Posted May 26, 2022 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments
Dangerous to Know, Tasha Alexander
Dangerous to Know really disappointed me: I picked it up and was finding it really enjoyable, having given the Lady Emily series a bit of a break. However, part of why I love the series is Emily’s independence and free thinking, and Colin’s efforts to stifle her feel out of character in their suddenness (he’s been protective before, several times, but not in the sense of flat-out saying “I’m your husband now and you’ll do as I say”).
It was nice to meet Colin’s mother (who wouldn’t approve at all of what he’s doing, I’ll add), and to have Cécile around for much of the story, and I was happy for the return of Sebastian Capet, of course. The cast and mystery remained pretty much what I would expect… it’s just Colin who was disappointing.
I’m giving him one more book to behave himself, since I own the next book, but if he really hasn’t learned his lesson, then I’m moving on from this series. I’m not looking for realism here, at least not to that extent.
Rating: 3/5
Tags: book reviews, books, historical fiction, mystery, romance, Tasha Alexander
Posted May 24, 2022 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments
Restless Spirits, Jordan L. Hawk
In Restless Spirits, there’s an appealing cast of main characters: Henry, an inventor, and his assistant and ward, Jo, and then Vincent, a medium, and his friend, Lizzie, also a psychic. They’re all assembled at the site of a haunting as a contest between the mediums and the inventors, to prove who can best dispel a haunting, with money at stake for the winners — which each group badly needs. Needless to say, Henry and Vincent are powerfully attracted to each other, though the humiliations of Henry’s past risk coming between them.
This is very much a first book, with the ending only a “happy for now” — there’s a lot that the characters have to work out. I’m looking forward to reading more, because I completely tore through this. I was worrying that it would feel a bit too much like Whyborne and Griffin’s adventures, but no: there are some similarities, but the characters’ hangups are very different, and the relationship doesn’t have (so far, at least) the desperate insecurity that is the initial cause of rifts between Whyborne and Griffin. Henry and Vincent are made of different stuff.
On a slightly spoilery note, I did see another review complaining about Henry, and I get it, but at the same time… as a boy, he was taken advantage of by someone his family trusted, including sexually. His life was taken apart by the guy, leaving him with deep-seated trust issues. Sure, he doesn’t behave the best (and he’s incredibly naive about what his revelation to the group will do to Lizzie), but it’s partly ignorance, partly because he has a good heart and fails to see the worst of others, and partly due to the betrayal he’s felt.
Rating: 4/5
Tags: book reviews, books, Jordan L. Hawk, mystery, queer fic, SF/F
Posted May 21, 2022 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments
Subtle Blood, K.J. Charles
Subtle Blood brings an end to the adventures of Will Darling and Kim Secretan — at least for the reader, though it’s fairly clear they’re going to go off and get into trouble together again, as soon as possible. It beautifully resolves much of their issues with Zodiac, and features Kim being much more open, less willing to lie (at least to Will), and totally committed to the future he’s realised he can have. It’s adorable and satisfying, as adorable as anything can be when it involves this pair.
It was pretty much everything I wanted from the finale of this series, and everything I wanted for these characters. What more can I say?
Don’t forget to read the coda free on Charles’ website — particularly if you know who Daniel da Silva is. (If you don’t, hie thee to a purveyor of books and grab Think of England first.)
Rating: 4/5
Tags: book reviews, books, K.J. Charles, mystery, queer fic, romance
Posted May 13, 2022 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments
Rosebud, Paul Cornell
Received to review via Netgalley
I didn’t quite know what to make of Rosebud, honestly. It has a slightly weird format with some odd sort-of-ish time travel stuff going on, plus it’s written in a very stream-of-consciousness sort of way with an oddball cast that change how they’re represented a couple of times. I felt like I could do with a dramatis personae or something to help me keep track, and I normally stubbornly ignore those. Like, Bob is a balloon (seriously), but also a tiger… and Huge If True is a whole mess of hands, but then also Bob Ross? Etc, for each character.
It also has this whole subplot about the whole world being awful for queer people, including flashbacks to a trans woman being made to dress as male in public while being sort-of-but-not-really executed and tortured, which… is mentioned somewhat in a content note at the start, so I can’t say I wasn’t warned, but it sits funny because it’s off-hand, somewhere in the background of the story. Partly that’s in the same way that Brexit is in the background of the Lychford books, for instance… and I do get the urge to write about the way the world is right now (especially in the UK) to comment on it, but it didn’t quite work for me.
It didn’t quite come together for me, I guess; I did like the ending, and thought there was a lot of cleverness going on, but I spent too much of it not really engaged with what was going on because I was having trouble keeping track of characters.
Rating: 3/5
Tags: book reviews, books, mystery, Paul Cornell, SF/F
Posted May 12, 2022 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments
The Missing Page, Cat Sebastian
The Missing Page is a lot of fun. As it opens, Leo’s away doing work (still spycraft) and James has been invited to the reading of a will which grants him a small bequest. The will itself turns out to be a surprise: the person who manages to solve an old, old mystery (the disappearance of the daughter of the house) will become the owner of the family home. Those who assemble are people who were present that summer, a time when James was 12 years old.
Leo hears about this setup and thinks instantly of heirs poisoning each other, so he drives up as soon as he gets home to join James and help him unravel the mystery. Unlike many second books, this doesn’t have any walking-back of the relationship in the first book — there are no sudden stumbling blocks, they communicate with each other, they become closer still without first pushing each other away or having any miscommunications. They’re still negotiating their relationship, stepping carefully to avoid setting off any mines, but they’re committed and good to each other and trusting of each other, and it’s lovely.
As for the mystery, I admit, I didn’t expect the actual solution. That was a pretty good moment.
Even better, though, was Leo and James getting away from there at the end and going back to their lives together in Wychcomb St Mary. That’s their real family and home, and it’s lovely to watch Leo accept that.
Rating: 4/5
Tags: book reviews, books, Cat Sebastian, mystery, romance
Posted May 8, 2022 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments
The Sugared Game, K.J. Charles
The problem I have with Will and Kim is that I want to scream at them to communicate properly, but the fact that they have difficulty with that is relevant to the plot, and thus you can’t be too mad at them because it totally makes sense… but also, stop hurting each other for stupid reasons (mostly looking at you, Kim) and figure yourselves out.
It seems like the end of this book puts them in a place where that’s somewhat more possible, which I’m glad about — and the ride to get there is one hell of a thing. I can’t talk about it too much: just as Kim can’t tell Will much at all without revealing way too much, I think to say too much here would spoil the plot a little.
The climax of the book is pretty hair-raising and dramatic (in a way that works perfectly). It leaves me wondering where they’ll go next… and eager to find out. I wonder what fresh complications they’ll manage to throw in each others’ way, how they’ll cope with Zodiac now, and whether Phoebe and Maisie will be part of it (and what part they’ll play, exactly).
I didn’t spot the cameo until I saw a review mentioning it, which just proves it’s been too long since I read some of Charles’ books. Clearly I’ll have to fix that with some rereading.
Rating: 4/5
Tags: book reviews, books, historical fiction, K.J. Charles, mystery, romance
Posted May 1, 2022 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments
A Marvellous Light, Freya Marske
A Marvellous Light is really enjoyable, both the characters and their slow journey to trust and being willing to depend on each other, and the magic and worldbuilding. Sometimes in romantic fantasy the world seems sketched in to provide the backdrop for the relationship, but both are important here, and I’m just as fascinated to see more of the world and how magic works as I am to see Edwin and Robin deepen their relationship. (A sudden thought — I hope we do keep following them and don’t switch to another character’s related journey, as sometimes happens.)
Edwin is not trusting, too burned by his family and his status and his past relationships to really open himself up. Robin is perhaps a little too good to be true: loyal and loving and cheerful despite everything that’s happening to him and his own scars from his parents. It’s not hard to see how they’ll get together for a while, very early on, but it takes time to make it seem like they’re building something that will last. I thought it was beautifully done.
There are lots of fascinating glimpses of side characters, too, and I’d love to see more of Maud and especially more of Adelaide and Kitty.
But mostly I really want to get on with it and find out more about the contract, and the fae, and all that stuff that we barely understand in this book (because Edwin and Robin know nothing about it, except that they must figure out what the heck’s going on).
Rating: 4/5
Tags: book reviews, books, Freya Marske, mystery, romance, SF/F
Posted March 22, 2022 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments
Maelstrom, Jordan L. Hawk
Maelstrom cranks things up another notch for Whyborne and Griffin. It’s difficult to review without spoilering either this book or at least its predecessors, but let’s see what I can do. First, I’d highly recommend against trying to start here if you haven’t read the others. Details from the other books are important here, particularly the first book and Bloodline, and a bunch of things come together.
What’s nice is that, if nothing else, at this point Whyborne and Griffin rely on each other instead of letting tension crack them apart (and we’re starting to see Christine and Iskander have the same kind of bond). I also really liked the careful tightrope-walking of Niles Whyborne’s increased part in the story: he was still an asshole and a terrible father, but in losing almost all his family, he’s begun to see that he was wrong and that he misjudged Whyborne completely.
That said, I thought people were a little unfair in pushing Whyborne toward that insight, because they’re basically asking him to reconcile with an abuser. Griffin’s wistfulness about his own family is getting in the way of him seeing that clearly, of course — but others don’t have the excuse.
Anyway, all in all an exciting book, and a pretty awesome development. I’m guessing a gathering together of allies must come next…
Rating: 4/5
Tags: book reviews, books, Jordan L. Hawk, mystery, queer fic, romance, SF/F
Posted March 4, 2022 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments
The Astonishing Adventure of Jane Smith, Patricia Wentworth
The Astonishing Adventure of Jane Smith is a fun little one-shot mystery with some of the staples: two girls who are so nearly identical in appearance that one can impersonate the other and briefly fool even her own father, a plucky girl getting into deadly danger for the sake of the realm (even though she has no training and very little knowledge of the situation), a love story (or two) featuring jilted lovers reunited through circumstance, secret underground passages, etc.
Jane is pretty much what you’d expect here: practical, plucky, determined, and a bit pig-headed about being asked to be careful (even though it all turns out okay in the end, and of course that’s because she disobeys and goes off-script). Most of the other characters are bit-parts, even the love interest, though Lady Heritage is surprisingly vibrant — if anything she has more life than Jane through her depth of feeling, which is fairly apparent on several occasions. (By contrast Jane rather suddenly decides Henry is her darling, after previously having turned him down for what we presume are good reasons, given her usual practicality.)
It’s a bit of fun, and being written by a woman, it isn’t quite so bad as a lot of classic mysteries in the way it handles female characters. Jane’s a bit scathing about other girls for not having the same interests or bravery, but she and Lady Heritage aren’t a bit like the rather silly, inconstant girls of some of the mystery fiction written by men. (Hello, John Dickson Carr is calling!)
Rating: 3/5
Tags: book reviews, books, crime, mystery, Patricia Wentworth
Posted February 12, 2022 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments
Crossed Skis, Carol Carnac
Carol Carnac is perhaps better known (at least since the British Library Crime Classics started coming out) as E.C.R. Lorac — one of my preferred writers from that series of reissues. It’s not that her plots are particularly original or different, and in fact they’re usually easy to work out, but it’s the way she writes about people and places, bringing out the atmosphere of place and writing well about ordinary, decent people (for the most part — aside from the criminal).
All in all, her books epitomise the sense of things being set to rights that’s common to a lot of Golden Age crime fiction, and that can be rather comforting if that’s your thing. They’re a reasonable puzzle, and the detectives are generally likeable (unlike, say, John Dickson Carr’s); more Agatha Christie than Dorothy Sayers on the scale of literary pretension. This book is exactly what you’d expect, as a consequence: a decent sense of place, a series of thumbnail portraits about decent, pretty ordinary people in a pretty ordinary situation, and a couple of red herrings.
I found this one a tad obvious, because I very quickly narrowed the field down to two possibles, from all the descriptions and actions of the characters. The setting, though, is lovely — you get the sense of the crowded trains, the cold air, the bubbly enthusiasm of the group of Brits getting away on a skiing holiday together, slightly lacking in inhibitions because it’s not Britain and they don’t all know each other well. The characters are mostly sketched in because the group is so large (16 characters in the traveling party), so I didn’t find it quite as good at bringing characters to life, here.
It all sounds a bit like I’m damning Lorac’s books with faint praise, but I genuinely pounce upon each one that gets reissued, and enjoyed this one too — but it’s like enjoying food from the fish and chip shop rather than a fancy restaurant. Solid and satisfying, but usually not surprising.
Rating: 3/5
Tags: book reviews, books, British Library Crime Classics, crime, E.C.R. Lorac, mystery
