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The Warrior, the Lover, and the Cultist: Three Brief Reviews

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With the increased flexibility at my new job, I’ve had a lot more free time in the afternoons, which means I’ve been reading a lot more. In fact, over the past week, I’ve finished six whole books, which is quite a lot for me (and I’m well on my way to finishing the seventh, which would average a book a day). Aside from dedicating my newfound afternoon time to reading, I’ve also deliberately been eclectic in what I pick up. Two of those books have been romances, two of them graphic novels (one a memoir and one fiction), and two of them YA (a cult story and a thriller).




The Divine by Asaf Hanuka, Tomer Hanuka, and Boaz Lavie
The art in this – done by twins Asaf and Tomer Hanuka – is gorgeous, with really rich colors. The story it helps tell, though, isn’t well-crafted. It aims to be a sort of mish-mash of modern war story and ancient magic, but it comes off as kind of half-baked. It’s ostensibly about child soldiers in Thailand (the story takes place in a fictional Asian country called Quanlom), but I only knew that because of the creators’ afterword, which is a good deal more resonant than their story. The protagonist is kind of dull, his best friend is a caricature, and the central conflict about two twin Quanlom kids committing acts of violence for their country (helped along by some magical powers) never gels into anything meaningful. I wish I liked this one better; it’s a fine purchase for adult collections (for the art especially), but a bit of a letdown overall.

The Earl’s Mistress by Liz Carlyle
I read a lot of historical romance, and I enjoy pretty equally books that are on the tame side as well as those that are rather spicy. This one is definitely on the spicy side. It may be the spiciest historical romance I’ve yet read, which is saying something. Isabella Aldridge goes to interview for the position of governess with the Earl of Hepplewood, and he turns her down, but offers her a different role instead, which you can guess by the title of the book. He’s kind of skeezy in the beginning, and the book gives off a bit of a Fifty Shades vibe, though the earl isn’t really tortured like Christian is supposed to be. He gets better later in the story, and this isn’t the only historical romance guilty of making its hero a little too unlikeable at the beginning. The developing affection between the two leads is done well, though. The narration by Carolyn Morris is good and the book was enjoyable enough despite its flaws – I checked out a few others by Carlyle on its merits.

The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes
Kelly reviewed this one not too long ago, which made me want to read it myself. So now you have two people (at least) telling you that it’s absolutely worth a read. I normally shy away from stories set primarily in prison, but this one wasn’t all about fights and how awful prison life is (which just makes me feel sad). It was a very personal story about Minnow and how she comes to terms with what happened with the cult and what she did to land herself in the detention center (refreshingly, she actually did do what she was convicted of doing, which we learn straight off). Minnow emerges at the end of the story a much stronger person with a stronger voice and a better understanding of what she wants from her life. What really made this story stand out for me, though, was the writing. I read a lot of YA books with fairly straightforward writing styles, good for much of the fast-paced action-oriented stories I enjoy. It was nice to read a book by an author who clearly enjoys playing with language – and is good at it – for a change.

Books received from the publisher, except for the Carlyle, which I borrowed from the library.

What I’m Reading Now

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I’ve taken this month off of blogging to relax in my reading. I’ve spent a lot of time laying on my couch, zoning out and listening to old audiobook favorites. In fact, I’ve been doing a lot of re-reading in general, in audio and in print. While organizing my bookshelves at my new home, I couldn’t help but page through some of the books that now sit on what I call my “books that changed my life” shelf. (Every time I pass by a copy of The Book Thief, whether my own or at a bookstore, I have to pick it up and read the last few pages.)

Now that my house is in order (more or less) and things seem to have settled down a bit more in my personal life, though, I’m really excited to dive back into new stuff, especially children’s and YA. I’m especially excited because I’m transitioning into a new job within my organization, one that is allowing me to return to youth materials collection management. So my post for today is a nice, healthy mix of the old and the new.

For starters, I’ve been working my way through the Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters. I first read a few of these as a teenager, then made a concerted effort to listen to them all on audio while I was in library school in 2009. I decided to re-listen to them all again after being reminded how great Barbara Rosenblat is, and the decision has been a good one. I’m currently on book number 8, The Hippopotamus Pool, and the entire series has been great fun. It’s been so good to reconnect with characters I have such fond memories of from both my childhood and my early adulthood. I love looking forward to a character being introduced or a particular event happening, and I love knowing that everything will work itself out happily – mostly – in the end (though it may take a few books to get there, and some endings are more bitter than sweet). Each time I re-read these books, I pick up more on Amelia’s character (she’s actually not a great sleuth, nor is her husband, and she’s quite a bit snobbier than I initially realized, though I still love her). Re-reading favorites is a great pleasure.

I’m pretty picky about the middle grade books I read, but Louis Sachar’s books are usually a good bet (Holes remains one of the best books for children I’ve ever read). He’s also local, which makes me more inclined to to read his stuff. Inevitably, anything Sachar publishes will be compared to Holes, which is probably unfair. In reading his latest, Fuzzy Mud, which will hit shelves in August, I tried to also evaluate it independently. The book is recognizably Sachar – a bit wry, a bit dark, with a plot that seems kind of goofy but is also quite serious. Sachar’s kid characters are brave and scared at the same time, and he never writes down to his readers. The plotting doesn’t match the mastery of Holes and the humor isn’t as overt as the Wayside School books, but it’s quite a good story regardless, with a few uniquely creative touches that I really appreciated. I’ll review this one more in-depth closer to its publication date.

I don’t remember where I got the recommendation for Jude Deveraux’s A Knight in Shining Armor (possibly a list of must-read canonical romance novels somewhere). I don’t know that I’ve ever read any Deveraux before, and this one had a few strikes against it already: it was written in the 80s (I have an unreasonable prejudice for any media created in that decade), it doesn’t have a typical happily ever after, the audiobook is narrated by a man (so awkward during certain scenes), and the heroine’s name is Dougless. Thankfully, this last strike has an explanation within the novel, though it takes a while to get to it. Overall, I’m enjoying it. It’s a little campy, but in a fun way. Once I got past the setup describing how awful Dougless’ situation was with her terrible boyfriend (a bit too pathetic and something I probably would have skimmed in a print book) and the literal knight in shining armor showed up from the 17th century, things got a lot more interesting. Right now, Dougless and her knight are stumbling around in the 1980s as he tries to convince her he actually has traveled from the past. Later, I know they’ll travel back to the 17th century, and that should be extra fun. It feels kind of like Outlander lite – there’s a hunky man from the past, but a lot less violence and mortal peril.

Three Quick Reviews + a free TLA Program

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I don’t do a whole lot of programming in my current position, but I’m happy to say that I’ll be bringing three YA authors to my library next week while they’re in town for TLA. If you’re in town too, won’t you consider stopping by? We can say hi and you can watch me moderate a fun panel on writing for teens with three talented authors. There will be discussion, open Q&A, signings, giveaways, and you can even snap a photo of yourself and the authors in our iGeek photobooth.

In preparation for their visit, I read a few of their books. Since they’re Harlequin Teen authors, all of their books have some element of romance (which I am absolutely there for), but they’re wildly different from each other regardless. We’re giving away a copy of each of the three books below (two of which are advance reader copies) plus a few more surprises.

Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter
As longtime readers may know, I’m a sucker for fairy tale and classic story retellings. This is a sort of Alice in Wonderland with zombies, where the zombies can only be seen by some people – but they’re no less terrifying for it. Ali’s father is paranoid and won’t let his family be outside after the sun sets. He says he sees monsters, but no one else can see them, and Ali secretly believes he is mentally ill. Ali convinces her father to let them all go see her little sister’s dance recital, even though it will end after dark, and everything seems to be going OK. Until the trip back. Ali’s dad sees something, freaks out, and the car flips. Her entire family is killed, not necessarily in the crash itself, but by something…else. Soon after, Alice starts to see the monsters, too.

Her family’s death is revealed in the blurb, but I hadn’t read it, so when it happened, it was a huge punch to the gut. Showalter knows how to make her readers hurt. But this is also a fun story, with lots of zombie hunting and, of course, a sizzling romance. When Ali moves in with her grandparents after the accident, she starts at a new school, and she ends up locking eyes with a resident “bad boy,” so-called because he is always skipping school and getting into fights – though none of the fights ever seem to happen on campus. It turns out he’s part of a group of teenagers who fight the zombies, and Ali gets caught up in their mission. Showalter is well-known for writing adult paranormal romances and it shows in her teen books.

The parallels with the Alice in Wonderland stories are not explicit, and this is not a retelling per se. Instead, there are clever little homages, like a cloud that resembles a rabbit and fanciful chapter titles like “Down the Zombie Hole” and “What Bloody Bloody Nonsense!” This is a good pick for teens who still crave zombie stories but are ready for something a little different.

Nowhere But Here by Katie McGarry (publishes May 26, 2015)
McGarry is known for writing high-appeal contemporary romances for teens, and her latest – the first in a new series about a motorcycle club – is sure to be popular. Contemporary romances aren’t usually my thing, but I quite liked this story about family, loyalty, and the prejudices we all carry about ways of life we don’t understand. Emily is sent to stay the summer with her biological father, a member of a motorcycle club and a man whom she believes has no interest in parenting her. There she gets to know her extended family and begins to fall for Oz, the son of the club’s leader whose dream is to follow in his father’s footsteps. She also uncovers secrets of her family’s past and learns that her mother’s story about why they left her father doesn’t necessarily line up with the truth. Lies on both sides of her family create grave danger for Emily.

This is a long book, but  the pages move quickly, thanks in part to short chapters that alternate between Emily and Oz’s points of view (emblematic of McGarry’s writing style). The romance incorporates a lot of common tropes (dislike and physical attraction at first sight, slowly giving away to real affection, a “bad” boy and a “good” girl, long-hidden secrets), but it also feels very genuine and age-appropriate. Emily and Oz fall in love like teens do, and McGarry’s characters don’t assume it will be forever – which doesn’t make it any less real. The romance combined with the secrets in Emily’s family’s past make for a multilayered book with a lot of threads to unravel.

The press release stated that McGarry did some hands-on research for the book by spending time with an actual motorcycle club, and it shows. I can’t say I have any firsthand experience, but McGarry’s story is immersive and she turns characters that could have been stereotypes into real people with strengths and flaws. Highly recommended for contemporary romance fans or any reader interested in modern ways of life outside the mainstream.
 

Never Always Sometimes by Adi Alsaid (publishes August 4, 2015)
When they were freshmen, Dave and Julia made a list of all the stereotypical high school things they’d never do: go to a beer party, dye their hair an unnatural color, hook up with a teacher, go on a road trip, fall in love with your best friend. A few years later, with graduation on the horizon, they decide to turn their list of Nevers into a To Do List. Unbeknownst to Julia, Dave has already checked one item off the list: he’s hopelessly in love with Julia.

Alsaid’s second YA book leads with its gimmick, but it doesn’t take the trajectory you’d expect – at least not for long. Readers will enjoy watching the two teens check items off the list, from the relatively innocuous (dying their hair, which turns out terribly for Dave, who chose green), to the much more serious (hook up with a teacher, which Julia takes to with gusto). This hooking up with a teacher storyline is played for laughs and as an adult I was horrified by it, but teens will probably just think it’s funny like Julia and Dave do. (This part in particular made me feel old.) The first part of the book is told from Dave’s perspective and the middle part from Julia’s; Alsaid is more successful with Dave than Julia, though he manages to get real pathos out of both points of view. I was pleased that the story surprised me in the end, and I felt real sadness but also satisfaction at how everything turned out. This is a good pick for fans of lighter contemporary YA.

Romance Roundup

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Any Duchess Will Do by Tessa Dare
I read a Tessa Dare book a couple of years ago and was underwhelmed. But I keep seeing her on lists of favorites, so I decided I’d give her another try. I’m glad I did. Any Duchess Will Do is funny, swoony, and narrated quite well by Eva Kaminsky, who nails both the upper-crust English voice of the hero (a duke) and the lower-class English voice of the heroine (a serving girl). It’s a re-telling of Pygmalion/My Fair Lady, in a way: the duke claims he will not get married, his mother tells him he must, he picks out a serving girl to annoy her, the mother says “game on” and decides to turn the serving girl into a duchess, hoping her son will then marry her.

The duke, Griffin, is kind of a jerk, but not in an “I’m going to go out of my way to make you feel awful” way. It’s more of an “I’m just concerned with myself and only myself” way. He makes an appearance in a previous book in the series, where he comes off rather badly. He does better for himself here. I doubted Dare’s ability to make me see him sympathetically, but she does a good job. Pauline, the serving girl, is a vastly more interesting character though. She has aspirations to start a library, stocked with naughty books for the ladies of her town to read, and she agrees to go through duchess training because Griffin has agreed to pay her to do a bad job and help get his mother off his back. The money he promises her will start the library. The pairing is a little different from most romances (where the woman is usually high-born), making this a refreshing read.

Just Like Heaven by Julia Quinn
I’ve read two of the other books in Quinn’s Smythe-Smith quartet, which share a universe with her much-beloved Bridgerton series. I didn’t really love them. They weren’t terrible, but their leads didn’t have much chemistry, the stakes felt ridiculous, and there wasn’t much personality to them – surprising to me, since Quinn’s books are usually loaded with personality. That’s what makes her so hugely popular.

Just Like Heaven, narrated by Rosalyn Landor, is actually pretty good. It’s the first book in the series (I read romance series out of order since there’s really no spoiling anything here) and it’s a sweet one. It doesn’t put its characters through the wringer. The hero isn’t particularly tortured and the heroine not particularly self-doubting or put upon by others. They love their families and have been friends for years. They actually get together rather easily, compared to most romances I’ve read lately. If this sounds a little boring, that’s because it sort of is. It’s not Quinn’s best work, but coming off of the other two disappointing books, it was nice to get a solid one. And there’s always room for the sweet stuff in historical romance. We don’t need all Tragic Heroes all the time.

The Luckiest Lady in London by Sherry Thomas
My previous experiences with Sherry Thomas have all been with her YA books, which are excellent. This was my first historical romance by her and I’m so sad my library doesn’t own anything else of hers on audio. Corrie James narrates this one, and she does an excellent job – but it’s Thomas’ writing that carries it.

The book features a hero whose parents modeled a loveless, manipulative marriage and a heroine who must marry well in order to support her impoverished family. Neither is looking for love, and when they marry each other, they don’t expect to find it. I’m not normally a fan of romances where marriage happens before deep affection or love, but this one works really well. Thomas’ writing is sharp, her portraits of these two flawed characters well-done. The exchanges between the two leads are witty, like the best banter from the Bridgerton books, but with a darker edge. I thoroughly believed in their attraction at the outset and their love at the end. There’s no real “hook” to this story plot-wise that sets it apart from others; it’s the execution that makes it shine.

Romance Roundup – Sarah MacLean Edition

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I’m still super into the romance novels lately. I’ve been reading a lot of Sarah MacLean, working my way through the Smythe-Smith Julia Quinns, and bemoaning the fact that my library doesn’t have more Sherry Thomas on audio. For this installment, I’m going to stick to MacLean’s oeuvre, which I have strong feelings about.

Let’s start with the good stuff. With one notable exception, I’ve liked everything I’ve read by MacLean. Her first series is called Love By Numbers, and just to confuse everyone, it starts with number nine. Alas, there are not eight previous novels in the series. Too bad. I liked the first two, but the third is hands-down my favorite of the series. It’s called Eleven Scandals to Start to Win a Duke’s Heart. Say that three times fast. Anyway, awkward title aside, this is a pretty great book. The heroine is an Italian woman named Juliana Fiori. She has the unfortunate luck to be the daughter of a woman who abandoned her proper English husband and went to live with an Italian man…and then abandoned him, too. Now Juliana’s father is dead and she’s moved to London to stay with her half-brothers. Through no fault of her own, London society considers her a walking scandal, which is exactly what the Duke of Leighton (our hero) wants to avoid.

Leighton appears in the previous books and he does not make a good impression. He’s called the Duke of Disdain. He’s so utterly focused on propriety and reputation, and he’s incredibly arrogant and looks down on women like Juliana. When Juliana flees a party and hides in his carriage, he thinks she’s there to trick him into marriage. I was doubtful that MacLean could make him sympathetic, but she does it. It helps that I like my romance heroes a bit on the arrogant side – you know, as long as there’s evidence for the arrogance. He also has a backstory that explains how he developed in such a way. He and Juliana are really well matched. She helps him to learn some compassion and not care so much what others think, and he in turn helps her learn how to accept who she is. It’s funny, too. Juliana gives the duke a good dressing-down multiple times. There’s really good chemistry, it feels natural and unforced. It’s also especially satisfying to see the difference in Leighton between the first two books and the end of this one. There’s a character arc for him through the whole series, which is unusual in romances.

In contrast, the first book of MacLean’s next series, A Rogue By Any Other Name (the series is called The Rules of Scoundrels), introduces us to a romance hero whom I could not sympathize with. Oh how I loathed Bourne. It begins with Bourne kidnapping the heroine (Penelope, the woman who was previously engaged to Leighton) in order to make it seem like he’s ruined her and therefore she must marry him. Wait, let me back up. It actually begins with Bourne losing all of his land gambling and then that land eventually becoming a part of Penelope’s dowry. Hence why he wants to marry her. Who cares what she wants? I have zero sympathy for rich men who lose it all gambling. Strike one. And then the kidnapping? Strikes two and three.

This is not unusual in historical romances, actually. There are way too many kidnappings. I try to avoid them. But I kept reading this one in hopes MacLean would convince me that he’s actually not such a bad sort. But he is. He is a terrible, terrible person. He uses her and has no sympathy when Penelope tells him over and over again that her whole life has consisted of men using her for their own ends and she’s tired of it. He just keeps using her. I wanted Penelope to push him in front of a cart. Alas, she never did. She fell in love with him. Unbelievable, since she is a good sort of person and he treats her terribly. Now if she were just as bad as him, I’d believe it a bit more. Alas. (At least his characterization is consistent; he’s an asshole in the next books, too.)

The next two books are good, not great. The heroes are scoundrels, but not without merit, at least. But the last book. The last book. Be still, my heart. It might be my favorite romance novel ever. It just might. It’s called Never Judge a Lady By Her Cover and I am in love with it. Since this information is revealed in the synopsis on the back of the book, I feel comfortable sharing it here. It features Georgiana, the younger sister of Leighton who became pregnant at 16 and was shunned from polite society from then on. She eventually grew tired of everyone treating her like crap and decided to get revenge on them all. She opened up the Fallen Angel, the club at which all the previous heroes in the series work. She masquerades as a man – the elusive Chase whom no one ever sees and only speaks through his emissary, the prostitute Anna (who is also Georgiana!). The first three books carefully avoided pronouns when referring to Chase so this came as a surprise to long-term readers.

Ugh, this book is so good. So many of my stories as a teenager and an early 20-something were basically thinly-veiled revenge stories wherein I wreaked vengeance on anyone who was ever cruel to me. And Georgiana does exactly that here! Membership in her club requires that the men share secrets (theirs, or their family’s, or their friends’), and she uses those secrets to hurt the ones who have hurt her, all terrible people. I LOVE THIS. She busts pre-Victorian stereotypes about women and finds a way to be powerful in this restrictive time period.

Her hero, Duncan West, is a good match for her – he’s the owner of a number of newspapers, successful but untitled. Georgiana has decided that for the sake of her daughter, she will try to repair her public reputation. She intends to find a titled husband who will be able to shield her daughter from her scandal. West agrees to help her by publishing puff pieces about her in the scandal sheet of his paper. And they fall in love. He learns early on that Georgiana is Anna, but he’s clueless about Chase until nearly the end. It’s cute seeing him try to convince Georgiana to “leave” Chase when they are one and the same. He’s dislikes her relationship with Chase because he thinks Chase mistreats her, not because she sleeps with Chase for money. And when he does find out that she is Chase, he accepts it so easily. Of course she is. She’s brilliant and devious and he loves those things about her.

If you love romance, do yourself a favor and read this book. It is spectacular. It breaks the mold of historical romance in the best way possible. Plus it’s wonderfully written, completely sigh-worthy, and has a perfect ending that is completely true to Georgiana’s character. It’s fantastic and I’ve read it twice already.

I am super excited for MacLean’s next series, Scandal and Scoundrel, which kicks off with The Rogue Not Taken (see what she did there?) later this year. Let’s hope the hero is less Bourne and more West. And that the heroine is even half as awesome as Georgiana.