Ravenmaster

The Ravenmaster: My Life with the Ravens at the Tower of London- Christopher Skaife
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Release Date: October 2, 2018

Rating:
📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: The ravens at the Tower of London are of mighty importance: rumor has it that if a raven from the Tower should ever leave, the city will fall. 

The title of Ravenmaster, therefore, is a serious title indeed, and after decades of serving the Queen, Yeoman Warder Christopher Skaife took on the added responsibility of caring for the infamous ravens. In The Ravenmaster, he lets us in on his life as he feeds his birds raw meat and biscuits soaked in blood, buys their food at Smithfield Market, and ensures that these unusual, misunderstood, and utterly brilliant corvids are healthy, happy, and ready to captivate the four million tourists who flock to the Tower every year.

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In The Ravenmaster, we have the first behind-the-scenes, insider story of what it's like being the Ravenmaster at the Tower of London. I follow Skaife on social media and have been looking forward to reading this book for a long time- and it does not disappoint!  Ravenmaster Christopher Skaife generously shares his successes and learning experiences, triumphs and tragedies, and gives readers a glimpse into his life caring for some of the most famous ravens in the world. He tells us the Story of the Tower as if giving us a tour of the grounds: its history, famous residents and prisoners, and woven throughout are stories of the ravens. Ravens past and present, their personalities and habits, and his relationship with each one of them.

Throughout this fast-paced, witty  and enthralling account, Skaife's love for the ravens comes through loud and clear.  It is clear that you need not only to think like a raven to succeed in this job, but always need your sense of humor about you! By the end, the reader not only has a delightful glimpse into his life, but the lives of his feathered friends as well.  Skaife is a natural storyteller, and reading The Ravenmaster is like he is sitting down with you over a drink and telling you about the latest exploits of Merlina and her cohorts.

An absolute must-read for history-lovers, Anglophiles, and animals lovers, make sure to clear a few hours for yourself when you sit down with The Ravenmaster, because once you start you won't be able to put it down!

Behind the Throne

Behind the Throne: A Domestic History of the British Royal Household- Adrian Tinniswood
Basic Books/Hachette
Release Date: October 2, 2018

Rating:
📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: In Behind the Throne, historian Adrian Tinniswood uncovers the reality of five centuries of life at the English court, taking the reader on a remarkable journey from one Queen Elizabeth to another and exploring life as it was lived by clerks and courtiers and clowns and crowned heads: the power struggles and petty rivalries, the tension between duty and desire, the practicalities of cooking dinner for thousands and of ensuring the king always won when he played a game of tennis.

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Adrian Tinniswood's Behind the Throne explores the lives of English royalty from Queen Elizabeth I to Queen Elizabeth II through the eyes of those who served them.  In a light, conversational style of writing, Tinniswood examines how costly Elizabeth I's 'visiting' her nobility was and the incredible lengths nobles needed to go in order to house and entertain her- not only in a way fit for royalty, but also in a way fit to recommend them to Elizabeth the next time she had a gift to bestow.  It is hard to imagine the number of residences that have come and gone during this time period, and what one royal thought of as the best of all houses the next might hate and ignore.

Much of the book looks at the inevitable balancing act of how a king (or queen) should be seen to live like royalty, while at the same time trying (or not) to keep in some kind of budget.  Throne has an uneven amount of behind the scenes stories to tell, and often instead of newly discovered research into the daily life of English royalty and those who serve them, we read the same stories we've heard in any history.  While I didn't learn anything new about the Prince Regent (George IV)'s living habits, there were many good glimpses behind how Elizabeth I and King James I lived.  George V and the more modern royals become more known and accessible and we see the harbingers of the modern day paparazzi and the new balancing act between private lives and what the public wants to know.

From what has changed to what hasn't, Behind the Throne gives an entertaining, and highly readable, account of 500 years of history and the lives of English royalty and those who surround them.  A good read for history lovers and those who think they don't like history, but always enjoy a good bit of royal gossip.

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

Dracul

Dracul- Dacre Stoker & JD Barker
G.P. Punam's Sons/ Penguin Group
Release Date: October 2, 2018

Rating:
📚📚

Warning: Potential Spoilers Ahead

Synopsis: It is 1868, and a twenty-one-year-old Bram Stoker waits in a desolate tower to face an indescribable evil. Armed only with crucifixes, holy water, and a rifle, he prays to survive a single night, the longest of his life. Desperate to record what he has witnessed, Bram scribbles down the events that led him here...

A sickly child, Bram spent his early days bedridden in his parents' Dublin home, tended to by his caretaker, a young woman named Ellen Crone. When a string of strange deaths occur in a nearby town, Bram and his sister Matilda detect a pattern of bizarre behavior by Ellen—a mystery that deepens chillingly until Ellen vanishes suddenly from their lives. Years later, Matilda returns from studying in Paris to tell Bram the news that she has seen Ellen—and that the nightmare they've thought long ended is only beginning.

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A young and sickly child, Bram Stoker is cared for by his sister Matilda and nurse, a young woman named Ellen Crone.  While Bram and Matilda love "Nanna Ellen" they are not blind to certain oddities about her- they never see her eat, she disappears for days at a time, and is the one who miraculously cures Bram when family doctors and modern medicine fail.  Once grown, Bram tries to forget the mysterious Ellen and the terrifying things he and Matilda saw, but when Matilda sees Ellen- looking exactly as she did twenty years ago- they know they won't be allowed to forget.  

The narrative of Dracul, like its' inspiration, Bram Stoker's Dracula, is told through multiple viewpoints. Through the journals of Bram and his brother Thornley, through Matilda's letters, we see events unfold.  These are interspersed with short "now' moments: Bram trapped in a tower, with something evil trapped on the other side of a door.  It takes until there are about 100 pages left in the book before the "past" catches up to "now" and we find out why Bram is in the tower and what is going on. 

The first two-thirds of Dracul focused on trying to building up suspense. While is shorter bursts this works, I have to admit that more than 300 pages of it seriously lowered my feelings of suspense, instead making me feel like I was being dragged through the book.  Is it Ellen who's threatening the Stoker family, or the mysterious, tall, dark stranger? What exactly are they being threatened with?  Who's on the other side of the door in Bram's tower? While the writing is clever enough to keep us guessing, I would have found the build up of suspense more satisfying if these questions had been answered earlier.  Instead it felt like an interminable build up that I was getting more bored by than anything else.  I also found the "now" writing- a present tense "he is doing this and seeing that" style- to be one I particularly detest (though that may be solely my own problem and not one that bothers other readers).

The last 100 or so pages of Dracul do make up for the crawling pace of the rest of the book.  Once we are finally in the "now" time and all the pieces are put together for us by Ellen, things start racing.  Hoping to outrace the evil Dracul, the Stokers and their convenient ally who just happens to know all about vampires travel to Germany.  Now suspense pays off and I found myself interested to know what would happen next.  By the very last page you are left with the rather creepy and confused questions of how much was fiction and how much fact in this version of Bram Stoker's life- a clever ploy by the authors to leave you thinking about Dracul long after you've finished the book.

Advertised as a prequel to Bram Stoker's Dracula, Dracula himself plays little part in the book and no additional questions about him are answered.  This is not his origin story but more a fictionalized origin story of how Stoker came up with the idea fo the book.  With the idea that this fictional 'biography' is the true story behind Dracula, readers will see plenty of parallels between the original book and this one.  The characters themselves, despite telling the story in their own words, are flat and one-dimensional; the writing style usually a rather over done mimicking of the classic gothic style of the original.  A much more streamlined book with stronger character development would have made it much more enjoyable for me.  While the ending bit left me liking Dracul more than I expected to (considering the slowness of most of it), I didn't find it a book I could overwhelmingly recommend to any but perhaps highly obsessive Stoker fans.    

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

Gift of Griffins

Gift of Griffins- V.M. Escalada
DAW/Penguin Group
Release Date: August 7, 2018

Rating:
📚📚📚📚📚

Warning: Potential Spoilers Ahead!

Synopsis: Kerida Nast and her companions have succeeded in finding Jerek Brightwing, the new Luqs of Farama, and uniting him with a part of his Battle Wings, but not all their problems have been solved. Farama is still in the hands of the Halian invaders and their Shekayrin, and it's going to take magical as well as military strength to overcome them. 

Unexpected help comes from Bakura, the Princess Imperial of the Halians, whose Gifts have been suppressed.  As the Voice of her brother the Sky Emperor she has some political power over the Halian military, and she will use it to aid the Faramans, if Kerida can free her from what she sees as a prison. But whether Kerida can help the princess remains to be seen. If she succeeds, Bakura may prove their salvation. But should Kerida fail, all may be lost....

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In Gift of Griffins V. M. Escalada continues to show her talent in world building, weaving together well crafted characters and a beautifully textured, intricate, magically real world. You feel the wind in your face and the ground beneath your feet.  Her characters continue to be entirely believable- imperfect people in a far from perfect world, learning what they are capable of in overwhelming circumstances.  Kerida Nast and the Princess Imperial Bakura are especially well-written- watching them grow into strong, confident women who are willing to stand up to adversity even when they are terrified made it easy to forget how young they are in pure years.  They have had to grow up quickly and are the equal to any of the more experienced adults by the end of the book.

Unlike many second books in a series, Griffins didn't disappoint after Escalada's amazing first book, Halls of Law.  The emphasis has shifted from mere personal survival to the overthrowing of the Shekayrin determined to control the people, but the story is still told through the personal experiences of a few people.  We also got to see a lot more of the griffins here than in Halls, which was a lot of fun.  I thought Escalada did a great job giving us a griffin's point of view of things, and having the griffins and their way of thinking and prioritizing being very different from that of humans.  I also appreciated how nuanced the motivations among the humans themselves were- we don't get a generalized 'good' versus 'evil', but layers of loyalty and betrayal that will keep the reader guessing until the very end.    

Gift of Griffins is a must read for fantasy lovers looking for a new series to enjoy. You may first be drawn to Griffins because of the beautiful cover art, but you'll stay immersed in this wonderful fantasy world thanks to Escalada's beautiful writing style and amazing characters.  I hope to see many more books to come in this series!

 I would recommend starting with Halls of Law, since Gift of Griffins is very much a sequel instead of a stand alone book.

Cross Breed

Cross Breed (a Novel of the Breeds)- Lora Leigh
Berkley/Penguin Group
Release Date: September 25, 2018

Rating:
📚📚📚

Warning: Spoilers Ahead!

Synopsis: The Breeds are humans altered before conception with the DNA of the predators of the earth. But although they all carry the genetic material of beasts within them, Cassandra Sinclair stands apart. A unique mix of wolf, coyote and human, she is revered by many--but preyed upon by others. She is fiercely protected by her community...but no one manages to stop her when she slips away one day to offer her body in exchange for her sister's safety.

The man she succumbs to surprises her by unleashing her inner animal in ways she never dreamed possible--and provokes her deep, furious rage. To Cassie's shock, he is the mate she has long awaited. She may never be able to forgive his deception. Still, as dangerous enemies track her, and as the threat of all-out war between Breeds and the humans who despise them hovers in the air, they must join forces and hold fast to each other.

But the passionate union between them holds a potential that could change the world--and some will do anything to stop it..

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Longtime readers of Lora Leigh's Breeds series first met Cassandra Sinclair in Elizabeth's Wolf as a young girl with seemingly psychic talents for knowing things.  Over the series she has grown into a woman who can argue Breed Law better than anyone alive.  In Cross Breed, Cassie finally gets her own book- and a surprising mate.

Teasers for this book have been careful not to tell readers who Cassie's mate is, making this the first (rather unavoidable) spoiler: it's the Coyote Breed known only as Dog.  Believed by most to be loyal to the Council, Dog is considered 'rogue', an enemy, and a cold blooded killer.  Not who loving parents Dash and Elizabeth Sinclair were hoping for their beloved daughter!  But as with all Breed novels, there are circles within circles and deceptions hiding truths.  Dog is a double agent, working with Jonas Wyatt to shut down more Council atrocities against Breeds.  Cassie doesn't know this at first, but she senses there is more to Dog than others believe, and is willing to give him a chance.  

As a romance story, Cross Breed is pretty good.  There's an enormous clash and adjusting period as Cassie and Dog work to figure out their relationship, how to overcome his supposed loyalty to the Council, and how to work together as a unit in the face of constant threats and challenges.  Both are passionate people experiencing these emotions for the first time and discovering themselves along the way.  Cassie in particular has a lot to learn and accept about herself.  We discover early on that she has a difficult time accepting she's a Breed at all, let alone a hybrid- and she doesn't accept her Coyote genes at all, calling them evil.

As a mystery, suspense, or plot driven continuation of a long running series, it has its defects.  Although not as repetitious as many of Leigh's books, Cross Breed repeats certain things more than enough to be annoying (there are only so many times we need to hear that allowing negative emotional scents to be picked up by others is an insult before you feel insulted to keep being told). A major conflict builds up between Dog, Cassie, and another Coyote named Rhyzan who suddenly wants to push the idea that he might be Cassie's mate.  Rhyzan complicates things left and right, petitions a formal hearing for the chance to have Cassie reconsider who her mate is, then as soon as everyone is in court he drops it to try questioning Dog about something else.  When that gets blocked we find out Rhyzan is playing a deeper game and willing to use Dog, Cassie, and anyone else to get the information he needs- but then Rhyzan pretty much disappears from the book.  There were other, smaller things that had me questioning whether I had missed reading something, had forgotten a throwaway line from an earlier book in the series that was suddenly important, or wondering why a plot line seemed to be just dropped.

Although not Leigh's best book, Cross Breed will appeal to longtime readers of the Breeds novels who have been looking forward to Cassie's book for a long time. Readers new to the series will enjoy the Cassie/Dog story and the chemistry between them, but will probably be lost for the plot lines outside the romance.  A quick read, Cross Breed is entertaining on a surface level, but could have been one of Leigh's best books with a little more work.

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

Rebel Hard

Rebel Hard (Hard Play Book 2)- Nalini Singh
Inscribe Digital/TKA Distribution
Release Date: September 18, 2018

Rating:
📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Nayna Sharma agreed to an arranged marriage in the hope it would heal the fractures in her beloved family… only to realize too late that a traditional marriage is her personal nightmare. Panicked, she throws caution to the winds, puts on the tiniest dress she can find, and ends up in the arms of a tall, rough-edged hunk of a man who has abs of steel—and who she manages to mortally insult between one kiss and the next.

Abandoned as a child, then adopted into a loving family, Raj Sen believes in tradition, in continuity. Some might call him stiff and old-fashioned, but he knows what he wants—and it’s a life defined by rules… yet he can’t stop thinking about the infuriating and sexy woman who kissed him in the moonlight then disappeared. When his parents spring an introduction on him, the last woman he expects is her. Beautiful. Maddening. A rule breaker in the making.

He’s all wrong for her. She’s all wrong for him. And love is about to make rebels of them both.

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 Nayna Sharma has spent most of her life being the 'good sister' to make up for her elder sister's mistakes.  In the process she's had a small, quiet life hemmed in by rules and tradition.  Now that she's agreed to an arranged marriage she suddenly realizes that she's living the life everyone wants for her- except her.  One wild night at a party she meets the perfect man- then mistakenly insults him in the middle of a steamy embrace.  Raj Sen was abandoned and abused as a child before being adopted into a loving family, and wants a stable, quiet life based on traditions and setting down roots.  But an encounter with Nayna makes him start to question what he thinks he wants in life.  They may be exactly what the other doesn't want, but exactly what they do need.

We first met Nayna as Isa Rain's best friend in Cherish Hard.  Here we get Nayna's story and it is nothing less than amazing. Nayna is trying to grab a brief moment in life that is hers and hers alone before settling into the married life her parents want.  But even after meeting Raj and knowing there is amazing chemistry between them, she sees marriage as a trap that she discovers she doesn't really want to enter on anyone's terms but her own.  But every time she tries to take a step towards independence, something happens to make her feel guilty about being anything less than the 'perfect' daughter her traditional Indian parents want.  She's seen her sister cast off because of her decisions and is convinced she can only be loved if she is perfect.  Nayna is a delightful and realistic mix of strength and insecurities trying to balance her parent's traditional views with her own more modern ones, and trying to discover who she is in the process.

Raj may be all quiet confidence and strength on the outside, but he's never quite gotten over the pain of being abandoned, knowing he was unwanted and unloved by his birth mother is a scar the loving family he now has can't entirely erase. He wants to protect himself by never giving a woman power over his heart and is sure a traditional marriage with a quiet woman is what he needs.  Nayna makes him question everything he thought he wanted in life.  He knows he wants a chance with her, and is willing to play dirty to get her- including learning to smile, to play, and to text Nayna screamingly sexy pictures that are totally G-rated.  But he's as worried about falling in love as she is worried that he'll never fully give himself to her.    

Nayna and Raj may be my favorite Nalini Singh couple after Gabriel and Charlotte (Rock Hard)- although it's a close tie. You know Raj is something special when he goes out of his way to read Nayna's favorite book, Pride and Prejudice.  And the reader is then treated to the male view of Mr. Darcy and Mr. Wickham- and the men on Raj's construction crew discovering what women really find sexy by Googling "hot men reading".  

Rebel Hard is a wonderful, passionate, humorous, and emotional story of two people learning about themselves and trying to make a relationship work when they are afraid to fall in love.  It celebrates the beautiful, colorful culture of India and Fiji, blended with New Zealand's natural wonders.  This is a book that joyously grabs all of your senses and flings it into the color, taste, sound, texture, and glitter of a Bollywood extravaganza: complete with over the top weddings, meddling parents, villainous sister-in-law, and gorgeous locations. A must read for any romance fan!

Field of Blood

The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War- Joanne B. Freeman
Farrar, Straus, & Giroux
Release Date: September 11, 2018

Rating:
📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: In The Field of Blood, Joanne B. Freeman recovers the long-lost story of physical violence on the floor of the U.S. Congress. Drawing on an extraordinary range of sources, she shows that the Capitol was rife with conflict in the decades before the Civil War. Legislative sessions were often punctuated by mortal threats, canings, flipped desks, and all-out slugfests. When debate broke down, congressmen drew pistols and waved Bowie knives. One representative even killed another in a duel. Many were beaten and bullied in an attempt to intimidate them into compliance, particularly on the issue of slavery.

These fights didn’t happen in a vacuum. Freeman’s dramatic accounts of brawls and thrashings tell a larger story of how fisticuffs and journalism, and the powerful emotions they elicited, raised tensions between North and South and led toward war. In the process, she brings the antebellum Congress to life, revealing its rough realities—the feel, sense, and sound of it—as well as its nation-shaping import. Funny, tragic, and rivetingly told, The Field of Blood offers a front-row view of congressional mayhem and sheds new light on the careers of John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, and other luminaries, as well as introducing a host of lesser-known but no less fascinating men. The result is a fresh understanding of the workings of American democracy and the bonds of Union on the eve of their greatest peril.

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Joanne B. Freeman's The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War is an entertaining, well researched, and well-written examination of physical violence in U.S. Congress in the decades leading to the Civil War.  Most of it stems from diarist B.B. French, who managed to be on hand or on the fringes for every major political and historical event of his lifetime.  A New Hampshire native, French was highly active in D.C. politics, knew politicians and presidents, and often had a ring-side seat to the debates and violence on the floors of Congress. 

Not merely a cataloging of duels, brawls, canings, and insults, Field of Blood examines the reasons behind the violence- both personal and cultural.  Violence and duels were seen as honorable, manly codes of conduct in the South and barbaric and uncivilized in the North.  Southern politicians would often use bullying and threats of violence to hold power in Congress.  Politicians were seen as closely representing the constituents, their state, and their region and "fighting for the people's rights" was often taken very literally.  Insult an individual and you insulted the region.  Insult the region and you insulted the individual.  Honor was often called into question and (usually) representatives settled things outside the halls of Congress.  It was an interesting dynamic that the patriotic French watched: people believed Congress to be solemn, serious, full of great men giving great speeches- if they saw what French saw, the general public might think very differently.  

Freeman presents readers with a little looked at slice of American history leading up to the Civil War, bringing 19th century political figures to life with a humorous and down-to-earth style of writing that keeps the reader engaged from beginning to end.  Americans who believe today's political standoffs and partisanship are unprecedented may appreciate reading the literal stand-offs of the past, when people sent guns to their Congressmen so they could fight for their constituents' rights and pistols, rifles, and bowie knives were regularly carried by politicians "just in case." 

 For anyone who imagines 19th century Congressmen as staid and boring old men, Freedman will introduce you to a whole new side of American politics. A great read!

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