The Ministry of Time Comes to TV, Highland Books Chalkboard Wisdom, The Secret Society of Librarians by Kate Thompson, Murder at the Bookstore by Sue Minix, Weyward by Emilia Hart, The Romance Revival by Christina Lauren, and Better Than Revenge by Kasie West

It's the last month of August, FINALLY! Welcome to the end of summer and the beginning of Fall, my favorite time of year. It's "ber" season, as in September, October, November and December. All months full of cozy revelry, warm fires and good memories. BTW, today the wonderful Dolly Parton died of cancer...she was 80 years old, but still making music and reaching out to do good things in the world. She gave millions of books away to children all over the world to stave off literacy, she gave money to scientists to help them find a COVID vaccine, and she constantly did duets and talk shows with other musicians, uplifting everyone in her wake. Amazing woman, gone too soon. I hope she's in heaven having a great time singing and dancing with those who have gone before her, including her husband of many years. God speed, Dolly. You will be missed.

 

I read this series, and while I really enjoyed the first few books, the latter ones became too focused on things other than time travel. Still, it had a lot of fun plot elements and some great dialogue between characters. I will look forward to see the TV series. 

 

TV: The Ministry of Time

Aoife Hinds (Dune: Prophecy, Normal People) and Billy Howle (The Perfect Couple, Under the Banner of Heaven) will star in the BBC and A24 TV series The Ministry of Time, based on Kaliane Bradley's bestselling debut novel. Deadline reported that Hinds will play Sophy and Howle will be Commander Graham Gore, with filming beginning in and around London.

The BBC's director of drama Lindsay Salt commissioned the six-part show,

which has been adapted and written by Alice Birch, who is an exec

producer alongside Aneil Karia and Jo McClellan for the BBC. Frances du

Pille is the producer, and A24 has international distribution rights. 

"The Ministry of Time is a truly distinctive, genre-defying series with

a beautiful central relationship and we are thrilled to have Aoife and

Billy leading the cast," said Salt.

"If I could travel back in time six years to tell past me what was going

to happen with that polar explorer she'd just started writing about, I

think she would have done some very Victorian swooning," Bradley added.

 

YES! This is the best way to survive in these troubled times, especially in America. 

Chalkboard: Highland Books

"I solve the majority of my problems by ignoring them & then reading about the conflicts of fictional characters instead." That was the message on the sidewalk chalkboard in front of Highland Books in Brevard, N.C.

(Editors note: Me, too!)

 

The Secret Society of Librarians by Kate Thompson is a WWII historical fiction novel that is so well researched and written that you might find yourself, as I was, so engrossed in the narrative that you look up from its pages and realize that hours, or even an entire day has passed. Here's the blurb: The Secret Society of Librarians is a heartbreaking yet heartwarming wartime library-set novel, inspired by real people, real stories, and extensive research.

Meeting through real-life Secret Society of Librarians in London, two women form a close bond. When WW2 hits, they take their libraries underground, creating create a roaming underground library.

But when one of them is taken to Poland and a concentration camp, they think there is no chance of ever being reunited again.

This is an inspirational, true and compelling story about friendship, everyday bravery and the power of books, with a dual narrative set between London and Poland in the 1940s. 

 

This page turner is very descriptive of specific incidents of WWII, like the London Blitz and the bombing of homes and refugee centers, as well as the conditions in the Polish ghettos and the forced removal of Jewish families via train to concentration camps like Auschwitz. So if you have a weak constitution, or stomach, be aware that this might not be the book for you right now. Even though, having worked as a nurse, I'm not bothered by gore and such, these scenes from the wars front lines really got to me. I cried several times, even knowing that all of the drama happened 80 years ago. Of course there were also lighthearted moments of romance and beauty, and when one character or another stepped up to save the life of a Jewish child (there were so many orphans! Horrific!) I felt such tremendous hope for the child, that they would grow up happy and healthy, with a roof over their head and good food in their bellies...things so many of todays children take for granted (I certainly did). Thompson's prose is clear and direct, and her plot takes more than a few detours, but she manages to thread them all together expertly. There are photos, at the end of the novel, that the author took on a visit to Auschwitz, of the open graves and the railroad tracks. Chilling, literally. I'd give this intense and beautiful historical novel an A, and recommend it to anyone who wonders about the veracity of the Jewish holocaust and the London Blitz.

 

Murder at the Bookstore by Sue Minix is a sassy mystery that combines the best of old school whodunnits with today's cozy style small town mysteries. Here's the blurb: 

Meet Jen Dawson, mystery writer, coffee lover, and amateur detective?

Crime writer Jen returns to her small hometown with a bestselling book behind her and a bad case of writer’s block. Finding sanctuary in the local bookstore, with an endless supply of coffee, Jen waits impatiently for inspiration to strike.

But when the owner of the bookstore dies suddenly in mysterious circumstances, Jen has a real-life murder to solve.

The stakes are suddenly higher when evidence places Jen at the scene of the crime and the reading of the will names her as the new owner of the bookstore …

Can she crack the case and clear her name, before the killer strikes again?

 

This book is a combination of an Agatha Christie and Miranda James or Laurie Cass, with their fun and fascinating "cats in the stacks" mysteries that always have a smart kitty helping out with the sleuthing. The prose was slightly overdone, but the plot was sturdy and direct and managed to keep everything running smoothly to an ending that I did not see coming, which is rare for me. I'd give it a B+ and recommend this novel to anyone who is interested in small town bookstores and writers finding themselves after returning home.

 

Weyward by Emilia Hart is a historical fantasy along the lines of Alice Hoffman's Practical Magic. The prose is bold and the plot gripping, but you really have to pay close attention to both, lest you get lost in the unusually weird and wild plot. Here's the blurb: I am a Weyward, and wild inside.

2019: Under cover of darkness, Kate flees London for ramshackle Weyward Cottage, inherited from a great-aunt she barely remeTmbers. With its tumbling ivy and overgrown garden, the cottage is worlds away from the abusive partner who tormented Kate. But she suspects that her great-aunt had a secret. One that lurks in the bones of the cottage, hidden ever since the witch-hunts of the 17th century.

1619: Altha is awaiting trial for the murder of a local farmer who was stampeded to death by his herd. When Altha was a girl, her mother taught her their magic, a kind not rooted in spell casting but in a deep knowledge of the natural world. But unusual women have always been deemed dangerous, and as the evidence of witchcraft is laid out against Altha, she knows it will take all her powers to maintain her freedom.

1942: As World War II rages, Violet is trapped in her family's grand, crumbling estate. Straitjacketed by societal convention, she longs for the robust education her brother receives––and for her mother, long deceased, who was rumored to have gone mad before her death. The only traces Violet has of her are a locket bearing the initial W and the word weyward scratched into the baseboard of her bedroom.

Weaving together the stories of three extraordinary women across five centuries, Emilia Hart's Weyward is an astonishing debut, and an enthralling novel of female resilience. 

 

Just when you think you know where all the disparate stories of these three traumatized women is going, Hart pulls a fast one and the plot breaks off in a completely different direction, which can be confusing. Yet there's a lot of good feminist views intertwined within the novel, so you really root for each of the characters to get out of their troubles and begin a new life on their own. Freedom, as every woman knows, is not easy to find or maintain for a woman in any era of society, so the fact that all three of these women strive for it, despite long odds, is heartening and hopeful. I'd give this odd but worthy duck of a book a B+ and recommend it to anyone who enjoyed Alice Hoffmans Practical Magic, or other witchy tales.

 

The Romance Revival by Christina Lauren is a romantic fantasy married to a Frankenstein-like tale of the powers of science to revive the dead and the moral dilemnas thereof. Here's the blurb: Christina Lauren returns with an unforgettable romance in which a fateful accident erases a troubled marriage from memory—and a scientific breakthrough gives love one extraordinary do-over.

Three years ago, scientist Emery Finch did something completely out of character: She got married. To Luca—the impossibly charming landscaper she met on one blistering night in Vegas who made her laugh, made her dance, made her feel.

But now, Emery is consumed by her top research, missing dinners, forgetting anniversaries, and promising herself Luca will understand once her cutting-edge discoveries come to light. Until the unthinkable happens: A tragic accident takes Luca from her.

Desperate not to lose him, Emery breaks every rule, using the classified technology she’s developed to bring him back to life. And Luca would probably thank her for it, if only he could remember her. Their first kiss, their Sunny Sundays at the beach, the life they built together…all of it is gone.

It may be a miracle of science, but for Emery it’s her one shot at a second chance. And this time, she won’t waste it—because true love is always worth reviving.

 

I disagree with the last statement there...I don't think the novel proves that love is always worth reviving, especially with all the trouble that Emery gets into when other powerful people discover that she's used this technology for her own ends, and they will do anything to acquire it.There's some spice in the later chapters, but it reads like it was written after discovering a "how to write sex scenes in a romance" pamphlet, so it flops around without much of a point. The ending was also kind of lukewarm, and predictable, so I was underwhelmed by it. All in all, I'd give this novel with the lovely cover art a B, and only recommend it to those who are big fans of romantasy that has scientific complications.

 

Better Than Revenge by Kasie West is a YA rom-com that started out with a strong female protagonist, only to have her fall prey to the "Oh, I can't keep doing this because I'm in loooovvve with him!" trope, which was really disappointing. Here's the blurb: A swoony new romance from the author of Sunkissed! When her football-player boyfriend and now ex lands the podcast job she’s been dreaming of, a girl takes matters into her own hands by enlisting the help of his nemesis to get revenge.

Seventeen-year-old Finley has only ever had one goal: to become a famous podcaster. This includes coming up with the perfect pitch to land her on her school's podcast team. But when her football-obsessed boyfriend, Jensen, decides to also try out—and uses her idea—she's left confused and betrayed.

Determined to get back at him, Finley and her friends try to find the perfect revenge scheme, but quickly discover that Jensen is almost-impossible to best. Keyword, almost.

By chance, Finley discovers a knack for kicking and decides to take Jensen's spot on the football team. To help her train, she recruits Jensen's cute but conceited nemeses, Theo. Soon the two discover that their connection runs deeper than football. But Finley can't let herself get distracted, and Theo has secrets of his own. Is true love really better than the perfect revenge?
  

Finley, whose goal of becoming a famous podcaster is just within her grasp, is betrayed by her butt-head of a boyfriend Jensen, who takes her spot on the school podcast team without batting an eye...and she wants revenge, which is perfectly understandable. Her way of getting revenge is to take Jensen's spot as a kicker on the football team, but her feelings for his frenemy Theo get in the way, unfortunately. Here's the blurb: A swoony new romance from the author of Sunkissed! When her football-player boyfriend and now ex lands the podcast job she’s been dreaming of, a girl takes matters into her own hands by enlisting the help of his nemesis to get revenge.

Seventeen-year-old Finley has only ever had one goal: to become a famous podcaster. This includes coming up with the perfect pitch to land her on her school's podcast team. But when her football-obsessed boyfriend, Jensen, decides to also try out—and uses her idea—she's left confused and betrayed.

Determined to get back at him, Finley and her friends try to find the perfect revenge scheme, but quickly discover that Jensen is almost-impossible to best. Keyword, almost.

By chance, Finley discovers a knack for kicking and decides to take Jensen's spot on the football team. To help her train, she recruits Jensen's cute but conceited nemeses, Theo. Soon the two discover that their connection runs deeper than football. But Finley can't let herself get distracted, and Theo has secrets of his own. Is true love really better than the perfect revenge?

Theo doesn't seem to be that much of an improvement on Jensen, but Finley can't possibly, being just a girl, resist his big strong arms and pretty eyes and hair. so in the end, she leaves it to karma to take care of Jensen, while she does her own thing and gets on with her life and her new boyfriend, the conceited Theo (UGH). The author states in her afterword that "Karma is greater than Revenge" and while I think that would be a noble sentiment if things worked out that way every time, I don't think that its tissue-thin morality plays well here. Crappy people don't get what is coming to them a majority of the time, and good people very often get railroaded by jerks who are only concerned with their own lives and ambitions. If it were me, in other words, I'd find a way to make Jensen "swim with the fishes" or at least get into some horrible legal trouble that destroyed his future. Still, the prose was easy and the plot lazy and clear. I'd give this little YA rom-com a C+ and only recommend it to those who wouldn't be offended by the female protagonists lack of follow-through.

 

Barack Obama's Podcast Debuts in September, Jane Eyre Comes to TV, Quote of the Day, Obituary for John Crowley, People of the Book Movie, The Bletchley Riddle by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin, Vera Stein is Fine by Julie Murphy, Better Hate Than Never by Chloe Liese, and A Tarnished Canvas by Anna Lee Huber

Welcome to the second to last week of August! I've been struggling with my health issues, but in the next three weeks I have a bunch of procedures, doctor appointments and even, finally, an MRI happening, so hopefully I will get some answers and have a path forward to get out of pain and on the road to recovery. 

  

Meanwhile, here's some great tidbits, including a podcast by one of the greatest presidents we've ever had in America, a strong and intelligent and kind man who should, IMO, still be at the helm of this country.

A Great Book with Barack Obama Podcast Debuting in September

Higher Ground, Barack Obama and Michelle Obama's media company, has teamed with Audible to launch A Great Book with Barack Obama, a new original podcast hosted by the former U.S. president, who sits down with six luminaries to discuss the books that have profoundly shaped his worldview and our society. The six-episode series debuts on Audible September 24. Guests will be announced at a later date.

The book selections include The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin; Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison; All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy; Gilead by Marilynne Robinson; All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren; and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré.

"Great books have always helped me figure out who I am and what I believe," said Obama. "The six books featured in this series have stayed with me throughout my life, and each one has something to teach us about the human experience. For this podcast, I invited some friends to explore why they resonate, how they can shape our understanding of ourselves and each other, and why literature matters now more than ever. I hope listeners will be inspired to discover or rediscover books that change the way they see themselves and the world."

Dan Fierman, head of audio at Higher Ground, commented: "President Obama has always been a champion of reading, and this series captures his genuine passion for literature in a way that is personal and accessible.

These authentic conversations explore how books can challenge us, comfort us, and change us. The chemistry between President Obama and each guest creates truly special moments that remind us why storytelling matters. We're proud to collaborate with Audible on a project that honors both the intimacy of audio and the power of great books."

I'm excited that there will be a new version of Jane Eyre coming up on the BBC. The fact that this novel continues to fascinate people nearly two centuries after publication is a testament to a great writer, Charlotte Bronte.

TV: Jane Eyre

BBC has joined Working Title's new TV adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's classic novel Jane Eyre, starring Aimee Lou Wood (The White Lotus, Sex Education) in the title role. The series is being written by Miriam Battye (Succession). BBC will develop the project and become its broadcaster-financier.

The novel has inspired several film and TV adaptations, most recently a BBC TV series in 2006 starring Ruth Wilson. Prior to that, Mia Wasikowska had the lead role Cary Fukanaga's 2011 adaptation (for BBC Films), and Charlotte Gainsbourg played Jane for Franco Zeffirelli in 1996. Next year will mark the 180th anniversary of the novel's first publication.

Quotation of the Day

"I want every single person to know that they have a space there and that they belong there, and I feel grateful to be able to be in a position where I can do all of this because of the generosity of the community. I truly feel like when you support your community, your community supports you.... I know I have to make a living to be able to support myself and to keep the store going, but I truly am about the community. As long as I have a place to sleep, food to eat, and the store's lights are on, I'm doing great.

"I've lived here my whole life, but I've never met more amazing people than I have through having the bookstore. I've made so many friends and amazing connections in the community, because readers are truly some of the best people--people that just want to learn and expand their knowledge or just escape the world that we currently live in."--Nicole Barnett, owner of Rubber Rose Books & Print

I remember reading Little Big years ago, when I was a preteen, and being fascinated by it. Crowley was an amazing author. RIP. BTW, I miss magazines about SF and fantasy and weird subjects, like Locus and Omni. 

Obituary Note: John Crowley

John Crowley, an author of "sweeping fantastical narratives whose ability to blend such disparate material as American history, dreams of lost utopias and Alice in Wonderland-tinged occult allowed him to transcend the fantasy genre in novels like Little, Big," died August 8, the New York Times reported. He was 83.

Crowley's 14 novels and 10 volumes of essays and short fiction "explored a considerable range of subjects and genres," the Times noted. His first novel, The Deep (1975), "was set on a disc-shaped world and involved a war between two factions, the Reds and the Blacks, loosely based on the 15th-century War of the Roses in England.... Even his most straightforward, realistic novel, Four Freedoms (2009), about the workers at an airplane factory in Oklahoma during World War II, is an alternative history of the home front."

His fourth novel, Little, Big, was his best known work. Poet James Merrill, a fan of the novel, arranged for Crowley to receive a grant from the Ingram Merrill Foundation, which Merrill directed. Ursula K. Le Guin said that the book "calls for a redefinition of fantasy," while Harold Bloom observed that it was "literally the most enchanting 20th-century book I know." It was named the best novel at the 1982 World Fantasy Awards.

In 2009, Crowley told the Believer magazine: "The kind of fiction that always interested me is stuff that somehow manages to be convincingly actual--in the sense that you believe that truths are being told about the world you live in--and are also somehow connected to the imaginary in some way."

He told Locus magazine in 2010: "To actually articulate a way of being in a literary world without boundaries between reality and fantasy--it can't just be a bunch of craziness and surreal carrying on.... Fantasy fiction at bottom, or at its best, is about making true fictions by the rules, in worlds you make up out of whole cloth, or out of your heart."

People of the Book was a great read, as are all of Brooks books. I can hardly wait for this movie to debut, to see how they handle the subject matter.

Movies: People of the Book

Bleiberg Entertainment will be selling worldwide rights at the Toronto International Film Festival market to People of the Book, based on the historical novel by Geraldine Brooks. Deadline reported that the project, directed by Michael Haussman (Edge of the World), recently wrapped filming in the Valencia region of Spain, including at Ciudad de la Luz in Alicante, and in Trieste and Venice in Italy.

People of the Book "tracks the creation and survival of a sacred religious artifact across 500 years, weaving back and forth between a series of interconnected chapters that span across several centuries and countries including pre and post inquisition Spain, 17th century Venice, Nazi-occupied Bosnia and a contemporary narrative focusing on an Iraqi refugee family's harrowing escape journey from ISIS-held Mosul to safety in Europe."

The Bletchley Riddle by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin is a YA historical fiction/mystery/adventure tale that will have you turning pages into the wee hours. Here's the blurb: Remember, you are bound by the Official Secrets Act…

Summer, 1940. Nineteen-year-old Jakob Novis and his quirky younger sister, Lizzie, share a love of riddles and puzzles. And now they’re living inside of one. The quarrelsome siblings find themselves amid one of the greatest secrets of World War II—Britain’s eccentric codebreaking factory at Bletchley Park. As Jakob joins Bletchley’s top minds to crack the Nazi's Enigma cipher, fourteen-year-old Lizzie embarks on a mission to solve the mysterious disappearance of their mother.

The Battle of Britain rages and Hitler’s invasion creeps closer. And at the same time, baffling messages and codes arrive on their doorstep while a menacing inspector lurks outside the gates of the Bletchley mansion. Are the messages truly for them, or are they a trap? Could the riddles of Enigma and their mother's disappearance be somehow connected? Jakob and Lizzie must find a way to work together as they race to decipher clues that unravel a shocking puzzle that presents the ultimate challenge: How long must a secret be kept? 

 The beautiful prose collaboration in this novel creates a sublime palate for the swift and riveting plot, which will bring you to the end of the tale before you know it. I found myself wishing for more chapters of the life and times of Jakob and Lizzie, two determined teen siblings who refuse to give up on their mum, who is reported as KIA, and to give up on England during her darkest hour (the Blitz). Though its pigeon holed as children's lit, this is one of those books that should be read and enjoyed by people of any age and reading level. I'd give it an A, and recommend it to anyone interested in code breaking and what it was like to grow up in England during WWII.

Vera Stein is Fine by Julie Murphy is a delightful midlife rom-com that, like Murphy's other novels (I've read and loved them all) has a plus sized protagonist who is gorgeous and fierce and hilarious. Here's the blurb:  

From author Julie Murphy comes a heartfelt and hilarious tale of a woman who thinks life and love have passed her by until she’s thrown into her grandmother’s quirky world of octogenarian free love and gets a second chance with the one man she never expected to see again. Perhaps it’s never too late to play the opening credits.

Welcome to Starlight Palms, a favorite retirement facility among Hollywood actors and industry professionals tucked away just outside of sunny Palm Springs. Filled with forgotten scream queens, eccentric screenwriters, and heartthrobs of the past, it has a brand-new resident: Vera Stein, age forty.

Vera knows she’s missed her chance at a life worthy of the silver screen, just like she missed her chance at ever finding true love. But Vera isn’t one to take chances. She’s spent most of her adult years caretaking for her dying mother and her movie star boss’s ego. Now abruptly houseless and jobless, Vera has nowhere to land, so to grandmother’s house we go!

The Starlight Palms Senior Living Center is midcentury Hollywood down to its pastel-painted bones. This desert gem isn’t lacking in saucy plot twists (swinging seniors, anyone?) or a leading man: Elias Buckley, the on-site doctor and Vera’s former ill-fated college fling and—for reasons that will stay in Vegas—legally her ex-husband according to the state of Nevada.

It’s not long before Vera falls into a job as the activities coordinator and under the spell of a certain smart-mouthed doctor… Suddenly all those empty years in LA look less like mistakes and a lot more like backstory. With a fresh start at her fingertips, Vera begins to see that even with all the detours she’s taken, there’s still a Hollywood ending (and maybe even a happily ever after) in sight.

Like a delicious midnight snack, this excellent novel goes down a treat, a satisfying page-turner that will have you laughing and crying and cheering for Vera's HEA before you are more than halfway through the book.  Though Vera's grandmother is annoying and narcissistic, I believed that Vera handled their relationship with deftness and empathy, when many would have slammed Ruby and left for less difficult climes. I found Eli to be a tough nut to crack, but when he and Vera finally reconnected, steamy and spicy scenes were the results. I appreciate the fact that Murphy never forces her heroines to lose weight or hide themselves in sexual situations, but makes the more realistic choice of having their partners thrill over every dimple and roll of chub. It's inspirational, and I wish Murphy's books had been around 40 years ago or so when I needed to feel like their was hope for plus sized women like me to find someone to love and treasure us just as we are. I'd give this splendid book an A, and recommend it to any woman who believes she is past her "sell by" date for romance.

 

Better Hate Than Never by Chloe Liese is a contemporary romance based on Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew," which is long overdue for another adaptation (The first I remember seeing was the wonderful movie 10 Things I Hate About You with Heath Ledger). Here's the blurb: Childhood enemies discover the fine line between love and loathing in this heartfelt reimagining of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew.

Katerina Wilmot and Christopher Petruchio shared backyards as kids, but as adults they won’t even share the same hemisphere. That is, until Kate makes a rare visit home, and their fiery animosity rekindles into a raging inferno.

Despite their friends’ and families' pleas for peace, Christopher is unconvinced Kate would willingly douse the flames of their enmity. But when a drunken Kate confesses she’s only been hostile because she thought he hated her, Christopher vows to make peace with Kate once and for all. Tempting as it is to be swept away by her nemesis-turned-gentleman, Kate isn’t sure she can trust his charming good-guy act.

When Christopher’s persistence and Kate’s curiosity lead to an impassioned kiss, they realize “peace” is the last thing that will ever be possible between them. As desire gives way to deeper feelings, Kate and Christopher must decide if it’s truly better to hate than to never risk their hearts—or if they already gave them away long ago.

 

It's rare to find a book with good, steamy hate sex scenes, which this volume has in abundance. But what I enjoyed most about it was the semi-Shakespearean banter between Kate and Christopher, and their willingness to not give up on love and eventually to bare their hearts and souls to one another.Vulnerability is one of the hardest things about establishing a relationship, and Liese doesn't shy away from the tough scenes and soul-searing parts that both protagonists must play to get to a place of peace and understanding. As I mentioned, the prose is well-wrought and the plot vigorous, so the book flies by, when one would think it could get bogged down in hewing to Shakespeare's twists and turns and troubles. I'd give this book a B+, and recommend it to anyone who enjoys enemies to lovers romances with a side of Shakespearean drama.

 

A Tarnished Canvas by Anna Lee Huber is the 13th Lady Darby historical mystery, and though I've read them all, Huber continues to surprise me with the convoluted problems that her heroine Kiera gets herself and her husband Sebastian Gage, into as they solve another gristly mystery. Here's the blurb: Lady Kiera Darby had planned to spend the winter practicing her painting, but instead, she must find the flaw in a killer’s masterpiece when an art auction results in one participant’s final bid.

March 1833. Kiera and her husband, Sebastian Gage, have decided to settle in Edinburgh for the winter with their infant daughter. This also allows Kiera to enjoy long hours painting in her studio, making progress on the portraits she soon hopes to unveil in her own exhibit. She’s thrilled when she receives an invitation to the auction of the late Lord Eldin’s coveted art collection, and she and Gage eagerly accept. When the floor collapses beneath the gathering, killing one of their fellow bidders, Kiera and Gage are lucky to escape with their lives.

Within days it becomes apparent that what at first seemed to be a terrible accident is actually something far more nefarious. Someone deliberately compromised the integrity of the structure, though the police are unsure of the culprit’s aim. Sergeant Maclean requests Kiera and Gage’s assistance in figuring out who would wish to harm the bidders. As they dig deeper, it becomes increasingly apparent that the victim was not the killer’s intended target . . . and that Kiera was lured to the auction deliberately. Kiera and Gage must utilize all their resources to unveil a monster willing to risk the lives of dozens of bystanders to achieve their ends. But they’re on the verge of making a dire miscalculation. For one of the cleverest tricks in a painter’s repertoire is the art of misdirection, and their eyes have been drawn far from the gravest danger. 

 

What is fascinating about this volume in the series is that although Kiera and Gage have a child, they still do not hesitate to put themselves squarely in the face of danger, regardless of the chances that they will die in pursuit of the truth, leaving their daughter an orphan. Still, Kiera manages to continue painting portraits of "regular" people and the poor, because she feels that her commissioned work, portraits of the rich and famous of the time, leads to a blinkered and diminished POV that keeps the "classes" apart with distrust and prejudice. Leaving her mark in such an unusual fashion only endears the character of Kiera to readers who, for the most part, will never know the kind of life lived by the aristocracy. Even Kiera, with her nanny and servants, is something that few in todays world could ever aspire to or understand. I'd give this 13th volume a B+, and recommend it to anyone who has read the other dozen books in this inviting series.

 

You Are Here Comes to TV, Obit for Joseph Caldwell, Tryst Bookstore Opens in Walla Walla Washington, Obituary for Ursula Hegi, Secrets of the Catalogue by Amelia Spencer, Penitence by Kristin Koval, Sea of Charms by Beth Durst, The Charmed Library by Jennifer Moorman, and Look on the Bright Side by Kristin Higgins

The Dog days of Summer are almost over, though not without more high temps and thunderstorms, unfortunately. I've spent the past couple of weeks in and out of Emergency rooms, all to mostly no avail, as no one wants to get me an MRI for a very painful left knee. Still, I had my first paracentisis, and they took 20 pounds or 10 liters of water, the most they're allowed to remove, from my abdomen, which was amazing, but seems to have caused me to have Crohns flares that are increasingly more painful in the days following. Today I could barely sit up. But with some pain meds and tea and toast, I fight on. Here's some tidbits and a lot of reviews that I've been saving up until I was able to sit in a chair for longer than an half hour. Enjoy, and keep cool, Autumn is right around the corner!

I can hardly wait for this program to come on to a streaming service...it sounds fascinating. 

TV: You Are Here

Matthew Macfadyen (Succession) and Claire Foy (All of Us Strangers) will star in You Are Here, a BBC and Starz adaptation of David Nicholls's bestselling novel. Deadline reported that Nicholls has written the eight-part series, which will be produced by Element Pictures. Lenny Abrahamson (Normal People) is the director.

Set along the coast-to-coast walking trail from the Lake District to Robin Hood's Bay in North Yorkshire in England, You Are Here will be filmed in the Lake District and around Manchester. Deadline shared the synopsis: "When a mutual friend throws them together, Marnie and Michael unexpectedly find themselves setting off on an epic walk. Against the odds, they end up on the brink of a relationship that neither was looking for, but which might be exactly the one they both need."

"I'm so delighted to be working on You Are Here with Element, the BBC, Starz, and Lenny, whose work I've admired for many years," said Nicholls. " We can't wait to bring Marnie and Michael's journey to the screen."

I used to watch Dark Shadows with my brother, and was terrified of Barnabas Collins, so much so that my mother banned me from watching the program...of course, as I got older, I watched reruns, often laughing at how cheesy the melodrama was. My late husband adored DS, and collected books and videos of the program. He never met a cheesy program he didn't love.

Obituary Note: Joseph Caldwell

Joseph Caldwell, an award-winning novelist whose fiction explored faith, love, loss and moral ambiguity, and whose earlier career helped shape the cult television phenomenon Dark Shadows, died of a stroke on July 13. He was 97. 

Over a career spanning more than five decades, Caldwell was a playwright, memoirist, television writer and actor, though he became best known for a series of acclaimed novels that earned praise from critics for their precise yet elegant prose and psychological depth. His honors included the Rome Prize in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the John Golden Fellowship in Playwriting from Yale University and the American Broadcasting Company Fellowship in Playwriting.

Before turning to fiction, Caldwell devoted himself to theater and television writing. After becoming disillusioned with several theatrical productions, he joined the writing staffs of the daytime dramas Love of Life and The Secret Storm. He later became a principal writer for the Gothic soap opera Dark Shadows, where producer Dan Curtis asked the writing staff to create "a vampire for the kids for the summer." Working with fellow writer Ron Sproat, Caldwell helped create Barnabas Collins, the reluctant vampire who became the series' defining character.

Caldwell later said that giving Barnabas a conscience provided the writers with "something always to play against," transforming him from a conventional monster into a tragic figure. The character's popularity propelled Dark Shadows to an audience of about 20 million viewers and secured its place in television history.

Raised Roman Catholic, he moved to New York in the 1950s, where he began living openly as a gay man while wrestling with the tensions between his religious faith, his sexuality, and his artistic ambitions. That lifelong conflict found its fullest expression in his memoir, In the Shadow of the Bridge (Delphinium, 2019). The book recounts his youthful relationship with an emotionally distant photographer and traces its consequences across decades. It culminates in his volunteer work with AIDS patients through a program at St. Vincent's Hospital, where he ultimately cared for his former lover during his final illness.

Caldwell turned to fiction in the late 1970s. His first novel, In Such Dark Places (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1978), follows a gay photographer who witnesses a stabbing and searches for his stolen camera, believing it contains evidence of the crime.  His final novel, Lazarus Rising, published on the eve of the Covid pandemic, tells the story of an artist whose unexpected recovery from AIDS leads to unforeseen tragedy.

Whether writing about rural New England, contemporary New York, Naples or Ireland, Caldwell returned repeatedly to characters seeking grace after loss. His work examined the difficult coexistence of faith, desire and conscience with quiet compassion, qualities that earned him the admiration of critics and a devoted readership. --Joe Olsham and Carl Lennertz

I really wish that I could investigate this delightful sounding bookstore just a couple of hours from where I currently reside in MV, Wash. 

Tryst, a Romance Bookstore Debuts in Walla Walla, Wash.

Tryst, a romance bookstore, hosted a grand opening celebration, which "saw lines out the door from the pink bookstore," on July 28 at 39 E. Main St. in Walla Walla, Wash., the Union-Bulletin reported, adding: "While small, the store is stocked with a broad range of subgenres including queer stories, paranormal pieces and everything in between."

"Since I was little, I thought that having a bookstore would be the perfect thing, the perfect job," said owner Jen Sharon, who has also worked as an independent proofreader and editor for fiction writing for the past four years, with a number of her clients writing romance. After seeing many romance-specific bookstores open in the Seattle area, Sharon and her husband, Jim, saw a niche they could fill in Walla Walla.

"The classifier of a romance novel is that it has a happily ever after ending," she said. "So, who doesn't need to feel happy and read happy endings in this world?... I want to carry what the people in town want to read." Sharon envisions the bookstore as a gathering place, with customers able to participate in different book clubs with a cozy seating area. She plans to expand programming to hold author signings and book release parties.

After the grand opening, Sharon posted on social media: "I want to thank everyone who came out for Tryst's grand opening yesterday! I was blown away with how many people were ready and waiting for the doors to open! That was a lot of people in my tiny store all at once, but we made it, and I hope you all enjoyed your visit. I already need to restock! And also thanks to everyone who suggested a favorite author or title. I'll be keeping a list."

Stones from the River was brilliant, and I'm sorry to see this great writer hang up her pen. RIP U.H.

Obituary Note: Ursula Hegi

Ursula Hegi, "a novelist who drew on her childhood in post-World War II Germany to write searing books about silence, community, and historical memory," including the bestselling Stones from the River, died on July 27, the New York Times reported. She was 80. Born in the western half of occupied Germany just after WWII, she immigrated to the U.S. after high school and became an American citizen, though her native country served as the wellspring for much of her writing.

She was best known for a cycle of four novels, set during the first half of the 20th century, that take place in the fictional German town of Burgdorf. Beginning with Floating in My Mother's Palm (1990), the quartet explored the ways in which the people of the town both acknowledge and ignore the dark passage of history around them. Burgdorf, she wrote, was the sort of provincial locale where life "happened slower and later than in most other places."

"Hegi's genius lies in her ability to recreate the Nazi era without ever calling up its nomenclature," Barbara Finkelstein wrote in a Chicago Tribune review. "There is not a word in here about gas chambers, Gestapo agents or Jews."

Hegi's second Burgdorf novel, Stones from the River (1994), launched with a modest original print run of 25,000, but in 1997 Oprah Winfrey chose it for her year-old Oprah's Book Club, driving the book onto bestseller lists and prompting the publisher to print 1.5 million hardcover copies and 500,000 paperbacks.

Stones from the River revolves around Trudi Montag, a dwarf who is "both an outcast and a fixture of town life, an indispensable gossip and fixer," the Times noted, adding: "In Ms. Hegi's hands, Trudi becomes a sharp lens for examining the ways in which Burgdorf--and Germany writ large--responds to the Nazi era."

In addition to her nine novels, Hegi wrote two books of short stories, a children's book, and a nonfiction work, Tearing the Silence: On Being German in America (1997), for which she interviewed hundreds of German Americans who had been born around the Nazi era.

"If you want to look at fiction as the building, I had the building but I also had the scaffolding that helped me to build this building," she told Focus on Literatur. "And if we were to leave the scaffolding on the building it would be very ugly. So it was a real challenge and took a lot of revisions to massage the research into the text."

Secrets of the Catalogue by Amelia Spencer is a bizarre dark fantasy that starts out with an interesting premise, but loses steam about halfway through, becoming boring and pedestrian. Here's the blurb: When Emerson Blackwell discovers a secret library in New York City where the books are doorways into magical worlds, it seems like she's found the perfect adventure. But as Emerson begins to explore the Catalogue, she is drawn into a world filled with secrets and more questions than answers.

Eight years ago, Emerson Blackwell’s mother died in a tragic fire and she booked a one-way ticket to New York City to escape her grief. But the trauma of her past comes rushing back when she uncovers a Library in the heart of the city where the books are doorways to magical worlds. However, The Central Library responsible for publishing books in the Catalogue is banning books and hunting down authors that The Central Library claims are dangerous. When Emerson finds out her mother is alive and publishing banned books, the question arises--are these books dangerous? Or is The Central Library hiding something?

As Emerson becomes entangled in a web of secrets, political rivalries, and conspiracies, she rekindles a romance with her first love, who is secretly working with her mother against The Central Library. However, tensions rise when Emerson finds herself drawn to the son of The Central Library’s Head Librarian--her mother's greatest enemy.

Secrets of the Catalogue is a dark academia fantasy romance set in a hidden New York City library where the books open portals to magical worlds. Secrets of the Catalogue is a captivating tale of love, adventure, and the blurred line between fiction and reality. Perfect for fans of political intrigue, slow burn romance, secret societies, and hidden libraries!

 

I wish that there had been more focus on the books in the hidden and forbidden libraries, and less on the wimpy and sad protagonist, Emerson, who clearly has mommy issues and doesn't really do anything about them other than harbor resentment and anger, all while cavorting with two men who are both controlling jerks, using her for their own ends. Both Silas and Adrian don't seem to understand that NO is a full sentence, and that consent is important. They jerk around Emerson (and she lets them, for reasons that are never fully explained) and go on to try and force her to choose sides in the library wars, though her mother, who abandoned her at a tender age, is the general on one side, while the head librarian is the general (and former friend of her mothers) is on the other. There's a lot of time spent on tattoos that glow gold if they're good, and red if they're bad, and also a lot of time spent in various worlds inside of books, most of which are scary and full of creatures who want to destroy the librarians hopping in and out of their world. The prose, which was sturdy in the first half, started to crumble in the second, and there was no actual ending to the novel. It just stops at a bit over 300 pages. Ugh. I'd give this disappointing novel a C, and only recommend it to those who don't mind an interesting premise destroyed by a flagging plot and dull prose.

 

Penitence by Kristin Koval is a family and coming of age novel that reads, at least to me, like one of those drippy family sagas from the 1970s. Boring. Here's the blurb: For readers of Ann Patchett and Celeste Ng, Penitence is a poignant exploration of love and forgiveness. It’s a suspenseful, addictive page-turner filled with literary insight that compels readers to consider whether the worst thing we’ve ever done is all that defines us.

When a shocking murder occurs in the home of Angie and David Sheehan, their lives are shattered. Desperate to defend their family, they turn to small-town lawyer Martine Dumont for help, but Martine isn’t just legal counsel—she’s also the mother of Angie’s first love, Julian, a now-successful New York City criminal defense attorney. As Julian and Angie confront their shared past and long-buried guilt from a tragic accident years ago, they must navigate their own culpability and the unresolved feelings between them.

Spanning decades, from the ski slopes of rural Colorado to the streets of pre-9/11 New York City and back again, Kristin Koval’s debut novel Penitence is an examination of the complexities of familial loyalty, the journey of redemption, and the profound experience of true forgiveness. 

 

There's not a page that goes by that doesn't "examine" GUILT, and the desire for forgiveness for the unforgivable. There's a death that Julian was involved in decades ago that he can't really do anything about now, but he suffers from guilt nonetheless, and tries to provide help to Angie, his first love, when her daughter shoots and kills her son Nico, who was suffering from Huntingtons (and probably asked her at some point to end his pain before he died in horrific circumstances), and won't talk to anyone about why or what happened, as she claims to not remember. This is Julians "penitence" for being such a coward when he didn't help out a child who died during a ski vacation. Still, he gets the job done, but all the characters are still living under the haze of past guilt, so I don't see why this story needed to be told in the first place. It got pretty boring, but I did manage to finish it anyway. I'd give it a C+ for effort, and recommend it to anyone who likes impossible court cases.

 

Sea of Charms by Beth Durst is a cozy romantasy that takes place at sea, and is fully delicious and delightful, with Durst's trademark elegant and emotional prose. Here's the blurb: Author Sarah Beth Durst brings cozy fantasy romance to the high seas in Sea of Charms, the third magical adventure in the Spellshop series!

Marin had always belonged on the great blue sea. When the man she thought was the love of her life schemed to ruin her parents’ business, she did what her heart knew best: she fled to the sea.

Now working as a supply runner on her own boat, Marin sails from island to island, delivering a varied array of goods: letters, flour, stories, and even the occasional enchanted statue. It’s a lonely life, but it’s hers. Besides, she’s got the company of Perri the sea serpent and Ree the sailor shrub. They’re the best crew she could ask for.

On one of her routine trips to the capital of the Crescent Islands Empire, Alyssium, Marin finds the city on fire and a revolution underway—so she offers transportation to Dax, a composer friend who refuses to leave behind his instruments. What starts as a rescue evolves into a deal: Marin will keep Dax on as a (temporary) member of her crew if he becomes her pretend boyfriend at the End-of-Harvest Festival back home.

Against her better judgment, Marin finds herself intrigued by his stubbornness, his passion for stories, his charming smile—and realizes that perhaps she isn’t saving him. Maybe it’s the other way around.

Sea of Charms is a cozy fantasy romance about finding your crew, your family, and moreover, finding yourself. Read in whatever order your heart desires, but don’t miss The Spellshop and The Enchanted Greenhouse.

 
I read and enjoyed the Spellshop and the Enchanted Greenhouse, so I expected this to be just as wonderful, and I was not disappointed. This book takes place ina musical and magical world that I'd love to visit again and again. A world of beauty, acceptance and hope...ENCORE I say to all three! Though I adored Perri the sea serpent, Ree the bush's dialed up optimism and zero filter got on my nerves more than a few times. Dax and his crystal horns and musical genius made up for any and all annoyance, however, as he made the disparate crew into a sort of musical sailing family, and his love for Marin, though she tried to be emotionally closed off, was gorgeous and heart-rending. I'd give this book an A, and recommend it to any and all TJ Klune and Fanny Flagg fans. This is a book whose prose will grip you and take you on an adventure in a swift plot to an HEA ending.

 

The Charmed Library by Jennifer Moorman is a YA magical romantic fiction novel with heartfelt storytelling and a fascinating premise that will keep readers turning pages into the wee hours. Here's the blurb: 

With her signature blend of magical and heartfelt storytelling, author Jennifer Moorman returns with The Charmed Library, a love letter to libraries, favorite childhood stories, and readers who have fallen for fictional heroes.

 

Like many other public libraries, the one in Blue Sky Valley, North Carolina, is a haven for readers. But it's also unlike any other. In this library, fictional characters step off the page into real life. Assistant librarian Stella Parker has no idea. Still reeling from her father's death and--more recently--a breakup, she hasn't noticed. All she knows is she's stuck in a job she's overqualified for and stumped about what to do with her life.

 

Everything changes when she burns her beloved journal.

 

Words matter to Stella. For as long as she can remember, she's seen them. Words appear--in varying colors and fonts--rising from surfaces, bouncing over objects, and even wiggling out of people. Words give her insight into emotions and untold stories. But the words change for Stella after she burns her journal. Suddenly they're demanding, urgent--and painful.

Then Stella stumbles upon strange characters in the library after hours. One is an oddly familiar World War II soldier who introduces himself as Jack--Jack Mathis, the main character from her favorite book. A fictional hero and Stella's first crush. Standing in front of her in the flesh.

 

Jack tells Stella about the magic hidden in the library. Skeptical, Stella rashly invites a villain to visit, and chaos ensues. As she discovers the importance of protecting the library's secret and gets to know the real Jack, words continue to appear. What are they trying to tell her?

Much too quickly, Stella is faced with the reality that all stories must end, and magic comes at a price. The characters who visit the library can only stay for fourteen days. And Jack's time is almost up.

A cozy, Hallmark-esque rom-com, The Charmed Library invites readers to escape to a world where words come alive and book boyfriends leap off the page.

 

I was totally on board with the book boyfriend idea, having had more than a few myself over the years. Though Moorman takes it a step further by trying to force a way for Jack and Stella to be together forever, though she knows that fictional characters are only allowed out of their books for two weeks, lest they escape and their books disintegrate forever, as if they'd never existed. While its never actually outlined why Jack is such a hero, he proves himself by helping Stella corral other fictional characters longing to escape into the real world, damning the consequences. I love that Stella sees important words and phrases all around her, and that she tries to be practical amongst all the magic of the book characters coming alive, allowing them to pretend to be actors to do readings and reinactments at book festivals and holidays. Moormans prose is rock solid, and her plot takes interesting twists and turns. I'd give this book a B+ and recommend it to anyone who has ever forged an emotional connection to a fictional character.

 

Look on the Bright Side by Kristin Higgins is a family rom-com that is fun and satisfying, and zooms along on a breezy plot with sunny prose. Here's the blurb: From the author of Pack Up the Moon comes a funny, romantic, and deeply moving novel about the unexpected rewards that come from life’s detours.

Lark Smith has always had a plan for her life: find a fantastic guy, create a marriage as blissful as her parents’, pop out a couple of kids and build a rewarding career as an oncologist.

Things aren’t going so well.

For one, the guy didn’t work out. Theoretically, she’d love to find someone else, but it hasn’t happened. Two, she’s just been transferred out of oncology for being too emotional. (Is it her fault she’s a weeper?) Three, her parents just split up.

Deviating from the plan was…well, not in the plan. A potential solution comes from the foul-tempered and renowned surgeon Lorenzo Santini (aka Dr. Satan). He needs a date this summer for his sister’s wedding. His ancient Noni wants to see him settled. In exchange, he could make a few introductions and maybe get Lark back into the field of her choice.

As a sucker for old people and fake relationships, Lark agrees. Teeny problem—she instantly falls for his big, warm family. Especially his estranged brother.

Meanwhile, Lark’s mom has moved in with Lark’s colorful landlady, Joy, and an unlikely friendship blossoms. The three women have a long summer and a big beautiful house on the ocean to figure out what’s next…and quite possibly learn that the best things in life aren’t planned at all. 

 

I loved Lark and her mom and Joy's relationship, all of which were inspiring because they involved women helping lift up other women, and allowing themselves to grow into specific situations. I'm glad that Lark realizes early on that Dr Satan (the surgeon, and surgeon's being cold-hearted asshats is so familiar its almost a cliche), will never change, and that she is better off falling in love with his brother, who is a nice guy, diametrically opposed to his cold and cruel sibling. Lark also realizes that she doesn't need to honor a family member who died of cancer by becoming an oncologist. She flourishes in the ER, where her talents as a quick-thinking diagnostician are needed and valued, vs the oncology ward, where her emotions often get the better of her when faced with daily death sentences. There's a lovely HEA that doesn't stint on the warm fuzzies, either. I'd give this fascinating and warm beach read an A, and recommend it to anyone who needs a change in their life and career path.

 

Peculiar Stars on TV, The New Dark Ages Book Review, Children of Blood and Bone Movie, Quote of the Day, Disturbing the Dead by Kelley Armstrong, The Keeper of Magical Things by Julie Leong, A Ghastly Catastrophe by Deanna Raybourn, Endless Anger by Sav R Miller, and The Whispering Dark by Kelly Andrew

YAY, it's August, and we're nearing the end of another grueling summer. I can hardly wait for falls cooler temps, and I'm excited for the holiday season, which is just around the corner. I've been struggling with a swollen and painful knee and my Crohns afflicted gut, so that's been painful and required a couple of trips to the ER (to no avail, all they could offer me was pain meds). Since it's painful and somewhat dangerous to get out of bed, I've been doing a lot of reading, so I've got 5 book reviews for you today, which would have been my fathers 94th birthday, had he not died of Lewy Body Dementia in 2019. Anyway, we're in the home stretch, folks!   

TV: Peculiar Stars

Apple TV "has stepped up to preemptively" to acquire the rights to Peculiar Stars, the upcoming (November 17 release) novel from bestselling author Rebecca Yarros, in "a competitive situation, with multiple studios and producers pursuing," Deadline reported, adding that Apple TV is "staking a claim in the romance series space, announcing its ambitions in the genre where the streamer has had limited presence so far."

Apple Studios will develop Peculiar Stars as a TV series, with Yarros serving as executive producer through her Full Measures Productions. A search is underway for a writer to adapt the novel.

Book Review

The New Dark Ages: The Death of Reading and the Dawn of the Post-Literate Society

What a difference a few centuries can make. According to James Marriott, a journalist for the London Times and the author of the lively but heartbreaking jeremiad The New Dark Ages, "reading is dying." It wasn't always so. Johannes Gutenberg's printing press, invented in the 15th century, "had opened the way for the mass circulation of books." By the 18th century, "everyone, everywhere, had started reading: men, women, children, the rich, the poor." Fast forward to the 21st, however, and English literature students at U.S. colleges have "struggled to understand the first paragraph of Dickens's novel Bleak House." What's a concerned bibliophile to do? Marriott's answer, winningly if ironically, was to write a book.

It's a good one. Marriott believes in the supremacy of the written word. He grew up in the north of England in the early 2000s, where his father, an English teacher, "brought me up to regard literature as the central part of life." Over the years, he's seen video win the battle for command of attention spans. He cites several villains, but for Marriott, the biggest is the smartphone. "The introduction of smartphones into human culture is analogous to the introduction of an invasive species into a fragile ecosystem. Almost everything else withers away and dies," adding that they represent "the greatest theft of knowledge from ordinary people in history." He asserts that, compared to other technologies that prioritize imagery over words, "smartphones are dangerous because they are much more effective predators of our attention" due to their "sheer ubiquity": unlike a flat-screen TV, one can take them anywhere.

There's much more to Marriott's argument, including his concern that video's triumph constitutes a threat to democracy, which he says is unsustainable without the reasoning skills literacy fosters. Its rise, moreover, explains the success of Newt Gingrich and Donald Trump, who figured out that to achieve their ends, "politics needed to become entertaining; for that it required chaos and drama and personality." One could have a vigorous debate over whether smartphones are inherently more corrosive than, say, the equally ubiquitous penny dreadfuls of the 19th century. That this book raises the question in the first place, however, is to its credit. Like-minded souls won't be cheered by this exceptional work, but it's always nice to know one isn't alone. And that's something the centuries haven't changed. --Michael Magras, freelance book reviewer

Movies: Children of Blood and Bone

Paramount has released a trailer for Children of Blood and Bone, based Tomi Adeyemi's 2018 novel. Variety reported that the trailer "introduces Thuso Mbedu as Zelie, a woman with the power to command undead spirits. Her homeland, the kingdom of Orisha, is divided into clans with different magical abilities. Under King Saran's (Chiwetel Ejiofor) reign of terror, magic is suppressed."

The cast also features Damson Idris as Prince Inan, Amandla Stenberg as Princess Amari, Tosin Cole as Zelie's brother Tzain, and Regina King as Queen Nehanda. They join Lashana Lynch, Idris Elba, Cynthia Erivo, and Viola Davis. The film hits theaters January 15, 2027.

The logline: "In the epic fantasy world of Orïsha, a young woman goes on a quest to reclaim the magic that was violently stolen from her people. She and her brother ally with the daughter and son of the king to fight back against his brutal rule."

Gina Prince-Bythewood directed Children of Blood and Bone. It was shot in various locations in Africa. Prince-Bythewood "wanted to give the actors a real-life backdrop to adapt the novel into a grounded film, even with magical elements," Variety noted.

Quotation of the Day

"Stores like that--independent bookstores--they're portals into all these different worlds. They give you access to all these different worlds and, for me, that became my first encouragement to imagine and to create and to learn. I wanted to learn about everything. I wanted to pick up every book. It encouraged me to imagine.

"And to this day, whenever I walk into a bookstore, I feel safe and welcome, but also that encouragement to imagine and create. A bookstore is like having a dog--there's a universality to it. People from all different backgrounds and cultures can come in and share being a fan of a book or anticipating a new book. In the same way that people of all different backgrounds or political affiliations can enjoy talking about our dogs. Bookstores give us space to be a community and I love it."--Paul Yoon, author

 

Disturbing the Dead by Kelley Armstrong is the third "Rip Through Time" historical mystery/time travel romantasy fiction novel, and as with the other two of this series, it's a real corker. Here's the blurb: Disturbing the Dead is the latest in a unique series with one foot in the 1860s and the other in the present day from author Kelley Armstrong.

Victorian Scotland is becoming less strange to modern-day homicide detective Mallory Atkinson. Though inhabiting someone else’s body will always be unsettling, even if her employers know that she’s not actually housemaid Catriona Mitchell, ever since the night both of them were attacked in the same dark alley 150 years apart. Mallory likes her job as assistant to undertaker/medical examiner Dr. Duncan Gray, and is developing true friends―and feelings―in this century.

So, understanding the Victorian fascination with death, Mallory isn't that surprised when she and her friends are invited to a mummy unwrapping at the home of Sir Alastair Christie. When their host is missing when it comes time to unwrap the mummy, Gray and Mallory are asked to step in. And upon closer inspection, it’s not a mummy they’ve unwrapped, but a much more modern body.

 

I enjoy this series because the books are so well written, with tight, clean prose and a stalwart plot that sings...there's just enough romance and just enough mystery and history to slake the thirst of romance and mystery readers alike. The characters are fun and well written, the story arc elegantly created and the mystery not easily solved. I was entranced from the first page to the last. I'd give this fascinating novel an A, though I would caution those who are squeamish to realize that the male protagonist is a funeral director and an early medical examiner, so there's a bit of gore here and there, and a reminder from the time-traveling female protagonist that Victorians didn't know about germs or proper hand washing, so you have to imagine that the smells and tastes of the time were somewhat grotesque. 

 

The Keeper of Magical Things by Julie Leong is an LGBTQ cozy romantasy  that is sweet and satisfying if you're in the mood for a book that is soothing and quietly powerful for those on the LGBTQ spectrum. Here's the blurb: 

An almost-mage discovers friendship—and maybe something more—in the unlikeliest of places in this delightfully charming novel from author of  Julie Leong, who also wrote The Teller of Small Fortunes.

Certainty Bulrush wants to be useful—to the Guild of Mages that took her in as a novice, to the little brother who depends on her, and to anyone else she can help. Unfortunately, her tepid magic hasn’t proven much use to anyone. When Certainty has the chance to earn her magehood via a seemingly straightforward assignment, she takes it. Nevermind that she’ll have to work with Mage Aurelia, the brilliant, unfairly attractive overachiever who’s managed to alienate everyone around her.

The two must transport minorly magical artifacts somewhere safe: Shpelling, the dullest, least magical village around. There, they must fix up an old warehouse, separate the gossipy teapots from the kind-of-flaming swords, corral an unruly little catdragon who has tagged along, and above all, avoid complications. The Guild’s uneasy relationship with citizens is at a tipping point, and the last thing needed is a magical incident.

Still, as mage and novice come to know Shpelling’s residents—and each other—they realize the Guild’s hoarded magic might do more good being shared. Friendships blossom while Certainty and Aurelia work to make Shpelling the haven it could be. But magic is fickle—add attraction and it might spell trouble.

The slow-burn relationship between Cert and Aurelia is delightful, and Cert's coming into her magical powers, and her ability to use small magics to make a big difference in the lives of those in a small, down-at-the-heels village is truly heartening. While there's some redundancies in the plot, the pixie-dust positivity of the prose smooths over some of the rough spots, though I wish an editor could have cut about 30 pages out of the book to make the plot not sag in the middle. Still, an effective HEA and I would give this sweet novel a B, and recommend it to those interested in magical lesbian fantasy lit.

 

A Ghastly Catastrophe by Deanna Raybourn is the 10th historical romance/mystery starring one of my favorite sleuthing duos, Speedwell and Stoker, smart and savvy investigators of the late 19th century. Here's the blurb: Veronica and Stoker are practically dying for a new adventure, but when their wish is granted, they find themselves up against a secret society and a darkly seductive duo in this landmark historical mystery from author Deanna Raybourn.

When the corpse of an entitled young man is found entirely drained of blood in a carriage next to Highgate Cemetery, Veronica’s interest is piqued. And then a second victim is found, his death made to look like a suicide—and Veronica and her intrepid beau Stoker know the hunt is on. The two men share one link: they were both members of a society so secretive that only a singular mention of it can be found anywhere.

Thirsty for more clues, Veronica and Stoker hear that a young Romany boy may know more about their first victim, and the only way to the boy is through an old acquaintance of Stoker’s, Lady Julia Brisbane. Lady Julia and her dashing husband, Nicholas, occasionally track down murderers and are only too happy to help. But as it becomes clear that the secret society is a dangerous sect looking to entice immortality seekers, Veronica and Stoker find themselves ensnared by a decidedly more sinister couple.

The professed leader of the society claims to be a creature of the night; his partner practices witchcraft and they both fancy themselves emissaries of the otherworldly. Just as Veronica and Stoker get closer to learning the true purpose of the society and unraveling this macabre mystery, another body turns up, and they quickly discover they’ve gone from being the hunters to the hunted. 

 

I love that this novel was a collab with Raybourn's other sleuthing duo, Lady Julia Gray and Nicholas Brisbane. Both duos are fascinating in their own way, and unconventionally open-minded for the time period. Rayborn's prose sparkles, and her plots never flag or sag. Once I open one of her novels, I tend to keep turning pages until the end, which can be a problem for whatever else I have planned for the day. I find it interesting that insane old (or middle aged) white men always have a hard-on for immortality, though even a person with a modicum of intelligence must realize that if immortality were attainable, it would already have been perfected and commercialized and sold by now. Your creative work, and your children may leave behind a legacy for the future, but that's about it. To make others suffer for your pursuit of a myth is senseless and cruel. But even today, we have middle aged white wealthy men trying to reach immortality through space travel and many other ridiculous wastes of money and time (when that money could be better spent helping the poor). At any rate, I'd give this sumptuous novel an A, and recommend it to anyone interested in late 19th century sleuthing duos.

 

Endless Anger by Sav R Miller is a beautifully designed book, with gorgeous cover art and swirled colored edges. But don't let the fancy packaging fool you, this is a horror/romance novel trying to hide behind the label of "dark academia" fantasy, which is more commercial. Ugh. Here's the blurb: 

From author Sav R. Miller comes a dark and twisted contemporary romance inspired by the Greek Furies, set at an exclusive (and dangerous) university.

Asher Anderson is angry―at the world, at himself, at the way his best friend Lucy Wolfe seems determined to tune out this buzzing connection between them. He doesn't mean to solve all his problems with violence, but maybe he has too much of his father in him. That's why the faculty at Avernia College hates him, right? Because of the "evil" blood in his veins?

He should know better than to darken the old, ivy-covered university's door, but it's practically a law of the universe: wherever Lucy goes, Asher follows. Even if that means entering a twisting labyrinth of secret societies, human sacrifices, and a very personal history soaked in blood.

Lucy is used to being an outcast. She's even used to Asher being her dark, brooding shadow. What she isn't used to is him shattering her resolve by taking her up against library bookshelves as she desperately pretends her heart hasn't always been his. She should know better than to play with fire, but with unexplained deaths and pointed threats ripping apart the university's fabric, Asher and Lucy soon find themselves at the center of the turmoil…where they'll have to confront their feelings or die trying.

Sometimes the pomegranate doesn't fall far from the tree.

 

The male protagonist is a nasty creep and a possessive controlling nightmare who essentially rapes the female protagonist (as he considers her "his" he doesn't feel the need to ask for consent from the confused girl) and continues to have a cruel and mean attitude throughout the novel, which only makes him an asshat, not a brooding hero. But he can't help himself as his parents are "furies" and so he's naturally angry and mean and violent, and doesn't take NO for an answer, so he preys on poor stupid immature Lucy for the entire novel. The prose is sub-par and the plot twisted and confusing, and the ending is completely unsatisfying. If I would have realized the rot in the story behind the pretty cover and end papers, I never would have bought it. I'd give this waste of paper a C-, and recommend that anyone wanting to read it find something else to peruse, or at least a novel with a female protagonist with a spine.

 

The Whispering Dark by Kelly Andrew is considered YA "dark fantasy" though I would strongly recommend that any young people reading this work are at the higher age range of YA (say in their early 20s). It's another example of publishers hiding a horror novel behind the term "dark" fantasy and then adding a bunch of horrific blood, gore and torture to the text to somehow "liven" it up. YUCK. Here's the blurb: 

Delaney Meyers-Petrov is tired of being seen as fragile just because she's Deaf. So when she's accepted into a prestigious program at Godbole University that trains students to slip between parallel worlds, she's excited for the chance to prove herself. But her semester gets off to a rocky start as she faces professors who won't accommodate her disability, and a pretentious upperclassman fascinated by Delaney's unusual talents.

Colton Price died when he was nine years old. Quite impossibly, he woke several weeks later at the feet of a green-eyed little girl. Now, twelve years later, Delaney Meyers-Petrov has stumbled back into his orbit, but Colton's been ordered to keep far away from the new girl... and the voices she hears calling to her from the shadows.

Delaney wants to keep her distance from Colton -- she seems to be the only person on campus who finds him more arrogant than charming -- yet after a Godbole student turns up dead, she and Colton are forced to form a tenuous alliance, plummeting down a rabbit-hole of deeply buried university secrets. But Delaney and Colton discover the cost of opening the doors between worlds when they find themselves up against something old and nameless, an enemy they need to destroy before it tears them -- and their forbidden partnership -- apart.

 

This awful novel is a shoddy re-telling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, of a man who goes to Hell to save the woman he loves soul, and fails because he can't help but look back to see if she's following him out of Hell. Stupid guy who proves once again that men can't be counted on to do what they're told, or follow the rules (or directions), no matter how simple they are. The prose is weird, and the plot unsatisfying, while the ending is senseless. Though the novel is well designed with black and pink and white endpapers, if you're looking for a good solid story, you won't find it here. I'd give this book a C-, and only recommend it to those who enjoy horror fantasy with weak protagonists.