strange and random happenstance

The Witching Hour by Anne Rice
Published by: Ballantine Books
Publication Date: October 19th, 1990
Format: Kindle, 1,058 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy

The Talamasca is a secret society whose mission is to monitor the supernatural. There motto is "We watch. And we are always here." They do not get involved, they document. But there have been mishaps along the way. They have been watching the Mayfair Witches since the 1600s when the secret order became irrevocably entwined with the Mayfairs when one of their members, Petyr van Abel, begat a child by Deborah Mayfair. Deborah was the daughter of the first Mayfair Witch, Suzanne, a clever woman at a time when clever women were often put to the stake. Both mother and daughter would feel the flames in their lifetimes. A rare instance when a witch hunt caught the genuine article. They were the beginning of the line. A line that prospered in the new world, first in Saint-Domingue and later Louisiana. Down the generations they built an empire, first at their plantation Maye Faire, then Riverbend, and then in New Orleans at the house on First Street. Yes, they were clever, but one cannot discount supernatural assistance at the hands of Lasher, a spirit called forth from the stones at Donnelaith by Suzanne. And while all the family has some psychic abilities there is only one in each generation, the designee, who wields the power and the ability to command Lasher and the family's vast empire. They wear the Mayfair emerald as a symbol of their power. The same emerald necklace that Deborah wore when Rembrandt painted her in Amsterdam, a painting which hangs in the Talamasca Motherhouse there. After the death of Petyr van Abel at the hands of Lasher the Talamasca has twice more attempted to approach the family, both times fatally. The files on the Mayfair Witches are filled with secondhand accounts and stories. Sightings of Lasher and any intel anyone was able to give them. Gossips, lovers, servants, all were in the employee of the Talamasca and anything was fair game. And to some of the Mayfairs it was a game. They knew full well who the Talamasca were and what they were up to, but as time went on it seemed the family wanted to be ignorant of their own history. When Aaron Lightner took over the files on the Mayfair Witches he knew it would be his life's work, he just never knew he would be so intimately involved. But when poor Deirdre Mayfair dies and her daughter Rowan, the thirteenth witch, becomes the designee everything changes. Rowan has been raised in California by her adoptive mother, Ellie Mayfair. Rowan was raised in ignorance and when Ellie died she made Rowan sign a document that stated she would never return to New Orleans. But it is her destiny to return there with the man she rescued, Michael Curry. There they are to return the house on First Street to it's former glory and bring all Lasher's plans to fruition.

Anne Rice had lofty ambitions for this Gothic doorstop of a novel. She wanted it to be "as great or greater than Henry James." Instead this is if Stephenie Meyer wrote Frankenstein. Though in fairness to Anne Rice, I don't think Stephenie Meyer would have included so much incest that it would make a Targaryen blush. The Witching Hour, coming in at over a thousand pages, is very faithful to the structure of Mary Shelley, in that only the middle section of the book is worth reading. I honestly didn't know what I was getting into with this book and there were many times over the three months I slogged though it that I had to just put in down and walk away. But my struggle with the book mirrors the book's struggle with itself. The Witching Hour is in the grip of an identity crisis, it doesn't know if it wants to be an ode to the cities that Anne Rice loves, a sexually explicit YA romance, historical fiction of epic proportions, or a home improvement book. Because yes, there's an almost hundred page section of the book, "Come Into My Parlor," which is nothing but detailing the renovations of the house on First Street. This entire section could have been omitted. I did not need to know that the original pine floor was still there. And no, I didn't need to know about the linens. Oh, she's talking about the linens anyway. Please not the china. She's going for the china. All the patterns. Please no. Not the silver. NOT THE SILVER I internally scream and cry as I look in vain for her editor. Oh no, I'm learning about flue structure. Can Michael fall off the roof already at the hands of Lasher? Oh, you're choosing peach with tan curtains for the double parlor? How cliched late eighties early nineties do you want to be? Why are they cleaning during construction, shouldn't one thing follow the other no matter the speed so you don't have to clean more than once? Or, you're not going to go into that lunacy and instead tell me more about how surprisingly the swimming pool has very minimal damage for how long it was unattended. I did not need to have this in my life. And knowing that she based the house on First Street after her own house I'm wondering if this was just her instructions for her remodelers and no one bothered to notice that it somehow was thrown into this book. But she does love that house, as she does New Orleans and San Francisco, writing about the locales in the most lyrical way. I just could have done completely without Michael and Rowan and their rape fantasies with occasional conspiracies theories thrown in. When the hero and supposed heroine of the book are so annoying and milquetoast that you long for Aaron's case files on the Mayfair Witches, comprising ten parts and clocking in at around four hundred pages, maybe you want to rethink the overall concept of the book. And I do think there were times when Anne Rice rethought her plans for her characters. At over a thousand pages this book ends on a cliffhanger. Which is really shitty to do to your readers, but more so, as another reviewer pointed out, really shitty to do to your characters. Rowan's motivation completely changes in the last few chapters. Chapters that I think were rewritten to leave it open ended. Why not make it a trilogy she pondered? Again where is her editor!?! And here I am thinking I have to read two more books to even finish the story? How many months will that take me? And do I even want to try?

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Anne Rice, Frankenstein, Gothic, Historical Fiction, Home Improvement, Lasher, Mary Shelley, Mayfair Witches, Michael Curry, New Orleans, Rowan Mayfair, San Francisco, Season of the Witch, Talamasca, The Witching Hour, Travelogue

The Slaughtered Lamb Bookstore and Bar by Seana Kelly
Published by: NYLA
Publication Date: October 13th, 2020
Format: Kindle, 296 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

Despite her past Sam Quinn has made a pretty decent life for herself. She owns and operates The Slaughtered Lamb Bookstore and Bar in San Francisco, because everyone needs a good book and a stiff drink. Her establishment welcomes all, vampires, wicches, demons, selkies, dwarves, fae, what have you. But Sam is the only werewolf allowed. No exceptions. See traumatic past. Situated magically beneath Land's End nestled into the cliff face at the waterline the killer views of the bay, both above and below the waterline during high tide, are about to get even deadlier as a body slams into the glass. Female, naked, torn up. The body is slashed. That could have easily happened because of the rocks in the bay. Who knows how long she was in the water. But the scars match Sam's own. What's more, the victim was a werewolf. Which means Sam needs to call her Uncle Marcus. Someone she does not want to talk to. See traumatic past. She is literally feels she is a lone wolf and has no one to turn to. But someone has to know who this woman was. Which becomes a secondary concern once Sam's very survival is at risk. After closing she's attacked. She barely escapes with her life. And she can't even catch a break in her subconscious which is the next stop on Sam's Repressed Horrors Roundup. And then her brain turns against her while awake with a deadly vision. Seven years of hiding and learning has led her to this moment and she's rescued by a vampire. Clive. She was a sitting duck but thankfully he sensed her danger. He used his blood to save her from the waking nightmare. Now if only he can save her from whatever she's gotten into, seeing as he's appointed himself her personal bodyguard. But Sam is used to danger. She spent her life with her mother moving from place to place, looking over their shoulders. She never understood their situation until her mother died and the unthinkable happened. All Sam has left of her mother is a necklace that was broken in the recent attack. As the visions keep ensnaring her she doesn't know where the threat is coming from; be it the past or the present, she is in danger from someone. In fact, given her luck, it's probably more than one person gunning for her. Luckily she surprisingly has a bunch of friends and a sexy vampire at her side. Here's hoping it's enough.

The Slaughtered Lamb Bookstore and Bar is a solid start to Seana Kelly's Sam Quinn series that is wonderfully more inclusive than most urban fantasy series. As in we've got gorgons, we've got demons, we've got selkies, it's not just werewolves, vampires, and witches. Though don't worry, they all make an appearance as well. The problem I had was why does every poor female shifter have to have a tragic backstory? After her mother's death when Sam went to visit her Uncle Marcus, whom she didn't know was a werewolf, she'd been attacked, tortured, raped, and turned. Thankfully not by her Uncle, but given the backstory of most urban fantasy heroines, that was a strong possibility. I just have an unease with this connection between trauma and change. Can't you be a supernatural badass without the baggage? Is sexual assault a prerequisite to be the protagonist of an urban fantasy series? I mean Sookie Stackhouse and Mercy Thompson are probably the biggest survivors out there, but they are not alone. And yes, the statistics bear that so so many women are victims of sexual assault, it's just so uncommonly high within the supernatural community that I feel like we need to stage an intervention. If you're an author thinking of writing an urban fantasy book how much does your book need a traumatized protagonist? Because, if you said it totally has to, well, I'd think again. At least there's redemption in that Sam saves herself, but, did she have to battle her own demons as well as the actual ones? It seems like overkill. But that's just one trope in The Slaughtered Lamb Bookstore and Bar. The other is a very particular pet peeve of mine. So, you know when a book or a show or a movie has a bookish character they just love books. All books. They are indiscriminate about their love of books. Well. I'm bookish and that's just not how we role. It's not realistic. The worst example of this trope is Rory Gilmore. Rory loves books. She loves all books. Sure, I agree, books are great. But for all bookish people in the world can I say that the only authors in the world aren't Jane Austen and J.R.R. Tolkien. Rory is endemic of bookish characters. She is not discerning. She loves books. Books, books, books. Here's a thing, I love books too. And yes, I love Austen and Tolkien, but I also have specific authors and subgenres I love. Historical fantasy? That's catnip to me. I don't think Rory or Sam know about subgenres. It's not their fault. It's the role that they play. They are there to be the nerdy girl with her head buried in a good book. The problem is, it's rarely been thought out beyond that. Yes, Rory shows some interest in Russian literature and Sam knows I Am Legend. But whether it's the Richard Matheson book or the movie is up for debate. I just want my bookish buds to embrace all the books out there and find their joy. And have the answer be more than "I like books."

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: An Urban Development, Bookish, Bookstore, Clive Fitzwilliam, Female Trauma, Inclusive, Rape, Rory Gilmore, Sam Quinn, San Francisco, Seana Kelly, The Slaughtered Lamb Bookstore and Bar, Tropes, Urban Fantasy, Vampire, Werewolf

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
Published by: Dutton Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: January 19th, 2021
Format: Kindle, 415 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

Lily Hu knows she's different than other girls. It's not just that she's smarter and likes math it's that, unlike her best friend Shirley, she really doesn't have any interest in boys. Lily can use her parents' strictures as the reason why she doesn't date, but the real reason is she doesn't want to. Boys don't stir anything in her like they do Shirley. But then, one day helping out at Shirley's parents restaurant, Lily sees an ad in the paper that stirs something in her. It's for Tommy Andrews, a male impersonator at the Telegraph Club. She furtively rips the ad out and it becomes a talisman for her. A dangerous talisman. One day it slips out of it's hiding spot and her fellow classmate Kathleen Miller picks it up. Kathleen and Lily are the only two girls in the advanced math class, both with dreams in the heavens, and it turns out they have more in common than Lily thought as Kathleen says that she has been to see Tommy at the Telegraph Club. Her friend Jean took her and Kath will take Lily if she wishes. It is Lily's greatest wish to go, but the experience is more unnerving than she thought it would be. It's not lying to her parents and risking their safety, or even being in a bar with so many women free to be themselves, it's the fact that the Tommy of her imagination was a matinee idol yet the real Tommy is flesh and blood and female. How she's feeling inside is no longer hypothetical, it has shape and form, and that form is looking more and more like Kath. But there are consequences to Lily's actions, Shirley has warned her about Kathleen and in particular Kathleen's friend Jean who was thrown out of school when she was found with another girl in the band room. When she first heard the story Lily couldn't understand what could drive someone to do something so risky. Now she's endangering herself every minute with her thoughts and actions. But love, true love, is worth all the consequences.

When Last Night at the Telegraph Club was released to such acclaim, topping best of lists left and right, I thought it sounded like a rich historical fiction novel about the LGBTQ experience in 1950s San Francisco. And it is that, don't get me wrong, I just didn't think it would be so YA. And Last Night at the Telegraph Club is epicly YA in all the good and bad ways. YA, even YA done right, has a certain cringe factor, you're looking back at your teen years and you feel all the feels all over again. The sweats breaking out when you see your crush, the itch on your skin as they draw near, the horrible replay of how your tongue fumbled to form coherent words around them. It's all here. Even the horrible betrayal of a former best friend. Everyone's teenage years seem to distill down to the same level of hormonal tension and Malinda Lo has captured that universality for good and for ill. But she has also captured the deeper identity struggle that happens when you realize you're not like everyone else. I was also forcefully reminded of a situation I was in in college. One of my friends started dating a guy. She was Vietnamese and he was white. She knew her parents wouldn't approve so one day when they were on a date she told her mother she was with me. I was not informed that I was her alibi and called her house. Her cover was blown and thereafter she created a fake girl who she was hanging out with when she was really with her boyfriend. I commented that it was lucky she wasn't gay because otherwise her mom would be suspicious of this new girl friend. Her response was that "that wouldn't happen." Reading Lily's mom say there "are no homosexuals in this family" brought that moment back to me after twenty years. To have someone who you love so much deny who you are, I just don't get how anyone could be so cruel. Love is love. I'm just lucky enough to have been raised in a family that believes this.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: 1950s, Communism, Drag King, For the Love of Book Clubs, Historical Fiction, Kathleen Miller, Last Night at the Telegraph Club, Lesbian, LGBTQ, Lily Hu, Love, Malinda Lo, San Francisco, Tommy Andrews, YA

Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin
Published by: Harper Perennial
Publication Date: 1978
Format: Paperback, 371 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy

Mary Ann Singleton went to San Francisco on vacation and realized she was home. Nothing her parents said could lure her back to Cleveland. Her life was finally beginning, as soon as she moves out of Connie's place, which has more kitsch than Mary Ann can stand. Connie and her were high school acquaintances and Connie happens to be the only person Mary Ann knows in San Francisco. But that won't be for long once she is embraced by 28 Barbary Lane and it's eccentric landlady Mrs. Madrigal. As Mrs. Madrigal is fond of saying, she doesn't pick her tenants, the house does. But she is responsible for the welcome joint taped to the door, and you're welcome. Across the hall from Mary Ann is oversexed Brian Hawkins, who likes being one of the only straight men in the city and views Mary Ann as a challenge. Downstairs is Mona Ramsey, Mrs. Madrigal's favorite. Upstairs, well, Mary Ann didn't even realize there was an upstairs. And in random twists of fate and happenstance that is part of the magic that is San Francisco, all their lives start to weave together and overlap and conjoin in the most interesting ways. Mona's best friend Michael "Mouse" Tolliver moves in when he and his boyfriend breakup, a boyfriend who Mary Ann happened to give a hollandaise recipe to while prowling the Safeway Marina with Connie. Brian has an affairette with Connie. Mrs. Madrigal takes up with Mona's boss Edgar Halcyon while Mary Ann falls for his son-in-law Beauchamp Day whose flirtatious ways might be hiding something deeper. The connections and relationships they forge all swirl around Barbary Lane and at the heart of it all is the benevolent and mysterious Mrs. Madrigal. Because she does have a secret, but so does everyone. Only hers might be a doozy. One people are willing to die for.

Tales of the City was originally a column in the San Francisco Chronicle leading it to be compared to Dickens and other Victorian authors whose work was serialized. Which is valid, but those authors didn't have the limitations of writing by the column inch. Each "chapter" is more a chapterette. Which makes it easier to indulge in just "one more chapter" much like DeDe Halcyon Day scarfing down a whole bag of chips in the doctor's waiting room you WILL sacrifice sleep as you devour this series. And that's the hard thing about writing a review for this book because it's more an epic soap opera stretched out over nine volumes that span forty years without real arcs, it's more episodic. In fact I couldn't remember what big moments capped this volume and I was surprised that we actually learn so little, but then again, Maupin was in it for the long game, one major plot point wasn't resolved until Mary Ann in Autumn in 2010. And I can tell you, if I didn't have, you know, a life and obligations, I'd be tearing through the remaining eight volumes at breakneck speed. Because the thing about Tales of the City is that these characters are more than friends they are family, chosen family. They can annoy you and do stupid things, you can be yelling at them hoping they can hear you, but at the end of the day there's no line they can cross that will make you cut them out of your life. In fact, when I first read this series I strongly related to Mary Ann, she's from the Midwest and naive and a bit uptight, check, check, and check, but what she does to Brian in Babycakes, I was so pissed at her, because it was something I would never do. And yes, I realize I am not the character, but this gave me many feelings rereading this book. I no longer related to Mary Ann but I understood her, she was still a part of me. This whole series is a part of me. From watching the adaptations with the dreadful Mona late at night to making ramen with my cat in the kitchen trying to get in one more chapter before the water boiled. This series is in my bones as I'm sure it is in many peoples. Now if I can just find some time to reread the next eight volumes. Who am I kidding, I'll sacrifice sleep.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: 28 Barbary Lane, Anna Madrigal, Armistead Maupin, Brian Hawkins, Charles Dickens, LGBTQIA+, Mary Ann in Autumn, Michael Tolliver, Mona Ramsey, Pride, San Francisco, Serialized, Soap Opera, Tales of the City

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
Published by: Dutton Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: January 19th, 2021
Format: Kindle, 415 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

Lily Hu knows she's different than other girls. It's not just that she's smarter and likes math it's that, unlike her best friend Shirley, she really doesn't have any interest in boys. Lily can use her parents' strictures as the reason why she doesn't date, but the real reason is she doesn't want to. Boys don't stir anything in her like they do Shirley. But then, one day helping out at Shirley's parents restaurant, Lily sees an ad in the paper that stirs something in her. It's for Tommy Andrews, a male impersonator at the Telegraph Club. She furtively rips the ad out and it becomes a talisman for her. A dangerous talisman. One day it slips out of it's hiding spot and her fellow classmate Kathleen Miller picks it up. Kathleen and Lily are the only two girls in the advanced math class, both with dreams in the heavens, and it turns out they have more in common than Lily thought as Kathleen says that she has been to see Tommy at the Telegraph Club. Her friend Jean took her and Kath will take Lily if she wishes. It is Lily's greatest wish to go, but the experience is more unnerving than she thought it would be. It's not lying to her parents and risking their safety, or even being in a bar with so many women free to be themselves, it's the fact that the Tommy of her imagination was a matinee idol yet the real Tommy is flesh and blood and female. How she's feeling inside is no longer hypothetical, it has shape and form, and that form is looking more and more like Kath. But there are consequences to Lily's actions, Shirley has warned her about Kathleen and in particular Kathleen's friend Jean who was thrown out of school when she was found with another girl in the band room. When she first heard the story Lily couldn't understand what could drive someone to do something so risky. Now she's endangering herself every minute with her thoughts and actions. But love, true love, is worth all the consequences.

When Last Night at the Telegraph Club was released to such acclaim, topping best of lists left and right, I thought it sounded like a rich historical fiction novel about the LGBTQ experience in 1950s San Francisco. And it is that, don't get me wrong, I just didn't think it would be so YA. And Last Night at the Telegraph Club is epicly YA in all the good and bad ways. YA, even YA done right, has a certain cringe factor, you're looking back at your teen years and you feel all the feels all over again. The sweats breaking out when you see your crush, the itch on your skin as they draw near, the horrible replay of how your tongue fumbled to form coherent words around them. It's all here. Even the horrible betrayal of a former best friend. Everyone's teenage years seem to distill down to the same level of hormonal tension and Malinda Lo has captured that universality for good and for ill. But she has also captured the deeper identity struggle that happens when you realize you're not like everyone else. I was also forcefully reminded of a situation I was in in college. One of my friends started dating a guy. She was Vietnamese and he was white. She knew her parents wouldn't approve so one day when they were on a date she told her mother she was with me. I was not informed that I was her alibi and called her house. Her cover was blown and thereafter she created a fake girl who she was hanging out with when she was really with her boyfriend. I commented that it was lucky she wasn't gay because otherwise her mom would be suspicious of this new girl friend. Her response was that "that wouldn't happen." Reading Lily's mom say there "are no homosexuals in this family" brought that moment back to me after twenty years. To have someone who you love so much deny who you are, I just don't get how anyone could be so cruel. Love is love. I'm just lucky enough to have been raised in a family that believes this.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: 1950s, Communism, Drag King, Historical Fiction, Kathleen Miller, Last Night at the Telegraph Club, Lesbian, LGBTQ, Lily Hu, Love, Malinda Lo, Pride, San Francisco, Science Fiction, Shirley Lum, Tommy Andrews, YA

The Dead Don't Drink at Lafitte's by Seana Kelly
Published by: NYLA
Publication Date: April 13th, 2021
Format: Kindle. 350 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

Whomever said dating a vampire would be easy obviously wasn't a werewolf. Because Clive's coterie of vampires look down on Sam. In their minds she's so far beneath their master that they welcome his ex with open arms when she shows up on their doorstep. A doorstep to a house Sam's stuck in while her apartment and business are being rebuilt. Thankfully the ex isn't actually there to rekindle their romance, she's there to stage a coup. The Master of New Orleans wants Clive eliminated, the only problem is they didn't count on Sam. She saves Clive's life and realizes she might have more power over vampires than they'd be comfortable with. But her newfound powers will have to wait, this was a declaration of war and Clive will not let this stand. As the Master of San Francisco he can't leave his city unprotected, so he calls in some favors and heads on down to The Big Easy. But he can't be certain that his vampires haven't been compromised. How many are still loyal to him and how many are using Sam's presence as an excuse to grasp the brass ring? So Clive calls in another favor. Someone capable of guarding Sam when he must rest. Someone who happens to be deadly with the merest glance. He calls in a gorgon. Stheno is the perfect body guard. Not only is she good at decorating Clive's New Orleans home with statues of their enemies, she's someone apart from the politics of vampires whom Sam can talk to and, more importantly, share a meal with, because vampires sure don't know how to feed the living let alone feed a werewolf with a high metabolic rate. But thankfully that's what the many restaurants in New Orleans are there for! That and to provide a distraction from all the vampires who might want Clive dead. There's not just the Master of the city, but the ancient St. Germain who prefers to wield power from the shadows and is taking an unhealthy interest in Sam. Sam has a lot of danger to face if she wants to make it back safely to San Francisco, but thankfully she has a passel of new friends and an entire pack of werewolves who've got her back.

As someone who reads and watches a lot of media involving vampires there's one thing I can't stand, and that's vampire politics. Sure, you could hate their brooding nature and how possessive they are, but thankfully for every story that does this there's another that pokes fun at it. And yet vampire politics for some reason rarely get lampooned. The reason The Dead Don't Drink at Lafitte's really spoke to me is because it switched direction about a third of the way through the book. Before Sam and Clive left for New Orleans I was completely dreading reading this volume because it looked like it was going to be nothing but vampire politics. And then all of a sudden it wasn't. All of a sudden it was more about the city and the life of New Orleans and Sam's world opening up while the vampires were off doing their own thing or sleeping the day away. And what it celebrated most of all about New Orleans was the food. Having a heroine who has a metabolism that just won't quit meant that she not only ate tons of food, with many courses, but that it was lovingly described. I would have gladly beaten up someone for a beignet at any time while reading this book. And now I just realized a problem while writing this review, I'm thinking about beignets again... So I will now try to wrench my brain away from the beignets and talk about my new favorite character, who also happens to love food as much as Sam, Stheno. Stheno is a gorgon. And she is my new BFF. I'm sorry, you can't have her, she's going to hang out with me on a couch and eat tons of food. She's funny, she's surly, and she and Sam just get each other. They have a dark and quirky sense of humor that meshes well. The introduction of Stheno really takes the whole series to a new level because Urban Fantasy shouldn't only be about werewolves, vampires, and the fae, though so much is. Stheno firmly establishes the other creatures within Sam's universe and I am here for it.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Beignets, Fae, Food, Gorgon, New Orleans, Sam Quinn, San Francisco, Seana Kelly, Stheno, The Dead Don't Drink at Lafitte's, The Slaughtered Lamb Bookstore and Bar, Vampire Politics, Vampires, Werewolves

The Sinful Lives of Trophy Wives by Kristin Miller
Published by: Ballantine Books
Publication Date: July 20th, 2021
Format: Paperback, 288 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Meet the trophy wives of Presidio Terrace, San Francisco's most exclusive - and most deadly - neighborhood in this shrewd, darkly compelling novel from the New York Times bestselling author of In Her Shadow.

Mystery writer Brooke Davies is the new wife on the block. Her tech-billionaire husband, Jack, twenty-two years her senior, whisked her to the Bay Area via private jet and purchased a modest mansion on the same day. He demands perfection, and before now, Brooke has had no problem playing the role of a doting housewife. But as she befriends other wives on the street and spends considerable time away from Jack, he worries if he doesn't control Brooke's every move, she will reveal the truth behind their "perfect" marriage.

Erin King, famed news anchor and chair of the community board, is no stranger to maintaining an image - though being married to a plastic surgeon helps. But the skyrocketing success of her career has worn her love life thin, and her professional ambitions have pushed Mason away. Quitting her job is a Hail Mary attempt at keeping him interested, to steer him away from finding a young trophy wife. But is it enough, and is Mason truly the man she thought he was?

Georgia St. Claire allegedly cashed in on the deaths of her first two husbands, earning her the nickname "Black Widow" - and the stares and whispers of her curious neighbors. Rumored to have murdered both men for their fortunes, she claims to have found true love in her third marriage, yet her mysterious, captivating allure keeps everyone guessing. Then a tragic accident forces the residents of Presidio Terrace to ask: Has Georgia struck again? And what is she really capable of doing to protect her secrets?"

Literally THE PERFECT beach read!

The Book of Accidents by Chuck Wendig
Published by: Del Rey
Publication Date: July 20th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 544 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A family returns to their hometown - and to the dark past that haunts them still - in this masterpiece of literary horror by the New York Times bestselling author of Wanderers.

Long ago, Nathan lived in a house in the country with his abusive father - and has never told his family what happened there.

Long ago, Maddie was a little girl making dolls in her bedroom when she saw something she shouldn’t have - and is trying to remember that lost trauma by making haunting sculptures.

Long ago, something sinister, something hungry, walked in the tunnels and the mountains and the coal mines of their hometown in rural Pennsylvania.

Now, Nate and Maddie Graves are married, and they have moved back to their hometown with their son, Oliver.

And now what happened long ago is happening again...and it is happening to Oliver. He meets a strange boy who becomes his best friend, a boy with secrets of his own and a taste for dark magic.

This dark magic puts them at the heart of a battle of good versus evil and a fight for the soul of the family - and perhaps for all of the world. But the Graves family has a secret weapon in this battle: their love for one another."

Anyone else noticing how many things are set in Pennsylvania right now?

The Past is Red by Catherynne M. Valente
Published by: Tordotcom
Publication Date: July 20th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 160 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Catherynne M. Valente, the bestselling and award-winning creator of Space Opera and The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland returns with The Past is Red, the enchanting, dark, funny, angry story of a girl who made two terrible mistakes: she told the truth and she dared to love the world.

The future is blue. Endless blue…except for a few small places that float across the hot, drowned world left behind by long-gone fossil fuel-guzzlers. One of those patches is a magical place called Garbagetown.

Tetley Abednego is the most beloved girl in Garbagetown, but she’s the only one who knows it. She’s the only one who knows a lot of things: that Garbagetown is the most wonderful place in the world, that it’s full of hope, that you can love someone and 66% hate them all at the same time.

But Earth is a terrible mess, hope is a fragile thing, and a lot of people are very angry with her. Then Tetley discovers a new friend, a terrible secret, and more to her world than she ever expected."

Cat Valente equals must buy.

These Hollow Vows by Lexi Ryan
Published by: HMH Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: July 20th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 448 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From New York Times best-selling author Lexi Ryan, Cruel Prince meets A Court of Thorns and Roses in this sexy, action-packed fantasy about a girl who is caught between two treacherous faerie courts and their dangerously seductive princes.

Brie hates the Fae and refuses to have anything to do with them, even if that means starving on the street. But when her sister is sold to the sadistic king of the Unseelie court to pay a debt, she'll do whatever it takes to get her back - including making a deal with the king himself to steal three magical relics from the Seelie court.

Gaining unfettered access to the Seelie court is easier said than done. Brie's only choice is to pose as a potential bride for Prince Ronan, and she soon finds herself falling for him. Unwilling to let her heart distract her, she accepts help from a band of Unseelie misfits with their own secret agenda. As Brie spends time with their mysterious leader, Finn, she struggles to resist his seductive charm.

Caught between two dangerous courts, Brie must decide who to trust with her loyalty. And with her heart."

I'm a sucker for the Unseelie.

A Radical Act of Free Magic by H.G. Parry
Published by: Redhook
Publication Date: July 20th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 512 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"This genre-defying story of magic, war, and the struggle for freedom in early modern history tells a sweeping tale of revolution in a world not quite like our own.

The Concord has been broken, and a war of magic engulfs the world.

In France, the brilliant tactician Napoléon Bonaparte has risen to power, and under his command, the army of the dead have all but conquered Europe. Britain fights back, but Wilberforce’s own battle to bring about free magic and abolition has met a dead end in the face of an increasingly repressive government. In Saint-Domingue, Fina aids as Toussaint Louverture navigates these opposing forces to liberate the country.

But there is another, even darker war being fought beneath the surface: the first vampire war in hundreds of years. The enemy blood magician who orchestrated Robespierre’s downfall is using the French Revolutionary Wars to bring about a return to dark magic. Across the world, only a few know of his existence, and the choices they make will shape the new age of magic."

I'm a sucker for Regency Magic... it's just a "technicality" that it's in France...

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A Radical Act of Free Magic, Beach Read, Catherynne M. Valente, Chuck Wendig, H.G. Parry, Kristin Miller, Lexi Ryan, Regency Magic, San Francisco, The Book of Accidents, The Past is Red, These Hollow Vows

The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley
Published by: Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication Date: May 25th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 448 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"For fans of The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and David Mitchell, a genre bending, time twisting alternative history that asks whether it's worth changing the past to save the future, even if it costs you everyone you've ever loved.

Joe Tournier has a bad case of amnesia. His first memory is of stepping off a train in the nineteenth-century French colony of England. The only clue Joe has about his identity is a century-old postcard of a Scottish lighthouse that arrives in London the same month he does. Written in illegal English-instead of French-the postcard is signed only with the letter “M,” but Joe is certain whoever wrote it knows him far better than he currently knows himself, and he's determined to find the writer. The search for M, though, will drive Joe from French-ruled London to rebel-owned Scotland and finally onto the battle ships of a lost empire's Royal Navy. In the process, Joe will remake history, and himself.

From bestselling author Natasha Pulley, The Kingdoms is an epic, wildly original novel that bends genre as easily as it twists time."

You don't need to name check a favorite book I read last year when the writer is Natasha Pulley. It doesn't hurt though.

Honeycomb by Joanne M. Harris
Published by: Gallery / Saga Press
Publication Date: May 25th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 432 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A lushly illustrated set of dark, captivating fairy tales from the bestselling author of The Gospel of Loki with illustrator Charles Vess (Stardust).

The beauty of stories; you never know where they will take you. Full of dreams and nightmares, Honeycomb is an entrancing mosaic novel of original fairy tales from bestselling author Joanne M. Harris and legendary artist Charles Vess in a collaboration that’s been years in the making. The toymaker who wants to create the perfect wife; the princess whose heart is won by words, not actions; the tiny dog whose confidence far outweighs his size; and the sinister Lacewing King who rules over the Silken Folk. These are just a few of the weird and wonderful creatures who populate Joanne Harris’s first collection of fairy tales.

Dark, gripping, and brilliantly imaginative, these magical tales will soon have you in their thrall in a uniquely illustrative edition.

The tales are beautifully illustrated by renowned illustrator Charles Vess (Stardust, Sandman, The Books of Earthsea)."

Even if it wasn't written by such a wonderful writer it's illustrated by Charles Vess. That is really all that needs to be said.

Sixteen Scandals by Sophie Jordan
Published by: HMH Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: May 25th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 256 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In this irreverent regency romp by New York Times best-selling author Sophie Jordan, newly minted sixteen-year-old Primrose Ainsworth finds herself on a wayward birthday adventure through London with a mysterious hero - perfect for fans of My Lady Jane.

The youngest of four daughters, Primrose Ainsworth is used to getting lost in the shuffle. But when her parents decide to delay her debut into English society, Prim hatches a plan to go rogue on the night of her sixteenth birthday.

Donning a mask, Prim escapes to the infamous Vauxhall Gardens for one wild night. When her cover is nearly blown, a mysterious stranger intercedes, and Prim finds an unexpected partner in mischief...and romance. But when it’s revealed her new ally isn’t who he says he is, her one night of fun may last past dawn.

In this frothy regency romp perfect for fans of Austen-esque flirtation and Shakespearean hijinks, sometimes a little scandal can be a good thing."

If you're like me you HAVE to read this book not just because of the John Hughes-esque title but to find out what a sixteen-year-old was doing at Vauxhall Gardens!

A Peculiar Combination by Ashley Weaver
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: May 25th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The first in the Electra McDonnell series from Edgar-nominated author Ashley Weaver, set in England during World War II, A Peculiar Combination is a delightful mystery filled with spies, murder, romance, and the author's signature wit.

Electra McDonnell has always known that the way she and her family earn their living is slightly outside of the law. Breaking into the homes of the rich and picking the locks on their safes may not be condoned by British law enforcement, but World War II is in full swing, Ellie's cousins Colm and Toby are off fighting against Hitler, and Uncle Mick's more honorable business as a locksmith can't pay the bills any more.

So when Uncle Mick receives a tip about a safe full of jewels in the empty house of a wealthy family, he and Ellie can’t resist. All goes as planned - until the pair are caught redhanded. Ellie expects them to be taken straight to prison, but instead they are delivered to a large townhouse, where government official Major Ramsey is waiting with an offer: either Ellie agrees to help him break into a safe and retrieve blueprints that will be critical to the British war effort, before they can be delivered to a German spy, or he turns her over to the police.

Ellie doesn’t care for the Major's imperious manner, but she has no choice, and besides, she's eager to do her bit for king and country. She may be a thief, but she's no coward. When she and the Major break into the house in question, they find instead the purported German spy dead on the floor, the safe already open and empty. Soon, Ellie and Major Ramsey are forced to put aside their differences to unmask the double-agent, as they try to stop allied plans falling into German hands."

With so many mysteries set during the second World War one needs something, like wit, to single itself out! 

The Cave Dwellers by Christina McDowell
Published by: Gallery/Scout Press
Publication Date: May 25th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A compulsively readable novel in the vein of The Bonfire of the Vanities - by way of The Nest - about what Washington, DC’s high society members do away from the Capitol building and behind the closed doors of their stately homes.

They are the families considered worthy of a listing in the exclusive Green Book - a discriminative diary created by the niece of Edith Roosevelt’s social secretary. Their aristocratic bloodlines are woven into the very fabric of Washington - generation after generation. Their old money and manner lurk through the cobblestone streets of Georgetown, Kalorama, and Capitol Hill. They only socialize within their inner circle, turning a blind eye to those who come and go on the political merry-go-round. These parents and their children live in gilded existences of power and privilege.

But what they have failed to understand is that the world is changing. And when the family of one of their own is held hostage and brutally murdered, everything about their legacy is called into question.

They’re called The Cave Dwellers."

After the following few years and months in particular I am now kind of Washington, DC obsessed... thankfully there's The Cave Dwellers... 

The End of the Golden Gate Introduction by Gary Kamiya
Published by: Chronicle Prism
Publication Date: May 25th, 2021
Format: Paperback, 240 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Capturing an ever-changing San Francisco, 25 acclaimed writers tell their stories of living in one of the most mesmerizing cities in the world.

Over the last few decades, San Francisco has experienced radical changes with the influence of Silicon Valley, tech companies, and more. Countless articles, blogs, and even movies have tried to capture the complex nature of what San Francisco has become, a place millions of people have loved to call home, and yet are compelled to consider leaving. In this beautifully written collection, writers take on this Bay Area-dweller's eternal conflict: Should I stay or should I go?

Including an introduction written by Gary Kamiya and essays from Margaret Cho, W. Kamau Bell, Michelle Tea, Beth Lisick, Daniel Handler, Bonnie Tsui, Stuart Schuffman, Alysia Abbott, Peter Coyote, Alia Volz, Duffy Jennings, John Law, and many more, The End of the Golden Gate is a penetrating journey that illuminates both what makes San Francisco so magnetizing and how it has changed vastly over time, shapeshifting to become something new for each generation of city dwellers.

With essays chronicling the impact of the tech-industry invasion and the evolution, gentrification, and radical cost of living that has transformed San Francisco's most beloved neighborhoods, these prescient essayists capture the lasting imprint of the 1960s counterculture movement, as well as the fight to preserve the art, music, and other creative movements that make this forever the city of love.

For anyone considering moving to San Francisco, wishing to relive the magic of the city, or anyone experiencing the sadness of leaving the bay - and ultimately, for anyone that needs a reminder of why we stay."

I'm here for all things San Francisco, but I do have to say not having Armistead Maupin in this collection is a HUGE oversight. 

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Ashley Weaver, Charles Vess, Christina McDowell, Joanne M. Harris, Natasha Pulley, San Francisco, Sixteen Scandals, Sophie Jordan, The Cave Dwellers, The End of the Golden Gate, The Kingdoms, Washington DC, WWII

The House Guest by Mark Edwards
Published by: Thomas and Mercer
Publication Date: June 2nd, 2020
Format: Paperback, 302 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A perfect summer. A perfect stranger. A perfect nightmare.

When British twenty-somethings Ruth and Adam are offered the chance to spend the summer housesitting in New York, they can't say no. Young, in love and on the cusp of professional success, they feel as if luck is finally on their side.

So the moment that Eden turns up on the doorstep, drenched from a summer storm, it seems only right to share a bit of that good fortune. Beautiful and charismatic, Eden claims to be a friend of the homeowners, who told her she could stay whenever she was in New York.

They know you're not supposed to talk to strangers - let alone invite them into your home - but after all, Eden's only a stranger until they get to know her.

As suspicions creep in that Eden may not be who she claims to be, they begin to wonder if they've made a terrible mistake...

The House Guest is the chilling new psychological thriller from the three million copy bestselling author of Here to Stay and Follow You Home."

Just the mere thought of a house guest right now makes me shudder! 

The Grim Reader by Kate Carlisle
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: June 2nd, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"San Francisco book-restoration expert Brooklyn Wainwright was hoping for a fun, relaxing weekend at a local book fair, but a murderer made other plans in the latest in this New York Times bestselling series.

Brooklyn and her new hunky husband, Derek, are excited to be guests at Dharma’s first annual Book Festival. The entire town is involved and Brooklyn’s mom Rebecca is taking charge. In addition to all of her other event related duties, she’s got Brooklyn doing rare book appraisals and is also staging Little Women, the musical to delight the festival goers. If that wasn’t enough, she and Meg - Derek’s mom - will have a booth where they read palms and tarot cards.

Brooklyn couldn’t be prouder of her mom’s do-it-all attitude so when a greedy local businessman who seems intent on destroying Dharma starts harassing Rebecca, Brooklyn is ready to take him down. Rebecca is able to hold her own with the nasty jerk until one of her fellow festival committee members is brutally murdered and the money for the festival seems to have vanished into thin air. Things get even more personal when one of Brooklyn’s nearest and dearest is nearly run down in cold blood. Brooklyn and Derek go into attack mode and the pressure is on to catch a spineless killer before they find themselves skipping the festival for a funeral."

This series is always on my list because books and San Francisco, through in the Little Women musical and I am so ready!

The Rat Began to Gnaw the Rope by C.W. Grafton
Published by: Poisoned Pen Press
Publication Date: June 2nd, 2020
Format: Paperback, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Is this lawyer digging his way to the truth, or digging his own grave?

Short, chubby, and awkward with members of the opposite sex, Gil Henry is the youngest partner in a small law firm, not a hard-boiled sleuth. So when an attractive young woman named Ruth McClure walks into his office and asks him to investigate the value of the stock she inherited from her father, he thinks nothing of it - until someone makes an attempt on his life.

Soon Gil is inadvertently embroiled in scandal, subterfuge, and murder. He's beaten, shot, and stabbed, as his colleagues and enemies try to stop him from seeing the case through to the end. Surrounded by adversaries, he teams up with Ruth and her secretive brother to find answers to the questions someone desperately wants to keep him from asking.

In this portrait of America on the eve of America's entry into World War II, C.W. Grafton - himself a lawyer and the father of prolific mystery writer Sue Grafton - pens an award-winning mystery that combines humor and the hard-boiled style and will keep readers guessing until its thrilling conclusion."

I LOVE that Poisoned Pen Press and the Library of Congress are doing this series, but more importantly, did you know that Sue Grafton's father wrote an award-winning mystery!?! Talent runs in that family, that's for sure!

Murder on a Mississippi Steamboat by Leighann Dobbs
Published by: Bookouture
Publication Date: June 2nd, 2020
Format: Paperback, 176 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Nora elbowed her way up to the railing and looked down. The paddle wheel was making its last turn, dredging up a mass of turquoise chiffon made almost transparent by the water. A hand, its red lacquered fingernails a contrast to the pale white skin, stuck up from a bejeweled cuff...

A relaxing cruise down the Mississippi on the Miss Delta Belle steamboat turns to tragedy when celebrity Delilah Dove falls from the deck and is swallowed by the river faster than you can say 'man overboard '

It's touted as a tragic accident, but guests Miss Nora Marsh and her wily great-aunt Julia know a murder when they see one. Can they get justice for Delilah and crack the case without alerting the murderer to their suspicions?

As Nora and Julia hunt for clues it emerges that nearly everyone had a reason to want Delilah dead. And that's bad news for the two sleuths - who want to solve the case pronto, before Mississippi police chief and Aunt Julia's nemesis Artemis Leonard comes on board at the next port to launch the official investigation. She's not letting him get the credit if she can help it.

With multiple suspects and a series of mysterious thefts onboard - not to mention the distractingly handsome Max Lawton turning Nora's head - this is shaping up to be one tough case to crack. What started as a gentle river voyage is far from plain sailing.

A gripping and witty 1920s murder mystery from bestselling author Leighann Dobbs, perfect for fans of T E Kinsey and Lee Strauss."

I am ALL about the 1920s right now!

My Calamity Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadow
Published by: HarperTeen
Publication Date: June 2nd, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 544 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Hold on to your hats: The authors who brought you the New York Times bestseller My Plain Jane, which Booklist praised as “delightfully deadpan” (starred review) and Publishers Weekly called “a clever, romantic farce” (starred review), are back with another irreverent historical adventure.

Welcome to 1876 America, a place bursting with gunslingers, outlaws, and garou - better known as werewolves.

And where there are garou, there’re hunters: the one and only Calamity Jane, to be precise, along with her fellow stars of Wild Bill’s Traveling Show, Annie Oakley and Frank “the Pistol Prince” Butler.

After a garou hunt goes south and Jane finds a suspicious-like bite on her arm, she turns tail for Deadwood, where there’s talk of a garou cure. But rumors can be deceiving - meaning the gang better hightail it after her before they’re a day late and a Jane short.

In this perfect next read for fans of A Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue, bestselling authors Cynthia Hand, Jodi Meadows, and Brodi Ashton bring their signature spark to the side-splittin’, whopper-filled (but actually kind of factual?) tale of Calamity Jane."

Anyone else obsessed with Calamity Jane since they first watched Deadwood?

The Obsidian Tower by Melissa Caruso
Published by: Orbit
Publication Date: June 2nd, 2020
Format: Paperback, 528 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"One woman will either save an entire continent or completely destroy it in a captivating epic fantasy bursting with intrigue and ambition, questioned loyalties, and broken magic.

"Guard the tower, ward the stone. Find your answers writ in bone. Keep your trust through wits or war - nothing must unseal the door."

Deep within Gloamingard Castle lies a black tower. Sealed by magic, it guards a dangerous secret that has been contained for thousands of years.

As Warden, Ryxander knows the warning passed down through generations: nothing must unreal the Door. But one impetuous decision will leave her with blood on her hands - and unleash a threat that could doom the world to fall to darkness."

Anyone else get actual goosebumps reading that rhyme?

Heroes by Stephen Fry
Published by: Chronicle Books
Publication Date: June 2nd, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In this sequel to the bestselling Mythos, legendary author and actor Stephen Fry moves from the exploits of the Olympian gods to the deeds of mortal heroes.

Perseus. Jason. Atalanta. Theseus. Heracles. Rediscover the thrills, grandeur, and unabashed fun of the Greek myths. Whether recounting a tender love affair or a heroic triumph, Fry deftly finds resonance with our own modern minds and hearts.

Illustrated throughout with classical art inspired by the myths, this gorgeous volume invites you to explore a captivating world with a brilliant storyteller as your guide.

In Heroes, Fry draws out the humor and pathos in both tender love affairs and heroic battles, and reveals each myth's relevance for our own time."

Stephen Fry. That is all. 

Little Book of Kindness by Francesca Pirrone
Published by: Clavis
Publication Date: June 2nd, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 50 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"It's easy to be kind. Offer a smile. Say thank you. Lend a helping hand. You'll see that when you are kind, others are kind too."

We could all do with a little more kindness these days. 

I Left the House Today! by Cassandra Calin
Published by: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Publication Date: June 2nd, 2020
Format: Paperback, 144 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Hilarious and relatable comics about one young woman's life, relationships, and day-to-day humorous musings on why it's good to leave the house sometimes - and when it's better to stay home.

Cassandra Calin’s ability to document the hilarity of relatable everyday events in a series of webcomics has generated a huge following on social media. This beautifully illustrated compendium of first-person comics about the trials of the single life, school, stress, junk food, shaving, and maintaining a healthy self-image. Cassandra Calin's comics frequently highlight the humorous gap between expectations and reality, especially when it comes to appearance and how much she can accomplish in one day. This book is funny, lighthearted, introspective, and artistically stunning - the perfect gift for young women, recent graduates, and anyone who might need a little comedic incentive to leave the house today."

If you were able to leave the house today without losing it, I applaud you!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: 1920s, C.W. Grafton, Calamity Jane, Cassandra Calin, Deadwood, Francesca Pirrone, Greek, Kate Carlisle, Leighann Dobbs, Library of Congress, Mark Edwards, Melissa Caruso, San Francisco, Stephen Fry, The House Guest

The Paris Mysteries by Edgar Allan Poe
Published by: Pushkin Vertigo
Publication Date: April 28th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 192 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Three macabre and confounding mysteries for the first and greatest of detectives, Auguste Dupin.

An apartment on the rue Morgue turned into a charnel house; the corpse of a shopgirl dragged from the Seine; a high-stakes game of political blackmail - three mysteries that have enthralled the whole of Paris, and baffled the city's police. The brilliant Chevalier Auguste Dupin investigates - can he find the solution where so many others before him have failed?

These three stories from the pen of Edgar Allan Poe are some of the most influential ever written, widely praised and credited with inventing the detective genre. This edition contains: 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue', 'The Mystery of Marie Rogêt' and 'The Purloined Letter'."

I've been craving mysteries lately, so why don't we go back to the beginning, the master, Edgar Allan Poe! 

The Lost Boys of London by Mary Lawrence
Published by: Red Puddle Print
Publication Date: April 28th, 2020
Format: Paperback, 326 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In Mary Lawrence's fifth Bianca Goddard mystery set during the final years of Henry VIII's reign, the alchemist's daughter uses her skills to aid the living and helps seek justice for the dead...

While her husband fights the Scots for King Henry VIII, Bianca Goddard earns her coin by concocting medicines that offer relief to London's sick. Some unfortunates, however, are beyond any remedies she can provide - like the boy discovered hanging from a church dripstone. Examining the body, Bianca finds a rosary twined around the child's neck. A week later, another boy is found dead at a different church. When Fisk, Bianca's impish acquaintance goes missing, she fears he may become the third victim...

There are many villains who would prey on wayward, penniless boys. But Bianca suspects the killings are not brutal acts of impulse, but something far more calculated. In her room of Medicinals and Physickes, she examines the sole piece of evidence: a sweet-smelling, dark-stained cloth. If Bianca can unravel its secret, reputations and lives will be saved. But the expected hour of the next murder is approaching, and a single misstep may mean another boy is lost forever..."

Alchemist? I'm there!

Jack by Connie Willis
Published by: Subterranean Press
Publication Date: April 28th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 112 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The classic World War II novella by the author of Black Out and All Clear." 

What it lacks in description you can be sure it makes up for in quality. Connie Willis's Subterranean Press releases are must buys for me.

The Talented Mr. Varg by Alexander McCall Smith
Published by: Pantheon
Publication Date: April 28th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 240 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In the second installment in the best-selling Detective Varg series, Ulf and his team investigate a notorious philanderer - a wolf of a man whose bad reputation may be all bark and no bite.

The Department of Sensitive Crimes, renowned for taking on the most obscure and irrelevant cases is always prepared to dive into an investigation, no matter how complex. So when the girlfriend of an infamous author who insists her bad-boy beau is being blackmailed approaches Ulf Varg, the department’s lead detective, Ulf is determined to help. It’s rather difficult to determine what skeletons hide in the hard-living lothario’s closet, though. And while Swedes are notoriously tolerant...well, there are limits. Even for the Swedish.

The case requires Ulf’s total concentration, but he finds himself distracted by his ongoing attraction to his co-worker, Anna, whose own fears about her husband’s fidelity are causing a strain on her marriage. When Ulf is also tasked with looking into a group of dealers exporting wolves that seem more canis familiaris than canis lupus, it will require all of his team’s investigative instincts and dogged persistence to put these matters to bed."

I'd like someone to figure out who writes more books in a year, Alexander McCall Smith, Seanan McGuire, or Stephen King. Can you get back to me on that?

The Wedding Dress by Danielle Steel
Published by: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: April 28th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In Danielle Steel’s epic new novel, the lives of four generations of women in one family span fortune and loss, motherhood, tragedy and victories.

From the glamorous San Francisco social scene of the 1920s, through war and the social changes of the ’60s, to the rise of Silicon Valley today, this extraordinary novel takes us on a family odyssey that is both heartbreaking and inspiring, as each generation faces the challenges of their day.

The Parisian design houses in 1928, the crash of 1929, the losses of war, the drug culture of the 1960s - history holds many surprises, and lives are changed forever. For richer or for poorer, in cramped apartments and grand mansions, the treasured wedding dress made in Paris in 1928 follows each generation into their new lives, and represents different hopes for each of them, as they marry very different men.

From inherited fortunes at the outset to self-made men and women, the wedding dress remains a cherished constant for the women who wear it in each generation and forge a destiny of their own. It is a symbol of their remaining traditions and the bond of family they share in an ever-changing world."

This book has everything I love, a generational story that is in San Francisco! And yes, I make it a point to read books set there!

The Ruin of Evangeline Jones by Julia Bennet
Published by: Entangled: Amara
Publication Date: April 28th, 2020
Format: Kindle, 217 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Alex Stanton just inherited a dukedom but his true passion is uncovering charlatans and frauds wherever he finds them. Spiritualist and medium Evangeline “Evie” Jones is the biggest fake of all and he’s determined to expose her lies for all of London to see. Her prim manner and ladylike airs don’t fool him. He sees the hunger beneath and recognizes a worthy opponent. He can’t deny the dark undercurrents of lust between them.

Evie worked her way up from the gutter and she’s not about to abandon the life she’s built for fear of this aristocratic dilettante. She knows his type. She sees the attraction simmering beneath his animosity, and she knows how to use it to keep him off balance. They strike a bargain. He has one week to prove she’s a fake. If he fails, he has to abandon all further attempts. If he succeeds, she’ll not only retire but make a public statement explaining all her tricks.

Neither expects to find anything in common, not to mention anything to love, in the other. Both are blindsided by the affinity and blossoming tenderness between them. But even if it were possible for a lowly charlatan to live happily ever after with a duke, more is going on than either suspects. Someone else has brought them together for a sinister purpose of his own."

What could be a better escape right now? Also Kindle, am I right? If you have a Kindle right now and are a voracious reader you are SET!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alexander McCall Smith, Connie Willis, Danielle Steel, Edgar Allan Poe, Jack, Julia Bennet, Mary Lawrence, San Francisco, Seanan McGuire, Stephen King, The Ruin of Evangeline Jones, The Wedding Dress

The Secret Life of Mrs. London by Rebecca Rosenberg
ARC Provided by the Publisher
Published by: Lake Union Publishing
Publication Date: January 30th, 2018
Format: Paperback, 348 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy

Charmain London loves her husband Jack, the famous author, but sometimes their marriage feels like a boxing match both literally and figuratively. He longs to be surrounded by his comrades and friends while he holds court at his agrarian utopia, Beauty Ranch, while Charmain, his Mate-Woman, longs to be alone with him. She longs to share the same bed, feel his arms around her, but instead he uses his mate as he sees fit, even if it's fodder for his new book, The Little Lady of the Big House. He seems to be pushing her into the arms of their friend Lawrence all for his narrative needs. But when Charmain finally succumbs their world comes crashing down. Because that's the night that she not only betrayed her husband, but the night Wolf House, Jack's dream home, the monument to his success, what they had scrimped and saved and slaved for for years burned to the ground. Did Jack set the fire himself realizing what he drove his wife to? Or did Lawrence set the fire because he knew Charmain would never be his for more than a few moments? All this and more hangs over the couple when someone new enters their life. One night they go to see Houdini perform in San Francisco and Charmain is brought on stage to assist Houdini and his with Bess with their "Metamorphosis" act. Afterwards the two couples go out for dinner and Charmain and Bessie form a friendship over the struggles of loving men who are larger than life. Their friendship just begun must soon be tried as Jack's ill health returns and Charmain decides to take him to Hawaii, where they were happiest. Hopefully the magic will return to their marriage. Only she can't help thinking of another magic man... Houdini has worked his way into her heart and he will be there for her when she needs him most. But is it right to fall for her friend's husband? And who is she without Jack?

There are certain shared experiences that everyone connects to. A historical event you remember, a book you read, a movie you saw. These events make up our collective unconscious. Let's take The Call of the Wild. Every schoolkid growing up in America has in all likelihood read Jack London's The Call of the Wild or White Fang. In fact they're probably the only books your teachers made you read that you rather enjoyed. For me it was The Call of the Wild in seventh grade and I can still remember Buck's journey as being an escape from the drudgery and crippling amount of schoolwork. We all have Jack London's second wife and subject of this book, Charmain London, to thank for championing him after his death and making sure he became a part of our collective unconscious. Though for most of us it's been years, perhaps decades since we read these books and therefore the power of Jack London's writing is forgotten amongst his narrative. Recently I was rewatching Northern Exposure and I was reliving my main obsession with the show, which was my love of the ex-con DJ Chris Stevens, when I had the delightful surprise of Chris reading from The Call of the Wild. During the season three episode, "The Three Amigos," the words of Jack London served as a counterpoint to Maurice and Holling journeying out into the wilderness to bury their friend. But what struck me was the lyricism and power of London's writing. Sometimes just reading a book doesn't give you the full experience, you have to hear it aloud to fully appreciate it.

This new appreciation of London's writing was one of the reasons I was drawn to The Secret Life of Mrs. London and signed up for this blog tour. Rebecca Rosenberg's book deepened my admiration of London as she has begun each chapter in the first two parts with a quote from London's writing, whether novel or letter. It's a bold choice for a first time author. Because no matter what, the reader is going to compare her writing to London's, whether that was the intent or not. Whether her writing holds up... that's another question. Rosenberg tells her story plainly and interestingly, but she never reaches the lyricism of London. Yet this works in her favor. London's writing, while beautiful, can be a bit inaccessible. Sometimes it's so dense that it takes several readings to understand what he's getting at. Whereas Rosenberg's writing is accessible. She never hides her story behind verbose verbiage. This helps to mirror and bring home to the reader the loving yet somewhat antagonistic relationship between Charmain and Jack. Charmain is so relatable and Jack is a bit enigmatic, his motives even questioned by his wife, so that as a reader you can't help but root for Charmain. She is our heroine. Whatever happens, wherever she goes, whatever decisions she makes, both sound and slightly insane, by using London's own words against him we modern readers will always side with Charmain. She is our avatar to this world of literary wonders and she's able to make it real in a way London's writing doesn't for today's audience. No matter how much he was trying to capture the real on the page.

While reading The Secret Life of Mrs. London one can't help but think of 2016's much talked about and lauded book about Beryl Markham by Paula McLain, Circling the Sun. These are both women who were true originals, they were free spirits that didn't quite feel of their time. Adventurers that broke with conventions. What I find interesting is that many great writers live within these bubbles that are out of sync with their times and embrace free love. While Kenya was the haven for this kind of bed-hopping behavior, any community of artists would come under this kind of scrutiny and notoriety. They were known for standing out from the crowd and throwing convention to the wind. Rosenberg does a good job though in grounding Charmain within this lifestyle. This solid footing makes Charmain far more sympathetic and her actions understandable, not a betrayal to her husband. Being raised by her Aunt Netta she was exposed to a lifestyle that was fluid when it came to love, as Netta had two men in her life. Therefore when Charmain became London's lover and subsequently his second wife she understood that he was liable to wander. Being a very sexual being herself she understood this, but her dalliance that commences the book almost seems indulged in because it's what Jack wanted. He was playing a game with his wife for his own literary means. Yet she heavily feels her betrayal and when he betrays her in return it's just pain heaped on pain. They are by no means a functional couple, but they have a symbiotic relationship. They need each other, but at the same time they need more.

What Charmain ends up needing is Houdini, her Magic Man. What is so interesting about The Secret Life of Mrs. London is that it shows how truly messy love is. Jack is everything to Charmain, her home was where he was, and yet, despite him saying that she was his everything in return, it was clear through his infidelities that she wasn't. You can spout free love, but the truth of it was, Charmain wanted to remain loyal to her husband but her heart and her needs took her elsewhere. I don't know if the same could be said of her husband. Because she was willing to give him all the he got elsewhere, yet he never compromised and gave her what she needed. I couldn't help thinking about Hamilton while reading this book. Their wives, despite not having perfect husbands, are the ones who carried on their legacies, told their stories. Would London and Hamilton be this well remembered to this day if not for their beleaguered spouses? To an extent even Bessie Houdini carried on her husband's torch, holding a seance for him yearly after his death, just as he requested. All this is so interesting to me in that it's all about these women whose lives were in the shadows, yet were remarkable in their own right. History is putting them rightly back in their places and examining what their impact was. Charmain was Jack's editor and typist for years, her thoughts, her ideas, spun into his stories, and yet she is only remembered as Mrs. London. Living her life through these great men while never really living a life of her own. The end of the book gives you hope, but at the same time, she still, to this day, is only known as Mrs. London. Hopefully this book will help redress this wrong.

But now I must nitpick... Writing historical fiction that actually includes real historical figures as your leads is tricky. You are fictionalizing their life, to an extent. You have to get in their head and tell the story you want to tell but within the framework of their life, and I'm not convinced that Rebecca Rosenberg fully succeeds. The biggest problem I have is moving the burning down of Wolf House, Jack London's dream domicile, two years into the future so that it happens at the same time as the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition. You can not do that! These are very specific set events! It's like saying, hey can we just move the start of World War I so that it fits my narrative better? Your narrative has to fit events not the other way around. Rosenberg admits that she condensed the timeline to be two instead of five years, but from my point of view she really didn't need to do this. The narrative could have easily spanned more time. The only reason I can see that this was done was in order for Charmain to think she was pregnant, father unknown, when she met the Houdinis. Which was, in my mind, unnecessary. But I'm sure Rosenberg would justify this with comparing the once fertile Charmain with the childlike Bessie... But back to my main point, Rosenberg has lots of weird time anomalies, some of which, such as the burning down of Wolf House I previously mentioned, I'm pretty sure she's aware of, as well as certain Houdini stunts that were shifted, while others are "words from the future." Yes, she uses words that are anachronistic to the time. Guess what? Pheromones didn't exist as a word until 1959, four years after Charmain died. A good editor should have flagged this... but editors, and good ones, are a dying breed. So authors, if you don't want your audience being temporarily taken out of the narrative, double and triple check everything.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Blog Tour, Charmain London, Circling the Sun, Hamilton, Harry Houdini, Jack London, Northern Exposure, Rebecca Rosenberg, San Francisco, The Call of the Wild, The Secret Life of Mrs. London, White Fang

The Punishment She Deserves by Elizabeth George
Published by: Viking
Publication Date: March 20th, 2018
Format: Hardcover, 704 Pages
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The official patter:
"Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers and Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley are forced to confront the past as they try to solve a crime that threatens to tear apart the very fabric of a quiet, historic medieval town in England.

The cozy, bucolic town of Ludlow is stunned when one of its most revered and respected citizens--Ian Druitt, the local deacon--is accused of a serious crime. Then, while in police custody, Ian is found dead. Did he kill himself? Or was he murdered?

When Barbara Havers is sent to Ludlow to investigate the chain of events that led to Ian's death, all the evidence points to suicide. But Barbara can't shake the feeling that she's missing something. She decides to take a closer look at the seemingly ordinary inhabitants of Ludlow--mainly elderly retirees and college students--and discovers that almost everyone in town has something to hide.

A masterful work of suspense, The Punishment She Deserves sets Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers and Inspector Thomas Lynley against one of their most intricate cases. Fans of the longtime series will love the many characters from Elizabeth George's previous novels who join Lynley and Havers, and readers new to the series will quickly see why she is one of the most popular and critically acclaimed writers of our time. Both a page-turner and a deeply complex story about the lies we tell, the lies we believe, and the redemption we need, this novel will be remembered as one of George's best."

Does anyone else view a new Elizabeth George book as Christmas come early?

The Broken Girls by Simone St. James
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: March 20th, 2018
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
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The official patter:
"Vermont, 1950. There's a place for the girls whom no one wants--the troublemakers, the illegitimate, the too smart for their own good. It's called Idlewild Hall. And in the small town where it's located, there are rumors that the boarding school is haunted. Four roommates bond over their whispered fears, their budding friendship blossoming--until one of them mysteriously disappears...

Vermont, 2014. As much as she's tried, journalist Fiona Sheridan cannot stop revisiting the events surrounding her older sister's death. Twenty years ago, her body was found lying in the overgrown fields near the ruins of Idlewild Hall. And though her sister's boyfriend was tried and convicted of murder, Fiona can't shake the suspicion that something was never right about the case.

When Fiona discovers that Idlewild Hall is being restored by an anonymous benefactor, she decides to write a story about it. But a shocking discovery during the renovations will link the loss of her sister to secrets that were meant to stay hidden in the past--and a voice that won't be silenced..."

Simone St. James is an author that is always recommended to me, so maybe I should finally check her out? 

City of Sharkes by Kelli Stanley
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: March 20th, 2018
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
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The official patter:
"The blonde secretary was scared when she visited Miranda Corbie’s office. A shove into a streetcar track, a box of poisoned chocolates…hateful, violent letters.

Someone was trying to kill her.

Miranda isn’t sure of anything at first except that Louise Crowley, the blonde who works as an assistant to Niles Alexander, San Francisco publisher, is in trouble. Despite her own preparations for an imminent voyage to a blitzkrieged Britain and a painful farewell to the city she loves, Miranda decides to help Louise and takes on her last case as a private detective in San Francisco…investigating her client, surveying the publishing world of 1940, and stumbling into murder with a trail that leads straight to Alcatraz…an island city of sharks.

Along the way, Miranda explores her beloved San Francisco once more, from Playland-at-the-Beach to Chinatown to Nob Hill and Treasure Island. She encounters John Steinbeck and C.S. Forester, and is aided and abetted by the charming and dapper San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen. And she also discovers personal truths she’s long denied...

With her characteristic luxurious, lyrical prose and insightful eye for character, Kelli Stanley paints a rich, authentic portrait of 1940 San Francisco in this latest installment of her award-winning series."

OK, I have no recollection of ever hearing about this series which is right up my alley! San Francisco period crime? Yes please!

The Heart Forger by Rin Chupeco
Published by: Sourcebooks Fire
Publication Date: March 20th, 2018
Format: Hardcover, 528 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In The Bone Witch, Tea mastered resurrection―now she's after revenge...

No one knows death like Tea. A bone witch who can resurrect the dead, she has the power to take life...and return it. And she is done with her self-imposed exile. Her heart is set on vengeance, and she now possesses all she needs to command the mighty daeva. With the help of these terrifying beasts, she can finally enact revenge against the royals who wronged her―and took the life of her one true love.

But there are those who plot against her, those who would use Tea's dark power for their own nefarious ends. Because you can't kill someone who can never die...

War is brewing among the kingdoms, and when dark magic is at play, no one is safe."

How do you know it's time to pick up a book? When the sequel hits the shelf and you haven't finished it yet! 

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: City of Sharks, Elizabeth George, Inspector Lynley, Kelli Stanley, Miranda Corbie, Rin Chupeco, San Francisco, Simone St. James, The Broken Girls, The Heart Forger, The Punishment She Deserves, Tuesday Tomorrow