Julia/1984 Comes to TV/Movies, 15th Century Gold Book Discovered in England, KCLS 2022 Reading Challenge, Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer, Matrix by Lauren Groff, and On the Plus Side by Alison Bliss

Happy New Year to all my fellow bibliophiles and blog readers! 2021 was quite a year of struggle and change, but also a year that wasn't as freeing as I'd hoped, as cases of the new varients of the coronavirus came into play and made life outside of quarantine really risky for those of us with compromised immune systems. Still, there were surprises and new seasons of my favorite shows to binge-watch (I am looking at you Star Trek Discovery and Yellowstone and Witcher) while some new shows bloomed on the small screen for those of us seeking good stories to watch inbetween books we're reading (Dune, Foundation, the end of See, the story of Boba Fett and several others come to mind). In 2022, there will be new Star Trek series coming up and more from the Outlander series and the Marvelous Mrs Maisel, which I loved because it was about women making it in the world of Stand Up comedy. Meanwhile, I've been reading more books on my Kindle Paperwhite than ever, mainly due to the cheaper price, and for birthdays and Christmas I've asked for gift cards for books so that I can buy all the books I've been waiting to read all year long by some of my favorite authors. Unfortunately, the weather has been uncooperative, and in the last few days we've had snowfall every day, which turns icy at night, making it hard for delivery trucks to arrive and drop off packages of my hardbacks and paperbacks. So for now I'm practicing patience as I wait for those books and I've been catching up on some new ebooks on my Kindle. Feel free to join me in putting on some comfy PJs, grabbing a blanket and sitting down in a cozy chair near the fireplace with a cuppa tea and a new book...bliss!

I'm looking forward to seeing this adaptation, as I'm sure it will be spectacular. I read George Orwell's two most famous books back in high school, and I remember thinking that though they were considered "speculative" futuristic fiction, I fully believed that his views of society were realistic and already coming into play, in terms of losing privacy and having the government watch everyone.

Julia/1984 Retelling Adapted to Large and Small Screens

Sandra Newman’s “Julia,” a feminist retelling of George Orwell’s much-adapted 1949 dystopian political novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four,” has found publishers on both sides of the pond.

Variety understands that while film and TV rights won’t be optioned for several months yet, there is already tremendous interest in “Julia,” which will be published after Newman’s next novel “The Men” is released in 2022.

Newman’s version is fully authorized by the Orwell Estate, which is is represented by literary agency A. M. Heath.

 

Orwell’s novel is set in an imagined future beset by war, surveillance and propaganda where Great Britain is a province of totalitarian superstate Oceania, ruled by the Party, led by Big Brother. It follows party worker Winston Smith who enters into a forbidden relationship with his colleague Julia.

“Julia” depicts the same events as “Nineteen Eighty-Four,” only this time as seen through Julia’s eyes.

Bill Hamilton, literary executor of the Orwell Estate, said: “I am delighted by Sandra Newman’s imaginative retelling of Orwell’s ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four,’ through the eyes of Julia. Two of the unanswered questions in Orwell’s novel are what Julia sees in Winston, and how she has navigated her way through the party hierarchy. Sandra gets under the skin of Big Brother’s world in a completely convincing way which is both true to the original but also gives a dramatically different narrative to stand alongside the original. The millions of readers who have been brought up with Orwell’s ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four,’ will find this a provocative and satisfying companion.”

Newman is the author of the Bailey’s Prize-longlisted “The Country of Ice Cream Star,” “The Only Good Thing Anyone Has Ever Done,” which was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award, “Cake,” “The Heavens,” the memoir “Changeling” and “How Not to Write a Novel.”

“Nineteen Eighty-Four” has been adapted as feature films in 1956, directed by Michael Anderson and in 1984 by Michael Radford, which features Richard Burton’s last performance. Television adaptations include a 1953 version from CBS and 1954 and 1965 versions from the BBC. There have been numerous radio and theater adaptations and also ballet and opera versions.

This is fascinating, a little gold book was discovered in the dirt, and turns out to be an historical treasure. I hope the museum buys it and makes the Baileys rich.

A Metal Detectorist Discovered a Tiny Gold Book From the 15th Century That Might Have Belonged to King Richard III’s Wife

The book is worth an estimated $130,000.

An English nurse named Buffy Bailey made a stunning discovery of a tiny, solid gold book while on holiday near York. Bailey and her husband, Ian, were walking near farmland when their metal detector alerted them to something under the ground. They began to dig, expecting to find the usual detritus.

Instead, the miniature gold book is thought to be connected to King Richard III, and could be worth an estimated £100,000 ($134,500)

“I dug down five inches and it was just there—I still didn’t believe it was anything special,” she told the BBC. Perhaps it was a souvenir trinket dropped by a tourist, she thought.

Once the nurse, who chose York for her metal detecting holiday because of its rich history, cleaned the tiny book, she realized how lustrous and heavy the object was.

The book, possibly a bible or a book of hours, is engraved with Saints Leonard and Margret, patron saints of childbirth, which has led experts to the conclusion that it may have been a gift to someone during pregnancy.

Only nobles were allowed to carry gold during the 15th century, so the owner of this .2 ounce, 22- or 24-karat gold trinket is thought to be a relative of Richard III as it was found close to land he owned between 1483 and 1485. This has led to speculation that it could have belonged to his wife Anne Neville.

Experts are thrilled at the news of the discovery due to its value and uniqueness. Some are saying that the book might have the same maker as the Middleham Jewel, a sapphire and gold pendant, also with engravings linked to childbirth, that was also found by a metal detectorist. The jewel is also thought to have belonged to royalty or nobility and was discovered near Middleham Castle, the childhood home of Richard III near York.

The Yorkshire Museum bought it for £2.6 million ($3.5 million) in 1992. It is thought the museum may decide to purchase the book as well.

 

Every year I sort of unofficially take the King County Library System's reading challenge, and because I read so much during the year anyway, I like being able to check books off the list one by one. 

KCLS Reading Challenge Categories for 2022

Read a book in each of these categories.

1.   Cover is your favorite color

2.   Set somewhere you've wanted to visit

3.   Main character is over 50

4.   By an Asian or Asian-American author

5.   About a library or set in a library

6.   Set in another century

7.   A one-word title

8.   Recommended by a friend

9.   Has won an award 

10) Recommended by library staff

Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer is a delicious YA fantasy novel that I found on the shelves of The Sequel Bookstore in Enumclaw, WA. The book was low priced and looked to be in new condition, so I purchased it without looking at the interior, knowing that I'd read other books by this author and that they were generally a ripping good read. I was surprised to discover, upon opening the book that I discovered it was an edition signed by the author! What a thrill! Anyway, it turned out to be a great novel and now I get to put it in a place of pride on my bookshelves. Here's the blurb: From New York Times bestselling author Brigid Kemmerer comes a blockbuster fantasy series, about a kingdom divided by corruption, the prince desperately holding it together, and the girl who will risk everything to bring it crashing down.

Apothecary apprentice Tessa Cade is tired of seeing her people die. King Harristan and his cruel brother, Prince Corrick, ignore the suffering of their people and react mercilessly to any sign of rebellion, even as a sickness ravages the land. That's why she and her best friend Wes risk their lives each night to steal the petals of the delicate Moonflower, the only known cure. But it's not enough to keep everyone she loves safe-or alive.

When Prince Corrick commits an act of unspeakable cruelty, Tessa becomes desperate enough to try the impossible: sneaking into the palace. But what she finds there makes her wonder if it's even possible to fix their world without destroying it first.

Brigid Kemmerer's captivating new series is about those with power and those without . . . and what happens when someone is brave enough to imagine a new future. 

I could not put this book down, it was such an exciting page-turner! The prose was beautiful and lush without falling into the overly fussy state that some fantasy writers fall prey to, and the plot was full of twists and turns (The prince turning into the pauper trope was especially well done) that moved along with deft precision.  Tessa learning that not everything is black and white in politics was also made interesting to readers, even those like myself who are generally not into political fiction. I'd give it an enthusiastic A, and recommend it to anyone looking for a thrilling political fantasy that has some ramifications in our own society, (re: access to vaccinations for the coronavirus).

Matrix by Lauren Groff was an ebook that I purchased because the hardback novel was way too expensive (over 28 dollars) and, after reading the first few chapters for free online, I was hooked into the 13th century world of this reluctant abbess, and I just HAD to know what happened to her! This is historical LBGTQ fiction at it's finest. Here's the blurb:
One of our best American writers, Lauren Groff returns with her exhilarating first new novel since the groundbreaking Fates and Furies.

Cast out of the royal court by Eleanor of Aquitaine, deemed too coarse and rough-hewn for marriage or courtly life, seventeen-year-old Marie de France is sent to England to be the new prioress of an impoverished abbey, its nuns on the brink of starvation and beset by disease.

At first taken aback by the severity of her new life, Marie finds focus and love in collective life with her singular and mercurial sisters. In this crucible, Marie steadily supplants her desire for family, for her homeland, for the passions of her youth with something new to her: devotion to her sisters, and a conviction in her own divine visions. Marie, born the last in a long line of women warriors and crusaders, is determined to chart a bold new course for the women she now leads and protects. But in a world that is shifting and corroding in frightening ways, one that can never reconcile itself with her existence, will the sheer force of Marie’s vision be bulwark enough?

Equally alive to the sacred and the profane, Matrix gathers currents of violence, sensuality, and religious ecstasy in a mesmerizing portrait of consuming passion, aberrant faith, and a woman that history moves both through and around. Lauren Groff’s new novel, her first since Fates and Furies, is a defiant and timely exploration of the raw power of female creativity in a corrupted world. 

I find it odd that the blurb and jacket copy skate around the fact that Marie is a lesbian and a royal bastard who has been shunned from court life because she is smart, tall and big boned and considered too "ugly" to marry a minor noble and have children and a life around the periphery of Eleanor's court. In fact, she has a serious crush/infatuation with Eleanor, who treats her with cruelty and disdain (this doesn't keep Marie from still worshiping Eleanor, and writing her a book of love poems and other missives) throughout her life. Even though she isn't a religious person per se, Marie becomes a kind of saint who gets visions from the Virgin Mary (who is God to her) about how to turn things around at the ruined and wretched abbey where she's been made the holy mother Abbess by Eleanor. Within it's walls, Marie's skills as a resourceful leader shine, and within a decade Marie has turned the place completely around, making it a way station for other women rejected by society for various reasons, and building up the crumbling structures within and without the abbey walls (at one point she builds a labyrinth and a visitors chapterhouse, all devised and built mostly by the nuns themselves, who also create a large series of gardens and stables for farm animals) thereby ensuring that the women who live there can be well fed, treated for medical disorders and learn to read/write or devote themselves to becoming nuns. It is also a somewhat safe space for women who love other women, which is astonishing for the time.  The fact that Marie is able to accomplish so much during her lifetime and create a space for women, run by women, where they're protected from the misogyny of society and the Catholic church is nothing short of miraculous. I heartily recommend this fascinating book, and I'd give it an A.

On the Plus Side: A BBW Romantic Comedy by Alison Bliss is billed as a "plus sized" romance novel, when in reality it's just a romance novel with a female protagonist who looks like a blonde Kim Kardashian (ie has big breasts and a big butt and wears skimpy, form-fitting clothing and high heels to display her body to it's best effect to the male gaze). There's nothing about our heroine that would lead anyone to make fun of her or even call her fat, because she has the kind of body that is in style and deemed acceptable/f-able to men...big breasts and bottoms are considered sexy and desirable, not detestable or ugly. Valerie doesn't have fat arms or legs or a tummy, or dimples of chub on her thighs...in fact on the cover she looks like a model, not like a "BBW= Big Beautiful Woman", at all. Here's the blurb: Thanks to her bangin' curves, Valerie Carmichael has always turned heads -- with the exception of seriously sexy Logan Mathis. Just Valerie's luck that the object of her lust-filled affection is also best friends with her overprotective brother. But Valerie's determined to get Logan's attention . . . even if it means telling a teeny little lie to get a job at his new bar.

Logan can't remember a time when Valerie didn't secretly fuel all his hottest fantasies. Now the curvaceous she-devil is working behind his bar, tempting him every damn night. It's only when he finds Valerie's naughty things-to-do list that Logan decides to break every rule in the book -- by making each red-hot deed a reality.
No one warned them that they were going to fall this hard. And no one warned them that sometimes the smallest secrets can have the biggest consequences. 

So though the prose was clean and the plot swift, I was still taken aback that this story was considered a BBW novel, when it was just soft core porn for guys who like big boobs and bums. Valerie sounds like most typical privileged white cis-gendered girly girls who are on the prowl for men and have no real life outside of the guys that they want to bang. The men, on the other hand, are all stereotypical macho asshats who are domineering, possessive and often abusive toward the women in their lives, whom they infantilize by making all their decisions for them and not "allowing" them to run their own lives as adults. They're "over protective" (meaning aggressive asshole who treats all women like his  personal sex slaves who are not allowed any agency in their lives) and their sexist world view is repulsive enough that it leads to a lot of near-rapes and fighting between men fueled by toxic masculinity.  That all guys are stupid and ruled by their dicks is a given here, and all women are simpering idiots who believe that their only value to men is in their body and their sexuality is also par for the course. I can't imagine why anyone would want to read such misogynistic garbage, but if you dig lots of "paint by numbers" pornographic sex scenes, then this is the book for you. I'd give it a C- (and I am being generous) and I can't think of any woman I know who would want to waste her time and money on this kind of crappy "romance" novel that totally isn't for larger women at all, and really isn't funny, either.

The Storied Life of AJ Fikry and Secrets of Dumbledore Movies, Pacific Mist Bookstore Opens in Sequim, Obituary for bell hooks, Open Books: A Poem Emporium Moves to Pioneer Square, Backlist Treasures, Time Traveler's Wife Comes to TV, Hugo Winners, Bookish and the Beast by Ashley Poston, The Big Reveal by Jen Larsen, and the Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter by Hazel Gaynor

Merry Christmas (in a few days) to all my fellow booklovers! This upcoming year looks great for new titles and more sequels to books we've all become obsessed with. Meanwhile, I am really excited for what I hope will be gift cards to bookstores and actual books under the Christmas tree. This holiday season we're celebrating with my son's beloved Sylvie who hails from Canada. Nick and Sylvie are enjoying the sights in Seattle and all the fine dining they can get during the third wave of the pandemic, which has shuttered so many restaurants and venues in the area. They always bring something home for me, whenever they venture forth, so I am reaping the rewards of their culinary adventures! Anyway, here are a ton of tidbits and a few reviews.

I'm really looking forward to these movies, the first because I read and enjoyed the book, and the second because, though I abhor JK Rowling's transphobia, I loved her Harry Potter series in book form and on the screen. 

Movies: The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry; Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore

David Arquette (You Cannot Kill David Arquette) and Scott Foley (Scandal) are joining the previously announced Kunal Nayyar, Lucy Hale and Christina Hendricks in The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz50696537, based on the bestselling novel by Gabrielle Zevin, Deadline reported. The film is now shooting on Cape Cod.

Hans Canosa is directing the film, which was adapted by Zevin. Nayyar plays Fikry, with Arquette as Lambiase, and Foley as Daniel Parish. BCDF Pictures' Claude Dal Farra and Brian Keady are producing alongside Kelsey Law, Canosa and Zevin. BCDF's Brice Dal Farra, Nayyar, Hale, and Hendricks are executive producers.

Warner Bros. released the first trailer for Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz50696538, the third film in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter spinoff series, an April release. Directed by David Yates, the film "is set several years after the events of Fantastic Beasts sequel The Crimes of Grindelwald, and watches as beloved wizard Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) tasks magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) and his allies with a mission, taking them into the heart of dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald's (Mads Mikkelsen) army," Deadline reported. Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore was scripted by Rowling and Steve Kloves. The cast also includes Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Ezra Miller, Callum Turner, William Nadylam, Poppy Corby-Tuech and Jessica Williams.

 This is so exciting, to see another bookstore opening in a small town...now if only someone would open one in Maple Valley, Wash!

Pacific Mist Bookstore Reopens in Sequim, Wash., After Seven-year Absence

Pacific Mist Bookstore, which closed in 2014, officially reopened https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz50697609 last month at 22 W. Washington St., almost across the street from its old location. The Sequim Gazette reported that owner Vickie Maples "opened the bookstore for a test run on First Friday in November, which was a decade after buying the business from Marti McAllister Wolfe in November of 2011. Wolf ran the store for 18 years before selling it to Maples and retiring. In 2014 Maples had to close the business due to family health issues that she needed to attend to in California."

The bookstore carries titles in a variety of genres; cards, puzzles and other sidelines; local fudge and cashew brittle from WeDo Fudge; and journals, puzzles and other items made by local artist Jean Wyatt.

"People have been really supportive," Maples said. "Lots of people stopped by to give their support."

Sales associate Caitlin Knapple remembered Pacific Mist from her childhood. "It was very cozy," she said. "It had a great atmosphere. I enjoyed perusing it."

Maples noted that Knapple "comes with a lot of experience and knowledge," having worked for the the Good Book and Hart's Fine Books in Sequim, as well as the Purple Haze retail store.

"I've always loved books so anytime I'm in a bookstore I'm happy," Knapples added.

Maples also expressed a love of books since her childhood: "My father had a great love of books. He always had shelves after shelves of books which he built himself." She added that she is hoping to expand the hours after the first of the year, when a second employee will come on board

 I read bell hooks work when I was a freshman in college and learning about women in literature, feminism and gender/race issues. I was completely blown away by her books, and I continued reading them throughout my undergrad years at Clarke College.  RIP to a groundbreaking female author/activist.

Obituary Note: bell hooks

bell hooks, the renowned author, scholar, feminist and activist whose work examined race, class, gender and the ways they intersect, died on December 15 at the age of 69, the Lexington Herald reported https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz50697633. She died at her home in Berea, Ky., surrounded by friends and family.

Born Gloria Jean Watkins in Hopkinsville, Ky., she published more than 30 books under the pen name bell hooks. She explained in interviews that it was her great-grandmother's name, and she wrote it in lowercase letters to focus attention on her words, not herself.

Her first book was the poetry collection And There We Wept, released in 1978. In 1981 she published the hugely influential Ain't I a Woman? Black Women and Feminism, which explores the impact of sexism and slavery on Black womanhood. In addition to Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center (1984), All About Love: New Visions (2000), Feminism Is for Everybody (2000) and The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love (2004), hooks wrote scholarly articles, essays and children's books. Her first children's book, Happy to Be Nappy, was illustrated by Chris Raschka and published in 1999.

She defined feminism as "a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation and oppression," USA Today wrote https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz50697634, and her early influences included James Baldwin, Sojourner Truth and Martin Luther King Jr. In a 2012 interview with Appalachian Heritage, hooks said of King: "He had a profound awareness that the people involved in oppressive institutions will not change from the logics and practices of domination without engagement with those who are striving for a better way."

She attended Stanford University and went on to earn a master's in English at the University of Wisconsin Madison and a doctorate in literature at the University of California Santa Cruz. She taught at Oberlin College, City College of New York and Yale University before joining the faculty of Berea College in Berea, Ky. In 2010 the school opened the bell hooks Institute, which "houses her collection of contemporary African-American art, personal artifacts and copies of her books published in other languages."

After news of her death spread Wednesday morning, authors, publishers and others in the literary world shared tributes to hooks.

"Oh my heart. bell hooks. May she rest in power. Her loss is incalculable," Roxane Gay tweeted, Ibram X. Kendi wrote "The passing of bell hooks hurts, deeply. At the same time, as a human being I feel so grateful she gave humanity so many gifts. Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism is one of her many classics. And All About Love changed me. Thank you, bell hooks. Rest in our love."

"I want my work to be about healing," hooks said in 2018. "I am a fortunate writer because every day of my life practically I get a letter, a phone call from someone who tells me how my work has transformed their life." 

One of the first bookstores I visited when we moved to Seattle was Open Books, A Poem Emporium. Having been a fan of poetry my entire reading life, I was thrilled and astonished that such a place existed, filled with only books of poetry from all over the world. I remember feeling terrible that I couldn't buy a huge stack of books, but I did manage to buy three books of poetry, one from a long time favorite Nikki Giovanni and another from Seamus Heaney. I believe the third was from a poet I'd never heard of, but who came highly recommended by the very helpful clerk in the tiny store off of 50th Street in Wallingford, just a minute away from the University District. Now they're moving to a very nice old building in Pioneer Square, and I wish them every success. The world would be a better place if people read more poetry.

 

Seattle's Open Books: A Poem Emporium Moving

After 25 years in its current location, Open Books: A Poem Emporium https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz50729108, Seattle, Wash., is moving into a new site, in the Good Arts Building in Pioneer Square, which the store described in an e-mail to customers as "one of Seattle's most accessible, beautiful, and historical neighborhoods, where we believe our beloved bookstore will not only persevere but thrive."

The historic brick storefront with "large, street-facing windows is a charming, warm, and inviting space sure to delight old friends and new passersby alike," Open Books continued. "The wider layout of the store will allow readers to roam between bookcases with ease, and a separate parlor space will enable intimate gatherings of poets for classes, workshops, craft talks, reading groups, submitting parties, individual studio time, and more. Add to all of this the close proximity of the light rail and a wonderful neighboring coffee shop and, well, we're still pinching ourselves to see if it's real."

Because the store has struggled during the pandemic "without event sales and with restricted in-store shopping," it's "not in a financial position to shoulder the myriad expenses of a move and the outfitting of an entirely new shop. We are calling upon our local community and lovers of literature far and wide to support us in taking this exciting next step."

Open Books hopes to raise $50,000 https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz50729109 "to secure a long-term and sustainable future... Every gift will go toward building a new home and a new future for Open Books. Our poem emporium has been around for more than 25 years. And we'd love to be around for 25 more." As of yesterday, the store had raised more than $21,000 toward the $50,000 goal. 

I have been a huge fan of Mary Stewart's books since I was about 12-13 years old, and developed a penchant for novels with romantic themes. I gobbled up stories like This Rough Magic and Airs Above Ground, Thornyhold and Nine Coaches Waiting, not to mention the gorgeous Merlin Trilogy, which enchanted me so much I re-read it for years afterward. I remember the Moon Spinners and The Gabriel Hounds and Touch Not the Cat...in fact, I think I read everything that she wrote, and I loved them all. So I totally agree with Ellen Stimson that Stewart was that rare creature, a natural storyteller who could spin any word-straw into gold. I also recommend Rumpole of the Bailey because my late friend RM Larson was a huge fan of the Rumpole series, and she would be elated to know that his books had made a comeback.

Get Cozy: Highlighting Backlist Treasures

I doubt many book people watch Hallmark movies during the holidays. But

that doesn't mean we're anti-holiday. My own version of binge-watching

Hallmark Christmas movies was reading gobs of British novels, hopefully set at Christmastime, like Nancy Mitford's Christmas Pudding. I want to sit by the fire with my pile of dogs and read about quaint old houses with big fireplaces. This year, maybe more than ever, I want quirky village characters, a vicar, a local gossip, and a cranky cook. Luckily there are plenty of them.

 

I have never admitted this in public, but I love Mary Stewart. She got a bad rap being described as a romantic suspense writer. What even is that? It sounds like men on horses and swanning women. No, Mary Stewart is instead a great storyteller. Stewart writes stylish mysteries with clever dialog that are a little like Nancy Drew for grown-ups. Her books are set in lush locales, and she has a travel writer's gift for geographical description. As for romance, there is usually a plucky heroine who pairs up with someone, but this is a minor byproduct of some mutual sleuthing. Her books have all been rereleased by the Chicago Review Press as part of its Rediscovered Classics imprint, so they have more traditional fiction covers. These books are perfect for 30- or 40-somethings (or 20- or 60-, come to think of it) who want a cozy escape this winter. Airs Above Ground, set in the Austrian countryside, has one of the most heart pounding train scenes in literature, and This Rough Magic set on the Greek island of Corfu takes its title, its geography, and its themes from Shakespeare's Tempest. These are both good places to start. I promise you will remember this holiday season as one of your cheerfullest ever if you dig into Mary Stewart.

 

John Mortimer created Rumpole of the Bailey just for the Christmas season. He said he'd been to so many parties he needed cheering up. He'd been a member of the bar long enough by the time he started writing these charming books to know that even the worst criminals have redeeming points, and the best lawyers have their own little evil streaks. He could make you laugh about all of them.

Horace Rumpole is one of the most beloved characters in modern literature.

The Penguin Reprints have friendly beautiful covers. Do your kids know about them? Then neither do your customers, and we need to change that fast because Horace Rumpole can probably save us. He's an ample lovable man. He swigs claret, quotes Wordsworth, goes to the theater, defends men accused of rape, and gets a little brokenhearted when a friend turns out to be an embezzler. He stands for all the right things, per Mortimer himself, "for our great legal principles--free speech, the idea that people are innocent until someone proves them guilty to the satisfaction of twelve ordinary members of a jury, and the proposition that the police should not invent more of the evidence than is absolutely necessary." The dialog is quick, and all the stories are good. This time of year, we can all use a little more Rumpole. --Ellen Stimson

 

This is so exciting! Former Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat is adapting The Time Traveler's Wife! I imagine he will do a better job of bringing this story to the small screen that the 2009 film with Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams.

TV: The Time Traveler's Wife

"If anyone was going to adapt Audrey Niffenegger's bestselling 2003 novel, The Time Traveler's Wife https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz50727575, it makes sense it would be Steven Moffat--the man who, alongside Russell T. Davies, helped reinvigorate the Doctor Who franchise and get a new generation obsessed with time travel," Entertainment Weekly reported in a q&a with Moffat.

Although the novel has been adapted to the screen before, as a 2009 film starring Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana, in the new series for HBO, Moffat "is trying to honor the book he fell in love with so much that he even loosely based a Doctor Who episode, 'The Girl in the Fireplace,' on it," EW noted.

"I read the book and loved it," Moffat recalled. "It wasn't long after it came out. I remember saying to Russell who was running Doctor Who at the time, 'We should do a Doctor Who story like that.' And so, I did, which was 'The Girl in the Fireplace.' But all I'd done in Doctor Who was use the wonderful, fantastical element of an out-of-sequence relationship. That's not really doing The Time Traveler's Wife; that's running with one of the ideas from it. In terms of the film, by the time I had read the book, the film rights were gone. At that stage, I wasn't in the position to be the person who wrote it. Although, I remember thinking about it back then, and my immediate instinct was a TV show. A film is too short. If you know the book, it rambles a bit because it's not a jeopardy-driven, plot-driven piece. It's a prose poem about love, longing, and loss. It doesn't shrink well into the three-act structure of a conventional movie. If you reduce it to what happens, you've boiled away everything that's interesting about it.

"We did chase it. When I was coming off Doctor Who back in the day, three or four years ago, my co-exec on that said, 'I've been looking into the rights for The Time Traveler's Wife, and I know where they are and I think we could get them.' And I was very interested." 

This year's Hugo Awards saw an unprecedented number of women authors,which is long overdue. I am also a huge fan of Martha Wells Murderbot, who, despite it's name is a really sweet character who reminds me a bit of Data from Star Trek The Next Generation. Congratulations to all the award winners.

Awards: Hugo Winners

The winners of the 2021 Hugo Awards https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz50727579, Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book and Astounding Award for Best New Writer were announced on Saturday at the 79th WorldCon--called DisCon III--in Washington, D.C.:

Best Novel: Network Effect by Martha Wells (Tordotcom)

Best Novella: "The Empress of Salt and Fortune" by Nghi Vo (Tordotcom)

Best Novelette: "Two Truths and a Lie" by Sarah Pinsker (Tor.com)

Best Short Story: "Metal Like Blood in the Dark" by T. Kingfisher

(Uncanny Magazine, September/October 2020)

Best Series: The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells (Tordotcom)

Best Related Work: Beowulf: A New Translation by Maria Dahvana Headley

Best Graphic Story or Comic: Parable of the Sower: A Graphic NovelAdaptation, written by Octavia Butler, adapted by Damian Duffy, illustrated by John Jennings (Abrams)

Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book: A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher (Argyll Productions)

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form: The Old Guard, written by Greg Rucka, directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood (Netflix/Skydance Media)

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form: The Good Place: "Whenever You're Ready," written and directed by Michael Schur (Fremulon/3 Arts Entertainment/Universal Television)

Best Editor, Short Form: Ellen Datlow

Best Editor, Long Form: Diana M. Pho

Best Professional Artist: Rovina Cai

Best Semiprozine: FIYAH Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction

Best Video Game: Hades

 

Bookish and the Beast by Ashley Poston is a YA romantic retelling of the classic Beauty and the Beast fairy tale, done in modern day LA/North Carolina with a badly behaved television actor squaring off against a science fiction book nerd from a small town. There are a number of intersectional characters, among them the SF nerd's father, who is a hot bisexual librarian and single dad, and the female protagonist's friends, one of whom is a gender neutral/trans person. Here's the blurb: A tale as old as time is made new in Ashley Poston's fresh, geeky retelling of Beauty and the Beast—now with a bonus Starfield story!

Rosie Thorne is feeling stuck—on her college application essays, in her small town, and on that mysterious General Sond cosplayer she met at ExcelsiCon. Most of all, she’s stuck in her grief over her mother’s death. Her only solace was her late mother’s library of rare Starfield novels, but even that disappeared when they sold it to pay off hospital bills.

On the other hand, Vance Reigns has been Hollywood royalty for as long as he can remember—with all the privilege and scrutiny that entails. When a tabloid scandal catches up to him, he’s forced to hide out somewhere the paparazzi would never expect to find him: Small Town USA. At least there’s a library in the house. Too bad he doesn’t read.

When Vance’s and Rosie’s paths collide, sparks do not fly. But as they begrudgingly get to know each other, their careful masks come off—and they may just find that there’s more risk in shutting each other out than in opening their hearts. 

Though I know that child stars often have terrible parents and they react to money and fame by acting out in public and being asshats to get their parent's attention (or to work out their grief at the loss of a parent), I don't buy the trope that the love of a good man/woman somehow matures them overnight into behaving like a normal adult. I also do not buy that bad behavior can be excused by the rich/famous person because of their guilt/grief/terrible parenting trauma. Are therapists in SoCal that inept? The other thing I didn't like about the book was that the final chapter was actually a fanfic story from a fictional science fiction TV series that Rosie's a big fan of, and that Vance stars in. How disappointing that the story couldn't just have had a decent ending, without the long extra chapter that makes no sense to someone who hasn't read the other books in the "Once Upon a Con" series. What I liked about the book was the clean and strong prose and the engaging plot that moved along at warp speed. The characters were well drawn but a bit too stereotypical. Still, I'd give this book, which my son bought me as an early Christmas present at the Sequel Bookstore in Enumclaw, a B, and recommend it to anyone who likes modern retellings of Beauty and the Beast.

The Big Reveal by Jen Larsen is a YA romance and "learning to love yourself/coming of age" story that I couldn't put down, though it was on my Kindle Paperwhite. This is the story of Addie, who is a larger young woman who can dance beautifully, though she doesn't have the traditional ultra thin dancer's body. Anyone who has been in the performing arts (having been a chorus/theater major when I was a young larger woman, I totally know how Addie feels) knows that those who are People of Color and/or larger sized people have to work twice as hard to get any roles or spots in performing arts schools, because we're not the stereotypical societal ideal of beauty. Things have opened up and gotten better in the last 10-20 years, but even so, there will always be backlash and misinformation about fat people that allows others to be prejudiced against larger women and POC/LGBTQ folks, which is a crime, IMO. Here's the blurb: Addie is a talented dancer, a true-blue friend, and a fat, fierce, and driven young woman. When she's accepted into the prestigious dance company of her dreams, she thinks nothing can bring her down—until she realizes she doesn't have enough money to go. Refusing to give up, Addie and her friends decide to put on a top-secret, invitation-only burlesque show to raise funds. But word soon gets out, and the slut- and body-shaming begin. Has Addie been resisting the patriarchy, or playing right into its hands?

The Big Reveal asks hard-hitting feminist questions while reveling in some of life's greatest joys: chasing your passions, falling in love, and embracing yourself exactly as you are. "Though bigotry against fat people batters against Addie’s self-confidence (from the gross boys who neg her to her mother’s well-meaning but abusive obsession with diets), her determination to love herself and claim her fatness are empowering. There’s no hidden message of avoiding food, no incidental weight loss paralleling Addie’s growth, just the conviction of one girl and her excellent friends that they are awesome and powerful and sexy. Unabashedly, determinedly positive, with truly comical banter and the heroic climax of a teen movie." ―Kirkus Reviews "Addie is a compelling narrator, witty and dramatic and bold. . .There’s a definite Julie Murphy energy to the story, so her fans will appreciate Addie’s vitality: “I want it all. I want to wrap my arms around it and jump up and down. I want to see what’s next.” 

The prose is stellar and the plot swift and delightful. I loved every minute of it, and was cheering Addie on right until the very last page. The fact that she takes on the school administration's sexist/misogynistic dress code and wins is just icing on the cake. I'd give this utterly brilliant novel an A, and recommend it to any and every young woman out there who has body image issues. You will fall in love with fierce feminist Addie, trust me!

The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter by Hazel Gaynor is January's book for my library book group. The fastest and cheapest way to get the book was via download from the library, so I read this book on my Kindle Paperwhite. Like many historical fiction novels based on actual people and their defining moments, the author felt the need to add a more contemporary heroine whose story is told in every other chapter, 100 years after the story of the original heroine who was a real person. At first I found this a bit confusing, but I eventually got the hang of it as the story progressed. The prose was a bit florid and overblown, but the characters carried the drama through a stout and sturdy plot that kept the metered pace. Here's the blurb:

From The New York Times bestselling author of The Girl Who Came Home comes a historical novel inspired by true events, and the extraordinary female lighthouse keepers of the past two hundred years.

“They call me a heroine, but I am not deserving of such accolades. I am just an ordinary young woman who did her duty.”

1838: Northumberland, England. Longstone Lighthouse on the Farne Islands has been Grace Darling’s home for all of her twenty-two years. When she and her father rescue shipwreck survivors in a furious storm, Grace becomes celebrated throughout England, the subject of poems, ballads, and plays. But far more precious than her unsought fame is the friendship that develops between Grace and a visiting artist. Just as George Emmerson captures Grace with his brushes, she in turn captures his heart.

1938: Newport, Rhode Island. Nineteen-years-old and pregnant, Matilda Emmerson has been sent away from Ireland in disgrace. She is to stay with Harriet, a reclusive relative and assistant lighthouse keeper, until her baby is born. A discarded, half-finished portrait opens a window into Matilda’s family history. As a deadly hurricane approaches, two women, living a century apart, will be linked forever by their instinctive acts of courage and love.

I know that things were difficult and restricted for women in the 19th and early 20th century, so I know that women who were pregnant out of wedlock were treated terribly, often abusively, and that they had little chance of survival without some kind of support system. It's frankly a miracle that either Grace or Matilda were able to have some independence and live their lives on their terms in the lighthouses they lived in. That said, the romance that was interjected into both women's stories seemed forced and an effort to misdirect readers from the possibility of lesbian romances or of no romance with men at all, which I have a suspicion that the publisher felt would alienate too much of the cis-heterosexual white audience. Historical romantic novels need not be white-washed with hetero-normative relationships between men and women, because people of color and gays/lesbians have existed for centuries, and their stories need to be told, too. All that said, this was still an interesting story that highlighted the bonds between mothers and their babies, as well as women grieving the loss of their children, which was much more common in the last 200 years. I'd give this book a B-, and recommend it to anyone who is interested in the history of female lighthouse keepers.

 

 

Cyrano Movie, Oddest Book Title of 2021, Sandman Audiobook, Hi-Voltage Records in Tacoma Adds Bookstore, Dog-Eared Books in Ames, Iowa, Anne Rice Obituaries, When Sorrows Come by Seanan McGuire, and Little Shop of Found Things by Paula Brackston

Good day to you all, my fellow bibliophiles, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to me and all my fellow Sagittarius natives! I turned 61 on Sunday the 12th, and I had a wonderful day, with bookish presents and lots of lovely cards. Unfortunately, the day before my birthday we lost famed gothic writer Anne Rice to a stroke...RIP to the writer who brought an entire genre back and made vampires sexy again. There's a ton of tidbits and obits to get through, so I only have space for two book reviews. But I will be back in a week with more reviews. Here's to a warm holiday season of reading!

 

I'm a huge fan of the original play and the 1983 musical version of Cyrano, starring the late Christopher Plummer as Cyrano de Bergerac. I still listen to the recording of the original Broadway cast. 

Movies: Cyrano

MGM has released a new behind-the-scenes https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz50626823 featurette for Cyrano https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz50626824, as well as "Somebody Desperate," a single written and performed for the film by indie rock band the National, Deadline reported.

Director Joe Wright's first musical is an adaptation of Erica Schmidt's 2018 stage production, which was based on the classic 1897 play Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand. The cast includes Peter Dinklage, Haley Bennett, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Bashir Salahuddin, Ben Mendelsohn and Ray Strachan.

Scripted by Schmidt, the movie features an original score and songs by Aaron and Bryce Dessner, with lyrics by Matt Berninger and Carin Besser. Cyrano premiered at Telluride and will hit theaters in Los Angeles on December 17 via United Artists Releasing, expanding to select theaters nationwide January 21.

 This is hilarious, and something that only comic book fans could appreciate fully.

Oddest Book Title of the Year

Is Superman Circumcised? by Roy Schwartz "has cut through the competition to claim the 2021 Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz50626830, earning a 51% share of the public vote," the Bookseller reported, adding that the winning title, "an academic study on the Jewish origins of the iconic DC Comics character, flew faster than a speeding bullet to quickly grab the number one spot in the polls when the public vote was first announced in early November, a lead it never relinquished."

Horace Bent, the Bookseller's legendary diarist and Diagram Prize administrator, said: "Congratulations to Is Superman Circumcised? and its author Roy Schwartz for the heroic effort put into winning the 43rd Diagram Prize. Mr. Schwartz seems smarter than Lex Luthor (and presumably less evil) as I can't recall any author being so pleased to make the Diagram shortlist. He has been busier than Meryl Streep's publicist during Oscar season in pushing Is Superman Circumcised? out to his fans.... There were obstacles--including a concerted effort by Kremlin-backed troll farms to swing the election to The Life Cycle of Russian Things--but truth, justice and the Kryptonian way ultimately prevailed."

Schwartz said: "The competition was stiff, but I'm glad I was able to rise to the challenge.... I'm sincerely honored to receive this august literary prize. It's a great reminder that even serious literature is allowed to be fun."

 I NEED this audiobook! I can only imagine how great it is to hear this talented cast reading Neil Gaiman's iconic graphic novel series.

One of the Best Audio Books of 2021

The Sandman: Act II https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz50626846 by Neil Gaiman, Dirk Maggs, read by James McAvoy, Neil Gaiman, Kat Dennings, Michael Sheen, David Tennant, John Lithgow, and a full cast (Audible). Anchored by Neil Gaiman's hypnotic storyteller's voice, the second act of The Sandman bewitches. As Morpheus, Lord of Dreams, James McAvoy sounds both imperious and weary, otherworldly and very human. The star-filled cast of actors and lush production guide listeners back and forth in time and in and out of fantastic worlds. Sound effects and original music make for a completely immersive experience.

 This is just so cool...a record and bookstore all in one. This would have appealed to me even more when I was a teenager in the 70s.

Hi-Voltage Records, Tacoma, Wash., Adds Books

Hi-Voltage Records https://www.shelfawareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz50628161, a new and used record store in Tacoma, Wash., has taken over an adjacent storefront and added a selection of about 2,600 new books, the Tacoma News Tribune reported.

Owners Meredith and Brian Kenney, who opened the store about 17 years ago, are offering books for all ages and plan to add used books to the mix. Meredith Kenney said she's particularly proud of the store's children's book selection, which makes the store feel like a destination for the whole family. She explained that adding books wasn't part of any long-term business plan, but it came about quickly after the soap-and-pottery store next door closed earlier this year.

"This was not a long, thought-out, meticulously planned adventure. But it came together so easily for us because we had a business already going, which is what allowed us to be able to take a little bit of a risk," Kenney told the News Tribune. She noted that there seems to be a natural overlap between people who are interested in vinyl and people who are interested in physical books. "There are some things, in life, that I think just won't go away. I think books and music will always be a part of people's lives."

Brian Kenney added that he's always wanted to have a bookstore. There's a certain feeling people get when they walk into a record store, and it's "the same thing when you walk into a bookstore."

I grew up (from 5th grade through 12th) in Ankeny, Iowa, which is right next to Ames, Iowa, the home of Iowa State University, known fondly as "Moo U" since they have always had a strong veterinary sciences dept. I really wish this bookstore had existed back when I was a teenager in the 70s.

In Ames, Iowa, Dog Eared Books https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz50629288 has seen steadily growing sales since about November 1, with co-owner Amanda Lepper reporting that "people starting showing up in a different fashion" at that point. The biggest change has been in weekly daytime business, which Lepper said she found surprising. The store, which opened on March 8, had a good Small Business Saturday turnout but a "huge sales total" on Black Friday. She noted that she and co-owner Ellyn Grimm never pushed the shop-early message particularly strongly, but they would mention potential supply-chain issues when customers placed special orders.

When it came to preparing for the season and potential supply chain problems, Grimm and Lepper kept an eye on what sold well all year, which titles were already hard to keep in stock, and how quickly different publishers shipped things. They were able to "order really deep" on the titles that just kept selling, on staff favorites and on books that were seeing an uptick even if they weren't staff favorites. They filled the store's basement with "books and books" and, while ordering so heavily did make them a bit nervous, "we know the books we're ordering will sell eventually."

On the topic of supply-chain issues, Lepper said that for certain publishers and for Ingram it has indeed been as bad as expected, although some publishers, including Penguin, Scholastic and Simon & Schuster, are still "coming through." Despite how deeply the store ordered on many titles, they are still running out of some, such as The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow and The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood, which "took off."

Asked whether the news of the Omicron variant has affected in-store shopping, Lepper noted that "we started in the pandemic, so we don't know any different." That said, after school began in the fall, the store once again started asking customers to wear masks while shopping. For the most part customers are happy to comply, and there are only a very few who ask the staff to bring their purchases out to their car.

What follows are two obituaries for Anne Rice, who wrote the amazing "Interview with the Vampire" that brought gothic fiction and vampire stories back into the national zeitgeist. I read about 5 or 6 of her books before I became offended and disgusted by the first Mayfair Witch book, which glorified and glamorized rape and incest. However, the other books of hers that I read prior to that were riveting stories that often had me turning pages into the wee hours. Her legacy of work will stand the test of time, I believe. Go with God, Anne.

Obituary for Anne Rice

Anne Rice, influential author of “Interview with the Vampire,” died on Saturday due to complications resulting from a stroke. She was 80.

The author’s son Christopher revealed the news on Facebook and said that she would be interred in the family mausoleum at Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans in a private ceremony.

Born in New Orleans in 1941, Rice became renowned the world over as a writer of gothic fiction, with her books selling more than 150 million copies globally. In the early 1970s, while grieving the death of her daughter Michelle, she began converting one of her stories into what became her first novel, the gothic horror “Interview with the Vampire,” which was published by Knopf in 1976. The novel turns on vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac, who tells the story of his life to a reporter. Michelle served as an inspiration for the child vampire Claudia.

The book was the first of ten in what is collectively known as “The Vampire Chronicles.” It was adapted by Neil Jordan as a 1994 film starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas and Christian Slater, with Kirsten Dunst playing Claudia. Rice adapted the screenplay from her novel and the film gathered two Oscar nominations and a brace of BAFTA wins.

“Queen of the Damned,” based on one of the bestselling sequels to “Interview with the Vampire,” was adapted as a film in 2002. Other adaptations of Rice’s novels include Garry Marshall’s “Exit to Eden” (1994), starring Dana Delany, Dan Aykroyd and Rosie O’Donnell and Emmy-winning Showtime original “The Feast of All Saints” (2001).

Second Obituary Note: Anne Rice

Anne Rice https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz50665791, "whose lush, bestselling gothic tales, including Interview with the Vampire, reinvented the blood-drinking immortals as tragic antiheroes," died December 11, the Associated Press reported. She was 80. "As a writer, she taught me to defy genre boundaries and surrender to my obsessive passions," her son, author Christopher Rice https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz50665792, posted on her Facebook page and his Twitter page. "In her final hours, I sat beside her hospital bed in awe of her accomplishments and her courage."

Published in 1976, Interview with a Vampire was her first book with Knopf. "Anne was a fierce storyteller who wrote large, lived quietly, and imagined worlds on a grand scale," said Victoria Wilson, Rice's longtime--and only--editor at Knopf. "She summoned the feelings of an age long before we knew what they were. As a writer, she was decades ahead of her time. As a longtime friend, she loved and was beloved by everyone who worked with her at this house. The world will miss her and continue to know her again and again through the lives she imagined."

Rice's many books, including The Queen of the Dammed, Cry to Heaven, The Tale of the Body Thief, Servant of the Bones and Christ the Lord, have sold more than 150 million copies around the world. Ramses the Damned: The Reign of Osiris, a novel co-written with Christoper Rice, will be published in February 2022.

Rice wrote more than 30 books over five decades, 13 of which were part of the Vampire Chronicles begun with her 1976 debut. The AP noted that "long before Twilight or True Blood, Rice introduced sumptuous romance, female sexuality and queerness--took Interview with the Vampire as an allegory for homosexuality--to the supernatural genre."

"I wrote novels about people who are shut out life for various reasons," Rice observed in her 2008 memoir, Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession. "This became a great theme of my novels--how one suffers as an outcast, how one is shut out of various levels of meaning and, ultimately, out of human life itself."

Though Rice had initially struggled to get it published, Interview with the Vampire "was a massive hit, particularly in paperback," the AP wrote, adding, "She didn't immediately extend the story, following it up with a pair of historical novels and three erotic novels penned under the pseudonym A.N. Roquelaure. But in 1985, she published The Vampire Lestat, about the Interview with the Vampire character she would continually return to, up to 2018's Blood Communion: A Tale of Prince Lestat." She also used the pen name Anne Rampling for Exit to Eden (1985) and Belinda (1986). Her series Lives of the Mayfair Witches began in 1990 with The Witching Hour.

Horror author Ramsey Campbell told the Guardian that Rice wrote "in the great tradition of the gothic https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz50665793, both thematically and in her prose.... I would argue it's a specifically female lineage that stretches from the classical gothics but in particular from Mary Shelley, in its humanization of the monster and the way it accords him a thoroughly literate voice."

Only two book reviews this time...but I will have more next time.

When Sorrows Come by Seanan McGuire is the 15th book in her October Daye urban fantasy romance series, and having patiently waited through the last few books for Toby to get married, I was particularly excited when this book debuted...enough so that I bought a hardback copy, which I rarely do. I wasn't disappointed, fortunately, except by the odd choice of turning the epilogue chapter into an "all new novella," which was pretty shifty on the part of the publisher's marketing dept. Anyway, here's the blurb: Toby's getting married! Now in hardcover, the fifteenth novel of the Hugo-nominated, New York Times-bestselling October Daye urban fantasy series.

It's hard to be a hero. There's always something needing October "Toby" Daye's attention, and her own desires tend to fall by the wayside in favor of solving the Kingdom's problems. That includes the desire to marry her long-time suitor and current fiancé, Tybalt, San Francisco's King of Cats. She doesn't mean to keep delaying the wedding, it just sort of...happens. And that's why her closest friends have taken the choice out of her hands, ambushing her with a court wedding at the High Court in Toronto. Once the High King gets involved, there's not much even Toby can do to delay things...except for getting involved in stopping a plot to overthrow the High Throne itself, destabilizing the Westlands entirely, and keeping her from getting married through nothing more than the sheer volume of chaos it would cause. Can Toby save the Westlands and make it to her own wedding on time? Or is she going to have to choose one over the other?

I loved that Toby's found family managed to help her fend off the bad guys and ended up making certain that she got married in style (with a dress that had red faded 'stains' on it as part of a pattern and also had an armor spell to keep it from getting soiled) and still kept the king alive. Now if only Tybalt and Toby can get through their honeymoon without having any bloody crisis thrust upon them, all will be well. I will admit that I am rather curious as to how a fae and a cat shifter will genetically combine to create kittens? Half fae furry babies? Who knows, but whatever happens, it will doubtless be bloody, chaotic and heartwarming, all at once. I don't want to give away all the juicy details, but I will say that though there was too much re-capping of previous books, I really enjoyed this book, and devoured it within a day. So I'd give it a well deserved A, and recommend it to anyone who has read the previous 14 books.

Little Shop of Found Things by Paula Brackston is the first book in her delicious new paranormal romance/fantasy series. I'd read the second book in the series, "Secrets of the Chocolate House" prior to reading this book, but it was fine because the books work well as stand alone novels due to the stories shifting focus to new characters in each book. Here's the blurb: New York Times bestselling author of The Witch's Daughter Paula Brackston returns to her trademark blend of magic and romance guaranteed to enchant in The Little Shop of Found Things, the first book in a new continuing series.

An antique shop haunted by a ghost.
A silver treasure with an injustice in its story.
An adventure to the past she’ll never forget.

Xanthe and her mother Flora leave London behind for a fresh start, taking over an antique shop in the historic town of Marlborough. Xanthe has always had an affinity with some of the antiques she finds. When she touches them, she can sense something of the past they come from and the stories they hold. When she has an intense connection to a beautiful silver chatelaine she has to know more.

It is while she’s examining the chatelaine that she’s transported back to the seventeenth century where it has its origins. She discovers there is an injustice in its history. The spirit that inhabits her new home confronts her and charges her with saving her daughter’s life, threatening to take Flora’s if she fails.

While Xanthe fights to save the girl amid the turbulent days of 1605, she meets architect Samuel Appleby. He may be the person who can help her succeed. He may also be the reason she can’t bring herself to leave.

The story continues in October 2019 with book two in the Found Things series, Secrets of the Chocolate House.

I got this book as a free ebook (part of a publisher's promotion) and had few expectations, so I was surprised and delighted by Brackston's evocative prose and assertive plot full of well drawn characters. Xanthe's time travel romance was particularly poignant, though I wish she would have done some historical research to find out if the man she fell in love with ever married and produced children, whose family tree would extend, hopefully, into the current century. It would be great to discover that the man who is interested in dating her now is the many times great-grandson of that man from the 17th century. Still, I found myself enthralled by this novel, and would therefore give it an A, and recommend it to anyone who likes time-travel romances, or just time travel stories in general, whether it's HG Wells or Doctor Who.