I missed two books I read in November, so I'll start with
those. The rest were read in
December. Not as many mysteries as
normal, but some good books.
All ratings are on a scale from 1 (bad) to 5 (great).
THE KINGDOM KEEPERS: POWER PLAY by Ridley Pearson - 5
The Kingdom Keepers have had a breather since the leaders of
the Overtakers were arrested. But a plot
to free them finds our heroes in danger and making some shocking
discoveries. Those discoveries really
helped make this book feel fresh and exciting and not just enough retread of a
familiar plot.
FORMULA FOR MURDER by Diana Orgain - 4
New mom and new PI Kate Connelly is in a hit and run, and
witnesses identify the car as belonging to someone from the French
consulate. The consulate denies it, but
it leads to a case for Kate when she sees a reporter leaving and the reporter
turns up dead two days later. Was she
working on a story on the French consulate that lead to her death? I love the characters, and the story was
interesting. It did bog down a little in
the middle, but it picked up again for a fun finish.
THE ANIMATED MAN: A LIFE OF WALT DISNEY by J. Michael
Barrier - 4
I found this to be an interesting and balance biography of
Walt Disney. The author played media
critic a bit too much, which bothered me, but in the end I walked away with a
clearer picture of a true American success story.
THE END by David LaRochelle - 5
A fun picture book take on fairytales, this one starts at
"Happily ever after" and works back to "Once Upon a
Time." Along the way, we get some
surprises and laughs. Highly
recommended.
HIDDEN MICKEY by Nancy Temple Rodrigue, David W. Smith - 2
While on a MouseQuest at Disneyland ,
Adam and Lance find what they think is Walt Disney's diary. A clue in it leads them on a quest through
his life with a possible big prize at the end.
This book is an example of everything that can go wrong with
self-publishing. There are too many data
dumps, the action is slow at times, and the characters are flat and
unlikable. I'm enough of a Disney geek
to enjoy parts of it, but it needed a good editor before it saw the light of
day.
KILLER ROUTINE by Alan Orloff - 3
Channing Hayes' is trying to help his almost sister-in-law
begin a solo stand up comic career while he recovers from the accident that
took his fiancee. On the night of her
big break, she vanishes. Why? Can Channing find her? The characters were enjoyable, especially
Channing, but the plot was a series of events with no real detective work
involved.
IN SERVICE TO THE MOUSE by Jack Lindquist - 4
The memories of the man who rose from head of advertising
for Disneyland in 1955 to become its first
president in the late 80's and early 90's.
As a Disnerd, I loved this inside look at the park's history, although
the writing style could have been a little better.
PETER AND THE SECRET OF RUNDOON by Ridley Pearson and Dave
Barry - 5
The final chapter in their Peter Pan prequel trilogy is the
best one yet. Just be sure you read the
other two first because you'll pretty much be lost by everything that is
happening here.
2 comments:
Self-publishing is not a bad thing though, since it is essentially cheaper -- no agent required, no back-and-forth, etc. Nevermind the fact that it might be a tough sell, given that it is not authorized by Disney (like Kingdom Keepers).
However, these books apparently have already been picked up by a studio. The good thing is that as a film, they can just cut to the chase.
You are right though about the wordiness. Apparently, the one author is putting out his memoirs of being a CM and growing up in the shadow of Disneyland. Only about 200 pages, as opposed to 500 plus.
Self-publishing is not a bad thing if the author gets proper feedback. Many self-published authors don't take the time to properly revise their books and get honest feedback about what works and what doesn't. That was the problem here.
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