A Wedding in Springtime by Amanda Forester

A Wedding in Springtime by Amanda Forester

London, Spring 1810: Ten minutes into her societal debut, Eugenia Talbot was ruined.  So starts A Wedding in Springtime. 

It was the Lord Chamberlain’s fault really.  He’s the one whose bodily functions so melodiously tainted Queen Charlotte’s sitting room.  And drat growing up with brothers who taught her the crasser side of humor.  And that man who was barely suppressing his laughter – no one looked upon him with glares of shame.  Giggling, and not being able to properly contain it (especially when that grinning man winked at her) when being first introduced to the Queen is unforgivable to society.  She best find someone to marry her and quick, before her reputation precedes her throughout the ton.

What was so refreshing about this book was the well drawn secondary characters.  Everyone you meet in this book seems real and not just a cardboard cutout or stereotype.  From the dowager duchess to her chaperone these are fully realized characters with lives, desires and dreams.  And the two main characters are simply nice people with great senses of humor.  Do they have their flaws?  Of course.  Do they fall victim to simple misunderstandings?  Of course they do, this is a historical romance after all, but their actions and reactions are understandable in the circumstances. 

The scene is set for more in this series and I am looking forward to reading the next: A Midsummer Bride.

Blackmoore: A Proper Romance by Julianne Donaldson

Blackmoore: A Proper Romance by Julianne Donaldson

Romances today seem to be getting steamier and steamier.  For those that miss the old-fashioned romances of Austen and Heyer you will appreciate the “Proper Romances” of Donaldson. 

Kate Worthington never wants to marry.  She wants to be able to live her life as she pleases, and she wants to live it in India with her maiden Aunt.  Kate’s mother will give her permission to go to India only if she secures and refuses three proposals at Blackmoore that summer.  Kate agrees.  It is her only chance to escape her scandalously embarrassing family and live her life as she desires since her family has already managed to mess up her chances at happiness close to home.

The story is well-plotted and the characters are realistic and completely developed.  I was drawn into this book from the start wondering what the main characters problem was, why they didn’t realize that they were perfect together.  This isn’t a simple case of misunderstandings, there is quite a bit keeping these two apart, and the reader is left guessing if they will be able to overcome the obstacles between them.  (Thankfully we know starting out that it is a romance so it has to end happily!)

Sleep with the Lights On by Maggie Shayne

Sleep with the Lights On by Maggie Shayne

Talk about an awesome first meeting!  Rachel de Luca, famous self-help author, isn’t paying attention and walks off the curb and gets hit by Detective Mason Brown’s car.  Naturally he feels awful, especially when he realizes he just creamed a blind woman.  Oops.  She furious not just because she got hit, but because the Binghampton, NY police don’t seem to be taking her brother’s disappearance seriously. 

When Mason’s brother commits suicide right in front of him, Mason is understandably stunned.  More so when he reads his brother’s suicide note and realizes that he has kidnapped and murdered 14 men.  Mason covers up the evidence, not wanting to put his brother’s sons and wife through the ordeal of knowing their father/ husband was the serial killer dubbed The Wraith.  To feel better about his brother’s death and crimes Mason convinces his brother’s widow to donate his organs.  And Mason knows just the woman to receive corneal tissue.

Days later Rachel is sighted and seeing the world for the first time in 20 years.  She is overwhelmed by both her new vision and the visions that are interrupting her life.  She sees men being murdered in vivid detail.  The Wraith, has struck again and Rachel knows details that the police don’t even know, and Mason knows that The Wraith is dead and shouldn’t be killing anyone anymore…

Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield

Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield

Rooks never forget.  The death of a rook at the hands of a young boy, William Bellman, with a catapult (what I know as a slingshot) is quickly forgotten by the boy, but that event seems to shape his entire life.  William grows up to be a successful businessman with a wonderful wife and family.  Yet one by one all those he loves dies and at each funeral he sees the man in black.  As his daughter lies in bed dying William finally confronts the mysterious stranger in the graveyard and a bargain is struck, and thereby is created, Bellman & Black.

If you read this blog on a semi-regular basis you will know that I like weird and dark books.  This one is quite weird and quite dark, yet it still felt lacking in something to me.  I was compelled to keep reading and finish the story, but I was never quite sure why things were happening as they were.  Yes, I understand that the rooks as a whole seemed to want revenge for their fallen brother, but it never really gelled for me.

I enjoyed the writing style, and the descriptions of the businesses Bellman started and ran, but the storyline never really grabbed me like her previous novel, The Thirteenth Tale.

I Don’t Want to Kill You by Dan Wells

I Don’t Want to Kill You by Dan Wells

John Wayne Cleaver basically threw down the glove at the end of Mr. Monster and told the demon Nobody to come to Clayton County, ND so he could kill her like he did the last two demons who dared come to his town and prey on the residents.  Be careful when you threaten demons, they will follow through. 

John is a complex character.  He is a teenage sociopath who knows he has the potential to become one of the serial killers he so loves to study, but truly does not want to.  He also knows that he is one of the few to know that demons exist, and despite his rules against killing, knows he needs to stop them any way necessary.

I have to admit this audiobook surprised me.  I read the first two books in the series and enjoyed them (it’s like reading about a young Dexter Morgan learning to hunt demons instead of serial killers).  Hearing it really brought you into the story.  The narrator embodies John and his inner conflicts and struggles with emotions, and the lack thereof.  The ending is truly shocking.  I just sat there, stunned, when the book was over.  There could be a fourth book in the series, and I truly hope there is.

That Night on Thistle Lane by Carla Neggers

That Night on Thistle Lane by Carla Neggers

Librarian Phoebe O’Dunn lives in the small New England town of Knight’s Bridge and is quite content with her orderly and practical life.  Until she finds a hidden room in the attic of her library packed with beautifully made vintage dresses and Hollywood costume replicas.  Inspired by her find she plans a vintage fashion show, but first lends two of the dresses to her sister and her best friend so they can attend a masquerade ball in Boston.  Swept up by her discovery she also secretly uses a ticket to the ball herself and dresses like a princess in a gown which would have fit perfectly in the movie Titanic.  At the ball she dances with a gorgeous stranger dressed as a swashbuckler.  Will she ever see her dancing partner again?  Does she want to?  Who was he?  And who created the dresses?  Why was the sewing room hidden so well in the library attic? 

While there is romance, like many of Neggers’ books this is romance suspense.  There are two mysteries (which of course turn out to be intertwined) concerning the characters in the novel, neither of which is too mysterious nor threatening, but that is not the impression at first.  This is the second in the series taking place in this small town and you know there will be quite a few more.

Accused by Lisa Scottoline

Accused by Lisa Scottoline

Allegra Gardner wants to have the lawyers of Rosato & Associates exonerate a man in jail for the murder of a teenage girl.  Mary DiNunzio is intrigued by the case and takes it on as her first pet project as a new partner in the firm.  There are a lot of interesting elements in the case: the murder happened six years ago and no other suspects were considered; the Gardner clan is amazingly wealthy and influential in Philadelphia society; Allegra, the client, is only thirteen; the girl who was murdered was her sister and no one in the family besides Allegra thinks that justice wasn’t done years before.

This is a great legal thriller as well as a mystery.  Digging up clues six years after the event is difficult, but not impossible, and DiNunzio is determined to do her best.  But is her client’s memory flawed?  Or is she being lied to by everyone else? 

For those that enjoy audiobooks, I have to recommend this series.  The accents of the characters are spot on and the story really comes to life when it is read aloud.

Someone by Alice McDermott

Someone by Alice McDermott

This is the life story of Marie Commeford, an ordinary woman from Brooklyn, New York.  She shares all the milestones in her life, including the death of a friend, her first heartbreak, and all the other major events that make up a life.

Marie has poor eyesight, and her inability to see what is right in front of her, is a metaphor for her understanding of the occurrences in her own life.  Rather than frustrating the reader, this makes her all the more believable – can any of us really step back and truly see our own lives?  A simple story that makes you think about your own life and how extraordinary every ordinary life really is.

A wonderfully relaxing choice on audio, it is like sitting back and having someone narrate their life story. 

Secrets of a Scandalous Marriage by Valerie Bowman

Secrets of a Scandalous Marriage by Valerie Bowman

This Regency romance starts like none other I’ve ever read.  The heroine, Lady Katherine, is imprisoned in the Tower of London standing accused of brutally murdering her husband the Duke.  She swears she is innocent, yet is willing to go to her fate quietly.  She had a miserable marriage and didn’t like being a Duchess at all.  She misses life growing up on a nice farm in the countryside.  James Bancroft, Viscount Medford, visits Kate and makes a deal with her.  He will get her out of the Tower (because she can be released into the supervision of a nobleman) if she promises to write the story of her marriage, and her side of the crime story, for a pamphlet he can print on his secret printing press.

I absolutely loved the premise, and the first half of the book really broke the mold of historical romances, then it went right back on track.  There were misunderstandings, lack of communication, and, of course, a happily ever after.  Sort of steamy, and quite enjoyable, for romance fans!