Book Review 2022 #7 - Lauren Willig's The Mark of the Midnight Manzanilla
The Mark of the Midnight Manzanilla by Lauren Willig
Published by: NAL Trade
Publication Date: August 5th, 2014
Format: Paperback, 496 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy
Sally Fitzhugh spent all her time at Miss Climpson's Select Seminary for Young Ladies dreaming of the day when she would leave. Adventure was right outside the walls! Sometimes right inside the walls. Perhaps adventure is overrated. Sally is in her second season and she never thought the time would come when she would be bored with this life she dreamed of. Life was simpler surrounded by the four walls of Miss Climpson's. Life was wonderfully static. And her two best friends Lizzy and Agnes hadn't gone on a grand cross-county caper without her! And where was she? At another boring ball. As if things couldn't get worse the silly people of the ton are enraptured with Lizzy's step-mother's book, The Convent of Orsino, engulfing the little season in October in a vampire craze. The mania might have played itself out if not for the fact there is a member of the ton that perfectly embodies the vampiric ideal. He's moody, he's broody, he's been away for years, perhaps locked in a dungeon! He's an enigma to everyone, he's the Duke of Belliston. The newly returned Duke has been absent from England since the death of his parents years prior and all the rumors of anything supernatural comes to rest on his shoulders. He is the perfect vampire, or so everyone is saying. Everyone but Sally. She thinks it all too silly and is far more interested in the fact that Agnes and Lizzy are now out and perhaps they will enliven this dreary season. Only since their adventures after Sally left Miss Climpson's the trio is more a duo and Sally is feeling distinctly left out. At another interminable party abutting the regal home of the Duke of Belliston Sally dares to walk across the dormant gardens over to his house. Boredom and the assumption that she won't be caught make Sally rash and she strides straight into Lucien, the Duke himself. Events soon transpire to thrust these two together on a more daily basis... But is their relationship something the two of them might secretly hope for? Could Sally fall for a supposed vampire? Is there someone fueling the vampiric rumors? And, most importantly of all, was Lucien the adventure Sally was waiting for all along?
Lauren doesn't take herself too seriously and she is able to have fun with the historical genre while deftly skewering it at the same time with wordplay and modern nudges and winks. Here The Mark of the Midnight Manzanilla vampire literature is lovingly lambasted. Just the idea that Miss Gwen, that bane of all young gentleman with her pointy parasol, would be the Stephenie Meyer of her day is a hoot. Miss Gwen not only has the ton in a virtual vampire frenzy, but she even has sparkly vampires, with Lauren creating parodies on so many levels, from what it is to be an author, to an author's fanbase, all the way to all the different vampire iterations over the centuries, that you can't help but fall for this book. This 19th century Twilight-Mania is far more entertaining than the actual Twilight-Mania was. Add to this the references to Monty Python's Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch and to The Princess Bride, Lauren's willingness to take liberties will make you smile. This series just gets better with each installment. And all these years later I still hope that a miracle will happen and new stories will appear. Because Lauren just keeps developing as a writer and I will always long to know what happens next. She was able to avoid many of the pitfalls of long running series by having each book be some offshoot of the first volume. Main characters will reappear, but never in more than background rolls, while the previous background characters take center stage. I love Sally Fitzhugh taking center stage, and yes, that's because I have a great love for all the Fitzhughs. But beyond that Sally is such an interesting character (but let's not talk about the chickens) with an indomitable will for one so young. And of course Sally's book would have to deviate from the staple of Napoleonic spies and secret leagues, with a murder mystery and a random attack stoat. Vampires and stoats and spies oh my! Give me more Fitzhughs or give me death!
Bookstore: 
We always knew it would end with Jane. Therefore the announcement of Jane's book on February 18th of last year was bittersweet. Lauren said it best:
Twelve books, three novellas, and ten years. I have a copiously laden bookshelf devoted to Lauren. Yet the true balm isn't in the satisfactory conclusion of this series, and yes, you will be satisfied. The balm is that Lauren continues to write. With her first three stand-alone novels Lauren has proven that she can keep us in her thrall. Plus it's also fun to play "spot the Pink Carnation reference." But when a series goes from hardcover to paperback, you know the end is nigh. Thanks go to Penguin, Dutton, and NAL for letting Lauren end the series on her terms. Also thanks for all the ARCs over the years, you couldn't have been lovelier. 
I will freely admit I am a book pusher. I am also a movie, TV, and miniseries pusher as well. But first and foremost I am a book pusher. I think most everyone I know has heard me extol about the pleasures of Lauren's books, if not received one or more of them as a gift. I have one friend in particular whose tastes eerily align with mine. We share some secret bond where often she says something and I look at her with this dumbfounded expression because I was just about to say the same thing. Needless to say I recommended The Secret History of the Pink Carnation to her. I might have even bought her it knowing that she would feel the same way I did. Sadly we now live far apart, stupid New York, and stupid relatives that screwed me over last summer which meant I didn't get to go to New York last August to see her. But recently she visited Wisconsin for the wedding of one of our friends. When she dropped by my house in my office I had a pile of Lauren's books on my desk to aid in my Dream Casting for "Pink for All Seasons" and she picked up The Mark of the Midnight Manzanilla and looked at me enquiringly, to which I sadly answered, no, I don't have the final volume yet. Because, what other question could there be? Simpatico. We two are one.
First Impression: Penny Dreadful all the way. This show is so stylish and is such an interesting combination of literary characters in the demimonde. How could I not love it? Plus, Reeve brings something sexy and enigmatic to the character of Dorian Gray, something that is really lacking from Oscar Wilde's book. Yes, I said it. 
Lasting Impression: Penny Dreadful. Seriously folks, one and done for this actor. Rarely does an actor so capture me the first time I've seen him, but everyone on Penny Dreadful, including those actors, like Reeve, who I'd never seen before, were truly memorable. In other words, WATCH PENNY DREADFUL PEOPLE! 
Can't believe it's them: And speaking of things that I can't believe and Julie Taymor, Reeve was the star of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark! Seriously, I will never be able to get this hilarious information into a proper place in my brain where it makes sense. He was in the most lampooned Broadway show like ever! And he was the star! Oh, I wonder how many limbs he broke...
Bio: Reeve was born in New York and from the beginning performing was in his blood seeing as his great uncle was the wonderful actor Art Carney. His family moved to California where he attended the Academy of Music at Alexander Hamilton High School where he met his future band mates. In fact by the age of fifteen he was playing guitar professionally at B.B. King's night club in L.A. Though he continued his education majoring in college in studio jazz guitar, not forsaking study for fame. His first band opened for such groups as Arcade Fire and U2. While still doing music it's his acting chops on Penny Dreadful that are really getting him noticed. Mmm, Penny Dreadful. 
First Impression: I first saw Eleanor in Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging, a lackluster adaptation of a fun book series by Louise Rennison. Eleanor wasn't at all how I had pictured the character of Jas, but nowhere near as bad as the casting of Georgia, and Alan Davies surprised me in how much I didn't feel like killing him. I have Alan Davies issues. But needless to say, this blah movie made me notice a good actress.
Lasting Impression: The White Queen, totally. I mean, yes, I've seen her in practically everything she's been in, but her portrayal of Isabel Neville in the addictive miniseries The White Queen made you have a real, human connection with someone who is just a name in history. Plus, you realize what serious acting chops she has.
Can't believe it's them: The Sarah Jane Adventures! I am excused though because, seriously, look at all that makeup! But what amazes me more is that this two part episode "The Mad Woman in the Attic" is easily my favorite story arc on this show all because of the character Eleanor played. She was able to make an alien so very human and vulnerable and up the quality of a show that is usually pandering crap to something worthy of the Doctor Who canon. 
Bio: Eleanor was born when I graduated 8th grade, making me feel very old. She comes from a family of performers, her mother is a singer and actress, while her father and her brother, who is ironically (in my mind) named Ross, are both actors. She was born in London and grew up in Yorkshire, getting her first acting gig at thirteen, by basically strong arming her father's agent into representing her. She seems to be a pretty private person, which I strongly applaud her for, seeing as she's in the limelight a lot. But what IS known is that she's a dog person and, instead of falling for Aidan Turner, she fell for his stuntman on Poldark. Ah romance.
Jane Austen's First Love by Syrie James
Queen of Hearts by Rhys Bowen
The Grump Guide to Life Observations by Grumpy Cat
