Zero by Agatha Christie

Historical Fiction
March by Geraldine Brooks
The Last Time I Saw Paris by Lynn Sheene
Doc by Mary Doria Russell

Nonfiction
How Shakespeare Changed Everything by Stephen March
The Convert by Deborah Baker
Wicked Bugs by Amy Stewart

Saturday Story Spotlight
Have You Seen My Cat? by Eric Carle
Blue Hat, Green Hat by Sandra Boynton
Tumford the Terrible by Nancy Tillman

Other Posts:
A Rose by Any Other Name
Oh, D.E.A.R. - Upcoming Books
Getting Excited About Audiobook Week - Audies Winners
Audiobook Week 2011 Info and Discussion Topics
Cool Down with Agatha Christie - Standalone Readalong
High School Book Drive Wrap-up

Pick of the Month:

The Arrivals by Meg Mitchell Moore

I had trouble choosing just one this month, Doc by Maria Doria Russell and The Tragedy of Arthur by Arthur Phillips were incredibly strong contenders as well

Grace Under Pressure by Julie Hyzy - Book Review

May 242011

Grace Under Pressure by Julie Hyzy
Published by Berkley, an imprint of Penguin

The first book in the Manor of Murder Mystery series

All Grace’s life, she has dreamed of working at Marshfield Manor. She is finally the assistant curator and at this point, it is really the only thing she has going for her, after losing her mother to cancer and her fiance to someone else in quick succession. She loves her job and her roommates, even if money is still a bit tight and the roof needs replacing. All things considered, things are going well over all. Until, that is, the head curator of Marshfield Manor is killed in the private quarters during a disturbance downstairs. Now Grace must step into two new roles: running the manor as head curator, and trying to solve a murder, before anyone else is targeted.

Grace is a fabulous character, tough, yet vulnerable. Great at her job, but a little bit hopeless in her personal life. She is so engaging that I fell immediately under her spell, completely identifying her and rapt by the things that were challenging her. The mystery itself was well-constructed, with sufficient clues that I did not feel the answer came out of nowhere, but enough intrigue and suspense that I did not guess the perpetrator before Grace did.

I very much enjoyed the first two books I read in Hyzy’s White House Chef series, but good as they were, I think that Grace Under Pressure is that much better. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series, Grace Interrupted which is out in June of 2011.

Highly recommended.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Personal copy.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

March 2011 Reading Wrap-Up

Apr 032011

I’m changing up the format of my monthly wrap-ups a bit for 2011. Instead of listing everything I read and linking to what has been reviewed, I will first be listing the books reviewed over the last month, and will include unreviewed books below, so you can see what will be coming up!

March was a really fabulous reading month. I finished 22 books, including 18 in print and 4 in audio, for a total of almost 5700 pages and close to 60 hours of audio. I started a few of these in February and just finished in March, but overall a really great reading month. You’re in for some very enthusiastic reviews in April, because some of those unreviewed books below were fabulous.

What I Reviewed:

Audiobooks
Unfamiliar Fishes by Sarah Vowell, narrated by Sarah Vowell, John Slattery, Paul Rudd, Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, John Hodgeman, Catherine Keener, Keanu Reeves, Maya Rudolph

Fiction
Christian Lacroix and the Tale of Sleeping Beauty by Camilla Morton
Mermaid by Carolyn Turgeon
Angelology by Danielle Trussoni
Picking Bones from Ash by Marie Mockett
The Atlas of Love by Laurie Frankel
The Tiger’s Wife by Tea Obreht

Mystery
Learning to Swim by Sara J Henry
Pardonable Lies by Jacqueline Winspear
Messenger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear
An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear
Among the Mad by Jacqueline Winspear
Hail to the Chef by Julie Hyzy
The Girl in the Green Raincoat by Laura Lippman

Historical Fiction
The Girl Who Would Speak for the Dead by Paul Elwork
Sins of the House of Borgia by Sarah Bower
The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

Nonfiction
Madre: Perilous Journeys with a Spanish Noun by Liza Bakewell
Blood Work: A Tale of Medicine and Murder in the Scientific Revolution by Holly Tucker
The Dressmaker of Khair Khana by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
She Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth by Helen Castor

Saturday Story Spotlight
Will You Wear a Blue Hat? by Scholastic
Touch and Feel Baby Animals by DK Publishing
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Three Hens and a Peacock by Lester A. Laminack, illustrated by Henry Cole

Other Posts/Guest Posts:
“The Blood of a Lamb” by Holly Tucker, author of Blood Work

Pick of the Month:

Among the Mad by Jacqueline Winspear

I’m choosing Among the Mad partly on its own merit, and partly as a representative of its series. I am absolutely loving the Maisie Dobbs books, and I am so happy that I was encouraged to join the readalong that Book Club Girl is hosting. I can’t believe I’m nearly caught up on the series, and I’m not sure what I’m going to do for the next year while waiting for the next book. Among the Mad was a particularly good entry in the series, though, I could barely put it down.

Hail to the Chef by Julie Hyzy - Book Review

Mar 042011

Hail to the Chef by Julie Hyzy
Published by Berkeley Prime Crime, an imprint of Penguin

My review of the first book in the series: State of the Onion

After a grueling encounter with an old rival and a dangerous encounter with someone who was not who he seemed, Ollie Paras has finally realized her dream of being Executive Chef of the White House. However, if Ollie thought that things - out of the kitchen at least - would calm down once she was in her new role, she was dead wrong. Just in time for the busy holiday season there are mysterious and deadly occurrences everywhere Ollie turns: from mysterious deaths to fake bombs being planted in the White House. Now Ollie has to worry not only about the menus and staffing for some of her biggest events of the year, but she also has to find time to squeeze in mandatory explosives-recognition classes as well as some highly unofficial sleuthing.

I cannot think of much that is more fun than spending time with Ollie and her kitchen. She is smart and relatively confident and not afraid to stick her nose where it doesn’t belong. Hyzy did a good job beginning to grown Ollie into her new role. She is noticeably more comfortable with it than in State of the Onion, but not so much that it seems unreasonable for her given the amount of time in the new position. My only slight problem was with the resolution of the mystery. It was perhaps a bit more complex than I would have guessed and I thought it was perhaps a little much. Other than that, though, Hail to the Chef was a thoroughly enjoyable read.

Recommended

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound |Amazon*

Source: Publisher.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

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Devourer of Books

Search Results : Julie Hyzy

Eggsecutive Orders by Julie Hyzy - Book Review

D.E.A.R. - Winter Break Reading

Books Can Be Deceiving by Jenn McKinlay - Book Review

June 2011 Reading Wrap-Up

What I Reviewed:

Pick of the Month:

Other Books Read, Watch for Reviews:

TSS: Birthday Wishes

Grace Interrupted by Julie Hyzy - Book Review

May 2011 Reading Wrap-Up

What I Reviewed:

Pick of the Month:

Other Books Read, Watch for Reviews:

Grace Under Pressure by Julie Hyzy - Book Review

March 2011 Reading Wrap-Up

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Other Books Read, Watch for Reviews:

Hail to the Chef by Julie Hyzy - Book Review

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Search Results : Julie Hyzy

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