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.