Review: The First Emma by by Camille Di Maio

Still playing catch up on my ARCs.

Release Date: May 5, 2020

A fascinating true story about how a woman turns her husband's brewing company into an empire that survives Prohibition, after he is murdered by one of his mistresses. 

I knew nothing about Emma Koehler or Pearl Brewing before picking this up, but the only thing better than a dramatic story is one that's true, so I couldn't resist. It's a great story, but I think it could have been told in a slightly better way. It's as though the author attempted to tell it in dual time periods - one when Emma is elderly and hires a young woman to take notes for her autobiography, and the other as Emma's past. The problem is, we only get Emma's past as she's dictating it, so it's not always a true dual-time period story because we only really hear Emma telling us about her past, we don't get to actually see it very much. That was a little disappointing, and I felt like much of her accomplishments were brushed over, but it's still a great story about woman who wouldn't be held back by the personal tragedies that befell her. Not only did she rise above them, she became more successful and powerful than her narcissistic husband had been during a time when women didn't have the right to vote, and managed to maintain it through WWI, Prohibition, the Great Depression, and even the start of WWII.

Additional dimension is added by exploring the fictional character Mabel Hartley, the notes taker. Rather than just being a means of storytelling, she provides a much needed happier ending too.

Advanced review copy from publisher via NetGalley. My opinions are my own.

Review: And They Called It Camelot by Stephanie Marie Thornton

Release Date: March 10, 2020 (still playing catch up on my ARCs, sorry)

This fictional account of Jackie Kennedy's life, as told through her own eyes, was pulling me in all different directions emotionally. On one hand, I could really see why she fell so hard for Jack, and even why she stayed with him through all his infidelity. On the other hand, her choice of men in general had me smacking my forehead. 

I didn't know much about Jackie before reading this. Obviously, I knew about the eventually tragic fates of her family members, and that she remarried at some point. This book really highlights how tragic her life was, and how she never really recovered from losing the love of her life, but also shows how strong she was to endure everything she did, and eventually find her own way in the world, in spite of the crappy way the men in her life treated her. Absolutely heartbreaking but also uplifting.

Advanced review copy from publisher via NetGalley. My opinions are my own.

Review: The Forgotten Kingdom (The Lost Queen Book 2) by Signe Pike

Release Date: September 15, 2020 

The sequel to this series loosely based on Merlin from the Arthurian Legend continues with a broader view told from more than one character's point of view. If I recall correctly, the first book (The Lost Queen) is only told from Languoreth's view point, but now we get to see her brother Lailoken's and her daughter Angharad's thoughts too.  It was a wise improvement, as we got to see more of what was going on beyond Languoreth's world. Interestingly, Languoreth and Lailoken's chapters are told in first person while Angharad's are in third person, perhaps because she is a child.

The series takes an unusual path because my understanding of the Arthurian Legend has always been the Celts battling the Saxons/Angles, but the primary antagonists for most of the book are Christian Britons. The Angles only pose a threat towards the end. It did make me wonder a little bit "where is this going?" But when I say it's loosely based on the Arthurian Legend, I mean loosely - I mean you should throw out everything you know about King Arthur and Merlin before reading it. That's not a criticism, because this is an excellent and arguably more historical reboot, and if you're looking for a totally different take on the Arthurian Legend, this is it.

Advanced review copy from publisher via Edelweiss. My opinions are my own.

Review: The Land Beyond the Sea by Sharon Kay Penman

Release Date: March 3, 2020

This is a biographical novel of the sadly short and painful life of Baldwin IV, King of Jerusalem, also known as the Leper King, but as ever with Penman's novels, it's a multidimensional story told from the points of view of many fascinating characters. It perfectly balances the personal and intimate stories of the characters with the political and historical events.

So much was thrust onto poor Baldwin's shoulders from such a young age, yet he not only weathered it with more maturity than someone twice his age, he proved to be an exceptional leader, in spite of, or perhaps because of his ailment.

Agnes, Baldwin's mother, is portrayed somewhat as an antagonist, but as with all of Penman's novels, it's never that black and white. All the characters are multifaceted, with fleshed out backgrounds that make them so human and relatable.

I did feel like the plot dragged a little in the middle, but that could just be because I'm struggling with what's going on in the world and haven't been in the mood to read, plus I was sick for 4 weeks. I'd really planned to have this done before the release date.

Advanced review copy from publisher via Edelweiss. My opinions are my own.

Review: Silent in the Grave (Lady Julia Grey #1) by Deanna Raybourn

After her husband dies suddenly but not entirely unexpectedly, Lady Julia Grey is approached by a private investigator who claims it may have been murder. She refuses to believe him until a year later when she finds a threatening note while clearing out her husband's old things, but has the trail gone too cold to find the killer?

A little bit of a character/scene spoiler warning (not a crucial plot spoiler).

I think I would have enjoyed this more if the main character's love interest hadn't drugged her without her consent. I realize it wasn't for any malicious purpose, but even so, it made it difficult to understand her interest in him after that point, especially given her more modern and feminist beliefs. I suppose the author was trying to make him daring and a bit dangerous but I think there are ways to do that without violating consent like that, especially given that it served no purpose for the plot.

I am still debating whether to carry on with the series or not. With this one exception, I did enjoy the characters, the witty dialogue, and even the plot, although I must say I called whodunit from very early on (though I admit for not the reasons I originally thought). I am a bit curious to see where Lady Julia goes from here.

Review: Death in Kew Gardens by Jennifer Ashley

Release Date: June 4, 2019

Kat makes fast friends with a Chinese gentleman the police suspect of the murder next door, but she is adamant it couldn't have been him. Suspicious people surround the widow and her home, while Kat fights her own battles in the house of her employment.

Based much on the prejudice towards the Chinese in London at the time, and how the English unjustly pillaged goods from China, every time you think you have this mystery figured out, something happens to prove you wrong or throw you off!

But the characters are what make this series so great. As swoon-worthy as Daniel and Kat's relationship is, I've also enjoyed watching Lady Cynthia and Mr. Thanos's budding relationship too, as well as seeing how Kat and Cynthia try to navigate the socially complicated friendship between Lady and servant. At first, I wasn't too keen on Tess, but even she has grown on me now. The latest antagonist within the household had me wanting to scream.

Just as with the Captain Lacy series, this story just keeps getting better and better with each installment.

Advanced review copy from publisher via NetGalley. My opinions are my own.

Review: The Red Daughter by John Burnham Schwartz

Release Date: April 30, 2019

Written in the style of a memoir, this is a novel about Joseph Stalin's only daughter, who defected to the US.

Perhaps due to the memoir style, there is a lot of "telling" rather than "showing", and the narrative feels very disjointed, hopping from one thing to the next and only briefly detailing important events in Svetlana's life that could have been used to really flesh out the characters and story.

I was really hoping this novel would give me great insight into a historical figure and subject matter I don't know much about but I feel like it didn't tell me much more than I could have learned from reading Svetlana's Wikipedia page.

Advanced review copy from publisher via NetGalley. My opinions are my own.

Review: American Princess: A Novel of First Daughter Alice Roosevelt by Stephanie Thornton

Release Date: March 12, 2019

As the title says, this is a novel of Alice Roosevelt, the eldest daughter of Theodore Roosevelt. Always having a complicated relationship with her father, she adored him but he kept her at arms length since she reminded him too much of her deceased mother, the love of Teddy's life. Yet she was easily the most like him in personality; unapologetically strong willed, strong minded, and outspoken with a quick wit, she was likely trying to emulate him to gain his approval, and in the process made herself into one of the most fascinating characters in American political families. The daughter of this larger-than-life American president is often in her father's shadow, but deserves her own spotlight, and this book more than does her justice. I knew from the moment I started reading this, from the very first paragraph, that I would love this book and Thornton's portrayal of Alice, and I did. So well written with such great characters, this is definitely not one to miss.

Advanced review copy from publisher via NetGalley. My opinions are my own.

Review: The Ballad of John MacLea (War of 1812 Book 1) by AJ MacKenzie

Release Date: January 14, 2019 (sorry, getting behind on my ACR's!)

An adventurous novel set in Canada during the War of 1812 about a British militia Captain caught up in a spy ring.

There's a lot of action, which is fun, but there's also some head-hopping which is generally a bit jarring and I'm not a big fan of it. I know it's intended to give the reader perspective of more than one character, but that can be done without head-hopping. For me, it does the complete opposite and jars me out of the scene and makes it more difficult for me to connect with the characters. There's nothing wrong with multi-character perspectives, but keep them exclusive to different chapters or sections, don't jump back and forth within the same paragraph or section (or worse, sentence, though I don't think that happened here).

As a result, I didn't feel much connection to the characters and found it dragged a bit. The writing was otherwise good, and the characters believable and sympathetic, just a shame about the head-hopping.

Advanced review copy from NetGalley via publisher. My opinions are my own.

Review: Dancing on Deansgate by Freda Lightfoot

A neglected and abused girl in wartime Manchester tries to find her way out of poverty and crime with music.

I originally picked this up because it was set during the Manchester Blitz, which my mother-in-law lived through, so I thought it might have some personal relevance. But it's really not about the Blitz. It still could have been a good story, but I found there was way too much "telling" and not enough "showing". The majority of the beginning of the book felt like a big info dump. I find I struggle to connect with the characters when that is the case because it feels more like a matter-of-fact narration than experiencing the story as the characters do. It's a shame because Freda Lightfoot has written several historical novels set in Manchester, which appeals to me since I lived there for 8 years, but not if the writing is like this.

Review: Lily of the Nile (Cleopatra's Daughter #1) by Stephanie Dray

Selene, the daughter of Cleopatra and Marc Antony struggles with the complexity of her relationships with her parent's enemies, and her loyalty to her home and religion after she and her brothers are orphaned and held captive in Rome.

In the past, I've been known criticize books that are heavy handed with magic and mysticism, but in truth, I don't mind magic being used in the novels I read, I just want it to make sense and not come across as contrived just for the sake of it. In Lily of the Nile, although magic was frequently involved, I didn't mind it since it did not feel contrived. The plot did not rely too heavily on magic, but Selene's relationships and religion did, which is what this novel is all about.

I'm looking forward to completing this series and seeing how Selene uses her power and influence as a queen in a new land.

Review: The Huntress by Kate Quinn

Release Date: February 26, 2018

There are some books that are really difficult to review because it's difficult to express just how good it is, at least not without sounding like I'm gushing or fangirling all over. This is one of those books.

In the wake of WWII, an English journalist, American translator, and Russian female pilot track down a German Nazi murderess who committed horrific war crimes before fleeing to Boston where she embeds herself in an All-American family.

Kate Quinn is a master at weaving real history into fictional characters and stories. You might think the fact that they are fictional takes away from the impact of the story but it doesn't, because although the main characters are fictional, they are usually inspired by real life historical figures, and the plot based on real life historical events. And best of all, Quinn's hallmark is her strong and compelling, yet realistic heroines.

Like "The Alice Network", this one jumps back and forth in the timeline, but only over a span of about 10 years. We see the war only through Nina's eyes, a Russian pilot who grew up in the wilderness of Siberia with an abusive father. In the scenes after the war, it's told from the point of view of Ian, a former journalist turned war criminal tracker, and Jordan, a young woman in Boston who can't get passed the niggling thought that something isn't quite right with her seemingly perfect new stepmother.

It was a little frustrating to know the whole time where "the huntress" was hiding but the characters having no way of knowing that, but it did not detract from the enjoyment of the story. For a moment in the beginning, I thought maybe Nina's identity was stolen by the huntress, but then I realized that was silly, Kate Quinn doesn't really do twists like that. It's not a mystery. But it is an incredibly good story and I had great difficulty putting it down.

Advanced review copy from publisher via Edelweiss. My opinions are my own.

Review: The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict

Release Date: January 15, 2019

A great novel on an incredible woman. Honestly, if it wasn’t true, I’d hardly believe it. A Hollywood actress who escaped an abusive marriage and the Holocaust just before it came to her Austrian homeland, and became a self taught scientist and inventor, partnering with a musician to develop an unappreciated radio guidance system for torpedoes, which wasn't adopted by the US Navy until the 1960s, and later became the basis for Bluetooth and wi-fi. I know it almost sounds like I just strung a random selection of words together, but it's true and it rightfully makes a great story. My only criticism is that I felt like the ending was a bit of a let down, being somewhat anticlimactic, which I thought might be inevitable given Hedy's life story.

Hedy is a flawed but enormously strong and highly intelligent woman. She uses her beauty to the best of her advantage without compromising her integrity, yet she's not vain, and in some ways, her beauty is what holds her back, as so many people can't see beyond it. She is driven by her empathy and survivors guilt to aid the US military against Hilter. Fulfilling her acting obligations at the same time, she invents a radio guidance system that solves the problem of signal jamming, something no expert with formal education in the industry could do. Sadly, the government rejected her invention until the 1960s for a number reasons, none of them justified.

I feel a little bit like Hedy must have been something of an inspiration for Legally Blonde's Elle Woods: "Did she just wake up one morning and decide 'I think I'll go to law school'?" Did Hedy just wake up one morning and decide, 'I think I'll solve radio signal jamming today'? Of course, it wasn't that simple in reality, but it parallels the movie of an underestimated beautiful woman proving the world wrong and showing everyone just how smart and capable she really is, even if it took some time before they realized it.

Advanced review copy from publisher via NetGalley. My opinions are my own.

Review: A Well-Behaved Woman by Therese Anne Fowler

Release Date: October 16, 2018

A leader of the woman's suffrage movement, Alva Vanderbilt (nee Smith) rejected much about the social convention of her time, and yet arguably also beat them at their own game. If you can't join them, beat them.

The first half of this was a little boring. I know it was setting the scene for Alva coming into her own later on, and we did get to see sparks of the woman she would become, but much of it was just inane snobbish chatter. I suppose it's fitting because that's probably exactly how Alva felt about it too, but it didn't make for the best reading. If we'd gotten to see a bit more of that sarcastic wit that occasionally flared up in Alva, even just internally, it probably would have been a lot more entertaining.

Additionally, I kept waiting for this to turn more political and see how Alva became so important to the suffrage movement, but we actually see very little of that, and only at the very end. It's definitely more about her earlier private life, which could have been more interesting if her characterization was fuller.

Still, watching Alva go from dutiful daughter, sister, wife, and mother to taking her fate and future into her own hands was very fulfilling and I was cheering her on the whole time. About the last third of the book is when it gets most interesting.

Advanced review copy from publisher via NetGalley. My opinions are my own.

Review: The Lost Queen by Signe Pike

Release Date: September 4, 2018 (yes, I'm behind on my advanced review copies)

Although based on the twin sister of the legend who inspired Merlin, I would not say this is the Arthurian legend. "Pendragon" is featured, but he's not among the main characters. It's really about the daughter of a Celtic chieftain, Languoreth (aka Gwendydd in Welsh folklore), after the withdrawal of the Romans, during the invasions of the Angles and Christianity. This has always been a time period that fascinated me because there's so little reliable written history from it. This novel is a mixture of that history and the folklore that predates Geoffrey of Monmouth's Arthurian legend, and really brings this obscure time period to life.

The Celtic mysticism was a little heavy for me, but it was very well written with fleshed out characters, and the plot moved along at a steady pace.

Languoreth character was a little frustrating though. The book goes on and on about how important it was that she marry the high king's son so she (and therefore her father and brother) would have influence at court. But I really didn't see any examples of how she used her influence and power to aid her family, or her people. On the contrary, she usually does precisely the opposite of what her father, advisers, or any other allies tell her to do, and usually with unsuccessful results. She is otherwise a likable character, and the author does well to evoke empathy for her, but I kept waiting for her to do something politically significant since that's what the book had been building up to the whole time.

Additionally, there was one thing that didn't make sense to me but this one might be a bit of a spoiler:

Ariane gives Languoreth this big lecture about how important it is for her to marry the prince even if her heart is with another man. And then in the next moment, Ariane is encouraging her and even setting up a rendezvous for Languoreth and the man she loves. I get that Ariane is not Christian and doesn't believe in the Christian ideals of no sex outside marriage - but in no culture or religion would a man be cool with finding out his soon-to-be bride had sex with another man only weeks before the wedding. So if it was discovered, it would ruin everything that Ariane has just lectured Languoreth about 5 minutes ago (okay, not literally 5 minutes). If the marriage was really as important as Ariane believed, why would she then risk it by helping Languoreth hook up with someone else? Supposedly, Ariane wove some kind of magic that assured no one noticed they were gone while they did the naughty - but this is one of the very reasons why I felt like the mysticism was heavy handed. It just seemed too convenient sometimes.

So there were definitely things that let this book down a little bit, but overall it was a good story with excellent prose - the author certainly knows how to bring a scene and setting alive. It begs for a sequel, hopefully one in which the main character is a little more useful.

Advanced review copy from publisher via NetGalley. My opinions are my own.

Review: Transcription by Kate Atkinson

Release Date: September 25, 2018

Juliet Armstrong works with MI5 during WWII, first simply (and rather boringly) transcribing recordings of conversations among Nazi sympathizers. But it's not long before the world of espionage engulfs her and she is asked to do much more.

I found myself struggling to get through this. The majority of it was just so dull, with what felt like a lot of rambling. Not badly written, just not captivating. It wasn't until about half way through that things picked up and became much more interesting. I still wasn't hugely invested in the characters, but the plot at least picked up. Or at least, I thought it did, and then the WWII story line abruptly ended and jumped forward, which I was expecting at some point, since I knew it was a dual time period plot, but moving forward in the timeline meant the plot slowed down again. There was another peak in the story line at the end, but I'm still not sure all the dribble in between was worth it.

There were some things I really like about this like the writing style and the periodic witty and dry quips in the narrative. And in some ways I think this could actually make an interesting movie (slow paced, granted), but I felt like much of it was just tedious.

Advanced review copy from publisher via NetGalley. My opinions are my own.

Review: Sold on a Monday by Kristina McMorris

Release Date: August 28, 2018

An aspiring journalist takes a photo of questionable moral integrity, showing what the Great Depression has driven people to and it winds up being his big break. But when he returns to followup on it, he learns just how his photo and accompanying article has influenced the family in the photo and his niggling remorse over it turns into full blown regret and forces him to take a good, hard look at who he has become. Desperate to make things right, not only with the family, but also with his own parents and friends he has driven away, he embarks on a journey of atonement and self growth.

Based on a similar photo taken during the Depression (see below), the subject matter seemed compelling. It was very well written with well developed characters, but I felt like the plot dragged a little bit. I enjoy a good slow paced book, but sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't and this time it was more the latter. It wasn't a bad read, but it was not as 'powerful' as I thought it was going to be, given the subject matter.

The real life photo which
inspired this novel

I think particularly because the actual photo (in the novel) that wound up being published was staged, the whole book felt too far removed from the real and gritty hardships and desperation of the Great Depression. It was really more about the journalist's remorse over staging the photo and what it winds up doing to the family. The story follows him and his love interest, neither of whom are particularly struggling all that much and don't embody the true depths of despair that time period evokes. I felt like this really could have been placed during almost any time period - the question of what some journalists will sometimes do for a good story and how they deal with those questionable ethics is something that isn't exclusive to the Great Depression. I'm not saying that such a topic isn't worthy of a novel, but this is not what I expected it to be, and therefore it lost it's impact on me.

Additionally, I have to say - the idea that Ellis knew how to pick a lock with hair pins just because he had "a father who preferred tinkering with machinery to conversation" seem ridiculously unrealistic and contrived for the sake of the plot. Maybe if Ellis had an uncle or such who was a locksmith, that would have been more believable, even if still a little contrived. But I just don't know how the author is making the connection between the two. This alone wouldn't be enough for me to dislike it, but it was so silly, I couldn't let it go unmentioned.

Advanced review copy from publisher via NetGalley. My opinions are my own