My Brother Michael

My Brother Michael 

by Mary Stewart

(Edited) Blurb:

Camilla Haven is on holiday alone, and wishes for some excitement. She had been sitting quietly in a crowded Athens cafe writing to her friend Elizabeth in England, "Nothing ever happens to me..."

Then, without warning, a stranger approached, thrust a set of car keys at her and pointed to a huge black touring car parked at the curb. "The car for Delphi, mademoiselle... A matter of life and death," he whispered and disappeared.

From that moment Camilla's life suddenly begins to take off when she sets out on a mysterious car journey to Delphi.  The ride was Camilla's first mistake... or perhaps she had unintentionally invoked the gods. She finds herself in the midst of an exciting, intriguing, yet dangerous adventure. An extraordinary train of events turned on a nightmare of intrigue and terror beyond her wildest daydreams.

My Reaction:

I listened to an old audiobook recording of this novel (the Chivers Audio Books version), looking for something relaxing to enjoy while piecing my current quilt project or making watercolor doodles.  It served that purpose well.  This isn't my favorite Mary Stewart "travel mystery"—felt like it took a while for me to get into the story, and it felt more dated than some of the others (or maybe it's just me that has changed)—but it's fine.  

If you like Mary Stewart, you'll probably enjoy this, too, but I wouldn't suggest it as a first choice.  I think there's a reason this one seems to be less well known than The Moon-Spinners or Nine Coaches Waiting, for instance. 

Mars Reborn (Moon People #2)

Mars Reborn (Moon People #2)

by Dale M. Courtney

Blurb:

This Book is based on Earth into a new era of light speed travel thanks to the Powleens from a world called Sybon. And the adventure of 1st Science Officer Commander David Braymer’s journey on board his new ship called the Aurora, ”The Goddess of the Dawn”, Commander Braymer does a successful genesis and Colonization of Mars and resurrects Martians and animals that were frozen 100,000 years with mental powers. With also the war between worlds for control of the Galaxy with Earth and Powleens against the Arcons and the Thracians.

My Reaction:

Donald and I read this together to fill in a gap between books for the 372 Pages We'll Never Get Back podcast.  We read the first one along with the podcast, back in 2022, so when we noticed that the rest of the trilogy was available on Kindle Unlimited, we decided to give it a try.  

This would be another great candidate for the podcast, though I don't know if they'll want to return to the series. Lots of fodder here.  It certainly didn't fail to entertain us, and I wouldn't mind reading the last book in the series, one of these days.  It does take some extra effort to read, what with the lack of quotation marks in a very dialogue-heavy book!  I think the comedy value is worth the trouble, though.

Ugly Love

Ugly Love

by Colleen Hoover

Blurb:

When Tate Collins meets airline pilot Miles Archer, she knows it isn’t love at first sight. They wouldn’t even go so far as to consider themselves friends. The only thing Tate and Miles have in common is an undeniable mutual attraction. Once their desires are out in the open, they realize they have the perfect set-up. He doesn’t want love, she doesn’t have time for love, so that just leaves the sex. Their arrangement could be surprisingly seamless, as long as Tate can stick to the only two rules Miles has for her.

Never ask about the past.

Don’t expect a future.

They think they can handle it, but realize almost immediately they can’t handle it at all.

Hearts get infiltrated.

Promises get broken.

Rules get shattered.

Love gets ugly.

My Reaction (with a slight spoiler):

This was a shared read with Donald.  Why?  Because 372 Pages We'll Never Get Back chose it for the podcast.  (And I hope—and believe—that they feel truly sorry for what they've done, this time.)

Years ago, I didn't mind a good romance—and maybe I could be interested in reading romance again, at some point—but this particular kind of romance novel has never and will never be for me.  It's even worse when you're reading it aloud.  You really experience that weapons-grade cringe when you're saying it out loud.  Of course, I didn't actually speak much of it aloud: I made the executive decision to skim over large sections of this book, summarizing as I went, and I'm not even sorry.  It was an essential survival mechanism at work.

Well, I mean, what is there to say about this book?  I hated it and the characters in it.  Miles is a creep and Tate is pathetic.  The two of them together gross me out.  Very little of any interest happens, to the point that a brief description of shopping for curtains and a rug was a high point in the novel.  And boy, is it ever brief!  They literally walk to the store, choose the first things they see in the window, then turn around and leave again.  We're denied even the pleasure of vicarious browsing and comparing a few different options.  Given the choice between an in-depth description of actual shopping and yet another scene of these two "bumping uglies"—to quote Cap—trust me, I would have loved to have read an awkward squabble over curtain fabric, colors, etc., but it wasn't to be.

Again, Tate is infuriatingly weak, Miles acts like such an utter POS jerk (his tragic backstory is no excuse for using Tate and treating her like crap), and a few scenes seemed borderline abusive and were very uncomfortable to read.  Not just the painful sex scenes, either.  The roof-top pool scene where he's following her around and pinning her against the side of the pool gave me chills.  His actions felt almost threatening to me.  He felt more like a potential serial killer than an attentive lover.  (Also, is it just me, or isn't it kind of odd that this guy who's so traumatized by something that involved water would suggest they go swimming?  It just feels strange and unrealistic to me.)

Then there's the center justification thing, which was annoying, too, of course.  

So no, this wasn't a good read for me.  I really disliked this book. Still not as bad as Shadow Moon, though.  That's probably the worst thing I've ever read.

Love Among the Chickens

Love Among the Chickens

P.G. Wodehouse

Blurb:

The farcical tale of Jeremy Garnet, an author and an old friend of Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge, an erstwhile chicken farmer. Upon meeting Ukridge for the first time in years, Garnet finds himself enmeshed Ukridge's new and struggling chicken farm. Garnet soon falls in love with a girl living near the estate as he struggles with the farm and with Ukridge's bizarre business methods.

My Reaction:

Donald and I read this together—a new-to-us Wodehouse book.  

Wodehouse wrote this short novel when he was only 25, and I've just learned that it was his first work written for an adult audience.  I think it's clear that he hadn't yet reached his full maturity as an author when he penned Love Among the Chickens.  It doesn't have quite the same polish and charm as his best works—but there were still plenty of laughs, and his wit shines through time after time.  

It's good to know that there's still more Wodehouse to enjoy for the first time!

Friday's Child

Friday's Child

by Georgette Heyer

Blurb:

When the very eligible Viscount Sheringham, or "Sherry", proposes to Hero Wantage, she is overjoyed. Saved from life as a governess, she begins social climbing, but so naively that Sherry fears drastic action is required, or she will ruin them both.

My Reaction:

The blurb both over-simplifies this novel and makes it sound more dramatic and serious than it really is.  If you're familiar with Georgette Heyer—or at least her works I've read so far—you'll know that her Regency novels are light and fun.  This one is no different, though I did find it took a little time to get going.  After a promising beginning, the story seems to stall out and advance only slowly.  There was too much about fashion, home decor, and diversions of the time for me, personally.  I enjoy the odd book set in the Regency period, but in my opinion Regency references and minutiae are best in small doses, and I had my fill and more here!  Fortunately, things eventually begin to happen again, and I enjoyed the novel much more after that.  

Sherry's friends steal the show here, and as many other reviewers have indicated, there are some real flashes of P.G. Wodehouse-style wit in some of the conversations.  

Doggone Christmas

Doggone Christmas (Polly Parrett Petsitter #1)

by Liz Dodwell

Blurb:

Polly is juggling the care of her wheelchair-bound mother, her pet-sitting business and the sale of the family home. On top of that she finds herself having to deal with an arrogant but really sexy realtor, and Christmas is coming! None of that seems important, though, when she finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation and must find the real killer before an innocent homeless man and his dog are wrongly convicted.

My Reaction:

Donald and I needed something to fill the gap between 372-Pages books, and it was still in the Christmas-y time of year, so we decided to read another "Christmas cozy" from the podcast's shortlist of cozy mysteries.  We went through the ones not selected this time around and chose one that was available to us for free.  

Well, all I can say is that I think it's a good thing they chose the book they did instead of this one.  I'm sure they could have found things to talk about, but this felt much more like a standard cozy mystery to both of us, compared to the one they ended up choosing.  It's very much what you expect from a cozy mystery.

I've forgotten most of the things that stuck out, but I do recall deciding that the author must be British, because a few words/turns of phrase stuck out to us as not sounding authentically American—someone was described as being "in hospital", for instance.  Just a point of interest!

The Pesthouse

The Pesthouse

by Jim Crace

Blurb:

Once the safest, most prosperous place on earth, the United States is now a lawless, scantly populated wasteland. The machines have stopped. The government has collapsed. Farmlands lie fallow and the soil is contaminated by toxins. Across the country, families have packed up their belongings to travel eastward toward the one hope passage on a ship to Europe.

Franklin Lopez and his brother, Jackson, are only days away from the ocean when Franklin, nearly crippled by an inflamed knee, is forced to stop. In the woods near his temporary refuge, Franklin comes upon an isolated stone building. Inside he finds Margaret, a woman with a deadly infection and confined to the Pesthouse to sweat out her fever. Tentatively, the two join forces and make their way through the ruins of old America. Confronted by bandits rounding up men for slavery, finding refuge in the Ark, a religious community that makes bizarre demands on those they shelter, Franklin and Margaret find their wariness of each other replaced by deep trust and an intimacy neither one has ever experienced before.

My Reaction:

It took a little time to get into the flow of the language with this one, and even once I did, I had some issues with the pacing, but on the whole, I found this an interesting tale.  I appreciated that it wasn't remotely as gratuitously dark as so much post-apocalyptic fiction tends to be; that made for a nice change.  

There's a lot I still don't understand about the world the author built in this book.  Why have people forgotten so much about their history, for instance, while they've managed to hold on to other things (like the traditional, Founding-Father names)?  

Anyway, I find I don't have much to say about this, now that I'm done with it.  It's different... If you don't mind a meandering pace and feel intrigued by a future civilization that feels more like a medieval/Old West mash-up than The Jetsons, this is for you.  Ah, just be forewarned that it's a post-apocalyptic romance, minus much of what you usually find in a romance!  (It's an odd book.)

A Heritage of Shadows

A Heritage of Shadows

by Madeleine Brent

Blurb:

When Hannah MacLeod, established independently in Paris, the secrets of her past well hidden, takes pity on an Englishman who has been assaulted, a sinister train of events is set into motion.

My Reaction:

I've read and enjoyed six of Madeleine Brent's novels, before this one.  I believe I started with what is probably the best of them, Moonraker's Bride.  Though "Madeleine Brent" is the pen name of a male author, he did a marvelous job of writing a female perspective and creating strong female characters.  I've enjoyed everything of his I've read, so far.  Nothing else has quite matched Moonraker's Bride, in my opinion, but they've been very readable.  They tend to rely on some unbelievable coincidences, and they're formulaic, but they're still highly enjoyable.

While A Heritage of Shadows fits that same "proven formula" in many ways, in some key elements it's significantly different.  To spell out how it differs, however, would reveal a huge spoiler, so I won't go into it.  Suffice it to say that it's much darker in subject matter than everything else I've read from this author.  I didn't care for this, and unfortunately, the way that the heroine reacts to certain events in her life makes her less relatable to me.  I suppose I understand what the author was going for... The character has a defense mechanism that has allowed her to survive shocking and horrific experiences—but at some point it's frustrating to see someone keep turning the cheek.  She's a little too perfect for me.  I can't completely believe in her absolute self-control and lack of negative human emotion.  

I do like that we get a fair bit of interaction between the hero and heroine, but... Well, it leads to more spoilers if I get into details.  I just didn't find this book quite as enjoyable to read, for a variety of reasons.  

The Sea King's Daughter

The Sea King's Daughter

by Barbara Michaels

Blurb:

Since Sandy Frederick first set foot on the volcanic Greek isle of Thera, this breathtaking place of ancient myth and mystery has haunted her dreams. Joining her estranged, obsessed father on a dive to find astonishing secrets from the ocean's floor, she cannot shake the feeling that she was meant to be here; that some ancient, inscrutable power is calling to her. But there are others who have been eagerly waiting for her arrival to drag her into a tangled and terrifying web of secrets, dark superstition, betrayal, blood, and death. And suddenly Sandy's heritage and her destiny could be her doom.

My Reaction:

This is another of Barbara Michael's 1970's gothic thrillers.  I think I've read most of them, at this point, and while not without its faults, I enjoyed it (especially the first half) more than I expected.  I think it was better than the last few of hers I've read.  

What made this one better?  Three things come to mind:

• Exotic locale.
  The beautiful setting of Santorini worked in its favor and gave it a light touch of the Mary Stewart vibe.  It's much more appealing than the last one I remember reading, which was set against the scintillating setting of some boring college, a creepy old grump's deteriorating (?) mansion, and the claustrophobic home of two aging religious obsessives.  (Search the Shadows, if that has tempted you...)
• Non-academic heroine.
  Obviously I don't object to an intelligent heroine, but it does make a bit of a change that this one starts out being more interested in athletic pursuits than books—though she still comes across as unusually well-informed in some rather niche subjects, which was a bit silly.  Either commit to a non-bookish heroine or don't!  Ah well, at least she tried.  It's definitely a break from the author's usual style, and that gave it a fresher feel. 
• Less "male chauvinist pig"-hunting.
  Some of these books are heavy handed with the attitude of, "Oh, what a good feminist am I!  I shall find offense hidden in every little thing, because it's us against them!"  It gets old, and the language feels outdated.  (The funny thing is that there are some very unenlightened, cringe-inducing elements in some of these books, despite the attempt to be oh-so correct.)  There are a few... moments, but it's less than usual.

Those positives aside, I didn't give two figs about the romance and found the whole mystery a bit blah.  The early hints at the spooky supernatural came to naught, and despite some literal earth-shaking developments in the plot (not to mention a few natural fireworks), the whole story felt flat for me.  I just... didn't really care.  

It was okay.  At least I didn't actively hate the heroine by the end of the book, which isn't always a given with these things!

Feathers in the Fire

Feathers in the Fire

by Catherine Cookson

Blurb:

Every once in a while, circumstance traps a group of people in a pattern of tragedy and violence from which they struggle vainly to fight free. Thus it was with the Master of Cock Shield Farm, Angus McBain, a man too easily tempted to sin, and those in and around his household.

My Reaction:

This was my first time reading anything by Catherine Cookson.  She clearly knew how to write a gripping historical tale.  I wouldn't say it's "literary quality", but it's perfectly good entertainment and has more depth than you might expect.  Though I didn't love the story, personally, I can't deny that it's extremely readable, with plenty of character development.  (Also a fair bit of scandal, if that's your thing!)  These aren't two-dimensional characters, and they are interesting to read about, but the drama and unending bad fortune became frustrating to read, especially when it felt avoidable with an ounce of common sense and a decisive action or two.

I wouldn't label this as primarily a romance, incidentally.  Though there are elements of romance, that's not how I'd describe it.  It's more of a drama and character study than a typical romance.  If you come looking for a straightforward romance, I'm afraid you may find it a slog!

I'd consider reading another of this author's novels, but not immediately.  I need a chance to recover from (or possibly forget) my issues with this one!

(The version I've linked here in my blog has a different title.  The alternate title, Her Secret Son, and description are a bit odd, in fact.  I'm not sure what they were thinking when they came up with this.  There is no "secret son" in this novel!  But at least it's available.  Some of this author's books apparently have been difficult to access after going out of print.)

Susan Settles Down

Susan Settles Down

by Molly Clavering

Blurb:

Young Susan Parsons has just moved, with her unmarried brother Oliver, to a newly-inherited property in the Scottish Highlands. Their neighbors prove a mixed bag, including the towering, kindly Jed Armstrong, a farmer whose land 'marches with' theirs, the local vicar and his family, and the three gossipy Pringle sisters, who travel by donkey-drawn cart and get their knives into one and all. After a bumpy start, with a disagreeable cook and her nincompoop daughter as their only help, Susan and Oliver begin to settle in nicely, and find themselves in the midst of romance, confusion, and earthy hilarity.

My Reaction:

On the whole, I enjoyed this book.  It's a calm story set very firmly in reality.  A gentle book, which is very nice in some ways.  On the other hand, because it is so gentle and calm, it didn't really grip me and compel me to read longer or faster.  If you're in the mood for something steady and not particularly dramatic, this would be a good choice— particularly if you like British books written and set "between the wars".  

There were things I didn't like so much, too, however:

• The nearly indecipherable presentation of certain characters' Scottish accent/dialect.  You can get the gist, but it's not easy! 
• The saccharine, "oh-aren't-they-adorable" children.  Fortunately, they're not in the book much.
• The part of the story with Jo-ann.  Maybe it was meant to add realism or gravity to the tale, but it felt oddly out of place to me.  
• The fact that the romance was split between two couples.  It cut down on the time for either to develop fully.  Eh, not bad, but could have been better.  

I don't really care for Oliver, to tell the truth, and it's fairly obvious for most of the book exactly how things will end—but that's okay with me.  In some types of books, predictability is not a flaw, but part of the appeal.  

It does have some entertaining elements, though, and some of the descriptive passages are a pleasure to read.  

I'd give it 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 and would consider reading more by the author. 

Murder in Christmas River

Murder in Christmas River
by Meg Muldoon

Blurb:

Cinnamon Peters is one tough cookie.

Every year at Christmas River’s annual Gingerbread Junction Competition, pie baker extraordinaire Cinnamon aims to win, taking down any competitor who gets in her way. But when she finds a dead body in the woods behind her pie shop just days before the big competition, Cinnamon realizes that there’s much more to worry about than cookies, frosting, and gumdrops.

Someone’s out to bring Cinnamon down. And they’re playing dirty. Only Cinnamon and a mysterious stranger who walks into her life one snowy evening can figure out the mystery.  But can they solve it before Cinnamon’s chances of gingerbread competition glory crumble?

My Reaction:

Yet another 372-Pages podcast/bookclub selection!  (Shared read with Donald, as usual.)

I don't have much of a reaction to this, aside from the podcast element.  It's not my personal cup of peppermint tea.  (Not that I drink peppermint tea; I don't.  The only tea I ever drink is sweet iced tea, and that's only at family get-togethers, these days...  But peppermint tea felt seasonally appropriate, so...)  

I've only ever read a few cozy mysteries, so I'm not really familiar enough with the genre to be an effective judge of them, but this was not nearly cozy enough for my tastes.  In my opinion, you should either go heavy on the cozy or just call yourself a regular mystery.  This was neither cozy nor much of a real mystery, so I'm not sure what I'd call it... A bland romance with an extremely lightweight mystery element, maybe.  Cinnamon, the protagonist, was ridiculously morose and self-pitying, as well, which made for a less interesting reading experience.

As for humor, there were a few moments of unintended mirth, but this was not one of the best 372-Pages selections.  Not one I believe will stay with me, particularly.  Even though there was a dog!  Even a cute dog couldn't save this one...  

Search the Shadows

Search the Shadows

by Barbara Michaels

Blurb:

Haskell Maloney was cruelly orphaned when she was just a baby. Now, twenty-two years later, she receives confirmation of the bitter truth she always suspected: the fallen war hero whose name she shares was not her father. Her quest for answers—and a personal history—brings Haskell to the famed Oriental Institute in Chicago, a city in which her mother lived and thrived before her strange, untimely death. But by rummaging around in the darkness, Haskell's exposing much more than she bargained for. And now she's racing against the clock to discover who she really is . . . and why someone is suddenly determined to kill her.

My Reaction:

Eh... This one was so slow to get started!  It needed either more fleshing out to make it more engaging in the first half or to be trimmed down.  (Trimming down would probably be preferable!)  As it is, you're waiting for something to happen-- for the book to take a definite direction-- for far too long.  When things finally get moving, it's okay-ish, but certainly not one of the author's best novels.  

Random Thoughts (with possible slight spoilers):

--  I find it amusing that this author clearly considered herself very "with it" and feminist, and yet her writing has some painfully cringe-worthy sexist stereotypes.  The way she describes one female character in particular, in this book, is just... Wow!

--  The main character is a woman named "Haskell".  A bit odd, and yes, I know I have a nerve to say so, since I'm a female Michael... But I acknowledge that my name is rather odd, too.  

--  I realize she "had" to do it to get the story going in its intended direction, and ultimately you understand why, but it seemed very strange to me that Haskell breaks off her engagement simply because she suspects that the man she thought was her father (but who she had never even met) wasn't her biological dad.  I get that it might be startling and make you want to investigate and locate your biological father, but it's a weird reason to call off an engagement!  She treats Jon poorly throughout the book, really.

--  It will never cease to be gross and yucky and utterly unappealing when male characters with a romantic interest in female characters call them "child", "kid", or otherwise refer to them as being childlike.  "Oh, Haskell ... You are so damned young"?  Ugh!  

--  It always rubs me the wrong way when an author makes irritating "asides", observations, or excuses about how a character has said something that's grammatically incorrect.  Argh!  We know you know how to "write good", okay?  Give it a rest!!  Let the characters speak naturally, please!  Stop berating them (for the words you put in their mouths) and drawing undue attention to the fact that everyday speech is frequently not grammatically correct.  We already know that.

One example: 

"What do you want to know that for?"

"Your grammar is as befuddled as your reasoning," Dave said cuttingly.  

--  Twice near the end, Haskell thinks something to the effect that cigarette smoke smells nice.  My personal favorite?  "I lay still, savoring the beautiful gray light and the exquisite aroma of cigarette smoke that permeated the sheets."  This was published in 1987, so yes, cigarette smoking was more common than it is now, but even back then, didn't most people think cigarette smoke reeked?  If not, it was probably only because they were smokers themselves and were nose-blind to it.  I don't know... I'm just not buying this love for the so-called "aroma" of cigarette smoke.  Then again, I suppose we can sometimes enjoy/appreciate objectively stinky smells simply because we associate them with someone we love.  

--  I wasn't sure who Haskell's father would be, to tell the truth.  There are a handful of equally plausible possibilities, and by the time it was revealed, I just kind of shrugged... "Yep.  That was one of the possibilities I considered.  She sure did find out who her bio dad is.  (...yawn)"

--  I was similarly uncertain of how the romance aspect of the book would work out, until fairly near the end.  It was a bit out of the blue. It felt like she was steering us in a different direction for most of the book... Then you could tell that was a no-go, and she suddenly changed tack, which is something I don't particularly like in romances.  I want a chance to root for a pairing, not have two or three kind of "meh" options and no clue about where things are headed.  So yes, this was slightly disorienting, but unlike some other readers, I found the last part of the book (where the romance is resolved) generally more entertaining to read than much of the rest of it.  I might have liked the book better if more pages had been devoted to the romance instead of the dull, plodding mystery/who's-the-daddy storyline!

--  I was disappointed by the lack of exciting treasure-hunting and sorting through artifacts.  I guess I should've known that wouldn't materialize, because it would be difficult to write in an interesting way without distracting from the rest of the book, but still... I felt let down.  

--  There was very much less of the paranormal than I expected.  Some of this author's novels lean heavily on the supernatural, and for some reason I thought this one might, as well.  I wasn't so much disappointed as mildly surprised by the lack.  

Conclusion:  It took me a while to work my way through this book, and I wouldn't recommend it unless you're already a fan.  I think I've always found her works annoying in some ways, but I think I used to enjoy them more than I do now.  At this point, it seems likely that either I'm pickier now or I'm remembering liking some of her other novels better than I actually did.  I can't believe I just happened to read all the better ones first.

Death in the Andamans

Death in the Andamans

by M.M. Kaye

Blurb:

When a violent storm lashes the tiny Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal, Copper Randal barely manages a safe return to Government House. She does get back in one piece with her hostess, Valerie Masson, Val's fiancé, and handsome naval officer Nick Tarrent, but one of the islanders is unaccounted for when the boats return to harbor. Cut off from the mainland and confined to the shadowy, haunted guest quarters, Copper and the other visitors conclude that one of their number is a murderer. The killer must be found before the storm destroys all trace of any possible clues.

My Reaction:

With this, I believe I've read all of Kaye's murder mysteries.  This (same as the others) was fine, but I always like the idea of her books more than the reality, unfortunately.  Apparently she's a solid 3-star author for me, based on past reviews (and this one, too).  Nothing amazing, but okay.  Good in spots, less impressive in others.  

These books always seem to have a peculiarly strong fixation on youth and beauty, which is rather off-putting.  Not that Kaye's the only author who loves heroines who are young, beautiful women-- they're the norm in this type of fiction, of course, and that's just the way it is-- but still, at a certain point the constant worship at the altar of youth and beauty is boring, if not irritating!  It almost feels as though a lack of personal beauty is a character flaw-- especially in female characters-- and your value decreases as you age or if you weren't blessed with attractive features.  Don't we get enough of that attitude in real life without being beaten over the head with it in our escapist literature?

Some of the attitudes between men and women in this book annoy me, too.  Men sending the women away from crime scenes as though they can't handle it, calling them "child", etc.  I never warmed toward Nick, and I'm not cuckoo for Copper, either (or her stupid nickname)... Valerie seems slightly less annoying than Copper, and for a while, I liked Charles pretty well, but eventually I got a bit sick of him, too!  (The Bertie Wooster routine eventually wore thin.  Not everyone has P.G. Wodehouse's ability to write Wooster-type characters without them grating on your nerves.  It takes some skill!)

That said, the settings in these books are perfect for a little escapism of the "travel mystery-romance" type, and they're easy to slip into for a little distraction from reality.  I did find it difficult keeping some of the secondary characters straight in my head, but oh well!  I also wonder if people ever actually quoted literature and poetry at one another quite as much as these characters do!  A little of that is okay-- only to be expected, in fact, from books of a certain type, from that era-- but it does get old after a while.  (Yes, you're educated!  Yes, you've read literature!  Yes, you have excellent memory!  Now, kindly shut up and get on with the story!)

Despite all my grouching, I do like aspects of these books, even if they're not perfect and don't always exactly hit the spot.  They have a way of making you feel nostalgic for (certain aspects of) a time you never knew.  Also, it was interesting to read the author's description of the storm, as someone who lives in "hurricane country".  

Anna Dressed in Blood

Anna Dressed in Blood
by Kendare Blake

Blurb:

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until he was gruesomely murdered by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. They follow legends and local lore, destroy the murderous dead, and keep pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

Searching for a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas expects the usual: track, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he's never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, now stained red and dripping with blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

Yet she spares Cas's life.

My Reaction:
I had reservations about this one, because I knew it was YA fiction, and that's not my usual fare these days.  I should've listened to my doubts, because this wasn't for me.  It's not terrible, but I wasn't enthused by it.  I didn't care for the characters-- or about them, really-- and... Well, almost everything that makes me hesitant to read more modern YA fiction at this point in my life?  It's here.  This book has demonstrated that my instinct to avoid was correct.  I might have liked this somewhat better when I was quite a bit younger, though I would've found the coarse language off-putting at that age.  Now, in my forties?  The language isn't a problem for me, but it's just not an enjoyable reading experience.  There may be exceptions, but I suspect that most modern YA fiction won't be to my liking, now.

The romance was inexplicable.  I guess it was based solely on looks, because they barely interacted, and what interaction there was didn't seem sufficient.  Then there's the horror aspect.  This version of horror is heavily reliant on gross descriptions-- enough to make me skip a few lines, because I'm not a fan of the disgusting, but probably a yawn for fans of body horror.  It's severely lacking in suspense and psychological horror, which I much prefer to the gross-out stuff.  

This book kinda-sorta stands on its own (if you're okay with major plot holes and abrupt, unsatisfying endings), but there's a sequel, and the ending makes that very clear.  I won't be reading it.  I can't see what could happen that would make it "worth it".  I'll just imagine my own sequel.  ...There.  I probably whipped up an ending I'd find more satisfying than whatever is in the actual book, anyway!

Tregaron's Daughter

Tregaron's Daughter

by Madeleine Brent

Blurb:

Madeleine Brent's first novel follows the fortunes of Cadi Tregaron, a sixteen year old fisherman's daughter. Happy in the small community of the coastal village where she has spent her life, the only hint of disquiet has been a recurring dream-- of a great house standing in water and of a faceless man who awaits her there-- a dream which is sometimes wonderful and sometimes terrifying.

By a cruel blow Cadi is left alone in the world, but she is taken into a wealthy family where she lives like a lady with servants to wait upon her and is treated as one of the family. At Meadhaven she finds mystery, danger and a hidden enemy. Is it the wayward young Richard Morton? Or the grey-eyed stranger who is forever watching her? Or is it Lucian Farrel, her benefactor's maverick nephew, whose face now becomes the one to haunt her dream.

But the dream turns to nightmare, for she finds that the house standing in water is a reality and that she is bound to it by a freak of ancestry. Here, in the house of her dream and far from her own country, Cadi comes to know heartbreak and grief, and learns the frightening truth about herself and the hidden enemy who threatens her life.

My Reaction:

I didn't realize this was Madeleine Brent's first novel until I finished reading it and started comparing notes with some other reviews.  Interesting... 

The general consensus seems to be that Tregaron's Daughter isn't Brent's best work, and I agree.  It felt a bit light-- shorter than I was expecting, though when I compare page-counts, it's not particularly short.  I suppose it just didn't feel as developed to me, for some reason.  Still, if you enjoy the genre, it's a perfectly good book.  It has the same style and follows the same basic formula as all of this author's other works under this pseudonym.  (I've never read anything he wrote under any other name.)  It hits all the same points as his other books-- or at least the ones I've read, which is most of them.  There's a touch of mysticism/the supernatural, and some of the coincidences are nothing short of amazing.  You have to just accept that these books don't take place in the same mundane reality that the rest of us inhabit.  That's part of their charm.

I didn't have a vehement reaction to this novel one way or the other, really.  The heroine is strong and admirable (one of Brent's trademarks), but I found her maybe a bit too perfect and popular at times.  I have to say, Mr. Morton's family was much more accepting of the addition of such a grown-up young woman into their family home than I would have been.  Wasn't she 19 when she moved in with them, and a perfect strange to everyone but Mr. Morton?  I don't know... The whole situation's more than a little odd, in my opinion!  I don't think I'd be happy, if I were his wife or one of his biological children.  I'm not as good as they are, I guess.  

Also, the culmination of the romance felt a little awkward to me.  Brent can write a good, appealing hero, but too often the interactions between his heroes and heroines feel stilted.  This is definitely one of those books where the otherwise intelligent heroine has some strange (and very convenient) blind spots.  There are things that are obvious to the reader for the entire book, yet the heroine has to have them literally explained to her in the last chapter or two!  Well, that's just the way these things go, I guess.  

I'm being picky.  It's a decent book, and this should be an enjoyable read for fans of the genre and the author.  No big surprises means less chance of disappointment, either!  I'd give this 3.5 stars, but am rounding up to 4 stars because I think it's better than 3 stars would suggest. 

Don't Look Now

Don't Look Now
by Mary Burton

Blurb:

Austin homicide detective Jordan Poe is hunting a serial killer she fears is the same man who assaulted her sister, Avery, two years ago. The details line up: the victims are the same age, same type, dead by the same grim MO. Luckily Avery survived. But the terrible memories linger, making Jordan more determined than ever to stop this monster in his tracks.

Texas Ranger Carter Spencer isn’t one to poach on a detective’s territory. Yet no matter how resentful a capable lone wolf like Jordan is, when she is attacked at a third crime scene and suffers a trauma that leaves her with limited vision, it’s up to Carter to help Jordan navigate a world she no longer recognizes. He needs her instinct, her experience, and her fearless resolve to crack this case. A case that’s about to get even darker.

A stranger is watching. He’s closing in on his ultimate prey. And no one but the killer can see what’s coming.

My Reaction:
I had to check out a book available on Prime, to qualify for a promotional deal.  This one looked okay.  I liked the name, and it had a good average over tons of reviews.  Apparently this author is prolific and successful, so it seemed promising.  Unfortunately, this simply isn't for me.  I like murder mysteries, but I don't enjoy anything too "police procedural"-y.  After years of watching Original Flavor CSI, I'm kind of burned out on that genre.  Films and miniseries are about as far as I'll stretch for a police procedural, these days, unless they are something very special.  They need to grab me by the collar and pull me in.  This didn't meet that requirement. 

Specifics?  I found certain aspects of it awkwardly written; fairly basic information any crime reader would already know was shoehorned into the dialogue, for instance.  The dialogue didn't feel natural to me.  Also, the level of detail on minor, inconsequential items and actions was over the top.  I just couldn't face slogging through a whole novel of that.  

I declared this a DNF (Did Not Finish) at the 10% mark.  No hard feelings, just not my style. 

Death in Kenya

Death in Kenya
by M.M. Kaye

(Edited) Blurb:

When Victoria Caryll is offered a position at Flamingo, her aunt's family estate in Kenya's Rift Valley, she accepts-- knowing full well that the move will mean seeing Eden DeBrett once again.  She was once engaged to Eden, but it's been years since he broke her heart and married someone else.  The desire to return to Kenya, her childhood home, is strong, but she doesn't realize that the Rift Valley is now an unstable region still recovering from the bloody Mau Mau revolt. Worse yet, her aunt's household has just been thrown into grief and chaos by a gruesome murder. 

My Reaction:

I've been slowly working my way through M.M. Kaye's "Death" series of mystery novels.  After this one, there's only one left, and I'll be sad to see the end of them.  They're solid suspense novels set in the 1950s.  I think of them as historical, but I guess that's not technically true, as they were contemporary when written and published.  Still, to a modern reader, they have that very specific quality of mysteries written in the golden age of the mystery novel.  The "Death" series are all set in exotic locales, too, with the powerful atmosphere of the setting usually acting almost as a character in its own right.  

This was exactly what you'd expect it to be, if you're familiar with any other books from this series. It's very much a book "of its time", meaning that some of the attitudes might rub modern readers the wrong way.  Some are disturbed by the colonialism.  Others might be annoyed by statements like this:  "Eden's superior male intelligence had saved her from disaster..."  What's that, now?  To be fair, this heroine probably is of inferior intelligence, but why the need to include the word "male" there?  Surely the author didn't believe that men are generally more intelligent than women!  Then there's the irritating old trope of the momentarily unhinged woman needing to be slapped back to her senses due to hysterical laughter.  How much these things ruin the reading experience will vary from reader to reader.  I can overlook them, for the most part.  

I'd give this 3.5 stars if I could, but I'll have to round down to three for a variety of reasons-- coming down mainly to my gut reaction to the book. (That's how I determine most of my star ratings...)  But despite my quibbles, it's a great choice for escaping to a different place and time.  I do recommend Kaye to fans of Agatha Christie or Mary Stewart.  I can always count on these authors to deliver fiction that's charmingly unlike anything being written today.  (Or anything that I've come across, at least!)  The romance element is slight, but the mystery kept me guessing and uncertain until the end.  I saw one reviewer describe the conclusion as sad, and I'd agree, but on the whole, it's an entertaining read.  

The Talisman Ring

The Talisman Ring

by Georgette Heyer

Blurb:

The Talisman Ring is one of Heyer's funniest and fastest-paced romantic comedies, telling the story of a fugitive heir, a tempestuous Frenchwoman, and the two sensible people who try to keep them out of trouble.

Neither Sir Tristram Shield nor Eustacie, his young French cousin, share the slightest inclination to marry one another. Yet it is Lord Lavenham's dying wish. For there is no one else to provide for the old man's granddaughter while Ludovic, his heir, remains a fugitive from justice.

My Reaction:

I always feel that I haven't read that much of Heyer's work, but I've just checked, and I've read at least fifteen of her novels... (?!?!?)  I can't quite believe that!  ...Anyway, while I enjoyed most of the others I read before The Talisman Ring, I don't remember any of those making nearly as strong of an impression as this one has.  I loved it!  

As the blurb promises, this novel is pleasingly fast-paced, once it gets going.  The blurb is also correct in that it is indeed funny-- clever, amusing, and just plain fun to read.  It's a wonderfully witty and pleasant book full of characters who feel like friends by the last page!  

This was a five-star read for me.

(One thing I don't love is the cover art publishers choose for Georgette Heyer's Regency novels.  They're always old-fashioned paintings of random women in Regency-period clothes.  So boring!  Something different would make a refreshing change, but maybe most readers like this style of cover...)

The Silence of Ghosts

The Silence of Ghosts

by Jonathan Aycliffe

(Edited) Blurb:

Those who live in silence hear them best...

After Dominic is severely wounded in service during WWII, his family sends him away from London and the Blitz, to the relative safety of their country home.  His instructions are to look after his partially deaf sister, Octavia, while he comes to terms with his new reality.  The crumbling family estate on the shores of Ullswater is old, neglected, and doesn’t seem a promising place for happiness or recovery.

However, despite his reservations, Dominic's life soon seems to be taking a turn for the better.  He has an attractive and kind new nurse named Rose, and there's hope that Octavia's asthma and hearing might be improving.  But even as Dominic catches his first glimpses of a happy future, there's an eerie darkness creeping at the edges of his consciousness.  Slowly, he realizes that there's something deeply wrong with this house...  Octavia is hearing the voices of children-- voices that no-one else can hear-- and there is worse to come.  Can Dominic solve the mystery of these phantom voices before it's too late?

My Reaction:

I enjoyed a few of the author's earlier works, but unfortunately, this one really didn't work for me.  The biggest problem is that it's a ghost story that inspires very little fear.  Apart from one or two creepy moments, it falls flat.  Most of the efforts at horror are repetitive (the dancing!!!) and not particularly scary, in my opinion.  (I think it's rare that I'll be creeped out by a detailed description of a ghost's old-fashioned clothing, and an author needs to be very clever indeed to make me shiver in fear when a ghost "plain-talks" as much as Sir William's ghost does.)

I found this novel poorly written in other respects, as well, I'm sorry to say.  I realize it was set during WWII, so a mention or two of ration-related difficulties would be fine, but the author got carried away.  The frequent references to rationing and the specifics of what everyone was eating/drinking, morning, noon, and night-- no, thank you!  It's a ghost story, not a cozy mystery or a cookbook!  Similarly, there were just too many references to Hitler and the war for a book that isn't "about" WWII.  

Dominic's parents are such absolute caricatures of Evil Rich People that I laughed out loud.  They were so completely over-the-top!  Also, I wasn't expecting so much romance, and I ended up just skimming those parts of the book. (Well, to be honest, I skimmed a lot of the second half of this novel.  I wouldn't have finished if I hadn't.)  I like a good romance as much as the next person, but this one wasn't for me.  I was cringing over the lovesick, lust-fueled conversations. 

I hate to be so negative when I've enjoyed some of this author's other books, but this one was a big disappointment.  Maybe I was expecting too much, because I enjoyed the other books.  Oh well!  I still haven't read The Talisman, and that one sounds promising.