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So, you know how they always talk about how ‘mathematical’ music is? For a long time, I wondered why Spotify and Pandora and all those music-discovery programs don’t (seem to) use mathematical algorithms to discover music that is actually similar in content to the songs you claim to like, from artists that are different!

I should note that I’m sort of assuming that they use a “tagging” system, so that, say, an Avenue Q track is “tagged” with comedy, musicals, etc. This system is okay but not flawless, because things aren’t always tagged right and everyone’s definitions of these words are subjective, etc. (Not to mention it means that if I thumbs-up comedy songs on my Comedy station on Pandora, they will start to pop up in my Musicals station, even though that station is supposed to be mostly dramatic musicals. ANNOYING!)

Anyway, then I heard this tune (on my Comedy Pandora station) and I kinda realized that this sort of thing probably why they can’t do that.

Title: Deadly Currents
Price: $0.99
Author: Beth Groundwater (A Real Basket Case, To Hell in a Handbasket)
Publisher: Midnight Ink
Genre: Fiction – Mystery

Publisher’s Summary:

The Arkansas River is the heart and soul of Salida, Colorado. It fuels the small town’s economy and thrums in the blood of twenty-seven-year-old Mandy Tanner, a river ranger. When a whitewater rafting accident occurs, she deftly executes a rescue, but a man dies anyway. But it wasn’t the river rapids that killed him, it was poison. Tom King was a rich land developer with bitter business rivals, who cheated on his wife, refused to support his kayak-obsessed son, and infuriated environmentalists. Mandy cooperates with the local sheriff’s department to solve the murder. But little does she know how greatly the case will affect those she loves, including her beloved Uncle Bill—the respected owner of an outfitting business, out of whose raft Tom King fell. She goes on an emotionally turbulent quest for the truth—and ends up in dangerous waters.

She is soon torn between two men, each drawing her to one extreme. One is a charismatic and passionate political activist determined to win Irish independence from Great Britain at any cost, who appeals to her warrior’s soul. The other is the wealthy and handsome black sheep of the pacifist family who owns the mill where she works, and whose persistent attention becomes impossible for her to ignore.

Conclusion: Not Buying

I really don’t get the rule that says that genre mystery novels should strive for crappy puns for their titles; the sequel to this book is Wicked Eddies. Also, while I was browsing the author’s website I happened to notice that the cover of one of her other books (To Hell in a Handbasket) includes a quote— not about itself, but about yet another of her books: A Real Basket Case (her first, I believe). The quote is: “This will appeal to Desperate Housewives fans and those who like cozies with a bit of spice.”

Which is pretty much enough to tell me that I’m not interested in this woman’s books. Even without the Housewives reference, the phrase “cozies with a bit of spice” is…terrifying to me. Stepping away from my fear and looking at it closer, I get the sense that “cozies” means something to the effect of a fun but not terribly challenging genre novel, the sort of book you “curl up with” when you absolutely do not want to have to think about anything more complicated than whether the butler is a red herring. “Spice” is so often code for “awkward sex scenes” (or worse: unmotivated “sexual tension”) that I don’t even really want to have to think about THAT, personally.

So…no, I don’t think this one is for me. However, I’m increasingly fascinated with the idea of marketing genre novels.

Title: The Yellow House
Price: $2.99
Author: Patricia Falvey (The Linen Queen)
Publisher: Hachette Book Group
Genre: Fiction – Romance/Historical

Publisher’s Summary:

Eileen O’Neill’s family is torn apart by religious intolerance and secrets from the past. Determined to reclaim her ancestral home and reunite her family, Eileen begins working at the local mill, saving her money and holding fast to her dream. As war is declared on a local and global scale, Eileen cannot separate the politics from the very personal impact the conflict has had on her own life.

She is soon torn between two men, each drawing her to one extreme. One is a charismatic and passionate political activist determined to win Irish independence from Great Britain at any cost, who appeals to her warrior’s soul. The other is the wealthy and handsome black sheep of the pacifist family who owns the mill where she works, and whose persistent attention becomes impossible for her to ignore.

Conclusion: Not Buying

Challenge: If you haven’t already read the publisher’s summary, read only the first paragraph and think about whether you want to buy the book. Then read the second. The first sentence of that second paragraph just kinda ruins it for me. I don’t know if it’s more a marketing/copy choice than representative of the actual book, but they took it from a book about the impacts of the politics of the time on a woman’s life to…well, those same impacts, but set in the context of a love triangle. Which makes it decidedly less interesting to me. Twilight set in the first quarter of the 20th century where the vampire is an Irish nationalist and the werewolf a British navyman is just…not that appealing.

I would also like to note that the price is higher, and if you look it over Amazon is quick to blame that on publisher Hachette.