110. A Bitter Wind

110. A Bitter Wind. (Billy Boyle #20) James R. Benn. 2025. 379 pages. [Source: Library] [3 stars, world war II, mystery, historical fiction]

First sentence: The body was still warm.

Premise/plot: Billy Boyle (and friends) are back for their twentieth mystery. It opens on Christmas Day 1944. With a literal cliffhanger. Billy and a newly deceased man are quite literally in a precarious situation atop a ledge on a white cliff facing the English channel. Soon, Billy has a couple of murder cases to solve. So he is loaned out for a bit. While solving these crimes, he's forced to go to a war-torn Europe in search of one man who may hold the key to the murders he's trying to solve. The man he's in search of was a prisoner of war but has now escaped and is on the run. It won't be easy to find him, to rescue him, to get OUT and back to England. Many close-calls. Many new allies. Same old enemies. Perils abound. 

My thoughts: I didn't love this one as much as I usually love Billy Boyle mysteries. I do like that each one is different, unique, focusing on a little known fact of history. I do like that each book is based to a certain degree on real history--be it a person, a place, a battle, etc. This one has Billy Boyle traveling from place to place. By the time he returns to the original murder mystery, it feels like the pacing is a bit off.

All that being said, I do love the characters. And I do enjoy the series.

© 2025 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Week in Review #41

This week I read four books.

108. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. J.K. Rowling. 2003. 912 pages. [Source: Library] [4 stars] [mg fiction; mg fantasy; series book]

Read this if...

• You enjoy middle grade or young adult fantasy
• If you enjoy audio books
• If you enjoy series books

109. Lost Evangeline. Kate DiCamillo. Illustrated by Sophie Blackall. 2025. 160 pages. [Source: Library] [3 stars, j fantasy, j fiction]

Read this if...

• You like melancholy, pointless stories
• You like stories without neat endings
• You prefer whimsical ambiguity

102. Detective Beans: Adventures in Cat Town. Li Chen. 2025. 208 pages. [Source: Library] [j graphic novel, animal fantasy, 5 stars]

Read this if...

• You enjoy cats and kittens
• You enjoy light mystery
• You enjoy graphic novels for young readers
• You enjoy humorous stories

103. Tuck Me In. Nathan W. Pyle. 2025. 40 pages. [Source: Library] [5 stars, picture books, science, bedtime stories]

Read this if...

• You enjoy bedtime stories
• You enjoy science with a LOT of stories
• You want to share science with the absolute youngest of readers in a fun way

Century of Viewing Week #41

1920s

• 1922 The Man From Beyond. Did I like it? Not really. Do I regret watching it? No. This is a paranormal romance starring Harry Houdini. It is a somewhat convoluted story about an arctic explorer frozen in ice that is discovered, thawed, and falls in love with a young woman who is the reincarnation of his lost love. You might be thinking, that's strange, a bit bizarre, but not that convoluted. Well, the young woman he's convinced is the reincarnation of his lost love, well, she is being forced to marry by a no-good bad guy. Stay with me. He's kidnapped her father and is holding him captive in his cellar. He's pretending that her father is lost in the Arctic and only by marrying him--and using her money--can they start a rescue mission. But that's not all. The Harry Houdini character must undergo three or four physical challenges that he can escape from. I get the idea that he was like this is what I want to do to show off and write a script around that. 

1970s

• 1979 Beyond the Poseidon. Is it fabulous? No. Do I regret watching it? No. The Poseidon Adventure was a natural disaster that had a lot of DRAMA. Beyond the Poseidon occurs hours after the first movie. Two ships/boats have come upon the wreckage. They aren't necessarily looking for survivors, but for treasure. These two groups will clash. Not so much because both want to clash. But because one group is led by an evil, villainous man who is determined to get the plutonium on board the cruise ship. The other group is finding survivors and is trying to survive--fires, floods, explosions, and the villainous intentions of the other crew. Will they find a second way out of the ship? 

1980s

• 1983 Something Wicked This Way Comes. I have read the book several times. This one felt like a faithful adaptation to the book. It does have its creepy, spooky, scary moments. But it also has a lot of character development between the two boys and the librarian-father. I DO recommend it.
  

1990s

• 1996 Evita. It was so peculiar to watch Evita and Something Wicked This Way Comes the same week. Mr. Dark plays Peron. I have a love/hate relationship with this musical. I watch it once every five or six years. I DO prefer it to Chicago...or Cats...or Annie. So this one is about Eva Peron. And it's ALL musical.
  
• 1996 Daylight. HAPPY, happy spin the wheel pick. It isn't quite a natural disaster story, but, it is an action-packed, emotional, dramatic survival story. An explosion in a tunnel connecting New York and New Jersey leads to heartache and catastrophe. There are survivors struggling to survive and escape--but I believe both sides of the tunnel are collapsed? DEFINITELY some sadness. But such a good movie if you're into the surviving sort.
  
• 1999 The Mummy. I'm not sure if I absolutely loved, loved, loved it. But I did enjoy it more than I thought I would. It does offer a LOT: action, adventure, romance, drama, ancient curses.
  

2000s

• 2002 Men in Black II. I always forget how enjoyable this one is. I think because it isn't quite as iconic as the first or as awesome as the third. But so glad I rewatched this one! Agent K gets his memory back and a new threat is stopped.
  

2010s

• 2012 Men in Black III. TIME TRAVEL. ALIENS. SPACE MISSION. MEANING OF LIFE. One of my favorite movies ever, ever, ever, ever. I love this movie so much.
  

Genre/Decades Challenge

1920s	Genre(s)
The Mechanical Man	science fiction, robots, crime
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde	science fiction, crime, horror
Man From Beyond	paranormal, romance,
1930s	Genre(s)
Frankenstein	science fiction, mad scientist, monster, horror
Bride of Frankenstein	science fiction, mad scientist, monster, horror
1940s	Genre(s)
1950s	Genre(s)
1960s	Genre(s)
1970s	Genre(s)
Logan's Run	science fiction, dystopia, future
Poseidon Adventure	drama, survival, action, natural disasters
Beyond Poseidon Adventure	drama, survival, action, bad guys, plutonium
1980s	Genre(s)
Philadelphia Experiment	science fiction, time travel, war
Escape from New York	action, dystopia, thriller
Something Wicked This Way Comes	fantasy, horror, spooky carnivals
1990s	Genre(s)
Wing Commander	science fiction, space wars, aliens,
Lost World: Jurassic Park	science fiction, mad scientists, dinosaurs, action
Jurassic Park III	science fiction, dinosaurs, action
Fifth Element	science fiction, aliens, romance,
Dark City	science fiction, horror, mystery
Starship Troopers	science fiction, aliens, romance, war
Evita	period drama, musical,
Daylight	drama, survival, action
The Mummy	action, period drama, horror, adventure, romance
2000s	Genre(s)
The Core	science fiction, end-of-the-world, mad scientists, romance, action
Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou	dark comedy,
Day After Tomorrow	science fiction, disaster, survival, drama
Men in Black II	science fiction, aliens, comedy
2010s	Genre(s)
The Host	science fiction, aliens, romance,
The Martian	science fiction, space, survival
Men in Black 3	science fiction, aliens, time travel,
2020s	Genre(s)
The Flash	science fiction, time travel, super heroes

© 2025 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

109. Lost Evangeline

109. Lost Evangeline. Kate DiCamillo. Illustrated by Sophie Blackall. 2025. 160 pages. [Source: Library] [3 stars, j fantasy, j fiction]

First sentence: There was once a boy who longed to go to the sea.

Premise/plot: An unhappily married man--a shoemaker--finds a little girl the size of a thumb. Together these two dream of going to sea. Perhaps one of them or even both of them believe it. His wife--remember how unhappily married he is--despises the girl, Evangeline. She sells Evangeline as an oddity to a rich neighbor. Evangeline escapes via a cat. (She convinces the cat that sea life is the best life.) By the time she returns home, her father has gone. Gone where? To look for her. So she sets off in search of him who is searching for her. Will anyone who is searching find the person they are looking for?

My thoughts: I did not like this one even slightly. As a kid, I would have despised it. It was weird--which could be good or bad depending on the reader's perspective. If this one wasn't Kate DiCamillo would anyone give it a great review? I'm not convinced. Would it be selling as well as it has? Probably not. It isn't that the writing is poor. It's not. That's why three stars. But the plot is just all kinds of weird. And the whole book is just absurdly whimsically melancholy.

© 2025 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

108. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

108. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. J.K. Rowling. 2003. 912 pages. [Source: Library] [4 stars] [mg fiction; mg fantasy; series book]

First sentence: The hottest day of the summer so far was drawing to a close and a drowsy silence lay over the large, square houses of Privet Drive.

ETA for 2025: I am listening to the Harry Potter series on audio book narrated by Stephen Fry. Is this a long book? YES. Is it a very long book? Also YES. Am I attached to the characters? VERY MUCH SO. If the book gets tedious it's because some of the characters are tedious, if that makes sense. I do sometimes feel that Harry Potter is insufferable at times. His attitude, I mean, particularly when it comes to friendships and "dating" if you will. But I am liking this one more each time I reread it.

Premise/plot: Harry Potter and his friends struggle to keep things together as a new year at Hogwarts begins. Lord You-Know-Who has returned. But the Ministry of Magic (among others) are determined to bury their heads in the sand. (Perhaps because they are more involved with You-Know-Who than they'd like to admit. Perhaps because they would rather believe that Harry Potter (and company, the Order of the Phoenix) is lying than that HE has returned. You could argue either.) The staff and students are on high alert--namely from Dolores Umbridge (and those whom she represents as High Inquisitor). The year won't be easy. The foundation of Hogwarts is being shaken about. 

Meanwhile, Harry Potter is continuing to have dreams and visions. His scar is still bothering him. He's beginning to realize that he and You-Know-Who share an unbreakable bond. 

My thoughts: It is so easy to feel overwhelmed by the weight of the books in these series. The pacing is all over the place for me. On the one hand, the books never fail to have about one hundred pages of the most intense, fast-paced, action-packed DRAMA. On the other hand, so much time is spent getting to that point. Like you've got eight plus months of more mundane chronicling of school life--always taking a chapter or two for the Christmas holidays--and then BOOM end of school year, BIG show down. In the middle of the book, I'm always am I sure I want to keep reading. At the end of the book, it's like this is why I do keep reading. 

Lighter moments are definitely getting harder to come by. ETA: I am rereading the series. I definitely appreciated this one MUCH more the second time around. I have all the feels for the ending of this one. The last half of the book is SO intense and emotional. Sirius Black is one of my favorite characters. This one does feature some big reveals--for those reading it the first time around. 

 

© 2025 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Week in Review #40

This week I read two books. I KNOW. Quite a 'lot' of books.

106. Echoes of the Sea. Sarah M. Eden. 2025. 320 pages. [Source: Library] [5 stars, adult romance, adult historical, proper romance, clean romance, time travel]

Read this book if you enjoy

• historical romance (clean)
• romance with a little time travel
• historical fiction

107. Dream. Barbara O'Connor. 2025. 256 pages. [Source: Library] [MG Fiction, J Fiction, realistic fiction, 4 stars]

Read this book if you enjoy

• coming of age stories
• stories with strong friendship elements
• little plot

Century of Viewing, Week #40

1920s

• 1920 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde John Barrymore stars as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It's been a while since I read the novel, so I'm not sure how much liberty was taken. It is melodramatic for sure. A few things stood out to me, at least in this adaptation, it was the young woman's father who encouraged, teased, tempted, prompted him to explore his dark side. Prohibition WAS a thing in the United States at the time, and this film definitely goes there to a certain extent. It began with him going out drinking to less than respectable establishments with dancing women. And the father of the young woman he's courting IS RIGHT THERE WITH HIM. Still, he does go all mad scientist. One thing that has always slightly bothered me about the story is the physical transformation from 'attractive' to 'monstrous.' The idea that evil is always ugly and ugly is always evil. It isn't just that HE becomes monstrous looking but the places he goes, the people he hangs out with are also 'deformed' or 'different' as well. I don't know if this is found in the novel OR if it's just Hollywood.

1930s

• 1931 Frankenstein. Where do I begin?!?!?! It is so far removed from the novel. For one thing there is no Victor Frankenstein. THERE IS NO VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN. Let that sink in. They've used the name of his best friend and companion, Henry, into HENRY FRANKENSTEIN, mad scientist. 'Victor' is now the friend and has a different last name. He's barely in the movie. Though he is in some scenes. The monstrous monster scenes are all condensed and do to a certain extent depend on misunderstanding and/or self defense. There aren't as many victims as in the book.
• 1935 Bride of Frankenstein. This one has a framework of Mary Shelley, her husband, Percy, and Lord Byron hanging out together on a stormy night, I believe, and talking about Mary Shelley writing the novel Frankenstein though it hasn't found a publisher yet. She tells them that the story isn't over, there is more to tell. The plot essentially fills in some of what was missing from the first movie. It uses more stories from the novel. Some liberties are taken, obviously, many actually. But this one was more enjoyable for me.

1990s

• 1997 Starship Troopers. This one definitely has Beverly Hills 90210 vibes to it. Also disgusting alien bugs. Very much military sci-fi. But also teen angst. There were elements I liked, but, there were some I just didn't care for. (Like why so much nudity?!)
• 1997 Men in Black. My second time to watch this year. A favorite. "J" and "K" are going to save the world....many alien encounters--some friendly, some very UNfriendly.

2000s

• 2003 The Core. For once it is a good thing that someone is trying to reach the core of the earth to blow it up. Sadder than I expected, but very action-packed.
• 2004 Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. Quirky. Weird. Bill Murray. Need I say more? Probably. He plays a deep sea diver who may or may not be legit. One thing is clear, he does have a big ego. And he surrounds himself with his crew who for better or worse have to keep building him up. His latest project is almost destined to flop, hundreds of problems. But his alleged, maybe son is along for the trip. Along with a journalist who isn't quite sure what to make him. I'm glad I watched it, but it was quirky and weird.
• 2004 The Day After Tomorrow. What I really enjoyed about this one: the disaster, survival aspects of it. Viewers follow several story lines--characters--and it's dramatic and extreme. Definitely got attached to characters that didn't make it. I didn't love the agenda-preachy tone of the end. But for the most part I really enjoyed this one. Probably a 4.75 for me. But I've rounded up to a 5 stars.

2010s

• 2013 The Host. It's been at least a decade since I watched or read Stephenie Meyer's The Host. This allowed for more enjoyment, I think. It is angsty. It is very love-triangle or love-square even. It's fun and enjoyable enough. Not amazing but not terrible.
• 2015 The Martian. SO SO SO SO SO SO GOOD. I have not read the book. I want to read the book. An astronaut is left behind on Mars. The rest of the astronauts thought him to have been dead or critically injured. There was a STORM, a big storm. And they are unable to find him--or his body--in time. They leave. He survives. He has to learn minute by minute, day by day how to keep on surviving until a rescue mission can arrive. Knowing that means potentially YEARS of surviving when each day has its own risks and troubles. It's a GREAT film. Follows several different characters--those on earth and him on Mars.

2020s

• 2023 The Flash. I am so torn on this one. I am. I really, really, really LOVE the multiverse of Batman in this one. Michael Keaton is one of the Batman in this one, but, not the only one. The Flash, who was a new to me character before watching this one, goes back in time to try to save his mother and father. His mother from dying and his father from prison. But something goes wrong--horribly wrong. And now he's trying to save an alternate universe where his mom is alive. And he's teamed up with his younger self. It's entertaining.

Genres/Decades UPdate

1920s	Genre(s)
The Mechanical Man	science fiction, robots, crime
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde	science fiction, crime, horror
1930s	Genre(s)
Frankenstein	science fiction, mad scientist, monster, horror
Bride of Frankenstein	science fiction, mad scientist, monster, horror
1940s	Genre(s)
1950s	Genre(s)
1960s	Genre(s)
1970s	Genre(s)
Logan's Run	science fiction, dystopia, future
Poseidon Adventure	drama, survival, action, natural disasters
1980s	Genre(s)
Philadelphia Experiment	science fiction, time travel, war
Escape from New York	action, dystopia, thriller
1990s	Genre(s)
Wing Commander	science fiction, space wars, aliens,
Lost World: Jurassic Park	science fiction, mad scientists, dinosaurs, action
Jurassic Park III	science fiction, dinosaurs, action
Fifth Element	science fiction, aliens, romance,
Dark City	science fiction, horror, mystery
Starship Troopers	science fiction, aliens, romance, war
2000s	Genre(s)
The Core	science fiction, end-of-the-world, mad scientists, romance, action
Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou	dark comedy,
Day After Tomorrow	science fiction, disaster, survival, drama
2010s	Genre(s)
The Host	science fiction, aliens, romance,
The Martian	science fiction, space, survival
2020s	Genre(s)
The Flash	science fiction, time travel, super heroes

© 2025 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews