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 It’s 1932 in London and as a string of brutal murders begin to take place around town, two young detectives set up their own agency in Bloomsbury. Business is quiet for Singleton and Trelawney until Lady Arthur Conan Doyle – the famous author’s widow – calls on them about a ghost. Singleton’s father is a famed investigator of spirits, so even though he doesn’t want to take on the case, he’s almost forced to. But what does a ghost haunting 221 Baker Street have to do with the murders taking place across London?
This was an intriguing book and so much more than I originally took it for. I admit to starting out dubious, as the book opens with a seance and a declaration that everything was published as it was found – I thought it was going to be a hokey mystery about ghosts. Instead, it turned into an intriguing literary mystery with an interesting protagonist and curious philosophy, which apparently is completely accurate to the time. I really enjoyed this book and I can’t say that about too many mysteries.
Undoubtedly my favorite part of the book was its literary bent. At first, I had no idea how things were connected, but the story came together extremely well. First of all, there’s a ghost haunting 221 Baker Street, which of course did not exist when Conan Doyle was writing, so all of the characters are perplexed about the existence of the ghost. It turns out to be a likeness of Sherlock Holmes, but the famed detective was obviously fictional, so how is he a ghost? And what does he have to do with all the murders? It’s obvious there’s something going on, and I just had to keep reading because I was very intrigued.
I also really enjoyed learning a little bit about the effort that people made in the 30’s to learn about ghosts. Bourland doesn’t spare the details and I learned all about ectoplasm and the strange photography techniques people used to create it; in fact, it startled me to learn that some photographs described were actually real and are in archives ready for anyone to look at. It definitely made me wonder how they were created originally. The author cites a few books published by the men working on these ideas and I must say I’m curious to read them, no matter how much I disagree with the conclusions made.
If you enjoy mysteries and literature, which I know many of you do, The Baker Street Phantom is an excellent little read. It kept my attention throughout and didn’t frustrate me once; instead I marveled at the author’s cleverness and look forward to reading more in this series as soon as they’re published in English.
I am an Amazon Associate. I received this book for free from a publicist for review.
 This one has been tricky for me. Here’s the prompt:
Sure we’ve all read about Freedom and Mockingjay but we likely have a book we wish would get more attention by book bloggers, whether it’s a forgotten classic or under marketed contemporary fiction. This is your chance to tell the community why they should consider reading this book!
One of my favorite books from my childhood is called Princess Nevermore by Dian Curtis Regan. It’s not the height of literature, or even the height of YA, but it was one of the few young adult books that held up to a reread recently. It’s about a princess, Quinn, who lives inside the earth, where time moves slower, and as a consequence she and the rest of her kingdom are still in the middle ages. Above her kingdom is a wishing well, and one day she finds herself atop the wishing well in our ordinary world. What I love the most about this particular book is Quinn’s view of the world from a medieval perspective. The theme park is terrifying, she gets a couple of local boys to joust over her, high school pizza is incredibly delicious, and it doesn’t end the way you’d suspect. When it comes to forgotten favorite books, this one may just top my list.
To balance it out, I’ll mention a book I loved that I haven’t seen around enough, and that’s Lady of the Butterflies by Fiona Mountain. It only recently came out, but it hasn’t received anywhere near the buzz that such a wonderful book about a fascinating woman should have! Just because it’s not in the current mania for 15th-16th century historical fiction doesn’t mean it isn’t fantastic.
What book do you wish others paid more attention to?
A few hours later I’m still amazed – thank you for voting for me! There are so many amazing historical fiction blogs out there; it’s one of the most popular categories and I love so many of your blogs. You’re always inspiring me to seek out new historical fiction books and learn more about the world and the amazing story behind how we got where we are today. I’m so flattered and honored, thank you for choosing me.
The two blogs that were shortlisted along with me deserve a mention (many mentions, if we’re being honest!), as they’re daily stops for me:
Historical Tapestry
Hist-Fic Chick
Go, read, love!
This post is really just an inarticulate way of saying thank you; thank you for sticking around throughout my various life changes, thank you for voting for me, thank you for reading my blog and taking the time to comment, and most of all thank you for inspiring me to keep reading no matter what else is happening. The book blogging community is awesome and I’m so grateful to be a part of it.
And now that I’ve gushed at all of you, I’m off to go read more of your posts! Happy BBAW!
Today’s prompt:
We invite you to share with us a book or genre you tried due to the influence of another blogger. What made you cave in to try something new and what was the experience like?
I don’t have a blogger that has directly influenced this, but this year I’ve discovered travelogues. I’ve seen lots of bloggers enjoying travelogues, Eva, Candace, and Belle to name a few, both on blogs and on Twitter, and I thought I would try one for myself. I started with Bill Bryson as lots of people seem to love his writing, and as expected I found him quite humorous. In the process I discovered that I love to read about people visiting places, especially if I can’t visit them myself, and they’re excellent for deciding where I *do* want to go in the future. I have mainly been stocking up from the library and have a number of travelogue reviews to share with you over the next few weeks, so if you haven’t gotten into this genre yet yourself you may soon.
Otherwise, I really think I’ve tried most types of books and firmly established what I do and don’t like, but there will always be space for more, and I’ll keep on reading everything as long as I can!
It wouldn’t be BBAW if I didn’t have the opportunity to interview another fantastic, new-to-me blogger. This year, that’s Kai from Fiction State of Mind. Kai and I read a lot of different books, but I’m always happy to expand my horizons and try out some new stuff. I hope her blog will become a great source of recommendations for me! I hope you’ll welcome her to Medieval Bookworm today.
1) When did you become such an avid reader?
Reading was very important to my mother so she introduced me to books at a very young age. I took to books like fish to water! I read every day.
2) What made you decide to turn your blog into a book blog?
I think the abundance of bloggers I discovered on twitter inspired me to try it. I love discussing books and learning about new ones. I have few “real world” friends that share my book obsession so blogging and twitter fulfill that need for me.
3) Where do you get most of your books from?
I get most of my books by purchasing them myself and from Paperback Swap a great site! Recently I’ve made some contacts at Tor/Forge books and have had the opportunity to review some of their books. I’m excited since they are one of my favorite publishers.  4) What’s your favourite book to movie adaptation?
My favorite adaption is the BBC Adaptation of Pride & Prejudice with Colin Firth. I saw the TV series first and immediately ran out and bought the complete works of Jane Austen.
5) Besides reading, what do you enjoy doing the most?
I’m a huge Geek Girl I love Comic Books, Anime and Manga. I also love yoga. I’m yogikai on twitter and I had my fellow blogger parajunkee design a yoga type theme for my blog upgrade. 6) What do you think of your Nook? Do you think e-reading will ever replace normal reading?
I love my nook!!! The format and size is perfect. I also enjoy all the complementary books B&N gives away. I don’t think there will ever be a time that I don’t have “real” books as well. I hope e-reading doesn’t do away with real books. The lower cost of e-books lets me try a lot more authors and that usually translates to me buying more of their books. I hope e-books also help save more trees but then again there is e-waste to deal with, no easy answers! I’m now getting 90% of my books as e-books.
Welcome to the first day of BBAW 2010! If you don’t know what all this is about, check out the official site. Today’s prompt:
We invite you to share with us about a great new book blog you’ve discovered since BBAW last year! If you are new to BBAW or book blogging, share with us the very first book blog you discovered. Tell us why this blog rocks your socks off and why you keep going back for more.
One of my favorite book blogging discoveries this year has to be Leah at Amused By Books. It took me a shamefully long time to get around to actually visiting her blog after she’d commented on mine, but once I did I was hooked! I honestly wish I had more time to visit blogs these days and when I do, hers will be one of the first on my list. Leah’s taste in reading seems pretty similar to mine and I really enjoy her reviews. Discovering her blog reminded me that I really need to get out there and visit some new bloggers, especially if they are all this great!
I also would be totally remiss if I didn’t mention that a friend of mine has started blogging in the last year, Amanda at Opinions of a Wolf; it’s kind of obvious that I’d love her blog, but if you haven’t discovered it yourself you should! She is a fantastic librarian and writes some wonderful posts and reviews. Go visit, you won’t regret it!
 I am behind on almost everything these days (except my work, which my boss will probably be happy to hear) but I’m determined not to be this week! That’s because it’s Book Blogger Appreciation Week, and even though I have probably about 10 reviews to write, they’re all going on the backburner for this week’s awesome festivities. I really want to visit new blogs and comment on far more posts than I have been lately, so let’s hope I can actually achieve that goal. I certainly haven’t been achieving it recently.
In other news, my Kindle 3 arrived last week. I wasn’t sure whether to do an official review of it or not, since so many people are anti-Amazon, but it really is a fantastic little device. It was the obvious choice for me but even so I’m actually surprised by how pleased I am with it. Reading on it is ridiculously easy and I’m pretty sure I’m consuming books as fast as ever. I’ve read 4 on there and I’ve only had it for a week and a half; I’ve read a number of real books in that time, too. I love that it makes buying new more affordable for me, so I can support publishers and authors more than I did before. They get less money for ebooks, but I’m sure it’s more than when I buy books from charity shops. I’m definitely keeping to my aim of using it for books I don’t think I’d want to keep, and still buying in hard copy those that I think I’ll be rereading and want to have on my shelves for the rest of my life. I did end up finding a local used bookstore, so I’ve been haunting there as well; far from replacing my need for paper books, my Kindle has just supplemented it, and I feel like I can spread my money more equally.
As much as I like it, though, my husband likes it even more. He said just yesterday that Apple is always busy talking about their magical devices, but Amazon has created a device that is *actually* magical. I’m sure part of his excitement is the fact that there will be fewer books lying around, but based on my purchasing even with it, that benefit is probably not as great as he thinks! He claims to find holding paper books awkward, but has no problem with the Kindle, especially as holding it and clicking the button to turn pages is so natural.
That’s about it for me; I’d better get catching up on some reviews before my online book club starts. I’m very much looking forward to this coming week and I hope you are too!
 A man and his son wander through an ash-filled America. The apocalypse has happened and the entire world is cold, gray, and lifeless. There are no animals. There are few people, and those that exist are likely planning to kill you and steal everything you own. It isn’t an atmosphere to raise a child in, but the man has no choice. He must keep himself and his son alive, must keep them moving, even though he isn’t sure what’s out there to live for.
What a dark, creepy read this was. There isn’t a single happy moment in this book. Virtually the whole of the narrative consists of the man and his son, neither of whom have a destination in mind, trying to find food, get warm, and avoid any of the other people, or creatures, wandering the road with them. It seems as though the world burst into flames, but the actual cause of the apocalypse is never made clear. At one point the boy and man run into another survivor, but he clearly states that they have no common cause because they did not survive together. This really made me wonder exactly what happens – but McCarthy never tells us.
He also never tells us anything about the evil that stalk the land, simply that they’re there. These creatures – I assumed they were vampires or something like that – eat people. Adding to the pervasive feel of danger is the endless fall of ash and the constant corpses they come across everywhere. I couldn’t imagine how difficult it must have been for the boy; we’re never told how old he is, but he wasn’t alive before the apocalypse happened. He has never experienced the world as his father has.
Miraculously, though, he still has a sense of good, a desire to help people, which is simultaneously childish and incredibly wise. Out of the literal ashes of the world, a good spirit has risen, and even though the rest of the book is dark I would never say that all hope was lost, even when I worried that they were close to death. Even more hopeful is the fact that the father and the boy clearly still love each other and strive to live even when it looks like all is lost. The power of the human spirit is incredible and is in large part a reason we can still care for and worry about these characters in a world that is otherwise unrecognizable and terrifying.
The Road was completely different than I expected, but almost more powerful in its own way. The air of mystery lent it terror, but the relationship between the boy and his father is really at the heart of this novel. Recommended.
I am an Amazon Associate. I purchased this book.
 The late seventeenth and early eighteenth century are considered the beginning of the Age of Enlightenment in the western world, but it was certainly not so for women. Because Eleanor Goodricke is taught science from a young age and loves the natural world, she’s looked down on by her neighbors and even ostracized at times. Her life is full of austerity due to her father’s Puritan roots and her love of science replaces any girlish indulgences. When her father dies, she’s alone in the world with Tickenham Court and a guardian who views her as strange, just like the rest of the townspeople do. When Eleanor meets Edmund Ashfield, she falls immediately in love, but she’s destined for larger passion with his best friend Richard Glanville. She also furthers the scientific study of butterflies and becomes a female entomologist no matter how strange others consider her.
If there was any doubt that I have revived my interest in historical fiction, this book casts it all aside. It took me five days to read but it was worth each and every one of those days. This was a fascinating book and I was completely drawn into Eleanor’s life and loves, both of men and of butterflies. I thought about it when I wasn’t reading it and I longed to get back to it in order to find out what was happening. Even though some of the story is immediately apparent just from reading Eleanor’s name on the back cover, I didn’t feel spoiled at all and instead wondered what would happen and how it would happen.
As with much of the historical fiction I’ve been reading lately, I have read few books set in this time period and I was fascinated by the changing cultures of the times. The Puritans’ reign has waned, but Eleanor still endures a stark childhood and bears the prejudices of the daughter of a man who fought for Oliver Cromwell. This, despite the fact that she is so often prejudiced against herself, reveals the fragility of human prejudice and the ultimately unsubstantial reasons we have for setting ourselves against others. It’s that prejudice which proves her undoing in this novel and perhaps in life, even when she discovers some of her long-held beliefs are blatantly untrue and harmful.
Reading this book is a bit like riding a roller coaster. I wanted, just for a minute, for Eleanor’s life to be peaceful and calm, for her to spend time with her butterflies and her eventual children and just be. Of course, that must have happened in her actual life, but the book skips to the most eventful periods in order to keep the pace up throughout nearly six hundred pages. It certainly succeds, because despite the time I took to read this book, I was never once bored and never even thought that I wished it was going faster. Trust me, that never happens; usually I become impatient with books after two days!
Mountain freely admits that she’s played a little bit with the facts, but it’s hard to blame her; Eleanor Glanville did have a thrilling life in reality and she deserves more credit for her scientific study in particular. Mountain has really crafted a wonderful book here, with a gorgeous setting (I could picture the marshes and why Eleanor loved them) and a heroine who is simultaneously a representation of her time and a woman that is perfectly recognizable. Lady of the Butterflies is a fantastic historical fiction read and one that comes highly recommended by me.
I am an Amazon Associate. I received this book for free through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.
Because otherwise these books are never going to get reviewed!
 Ten Things I Love About You, Julia Quinn
Annabel Winslow is looking for a rich husband to rescue her family from the poorhouse. And she’s found a potential suitor, an aged, lecherous earl, of whom she isn’t at all fond, but she figures she has to resign herself to her fate – even if he does nearly assault her. Then she meets the earl’s nephew, Sebastian, and everything changes. They may be falling in love, but will Sebastian have the funds to save her siblings?
Much the same as the last book in this series, What Happens in London, this book is very sweet and very funny. It’s easy to become fond of both characters and believe in their romance, even if everything is far too rosy for real life. The series lacks the real fantastic romantic potential of the Bridgerton series, but still all of them provide a nice, quick diversion from every day life.
 Lead Me On, Victoria Dahl
Jane Morgan has worked very hard to get her position as an administrative assistant to an architect. She rescued herself from years of bad behavior as a teenager in order to turn herself into a real adult – even if that means she’s neglected her family. But she can’t seem to kick her attraction to big, tattooed, rough men, no matter how many businessmen she dates. When Billy Chase steps into her office, she simply can’t resist him – but can she fit him into her new life?
I think I may be the only romance reader in the world who had some issues with this book – I just found that it wasn’t really to my taste. Dahl’s writing is funny and smooth, so no problems there, but I couldn’t connect with her characters and the book was a little too raunchy for my tastes. Jane spends most of the novel as a complete snob, and it bothered me that she judged people so heavily on their appearances when she knew perfectly well that people could be more than that. I should have been delighted that her prejudices got absolutely torn apart and she had to face reality, but I was already too annoyed with her to bother!
My negative reaction to this book won’t really stop me from reading more Victoria Dahl, though – the concept of the book was very good and I liked the writing a lot. I think I’ll try another one of her books and see if the characters annoy me less!
 Stealing Water, Tim Ecott
Tim’s parents give up their home in Ireland to move to South Africa, a land where Tim’s father believes he has a respectable job waiting, and where Tim’s mother believes she will finally be free of the boggy Irish weather. But things don’t turn out as they expect and the family become virtual vagabonds, struggling to get by.
This was okay, but I think is one instance where I enjoyed the idea of the book more than the book itself. The family’s South African life is so full of crazy, illegal antics that, even though they were often necessary to survive, it made me uncomfortable. There were aspects I enjoyed, though; my favorite bit was when Tim worked in a Johannesburg hotel, at a total contrast to his home life, and became acquainted with guests solely based on their voices. It was clever and funny. I also enjoyed glimpses of period department stores and cities.
I also struggled because I couldn’t really understand the way his parents worked; I would basically never do what they all did, much less not return immediately, or as soon as I could, once I realized things were going haywire. I felt for Tim quite often but it was hard to relate to everything that happened.
 Visions of Heat, Nalini Singh
Faith is an F-Psy, meaning she can predict the future. She’s one of the best, which also means that she is bound to go mad eventually, but she’s making her family rich in the meantime. Outside her home lurks Vaughn, a changeling jaguar who longs to know more about the girl he senses behind the walls of the compound. When Faith comes out, she and Vaughn collide, opening her to emotions and physical sensations she’d never dreamed of. When the Psy world no longer begins to make sense, Faith wonders if she and Vaughn can make a life for themselves without it.
I definitely enjoyed this, and the world-building that went on, but I didn’t really find it to be anything particularly out of the ordinary. As usual I find Nalini Singh’s love scenes a little too racy and a little too frequent for my personal taste. I’ve read that she tones down the heat in the next volume, though, as well as lays on the plot, and I’m really interested to see what happens to Judd, so I think I’ll keep on reading.
I am an Amazon Associate. I did not receive any of these books for review.
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