Otherwise Engaged
by Amanda Quick (Goodreads Author)

Phyllis Hoffman Jacobs's review

Jul 21,20 15  ·  edit

4 of 5 stars

I never read a book by Amanda Quick, but I will probably be reading some of her other books. She goes under other names just like Nora Roberts is also J.D. Robb. I usually don't read historical fiction books but this one was an exception. The setting took place in high society Victorian England. I liked the different expressions the characters used to explain different parts of the story. Quite different from what I am used to hearing.

This book involves 2 love stories but not overly done at all. I don't like reading books that include nothing but romance. This book also includes the murder of 5 women, and a spy scandal. There was something about the beginning of the book that pulled me in but I am not sure of what it was. Different characters were introduced and lots of clues as well. AS with any other mystery/suspense story the reader has to remember all of them in order to solve the mystery. I found the middle of the book not so captivating . As the story unraveled with all the clues coming together (last 100 pages or so)I was glued to the book. I was surprised to learn who the murderer was and why the events and people in his life lead up to his murder spree.

The Good Luck of Right Now
by Matthew Quick (Goodreads Author)

Jul 13,20 15  

4 of 5 stars

For thirty-eight years, Bartholomew Neil has lived with his mother. When she gets sick and dies, he has no idea how to be on his own. His redheaded grief counselor, Wendy, says he needs to find his flock and leave the nest. But how does a man whose whole life has been grounded in his mom, Saturday mass, and the library learn how to fly?

Bartholomew thinks he’s found a clue when he discovers a “Free Tibet” letter from Richard Gere hidden in his mother’s underwear drawer. In her final days, mom called him Richard—there must be a cosmic connection. Believing that the actor is meant to help him, Bartholomew awkwardly starts his new life, writing Richard Gere a series of highly intimate letters. Jung and the Dalai Lama, philosophy and faith, alien abduction and cat telepathy, the Catholic Church and the mystery of women are all explored in his soul-baring epistles. But mostly the letters reveal one man’s heartbreaking earnest attempt to assemble a family of his own.

A struggling bipolar priest, a “Girlbrarian, Elizabeth, who is obsessed with aliens. Her feline-loving, foul-mouthed brother, Max who has Tourette's syndrome , and the spirit of Richard Gere join the quest to help Bartholomew, who has Asperger's syndrome. In a rented Ford Focus, they travel to Canada to see the cat Parliament and find his biological father . . . and discover so much more.


My Review:

I liked this book because it had quirky characters who were there for each other. I found Bartholomew to be a caring person and he was trying to find himself and how he was trying to learn how to be on his own. I liked him the best. The bipolar priest had a secret that we learn about toward the end of the book. I didn't see the secret coming. Elizabeth was strange with her love for aliens. Her brother, Max, was the character that was really annoying. Every other word out of his mouth was f--k. It got old after awhile. I was skipping over some of the dialog because of the profanity.

All in all I will probably read another book by this author.