strange and random happenstance

The Spy Wore Silk by Andrea Pickens
Published by: Oliver-Heber Books
Publication Date: February 25th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 350 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Selina plucked her name from a spinning globe, much as she was plucked out of the gutter by Lord Lynsley. He saw in her a tenacity that would be perfect for his unique scheme, a scheme that saw orphans from the stews placed in the care of Mrs. Merlin where these select young women of no breeding would be taught to save England in its hour of need. They were taught culture and seduction. They were taught to wield a blade and a pistol as well as any man. In fact, better than many. They were taught to rely on their own wits and work alone for king and country using the more subtle forms of warfare. And as the war with Napoleon rages on, England has need of Merlin's Marauders. Or it has need of one of them, their best. Selina. It is time for her to fly. There is a traitor who has been leaking documents to the French through expensive and rare editions of books. The most recent missive that has been stolen is in regards to Russia's alliance with England. If this were to make it into the hands of the French that alliance would come to an end. Because of the unique method of delivery the traitor might have tipped their hand. The Golden Page Club is a group of six men with disparate personalities who come together to talk about incunabula. Dunster, Fitzwilliam, Winthrop, Leveritt, Jadwin, and Kirtland are all men of means, but it's James Winchester, the Earl of Kirtland, whom Lord Lynsley has singled out. Kirtland had a rather glorious military career that ended rather publicly. If any one of these bookworms holds a grunge against England, he is the most likely. Which is where Selina comes in. She has launched herself, rather dramatically, into society as The Black Dove, a courtesan in search of a protector. And that protector could only be a member of The Gilded Page Club. All six members have been invited to Marquand Castle for a fortnight for an exclusive auction of a set of rare fourteenth century Burgundian Psalters illuminated by the monks of St. Sebastian Abbey. Thanks to Lord Lynsley, Selina will be one of the guests. During the course of the house party she will host a competition amongst the six men to see which one of them will protect her. All the challenges though are designed to route out the spy. Little did she think when starting this mission that her heart was most at risk. Selina is in danger of falling for a man who might just be a traitor according to Lynsley. But only time will tell if her instincts are right about Kirtland or if she's unwittingly risked the fate of her country.

I have been a fan of Andrea Penrose since I picked up her book Sweet Revenge on a perfect bookstore outing with my Dad one cold winter night in 2011. And yes, I can close my eyes and picture myself there in Barnes and Noble just like it was yesterday and not fifeteen years ago. Little did I realize that Andrea Penrose was just another pen name of Andrea DaRif, who taught a class at Yale in 2010 with perennial favorite, Lauren Willig, called "Reading the Historical Romance." If I had put two and two together I would have hunted down all her books before that felicitous bookstore outing. For my blog's Regency Romp back in 2022 I devoured all of her Lady Arianna books having not realized that they had continued as eBooks after the first three were released in paperback. I had a lot of catching up to do. It was glorious. But after you've read all the Lady Arianna and all the Wrexford and Sloane books and even read her books written as Cara Elliott, what is a reader to do? It turns out she thankfully had YET ANOTHER pen name out there, Andrea Pickens! And, well, it just so happens that Andrea's partnered with Oliver-Heber Books to re-publish a number of her old Signet Regency books as well as her Mrs. Merlin's Academy for Extraordinary Young Ladies series, The Spy Wore Silk being the first volume in this series. I went into this book with no expectations and was wonderfully surprised that this book felt written just for me. Books, art, a country house party!?! All while trying to foil dastardly spies? Seriously, written. For. Me. It captured the same joy I had when I first read Lauren Willig's The Secret History of the Pink Carnation, which is the standard by which I judge all modern authors writing in the Regency. Yet there was also the delicious romance of Lisa Kleypas's Wallflowers series. And yes, I realize that at this point all I'm doing is listing favorite series that The Spy Wore Silk reminded me of, but that's because I honestly think that after reading only the first book that this will become a new favorite series of mine and I can't wait to read the next three books. This book was just such fun, with memorable characters and so much appetizing alliteration. But what I felt stood out from the crowd with this book was that by posing as a courtesan Selina is treated very differently by men. This isn't the ton we are used to. Yes, women are always in danger of being compromised, for Selina it could be much much worse. They all think she's chattel and treat her as such. Thankfully she can defend herself. But this sure isn't Jane Austen's England. I need more!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Andrea DaRif, Andrea Penrose, Andrea Pickens, Books, Cara Elliott, Courtesan, Lauren Willig, Lisa Kleypas, Merlin's Marauders, Pink Carnation, Regency, Sweet Revenge, The Black Dove, The Spy Wore Silk, Top Ten, Wallflowers

Tomb of the Queen by Joss Walker
Published by: Two Tales Press
Publication Date: June 8th, 2021
Format: Kindle, 468 Pages
Rating: ★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

Jayne Thorne has spent a life on the run. She didn't know that's why her sister Sofia moved them at least three times a year until Jayne was in high school. She never understood the reason for the depths of Sofia's paranoia until recently. This was just a part of her everyday life. So when your surroundings are liable to change you hold onto the constants in your life. And for Jayne, books have always been a constant. As well as pie. Which is why she's a librarian who loves to eat pie. What's the point of dinner without dessert is a mantra she lives by. A month ago she started a dream job at Vanderbilt Library's Public Services and Reference Department where she works with everything from rare books about the history of Vanderbilt itself to fascinating Afro-Cuban manuscripts. She loves Nashville. Sure, it's not Dublin. And she's not in charge of the Book of Leinster at Trinity College which Jayne wrote her thesis on, but Vandy is a close second. Perhaps settling for a dream job versus the dream job is enough for now. Plus Sofia probably couldn't handle Jayne going overseas. As it is their not living together for the first time in their entire lives seems to have Sofia on edge. As do the news reports of people combusting into flame. Which is why Jayne doesn't tell her about a weird experience. She thinks it's just another ocular migraine but the green stars were a bit out of the ordinary. She could sure use that drink with her sister. But that wasn't any ocular migraine. That was magic. When Jayne touched a book that just happened to be a spell book she sent a shock wave through the magical community. Luckily the CIA gets to her first. The Torrent Control Organization, TCO for short, is a small, quiet, and little-known branch of that monster organization. And they want to recruit Jayne in their fight against the terrorist organization known as the Kingdom. The Kingdom wants to return the world to the way it was, with magic flowing freely and no technology. Anyone not adept in magic would basically be a serf. As for those who rely on technology to survive? Well, of course, in any great upheaval there will be casualties. To do this the Kingdom needs necromantic grimoires and the TCO is pretty sure that the Book of Leinster is one of them. The way the torrent reacted to Jayne combined with her thesis indicates that not only is she the only person for this job, but that she might be the first Master in a very long time. So she's off to Dublin. Sofia has no idea. But Jayne's about to find out what they've been running from their entire lives.

I have rarely read a book where I couldn't care less what happened. The characters were flat and the story felt lifeless. Yes, I was glad that for once an author in creating a bookish heroine had said character like books other than Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings. But that doesn't mean Jayne doesn't like Harry Potter and all the Harry Potter references for a book released in 2021 was too unfeeling. The only thing I really appreciated is that I honestly thought they were setting up the Kingdom to be a cult like group that had decent goals and could legitimately divide Jayne's loyalties. Oh no. They were a cult. An evil cult. They were evil as fuck and I applaud that. There was no ambiguity in this book that could be seen as slightly Copaganda adjacent. They killed people. They stole. They cut Jayne open and told her to heal herself. You go evil Kingdom, you take down the island! And that's where all my problems in this book stem from, the way the Kingdom's goals are presented shows a weird lack of sensitivity to Ireland, Irish Car Bomb cocktail aside. There was all this cool Irish history that could be explored with the Book of Leinster being Queen Medb's and yet, I'm not sure that Joss Walker understands how important Ireland's national identity is. Back to the "island" comment. So, the Kingdom's plan to return the world to the way it was is to destroy the power grid. By blowing up a substation near Medb's tomb in Knocknarea, Ireland, it dominoes to take out Northern Ireland and then England. Yet aside from two places in the book when referencing this plan they include Ireland as part of the UK. As someone who is proudly of Irish heritage while also being an Anglophile, and yes, I know, that can be complicated, I say what da fuk!?! Ireland is not part of the United Kingdom! Northern Ireland is, Ireland isn't. Dublin is in Ireland. Got that? NOT Northern Ireland. Knocknarea? Again, NOT Northern Ireland. IRELAND IS IT'S OWN COUNTRY! It has been since the partition in the nineteen twenties. I mean, you think setting a book in Ireland you'd know a bit about the history of the country when the protagonist is a self-described history nerd! Likewise, it could be just a lack of clarity and Joss Walker does know the difference. Or knew the difference for those two times it was stated correctly. But this glaring and offensive an error put me off the entire book. I almost want to read the next book to see if she insults the French. Almost.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: An Urban Development, Books, CIA, Dublin, Harry Potter, Ireland, Jayne Thorne, Jayne Thorne CIA Librarian, Joss Walker, Magic, Pie, Queen Medb, TCO, The Book of Leinster, The Kingdom, Tomb of the Queen, Trinity College, United Kingdom

The Spy Wore Silk by Andrea Pickens
Published by: Oliver-Heber Books
Publication Date: February 25th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 350 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Selina plucked her name from a spinning globe, much as she was plucked out of the gutter by Lord Lynsley. He saw in her a tenacity that would be perfect for his unique scheme, a scheme that saw orphans from the stews placed in the care of Mrs. Merlin where these select young women of no breeding would be taught to save England in it's hour of need. They were taught culture and seduction. They were taught to wield a blade and a pistol as well as any man. In fact, better than many. They were taught to rely on their own wits and work alone for king and country using the more subtle forms of warfare. And as the war with Napoleon rages on, England has need of Merlin's Marauders. Or it has need of one of them, their best. Selina. It is time for her to fly. There is a traitor who has been leaking documents to the French through expensive and rare editions of books. The most recent missive that has been stolen is in regards to Russia's alliance with England. If this were to make it into the hands of the French that alliance would come to an end. Because of the unique method of delivery the traitor might have tipped their hand. The Golden Page Club is a group of six men with disparate personalities who come together to talk about incunabula. Dunster, Fitzwilliam, Winthrop, Leveritt, Jadwin, and Kirtland are all men of means, but it's James Winchester, the Earl of Kirtland, whom Lord Lynsley has singled out. Kirtland had a rather glorious military career that ended rather publicly. If any one of these bookworms holds a grunge against England, he is the most likely. Which is where Selina comes in. She has launched herself, rather dramatically, into society as The Black Dove, a courtesan in search of a protector. And that protector could only be a member of The Gilded Page Club. All six members have been invited to Marquand Castle for a fortnight for an exclusive auction of a set of rare fourteenth century Burgundian Psalters illuminated by the monks of St. Sebastian Abbey. Thanks to Lord Lynsley, Selina will be one of the guests. During the course of the house party she will host a competition amongst the six men to see which one of them will protect her. All the challenges though are designed to route out the spy. Little did she think when starting this mission that her heart was most at risk. Selina is in danger of falling for a man who might just be a traitor according to Lynsley. But only time will tell if her instincts are right about Kirtland or if she's unwittingly risked the fate of her country.

I have been a fan of Andrea Penrose since I picked up her book Sweet Revenge on a perfect bookstore outing with my Dad one cold winter night in 2011. And yes, I can close my eyes and picture myself there in Barnes and Noble just like it was yesterday and not fourteen years ago. Little did I realize that Andrea Penrose was just another pen name of Andrea DaRif, who taught a class at Yale in 2010 with perennial favorite, Lauren Willig, called "Reading the Historical Romance." If I had put two and two together I would have hunted down all her books before that felicitous bookstore outing. For my blog's Regency Romp back in 2022 I devoured all of her Lady Arianna books having not realized that they had continued as eBooks after the first three were released in paperback. I had a lot of catching up to do. It was glorious. But after you've read all the Lady Arianna and all the Wrexford and Sloane books and even read her books written as Cara Elliott, what is a reader to do? It turns out she thankfully had YET ANOTHER pen name out there, Andrea Pickens! And, well, it just so happens that Andrea's partnered with Oliver-Heber Books to re-publish a number of her old Signet Regency books as well as her Mrs. Merlin's Academy for Extraordinary Young Ladies series, The Spy Wore Silk being the first volume in this series. I went into this book with no expectations and was wonderfully surprised that this book felt written just for me. Books, art, a country house party!?! All while trying to foil dastardly spies? Seriously, written. For. Me. It captured the same joy I had when I first read Lauren Willig's The Secret History of the Pink Carnation, which is the standard by which I judge all modern authors writing in the Regency. Yet there was also the delicious romance of Lisa Kleypas's Wallflowers series. And yes, I realize that at this point all I'm doing is listing favorite series that The Spy Wore Silk reminded me of, but that's because I honestly think that after reading only the first book that this will become a new favorite series of mine and I can't wait to read the next three books. This book was just such fun, with memorable characters and so much appetizing alliteration. But what I felt stood out from the crowd with this book was that by posing as a courtesan Selina is treated very differently by men. This isn't the ton we are used to. Yes, women are always in danger of being compromised, for Selina it could be much much worse. They all think she's chattel and treat her as such. Thankfully she can defend herself. But this sure isn't Jane Austen's England. I need more!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Andrea DaRif, Andrea Penrose, Andrea Pickens, Books, Cara Elliott, Courtesan, Lauren Willig, Lisa Kleypas, Merlin's Marauders, Pink Carnation, Regency, Sweet Revenge, The Black Dove, The Spy Wore Silk, Wallflowers

Bookshops and Bonedust by Travis Baldree
Published by: Tor Books
Publication Date: November 7th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 352 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Viv's dreams are finally coming true. She might be a young and inexperienced mercenary, but what she lacks in knowledge she makes up for in enthusiasm. But she is green, in more ways than one, and after spending the best two months of her life with Rackham's Ravens on the trail of the necromancer Varine the Pale and her army, the worst thing happens. She's injured. Sidelined in the seaside town of Murk. Room and board. And boy is she quickly bored. She has to be in fighting fit when Rackham comes back through town in a few months. Whatever it takes she will be ready. To that end she starts roaming the streets to build her strength up. Though it's not so much her strength as shoddy workmanship that results in her crutch going straight through the boardwalk in front of a bookstore. And Viv is an orc of honor. She goes inside to confess her crime and hopes to offset the damage by buying a book. Something she's never done. The store's own, a rattkin named Fern, is intrigued by Viv and gives her a book with the caveat that when she finishes it she comes back and tells her what she thought. She's not to worry about payment, she can pay if she decides to keep it. Viv decides to keep it. She never knew that books could be exciting and sexy and a whole new type of adventure. In fact she not only pays for the book but she fixes the boardwalk outside Fern's store. In fact soon Viv is a regular at the store with her new friend Gallina, a gnome who wants to be a mercenary just like Viv. They start to fix up Fern's shop, hoping to bring in new customers. Well, actually, any customers. Fern's at her wit's end. This shop was the dream of her father and she doesn't want to lose the last thing of his she has left. Well, if Viv has her way, Fern won't. They source new furniture and make reading nooks and book displays and have baked goods from the sexy dwarven baker down the street, Maylee. It might not be the recuperation that Viv expected, but it's turning out to be the one she needed. Until a man in gray appears. He sends a shiver down Viv's spine. The next day he leaves behind a satchel in the bookstore and nearly kills Viv in a fight but Gallina comes to her rescue. All three brawlers end up under the gimlet glare of Iridia, the head Gatewarden. They cool their heels overnight, but when dawn comes the mysterious stranger is gone but in his place is the certainty that he worked for Varine. The fight Viv was sidelined from might be coming to Murk. And now she has something more to lose than her life.

My book club read Legends and Lattes. And if there's one thing about my book club it's that we have such radically different tastes when it comes to books that we will never agree on anything. So for those of you thinking that Legends and Lattes is a fairly innocuous book you'd be wrong. Because one member had "issues." Of course this is the member whose tastes I am the least compatible with. They actually tried to defend Scattered All Over the Earth by Yōko Tawada, otherwise known as the book that almost did me in, as perhaps being written ironically. With that much hate and racism even if it was ironic the toxicity oozing out of the pages made me physically ill and put me in a reading slump for a long time. So their issues with Legends and Lattes? They felt that Viv didn't struggle enough in her decision to give up her mercenary lifestyle and that it was too much a fait accompli. They wanted turmoil and second-guessing. I personally didn't feel this because the journey of Viv wasn't her journey to realizing she wanted to change her life but to making her coffeeshop a success. So what they wanted was another book. What they wanted, ironically, was this book. When Legends and Lattes was chosen for book club I had just finished reading it the month prior and instead of rereading it I thought to myself, how about reading the prequel/sequel instead? Which meant that I could say, hey, you know all that lack of struggle you were complaining about? Read this instead. Because here we don't have a settled Viv, we have a young and hungry Viv who is in forced convalescence. She was trying to prove herself and waylaid by an injury she's a ball of pent-up frustration with no outlet. But I love that Viv. And I love that this is the proto Legends and Lattes Viv. You can feel her youth and her thirst for adventure, but you can also see how because of this injury and the friendships she's made in Murk this time was formative. This is where her love of reading started. As well as her love of baked goods... But what touched me most is Fern. Fern sees this injured orc shamble into her bookshop and sees someone who has never picked up a book. Someone who doesn't understand that adventure can be found on the page as much as on the trail of a necromancer. And she asks Viv to give her a chance to turn her into a reader. Because hasn't every one of us had a Fern in our life? Someone who hands us the right book at the right time and that's it. We're booklovers for life. Oh, and ironically, the fact that this book has a necromancer would have alienated a different member of my book club. We all might be booklovers, we just really love different things.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Baking, Books, Bookshops and Bonedust, Bookstore, Fern, Gallina, Injury, Legends and Lattes, Mercenary, Murk, Necromancer, Orc, Rattkin, Scattered All Over the Earth, Top Ten, Varine the Pale, Viv, Yoko Tawada

My mom died earlier this year after a long battle with Parkinson's. If you knew one thing about my mom you knew she loved books. She also loved gardening and musicals and NCIS, but above all, books. She had different books she was reading in each room of our house. She'd be reading about genealogy in the living room and her latest obsession which would most likely turn into a display at the school where she was the librarian in the TV room and she'd be reading murder mysteries up in her bedroom usually until right before she went to sleep, which could be late in the night depending on the quality of the killing. Really the only way to celebrate my mom's life was to share her favorite books with everyone. Because what we love, what we read, informs us and becomes part of our DNA. Therefore for November and December I'm going to share with you the books she shared with me in order to mold me into the reader I am today, even if I tend to usually give the credit to Timothy Zahn and his Star Wars books over anyone else. The truth is my mom was there from day one, sorry Timothy, reading to me and making me watch The Sound of Music on Christmas while I lay on the couch with the chicken pox, because I had to see her second favorite musical, her first being My Fair Lady. That's when I was eleven. But there's also the time I was nineteen and she shoved Harry Potter at me long before he became the sensation he is today. And the time I was so young that I can't remember how old I was but she let me put food in the wall for the Borrowers because I got it out of a book she loved. So here's to my mom and her love of literature.     

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Books, Chicken Pox, DEATH, Gardening, Genealogy, Harry Potter, Librarian, Libraries, Literature, Mom, My Fair Lady, NCIS, Star Wars, The Sound of Music, These Are a Few of My Favorite Things, Timothy Zahn

You know the one good thing about this pandemic is that people are reading more than ever. They are also watching television shows more than ever in an attempt to binge the virus away. Personally getting an excuse to stay inside and do what I love to do best is like a gift. If it wasn't for lots of personal chaos and the sheer panic about what the pandemic could do, well, 2020 would be a good year instead of the worst year. Ever. Seriously people, we think things are bad? Things could get so much worse so use those new empathy skills you've acquired while reading and help to change this situation by wearing a mask and voting. End rant. Though if you're not wearing a mask know I'm SO judging you as well as avoiding you so the rant is ever ongoing in my head. So while I'm sure all these books people are currently reading will soon be heading into production as our next binges there were so many great books turned into series in the last year that one month wasn't enough to cover them all. Because I really couldn't do it in one and hey, we've all been watching more shows, so no judgment from me on your viewing habits and I hope the reverse is true. So here's to books in whatever form, paper, celluloid, digital, streaming, what have you. Here's to shows that I've enjoyed even if I have a bit of a genre itch from the supernatural to the superhero and the Emmys seem incapable of believing in genre TV. Though that might change this year with the inclusion of What We Do in the Shadows and The Mandalorian! We'll just have to wait and see!    

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: 2020, Adaptation, And the Emmy Goes To, Books, Cable, Genre, Masks, Netflix, Pandemic, Star Wars, Streaming, Television, The Mandalorian, TV Show, Vote, What We Do in the Shadows

So what is A Hiatus Happening, it means a hiatus is literally happening... I'm taking a little break from blogging. And by little I mean I'll be back next June. I promise! I already have theme months planned! As you curse and gnash your teeth over the semantics that a "little break" shouldn't be as long as a year, consider this blog is ten, so I'm only taking like a ten percent break... I've kept this blog going for ten years with all the upheavals life has thrown at me and I thought, what with more life changes on the way, taking a step back for awhile would be the best for my sanity and my sleep schedule. Plus I kind of want to dive into whatever book I feel like without regard to any schedule and read new books right when they come out, which my blog prevents me from doing as often as I'd like. But this doesn't mean my blog is disappearing into the ether, in fact I'll technically still be blogging... I'll still be doing my "Tuesday Tomorrow" posts, as well as reviews of new books by favorite authors, there's a new Lauren Willig and Lisa Lutz coming out this year after all! And I can't skip January's best reads of 2019... So it's kind of like the blog is going on the back burner to simmer to only come back sweeter next year. I will still be on social media discussing books on Twitter and Goodreads, with Instragam being fifty-fifty with regards to the book/food ratio. So feel free to keep in touch. Until next year!     

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: 2019, 2020, A Hiatus Happening, Blogging, Book Blogger, Books, Food, Goodreads, Hiatus, Instagram, Lauren Willig, Lisa Lutz, New Releases, Social Media, Ten Years, Tuesday Tomorrow, Twitter

This May 19th I will have been blogging for ten years! TEN YEARS!?! There's part of me that thinks, it can't possibly have been that long, while another warring part of me thinks it's been far longer. But I couldn't let this milestone go by without some sort of fanfare. So here we are, looking back on ten years and for a book blogger what's the best way to do that? Through their favorite books they've read. That's right, for all of May I'm celebrating the best books of the last decade, AKA my best books, because rarely do I agree with any "best books" lists. So join in the celebration! What are some of your favorite books you've read in the last ten years? And if I know you like I think I do, you have a list just like me. So let's party!  

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Anniversary, Best Reads, Blogger, Blogiversary, Book Blogger, Books, May, Ten Years

A Poisoned Season: Lady Emily Book 2 by Tasha Alexander
Published by: Harper
Publication Date: 2007
Format: Paperback, 352 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Lady Emily has come to love her life, especially her life in Greece. Still, she must be a "proper" lady, so she has returned to England to take part in The Season. The endless parties and social gatherings. All the things a woman can and can not do. So what if she wants to read in public and drink port in private? She should be allowed to do as she wants! Being a widow has to have some advantages in eccentricity. Thankfully Cecile du Lac arrives from Paris to relieve the ennui. But Cecile soon becomes prey to the cat burglar who is sneaking in and out of the homes of the wealthy reclaiming jewels that where once Marie Antoinette's! The whole of the ton has gone French crazy. Especially with the arrival of Charles Berry. Berry claims to be the heir to the French throne and is more than happy to have Emily grace his bedchamber, even if he intends to marry one of Emily's acquaintances because Emily isn't queen material. Could this cad be sneaking into bedchambers for an entirely different reason? Could this creature of lust who tends to lash out be a cunning thief?

Though theft is much different from murder... A David Francis has been murdered and his wife's maid has been arrested. Mrs. Francis is convinced her maid is innocent and looks to Emily for help. Emily is excited for the challenge, but her erstwhile suitor Colin Hargreaves is worried that she might be in over her head and perhaps they should just get engaged. Yet an engagement to Colin might curtail Emily's independence. All Emily knows is that an engagement, to Colin or her old friend Jeremy who has entered the marriage market would make her mother ecstatic, so it's the last thing she wants to do. Plus there are the mysterious notes in Greek and flowers she's been receiving on her pillow to take into consideration as well. Is this Colin's more seductive side? Or does she have an overzealous suitor who is verging into stalker territory. Could the cat burglar have fallen for her? With her own reputation looking perilous will Emily be cut from society before she solves the murder and thefts? And will she ever say yes to Colin?

In all seriousness I want to know who doesn't love a good thief plot? Coupling this with a lost heir air just added to my enjoyment. Ah, a daring jewel thief, a cat burglar by another name, I always have a soft spot for them. In fact I've kind of always wanted to be one. I have always thought it would be fun to be an art or jewel thief (note, if I'm ever caught, you never read this!) I always remember this one scene in a movie, which I think stared Jane Seymour, but I remember it was a very French looking house with skylights and a yellow carpeted staircase and a party downstairs and a man in black sneaking around, and I thought, what a glamorous life... yeah, I might have some issues or I might just not be living up to my full potential. Extra points if you know the movie I'm talking about, also, Jane Seymour might not have been in it and it might have been Robert Wagner, but it's definitely not the first Pink Panther movie. But the idea of a gentleman thief is so alluring. Let's call it the Raffles effect. This also led to overtones of Wilkie Collins's The Moonstone, what with the jewels of great value. Which, I will say, is deliciously Victorian.

Though we must not forget the lost heir plot! While I had a little disconnect with Bourbon fever happening in the Victorian era when aristos weren't being whisked across the channel for their safety, I can easily forgive that for the book containing some lost dauphin action. The missing heir to the French throne always fascinated me as a child, mainly because Wisconsin has it's own connection to the missing child. Eleazer Williams was a missionary who came to Wisconsin with a delegation of Native Americans and settled in Green Bay. In 1839 he started to claim he was the lost dauphin, which escalated in the 1850s until he was viewed as the pretender to the throne. My Dad grew up in the Fox River Valley and would tell us stories about the lost prince, but mainly he'd tell us stories about the treasure he had on him when he escaped. Treasure that was about as real as Eleazer's claim. But my dad had me convinced that this little cove near our house was possibly where he had dropped the treasure. I had even picked a rock out in Lake Mendota that I thought could possibly have the treasure underneath. Re-reading Tasha's book brought this all back to me, and it makes me smile and also kind of wish fairy tales were true and that that little prince didn't die in prison.

While thefts and pretenders are all wonderful fodder and make for an adventurous read, it's Emily and her feelings that I really connect to. Her joy and her despair and her outrage, I'm just ready to fight for her and any little slight or danger that comes her way. But I don't think this connection would be so strong if Tasha hadn't plotted Emily's journey as she did. We as readers needed to fall in love with Emily away from the world as she was sequestered during her mourning. We see her evolve into the woman she was destined to become and therefore we see how she struggles when she is thrust back into society. She is no longer what is expected of women of this time period, even the Queen wants her settled. In fact Emily's dear friend Ivy shows us what is expected of Victorian women and brings home how Ivy isn't happy being the perfect wife. Society was at this time designed for men and it hurt the women they were supposed to love. Gaw, the horrid double standard of it all. Yet to me this all hinges on the book starting at that garden party and having Tasha throw tons of new characters at us. For a few minutes you feel at sea, the sheer number of characters creates claustrophobia and in that moment you feel the elation and dread that Emily must feel going back into society and you are there with her in the Victorian age!

For Emily though there is an oasis in Colin. The first time I read these first two books I wasn't completely sold on Colin as Emily's love interest. I think it was because somehow I loved Emily's dead husband Philip more... and Colin was too perfect. A paragon, the dream man of literature. There's a reason I keep picturing him as Colin Firth after all... I was worried that Emily alone was better than Emily coupled, because historical romances do tend to marry their leads off too quickly and Emily loses so much by marrying again and I didn't want that to happen to her. And I think this is why I really appreciated Colin this time around. He knows what Emily would lose by marrying him and wills her his library. Something all her own as it comes crashing down on her that her current home and books actually belong to her husband's heir and not herself. But it's deeper than that, Philip loved Emily as an ideal. She was a paragon of beauty, he didn't really know her. Whereas Colin knows Emily for who she really is, a women who will never fit society's definition of a good wife, who is smart, witty, and willing to march into danger. Their relationship thrives because they love each other for who they are, books and all.

And as for those books... Tasha gets it. She just GETS IT! She understands the importance of books in one's life for mental well-being. When Ivy is depressed and on the brink of despair she puts a book in her hand, the more sensational the better! This is what I don't get about people who say they don't read or don't like to read, reading is my jam. It's how I maintain balance in my life. Meditation I don't get, but I understand that for some people what meditation gives them is what I get from reading. If I'm really grouchy or angry and every little thing is getting on my last nerve it's most likely because I haven't picked up a book in a few days. It restores my sanity. When life gets too harsh it's bliss to escape between the pages of a book and just go somewhere else. Though there is a down side in that if I'm reading a book and it's bad, it tends to also reflect in my mood. Because I just can not not finish a book! No matter how bad, how horrid, how aggravating, I will finish whatever book I have started. There has literally been only one exception I can think of in recent years. But even if I don't like a book the experience of reading a book is always pleasurable. In fact I'm starting to wonder why I'm still writing and not reading... Emily would recommend it after all!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A Poisoned Season, Alexander Autumn, Books, Colin Firth, Jewel Thief, Lady Emily, Lost Dauphin, Marie Antoinette, Queen Victoria, Tasha Alexander, The Moonstone, Victorian, Wilkie Collins, Womens Rights

We all order from Amazon, because it's fast and easy. They're the fast food of book buying. Which means it's not really good for you, it's just convenient. But keep in mind, they have an endgame. That is to outlast everyone and then hold the monopoly on the market. Which means that those few dollars you saved over the years will be given back to them tenfold. So what can we book buyers do? We can support our local brick and mortar stores! We all felt the pain when Borders closed, with a little joy mixed in for the deals we got, followed a few years later by the loss of B. Dalton. Look around you and you'll see stores are failing left and right. Toys 'R' Us, Boston Store, big chains and little mom and pop storefronts are going the way of the dodo to be replaced by the "convenience" of shopping online. Therefore it is more important than ever to get out of your house and go buy locally. This doesn't even have to be at an independent bookstore, though please support those too, go to your local Barnes and Noble, go and show them that their store matters to you, not just when there are events and book signings, but as an integral part of your life.

Why I believe so strongly in brick and mortar stores is that you form a connection to them. A connection that can never be replaced by just putting a book in a virtual cart. Sure, there's the staff you get to know and form a relationship with, but I think it's more than that. When you find that perfect book in a store you don't just remember how much you love that book, you remember where you were when you found it. You remember hunting through the shelves of the store and stumbling across it. The whole experience of finding the book and reading the book becomes a precious memory and that memory couldn't exist without brick and mortar stores. So this summer I'm going to make brick and mortar shopping my rallying cry! I CAN NOT lose any more stores to Amazon or the fickle economy. I am going to share with you the stores that I love and the books I found there. From local stores I frequent regularly, to the stores located regionally that I plan my excursions around, to stores I've visited once or twice on vacation that are located farther afield, and to the independent bookstores I've only ever dealt with online but hope to one day visit. Let's get this party started! Go out there and start shopping people!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Amazon, B.Dalton, Books, Bookstores, Borders, Boston Store, Brick and Mortar Stores, Fast Food, Independent Bookstores, Memories, Memory, Online, Shopping, Store Closings, Support Your Brick and Mortar, Toys 'R' Us

Neverwhere is the beginning for me and Neil. An instance of just the right book at just the right time. In the fall of 2003 I was unceremoniously forced back into school. I say unceremoniously because back in May with full pomp and circumstance I had graduated from the University of Wisconsin - Madison only to find out a few months later that I was shy one class; my "ethnic requirement." Being adamant that I was fed up with all the different hoops I kept encountering I decided to take the course online and spent that fall reading many books from Southeast Asia. And then I spent January and February reading even more books from Southeast Asia and swotting up for my final. At the end of it all I was dying to read something different, something of my choosing. I chose Neverwhere.

One day I was at Barnes and Noble and the anglophile in my was drawn to the cover of Neverwhere. The pull-quote saying "[it] draws equally from George Lucas, Monty Python, Doctor Who, and John Milton..." instantly sold me. In particular the Monty Python/Doctor Who angle. So I finished my course work, bundled myself under my favorite blanket and dove into the 'London Below' of Richard Richard Mayhew Dick, Door, The Marquis de Carabas, and of course, the Angel Islington. What made this reading experience so special wasn't just the way the story flew off the page but by the fact that my cat, Spot, spent the entire time curled up on my lap. Now, this might not be weird to some people, but to me it was. Spot would gladly curl up on my lap for any reason unless I had a book. Something about me with a book made him shun me. So not only did this book reignite my love of reading but it gave me a sweet memory to remember my beloved Spotty by.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Books, Cats, Doctor Who, Door, Gaiman Gala, Gaiman Reminiscence, George Lucas, Islington, London Below, Monty Python, Neil Gaiman, Neverwhere, Richard Mayhew, School, Southeast Asia, Spot, The Marquis de Carabas

The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton
Published by: Atria
Publication Date: October 16th, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 480 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy

When Laurel was a young girl she witnessed her mother kill a man. After that night they never spoke of it ever again. The crime was hushed up by the local police and other then herself and her parents, the rest of the family never knew what happened, especially to the special knife used to cut all the birthday cakes. Now fifty years have passed and Laurel's mom Dorothy is dying. Laurel has spent most of her life not thinking about that day. Shortly after the incident she moved away and has rarely been home since. With time running out, Laurel realizes that she can not let her mother go without finding out why the crime happened.

The answer goes further back then that day Laurel hide in the tree house, it goes back to London during the Blitz. Dorothy was a young girl with big plans for her and her boyfriend Jimmy. She could just see them now, at all the glitzy parties with all the chosen people, all the bright young things. Dorothy wasn't going to be a domestic all her life. Wasn't the fact that she had become friends with the wonderful and glamorous Vivien a sign that she was destined for greater things? Though nothing is as it seems sometimes. Dorothy was desperate to get the life she wanted, so desperate that she might do something stupid. Something that might echo down the ages till a "stranger" wanders up a garden path and dies with a knife buried in his gut.

I remember picking up my first Kate Morton book at Borders one day, it was a copy of The Forgotten Garden. Years later I finally read it and while I wanted to love it, with so much potential as to where the plot could have gone, I was a bit disappointed. Yet there was a part of me dying to give Kate Morton another chance. On a dark and stormy night in October I drove to Oconomowoc to see Kate Morton give a talk on her newest book, The Secret Keeper. She was a delight talking in her melodious voice about peeling wallpaper and everything else she loves. I had actually not read anything about her new book and was delighted to find out that a large portion of it took place during the Blitz. While the Blitz must have been one of the most horrific things to live through, it has a romanticism that draws me. It was a time when life lost it's routine. The world was on hold till one side lost. During this time what life you had was intensified. You seized anything you could and didn't let go. I often wonder if we will ever see an event that could have the same impact, but I know it's unlikely. Thousands of people euthanized their pets because they knew of the danger they would be in and also because of rationing... which makes me question a bit why Kate's new book had a few too many pets... research error or food for later...

Sitting in the little armchair with her perfectly cut hair and lovely boots, Kate read the opening chapter. I have a tendency to not be good at public speaking events, after a few minutes I really start to zone out, but Kate had me just transfixed. While I wanted to listen to the rest of her talk and her question and answer session, there was a part of me that just wanted to sit there in that auditorium and keep reading. I wanted to blot out the rest of the world and make this book my everything. One reason I desired an escape from the world was I was in the midst of my worst semester ever and I longed to lose myself. Another reason was that the book I was reading by Mary Roach was non-fiction and not that much of an escape. Also, there are so many other books I want to read at a given time that sometimes picking my new book over an old book makes it feel like the new book is jumping the queue. So I waited. Then one day before spring break I couldn't take it anymore and just had to pick the book up. I devoured it in four days.

I was grateful that this book didn't have the ambition of The Forgotten Garden. Now, this isn't a slight on the book, it just had a simpler question at it's core. Therefore I had a clear through line to follow. I could see, if partially obscured, what followed what and I didn't go off in flights of fancy imagining killings like Jack the Ripper and dark abuse and murder... all of which happened in reading The Forgotten Garden. Instead I had a wonderful time with three characters. Laurel, I couldn't care less about, but Jimmy, Dorothy and Vivien were so alive and so distinct and fully formed they became my life for a few days. Yet what I loved the most is the twist, turn, secret, whatever you want to call it, was a wonderful surprise that could only be done in a book. The contrivance would never work in any other medium, and it's the characters and their behavior that make the twist not only possible, but fully believable. Now, while I will say that I saw the twist coming, it was because of Kate's writing that, although the end was in view, I couldn't tear myself away from the book. I was glad I gave Kate another chance, and I have a feeling I'll be picking up another one of her books in the near future.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 2 comments  

Labels: Books, Jack the Ripper, Kate Morton, Mary Roach, Murder, Oconomowoc, The Blitz, The Forgotten Garden, The Secret Keeper, WWII

"I write Golden Age Detective stories because they have a lovely, complex puzzle, they keep gore to a minimum, they have made the sort of strict form, as strict as a sonnet, but inside which the poet can say anything she wants. They are an intoxicating combination of severe rules and broad, expansive landscapes, exactly fitted to my 'post-impressionist' form of writing." - Kerry Greenwood

Kerry Greenwood is getting far more exposure these days with the success of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, based on her Phryne Fisher books, which has finally been shown stateside, with the second series about to start in Australia. A second series where Kerry is going to have a cameo! Born in Australia, she has had many occupations having worked as a folk singer, factory hand, director, producer, translator, costume-maker, cook and is currently a solicitor. When she is not writing, she works as a locum solicitor for the Victorian Legal Aid. Yet her writing is what has garnered her international attention with awards flying in left and right. She seems to also possess my secret superpower, which is she can detect second-hand bookshops from blocks away and is often found within them, which has led to her being the unpaid curator of seven thousand books. She is also a cat person, as am I, so I think we should totally hang out and I can teach her how to knit. So far Kerry has written nineteen Phryne Fisher books with her signature wit coupled with the darker deeds of man, and I look forward to reading every single one. I am pleased to welcome Kerry Greenwood to my Golden Summer, her and Phryne are great additions to a great tradition.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Australia, Books, Cats, Golden Age of Detection, Golden Summer, Kerry Greenwood, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, Phryne Fisher, Solicitor

Another semester of school. More long days and nights and lack of sleep... why do I do it? Because everyone has the potential to be better at what they do. You never stop learning. Books, computers, art, everything! We learn in a thousand different ways everyday. So forgive me I'm scattered for awhile here... who knows what shape my brain will be in when I trudge my weary body home after my classes and sink into my chair and loose myself in a book.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 2 comments  

Labels: Art, Books, Brain, Computers, Knowledge, Norman Rockwell, School, Wet Paint

Ok, so summer is finally here (at least that's if you are a college student not taking summer school) which means it's time to catch up on all that reading I've been hording like some sort of treasure crazy dragon. The simple fact is I LOVE BOOKS, I love buying them, sorting them, organizing them and finally reading them, which lets face it, not much time during a design heavy semester. I'm so book crazy I have a computer program to sort and categorize my books, I belong to goodreads, where I can do more sorting, organizing and reviewing (plus I'm a librarian on the site, which means I can edit codes and descriptions, pure heaven, plus invite authors, oh the power...um I mean...all the help I can be to other readers) and now I've started this blog, and lets get one thing straight, it's going to be book heavy, very heavy, like complete works of Shakespeare combined with Trollope heavy, with a side of Austen (and yes she wrote only 6 books, but if you have 10 different editions of every one of her books, you get where I'm going right?)

To start my booktopia I'm creating here I'll start with the thing that draws us to books, otherwise known as the covers. Despite the old adage, never judge a book by it's cover, we all do. The publishing industry spends a lot of valuable time and resources to draw us in (and I should know I'm a graphic designer and book jacket design is a lucrative area to tap into). There are studies done that show teens are more likely to buy a book aimed at them because it has a photopraph of a teen they can identify with versus a painting. Case in point is the Bayern series by Shannon Hale (which everyone should read, just because it's Young Adult doesn't mean it excludes you, more on this in later posts.)

First example: The original covers by the talented Alison Jay


Second example: The new photo covers so the book will sell more

And while I get the decision from a monetary point of view, I'd like all my books to be uniform. I'm not actually against the new covers, I'm against the change at all. But if this means that Shannon Hale will make more money, I'm happy. Another series that irks me is the Charlaine Harris Southern Vampire Series, I like the covers and they have remained consistent, but the size keeps changing! They now have three different sizes, book 4 is medium, books 5-7 and the re-issues of 1 and 2 are smaller, the same size as her Harper Connelly books, whereas books 8 and 9 are huge.

But the final question is while we can be swayed to pick a book up by the cover will you actually buy a book that sounds like total garbage? What really bugs me is when I go to the store and pick up a book cause it has the coolest cover in the world and then I realize, I've picked up this book before, many many times before and each time I go, oh cool cover, sounds like crap though. So to add another adage, buyer beware. Of course though there are those lucky times when a great book and a marvelous design combine into one great whole. I've been reading Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City. The paperback re-issues (seen above) for the tie-in with "Michael Tolliver Lives" are by far some of the coolest design work I have seen in years. They all connect together to form a panorama of San Francisco on the covers but also on the spines. They look just gorgeous on your bookshelf:

But not only that, they are witty funny books about San Francisco during the 70s and 80s with a humorous cast of characters. An homage to the city the books so proudly represent (now in design as well as word). I'd give them a strong recommendation any day. If you're interested in more in depth reviews on these books, go over to goodreads and see what others besides me have to say, or you could also read my full reviews, which I didn't include here because this was more about the design then the dissection of the books.

Also interesting final note (due to Pooh being in the picture), the title of the last "official" Tales of the City book was taken from a quote by A. A. Milne, one of my favorites:
"Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. 'Pooh?' he whispered.
'Yes, Piglet?'
'Nothing,' said Piglet, taking Pooh's hand. 'I just wanted to be sure of you.'"

Posted by Miss Eliza at 7:19 PM 0 comments  

Labels: Alison Jay, Armistead Maupin, Book Covers, Books, Charlaine Harris, Shannon Hale, Tales of the City