Vacation Reads

I prepared for vacation with a ton of books, and did get through two full books and half of two other ones, but mostly I came down with pneumonia and was too sick to read. Now the next two books that I am halfway through, The Mummy Case and The Magicians, just remind me of how sick I felt. It's the same reason I can't yet look at my vacation photos. Maybe when I'm well again.

Anyway, these are the two I did finish:

The Curse of the Pharaohs (by Elizabeth Peters)

The second book in the Amelia Peabody series. I enjoyed it, I think, but I remember almost nothing about it. I still enjoy Amelia and Emerson, even though they seem to do nothing but have sex. That's all I can remember about this book: lots of fade-to-black sex.  In Egypt.

Cruel Beautiful World (by Caroline Leavitt)

The premise of this is that a young girl named Lucy runs away with her creepo high school teacher in the 1970s. He's a controlling creepo, and the novel follows Lucy's story as well as those of her sister and adoptive mother, who are left behind. I liked the plot structure, the writing was fine, some of the characters were interesting, but I don''t know. I felt meh about it all in the end. 

And sidebar, I will probably finish it eventually, but can I just point out that The Magicians has no plot? I enjoy the whole Hogwarts vibe, but seriously, where is the plot? Anyone?

Addendum: I finished The Mummy Case (the climax at the end was hilarious, and I love the precocious character of Ramses).  I read a bit further into TheMagicians and now not only does it lack plot, but the protagonist is a total dick. Do I give up at this point?