Mini-Reviews: Necromancer, Dimple, Scrapbook

May 18, 2020May 16, 2020Leave a comment

Martha Wells, The Death of the Necromancer

This gaslamp fantasy follows Nicholas Valliarde, otherwise known as Donatien, the leader of a notorious criminal enterprise in the city of Vienne. He has one goal: to ruin the life of the Count of Montesq, who had Nicholas’s foster-father executed on a false charge of necromancy. In the middle of a heist that would further this goal, however, Nicholas runs into an unexpectedly life-threatening situation and soon learns that a real necromancer may be at work in the city. I really enjoyed this novel, especially the setting, which is like a fantastical version of 18th-century France. There’s also a really great friendship that arises between Nicholas and the police inspector who’s been tracking his criminal alter-ego. I will definitely continue with the Ile-Rien series, although this one stands alone quite well.

Sandhya Menon, When Dimple Met Rishi

Dimple and Rishi are Indian American teens who have never met, but their parents are friends and have tentatively arranged a marriage between them. Rishi knows about the arrangement and is happy about it; he loves his family and his culture, and he trusts his parents to choose an appropriate wife for him. Dimple, on the other hand, is more interested in computer coding than marriage, and she’s desperate to attend a prestigious summer program — one that Rishi happens to be attending also. When they meet, Dimple is enraged to discover the marriage arrangement. But the more she gets to know Rishi, the more she ends up liking him. This is a cute YA rom-com with insight into a culture I know little about. I recommend it if the premise intrigues you!

Caroline Preston, The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt

This “novel in pictures” tells the story of Frances “Frankie” Pratt, an ambitious American girl who leaves her hometown to attend college, then travel to New York and Paris in hopes of becoming a writer. The book purports to be Frankie’s scrapbook of these eventful years of her life, with just a few sentences of narration on each page. The photos are of authentic 1920s artifacts — advertisements, ticket stubs, postcards, and the like — and I was very impressed by the author’s dedication to finding these artifacts and creating a story around them. That said, the scrapbook conceit is the cleverest part of the book; the plot and characters are all fairly two-dimensional. Still, this is a fun, quick read that would appeal to people who enjoy scrapbooking or are fascinated by the 1920s.

Mini-Reviews: Brittany, Thing, Diamonds

April 18, 2020April 16, 20204 Comments

Helen MacInnes, Assignment in Brittany

Martin Hearne, a British intelligence agent, has just been given a new assignment. He happens to bear an uncanny resemblance to Bertrand Corlay, a Frenchman recuperating in an English hospital after the evacuation of Dunkirk. His job will be to impersonate Corlay and go “home” to the village of Saint-Déodat in Brittany, where he will research the movements of the occupying German troops. Of course, complications ensue as Hearne meets Corlay’s family, shelters an American journalist, and has several unpleasant run-ins with the Nazis. His situation becomes even more precarious when he realizes that the real Corlay hasn’t been entirely truthful with him. I really enjoyed this suspenseful and entertaining book. It’s all the more remarkable because the novel was published in 1942, when the outcome of the war was far from certain. Definitely recommended for fans of spy and/or World War II novels.

Jodi Taylor, Just One Damned Thing after Another

When Madeleine “Max” Maxwell is recruited to join the St. Mary’s Institute of Historical Research, she gets a lot more than she bargained for: the historians of St. Mary’s “investigate major historical events in contemporary time” — in other words, time travel! Max embraces the concept wholeheartedly and soon proves herself adept at her new job. But when a trip to the late Cretaceous goes horribly wrong, Max learns that another group of time travelers is wreaking havoc with history, and the St. Mary’s gang will have to stop them in order to protect both the past and the future. This book is a fun romp, although Max is one of those heroines who’s annoyingly good at everything. I found the present timeline hard to follow; the book starts with Max arriving at St. Mary’s, but it seems like several months (or years?) pass without really being acknowledged. There’s also a graphic sex scene that I could have done without. Despite these quibbles, though, I did enjoy the book and will most likely continue with the series.

Jenny Colgan, Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend

This chick lit novel is about Sophie Chesterton, a shallow socialite whose life is upended when her father dies, and the terms of his will state that she must earn her own living for six months before receiving her inheritance. Sophie moves into a dirty flat in South London with four guys, attempts to pursue her interest in photography, and falls for not one but two of her roommates. Normally I really enjoy Jenny Colgan’s novels, but this one was disappointing. Sophie does grow throughout the book, but she’s so awful in the beginning that it’s hard to completely buy her redemption. I also didn’t find the romance angle satisfying; the outcome seemed to come out of the blue, so that I had no chance to become invested. I still recommend Colgan’s books in general, but this one just wasn’t for me.

Mini-Reviews: Forgotten, Kiss, Single

April 17, 2020April 12, 2020Leave a comment

Kate Morton, The Forgotten Garden

It took me a while to get through this book, and I think I’m still digesting it somewhat. It tells the stories of four different women. First, Nell is found on a dock in Brisbane, Australia, in 1913. She is raised by a loving family, but when her father finally tells her that she was adopted, she feels compelled to research the mystery of her past. In 2005, Nell passes away, and her granddaughter Cassandra inherits the mystery, as well as a decaying cottage on the coast of Cornwall. She eventually travels to England to see the cottage and piece together what really happened to Nell. Finally, the book jumps to 1900 and details the lives of Eliza Makepeace, a poor orphan with a gift for storytelling, and Rose Mountratchet, a privileged and beloved young woman who befriends Eliza. As the book shifts back and forth between all these different perspectives, the true story of Nell’s origins finally emerges. I thought the mystery was interesting, I liked the writing style, and the main characters were sympathetic; but for me, the pacing was just too slow. I genuinely do think it’s a good book, but I’m not sure I will pick up anything else by Kate Morton.

Bria Quinlan, It’s in His Kiss and The Last Single Girl

Last year I read Worth the Fall, book 2 in Bria Quinlan’s Brew Ha Ha series, and was unexpectedly charmed by it. So I picked up these two e-books when they were on a free deal; It’s in His Kiss is a prequel novella, and The Last Single Girl is book 1. The novella is about Jenna, a YA writer who needs her character to have a first kiss, but it’s been a long time since Jenna experienced one herself. She meets handsome, arrogant Ben while doing “research,” but her beautiful frenemy seems to be competing with her for his attention. Book 1 has all new characters: Sarah, a girl who needs a New Year’s Eve date and meets a bunch of online suitors in a coffee shop, ends up hitting it off with John, the shop’s owner, instead. These were decent quick reads, but I didn’t find the same spark that I did with Worth the Fall. On the upside, I managed to read them both in a single night!

Mini-Reviews: Midwife’s, Check, Talking

April 16, 2020April 12, 2020Leave a comment

Karen Cushman, The Midwife’s Apprentice

Catherine, Called Birdy was one of my favorite books as a child, but I don’t think I’d ever read The Midwife’s Apprentice by the same author. It’s about a young girl in medieval England who is completely alone; she begins the novel by sleeping in a dung heap to keep warm. But the village midwife eventually takes her in as a servant/apprentice, and the girl’s life improves somewhat. Eventually she learns enough about midwifery to make herself useful, makes a friend, and even gets a name of her own: Alyce. But when Alyce makes a mistake in her work, she runs away, certain that everyone will hate her. Will she ever find a place she truly belongs? I was charmed by this book and wish I had read it as a child; while it’s not a keeper for me now, I would definitely recommend it to elementary schoolers!

Becca Wilhite, Check Me Out

I really liked the premise of this book, with its librarian heroine and Cyrano vibes, but the execution was disappointing. Twenty-four-year-old Greta loves her job and her BFF Will, but she hasn’t managed to find romance yet. That is, until she meets dreamy Mac in the poetry section, and he sweeps her off her feet with his good looks and romantic texts. The trouble is, in person he’s not as sweet or witty as he is in print. Meanwhile, the library is in danger of shutting down, so Greta embarks on a series of fundraising schemes to save it. I thought the library-related stuff was interesting, and the book did a good job of covering the complexities of the situation (community benefits vs. budget, historical value of the library vs. need for a modern, accessible space). But the romance was frustrating for me; I felt Greta was clueless and shallow, and her descriptions of Will (who is overweight) were downright cruel at times. Overall, I was disappointed in this book and wouldn’t recommend it.

Lauren Graham, Talking as Fast as I Can: From “Gilmore Girls” to “Gilmore Girls” and Everything in Between

A fun celebrity memoir by Lauren Graham, best known for her roles as Lorelai Gilmore on Gilmore Girls and Sarah Braverman on Parenthood. As a huge Gilmore fan and someone who has always admired Lauren Graham, I was definitely the target audience for this book, and I enjoyed it overall. It doesn’t delve very deeply into Gilmore Girls, which I was a little disappointed by, but upon reflection it makes sense: Gilmore was legendary for its long hours and demanding showrunner who expected every line to be word-perfect, so it makes sense that Graham would be reticent about the probable difficulties of working on the show. She obviously feels much more warmly about Parenthood, a show I stopped watching after season 1. Still a worthwhile read for fans of either show, and Graham has a funny, likable voice. But Tina Fey’s Bossypants and Mindy Kaling’s two memoirs are still my favorites in this genre.

Mini-Reviews: Prim, Reading, Headliners

April 12, 2020Leave a comment

Natalia Sanmartin Fenollera, The Awakening of Miss Prim (trans. Sonia Soto)

This is a strange little novel about a young woman, Prudencia Prim, who applies for a position as a private librarian in a remote French village. A modern woman herself, she is initially shocked by the villagers’ old-fashioned beliefs and behavior. But she soon observes the happiness and prosperity of those around her, and with the help of her enigmatic employer, she comes to see the merits of their way of life. I think this book is aimed at a very particular audience, namely a certain subdivision of Catholics who are huge fans of G.K. Chesterton. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I’d say this book is probably not for you! Even as part of the target audience, I still found it a little much.

Anne Bogel, I’d Rather Be Reading: The Delights and Dilemmas of the Reading Life

I’m a big fan of Anne Bogel’s podcast, What Should I Read Next? So when I found her book at a library sale, I snatched it up! The essays are fun — nothing particularly new or memorable, but bibliophiles and fans of the author should enjoy them. A fun read, but not a keeper for me.

Lucy Parker, Headliners

Lucy Parker is an auto-buy author for me; I really love her contemporary romances set in the London entertainment world. In this one, protagonists Sabrina and Nick are rival TV presenters who are forced to work together to revive their network’s struggling morning show. If you enjoy enemies to lovers, this book is a great example! I especially liked how Sabrina and Nick resolve their conflicts like adults; there are no stupid misunderstandings or secrets kept for no reason. I note that, while this book can technically stand alone, it does refer back frequently to the events of the previous book, The Austen Playbook. Definitely recommended for romance fans, although my favorite Parker books remain her first two, Act Like It and Pretty Face.

Mini-reviews: Henrietta’s, Matrimonial, Austen

April 11, 2020April 11, 20202 Comments

Joyce Dennys, Henrietta’s War: News from the Home Front 1939-1942

I greatly enjoyed this charming epistolary novel, which is both written and set during World War II. The titular Henrietta writes to her childhood friend Robert, who is off fighting somewhere in France, and describes daily life in her rural English village. Despite the constant presence of the war in the background, Henrietta mostly focuses on the mundane, humorous aspects of life. A pleasant and uplifting book.

Mimi Matthews, The Matrimonial Advertisement

Last year I read Matthews’s novella, A Holiday by Gaslight, and enjoyed it so much that I wanted to seek out some of her full-length novels. This one, the first in her Parish Orphans of Devon series, is a “proper” Victorian romance (i.e., no explicit content) that centers around a marriage of convenience. Justin needs a wife to manage his remote, secluded estate, and Helena needs a safe place to hide from her past. The book definitely justified my high expectations, and I can’t wait to continue with the series!

Katherine Reay, The Austen Escape

I’ve read one other book by Reay, Dear Mr. Knightley, and I wasn’t a huge fan. But when I got this novel as a gift, I decided to give the author another chance. Unfortunately, I didn’t like this book either — something about the writing style just grates on my nerves. I also found the heroine obnoxious and unsympathetic, and I have no idea what her love interest saw in her. I was frankly appalled by one major plot point: the heroine’s best friend, who has a history of mental health issues, starts to believe she’s living in Jane Austen’s time…and nobody seems to think this is something that needs immediate medical attention! So all in all, I wasn’t a fan, and I’m pretty sure I’m done with this author.

Review: Would Like to Meet

January 27, 2020January 23, 20201 Comment

Rachel Winters, Would Like to Meet

Evie Summers has been an assistant at a film agency for several years, hoping one day to be promoted to agent. For now, though, her hands are full with the agency’s most important client, a critically acclaimed screenwriter who has been contracted to write a romantic comedy but who keeps missing his deadlines. In an effort to motivate him, Evie proposes an experiment to prove that people can fall in love the way they do in romantic comedies. She’ll use the meet-cute methods of famous romcoms to get someone to fall in love with her, and in return, the screenwriter will deliver his script. Of course, Evie’s various attempts at a meet-cute generally end in disaster; luckily, she has her friends and a sympathetic single dad named Ben to help her out. As she continues to struggle in her career and her love life, she gradually realizes that real love may have been right in front of her all along.

I enjoyed reading this book; it’s a fun, quick page-turner with a satisfying romantic comedy built into it. But I must say, I found a lot of Evie’s decisions frustrating, to say the least! She puts up with incredibly bad treatment from her boss, reasoning that if she just hangs in there a little longer, he’ll eventually promote her — but it’s immediately obvious that he never will. At one point, she seems to be torn between two suitors, but it’s painfully clear that one of them is just using her. There’s a big “twist” near the end of the book involving Evie’s written record of her meet-cutes, but I saw it coming a mile away. Basically, I felt sorry for Evie, but I didn’t have a lot of respect for her because she kept making such terrible choices. Also, I found her friend group a bit stereotypical, including a gay BFF and a super-type-A bridezilla. I did like the romance a lot and almost wish it had been more of a focus in the book. Overall, this is a cute chick lit novel that I’d recommend as a breezy beach or airplane read.

Review: Love Lettering

January 15, 2020January 14, 20202 Comments

Kate Clayborn, Love Lettering

Meg Mackworth, the “Planner of Park Slope,” has a thriving business in which she creates unique, hand-lettered planners, journals, and calendars for her clients. She’s reasonably successful and Instagram-famous, and now a major stationery brand is interested in hiring her, which would be a big step forward in her career — if only she weren’t completely creatively blocked. To make matters worse, Meg is unexpectedly confronted by a professional faux pas she made about a year ago, when she hid the word “mistake” in a wedding program she designed. The would-be groom, Reid Sutherland, noticed the pattern and has sought out Meg looking for answers. An unlikely friendship grows between them as Reid accompanies Meg on various walks around New York City, searching for inspiration in the city’s wealth of hand-lettered signs. But their relationship can only be temporary, since Reid hates the city and plans to move soon. Can Meg convince him to fall in love with New York — and with her — before it’s too late?

I feel I’ve done a horribly inadequate job of describing this book, which is so much more compelling than I’ve made it sound! Most of what I mentioned above is the setup; the meat of the book is the slow development of Meg and Reid’s relationship. It’s a joy to see them fall in love in such a simple, quiet way, without a lot of unnecessary drama or conflict. The book is told exclusively from Meg’s point of view, so the reader gets to know Reid the same way she does, relying on every little comment, look, or gesture to figure out what he’s thinking. Some readers might be annoyed by this, but I actually really liked it! Reid is definitely my type of hero — a bit Darcy-esque in his directness and occasional awkwardness. I will say, I didn’t love the last section of the book, in which a big external conflict suddenly arises to threaten Meg and Reid’s relationship. I couldn’t figure out what purpose it served, other than to provide the obligatory “It almost didn’t work out!” story beat before the ultimate resolution. But overall, I loved this book and resented every time I had to put it down! Definitely recommended for fans of contemporary romance.

Review: The Bookshop on the Shore

December 7, 2019December 5, 2019Leave a comment

Jenny Colgan, The Bookshop on the Shore

Single mom Zoe is at the end of her rope. She adores her four-year-old son, Hari, but is concerned that he still hasn’t started talking; he’s silent even when he cries. Zoe is also struggling financially, and Hari’s father Jaz is too busy chasing his dream of being a DJ to help out with child support. Fortunately, Jaz’s sister Surinder has a solution: her friend Nina needs help with her mobile bookshop in the Scottish highlands, and there’s also a live-in nanny position that Zoe could take to supplement her income and have a place to stay. Desperate, Zoe agrees, but she soon finds that both jobs are more difficult than she’d anticipated. Nina has very specific ideas about the right way to run the bookmobile, and some of Zoe’s innovations don’t go over very well. And at the “big house” where Zoe is to be the new nanny, she finds three out-of-control children who don’t want to listen to her, while their single father Ramsey seems to be totally disconnected from his children’s lives. The longer Zoe perseveres, however, the more successful she becomes, and the more she grows to love her new life. But when Jaz suddenly reenters the picture, she must decide where she truly belongs.

I’ve come to rely on Jenny Colgan for sweet, uplifting books with a hint of romance, and this book delivers on all fronts. It’s sort of a sequel to The Bookshop on the Corner, which focuses on Nina and the opening of her mobile bookshop, but it can be read as a stand-alone. I was in Zoe’s corner from the opening scene, where she’s sitting in a doctor’s office and describing all the times she cries in a given week. I was immediately hoping for good things to happen to her and excited to watch her overcome the various obstacles in her path. She’s a very likable heroine, hardworking and determined to do her best in any given situation. Sure, the actual plot isn’t terribly believable, nor is it unique; of course Zoe will eventually win over the difficult children and find her way to professional and romantic success. I also thought the precocious youngest child was completely implausible, but he was so entertaining that I didn’t mind. I should note that there is some depiction of mental illness in the book (including self-harm), which seems a bit dark for the overall tone of the novel. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this one a lot and look forward to my next Colgan book.

Review: Call Down the Hawk

December 6, 2019December 5, 20191 Comment

Maggie Stiefvater, Call Down the Hawk

Ronan Lynch is a dreamer, someone who’s able to take objects from his dreams into the waking world. But lately he’s been having trouble with his dreams: he can’t always control what he brings back, and he’s unable to stay away from his home (near a ley line in Virginia) for any length of time. So when he encounters someone else in his dreams, another dreamer who calls himself Bryde, he’s eager to learn more — even though everyone else in his life warns him it’s incredibly dangerous. Meanwhile, Jordan Hennessy is an art forger on a mission to steal a particular painting that just so happens to have been dreamt by Ronan’s father. But complications ensue when her mission brings her into contact with Declan Lynch, Ronan’s uptight and seemingly boring older brother. And then there’s Carmen Farooq-Lane, who is part of a government agency tasked with finding and killing dreamers, because the agency believes a dreamer will cause the end of the world. But the more she learns about the agency’s agenda and tactics, the more she questions her role.

This book is set in the same world as the Raven Cycle, and while it is technically a stand-alone, I really think having the background from TRC is helpful for understanding the world of the novel and the characters of the Lynch brothers in particular. At the same time, I think fans of TRC might be disappointed by how little the other characters from that series appear. Adam is in a few scenes, but Gansey and Blue only appear briefly via text message. So I’m not quite sure who this book is for, if that makes sense; it seems like it would fall short for both newbies and TRC fans. Also, there’s a lot going on in this book, and I’m not sure it all works; the disparate stories take a long time to converge, and before they do, it can be tedious and confusing to figure out what’s going on. I did really like Declan’s story in this book; he was an intriguing character in the Raven Cycle, and I was glad to see more development for him here. But the Carmen sections particularly dragged and didn’t seem necessary for the plot. Of course, this is the first book in a projected trilogy, so maybe she’ll become more integral later on. But I should say that, while there’s no cliffhanger per se, the main plot lines are not resolved in this book. I’ll most likely continue with the trilogy to find out what happens, but so far I’m not enjoying it as much as the Raven Cycle.

You Book Me All Night Long

Tag: contemporary