Wednesday, March 27, 2024

How to Solve Your Own Murder


 

How to Solve Your Own Murder- Kristen Perrin

Release Date: March 26, 2024

Publisher: Dutton

Rating: ๐Ÿ“š๐Ÿ“š๐Ÿ“š

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

Monday, March 18, 2024

Of Starlight and Midnight


 

Of Starlight and Midnight- Amy Kuivalainen

BHC Press

Release Date: March 19, 2023

Rating: ๐Ÿ“š๐Ÿ“š๐Ÿ“š๐Ÿ“š๐Ÿ“š

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 Sรธren fought beside Anya in Russia. The รlfr 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 Sรธren 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. Sรธren Madsen work on his book, no matter how good-looking he is, but she doesn’t want to get fired so she reluctantly agrees.Sรธren 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 Sรธren (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 Sรธren- 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 Sรธren 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 Sรธren 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 Sรธren 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 Sรธren 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

 



Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Shakespeare's Sisters

 


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

Knopf

Release Date: March 12, 2024

Rating: ๐Ÿ“š๐Ÿ“š๐Ÿ“š๐Ÿ“š๐Ÿ“š

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

Wednesday, January 17, 2024

Lily of Ludgate Hill


 


Lily of Ludgate Hill (Belles of London #3)-Mimi Matthews

Berkley

Release Date: January 16, 2024

Rate: ๐Ÿ“š๐Ÿ“š๐Ÿ“š๐Ÿ“š๐Ÿ“š

Synopsis: Lady Anne Deveril doesn’t spook easily. A woman of lofty social standing known for her glacial beauty and starchy opinions, she’s the unofficial leader of her small group of equestriennes. Since her mother’s devastating plunge into mourning six years ago, Anne voluntarily renounced any fanciful notions of love and marriage. And yet, when fate puts Anne back into the entirely too enticing path of Mr. Felix Hartford, she’s tempted to run…right into his arms.

No one understands why Lady Anne withdrew into the shadows of society, Hart least of all. The youthful torch he once held for her has long since cooled. Or so he keeps telling himself. But now Anne needs a favor to help a friend. Hart will play along with her little ruse—on the condition that Anne attend a holiday house party at his grandfather’s country estate. No more mourning clothes. No more barriers. Only the two of them, unrequited feelings at last laid bare.

Finally free to gallop out on her own, Anne makes the tantalizing discovery that beneath the roguish exterior of her not-so-white knight is a man with hidden depths, scorching passions—and a tender heart.
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Book 3 in Mimi Matthews' latest series finally gives us Lady Anne Deveril and Felix Hartford! They've sniped at each other in scenes throughout the last two books, so readers knew they had an unresolved past, and here things get resolved! This may be one of the best second-chance romances I've ever read: a lovers to enemies to lovers who never actually stopped loving each other and just wouldn't admit it (even to themselves) book. Think Jane Austen's Persuasion (one of my favorites) with major doses of "mistakes were made", "we were too young to be mature about things", and "prove it to me this time" going on here. 

Lily of Ludgate Hill has lots going on and keeps the hits coming to our characters. Some I won't mention for too many spoilers. But Anne is watching her friends marry and starting to wonder about her own life. She's chosen to withdraw from things like love and much of society in favor of caring for her mother, and while she isn't entirely sure how she could (especially in the past) have balanced the two any differently, she does regret that she couldn't have found a way. What's so great about Anne is that she doesn't care about what Society thinks of her to change who she is- especially when it comes to the people she loves. Early on Felix argues with her about how people see her as being in her mother's shadow, as being weak, how she doesn't seem like the girl he used to know. She tells him she doesn't care what people who don't know her think because they don't know about her life and she knows who she is. Anne may be willing to play within the confining rules of Society, and she and her friends may regret how those rules limit their actions, but she doesn't let them define her as a person. I absolutely love her!

I also love how we see Felix grow and understand Anne, and their past, and how to relate to her as an equal. As we uncover what happened between them and see both Felix and Anne work towards accepting the hurt they've done and the changes that have happened, Felix in particular has to change how he thinks about a lot of things. He comes to see that what he thought of as weaknesses can actually be strengths, and Matthews does a wonderful job of showing us this in multiple ways. But he gets there in the end because he figures out what's important to him.

The layers to the characters and the plot were beautifully and masterfully done, and I imagine I'll discover more nuances next time I read the book! You don't necessarily need to have read The Siren of Sussex or Belle of Belgrave Square to enjoy The Lily of Ludgate Hill, but you'll enjoy watching the characters develop throughout the series, and Belle and Lily do overlap a bit at the beginning. And this book has definitely planted the seeds for Stella's book for us to look forward to!







Sunday, January 7, 2024

The Night Island


 The Night Island (Lost Night Files 2)- Jayne Ann Krentz

Berkley Publishing

Release: January 9, 2024

Rating: ๐Ÿ“š๐Ÿ“š๐Ÿ“š๐Ÿ“š

Synopsis: Talia March, Pallas Llewellyn, and Amelia Rivers, bonded by a night they all have no memory of, are dedicated to uncovering the mystery of what really happened to them months ago—an experience that brought out innate psychic abilities in each of them. The women suspect they were test subjects years earlier, and that there are more people like them—all they have to do is find the list. When Talia follows up on a lead from Phoebe, a fan of the trio’s podcast, she discovers that the informant has vanished.

Talia isn’t the only one looking for Phoebe, however. Luke Rand, a hunted and haunted man who is chasing the same list that Talia is after, also shows up at the meeting place. It’s clear he has his own agenda, and they are instantly suspicious of each other. But when a killer begins to stalk them, they realize they have to join forces to find Phoebe and the list. 
 
The rocky investigation leads Talia and Luke to a rustic, remote retreat on Night Island in the Pacific Northwest. The retreat promises to rejuvenate guests with the Unplugged Experience. Upon their arrival, Talia and Luke discover guests are quite literally cut off from the outside world because none of their high-tech devices work on the island. It soon becomes clear that Phoebe is not the first person to disappear into the strange gardens that surround the Unplugged Experience retreat. And then the first mysterious death occurs…
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In Book 2 of the Lost Night Files, podcaster Talia March is looking for an informant who promised to sell her a very important list. The list contains names Talia and her friends believe are people who all "lost nights", people kidnapped and experimented on to try and enhance their psychic abilities. They believe this because they are sure they are on that list. But Talia isn't the only one trying to buy the list and when she arrives at the meeting place she discovers Luke Rand was also trying to buy the list, and the buyer has been kidnapped. With no choice but to work together, Talia and Luke need to find Phoebe before she is killed. Fortunately, Talia's enhanced ability makes her very good at finding things- and people. 

Unfortunately, the trail takes them to Night Island, a rocky island cut off from the outside world but with a high amount of violent psychic energy, weird fellow guests, and possibly carnivorous plants. It soon becomes clear there is also at least one killer on the island. 

I really enjoyed the chemistry between Luke and Talia. From their first interaction when they don't think they can trust each other, to when they have no choice but to trust each other on the island, their banter and sniping back and forth are highly entertaining. By the time we know they've fallen for each other (even if they haven't entirely worked it out) their chemistry is sizzling and the trust is solid. Separately they are enjoyable characters, together they are fantastic. The fast pacing and energy of the book overall keeps things going at a fast clip, and I found it a very satisfying read overall. Though I'm not sure I'll ever look at plants quite the same way again.

While you don't have to read Sleep No More, book 1 in the series (each can act as a stand-alone), to enjoy this book, I would probably recommend reading the series in order to get the most out of the "lost night" aspect. The end here builds on the end of the previous book, which is clearly building up to whatever the big showdown will be in book 3, and I think reading them in order might prove most satisfying to most readers. 

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

Monday, January 1, 2024

Divine Might


 

Divine Might: Goddesses in Greek Myth- Natalie Haynes

Harper Collins

Release Date: January 2, 2024

Rating: ๐Ÿ“š๐Ÿ“š๐Ÿ“š๐Ÿ“š๐Ÿ“š

Synopsis: New York Times bestselling author Natalie Haynes returns to the world of ancient Greek myth in this scintillating follow-up to Pandora’s Jar.

Few writers today have reshaped our view of the ancient Greek myths more than revered bestselling author Natalie Haynes. Divine Might is a female-centered look at Olympus and the Furies, focusing on the goddesses whose prowess, passions, jealousies, and desires rival those of their male kin: Athene, who sprang fully formed from her father’s brow (giving Zeus a killer headache in the process), the goddess of war and provider of wise counsel. Aphrodite, born of the foam (and sperm released from a Titan’s castrated testicles), the most beautiful of all the Olympian goddesses, the epitome of love who dispenses desire and inspires longing—yet harbors a fearsome vengeful side, doling out brutal punishments to those who displease her. Hera, Zeus’s long-suffering wife, whose jealousy born of his repeated dalliances with mortals, nymphs, and other goddesses, leads her to wreak elaborate and often painful revenge on those she believes have wronged her. (Well, wouldn’t you?) Demeter, goddess of the harvest and mother of Persephone; Artemis, the hunter and goddess of wild spaces; the Muses, the nine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory; and Hestia, goddess of domesticity and sacrificial fire. Infused with Haynes’s engaging charm and irrepressible wit, Divine Might is a refreshing take on the legends and stories we thought we knew.
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If you've read Natalie Haynes' Pandora's Jar (and you really should!), you have an idea of how Divine Might is set up: Haynes looks at the myths of several Greek goddesses and analyzes them both through the lens of ancient Greece (what were the men really saying in the story versus what we think of today as the story) and then putting a more female-centered view on things. After all, Greece back in the day was a man's world. So how did a goddess use her power and how did women celebrate this?

Haynes applies her impressive knowledge of ancient history and ancient Greek along with her delightful (modern) sense of humor to answer these questions and bring the goddesses into a frame we can understand and be inspired by. From the Homeric Hymns to the Iliad and Odyssey to the poems and plays we know and those we only have fragments of, Haynes does an amazing job of finding the goddesses who aren't always obviously celebrated alongside those who are.  The Furies and the Muses get equal time with Athene and Aphrodite, and Haynes' look at Hera was definitely thought-provoking and changed how I looked at many of her aspects.

 I think two of my favorite chapters (if I had to choose, because they were all great!) were the ones on Demeter and Hestia. Haynes really goes deep into Demeter and her different aspects and does a great job reminding us how, for all we normally think of her as a kindly, mothering figure, she has her power and rage just like the other goddesses. It isn't good to underestimate Demeter, or any woman/mother! Hestia's chapter may be my favorite of all though. Partly because, as Haynes admits up front, there isn't much in the archaeology for Hestia- no grand temples like for Athene- and no long poems like for Demeter. For Hestia, it is in some of the small details we discover her, as well as in the laws Rome developed for Hestia's Roman version, Vesta, and her sacred priestesses the Vestal Virgins. She became one of the most fascinating goddesses to me through Haynes' searching and discoveries. 

Divine Might is a book for anyone interested in Greek mythology and ancient Greek history, anyone who is enjoying the recent retellings of myths and wants to look into some of the goddesses as women would see them, and anyone who enjoyed Pandora's Jar.  I know I'll be rereading both books plenty of times for their thought-provoking conversation and for their humor. Something for everyone!

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






Thursday, November 30, 2023

The Gentleman's Gambit



 The Gentleman's Gambit (The League of Extraordinary Women #4)- Evie Dunmore

Berkley Publishing 

Release Date: December 5, 2023

Rating: ๐Ÿ“š๐Ÿ“š๐Ÿ“š

SynopsisBookish suffragist Catriona Campbell is busy: An ailing estate, academic writer's block, a tense time for England's women's rights campaign--the last thing she needs is to be stuck playing host to her father's distractingly attractive young colleague.

Deeply introverted Catriona lives for her work at Oxford and her fight for women's suffrage. She dreams of romance, too, but since all her attempts at love have ended badly, she now keeps her desires firmly locked inside her head--until she climbs out of a Scottish loch after a good swim and finds herself rather exposed to her new colleague.

Elias Khoury has wheedled his way into Professor Campbell's circle under false pretenses: he did not come to Oxford to classify ancient artefacts, he is determined to take them back to his homeland in the Middle East. Winning Catriona's favor could be the key to his success. Unfortunately, seducing the coolly intense lady scholar quickly becomes a mission in itself and his well-laid plans are in danger of derailing...

Forced into close proximity in Oxford's hallowed halls, two very different people have to face the fact that they might just be a perfect match. Soon, a risky new game begins that asks Catriona one more time to put her heart and wildest dreams at stake.
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I had mixed reactions to this book. Some of it I liked. I liked Catriona and Elias, two people trying to figure out where they belong in the world and how to do what they think is right to the best of their abilities. Catriona is a brilliant linguist and suffragist, she's been trying to find the time to write a book but keeps getting pulled into other people's projects instead. She worries she falls for the sort of person who just wants to take from her, never accept her as she is, and leaves her heartbroken- so when she meets Elias Khoury and feels a familiar spark, she is determined not to fall for him. Elias is charming and brilliant, he has ethics that challenge everything the scholars of Oxford and their collections have never bothered to think about. He knows he shouldn't be attracted to Catriona when he's in England to take back artifacts, but the two definitely have a slow-burn attraction that's hard to avoid. The circling they do is interesting, as each tries to figure the other out, and Catriona tries to figure out her own reactions as well.

I loved the discussions Elias brought up about repatriation and who owns artifacts, and the fact that Catriona and her friends could see this in terms of the suffrage work they'd been doing and see the similarities was a great way to bring the two together. 

The book did drag in places, and while trying to give Catriona and Elias their own bubble for a romance to grow, the rest of the book felt like it suffered as a result. There were ups and downs to it, since they got to know each other better at the same time. By the end, I was frustrated with Catriona not being brave enough to trust Elias and needing a pretty huge grand gesture to fix things (no further details because of spoilers!). I don't know if that was me being frustrated that the book kept on going when it could have ended earlier, or what. In some ways, this book felt like it was crammed with too many things going on, so not everything got the full development it could have. The result was a bit of a flat book for me, but hopefully, others will like it more.

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