The Silent Companions

The Silent Companions

by Laura Purcell

Blurb:

When newly widowed Elsie is sent to see out her pregnancy at her late husband's crumbling country estate, The Bridge, what greets her is far from the life of wealth and privilege she was expecting . . .

When Elsie married handsome young heir Rupert Bainbridge, she believed she was destined for a life of luxury. But with her husband dead just weeks after their marriage, her new servants resentful, and the local villagers actively hostile, Elsie has only her husband's awkward cousin for company. Or so she thinks. Inside her new home lies a locked door, beyond which is a painted wooden figure —a silent companion —-that bears a striking resemblance to Elsie herself. The residents of The Bridge are terrified of the figure, but Elsie tries to shrug this off as simple superstition--that is, until she notices the figure's eyes following her.

A Victorian ghost story that evokes a most unsettling kind of fear, this is a tale that creeps its way through the consciousness in ways you least expect--much like the silent companions themselves.

My Reaction:

Hm.  Unfortunately, I didn't like this one as much as I hoped I would.  (I'm beginning to think my horror tastes don't align sufficiently with the "booktuber" who recommended this.  I keep feeling let down by their suggestions.)

There were a few creepy moments, but I didn't find it all that scary, actually.  I was more frustrated than frightened, which is never a good thing in horror.  I could see most major plot-points coming from far away, so there was no element of surprise, either—and now that I sit here thinking about it, there are several things that weren't explained, unless I missed it.  (I'll get into that in the spoiler section below.) 

I think I had difficulty getting into the story because it didn't feel authentic.  (I know, I know: It's paranormal horror!)  Some of it just felt too modern for the time periods represented.  For instance, there's a multi-volume journal penned by a female character who lived in the 1600s.  I don't think that was likely, to begin with, but to make it worse, it's one of those "only exist in fiction" diaries that go into far more detail (including transcriptions of conversations) than any real diary ever does. Unfortunately, things like that gave the book an amateurish feeling, in my opinion.

It's okay, but I don't get all the enthusiasm for this one. 

SPOILERS

to

follow...

So, the plot holes, unexplained parts of the story, or whatever you want to call them... I guess you can just wiggle your fingers and whisper "Magic!" to explain away some of these things, but they annoy me.  

First, why does the companion that is known as "Hetta" so closely resemble Elsie?  They are not connected by blood.  Maybe they don't look that much alike? I can't recall if it's only Elsie who observes a resemblance... 

Second, the way the original silent companions are introduced into the story is strange.  We are given the impression that the mysterious shopkeeper knows there's something odd about them and seems to almost trick Anne into buying them.  Then when she tries to return them, the whole building is gone.  ...Huh?  What's the sinister history of the companions?  Are the companions the source of the evil that later contaminates Hetta—and if not, what are the odds that Anne would have such crappy luck (evil kid and evil home decor, totally unrelated)? 

It definitely feels like there was something wrong with the shopkeeper, and by extension the companions, even though they apparently never killed anyone until after Hetta's blood seeps into them and she possesses them, or whatever else is meant to have happened to make them evil and capable of murder.  And then there's the fact that Elsie seems to think that the companion version of Rupert (her deceased husband) is holding his soul captive and tormenting him.  (It seems like there was another character who may have been trapped inside a companion, but I can't recall for certain...) What's going on with that?!  It's never really fleshed out to my satisfaction. 

Third, are we supposed to think that Hetta was actually born evil, or... what?  She seems like she's just a bit fey and misunderstood (and poorly treated by her father) until she's forbidden to perform for the King and Queen, at which point she promptly turns evil in an extreme overreaction that makes no sense whatsoever.  

What's up with the splinters?  I'm not clear about how people would be getting splinters from contact with painted, clothed wooden figures that don't seem to be particularly roughly textured.  And how in the world does Elsie's unborn baby end up covered in splinters?!  (Yeah, it's one of the creepiest parts of the book, but it makes no logical sense whatsoever, as far as I can see.) 

Are we supposed to doubt Elsie?  Is she an unreliable narrator?  I never really doubt anything she says, so if that's the intention, maybe that's another part of what's missing.  

Are we supposed to like Jolyon?  Blurgh.  Couldn't stand the guy.  I get it that Elsie loves him (and that he's actually her son conceived through incestuous abuse, reading between the lines), but... I think he's kind of a jerk, if I'm honest. Not that I liked Elsie much, either.  None of the characters are especially relatable. 

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.  

Bridge to Bat City

Bridge to Bat City

by Ernest Cline

Blurb:

After losing her mother, thirteen-year-old Opal B. Flats moves in with her uncle Roscoe on the family farm. There, she bonds with Uncle Roscoe over music and befriends a group of orphaned, music-loving bats. But just as the farm is starting to feel like home, the bats’ cave is destroyed by a big mining company with its sights set on the farmland next.

If Opal and the bats can fit in anywhere, it’s the nearby city of Austin, home to their favorite music and a host of wonderfully eccentric characters. But with people afraid of the bats and determined to get rid of them, it’ll take a whole lot of courage to prove that this is where the bats—and Opal—belong.

My Reaction:
Donald and I read this one together for the 372 Pages We'll Never Get Back podcast.  

This is one mystifying novel.  I mean, just who was it written for?  It's marketed for "middle grade" readers, i.e. kids aged 8-12, and for the most part, it feels like it's written at that level of complexity—though to be honest, I'm not sure the language has been simplified all that much in comparison with RPO and the author's other novels.  

But on the other hand, so much of the novel is just an excuse to shoe-horn in as many 80s(-ish)-era Austin, Texas "notables" as possible. (In many cases, these people seem to be merely Austin-adjacent.)  Essentially, the subject matter is just nothing that a typical modern child would ever care about.  Heck, I'm in my mid-40s, and I didn't recognize probably half of these so-called celebrities.  

Even if these people (mostly musicians and bands) making cameo appearances had been someone a 9-year-old reading in 2024 would immediately be able to identify, so what?  Reading vague, repetitive descriptions of people (and melomaniac bats!) listening—excuse me, grooving—to music is just not very engaging or entertaining.  

Music is meant to be listened to, darn it!  It would take a more talented writer than this to make it enjoyable to read about a single concert attendance, never mind the numerous gigs presented back to back in this book.  (What in the world was the author thinking?!)

There are other problems with this book I could go into, but why bother?  It's not an entertaining read for an adult, and I can't imagine many of the intended audience will love it, either.  I guess it was just a desperate attempt to make some money based on the author's name recognition.

Bitter Sun

Bitter Sun

by Beth Lewis

Blurb:

"Stand by Me" meets "True Detective" in this stunningly written tale of the darkness at the heart of a small mid-Western town and the four kids who uncover it. In the heatwave summer of 1971, four kids find a body by a lake and set out to solve a murder, but they dig too deep and ask too many questions. Larson is a town reeling in the wake of the Vietnam draft, where the unrelenting heat ruins the harvest, and the people teeter on the edge of ruin. As tension and paranoia run rife, rumors become fact, violence becomes reflex. The unrest allows the dark elements of the close-knit farming community to rise and take control, and John, Jenny, Gloria, and Rudy are about to discover that sometimes secrets are best left uncovered.

My Reaction:

DNF one-third of the way through the book.  

This book—or as much of it as I read, since I abandoned it after reading the first third—was such a disappointment!  I enjoyed The Wolf Road, the author's first published novel, and had high hopes for this one.  When I finally had a chance to read it, I jumped right in, but almost immediately it just wasn't working for me.  I think I gave it a fair chance, but instead of improving it was starting to seriously annoy me.  It's time to set this one aside and move on to something else.  I'm still interested in trying another of this author's books, in the hopes that they're more like her first work and less like... this.

So, what didn't I love about this? 

• Set in the United States, yet too often the characters use British words and turns of phrase that simply don't feel authentic to me.  I could overlook this in a more compelling read, but on top of everything else, it was grating.  
• I could have done without some of the tangents (commentary on the Vietnam War, for instance).  Maybe they're supposed to set the scene and paint a picture of the time, but I didn't like them, and in a slow-paced book, the last thing we needed was more blah-blah-blah that didn't advance the plot. 
• I couldn't believe half the things that happened (and that was just in the first third of the book).  Bizarre things, and way too many of them.  No, I don't think this is a fair portrayal of small-town America in the 1970s (or ever), and that annoys me (as someone from small-town America). 
• Gosh, these characters!  There's hardly a decent person in the book. Even the kids were utterly blah.  Everyone feels like such a cardboard cut-out cliche.  There's no joy in reading about these characters.  
• I need a plot that actually moves at something above a snail's pace.
• There are a LOT of "bad guy" characters in this book, and according to their descriptions, they're all absolutely disgusting.  (Quite a few of the baddies seem to be fat, too, by some strange "coincidence"...)

I skimmed some reviews to try to at least see what happens in the end, but I'm still not sure what (if anything) is the solution to the mystery.  What little I did gather about the conclusion is even darker than I was expecting, so I don't think I missed much.  Maybe I'll skip to the end and see if I can learn more, but I doubt it's worth the effort.  The impression I get is that it's not a particularly satisfying conclusion, even for those who like the book.  

I'm just glad to put this in the rearview mirror and try to find something that doesn't make me angry every time I read it!

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 Victorian Chaise-Longue

The Victorian Chaise-Longue

by Marghanita Laski

Blurb:

A young married woman lies down on a chaise-longue and wakes to find herself imprisoned in the body of her alter ego ninety years before.

My Reaction:

I've had this one on my list for years, but now that I've finally read it, I never want to read it again—and that's not because it's so horrifying that I couldn't bear to revisit it.  Though this work of psychological horror certainly is unsettling—and it also happens to feature the type of horror that probably bothers me most, body horror, health horror, medical horror—it's not calculated to leave me sleepless or anxious.  

Sadly, I wouldn't care to read it again because I didn't find it a satisfying reading experience.  Though it's already short, as a novella, it felt in need of yet more pruning.  It could easily have been cut even shorter, and I believe it would have been more effective if it had been.  As it was, it felt repetitive in a way that numbed and stupefied rather than heightening the tension.  (On the other hand, it could have been fleshed out into a more engaging full-length novel, but the repetitiveness still would have needed to be addressed.)

There were some interesting ideas to explore here, especially the way that a culture's standards of morality and acceptable behavior shift over time.  What would be an unpardonable sin during one period of time might be almost a mere foible a hundred years later.  When (not to mention where) we are born can be the difference between life and death, joy and misery.  

As for the ending, maybe it's just a matter of taste... I know some people like open-ended stories, but I'm not one of them.  A little ambiguity can be okay, but this felt disappointing.  At least it was short!

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.)

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. 

The Witchfinder's Sister

The Witchfinder's Sister

by Beth Underdown

Blurb: 

Essex, England, 1645. With a heavy heart, Alice Hopkins returns to the small town she grew up in. Widowed, with child, and without prospects, she is forced to find refuge at the house of her younger brother, Matthew. In the five years she has been gone, the boy she knew has become a man of influence and wealth--but more has changed than merely his fortunes. Alice fears that even as the cruel burns of a childhood accident still mark his face, something terrible has scarred Matthew's soul.

There is a new darkness in the town, too--frightened whispers are stirring in the streets, and Alice's blood runs cold with dread when she discovers that Matthew is a ruthless hunter of suspected witches. Torn between devotion to her brother and horror at what he's become, Alice is desperate to intervene--and deathly afraid of the consequences. But as Matthew's reign of terror spreads, Alice must choose between her safety and her soul.

Alone and surrounded by suspicious eyes, Alice seeks out the fuel firing her brother's brutal mission--and is drawn into the Hopkins family's past. There she finds secrets nested within secrets: and at their heart, the poisonous truth. Only by putting her own life and liberty in peril can she defeat this darkest of evils--before more innocent women are forced to the gallows.

My Reaction:
I almost gave up on this book a couple of times.  It has a very slow mid-section where not much happens, and (surprise!) it's a dark, depressing read.  (I know-- what else did I expect?!)  I wondered if it was worth my time, continuing to read.  Well, I did keep reading, and my verdict is... When it's interesting and things are happening, it's good, but it could do with trimming down and tightening up.  

This was a 3-star read for me.  It has things to say, but sometimes I found it a little heavy-handed.  (Serious fans of The Handmaid's Tale might like it for that reason...)  There were also times where it would have helped to have a greater familiarity with this period of English history.  As an American who hasn't done any independent study of that period, I found it a bit confusing at times.  Historical knowledge isn't absolutely necessary, but I suspect it would have made the reading experience somewhat richer. 

Speaking of history, there were times when I questioned the historical accuracy of the book.  Certain phrases and certain characters' ways of thinking just gave me pause.  Were they not too modern?  I can't say how accurate any of it is, of course, but at the very least, wondering about that took me out of the story a few times.  

I'm not sure how I feel about the very light scattering of "maybe magic".  I think I'd rather read a book that is either set very firmly in a world with magic or a world without magic.  I'm not sure "magical realism" is for me, if that's what that is.  

I was relatively happy with where the book was heading in the end-- and then we get that last line.  I was torn between a laugh and a decisive "No!"  I still can't decide whether it's clever or just the literary version of a horror movie ending where the apparently slain serial killer suddenly opens his eyes or the last scene reveals that the monster laid a clutch of eggs before it was killed or captured.  Oh well!

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.

Stormswift

Stormswift

by Madeleine Brent

(Heavily-Edited) Blurb:

The year is 1897. Deep in the mountain wilderness of the Hindu Kush, a 17-year-old English girl is brought to the primitive tribal kingdom of Shul, where she lives the life of a slave.  After two long years, she has the chance to escape back to her home in England, where she believes she will step back into her life as Jemimah Lawley and finally inherit her parents' wealth and luxurious home.  The hazardous journey takes her across Afghanistan with a man who hates her.  Little does she know that even more difficulties await her in England.  Is she truly Jemimah Lawley, or is she suffering from a delusion caused by her degrading ordeal as Lalla of Shul? Soon she is plunged into a new world, where she finds there are others who, like herself, are perhaps not what they seem to be. Life in England brings her strange adventures and a touching friendship, but also the heartbreak of love without hope. 

My Reaction:

So far, nothing else of Madeleine Brent's has lived up to my memory of Moonraker's Bride!  Stormswift is a pretty good read, but it's not a favorite.  At first, I felt it was going to be very similar to the last MB book I read, Golden Urchin, but then the story veers... I prefer Golden Urchin, though that had flaws, too... I will say this-- for a book that is very predictable in many ways, it still surprised me a few times!  I didn't see some of it coming, perhaps because so much happens in this novel that it's impossible to predict everything.  Stormswift did a good job of holding my interest.  I was entertained more often than not, but some things about this book did annoy me.  If you're not afraid of spoilers, read on.  

Hey, did you catch that?  

SPOILERS to follow!  

(As well as spoilers for Golden Urchin... and Rebecca!)

Stop reading now to avoid 

BIG,

BAD,

INFURIATING

SPOILERS!

I had problems with the hero in Golden Urchin.  For much of the book, he gave the heroine the hot/cold treatment and was frequently brusque with her as a result of his self-disgust.  He was angry with himself for being attracted to her while his beloved wife was slowly wasting away.  It wasn't fun to read.  Not my taste for a romance, at all.  

So when this book came along with a strong-and-silent hero figure-- Casper, the man who is Jemimah's unwilling rescuer-- and he's surly to her, but no-one else-- and then we eventually learn he is already married-- I assumed we were in for more of the same.  Another Golden Urchin-style, rather disappointing romance.  

This seems even more likely when we are told how amazing his wife, Melanie, is-- just like the tragic first wife in Golden Urchin.  I'll admit, I was disgusted with Melanie long before we were supposed to be!  She's soooo beautiful that men can't drag their eyes off of her, but somehow (because she seems so pure-hearted?) none of the wives of those men are resentful (as they usually would be, so the author annoyingly informs us-- because women are so petty that way, you know-- not like men, who are perfectly happy when other, more handsome, wealthy, or witty men attract the breathless attention of every woman in the vicinity).  No, women love Melanie, too.  She's just so, so, SO good, no-one can help but love her.  She's just that special!  BLEURGH.  

...Anyway, at some point you start to think that maybe Melanie is based on "Rebecca" from... Rebecca.  And if you think that, you're right.  She is (complete with the hideaway).  She's not pure.  Well, unless I interrupted before you could finish saying "pure evil".  She's wicked and rotten to the core, and poor Casper is tethered to a monster he can't escape, despite his love for Jemimah. (You're shocked, right?)  

Now, I still don't like the idea of "second-hand goods" in a romance of this kind.  Something in the nebulous and/or distant past?  Okay, fine, but please don't make the heroine meet, know, and even love the first wife/girlfriend.  I just don't want to read about that in a romance.  (It's depressing.  It's too close to real life.  It's not remotely "romantic", in my opinion.  I just don't LIKE it, okay?  I'm a horrible person who doesn't find romantic escapism in the thought of the heroine selflessly picking up the pieces after a man's wife has died under tragic circumstances.  Shame on me, I guess.  Whatever. It's not romance-novel-y enough for me.)

...But.  When the first wife is a "bitch-goddess" (hey, just quoting the book), I don't mind it quite as much.  Still not thrilled with the situation, but at least it's not a case of, "Oh, his first wife was a beautiful saint on Earth; how can he ever stoop to marry humble little me after having loved someone like her?  But if he doesn't mind me too much,  I'll happily devote my whole life to making him comfortable!  Even the stale, musty crumbs of his love would be a veritable feast!"  !!YUCK!!  

At this point, I was just interested to see how the author would do away with Melanie so that Casper could be free to marry Jemimah.  It helped that Casper had finally started talking to Jemimah in complete sentences, so you could at least begin to form him as a character in your mind.  (Speaking of settling for crumbs!  "Thank you, kind author, for sparing the time to give us lowly readers a snippet of conversation between the apparent hero and heroine!  You are too, too good to us, O Genius of the Pen!") 

However, the author had something else in mind.  Jemimah won't end up with the attractive spy (who is also a brainy archaeologist!).  Oh, no.  Instead, she realizes she's in love with her rather goofy friend, the Punch and Judy man (who's actually a very wealthy member of the nobility who has already had more adventures than you can shake a stick at).  

~exasperated sigh~  

I mean, Lord Henry is okay, and under other circumstances I wouldn't have a problem with him as a romantic lead.  But when we first meet him, he's already happily shacking up with someone else!  In fact, his gypsy girlfriend is also a good friend of Jemimah's, until she's whisked out of the tale.  I was expecting her to return to the book, eventually.  I expected/wanted her to end up with Lord Henry.  

To make things worse, the author kills off poor Casper!  (You see it coming from a mile away, but it's still sad and infuriating when it actually happens.)  And then, just pages later-- though I believe months have passed, in the story-- Henry proposes to Jemimah, and we're supposed to get all misty-eyed about it.  I was just frustrated.  I didn't care what happened, at that point.  Might as well have just stopped reading, really.  Yeah, sure, just go off and have fun floating down the Mississippi, I guess, but it's not a happily ever after I can get all that excited about!  

I don't know... I didn't love the idea of Casper, but then just when I was coming around to it, MB snatched him away and gave us this other, even less attractive option, after I'd already decided he was merely Friend Material.  (And at least Casper never called Jemimah "Mim", which always makes me think of "Mad Madam Mim" from The Sword in the Stone!)

I guess I like my romances to be even more predictable than this one was!  I need to know which way to look and what to expect.  Give me time to form an attachment to the characters as a couple.  Dialogue and other interactions between the characters do wonders, but in this case, the interaction between Henry and Jemimah was just friendly talk.  It didn't make me want to see them together as a couple.  And apparently I really dislike this trope of "partner-swapping" in romances.  

Also, "Stormswift" is a poor name for this novel.  I get why MB chose it; it sounds very romantic and atmospheric and cool, but it/she really isn't important enough in the story to deserve to be the title, in my view.  It's a choice that prioritizes style over substance.

A Town Like Alice

A Town Like Alice

by Nevil Shute

Blurb:

Nevil Shute's most beloved novel, a tale of love and war, follows its enterprising heroine from the Malayan jungle during World War II to the rugged Australian outback.

Jean Paget, a young Englishwoman living in Malaya, is captured by the invading Japanese and forced on a brutal seven-month death march with dozens of other women and children. A few years after the war, Jean is back in England, the nightmare behind her. However, an unexpected inheritance inspires her to return to Malaya to give something back to the villagers who saved her life. Jean's travels leads her to a desolate Australian outpost called Willstown, where she finds a challenge that will draw on all the resourcefulness and spirit that carried her through her war-time ordeals. 

My Reaction:

I went into this book knowing little about it.  I knew it was famous and thought it had something to do about digging a well in Australia, with maybe some romance thrown in.  It turned out to be quite a ride, and on the whole, I enjoyed it-- but with a few caveats.  

Positives:

-- The main characters are all admirable, though toward the end I did find Jean almost annoyingly perfect.

-- The part of the book dealing with Jean's wartime experiences were gripping.  (However, at a certain point the repetition of the march became tedious, and I was ready for something different!)

-- The romance was sweet for a very brief while.  And then... Well, see the "Not Positives" list below. 

-- I actually found the story of the building of "a town like Alice" rather interesting, for a time.  I'm not sure it would be quite as easy as the book seems to suggest, but... Still interesting.  I like reading about people doing things, accomplishing things, building things.  

-- I enjoyed learning a little about the Australian outback, during this time period. 

Not Positives:

-- The format... It does lend the tale a sense of authenticity, but at the same time, it loses immediacy when one character's direct experience is filtered through another person's mind and voice.  Particularly as regards the romantic aspects of the book, this format was an odd choice. Did the author do this because he was better at writing in a more dry, factual tone than with the emotion that you might expect to find if it all came directly from Jean's perspective?  (Not that she seems very emotionally expressive, if it comes to that!)  

I don't know... I just didn't love Noel's contribution to the tale, if I'm honest.  It didn't appeal to me, at all, and I found it very odd and uncomfortable that he was writing about Jean's first romantic encounter with Joe.  What are we supposed to think?  Surely she didn't tell him all about that in such personal detail, so where did he get his information?  What are we meant to think?  Is he supposed to have just fantasized about it?  Gross!

-- I think it's probably a reflection of the times, with no ill will intended, but once Jean is in Australia, some of the references to the Aborigines are awkward, from a modern perspective.  

One instance that stands out in my mind is her reaction to a "sensitive, intelligent" white man who was married to a young Aboriginal woman who was "inarticulate" (which I took to mean that she stayed mostly silent in public) and always brought along a kitten or puppy on their visits to "town".  Does it not occur to Jean that this woman might behave differently in the privacy of her home?  Maybe she isn't comfortable speaking in this place where she may feel under the microscope.  And why bring up the pets at all?  Is it meant to indicate that she's very young/immature-- or that she's somehow mentally deficient or inferior, because she needs what we might today call an emotional support animal?  It left a bad taste in my mouth, honestly.  This woman hasn't done anything wrong, and Jean seems to be pitying the poor "sensitive, intelligent" man for having been driven by desperation to marry what Jean deems his inferior.  It's unpleasant.  

-- The bruises incident.  Yuck.  I don't get it.  Joe seems like a very nice man who wouldn't leave bruises on a woman.  And Jean, she's perfectly healthy, in her prime; she shouldn't bruise so easily.  How in the heck did she end up with so many bruises after a passionate make-out session?  What was Joe doing?  I don't believe that kind of bruising from a little "romance" is normal.  Even more disgusting is Jean's repeated flirtatious references to her bruises.  It reminded me of some stupid teenager bragging about a hickey and showing it off to her friends.  Gross, gross, gross!

-- The level of detail might lend a feeling of realism, but it can be overdone, and I think it was, in this case.  I don't actually need this much (boring, inconsequential) detail.  It made the book longer than it needed to be.  

Well, as I said, on the whole, I liked the book.  It won't be one I'll want to read again, most likely, but I might try to see a TV/movie adaptation, sometime.  

Other Worlds

Other Worlds

by Barbara Michaels

Severely Edited Blurb:

In a London Club, Houdini, Conan Doyle, and other psychic investigators and debunkers gather to tell ghost stories. Their purpose is to tell the tale, and then each will pick it apart to try to find an explanation for the phenomenon in question. The first story is one of the most famous historical hauntings in U.S. history: the Bell Witch in Tennessee. The second is a moderately well-known haunting in Stratford, Connecticut, called, appropriately, the Stratford Haunting. Each tale is told, and then the guests gather around the club describe their understanding of whether the hauntings are either fake or very real.

My Reaction:

Well, the title (Other Worlds) certainly sounds like it could be creepy and interesting and typical of a Barbara Michaels gothic thriller.  The reality, unfortunately, is nothing like her usual tales.  I'm sorry, but I found it dry and dull.  I recognize the Bell Witch, so I don't expect a satisfying conclusion-- or indeed, anything from this retelling to be worth this slog... I just can't.  Not right now.  Maybe I'll pick it up again at a later date, but for now, it's a DNF!  I stopped 15% of the way through.  On to greener pastures! 

(Incidentally, this is the second DNF I have for this author.  With the other one, Smoke and Mirrors, I think I quit after the first page or two, because something annoyed me, I peeked at a few reviews, and I had my suspicions confirmed.  Political plot?  Heavy on the "Democrats are good, Republicans are evil"?  Oh, good grief!  No, thanks.  Life's too short.)

Golden Urchin

Golden Urchin 

by Madeleine Brent

Blurb:

Mitji lived with the Aboriginal tribe for as long as she could remember, but with her white skin, thin nose, and red hair, she does not look like the rest of the tribe.  As she nears womanhood, her oddness has made her an outcast and she must leave her people. She goes on a walkabout, in search of the walypalya, the tribe with red hair and white skin like her own, who had come from the great waters— perhaps they would receive her kindly and let her stay with them. On her wanderings she comes upon a white man, lying half-dead in the blazing heat, and nurses him back to health. Together they made their way to his home. There, Mitji becomes known as Meg and comes to understand that she is herself one of the walypalya. There are new dangers amongst this tribe, and Meg must confront the terrors of a long sea voyage before she can find happiness on the other side of the world. Only the knowledge gained from her Aboriginal tribe can guarantee her survival and that of her friends.

My Reaction:

Golden Urchin is a fascinating, well-written escapist adventure with excellent pacing and a truly heroic heroine.  I knocked my rating down down half a star to 4.5 (and round down, since half-stars aren't available on Goodreads) because I felt there was room for improvement in the romance department, and it wasn't quite a five-star book for me, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Madeleine Brent does it again!

Mitji/Meg's adventures are endlessly interesting to read, especially when she's surviving in the wilds of Australia and Africa.  Of course, I have no idea how realistic some of this information is... For instance, I've watched survival shows and seen people get terribly ill from suddenly switching to a diet of only meat, so I'm curious how certain things in this book would actually have worked out.  I also have my doubts that a naturally very fair-skinned person can somehow become more or less sunburn-proof, just through exposure to sun as a child.  It was still fun, though, and as long as you read it as escapist literature and not a survival guide, none of that matters.

Yes, it's predictable in many ways.  It has a formula to follow, but it does so in such a way that it still holds your attention.  To be honest, I don't mind a certain amount of "formula".  You know (in broad strokes) what to expect, and that can be comforting.  Even if I know the general direction the story's headed, I'm interested in exactly how it will get there, and the book is the journey to that destination, not merely the ending itself.  

Mitji/Meg is sometimes almost too perfect, but I never found her version of "a little too good to be true" annoying enough to want to stop reading.  I like her best as "Mitji"; she's especially captivating in the early chapters.

The romance... Well, I don't want to venture into spoilers, but it's just not to my tastes, unfortunately.  I seem to remember that the romance in Moonraker's Bride was better, and I think I liked that book better, over all, but Golden Urchin is a wonderful adventure and tale of survival.  I'm glad to have more novels by Madeleine Brent yet to read for the first time.

Venetia

Venetia
by Georgette Heyer

Blurb:

Beautiful, capable, and independent minded, Venetia Lanyon's life on her family's estate in the country side is somewhat restricted. But her neighbor, the infamous Lord Damerel, a charming rake shunned by polite society, is about to shake things up.

Lord Damerel has built his life on his dangerous reputation, and when he meets Venetia, he has nothing to offer and everything to regret. Though his scandalous past and deepest secrets give Venetia reason to mistrust him, a rogue always gets what he wants.

As Venetia's well-meaning family steps in to protect her from potential ruin, Venetia must find the wherewithal to take charge of her own destiny, or lose her chance at happiness.

My Reaction:

I've had this on the go for a while.  Simply couldn't seem to get into the story until fairly far along in the book, probably because not much happened for the first half or so, and I wasn't motivated to read very often.  

Venetia has its good points, but I didn't love it.  Heroine too beautiful?  Hero too "meh"? (Yes, I've seen the comparisons to Mr. Rochester, and that occurred to me while reading, too, but Mr. Rochester has a keener sense of humor and regrets his past-- and has an excuse for at least the beginning of his "bad behavior".  Damerel, on the other hand, just feels a little skeevy at times.) 

Part of my problem is the attitude that of course (some? most?) married men will philander.  Apparently, women of maturity and wisdom accept it as a natural part of marriage. Repugnant nonsense!  Is it supposed to be a joke?  I didn't find it amusing.  

There was also very little in the way of tension or romantic suspense, since the "hero" kisses the heroine upon their very first meeting and they are clearly mutually infatuated for the entire novel.  I couldn't muster much enthusiasm.

It just wasn't for me, unfortunately.  

Trucking Through Time

Trucking Through Time
by Charles E. Harris


(My Silly) Blurb:

In the middle of what they believe will be just another job hauling cargo, trucking duo Chad and Dale end up having the adventure of a lifetime.  This isn't a simple trip across the country: Chad and Dale are... trucking through time!

My Reaction:
Wow.  Another great selection by the 372 Pages We'll Never Get Back podcast book club. (As always, this was a shared read-aloud with Donald.)

In the immortal words of Dale Rhea (*ahem*), this is indeed a stirring tale of "mystery, drama, excitement, compassion, horror, and romance along with many, many other words that could never explain the trip [they] took"!

Truly.

Look, there's no way I can fully explain this book.  Just know that it's bizarre and unintentionally hilarious, but there are also some sections that are boring and/or  repetitious.  (Fellow podcast-listeners, by no means is this a 64-Squares situation, though!  Rest assured on that count!)  Harris had a tendency towards preachiness on his pet subjects, too, and there will be times when you'll shift uncomfortably in your seat and reflect that sometimes a book reveals a bit too much about its author...

The humor (again, completely unintentional) is wonderful, but the writing is bad (thus my rating).  If you're going to read it, I recommend giving the 372-Pages podcast a listen. 

(However, I must say I'm surprised that Mike and Conor didn't notice/mention the fact that Harris obviously "borrowed" his idea of the white girl adopted by Indians from Dances with Wolves, which incidentally was also about the Sioux and had a character-- the titular wolf-- named "Two Socks", which Harris one-upped with his own richly-developed character named "Three Socks"!)

One final note: I can't help but wonder who designed the cover art.  I can't find any credit for it.  Did Harris create it himself?

Stranger at Wildings

Stranger at Wildings
by Madeleine Brent


Blurb:

Here is a tale of charm and adventure-- set in Europe around the turn of the century--whose colorful action ranges from a touring circus in Hungary to the fox-hunting society of the English countryside to the elegant circles of wealth and fashion in London. It is the story of a spirited young woman of eighteen who has left an unhappy, uncertain past in England and made a new life for herself as a trapeze artist in a small touring circus... 

But that forgotten past will stumble upon her one day, beside a stream in Hungary, where the circus has pitched its tents for a time. It will come in the form of a mysterious young man-- handsome, appealing, yet curiously remote-- whose appearance is the beginning of a strange, dangerous intrigue that involves deception, romance, disappearance and, in the end, the revelations of a family's darkest secrets.

My Reaction:
This is the third "Madeleine Brent" novel I've read, to date.  The first, Moonraker's Bride, I loved; the second, Merlin's Keep, was slightly less of a favorite, but I'd still give it 4.5 stars.  Stranger at Wildings is another star down the ladder, for me.

I enjoyed parts of the book and the overall tone-- it's one of those books where you know everything will turn out okay and nothing too bad will happen to the main characters-- but there were also times when I couldn't suppress an eye-roll or even an inward groan.  I don't remember feeling that way about Moonraker's Bride.

Perhaps part of my problem with the book was that circuses and medical ambitions aren't exactly tailored to my personal literary sweet spots, though I did enjoy aspects of the circus element better than I would've expected.  Also, while I knew to expect amazing coincidences, some of these were a bit much!

So, not a favorite, but a decent read.  I'd recommend it to fans of the genre, but not as an introduction to the author.

The Little Stranger

The Little Stranger
by Sarah Waters


(Edited) Blurb:

One postwar summer in rural Warwickshire, Dr. Faraday, who has built a life of quiet respectability as a country physician, is called to a patient at lonely Hundreds Hall. Home to the Ayres family for over two centuries, the Georgian house, once impressive and handsome, is now in decline, its masonry crumbling, its gardens choked with weeds, the clock in its stable yard permanently fixed at twenty to nine. Its owners—mother, son, and daughter—are struggling to keep pace with a changing society, as well as with conflicts of their own. But are the Ayreses haunted by something more sinister than a dying way of life? Little does Dr. Faraday know how closely, and how terrifyingly, their story is about to become intimately entwined with his.

My Reaction (with some mild SPOILERS toward the end):
This is my first experience with this author, so I had no preconceptions based on her other novels, a fact that may have actually been in the book's favor, if the bulk of the reviews I've skimmed are any indication.  I enjoyed it, on the whole-- and while that would normally inspire me to add the author's other novels to my mental "books to read" list, reviews by Waters fans disappointed by The Little Stranger have made me hesitant. (That may sound counterintuitive, but the reasons fans mentioned for not liking this book as much as her others gave me the impression that this one is actually better suited to my own tastes, compared to her other works.)


Positives:  
While the pacing was slow at times, it held my interest through 500+ pages.
The setting is perfect for those of us who love a good gothic thriller.
The novel is populated with distinct, interesting characters.
There are some chill-bump-inducing moments.

Negatives:
It really could have been tightened up a little.
The "romance" was frustrating and disappointing (on all levels)-- intentionally so?
If you're reading for the horror, there's probably less than you'd like.
There's a lack of momentum and crescendo as scary moments are frequently weakened and undermined by the juxtaposition of too many non-scary ones.


Overall, while I enjoyed reading it and found it well-written, this is a darker, sadder tale than the first section of the novel led me to expect.  I'd even go so far as to say that it's depressing.  I don't usually think of myself as an incurable optimist, but I persisted in believing we were headed to a relatively happy ending and was rather dismayed as tragic events followed one after another.  No, there is no happy ending for these characters.  That sense of depression is probably more enduring and memorable than the fleeting moments of supernatural terror.

Speaking of endings, The Little Stranger is fairly open to interpretation (madness, a variety of possible supernatural culprits, unreliable narrator, etc.).  I think I know what the author intends us to believe (the reflection in the window is the closest thing we get to an outright answer, I'd say), but she leaves room for us to draw our own conclusions.

I can tell I'll be thinking about this one for a while, even now that I've finished it.  I wouldn't want to read it again, but I "enjoyed" it this time, even with its numbing series of disappointments and descending cloud of depression.  I'm looking forward to seeing the film adaption, at some point.  I hadn't realized there was a film adaptation until after I'd started reading, but it was a welcome surprise.

DNF: The Long Ships

by Frans G. Bengtsson 
(translated by Michael Meyer)


Blurb:

This saga brings alive the world of the 10th century AD when the Vikings raided the coasts of England.

Acclaimed as one of the best historical novels ever written, this engaging saga of Viking adventure in 10th century northern Europe has a very appealing young hero, Orm Tostesson, whose story we follow from inexperienced youth to adventurous old age, through slavery and adventure to a royal marriage and the search for great treasure. Viking expeditions take him to lands as far apart as England, Moorish Spain, Gaardarike (the country that was to become Russia), and the long road to Miklagard. The salt-sea spray, the swaying deck awash in slippery blood are the backdrop to fascinating stories of King Harald Blue Tooth, the Jomsvikings, attempts to convert the Northmen to Christianity, and much else. Like H. Rider Haggard, Bengtsson is a master of the epic form.

My Reaction:
This was to have been a shared read with Donald, but we didn't get very far.  I think we were only 16 or 17% through the book (having skipped the introduction for fear of spoilers) when we decided that we just weren't that into this saga.

My main interest in the book was that it was about the Vikings and written by a Swede.  Donald (my husband) is Swedish, so I thought this might be something we could both enjoy.  I don't really know much about the Vikings, but obviously they're one of the more exciting parts of Scandinavian history, so I was curious.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that the book was boring, but it wasn't exactly gripping, either.  You know that nothing too terrible will happen to Orm, since he's the hero of the saga and has to live at least until the end.  That knowledge takes away much of the suspense you might otherwise feel on his behalf, which has a flattening effect.

However, I think what bothered me more was that the novel suffers from "Too Much Action Syndrome".  It's just a fairly simple, straightforward cataloging of the events of a fictional character's life.  "And then he did this, and then he did that, and then (after a spate of lackluster poetry) he did this other thing."

Aside from our hero and Krok (who does stand out, as the leader of the expedition), one character is hardly distinguishable from the next-- or at least we both had a hard time remembering who was who and what their names were.  In keeping with the rest of the book, the characterization felt shallow.

There wasn't enough conversation, charm, and distinct personality (to suit my tastes).  Maybe this changes for the better, later in the book, but we tired of waiting for more depth and color in the tale.

I'm disappointed that we didn't enjoy this more.  It wasn't dreadful, but we weren't excited to keep reading.  After my recent capitulation to the interminable The Far Pavilions (and the flood of elation that followed), I didn't hesitate to suggest that we could set this aside as a DNF, and so we did.

Maybe one or the other of us will try reading it with better luck, at some point in the future.  If so, I suspect it will be Donald who conquers Red Orm; this has been another reminder that sagas really aren't for me.

Since I haven't come close to finishing it, I feel guilty giving it a star rating, but since goodreads seems to require that, I'll have to give two stars...