Month: January 2021

Mini-Reviews: Never, Alice, Bargain

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Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go

On the threshold of a big change in her life, narrator Kathy looks back on her youth at Hailsham, a prestigious British boarding school, and on her friends Ruth and Tommy, whom she met there. As Kathy tells her story, it slowly becomes obvious that there is something different about Hailsham and its students. But only now, as an adult, does Kathy truly understand how her experiences at Hailsham have shaped the course of her life. I really liked the first 75 percent of this book, but I felt it petered out toward the end. The meat of the book is the relationships between Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy, which I found complex, interesting, and poignant. The speculative-fiction elements of the book, by contrast, didn’t interest me much, and because the ending has to deal with those elements, I think it’s not as strong as the rest of the novel. Still, I did like the book overall and would recommend it to fans of The Remains of the Day.

Kate Quinn, The Alice Network

In 1947, American coed Charlie Sinclair is desperate for some news of her cousin Rose, who has lost touch with her family after the war. Charlie’s search leads her to Eve Gardiner, a curmudgeonly older woman who agrees to help her for a price; but Charlie soon learns that Eve has an ulterior motive. In 1915, the young and pretty Eve is recruited as a British spy. She is sent to a small town in France to pose as a waitress in a restaurant popular with the occupying German troops. The book switches between Charlie’s story and Eve’s until their two quests converge in the late 1940s. I enjoyed this book — it’s well written with an exciting plot and likable characters — but I didn’t LOVE it, and honestly I’m not sure why. I definitely think that fans of historical fiction would enjoy it!

Jane Ashford, The Bargain

When the Prince Regent believes he’s being haunted by the ghost of actress Bess Harding, he calls on Lord Alan Gresham for help. Alan is the sixth son of a duke, but he has no taste for high society; he’d rather be conducting scientific experiments at Oxford than mingling with the prince’s crowd and hunting for a nonexistent ghost. But Alan’s scientific investigation is complicated by Ariel Harding, Bess’s daughter, who is desperately seeking a reason for her mother’s suicide. Passionate, headstrong, and emotional, Ariel is a menace to Alan’s logical and orderly life. Too bad he also finds her infuriatingly attractive. I wasn’t sure I would like this book at first — Alan is SUCH a jerk in his attitude toward women. To him, they’re all flighty, hysterical, and incapable of logical reasoning. But he eventually realizes the error of his ways, including that Ariel is not the only woman capable of rational thought, so he won me over by the end. I also loved how Alan’s relationships with his brothers change throughout the book, and how Ariel helps them all with their romantic difficulties. I almost wanted a sequel by the end! Recommended for fans of Regency fluff, and I might try more by this author in the future.

Mini-Reviews: Wasted, Played, Clockwork

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Staci Hart, Wasted Words

Cameron Emerson and Tyler Knight have been roommates and good friends for more than a year. Cam is also attracted to Tyler, but she knows they could never be more than friends; they just aren’t a good match. Tyler is an exceptionally handsome ex-football player, the epitome of the popular jock, while Cam is a short, “nerdy” girl who loves comics and doesn’t wear makeup. Of course, that doesn’t stop them from eventually taking their friendship to the next level, but Cam’s insecurities might sabotage their relationship before it truly begins. I wanted to like this book because it’s “inspired by” Jane Austen’s Emma, but I would say the similarities are superficial at best. Cam likes matchmaking and being in control, but that’s really the only Emma-esque aspect of the plot or characters. The writing style isn’t great; the dialogue is unrealistic and the descriptions of love overwrought. I also got very impatient with the conflict, which basically boils down to a lack of communication. I hate when characters who are supposed to be in love won’t TALK to each other! Overall, I was disappointed, and I won’t seek out more by this author.

Jen DeLuca, Well Played

Stacey loves her small town of Willow Creek, Maryland, and she loves her summer job as a bar wench at the local Renaissance Faire, but she’s starting to feel stuck in a rut. When she impulsively emails Dex MacLean, a Faire musician with whom she had a casual fling, she’s just looking to change things up a little. She never expected that they’d end up corresponding throughout the year — or that he would be so sensitive, vulnerable, and caring. When the next Faire season comes around, Stacey is excited to begin a real relationship with Dex, but life has a few big surprises in store. As with the previous book in the series, this is a fun, low-stakes read. It might almost be TOO low-conflict, and I’m not someone who needs a lot of angst in my books! But the main problem is resolved around halfway through, so there’s not a lot going on in the rest of the book. Still, I liked the setting and the characters, and I’m excited to read the next (and final?) book, Well Matched, when it comes out in 2021!

Nancy Campbell Allen, Beauty and the Clockwork Beast

In this gothic, steampunk fairytale, plucky botanist Lucy Pickett goes to visit the estate of the enigmatic Lord Blackwell to care for her cousin, who has married Blackwell’s brother and who has a mysterious illness. Miles, Lord Blackwell, certainly doesn’t need Lucy distracting him from his own problems, particularly the fact that he’s secretly a werewolf. But of course, they are mutually attracted and must work together to discover what’s really going on with Lucy’s cousin and who, among Miles’s friends and neighbors, might be at the bottom of it. I enjoyed this book so much more than I was expecting to! It’s not great literature, but it is fun escapist fiction, and I’m definitely planning to continue with the series!