Appointment in Bath

 

Appointment in Bath- Mimi Matthews

Perfectly Proper Press

Release Date: June 27, 2023

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Shy and stammering Meg Burton-Smythe has spent the whole of her life living on the fringes of local society. She’s more comfortable with her daydreams than she is with people. But when a dashing, golden-haired hero rides to her rescue one morning, she dares to hope that her dreams might finally come true. There’s only one problem: her handsome rescuer is the son of her father’s sworn enemy.

Ivo Beresford doesn’t believe in clinging to the past. Freshly returned from a lengthy grand tour, he’s looking to the future, eager to spearhead the building of a new railway extension in Somersetshire. But an unexpected encounter with Meg Burton-Smythe, the isolated only daughter of his parents’ oldest foe, sets the past and the future colliding.

Resolved to put ancient grudges to rest—at least where innocent young ladies are concerned—Ivo encourages lonely Meg to embark on a secret friendship. After all, what harm can a friendship do? It isn’t as though there’s any danger of the two of them falling in love…

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I always enjoy Mimi Matthews' books and Appointment in Bath does not disappoint! This is the story of Ivo Beresford and Meg Burton-Smythe, whose parents (Gentleman Jim) have a long-standing feud. But Ivo believes in looking to the future, not the past, and befriends Meg anyway. 

Meg starts out almost painfully shy from being so isolated- her only companions have really always been a few servants, her governess who has now left to get married, and her father- a man who is as much an entitled bully now as he was as a younger man. In her head, Meg thinks of him as Henry VIII, only without the power to chop people's heads off. Thanks to her unlikely friendship with Ivo, she slowly grows in confidence, and watching that was really delightful. Ivo is impetuous and full of plans for the future, sure his was is best and ready to hurry everyone else to get there. He has a good heart and good intentions, is always helping others, but still needs some experience when it comes to people. 

Meg and Ivo are younger than Matthews' usual main characters (18 and 23 years old) or most main characters that I've read recently. This gave them a different feel occasionally- though in a realistic way, not a bad way. They are fresh and optimistic, Ivo in particular is sure he can change the world by dragging everyone into the future with him and his railroad friends. 

Meg and Ivo feel like that second-chance couple who magically didn't need a second chance but were able to have their families, circumstances, and their own hearts line up to give them their happily ever after the first time around.

This book overlaps Return to Satterwaite Court, and refers to the past created in Gentleman Jim, but while both are wonderful books and I completely recommend them, you don't necessarily need to read them in order to enjoy Appointment in Bath.

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

 

Zero Days

 Zero Days- Ruth Ware

Gallery/Scout Press

Release Date:

Rate: 📚📚📚

Synopsis: Hired by companies to break into buildings and hack security systems, Jack and her husband, Gabe, are the best penetration specialists in the business. But after a routine assignment goes horribly wrong, Jack arrives home to find her husband dead. To add to her horror, the police are closing in on their suspect—her.

Suddenly on the run and quickly running out of options, Jack must decide who she can trust as she circles closer to the real killer in this unputdownable and heart-pounding mystery.

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In a "Fugitive"-like book, Jacintha "Jack" Cross becomes the number one suspect in her husband's murder and flees to try to prove her innocence and find out who actually killed Gabe. Fortunately for her, she's a security expert and great at her job, so avoiding notice (and CCTV), climbing walls, and picking locks are all in a day's work for her. 

Interestingly, a lot of what drew me to want to read this book was also what annoyed me about this book. Jack wants to find out who killed her husband because the police are taking the easy and obvious way out- her. But she has no idea what to do to prove her innocence or figure out who did kill him because she has no idea who would want Gabe dead. She becomes a bit of a classic amateur sleuth flailing around- which I generally can't stand. We get lots of painstaking details about how Jack breaks into places and gets things to work for her (presumably to show that Ware has done her homework) that got really old for me really fast. Jack is in her own head pretty much the entire book, which could work on screen because you'd see other things happening, but didn't do it for me in the book. It also didn't help that while I saw the bad guy from the beginning, she didn't figure it out for more than 60% of the book. I get it, real life vs book, there's a small pool of suspects, she's focused on other things, but she practically needed it drawn out for her, as well as the motive. So I was annoyed with her as well as the cops for being dumb. But high marks for her being stubborn! Also, the times when she stops to think about Gabe, you really feel her grief. The emotions really pour off the page there in a throat-catching way that was quite well done. I think Ware made a good call by letting us get to know Gabe a little bit before killing him, he wasn't completely an unknown figure, but someone with a sense of humor who clearly loved his wife and in the little bit we had of him I liked him. So his death was personal enough I wanted to see how it was resolved. Whether the resolution was satisfying or not I guess depends. The way things were set up means it probably worked out as well as it could. No more to say there since that would be spoilers!

I was definitely conflicted about this book. It was what it said it was- a take on THE FUGITIVE (personally I didn't see any MR & MRS SMITH). Fast-paced, non-stop, run from the cops all the way. I liked the theory more than I ended up liking the reality of the book, but each reader will have to judge it for themselves.

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

True Love Experiment

 The True Love Experiment- Christina Lauren

Simon & Schuster Publisher

Release Date: May 16, 2023

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Felicity “Fizzy” Chen is lost. Sure, she’s got an incredible career as a beloved romance novelist with a slew of bestsellers under her belt, but when she’s asked to give a commencement address, it hits her: she hasn’t been practicing what she’s preached.

Fizzy hasn’t ever really been in love. Lust? Definitely. But that swoon-worthy, can’t-stop-thinking-about-him, all-encompassing feeling? Nope. Nothing. What happens when the optimism she’s spent her career encouraging in readers starts to feel like a lie?

Connor Prince, documentary filmmaker and single father, loves his work in large part because it allows him to live near his daughter. But when his profit-minded boss orders him to create a reality TV show, putting his job on the line, Connor is out of his element. Desperate to find his romantic lead, a chance run-in with an exasperated Fizzy offers Connor the perfect solution. What if he could show the queen of romance herself falling head-over-heels for all the world to see? Fizzy gives him a hard pass—unless he agrees to her list of demands. When he says yes, and production on The True Love Experiment begins, Connor wonders if that perfect match will ever be in the cue cards for him, too.

The True Love Experiment is the book fans have been waiting for ever since Fizzy’s debut in The Soulmate Equation. But when the lights come on and all eyes are on her, it turns out the happily ever after Fizzy had all but given up on might lie just behind the camera.

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An unapologetic love letter to romance books and the people who love them, The True Love Experiment may be my favorite Christina Lauren book yet! 

Felicity "Fizzy" Chen is having major writer's block and freaking out. She's past her deadline, fans are waiting, and she has lost her faith in love. romance, and maybe herself. When Connor Prince asks her to do a dating reality show in the tone of voice that tells her he's not only never read a romance or watched a reality show, but looks down on both (and those who read/watch them), she realizes it's a challenge she needs to accept. And maybe rediscover her joy in life and romance while she's at it. 

What happens when you put a romance writer in charge of deciding the kinds of guys she'll date on reality tv? Fizzy challenges Connor to cast all the major romance types- and somewhere between wanting to strangle each other and one-up the other, they discover a friendship full of humor, honesty, and dangerously sizzling chemistry. 

I loved Fizzy. She's so full of life and willing to be herself in any situation. She accepts challenges and starts them, comes at problems with confidence she may not always feel but always knows how to fake, and isn't willing to change to please anyone-not her parents, and not a guy. If they can't handle her as she is, they can get out of the way. I loved how Christina Lauren lets Fizzy passionately defend romance as a writing genre when she has to, saying what any romance reader will agree with, but never gets to the "preaching to the choir" point. And her vulnerability when she realizes she's lost her belief in romance or the joy of it enough to get past her writer's block is completely real. She's got to be one of my all-time favorite characters.  Connor is tougher to pin down until you realize he's exactly Fizzy's Mr. Darcy. They start off on the wrong foot, but once they let themselves try again, he turns out to be pretty great. He listens, he's open to admitting when he's wrong and changing his mind, and he can match Fizzy's sense of humor.

The True Love Experiment is exactly what I want in my romance: humor, friendship, two people clearly meant to be together but trying to deny it (they are producing a dating show for her after all!) and with enough chemistry to scorch the pages even when our heroes are just exchanging glances. Add in a dating show paying homage to real-life dating and romance novels? Yes, please! This one is a must read! 

I don't think you need to have read The Soulmate Equation to enjoy The True Love Experiment, but you'll enjoy it.

Scarlet

 

Scarlet (Scarlet Revolution 1)- Genevieve Cogman

Ace

Release Date: May 9, 2023

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: It is 1793 and the French Revolution is in full swing. Vampires—usually rich and aristocratic—have slaked the guillotine’s thirst in large numbers. The mysterious Scarlet Pimpernel, a disguised British noble, and his League are heroically rescuing dozens of aristocrats from execution, both human and vampire. And soon they will have an ace up their sleeve: Eleanor Dalton.

Eleanor is working as a housemaid on the estate of a vampire Baroness. Her highest aspiration is to one day become a modiste. But when the Baroness hosts a mysterious noble and his wife, they tell Eleanor she is the spitting image of a French aristocrat, and they convince her to journey to France to aid them in a daring scheme. Soon, Eleanor finds herself in Paris, swept up in magic and intrigue—and chaos—beyond her wildest dreams. But there’s more to fear than ardent Revolutionaries. For Eleanor stumbles across a centuries-old war between vampires and their fiercest enemy. And they’re out for blood. . . . 

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I'm a huge fan of Genevieve Cogman's Invisible Library series, so as soon as I heard she had another book coming out, I was signing up for it. Basic description: French Revolution, with vampires? I'm in! But remember, this is Genevieve Cogman, so be prepared for so much more!

Eleanor is a maid working on the estate of the Baroness Sophie, a vampire, safe in England where they read about the atrocities of the French Revolution but know it isn't something that would ever touch them. She dreams of becoming a lady's maid, and maybe one day a modiste, never imagining a wider world than that. But the Baroness knows Eleanor is the mirror image of Marie Antionette, and happens to know the English aristocrats working to save French aristocrats from the Terror, led by the mysterious Scarlet Pimpernel. She loans Eleanor to them, they convince Eleanor to help them try and rescue the French Queen and her children. How hard could it be? 

The world building (as you would expect from Cogman) is excellent. Especially once we get to France, the reader really feels immersed in Eleanor's experiences. Not just the dust and dirt of the journey, but the fear in Paris itself was a palpable thing. The baying of a mob, the terror of seeing soldiers, just walking down a street to market became dangerous- not just an action but an emotional and physical feeling. I've read histories on the French Revolution and tried to imagine what the average person might have felt, Genevieve Cogman captures what I believe those daily emotions must have been. 

Watching Eleanor have her horizons expanded over the course of the book is an absolute joy. She grows in confidence, she realizes she's capable of thoughts and actions she couldn't have imagined before, and that she can question those above her. Eleanor's station means we get a unique, and frequently ironic, view of both the English aristocrats trying to help (specific) French and of the causes and goals of the Revolution itself. Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité might be a great rallying cry, but as a servant, Eleanor questions what aristocrats might accept. It's a brilliant call on Cogman's part.

Another good decision Cogman made is to give us tantalizing clues about the magic that used to live in the world, about the hidden history of vampires and their great enemies, and to have Eleanor experience enough to begin questioning what she has always known about vampires being "just like everyone else", but not to give us too much. It leaves us with lots of questions but we already know there are more books in this series coming. The book doesn't end on a cliffhanger, but certainly leaves us wanting to know more!

You don't need to have read the original Scarlet Pimpernel or seen the movies to enjoy this book (I haven't) but I'm curious about any crossover so I'm planning to read it while waiting for Book 2!  

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

The Bride Wore White

 The Bride Wore White (Burning Cove Series)- Amanda Quick

Berkley

Release Date: May 2, 2023

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Being Madame Ariadne, Psychic Dream Consultant, wasn’t Prudence Ryland’s ideal gig, but it paid well which was reason enough to do the work—until she realizes that her latest client intends to kill her. But Prudence, a master at reinvention, finds a new job and home as far away as possible and is finally able to relax—which turns out to be a big mistake. Letting her guard down means being kidnapped and drugged and waking up in a bloodstained wedding dress in the honeymoon suite next to a dead man. With the press outside the hotel, waiting with their cameras and police sirens in the distance, it’s obvious she’s being framed for the man’s murder. Prudence knows who is responsible, but will anyone believe her?

It doesn’t seem likely that rumored crime boss Luther Pell or his associate, Jack Wingate, believe her seemingly outrageous claims of being a target of a ruthless vendetta. In fact, Prudence is convinced that the mysterious Mr. Wingate believes her to be a fraud at best, and at worst: a murderer. And Jack Wingate does seem to be someone intimately familiar with violence, if going by his scarred face and grim expression. So no one is more shocked than Prudence when Jack says he’ll help her. Of course, his ideas for helping her involve using her as the bait for a killer, but Prudence feels oddly safe with Jack protecting her. But who will protect Prudence from her growing fascination with this enigma of a man?

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Sometimes it takes a few tries to find the right career. Usually, those tries don't involve attempted murder or being framed for murder, but that's the sort of time Prudence Ryland has been having. Fed up with the attempts to have her murdered/arrested for murder, she calls Luther Pell to find out who has it in for her. Luther assigns Jack Wingate to her case. The two don't exactly hit it off but Prudence doesn't have many options. Now if only they can keep from killing each other long enough to solve the case.

I loved Prudence. She's a great character. Doesn't put up with anything from the men around her, has her goals strictly in mind, and doesn't apologize for who and what she is. Her end goal is to open a bookstore focused on paranormal publications and things like dream reading just pay the bills- until they almost get her killed. Unlike many other main heroines, she doesn't intend to solve the case herself. She's happy to give it to the professionals and expects that to be that. Instead, the professionals keep her involved. Jack wants to use her as bait and while Pru isn't thrilled, she sees the logic. Jack is fascinated by Prudence for a number of reasons and it is a lot of fun watching him deal with it all. He wants to keep things professional and detached, but with every fight they have he gets drawn a little closer to Prudence.

There was something very old Hollywood movie feel about this one. Not just the location, because obviously that's the glitz and glamour of Burning Cove at its finest. The pacing, the characters, the fighting, the dialogue, all felt like an especially fun movie-maybe an old Katherine Hepburn movie. While the mystery itself was pretty predictable as it played out, that wasn't really the point for me. The point was watching Jack and Prudence working together, overcoming their initial reactions to each other, and becoming both an excellent team and couple. Watching both as individuals also sort themselves out and settle into perhaps more of who they were supposed to be as well. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this newest installment of the Burning Cove Series. Fun, fast paced, and enjoyable characters made it a great book to read!   

Clytemnestra

 Clytemnestra- Constanza Casati

Sourcebooks Landmark

Release Date: May 2, 2023

Rating: 📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: As for queens, they are either hated or forgotten. She already knows which option suits her best…

You were born to a king, but you marry a tyrant. You stand by helplessly as he sacrifices your child to placate the gods. You watch him wage war on a foreign shore, and you comfort yourself with violent thoughts of your own. Because this was not the first offence against you. This was not the life you ever deserved. And this will not be your undoing. Slowly, you plot.

But when your husband returns in triumph, you become a woman with a choice.

Acceptance or vengeance, infamy follows both. So, you bide your time and force the gods' hands in the game of retribution. For you understood something long ago that the others never did.

If power isn't given to you, you have to take it for yourself.

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In a world where women are considered more property than people, when the myths we know are never about women (and if they are, they aren't good stories), ancient Greece in no place to be a strong and independent woman. Current retellings of ancient myths are giving us new voices for women who have lived too long in the shadows, either voiceless or villains, and Clytemnestra is certainly one of them. Constanza Casati's debut novel wipes away any other attempt to tell Clytemnestra's story and should, in my opinion, become THE go-to retelling of the Queen of Mycenae's story.

A princess of Sparta, Clytemnestra grew up strong, learning to fight, hunt, and wrestle just like all the other children. The only rule? Don't get caught. She protects her younger sisters, physically and emotionally, but is always closest to Helen. Her husband Tantalus is a king, and unlike the men she knows-he listens to her, respects her strength, and doesn't try to overshadow her. But when Agamemnon and Menelaus come to Sparta, things change and Clytemnestra's world changes too. Seeing a strong woman as a challenge, Agamemnon decides to have her for himself and kills Tantalus and their baby, forcing her to marry him. As queen of Mycenae, wife of a man she hates, and mother to his children, she tries to live a new life- but when Helen runs away to Troy and gives Agamemnon the excuse he wants to start a war with Troy, disaster strikes again. 

If you know any of the stories of Clytemnestra, or the Trojan War, you won't be surprised by the basic plot. What I found wonderful was how well the author drew the reader into Clytemnestra's emotional life, easily making you feel her rage, pain, and grief and how it shaped her over her life. It balanced with her warrior nature and aggravation with the Greeks who felt they were better than her just because she was a woman. Over and over she has to prove herself, and does, and reminds them that her actions are the same as a man's- and a king's- so should be treated as such. 

There is a short, sweet, set of letters between the siblings late in the book where they are trying to console Clytemnestra and you really get each sibling's thoughts and feelings (as opposed to Clytemnestra's) for the first time. This might be my favorite part of the book. It is completely different from the rest of the book, and feels a bit like we're looking behind the scenes at something personal and private that Clytemnestra would keep to herself. It is also a nice reminder that not all men in this world are horrible, since one of the letters is from her brother Polydeuces.

Clytemnestra is an absolute must read for anyone who enjoys retellings or even just stories about strong women. This is a book that doesn't read as if it was a debut novel- the writing is more confident and polished than you often read in a first book. I would love to see Casati write her next book for Medea, since we might be able to trust her to tell Medea's story with the same emotional honesty she showed Clytemnestra. Here's hoping!

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