|
|
 This is the second of the Lady Emily Ashton books, and may contain spoilers for the first book in the series, And Only to Deceive.
Lady Emily wants nothing to do with the London Season, but she’s there for it nonetheless, avoiding invitations like mad. She wants to focus on her studies and occasionally on Colin Hargreaves, who is the only man permitted to court her, but a pesky man claiming to be the heir to the French throne is too busy commanding Society’s attention. At the same time, a cat burglar has been stealing anything that belonged to Marie Antoinette from all the best families, and Emily is one of the victims. When another one is murdered, and the burglar begins to show an alarming fascination with Emily, she finds herself in the middle of all this, her reputation and romance at stake if she doesn’t get to the bottom of it all.
I enjoyed the first in this series, but I read it too soon on the heels of the fabulous Lady Julia Gray series by Deanna Raybourn, and the similarities between the first books made them too easy to compare. At a year’s distance, this book stands out and I found I enjoyed it far more. I had a hard time putting it down and I couldn’t guess the twists and turns that make up the plot. There are several threads running through the story, but they all come together very satisfactorily at the end with conclusions to the various mysteries.
I really appreciated Emily’s character in this novel, more so than I did before. She is a budding academic with her opportunities limited due to her station in life. She doesn’t let that stop her, though, and is often found reading and learning Greek. She’s also determined to be independent. She sees her friends shackled down by marriage and realizes that all the things she thought she owned aren’t hers, but are instead owned by her husband’s heir. She doesn’t want that again, and even though Colin wants to marry her, she would prefer to remain an independent woman. This is a huge part of the scandal that surrounds her – without a husband or fiance to protect her reputation, rumors fly freely through London, and Emily realizes how important the reputation of an earl’s daughter actually is when her friends start to snub her. It all feels superficial to a twenty-first century reader and it’s hard to believe that family friends would discard you if a man was seen outside your house at night, but in Victorian society, it’s easy to see how this could happen. It also makes me very glad I live now and not then.
A Poisoned Season is a book that I didn’t want to put down. I am now looking forward to continuing the series, and I think this type of book may cure me of my historical apathy.
I am an Amazon Associate. I purchased this book.
These are books 2 and 3 of the Kate Daniels series and these reviews may contain spoilers for the first book. See my Magic Bites review for book 1.
 Magic Burns
Normally, magic and tech waves alternate in Kate Daniels’ Atlanta. This time, however, a magic flare is coming, which means that every magical situation gets even more dangerous. Gods can walk the earth and magic users have more power than they imagined possible. Kate’s mission starts simply, with retrieving some stolen maps for the Pack, the weres. But then she finds a teenage girl whose mother is missing, a man who can disappear at will and regenerate body parts, and a strange hole in the ground. Kate discovers that two gods are struggling to take a place on earth, and she’s caught right in the middle.
As with the first one, I liked this book. The additional character of Julie was a great touch and allowed a softer side of Kate to be exposed. She’s a properly tough girl and it’s hard to get in to her real self, but Julie is clearly paving the way. I also thought the book had an appropriate dangerous feel, and it’s all very dark. Andrews doesn’t spare any details, unlike some other urban fantasy novelists, and the world gives off a feel of neglect and violence. A good addition to the series, I thought, and I wanted to pick up the next one immediately. I also like the sort-of growing relationship between Kate and Curran. It’s strange, but I was definitely curious as to where it was going.
 Magic Strikes
Kate now works for the Order of Knights of Merciful Aid, and she’s been very busy as a consequence, not only working but avoiding werelion Curran. She can’t avoid the weres forever, though, especially when her friend Derek is discovered nearly dead, and no one knows if he’ll recover. Kate has to investigate the Midnight Games, a dangerous illegal operation, in an attempt to figure out what’s wrong with him. The game is much larger than that, and involves someone Kate wishes she’d never have to deal with again.
Whereas I liked the two previous books in this series, I loved this one and it may actually have become my favorite urban fantasy series in the space of one book. About halfway through, I realized I adored these characters. I love Kate’s blend of badass snark and wishing for something else that she’s convinced herself she can’t have. The interactions between all of the major players shine, and I now am a huge fan of the possibility between Kate and Curran. Their relationship has proceeded in such an out-of-the-ordinary way, but it’s exactly that which I like. And the story here was just so enthralling and for a 300 page book, had an amazingly epic feel, which of course is a huge draw for me. It’s desperate and violent but I was glued to the page, heart pounding. Kate’s backstory is revealed and a lot from the previous books starts to make sense, including her attitude. And with all of this is Kate’s trademark humor which had a smile on my face, even when she was hurt so badly she couldn’t move. It’s a perfect blend. I don’t know how I’m going to wait until May for Magic Bleeds but I’m so glad I started reading this series, and I have a feeling I’m going to read everything the husband and wife team of Ilona Andrews writes.
I am an Amazon Associate. I purchased these books.
 The Ramsay family travels to Skye, a small Scottish island, in the summers, their large house bursting with childish games and guests invited to stay. Towards the end of their stay, unfortunately, six-year-old James has still not been to visit the lighthouse, but the visit is promised for the next day. That promise is not fulfilled until ten years later, in the final stage of the novel, where the nearly-adult James finally gets his chance to see the long awaited lighthouse, when everything in his life is completely different.
On its own merits, I loved this book. I really like the way Virginia Woolf writes. Maybe because I’d never heard enough about her to be intimidated, I fell in love with her writing style in Mrs. Dalloway and clearly that hasn’t changed with the passing of a few years. It takes a little more effort, but I find her writing to just flow perfectly in line with my own thoughts. I think she captures the vagaries of the human mind better than any other writer I’ve ever read. And the characterization here was so interesting – in so few pages she builds genuine feelings from all these characters towards one another. And the middle section – the way time moves on no matter what happens in people’s lives – is masterful and awe-inspiring.
I found it even more interesting, though, when I started reading Hermione Lee’s biography of Woolf. Much of this novel can be read as autobiographical, and apparently the author and her sister interpreted it precisely that way. I’ll have a lot more to say about that biography when I finish it, but I immediately wanted to start this over and look at it from that way. I can already tell that this is a book which will only improve on re-reading, now that I can pick up nuances and already know what happens. But I suspect all of Woolf’s writing will be like that.
This is only a short review, but it’s impossible to put all I felt about To the Lighthouse into words, honestly. Her work just feels so true to me. I immediately wanted to read it again – and I would definitely recommend it to anyone with a little patience to get used to her style.
 Elena Deveraux is the best vampire hunter out there, but she begins to regret it when the angels come to her for help. Archangel Raphael, who has control over the United States, hires her to track a rogue Archangel, and in the process sets about seducing her. Despite her insistence that she can’t smell angels the way she can vampires, Elena is trapped in a dangerous mission, probably destined to die either on the impossible job or afterwards when she discovers too many of the angels’ secrets.
I actually really enjoyed this book and I feel like I’m getting a hint as to why Nalini Singh is so popular. I really liked Elena for the most part. She’s an interesting character with a backstory that relates to this novel and I loved her snarky, risk-taking attitude. I have to say her decision to sleep with Raphael made little sense, though; she’s frustrated so she appears to decide that she wants to sleep with him just to relieve stress. Yes, that is a great idea when your chosen lover is so powerful he can kill you with a thought, and probably would when the relationship was over.
Minor point, though, because for the most part I found their relationship sweet, a bright point in a darker book, and I suppose women are often drawn to power, especially when wrapped in an extremely attractive package, so maybe it shouldn’t have been a surprise. Plus the romance often took a backseat to the more exciting plot, and I was happy for that a romance, the ending was not what I predicted! And the characters’ stories are carried on in the next book! I think that this might actually qualify the book as urban fantasy, but I’ll have to see where the series goes to decide which way it leans.
I loved the world, too, and I thought it was a fair amount darker than most of what’s out there in urban fantasy or paranormal romance. There is a lot of brutal killing and the characters themselves don’t escape the savagery. A lot of Elena’s growth is based upon the horrors in her past and her determination to stick up for herself and what’s right even when that means death. There isn’t all that much humor when people’s hearts are being ripped out of their chests. It all feels very serious. There are some gaps in the world-building, mostly because we know very little about what angels do. They control vampires and they fly around with pretty wings, and they obviously are in charge of the world, but aside from the councils of the most important angels we just don’t see that much. I suspect this will be elaborated on in the next one, though, given how this wraps up, and so I’m willing to let the gaps rest for the moment. The angels seem to have no connection to any modern day religious faith, which was appreciated.
Overall, I enjoyed Angels’ Blood. I’m glad that this series has been picked up by a UK publisher so I can follow it in a more timely fashion. And many thanks to Tasha for sending this book to me. I think I liked it more than she did!
I’m still an Amazon Associate.
 This book is about two women who come into contact in a rather terrible way. One, Sarah, goes on to continue with her ordinary privileged life, while the other, Little Bee, runs in order to save her life, and ends up a detained asylum seeker. Two years later, they come into contact again, where this story begins.
I have no idea how to review this book without spoiling it. I mostly just want to tell you to go buy it and read it now, but I like to be more detailed than that.
So first, I will say, I had my doubts about the author. Chris Cleave is a white male reporter, and the narrators of the book are women. One of them is an illegal immigrant from Nigeria, and I had no idea how the author was going to make her believable. But he did, and I honestly forgot that the author of the book was a white guy. Little Bee was an incredibly compelling character and I just loved her voice. It seemed perfect to me as she drew me into this story that is half horrific and half hopeful. My heart broke and then I smiled two pages later. She’s an amazing character, and both she and Sarah, the other woman, are so fantastically well drawn.
Even when finishing I had my doubts about the authenticity of the narrative. Even though the story was beyond powerful, I didn’t know if this sort of thing actually happened. And then I saw that Little Bee’s character was based on interviews of real women, and many of the incidents described especially in the beginning were taken from reality, even though this story itself and the locations mentioned are largely fictional. I can’t even describe how sad this made me.
It also made me angry. This is a book that will make you want to change the world. It’s a book about how many people are wrong, and even though we like to think we’re doing things right, maybe we’re not. But maybe we are – and maybe we can do better if we try. It’s about the strength that individual people have, and how seeing and loving makes a difference. It left me with tears on my face (a rare occurrence) but I still had hope. I hope that people like this can actually exist. These characters spoke to me so deeply that I wanted to be like them, I wanted to know I would make the sacrifices that they did.
I loved The Other Hand and right now, it’s my favorite book of the year.
I am an Amazon Associate. This book is known as Little Bee in the US. I purchased this book.
 Miss Alexia Tarrabotti, a half-Italian spinster, also happens to be soulless. Unfortunately for the vampire who tries to attack her, this means that she negates supernatural powers, and his fangs effectively vanish when he touches her. But the vampire’s death by wooden hairpin sparks a whole investigation – why doesn’t he know what she is? Why doesn’t he belong to one of the hives, and if not why isn’t he registered anyway? When Queen Victoria sends in werewolf Lord Maccon to help the investigation, Alexia is caught up in a whirlwind of mystery and attraction.
I’m a little bummed that I didn’t like Soulless. It’s received so very many rave reviews, and it sounded perfect from the description. Since the second book is suddenly appearing on everyone’s wishlists, I figured it was time to read it. Unfortunately I found that the style felt contrived from the very first page. Normally I enjoy authors who write as if they were living in the time period, but it just grated on my nerves here. I also got annoyed at the author’s tendency to put a sentence about how the characters were feeling right before they spoke, because it was obvious that she didn’t need to tell us about it. The characters are often nodding or smiling as they speak – there must be a lot of sore necks in this world. And the repetition got to me, too. We hear often about how horrible it is that Alexia is half-Italian and has darker skin and a larger-than-average nose and curves and how terrible it is that her Italian father is dead. I guess it’s good that she’s a little bit different, but I got that at the beginning. In general because the prose was so odd and repetitive I found it impossible to lose myself in it and enjoy the story. It just all felt like it was done to mask a lack somewhere else, to make it stand out from the current crowd of paranormal romances. Others enjoyed this, so I’d suggest this was just me.
The mystery story was mostly okay, at least as historical urban fantasy goes, and I was interested to see what happened next. I’m not the most demanding in terms of plotlines, but I was entertained. I also really liked the world. It’s mainly a Victorian urban fantasy with some small steampunk elements, which I did think set it a little apart from the pack in a good way. This is one aspect I’d really like to see further developed. I really like all the genres contained in this book and an author who can combine them well is talented.
The romance, however, made zero sense. I could not figure out why the couple liked one another. Lord Maccon was interested in Alexia because she smelled good, mostly, or at least that’s all I can remember from what defined their relationship. I couldn’t honestly figure out why she was drawn to him. They didn’t seem to have any chemistry and their romantic interludes included a startling amount of biting, which I could have done without.
Anyway, the next book in the series, Changeless, is apparently going to include more of the mystery and less of the romance, which for once I actually think I will prefer. I’m not sure I’ll go out and buy it, but I will probably try and find it in the library. The author seems like she’s full of clever ideas and I would like to give the series another shot.
I am an Amazon Associate. I bought this book.
 Ella Minnow Pea lives on a (fictional) island called Nollop, named after the man who created the phrase “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog”, which uses every letter in the alphabet. When the letters on Nollop’s sentence begin to fall off his statue, the little island erupts in chaos, the council deciding that Nollop is speaking to them from heaven. No one over the age of eight can use the letters that have fallen in writing or speech, with threats of severe punishment and exile if the rules are disobeyed. Ella and her allies must use all the creativity they possess to write a new sentence and save the island they love so much.
I loved this book. Not only is it unbelievably creative, it’s also a little challenge towards censorship, promoting literacy and standing up for your rights. It’s written in epistolary format, so as the letters fall from the alphabet, the people who communicate (and the author) must get more inventive with their phrasing and word choice. Eventually, they are permitted to write phonetically as long as the offended letters are not used – I’m not sure how that carries over into speech, but by this point there are so few people about that they aren’t speaking very much at all.
The story was very cute and I liked the characters, even though they were a bit difficult to distinguish at times. I did have to check who was writing, and probably the only distinctive correspondent was Ella Minnow Pea. I was definitely on the side of the islanders, and I think the whole book is a parody of censorship and when it goes too far. It can be ridiculous, as it is here, but I loved that at least some of the islanders were determined to stand up for themselves. I found it hard to believe that anyone would conform to such stupid rules, but it also shows the power that governments can have.
Mostly I think this is an ideal book for people who enjoy words and word play. I found myself wondering what sentence could possibly match the original for its use of all the letters, and admiring the author’s talent in managing to construct understandable, clever prose that furthers the story without the use of many ordinary letters. It’s more than I could accomplish!
Ella Minnow Pea is a tiny book, 200 pages with plenty of white space, but it says a lot and is definitely well worth the time it takes to read. I’m looking forward to reading it again.
 A while back, Tasha at Heidenkind’s Hideaway started this and hated it, ending up with a DNF review. She sent it on to me because I used to really like Gaelen Foley, and I’ve finally had the chance to read it. Today Tasha is reviewing a book I sent her in our exchange, so head on over there to see what she’s reviewing.
Max, the Marquess of Rotherstone, a member of the infamous Inferno Club, has decided that it’s time to take a wife now that his duties for the country have ended at the close of the war with Napoleon. He receives a list from his solicitor and from it chooses Daphne Starling, who is kind-hearted, sweet, and devotes her time to poor orphans in a very dangerous section of town. She’s also gorgeous, which plays no small part in his decision. They meet and begin to fall in love, but Max is unable to forget his past and the secrets he must keep steadily drive a wedge between them.
I’m definitely of two minds about this book. I’ve noticed a trend in many historicals towards having a wicked group of men as a centre point for a series. And Foley is trying to do that, but there’s a serious problem, namely that Max isn’t wicked at all. At least, no more than a normal romance hero, and to be honest no one treats him like the “Wicked Marquess” except to call him that. This couple doesn’t even “do it” before their wedding night and in a book where the courtship happens beforehand, I can probably count on one hand the number of times that happens. So, before I even start, my expectations are thwarted, although in this case I liked it because I think wicked men are overrated and I’d rather have a sweet hero who wants someone to actually love him than a cold-hearted rake who has to be forced into it.
Second, the mystery plot with the Inferno Club and a supposedly dead member of it takes up at least a third of the book and is simply not interesting. And this is what binds this forthcoming series together. This secondary “plot” requires way too much info-dumping, with one particularly notable section at the end which, frankly, I skipped over. I just could not take these men seriously as scandalous men and I couldn’t get what the big deal was. It felt so contrived, just to add on some suspense which doesn’t feel real anyway. Yes, the war was terrible, but now we have this mystical feud with secret societies dating back to the Middle Ages? Honestly, yuck. I hate that sort of storyline and I hate it more when it’s done badly. And then the worst part was that it didn’t end. No, instead half of the epilogue is taken up by a clear lead-in to Foley’s next book. I am not reading romance novels for unending plots, especially when I’ve been bored by it for an entire book.
On the other hand, though, I actually thought the love story was stupidly cute and sweet. Sure, the characters are stereotypes, especially Daphne (barring a strange personality shift for about ten pages towards the end), but that’s not really anything new. I went in expecting the book to be downright terrible in every way, but I liked Max and Daphne together, and having known a person with childhood deep control issues, I could understand some of her obstinacy in resisting the relationship better perhaps than some. There was a scene with the typical “stop arguing, I’ll control you with your passion!!” thing that I hate (seriously, this would never happen in real life), but it didn’t happen again and Daphne got properly irritated after the fact, rather than passively smiling at the way she’d been manipulated. But I guess I like corny relationships, because I was a fan of theirs by the end.
And that’s all I really have to say about My Wicked Marquess. Gaelen Foley is definitely not writing what she’s capable of, but I have to wonder if she added on the wickedness and the secret societies to placate her need to fit into the current mainstream. I guess I’d better stop expecting her to come up with another Prince Charming.
I am an Amazon Associate.
 In the Psy-changeling world, Psy attempt to deny themselves all emotions, becoming cold but completely logical. On the other hand, changelings turn into animals and are largely ruled by those emotions, accepting all of their people for who they are. Sascha Duncan has always struggled with being a Psy, unable to stop herself from feeling emotions. She has never come into her cardinal powers, either, and she knows she’s flawed, incapable of joining her mother in Psy government. When she launches a project with Lucas Hunter, a panther changeling, she realizes for the first time that there’s another world out there, and that perhaps it’s acceptable to feel. But with a changeling killer on the loose, how long will she have to feel?
I am of two minds about this book. Half of me loved it and the other half of me didn’t like it so much. Most importantly, I think, is the fact that I was really intrigued by the world. I tend to think that paranormal romance is mostly set in our world except the people in it are vampires/werewolves/fairies/whatever. This is totally different, it’s set in a completely different world. There are humans, but I don’t think there are any in this particular book. The Psy are all connected mentally, which I found to be quite an interesting concept and it worked extremely well within the context of the story. I definitely wanted to spend more time in this world. I liked the quest to catch the changeling killer. I didn’t think it took away from the romance at all even though it’s a fairly large part of the book. Rather, I enjoyed the way the storylines fit together.
It’s the romance that I didn’t like so much. While I didn’t particularly mind either of the main characters, I thought it moved way too fast and had far too many sexual scenes. It happens virtually every time the hero and heroine are alone. As we all know, I’m not really a fan of the lust = love romance, and so the first half of the book disappointed me in that way. By the end, though, I did think they’d grown past it and had been through enough together for me to “get over” the first half. Slave to Sensation definitely wasn’t as moving as it could have been.
Still, I think I’ll be reading more of Nalini Singh. I liked the world enough to continue this series and I think the author has a lot of potential. I also happen to have Angels’ Blood courtesy of Tasha at Heidenkind’s Hideaway, so I’ll be reading that next.
I am an Amazon Associate. I purchased this book.
 Cassandra Mortmain wants to be a writer. She lives with her family in a castle, but they’re not rich. In fact, they’re desperately poor. Her father’s first novel, while critically acclaimed and taught at the most prestigious universities, was never followed by a second, and Cassandra is sure he doesn’t write any longer. Her beautiful sister Rose has no rich men around her to tempt into marriage. Her stepmother, Topaz, is loved by all of them, but is incredibly eccentric and rarely goes to London to be painted (her main way of earning money). As a writing exercise, Cassandra decides to write about her life in little journals, never suspecting that so soon after she begins, two men from America are to become their landlords and change their lives forever.
I’ve wanted to read this book for so long, since high school at least. I’m so glad I finally got the chance to read it, because it’s truly a charming book. Cassandra stands right out from the beginning as a fantastic narrator, drawing us in to her family’s life. Their poverty is distressing and does make the beginning of the book hard. The family is earning virtually negative money. Their servant of sorts, Stephen, who has never been paid wages, is the only employable person of all of them and thus takes a second job to support the people who are meant to be his employers. They eat mostly bread and tea, and can’t even afford real butter. I have to admit that I was worried the whole book was going to be like this, but it isn’t.
When Neil and Simon arrive, it becomes a coming-of-age story for Cassandra, who is only just growing up. It’s her slow awakening to adulthood – womanhood – that makes this book so poignant. While we’re not all poor, and we don’t all live in a castle (I doubt anyone reading this lives in a castle, although I wish I did), it is impossible for any woman to forget what it was to be a girl, when life was enchanting and new and simple. Cassandra emerges from the page as a person I’d have loved to be friends with. There is a point where games end and where adulthood begins, and Cassandra hits it here. Her narrative is sweet and honest and I’m so glad I read it. The ending wasn’t what I wanted, but I didn’t see anywhere else for it to go, not while remaining true to the characters.
I Capture the Castle is a book I know I will return to again and again in the future, and what higher recommendation can I give it than that?
I am an Amazon Associate. I purchased this book.
|
|
Recent Comments