Divine Might

 

Divine Might: Goddesses in Greek Myth- Natalie Haynes

Harper Collins

Release Date: January 2, 2024

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

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

Not That Duke

Not That Duke (Would Be Wallflowers #3)- Eloisa James

HarperCollins/Avon Books

Release Date: July 25, 2023

Rating: 📚📚📚

Synopsis: Bespeckled and freckled, Lady Stella Corsham at least has a dowry that has attracted a crowd of fortune-hunting suitors--which definitely doesn't include the sinfully handsome Silvester Parnell, Duke of Huntington, who laughingly calls her "Specs" as he chases after elegant rivals.

And then--

The worst happens. Marriage.

To the duke. To a man marrying her for all the wrong reasons.

How can Silvester possibly convince Stella that he's fallen in love with the quirky woman he married? Especially after she laughingly announces that she's in love--but not with that duke.

Not with her husband.

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This was a book I definitely had mixed feelings about. On the one hand, I loved Stella and felt for her throughout the entire book. Stella is short, plump, red-haired, freckled, wears glasses, doesn't hide that she's smart, and doesn't play the games the superficial women of Society play. She's no one's first choice and her aunt is always harping on about what she needs to do differently if she wants to get a man to propose to her. She has no friends, and is miserable all the time. Kind of like what I imagine I'd be like if I were dropped into a Regency ballroom. But she also doesn't let any of that affect how she treats other people. She's kind instead of cruel or bitter, even though privately Stella watches the beautiful people like Lady Yasmin and her ardent suitor the Duke of Huntington and wishes she was like them. Or that the Duke would look at her the way he looks at Yasmin. 

The Duke, Silvester, was harder to get my mind around and I'm still not actually sure if I liked him. He spends the first half of the book chasing Yasmin and when she marries Silvester's best friend, Silvester decides to marry Stella instead. Why? Maybe he realizes he never really had more than superficial feelings for Yasmin and at least is in serious lust for Stella. He does like the conversations they have when they play chess and that she actually challenges him and sees him as a person and not as a way to be a duchess. Are these reasons to basically blackmail her into marriage? No. Why doesn't he court her the way he did Yasmin? Show Stella that he actually cares for her? No idea. Since we see things mostly from Stella's point of view Silvester seems to go from tolerating her while he pursues Yasmin, to saying cruel things about her to make Yasmin laugh, to apologizing and treating her as if they are siblings, to kissing her, to running off with Yasmin, to coming back and proposing to her. Then he doesn't even have the decency to listen to her when she says no and work on courting her- he goes to her aunt, tells the aunt they've kissed and now must marry, running over Stella's feelings on the subject. Once and a while he seems to panic at the idea that he might be in love with Stella, though we never find out why, and he shoves the idea away and decides it must be lust instead. 

So there were lots of questions here and I felt like Stella kind of deserved more. But I was proud of her- she stands up to Silvester and tells him she deserves to be first for someone. That she won't settle for less than anyone else, no matter what she looks like. I also loved that it wasn't just Silvester and his rather obvious appreciation for Stella's body that made her feel more confident in herself but her friend Merry and Silvester's mother and their positive and obvious love for Stella as she is that helped her begin to feel confident in herself. 

On their own, there were pacing issues and Silvester issues that made this not my favorite of James' books. But in the end, it is Eloisa James' sparkling, witty writing that won the day and charmed me with this book.

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

 

 

Much Ado About Nada

 Much Ado About Nada- Uzma Jalaluddin

Penguin Random House

Release Date: June 13, 2023

Rating: 📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Nada Syed is stuck. On the cusp of thirty, she's still living at home with her brothers and parents in the Golden Crescent neighbourhood of Toronto, resolutely ignoring her mother's unsubtle pleas to get married already. While Nada has a good job as an engineer, it's a far cry from realizing the start-up dreams for her tech baby, Ask Apa, the app that launched with a whimper instead of a bang because of a double-crossing business partner. Nothing in her life has turned out the way it was supposed to, and Nada feels like a failure. Something needs to change, but the past is holding on too tightly to let her move forward.

Nada's best friend, Haleema, is determined to pry her from her shell . . . and what better place than at the giant annual Muslim conference downtown, where Nada can finally meet Haleema's fiancé, Zayn? And did Haleema mention Zayn's brother Baz will be there?

What Haleema doesn't know is that Nada and Baz have a past--some of it good, some of it bad, and all of it secret. At the conference, that past all comes hurtling back at Nada, bringing new complications and a moment of reckoning. Can she truly say goodbye to what once was, or should she hold tight to her dreams and find their new beginnings?

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In Uzma Jalaluddin's retelling of Jane Austen's Persuasion (with a Canadian Muslim twist) Nada is stuck in the rut of family life and work. Her big idea app was a flop because her business partner stole her idea, Nada retreated into her shell and hasn't come out since. Her best friend Haleema drags her to a giant Muslim conference to meet Haleema's fiancé Zayn and hopes to set Nada up with Zayn's brother Baz. The only problem is that Baz and Nada have a history that Haleema doesn't know about. As the past is resurrected, Nada knows she has to decide: say goodbye to past dreams of love or take a chance and confront her fears?

Persuasion is one of my favorite Jane Austen books, and it is a tough one for a retelling- even more so than most second-chance romances. Bringing it into the modern world is even tougher. Uzma Jalaluddin did a really good job transferring this classic love story to modern-day Toronto, with the tension between generations in Toronto's South Asian Muslim immigrant community standing in for Austen's Regency rules. 

I loved how Jalaluddin made all of her characters, not just Nada, complex. There was a lot going on for each of them, and she did a good job of taking characters that at first seemed basic, then you get an insight part way through that changes how you look at all of their interactions. Nada gets to really go through a lot in this book and I felt like I watched her grow as a person as she fought through her sense of loss and betrayal over her app and losing Baz at the same time- and still feeling that years later but now seeing a second chance and being ready to fight for it. 

I liked the flashbacks to Nada and Baz in college, seeing them fall in love and getting some sense of why they kept it a secret, though I felt like they fell into the classic rut of not communicating or listening to each other. Both of them made mistakes, but it seemed like Nada was the only one willing to work to maybe change the present. While it would have ruined the book to get both viewpoints along the way, there were times I wished I knew what Baz was thinking, or knowing that he was working to change himself as well. Surprisingly, Baz was one of the characters that came off as flat for me.

Overall I enjoyed this book, though the pacing dragged occasionally. I love how Jalaluddin brings the reader into the South Asian Muslim community of her characters without feeling like she has to overexplain the community for her non-Muslim readers. We absorb and are absorbed by the community and Jalaluddin's beautiful writing.

Despite the many times I've referenced Jane Austen and Persuasion here, you don't have to have read it to enjoy this retelling.

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

Pandora's Jar

 

Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths- Natalie Haynes

Harper Collins

Release Date: March 29, 2022

Rating: 📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: The tellers of Greek myths—historically men—have routinely sidelined the female characters. When they do take a larger role, women are often portrayed as monstrous, vengeful or just plain evil—like Pandora, the woman of eternal scorn and damnation whose curiosity is tasked with causing all the world’s suffering and wickedness when she opened that forbidden box. But, as Natalie Haynes reveals, in ancient Greek myths there was no box. It was a jar . . . which is far more likely to tip over. 

In Pandora’s Jar, the broadcaster, writer, stand-up comedian, and passionate classicist turns the tables, putting the women of the Greek myths on an equal footing with the men. With wit, humor, and savvy, Haynes revolutionizes our understanding of epic poems, stories, and plays, resurrecting them from a woman’s perspective and tracing the origins of their mythic female characters. She looks at women such as Jocasta, Oedipus’ mother-turned-lover-and-wife (turned Freudian sticking point), at once the cleverest person in the story and yet often unnoticed. She considers Helen of Troy, whose marriage to Paris “caused” the Trojan war—a somewhat uneven response to her decision to leave her husband for another man. She demonstrates how the vilified Medea was like an ancient Beyonce—getting her revenge on the man who hurt and betrayed her, if by extreme measures. And she turns her eye to Medusa, the original monstered woman, whose stare turned men to stone, but who wasn’t always a monster, and had her hair turned to snakes as punishment for being raped.

Pandora’s Jar brings nuance and care to the millennia-old myths and legends and asks the question: Why are we so quick to villainize these women in the first place—and so eager to accept the stories we’ve been told?

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In Pandora's Jar, author Natalie Haynes (A Thousand Ships) explores the different versions of some of the most well known of Greek women in mythology, and how those women have been changed throughout the generations, rarely for the better. Going back to the original Greek, to Homer, Ovid, and scaps of stories before them, Haynes looks at Medusa, Pandora, Helen, Jocasta, Penelope, Clytemnestra, Eurydice, Phaedra, Medea, and the Amazons. Who are these women, both in relation to their original stories, the stories we know best, plays or more modern movies, or perhaps even modern reincarnations or retellings? 

Some of my favorite chapters had to be the ones focused on Medusa, Medea, and the Amazons, although Penelope and Clytemnestra came close behind. With a sharp wit and occasional sarcasm to help keep her reader engaged, Haynes shreds whatever claims to the title hero men like Jason and Theseus have (and you really have to agree with her, especially about Theseus) to bring the story back around to the women. Medusa was hanging out in a cave not bothering anyone, having already suffered being sexually assaulted by Posiedon and cursed by Athene, she's sleeping and along comes this jerk with no personal grudge against her to chops off her head and weaponizes it. Every visual interpretation of this Haynes can find tends to make this moment both violent and sexual. What's that about, really?

Clytemnestra and Medea win Greece's awards for "worst wife" and "worst mother" because, Haynes points out, Greek men were terrified of powerful women. It kind of makes you want to travel back to when the plays were first performed and watch the male audience shake in their sandals- especially over Euripides' Medea. Or would they have been more afraid of Clytemnestra?  A woman with no magical power, no assistance from the gods, just ten years of rage over her husband sacrificing their daughter so he could go off to war and no one saying anything against it. He kills the kid, spends ten years at war making a name for himself and enjoying raping other women, then comes home (with his war "bride" in tow) and expects his wife to be happy about it? I'd have voted justifiable homicide if I was on that jury. 

There's something for everyone in these chapters- from original interpretations of Greek and how they can change meanings that stick with us down through the ages to the dangers of "sanitizing" myths to tell them to children. From descriptions of visual representations of myths in ancient pottery to what Medea's dragon chariot at the end of her play actually meant to the Greeks (which I thought was pretty great even if the male audience might not have); and modern operas of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice to modern Amazons together-we-are-powerful symbolism in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the exploration into some of Greek mythology's well known (and a few lesser known) women should resonate with women across all levels. 

As Natalie Haynes says, we keep retelling these stories because we find new questions they raise and new voices wanting to be heard, and each generation will undoubtedly continue to do so. But discovering some of the origins makes those stories even more interesting to me.

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 

Incense and Sensibility

Incense and Sensibility (The Rajes #3)- Sonali Dev

HarperCollins

Release Date: July 6, 2021

Rating:📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Yash Raje, California’s first Indian-American gubernatorial candidate, has always known exactly what he wants—and how to use his privileged background to get it. He attributes his success to a simple mantra: control your feelings and you can control the world. But when a hate crime at a rally critically injures his friend, Yash’s easy life suddenly feels like a lie, his control an illusion. When he tries to get back on the campaign trail, he blacks out with panic.

Desperate to keep Yash’s condition from leaking to the media, his family turns to the one person they trust—his sister’s best friend, India Dashwood, California’s foremost stress management coach. Raised by a family of yoga teachers, India has helped San Francisco’s high strung overachievers for a decade without so much as altering her breath. But this man—with his boundless ambition, simmering intensity, and absolute faith in his political beliefs—is like no other. 

Yash has spent a lifetime repressing everything to succeed, including their one magical night ten years ago—a too brief, too bright passion that if rekindled threatens to destroy the dream he’s willingly shouldered for his family and community . . . until now.

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Sonali Dev has been introducing readers to the powerful Raje family of California through her Jane Austen-inspired series (Pride, Prejudice and Other Flavors and Recipe for Persuasion) and in Incense and Sensibility we meet golden son Yash, California's first Indian-American gubernatorial candidate. The election is coming up and the entire Raje family is pulling out all the stops to support Yash's run.  But a hate crime at a rally hurts Yash and critically injures his friend and bodyguard Abdul, and suddenly Yash feels more out of control and helpless than he ever has before. Family friend India Dashwood is asked to help him deal with his stress, but there's a lot more going on than their families know. One magical night ten years ago, Yash and India met and instantly clicked. But Yash put aside what he wanted to form an alliance with family friend Naina, and now he's keeping secrets for others that are eating away at him- not good for helping reduce stress.  India doesn't know if she can help Yash without losing her heart again, but she's determined to try.

I absolutely fell in love with India and Yash, and Sonali Dev does a brilliant job here, bringing them to life and pulling the reader into the emotional turmoil of their journey. India is calm, centered, and self-assured, she believes in herself and is determined to handle every problem life throws at her family. She's strong and carries the burdens of being the responsible one in the family without coming across as a martyr. From the outside, Yash seems the same- strong, focused, confident, and ready to use his power and influence to fix the wrongs he sees in the world. But Yash has been physically and emotionally traumatized even before the rally shooting, and has finally hit the point of not being able to push it down and ignore his feelings anymore. The contrast between who Yash presents to the world and what he feels inside as he tries to deal with everything was written with empathy and sympathy, and complete believability. But what really caught me was the emotional pull between Yash and India, the magnetic and fantastic connection between them, the yearning to be together and all of the sensible and real-world reasons why it couldn't happen.  This wasn't the class disconnect or family obligations or "I'm not good enough" made up reasons that so many books use as the angst to separate lovers until the very end, but literally Yash as a person vs Yash as a politician. Which makes way more sense when you read the book and I won't spoil it by explaining further here. 

One of the problems a lot of adaptations of Austen novels have is trying to stay too closely to the original, making the contemporary story feel forced into a mold it can't work with. Incense and Sensibility is its own story and never makes the mistake of forcing in a plot point from Sense and Sensibility that doesn't work. But Austen fans will occasionally find themselves seeing a shadow of the original story or a character in ways that will make them smile without taking away from the originality of the characters and plot they are immersed in.

Some Jane Austen books are harder to adapt than others and Sense and Sensibility always seems to be particularly difficult. Even though it isn't my favorite of Austen's books, I keep reading modern adaptations, looking for a good one and being left disliking what I read. Until now. Incense and Sensibility blew away my expectations, captured my emotions and held me in thrall until long past the final page. A wonderful, colorful, and original story full of emotion and empathy, this book is a real winner.

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

Wilde Child

Wilde Child (Wildes of Lindlow Castle #6)- Eloisa James

Avon/HarperCollins

Release Date: March 30, 2021

Rating: 📚 📚 📚 📚 📚

Synopsis: Already notorious for the golden hair that proves her mother’s infidelity, Lady Joan can’t seem to avoid scandals, but her latest escapade may finally ruin her: she’s determined to perform the title role of a prince—in breeches, naturally.

She has the perfect model for an aristocratic male in mind: Thaddeus Erskine Shaw, Viscount Greywick, a man who scorned the very idea of marrying her.

Not that Joan would want such a dubious honor, of course.

For years, Thaddeus has avoided the one Wilde who shakes his composure, but he’s horrified when he grasps the danger Joan’s putting herself in. Staring into her defiant eyes, he makes the grim vow that he’ll keep her safe.

He strikes a bargain: after one performance, the lady must return to her father’s castle and marry one of three gentlemen whom he deems acceptable.

Not including him, of course.

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Lady Joan Wilde is known for being blonde (proof of her illegitimacy), bold (because when you don't care what people say to you, why not enjoy yourself?) and in love with acting.  She'd rather be part of an acting troupe than a Wilde of Lindlow Castle.  And finally her father has agreed to let her perform the title role in Hamlet with a troupe of real actors- at Lindlow Castle before family and friends only and as long as a friend plays Ophelia. Joan sees this as a start to a new life as an actress.  Family friend Thaddeus Shaw, Viscount Greywick, sees it as a path to social ruin. Especially when Joan tells him she plans to perform in town in front of a 'real' audience. They make a deal- he'll keep her secret, and keep her safe, then they'll help each other find spouses. But the longer they spend together, the more they realize they might like each other too much for that deal to work.

Joan and Thaddeus are very much a case of opposites attracting. Joan has lived her whole life knowing she is illegitimate and knowing that everyone knows it- and since her family doesn't treat her any differently that's all she cares about. She finds it freeing to not worry about what everyone in Society thinks (and says) about her. Thaddeus constantly worries about what people say and how he and his actions reflect on the duchy that he will inherit.  He doesn't understand Joan's approach to life and doesn't approve.  She thinks Thaddeus is stuck up, disapproving, and shallow, and doesn't understand why he is concerning himself with her life choices.  Epic clashes ensue- often with Shakespearean insults thrown in.

What's fun is, like all Eloisa James' books (Say Yes to the Duke) Wilde Child goes past the outer, 'social' layers of the characters to discover who they really are. Particularly in Thaddeus' case, there are a lot of layers to a very complicated person.  In between their fighting, Joan and Thaddeus find they can talk to each other as they've never been able to talk to others and their secrets- and delightful chemistry- blossom.  Both are trying to deny their parental examples when it comes to running away with emotions (or having emotions run away with them) while seeing if they can balance their own happiness with family responsibilities.  I loved revisiting Lindlow Castle and seeing characters from previous books, although anyone new to the series won't be lost starting here.  The loving Wilde family seems to embrace the reader as much as the characters as a part of the family, and James' entertaining, emotional, delightful writing and sparkling humor ensures this will be a book you'll want to reread regularly.

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

Immortal Angel

Immortal Angel (Argeneau Series)- Lynsay Sands

Avon/Harper Collins

Release Date: September 29, 2020

Rating:

📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: For almost two centuries, Ildaria Garcia has been on the run, a trouble magnet with a knack for taking down bad guys. Lately, her vigilante tendencies have drawn unwelcome attention to her fellow Immortals. Forced to relocate, Ildaria is supposed to lay low in a new town. Instead, she quickly entangles herself with six and a half feet of muscular, tattooed trouble.

Joshua James Simpson Guiscard, aka G.G., knows a lot about Immortals—enough to make him wary. Yet from the moment Ildaria walks into his club, he feels desire stronger than anything he’s known. Accepting the fact that they might be life mates is disconcerting. But when her past catches up to them, G.G. faces a choice—confront his demons at last, or lose a passion that’s hot as hell.

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Lynsay Sands returns to the Argeneau/Immortal series with Ildaria Garcia, who readers met in Vampires Like It Hot.  Ildaria now lives in Canada and is trying to be an accounting student at the local university.  But she has a tendency to not look the other way when fellow students get attacked and that makes staying under the radar in the time of cell phone cameras difficult.  When she gets a job at the Night Club and meets owner Joshua "G.G." Guiscard, all thoughts of vigilantism fly away: G.G. is her life mate.  The problem is, G.G. knows enough about immortals and becoming one to know he doesn't want to turn.  Will he even accept the idea of being life mates? Then Ildaria's past comes back to haunt her and they both have some tough decisions to make.

G.G. is a kind and thoughtful man, an excellent listener, and the perfect partner for Ildaria. He's also a delightful physical contrast that Sands plays up for the smile factor: a large man with tattoos and a huge green mohawk who's completely devoted to a tiny, slightly neurotic, Bichonpoo. In many ways Ildaria seems the younger of the two, despite being centuries older, because she's spent her life on the run from the immortal who turned her and has missed out on living the 'normal' life she is now trying for.  At the same time, those experiences have made Ildaria a careful and capable fighter and you wonderhow long it will be before the Enforcers convince her to join them as a Rogue Hunter. She pulls no punches protecting herself and those who can't protect themselves and, quite rightly, never apologizes for doing what needs to be done.

 Immortal Angel changes pace from many of the books in the Argeneau series: instead of constantly being in danger, running from danger, and trying to fight danger, Ildaria and G.G. get a slower paced story that focuses on their growing relationship.  The pacing works.  Both have childhood traumas to work through and those traumas aren't things that can be shrugged off.  Getting to focus on themselves and the issues that stand between them as life mates makes their relationship deeper and makes the reader highly invested in the outcome.  Lynsay Sands brings some difficult issues to the table- Ildaria's past is full of sexual abuse- and in my opinion Sands did a thoughtful and respectful job of handling possible triggers and the coping mechanisms Ildaira has had to develop over the centuries, but which would ring true to many humans today.  There is still delightful humor and lighter moments run through Immortal Angel: readers will definitely enjoy the damage she shows can be done to large bad guys with a pair of metal heeled high-heel shoes. 

Readers new to the series will enjoy the sweetly developing romance between Ildaria and G.G., their combustible chemistry, and their determination to get to know each other before jumping into a relationship. Interfering friends, motherly manipulation, Immortals dealing with the constant presence of cell phone cameras, and a Bichonpoo who eats everything he shouldn't when left alone add humor along the way.  Long-time series readers will enjoy cameos by other characters, and get to wrap up some of the problems Ildaria encountered in South America during Vampires Like It Hot without throwing off new readers.  

An excellent addition to a delightful series, and a fun read for everyone.

 

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

Say Yes to the Duke

Say Yes to the Duke (Wildes of Lindow Castle #5)- Eloisa James
Avon/HarperCollins 
Release Date: May 19, 2020

Rating:
📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Miss Viola Astley is so painfully shy that she’s horrified by the mere idea of dancing with a stranger; her upcoming London debut feels like a nightmare.

So she’s overjoyed to meet handsome, quiet vicar with no interest in polite society — but just when she catches his attention, her reputation is compromised by a duke. 

Devin Lucas Augustus Elstan, Duke of Wynter, will stop at nothing to marry Viola, including marrying a woman whom he believes to be in love with another man. 

A vicar, no less.

Devin knows he’s no saint, but he’s used to conquest, and he’s determined to win Viola’s heart.

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After an incident at her first ball years ago, Viola Astley is so shy around men that she can't even contemplate having a Season and finding a husband.  Her happy discovery of a vicar who doesn't terrify her is overshadowed by meeting the stern Duke of Wynter.  But both of them have hidden depths- and the overbearing and seemingly hard duke may be exactly what a shy wallflower needs.

Say Yes to the Duke continues Eloisa James' Wildes of Lindow Castle series with Wilde stepdaughter Viola- who has never really felt like one of the Wildes.  Overshadowed by her taller, more confidante step-siblings, the cripplingly shy Viola is happy to liver her life outside of Society, where only her family and immediate friends can really know the intelligent, witty person behind her quiet facade.  She may be one of my favorite characters of all time- completely relatable, kind, compassionate, and quiet, but willing to stand up for her family and loved ones when needed.  She may not have much self-confidence, but she's stronger than she thinks she is and becomes a delightful surprise to herself and Devin, as well as the reader.  Devin, the Duke of Wynter, starts off as the stereotypical nobleman, confident that he can do whatever he wants and get whatever he wants because he's a duke- and supremely uninterested with most of Society and their ways.  But when Viola goes and does the one thing a woman should absolutely never do if she doesn't want to catch a duke's attention- telling him exactly how rude and overbearing he is and then walking away- Devin finds he has a lot more interest in finding a wife than he had expected.  

Devin and Viola might seem to be opposites on the surface, but still waters run deep and they are completely perfect for each other.  He excels at solving problems, she excels at trying to make people happy.  When they are tested by a vicar and his horrible fiancée on what is right for the people of their entire parish, Wilde hijinks may ensue but true love eases all wounds.  Although Book 5 in a series it will be easy for new readers to start with this as a standalone, and James' brilliant writing and sparkling humor will capture new fans with every page.  A lovely book with passion and sparkling chemistry between Devin and Viola, rapier wit, laugh out loud humorous moments, and an army of cats, Say Yes to the Duke is a perfect must read!    

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