strange and random happenstance: Time Slip

Chateau of Secrets by Melanie Dobson
Published by: Howard Books
Publication Date: May 13th, 2014
Format: Paperback, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A courageous young noblewoman risks her life to hide French resistance fighters; seventy years later, her granddaughter visits the family’s abandoned chateau and uncovers shocking secrets from the past.

Gisèle Duchant guards a secret that could cost her life. Tunnels snake through the hill under her family’s medieval chateau in Normandy. Now, with Hitler’s army bearing down, her brother and several friends are hiding in the tunnels, resisting the German occupation of France.

But when German soldiers take over the family’s château, Gisèle is forced to host them as well—while harboring the resistance fighters right below their feet. Taking in a Jewish friend’s baby, she convinces the Nazis that it is her child, ultimately risking everything for the future of the child. When the German officers begin to suspect her deception, an unlikely hero rescues both her and the child.

A present day story weaves through the past one as Chloe Sauver, Gisèle’s granddaughter, arrives in Normandy. After calling off her engagement with a political candidate, Chloe pays a visit to the chateau to escape publicity and work with a documentary filmmaker, Riley, who has uncovered a fascinating story about Jews serving in Hitler’s army. Riley wants to research Chloe’s family history and the lives that were saved in the tunnels under their house in Normandy. Chloe is floored—her family isn’t Jewish, for one thing, and she doesn’t know anything about tunnels or the history of the house. But as she begins to explore the dark and winding passageways beneath the chateau, nothing can prepare her for the shock of what she and Riley discover…"

Totally on Time Slip novels with WWII right now.

Murder at Honeychurch Hall by Hannah Dennison
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: May 13th, 2014
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Kat Stanford is just days away from starting her dream antique business with her newly widowed mother Iris when she gets a huge shock. Iris has recklessly purchased a dilapidated carriage house at Honeychurch Hall, an isolated country estate located several hundred miles from London.

Yet it seems that Iris isn’t the only one with surprises at Honeychurch Hall. Behind the crumbling façade, the inhabitants of the stately mansion are a lively group of eccentrics to be sure—both upstairs and downstairs —and they all have more than their fair share of skeletons in the closet.

When the nanny goes missing, and Vera, the loyal housekeeper ends up dead in the grotto, suspicions abound. Throw in a feisty, octogenarian countess, a precocious seven year old who is obsessed with the famous fighter pilot called Biggles, and a treasure trove of antiques, and there is more than one motive for murder.

As Iris’s past comes back to haunt her, Kat realizes she hardly knows her mother at all. A when the bodies start piling up, it is up to Kat to unravel the tangled truth behind the murders at Honeychurch Hall."

Like Midsomer Murders and Gosford Park in one!

Fatal Enquiry by Will Thomas
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: May 13th, 2014
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Brimming with wit, atmosphere, and unforgettable characters, FATAL ENQUIRY reintroduces private enquiry agent Cyrus Barker and his assistant, Thomas Llewellyn, and their unforgettable world of Victorian London.

Some years ago, Cyrus Barker matched wits with Sebastian Nightwine, an aristocrat and sociopath, and in exposing his evil, sent Nightwine fleeing to hide from justice somewhere in the far corners of the earth. The last thing Barker ever expected was to encounter Nightwine again—but the British government, believing they need Nightwine’s help, has granted him immunity for his past crimes, and brought him back to London. Nightwine, however, has more on his mind than redemption—and as Barker and Llewellyn set out to uncover and thwart Nightwine’s real scheme, they find themselves in the gravest danger of their lives."

I have the other books in this series... I think perhaps it's time to read them!

Flights and Chimes and Mysterious Times by Emma Trevayne
Published by: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: May 13th, 2014
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In nineteenth-century England, a boy is about to discover a mysterious mechanical world he may never escape.

Ten-year-old Jack Foster has stepped through a doorway and into quite a different London.

Londinium is a smoky, dark, and dangerous place, home to mischievous metal fairies and fearsome clockwork dragons that breathe scalding steam. The people wear goggles to protect their eyes, brass grill insets in their nostrils to filter air, or mechanical limbs to replace missing ones.

Over it all rules the Lady, and the Lady has demanded a new son—a perfect flesh-and-blood child. She has chosen Jack. His only hope of escape lies with a legendary clockwork bird.

The Gearwing grants wishes—or it did, before it was broken—before it was killed. But some things don’t stay dead forever.

Fans of books like Splendors and Glooms and Goblin Secrets will find Flights and Chimes and Mysterious Times irresistible!"

19th Century and Steampunk for kids? Why wouldn't I get this?

Wild Storm by Richard Castle
Published by: Kingswell
Publication Date: May 13th, 2014
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Derrick Storm, the guy the CIA calls on when it wants something investigated domestically, is thirty-three thousand feet in the air, returning from a rock climbing vacation in the Swiss Alps, when the plane spirals into anose-dive. Storm uses his climbing gear to tether himself to the wing and heroically save the plane and all the people on board. Sadly, Storm isnot available to come to the aid of the three other planes that have crashed under similar circumstances, killing everyone on board. Interestingly, many of the victims are powerful people in politics, business and religious groups.

The always elusive Jedidiah Jones, leader of the National Clandestine Service that has no name, calls on Storm to investigate. Storm determines that an unknown extremist has secured enough of the rare earth element promethium to create a laser with the power to shoot down planes from the ground. The problem swiftly becomes a global one as four more planes crash in the Arabia Desert. Details, intuition and courage lead Storm to Monaco, Panama Cityand Egypt as he meets beautiful women, rides angry camels and rescues innocent victims in his valiant effort to track down the maniacal mind behind the terrorism."

It's a Castle book in Egypt!?! YES!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments

Labels: Chateau of Secrets, Derek Storm, Egypt, Emma Trevayne, Fatal Enquiry, Flights and Chimes and Mysterious Times, Hannah Dennison, Melanie Dobson, Murder at Honeychurch Hall, Richard Castle, Time Slip, Will Thomas

The House at Riverton by Kate Morton
Published by: Atria Books
Publication Date: January 1st, 2006
Format: Hardcover, 473 Pages
Rating: ★
To Buy (different edition then one reviewed)

Grace is dying. In her life she has done many things. From being a Doctor in archaeology, a nurse in a field hospital during WWII, to the grandmother of a famous writer, she has lived a full life. Yet it's the time she worked in the great house at Riverton that everyone wants to know about. The tragedies of the family she served, but most importantly, the fateful night when the poet Robbie Hunter blew his brains out during a party. The story everyone knows isn't the truth. There's a movie being made at the house about that night... Grace is relieved when she realizes that they got it wrong. They don't know. They haven't guessed. But even thinking about that time she so easily slips into the past. Grace is there watching fate unfold once again. Grace is the only one alive who knows what happened that night and she has to decide if she is going to take the secret with her to the grave or not. Time is running out.

The House at Riverton, or by it's original and far more apt title, The Shifting Fog, is a painful and laborious read from a first time author. I spent hundreds and hundreds of pages waiting for something, anything, to happen, but alas this hope was in vain. Having read two of Kate Morton's later books I felt like I could feel her struggling with The House at Riverton. She hadn't yet developed the knack of creating narrative and likable characters that fill her world of gently peeling wallpaper and mysterious houses. There's also the issue that she seems to have a fixed set of themes that she uses, which could form any of her books basic premise, and then she builds from there. As a reader, there is only so many times you can read about the Grandmother/Mother figure dying with a secret about where they really come from, paternity/maternity, and those left behind finding out the truth. Yes, you can spin this "time slip" framework differently and have a great read, but in all seriousness, you are best left skipping this installment.

The boredom though was nothing compared to the lack of originality displayed here. In fact, if you just skip to the end and read Kate Morton's "Author's Note" she handily writes out all the things she's "borrowing" to write The House at Riverton. So if I were you, I'd not read the book and read her sources instead. Firstly, I seriously want to know, when did it become standard that all cooks and all butlers had to be Mrs. Bridges and Hudson from Upstairs, Downstairs? I mean, there was a time prior to Upstairs, Downstairs, I know that might come as a surprise to many, but there was. During this era where there books of this type? I really want to know, because Upstairs, Downstairs has become the seminal work in this class system based writings and has influenced so many other works that I really would like to know if there's perhaps someone else these writers could emulate once in awhile if they are unable to summon any originality? Yes, it's cool that Mrs. Bridges and Hudson have become the standard archetypes, but seriously Kate, when you even copy their mannerisms, their physical presence, even down to Mrs. Bridges's topknot... well... it makes me want to watch Upstairs, Downstairs, and not read your book.

Let's get to the "borrowing" that bothered me the most. For, oh, I don't know, 199 pages, there is no plot. Nothing at all. Zip, nadda, zilch. Then with the appearance of Teddy Luxton I noticed a plot kind of faintly in the background... a familiar plot... in fact, the plot to The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford. That's right, Hannah became Linda and Teddy is 100% Tony Kroesig! The fact that she fell for him because he did the one romantic gesture of his life at the right time, the fact he's a banker! Oh, and then later the whole German angle. It's ok to make a reference here or there to Nancy Mitford, I mean, modern literature set during the 20s does look back and is strongly influenced by the writing of that time period, mainly Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh, but come on Kate! You seriously couldn't take it further, that it to the next step? Take it anywhere then the boring predictability of where this book went. At least Nancy Mitford had the sparkle and wit to embody these bright young things, you just built a book around the most boring character ever to exist, Grace.

And Grace is where the book falls completely to tatters. To have the most boring, the most ineffectual lead ever be the narrator of your book, well, there was no chance that The House at Riverton could work. Grace is so dense and naive and a "yes man" that the book's lack of forward momentum is obvious. An object in motion will stay in motion while an object at rest will stay at rest, and Grace is a giant lump of immovable object. She sits, observes, and does as she's told. In fact, I have such a hard time rectifying this boring individual to the old lady that everyone heralds for having such an interesting life that I don't believe they are the same person, they just couldn't be. A throw away line quoting Agatha Christie about Poirot having the ability to be a great archaeologist and Grace's love of Poirot making her become an archaeologist doesn't make sense of the intervening years! Yes, Grace's naivety and stupidity meant that in the past her actions lead to horrific consequences, but seriously, doing something stupid doesn't make you smart. It may fundamentally change you but it can't up your IQ. I flat out refuse to believe that this dumb little maid ended up a Doctor. There is nothing in the narrative to support this change and so it is my belief that they are just humoring the old lady because they don't think she's right in the head, being the simpleton we have been given tons of evidence in support of. Yes Grace, you were a great "Doctor" you really really were. And your life story, oh, so fascinating, tell it to the tape recorder so I can listen to it over and over again. Um, no.