CBR17 Book 58: "The Listeners" by Maggie Stiefvater

Page count: 416 pages

Rating: 4.5 stars

CBR17 Bingo: Culture (A lot of people from a lot of different backgrounds, countries and cultures are forced together for a time during World War II)

Official plot summary:

January 1942. The Avallon Hotel & Spa has always offered elegant luxury in the wilds of West Virginia, its mountain sweetwater washing away all of high society’s troubles.

Local girl-turned-general manager June Porter Hudson has guided the Avallon skillfully through the first pangs of war. The Gilfoyles, the hotel’s aristocratic owners, have trained her well. But when the family heir makes a secret deal with the State Department to fill the hotel with captured Axis diplomats, June must persuade her staff—many of whom have sons and husbands heading to the front lines—to offer luxury to Nazis. With a smile.

Meanwhile, FBI Agent Tucker Minnick, whose coal tattoo hints at an Appalachian past, presses his ears to the hotel’s walls, listening for the diplomats’ secrets. He has one of his own, which is how he knows that June’s balancing act can have dangerous consequences: the sweetwater beneath the hotel can threaten as well as heal.

June has never met a guest she couldn’t delight, but the diplomats are different. Without firing a single shot, they have brought the war directly to her. As clashing loyalties crack the Avallon’s polished veneer, June must calculate the true cost of luxury.

I've been a fan of Maggie Stiefvater's since 2010, when I read her debut novel, Lament. So I was obviously very excited when I heard this year's release was going to be for adults. That it was going to be a historical fiction novel with elements of magical realism just made me more eager to read it. So much so that I pre-ordered the UK edition in hardback (normally, I wait until the books are in paperback before I pick them up). As an exciting bonus, I realised my book was signed when I opened the book from Blackwell's. Did the book live up to my expectations? Very much so.

In Europe, unsurprisingly, we learn a lot about the Second World War in school (especially in Norway, where we were occupied by the Germans for nearly five years). I developed an interest in history from a fairly young age, and as such, I feel like I know quite a bit about the conflict from the European side of things. For other parts of the world, I am a lot more ignorant. This novel is in part based on true events, they did in fact house diplomats from the axis countries (Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia) in luxury hotels in various places in the USA, to be able to use these esteemed guests (read: hostages) to negotiate the safe return of diplomats and American citizens of their own from the opposing countries. And the owners of said hotels had very little say in whether or not they wanted the guests there in the first place. 

One of Stiefvater's strengths as a writer, in my opinion, is her way of crafting interesting stories in worlds similar to, but not quite like, our own. In this book, the paranormal aspects (such as characters being able to manifest stuff from out of their dreams) are toned down, but there is a touch of magical realism in the strange, seemingly sentient sweetwater at the Avallon spa. Water that has an affinity for certain individuals, the Avallon manager, June, being one of them. This clearly has both its benefits and disadvantages for her. 

One might think that a woman being the general manager of a large luxury resort in the 1940s is one of the more fantastical elements of this story, but June Porter Hudson is based on real women in history who held the same position as her. A lot of people assume that because of her title and responsibilities, June is related to the Gilfoyles, who own the hotel. They are wrong, although June has been close, in different ways, to many of the family members. 

As well as June, the readers follow (among others) the secretive FBI Agent Tucker Minick, who knows that this posting may be his last, yet still struggles to toe the line of the bureau. While he refuses to talk about it, he has more knowledge of the secrets of the West Virginian sweetwater than he lets on, and his experiences are clearly not of the positive kind. 

We also meet the curious Hannelore, daughter of German diplomats, who appears to be mute, but astutely observes everything around her, with near-perfect recall. While children in novels can often end up feeling like nothing more than plot moppets, that is not the case with Hannelore, who is clearly neurodivergent (which makes it a rather risky proposition for her parents to take her with them to Nazi Germany, where diversity of any kind wasn't exactly encouraged or rewarded). 

I'm once again reviewing books I read months ago (thanks to my inability to keep up with any other reviews than for my ARCs, and only barely those), so I don't remember all the details as much as I'd like. Suffice it to say, this was a really good book, with an interesting story, engaging characters, some tricksy mysteries and, as the story progresses, a hint of romance. 

Judging a book by its cover: I much prefer the UK cover to the American one (a black and white photo looking down a long, winding staircase). In this, the reader gets a lot more elements from the story: the imposing Appalachian mountains in the background, the majestic hotel, the local apples, obviously the water, and if you look very closely at the entrance to the hotel, June's three loyal dachshunds. 

Crossposted by Cannonball Read

#CBR9 Book 38:"The Thing About Love" by Julie James

Page count: 400 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars

Jessica Harlow has just returned to Chicago and is eager to prove herself to her new FBI colleagues. Her divorce to a Hollywood producer just finalised and she's looking for a fresh start closer to her family. She's always enjoyed undercover work and wants to do well on her first mission with the Chicago office. Considering her husband pretty much asked for the divorce because he felt Jessica was spending too much time on her work, Jessica wants nothing more than to really forget him by becoming the best field agent there is.

John Shepherd came back early from an undercover mission in Detroit to surprise his girlfriend, who had been a bit distant on the phone lately and clearly unhappy with how much time he spent away. He walks in on said girlfriend literally on top of one of his best friends in bed, and to make matters worse, he soon discovers that two other close friends had known about the affair and not told him. Cutting his ties to all four people, John is ready for a change and decides to go for the gruelling try-outs for the FBI's elite Hostage Rescue Team. While waiting to hear back about whether or not he'll be excepted, he's going to do one last mission with the Chicago office he's worked at for six years.

Jessica, a former lawyer, and John, a former army ranger, have a history. They met during their training at the Academy, and neither remembers the other one fondly. Having developed a fierce rivalry, constantly competing with each other to be the best in their class, they are now both surprised and dismayed to find themselves partnered on an important undercover case. But since both are professionals, they are determined to hide their animosity from their superiors, and make things work. Tasked with proving a Florida politician is taking bribes, the two will pose as business partners to get the evidence the prosecution needs. The job requires several trips to Florida, working closely, staying at a luxurious beachfront resort.

Working together so closely means Jessica and John have to bury their hatchet and start actually communicating honestly with one another. Once they start opening up about what made each of them so determined to best the other back at the Academy six years ago and begin to realise just how much they also have in common, it starts to become more difficult for them to ignore the blatant chemistry and attraction between them. This is likely to be John's last mission before he moves across the country to start a new job, while Jessica has just moved back to Chicago. Surely acting on their attraction for a short, no-strings affair is a very bad idea?

Julie James is one of my favourite authors of contemporary romance, because even when her books aren't hitting it out of the park, they are always entertaining and she always writes novels with such competent and hard-working characters. Her books are pretty much competence porn - her protagonists are always very good at their jobs (although not suspend your disbelief great at them, just diligent and really professional). She also focuses on career professionals, most often lawyers and FBI agents, there are no billionaire CEOs here (although she does have a movie star hero in her very first romance, a notable exception to the rule). The characters have realistic career trajectories and a good network of supporting characters around them, either friends, family, colleagues or all of the above. No sad loners with super dark and tragic back stories for her. Another bonus - the characters have perfectly normal names. A heroine named Jessica and a hero named John - that's almost unheard of in romance today.

OK, so they are both absolutely gorgeous (Julie James has admitted on Facebook that she modelled John on Chris Hemsworth (and there are literal Thor comparisons IN the book) and Jessica on Margot Robbie), but really, there has to be escapism in there somewhere.

There isn't a lot of external conflict here. The major hurdle isn't that Jessica and John misunderstood each other's intentions back in the past and were fierce competitors, it's that they now both think they want a quick and passionate rebound fling before moving on with their lives, which are going in very different directions once their undercover mission wraps up. A lot of what conflict there is could probably have been solved with a frank and straight-forward conversation or two, but instead there are a whole load of misconceptions and misunderstandings.

One of the reasons this isn't a full five star read for me is that the book gets unnecessarily dramatic towards the end, when there is a dramatic action sequence that seems a bit out of place, with a lot of added drama and danger that I'm not sure the story needed, since both the characters had pretty much made up their minds about what they wanted to do next, and did not need a serious brush with danger to have their priorities made clear to them. John's reveal at the hospital also seemed a bit excessive to me, while the romance built quickly between these two, it was never insta-love, as they had a shared past and also worked together under a lot of pressure, that could make them fall for each other faster than would otherwise be entirely realistic.

Still, I always look forward to a new Julie James novel, and this book did not disappoint.

Judging a book by its cover: I'm guessing the designer stiletto heel crushing a lollipop heart (fun fact, everyone, did you know that the Norwegian expression for lollipop translates word for word, I swear to God, as "love on a stick". Look it up - kjærlighet på pinne). has something to do with both characters being on the rebound at the beginning of this book. But more importantly, the shoe (sans a foot in it to give it any weight) is trampling love both figuratively and literally in Norwegian. While there are designer heels (or so I'm assuming, Jessica seems like the sort of woman who would wear them) in the book, as far as I can recall, no sugary confections were harmed over the course of the book. But aren't you glad I told you that bit about "love on a stick"? You're welcome.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR6 Book 51: "It Happened One Wedding" by Julie James

Page count: 304 pages
Rating: 4 stars

Sydney Sinclair has moved back to Chicago after years in New York. Her engagement ended badly just two weeks before the wedding, when she discovered her fiancee had been cheating on her. Now she's completely done with commitment-phobic men. She wants a faithful husband and a family, and doesn't have any more time in her life for casual dating. So when handsome and charming Vaughn Roberts approaches her after another failed first date in a coffee shop, she recognises his happy go-lucky playboy attitude a mile away, and can't stop herself from venting all her frustration over him. Of course, she'll never see him again, so it's not that big a deal, is it?

It wouldn't be much of a fun book if that was the end of it. Special Agent in the FBI Vaughn Roberts is the older brother of the man who Sydney's younger sister has just gotten engaged to. The happy couple don't realise that when they invite their siblings to an announcement dinner, said siblings met awkwardly in a coffee shop close by. Now their siblings want them to be best man and maid of honour, at a wedding that needs to be planned in a hurry. So Sydney and Vaughn are going to be spending a lot of quality time together, fighting their attraction for each other all the way, as even if they had mutual goals for the future, risking a messy future break-up when they're set to become in-laws is just asking for trouble.

Julie James is probably my favourite author of contemporary romances, and excels at dialogue and witty banter. Her protagonists tend to be driven, likable, sociable and very successful in their chosen field. The supporting characters tend to be well fleshed out and feel as fully satisfying individuals in their own right, not just there to give the main characters to talk to occasionally. Vaughn is a very successful FBI agent who likes the work he does, but his undercover work also means that he ends up in dangerous situations every so often, and there are huge aspects of his everyday job he can't tell his loved ones about. He's not ashamed of being a ladies' man and is proud that of the fact that he's never led any of his many conquests on. He understands pretty much immediately that Sydney's rant isn't really personally directed at him, but isn't really used to being rejected so vehemently either. Hence he begins seeing it as a challenge when they are forced to spend more time together.

Sydney loves her younger sister, but has to struggle to keep a brave face on when she realises that not only has her baby sister found a really good guy, she's sure he's a keeper after less than three months together. The reason they need to hurry the wedding is because Isabelle is pregnant, and doesn't want anyone but Sydney to know. Vaughn and Simon's parents are staunchly Catholic, so they want to be married before Mrs. Roberts discovers that she's going to be a grandmother. They don't even want Vaughn to know, which leads to some pretty farcical behaviour in order to cover up Isabelle's raging morning sickness and other obvious pregnancy signs. Naturally, as a trained observer, he's not really fooled for a second. Sydney, who has all her dreams of weddings and future families crushed by her dirt bag of a fiancee less than a year earlier, now has to see her sister get everything she ever dreamed of for herself. Her strong attraction to Vaughn, while he drives her crazy, is not making the situation easier.

This book may have struck more of a chord with me because I understood a lot of where Sydney was coming from. While I have been happily married for years, I'm now at a stage where so many of my friends and colleagues are having babies, while as of yet, I have not been lucky enough to conceive. In her early thirties, with a wish for children, Sydney doesn't have time to casually date any more. She needs to find Mr. Right, so she can settle down and start the family she's dreaming of. Of course, as her best friend says, what's the harm of enjoying herself with Mr. Right Now, having a bit of fun while she utilises her comprehensive 34-point checklist to find that special someone who's just as ready to commit as she is? She and Vaughn have crazy chemistry, and because he's only looking for a fun time, what better adviser to have when she's trying to sort through all the candidates for Mr. Right? Being a playboy himself, he knows all the tricks that other commitment-phobic men use. He's the perfect person to help her. As they spend more time together, Vaughn comes to realise that it's not all that fun that Sydney keeps dating other guys while still seeing him, and Sydney discovers that even if the some of the men seem perfect on paper, there is still something very important missing for them to fit just right.

I don't think I've really disliked a single of Julie James' books, and there is a reason she's on my auto-buy list. For anyone looking for fun, escapist, clever romance of the contemporary variety, I highly recommend her.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

CBR22 Book 31: "Something About You" by Julie James

Publisher: Berkley
Page count: 336 pages
Rating: 5 stars
Date begun: March 3rd, 2010
Date finished: March 4th, 2010

Cameron Lynde is an Assistant D.A. in Chicago, and spends the night in a hotel while she has her hardwood floors redone. In the room next door, a couple appear to be having a marathon sex session, and as the walls are thin, she finally calls the management to have the situation dealt with. Just before hotel security arrive, she sees a man walking past her hotel room door and assumes the problem is solved. But her problems are just beginning. Hotel security finds a dead escort in the room, and the man she had the prolonged lovemaking with, is a married U.S senator. He is also, coincidentally, clearly not the man Cameron saw walking past her door.

Suddenly a key witness in a high-profile murder case, Cameron is less than thrilled to realize that the F.B.I agent in charge of investigating the case is Jack Pallas, the man who blames her for ruining his career three years earlier. He doesn't know that Cameron actually saved him from being fired, instead of just relocated, after he said some really unfortunate things about her on national TV. But even though he is furious to see her again, he is not about to let anything happen to his witness, and will do anything to make sure she is kept safe.

I don't tend to read a lot of contemporary romance, but had read several very glowing reviews of this on other review sites, and was so happy to discover that all told the truth - this book is greatly enjoyable, and feature a hero and a heroine who are both intelligent, reasonable, very good at their jobs and who communicate clearly and openly with each other. Their dialogue, from the first very tense scenes together, until the end, when their relationship has obviously changed, sparkles and is reminiscent of old-style romantic comedies.

The secondary characters are all great too, from Jack's younger partner, to the policemen on duty guarding Cameron, to her two best friends, one of whom just happens to be gay, but who's also a sports writer and blissfully un-stereotypical. There is no murder mystery, as it is revealed fairly early on who actually killed the victim, and why, and there is also, thankfully, no psycho internal monologue about the killer's motivations for the murder. Some of the reviews I read felt that the ending of the book dragged on a bit, but I didn't really mind, and will absolutely be looking out for more books by Julie James in the future.