Obit for Charles R Cross, The Grays Comes to Netflix, Rivals on TV, New Owners for Seattle's Madison Books, Heavenbreaker by Sara Wolf, The Coven by Harper L Woods, Bride by Ali Hazelwood, Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting by Clare Pooley, and Mr Perfect on Paper by Jean Meltzer

Hello all! It's finally almost September, the start of my favorite season of the year, autumn/fall. thank heaven the summer is over, and we're moving toward the holiday and birthday season in our household. I've been reading a ton lately, so after the news, I'll get right to the reviews!

 

I remember reading Charles Cross's works in the Seattle Times and Rolling Stone and in his wonderfully evocative books about musicians and their bands. He was an amazing prose stylist who passed from this earth too soon. Go with God on your final journey, CRC.

 

Obituary Note: Charles R. Cross

Charles R. Cross https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscVPelbkI6a5hK093HA~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6mUDJTxpoMLg-gVdw,

a Seattle music writer who edited "a local rock bible, during the city's

grunge-era flowering in the 1990s, and who wrote acclaimed biographies

of two of the city's most venerated musical figures, Jimi Hendrix and

Kurt Cobain," died August 9, the New York Times reported. He was 67.

Cross was the editor of The Rocket magazine from 1986 through 2000, "a

period when Seattle bands like Nirvana, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam

redefined rock. It was considered a must-read for musicians looking to

join the wave."

Chris Walla, a former member of the band Death Cab for Cutie, posted on social media: "it's impossible to imagine the music or community of seattle in the 80s and 90s without charles cross. he influenced or enabled

practically every story, relationship, and musicians wanted ad in the

city for decades. i'm eternally grateful. may his name be a blessing."

Cross also turned his self-produced fanzine into Backstreets Magazine, a

trove of Bruce Springsteen arcana. At a recent concert in Pittsburgh,

Springsteen paid tribute to Cross, telling the audience that his "help

in communicating between our band and our fans will be sorely missed"

before launching into his song "Backstreets."

The first of his nine books, Backstreets: Springsteen, the Man and His

Music (1989), was followed two years later by Led Zeppelin: Heaven and

Hell, an illustrated history that he wrote with Erik Flannigan, with

photographs by Neal Preston.

His 2001 Cobain biography, Heavier Than Heaven, was based on more than

400 interviews, as well as Cobain's private journals and other materials

provided by his widow, Courtney Love. The book received ASCAP's Timothy White Award for outstanding musical biography in 2002.

Room Full of Mirrors (2005), Cross's biography of Hendrix, was called

one of the best music books ever written by Vibe magazine. He also

collaborated with Ann and Nancy Wilson of the band Heart, who grew up in

the Seattle area, on Kicking & Dreaming: A Story of Heart, Soul, and

Rock & Roll (2012).

"His passion and purpose was to make it his life's work to celebrate and

chronicle the beautiful global renaissance that started with our local

Seattle music scene," Nancy Wilson posted on social media.

"Charley was the coolest rock literati bookworm to ever be lucky enough

to know. And all us cool rock people got to feel even cooler to know him

and call him a friend.... Charley was our trusty biographer and

implicitly trusted friend.... Rest in wit and wisdom dear fine feathered

friend."

This looks wonderful, and I've always been a fan of the works of Oscar Wilde. I hope that they do his most famous book justice.

The Grays (Based on The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde)Comes to Netflix Netflix is developing The Grays https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscVPelbkI6a5hK09yGQ~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6mUDJTxpoMLg-gVdw, a TV series based on Oscar Wilde's classic novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray. Deadline reported that the project is from Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. Television.

Written by Katie Rose Rogers, The Grays is "a contemporary take on the

Oscar Wilde classic about our fascination with eternal youth set against

the backdrop of the modern beauty industry. In a twist on the gothic

novel, the series revolves around siblings Basil and Doran Gray,"

Deadline wrote.

I will watch anything with David Tennant in it, and Aidan Turner, both delicious actors who are also major hotties!

TV: Rivals

Disney+ has set a premiere date for Rivals https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscVKIxOoI6a5hdhBxSQ~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6mVWsWipoMLg-gVdw, the eight-part series adapted from Jilly Cooper's bestselling 1988 novel. Deadline reported that the show will drop October 18 in the U.K. and stream on Hulu in the U.S.

Starring David Tennant, Aidan Turner, Katherine Parkinson, and Danny

Dyer, Rivals chronicles the cutthroat world of independent television in

1986 and the long-standing rivalry of ex-Olympian, MP, and notorious

womanizer Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell) and his neighbor Tony

Baddingham (Tennant), controller of Corinium Television, Deadline noted.

This is wonderful news! Madison Books new owners sound like they've got a handle on the book scene in Seattle, one of America's most Literate Cities!

 

New Owners for Seattle's Madison Books

Madison Books, Seattle, Wash., will reopen

under new ownership on September 1. The Seattle Times

reported that Christina Leber and Sarah Trainer purchased the

400-square-foot shop, which was launched in 2020, from Tom Nissley, who

wants to focus his time on his other store, Phinney Books https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscVKJnuwI6a5hdRElSA~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6mVW5-kpoMLg-gVdw.

"I would like to get some writing done again, and that just hasn't even

been close to possible the last five years. I think it's only possible

if I'm a one-bookstore guy," Nissley said.

"We're sisters who grew up in Seattle, on Capitol Hill. And we were like

homing pigeons," Leber said. "We were gone for many years--for school

and grad school and work--and then we had kids and came back to Capitol

Hill." Neither of them had previous bookselling experience--Trainer is

an anthropologist and Leber worked as a social worker--but Trainer

gradually developed a desire to work with books.

Last fall, Trainer came across Madison Books. "I fell into a

conversation with James, as one does, and I said, 'This is a strange

question, but by any chance, are you hiring?' 'Funny you should ask,' he

said. 'How would you like to be the manager?' "

Crossley connected Trainer with Nissley, who hired her as a manager, and

she soon convinced Leber to join the staff. Their first month without

Crossley at Madison Books was December 2023.

"We just kind of threw them in the deep end," Nissley recalled, "and

it's a good sign that you can come in the craziest time of year in a

time of transition and have your first reaction be, 'Oh, I really like

this.' "I feel like we have been in training for this job our whole lives in

that we both have been reading crazily for decades and decades," Leber

noted. The sisters were soon in discussion about buying Madison Books

from Nissley.

Heavenbreaker by Sara Wolf is a YA romance/science fiction thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat for all of its 420 pages. First of all, it's beautifully produced, with gold edges that are illustrated and a lustrous gold and blue cover that will attract the eye of collectors and readers alike. Best quote: "The wolf only knows how badly the deer suffers when the tiger comes." Here's the blurb: 

Bravery isn't what you do. It's what you endure.

The duke of the powerful House Hauteclare is the first to die. With my dagger in his back. He didn’t see it coming. Didn’t anticipate the bastard daughter who was supposed to die with her mother—on his order. He should have left us with the rest of the Station’s starving, commoner rubbish.

Now there’s nothing left. Just icy-white rage and a need to make House Hauteclare pay. Every damn one of them.
Even if it means riding Heavenbreaker—one of the few enormous machines left over from the War—and jousting against the fiercest nobles in the system.

Each win means another one of my enemies dies. And here, in the cold terror of space, the machine and I move as one, intent on destroying each adversary—even if it’s someone I care about. Even if it’s someone I’m falling for.

Only I’m not alone. Not anymore.

Because there’s something in the machine with me. Something horrifying. Something…more. And it won’t be stopped. 

 

I used to read a lot of "Space Opera" genre, and this book actually lives up to the hype of SO, with it's melodramatic flourishing prose and its vast plot that moves at warp speed. That said, I loved tough Synali, with her determination and her death wish, as she made it through layers of horrible politics and even worse manipulative people/nobles, using her pain to their own ends. Like many female protagonists in this day and age, Synali comes from a poor background where she barely survived and then is thrust into a world where she is at least fed and rested, but still abused by those around her for their own ends. I don't understand why the heroines of these book series always have to be so abused and starving, scarred from rape and repeated attempts on their lives. Somehow, emaciated young women are like catnip to the handsome rich male protagonists, who always want the one young woman who doesn't want them. And in this case Synali can't stop her feelings of love and lust developing for the rich asshat rider who wants to defeat her in battle and doesn't really seem to have her best interests at heart for most of the book. Anyway, though it was too much like Divergent or Hunger Games mixed with Game of Thrones for my taste, I'd give this gorgeous book an A-, and recommend it to those who like the beaten but still defiant heroine trope in today's YA Space Opera.

 

The Coven by Harper L Woods  is a 'dark' or 'grimdark' romantasy novel, which is just another marketing ploy to sell horror novels to romance and YA readers. I dislike the horror genre, so I was not thrilled with all the blood and gore, nor was I happy about all the misogyny inherent in the text, and the fact that the female protagonist was compelled to have sex without her consent, in other words, raped, more than once through the novel. It was nauseating for those of us who are rape survivors to have to read this kind of painful drek. Here's the blurb: THE COVEN, a sexy, deliciously imaginative fantasy romance where The Magicians meets Ninth House with vampires.

Revenge.
Raised to be my father’s weapon against the Coven that took away his sister and his birthright, I would do anything to protect my younger brother from suffering the same fate. My duty forces me to the secret town of Crystal Hollow and the prestigious Hollow’s Grove University—where the best and brightest of my kind learn to practice their magic free from human judgment.

There are no whispered words here. No condemnation for the blood that flows through my veins. The only animosity I face comes from the beautiful and infuriating Headmaster, Alaric Grayson Thorne, a man who despises me just as much as I loathe him and everything he stands for.

But that doesn’t mean secrets don’t threaten to tear the school in two. No one talks about the bloody massacre that forced it to close decades prior, only the opportunity it can afford to those fortunate enough to attend.

Because for the first time in fifty years, the Coven will open its wards to the  Thirteen promising students destined to change the world.

If the ghosts of Hollow’s Grove’s victims don’t kill them first. 

This book was another beautifully produced work, with red and black edges and end papers and an embossed cover that is striking. Though the book clocks in at under 300 pages (285), it still became nauseating and horrifying long before the middle of the novel, making it a tedious and difficult read for those like me who find blood and gore and abuse something to be avoided, rather than something to be fascinated by. I'd give this book a C+, and only recommend it to fans of Stephen King and the horror genre in general.

 

Bride by Ali Hazelwood is another "dark" romantasy, that has a violent and grim view of both werewolves and vampyres. The only "good" or honorable people in this novel are the rare ones whom the female vampyre protagonist cares about, and even they seem to have some ulterior motives for caring for the protagonist, the aptly named "Misery" Lark. A majority of the characters are asshats who you will want to see meet an untimely end. The sexuality in this book is also, WARNING, violent, painful and downright bizarre. So gird your loins, romance fans, because if you don't have a strong stomach you might not make it through this book. Here's the blurb: A dangerous alliance between a Vampyre bride and an Alpha Werewolf becomes a love deep enough to sink your teeth into in this new paranormal romance from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Love, Theoretically and The Love Hypothesis.

Misery Lark, the only daughter of the most powerful Vampyre councilman of the Southwest, is an outcast—again. Her days of living in anonymity among the Humans are over: she has been called upon to uphold a historic peacekeeping alliance between the Vampyres and their mortal enemies, the Weres, and she sees little choice but to surrender herself in the exchange—again...

Weres are ruthless and unpredictable, and their Alpha, Lowe Moreland, is no exception. He rules his pack with absolute authority, but not without justice. And, unlike the Vampyre Council, not without feeling. It’s clear from the way he tracks Misery’s every movement that he doesn’t trust her. If only he knew how right he was….

Because Misery has her own reasons to agree to this marriage of convenience, reasons that have nothing to do with politics or alliances, and everything to do with the only thing she's ever cared about. And she is willing to do whatever it takes to get back what’s hers, even if it means a life alone in Were territory…alone with the wolf. 

 

Lowe, the were male protagonist is overly possessive and his whole glandular issue is just too gross. Misery's love of her friend Serena seems also too possessive and strange, and I felt that Lowe and Misery's adoption of the hybrid child Ana was weird and somewhat inappropriate, considering how few parenting skills Misery can lay claim to. I'd give this bizarre take on vampyre/werewolf romance a B-, and only recommend it to those who find the grotesque exciting.

 

Iona Iverson's Rules For Commuting by Clare Pooley is a cozy romance/found family novel that I dearly loved. I mean, what's not to love about the tropes of found family, quirky characters, an aged protagonist and LGBTQ characters up front of the narrative?! The prose was bouncy and fun, and the plot zoomed along the 330 pages like a late train trying to make up time for commuters. Here's the blurb: 

Nobody ever talks to strangers on the train. It’s a rule. But what would happen if they did?

From the author of The Authenticity Project comes an escapist read that will transport you, cheer you, and make you smile—and make you, too, wish you had Iona’s gift for bringing out the best in everyone.

 
Every day Iona, a larger-than-life magazine advice columnist, travels the ten stops from Hampton Court to Waterloo Station by train, accompanied by her dog, Lulu.  Every day she sees the same people, whom she knows only by nickname: Impossibly-Pretty-Bookworm and Terribly-Lonely-Teenager. Of course, they never speak. Seasoned commuters never do.
     Then one morning, the man she calls Smart-But-Sexist-Manspreader chokes on a grape right in front of her. He’d have died were it not for the timely intervention of Sanjay, a nurse, who gives him the Heimlich maneuver.
     This single event starts a chain reaction, and an eclectic group of people with almost nothing in common except their commute discover that a chance encounter can blossom into much more. It turns out that talking to strangers can teach you about the world around you--and even more about yourself.

I fell in love with the smart, sassy and fabulously fashionable Iona, and her open-hearted advice for all the insecure and introverted people she encounters on the train each day. The way they all end up changing their lives, caring for each other and rescuing Iona is utterly delightful...it warmed the cockles of my heart and made me smile. It should be noted that these characters are British, so you need to take into account their cultural stoic state and need for quiet and personal space. Their reticence is inbred, as it were. That said, all it take is one good lesbian extrovert with a load of common sense to push them in the right direction and change everyone's life for the better. I'd give this big hug of a book an A, and recommend it to anyone who liked House on the Cerulean Sea.

Mr Perfect on Paper by Jean Meltzer was a Jewish romance novel that I was expecting to be filled with tropes, but which was surprising in it's lack of cliches and boring, stereotypical characters. Here's the blurb: From the author of The Matzah Ball comes a pitch-perfect romcom following a third-generation Jewish matchmaker who unwittingly finds her own search for love thrust into the spotlight...

The perfect Jewish husband should be:

• A doctor or lawyer (preferably a doctor)
• Baggage-free (no previous marriages, no children)
• And of course—he must be Jewish

As the creator and CEO of the popular Jewish dating app J-Mate, matchmaker Dara Rabinowitz knows the formula for lasting love—at least, for everyone else. When it comes to her own love life, she’s been idling indefinitely. Until her beloved bubbe shares Dara’s checklist for “The Perfect Jewish Husband” on national television and charming news anchor Chris Steadfast proposes they turn Dara’s search into must-see TV.

As a non-Jewish single dad, Chris doesn’t check any of Dara’s boxes. But her hunt for Mr. Perfect is the ratings boost his show desperately needs. If only Chris could ignore his own pesky attraction to Dara—a task much easier said than done when Dara starts questioning if “perfect on paper” can compete with how hard she’s falling for Chris.

The prose was a bit too detailed about Dara's general anxiety disorder (she seemed somewhat autistic to me) because all the description of how her GAD manifests became tedious due to redundancy. The plot moved along at a sedate pace, until the final chapters, where it catches the characters up in a whirlwind of decision making that's life-altering. I liked the "side" characters, like Dara's Bubbe and her friends, but felt that Dara, as an adult, acted too childish by clinging to her grandmother with such ferocity, when it was obvious Bubbe was not long for this world due to cancer and her age (90). I also found it hard to believe that a news anchor would be so stupid about his own wants/needs/love interest that he'd let Dara go, though he knows he's in love with her. Anyway, alls well that ends well, and I'd give this weird yet fascinating romance a B, and recommend it to anyone who is Jewish and understands how interfaith marriage is becoming more and more common and popular. The heart wants what it wants, after all.