Happy New Year!

I love the start of a new year. Everything feels all fresh and full of potential. Actually, I love smaller starts too: Mondays, Birthdays, whatever. I don't need much to motivate me to start something new or act on a plan.

That said, I do have a few goals for 2012. One of them is to read more books and another is to review more of those books. I'm not much of a reviewer though–I leave that to my friends like Jen Forbus, Elizabeth A. White, and Pop Culture Nerd.

Still, I do like to record my thoughts about books on websites like GoodReads, and occasionally, Amazon (though I would encourage you to purchase the book at your local independent bookstore, such as Mysterious Galaxy or Murder by the Book). Just a quick blurb about what I liked and/or didn't like about a novel. Starting this year, I'm also going to post these "mini reviews" here on my blog.

So, without further delay, here's my first review of 2012:

Overall, I loved this book, as I do all the Kinsey Millhone novels. Reading one is like visiting an old friend, and I always feel a tiny bit lonely when I'm finished, knowing it'll be two years before I get to see her again. With that said, V's plot was a little too convoluted and tied up a little too neatly at the end. It starts out strong, then sags a bit toward the end of the middle, without picking up again until nearly the very end. It's still a good book, and worthy of Kinsey, it's just not the best of Grafton's series.