strange and random happenstance

Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris
Published by: Ace
Publication Date: May 1st, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"With Felipe de Castro, the Vampire King of Louisiana (and Arkansas and Nevada), in town, it’s the worst possible time for a body to show up in Eric Northman’s front yard—especially the body of a woman whose blood he just drank.
Now, it’s up to Sookie and Bill, the official Area Five investigator, to solve the murder. Sookie thinks that, at least this time, the dead girl’s fate has nothing to do with her. But she is wrong. She has an enemy, one far more devious than she would ever suspect, who’s out to make Sookie’s world come crashing down."

Ah Sookie... a new book about you is always the signal to me that Summer is beginning... now if you just didn't look like your sitting on the toilet and flying through mid-air, I'd be really happy.

The Uninvited Guests by Sadie Jones
Published by: HarperPublication Date: May 1st, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 272 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"One late spring evening in 1912, in the kitchens at Sterne, preparations begin for an elegant supper party in honor of Emerald Torrington's twentieth birthday. But only a few miles away, a dreadful accident propels a crowd of mysterious and not altogether savory survivors to seek shelter at the ramshackle manor—and the household is thrown into confusion and mischief.

The cook toils over mock turtle soup and a chocolate cake covered with green sugar roses, which the hungry band of visitors is not invited to taste. But nothing, it seems, will go according to plan. As the passengers wearily search for rest, the house undergoes a strange transformation. One of their number (who is most definitely not a gentleman) makes it his business to join the birthday revels.

Evening turns to stormy night, and a most unpleasant parlor game threatens to blow respectability to smithereens: Smudge Torrington, the wayward youngest daughter of the house, decides that this is the perfect moment for her Great Undertaking.

The Uninvited Guests is the bewitching new novel from the critically acclaimed Sadie Jones. The prizewinning author triumphs in this frightening yet delicious drama of dark surprises—where social codes are uprooted and desire daringly trumps propriety—and all is alight with Edwardian wit and opulence. "

That discription is screaming "Read ME Miss Eliza!"

The Serpent's Shadow by Rick Riordan
Published by: Hayperion
Publication Date: May 1st, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 416 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"He's b-a-a-ack! Despite their best efforts, Carter and Sade Kane can't seem to keep Apophis, the chaos snake, down. Now Apophis is threatening to plunge the world into eternal darkness, and the Kanes are faced with the impossible task of having to destroy him once and for all. Unfortunately, the magicians of the House of Life are on the brink of civil war, the gods are divided, and the young initiates of Brooklyn House stand almost alone against the forces of chaos. The Kanes' only hope is an ancient spell that might turn the serpent's own shadow into a weapon, but the magic has been lost for a millennia. To find the answer they need, the Kanes must rely on the murderous ghost of a powerful magician who might be able to lead them to the serpent's shadow . . . or might lead them to their deaths in the depths of the underworld.

Nothing less than the mortal world is at stake when the Kane family fulfills its destiny in this thrilling conclusion to the Kane Chronicles."

I was unimpressed by the first book in this series, but I really need to give it another try with two more now.

Silence by Michelle Sagara
Published by: DAW
Publication Date: May 1st, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 256 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"It began in the graveyard. Ever since her boyfriend Nathan died in a tragic accident Emma had been coming to the graveyard at night. During the day she went through the motions at her prep school, in class, with her friends, but that’s all it was. But tonight was different. Tonight Emma and her dog were not alone in the cemetery. There were two others there—Eric, who had just started at her school, and an ancient woman who looked as though she were made of rags. And when they saw Emma there, the old woman reached out to her with a grip as chilling as death…."

Sounds interesing and spooky.

Mud, Sweat, and Tears by Bear Grylls
Published by: William Morrow
Publication Date: May 1st, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 416 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Already a #1 London Sunday Times Bestseller, Mud, Sweat, and Tears is the adrenaline-fueled autobiography of the mega-popular star of the hit survival series Man Vs. Wild, adventurer Bear Grylls. A former British Special Forces commando, a man who has always sought the ultimate in dangerous challenges, Bear’s true story reads like an outdoors action and adventure novel. But Bear’s story is true—full of breathtaking escapes and remarkable exploits that would make any Jack London or H. Ryder Haggard hero proud."

Bear fascinates me. I really like his show but I just have this feeling he's a bit of a pompous dick. Like the kind of person who at a dinner party, you're hanging out near the horderves and he's like "You think that's bad, I've eaten a raw snake."

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Bear Grylls, Charlaine Harris, Deadlocked, Michelle Sagara, Mud Sweat and Tears, Rick Riordan, Sadie Jones, Silence, The Serpent's Shadow, The Uninvited Guests

Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale
Published by: Bloomsbury
Publication Date: September 18th 2007
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy(different edition than one reviewed)

Dashti's mother has died on the steppes. Leaving the other muckers behind, she takes refuge in the city of Titor's Garden. Dashti's ability to read and write makes her a valuable servant, not to mention her knowledge of the healing songs of the muckers. She is trained to be a serving maid to Lady Saren, the illiterate daughter of the city's leader. Dashti's first day of work is more than she could ever have bargained for. Arriving at Saren's home, the house is in an uproar. Lady Saren is to be locked up in a tower for her refusal to marry Khasar, the leader of nearby Thoughts of Under. Whence her lady goes, there goes Dashti, even if they just met. The days pass slowly in the tower. But with food for seven years, Dashti feels more secure than she did starving on the steppes wondering where her next meal was to come from.

But her lady is not well. Dashti sings to her and tends to her every need to no avail. Saren is holding onto a dark secret to do with Khasar that nothing can relieve. Their only hope comes one day when Khan Tegus secretly arrives. He is the leader of nearby Song for Evela and Saren's secret fiance. He brings them news from the outside world, even if Saren refuses to talk to him and Dashti must pretend to be her mistress, for which she hopes the Gods won't strike her down. They communicate night after night through the little hole in the base of the tower, till one night, Khasar attacks. They hear no more of Tegus, no more of their guards, and their food supply is in danger. The rats have found them. Which is not so big a worry as Saren's overeating.

Facing a slow death or finding a way out of the tower are the only options left to them. But the outside world has changed. Khasar has started a war with all the eight realms. Titor's Garden is no more. The two girls slowly make their way to Song for Evela, hoping that Khan Tegus can protect them. But once their Saren refuses to make herself known and asks Dashti to once more pretend to be her, despite there being a new fiance from Beloved of Ris. There is more war on the horizon. Dashti is but a mucker faced with hard decisions and a Lady who she is respecting less and less. Could a lowly mucker save all the eight realms and get the prince? Or will evil win?


The fact that our heroine is locked in a tower should be the first hint that this is a tale from the Brothers Grimm. Those brothers sure did like their maidens bricked up in out of the way locales. Shannon Hale writing it is another good sign. Shannon Hale has made her name with her retelling of fairy tales written by the Brothers Grimm, from The Goose Girl to Rapunzel's Revenge, she has taken the weak, put upon women, and strengthened them and given them new life. The retelling of Fairy Tales is a popular pastime in fiction, especially in young adult fiction. Fairy Tales are the building blocks we all played with as children. They are simple stories to teach us right from wrong. They are stories that, as we age, we see the flaws and the wrongs. But still, they resonate with us. Book of a Thousand Days is based on one of the lesser known stories by the Brothers Grimm, "Maid Maleen." The story of "Maid Maleen," unlike the title suggest, is not about a maid at all. We follow the brave princess locked in the tower who one day escapes and flees to the country of her beloved. Once there, she finds work in the kitchens and as begged by the ugly fiance of the king to pose as her during the wedding ceremony, the rightful princess and the rightful prince are reunited and cue the happily ever after.

Here we see the themes that Hale will employ in her retelling, disguises, imprisonment and resolution of woes. But what of the actual maid? What of "Dashti"? In the original story there is but one mention of the maid being locked into the tower with her mistress. Shannon Hale latched onto this simple line. To be imprisoned for a crime that is not yours, to be locked up with someone you don't know. Someone who is illiterate and woebegone. The day to day life that Dashti narrates, with the good as well as the bad, the growth as well as the set backs are what make this book so wonderful. While it is said that it takes a thousand days to know someone, by reading this book you know Dashti. A simple story about obedience from hundreds of years ago has brought forth a story of one girl's struggles to find herself and her place in the world. And it's totally empowering. Sometimes the old needs to infused with the new to make it relevant in today's world. Retelling a tale is all it takes.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Book of a Thousand Days, Brothers Grimm, Dashti, Fairy Tale Fortnight, Goose Girl, Khan Tegus, Lady Saren, Rapunzel's Revenge, Shannon Hale

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
Published by: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: 1948
Format: Paperback, 352 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy(different edition than one reviewed)

Cassandra Mortmain spends her days in the castle recording her life in her journals. Content, yet poor. Her sister Rose is anything but content. She would make a deal with the devil if it meant a way out of this dreary life. Scrapping by on little to no food or money while suffering her exotic, and usually nude, stepmother, Topaz, while her father spends his time in his tower not writing a follow-up to his successful book Jacob Wrestling, Rose is desperate from some way out. Then the Cottons arrive one night. Not only do they own the local estate, Scoatney Hall, and therefore the castle, but they are young, single, American, fans of the girls father, and most importantly, a way out for Rose. At first it looks like Rose's desperation has scared the young men away, but soon Simon and Neil return.

After an embarrassing and amusing incident with some fur coats the girls have inherited from their aunt, Simon and Neil realize that they where wrong to judge Rose and Cassandra so quickly. Rose soon has the ring on her finger from the elder brother Neil, whom Cassandra ends up falling for on Midsummer's Eve while Rose is away in London buying her trousseau. Cassandra wallows in misery, convinced that Rose doesn't love Simon and that if they could only break their father's writers block then they would have money and Rose wouldn't have to prostitute herself. Using immersion therapy, Cassandra and her little brother go to extremes to get their father back. Even if they do get him writing, is it soon enough for Rose? And if Rose where out of the way, could Simon love Cassandra?

Cassandra is one charismatic narrator, as the cover proudly proclaims, thanks to J.K. Rowling. The way she sees her world and describes the day to day events makes you loath for it to ever end. The character of Miss Marcy, the local librarian and school teacher, says it best. She wonders what happens after. She sometimes spends nights awake wondering what came after "The End." This book more than most leaves me wondering the same thing. I don't just wonder, I want to know. I want to go into this world and live there. I want to live in the castle, preferably with enough food and a mattress without a wonky spring. I want to see the funny bathroom and stroll the battlements.

The plot, while it does exist, doesn't drive the book, the characters do. It's about capturing the lives of the people who reside in and around the castle. We are one with Cassandra as she comes of age and realizes what matters in life. How you can't always have your way or chose who you love. Life isn't nice and neat with a clear ending, but messy and romantic and cold and wet and wonderful all at once. And perfection really just might be a box of chocolates and a hot bath next to the fire.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Cassandra Mormain, Cottons, Dodie Smith, I Capture the Castle, J.K. Rowling, Jacob Wrestling, Midsomer's Eve, Scoatney Hall

The Selection by Kiera Case
Published by: HarperTeen
Publication Date: April 24th, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in the palace and compete for the heart of the gorgeous Prince Maxon.

But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn't want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks.

Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she's made for herself- and realizes that the life she's always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined."
I'm a sucker for that cover. If the book is anywhere near as good I'll be a happy camper.

Spirit's Princess by Esther Friesner
Published by: Random House
Publication Date: April 24th, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 464 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Himiko the beloved daughter of a chieftain in third century Japan has always been special. The day she was born there was a devastating earthquake, and the tribe's shamaness had an amazing vision revealing the young girl's future—one day this privledged child will be the spiritual and tribal leader over all of the tribes. Book One revolves around the events of Himiko's early teen years—her shaman lessons, friendships, contact with other tribes, and journey to save her family after a series of tragic events. Once again, Esther Friesner masterfully weaves together history, myth, and mysticism in a tale of a princess whose path is far from traditional."

The next in Friesner's Princesses series. When I met her last year she said "Wait till the next one, I'm going to make all the young girls cry." Let's see how she does shall we?

The Secret of the Ginger Mice by Frances Watts
Published by: Runnin Press Kids
Publication Date: April 24th, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Alistair, Alex, and Alice have always been an inseparable (though not necessarily harmonious) triplet of mice…that is until Alistair is kidnapped one summer’s night. While Alistair tries to make heads or tails of falling from the sky onto another young ginger-colored mouse named Tibby Rose (a most unusual incident on all accounts), Alex and Alice set off to find their missing brother. But in a world where spies abound and an elusive underground organization called FIG is only heard about in shushed bits and pieces, figuring out whom to trust is no small task for this intrepid trio. The key to the mystery seems to be within their grasp, but it only hints at another hair-raising adventure and creates more questions that seemed destined to remain unanswered.

Full of warm, clean humor and whippet-quick wit, Frances Watts’ new trilogy will effortlessly charm readers and adventurers alike."

Charm, blah blah blah. They're mice and they're Gingers! The Doctor is jealous!

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Published by: Penguin Classics
Publication Date: April 24th, 2012
Format: Paperback, 528 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Little Women is recognized as one of the best-loved classic children's stories, transcending the boundaries of time and age, making it as popular with adults as it is with young readers. The beloved story of the March girls is a classic American feminist novel, reflecting the tension between cultural obligation and artistic and personal freedom. But which of the four March sisters to love best? For every reader must have their favorite. Independent, tomboyish Jo; delicate, loving Beth; pretty, kind Meg; or precocious and beautiful Amy, the baby of the family? The charming story of these four "little women" and their wise and patient mother Marmee enduring hardships and enjoying adventures in Civil War New England was an instant success when first published in 1868 and has been adored for generations."

Is it a shock that this beauitiful new edition is by Penguin? Nope, none at all.

Heat Rises by Richard Castle
Published by: Hyperion
Publication Date: April 24th, 2012
Format: Paperback, 432 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Fast-paced and full of intrigue, Heat Rises pairs the tough and sexy NYPD Homicide Detective Nikki Heat with hotshot reporter Jameson Rook in New York Times bestselling author Richard Castle's most thrilling mystery yet.

The bizarre murder of a parish priest at a New York bondage club opens Nikki Heat's most thrilling and dangerous case so far, pitting her against New York's most vicious drug lord, an arrogant CIA contractor, and a shadowy death squad out to gun her down. And that is just the tip of an iceberg that leads to a dark conspiracy reaching all the way to the highest level of the NYPD.

But when she gets too close to the truth, Nikki finds herself disgraced, stripped of her badge, and out on her own as a target for killers with nobody she can trust. Except maybe the one man in her life who's not a cop. Reporter Jameson Rook.

In the midst of New York's coldest winter in a hundred years, there's one thing Nikki is determined to prove: Heat Rises."

Castle in paperback, oh yeah!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Esther Friesner, Frances Watts, Heat Rises, Kiera Cass, Little Women, Louisa May Alcott, Richard Castle, Spirit's Princess, The Secret of the Ginger Mice, The Selection

Silent in the Grave: Lady Julia Book 1 by Deanna Raybourn
Published by: Mira
Publication Date: December 1st, 2007
Format: Paperback, 435 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy
Lady Julia Grey meets Nicholas Brisbane for the first time the night her husband Edward dies suddenly. Edward was always a frail man with lingering health problems, so it wasn't a surprise. Julia knew her entire life that Edward would die young. Yet Nicholas Brisbane thinks that Edward may have been hastened to the grave. Edward hired Nicholas before his death because he had been receiving death threats, and discreetly looking into matters of this nature is what Nicholas does. When Nicholas brings this information to Julia, she pushes it aside, not believing that foul play is at work here, only bad genetics. Nicholas' heir, his cousin Simon, is also dying under Julia's roof from the same health complications.

A year later Julia changes her mind about Edward's death. While finally cleaning out his study she stumbles upon one of these death threats and realizes the vitriol that was spewed forth and that perhaps Brisbane was right. Rushing to hire him, she is met with a man who is now all objections. Nicholas Brisbane says it's been too long, there is no chance, yet Julia pushes. Finally they agree to work the case together. Despite many acquaintances and Julia's large and eccentric family, the killer might be closer than either of them thought. Dealing with dangerous Romanies, health complications, degenerate footmen, and an unwelcome feathered visitor, is what it will take to find the answer to the death of Edward Grey. The clues are all there if only Julia would see.

I am sick of widows! No, seriously people. Stop having widows be the heroines of your Victorian series. This is symptomatic of an underlying genre crutch. A woman of this time period would have no independence unless she was widowed, therefore, windows run wild. I really don't think there could possibly be that many widows solving crime during the reign of Queen Victoria. Or that many husbands conveniently dying to have this many windows. Just take window add single, slightly unsavory man, have them solve some crime, if it's the first in the series, have them solve the death of window's husband, and viola. I picked up Silent in the Grave because felicitously I had it on my shelf and it was the book for my Vaginal Fantasy Hangout Book Club in February. Let's put it this way... I was so dispirited by the formulaic nature of the book that I didn't join in the discussion on our book club night and in fact opted to do homework. Yes, I chose homework versus talking about a book. There is a first time for everything.

There where many non-conventional elements that I liked. Julia's eccentric family that has been very odd for centuries, and willing accepts that being gay is just what you are. No one offers any objections to her sister's lifestyle, which is oddly refreshing. Also the underlying Romany Culture was fascinating and, I will admit, will entrance me almost every time. Add in just a dash of mysticism, and I'm hooked. So, there where things that made this book unique, just not enough.

Now let me get to Nicholas. Ah, Mr. Brisbane. You are unkempt, ill mannered, have a few dark secrets, have multiple addictions to illicit substances, really have nothing that would appeal to a woman, and have more than a few things in common with Sherlock Holmes. In fact, it's rather odd HOW much you have in common with Sherlock Holmes... in fact, the Robert Downey Junior version to be precise. I don't know if it was coincidence, or if the newest Sherlock Holmes was just borrowing heavily from this book, which came out two years prior to the movie... but there where so many similarities I was shocked. The smokey/purple glasses where the first hint, then the fight in the Romany tent... WOW. It was quite literally the fight at the beginning of Sherlock Holmes... so, here you go, Nicholas Brisbane in the living flesh, glasses and all:

There is only one mystery left to solve. Will I pick up the next one? Probably. I now have no expectations, so perhaps I will enjoy it more.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Deanna Raybourn, Lady Julia, Nicholas Brisbane, Queen Victoria, Robert Downey Junior, Sherlock Holmes, Silent in the Grave, Victorian

Sparkling Cyanide by Agatha Christie
Published by: HarperCollins
Publication Date: 1945
Format: Hardcover, 160 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy
There are six people thinking of Rosemary. Her husband and his secretary, her sister and the man she loves, Rosemary's ex-lover and his wife. A year before they all saw her die in front of their eyes of cyanide poisoning. Ruled a suicide, they where all dining with her around the restaurant table when she took her life. No one had any inkling that her death was anything other than that.  Till her husband George gets an anonymous letter saying that Rosemary was murdered. George becomes obsessed with finding his wife's killer. He concocts a plan to bring everyone back together on the anniversary of his wife's death. He will recreate the circumstances and the killer will be revealed. Only George didn't think that maybe the killer would strike again in the same fashion. The good Colonel Race steps in with Scotland Yard to sort out who among the dinners was the killer. Because if the second death proved anything, it was that Rosemary was murdered.

The greatest advantage Sparkling Cyanide has is that I've never seen an adaptation of it. I will fully admit at the outset I am an Agatha Christie whore. Give me some Poirot with David Suchet, give me some Marple with Geraldine McEwan, who in my mind was the truest Marple, sorry Julia McKenzie, I really liked you in Cranford, but you ain't Marple. It's also surprising that this hasn't been bastardized into an episode of Marple, which is the BBC's newest obsession. What do you do when you run out of Marple stories to tell? Start fiddling with the non-Marple stories but of course, Pale Horse anyone? I heard what you're up to with Endless Night, and there's no way that that will work, it's not a good Christie book, so try something else. Therefore, unlike previous delvings into Christie, I didn't have an inkling who-dun-it. And that's the key to Christie isn't it? At least the first time you read the book. The second time is watching how the puzzle was seamlessly put together and then realizing you had to be an idiot to swallow all those red herrings.

Yet, the murder, while interesting, wasn't what made this book so wonderful for me. The elegance of the time period and the characters are what drew me in. The glamor of Rosemary. Her life of partying and gambling. Her clothes and her carriage. The ritzy restaurant that had a cabaret show and dancing. All the dancing. The details of the couture, the severe lines and emeralds of one dress, the young naivety of another. Ah, to go back then just for the ambiance. I can see it all so clearly. Yet, that is, in essence, window dressing. The people inside the clothes are what matter most. Starting the book with a chapter from each of the different characters POV connects us to them in a way that a normal narrative wouldn't. If one of these characters is the killer, than we have missed the flaw in their thought patterns. One of these people had to have done it. Yet there's nothing that is obvious until the end. This works in a way that the narration of Christie's other novel, Endless Night didn't. By showing us all the suspects, we know that all but one are telling the truth and aren't forced to rely on a single narrator. The police and Race fall rather flat compared to the other characters, mainly because we weren't allowed a peak behind the curtain. This book will leave you hanging till the very end when everything falls into place and is put back on the table.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Agatha Christie, David Suchet, Endless Night, Geraldine McEwan, Julia McKenzie, Marple, Pale Horse, Poirot, Poison, Sparkling Cyanide

Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson (The Blogess)
Published by: Putnam
Publication Date: April 17th, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"For fans of Tina Fey and David Sedaris—Internet star Jenny Lawson, aka The Bloggess, makes her literary debut.

Jenny Lawson realized that the most mortifying moments of our lives—the ones we’d like to pretend never happened—are in fact the ones that define us. In Let’s Pretend This Never Happened, Lawson takes readers on a hilarious journey recalling her bizarre upbringing in rural Texas, her devastatingly awkward high school years, and her relationship with her long-suffering husband, Victor. Chapters include: “Stanley the Magical, Talking Squirrel”; “A Series of Angry Post-It Notes to My Husband”; “My Vagina Is Fine. Thanks for Asking”; “And Then I Snuck a Dead Cuban Alligator on an Airplane.” Pictures with captions (no one would believe these things without proof) accompany the text."

Ok, so, only one book I'm recommending this week... but I think this book trailer makes it pretty obvious why! (Yeah Wil Wheaton collating!)

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: The Blogess, Wil Wheaton

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
Published by: Atria
Publication Date: September 1st, 2006
Format: Hardover, 406 Pages
Rating: ★1/2★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)
Margaret Lea lives a half life. Working with her father in their antiquarian bookstore she knows that at birth she was a twin. Yet the twin didn't survive. She has always felt that the day she was born was also the day she died. Always looking in mirrors and reflections wondering if that is her sister on the other side. Out of nowhere the author Vida Winter contacts her. She read a little article Margaret had wrote and thought that perhaps Margaret would be her biographer. This would be quite the opportunity to be the biographer to the woman who in every interview she has ever done has told a different biography. Nineteen in the past two years alone. But Margaret can't help being intrigued by opportunity to be the biographer to the most popular author of the age and perhaps find out what happened to the elusive Thirteenth Tale... the missing story from her first book. Margaret agrees to the dying woman's wishes and takes up residence in her Yorkshire home, provided that she tell her three truths that can be verified. The three truths are her real name, where she is from and an event that could be verified. She is really Emmeline Angelfield, from Angelfield and the house burned to the ground. Yet these truths aren't why Margaret stays, it's the fact Vida's story is about twins.

Soon Margaret is obsessed with the world of the Angelfields. The possibly incestuous and definitely masochistic brother and sister, Charlie and Isabelle. Isabelle being the mother of the twins, Adeline and Emmeline, Charlie perhaps being the father. We see the feral children raised in squaller as the Angelfield estate falls apart under the overwork hands of the Missus and John, the Gardener. There are attempts to bring them out of their twinness, speaking only in their twin language. There is Doctor and Governess involvement, but they do more bad then good when they separate the twins, making them amputees missing that which gave them life. When Margaret is not transcribing the story laboriously with pen and paper she is not eating well and having nightmares, her life consumed by the Angelfields. She even ventures to the estate and tries to ferret out their secrets. But how can you be sure you know everything when someone who has always lied, always been the storyteller, claims to be telling the truth. Might they still omit something so there is still a secret only they know?

I will warn you now, I don't usually do spoilers in my reviews. This review will contain spoilers. I need to vent and address my issues, and to that effect, a certain rather big twist (to some) will be discussed at length. For years now people have been telling me to pick up The Thirteenth Tale. The story does center on bookish people, an English country house and perhaps a ghost or two. Add to that the heavy handed name dropping of some of my favorite books from Jane Eyre to The Woman in White to The Turn of the Screw and you'd think me and this book where a perfect fit. We weren't. We not only don't fit together, I think we're from two entirely different puzzles. The titular name dropping was used by the author to force us into this mindset that her book was similar to these other wonderful Gothic Tales. Saying it, repeatedly, doesn't make it so. Just because you have plot devices that mimic events that happen in these classics doesn't mean you should keep hammering the point home. Your book will never be as good as these standards, so stop comparing them, you will always, I repeat, always, come out the loser. You need to make your own book, references are fine, just don't be so blatant.

The book hinges on the story of Miss Winter's life. Miss Winter who is shamelessly an amalgam of Daphne Du Maurier and Agatha Christie, including all the creepy bits of Daphne Du Maurier's past that it's best not to dwell on. Miss Winter is an inveterate liar. She can never tell the truth, so when she does tell the truth there is a key fact omitted. A fact that is obvious to anyone familiar with this genre. The story about the girls, if you pay close attention shows a story of not just the mentioned twins, but a story of three girls. Yes, that is the big "secret." Three not two. The ghost is just another little girl, who happens to be a cousin or perhaps half sibling to the twins and could pass for either one of them and is probably born of rape. I should probably mention I am now going on to spoil other books for you too, The Woman in White being the first up. The "Woman in White" being the illegitimate daughter of the heroine's father, and therefore her half sibling, mimics the girls relationship to each other in The Thirteenth Tale. The evilness of the twins is seen as similar to The Turn of the Screw, while the godsend governess is Jane Eyre, oh, and of course, the house is then destroyed by fire. Here's an idea Diane Setterfield, try to write something original. Don't jumble all these other books together, reference them and then make the reader wish they where reading them instead of your choppy writing style with made up words like "twinness." Don't care if it's in the Urban Dictionary, it's not in the real one and sounds stupid.

The twinness more than anything is what got on my nerves. The changes of "We" to "I." Which I could easily see without the writer going, hey, did you see that. In fact Setterfield seemed so insecure in her own powers of weaving red herrings and hints throughout the book the she went out of the way to say "Hey, you caught that right?" and if you didn't, "Women in White, cough cough." Well, yes, I did, I'm not an idiot, by the way, I just started your book and there's three girls not two, this better not be what the next 300 pages is building up to. Of course it was. Also if I have to hear one more thing about the mystical bonds of twins I may vomit. Margaret always felt alone because she had a twin that her parents never told her about. Boo hoo, confront your parents and move on with you life. The only character I think I could spend any time with was the cat Shadow... too bad he has to live with Margaret. Also, why do you always drink hot cocoa? Don't appear to own a computer and then have a weird angel/ghost hallucination at the end? Why Margaret? WHY!?!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 2 comments  

Labels: Agatha Christie, Angelfield, Daphne Du Maurier, Diane Setterfield, Gothic, Jane Eyre, The Thirteenth Tale, The Turn of the Screw, The Woman in White, Vida Winter

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Published by: Doubleday
Publication Date: 1847
Format: Hardcover, 576 Pages
Challenge: Victorian Literature 2011
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)
Everyone has to know the story by now. It is THE standard of Gothic romances. There are so many adaptations and reinventions, there was yet another movie version which wasn't as bad as I thought it would be just this year. Poor sad orphan girl meets man of her dreams, too bad he's her rich boss and has a crazy wife in the attic. She runs away and wanders the moors, has a close call with becoming a missionary and gets her happily ever after once she's an independent woman and her rich boss is a maimed widower. What more could you want in a story? High passions, high adventure, and crazy person in the attic. There are those who love it, there are those who hate it. I am of the love camp.

After I first read it I didn't know if it would retain all it's wonder on a re-read. The first time through the early schooling at Lowood is deathly dull, as is the religious fervor that gripes St. John in the bizarre Rivers section wherein it feels as if Charlotte has a few issues with her family... The middle with Rochester is what the book is about, but it does need the two bookends to fill out the story. On my re-read I was shocked how quickly Lowood receded away. I was through that in a thrice! Perhaps knowing that it does end makes it bearable? But it was fine with her little religious buddy and her strict discipline. The book really comes alive though with Rochester. You don't realize how much of a life force he is and how he brings out the best in Jane. St. John... oh my, I hated him even more this time. It was hard work slogging through his harsh strictures on himself and others. But what struck me again as it did the first time is the modernity. The writing style feels like it was just written. It's fresh and lively. Some books, such as Jane Austen, while I adore them to bitty bits, I can see people's criticisms because of the staid writing style. To them I say Jane Eyre! It shows that classics can be contemporary. Old is new. There is no wonder as to why they keep adapting this story, despite not having the shock value of the first time, there is something in the passions and the way it's written that make it of now yet timeless.

Finally a note on the edition. The New York Public Library did these wonderful editions back when I was just out of high school. I never bought them new and have been kicking myself ever since. I have made it a goal to find all the books in this series, and let me tell you, it has been a battle. If you ever see one, get it, you will not regret it. Beautiful binding, gorgeous deckled edges. A cover that has a slight glossy feel but with a little matte texture as well. Oh, and the embossed signatures! Anyway, I've only seen their edition of Jane Eyre once, and that's the one reviewed here. And if you see the Frankenstein in this set, message me, we'll work something out.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: 2011 Reading Challenge, Charlotte Bronte, Gothic, Jane Eyre, Lowood, New York Public Library, Rochester

Glamour in Glass by Mary Robinette Kowal
Published by: Tor
Publication Date: April 10th, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Mary Robinette Kowal stunned readers with her charming first novel Shades of Milk and Honey, a loving tribute to the works of Jane Austen in a world where magic is an everyday occurrence. This magic comes in the form of glamour, which allows talented users to form practically any illusion they can imagine. Shades debuted to great acclaim and left readers eagerly awaiting its sequel. Glamour in Glass continues following the lives of beloved main characters Jane and Vincent, with a much deeper vein of drama and intrigue.

In the tumultuous months after Napoleon abdicates his throne, Jane and Vincent go to Belgium for their honeymoon. While there, the deposed emperor escapes his exile in Elba, throwing the continent into turmoil. With no easy way back to England, Jane and Vincent’s concerns turn from enjoying their honeymoon…to escaping it.

Left with no outward salvation, Jane must persevere over her trying personal circumstances and use her glamour to rescue her husband from prison . . . and hopefully prevent her newly built marriage from getting stranded on the shoals of another country's war."

Adored the first book and have been dying to dive into the second book... I don't like to wait, but if it's as good as the first I should be able to survive the drive to the bookstore... I hope.

The Book of Madness and Cures by Regina O'Melveny
Published by: Little Brown, and Company
Publication Date: April 10th, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Gabriella Mondini is a rarity in 16th century Venice: a woman who practices medicine. Her father, a renowned physician, has provided her entrée to this all-male profession, and inspired in her a shared mission to understand the secrets of the human body.

Then her father disappears and Gabriella faces a crisis: she is no longer permitted to treat her patients, women who need her desperately, without her father's patronage. She sets out across Europe to find where-and why-he has gone. Following clues from his occasional enigmatic letters, Gabriella crosses Switzerland, Germany and France, entering strange and forbidding cities. She travels to Scotland, the Netherlands, and finally to Morocco. In each new land she probes the mystery of her father's flight, and open new mysteries of her own. Not just mysteries of ailments and treatments, but ultimate mysteries of mortality, love, and the timeless human spirit.

Filled with medical lore and sensuous, vivid details of Renaissance life, The Book of Madness and Cures is an intoxicating and unforgettable debut."

Oh, Venice and the Renaissance, I must buy this.

The House of Velvet and Glass by Katherine Howe Published by: Voice
Publication Date: April 10th, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 432 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Katherine Howe, author of the phenomenal New York Times bestseller The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, returns with an entrancing historical novel set in Boston in 1915, where a young woman stands on the cusp of a new century, torn between loss and love, driven to seek answers in the depths of a crystal ball.

Still reeling from the deaths of her mother and sister on the Titanic, Sibyl Allston is living a life of quiet desperation with her taciturn father and scandal-plagued brother in an elegant town house in Boston’s Back Bay. Trapped in a world over which she has no control, Sibyl flees for solace to the parlor of a table-turning medium.

But when her brother is suddenly kicked out of Harvard under mysterious circumstances and falls under the sway of a strange young woman, Sibyl turns for help to psychology professor Benton Derby, despite the unspoken tensions of their shared past. As Benton and Sibyl work together to solve a harrowing mystery, their long-simmering spark flares to life, and they realize that there may be something even more magical between them than a medium’s scrying glass.

From the opium dens of Boston’s Chinatown to the opulent salons of high society, from the back alleys of colonial Shanghai to the decks of the Titanic, The House of Velvet and Glass weaves together meticulous period detail, intoxicating romance, and a final shocking twist that will leave readers breathless."

Titanic time! I forewarned you! That's all this year is about... well mainly because Jullian Fellowes has the new Titanic miniseries... not that 100 years thing. These days it's ALL Julian Fellowes.

The Calling by Kelley Armstrong
Published by: HarperCollins
Publication Date: April 10th, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Maya Delaney's paw-print birthmark is the mark of what she truly is—a skin-walker. She can run faster, climb higher, and see better than nearly everyone else. Experiencing intense connections with the animals that roam the woods outside her home, Maya knows it's only a matter of time before she's able to Shift and become one of them. And she believes there may be others in her small town with surprising talents.

Now Maya and her friends have been forced to flee from their homes during a forest fire they suspect was deliberately set. Then they're kidnapped, and after a chilling helicopter crash, they find themselves in the Vancouver Island wilderness with nothing but their extraordinary abilities to help them get back home.

In The Calling, the sizzling second book in the Darkness Rising trilogy, New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong pumps up the romance, danger, and suspense that left readers of The Gathering clamoring for more. "

For those who can NEVER get enough Kelley Armstrong, her you go!

The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict by Trenton Lee Stewart
Published by: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: April 10th, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 480 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Before there was a Mysterious Benedict Society, there was simply a boy named Nicholas Benedict. Meet the boy who started it all....

Nine-year-old Nicholas Benedict has more problems than most children his age. Not only is he an orphan with an unfortunate nose, but he also has narcolepsy, a condition that gives him terrible nightmares and makes him fall asleep at the worst possible moments. Now he's being sent to a new orphanage, where he will encounter vicious bullies, selfish adults, strange circumstances -- and a mystery that could change his life forever. Luckily, he has one important thing in his favor: He's a genius.

On his quest to solve the mystery, Nicholas finds enemies around every corner, but also friends in unexpected places -- and discovers along the way that the greatest puzzle of all is himself."

I keep meaning to pick up this series, and was reminded once again, this time from Lauren Willig... hmm, must really read now.

Come, Tell Me How You Live by Agatha Christie (Mallowan)
Published by: William Morrow
Publication Date: April 10th, 2012
Format: Paperback, 224 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"To the world she was Agatha Christie, author of numerous bestselling mysteries and whodunits, arguably the most popular writer in the English language. But in the 1930s she wore a different hat, traveling with her husband, renowned archaeologist Max Mallowan, as he investigated the buried ruins and ancient wonders of Syria and Iraq. Described by the author as a "meandering chronicle of life on an archaeological dig," Come, Tell Me How You Live is Dame Agatha Christie's first-person account of her time spent in this breathtaking corner of the globe where recorded human history began. It is a fascinating, eye-opening, vibrant, and vivid portrait of a place, a people, and a past, by a legendary writer whose extraordinary popularity endures to this day; an altogether remarkable narrative of everyday life in a world now long since vanished. "

Agatha Christie's memoir of when she was in the Middle East. Could there be a better pairing than the land of sand and pyramids and Dame Agatha? I think not!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Agatha Christie, Glamour in Glass, Julian Fellowes, Katherine Howe, Kelley Armstrong, Mary Robinette Kowal, Mystyerios Benedict Society, Regin O'Melveny, Trenton Lee Stewart

1)* Fair Game by Patricia Briggs - The 3rd book in Patricia Briggs Alpha and Omega series, which is a spin off from the Mercy Thompson Books. Also this was the first time in Hardcover! I have waited a year for this book and it didn't disappoint, but I read it too fast and now have to wait a year for the new Mercy and possibly two years for the new Alpha and Omega, sigh. Bought at Barnes and Noble.

* Means it's already been read

2)* Chi's Sweet Home Vol. 8 by Kanata Konami - The next best thing to having a cat is reading these sweet tales about the kitten Chi and her adventures. This one had and awesome sequence about how a cat always lands on her feet and the first time with the collar that turns pets into looking like satellite dishes with legs. Bought at Amazon.com.

3)* Soulless Manga Vol. 1 by Gail Carriger - Very pleasantly surprised how it translate the book. Despite being Vol. 1, it covers all the book Soulless, so yeah! All the characters are well drawn and unique, and it was a quick fun read. I almost wish it was all in color, like the beginning of the book. Also, I swear that the Loontwills house is the house from Upstairs Downstairs, the look is just right. Bought at Murder by the Book, and they got it signed for me!

4) How to Be Death by Amber Benson - Yes, Tara from Buffy is a writer! Also, totally got this signed thanks to my Houston peeps. Bought at Murder by the Book.

5) Jane Bites Back by Michael Thomas Ford - So, I had heard about the newest book in this series, Jane Vows Vengeance, but I didn't know it was a series. Jon at Murder by the Book was sure I'd love them, so I ordered all three because the author was signing at the store! Bought at Murder by the Book.

6) Jane Goes Batty by Michael Thomas Ford - Ditto above.

7) Jane Vows Vengeance by Michael Thomas Ford - Ditto above.

8) Out of Sight, Out of Time by Ally Carter - The newest Gallagher Girls book, found before release date at a favorite bookstore. Bought at Frugal Muse

9) Death and Victoria Dock by Kerry Greenwood - If you read last month's post, you will have read about my excitement over finding all those Phryne Fisher mysteries... well I found another one I needed! Bought at Frugal Muse.

10) Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire - I got to meet Seanan at WisCon last year and her new book looks like kick ass fun. Bought at Barnes and Noble.

11) Death of an Expert Witness by PD James - Because I love me some mystery, but even cooler, this book is the last book I needed in the earlier James books where all the covers are cool and match. I just hate when they change size/cover design half way through a series of books. It's a series, make them look like one, sheesh. Bought at Half Price Books.

12) The Scapegoat by Daphne Du Maurier - I was over the moon at this find! I've been trying to get all the Virago Daphne Du Maurier books, which, when you're trying to pick them up used because they are pricey, is hard. New they are too pricey, and the US has never published more than a few of her more popular titles. Also, the fact that she might be under mystery or fiction or "D" or "M" depending on the store... even if they are IN the store, you might not find them. For future reference for people who own bookstores, she's filed under "D" and probably fiction, but you could make an easy argument for Mystery, so I'm down with that. Bought at Half Price Books.

13) A Bride's Story Volume 3 by Kaoru Mori - I first heard about Kaoru because of her manga series Emma, which I quite enjoyed. I think I might have actually enjoyed the author's little afterwards which are very funny and self-deprecating even more. Last year A Bride's Story started, which is quite different, being about the 19th century Silk Road versus and Upstairs, Downstairs like situation with lots of maids and servants. The first two volumes really hooked me and am so excited that the next volume is finally out! Bought at Amazon.com.

14) Trail of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz - The newest installment by Lisa in one of my most favorite series ever. I wasn't able to go to the signing, but called the bookstore and got a signed copy delivered direct to my door. Yes, independent bookstores are that awesome, and they need and want you business! Bought at Centuries & Sleuths Bookstore.

Ok, and here's where my being goodish ends... The RT Convention in Chicago for the first time ever (that I've heard about) is letting people who aren't going to the convention come to the signing, oh... this is bad, 300+ authors, many of which I adore, some of which I've been meaning to read. In advance of this, I went on an Amazon crazy shopping spree to fill in the gaps moving books from my "to-get" shelf to my "to-read" shelf... sigh, one does try to be good and ones does fail horribly.

15) Dark and Stormy Night by P.N. Elrod - RT Convention. Bought at Amazon.com.

16) Must Love Hellhounds by Charlaine Harris - Because the SOokie Short Story Book doesn't have the Sookie-verse non-Sookie stories in it. Also RT Convention. Bought at Amazon.com.

17) The Accidental Demon Slayer by Angie Fox - A talking doggie, I'm in! RT Convention. Bought at Amazon.com.

18) Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost - RT Convention. Bought at Amazon.com.

19) The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley - RT Convention. Bought at Amazon.com.

20) Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sarah McLean - Because EVERYONE keeps telling me to read it and RT Convention. Bought at Amazon.com.

21) Faery Tales & Nightmares by Melissa Marr - How excited am I to meet Melissa Marr? VERY! RT Convention. Bought at Amazon.com.

22) The Vespertine by Saundra Mitchell - RT Convention. Bought at Amazon.com.

23) Some Girls Bite by Chole Neil - Because I should have read about vampires in Chicago years ago... RT Convention. Bought at Amazon.com.

24) Magic Lost, Trouble Found by Lisa Shearin - RT Convention. Bought at Amazon.com.

25) Embers by Laura Bickle - RT Convention. Bought at Amazon.com.

26) Ill Wind by Rachel Caine - Because I love me some weird weather and RT Convention. Bought at Amazon.com.

27) The Girl Who Was on Fire by Various - Yeah for a book about other people who love The Hunger Games! RT Convention. Bought at Amazon.com.

28) English as a Second Language by Megan Crane - RT Convention. Bought at Amazon.com.

29) The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross - Yeah steampunk and RT Convention. Bought at Amazon.com.

30) Goodnight, Mr. Holmes by Carole Nelson Douglas - Did anyone else know about this series about Irene Adler from Sherlock Holmes? Sounds awesome. RT Convention. Bought at Amazon.com.

31) Elegy for Eddie by Jaqueline Winspear - Yeah new Maisie Dobbs! Yeah Murder by the Book for getting it signed to me! Bought at Murder by the Book.

32) The American Heiress by Daisy Goodwin - Because I'm Downton desperate and everyone says this is like Downton and then it was at Frugal Muse so I thought it was fate! Bought at Frugal Muse.

33) Renegade Magic by Stephanie Burgess - Because I'm a sucker for Regency England and Magic! Bought at Barnes and Noble.
Darnit, almost had the same number of books as days... sigh. I swear I'll be better next month...

Note on the bookstores:

Barnes and Noble - the last big chain in the Midwest that everyone knows and loves or loathes accordingly.

Amazon.com - because sometimes, more often that not, your local Barnes and Noble didn't stock that ONE book you where looking for, and having prime means everything shows up so fast!

Murder by the Book - the best bookstore in the world! They're in Houston, Texas and have tons of amazing events and for every book you buy they'll let you send in three books to get signed. Love you all!

Frugal Muse - local Madison, Wisconsin chain with two stores in town which sells both old and new books at wonderful prices (at a really steep discount for new books too) and is easily my favorite bookstore.

Half Price Books - chain store of used books where you can often get amazing deals, but whose prices are not quite half off anymore since they decided to raise their prices in a bad economy.

Centuries & Sleuths Bookstore - An all mystery bookstore in Forest Park, Illinois that I really have to get to one of these days, it looks so cool!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 1 comments  

Labels: Ally Carter, Alpha and Omega, Amber Benson, Cats, Chi, Daphne Du Maurier, Fair Game, Gail Carriger, Jane Austen, Kaoru Mori, Manga, Michael Thomas Ford, Patricia Briggs, Seanan McGuire, Soulless

Grave Mercy, His Fair Assassin Book 1 by Robin LaFevers
ARC Provided by the author
Published by: Houghton Mifflin
Publication Date: April 3rd, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 644 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy
Ismae almost died before she was born. Her mother tried to purge her from her body because she knew that Death was Ismae's father. All her life she has been marked by death with a dark wine stain from her shoulder to her hip. On the day of her marriage to a man she neither loves nor likes, he learns the truth and attempts to kill her. The herbwitch that tried to end her in the womb now rescues her and sends her to the convent of St. Mortain. There Ismae learns that she is cursed, but with gifts from Death himself. Trained to be a handmaiden to Death she learns all the subtle arts from poisons to seduction, though she's not too keen on the womanly arts. She becomes a finely skilled tool, an assassin for Death himself. Her first two assignments go rather well and the men are sent to their graves. The deaths of these two men though are inopportune for Brittany's government who is trying to stay an independent Duchy from France. As atonement for the inconvenience the convent has wrought the Duchy's young ruler, Anne, and her bastard brother, Gavriel Duval, Ismae is to accompany Gavriel to court and aid the country, while also serving the sometimes conflicting needs of the convent.

While at court, Gavriel is worried that he has been saddled with a loose cannon. Ismae seems no need to confide in Gavriel, or ask his permission, and seems willing to kill whomever Death has marked, whether it's convenient to Gavriel or not. Ismae though is in a world where, through Gavriel, she is starting to wonder if the convent has things quite right. She has spent the last few years cloistered away from the world and is now questioning the convents teachings. Embroiled in affairs of the Breton Court and the Privy Council, Ismae soon learns that Anne is a ruler worthy of protection and Gavriel may be a man worthy of her heart. If only St. Mortain would show her what her true destiny is.

I have been a fan of Robin LaFever's since I was wandering around Barnes and Noble back in 2007 and stumbled upon Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos. The blend of Egyptian mythology with a plucky heroine in Edwardian England seemed a book that was written to perfectly meld all my favorite things inbetween two book covers. Not to mention the gorgeous art of Yoko Tanaka. Over the years I have waited with anticipation for each of the subsequent volumes to be released. I also fell in love with Robin's other series for younger readers, Nathaniel Fludd, Beastologist. Needless to say, she quickly became on of my favorite writers and one whom I've forced nearly all my friends to read. Side note, it's not cruel and unusual punishment if they end up loving the books as I do. Plus, one of my friends named her son Nathaniel, so obviously her son needed a full set of the books (four so far)! Anyways, because of this lovely thing called the internet, I was able to get in touch with Robin because I felt that she needed to be exposed to as many readers as I could get her. First she joined goodreads, which I heartily encourage of everyone, and then with the launching of my blog, I now have even more of a platform in which to declare my love of these books.

This year marks a new series for Robin. Grave Mercy is the first in her new "His Fair Assassin" series, the HIM being Death. Set in Breton in the 15th century, Robin was "curious to see what [I] think, since it is SO different from Theo!" She's right, it is SO different from Theo. But I've come to the conclusion that a great author is able to write in any genre and on any subject matter as long as they have a clear authorial voice that comes through. Robin has that voice. It changes with the characters and the timeperiods she's writing about, but there's a way she grips you from the outset. She has an engaging writing style that doesn't make it feel like you're fighting the text to get from word to word and paragraph to paragraph. It's a book where you look up and find yourself surprised that an hour or two or three have passed, or even that it's five in the morning and shouldn't you be asleep by now?

This flow in her writing is even more impressive when you think about the fact that this is Historical Fiction in essence. I read a lot of Historical Fiction and it can easily be bogged down with overly archaic language, too many historical events and plot points given to you like a lesson at school that you hated the first time around and has you scrambling back and forth over the text trying to remember minutiae of each plot and counter plot. But Robin did an amazing job of making the people real and not making the history presented in a way that it was too complex therefore making me feel dense. The book just flowed. I fell for Ismae and her evil Hogwarts convent and then fell all over again when Gavriel showed up. These characters became real to me. I was invested in their lives and with getting them together! Jane Austen had it so right with Darcy and Elizabeth, now just make one an assassin and the other an upright young man, Anne his sister gets to be Georgiana, and you just wait for them to realize the truth that, though they are so different, they are so right for each other. The thing is, now I have a problem. I want the next book now. You are all reading this and being all jealous that I already got to read it and I'm sure you have no pity for me... but now I have to wait even longer than you for the second book, think of it that way.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 2 comments  

Labels: Beastologist, Breton, DEATH, France, Grave Mercy, His Fair Assassin, Historical Fiction, Nathaniel Fludd, R.L. LaFevers, Robin LaFevers, Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos

Grave Mercy by Robin (RL) LaFevers
Published by: Houghton Mifflin
Publication Date: April 3rd, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 560 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Why be the sheep, when you can be the wolf?

Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.

Ismae’s most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany—where she finds herself woefully under prepared—not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart?"

One of the best books I've read all year. Robin is one of my favorite authors and despite being very different than her other books, it was amazing. I can't wait a year for book two... I just can't. In fact, if you ever pay attention, I always list books in order of favorite to least on my Tuesday Tomorrow posts, and this is a busy week, so busy I omitted several books, and if you notice this is even before that literary titan, Alexander McCall Smith. Just go buy it k?

The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection by Alexander McCall Smith
Published by: Pantheon
Publication Date: April 3rd, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 272 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In this latest episode in the beloved, best-selling series, the kindest and best detective in Botswana faces a tricky situation when her personal and professional lives become entangled.

Precious Ramotswe is haunted by a repeated dream: a vision of a tall, strange man who waits for her beneath an acacia tree. Odd as this is, she’s far too busy to worry about it. The best apprentice at Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors is in trouble with the law and stuck with the worst lawyer in Gaborone. Grace Makutsi and Phuti Radiphuti are building the house of their dreams, but their builder is not completely on the up and up. And, most shockingly, Mma Potokwane, defender of Botswana’s weak and downtrodden, has been dismissed from her post as matron at the orphan farm. Can the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency help restore the beloved matron to her rightful position?

As wealthy and powerful influences at the orphan farm become allied against their friend, help arrives from an unexpected visitor: the tall stranger from Mma Ramotswe’s dreams, who turns out to be none other than the estimable Clovis Andersen, author of the No. 1 Ladies’ prized manual, The Principles of Private Detection. Together, Mma Ramotswe, Mma Makutsi, and their teacher-turned-colleague help right this injustice and in the process discover something new about being a good detective."

Hmmm, a new Alexander McCall Smith book... will I be buying it? Do we need water to survive?

Sacre Bleu by Christopher Moore
Published by: William Morrow
Publication Date: April 3rd, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 416 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"It is the color of the Virgin Mary's cloak, a dazzling pigment desired by artists, an exquisite hue infused with danger, adventure, and perhaps even the supernatural. It is . . . Sacre Bleu

In July 1890, Vincent van Gogh went into a cornfield and shot himself. Or did he? Why would an artist at the height of his creative powers attempt to take his own life . . . and then walk a mile to a doctor's house for help? Who was the crooked little "color man" Vincent had claimed was stalking him across France? And why had the painter recently become deathly afraid of a certain shade of blue?

These are just a few of the questions confronting Vincent's friends—baker-turned-painter Lucien Lessard and bon vivant Henri Toulouse-Lautrec—who vow to discover the truth about van Gogh's untimely death. Their quest will lead them on a surreal odyssey and brothel-crawl deep into the art world of late nineteenth-century Paris.

Oh la la, quelle surprise, and zut alors! A delectable confection of intrigue, passion, and art history—with cancan girls, baguettes, and fine French cognac thrown in for good measure—Sacre Bleu is another masterpiece of wit and wonder from the one, the only, Christopher Moore."

It's about Vincent Van Gogh and includes a bit about his "suicide." I'm sold. Ever since that one Doctor Who episode, Van Gogh somehow seems even more amazing and real to me.

Paris in Love by Eloisa James
Published by: Random House
Publication Date: April 3rd, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 272 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In 2009, New York Times bestselling author Eloisa James took a leap that many people dream about: she sold her house, took a sabbatical from her job as a Shakespeare professor, and moved her family to Paris. Paris in Love: A Memoir chronicles her joyful year in one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

With no classes to teach, no committee meetings to attend, no lawn to mow or cars to park, Eloisa revels in the ordinary pleasures of life—discovering corner museums that tourists overlook, chronicling Frenchwomen’s sartorial triumphs, walking from one end of Paris to another. She copes with her Italian husband’s notions of quality time; her two hilarious children, ages eleven and fifteen, as they navigate schools—not to mention puberty—in a foreign language; and her mother-in-law Marina’s raised eyebrow in the kitchen (even as Marina overfeeds Milo, the family dog).

Paris in Love invites the reader into the life of a most enchanting family, framed by la ville de l’amour."

I wish a was a well known writer that could go to Paris for a year and then write a book about it that will become a best seller... sigh, my dreams.


The Shape of Desire by Sharon Shinn
Published by: Ace
Publication Date: April 3rd, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"For fifteen years Maria Devane has been desperately, passionately in love with Dante Romano. But despite loving him with all of her heart and soul, Maria knows that Dante can never give all of himself back-at least not all the time.

Every month, Dante shifts shape, becoming a wild animal. During those times, he wanders far and wide, leaving Maria alone. He can't choose when he shifts, the transition is often abrupt and, as he gets older, the time he spends in human form is gradually decreasing. But Maria, who loves him without hesitation, wouldn't trade their unusual relationship for anything.

Since the beginning, she has kept his secret, knowing that their love is worth the danger. But when a string of brutal attacks occur in local parks during the times when Dante is in animal form, Maria is forced to consider whether the lies she's been telling about her life have turned into lies she's telling herself..."

A perfect birthday present for my friend Matt... maybe I shouldn't have posted it then... ah, he nevers reads my blog much.


The Flower Reader by Elizabeth Loupas
Published by: NAL
Publication Date: April 3rd, 2012
Format: Paperback, 448 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Rinette Leslie of Granmuir has the ancient gift of divining the future in flowers, but her gift cannot prepare her for the turmoil that comes when the dying queen regent entrusts her with a casket full of Scotland's darkest secrets. On the very day she means to deliver it to newly crowned Mary, Queen of Scots, Rinette's husband is brutally assassinated.

Devastated, Rinette demands justice before she will surrender the casket, but she is surrounded by ruthless men who will do anything to possess it. In the end, the flowers are all she can trust-and only the flowers will lead her safely home to Granmuir."

Elizabeth Loupas' first book got great acclaim last year, luckily she had another one up her sleeve.

Imperial Scandal by Teresa Grant
Published by: Kensington
Publication Date: April 3rd, 2012
Format: Paperback, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Amid the treachery of war and the whirl of revelry, no one is what they seem. . .

Nights filled with lavish balls. . .lush, bucolic afternoons. . .. Removed to glamorous Brussels in the wake of Napoleon's escape from Elba, Intelligence Agent Malcolm Rannoch and his wife, Suzanne, warily partake in the country's pleasures. But with the Congress of Vienna in chaos and the Duke of Wellington preparing for battle, the festivities are cut short when Malcolm is sent on a perilous mission that unravels a murderous world of espionage. . .

No one knows what the demure and respectable Lady Julia Ashton was doing at the château where Malcolm and a fellow British spy were ambushed. But now her enigmatic life has been ended by an equally mysterious death. And as the conflict with Napoleon marches toward Waterloo, and Brussels surrenders to bedlam, Suzanne and Malcolm will be plunged into the search for the truth--revealing an intricate labyrinth of sinister secrets and betrayal within which no one can be trusted."

Tracy Grant, I mean Teresa Grant's, newest book, yeah Regency!

A Breath of Eyre by Eve Marie Mont
Published by: KTEEN
Publication Date: April 3rd, 2012
Format: Paperback, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A scholarship student at an exclusive prep school, Emma Townsend feels like an outsider. Her stepmother doesn't come close to filling the void left by her mother's death. And her only romantic prospect - apart from a crush on her English teacher - is Gray Newman, a long-time friend who just adds to Emma's confusion. "Escape" comes in the old leather-bound copy of Jane Eyre that Emma receives as a gift. Then a lightning storm catapults Emma right into Jane's body and her nineteenth-century world. As governess at Thornfield, Emma experiences a sense of belonging she's never felt before, and a growing attraction to the brooding Mr. Rochester. Now, moving between two realities and uncovering secrets in both, Emma must decide whether her destiny lies in the pages of Jane's story, or in the unwritten chapters of her own..."

I have been "patiently" waiting for this book to come out for awhile now... yes, "patiently." What?

Heads You Lose by Lisa Luta and David Hayward
Published by: Berkley Trade
Publication Date: April 3rd, 2012
Format: Paperback, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"New York Times-bestselling author Lisa Lutz conspires with-or should we say against?- coauthor David Hayward to write an original and hilarious tag-team crime novel.

Meet Paul and Lacey Hansen: orphaned, pot-growing twentysomething siblings eking out a living in rural Northern California. When a headless corpse appears on their property, they can't exactly dial 911, so they move the body and wait for the police to find it. Instead, the corpse reappears, a few days riper . . . and an amateur sleuth is born. Make that two.

When collaborators Lutz and Hayward (former romantic partners) start to disagree about how the story should unfold, the body count rises, victims and suspects alike develop surprising characteristics (meet Brandy Chester, the stripper with the Mensa IQ), and sibling rivalry reaches homicidal intensity. Think Adaptation crossed with Weeds. Will the authors solve the mystery without killing each other first?"

Hilarous book where what happens in the "real world" is just as funny as the book world. Check out my review from last year!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alexander McCall Smith, Christopher Moore, Elizabeth Loupas, Eloisa James, Eve Marie Mont, Grave Mercy, Jane Eyre, Lisa Lutz, Robin LaFevers, Sharon Shinn, Teresa Grant, Vincent Van Gogh