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books

Romance Round-Up

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It’s been a while since I’ve read a romance novel, and I was feeling in the mood the past week, so I knocked out two from a couple of authors I tend to enjoy: Sarah MacLean and Tessa Dare.

A Scot in the Dark is the second novel in the Scandal and Scoundrel series by Sarah MacLean. The first was the similarly punny The Rogue Not Taken, and because I love a good pun (understatement of the year), I was already inclined to love this series. Nothing will ever match my love for MacLean’s Never Judge a Lady By Her Cover, but this series has been pretty solid so far.

Beautiful, orphaned, rich Lillian Hargrove met a talented artist and fell in love with him, happy to serve as his muse, thinking they would soon become engaged. She even sat for him nude; he promised the portrait would be just for them. But he lied, and he announces to the entire ton that he plans to reveal his work, “the greatest nude of our time,” at a special exhibition, at which point Lily knows she will be ruined. She’s well on her way there anyway, since all of society knows she is the subject of the painting. Then Alec, the new Duke of Warnick and still Lillian’s guardian (despite the fact that she’s well into her twenties) arrives in town, determined to help her recover from the scandal by marrying her off to a kind, respectable man. Alec is a Scot and wants nothing to do with the dukedom, which he was seventeenth in line for. Life has a way of throwing you curveballs.

Alec and Lily’s story is lovely. Lily insists on only marrying for love, and Alec insists he’s unworthy of her love, even after the two realize how they feel about each other. Like many of MacLean’s heroes, Alec has a heart-wrenching backstory that amply explains his seemingly irrational behavior. Lily herself is incredibly strong. She’s angry that she cannot just do what she wishes with her own money, and she’s angry that Alec is trying to prevent her from simply leaving the people who whisper about her and going to live somewhere else. She knows what people say about her, and she’s not entirely unashamed, but she’s also not really that apologetic about it, and she doesn’t have to be. She took a man she loved at his word, and the painting itself is truly lovely. MacLean calls this her sex-tape book, and the modern equivalent is something like that. Witnessing Lily and Alec fall in like, then love, then work through their respective troubles (sometimes apart, sometimes together) to achieve their happily ever after is incredibly satisfying. This is another winner from MacLean. (Justine Eyre narrates the audiobook, and while she’s still one of my favorite narrators, I thought her voice for Alec was pretty bad this time. I would probably recommend sticking to the print version.)

Do You Want to Start a Scandal by Tessa Dare shows that Dare just gets better with each book. Her early novels were a bit rough, but each subsequent novel has improved upon the last, and this is one of her best. It’s also one of her funniest, and I’ve always been a sucker for funny romance novels (Julia Quinn is the author who first hooked me on romance).

Charlotte Highwood has cornered Piers Brandon, the Marquess of Granville, in the library to tell him that she does not intend to marry him, despite what her notorious matchmaker mother might want. Except they are alone in the library, and when someone opens the door, Charlotte and Piers duck behind the draperies so they’re not spotted. It doesn’t matter that they were only talking; if they were discovered alone, people would assume the worst. The person who walks into the library is actually two people, and they soon commence upon a tryst upon the desk as Charlotte and Piers listen on, horrified (and amused). When a child alerts the adults at the party to the fact that there are strange noises coming from the library (“Murder!” he screams repeatedly), Charlotte and Piers are the only ones found inside, as the two lovebirds have already vacated it.

The adults know what the sounds mean, and it would seem that the only way to save Charlotte’s reputation is to marry Piers. Except that’s really not what Charlotte wants (at least not yet, as our two leads haven’t fallen in love). So she decides to find out exactly who was having a grand old time in the library, with just a couple of clues to go on: a unique perfume scent in the air and a fancy garter embroidered with a capital C. Piers had his own reasons for being in the library that evening – he’s a spy for the British crown, and while he wants to do the right thing by Charlotte and marry her (he’s falling for her, after all), he knows it would put her life in danger. But the two cannot seem to keep apart from each other, of course, and as Charlotte thinks she grows closer to the identity of the “tuppers,” there are also strange events that could be interpreted as attempts upon her life.

The mystery in the book is a light one, and not the primary focus. It’s mainly used to generate laughs, and it excels at this goal. The solution to the mystery lovers’ identity is a lovely one and a genuine surprise; Charlotte and Piers’ happily ever after is no surprise at all. Dare’s hero and heroine aren’t nearly as tortured as MacLean’s, and this is a much lighter read as a result. There’s a bit of danger, but mainly this book is just plain fun. Highly recommended.

Thriller Roundup

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I’ve been on a huge adult thriller kick lately, likely stemming from my love of The Girl on the Train, which I read last year. Nothing I’ve read since (including Paula Hawkins’ follow-up) has quite lived up to that experience, but there have been a lot of entertaining books nonetheless. Here are a few recent ones.

 

The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena

Anne and Marco are attending a party at their next door neighbors’ house, and they’ve left their six month old baby daughter at home because the neighbors have requested no children. Marco says it will be fine – they’ll have the baby monitor on them, and they’ll take turns going to check on her every half hour. Except when Anne goes to check on her just after midnight, she’s disappeared. What ensues is a twisty page-turner where everyone has secrets – Anne and Marco, Anne’s parents, their next door neighbors, and others – and the truth behind who took the baby is just the tip of the iceberg. This isn’t the most sophisticated thriller out there – you’ll probably guess at least a few of the twists before they happen, but don’t worry, there are more to follow – but it’s supremely entertaining. I look forward to seeing what Lapena writes next.

In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware

Ruth Ware is really, really good at writing thrilling mysteries. Of the authors I’ve read in my pursuit to match The Girl on the Train, she comes closest. In a Dark, Dark Wood is her first book, and it’s a total winner. Nora has decided to accept Clare’s invitation to attend her hen night (think bachelorette party for Brits), despite the fact that she hasn’t seen Clare in ten years and they parted badly. The party is in a remote cabin in the woods with no cell service (of course), and right away, strange things start happening, the first being that Nora discovers Clare is marrying Nora’s high school boyfriend, James. Ware has created a cast of interesting, dynamic characters, some of which you’ll like and some of which you won’t, and her plotting is top-notch, plus the atmosphere can’t be beat. It’s pure joy to see the way everything comes together – you won’t be able to quit turning the pages. This is a true marriage of mystery and thriller, just the way I like it.

Behind Closed Doors by B. A. Paris

Grace thinks she’s found the perfect man for her. Jack is handsome, kind, charming, and adores her teenage sister, who has Down syndrome and will need to live with them once she turns 18 and is no longer able to stay at her special school. Once they marry, though, everything changes (as you knew it would). Jack isn’t at all who he pretended to be, and he has plans for Grace and her sister that will make your skin crawl. At times, Jack is so completely evil that it’s difficult to suspend disbelief while reading, but this also makes the ending doubly satisfying. Paris tells her story in two parts – before, when Jack is wooing Grace and they are first married, and after, when the new dynamic is completely established and Grace is a total prisoner in her own home, trying anything she can think of to save her and her sister. It’s a difficult read at times, but it’s also impossible to put down, and you can be comforted by the fact that in stories such as these, the villain always gets his comeuppance. While the other two books I review in this post are mysteries as well as thrillers, there’s no real mystery aspect to this one.

Cormoran Strike by Robert Galbraith

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I used to read tons of adult mysteries, from the time I was a tween all the way up through grad school in my early twenties. Both of my parents were really into them, so we listened to lots of (mostly) kid-friendly titles on long car trips. Elizabeth Peters, Alexander McCall Smith, and Janet Evanovich were a few favorites. As an adult, I loved reading Elizabeth George, Alan Bradley, and Deanna Raybourn.

And then my deep dive into the world of YA happened, and my focus shifted to mainly YA SFF. I’d always read a lot of science fiction and fantasy, but I didn’t touch another genre for quite some time. It’s only recently that I’ve drifted back into adult mysteries, and I have J.K. Rowling to thank for it.

Under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, she’s written a series of three mysteries (so far) featuring private detective Cormoran Strike (a very Harry Potter-ish name). And they are really, really good. Rowling’s plotting of the Harry Potter series has always been one of its main joys for me, so it makes total sense that she’d rock writing mysteries. The plots of the Strike books are complex, sometimes convoluted, with red herrings galore, but always, always a solution that makes complete sense and ties up all the myriad clues.

And of course, a good mystery series features a dynamic, interesting lead detective. In the Strike series, we get two: private detective Cormoran Strike and his assistant, Robin Ellacott, who was initially assigned to him as a secretary through a temp agency. She quickly proves herself to have a knack for detective work, and the two make a great team. Their relationship has its ups and downs – Cormoran doesn’t always value her as he should, and Robin is often unsure of herself and her new role, leading to miscommunications – but it’s one of the joys of reading the books. Cormoran himself has a fascinating backstory (son of a famous rockstar and a groupie, lost his leg in Afghanistan) that Rowling/Galbraith teases out through the three novels currently published. Robin, too, has a backstory, arguably equally tragic, but the focus with her is usually on her current troubles (an awful fiance who wants her to give up detective work).

I listened to these on audiobook, and the narrator, Robert Glenister, is fantastic, one of the best in the business. He partly voices each character, and the pace of his narration is terrific – no need to speed him up like so many other audiobook narrators. He is the voice of Cormoran Strike for me, and he even does the women pretty well – they’re not breathy or weirdly high-pitched like male narrators often do for female characters.

The three currently published books have been adapted for a BBC television series, which has already begun airing in the UK. HBO has picked it up for distribution, but there’s not yet a release date stateside. The fourth novel in the series, Lethal White, should be out sometime in 2018 (Rowling hasn’t finished writing it yet). If you’re in the mood for a really well-done contemporary mystery series, this is a great pick.

Graphic Novel Roundup

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Snow White by Matt Phelan

Matt Phelan excels at the nearly-wordless graphic novel. His rendition of Snow White – updated to 1928 New York – surpasses the high bar he set with The Storm in the Barn and is my favorite book of his yet. Phelan’s artwork is well-suited to a stylized, noir-ish retelling of the classic story. He uses mostly black and white with a few splashes of red for effect, taking full advantage of shadows in alleyways. In Phelan’s version, Snow White’s evil stepmother is the Queen of the Follies, her father is the King of Wall Street, and her protectors are seven street urchins. The whole package is clever and lovely.

The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo by Drew Weing

Charles has just moved to Echo City, and he’s not thrilled about it. They’re living in an old hotel, which his parents are being paid to renovate. Naturally, it’s haunted – Charles soon learns there’s a monster in his closet. Luckily, there’s Margo Maloo, a girl (or something more?) whose job it is to mediate disagreements between Echo City’s monster inhabitants and its humans. She may like the monsters more than she likes the humans, but who can blame her? Charles is an aspiring journalist, so once he gets over his fear (or nearly so), he’s eager to find out as much as he can about Margo and her monster friends. This is a fun middle grade graphic novel with a bit of humor, a bit of adventure, and a bit of mystery – everything you could want in a book, basically.

Spill Zone by Scott Westerfeld and Alex Puvilland

I’ve actually never read any novels by Scott Westerfeld, and I’m not sure this graphic novel will convince me to change that. It’s got a good hook – a mysterious “spill” (chemical? otherwise?) occurred in the city a few years back, and now no one is allowed in the area. The spill killed everyone who was there at the time, and now the corpses occasionally move, among other horrifying things. Addison Merrick used to live in that part of town, and she sneaks back in regularly to take photos and sell them to collectors. It’s a cool idea, but the execution is disappointing. This first volume (over 200 pages) feels like all exposition – it abruptly ends before anything is resolved or even explored in much depth. Its timeline is occasionally difficult to follow as well. Perhaps it’s best read in tandem with the second volume, forthcoming July 2018. Puvilland’s artwork is good, and the story is intriguing and unique – it just didn’t quite live up to the high quality I had expected.

 

Graphic Novel Roundup

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Soupy Leaves Home by Cecil Castellucci and Jose Pimienta

I normally love Castellucci’s work, but this one fell flat for me. It’s about a girl named Pearl living during the Great Depression whose father beats her, so she disguises herself as a boy and runs away. She falls in with a hobo named Ramshackle who shows her the ropes of living on the road, in the various encampments, and how to get by with the help of generous strangers (and avoid the ones who aren’t so generous). Ramshackle has his own secrets, too, and soon Soupy (as Pearl calls herself) must learn to rely on herself in case Ramshackle is always around. I had a major problem with the “wise hobo” trope Castellucci uses here. Ramshackle and many other hobos speak platitudes like “I just couldn’t stop wandering, that’s why I live on the road” and “You don’t need food, you just need happy thoughts” and “Our imaginations will keep us warm.” (Those are a bit simplified, but pretty close.) The real reasons are much deeper – the economic crisis, mental health issues, poverty, unemployment, abuse, no social safety net, and so on – and aren’t even really hinted at. The hobo life – while interesting and worth exploring – is romanticized. Romanticizing poverty and homelessness is pretty distasteful.

The story was also hard to follow at times and the ending was completely implausible. I was also not a fan of the art or the color palette (mostly sickly green). There are some interesting bits about how hobos enforced their own rule of law and the symbols carved into fences they would use to communicate information about houses that would give food and work. Overall, though, it’s a dud. | Borrowed from the library.

The Time Museum by Matthew Loux

I’ve been meaning to write about this one for months – it’s a super fun middle grade story about time travel, so you know 12 year old me would have been all over it. Adult me is pretty into it too. Delia is competing to be an intern at her uncle’s time museum, and she must complete a series of tasks across many different times to prove her worth. Things get out of control, though, and she must team with up with the other competitors (who all come from different times) to defend the time museum. Loux’s story is creative and gets the most out of the time travel device. His art is expressive, kid-friendly but not cartoonish, and full color. I hope there will be sequels. | Finished copy from the publisher.

Snotgirl Vol. 1: Green Hair Don’t Care by Bryan Lee O’Malley and Leslie Hung

Bryan Lee O’Malley is just not for me. I disliked the Scott Pilgrim books almost as much as I disliked the film version. Snotgirl confirms that it wasn’t just Scott Pilgrim – O’Malley’s characters are terrible everywhere. Snotgirl is about a 20-something fashion blogger who is incredibly insecure, despite her appearance otherwise online. She’s also just awful. And so are all of her friends. And everyone else she meets. She has terrible allergies which makes her nose run uncontrollably, hence the title. It seems like the series may eventually have some supernatural elements, but they’re only hinted at in this first volume. I won’t be reading the second. | Borrowed from the library.

Shattered Warrior by Sharon Shinn and Molly Knox Ostertag

I’ve loved Sharon Shinn’s work since I first read her Samaria series when I was a teenager. (The Shape-Changer’s Wife, which I read in grad school, is also excellent). She teamed up with Molly Knox Ostertag for her first graphic novel, Shattered Warrior, based on one of her early unpublished novels. It’s everything I love in a graphic novel: a resourceful female protagonist, alien invasion, organized rebellion, a little bit of romance, plus lovely full-color art. It stands alone but also leaves the door open for sequels. I believe this was published for the adult market, but it’s suitable for teens as long as they don’t mind one panel with an exposed breast. Sharon Shinn has not disappointed. | Finished copy from the publisher.