Quote of the Day, Here, A Visit From the Goon Squad and City on Fire and All the Light We Cannot See become TV/Streaming adaptations, Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross, the Study of Poisons by Maria V Snyder, Glimmer of the Other by Heather G Harris and Always by Sarah Jio

Hey Bookish Buddies! Here we are coming round the corner on the final week of April, already, and heading into May, with all it's beautiful blossoms and pollen, ugh. Still, I've been diving into my TBR and have read some great new books, which I will review after these messages from our sponsor...just kidding, these tidbits are from Shelf Awareness. 

I totally agree with this fantastic QOTD. 

Quotation of the Day

"I grew up going to libraries and independent bookstores. Independent bookstores have always been a part of my book journey along with libraries--I love libraries because I think they make books accessible when not everybody has access to books. And I love indie bookstores because they're so unique. Every single one is its own little universe with its own personality, and I have so much fun visiting indies. Whenever I go out of town, even if I'm not on tour, I will always make it a point to search whatever indie is local and pop in and see if they have my books and sign and promote them. I own a cupcake shop with three locations, and I love supporting small businesses. I write a lot of small businesses into my books for the purpose of giving them exposure that they might not have."--Abby Jimenez, author.

 This sounds exciting...I can hardly wait to see it on the big screen.

Movies: Here

Four-time Emmy nominee Michelle Dockery (Downton Abbey, Godless) has joined the cast of Here https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscFKKl70I6akyJRhxEw~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6iVWJb1poMLg-gVdw, Robert Zemeckis' adaptation of Richard McGuire's graphic novel from Miramax. Deadline reported that the project "reunites Zemeckis with writer Eric Roth, Tom Hanks and Robin Wright for the first time since their collaboration on Forrest Gump earned six Oscars including Best Picture." Paul Bettany also co-stars. Sony Pictures acquired U.S. rights. Miramax retains international rights.

As with the above, I can hardly wait to see these three books brought to life on TV.

TV: A Visit from the Goon Squad

Olivia Wilde will direct a TV adaptation of Jennifer Egan's 2011 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel A Visit from the Goon Squad https://www.shelf awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscFKKkOgI6akyJR9wGw~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6iVWJGgpoMLg-gVdw and its 2022 sequel, The Candy House, for A24, Deadline reported. She will also executive produce along with Jennifer Fox. Wilde, whose acting credits include People Like Us and Love the Coopers, "has become one of the more in-demand directors in town, and this will mark her first major venture into television as a director," Deadline wrote. She most recently directed, starred in, and produced Don't Worry Darling, which debuted at the Venice Film Festival. Her 2019 directorial debut film, Booksmart, won an Independent Spirit Award for best first feature, a GLAAD Media Award for best film, a Writers Guild Award nomination for best original screenplay and a Golden Globe nomination for lead actress Beanie Feldstein.

TV: City on Fire

Apple TV+ has released a trailer for City on Fire https://www.shelfawareness.com/ct/x/pjJscFKKxLgI6akyJUtxGQ~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6iVWMXwpoMLg-gVdw, the upcoming, eight-episode series inspired by Garth Risk Hallberg's novel. The project, written and executive produced by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage (Gossip Girl, The O.C.), will make its global premiere May 12 on Apple TV+ with the first three episodes, followed by one new episode weekly through June 16. City on Fire stars Wyatt Oleff, Chase Sui Wonders, Jemima Kirke, Nico Tortorella, Ashley Zukerman, Xavier Clyde, Max Milner, Alexandra Doke, Omid Abtahi, Kathleen Munroe, John Cameron Mitchell, Geoff Pierson, and Beth Malone.

TV: All the Light We Cannot See

Netflix had released a teaser trailer for All The Light We Cannot See https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscFKLlb0I6akyJU8jHQ~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6iVWZT1poMLg-gVdw, based on Anthony Doerr's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Shawn Levy (The Adam Project, Deadpool 3) directed all four episodes of the limited series, which will premiere November 2. Steven Knight, creator of Peaky Blinders, adapted the book for TV.

The cast includes Louis Hofmann (Dark), Mark Ruffalo (The Adam Project, The Avengers films), Lars Eidinger (Babylon Berlin, Irma Vep), Hugh Laurie (Tehran, Catch-22), and Marion Bailey (The Crown, Endeavour). The series introduces actresses Aria Mia Loberti as Marie-Laure LeBlanc and Nell Sutton as Young Marie-Laure.

Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross is a supernatural historical fantasy/romantic thriller that I fell in love with from the first exciting chapter. Ross' prose is so lush and subtle that her sable-lined swiftly-moving plot will have you halfway through the novel before you're even aware of it. Here's the blurb:

When two young rival journalists find love through a magical connection, they must face the depths of hell, in a war among gods, to seal their fate forever.

After centuries of sleep, the gods are warring again. But eighteen-year-old Iris Winnow just wants to hold her family together. Her mother is suffering from addiction and her brother is missing from the front lines. Her best bet is to win the columnist promotion at the Oath Gazette.

To combat her worries, Iris writes letters to her brother and slips them beneath her wardrobe door, where they vanish—into the hands of Roman Kitt, her cold and handsome rival at the paper. When he anonymously writes Iris back, the two of them forge a connection that will follow Iris all the way to the front lines of battle: for her brother, the fate of mankind, and love.

Shadow and Bone meets Lore in Rebecca Ross's Divine Rivals, an epic enemies-to-lovers fantasy novel filled with hope and heartbreak, and the unparalleled power of love.

This engrossing page turner was even better than I expected it to be from the reviews and blurbs that I'd read before I bought it. Also, whomever designed that cover is a genius, because it's gorgeous, but not too showy. As a former journalist, I could empathize with Iris (called Winnow by her rival lover), and her struggles to write meaningful articles and to be taken seriously when women were often overlooked or decried as being of low morals for wanting to work in a field dominated by men. Her 'rival' is a bit of an ass, who can't seem to get over himself as a wealthy high class gent who isn't supposed to want relationships with women who aren't also wealthy and high class. He does end up dropping his snobbery at the end, but I still felt that Winnow was worth 10 of him, especially as a writer. The magic typewriters that create the hot epistolary relationship between Winnow and Kitt was such a perfect use of mundane reality turned magic realism that I could hardly contain my delight. This fascinating story deserves an A+ and a recommendation to anyone who loved The Night Circus, Shadow and Bone or any good steampunk novel to grab a copy ASAP.

 The Study of Poisons by Maria V Snyder is essentially a rewrite of her magnificent Poison Study book, which was the beginning of a great series, only this time the story is told from the male protagonist, Valek's point of view. Normally, I don't re-read books I've already read, but this reversal of POV intrigued me. So I decided to buy a copy and boy, was I glad I did. The story is even richer when you see it from Valek's POV. Here's the blurb: Fierce, determined, dangerous. No wonder her soul called to his.

As Chief of Security of Ixia, Valek has spent the last fifteen years keeping Commander Ambrose and his citizens safe. With his complex network of spies, informers, and soldiers, it’s his job to hunt down and capture criminals, including the intriguing Yelena.

Sensing there is more to the story of why she killed a general’s son, Valek arranges for Yelena to become the Commander’s new food taster, training her in the delicate art of detecting poisons. As mysteries and a devious plot to harm the Commander unravel, Yelena’s presence becomes crucial. Will her intelligence, stubbornness, and survivor instincts be a help to Valek’s investigation, or a hinderance?

A companion novel to Poison Study, The Study of Poisons reveals Valek’s side of the story. Return to the world of Ixia and discover just how the lovely Yelena got Valek’s cold heart pumping!
 

Oddly enough, there was a lot more romance and romantic thought in this version of the story, which most wouldn't believe of a male protagonist. But Valek, the icy assassin, finds brave and tough Yelena more than he can possibly resist. Synder's prose is pitch perfect, and her plot sails on high winds, without even a small bump or stall. I'd give this deliciously dangerous romance an A, and recommend it to anyone who has read her Poison Study series...you have got to read this to believe it! 

Glimmer of the Other by Heather G Harris is an urban fantasy/mystery that really hits the spot if you're in the mood for something similar to Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse novels, or Jim Butcher's Dresden Files (and I've been a huge fan of both of those series for decades). The female protagonist, Jinx, also reminded me a lot of Jennifer Estep's  Elemental Assassin Gin Blanco, without the silver knives. Here's the blurb: I can tell when you’re lying. Every. Single. Time.

I’m Jinx. As a private investigator, being a walking, talking lie detector is a useful skill – but let’s face it, it’s not normal. You’d think it would make my job way too easy, but even with my weird skills, I still haven’t been able to track down my parent’s killers.

When I’m hired to find a missing university student, I hope to find her propped up at a bar – yet my gut tells me there’s more to this case than a party girl gone wild. Firstly, she’s a bookish soul who’s as likely to go off the rails as Mother Theresa. Secondly, I’m not the only one on her trail; she’s also being tracked by the implacable and oh-so-sexy Inspector Stone.

Stone and I team up, and he shoves me into a realm where magic is real – a place where there are vampyrs and werewolves, dragons and trolls. And where my skills are more than just detecting lies.

Oh, and my dog? He’s a freaking hellhound who can manipulate the magical realms themselves.

I need to find the girl.

I need to discover who killed my parents.

And I need to find out more about the attractive but mysterious Zachary Stone.

Burn through this fun, fast-paced, laugh-out-loud mix of urban fantasy and mystery.
If you like humour, heart, a strong heroine and a slow burn fade-to-black romance, check out Glimmer of the Other the first book in the addictive best-selling urban fantasy series.  Written in British English.

I believe that Charlaine Harris had a series about a young woman who could tell if people were lying, and who could touch objects and tell whom they'd belonged to, and there's a series streaming on Peacock starring Orange is the New Black's Natasha Leone about a young woman who can tell when people are lying just by hearing their voices (what's fun about the series is that instead of just telling people that they're lying she literally calls "bullshit" on them). At any rate, Jinx is a fun heroine who is stalwart and brave and empathetic, though I question her falling in love with Stone so fast...I mean a no-nonsense woman like Jinx who has common sense would never just fall all over herself for a handsome face. Still, I enjoyed the mystery and intrigue part of the book, and the romance fell into place by the end, so I'd give this fun and free ebook a B+ and recommend it to those who like Gin Blanco and Harry Dresden.

Always by Sarah Jio is an odd mystery/romance that I was expecting to be like most of Jios other novels that I read, but it wasn't. The novel is based in Seattle, and the protagonist is supposedly Midwestern, so I was ready for the excitement of recognizing many places I've grown to love here in Seattle and in my home state of Iowa. Though there was some love given to Seattle area landmarks, there wasn't any for the Midwest. Here's the blurb:  

Enjoying a romantic candlelit dinner with her fiancé, Ryan, at one of Seattle’s chicest restaurants, Kailey Crain can’t believe her good fortune: She has a great job as a journalist and is now engaged to a guy who is perfect in nearly every way. As she and Ryan leave the restaurant, Kailey spies a thin, bearded homeless man on the sidewalk. She approaches him to offer up her bag of leftovers, and is stunned when their eyes meet, then stricken to her very core: The man is the love of her life, Cade McAllister.

When Kailey met Cade ten years ago, their attraction was immediate and intense—everything connected and felt right. But it all ended suddenly, leaving Kailey devastated. Now the poor soul on the street is a faded version of her former beloved: His weathered and weary face is as handsome as Kailey remembers, but his mind has suffered in the intervening years. Over the next few weeks, Kailey helps Cade begin to piece his life together, something she initially keeps from Ryan. As she revisits her long-ago relationship, Kailey realizes that she must decide exactly what—and whom—she wants.

Alternating between the past and the present, Always is a beautifully unfolding exploration of a woman faced with an impossible choice, a woman who discovers what she’s willing to save and what she will sacrifice for true love.
 

While I understand that many women will do anything for their "first love" or perceived "soul mate" I felt that Kailey was too much of an empath and almost a doormat when it came to "saving" Cade. I can understand her need to help him recover from a traumatic brain injury, but then to want him to become like the man she fell in love with over a decade before seems way too much like wishful thinking. I don't think she fully grasped that she's going to have to be his caregiver for the rest of his life, thereby thwarting whatever career plans she had for herself. the whole "I'll give up my dream job to be a housewife and mother to this guy" is way too soap opera/Hallmark Channel movie for my tastes. Therefore I'd give this soapy novel a C+ and recommend it to women who have martyr/savior complexes without a wisp of feminism about them.

Obituary for Anne Perry, Billy Porter to Play James Baldwin on TV, Obit for Rachel Pollack, Flowerheart by Catherine Bakewell, The Nurse's Secret by Amanda Skenandore, The White Lady by Jacqueline Winspear and The Loneliness of the Long Distance Time Traveler (A Doctor Who Story) by Joanne Harris

Welcome to the third week of April already! I've been reading up a storm inbetween dealing with my husbands illness, and my own health hurdles. However, it has been satisfying to watch my TBR stack dwindling. And the cold rainy weather was meant for curling up with a good novel and a warm cup of tea. I hope you all are enjoying the first books and buds of spring, and I hope you enjoy the tidbits and reviews herein. Keep cozy!

I've read more than a few of the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt novels, and I'm so sorry to read that this fantastic author has passed on. Blessings on her head for her fantastic work, RIP. 

Obituary Note: Anne Perry

Anne Perry, https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscFKIle8I6akyIxslTA~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6iVWpSnpoMLg-gVdw, author of more than 100 novels that have sold more than 26 million copies worldwide, a "crime writer with her own dark tale," as the New York Times put it, died on April 10. She was 84.

Her work included two suspense series set in Victorian England: the William Monk novels and the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt novels. She also wrote a series of books featuring Charlotte and Thomas Pitt's son, Daniel, as well as the Elena Standish series, set during World War I, 19 Christmas holiday novellas, a historical novel, The Sheen on the Silk, set in the Byzantine Empire, and short stories. Her most recent novel is The Traitor Among Us, the fifth installment in the Elena Standish series, to be published in September.

Ballantine Books, her publisher for more than two decades, said her work is noted for "memorable characters, historical accuracy, and exploration of social and ethical issues." In 2000, she won an Edgar Award for her short story "Heroes." She also won the Premio de Honor Aragoan Negro in 2015, was selected by the Times of London as one of the 20th century's 100 Masters of Crime, and twice was guest of honor at Bouchercon.

Perry's agents Donald Maass and Meg Davis said, "Anne was a loyal and loving friend, and her writing was driven by her fierce commitment to raising awareness around social injustice. Many readers have been moved by her empathy for people backed into impossible situations or overwhelmed by the difficulties of life. Her characters inspired much love among her fans and comforted many readers who were going through tough times themselves."

Susanna Porter, Perry's editor, said, "Ballantine Books has had the honor of being Anne Perry's U.S. publisher for over 20 years.  Her novels have collectively spent many months on the New York Times and other national bestseller lists, American readers having embraced her clever and thought-provoking crime writing by the thousands. Anne in turn embraced America, relocating from Scotland to Los Angeles in her later years. Receiving her green card, she said, was one of the happiest days of her life. We will miss not only Anne's writing, but her good company, her sharp mind, and brilliant imagination."

Born in London, England, Perry spent part of her childhood in New Zealand, where at age 15, then named Juliet Hulme, she was at the center of a grisly homicide. She and her best friend murdered the best friend's mother in an attempt somehow to keep the girls together as Perry's parents were separating and about to send Perry abroad. The two went to prison for five years and were, the New York Times wrote, "given new identities and instructed never to meet again. If they violated that order, they were warned, they would return to prison and serve life sentences.

"Perry's criminal past was revealed publicly in the summer of 1994 when word leaked out that Peter Jackson would recount her story in his forthcoming film Heavenly Creatures, starring Kate Winslet as the smugly confident teenage girl who later changed her name to Anne Perry and Melanie Lynskey as her sullen and insecure classmate Pauline."

When her past became public, Perry acknowledged the crime, saying, as the Times wrote, that "she had been afraid that if she did not go along with the murder plan, her distraught friend might kill herself."

In Interiors, a 2009 documentary about Perry, she said, "In a sense it's not a matter--at the end--of judging. I did this much good and that much bad. Which is the greater?... It's who you are when time's up that matters."

I love Billy Porter and I've been reading James Baldwin's works since I was a young teenager. I'm really looking forward to this new biopic, so I hope that it debuts soon.

Billy Porter to Play Novelist, Essayist, and Activist James Baldwin in New Biopic

 Allen Media Group Motion Picture has announced that Billy Porter will star as novelist, essayist, and civil rights activist James Baldwin in a new biopic. Porter will also co-write the script with screenwriter Dan McCabe. The film will be based on the biography James Baldwin: A Biography by David Leeming. “As a Black queer man on this planet with relative consciousness, I find myself, like James Baldwin said, ‘in a rage all the time,'” Porter said in a statement. “I am because James was. I stand on James Baldwin’s shoulders, and I intend to expand his legacy for generations to come.”

 I remember reading some of Pollack's work in the early 90s, and I'm gobsmacked that she's passed on already. RIP

Obituary Note: Rachel Pollack

Rachel Pollack, the prolific author who wrote award-winning science fiction and fantasy, as well as bestselling books on tarot, died on April 7. She was 77.

In 1980, Pollack published Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom, a guide to tarot that has never gone out of print and has been described as the "bible of tarot." In 1989 she won the Arthur C. Clarke Award for her novel Unquenchable Fire, and its sequel, Temporary Agency, won the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1994. Her book Godmother Night won the 1997 World Fantasy Award, and her most recent novel was The Fissure King, published in 2017.

In the 1990s, Pollack helmed a 20-plus issue run of the comic series Doom Patrol for DC's imprint Vertigo, taking over from Grant Morrison.

During her Doom Patrol run, Pollack created the character Kate Godwin, "considered to be the first transgender superhero in mainstream comics,"the Guardian reported https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscFKIkLgI6akyIx4lEg~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6iVWpHwpoMLg-gVdw.

Author Neil Gaiman, a friend of Pollack since the 1980s who visited her shortly before her death, wrote: "Rachel was a beloved writer of fantasy, but I prefer to describe her as a magical realist. She wrote these wonderful books of heightened reality and magical worlds where she would concretize metaphor."

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1945, Pollack began her career as an author with the short story "Pandora's Bust," published in 1971 in Michael Moorcock's magazine New World. Pollack transitioned shortly thereafter, and while living in the U.K., she became an activist and coordinated a group within the Gay Liberation Front that in 1972 released the first trans manifesto, called "Don't Call Me Mister You Fucking Beast."

"Rachel was a crystallizing force in the trans movement and so many other areas," remembered British writer and cultural critic Roz Kavenay. "She was perpetually an inspirational figure, and was one of the first professional trans writers who had a career while out, and proved that it was possible to do that."

Writer and historian Morgan M Page said of Pollack's place in the tarot world: "Quite simply, Rachel was the greatest living authority on the tarot." She was a member of the American Tarot Association, the International Tarot Society, and the Tarot Guild of Australia. She taught at the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies, created her own tarot decks, and wrote the books for The Vertigo Tarot and Salvador Dali's Tarot, among others.

"Rachel was a trailblazer, an independent spirit, and a shining light, as she will continue to be," wrote the staff of Red Wheel/Weiser Books in a tribute. "We are so grateful and honored to have had the opportunity to work with her."

Flowerheart by Catherine Bakewell is a YA fantasy/coming of age tale that would suit preteens and young teenagers, specifically because of it's focus on dealing with the feelings of insecurity and unworthiness (and depression) that plague teenage girls, in this instance. Bakewell's prose is also simple and straightforward, which suits its magical melodramatic plot quite well. There's a lot of teen angst and dealing with emotional storms while navigating the family dynamics of disapproving and approving but pushy parents. For those just coming into puberty, all of this, plus hormonal changes and fears will be familiar (and necessary)  territory to explore.  Here's the blurb:

Perfect for fans of Margaret Rogerson and Tamora Pierce, this standalone YA debut is a stunning cottagecore fantasy romance about a girl with powerful and violent magic which she must learn to control—or lose everything she loves. 

Clara’s magic has always been wild. But it’s never been dangerous. Then a simple touch causes poisonous flowers to bloom in her father’s chest.

The only way to heal him is to cast an extremely difficult spell that requires perfect control. And the only person willing to help is her former best friend, Xavier, who’s grown from a sweet, shy child into someone distant and mysterious. 

Xavier asks a terrible price in return, knowing Clara will give anything to save her father. As she struggles to reconcile the new Xavier with the boy she once loved, she discovers how many secrets he’s hiding. And as she hunts for the truth, she instead finds the root of a terrible darkness that’s taken hold in the queendom—a darkness only Clara’s magic is powerful enough to stop.

Clara's story is particularly poignant because she goes from throwing immature emotional tantrums that express themselves as breaking things and sprouting flowers everywhere, even inside of people's bodies, to a young woman who finally takes responsibility for her actions and reigns in her emotional storms, and learns to appreciate herself and her magic, which can heal as well as harm. Her romantic interest, Xavier, learns some of the same lessons, but also realizes that his toxic relationship with his father has to end, and that he's going to be fine without all the restrictions that his family name/magic had put upon him. There are trans and gay characters in this book, which I think the younger generations will appreciate, and the exuberance of the story and it's ending will keep them reading well past their bedtime. I'd give this sweet and feisty book a B, and recommend it to those on the cusp or just coming into puberty.

The Nurse's Secret by Amanda Skenandore is a historical romantic fiction novel set in Gilded Age New York (late 19th century). While the story itself is about the early days of professional nursing and the difficulties women faced in even the lower levels of the medical profession, I found that the romantic storyline seemed a bit forced here, instead of woven into the pattern of the plot. There was the suggestion that if a woman didn't marry, she was seen as no better than a prostitute, especially among the working classes..and while this may have been accurate to the time, I wanted to see Una, the protagonist, leading a life successfully on her own, without the snobby doctor taking her back as if he's doing her a big favor. Anyway, here's the blurb:  

The unflinching, spellbinding new book from the acclaimed author of The Second Life of Mirielle West. Based on the little-known story of America’s first nursing school, a young female grifter in 1880s New York evades the police by conning her way into Bellevue Hospital’s training school for nurses, while a spate of murders continues to follow her as she tries to leave the gritty streets of the city behind.

Based on Florence Nightingale’s nursing principles, Bellevue is the first school of its kind in the country. Where once nurses were assumed to be ignorant and unskilled, Bellevue prizes discipline, intellect, and moral character, and only young women of good breeding need apply. At first, Una balks at her prim classmates and the doctors’ endless commands. Yet life on the streets has prepared her for the horrors of injury and disease found on the wards, and she slowly gains friendship and self-respect. 
 
Just as she finds her footing, Una’s suspicions about a patient’s death put her at risk of exposure, and will force her to choose between her instinct for self-preservation, and exposing her identity in order to save others.
 
Amanda Skenandore brings her medical expertise to a page-turning story that explores the evolution of modern nursing—including the grisly realities of nineteenth-century medicine—as seen through the eyes of an intriguing and dynamic heroine.
  It's obvious that the author did scads of research into this era and the beginnings of nursing as a profession, and while I respect that, I felt that there were just a few too many info-dumps for my taste, though to be fair, most were well-woven into the plot so they didn't slow down the story very much. I really liked Una's fight to move her life to a better place, and her strength in fighting rampant misogyny was inspiring. I'd give this book a B+ and recommend it to anyone who knows or loves a nurse, and who is interested in women's history.

The White Lady by Jacqueline Winspear is a historical thriller by the author of the much beloved (for good reason, too...I've read all of them) Maisie Dobbs mysteries that recounts the tale of a spy in post WWII England. Here's the blurb:

The White Lady introduces yet another extraordinary heroine from Jacqueline Winspear, creator of the best-selling Maisie Dobbs series. This heart-stopping novel, set in Post WWII Britain in 1947, follows the coming of age and maturity of former wartime operative Elinor White—veteran of two wars, trained killer, protective of her anonymity—when she is drawn back into the world of menace she has been desperate to leave behind.

A reluctant ex-spy with demons of her own, Elinor finds herself facing down one of the most dangerous organized crime gangs in London, ultimately exposing corruption from Scotland Yard to the highest levels of government.

The private, quiet “Miss White" as Elinor is known, lives in a village in rural Kent, England, and to her fellow villagers seems something of an enigma. Well she might, as Elinor occupies a "grace and favor" property, a rare privilege offered to faithful servants of the Crown for services to the nation. But the residents of Shacklehurst have no way of knowing how dangerous Elinor's war work had been, or that their mysterious neighbor is haunted by her past.

It will take Susie, the child of a young farmworker, Jim Mackie and his wife, Rose, to break through Miss White's icy demeanor—but Jim has something in common with Elinor. He, too, is desperate to escape his past. When the powerful Mackie crime family demands a return of their prodigal son for an important job, Elinor assumes the task of protecting her neighbors, especially the bright-eyed Susie. Yet in her quest to uncover the truth behind the family’s pursuit of Jim, Elinor unwittingly sets out on a treacherous path—yet it is one that leads to her freedom.

As with all of her books, Winspear's prose is artful and gorgeously rendered, which, along with a plot that moves at breathtaking speed, will keep readers turning pages into the wee hours. Elinor is a brilliant but flawed heroine who truly believes in her quest to save the family under siege, just as she fought for the underdogs during the war. I loved this novel and the characters that Winspear took such care to create as fully-fledged beings whom you feel are real enough that you might just pop round to tea in the afternoon one day. I'd give this zippy book an A, and recommend it to anyone who likes historical thrillers.

The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Time Traveler (A Doctor Who story) by Joanne Harris was an ebook novella that I got for a low price on Amazon, as I have been a Joanne Harris fan ever since the publication of the fabulous Chocolat. This was about the size of a well rounded short story, which is why it was sold under the moniker "Time Trips" I suppose. But while it focused on the third Doctor of classic Doctor Who (I'm more of a fan of the New Doctor Who series started in 2005), I found it to be a pleasant story that would be a good distraction in an airport. Here's the short blurb: 

 Struggling to get back to UNIT HQ, his body being destroyed by radiation, the Third Doctor arrives in the most perfect English village, where everyone is happy. But is he really on Earth, or somewhere far more strange? As his body weakens, the Doctor and the Queen of the village begin to unravel the truth. 

Of all the classic Doctors, Jon Pertwee's dandy "007" style Doctor was one that I found most interesting. He wasn't a clown, like number two, or a madman like number four, but was instead a mature scientist who did not suffer fools. He practiced "Venusian Judo" and had spiffy cars, and worked with UNIT on Earth while his TARDIS was unusable.  Harris fully delves into Doctor #3's eccentricities while also creating a cracking good yarn. Her prose is sterling and her plot flies along at Mach 3. I'd give this short story an A, and recommend it to all fans of classic Doctor Who. You won't be disappointed.

Quote of the Day, Chita Book Review, City on Fire Movie, Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma Review, The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman, The Other Merlin by Robyn Schneider, The House Witch by Delemhach, and Rhapsodic by Laura Thalassa

Happy Easter Sunday and Solstice and Passover for all who celebrate the coming of Spring! I've been busy with my husband's declining health and my own health problems, but fortunately I've found more than a few books on my TBR to be distracting and engrossing enough to keep me from tearing my hair out. So here's some great tidbits and some book reviews for all my fellow book dragons!

Quotation of the Day

'They Have to Be Able to Read, to Question'

"I came through the '80s when book banning was really at its height. And it was terrible. And then libraries and schools began to get policies in place and we saw a falling off of the desire to censor books.... Now it is back, it is back much worse--this is in America, it is back so much worse than it was in the '80s. Because it's become political.... I mean, that's crazy, that is so crazy. And it is so frightening that I think the only answer is for us to speak out and really keep speaking out, or we are going to lose our way.

"There's a group of mothers now going around saying that they want to protect their children. Protect them from what? You know, protect them from talking about things? Protect them from knowing about things? Because even if they don't let them read books, their bodies are still going to change and their feelings about their bodies are going to change. And you can't control that. They have to be able to read, to question."--Author and bookseller Judy Blume

This looks like a fascinating memoir, so much so that I plan on scaring up a copy the next time I'm at Powells City of Books (which will hopefully be this summer).

Book Review: Chita

In most showbiz memoirs written when the star is in, shall we say, her third act, the early- and mid-career highlights tend to dominate. Not so with Chita, a showstopping retrospective by musical theater legend Chita Rivera, written with Patrick Pacheco: the 10-time Tony Award nominee and possessor of multiple theater trophies was being courted by awards into her 80s. Steady work across the decades has brought Rivera so many places that, as she writes, she can't relate to Broadway's survivor anthem "I'm Still Here": "It's brilliant, like all of Steve Sondheim's work. But where was 'here'? Not any place I'd been. So how could I still be 'here'?"

Rivera didn't start out much of anywhere. Born Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero in 1933, Rivera grew up in a bustling Catholic household in Washington, D.C., the daughter of a Scottish-Irish mother (or so Rivera thought; the truth is more complicated) and a Puerto Rico-born musician father, who died when she was seven. In hopes of redirecting her tomboy daughter's thrill-seeking energies, Rivera's mother signed her up for ballet lessons. Scouts spotted Rivera as a teenager and lured her to New York's School of American Ballet with a scholarship. Several years of dues-paying later, Rivera found herself originating the role of Anita in the 1957 Broadway production of West Side Story. Suddenly, being "shorter, darker, and more Puerto Rican" than her dancing peers was a career asset. 

Chita is awash in stories about Rivera's encounters with leading lights of Old Broadway, among them Elaine Stritch, Liza Minnelli and Sammy Davis Jr. ("a friend and one-time lover"). There's an indispensable chapter devoted to her experience originating the role of Velma Kelly in 1975's Chicago, which involved collaboration with her dancer friend Gwen Verdon and Verdon's husband, the director, choreographer and incurable womanizer Bob Fosse. ("He never tried anything with me, and I'm not sure I'm not a little upset by that.")

Chita is notable for its spirit of unflagging fellowship in a famously competitive and backstabby business. Rivera has no time for the press's manufactured rivalries (Rivera versus Verdon; Rivera versus Rita Moreno, the first West Side Story movie's Anita), although she allows her alter ego, Dolores, the odd diva moment ("What's up with all these actresses winning Oscars for playing roles I created?"). How fabulous for readersthat Rivera is still here--and that they now have her knockout memoir.--Nell Beram, author and freelance writer

I'm really looking forward to seeing this movie. I loved Butler in the movie Elvis, and I think he'll do a great job on this project as well.

Movies: City on Fire

Austin Butler (Elvis) will star in City on Fire https://www.shelfawareness.com/ct/x/pjJscFPbkr0I6akzK0xzTA~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6iUCZP1poMLg-gVdw, a film adaptation of Don Winslow's 2022 novel from Sony 3000 Pictures.

Deadline reported that the project marks Butler's first film as producer, alongside David Heyman and Shane Salerno, and the "studio has made this a high priority and will be meeting with writers and filmmakers immediately." Elizabeth Gabler and Marisa Paiva are overseeing for the studio. City on Fire is the first installment in a trilogy that will include City of Dreams, to be released April 18 by HarperCollins.

"We are elated that venerable producer David Heyman, alongside Austin Butler, will join forces with Shane Salerno to make Don Winslow's spectacular trilogy, starting with City on Fire," said Gabler. "Don is an iconic novelist and a true master of the genre of suspenseful crime fiction and has created one of the most memorable modern-day heroes in Danny Ryan, the complex and compelling protagonist of this trilogy.  It is a dream come true to envision Austin, with his uniquely brilliant and charismatic talent, bringing this character and story to cinematic life."

Winslow added: "Like so many people around the world, I was amazed by Austin Butler's Oscar-nominated performance in Elvis. I've had a number of conversations with Austin about this trilogy that I've been working on for almost 30 years of my life, and I have been deeply impressed by his commitment to playing Danny Ryan as well as his passion to also produce the three films with David and Shane and Elizabeth and Marisa."

 

In this dauntless, cannily reasoned and barn-burning inquiry, Claire Dederer asks: Is it okay to hate the artist but love the art? I, myself have struggled with this question, since I was a huge fan of the Harry Potter books and movies, but horrified by the author JK Rowlings stance on Trans people (She's a TERF) and blatant anti-semitism in her movies.

Book Review: Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma

How do you solve a problem like Roman Polanski? This is how Claire Dederer (Love and Trouble: A Midlife Reckoning https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscFPbkr0I6akzK0xwEg~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6iUCZP1poMLg-gVdw) distills the conundrum in the dauntless, cannily reasoned and barn-burning Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma: "Polanski made Chinatown, often called one of the greatest films of all time. Polanski drugged and anally raped thirteen-year-old Samantha Gailey. There the facts sit, unreconcilable. How would I maintain myself between these contradictions?"

It's not lost on Dederer that the question has long been percolating: people can just as easily (and did, and do) ask how it is possible to appreciate the work of the virulently antisemitic but irrefutably brilliant German composer Richard Wagner (1813-1883). With a historian's commitment to taking the long view and with fire under her feet from the #MeToo movement, she makes a thoroughgoing inquiry into the vexing question of how to reconcile bad people with their good art.

Dederer considers the work and controversial remarks and behaviors of a good dozen artistic luminaries. She revisits, with some trepidation, two canonized works that, since her initial encounter, have come to be commonly viewed as morally sketchy: Woody Allen's Manhattan and Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, both of which are centered on a sexual relationship between a female minor and a decades-older male. And yet Dederer would caution against presuming an allegiance between, say, a male author and a predatory male protagonist: "Did [Nabokov] feel the things Humbert felt, think the things Humbert thought?" And should this matter when assessing Nabokov's art?

Dederer's feminism won't allow an essentialist view that monstrousness is exclusively the province of men, but the research she does, as into Doris Lessing, Joni Mitchell, and Sylvia Plath, all of whom in one way or another relinquished a child or two, uncovers a double standard: "This is what female monstrousness looks like: abandoning the kids. Always."

As for the question that launches her book: it doesn't give everything away to say that Dederer has come to see that asking "What do we do with the art of monstrous men?" is the narrowing of the more foundational question "What do we do about the monstrous people we love?" Monsters isn't just the book that art-loving feminists have been waiting for; it's the book that anyone determined to live an intentional life owes it to themselves to read. --Nell Beram, author and freelance writer

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller is a re-telling of the Greek Legend with a LGBTQ spin that makes complete sense from the point of view of the characters, gods and titans we've read about over the centuries. Here's the blurb:

A thrilling, profoundly moving, and utterly unique retelling of the legend of Achilles and the Trojan War from the bestselling author of Circe

A tale of gods, kings, immortal fame, and the human heart, The Song of Achilles is a dazzling literary feat that brilliantly reimagines Homer’s enduring masterwork, The Iliad. An action-packed adventure, an epic love story, a marvelously conceived and executed page-turner, Miller’s monumental debut novel has already earned resounding acclaim from some of contemporary fiction’s brightest lights—and fans of Mary Renault, Bernard Cornwell, Steven Pressfield, and Colleen McCullough’s Masters of Rome series will delight in this unforgettable journey back to ancient Greece in the Age of Heroes.

“A captivating retelling of The Iliad and events leading up to it through the point of view of Patroclus: it’s a hard book to put down, and any classicist will be enthralled by her characterisation of the goddess Thetis, which carries the true savagery and chill of antiquity.” — Donna Tartt

The love story of Achilles and Patroclus is so elegant and poignant that I dare anyone to get to the end of the tale with dry eyes. The portrayal of Achilles as something of a privileged douchebag is spot on, and yet his life-long relationship with Patroclus softens his character enough to make him palatable. I must also point out that Millers prose is elegant and glorious, while her plot is tightly woven and wonderfully rendered, making this a book that you can't put down, because it enfolds you into a dream-like state right from the first chapter. Well done, Ms Miller! I'd give this book an A, and recommend it to anyone who enjoys reworkings of classic legends.

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman is a witty and well-written British murder mystery written by a man who is a well-known TV producer/creator/presenter in England. I've seen him on the Graham Norton show more than once, and he's also a great comedian, so he reminds me a lot of the amazing Stephen Fry, who is also an actor/producer and author of a number of books. This appears to be not uncommon in Britain, for some reason...I assume that there are a number of very creative people there who move in the rarified circles of multi-talented people. Anyway, here's the blurb:  

Four septuagenarians with a few tricks up their sleeves
A female cop with her first big case
A brutal murder
Welcome to...
THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB

In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes; together they call themselves the Thursday Murder Club.

When a local developer is found dead with a mysterious photograph left next to the body, the Thursday Murder Club suddenly find themselves in the middle of their first live case.

As the bodies begin to pile up, can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer, before it's too late? 

I love that the character who is the most effective and brilliant is (former??) MI5 agent/spy Elizabeth, who seems to have something on everyone and can use her contacts to get information from any given person or organization. She's sly and relies on people underestimating her as a "little old lady" when she's more lethal than the lot of them. But  the other members of the Thursday Murder Club are also fascinating and very intelligent, and though Joyce comes off as a bit daffy and naive, she, too, manages to do what the police can't and ferret out the right information. the prose is shiny and the plot slick, and I'd give this delightful book an A-, and recommend it to anyone who likes older sleuths solving mysteries in classic British fashion.

The Other Merlin by Robyn Schneider is a YA romantic comedy retelling of the Arthurian legend of Camelot. There's some LGBTQ characters and a lot of fuss about Emry Merlin being bisexual (though she falls for a male character right away) but that doesn't stop the sparkle of this funny and fun novel. Here's the blurb: Channeling the modern humor of The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue, bestselling author Robyn Schneider creates a Camelot that becomes the ultimate teen rom-com hotspot in this ultra-fresh take on the Arthurian legend.

Welcome to the great kingdom of Camelot! Prince Arthur’s a depressed botanist who would rather marry a library than a princess, Lancelot’s been demoted to castle guard after a terrible lie, and Emry Merlin has arrived at the castle disguised as her twin brother since girls can’t practice magic.
 
Life at court is full of scandals, lies, and backstabbing courtiers, so what’s a casually bisexual teen wizard masquerading as a boy to do? Other than fall for the handsome prince, stir up trouble with the foppish Lord Gawain, and offend the prissy Princess Guinevere.
 
When the truth comes out with disastrous consequences, Emry has to decide whether she'll risk everything for the boy she loves, or give up her potential to become the greatest wizard Camelot has ever known. 

The prose was fresh, but somewhat simplified, and the plot was rather easy to follow, yet the characters made the book worthwhile anyway. I'd give this quick read a B, and recommend it to anyone who is into rewritten/modernized legends.

The House Witch by Delemhach is a romantic fantasy that reads like a middle-grade or YA fantasy written by someone whose only writing experience is with fan fiction. The prose is amateurish and the characters border on goofy or ridiculous cartoons. The plot is paint-by-numbers simple and the HEA is overly sweet. Here's the blurb:

A heartwarming and humorous blend of fantasy, romance, and mystery featuring a witch with domestic powers and the royal household he serves . . . dinner.

When Finlay Ashowan joins the staff of the King and Queen of Daxaria, he’s an enigma. No one knows where he comes from or how he came to be where he is, which suits Fin just fine. He’s satisfied simply serving as the royal cook, keeping nosy passersby out of his kitchen, and concocting some truly uncanny meals.

But Fin’s secret identity doesn’t stay hidden for long. After all, it’s not every day a house witch and his kitten familiar, Kraken, take to meddling in imperial affairs. As his powers are gradually discovered by the court, Fin finds himself involved in a slew of intrigues: going head-to-head with knights with less-than-chivalrous intentions, helping to protect the pregnant queen, fending off the ire of the royal mage, and uncovering a spy in the castle. And that’s only the beginning—because Fin’s past is catching up with him just as his love life is getting complicated . . .

Filled with fascinating characters, courtly intrigue, political machinations, delicious cuisines, cuddly companions, magical hijinks, and will-they-won’t-they romance, The House Witch is the first in a captivating new series, guaranteed to satisfy the tastes of any reader.

I got this book for free on my e-reader, and I was glad that I'd not spent any money on something that was obviously self published. I didn't find it satisfying so much as silly. Every beat of the story felt forced, or like a generic fantasy plot that you only need to fill in with your specific characters. Though I did like Fin and his kitten Kracken, most of the other characters weren't more than cardboard cut outs. Whomever Delemhach is, I hope they will continue to grow and learn in their writing, but meanwhile, I can't give this bit of whimsy more than a C+, and a recommendation to very young people to read and enjoy it (like preteens and young teenagers). 

Rhapsodic by Laura Thalassa is a "dark" fantasy romance that could be considered YA if you only allow older teens and 20-somethings to read that genre. This book contains a lot of torture and abuse of the female protagonist (because we can't have anything like that for the strong and manly male protagonist whose job is to yearn for her and be possessive and protective of this fragile female...ugh) and a lot of redundancy in going over how she's been sexually abused and tortured because she's just so beautiful and irresistible to the male sex, they can't seem to help themselves around her (again, ugh. This is such a misogynist cliche it makes me want to vomit). Anyway, here's the blurb:

Callypso Lillis is a siren with a very big problem, one that stretches up her arm and far into her past.

For the last seven years Callie has been wearing a bracelet of black beads up her wrist, magical IOUs for favors she once received. Only death or repayment will fulfill her obligations.

Everyone knows that if you need a favor, you go to the Bargainer to make it happen. He's a man who can get you anything you want … at a price. And everyone knows that sooner or later he always collects. But for Callie, he's never asked for repayment. Not until now. 

When Callie finds the Bargainer in her room, a grin on his lips and a twinkle in his eye, she knows things are about to change. At first it's admitting a truth—a single bead's worth—acknowledging the attraction between them. But the Bargainer is after more than just rekindling their connection. Something is happening in the Otherworld. Fae warriors are going missing one by one, and only the women are returned, each in a glass casket, a child clutched to her breast. 

For the Bargainer to save his people, he'll need the help of the siren he spurned long ago. If she can forgive him.

Callie being a siren seems to not help her in most of her emergency situations, and the creepy Bargainer, who has been after her since she was 16, now seems to think he's within his rights to ravish her because she "owes" him for all the times he spent hanging out with her when she was a lonely teenager. Boo freakin hoo. I find it hard to believe that someone with Siren powers who is, apparently, breathtakingly beautiful and sweet, etc, can't seem to make any friends among her peer group. And all of her boyfriends and protectors are huge possessive asshats who will kill anyone to "save" her and are seeking her approval of their lifestyle, because, in the case of the Bargainer, he's the King of the Darkness and a tattooed "bad boy." Insert eye roll here. The prose was decent, if full of tropes and cliches, and the plot was nicely tidy. Yet I still can't give this ebook more than a B-, and I'm being generous. I would recommend this to those who like protection fantasies and trope-laden romance novels with a supernatural bent to them.

Black Candle Women TV Series, Book Lovers Becomes a Movie, Stars and Smoke by Marie Lu, Cage of Deceit: Reign of Secrets by Jennifer Anne Davis, A Rogue of One's Own by Evie Dunmore, The Sinister Booksellers of Bath by Garth Nix, and Earth's the Right Place for Love by Elizabeth Berg

Welcome fellow bibliophiles and readers of renown! Happy Spring and almost Easter! It's been a complicated week at the end of March, and now that April is here I'm hoping warmer weather will bring more calm and healing vibes to my chaotic household. The good news is that I've read 5 books because I've been so tired after having so many medical tests that I didn't have the energy to do much else. So today I'll be reviewing more books than usual. The bad news is that there are only a couple of tidbits to share, sorry. Anyway, enjoy and keep reading, friends.

This sounds like a fascinating adaptation that I will look forward to seeing! I'm especially fond of generational women's stories.

TV: Black Candle Women

Universal Television is developing a TV series adaptation of Diane Marie Brown's debut novel Black Candle Womenhttps://www.shelfawareness.com/ct/x/pjJscFOAxb0I6ak0dRlyGg~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6iUUsT1poMLg-gVdw with Jenna Bush Hager, under her production banner Thousand Voices, Deadline reported. Hager is teaming with Bel-Air showrunner Carla Banks Waddles and Good Girls creator Jenna Bans for the project.

Waddles will write and executive produce the adaptation, with Bans exec producing through her Minnesota Logging Company, along with the company's head of television, Casey Kyber. Hager will also executive produce with president of Thousand Voices, Ben Spector.

"I am thrilled that my book will not only be adapted but also be in such incredibly talented hands. I'm so excited to see these characters that have lived in my head for so long brought to life on screen," said Brown.

Added Hager: "Diane's magical, poetic novel captured my imagination from the first page. I am thrilled to partner with the indomitable Carla to bring the four generations of Montrose women to viewers. We are also thrilled that Jenna and Casey have joined us alongside our partners at UTV."

I read this book, and while I thought it wasn't that original or well done, I think that it will make a better movie, due to it being written more like a script than a novel.

Movies: Book Lovers

Tango will adapt Emily Henry's 2022 novel Book Lovers https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscFPZke8I6akzIUgiEw~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6iUC5CnpoMLg-gVdw into a film, with Sarah Heyward attached to write the script. Deadline reported that Heyward is best known for her work writing and producing HBO's Emmy-winning Girls, for which she earned a WGA Award.

Here's my latest reviews, the good, the merely okay and the barely acceptable, LOL...as usual, these are my opinions only.

Stars and Smoke by Marie Lu is a bestselling romantic comedy/drama/spy thriller that has been getting a ton of good ink from every quarter. Since the protagonists are both around 19-20 years old, this could legitimately be called a YA novel, but I assume the author didn't want to fall into a specific genre because she probably felt it would sell better if it were just another rom-com thriller. Still, I was able to get it for a very reasonable price as an e-book, so I decided to see what the fuss was about, and this page-turner delivered in many ways, though I wouldn't pay full price for a book that reads like the Bourne Identity meets Mr and Mrs Smith (or the most recent show in the genre of couple spies, The Company You Keep) with Harry Styles or any member of the KPop band BTS thrown in for the "squeee" factor. Here's the blurb:

This smoldering enemies-to-lovers novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Marie Lu puts a superstar global phenomenon and a hotshot young spy on a collision course with danger – and Cupid’s arrow – in an electric new series perfect for fans of Nicola Yoon and Ally Carter.

Meet Winter Young – International pop sensation, with a voice like velvet and looks that could kill. His star power has smashed records, selling out stadiums from LA to London. His rabid fans would move heaven and earth for even a glimpse of him – just imagine what they’d do to become his latest fling.

Meet Sydney Cossette – Part of an elite covert ops group, Sydney joined their ranks as their youngest spy with plans to become the best agent they’ve ever had. An ice queen with moves as dangerous as her comebacks, Sydney picks up languages just as quickly as she breaks hearts. She's fiery, no-nonsense, and has zero time for romance – especially with a shameless flirt more used to serving sass than taking orders.

When a major crime boss gifts his daughter a private concert with Winter for her birthday, Sydney and Winter's lives suddenly collide. Tasked with infiltrating the crime organization’s inner circle, Sydney is assigned as Winter's bodyguard with Winter tapped to join her on the mission of a lifetime as a new spy recruit. Sydney may be the only person alive impervious to Winter's charms, but as their mission brings them closer, she’s forced to admit that there's more to Winter Young than just a handsome face.

 While I liked Sydney and Winter's slow burn romance, I found it hard to believe that they didn't even kiss until 2/3rd of the way through the book, and even then, they both stopped short of actually having sex because...reasons too spoilery to enumerate. Two relatively healthy, attractive young people can't have sex for an entire book about them falling for each other? Really? The prose was saucy and tangy, while the plot was like riding in a car chase during a James Bond film...breathtakingly fast and dangerous and exciting. Still those few shortcomings I did find (why do they never give a name to Syd's lung disease? Was it Cystic Fibrosis? Why not name it so readers can understand how hard it is to function with lungs full of mucus and that will fail completely sooner rather than later, as there's no cure for CF other than a lung transplant, to my knowledge) didn't slow the plot so much as make me wince for Lu because she and her editors missed these easily fixed problems. Other than the aforementioned, and both Syd and Winter having the worst mothers in existence, (and therefore craving approval of same, though why doesn't make a lot of sense to me), this book deserves an A- and a recommendation to anyone who likes romantic thrillers.

Cage of Deceit: Reign of Secrets by Jennifer Anne Davis was yet another ebook that I got for a low price that turned out to be well worth it, for various reasons. This YA fantasy romance/adventure is succulent, rich with great characters and a gripping storyline that moves so fast it will leave you breathless. Here's the blurb: 

Sixteen-year-old Allyssa appears to be the ideal princess of Emperion--she's beautiful, elegant, and refined. She spends her days locked in a suffocating cage, otherwise known as the royal court. But at night, Allyssa uses her secret persona--that of a vigilante--to hunt down criminals and help her people firsthand.

Unfortunately, her nightly escapades will have to wait because the citizens of Emperion may need saving from something much bigger than common criminals. War is encroaching on their kingdom and in order to protect her people, Allyssa may have to sacrifice her heart. Forced to entertain an alliance through marriage with a handsome prince from a neighboring kingdom, she finds herself feeling even more stifled than before. To make matters worse, the prince has stuck his nosy squire, Jarvik, to watch her every move.

Jarvik is infuriating, bossy and unfortunately, the only person she can turn to when she unveils a heinous plot. Together, the unlikely pair will have to work together to stop an enemy that everyone thought was long gone, one with the power to destroy her family and the people of Emperion. Now the cage Allyssa so longed to break free from might just be the one thing she has to fight to keep intact. In order to save her kingdom, she will have to sacrifice her freedom, her heart, and maybe even her life. 

Though I will call it a spoiler, anyone who doesn't know that Jarvik is the real prince even before he meets Ally is being willfully ignorant. It's practically spelled out in semaphore flags by the time you're halfway through the novel. The other secret, that her parents have a "spare" heir hidden somewhere is also clearly evident well before the first half of the book is done. While I realize he's meant to be the dark horse handsome guy whom Ally falls for, instead of the glittery gay prince double, I found Jarvik to be more than a bit of a sexist jerk who is arrogant, mean, and not as bright as he thinks he is. If I were Ally I would have told him to stick his constant "testing" of her character and loyalties where the sun doesn't shine. He's the one who is an untrustworthy liar! Her parents, for all their professing of their love for her, are also liars and shitheels, in my opinion. Everyone seems to think because she's the princess and the heir that it's okay to lie to her and jerk her around and use her, like she's somehow too fragile for the truth, when the opposite is true. I was horrified by her allowing her vigilante partner to die such a horrific death, but I suppose someone had to pay for Ally's ridiculous idealism and selfish desire to "escape" her golden cage by sneaking out and catching criminals. What a dummy. Still, I enjoyed this page-turner and would give it a solid B+, with a recommendation that anyone who enjoys Seanan McGuire's Toby Daye series or Lara Croft stories might want to pick up a copy.

A Rogue of One's Own by Evie Dunmore is a historical romance full of clever dialog and full-bodied characters, including a strong and smart female protagonist, who will leave you feeling the need to work hard to save women's rights, as have generations of women before you. Here's the blurb: 

 A lady must have money and an army of her own if she is to win a revolution—but first, she must pit her wits against the wiles of an irresistible rogue bent on wrecking her plans…and her heart.
 
Lady Lucie is fuming. She and her band of Oxford suffragists have finally scraped together enough capital to control one of London’s major publishing houses, with one purpose: to use it in a coup against Parliament. But who could have predicted that the one person standing between her and success is her old nemesis and London’s undisputed lord of sin, Lord Ballentine? Or that he would be willing to hand over the reins for an outrageous price—a night in her bed.
 
Lucie tempts Tristan like no other woman, burning him up with her fierceness and determination every time they clash. But as their battle of wills and words fans the flames of long-smoldering devotion, the silver-tongued seducer runs the risk of becoming caught in his own snare.
 
As Lucie tries to out-maneuver Tristan in the boardroom and the bedchamber, she soon discovers there’s truth in what the poets say: all is fair in love and war.

First of all, I have to say that Ms Dunmore should teach a class on how to write satisfying love/sex scenes, because so many of the rom-coms and romantic suspense or romance/science fiction hybrids or any other romance permutations fall far short of any truly hot and steamy sex scenes. Some, like Marie Lu's book, can't seem to get her characters past a round of kissing while under the influence. Dunmore, however, brings the heat almost immediately between the smart and ferocious Lady Lucie and the sassy bad boy Lord Ballentine, who is a gorgeously spicy redhead, which is my particular flavor of man trouble as well. Once they get to angry-fucking, readers will find themselves breathless and seeking out their significant others to work off some of the heat build up. I was particularly interested to see Lucie's struggle to remain independent and unencumbered by marriage and children in a society that required this of all women who weren't nuns or prostitutes. One's virginal reputation in this sexist society was everything for a woman, while men were lauded for having wives, mistresses, visiting brothels, etc. The HEA was rocky but satisfying and I found myself sorry to see the end of the book and these wonderful characters. I'd give this book an A, and recommend it to anyone who likes steamy historical romances with a strong female protagonist.

The Sinister Booksellers of Bath by Garth Nix is a YA fantasy/steampunkish novel that is the sequel to Nix's The Left Handed Booksellers of London, which I read and enjoyed a year or so ago. While I like the characters and the magical historical London in which they reside, with this sophomore effort, Nix seemed to get his storyboat stuck on the shoals of dreadfully dull details that slowed the entire plot to a crawl. Nix's prose is generally a bit frilly and frothy, but he usually manages to curtail his need to info-dump about all the artifacts and gods/monsters that are the main problem of the book. Not this time, though, while I nodded off at yet another set of paragraphs riddled with minutiae...yawn. Here's the blurb:

Return to the enchanting world of The Left-Handed Booksellers of London in this sequel by Garth Nix, bestselling master of teen fantasy, where once again a team of booksellers must fight to keep dangerous magic under cover before the stuff of legends destroys our world.

There is often trouble of a mythical sort in Bath. The booksellers who police the Old World keep a careful watch there, particularly on the entity that inhabits the ancient hot spring.

This time trouble comes from the discovery of a sorcerous map, leading left-handed bookseller Merlin into great danger, requiring a desperate rescue attempt from his sister, the right-handed bookseller Vivien, and art student Susan Arkshaw, who is still struggling to deal with her own recently discovered magical heritage.

The map takes the trio to a place separated from this world, maintained by deadly sorcery and guarded by monstrous living statues. But this is only the beginning. To unravel the secrets of a murderous Ancient Sovereign, the booksellers must investigate centuries of disappearances and deaths. If they do not stop her, she will soon kill again. And this time, her target is not an ordinary mortal.

The Bath Booksellers seem bent on destroying anything or anyone who isn't an ordinary, magic-less human. I found this to be tremendously racist of them, and certainly short-sighted, as they make mention several times that these god-like legendary elemental beings cannot be killed, only made quiescent.  The female protagonist, like most British heroines, wants nothing to do with magic or her powers as the daughter of a mortal and a forest god. She wants to lead a "normal" life as a painter (how dreadfully dull!) and has to be dragged kicking and screaming, like a snotty toddler, into helping quell the bad people/gods/halflings who want to use her (and who've been murdering others) to save someone like her, who is a halfling, but has become ill with a terminal disease (Readers can assume its cancer). I must say that I grow weary of the trope of the young (or old, or middle aged) British female who wants to disappear from society and who hates herself and is convinced she's some hideous troll who is too shy to have any sort of decent relationship (and who usually have utterly awful parents, most likely a vicious and toxic mother). It's a wonder that the Brits ever manage to procreate at all, seemingly despite all the institutionalized mysogyny. Why must women look like a model to be worthy of any random guy and a non-abusive relationship? Ugh. Though it took me longer than I would have liked to finish this book (and the ending was barely HEA, more like HFN), I'd give it a B- and recommend it to anyone who read the first book in the series, especially if you happen to be a nerd who has an insatiable desire for details about any given world within a series.

Earth's the Right Place for Love by Elizabeth Berg is a literary historical romance that details the childhood and early adulthood of Arthur Moses/Truluv, a shy and wise older gentleman whom we meet in several other Berg novels of the past decade of two. While I read and loved The Story of Arthur Truluv and its sequels, this prequel fell flat for me, mainly because Arthur was kind of a drip as a kid. He seems almost autistic in his single-minded pursuit of the flighty Nola McCollum, whose only strong suit seems to be her good looks. Why Arthur becomes so besotted with her when she's obviously using him as a "friend" and sounding board, though it's obvious that he has feelings for her, is really beyond my ken. It seems stupid and shallow of him to only see how pretty she is and not see what an indecisive and brainless girl (who really has no empathy or anything to recommend her as a person) she is and the clueless young woman she becomes. But Arthur, who only has eyes for her, is no prize himself. Here's the blurb:

This beautiful new novel by the beloved author of Open House and Talk Before Sleep tells the story of two young people growing up in Mason, Missouri, and how Arthur Moses, a shy young man, becomes the wise and compassionate person readers loved in The Story of Arthur Truluv.

Nola McCollum is the most desirable girl in Arthur’s class, and he is thrilled when they become friends. But Arthur wants far more than friendship. Unfortunately, Nola has a crush on the wrong Moses—Arthur’s older brother, Frank, who is busy pursuing his own love interest and avoiding the boys’ father, a war veteran with a drinking problem and a penchant for starting fights. When a sudden tragedy rocks the family’s world, Arthur struggles to come to terms with his grief. In the end, it is nature that helps him to understand how to go on, beyond loss, and create a life of forgiveness and empathy. But what can he do about Nola, who seems confused about what she wants in life, and only half aware of the one who loves her most?

Full of unforgettable characters and written with Elizabeth Berg’s characteristic warmth, humor, and insight into people, Earth’s the Right Place for Love is about the power of kindness, character, and family, and how love can grow when you least expect it.

Elizabeth Berg's prose is, as usual, stellar and lovely, and her plots never flag, though her characters are not as fully realized as they were in previous novels. Something about this whole book felt forced, as if Berg's publisher told her to milk one final story out of the played out, yet very popular Arthur Truluv series. I know this is common among movies, TV series and book series, of course, because publishers are only looking at the bottom line, not the quality of the work as it becomes less viable because most aspects of the series has been exploited/explored already. I may understand it, but that doesn't mean I have to like it, as it feels somewhat tawdry. But, writers gotta eat and pay the mortgage, and if this is what her publisher and her readers demand, then I suppose Berg can be forgiven for this one blatant bore in an otherwise warm and cozy blanket of a story series. I'd give this bland and tiresome novel a C+, and only recommend it to those who are OCD enough to have to complete every series that they embark on. BTW, as an end note, I'm not loving the title of this book, which sounds like the title of a science fiction romance hybrid.