Month: August 2020

Review: Someone to Romance by Mary Balogh

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> book reviews
Review: Someone to Romance by Mary BaloghSomeone to Romance (Westcott, #8) by Mary Balogh
Format: eARC
Source: supplied by publisher via Edelweiss, supplied by publisher via NetGalley
Formats available: hardcover, paperback, large print, ebook, audiobook
Genres: historical fiction, historical romance, regency romance
Series: Westcott #8
Pages: 416
Published by Berkley on August 25, 2020
Purchasing Info: Author's Website, Publisher's Website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Bookshop.org
Goodreads

Love comes when you least expect it in this captivating new novel in the Wescott Regency romance series from New York Times bestselling author Mary Balogh.
Lady Jessica Archer lost her own interest in the glittering excitement of romance after her cousin and dearest friend, Abigail Westcott, was rejected by the ton when her father was revealed to be a bigamist. Ever practical, however, once she's twenty-five, she decides it's time to wed. Though she no longer believes she will find true love, she is still very eligible. She is, after all, the sister of Avery Archer, Duke of Netherby.
Jessica considers the many qualified gentlemen who court her. But when she meets the mysterious Gabriel Thorne, who has returned to England from the New World to claim an equally mysterious inheritance, Jessica considers him completely unsuitable, because he had the audacity, when he first met her, to announce his intention to wed her.
When Jessica guesses who Gabriel really is, however, and watches the lengths to which he will go in order to protect those who rely upon him, she is drawn to his cause—and to the man.

My Review:

The previous books in this series have followed the adventures and romantic exploits of those who were the collateral damage that resulted from the exposure of Humphrey Westcott’s figurative bastardy. This story, however, is rather about the collateral damage that resulted from the collateral damage.

Lady Jessica Archer’s personal fortunes were not affected by the discovery that her best friend, Abigail Westcott, was a bastard in the literal sense and not the lady that she was raised as. Her status irrevocably changed when it was revealed, after the figurative bastard’s death, of course, that her father had been a bigamist who was never legally married to her mother.

The exposure of the entire farrago is told in the first book in this series, Someone to Love, when the orphan Anna Snow discovers that she is the late, unlamented Humphrey’s legal heiress. Anna surprisingly finds both love and acceptance in the arms of Lady Jessica’s brother, the Duke of Netherby.

As someone who experienced Humphrey’s posthumous asshattery at second hand, and as a character who has grown up considerably over the course of the series – Jessica was 17 in Someone to Love and is 25 in Someone to Romance – many of her attitudes in the early parts of this story seem more than a bit self-indulgent, and that’s not a good look for a character who seems to have everything anyone could possibly ever want.

Except for the freedom that is part and parcel of being born male, while absolutely forbidden to anyone female. Now that’s a piece of resentment most of us can understand. As is her expressed desire to be wanted for herself as a person, and not just because she is oh-so-eminently eligible, being both the daughter and the sister of a duke, being a member of not one but two powerful ton families, and being wealthy in her own right.

But the persona of Lady Jessica Archer is just what – and not who – Gabriel Thorne needs to marry when this story opens. Because Gabriel has returned to England to claim his birthright as the Earl of Lyndale right out from under the nose of his lying, scheming, raping and possibly murdering cousin.

Gabriel will need the backing of both of Jessica’s noble families to keep himself out of the hangman’s noose that his cousin fitted him for over a decade ago. He will need Lady Jessica Archer’s aristocratic bearing and training to right all the wrongs that have been visited upon the estate he should have taken up years ago.

But he’ll get neither unless he can engage with the woman behind the haughty mask that Jessica presents to the entire world. Except for those she loves.

Escape Rating B: I have rather mixed feelings about this book. I didn’t warm up to Jessica until she warmed up to Gabriel, and that takes a relatively long time, story-wise. It’s not just that this romance is a very slow burn, although it certainly is, as that we don’t really see much in the way of romancing – in spite of both the title and Jessica’s expressed need to be, well, romanced.

I’m not sure I really saw them “fall” for each other. I just didn’t “buy” the romance.

What I did love, however, was the strong plot thread attached to Gabriel’s claiming of his estate and title, his feelings of duty and responsibility towards an estate that he never wanted nor expected to inherit, and especially his “revenge” on the cousin who abused that estate and tried to rob Gabriel of not just his inheritance but his life.

Because that part of the story read as a “fix-it” story of epic proportions, and I absolutely adore “fix-it” stories.

(I’m familiar with the use of ‘Fix-It” stories from fanfiction. There’s an entire class of fanfiction that seems to apply to all properties where the world of the original work is a mess but through fanfic the protagonists get to “fix” all the messes either by going back in time or changing a plot element or what-have-you. Good triumphs and righteously delivers epic payback on evil in all its forms. I’m finding stories of that stripe a great deal of comfort in our current, chaotic times.)

This story felt like a “fix-it” on Gabriel’s side of the story. There’s no fixing Humphrey’s mess, he’s dead, he’s been dead and this is not fantasy or SF. But the authors of Gabriel’s troubles, or at least one of those authors, is still alive and well and trying to do him dirty yet again. And circumstances are such that it isn’t possible to deliver the legal comeuppance the bastard deserves.

Watching it happen through an epic and extremely public serving of social opprobrium, however, was exceedingly satisfying. And actually kind of a comfort read.

This series as a whole is a bit of a comfort read. I like these characters (except Humphrey, of course – he’s certainly not missed). They’re great people and it’s lovely to see them get their HEAs. Some of the stories in the series have been particularly charming, and I love the fact that their reduction in social standing actually gives all of them a LOT more freedom which they eventually learn to use to great effect. So I got completely sucked back into this family and this world even though I wasn’t all that thrilled with the heroine’s behavior for a chunk of the story.

I think, though, that this one may have run its course. Or perhaps it’s taken itself too far afield from the original group of affected people. There’s one left, Humphrey’s son Harry, the young man who was VERY briefly an Earl before his father’s perfidy was discovered. Harry was much happier as a soldier than as an Earl, but his war is over. It’s time for him to finally get his much deserved HEA and close out his family’s story in Someone to Cherish, hopefully sometime next year..

Review: The London Restoration by Rachel McMillan + Giveaway

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | A- Reviews> blog tours> book reviews> Giveaways
Review: The London Restoration by Rachel McMillan + GiveawayThe London Restoration by Rachel McMillan
Format: eARC
Source: supplied by publisher via NetGalley
Formats available: paperback, ebook, audiobook
Genres: historical fiction, historical romance, World War II
Pages: 336
Published by Thomas Nelson on August 18, 2020
Purchasing Info: Author's Website, Publisher's Website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Bookshop.org
Goodreads

In post-World War II London, determined to save their marriage and the city they love, two people divided by World War II's secrets rebuild their lives, their love, and their world.
London, Fall 1945. Architectural historian Diana Somerville's experience as a codebreaker at Bletchley Park and her knowledge of London's churches intersect in MI6's pursuit of a Russian agent named Eternity. Diana wants nothing more than to begin again with her husband Brent after their separation during the war, but her signing of the Official Secrets Act keeps him at a distance.
Brent Somerville, professor of theology at King's College, hopes aiding his wife with her church consultations will help him better understand why she disappeared when he needed her most. But he must find a way to reconcile his traumatic experiences as a stretcher bearer on the European front with her obvious lies about her wartime activities and whereabouts.

My Review:

I picked this one for two reasons. One was the time period. It’s starting to look like the early Cold War era is the new big thing in historical fiction, and so far the books have been excellent – and this one was no exception. Reason number two was that I enjoyed the first two books in this author’s Van Buren and DeLuca series (Murder at the Flamingo and Murder in the City of Liberty) and hoped that this book would be as good if not better.

That hope was definitely realized.

The story begins late in 1945, and the shooting war is over. Diana and Brent Somerville, like so many who married during the war, have to figure out whether the love that sustained their spirits during the war’s separation and all its horrors, can survive in its aftermath. They both carry secrets from those long years, and those secrets form a barrier between them that both are afraid to bridge.

Brent wants to protect Diana from the horrors of his war and the extent of his wounds, both physical and emotional.

Diana needs to protect both Brent and herself from the consequences of her work at Bletchley Park as one of the codebreakers. She signed the Official Secrets Act. She literally CANNOT tell him about her wartime service under threat of imprisonment. That she is still continuing that wartime “secret” service unofficially, as a favor to a friend, adds to the weight of the secrets that fester between them.

Unless she can bring him into the world of shadows that she now inhabits. Before the new “Cold War” claims their marriage as one of its early victims. Or takes both of their lives.

Escape Rating A-: The deeper I got into this story, the more that the multiple interpretations of the title ensnared me.

There’s the obvious one, that this story takes place during the restoration of London after the war is over. But it’s also about the restoration of their marriage, which takes place in London. That would be enough to be going on with. But there’s that third interpretation, the way that Diana’s love of the architecture of the Christopher Wren churches of London loops back to history, to the restoration of London after the Great Fire of 1666.

It was also fascinating to read a romance that is very different from any of the standard tropes, at least in the story’s “present”. The original romance between Diana and Brent is a classic. Lovers meet, discover their other half, fall instantly and completely, have a quirky but romantic wedding and live happily ever after. And maybe they will, but they certainly don’t in the immediate term, because the Blitz rains down on their wedding night, then both of them are off to war.

What makes the romance part of this story so marvelously different from the usual is that it’s a romance between two people who are already married, and yet they are strangers to each other after four years of war. In order for their wartime marriage to survive where so many did not they have to get to know the people they are now and fall in love with each other all over again.

And it’s lovely.

One of the things that this story also does well is the way that it portrays the consequences of the abrupt change to both their lives, but particularly Diana’s, after the war is over and life is supposed to go back to “normal”. The problem is that the aftermath of any catastrophic change is never easy, and that whatever normal is will not be and cannot be the exact same as it was before the catastrophe.

(This is just as true in our own now as ever. The world post-pandemic will be different from the pre-pandemic world, we just don’t know exactly how yet.)

Diana is supposed to become a housewife, taking care of her husband and any children they have. But Diana is one of the most rubbish housewives ever to grace a page. And she’s not going to change. Because she has already changed. Her service at Bletchley Park opened a world for her that she wants to continue to inhabit, just with her husband at her side. For four years she lived a life of purpose and challenge, and she just isn’t willing to give that up. She’s not made to give that up.

Finding a way to bridge the minefield between herself and her husband so that she can continue to serve her country and especially continue to feed her brilliant mind is what really sets her on her course to unofficially help her friend, fellow codebreaker and MI-6 agent uncover the first agents of that Cold War – and nearly gets both her and Brent killed in the process.

Summing up, the history is fascinating, the hunt for the spies is thrilling and the romance is lovely. Come to this book for whichever appeals to you the most. But definitely do come! The London Restoration is a marvelous story from its lonely beginning to its friendship and love-filled end.

~~~~~~ GIVEAWAY ~~~~~~

I am giving away a copy of The London Restoration to one very lucky US commenter on this tour!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

TLC
This post is part of a TLC book tour. Click on the logo for more reviews and features.

Review: Better than People by Roan Parrish

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B+ Reviews> blog tours> book reviews
Review: Better than People by Roan ParrishBetter Than People by Roan Parrish
Format: eARC
Source: supplied by publisher via Edelweiss
Formats available: paperback, ebook, audiobook
Genres: contemporary romance, M/M romance
Series: Garnet Run #1
Pages: 336
Published by Carina Adores on August 25, 2020
Purchasing Info: Author's Website, Publisher's Website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Bookshop.org
Goodreads

It’s not long before their pet-centric arrangement sparks a person-centric desire…
Simon Burke has always preferred animals to people. When the countdown to adopting his own dog is unexpectedly put on hold, Simon turns to the PetShare app to find the fluffy TLC he’s been missing. Meeting a grumpy children’s book illustrator who needs a dog walker isn’t easy for the man whose persistent anxiety has colored his whole life, but Jack Matheson’s menagerie is just what Simon needs.
Four dogs, three cats and counting. Jack’s pack of rescue pets is the only company he needs. But when a bad fall leaves him with a broken leg, Jack is forced to admit he needs help. That the help comes in the form of the most beautiful man he’s ever seen is a complicated, glorious surprise.
Being with Jack—talking, waking, making out—is a game changer for Simon. And Simon’s company certainly…eases the pain of recovery for Jack. But making a real relationship work once Jack’s cast comes off will mean compromise, understanding and lots of love.

My Review:

It seems fair to say that most people who have companion animals have at least occasionally had the thought that animals are better than people. Or at least that most animals are better than most people. Or something along those lines.

It’s partly that when they love us, they love us unconditionally. And it’s especially that animals don’t judge and can’t talk back. Well, they can’t talk back in any language we understand. Also, cats, at least, certainly do judge, ALL THE TIME. But they mostly judge us for how we treat them and not for any of the frankly stupid shit that humans judge us for. Cats don’t care whether we are fashionable or not, whether we are tidy or not, whether we are neuroatypical or not. Or who we love – as long as we love them and treat them right. Treat the cats right, I mean. How we treat other humans in our lives isn’t their concern unless it leads to them getting more of what they want or less.

Both Jack Matheson and Simon Burke are of the opinion that animals are better than most people most of the time. They get to that point from different directions, but they are still both in that same kind of headspace when they meet, fittingly enough, literally over the heads of Jack’s mixed menagerie of cats and dogs. I put the cats first because there may be fewer of them but the cats clearly rule this house. Especially Pirate.

Obviously, I got into this book for the animals. But there is a story about the humans as well, both their human and the human who becomes theirs in the end. After all, the only reason the humans meet is because of them. It’s the dogs’ fault, after all.

Jack lives in a fairly remote cabin, and he’s fine with that. So is the menagerie. But when he falls while chasing after Puddles – the dog who is afraid of puddles – and breaks his leg, Jack has a major problem on his hands. Mostly his crutches. And the four dogs – plus Pirate the Cat – who need to be walked multiple times a day. In the admittedly slightly tamed wilderness that surrounds Jack’s cabin.

That’s where Simon comes in. Simon needs regular contact with animals to help manage his paralyzing anxiety – at least as much as it can be managed. He doesn’t have a menagerie of his own because he lives with his recently widowed and extremely allergic grandmother. So he volunteers for an organization that matches people who need animals with animals whose people need a bit of help.

The overwhelming nature of Simon’s social anxiety causes him an intense amount of difficulty when dealing with new people and/or stressful situations. Jack has been a bit of hermit after the person he thought was his friend and business partner stole Jack’s ideas for his own. So he’s not much thrilled with the human race at the moment. None too thrilled with himself either. He’s depressed and now miserable at feeling helpless to take care of the animals that are both his friends and his solace.

On a temporary basis, at least, Jack and Simon are made for each other. But neither are good at letting many people get close. And Simon fully expects that their relationship will only last as long as Jack needs help with the animals. Simon’s experience is that people get tired of dealing with his mental health challenges and that Jack will give up on him the way that most of his family has. Jack, initially afraid to trust himself, knows that it won’t be easy. But he’s in it for the long haul.

He just has to convince Simon that it really is possible for them to create their own version of normal – and be happy with it. Together.

Escape Rating B+: I really did pick this up because the animals, caring for them and being managed by them was such a big part of the story. And that felt real, the differences in their personalities and how their humans cope with them. (I have four cats and variations in personality and mannerism are very real – as is the amount that they are each individually indulged in their preferences!)

But of course it’s the humans and the relationship they build together who hold the story.

The story is told in alternating perspectives, one chapter from Jack’s side of the story and the other from Simon’s. Jack’s is the easier to identify with, while Simon’s is more painful. It’s also painfully clear that Simon is more articulate – as well as even more down on himself – inside his own head than he is able to voice or even text.

It’s also lovely that they both have people in their lives who call them on their respective shit when it needs doing. In Jack’s case his older brother, and for Simon his grandmother. Those relationships also help round out both characters. I wish we had a scene between the two of them comparing notes because that would have been a hoot!

While Jack isn’t exactly an extrovert, he does have more need for social interaction than Simon does. Jack’s the kind of introvert who is open in a limited circle – but he needs that circle. Except that as the story opens he’s withdrawn from his circle out of betrayal. If one person he believed was a friend could betray him that badly, so could others. However, it was good that the author did not fall down the oh-so-common rabbit hole of having that betrayer be not just a friend and a business partner but also an ex-lover. That would have been over-the-top in a way that this story just doesn’t need.

Simon’s severe social anxiety is a hard enough issue to deal with. And a big part of the way that their relationship develops revolves around Jack learning how to be with Simon. A part of me wants to use words like manage or cope with or assist or ameliorate and none of them work and all of them feel insulting and ableist. But a big part of the story is Jack finding his way through all those words so that they can have a relationship that works for both of them.

It’s not easy for either of them because they both have those trust issues. That they manage it, together, to become part of their animals’ pack forms the heart of the story.

Back to School Giveaway Hop

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | Back to School Giveaway Hop> Blog Hops> Giveaways

Welcome to the Back to School Giveaway Hop, hosted by Review Wire Media and Chatty Patty’s Place!

Just like last year, this is the second giveaway hop with a “back to school” theme. Very much unlike last year, this year that return to school will be digital-only for a lot of kids – and parents.  I imagine that every parent has learned some surprising things, both good and bad, about digital learning and just how difficult teachers’ jobs actually are. As well as trotting out an entire new vocabulary of “under their breath” curses and quite possibly some interesting drink recipes.

There’s a reason why the phrase “May you live in interesting times” is a CURSE and not a blessing. This is an adventure, in the sense that an adventure is something you wish was happening either long ago, far away, or to SOMEONE ELSE! Preferably all of the above.

Still, even though this is “Back to School” time, however that school might be conducted, we don’t ever really stop learning. And that’s a good thing!

To help you either get something to help you learn, or something to tide you over while things are still up in the air, I’m giving away my usual prize, the winner’s choice of a $10 Amazon Gift Card or a book up to $10 from the Book Depository. This giveaway is open everywhere the Book Depository ships!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

For more terrific prizes, be sure to visit the other stops on this hop!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter


The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 8-16-20

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand

Sunday Post

It’s Sunday! George wants to know if you’ve had your morning mousie today?

Current Giveaways:

3 Signed Print Copies of Peachy Scream by Anna Gerard (US only)
Return to Learn Giveaway Hop (ends TUESDAY!!!)

Blog Recap:

A- Review: Enemies at Home by Lindsey Davis
B Review: Peachy Scream by Anna Gerard + Giveaway
A- Review: Weapons Master by Anna Hackett
A Review: Drowned Country by Emily Tesh
A+ Review: The Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne by Elsa Hart
Stacking the Shelves (405)

Coming This Week:

Back to School Giveaway Hop
Better than People by Roan Parrish (blog tour review)
The London Restoration by Rachel McMillan (blog tour review)
‘Nother Sip of Gin by Rhys Ford (blog tour review)
Someone to Romance by Mary Balogh (review)

Stacking the Shelves (405)

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves

This week’s stack is surprisingly short. Or small. Or just not very tall. Which gives me a chance to include not just one but two cat pictures, featuring George as a tiny kitten and George just this past week. It is amazing how fast they grow!

But I do also have books. Ever since Galen played Ghost of Tsushima I’ve been looking for a book with a similar flavor. I read Lian Hearn’s marvelous books (both Tales of the Otori and Tale of Shikanoko) sometime in the way back, and I knew there was another from the same time period – publishing wise – as the Otori but I just couldn’t quite put my finger on it. I’m kind of ashamed of myself now, because it’s the Tomoe Gozen saga and one of the characters in Tsushima was named Tomoe. I should have remembered sooner!

legacy of steel by matthew ward
marion lane and the midnight murder by ta willberg
big mans daughter by owen fitzstephen
shadows in time by julie mcelwain
in league with sherlock holmes by leslie s klinger and laurie r king
night will find us by matthew lyons
when the tiger came down the mountain by nghi vo
glamour girls by marty wingate
neil gaiman reader by neil gaiman
golden naginata by jessica amanda salmonson
thousand shrine warrior by jessica amanda salmonson
disfavored hero by jessica amanda salmonson
sentient by nadia afifi

For Review:
The Big Man’s Daughter by Owen Fitzstephen
Glamour Girls by Marty Wingate
In League with Sherlock Holmes edited by Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger
Legacy of Steel (Legacy Trilogy #2) by Matthew Ward
Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder by T.A. Willberg
The Neil Gaiman Reader: Selected Fiction by Neil Gaiman
The Night Will Find Us by Matthew Lyons
The Sentient by Nadia Afifi
Shadows in Time (Kendra Donovan #5) by Julie McElwain
When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain (Singing Hills Cycle #2) by Nghi Vo

Purchased from Amazon/Audible:
The Disfavored Hero (Tomoe Gozen #1) by Jessica Amanda Salmonson
The Golden Naginata (Tomoe Gozen #2) by Jessica Amanda Salmonson
Thousand Shrine Warrior (Tomoe Gozen #3) by Jessica Amanda Salmonson

Review: The Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne by Elsa Hart

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | A+ Reviews> book reviews
Review: The Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne by Elsa HartThe Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne by Elsa Hart
Format: eARC
Source: supplied by publisher via Edelweiss, supplied by publisher via NetGalley
Formats available: hardcover, ebook, audiobook
Genres: historical fiction, historical mystery, mystery
Pages: 352
Published by Minotaur Books on August 4, 2020
Purchasing Info: Author's Website, Publisher's Website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Bookshop.org
Goodreads

From the author of the acclaimed Li Du novels comes Elsa Hart's new atmospheric mystery series.
London, 1703. In a time when the old approaches to science coexist with the new, one elite community attempts to understand the world by collecting its wonders. Sir Barnaby Mayne, the most formidable of these collectors, has devoted his life to filling his cabinets. While the curious-minded vie for invitations to study the rare stones, bones, books, and artifacts he has amassed, some visitors come with a darker purpose.
For Cecily Kay, it is a passion for plants that brings her to the Mayne house. The only puzzle she expects to encounter is how to locate the specimens she needs within Sir Barnaby’s crowded cabinets. But when her host is stabbed to death, Cecily finds the confession of the supposed killer unconvincing. She pays attention to details—years of practice have taught her that the smallest particulars can distinguish a harmless herb from a deadly one—and in the case of Sir Barnaby’s murder, there are too many inconsistencies for her to ignore.
To discover the truth, Cecily must enter the world of the collectors, a realm where intellect is distorted by obsession and greed. As her pursuit of answers brings her closer to a killer, she risks being given a final resting place amid the bones that wait, silent and still, in the cabinets of Barnaby Mayne.

My Review:

I adored this author’s Li Du series (start with Jade Dragon Mountain and prepare to be lost for several days), so when I noticed that she had moved from early 18th century China to early 18th century London for her latest, I couldn’t wait to see how that transition worked.

The fascinating thing about moving from Li Du to Cecily Kay and her former school friend Meacan Barlow is how strangely the two settings resemble each other. Li Du’s China in the early 18th century was a closed world – at least to the West. And Li Du is an outsider, an exiled imperial librarian on his way out of his own country.

The world of the scholarly, acquisitive, obsessive collectors of early 18th century London is just as much of a closed world, albeit in a completely different way. The collectors are a closed society, restricting membership, keeping all of their secrets locked up in their beautiful but often hidden presentation cabinets.

And Cecily and Meacan are also both outsiders to this world, which is exclusively male. They are both barely tolerated interlopers who exist on the fringes of this expensive and exclusive preserve.

Just like so many who are treated as outsiders in the worlds they inhabit, Cecily and Meacan are both keen observers of the situation in which they find themselves. They are ignored but intimate inhabitants of a world they are not believed to truly understand.

But of course they do. And frequently better than the men who are considered to be its prime movers and leading lights. Because they have no vested interest in maintaining the status quo – quite the reverse – they see situations and people with much clearer vision than the supposed cognoscenti.

And what they see is a confessed killer whose confession makes no sense whatsoever, and an investigation that is determined to pin the death of Barnaby Mayne on the most convenient suspect rather than seek out the real murderer – who must be one of the wealthy and influential collectors themselves.

A killer who is content to have the official investigation look elsewhere – but unwilling to countenance two amateurs poking their noses into his crimes.

Escape Rating A+: The world of the collectors was absolutely fascinating, just by itself. For context, this was the time period when the infamous Elgin Marbles were essentially looted from Athens and shanghaied to England.

While Lord Elgin’s looting of the Parthenon was on rather a grand scale, the society of collectors, of whom the late (and fictional) Barnaby Mayne was one of the leading lights, did the same thing, not quite on the same scale, all over the world.

Those that were capable went on their own expeditions of acquisition – or theft if you prefer – while others sponsored, basically, treasure hunters and tomb robbers to commit their thievery for them.

The entire concept manages to be both the start of the great museums we have today and utterly appalling at the same time.

As fascinated as I was by the setting for this story, it was Cecily and Meacan who really captured my attention and held it to the end. The way that their minds worked, and the way that they worked together to solve the murder, felt like it ripped the veil off of the usual portrayal of women of this period – a time period which borders on the Regency. Because in this story we see both how the men of this closed society – and the men of officialdom – see these two women and are able to contrast that with how they perceive themselves and the world around them..

On the one hand, they often play the roles that the world expects them to play. They are quiet and decorous and studying subjects considered fit for ladies – if barely. While on the other hand they see a great deal, know even more, and are caught in the position where they have to pretend to be one thing while secretly being another.

And while earning a living in Meacan’s case or maintaining a fragile independence in Cecily’s. They inhabit their era in a subversive way that allows us to see ourselves in them – and rail at the limitations they face.

The Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne manages to be both an atmospheric and immersive piece of historical fiction, every bit as meticulously detailed as the labels on Barnaby Mayne’s cabinets, while also giving us two marvelously drawn female protagonists in Cecily and Meacan. All wrapped around an intricately twisted mystery that holds the reader’s attention to the very end.

Review: Drowned Country by Emily Tesh

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | A Reviews> book reviews
Review: Drowned Country by Emily TeshDrowned Country (The Greenhollow Duology, #2) by Emily Tesh
Format: eARC
Source: supplied by publisher via NetGalley
Formats available: paperback, ebook, audiobook
Genres: fantasy, M/M romance, mythology
Series: Greenhollow Duology #2
Pages: 160
Published by Tordotcom on August 18, 2020
Purchasing Info: Author's Website, Publisher's Website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Bookshop.org
Goodreads

Drowned Country is the the stunning sequel to Silver in the Wood, Emily Tesh's lush, folkloric debut. This second volume of the Greenhollow duology once again invites readers to lose themselves in the story of Henry and Tobias, and the magic of a myth they’ve always known.
Even the Wild Man of Greenhollow can’t ignore a summons from his mother, when that mother is the indomitable Adela Silver, practical folklorist. Henry Silver does not relish what he’ll find in the grimy seaside town of Rothport, where once the ancient wood extended before it was drowned beneath the sea―a missing girl, a monster on the loose, or, worst of all, Tobias Finch, who loves him.

My Review:

This is a story about the magic that lingers in the hidden corners, in the dark and secret places of this world. It’s also about the magic that lives in the deepest reaches of the heart – whether that heart is more-or-less human – or so very definitely not.

When I finished Silver in the Wood last year, I thought that it was utterly lovely. Also that while it was complete in itself, I really wanted there to be just a bit more. Drowned Country is that bit more, and it is every bit as lovely as its predecessor.

But it is also a very different story. And probably doesn’t stand well on its own. Howsomever, even combined the Greenhollow Duology is short enough to be just an afternoon’s jaunt to a world that both is, and is not, our own. (The duology is even short enough that the listening time for the combined audiobook is just under 6 hours!)

When Silver in the Wood opened, Henry Silver was a young scholar, determined to find the truths behind the old myths and legends of not just the Greenhollow, but of all the legendary, magical and mythological creatures that still haunt the hidden places. He doesn’t want to believe that they are all merely the dangerous monsters that his mother has made a living out of hunting down and destroying.

When the Drowned Country opens, it opens in the aftermath of the events of Silver in the Wood. Two years after Henry traded places with Tobias Finch, the former “caretaker” of Greenhollow, Henry himself is now the Wild Man of the woods and Tobias is now Henry’s rather formidable mother’s assistant.

But Tobias had few difficulties with his centuries of solitude as the Green Man, while Henry is more than a bit lost in his new role. Or he just plain misses his friend and lover, Tobias Finch.

So when Henry’s mother arrives at what has increasingly become the ruin of his house, Henry is both appalled and energized. He may not want to deal with his mother, but he needs to put himself back out into the world – and he needs to beg forgiveness of the lover he lied to and lost.

Henry also hopes that his mother has finally recognized his skills and his value to her work. After all, he is both a published folklorist and a powerful nature avatar. But Adele Silver does not think that much of her son. She just wants to use him as bait for a vampire with a predilection towards handsome young men.

What Henry finds is a woman who might be the sister of his heart, if he can just manage to save her from the fairy who plans to install her as the queen of an ancient and dead realm. He can manage to save the girl, assist his mother, and gain his lover’s forgiveness. In order to do so he’ll have to fully embrace the role that he stumbled into with little thought for the future.

The magic he has at his fingertips might be just enough to save everyone else if he is willing to fully inhabit a role that fits him nearly as badly as the too-large coat that Tobias left behind.

But there is still magic in the world, and it might be just enough to save them all.

Escape Rating A: Silver in the Wood linked back to a lot of different stories, particularly those that revolve around nature spirits like the Green Man – meaning characters like Tom Bombadill and Tam Lin. It also nicely – or rather evilly – ropes in all those stories about evil spirits that never die without great sacrifice.

The story in Drowned Country feels more like it hearkens back to Rip Van Winkle and all of those stories about the magic of fairy rings, that they are gateways between our world and the land of the fae, and that those who wander between can disappear for centuries only to return after all their loved ones are long dead but believing that they’ve only been away a short time.

At the same time this story has a feeling of “the magic goes away” in that the Greenhollow is smaller than it once was, that its magic doesn’t stretch as far as it used to, and that the magic places in the worlds are dying.

Plus there’s that connection to the supernatural stories that became so popular in the late 19th century – the time period when this slightly alternate history feels like it belongs. The vampire that Adele Silver plans to lure out of his lair is quite real. Also quite dead and not merely undead.

And overtop of all of this is a combination of a quest and a romance. Henry isn’t sure whether he really plans to rescue the girl or he really hopes to follow her into Fairyland. She reminds him of himself, with that same sense of undying and something unthinking curiosity. But Henry also wants to win Tobias back for however long he can keep him. As an avatar of the wood, Henry will live for centuries, but Tobias is now mortal.

The only problem is that he has to first get Tobias to talk to him, and second to forgive him. Both are easier said than done, with all of the puns implied.

At the end, I was blown away. I expected the ending of Silver in the Wood, the whole story was leading straight towards it. I was NOT expecting the end of Drowned Country. It was beautiful, and breathtaking, and a complete surprise. It was also a perfect and fitting ending to the entire story..

Review: Weapons Master by Anna Hackett

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | A- Reviews> book reviews
Review: Weapons Master by Anna HackettWeapons Master (Galactic Gladiators: House of Rone #6) by Anna Hackett
Source: author
Formats available: ebook
Genres: science fiction romance
Series: Galactic Gladiators: House of Rone #6
Pages: 214
Published by Anna Hackett on August 9th 2020
Purchasing Info: Author's Website, Amazon
Goodreads

A grumpy cyborg weapons master collides with a feisty mechanic from Earth who turns his ordered existence upside down.

Abducted from her exploration ship and enslaved on a desert world, mechanic Bellamy Walsh has fought for her survival. She’s had to fight for everything in her life, and she doesn’t ever expect things to be easy. After being rescued by the tough, deadly cyborgs of the House of Rone, she is shocked to find herself drawn to a grumpy beast of a cyborg. A genius weapons master who prefers his solitude. A man with scars of his own. A man whose brawny arms are the only thing that chase away Bellamy’s nightmares.

Maxon Shaye likes to be left alone to work. He doesn’t mind his fellow cyborg brethren, but he finds people annoying and chaotic. He’s disconcerted by his growing need to keep Bellamy Walsh safe, and thinks she’s irritating and brash. The woman keeps invading his workshop, getting in his space, and…the even more infuriating thing is that he’s actually starting to like her there. What he doesn’t like is her burning need to throw herself back into danger.

Bellamy is determined to help bring down her captors—the metal-scavenging Edull and their deadly desert battle arena—and that makes her a target. She knows too much and the Edull will stop at nothing to silence her. Maxon will do anything to keep her safe, even if that means threatening the growing bond between them. But in order to destroy the Edull’s arena once and for, Maxon and Bellamy will put everything on the line—their desire, their love, their lives.

My Review:

This is the final book in the House of Rone series, and it’s a doozy of an ending. While the final book in a series is NEVER a good place to start, this is a GREAT place to finish!

The House of Rone, with their allies in the House of Galen, have finally managed to lock down the whereabouts of the illegal arena being operated by the sand-sucking Edull. The Edull don’t literally suck sand, but they do make the Tusken Raiders of Star Wars seem as cuddly in comparison. The Edull are tinkerers and engineers, actually rather like the Jawa. But the Edull have turned their engineering talents into the creation of weapons of mass destruction, and they hone their skills making battle-bots that seem to be as lethal to their riders as they are to any enemies.

As this story opens, the last refugee from the ship Helios has been rescued and brought to the House of Rone for healing, because that’s where most of the Helios survivors have wound up. But the healing Bellamy needs is to fight back and face her former captors – no matter how dangerous it might be.

No matter how much Maxon, the House of Rone’s genius weapons master, wants her to stay safe back in the city. Even if he can’t figure out why he’s so protective of this one, particular, and particularly annoying human.

It’s not so much a beauty and the beast romance as it is a grumpy vs. snarky romance. Maxon wants life to go back to the way things used to be, before all these humans invaded the peace of the House of Rone and brought all of the cyborgs back to life. He doesn’t want to feel all of the emotions his cybernetics have suppressed. Because they hurt.

Bellamy pulls Maxon out of his self-imposed isolation. He manages to both make her feel safe and to understand the restlessness inside her that requires payback and closure – not that he ever got any for the wrongs that led him to the House of Rone.

But their shared interest in and genius for engineering and weapons creation leads to a whole lot of emotions that neither expected to feel again.

And to the deadly, shattering conclusion to this kick-ass series.

Escape Rating A-:Weapons Master is a fitting wrap up to this marvelous epic science fiction romance series. It manages to both close out this particular subset of the Galactic Gladiators series, finish rescuing all of the refugees from the Terran ship Helios, set all of the cyborgs in the House of Rone on their way to their well-earned happy ever afters AND provide just a teasing hint of what might happen next in the space lanes around Carthago.

It’s been a wild ride so far, from the rocky beginning – for the survivors – when that errant wormhole opened up near Jupiter and spit out a whole horde of Thraxian ships intent on taking prisoners back to their home base in far, far away Carthago – as slaves for the Kor Magna Arena. Or for whomever is willing to buy.

The wormhole closed behind them when they reached Carthago space. It’s a one-way trip.

Both the House of Galen, the heroes of the original Galactic Gladiators series, and the House of Rone have spent blood, sweat and tears, as well as time, money and expertise, to rescue every single one of the Terrans who were brought to Carthago. Or at least, they’ve rescued every single one they even have a hint about.

One of the beauties of this series is that it’s all too easy to imagine that in addition to Jupiter Station and the ship Helios, the Thraxians or some other bunch of intergalactic low-lifes might have brought other groups back that the gladiators don’t know about – yet.

I have it on good authority (Thanks, Anna!) that we’ll be back to visit this part of the galaxy sometime next year. And I’m definitely looking forward to that return trip!