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 It feels as though, recently, the balance between acquiring ebooks and acquiring physical books has started to take shape in my house. I seem to acquire both, but distinctions are appearing regarding which books belong where.
I’ve actually physically run out of space for real books. I have four bookcases, two normal-size and two small-size. One of the normal size bookshelves is for books I’ve already read and intend to keep, while the other is for unread books. Both are full. One of the smaller ones is for hardcovers that I’ve read, or ones that I would like to read soon, and the other is for books I’d like to reread in the very near future, or series that I’ve liked a lot and want to see together all the time. All full. And I do keep buying books, when I get the opportunity. Having to move all of them, though, is a prospect that worries me, because it was difficult enough moving just the books I had a year and a half ago, and I know that when we do move again, which won’t be in the terribly distant future, all those books will present a problem.
This predicament has led to me buying more ebooks. If I want a book, and I’m not sure it’s a keeper, I tend to add the ebook to my wishlist, rather than the physical book. This is in part convenience, because I have made a rule for myself, which is that I do not buy physical books online, I only buy them in the store. I do buy ebooks online, obviously, as I have a Kindle, and I do buy US imports online, since I have no easy other way to get them, but I buy real, physical books in a real, physical store, because I want that store to stay there and buying cheap books from Amazon is not the way to accomplish that.
Anyway, back to my original point; in certain genres especially, I’m leaning towards ebooks quite heavily. Urban fantasy, for instance; the series take up space and my bookstore doesn’t tend to stock all of them at once. Romance, as well, because most of the ones I want are imports that aren’t on the shelves here anyway, and because I very rarely read them twice. Big books that are only available in hardcover? Ebook, to spare both my hands and unfortunately my wallet. This does lead to the interesting situation where I buy books twice, one ebook and one real book, because I like it so much I want to own it.
Leaning towards ebooks in any sense makes me feel vaguely uncomfortable, like I’m cheating on my masses of unread paper books. And reading an ebook doesn’t really confer the same satisfaction as taking a book off the shelves to read, so I actually find myself leaning towards reading physical books more often, where I can see a pile (temporarily) diminishing, even as I become more comfortable actually acquiring more ebooks. It’s a very strange situation that I can only imagine is going to evolve further.
Have you noticed a shift in your own preferences towards ebooks? Or away from them? Or do you still feel the same way you did when they first emerged onto the market? Let me know your thoughts!
I have an unfortunate number of books that I read too long ago to write a normal, coherent, 500+ word review. So, more mini reviews are in order, to wipe the slate clean and feel like I can actually catch up with this blog of mine one of these days. These are all fantasy, although Blackout is on the line between fantasy and science fiction.
 Ashes of Honor, Seanan McGuire
I love these books so much that I’ve lost the ability to even review them objectively, let alone in a way that will get you to read them with me. The stakes for Toby are always high, but in this one, they keep going up, and many characters from earlier books in the series pop back in again to help. And, I have one word for those who have read books in this series before: Tybalt. I am so invested in this series and these characters; I just sat down and read this book straight through because I simply had to know what happens next.
So, if you haven’t read these and you have the slightest interest in urban fantasy, get started with Rosemary and Rue!
 The Hidden Goddess, M.K. Hobson
I was one of the fans of Hobson’s The Native Star, so when the next book in the trilogy came out, I was looking forward to continuing this romantic historical fantasy series. While I liked it, I didn’t really fall in love with it. I think it’s suffering a bit from middle-book syndrome, and it’s definitely suffering from a lack of romantic interest. After the heady romance in the first book, I stopped being really sold on Emily and Stanton here. I’ll definitely pick up the third book in the trilogy, but it will probably sit on the shelf as long as this one did.
 Blackout, Mira Grant
I feel guilty for consigning two of this author’s books to the mini reviews pile, but that’s what I get for putting off writing reviews – better something than nothing. Blackout was excellent; I had the pleasure of reading it with Jodie, mostly because we were terrified at what the author might do to the characters after the first book, but I was mostly satisfied by how it went and, while I was reading, I was completely glued to the pages. An excellent trilogy, totally worth your time, but make sure you start with Feed.
 Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Laini Taylor
And finally we get to the book that everyone raves about but which I didn’t like much. I still don’t entirely see the appeal. I just didn’t fall in love with this book. I do often have difficulty with YA romance-y books, which I appreciate makes no sense as I inhale regular romance novels easily enough. But this one, I just didn’t connect with. I didn’t buy the magical connection between Akiva and Karou and – in all honesty – I saw the twist coming. And that never happens for me, as I’m horrendously bad at predicting what’s going to happen (on purpose). It’s more than that, though; I just felt like the book was too contrived, and I didn’t believe in what was happening.
What the book did have going for it, though, was the setting. The descriptions in this book were everything I’d imagined Prague to be, and everything I was disappointed by when it wasn’t. So that might have predisposed me against it. Just a thought.
Have you read any of these books? What did you think?
 The western world, particularly England where this book focuses, hasn’t always been as free in its sexual attitudes as it is now; indeed, for most of recorded history, all of the world has been more or less the same as the Taliban is now, with little concept of individual sexual freedoms or privacy. Adulterers, homosexuals, and prostitutes are among those who were deeply stigmatized as there was no real conception of individual privacy or the idea that your sexual history might be only your own business.
When did this change? Beginning in the late 17th and moving into the 18th century, a series of fundamental shifts happened in the understanding of privacy, sexuality, and even celebrity that resulted in concrete changes to the way people in Europe viewed their lives and those of the people around them. Dabhoiwala tracks this cultural shift, which has echoes running straight to the modern day, through its origins in a variety of different spheres to understand how and why it happened and how the attitudes creates are actually still being rewritten into the present day.
I found much of this book to be absolutely fascinating. The Enlightenment isn’t really my period of particular interest, so I knew very little about this subject. Coming into it from a medieval background, though, with a comprehensive knowledge of medieval attitudes towards sexuality and an idea of what happened in the Renaissance, I could recognize easily that this was actually a very significant shift. While medieval people weren’t necessarily as brutal or as hard on women as we necessarily think, that doesn’t mean that their society was particularly free. Sexuality outside marriage – sometimes even inside marriage – was routinely targeted as something to avoid wherever possible.
I also liked the approach that the author took here. Rather than strictly chronologically laying out exactly what was happening, he instead takes several themes and explores those and how each of them changed understanding in its own particular way. A chronological approach could have easily gotten confused; separating out particular themes and segments of history, like the rise of sexual celebrity with Charles II’s numerous mistresses, helped give the book focus and lend weight to the author’s arguments.
One section I particularly liked was the emphasis on the change in attitudes towards prostitution. Prostitutes were reviled in the period before this one, often viewed as tempting men into adultery and causing them to sin with their alluring ways. By the eighteenth century, the pendulum swung completely the other way, and prostitutes were viewed with extreme pity as fallen women who had fallen into impossible circumstances. The Victorians created workhouses where these women were rescued from their immoral lives, given religious training and isolated from all aspects of their former lives, and essentially forced to work for their upkeep. While this approach worked for some, with women emerging into the Victorian version of success with marriage and children, it failed monumentally for others, and the success rate really wasn’t high – nor did these workhouses make much money.
A truly fascinating look into a society that radically changed the way people thought, The Origins of Sex is a work of history that is well worth your time.
All external book links are affiliate links. I received this book for free for review.
Hello friends! October sped by in a flash, it seems; a week away and then a weekend away towards the end of the month means that we’re nearly halfway through November and I’m still not sure where the time went.
In October I had the privilege of going to Barcelona, Spain for work. While I did spend most of my time at the office, working and learning, there were palm trees outside to remind us that we were in fact in Spain.
We also were fortunate enough to have an evening free to explore. One of my favorite sights was the city’s second cathedral; not the famous La Sagrada Familia, still unfinished, but instead the medieval one towards the center of the city. Awash with golden light, with thirteen white geese in the cloisters to represent the saint to whom the church is dedicated, I found it to be an absolutely magical place.
Inside, I lit a candle for my younger brother, who would have been 25 last Friday and who passed away seven years ago this coming December. It just felt right.
In reading news, I finished ten books in October. I’ve discovered a trend in my reading now where I finish books in clusters on weekends and don’t really read that much in the week. Just glad I’m still in double digits!
Fiction
Non-fiction
- Imagine, Jonah Lehrer
- The Origins of Sex, Faramerz Dabhoiwala
Once again, the benefits of reading much less than I used to – I’m actually not that far behind on reviews! I still have a few from September (eek) but overall, I’m pleased.
Favorite of the Month
Easy choice this month, I loved this book to bits. If you haven’t read it yet, you should!
Trust me to find some history while everyone else is enjoying a glass of Scotch whisky! These are the oldest bottles of whisky in the collection in the Scotch Whisky Experience, Edinburgh.
I haven’t vanished – just been travelling and then ill over the past few weekends. I’ll be back next week!
 The second book in the Chattan Curse series, The Scottish Witch focuses on Harry Chattan, who is desperate to find a cure for the sickness which has overtaken his brother. Two hundred years ago, the Chattan family was cursed when Charles Chattan broke his handfasting to a Scottish girl called Rose. When Rose killed herself, her mother Fenella cursed the family forever; whenever a Chattan man fell in love, they would die shortly thereafter, after getting a wife pregnant with yet another Chattan male. Harry’s brother has fallen in love with his wife, and as a result, Harry searches for a way to cure his illness. While in the small village of Glenfinnan, where the curse originated, Harry meets Portia Maclean, a woman who is decidedly not a witch but has enchanted him nonetheless.
Portia is a twenty seven year old spinster, firmly on the shelf; she doesn’t mind that as much as she minds being responsible for her family. They’re behind on rent, her mother is determined to stop her sister marrying for love, and Portia hasn’t been admired in far too long. When she discovers that Harry is willing to pay to find a cure, and coincidentally finds a book of spells with the name “Fenella” written inside, she can’t resist the opportunity to pay rent and buy financial security for a short time by pretending to be Fenella. But Portia hasn’t counted on the way she might feel towards Harry herself; not as a witch, but as a lonely woman.
The premise to this book was intriguing; Harry and Portia are thrown together because of a spell that really doesn’t have much to do with either of them, given it’s hundreds of years previous to the book’s events. Once they meet, though, it’s fairly clear that they are a great match, and the book follows their story in a fairly logical and enjoyable progression as they try to resist the curse but, of course, end up falling in love anyway. This is, after all, a romance novel.
While I didn’t completely fall head-over-heels in love with it, the book was a good solid read. I appreciated that Portia was a spinster, not a diamond of the first water or anything of the like, although Harry’s wastrel reputation is really not evident in this particular book at all. There is also quite a humorous interlude with Portia’s mother and an adoring military man who learns that the key to a woman’s heart is to ask her questions and actually make conversation with her – who would have thought! It adds up to a charming way to spend a few hours in the afternoon.
One note; I didn’t realise that it was the middle book of a trilogy and that the curse would continue through this book and into the next. This means that, even though this book has a traditional happy-ever-after with the couple ending up together, we don’t get a resolution to the curse plotline. That lack of a solid ending was really the only downside to a story that was otherwise romantic with a touch of magic.
The Scottish Witch is appropriately released today on October 30th, the day before Halloween, so if you’re looking for magic that isn’t scary, this could be the romance choice for you. The magic element is very light, so if you’ve enjoyed Maxwell’s romances before, don’t let it put you off, either. Recommended for romance readers.
All external book links are affiliate links. I received this book for free for review.
 Rinette Leslie, a girl who can read truth in flowers, is entrusted with a casket by Scotland’s dying queen. Destined for Mary, known to history as Queen of Scots, the casket contains predictions made by Nostradamus, meant to protect her from the folly in her future. But foolishly, Rinette shows the casket to her young husband, the man she loves with all her heart, and decides not to go back to Edinburgh to put it in its secret hiding place or give the casket to Mary. After all, she’s happy in her seaside castle, and she trusts him. But when the secret of the casket gets out, the lives of Rinette, her husband, and her young child are in grave danger.
I’ve never heard of the art of “floromancy” before, but it’s an art that makes sense and has a grounding in history. Rinette can read flowers, by which I mean she can apply the meanings of flowers to the future. It kind of goes along with the idea that a certain color rose means passion, a different one love, a different one grief, and so on, but Rinette can see meanings in all different kinds of flowers, as though they speak to her. It’s an intriguing premise and adds an element of magic to what could have been a relatively standard historical thriller.
It is a thriller, this book; it’s full of twists and turns and death and mystery. Rinette is put through agonies on multiple occasions, her spirit crushed, buried in mourning and regret and sorrows, all due to a casket that she didn’t even want anything to do with. All she wants is to live quietly in Granmuir by the sea, and it’s a desire that grows with time as her life spins out of control, forced to the whims of the court and the royalty around her. Loupas did a great job creating such a sympathetic character who suffers much too severely for the faults of youth that many of us will recognize in ourselves. Her mistake in trusting the husband she adores, a man who clearly isn’t trustworthy, haunts her even as she seeks to find his murderer and exact revenge.
I also loved the refreshing take that this sort of book gave on sixteenth-century Scotland; we’re right at the start of Mary’s reign, and even at her court, many of the more controversial elements of her later life are only just beginning. The future is still completely open to her, but she’s not an admirable character, and it’s very clear that we’re not meant to like her or her mother. Instead, Rinette gets all of our sympathy, and she certainly deserves it.
I would definitely recommend The Flower Reader to a reader who is generally interested in historical fiction, particularly those who love Tudor era fiction but are tired of Henry VIII and his antics. It’s a well-paced, well-written read with a good basis in history but enough of a fantasy touch to make it feel fresh.
All external book links are affiliate links. I received this book for free for review.
 Lord Tristan Easton has been known as Jack Crimson since the tender age of fourteen, when his uncle plotted his death and that of his two brothers and he was forced to flee home for years on end. Now accustomed to the sea, he can’t imagine settling anywhere or with anyone, until Lady Anne requests the private use of his ship to visit her fiance in the Crimea. Though he knows she’s taken, Tristan can’t resist Anne, and asks for just one kiss in payment for her passage, envisioning much more. But what he doesn’t know is that Anne’s fiance is dead and buried, and the lovely lady has been lost in mourning herself for two years.
I’ve never read a historical romance by Lorraine Heath before, but I’ve seen her books around and the synopsis of this one intrigued me. As usual, it’s not particularly appropriate for its time, and did suffer from a fairly typical romance novel flaw, but it was an absorbing, entertaining read nonetheless. It has elements that go along with a standard sea-faring dangerous captain story and other elements that fit more in a story that takes place entirely in society ballrooms, making for an intriguing mix and a book that kept me up late reading.
One thing that immediately caught my attention as I began reading was that Anne regretted not giving herself to Walter, her dead fiance, prior to his death. He asked, but being a proper lady, she refused until they were married. This regret, even though it would have ostracized her from society, is one of the drives that she has to say goodbye, and to avoid regretting anything that she does with Tristan as she discovers this new passion for him. She knew she loved Walter and how rare that was in contemporary society; she has no expectations of feeling quite that way again. So when she does discover a new passion, she embraces it with open arms.
Tristan, on the other hand, has obvious issues with loving anyone; having everyone he loved taken away from him at the tender age of fourteen, he hasn’t really recovered. His recovery is actually quite heart-warming to watch; even though this book does have its share of sex scenes, they’re also backed up by the couple’s discovery of one another and the reveal of their emotions for one another.
That brings me neatly to the stereotype the book falls into. It’s one of those where the hero / heroine don’t decide they love the other themselves. Instead, it’s up to someone else to tell them, only at which point do they realize it is actually true. This happens very frequently in this type of book and always kind of annoys me, I guess because it was obvious to me when I fell in love and certainly no one could have told me so. That aside, I can give these characters a bit of allowance because, actually, there is a reason for both of them not to want to admit that love to themselves. As a result, in this case I didn’t mind, except that it reminded me of all those times when I found it irritating.
There was another stereotype that the book just narrowly skirted, but which I was quite pleased about, so I have to give the author a lot of credit for neutralizing a potential issue and making a really great ending instead of an ending that caused me roll my eyes and disbelieve. I won’t say – because though we all know the couple gets together, part of the fun is how they make it there. But I was very pleased with this particular ending and I finished the book with a smile on my face.
Lord of Temptation certainly won’t be the last novel I read by Lorraine Heath – I just went and bought the first of this series, and I am most certainly looking forward to the third. Highly recommended for those who enjoy romance novels.
All external book links are affiliate links. I received this book for free for review.
 Newly crowned queen, Marie Antoinette and her husband Louis XVI represent a return to glory for France and new hope for the future – for a short while, at least. Unfortunately, the disaffection that the French feel towards their monarchy only grows, and Marie Antoinette, guilty or not, is the focal point of their unhappiness. Everything from her expenditure to her origin is put into question, whether right or wrong, and her struggle to have a child isn’t a help either. Throughout these difficult years of Louis’s reign, Marie Antoinette faces daily struggles in all areas of her life, from deceitful subjects to a secret affair to growing discontent among the French people.
Juliet Grey’s first book in the Marie Antoinette trilogy was incredibly captivating; the detail rich story of a young girl taken to a foreign court and specifically groomed to be a queen worked perfectly under her control. Days of Splendor, Days of Sorrow is much the same, while portraying the middle years of Marie Antoinette’s life and the start of her reign.
It’s easy to forget that this queen was just a teenager when her husband came to the throne; a lot of eighteen and nineteen-year-olds are completely incapable of acting like adults, and here she is expected to bear a child, settle down, and behave respectably. Forced into an incredibly awkward situation where she is unable to actually serve the purpose of getting France an heir through no fault of her own, she has nowhere to go but seek pleasure and distraction elsewhere.
Juliet Grey does an exceptional job of helping the reader understand Marie Antoinette’s faults and the reasons for them, especially when it comes to feeling sympathetic for her. That was definitely one of the highlights of the book for me; I felt so strongly for this particular character that I really wanted history to change. And even as it charged down its pre-set track, I still felt for her and wanted things to improve somehow, some way.
There were actually elements of the history that I’d forgotten but which were clearly pivotal in Marie Antoinette’s life and which play a big role in this book. I also really liked the way the author re-integrated some of the aspects of the previous book into the beginning of this one, so I was reminded of how much I appreciated the little details of her transition to a princess of France. It puts the book into its proper context.
It’s also a reminder of how welcome this trilogy is, as it does such a better job of portraying an entire life than a single book could. Marie Antoinette’s life is complex and changing. Even in this book, a considerable amount of time is skipped, but these years are very eventful ones and they set the scene for the inevitable, which we all know is coming.
This whole trilogy is a very well-done, evocative portrait of the French court during the reign of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, and does a fantastic job of getting inside the famous queen’s head and positing what might have motivated her to act as she did. Days of Splendor, Days of Sorrow is highly recommended – but I do suggest you start with the first in the trilogy. I’m simultaneously dreading and anticipating the last installment, as I’m sure it will be an excellent read, though incredibly heart-rending.
All external book links are affiliate links. I received this book for free for review as part of the Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tour.
 The Alloy of Law, Brandon Sanderson
A few hundred years after the original Mistborn trilogy, the world has moved on and progressed. The city of Elendel is a metropolis, and trains criss-cross the landscape. Criminals and lawmen alike carry guns, although the practices of Allomancy and Feruchemy in the Mistborn make life as interesting as ever. Our hero, Waxillium, is a noblemen who has taken to reviving the law in the rougher areas around the city. When personal tragedy ruins his happiness there, he returns to save his family’s estates, only to discover that the city may actually be more dangerous than the roughs ever were.
I’ve been a fan of Brandon Sanderson for a good few years now, since before I discovered he would be finishing The Wheel of Time (a discovery that delighted me at the time, but I’ve since failed to read a single book he’s written for this series). For the most part, I really enjoyed the original Mistborn trilogy, and I’ve been looking forward to The Alloy of Law for some time. While it ties into the original series, I think it stands quite well on its own and provides some excellent action, likeable characters, and an extension to Sanderson’s already very clever magic system. It’s just an all-around great read that was the perfect way to spend an evening.
Definitely recommended if you enjoy fantasy, as are all of Sanderson’s books; this isn’t an earth-shattering read, but it is a good one.
 Fate’s Edge, Ilona Andrews
Audrey Callahan wants nothing to do with the family that loves her drug addict brother, who ignores rehab and has attempted to sell her for drugs, more than her. In order to finally achieve the separation she craves, she must pull off one last heist using her unique magic ability to pick even the toughest locks. Unfortunately, that last heist kicks off a huge series of disasters, leaving Audrey on the run to get the stolen objects back with alarmingly attractive and skilled Kaldar Mar, a man who is unquestionably bad for her but somehow she can’t resist.
I’ve never quite liked Ilona Andrews’s Edge series as much as the Kate Daniels series. I don’t think it’s because the books are any worse, but it’s mainly because I don’t like the shift in protagonists each time. They feel more like paranormal romance with plot, instead of plot with ongoing occasional romance but mostly other epic awesomeness. This book, though, was probably my favorite of the three in the series so far. The spark between Audrey and Kaldar was fantastic, and the plot held together alongside that, as the reasons driving them to be together made some sense. Moreover, I remember lots of the characters from the previous books, so I felt a greater sense of continuity than I had previously.
I’d probably still recommend the Kate Daniels series first, but the Edge series of books are worth reading if you enjoy those. I can definitely say I’ll be picking up the fourth in the series when it’s released.
All external book links are affiliate links. I purchased these books.
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