Sunday, March 17, 2024

A Lady's Guide to Etiquette and Murder by Dianne Freeman

 Frances Wynn was an American Heiress who married an English Count in need of her money.  He was unfaithful and eventually died of a heart attack in his mistress's bed. Luckily, the prenuptial agreement allows Frances to keep her inheritance despite all her in-laws' attempts to seize it to bolster their failing finances. With a title and an fortune she decides to move to London where she is enlisted by her mother to host her sister, Lily, and sponsor her first London season.  As Lily starts to acquire potential suitors, there is also a rise of thefts among their social circle.  At the same time, an anonymous letter is sent to the police accusing Frances of murdering her husband. Luckily, she has a dashing next-door neighbor who happens to be her best friend's brother who is willing to help Frances investigate her husband's deaths, her sister's suitors (are they only fortune hunters) and the local thefts. 

After reading a couple of teen and tween fantasies it was fun to get back to my most frequently visited genre, clean historical romance.  This is a new author I haven't read before, and I ended up liking it pretty well.  The pacing is a little slow, and there are not the trilling instances of peril we found in Brentwood's Ward , but it suited the mood I was in.  Frances is clever and doesn't make the stupid mistakes some women characters in historical romances make.  The love interest, George Hazelton, is supportive and protective, but doesn't really play the role of "knight in shining armor."  They are more like a team and he allows Frances to take reasonable risks. This is the first of a series, so they are just starting their relationship.  I also thought Freeman did a decent job with portraying the complex social structure of the Ton. I will certainly be reading the second in the series at some point in the future. (2018, 272 p.)

Monday, March 11, 2024

Amari and the Great Game by B.B. Alston

 Amari Peters is back for her second summer at the Bureau of Supernatural Investigations, this time as a Junior Agent.  Her hopes for a fun summer with friends is soon dashed when a Merlin and other Bureau leaders are caught in a time bubble, and a magician hating wraith takes his place. Soon Amari is suspected of causing the time freeze, and turns to the illegal League of Magicians for help. She is dismayed when they divulge their plans to go to war with the Bureau and want her to be their leader. When she refuses, they choose someone much more dangerous, and to prevent all out war, she must compete against him in the Great Game. Meanwhile time is running out for her brother who is still under a curse, and for all the "unwanted" magical beings being targeted under the new Bureau leadership.  What is a 13 year old magician to do?

I enjoyed the first book in this series, but was a little disappointed that this one was so much like that one.  The plot was almost the same.  She is still trying to save her brother. She is still fighting against prejudice from above and below, and she still has to try to pass a series of magical tests in order to get what she wants.  It is an interesting magic system and the characters are drawn well enough that I finished the book.  Now I am trying to decide if I will read the next in the series when it comes out.  I am in the same place with this series as with the Spoken Mage series by Melanie Cellier.  Actually, they are very similar books, both about a girl with unusual powers overcoming prejudice to save the world. I don't feel super compelled to finish either series, but I probably will. (432 p. 2022)

Saturday, March 9, 2024

Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson

 Tress lives as a window washer on an island surrounded by a green sea of spores. Her best friend, Charlie, is the son of a duke who pretends to be a gardener.  Her home is not perfect but she is content, until one day the Duke sees Tress and Charlie together and fears they are falling in love. The Duke whisks Charlie away to find him a royal bride, but when the Duke returns, he reports that Charlie has been taken by the Sorceress of the Black Sea. Although timid and polite, Tress decides she must try to rescue Charlie. She stows away on a ship and then falls in with some pirates. Faced with challenges including a cruel captain, dangerous spores, and mutinous shipmates, Tress gradually changes from a timid maiden to a force to be reconned with. 

Brandon Sanderson is hugely popular and successful as an author, and I am a little embarrassed to admit that up until this week I had only read his Alcatraz series. When this book came out with his four secret books that he wrote during the pandemic, I decided it would be a good first to try of his books written for teens-adults.  It was a lot of fun, and had a little of the same flavor as the Alcatraz series.  There was a big dose of silliness, and quite a bit of philosophizing, but that just made it more entertaining. The characters were diverse and interesting and the world and magic system were totally original. There were some characters in the book that were clearly from other books he had written in the same literary universe, and I felt a little adrift because I didn't know their backstory. He did include enough information that it didn't ruin the story not to know where they came from. My daughter assures me that some of his books from the Cosmere are more serious and gritty than this one.  Maybe some day I will read them.  As for now I am well pleased with this first taste of the Sanderson legacy.  (384 p. 2023)

Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Chalice by Robin McKinley

Mirasol lived a quiet life, keeping her forest and tending her bees until the day she was called upon to be Chalice to the new master of the Willowlands.  The new master had been human once, the second son of the old master, but had been sent away by his brother to train as a fire elemental priest. Now that he has returned, he lives partially in fire and partially in the world.  Most of the people are afraid of him, but Mirasol can sense that he is slowly making connections with the land lines that run under and through the Willowlands and they are starting to heal after years of neglect from his older brother.  It is now the Chalice's job to help the circle of elders to see that the new master is not only the best, but the only choice they have to make their home whole again. 

After reading What the River Knows, this book was a breath of fresh air.  The characters are interesting and sympathetic,  and they grow and develop over the course of the story. The magic system is also interesting, original, and stays (mostly) consistent through the story.  The characters succeed because they are trying their hardest to do what is right, even when their tasks seem hopeless. There is nobility, friendship, and sacrifice for the greater good. My only complaint is that I think she tied the end up a little too fast. She maybe needed one more chapter to show that the happy ending we were all hoping for made sense in the world she had built.  Still, I really enjoyed this book and affirm my belief that Robin McKinley is one of the great clean fantasy writers. (2009, 272 p.)

Saturday, March 2, 2024

What the River Knows by Isabel Ibanez

 17 year old Inez lives with her aunt and cousin in Buenos Aires half of the year while her archeologist parents work at digs in Egypt. Inez's aunt tries to raise her as a proper 1800's aristocrat, but Inez is too interested in the magical objects her parents bring back from their excavations. When Inez receives word that her parents have disappeared, she abandons all propriety and boards a steam ship to Egypt.  Once there, she confronts her uncle and his infuriatingly handsome but often inebriated assistant Wit. They try to send her home on the next boat, but she evades their efforts and is soon caught up in the shadowy world of the Egyptian artifact trade. Her uncle is sometimes harsh, and sometimes kind. Wit is both annoying and charming, and they are both hiding something. Inez does not know whom to trust. 

I can't remember why I put this book on hold.  I think a patron recommended it to me because she knew I read historical romances.  On Good Reads people either hate this book or love this book.  I must admit I am on the "hate" side of the scale.  I didn't hate it, but I thought it was a bit of a slog.  For one thing, it is ridiculously long.  It would have been a better book if it had about 1/3 edited out.  Secondly, there was absolutely no character development.  The author was clearly caught up in the setting and plot, and forgot to make the characters interesting. Third, the magic system was a bit shaky.  Ibanez seems to be making it up as she goes along, and it isn't internally consistent. Lastly, the ending, after 17 hours of meandering narrative, was a totally unsatisfying cliffhanger.  I considered giving up on the book 4 hours in, but I didn't have anything else in my cue that was available. I kind of wish I had.  (416 p. 2023)

Wednesday, February 28, 2024

Brentwood's Ward by Michelle Griep

Nicholas Brentwood is a Bow Street Runner who is desperate to earn enough money to get proper medical treatment for his sick sister.  It is only for this reason that he accepts a job as a guardian for a spoiled debutant, Emily Payne, while her father makes a hasty trip to the Americas.  Brentwood thinks the most difficult part of the job will be putting up with the pampered girl and her equally pampered pug dog, but he soon starts to realize there is more intrigue in his job than he had suspected.  When Emily's father's partner is found dead, Brentwood goes on high alert.  Emily, has her own secrets, and as she struggles to keep up appearances and right the wrongs of her past she puts herself and Brentwood in even deeper peril. Could the danger surrounding them bring two people together who come from such different worlds?

Here is a new clean romance writer one of my patrons recommended.  Actually this is the second book I have read by Griep, but the other was a Christmas one so it will show up on my blog next November.  Griep takes a slightly different approach to the genre of Victorian romance.  Instead of focusing on the ladies and gentlemen of the ton, her protagonists are from the middle class. There is much more in her books about the underbelly of Victorian England, a kind of Dickensian view. I liked the book, but it is a little more gritty than some I have read.  For example, at one point Emily is accosted by a villain and the description of the attack, though not "R" rated, is PG-13.  Also, I didn't think the writing in this book was a good as the Christmas one I read earlier.  This is a Christian romance, and the religious element is a little heavy handed. Still, I enjoyed it and will be willing to try Ms Griep again. (320 p, 2015)

Sunday, February 25, 2024

The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman

In this fourth book in the Thursday Murder Club series, Kuldesh, a friend we met in the previous book, is murdered during an exchange with a drug ring. The police are focused on finding the valuable shipment of heroin that disappeared when Kuldesh died, but the Thursday Murder Club wants to find Kuldesh's murderer. Meanwhile, Donna and Chris are pulled from the case when a outside investigator is brought in.  Why is this case so important to the national police? Why are all the crime bosses in England involved, and what does it have to do with the art forgery business. As the pensioners of Cooper's Chase start looking into the mystery, pitting one criminal element against another, the body count rises. Who will be the last devil to die? 

I waited in hold for a long time for this book but it was worth it.  Although Osman is pretty good at his mystery plots, it is the interactions between the characters that are so engaging. Even the villains are three dimensional. He does an amazing job balancing funny and touching. I don't know for sure if the over 70 crowd really think like he portrays, but I bet a lot of them wish they could be like Elizabeth, Ibrahim, Ron and Joyce. I was excited to hear that they are making a movie of the first book.  I hope they do a good job.  (368 p. 2023)