A Thousand Ships

 A Thousand Ships- Natalie Haynes

HarperCollins

Release Date: January 26, 2021

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: This is the women’s war, just as much as it is the men’s. They have waited long enough for their turn . . .

This was never the story of one woman, or two. It was the story of them all . . .

In the middle of the night, a woman wakes to find her beloved city engulfed in flames. Ten seemingly endless years of conflict between the Greeks and the Trojans are over. Troy has fallen.

From the Trojan women whose fates now lie in the hands of the Greeks, to the Amazon princess who fought Achilles on their behalf, to Penelope awaiting the return of Odysseus, to the three goddesses whose feud started it all, these are the stories of the women whose lives, loves, and rivalries were forever altered by this long and tragic war. 

A woman’s epic, powerfully imbued with new life, A Thousand Ships puts the women, girls and goddesses at the center of the Western world’s great tale ever told.

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For those who have been enjoying the resurgence of retold classics and myths from the women's point of view (The Witch's Heart) especially Madeline Miller's Circe, Natalie Haynes' A Thousand Ships should be an absolute must read. Here is a retelling of the end of the Trojan War where the goddess of epic poetry Calliope has decided she is tired of the bards always telling and retelling the bravery of men.  After all, this war affected women as much as men. 

 And so A Thousand Ships is the story of the women: the ones waiting at home for their men to return, the ones waiting on the beaches of Troy to see whose slaves they will be, as well as flickering back in time to hear the stories of women like Briseis- whose removal from Achilles' tent to Agammemnon's caused Achilles to refuse to fight for most of Homer's Iliad. Penelope's story is told as letters to her husband Odysseus throughout the book and we get her absolutely brilliant personality and wit in her thoughts of the bard's tales of Odysseus' adventures. She is by far my favorite person in the entire book.

I loved how Calliope forces her (unnamed) blind bard to see the tragedy of the war instead of the epic manly greatness he thought he wanted to write about. Calliope points out that the casualties of war don't end on the battlefield and that the deaths or tragedies of the women might hurt more exactly because they rarely get to fight back. Her argument that the women are people and should be memorialized just as much as the men is enhanced by including stories of little known women. Creusa, wife of Aeneas and Laodamia, devoted wife of Greek king Protesilaus have their stories told just the same as the Amazon Penthesilea or Hector's wife Andromache. It's an interesting debate that I think would be divided by gender lines (although maybe here I'm being unfair?): are women who don't literally fight in a war heroes as well? Few of the men we meet in this book are honorable, decent or what I would consider 'heroic' while the women suffer by tending the injured, dealing with famine and plague, fear and captivity, etc. Even Odysseus, who I generally consider the most decent among the Greeks, comes in for his share of questioning by Penelope here.

There is one last question that Haynes asks that has never been asked before (as far as I know): where did the golden apple that started all of this come from? Until I read A Thousand Ships it wasn't a question I had asked, but here a larger and wider story unfolds behind the beauty contest and Paris' judgement that might change the way you look at the entire war and make it truly epic in an entirely different way. 

No owls were harmed (or traded) in the course of this book 

Lighting in a Mirror

 Lightning in a Mirror (Fogg Lake 3)- Jayne Ann Krentz

Berkley Publishing

Release Date: January 18, 2022

Stars: 📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Olivia LeClair's experiment with speed dating is not going well. First there was the nasty encounter with the date from hell who tried to murder her and now the mysterious Harlan Rancourt—long believed dead—sits down at her table and tells her she's the only one who can help him locate the legendary Vortex lab.

This is not what Olivia had in mind when she signed up for the Four Event Success Guaranteed package offered by the dating agency.  She doesn't have much choice, though, because her psychic investigation firm works for the mysterious Foundation and Victor Arganbright, the director, is adamant that she assist Harlan. There's just one problem—no one knows Harlan's real agenda. His father once ran the Foundation like a mob organization, and Harlan was destined to be his heir.  There's a real possibility Harlan has returned to claim his inheritance. 
 
For now, however, it's a case of the enemy of my enemy is my friend because others are after the secrets of the long-lost lab. Unfortunately for Olivia, the one thing friend and foe have in common is that everyone is convinced she is the key. Her unique psychic talent is required to defuse the ticking time bomb that is Vortex.
 
Neither trusts the other but Olivia and Harlan soon realize they must work together to survive and unlock the Bluestone Project's most dangerous secrets before more innocent people die.

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Jayne Ann Krentz wraps up her Fogg Lake Trilogy (The Vanishing, All the Colors of the Night) with a thriller in Lightning in a Mirror. Harlan Rancourt is a powerful talent who passes as nondescript while hunting the monsters of the psychic world. Having disappeared for five years, he's back to help shut down the mysterious Vortex labs- but he's convinced he needs Olivia LeCLair to do that. Private investigator and aura reader, Olivia isn't sure what to make of Harlan, but he's promised to help find her mother's killer so she's willing to help. A series of kidnapping attempts makes it personal. Clearly many people believe Olivia is the key to to secret Vortex labs, even though Olivia herself doesn't. In a race against time Harlan and Olivia must work together to stop a dangerous psychic secret and the people who want to control it before innocent people die.

Olivia is a classic modern woman- tough enough to handle being bait for a serial killer, trying to find the efficient way to weed out the dating losers, and thinking a cat may be the better option when she meets Harlan. He's a bit of a challenge, a bit of a pain in the neck, and a bit clueless in social situations- but exactly the right guy to have at your side when people try to kidnap you or kill you. When he doesn't bother giving her the 'everything will be ok' line after an explosion, she thinks he might have potential. A forthright heroine, a strong-when-working-slightly-unsure-otherwise hero, many spinning plots within plots to get to the center of the conspiracy- this is a plot and character Krentz ties together well and will satisfy all.

Lightning in a Mirror is fast paced and action packed, with plenty of Krentz's dry wit and one liners. Readers new to her books won't need to have read the rest of the series, although it does help. Long time readers will be glad to get a few Easter eggs dropped along the way, particularly at the end as Harlan convinces Victor and Lucas of the Foundation that they should work more with other secretive psychic organizations out there, like a certain Jones & Jones agency . . .

The Siren of Sussex

 The Siren of Sussex- Mimi Matthews

Berkley

Release Date: January 11, 2022

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Evelyn Maltravers understands exactly how little she's worth on the marriage mart. As an incurable bluestocking from a family tumbling swiftly toward ruin, she knows she'll never make a match in a ballroom. Her only hope is to distinguish herself by making the biggest splash in the one sphere she excels: on horseback. In haute couture. But to truly capture London's attention she'll need a habit-maker who's not afraid to take risks with his designs—and with his heart.

Half-Indian tailor Ahmad Malik has always had a talent for making women beautiful, inching his way toward recognition by designing riding habits for Rotten Row's infamous Pretty Horsebreakers—but no one compares to Evelyn. Her unbridled spirit enchants him, awakening a depth of feeling he never thought possible.

But pushing boundaries comes at a cost and not everyone is pleased to welcome Evelyn and Ahmad into fashionable society. With obstacles spanning between them, the indomitable pair must decide which hurdles they can jump and what matters most: making their mark or following their hearts?

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The Siren of Sussex begins a new series where a set of friends more at home on horseback than the ballroom will (hopefully) meet their matches. Evelyn Maltravers begins the series, and the plan, by coming to London for a Season in order to find a husband who will in turn support her family. Ever since her older sister ran off with a neighbor the family fortunes have been falling and now Evie has to marry to save the rest of her sisters. It's a tale as old as time in Victorian England, the difference being Evie knows she's nothing special in the ballroom so she plans to make her big splash where she does shine: on horseback. But to really set her apart she needs fabulous riding habits and that sends her to Ahmad Malik, half-Indian, half-English, and all genius when it comes to designing women's clothes. There's a spark between them from the beginning, but plenty of hurdles to overcome before love can win the day.

The Siren of Sussex may be my new favorite of Mimi Matthews' books- books which have always impressed me with excellent writing, detailed descriptions and enjoyable characters. Matthews takes all of this to a new level in Siren with characters willing to look outside of the box to solve their problems, face problems together, change plans as they go, and more. One of the things that always bothers me in books is when characters start the book with a PLAN-whether for their entire life or a set goal- and don't admit that this PLAN can change when they change over the course of the story (until the end of the book at least- I do like a happy ending). Evie starts off with a plan: make her debut on horseback and find someone to marry and support her younger sisters. But when she realizes it's Ahmad she loves, she is completely willing to change plans right away. Then it becomes about how she and Ahmad can be together. Matthews does a good job of not shying away from racism or classism. Evie goes from being a Sussex innocent to discovering how Britain treats India and her people in an excellent scene at Hatchards Books. She also glimpses the lives of seamstresses in sweatshops, the poor living at the docks, and many other worlds that a country gentlewoman would often not be exposed to.  Her instinct is always to help, to stand by her man, to work with him towards the greater good. 

Ahmad's only goal is to have his own dressmaking shop and that goal is nearly in reach. He has to deal with sexual harassment (and more) from some of his wealthy clients who think he can't say 'no' because of his position. He always feels like he's living on the outside- not truly English, not truly Indian. Evie becomes his muse because he can't admit he loves her, then he wants to do the honorable thing and stay away to not ruin her plans. He's a wonderfully complicated, caring, thoughtful man and easy to see why Evie falls for him.  Since Matthews believes in happy endings for her main characters, the challenge is how will they overcome the obstacles in front of them and make things work? It's as complicated as real life, but I found it to have quite the perfect ending.

I can't finish this review without singing the praise to one of the great characters in The Siren of Sussex: fashion. For those of you who don't know, Mimi Matthews has written a nonfiction book, A Victorian Lady's Guide to Fashion and Beauty. Her research into 1861-2 women's fashions comes through each page here- beautiful and detailed without being overdone, much like Ahmad's designs themselves.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review