"Three Sisters" and "Showstoppers" by Helen Smith Review

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Three Sisters by Helen  Smith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the first Emily Castles mystery I have ever read, and for the most part, I truly enjoyed it.  Hardly any profanity (almost not worth mentioning) and no sex scenes, and a very easy-to-read book.  Although this is a short book, I recommend that you have a dictionary handy.  Helen Smith has a fantastic vocabulary, and her writing is very descriptive.  And I can't tell you how much I appreciated that!  I look forward to reading a full novel featuring the character Emily Castles.

I only have one criticism, and I suppose I can identify with to a degree.  I myself am an unpublished author, and I tried to write mystery.  And for some reason, it never really came out the way I wanted.  I had potential in the area, but it was not my most comfortable genre.  In time, I think I could get better, but I sort of gave up.  What I see in Helen Smith is vast potential in the area of mystery-writing, but I do wonder if it is her most comfortable genre.  Perhaps when she writes a full length novel with this character, she will have more time to develop the mystery.  Although portions of the mystery story were quite clever, I felt that some parts of the story did not match up.

But let me say that I love the English feel of the book!  Okay, so it helps that the author is English, but this book definitely has more an English feel that some "English" books I have read.  I look forward to reading more from this author and Emily in the future!

I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.  I was not financially compensated, and all opinions are 100 percent mine.


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Showstoppers by Helen  Smith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the second Emily Castles mystery, and I found it just about as pleasing as the first.  No profanity, no sex, and nothing inappropriate.  At least I feel that I knew the characters better, but I still struggled to really get into the mystery.  Again, her vocabulary and descriptions are impeccable.  I am not sure what genre I would like to see her write besides mystery, but she certainly has a gift.  I am still looking forward to a full novel featuring Emily, and I can only hope that the mystery will be better-developed.

Lest you think I did not like the book, nothing could be further from the truth.  I think I preferred the first story, but there were elements in the second story that intrigued me.  I would have liked to have been more surprised in this story like I was somewhat in the first book, but I still found the writing exceptional and the story line pretty decent.  And who can complain when a mystery book is short and readable?

I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.  I was not financially compensated, and all opinions are 100 percent mine.


View all my reviews