Review: The Sounding by Carrie Salo

This book was provided by the author's publisher via my lady Blodeuedd's excellent blog in return for an honest review. I haven't been compensated for writing the said review in any way and the fact that the book came free of charge didn't influence me either.   

Book info:

Form: paperback, 478 pages

Genre: supernatural thriller

Target audience: adults
Publisher: 23 House

Synopsis (from Amazon.com):

In the Book of Revelation, a man named John has a prophetic dream. He dreams of the final prophecies that will come to pass - and the seven archangels that guard them. Each angel waits to sound their trumpet at God's appointed time, preparing humanity to fight and win the final battle. 2,000 years later, Father Chris Mognahan is a member of the Hetairia Melchizedek, a secret society within the Catholic Church that studies Biblical omens. The society asks Chris to investigate an unusually grotesque crime - a murder on a college campus where the killer's hand literally burned off the victim's face. While the killing seems isolated at first, the society ties the murder to the final Biblical prophecy and a terrifying omen that the order of the prophecies is about to be disrupted. The final battle is coming too soon - long before humanity is prepared to win it. Suddenly, Chris finds himself fighting against time and hell to keep the prophecies in order and stop an early Armageddon. He is joined by a band of unlikely allies, and together they find themselves in Rome above the Vatican Necropolis - the city of the dead - where the future is revealed to them in ancient texts. They are not alone, however; an evil as old as time itself hunts them. As they travel across continents on their mission, the demonic force follows relentlessly, waiting in every shadowed corner, and every dark place. As Armageddon descends, Father Chris finds that his only hope lies in a young woman within the group who has a secret gift - and their belief that God Himself may have sent her to keep the final angelic trumpet from sounding out the early end of the Earth.

What I liked:

This novel surprised me nicely several times. I must admit it – I started to read it with a very negative feelings. First I thought it was something in the style of Dan Brown (insert an expletive of your choice here). The more I read the more I was delighted to be wrong. Then I thought it was veering too much toward paranormal romance and I was wrong again – there is some romance, it is rather paranormal but don’t expect testosterone-filled, heavily muscled, devastatingly handsome he-angels strutting around with their wings, making girls swoon (or, in a version for boys, angelic super-model girls with perfect proportion and fantastic hair dancing semi-nude in the moonlight. Or whatever such creatures usually do). A wrong book.

Its first huge asset was a number of very likeable, three-dimensional characters, some of them with a great sense of humour. First of all we have Elise Moore who is an angel, Remiel, but also a normal 19-year-old college student, working part time in a bar, fancying boys and men, swearing and having fun. She has some paranormal gifts but she must learn how to use them and it is not always easy. What’s more, when she is attacked she doesn’t wait for rescue, she doesn’t pray, she defends herself, hurting or even killing. That’s my angel - I have a soft spot for such heroines. Especially that she has pangs of conscience later.

Then there are several Catholic priests: Father Chris, Father Alan and a mute visionary monk called Francis. All of them are not exactly like your average image of a Catholic priest and take it from a girl born and bred in a Catholic country. They are more like normal people: they can fall in love (not spoiling, nuh-huh), they can sin, they are angry with the Vatican’s bureaucracy and red tape (from time to time, not overly so) even though they love their God and are good Christians (more or less). The main baddie (called the Other, a demonic entity of a kind) was simply delightful - so similar to our she-angel in some aspects that I gasped with joy more than one time. He also understood her the best (and my heart was dancing – that’s my demon!). In other words these characters made this book a very interesting read. Taking into account the fact that it is Ms. Salo’s debut novel – chapeau bas! This lady knows her craft when it comes to the characterization!

Then there is Vatican and its mysterious churches like palaces and palaces like labyrinths and labyrinths serving as catacombs. It could be really felt that the author was there, saw that all and most probably bought a t-shirt or two, maybe even one similar to a habit ;). It was very entertaining and well-written.

Finally the plot - it was good, original, full of suspense, even riveting from time to time, with the right emphasis in all proper places and a great final – no mean feat, many good novels have been ruined for me by a weak/improbable ending. Now a warning for those readers who must have their HEA no matter what. This book might make you cry. Seriously. I didn’t cry but if I weren’t one hard-as-nails daughter of a chienne (pardon my French) I would have cried for sure. There’s a HEA of a kind but not what you expect. It is a bit heart-wrenching.

My last remark: don’t worry if you don’t know the Bible or the Catholic church. Everything is explained nice and easy. Sometimes too easy – but it is a matter for my other section.

What I didn’t like:

Some minor info dumps appear in the text – not very bothersome and even partially understandable (try to explain the history of the mankind from the Bible to a lay man in five sentences, or the history of Vatican) but still noticeable. It was not my major problem, though.

My major problem was that sometimes, just sometimes, some blatant factual errors slipped in. Like, for example when one of the savant priests, Alan, says that Eve was the first Jewish woman (p.176). Hello? Jewish? How come? There was no such a thing as nationality at the beginning and even much later, right? Eve was just a woman as Adam was just a man or I am missing something?

Then our Bible scholar says that Bathsheba was the downfall of the Jewish king David and the death of their firstborn son interrupted the royal bloodline of kings. It made me truly mad – let me explain why. I promise it will be nerdy and longish but interesting :p

Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, was a very beautiful woman. King David saw her from his balcony while she was bathing in her private garden. I suppose he was at the peak of his male menopause – anyway he coveted her rather badly. Not that he was a sex-starved bachelor, mind you. A king is a king and has its rights – Bathsheba was brought to the royal palace asap and she was impregnated by her happy royal admirer while her hubby fought for David abroad. In an effort to conceal his sin, David summoned Uriah from the army, hoping that he would go to bed with Bathsheba to…er…cover things up nicely. Uriah, however, was unwilling to violate the ancient kingdom rule applying to warriors in active service which said that they had to refrain from carnal pleasures and sleeping under their own roof. Stupid, honorable, unimaginative knight. His nobleness cost him his life. The desperate king gave the order to his general, Joab, that Uriah should be placed in the front lines of the battle and then betrayed - left to the hands of the enemy. David had Uriah himself carry the message which was also his death warrant (the same trick was repeated by Shakespeare in Hamlet later). After Uriah’s murder, David made Bathsheba his wife.

David's action was displeasing to the Lord and, even though the king confessed his sin and expressed sincere repentance, Bathsheba's child by David was struck with a severe illness and died a few days after birth. The king accepted it as his punishment; mind you, according to the law he was supposed to die himself as he committed both adultery and murder. Kings have it easier, no matter what. Now tell me, was Bathsheba in your opinion really a downfall of David or was it rather his own lust?

When it comes to the infant, punished for the sin of his father – it was neither the first nor the only son of David at that time so his death, although sad, couldn’t interrupt the whole royal bloodline in any way. David, like many Eastern kings, had a lot of wives and concubines; some of them bore him sons years before he met Bathsheba (let me quote here the names of just two older princes alive: Absalom and Adonijah). Even a mediocre Bible scholar would know that much.

Final verdict:

A nice supernatural thriller with several great twists and turns and an original gallery of characters. It was really a pleasant surprise. For a debut novel – a great book, but I hope the author will try to omit factual errors in the future. Nevertheless I would like to read her other books (when she writes them of course) as well!

Review: Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson

Target audience: adults
Genre: crime mystery/detective story
Pages: 496
Form: e-book, pdf file

Synopsis:

It is the third part of Jackson Brodie adventures – you can read this series out of order but, in my humble opinion, it helps if you start with the previous novels. The other titles are as follows: ‘Case Histories’, ‘One Good Turn’, ‘When Will There Be Good News?’. I read all of them, reviewed the two linked ones  so I couldn’t let this one slip by.
As it is usually the case with Kate Atkinson books the plot is not easy to summarize - we follow for some time three main characters (some might argue there are just two of them but I think otherwise), also switching back and forth between the current day and the 70s. Jackson Brodie, a detective with a very sad past, is looking for genetic parents of a woman who was adopted as a child and then taken to Australia. Tracy Waterhouse, a retired policewoman now working as a security chief, has just bought a kid from a prostitute (don’t ask, I can’t tell more) and is followed by some shadowy types. Tilly, an elderly actress, is losing her mind (dementia?) while reminiscing about her past life and career. As usual, their fates intertwine somehow and the grand finale, when everything becomes more or less clear, is set in Leeds.

What I liked:

I warn you – if you look for a fast-paced book featuring young, nubile girls with swords who fall in love with a vampire or a werewolf don’t start this one. The story is hardly fast moving, it meanders into philosophical jaunts, leads and misleads the reader, but the subtle character development is a real treat and a huge advantage. This book makes you think and there are no dull characters here. Even older people were given proper care and attention - I suppose it was the fact I appreciated the most. How many interesting books you’ve read recently featured an elderly lady in the throes of dementia (or Alzheimer’s, she is not diagnosed and I am not a doctor)? Mind you the narration rivets you instantly – although it is a maze, it is a maze which you love to explore.

What’s more, this book simply oozes intelligent slants on common themes such as education of children, aggressive behaviour, the problems of senior citizens (you see how politically correct a good book can make me?) cruelty to animals, racial animosities and welfare system – although these trains of thoughts often made the pace of narration significantly slower (small wonder, after all), I never failed to appreciate them.

Finally the style of Ms Atkinson suits me perfectly – she simply forces you to explore. In this book she uses the idea of Schrödinger’s cat, the paradoxical creature that can be both alive and dead, in a very creative way - practically edutainment!

Oh and the poems of Emily Dickinson, one of my favourite poem writers, were a very nice addition to the plot. The title is taken from one of them too. Somehow it fits. The cover art is nice as well.

What I didn’t like:

The book ends with one big cliffie. Really a mean trick. Jackson’s mobile is ringing, the ID shows that it is the love of his life on the other side and he wonders (for a reason or two): to pick it up or not? While the anxious reader is shouting mentally in his or her head "pick it up, you fool, pick it up!" the book finishes. The rest is the silence. And a poem of Emily Dickinson. Groan...

Final verdict:

I enjoyed reading this one but I would prefer no cliffhangers in the future. They make me angry. I might not read the next part at all.

A monster of Glamis?

I found this short entry on one of my favourite blogs so far, "Tai-wiki-widbee" - I encourage you to visit it!

I couldn't help being fascinated by this story and I  admit I shamelessly stole it to re-publish .

Excerpts from a story at the Smithsonian:

“If you could even guess the nature of this castle’s secret,” said Claude Bowes-Lyon, 13th Earl of Strathmore, “you would get down on your knees and thank God it was not yours.”.

The conundrum engaged two generations of high society until, soon after 1900, the secret itself was lost. One version of the story holds that it was so terrible that the 13th Earl’s heir flatly refused to have it revealed to him. Yet the mystery of Glamis (pronounced “Glarms”) remains, kept alive by its association with royalty (the heir was grandfather to Elizabeth II) and by the fact that at least some members of the Bowes-Lyon family insisted it was real.


Glamis Castle is mentioned by Shakespeare—Macbeth, that most cursed of characters, was Thane of Glamis—and in 1034 the Scottish King Malcolm II died there,perhaps murdered. But the present castle was constructed only in the 15th century, around a central tower whose walls are, in places, 16 feet thick. Glamis has been the family seat of the Strathmore Earls since then, but by the late 18th century it lay largely empty, its owners preferring to live somewhere less cold and drafty, less isolated and less melancholy. I can understand why.


In their absence, Glamis was left in the care of a factor, or estate manager, and it was to this factor that a youngWalter Scott applied in 1790 to spend a night in one of its rooms. Scott became the first of several writers to note the castle’s oppressive atmosphere. “I must own,” he wrote in an account published in 1830, “as I heard door after door shut, after my conductor had retired, I began to consider myself as too far from the living and somewhat too near to the dead.” What was more, the great novelist added, Glamis was said to hide a secret room—a useful addition to any residence in 15th-century Scotland, where violence was seldom far away. Its location was known only to the Earl, his factor and his heir.

In one sense, however, the most interesting thing about Scott’s account is what it doesn’t say. The novelist wrote nothing to suggest that the castle’s hidden chamber had an occupant. Yet, within half a century of his visit, it had begun to be rumored that the room concealed an unknown captive—a prisoner who had been held there all his life.The first reports of Glamis’ unknown prisoner appear to date to the 1840s. According to a correspondent to the journal Notes & Queries, writing in 1908,

The mystery was told to the present writer some 60 years ago, when he was a boy, and it made a great impression on him. The story was, and is, that in the Castle of Glamis is a secret chamber. In this chamber is confined a monster, who is the rightful heir to the title and property, but who is so unpresentable that it is necessary to keep him out of sight and out of possession.This may sound like the plot of some Gothic novel, but believers in the theory point out that the family has dealt with some of its members in ways that outsiders might consider harsh. After the First World War, Katherine and Nerissa Bowes-Lyon, both cousins of the present queen, were born mentally disabled. Both spent their lives locked away in homes and hospitals, ignored by their family...

The only detailed description emerged early in the 1960s, when the writer James Wentworth-Day spent time at Glamis while writing a history of the Bowes-Lyon family. From the then-Earl and his relatives, Wentworth-Day heard the legend that “a monster was born into the family. He was the heir—a creature fearful to behold. It was impossible to allow this deformed caricature of humanity to be seen—even by their friends.… His chest [was] an enormous barrel, hairy as a doormat, his head ran straight into his shoulders and his arms and legs were toylike.” But “however warped and twisted his body, the child had to be reared to manhood,” kept safe and occasionally exercised. That job was given to the factor (and I do wonder how they persuade him to take on this job).

More at the Smithsonian link, and at the Charles Fort Institute blog:

Yet another visitor to Glamis was Virginia Gabriel, a singer who, according to her niece, returned from a long stay in 1870 “full of the mysteries, which she said had greatly increased since the death of the previous owner.” It is to this visit that we owe a strange reminiscence of the Glamis factor, Andrew Ralston—a dour, hard-headed man who, Gabriel reported, refused ever to spend a night in the castle. During her stay, a sudden snowstorm one evening blanketed the estate with drifts several feet deep. The Earl begged Ralston to take a spare room, but the factor refused, instead rousing every servant in the house to have them dig a path to his home a mile away. Gabriel also recorded an ominous conversation that she had with the Earl’s wife:

Lady Strathmore once confessed to Mr Ralston her great anxiety to unravel the mystery. He looked earnestly at her and said very gravely: ‘Lady Strathmore, it is fortunate that you do not know it, and can never know it, for if you did, you would not be a happy woman.’ Such a speech from such a man is certainly uncanny.

The mystery that was spoken of in hushed terms during the nineteenth century was generally a different one, for though the existence of a hidden room with the castle walls was widely rumoured, even then, it was then believed to conceal not a living creature, but rather the grisly evidence of an ancient crime. According to this now mostly forgotten portion of the legend, a large party of Ogilvies, members of a rival clan, once sought sanctuary from their enemies at Glamis, only to be betrayed and murdered there. In this version of the castle’s story, the fugitive Ogilvies were shown into the hidden chamber, then barricaded in and left to starve. Their skeletons, still scattered on the floor, were the secret that the Lyons family was so anxious to conceal...

Tell me, what version of events seems to be more persuading to you? Have you heard about this "monster" before? Did it really exist in your opinion? Was it a source of "Beauty and the Beast" fairy tale? 

Image: Glamis Castle in Scotland from Morris's Country Seats (1880).

Review: Captives of the Night (Berkeley Sensation/ Scoundrels #2) by Loretta Chase

Genre: Historical Romance (1820s England), murder mystery
Form: e-book, pdf format
Target audience: adults

Why I read this?

Why I have to explain myself? Well, ok, I just feel like explaining… Every time I read a romance book I think I need to explain…oh well…maybe because a romance, historical, paranormal or contemporary, is not exactly my favourite genre. I read this novel only because it was recommended to me - otherwise I wouldn't touch it for sure . Apparently this is part 2 in the 4 book series. Here are the titles of other parts:  The Lion's Daughter (01, out of print), Lord of Scoundrels (03), The Last Hellion (04). Here you go. Let's get back to the review.

Synopsis:

After a visit of three strangers in their nice Venice apartment 17-year old Leila Bridgeburton finds herself all of a sudden a penniless orphan as the body of her dear papa is floating in one of the canals. She is just one step away from being thrown out on the streets and facing a very bleak future. Fortunately a prince charming in the person of a young, handsome Francis Beaumont rescues her. Instantly smitten with his young charge, he seduces Leila first and then, very chivalrously, marries her (my hero!). They move to Paris where Leila studies painting and leads a relatively comfortable life. End of the story? Nah. Just a beginning.

About six years later Francis's hedonistic lifestyle and complete lack of common sense have aged him significantly, weakening his body and garnering him legions of enemies, his wife among them. Leila, now a talented portrait painter, finds herself utterly disgusted with her savior. Francis’s primary function is to act as a buffer against the many men interested in pursuing her but Leila becomes more and more outraged when her husband openly entertains whores in their house and takes drugs. They quarrel a lot. Of course he claims that, somehow, it is still her fault. However, when he turns up so conveniently dead in their London house, it's Leila who has to face murder charges. The investigation is led by Comte d'Esmond, a man of many talents who not only moves easily within the highest levels of society but has also spent the past ten years as one of the government's most trusted and discreet covert operatives. Because of his skillful maneuvering  she is acquitted but she must help a quiet investigation, initiated by government officials. They fear the fallout from Francis's numerous blackmail and extortion schemes which were financing his bad habits - they could do irreversible damage to the ranks of careless statesmen and aristocrats alike.

The investigation promises to be lengthy and tedious. Neither Leila nor Esmond are particularly happy about his involvement in the case, as their relationship, since he orchestrated a meeting in Paris the year before, has been a tug-of-war between attraction and resistance. Esmond is a man with a dark and treacherous past, Leila has been gravely disappointed by her late husband. However, she knows she must find the culprit and clear her name if she wants to pursue her artistic career. Not to mention the fact that the murderer might be after her as well. Will they find who murdered Francis and for what reasons? What else will they discover during that process?

  

What  I liked:

This book was 70% mystery and 30% romance – that’s why I think I appreciated it more than an average romantic novel. We get here a mysterious death puzzle with plenty of viable and interesting suspects and secondary characters, two fascinating protagonists, a complex interrelationship and an escalating emotional and sexual tension (yes, in this exact order, not the other way round). I found it very well executed, not unlike plots in books of my favourite romance writer, Courtney Milan.

When it comes to the seduction – it was realistic. The whole situation could be described shortly this way: "the husband lusts after d'Esmond, who's after the wife, who only wants to be left alone to paint but somehow couldn’t get d’Esmond out of her head for a reason or two". A romantic triangle? Hardly. Most of  it takes part after the demise of dear Francis and very rightly so, that man was up to  no good.

Now some more about the mystery, revolving around Francis’ killer, and the main characters, trying to solve the said mystery.

The criminal puzzle, which takes up much more space than the romantic thread, is clever. Francis, a great baddie, was a real deviant who loved blackmailing people and made them dance to his own tune. He had so many enemies you are rather spoiled for choice. Reading about his exploits and strategies you start to admire his wife. You see, Leila is one of these heroines who develop before the eyes of the reader. Soon she becomes so much stronger and savvy that the frightened, drugged young girl, introduced at the very beginning. She is nicely rounded, has a depth and passion. She did love her husband at first but she couldn’t save him from his own demons. What’s more, she is so clearly Esmond's match, both of body and mind, that their inevitability as a couple with a satisfying HEA stretching out before them, became a given for me from almost the start. Both of them have scars and wounds to heal. Neither character wallows in their misfortune. The Comte is decidedly not as serene as he appears on the surface. Leila Beaumont has been emotionally damaged by her husband and can't trust men at all – as soon as she realizes how many secrets the Comte is keeping she knows she can't trust him either. And yet they have to work together and she slowly begins to unpick his story and find out more about him, much against his will. 

I was rather afraid, reading about the Big Misunderstanding that was trailed from about a third of the book, a bit silly plot device which is very often used and abused in such novels. Fortunately the author did something rather better with this than you would usually expect in this kind of fictional narration. 

What I didn’t like:

First let me tell you that I am simply puzzled by the cover art, presented above. We see a man with a very modern haircut peeping through some bed hangings or curtains; he's got a definite five o'clock shadow and completely hairless arms (waxed? shaved? both?). He certainly doesn't look like an Albanian masquerading as a French Count in 1829, who is described as having slightly overlong blonde hair  and amazingly sapphire blue eyes. He also doesn’t look like Francis Beaumont – his face is far too young and too fresh, without any those tell-tale symptoms of drug abuse. I really don’t understand who he is and what he is doing here - it seems as if the book got a cover from another story. 

Speaking about Albanians - I didn’t read the first part of this series so I might not know all the facts but it simply galled me that the omniscient narrator several times referred to Count d’Esmond  as a ‘barbarian’ or  wrote about his 'barbarian half'. It seems she did so to emphasize the fact that the man came from a very wild and exotic country, apparently full of man-eaters, dragons, vampires and such. I found it rather unjust. If it was said by other characters I would understand - at that time British people treated everything non-British as simply 'barbarian'. However, it was stated by that wretched omniscient narrator...and she should have known better. For example Francis was never called a barbarian because he was a British citizen who lived many years in Paris. It didn’t matter that he was clearly a sadist and a drug fiend, it didn’t matter that he loved to blackmail his victims and was not above exploiting them psychologically and sexually…but he was not a barbarian, he was British…hmmm…

Final verdict:

This one really exceeded my expectations in a very positive way. I caught myself several times thinking 'it is really good! how come it is so good?'  If you feel like reading a romance novel I highly recommend this one. You can always make a nice dust jacket out of a newspaper sheet and hide that stupid man on the cover.

Review: The Whipping Club by Deborah Henry

I got a digital copy of this book from NetGalley. I haven't been compensated for writing my review in any way and the fact that the book came free of charge didn't influence me either.   

Book info:

form: e-book, e-pub

target audience: adults

genre: historical fiction with social issues

pages: 345

Synopsis:

Marian McKeever and Ben Ellis are not typical young couple in 1957 Dublin, Ireland; she’s a Catholic teacher and he’s a Jewish journalist at the beginning of his career. They are very much in love with each other and plan to marry but their families object. Then Marian gets pregnant; she intends to tell Ben while eating a diner with his family but the same night Ben’s father has a stroke and dies. Believing that she has to  protect her future with Ben who, mourning for his father, is clearly not ready for a shotgun marriage, Marian feels she must deal with that problem on her own.

Her uncle, a Catholic priest called Father Brennan, recommends that Marian goes to the Castleboro Mother Baby Home, a kind of shelter for unwed pregnant women. He doesn’t tell her that it is an institution where “sins are purged” via abuse; i.e., pregnant girls are forced to mow the lawn by pulling grass on their hands and knees. After the birth Marian is told that her newborn son, Adrian, will be adopted by an American family so she leaves the baby with the sisters and pays the adoption fee. It proves to be a grave mistake.

A decade later, Ben and Marian, now wed, raise their ten-year-old daughter, Johanna. After a while the nurse who delivered Adrian pays Marian a visit. She tells her that her son wasn’t adopted at all - he is kept in a notorious Catholic orphanage, not far from Dublin. Marian, feeling horrible pangs of conscience, decides to do everything to bring Adrian home and reunite her family. She starts by confronting her husband - telling him about her first pregnancy ordeal. So begins a labyrinthine journey through red tape as the couple fight to regain their firstborn child. Ultimately, 12-year-old Adrian is placed in the Surtane Industrial School for Boys, which is rife with brutality and sexual abuse, mainly at the hands of “Christian Brother Ryder” and his minions. Will his parents manage to help him? 

What I liked:

This novel is set against the political backdrop of postwar Ireland but echoing the painful lessons of the Jewish Holocaust, and I found such a setting rather interesting.  Mrs. Henry has a great narrative voice, very pleasant to read; she can keep you interested even when she is telling you about an ordinary family life. The plot of this book was far from simple, though - it is  a wrenching drama with suspense elements, spanning a decade or so, interweaving the stories of several characters, some of them pretty dramatic like that of an inmate-friend of Adrian, Peter.

Horrible villains like Brother Ryder are balanced with compassionate characters, such as a timid nurse from the Mother Baby Home. Father Brennan I found actually the most interesting personage here – he definitely deepens into a three-dimensional character, facing the atrocities committed in the name of his religion and struggling to do what is right.

I’ve never been a member of a book club but I suppose this novel would be a perfect position to discuss with others. It deals with highly controversial issues: the role of religion in a society, the nature of sin, guilt, redemption and what happens when good people remain passive and  silent.

What I didn’t like:

I must admit the ending seemed a bit rushed to me. I also chuckled a lot reading about those ‘horrible’ Upper Silesian mines where our young hero wanted to hide for a year or two to escape from the Irish Industrial School system. Well, certainly no mine is safe or nice to work in, take it from a miner’s daughter, but there are far worse places… like orphanages.

I am also not fond of the title itself (yes, I have been displeased with plenty of titles lately but what can be done?)  as it relates to just one institution mentioned rather late in the book. I found it misleading - it might suggest the book is about quite different subjects.


Finally let me just warn you that there are some scenes in the book that might make you uncomfortable to say the least of it. Sexual abuse and paedophilia are never nice topics. Although the descriptions are not overly detailed or graphic, they remain distressing nevertheless, especially if you are blessed with vivid imagination.

Final verdict:

An interesting but slightly controversial position, definitely not a book you  should read just with entertainment in mind. I don’t regret reading it but I don’t know whether I would like to reread.

Review: A Slot Machine Ate My Midlife Crisis by Irene Woodbury

This book was provided by the author's publisher via my lady Blodeuedd's excellent blog in return for an honest review. I haven't been compensated for writing the said review in any way and the fact that the book came free of charge didn't influence me either.   

Book info:

Genre: contemporary fiction

Target audience: adults

Form: e-book, pdf format

Page count: 222

Synopsis:

Wendy Cantrell, 45, has just married her steady boyfriend of seven years, Roger, and became Mrs. Sinclair - a respectable wife of a popular architect. They both moved to Houston where he started to work over a big new development, Magnolia Crescent, leaving his wife alone in a house full of chameleons and cockroaches - an isolated newlywed in a strange city, freshly unemployed and feeling more like fish out of water with every passing day.

When Wendy’s friend, Paula, phoned her and suggested a long weekend in Las Vegas, Wendy went over the moon. Finally a bit of fun and shopping far from Roger’s new conservative friends and their nosy, conceited, gossiping wives. She went to Las Vegas and never returned. For many reasons. Wendy found Vegas  more laid-back than L.A., quirkier than Denver, looser than Houston. In Vegas, irreverence and outrageousness were the order of the day. She loved the wackiness and impulsive energy of that place. Her husband didn’t understand at all.

Roger went ballistic but Wendy decided it was her turn to be busy, especially that she got a once-in-a-lifetime chance to work as a real clothing designer, not to mention her Ann-Margret act in the local casino. Was she just in the throes of some hideous midlife crisis, making a complete fool of herself because she‘d lost her job – and her identity – with it? What would become of her marriage and her career?

What I liked:

This novel was full of surprises. First of all its main heroine, Wendy, was far from a cliché I expected, judging this book from the cover. She was funny, she liked flirting, shopping and eating out but she tried to be faithful to her husband and she behaved in a far more dignified way than her younger friend, Paula.

It is a first-person narration so we get to know a lot about Wendy and her complicated marriage situation. Sometimes her reactions and musings are trite, sometimes poignant but always honest and believable. I do appreciate honesty a lot.

The way the plot was developed made the reading interesting as well. It wasn’t the ordinary “a married woman meets another guy and finds the love of her life but it’s already too late” kind. Practically till the very end we don’t know what Wendy’s decision will be. Such hesitancy about the future didn’t feel spurious although I did think once or twice how come a mature woman, knowing a man intimately for seven years, became so undecided all of a sudden. Well, the author tries to explain it in a logical way but you have to be patient.

Finally Las Vegas…well, here I share the feelings of Roger, who says:

“No other city in the world objectifies women as much and seems so proud of it. This whole town reeks of inauthenticity! Everything is fake. The buildings are façades or reproductions. Most of them are as disposable as movie sets in Hollywood. The breasts are silicone or saline. The entertainers are impersonators. Even the marriages are a sham. Vegas is an endless pit of illusions, cheap fakes, and trumped-up imitations, most of them stolen.”

In other words even if I were close to this city I wouldn’t feel like visiting it. However I did like the fact that the author presented both sides of it – the advantages and disadvantages. Let’s quote Wendy here:

“On these raging binge-fests of consumerism, I never thought about tomorrow, I didn‘t look back on yesterday, and I couldn‘t have cared less about today. Screw all that perspective and moderation stuff. I was suspended in a never-never-land of No Limit Shopping – guaranteed to take away the pain, make you forget about everything, and then some.”

 “At the end of these binge days in the Valley of the Malls, everything was hazy and blurred. I felt disconnected from reality, floating around in space at some cosmic super mall, where the only reality was shopping, shopping, shopping, eating, eating, eating. Nothing else mattered. Nothing else existed. It was a nirvana state, but agonizingly empty once the anesthesia wore off and I was back to square one the next day.”

  

What I didn’t like:

The title. I find it shallow and misleading. A slot machine eats just one kind of food – your money. Also the titles of particular chapters were a bit too long and silly. I would prefer there were no titles at all, just numbers, but it’s only me.

I  found some surprising mistakes inside. When a woman who, allegedly, worked a long time for an exclusive boutique chain speaks about Christian Laboutin instead of Louboutin, it makes my eyebrows arch. I am not a fashion fan but even I’ve heard of this designer brand name and its fabulously uncomfortable but beautiful and rather expensive shoes. Another example – fung shui instead of feng shui. Did the editor take a nap?

What’s more? Some expressions  like “lickety-split” were repeated a bit too often. After a while it started to annoy me. I am also not a big fan of the cover art. Once again - it is not a book about gamblers so what does that one-handed bandit do there?

Final verdict:

This book exceeded my expectations in a positive way. Despite some shallow parts and scenes straight from “Sex in the City” I enjoyed it. The ending...once again it took me by surprise. :)

One last quote, especially for my friend Tracy (she will know why):

“But then they parted ways after she canceled a sold-out concert at Wembley Arena in London at the last minute because she wanted to party in the Cotswolds with Mick Jagger.” 


LOL!!!

Review: Secrets of an Accidental Duchess by Jennifer Haymore

Today I have a perfect St Valentine's Day treat for you all! Once again welcome Rameau  who kindly agreed to publish her another splendid review as a guest post on my blog - the rest of her work can be found on Goodreads . This time she tackles a genre which I rarely feature here - a historical romance of a very pinky kind. Well, look at this cover and you can easily guess what to expect. I admit I hate romances  as much as I hate pink- amI right, though, or just prejudiced?

This is the first time I've heard of Jennifer Haymore, and had I known what to expect I most likely would have passed the opportunity to read her work. This isn't going to be a positive review. 

The title is misleading. There really weren't that many secrets this accidental duchess had and the ones there were, were revealed quite quickly and not  in a timely fashion. 

There really should be a series warning for all unsuspecting readers. Not that I was one of them. I knew I was jumping in in the middle of a series, but that wasn't the problem. The problem was the extensive character gallery I was expected to familiarise myself with immediately. To this moment I wouldn't be able to name and place all the important side characters. I barely remember the main characters, but that has more to do with the poor characterisations or lack thereof. More about that later. 

From the very start I realised that Haymore's writing style wasn't for me. I happen to think there's a difference between detailed and florid–one of which is good and the other one isn't–I thought she crossed that line, although, it did get slightly better when action overtook the moment. 

Speaking of things that were better than expected, the sex scenes were a positive surprise. Despite the fact that the her happiness was dependent on his orgasm, there was nothing too awkward or unintentionally hilarious. I found these scenes quite titillating, which is a first in a professionally published work for a while. 

Having said that, I still think there was more passion between Max and his rival Fenwicke than there ever was between Max and Olivia. That's because of the characterisations. Max and Olivia both felt so flat and uninteresting in comparison that over the top evil Fenwicke appeared to the only three dimensional character in the book. I could have handled the brutality and the abuse described, had it been properly addressed and not been reduced to a mere plot device. Fenwicke was nothing more than a ploy to create drama and angst where none was needed as the relationship between Max and Olivia had its existing inner tensions. 

What's worse, neither Fenwicke or his victims were addressed with enough care or attention, but they were quickly dismissed as their part in the storyline expired. 

I could dwell on the idiocy of the two main characters exhibited throughout and especially towards the end of this book, but suffice to say that there's a reason why I shelved this book under the too-stupid-to-live category. I'm not just talking about the contradiction between a gentleman willing to seduce a virgin but reluctant to fight dirty when being attacked by a mob, I'm talking about the lack of pure survival instinct. He'd rather beat up a man in his weakened state than run to save her life. 

I'm aware that my generation nor that the one of my parents'–or their parents'–invented sex, but to read about sisters–one of which is an unmarried virgin–talk about contraception sounded too modern to fit the time to me. There was also another instance, when Olivia was asking Max to give her space, that felt out of place in this historical setting. 

Also as detail orientated as the author is, I was surprised how easily Olivia could wolf down her meal despite the injury to her throat. 

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

Monday can be fun...but usually isn't # 06

Hi everybody!

It's Monday, it's 13th of February, how are you doing? 


I know, it is not easy to survive St. Valentine's Day. Let's hope these cartoons and jokes will help!

500 Valentine Cards 

Mike walked into a post office just before Valentine's day, he couldn't help noticing a middle-aged, balding man standing in a corner sticking "Love" stamps on bright pink envelopes with hearts all over them.  Then the man got out a bottle of Channel perfume from his pocket and started spraying scent over the envelopes.

By now Mike's curiosity had got the better of him, and so I asked the man why he was sending all those cards.  The man replied, "I'm sending out 500 Valentine cards signed, 'Guess who?'"

"But why?" asked Mike.

"I'm a divorce lawyer," the man replied.

A request

Phil, a smart and handsome young man, dressed in the latest fashion, walked into a local pub on St. Valentine's Day.  After a while he noticed a pretty, well-dressed woman gazing at him without blinking her big, brown eyes. Phil felt flattered so he walked up to the woman and said in his deepest, most seductive voice, 'I'll do anything you wish, beautiful lady, for just £10 but on one condition.' 

The woman appeared to be trapped in the moment, still gazing at him beseechingly. She asked as if in a trance, 'What's your condition?'

Phil answered, 'Tell me your wish in just three words.' 

There was a long pause. Finally the woman sighed, opened her purse, counted out the money and handed it to the man along with her address.  She then looked deeply into his eyes again and whispered, 'Clean my house.'

Silent Saturday - that's how I feel right now...

Review: Riyria Revelations series by Michael J. Sullivan, books 1-6 (or 1-3, Orbit edition)

The series has had two editions and, as it might be confusing, I am giving you the full list of the titles.

The first edition, published as six books by AMI and Ridan Publishing (these books are now out of print) consists of the following parts: 

• The Crown Conspiracy,
•  Avempartha, 
• Nyphron Rising, 
• The Emerald Storm, 
• Wintertide, 
•  Percepliquis, 

The Orbit version (most likely to be found in bookshops nowadays) consists of three books: 

• Theft of Swords (1-2),  
• Rise of Empire (3-4) 
•  Heir of Novron (5-6)

Synopsis:

A classic fantasy story, full of great characters who have to save humanity and discover a lot about themselves in the process. You see? It must be a nice series if its summary can be included in one sentence!

What I liked:

A bunch of incredible baddies

I really mean ‘incredible’ here – three-dimensional, shadowy, complex and sometimes even funny. Take Sauly aka Maurice Saldur, the bishop and head of Nyphron Church in Melengar. He looks and often behaves like your average depiction of Gandalf from LOTR  but even the most vicious sea snake would envy him the poison. This man is capable of anything and I suppose his “benign granddad” looks were meticulously cultivated over the years.  The best bit – he thinks he is more or less ok. Well, as the old saying says prisons are full of innocent people. Sauly would never admit to any wrongdoing which shows that his conscience is non-existent.

The other specimen: Archibald Ballantyne Earl of Chadwick. I loved  sweet,  ambitious, cowardly Archie! Not only he was handsome and self-centered, he also managed to fall in love with only the proper girls – the most advantageous candidates at the moment. Every aristocratic father would be proud of him. The best bit - he seemed to be genuinely infatuated with his latest choice (not saying who, find out on your own) and he died as a result of his cheek. Really, who would invent a better way of getting rid of a baddie? Make him fall in love and get him killed because of that!

Finally Magnus the treacherous dwarf who almost got Royce killed twice – no mean feat – and then finally found out a bit about friendship and loyalty and redeemed himself.

How the series develops and ends

As you progress it becomes obvious this particular story was carefully planned from the beginning to the very end and maybe because of that  the author was able to end it on a high note. Fear not, the mysteries will make sense, questions will be answered, characters will receive their dues and loose ends will be tied up leaving you more or less satisfied. Actually each book reveals a little of the whole picture but only when you know everything it is possible to appreciate how it seamlessly works together. Well, you might actually regret the fact that the end came so quickly. Mind you the plot of  every of these six  books is fairly stand-alone – a truly difficult thing to achieve in a series.

 I complained in my review of the first book that the characterization was a bit lacking. I am happy to say it improved greatly in the next installments, especially when it comes to the pair of main protagonists, Hadrian and Royce. Well, especially Royce.

Female characters

I liked most of them with one exception (more about her in the third section of my review). Fantasy books often presents females following some well-worn templates. Usually we get a pretty princess, worth fighting for, a servant who is useful and faithful but not especially pretty, a witch who is devious and clever but not especially nice etc. Here every female character comes with an unsuspected twist.

Arista is a princess but she is also a witch who must learn more advanced ropes on her own; she is not especially pretty and she must go through a lot to reemerge as an independent woman. Yes, she still needs that male arm to rescue her from time to time and  give her more strength but, as far as princesses go, she remains independent - she thinks on her own, she plans her own future, she decides what is good and bad for her.  I really liked Arista from the beginning, even when she was just a lonely girl sitting in her high tower, wondering how to make lesser magic work.

Thrace/Modina starts as a simple village girl but then she transforms; it takes a lot of pain but she manages to turn into a compassionate leader. She might have lost her innocence and ingenuity on the way but I liked her strength and I found the whole transformation rather believable, especially for a fantasy book.

Amilia also starts low - as a scullery maid - but then she provides Modina a much-needed support in crucial moments. She  finds her knight in the shining armour in the process which was kind of sweet. She might be the weakest of those three, never exceeding her ‘friendly servant’ capacity, but still rather likeable. Overall not bad – I managed to say something good about three out of four female leads in this series! I can sometimes surprise myself!

Male protagonists:

Well, they are complicated as well, especially Royce who seems to be the most shadowy type, full of surprises, not all of them nice. It is sometimes difficult to call him 'protagonist' at all but it worked for me just fine. Hadrian provided a nice contrast to Royce, showing him that the better side of human nature still exist.

What I didn’t like:

The elves

For most of the series, like five books, elves are spoken about, hardly seen and not heard at all. Ok, there was one exception – a short scene between Royce and Ren, a half-breed which had been treated with kindness by the thief and found a way to show his gratitude in return.  Throughout the books I kept wondering why elves were such a dirty secret (while it was logically explained, you can understand it only at the very end). They are presented as a race of very intelligent beings who could live for a very long time, their culture was so sophisticated and still most humans had only harsh words for them or half-breeds. It was actually strange any half-breeds existed at all, taking all this negative attitude into consideration. 

Only in the last book we learn that elves can be brutal and murderous, that it’s either them or us and the future of mankind is endangered while they live. Well, pity because I would love to see them cooperate with humans – I am sure it could be arranged,  if not for those pure breeds then at least for those with mixed blood.  By the way the whole elf destruction routine felt  over the top – not only were they trying to kill literary every last human but their methods seemed a bit haphazard, especially keeping in mind how powerful they were supposed to be.

Gwendolyn DeLancy

The romantic interest of Royce is indeed my major complaint. She is a former prostitute and a successful businesswoman, owning Medford House (a brothel) and The Rose and Thorn Tavern.  Reading the books it seems Miss DeLancy’s main occupation is to take care of Royce whenever he happens to be close – our good Gwen predict his future, feeds and pampers him and sleeps with him (but it is only hinted in a very delicate way). She is so good and sweet that she becomes annoying after a short while. The fact that she is also a person who knows everything the best doesn't help either. You know, she has a gift of Sight and I hate those ‘know-it-all’ seer types. BTW how come Gwen was able to predict Royce’s future while her compatriot seer almost lost her life while being coerced to do the same thing?

Overall whenever I read a scene with Gwen, it always put me in a blood-thirsty mood. Call it a hunch but I never believed in Royce’s and her ‘happily ever after’, especially when she told him that she had already chosen names for their future children (sic!). As a result I couldn’t wait for her to die. She was simply too flimsy as a character and too cloyingly sweet as a woman not to mention the fact that we never saw her in the role of a 'madam' or a prostitute. The scene of her death was the only one which I read with interest as it showed another aspect of Royce’s dark personality. Finally this saintly whore (an oxymoron, I know, but I couldn't restrain myself) was put to a good use. A pity it came so late – if I had anything to say I would get rid of Gwen earlier and I would pair Royce with an elf or a half-breed. If I sound callous and unladylike well, I do admit I like dark fantasy.

Final verdict:

Despite my carping above I enjoyed this series very much and I would love to reread it after some time. I recommend it very strongly to fans of good, classic fantasy or just a good, consistent story. A warning: this series is highly addictive, buy or borrow all the books if possible or you will regret it later (like me).