Left Turn

 Left Turn (The Women of Caprock)- Lancy McCall

Kruize Tech Press

Release Date: August 15, 2022

Rating: 📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: She's a rising star in her company with no time for distractions. He's a Hollywood heartthrob longing to escape the spotlight. But when their paths cross, passion ignites and threatens to derail their carefully laid plans.

Alex Tanner has worked hard to get where she is and isn't about to let a charming celebrity distract her from her goals. Finley McAlister is tired of the limelight and just wants a chance to be himself. When he meets Alex on a flight, he's drawn to her confidence and independence.

But their attraction doesn't go unnoticed, and soon they find themselves caught up in a media frenzy. As they navigate the scrutiny of the public eye, they must decide whether to follow their hearts or stay on the path they've worked so hard to achieve.

Left Turn is a captivating tale of love and ambition, featuring strong heroines, gorgeous men, and emotional challenges. It’s the first book in Lancy McCall's Women of Caprock series of interconnected standalones that will leave you breathless and longing for more.

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Alex Tanner is a work-focused woman who keeps her personal and professional lives very separate- and even among friends manages to stay pretty closed off. In a male-dominated business she has fought her way up the corporate ladder and hasn't had time for anything else. Movie star Finley McAlister loves his work, but doesn't love the in-your-face paparazzi that can come with it. When Fin and Alex find themselves chatting on a cross-Atlantic flight where Alex doesn't seem to know who he is, Fin is reminded what it can be like to have a regular conversation and be treated like a normal person. 

In-flight chemistry turns to friendship and more when Fin stays in Houston and Alex continues to treat him like a normal person despite knowing he's a star. But when the paparazzi start to turn things into a media circus and feelings on both sides make a vacation romance something more complicated, can Alex and Fin take the pressure of their worlds colliding?

I love a fun romance and Left Turn had one of my favorite tropes: normal person and famous person attempting a relationship. What happens when a regular person meets someone famous and they hit it off? When reality invades whatever magical bubble allowed them to meet and fall for each other, can the relationship survive? The fun twist in Left Turn is that Alex doesn't worry about fitting into Fin's Hollywood fame and fortune. She has a career and no intention of giving it up, so it's more a case of: can they make two lots-of-travel-required schedules work? 

McCall also does a great non-preachy job of reminding us that women in a male-dominated work environment still have to fight for their place at the table, and still have to remind men that they have every right to be there. Alex may have the support of her male bosses, but there are a few situations where she still has to stand-up for herself. There's a fantastic scene where Alex deals with her bosses over whether her personal life has anything to do with a promotion that is worth the price of the book all by itself. 

A lovely contemporary he-falls-first romance that I think readers will enjoy.

People in Glass Houses

 

People in Glass Houses (Harmony #16)- Jayne Castle

Berkeley

Release Date: May 7, 2024

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: His name is Joshua Knight. Once a respected explorer, the press now calls him the Tarnished Knight. He took the fall for a disaster in the Underworld that destroyed his career. The devastating event occurred in the newly discovered sector known as Glass House—a maze of crystal that is rumored to conceal powerful Alien antiquities. The rest of the Hollister Expedition team disappeared and are presumed dead.

Whatever happened down in the tunnels scrambled Josh’s psychic senses and his memories, but he’s determined to uncover the truth. Labeled delusional and paranoid, he retreats to an abandoned mansion in the desert, a house filled with mirrors. Now a recluse, Josh spends his days trying to discover the secrets in the looking glasses that cover the walls. He knows he is running out of time.

Talented, ambitious crystal artist Molly Griffin is shocked to learn that the Tarnished Knight has been located. She drops everything and heads for the mansion to find Josh, confident she can help him regain control of his shattered senses. She has no choice—he is the key to finding her sister, Leona, a member of the vanished expedition team. Josh reluctantly allows her to stay one night but there are two rules: she must not go down into the basement, and she must not uncover the mirrors that have been draped.

But her only hope for finding her sister is to break the rules…

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When Molly's sister Leona goes missing during an Underworld expedition, Molly and her adoptive moms refuse to accept the official decision that the team is dead. When the team's navigator, Joshua Knight, returns they are sure he has the answers they need to find Leona- despite the fact that he came back psi-burned and with no memory of what happened. Dropping her new business days before the biggest wedding of the year (Guild Boss cameos!) to head into the middle of nowhere and meeting a man who doesn't seem to want anything to do with her might not be the best plan, but it's what you do for family. And it helpfully allows her to forget about the dead body that turned up in her shop the night before.

Molly may be stubborn and determined to walk through green hell to save her sister, but Joshua has a stubborn streak of his own. He's also pretty sure he's not entirely sane anymore. Between whatever happened in the Underworld, his shattered senses, and now living in a murderous house full of mirrors, the only thing he does know is that his home is no safe place for Molly and her dust bunny friend. But of course they do stay, and things get complicated.

Molly is a delightful main character. She knows what she can handle and what can go wrong in the world, but she's determined to have a positive outlook on life anyway. Her talent for crystal art lets her bring positivity and beauty to others but she doesn't ignore life's other aspects. Her moms have made sure that she and her sister Leona can handle themselves and there's nothing flighty about this artistic free spirit! She may have a para-profile that has her thinking she isn't a candidate for a traditional long-term relationship, but as we've seen in other Harmony books, where's the fun in 'normal' anyway?

Joshua isn't really sure what to do with Molly and her approach to things, but to give him credit, he's had a rough month by the time we meet him. He's in full survival mode. But even he can't say no to a Zing chip addicted dust bunny like Newton, so he falls in with Molly's plans and (of course!) it ends up being exactly the right thing to do. I enjoyed Joshua's practical approach to things and the entertaining banter between Joshua and Molly.

If you've read any of Jayne Castle's books before you pretty much know how things will go, and Castle delivers delightfully. Newton, as the new dust bunny on the block, is entertaining and gets his moments to shine. If you're new to the series this is an ok place to start, you can pretty much jump into the world anywhere, and you'll have fun catching up on the rest of the series once you're hooked.

 A fast and fun read for Harmony fans that will leave you ready and waiting for the next one!

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

The Demon of Unrest

 

The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War- Erik Larson

Crown

Release Date: April 30, 2024

Rating: 📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the fluky victor in a tight race for president. The country was bitterly at odds; Southern extremists were moving ever closer to destroying the Union, with one state after another seceding and Lincoln powerless to stop them. Slavery fueled the conflict, but somehow the passions of North and South came to focus on a lonely federal fortress in Charleston: Fort Sumter. 

Master storyteller Erik Larson offers a gripping account of the chaotic months between Lincoln’s election and the Confederacy’s shelling of Sumter—a period marked by tragic errors and miscommunications, enflamed egos and craven ambitions, personal tragedies and betrayals. Lincoln himself wrote that the trials of these five months were “so great that, could I have anticipated them, I would not have believed it possible to survive them.”
 
At the heart of this suspense-filled narrative are Major Robert Anderson, Sumter’s commander and a former slave owner sympathetic to the South but loyal to the Union; Edmund Ruffin, a vain and bloodthirsty radical who stirs secessionist ardor at every opportunity; and Mary Boykin Chesnut, wife of a prominent planter, conflicted over both marriage and slavery and seeing parallels between both. In the middle of it all is the overwhelmed Lincoln, battling with his duplicitous Secretary of State, William Seward, as he tries desperately to avert a war that he fears is inevitable—one that will eventually kill 750,000 Americans.
 
Drawing on diaries, secret communiques, slave ledgers, and plantation records, Larson gives us a political horror story that captures the forces that led America to the brink—a dark reminder that we often don’t see a cataclysm coming until it’s too late.

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Erik Larson, known for Devil in the White City and The Splendid and the Vile, among many others, this time takes on Fort Sumter and trying to understand (and explain) the root causes behind the American Civil War.

Americans may think they know the basics: Lincoln got elected, South Carolina seceded, Fort Sumter was fired on, there was a war. But Larson takes us into the deeply human and often tragic months between Lincoln getting elected and the firing on Fort Sumter. Were there moments when things could have been different? When different choices could have caused massively different outcomes?

The surprising truth is that, as Larson shows us, Northerners and Southerners as a whole did not understand each other. And had not for decades-if ever. The Southern aristocrats who made up the politicians most Northerners met with were hot-tempered, extremely proud, and always on alert to having their honor offended at the slightest provocation. And they had largely managed to convince themselves that there was nothing wrong with slavery. So the louder abolitionists in the North became, the more offended the South became. Abolitionists said the institution of slavery was evil, Southerners heard that they themselves were evil.

Add to this hot-heads who had been arguing that Southern states should have separated from the Union for decades, and the situation had been rife for rebellion longer than many were willing to admit. One person who doesn't come out of Demon looking good is outgoing President Buchanan. Buchanan acts oblivious to everything until he can't avoid it any longer (I particularly loved a quote by Georgia representative Toombs who tells Buchanan he's been in the midst of a revolution for over a year, he just hasn't noticed it.). His only goal is to get to Inauguration Day without violence so he can dump the problems on Lincoln and any states that leave happen under Lincoln's watch instead of his. But when South Carolina seceded letters show partying Southerners go to the White House, assuming Buchanan will be happy as well. There's no record of whether Buchanan partied too, but the fact that Southerners in Washington assumed he was on their side did not help issues moving forward. The level that rumors and misunderstandings played in politics of the day was surprising to me.

Reading about the experiences of the people in Fort Sumter itself were some of the most interesting parts for me. Major Anderson, conflicted between his natural feelings for his home in the South and his sworn oath to the US Army (a conflict many military men would have to deal with)- on top of having to make a lot of decisions himself that he shouldn't have had to make, was especially someone I felt for. He knew pretty early on his decisions had the real potential to spark a war if he wasn't careful, and he had almost no feedback from his superiors to help guide him. He was in a no-win situation and I expect plenty of people would have surrended the fort a lot sooner than he did. His sections of the book helped explain a question I never knew I had: what made Fort Sumter so important and such a flash point that we connect it with the start of the war? 

I had a little trouble getting into Demon at first- possibly because when I started it I could only read small sections at a time and I think the beginning of the book would benefit from reading in a large chunk in one sitting to really get into it. There are a lot of people to get to know and some time traveling to get really settled into understanding the 1860 "present" (Larson backs up and gives up some pre-1860 Southern history so we understand where the Southern mindset is and that the idea of seceding isn't something new to them). But once I got settled in the book I really enjoyed it, because there was so much behind-the-scenes history Larson was showing me that I hadn't known about before. As always, Larson uses letters, diaries, and other first-hand accounts to make the events spring to life for the reader- which I love.

While not his best book in my opinion, The Demon of Unrest is an excellent, well-researched book that Larson's fans should enjoy. Full of the drama, pathos, and absolute humanity that draws you into an excellent history book.

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

     

Power and Glory

 Power and Glory: Elizabeth II and the Rebirth of Royalty- Alexander Larman

St. Martin's Press

Release Date: April 30, 2023

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: When the Royal Family took to the balcony of Buckingham Palace on VE Day in 1945, they knew that the happiness and excitement of the day was illusory. Britain may have been victorious in a painful war, but the peace would be no easier. Between the abdication crisis, the death of King George VI, and the ascension of young Elizabeth II to the throne, the continued existence of the monarchy seemed uncertain. And the presence of the former Edward VIII, now the Duke of Windsor, conniving and sniping from the sidelines in an attempt to regain relevance, even down to writing a controversial and revelatory memoir, could only make matters worse. Still, the question of whether or not Elizabeth could succeed and make the monarchy something that once again inspired international pride and even love remained.

In Power and Glory, Alexander Larman completes his acclaimed Windsor family trilogy, using rare and previously unseen documents to illuminate their unique family dynamic. Through his chronicling of events like the Royal Wedding, George VI’s death and the discovery of the Duke of Windsor’s treacherous activities in WWII, Larman paints a vivid portrait of the end of one sovereign’s reign and the beginning of another’s that heralded a new Elizabethan Age which would bring power and glory back to a monarchy desperately in need of it.

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Book 3 in his carefully researched trilogy, "Power and Glory" is Alexander Larman's conclusion to the saga of King Edward VIII and King George VI of England. The first two books followed the death of their father, King George V and the abdication crisis as Edward (David to the family) abdicated his responsibilities to the throne, meaning his younger brother (Bertie in the family) had to become king. It ended up being the best thing that could happen for England, even if the stress and strain of the job probably helped kill him. Book two follows World War 2 and Bertie leading England while David flits around being thoughtless at best, a Nazi sympathizer and possibly quite a bit more. 

Book 3, "Power and Glory" is the immediate aftermath of the war. England is dealing with economic crisis and a shrinking empire, George VI is trying to deal with local crisis as well as the rise of Communist Russia and his own failing health. Elizabeth is growing up, falling in love with Phillip, and marrying him despite some push back. I was saddened by reading exactly how ill George VI was and how much he suffered, but the rest of that part of the story didn't hold my attention too much. What I very much enjoyed was when the story would switch to David and Wallis.

Trying desperately to hold on to some level of power or relevance in the world, David and Wallis try to get the crown to have the former king made a kind of ambassador so he can have social parties and get the government to pay for them (and not pay taxes). Surprisingly, the government declines this offer. So they start trying to see what kind of trouble they can cause.

Probably a tragic-comedy if they weren't so thoroughly dislikable, the detailed research into David and Wallis' actions and how the British government and the Royal family had to deal with them were by far my favorite parts of this book, and I'd recommend it for that alone. If you're interested in Britain post WW2, this is a good place to start. 

As always, thoroughly researched and generally well written, if occasionally given to more "if they only knew then"type of chapter endings than I prefer, Larman's "Power and Glory" is a solid conclusion to his trilogy on the Windsor family and Great Britain and their combined experiences in World War II. 

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

How to Solve Your Own Murder

 

How to Solve Your Own Murder- Kristen Perrin

Release Date: March 26, 2024

Publisher: Dutton

Rating: 📚📚📚

Synopsis: It’s 1965 and teenage Frances Adams is at an English country fair with her two best friends. But Frances’s night takes a hairpin turn when a fortune-teller makes a bone-chilling prediction: One day, Frances will be murdered. Frances spends a lifetime trying to solve a crime that hasn’t happened yet, compiling dirt on every person who crosses her path in an effort to prevent her own demise. For decades, no one takes Frances seriously, until nearly sixty years later, when Frances is found murdered, like she always said she would be.

 
In the present day, Annie Adams has been summoned to a meeting at the sprawling country estate of her wealthy and reclusive great-aunt Frances. But by the time Annie arrives in the quaint English village of Castle Knoll, Frances is already dead. Annie is determined to catch the killer, but thanks to Frances’s lifelong habit of digging up secrets and lies, it seems every endearing and eccentric villager might just have a motive for her murder. Can Annie safely unravel the dark mystery at the heart of Castle Knoll, or will dredging up the past throw her into the path of a killer?
 
As Annie gets closer to the truth, and closer to the danger, she starts to fear she might inherit her aunt’s fate instead of her fortune.

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I found this a mildly entertaining murder mystery for a plane ride across the Atlantic, but can't say I found myself hugely invested in it. 

The book is written in alternating parts between 1966 diary entries of Frances who, having received a message from a fortune-teller at a fair that she will be murdered is now writing down everything that happens to her in case it turns out to be important in solving her eventual murder, and present day Annie. A hopeful mystery writer, Annie is summoned to the little village of Castle Knoll to meet her Great-Aunt Frances only to find her dead. Frances has finally been murdered and she turned her will into a race to solve her murder. Annie and another relative have a week to solve the case or everything goes to out-of-town investors who will end up destroying the cute little village and everyone's livelihoods.

I really liked the premise of the story, but the characters remained flat charicatures more than anything else, which made it hard for me to invest in them at all. Even Annie, and her sections are told from her point of view. There were also far too many similies and metaphors in describing everything for me, but that's just my personal taste.

Overall, don't believe and comparisons to 'Knives Out' or Agatha Christie that you see, but if you just want a fast read on a plane or for a rainy afternoon, this isn't bad, though I'm not sure I'd read another by the same author.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Of Starlight and Midnight

 

Of Starlight and Midnight- Amy Kuivalainen

BHC Press

Release Date: March 19, 2023

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Of Starlight and Midnight combines adventure, romance, magic, and Norse myth and shows that some Fates are worth fighting for, especially when the Norns get involved. It’s been two years since light-elf brothers Aramis and Søren fought beside Anya in Russia. The Álfr mountain city of Svetilo is safe once more, but their books and relics are still scattered on the supernatural black market. When Aramis gets a lead on a book of magic, he and Søren decide to investigate and find more than they bargained for.Librarian Asta is still grieving over the death of her mother. All she wants to do is hide at the University of Oslo, unravel the mysteries of the strange book she inherited, and hang out with Tyra—the cool Norwegian cousin she never knew she had. The last thing she wants is to help arrogant Dr. Søren Madsen work on his book, no matter how good-looking he is, but she doesn’t want to get fired so she reluctantly agrees.Søren knows Asta is hiding something and when they are attacked by dark elves, he and Aramis will stop at nothing to learn the truth about the two mysterious women. But Tyra has a past of her own, and she’ll do anything to protect Asta’s secrets, even if it means siding with the dangerous light-elf brothers in a deadly war of dark and light.

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I loved this book so much! The flirty fun and banter between Tyra and Aramis made this book absolutey one of my instant all time favorites.

Of Starlight and Midnight is in the same world as Kuivalainen's Tales of the Firebird series, and takes place a few years later. Unlike The Exorcist and the Demon Hunter, I don't think you necessarily have to read the original series to read Starlight, although it helps. Starlight follows light-elf brothers Aramis and Søren (a favorite of mine in the Firebird series), now reconnected and searching for artifacts stolen from their magical site of Svetilo. They've tracked one to Oslo and librarian Asta seems to hold the key to finding it. Asta is greiving for her mother and would rather spend time figuring out her own life and her mother's secrets than helping arrogant Søren- but a magical attack by dark elves throws everyone's plans into chaos. 

Asta is kind of the stock character in some ways: she has magic and sercrets surrounding her, but she doesn't know it. I liked her because she stood up to Søren and his arrogant attitude from the beginning and completely knocked him off his game. He didn't know what he was doing when it came to Asta and it was fun watching this complete badass from the Firebird series be a confused wreck, and a total sweet guy with Asta as he helps her sort out her life once he's accidentally blown it up.

But it was Tyra who really stole the show for me. Asta's long-lost 'cousin', she is a dark elf. And just like Aramis and Søren are protectors of their people, Tyra is a next level protector. She's more likely to be saving Aramis than need saving, is as lethal with her sarcasm as her blades, and obsessed with modern Marvel and Lord of the Rings movies. Possibly for all the things they got wrong about the mythologies, but she still loves them. Like Søren and Aramis, Tyra has a dark past and plenty of broken pieces to her. But she rarely allows her past to control her present mood and to say she's perfect for lightening up the brothers is an understatement. She literally runs rings around Aramis, yet he's just what she needs in her own moments of doubt.

I wish the book  had been longer, and the ending was a bit rushed. But to me the story was really about the four main characters and their growth, their journey to discovering how their broken peices could fit together and how they didn't have to be perfect themselves to be perfect for someone else. Learning to trust someone and lean on them when they needed to, and giving Søren and Aramis the happiness they deserved, made a great story for me. I have to say I enjoyed it more than The Exorcist and the Demon Hunter. This was a fun, light-hearted, fantasy with entertaining characters. Tyra alone made this one that kept me smiling all the way.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and BHC Press in exchange for an honest review

 

Shakespeare's Sisters

 

Shakespeare's Sisters: How Women Wrote the Renaissance- Ramie Targoff

Knopf

Release Date: March 12, 2024

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: This remarkable work about women writers in the English Renaissance explodes our notion of the Shakespearean period by drawing us into the lives of four women who were committed to their craft long before there was any possibility of “a room of one’s own.”

In an innovative and engaging narrative of everyday life in Shakespeare’s England, Ramie Targoff carries us from the sumptuous coronation of Queen Elizabeth in the mid-sixteenth century into the private lives of four women writers working at a time when women were legally the property of men. Some readers may have heard of Mary Sidney, accomplished poet and sister of the famous Sir Philip Sidney, but few will have heard of Aemilia Lanyer, the first woman in the seventeenth century to publish a book of original poetry, which offered a feminist take on the crucifixion, or Elizabeth Cary, who published the first original play by a woman, about the plight of the Jewish princess Mariam. Then there was Anne Clifford, a lifelong diarist who fought for decades against a patriarchy that tried to rob her of her land in one of England’s most infamous inheritance battles. These women had husbands and children to care for and little support for their art, yet against all odds they defined themselves as writers, finding rooms of their own where doors had been shut for centuries. Targoff flings those doors open, revealing the treasures left by these extraordinary women; in the process, she helps us see the Renaissance in a fresh light, creating a richer understanding of history and offering a much-needed female perspective on life in Shakespeare’s day.

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If you're looking for an introduction to the world of Renaissance England through women's eyes and how they worked to make their voices heard through writing- look no further than Shakespeare's Sisters by Ramie Targoff. She takes the long-held belief that Tudor women didn't read, didn't write, and certainly weren't anything but meek and mild wives and daughters and throws it out the window. 

Queen Elizabeth might not have been trying to break the glass ceiling for women, but that doesn't mean other women weren't looking for ways to express themselves. Mary Sidney is someone readers might have heard of- at least because her brother was famous. She took that and ran with it, adding translations and poems of her own to published works of his (some that she only recently got credit for!). Aemilia Lanyer was the first woman to publish a book of original poetry in the 17th century, and she did it while worrying about money for her family because she wasn't nobly born! She made it more shocking by writing a feminist take on the crucifixion- including a poem from the point of view of the wife of Pontius Pilate arguing that if he condemned Christ he is basically erasing Eve's original sin and women are no longer the 'lesser sex'. Elizabeth Carey was the first woman to publish an original play, a feminist take on the Jewish princess Mariam. Anne Clifford is probably the first woman diarist who also wrote down her life and her family's history, all while fighting 40 years of legal battles for her inheritance.

Each of these women were ahead of their time in so many ways, determined to live life as they wanted to. This incredibly well-written and well-researched book gives them back their voices and introduces us to women we may not have known before, but will now definitely want to know more about. The book is designed to tell us more about their lives than to be literary analyses, but at the end we get a great chapter on why their writing is so rarely taught, where we can find their books, and other Renaissance women we might want to read. 

I absolutely recommend Shakespeare's Sisters to anyone interested in Tudor England and English literature, or the increasing discoveries of women's lives throughout history, some of which are only recently being brought back into the light.

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