Wrap-up post: 2014 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

As in 2013, I signed up for the Historical Fiction reading challenge, because let´s face it, I read a lot of historical novels. This year is unusual in that only about a third of the books I completed were historicals, but then again, some of them were more than a thousand pages long, so that has to count for something. I signed up for the highest level, prehistoric (50+ books)

1. The Golem and the Jinni - Helene Wecker
2. The Clockwork Scarab - Colleen Gleason
3. Romancing the Duke - Tessa Dare
4. Haiene (The Sharks) - Jens Bjørneboe
5. The Secret Life of Bees - Sue Monk Kidd
6. When the Marquess Met His Match - Laura Lee Guhrke
7. Princess of the Silver Woods - Jessica Day George
8. Hero - Alethea Kontis
9. The Secret History of the Pink Carnation - Lauren Willig
10. Between the Devil and Ian Eversea - Julie Anne Long
11. The Masque of the Black Tulip - Lauren Willig
12. The Glass Casket - McCormick Templeman
13. Fool Me Twice - Meredith Duran
14. Three Weeks with Lady X - Eloisa James
15. The Sandalwood Princess - Loretta Chase
16-17. Boxers and Saints - Gene Luen Yang
18. How to Lose a Duke in Ten Days - Laura Lee Guhrke
19. Teori og praksis (Theory and Practice) - Nikolaj Frobenius
20. The Kraken King - Meljean Brook
21. The Firebird - Susanna Kearsley
22. The Fiery Cross - Diana Gabaldon
23. A Company of Swans - Eva Ibbotson
24. What Happens in London - Julia Quinn
25. The Deception of the Emerald Ring - Lauren Willig
26. The Seduction of the Crimson Rose - Lauren Willig
27. Skies of Gold - Zoe Archer
28. Vixen in Velvet - Loretta Chase
29. Ten Things I Love About You - Julia Quinn
30. Emma - Jane Austen
31. Somewhere I´ll Find You - Lisa Kleypas
32. Indigo - Beverly Jenkins
33. Grave Mercy - Robin LaFevers
34. The Suffragette Scandal - Courtney Milan
35. The Kiss of Deception - Mary E. Pearson
36-37. The Hidden Blade and My Beautiful Enemy - Sherry Thomas
38. A Breath of Snow and Ashes - Diana Gabaldon
39. Talk Sweetly to Me - Courtney Milan
40. Etiquette and Espionage - Gail Carriger
41. It Takes Two to Tangle - Theresa Romain
42. Wicked as They Come - Delilah S. Dawson
43. Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
44. Kiss of Steel - Bec McMaster
45. The Wicked Wallflower - Maya Rodale
46. X Marks the Scot - Victoria Roberts
47. Jackaby - William Ritter
48. The Season - Sarah Maclean
49. The Lady Most Willing - Julia Quinn, Eloisa James and Connie Brockway
50. The Outsiders - Susan E. Hinton
51. The Hero and the Crown - Robin McKinley
52. Never Judge a Lady by Her Cover - Sarah Maclean
53. The Blue Sword - Robin McKinley
54. An Echo in the Bone - Diana Gabaldon
55. The Promise in a Kiss - Stephanie Laurens
56. Zoya - Danielle Steel
57. The Queen´s Fool - Philippa Gregory

Challenge completed: 1st of November 2014

#CBR6 Book 137: "The Queen's Fool" by Philippa Gregory

Page count. 514 pages
Rating: 4 stars

Young Jewish girl Hannah Verde flees the Inquisition in Spain with her father after her mother is burned for heresy. They travel through Europe to England, calling themselves "Green" and making a new life for themselves as loyal Christians. Hannah´s father has a printing press and soon his skilled work comes to the attention of scholars like John Dee. While John Dee is visiting their print shop with his patron, Lord Robert Dudley, Hannah has one of her visions, seeing an angel over their shoulder. Her abilities make her a priceless resource for the Dudleys, who takes her to court and presents her to young King Edward as a "Holy Fool". Of course, they also want her to swear fealty to them. If she refuses to spy for them, they will reveal her Jewish origins and both Hannah and her father will be executed.

Besotted with the charming Lord Robert, enticed by the chance at independence and glamorous life at court, Hannah would much rather be a Holy Fool than work in her father´s print shop and at sixteen marry the young doctor´s apprentice her family have picked for her. Her loyalties are tested when she is sent to spy on the Princess Mary for the Dudleys, but grows to admire and love the rightful heir to the throne, even though she suspects the Duke of Northumberland of having sinister plans for the royal succession. When Mary becomes Queen of England, she keeps Hannah with her, trusting her visions as a gift from God. She too needs Hannah to work as a spy, however, keeping watch over the Princess Elizabeth and making sure Protestant plots to put the Queen´s sister on the throne are not successful.

Throughout, Hannah´s father, and Daniel, her fiancee, are deeply worried about her and not at all happy that she is defying traditional female virtues by appearing in breeches and Fools´ motley, the pawn of powerful men and women with the power to destroy as easily as they can protect. As religious persecution in England becomes more aggressive, they flee to France. But Hannah feels unable to leave either the Queen she serves or the charismatic Princess she´s also grown so attached to.

The Mama´s Cannonball review of this book convinced me to give Philippa Gregory another chance. I wasn´t all too impressed with her writing in The Other Boleyn Girl and even less so in The Boleyn Inheritance. I suspect that may be because I did part of my history degree on the Tudors, with Henry VIII and Elizabeth I as speciality fields. I´m more fuzzy on the details about little Edward and Mary I, however, and I know very little specific about the persecution of Jews throughout Europe in the Middle Ages, so this book was a lot more interesting to me. While I think it may be a bit anachronistic how independent Hannah wanted to be, how reluctant she was to conform to the traditional role of women of the time and how demanding she was of equality in her future marriage, Hannah did also serve a woman who ruled as Queen in her own right and a Princess who would go on to be the most fiercely independent woman in Europe. So as female role models go, it´s not surprising that she didn´t just want to conform, keep silent and be controlled like the chattel most Medieval women were treated as.

I totally understand the popularity of "sexy history" like Philippa Gregory´s novels, The Tudors, The Borgias and Reign and when I´m able to turn off the part of my brain who screams about inaccuracies, simplifications, anachronisms and the like, I am usually a big fan. There are after all the attractive actors, the sumptuous costumes and tons of exciting intrigue. This book was incredibly engrossing. I am worried that a lot of people take the heavily fictionalised accounts of these historical events as fact (although I have trouble seeing how anyone can do anything but suspend their disbelief when watching Reign), but at the same time, it´s good that the history doesn´t become entirely forgotten. Hopefully some are inspired to find out the truth behind the fiction. As my final book for the Alphabet soup challenge of this year, I´m glad I picked something so entertaining. I may give some of the other Gregory books from time periods I´m more hazy about a try over the course of 2015.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR6 Book 136: "Zoya" by Danielle Steel

Page count: 512 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars

Zoya Ossupov, a young noblewoman, second cousin to the Tsar himself, lives a sheltered life of luxury in St. Petersburg. When the revolution breaks out, Zoya´s grandmother, who has seen which way the wind was blowing, bundles up the many garments they´ve sown jewellery into and Zoya and they flee the country through Finland. Having lost her father, mother and elder brother in only a few days and worrying about the safety of her cousins the Romanovs, who were placed in house arrest by the revolutionaries, Zoya has to make a new life for herself in Paris with her grandmother and the one loyal servant who came with them.

Going against the express wishes of her stately grandmother, Zoya auditions with the Ballet Russe and starts supporting their little family as a ballet dancer. The only other money they have is the pittance they can get from selling their family heirlooms, in a market already flooded with Russian treasures. Zoya rejects the elderly Russian prince and the young lodger that her grandmother tries to match her with. Her grandmother wants her to be safe, Zoya wants to marry for love. She falls for an American officer, but he´s old enough to be her father and believes she would be better off without him. Only towards the end of the first World War he realises that they cannot fight their attraction, and Zoya becomes a society darling in New York.

She´s blissfully happy until the Wall Street crash, suddenly widowed with two small children to support. Once again, Zoya´s willingness to work hard sees her safe and comfortable within a few years, and eventually she even finds love again. Then the second World War arrives, and both Zoya´s new husband and son are determined to fight for their country. Will another conflict cost her more of the people she loves?

I´m pretty sure that this is the first novel I´ve ever read by Danielle Steel, and having read it, I can see both why her books are incredibly popular among some readers, and completely panned by others. I´m not going to pretend that I thought this was great literature, some of the descriptions and info dumping was a bit heavy handed and the plot was possibly a bit too packed, but it was an entertaining book and it reminded me that I´ve always found the Romanov family and their fate fascinating (even before I watched Anastasia. So it´s spurred me to add two non-fiction books about them to my TBR list and they will be part of my reading list for CBR7.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR6 Book 135: "The Promise in a Kiss" by Stephanie Laurens

Page count: 400 pages
Rating: 4 stars

Sixteen year old Helena de Stansion, Comtesse D'Lisle, is spending Christmas Eve wandering around the gardens of the convent where her sister is recuperating from illness when a man suddenly drops down into the convent garden pretty much on top of her. Assuming the man is fleeing from something clandestine, she lies to the nuns and the guards when the approach her to ask if she's seen someone on the grounds. As a thank you for protecting him, the handsome stranger gives her a kiss.

Seven years later, while in England trying to find a suitable husband, Helena discovers that the man who kissed her is none other than Sebastian Cynster, the Duke of St. Ives. Helena's autocratic guardian has signed a document giving her permission to choose her own husband, should his title, wealth and landholdings be equal to or surpassing her own. Helena is determined to get away from the demands of her guardian and want someone as different from him as possible as her husband. A nice, kind man who won't try to control her. One short meeting with St. Ives, and it's obvious that he is just as controlling and arrogant as her guardian, if not more so. He has also sworn not to marry, but delighted to see her again, offers to help her find a suitable match. Helena is convinced that he has designs to be her lover, and if he aids her in finding a biddable husband, she will be more easily seduced.

St. Cyr hasn't really forgotten Helena either, and while he is not announcing his intentions to find a wife publicly, the machinations of his tiresome sister-in-law has made him reconsider his vow never to marry. When he discovers that the lovely girl he met seven years ago is now a beautiful and spirited young woman, with a temper and an iron will to match his own, he's pretty sure he's found the woman he wants to share his future with. He pretends he wants to help her find a match so he can spend more time with her and get to know her better. He finally manages to convince her that he wants her as a wife, not just as a mistress, when further complications occur.

It turns out that Helena's guardian and St. Cyr have a history, and that St. Cyr once won a valuable dagger in a wager. Now Helena's guardian wants it back, and he intends for Helena to steal it, or her sister will be in terrible danger. Helena has to decide whether she will betray the man she is growing to love or the sister she adores.

I've never read any Stephanie Laurens, but a quick Wikipedia search shows me that she has written a truly staggering amount of romances, mostly focusing on the romantic exploits of various Cynster family members. This book is chronologically the first in the series and as such set in Georgian times, rather than the Regency. Sebastian and Helena are a fun couple and in some of their interactions, they reminded me of Falconbridge and Genevieve in Julie Anne Long's What I Did for a Duke. I suspect older, worldly, archly sarcastic nobleman and younger spirited woman will always bring that to mind now.

I bought the book in an Amazon sale more than a year ago, probably on the recommendation of Smart Bitches, Trashy Books (I buy a lot of romance that way) and promptly forgot about it until this month's Monthly Key Word Challenge, where it qualifies twice (promise and kiss). It's also set around Christmas, which made it impossible to pass up. It's a fun read, even though the main complication in the lovers' way involves a misunderstanding that could have been much more easily solved through simple conversation and honesty. Still, when the truth is out and all the cards are on the table, I will give Laurens thanks, because St. Cyr reacts in a very logical way to Helena's secrets and the resolution is both action packed and exciting. Possibly a bit silly and melodramatic, but I enjoyed it a lot. I'm not sure I'm going to be actively seeking out more of Laurens' books, but if they show up in another e-book sale, I'm not ruling out buying more.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR6 Book 134: "An Echo in the Bone" by Diana Gabaldon

Page count: 1126 pages
Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer! If you haven't read the previous six books in the series, there will be minor spoiler in this review. Proceed at your own risk. 

Having finally completed my epic re-read of the previous books in the series at a page count total that is frankly obscene, I finally got to read a new to me Diana Gabaldon. When this book first came out in 2009, I just didn't have the energy to expend on re-reading the whole series to catch up and I decided to just put it off. With book eight in the series being published earlier this year, the very entertaining TV series making me remember what I love so much about Gabaldon's writing and the excellent online company/support group I am part of over on Facebook to discuss the books with, I was a lot more motivated to get through the series now. Yet it still took me more than a month to get through this. 

There is so much I love about Gabaldon's writing. Jamie and Claire have been part of my life for a very long time, and I generally find most of the stuff involving them very interesting. But since pretty much book 3, these books aren't really just the continuing adventures of Jamie and Claire Fraser in the 18th Century. There's Brianna and Roger and their kids, now back in Scotland in the early 1980s (which I'm freaking out about a bit, because that's within MY lifetime). There is Jamie's best friend, Lord John Grey, who, when he's not trying to figure out why his niece is pretending to be madly in love with his stepson and hell bent on going to America to be reunited with him, goes about doing not much of anything obviously important or interesting for two thirds of this book. There's said stepson, Jamie's illegitimate offspring, William, the Eight Earl of Ellesmere, who is now a soldier in the British Army. He gets recruited for spy missions, but doesn't seem very good at it. He travels to Canada and back. There are letters between him and his stepfather which may be super interesting for people who are a lot more into the American War of Independence than I am, but to me, it was the literary equivalent of watching paint dry. So much boring.

Jamie and Claire have decided to go to Scotland to fetch Jamie's printing press. Jamie absolutely does not want to get involved in the war, because doing so might mean that he will face his son on the battlefield. The Frasers bring along their nephew, young Ian MacKenzie, because Jamie swore to his sister that he would bring the lad home, and while it's taken quite a long time, and Ian has both been adopted by a Native American tribe, married, divorced and experienced the loss of a child in that time, it would still be good for him to be reunited with his parents. Many many complications arise on their way. It again takes them the best end of the book to actually arrive in Scotland, but because much of their story was action packed and dramatic, I have no real complaint about their sections.

In the future, Roger and Bree have bought Lallybroch and are trying to make a home there. Bree gets a job working for the Scottish hydro-electric board, and Roger debates whether he wants to become a minister after all. They have a stash of letters written to them by Bree's parents, so they can follow along in the continuing adventures of Jamie and Claire, while worrying because they keep ending up in historically significant places and close to or in the midst of important events. Roger is trying to put down everything they know about time travel in writing and their family are settling in nicely when they have a very unexpected visitor about the same time as it is obvious that someone in the village not only knows about the gold Jamie and Claire hid way back in the 18th Century, but are willing to go to rather extreme steps to get to it.

As I said, far more of the book than I cared about is devoted to young William Ransom and Lord John Grey. I love Lord John, he's a great supporting character. I laugh every time I think about how Bree tried to coerce him into marriage. Reading about him in London, talking to his brother about irrelevant family matters, or travelling to France to speak to uninteresting individuals or generally just worrying about the safety of his immediate or extended family was super dull. Reading about William was even more boring, and as this was the first time I read the book, I had no idea which bits I could skim or even skip (now I know). There are seriously multiple chapters devoted to William lost in a swamp, deliriously wandering. Not cool, Diana Gabaldon, not cool. He does eventually have his life saved by young Ian in said swamp, but really, there are better ways those two characters could cross paths.

Not content with a supporting character gallery into double figures already, Gabaldon also introduces some new individuals in this book. William's cousin Dottie seems pretty spunky, for all that she's the sheltered daughter of a Duke. It's very obvious to the reader early on that her and William's story about being madly in love is a clever fiction, but it takes much of the book for the reader to discover why Dottie would go to such lengths to get herself to America. Young Ian, who loved and lost his Native American wife, falls in love again with a Quaker, Rachel Hunter. She and her brother Denzell, who is a doctor, join the Continental army as healers and I very much enjoyed everything with them.

I would have rated this book 3 stars based on the first two thirds, but then things really start coming together and becoming super exciting in the last third. It's quite telling that it took me more than a month to read the first two thirds, and about two days to get through the last third. Jamie and Claire finally make it to Scotland. We get to see Jenny and Ian again, and young Ian is reunited with his family. William and young Ian are both clearly a bit in love with Rachel Hunter. There is quite a lot of interaction between William, Ian, Claire and even Jamie. The bits having to do with the Battle of Saratoga were actually quite exciting. While they're in Scotland, Claire discovers that one of Fergus and Marsali's children desperatey needs surgery, so she returns alone to America. There are heart-breaking confirmed deaths, dramatic presumed deaths, dangerous surgeries being performed successfully, lovers reunited, terrible vengeance nearly wreaked, surprise time travellers from the past, abductions, marriages of convenience, long kept family secrets revealed - so much awesome and drama in only a few hundred pages. Why did I have to spend so much time reading about William in a swamp, Diana, when you are capable of such great things? Why not edit your books more!?!

With so many characters and storylines, Gabaldon also gets to have multiple cliffhangers towards the end of her book, making me really very excited for book 8. I'm now glad that I waited as long as I did to catch up, because (once I am done reading the books I need to complete my various reading challenges) I can go straight into Written in My Own Heart's Blood, which has been rated very highly by those Cannonballers who have already read it, and also appears to be only about 850 pages long, so the shortest book in the series for ages. Due to the excellent ending of this book, I'm now all anticipation.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR6 Book 133: "The Blue Sword" by Robin McKinley

Page count: 256 pages
Rating: 5 stars

Having finally read The Hero and the Crown, it felt like it was time for a re-read of the Damar book I had actually read. The Blue Sword is set many centuries after Aerin the Dragon Slayer saved her kingdom from magical threat. Damarians now seem to be chiefly desert dwelling nomads and expert horsemen. They are now threatened both by magic wielding enemies to the north and ignorant colonists from the Homeland (read: Imperialist Britain). Corlath, the Damarian king tries to propose an alliance with the foreigners, but is ignored. He is surprised when his kelar, the magical gift (a bit like clairvoyance, but can also manifest itself in healing powers or destructive ability) all Damarian royals possess tells him that he needs to bring one of the Homeland females with him back to his people.

Burdened with the cumbersome name of Angharad Crewe, it's no surprise our heroine would rather go by Harry. Having come out to join her brother, a soldier stationed near the Damarian border after their father dies, Harry is not much like other the young ladies of gentle birth. She's tall and striking, rather impatient and more interested in riding and adventure than needlepoint and dancing. She finds the wild landscape of the desert beautiful and is just beginning to settle when she wakes up, discovering that desert warriors have abducted her and apparently intend to keep her as some sort of highly honoured hostage. Corlath treats her with every courtesy, she sleeps in his tent, eats her meals seated at his left hand and is allowed to take part in his counsels (not that she understands all that much of the foreign language in the beginning). When she drinks from the Damarians' special water, it starts to become clear why Corlath was compelled by his magic to take her from her own people - despite being a foreigner, she too has kelar and powerful enough that she can make others share in her visions of the future.

In one of her first visions, the legendary Lady Aerin appears to Harry and with threats looming at every turn, Corlath decides that a damalur-sol, a Lady Hero might be exactly what his people need to give them hope and aid them in their coming war. Harry learns to ride like the Damarians, controlling a spirited horse without bridle or stirrups. She becomes proficient with a sword and learns to speak the language. She befriends one of the big desert cats and gets to take part in the trials to find new King's Riders. During her stay with the Damarians, Harry becomes well liked and everyone seems impressed and genuinely pleased when she emerges the victor of the Rider trials (only unable to defeat a disguised Corlath himself). The longer she spends time with Corlath and his nomads, the more comfortable she becomes there. As attack is imminent, it becomes obvious to Harry that Corlath is ignoring a serious security breach and she may have to risk everything she's achieved and defy his will to ensure the safety of all the people she's grown to love.

If Aerin was a bit of an odd duck and outsider among her own people, Harry is much more so. Being quite the independent tomboy, she doesn't really fit in with her own peers and when she is abducted by Corlath, she is a literal Outlander, a stranger in a strange land. Unlike many of her fellow Homelanders, Harry is curious and open minded and with the exception of being magically drugged and spirited away from her bed in the middle of the night, she is extremely well treated by her abductor. Corlath only knows that he has to follow the calling of his kelar and when he discovers that Harry too is magically gifted, and rather strongly so as well, it becomes more clear to him why he was compelled to kidnap her. His country and people need her and being a clever leader and a good reader of people, he uses the opportunity Harry's visions of Aerin presents and has her groomed into a heroine and powerful symbol. Giving her Lady Aerin's legendary sword and making sure she is trained by the best, he helps to turn Harry into a motivating figure for his people.

Corlath might have been a dislikable character for kidnapping Harry, but it's clear that he has little choice in the matter when his hereditary magic takes control. The kelar that the leaders of Damar (as well as some of its other citizens) is gifted with can be as much a crippling curse as a gift. It's clear that ruling a dwindling kingdom threatened by foreign colonials and magically powerful enemies intent on conquest is no easy task, yet Corlath is beloved and respected, not just by his loyal Riders, but all his subjects. He never treats Harry with anything but the utmost respect and with the passage of time, they grow gradually closer.

Harry is thrown into a situation that might have made anyone freak out, but deals remarkably with it. Clearly an adventurous spirit, as soon as it's clear that she's in no danger with Corlath and his people, she tries to learn as much as possible about her new surroundings and the new culture she's become thrust into. She's polite, kind and works diligently to learn her new skills. When she arrives in the desert, she cannot mount a horse without aid, and some months later, she's good enough that she bests all the challengers and wins one of the coveted spots as King's Rider. She tries her best to fit in, but cannot ignore the lessons she's learned as the sister of a military man. Seeing that Corlath's enemies might gain a serious advantage if a strategic mountain pass goes undefended, she risks everything by going off alone to seek aid from the Homeland soldiers to secure the pass.

As well as being a wonderful adventure novel, there is also a subtle and slow-burning romance in the book which completely knocked my socks off the first time I read the book. For all that it's not really openly acknowledged by Corlath or Harry for much of the book, it's quite obvious that they are perfect for each other and it takes an excruciatingly long time before they admit their feelings to themselves or the other. I loved the book the first time I read it, and having now read the prequel, which gives this book even more depth, I am gratified that I enjoyed it just as much now as when I first discovered it. Such a lovely little book.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR6 Book 132: "Never Judge a Lady by Her Cover" by Sarah Maclean

Page count: 384 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars

Spoiler warning! It is actually IMPOSSIBLE for me to write about this book without spoiling some pretty major developments that involve all three former Rules for Scoundrels books. If you haven't already read No Good Duke Goes Unpunished, PLEASE stay away from this review and return once you're caught up. You'll enjoy this book so much more if you heed my advice.

The previous three books in the Rules for Scoundrels series told the story of the disgraced noblemen who opened The Fallen Angel, an exclusive and scandalous gambling club in the middle of Mayfair. All deferring to the founder, the mysterious and reclusive, Chase, three other notorious aristocrats are the public face of the club. The Marquess of Bourne lost his entire fortune in one card game and swore revenge on the man who cheated him of his inheritance. Cross, the Earl of Harlow (driven to destruction by the death of his brother) and Temple, the Duke of Lamont (accused of murdering his father's fiancee the night before her wedding) were rescued by Chase when about to be beaten and possibly killed by a London gangs for their rigged games. Over the course of the series, all three men have found redemption of a sorts in the eyes of society and are happily married to the women of their dreams.

Frequently, the final book in a romance series is saved for the darkest, most complicated and emotionally messed up characters, more often than not the hero, as romance heroines seem to be less prone to extremely emo behaviour. There are exceptions, of course Chase is certainly the most mysterious, and a fascinating and complex individual. What is revealed at the end of book three in this series, however, is that the founder of The Fallen Angel, the mysterious mastermind who controls three other powerful men, the reclusive genius who possesses all the secrets and blackmail material worth knowing, is in fact a woman. Both the daughter of and sister of a Duke, Lady Georgina Pearson lived a sheltered life, desperate for affection, until she believed herself in love with a handsome stable hand and became a scandal. An unwed mother at sixteen, she became a cautionary tale to others in "polite" society, gossipped about and shunned. Liberated from the strictures of the same society, Georgina didn't particularly mind so much until the gossip started hurting her beloved daughter. Motivated initially by a desire for revenge, she acquired the funds to start the club, recruited partners who had been as unfairly cast out and judged by the aristocracy as herself and over the course of six years, positioned herself to become possibly the most powerful influence in London.

In addition to her secret identity as Chase, Georgiana has a more public persona in the club, as Anna, the courtesan believed to be Chase's mistress, and a prostitute with very exclusive tastes. Hiding in plain sight, wearing bright colours, wigs, flashy makeup and flirting with the patrons, Georgiana is able to move about the club and interact with its members, who all believe her to be Chase's emissary. No one becomes a member of The Fallen Angel except by invitation and the only way to gain membership is with secrets. Georgiana and her partners have files on all the powerful and influential men and women in London and won't hesitate to use their secrets to devastating effects if the debts owed to the club are not paid promptly. They release juicy tidbits to Duncan West, newspaper magnate and self-made man, who increases his circulation because of the choice gossip.

After a malicious cartoon was published in The Scandal Sheet, the gossip magazine owned by West, Georgiana is forced to rethink her priorities. Caroline, her daughter, is nearly ten and Georgiana is worried that her scandalous past is going to keep her child from the life and opportunities that said daughter deserves. Whether it's being raised in the country by relatives or kept locked up in a London Casino, neither situation is ideal for a child. Every time they go out into Society, there is gossip, and people are rarely kind enough to shield the child from snide remarks. Even other children judge and condescend. As a result, Georgina has decided to find a titled husband. One whose influence will shield Caroline and give her the future she deserves. It needs to be a man satisfied with a marriage of convenience, as Georgiana has no intention of letting herself fall under the power of another man, ever again.

At a ball early in the season, after verbally eviscerating a young lady who not only dared insult Georgiana herself, but Caroline, Georgiana runs into Duncan, who apologises for the cartoon and wants to make amends by using his influence and his newspapers to make her a big hit in Society. He promises to help her land the husband she wants, because while he's instantly drawn to her, he knows he could never be a suitable match for her. Duncan West has secrets in his past he cannot reveal, and understands Georgiana's protective instincts because he too possesses them in spades. When he figures out that Georgiana and Anna are in fact the same person, he's convinced that the reason she lives this double life is because Chase must have a hold over her, and he becomes determined to free this fascinating woman from Chase's nefarious influence. If he can't have her, he wants to make sure she is married to a good man who will protect her and Caroline.

Once I finished No Good Duke Goes Unpunished back in November of last year, with what I'm quite sure was an audible gasp and some creative swearing, I went back and pored over the first three book in the Rules for Scoundrels series, checking every single scene where Chase appears, to see if Maclean even once slipped up with her use of pronouns. But cleverly, in every scene with Chase, no pronouns are used at all. There are only a select few characters in all the books that know that Chase is a woman, and as most of Society believe Chase to be male, they obviously use male pronouns. Once I went back and reread the books for clues, it became obvious to me that Anna was also clearly Chase, but it wasn't until the opening pages of this book that it was revealed that she was actually Lady Georgiana, first introduced in Ten Ways to Be Adored When Landing a Lord, as a minor, but rather significant supporting characters in the final two books of the Love by Numbers trilogy. Maclean has clearly been planning this for a long time.

Georgiana, or Chase, is absolutely badass. She realises very quickly that having her reputation effectively demolished by her impulsive tryst is actually more a benefit to her, than a burden. She's not actually particularly bothered by all the malicious and often hypocritical things she overhears about herself. When it comes to her daughter, she's a lioness, however, and shows no mercy when it comes to wreaking her revenge. Chase has files on everyone, is owed favours by everyone worth knowing and knows exactly how to wield her influence to inflict the most damage. Georgiana doesn't actually want a husband, but feels that this is the only possible solution to ensure the appropriate future for her daughter. She never once stops to reflect on how happy she herself was to escape the strictures of being a Duke's coddled but emotionally ignored daughter. Behind the scenes as Chase, Georgiana is the most powerful person in London. She gets to enjoy the everyday life of her gambling club as Anna, protected from too many unpleasant advances both by the belief of most patrons that she "belongs" to Chase and because Bourne, Cross and Temple make very sure that men know that Anna is off limits. Marrying, even purely for convenience and to protect her child means she will have to cut down on the time she spends running her business empire. The thought doesn't sit well with Georgiana.

While she's convinced herself that she has to have a titled husband to secure Caroline's future, her bargain with Duncan West means she suddenly spends a lot more time around a man she's long found dangerously attractive. Having occasionally met with West in the guise of Anna, Georgiana has forced herself to stay professional around him, sometimes flirting, but going no further. Now, as she's set on marrying, she convinces herself that she may be permitted a brief fling before she actually settles down into her new life as an aristocrat's wife.

Duncan, who always found Anna alluring, but Georgiana irresistible is powerless to refuse her advances. He's furious because he believes Chase has a sexual and emotional hold over her, deeply jealous that she intends to marry another, yet his past and the secrets he hides makes it impossible for him to offer for her as he would wish. West is a suitable match for the formidable Georgiana. She's strong, fiercely intelligent, observant, driven and logical. West brings out her irrational, passionate side. He too is extremely smart and known as the "hardest working man in London". He was given a lucky break with his first gossip rag and made himself the most influential newspaper magnate in the city. He attends society functions, but always observes from the sidelines. He's deeply aware that he's not a gentleman and will never become one. He doesn't dance. He's as protective of his eccentric spinster sister as Georgiana is of her daughter. His drive to keep those he loves safe makes him blind to some of the truths he would have realised about Georgiana/Anna and everything she tells him about Chase, if he'd only been able to stay cool and objective. Chase is an alpha heroine, and could never settle for a man that was less than her. West is a very good partner for her, but they both share both admirable and annoying qualities. I'm glad Duncan figured out very early on that Georgiana and Anna were the same, but it takes a frustratingly long time for the full truth about Chase to be revealed to him (against the express advice and wishes of all of Chase's three business partners).

This book was very good and I laughed several times while reading it. There were absolutely steamy scenes and I enjoyed that while Georgiana and Duncan both have a wealth of secrets they are keeping from each other and the world, they are generally not all that emotionally messed up. I wasn't a big fan of the villain in this book and the final act of the story got a bit farcical. Parts of the resolution wrapped up a little bit too conveniently without any wider repercussions for the characters, but Maclean's endings are frequently the weakest parts of her stories. This is still a great romance and I suspect I will have to go back and read all six books that involve Georgiana to fully get an idea of how long a game Maclean has been playing. I'm also very much looking forward to her book The Rogue Not Taken, out sometime in the New Year.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR6 Book 131: "The Hero and the Crown" by Robin McKinley

Page count: 225 pages
Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer! This was granted to me by Open Road Integrated Media through NetGalley in return for a fair and unbiased review.

Aerin is the lonely, ostracised daughter of the ruler of Damar. She has pale skin and fiery red hair amongst a people who are bronzed with dark hair. She cannot even remember who first told her the story, but she has known for as long as she can remember that her mother was a commoner witch-woman who came from the North, who ensorcelled the king into marrying her, swearing she would bear him an heir. When she bore a daughter, she died of despair. While most of the common folk and the servants love her for her gentle, generous and unspoiled manner and the fact that she has taken upon herself to rid the countryside of the small, yet fierce dragons who threaten livestock and snatch the occasional baby to eat. The higher born, especially most of her royal cousins are deeply scornful of her, calling her names, mocking her and never letting her forget her half-blood status.

The one exception is Tor, the heir to the throne, one of her cousins. Since she was young, he has been kind to her, and he has taught her to ride, to use a sword and other soldierly arts. As she comes of age, it becomes very obvious to everyone in Damar that Tor is in love with the witch-woman's daughter. That she has managed to combine herbs to make a fire-proof ointment to help her hunt dragons or successfully trained the king's old, injured war horse back to health is turned into sinister and negative things rather than admirable and impressive ones.

There is more discord spreading in Damar, and the common belief is that all the problems would be solved if the ancient crown, lost some generations ago, was found. Even after Aerin is nearly killed, becoming severely damaged when single-handedly killing Maur, one of the enormous, ancient dragons, the popular opinion of the court is against her. While recovering, she has dreams about a mysterious man, who claims she needs to find him, so he can aid her further in saving Damar, and when she's at her absolute lowest, convinced everyone will be better off without her, she goes off to find him. Can Luthe, this stranger from her dreams, heal her and train her into facing her greatest fears? If she fails, it means the destruction of Damar and all the people she loves.

In late September, I started reading Robin McKinley's most recent book, Shadows, which I didn't even make it a third through before I had to abandon it. It was written in some made up teen speak and the characters and story was so unengaging that I just didn't have the patience to finish it. Now, considering the literary quality of some of the books I HAVE managed to read this year, this says a lot. So when I was offered one of her classic works through Netgalley, the prequel to possibly my favourite of her books The Blue Sword, which I will be re-reading as soon as I can dig out my paperback (as it sadly doesn't exist in e-book format yet), it seemed like a very good way of getting the figurative bad taste out of my mouth.

While Aerin has a pretty sucky childhood, growing up with only the older Tor or her maid as her closest friends, she seems to grow more confident, or at least less self-conscious and bothered about what others think of her and the possible motives of her long dead mother. She's brave, kind and persistent, with a gift for scientific thought that allows her, after years of trial and error, to recreate a long believed to be mythical ointment that is immune to dragon fire. Her patience and perseverance wins her the loyalty of her father's injured and anti-social war horse, who through the training that Aerin slowly coaxes him to do, eventually becomes almost his old self again.

Her father and Tor clearly love her, and it is made clear that many people in rural Damar see her as a hero. Yet Aerin cannot get over the constant digs and misgivings from those around her, and their malicious gossip is also what lets her fall under the spell of the evil dragon Maur, whose powers don't diminish even though he has been killed. Some enterprising people drag his skull back to the capital, and the dragon's malevolence, combined with the horrible burns (her ointment doesn't work against the fire of ancient dragons) and injuries she sustained, nearly kills her.

This is a great book, generally aimed for a middle grade to younger adult audience, I think. Aerin is a wonderful role model for young women. She's an outcast, but works to overcome her many challenges. She rarely masters something on the first try, all Mary Sue like, but practises and trains, using her perseverance and inner strength to succeed. She is loyal and brave, risking her life time and time again at thankless tasks, only to have most of those who should have been her strongest allies undermine her and gossip about her perceived evil intentions. While I didn't love it as much as some other McKinley books, I'm so glad I got a chance to read this, especially after Shadows turned out to be such a disappointment. Turns out that McKinley's early career is a lot more to my taste than her recent literary efforts.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR6 Book 125: "The Outsiders" by Susan E. Hinton

Page count: 190 pages
Rating: 5 stars

Ponyboy Curtis is an orphan. He lives with his two older brothers, Darry, who works construction and Sodapop, who dropped out of school to work in a garage to help support the family. Ponyboy and his friends are Greasers, kids with leather jackets and long, grease-slicked hair from working class backgrounds, often with a lot of trouble at home. Quite a few of the Greasers are part of gangs and having a criminal record isn't all that uncommon.

Ponyboy would much rather be a Greaser with no parents than a Soc, however. The rich, privileged society kids with their expensive cars and their letterman jackets, whose favourite pasttime is teaming up to beat up Greasers. Ponyboy is the baby of the gang, and clearly the one with enough smarts and academic prospects to have a chance of getting a good college scholarship and making something promising with his life. Darry had to give up on his college dreams when their parents died, and Sodapop would much rather work on cars than go to school.

While the clashes between the Socs and the Greasers can get pretty rough, they tend to be broken up before anyone can get badly hurt. One fateful evening, when Ponyboy and the badly traumatised Johnny Cade are attacked by a gang of drunken Socs who get particularly threatening, everything goes to hell. Ponyboy and Johnny go on the run, hiding out from the cops in a countryside church. When there's an unexpected fire, the boys get a chance to show that hoodlums from the wrong side of the tracks can make a real difference.

The Outsiders was one of my favourite books as a young teen. I can't entirely remember how old I first read this book, but I can vividly remember my reaction to it. I stayed up way later than was sensible, considering it was a school night to finish it, and I cried so hard that I couldn't see the pages anymore. Big, racking sobs and full on ugly crying. I remember being amazed that the author was only fifteen when she started writing the book. Is it a literary masterpiece? No, probably not, it's a fairly simplistic story but it's a compelling novel written by a teenager, in the voice of another teenager and having re-read it for the first time in about fifteen years, in English for the first time, I was still really strongly emotionally affected by it.

Unfortunately, I no longer remember exactly what I thought about the social situation of the various Greasers described in this book, nor what I felt about Ponyboy's strained relationship with his oldest brother. Now, as an adult, I probably see a lot of the relationships in this book from a very different perspective. I still cried a lot at certain sections of the book, but I suspect I cried the hardest at other parts than when I was a young teen. I can't objectively judge the quality of this book, because it's such a powerful piece of nostalgia for me, and will always be an emotional reading experience for me. My husband has never read the book, nor watched the film (which I'd love to rewatch now, having not seen it for about as long as since I last read the book), and I plan to read this out loud to him, as he, early in our relationship, read me The Hobbit and The Wind in the Willows.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR6 Book 122: "The Lady Most Willing: A Novel in Three Parts" by Julia Quinn, Eloisa James and Connie Brockway

Page count: 384 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars

Taran Ferguson has decided that if left to their own devices, his two nephews are never going to get their act together and find suitable brides. So just before Christmas, he takes matters into his own hands, rallies his faithful retainers, rides over to the neighbouring estate where there is a house party at present and kidnaps the three likeliest young women. Only because it's dark and things got rather confusing, they end up with four ladies and one really rather pissed off Duke, who happened to be sleeping in the carriage the drunken Scotsmen stole to transport the kidnapping victims in.

Ferguson's nephews, the Earl of Easton (poetically named Byron) and the Comte de Rocheforte (Robin), who also happens to be Ferguson's heir, are both appalled. There is nothing they can do about returning the ladies, as a terrible snowstorm has ensured that everyone will have to stay put in the ice cold, drafty castle for at least three days until the road has cleared again. So we have a Laird, a Duke, an Earl and a Comte and very conveniently, there are also four young women. Lady Cecily Tarleton is the wealthy and beautiful daughter of the neighbouring estate and Ferguson seems very determined that one of his nephews chose her as a bride, as she comes with a generous dowry and has substantial social standing. She is, however, English. There are also the local heiresses, Fiona and Marilla Chisholm, the former pretty much doomed to become a spinster after her reputation was ruined when her erstwhile fiancee died, falling from her bedroom window (that Fiona had not invited him in the first place, let alone allowed him to touch her inappropriately in any way seems to be irrelevant to the local gossips). She's resigned to her fate by now and has determined to take her money and travel to exotic places. Her younger sister Marilla is terribly spoiled and a shameless flirt, revelling in the opportunity to find herself a titled match due to their sudden abduction. Miss Catriona Burns is the daughter of the local squire, swept up by accident. She knows that she has neither the dowry or the social status appropriate to make any sort of match with the men of the party, so she won't have to make an effort to impress anyone either.

Over the course of the next few days when the couples are trapped, unsurprisingly there are four convenient matches made. Normally, I would be very uncomfortable with the abduction, the forced matchmaking, the not one, not two, but four cases of insta-love that a story like this requires and the huge amounts of disbelief I would need to suspend to fully accept the developments in this story. Julia Quinn, Eloisa James and Connie Brockway (who is the only author of the trio whose books I have never read before) are excellent writers, however and because it's such a frothy, silly book that pretty much dares you to scoff at it, it sweeps you off your feet and charms you instead.

Fellow Cannonballer NTE reviewed this back in September, which is what made me remember that I bought it in an e-book sale way back when and had it buried in my Calibre library. Her review (I'm going to be terribly gender stereotyping here and assume that a reader of romance is a woman) made me dig it back out and I read it. It was a very quick read and I pretty much blazed through it. Naturally, because there are eight protagonists of a sort and they all have to fall madly in love with each other while snowed in at a freezing castle in the Scottish Highlands (it may actually be the Lowlands too, but that doesn't sound as fun, somehow), there isn't all that much time for a lot of character development. Each person tends to have one or two defining character traits and they don't muck around for long before falling into each other's arms. I did like how often it was pointed out that Ferguson's castle really was dreadfully drafty, difficult to heat, generally very shabby and not actually equipped to comfortably house so many unexpected guests in the style to which they are generally accustomed. That aspect of the book was very well done. Having enjoyed this book as much as I did, I was delighted to discover that this is actually the second collaboration from the three authors. I think I'm going to have to go seek out The Lady Most Likely as well.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR6 Book 120: "The Season" by Sarah Maclean

Page count: 352 pages
Rating: 2.5 stars

Lady Alexandra Stafford is the only daughter of some nobleman or other (I can't be bothered to go back and check what her exact rank is). She has several tall and attractive brothers who delight in teasing her and generally try their best not to have to accompany her to society events during her first Season. She also has two best friends, Ella and Vivi. They were fairly interchangeable. All three are opinionated, bookish, not really all that interested in marriage and have known each other most of their lives.

Alexandra, annoyingly called Alex a lot of the book, has a mother determined to match make her and her brothers. They need good matches, but especially Alexandra, who finds dress fittings, balls and dinner parties dreary. When her brothers' best friend Gavin, who came into the title of Earl of Blackmoor when his father died suddenly, is convinced that there is foul play afoot and starts investigating his death, Alexandra and her friends insist on helping out. Alexandra also discovers that Gavin looks mighty fine in formal wear, and maybe balls aren't quite so dull if she can dance with him. How has she never noticed how attractive he is? Could it be that she's not as opposed to romantic love and marriage as she thought?

I love Sarah Maclean. I rate most of her historical romances very highly and am waiting with bated breath for the release of the final book in her Rules for Scoundrels series at the end of November. This young adult Regency romance was her first book and the only one I had yet to read. I'm sorry to say that I found it almost painfully dull in places. I'm amazed that only a year after she published The Season, which has uninteresting or plain non-existent characterisation, an incredibly predictable plot, heavy-handed exposition and a deeply uninspiring romance, there was Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake, the first volume in the Ralston trilogy, a book which seems as if it was written by a completely different person.

I can only assume that Maclean actually wrote The Season years before her other romances and spent some time honing her craft. I now consider her one of my very favourite historical romance writers and have re-read several of her books multiple times. This is not a book I will be re-reading. Frankly, it's a book I will try my very best to forget. I really wish I hadn't decided to be such a completist now. Still, having read this, her later romances are even more remarkable achievements. If this is what she started with, then I'm even more impressed with the skill she writes now.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR6 Book 117: "Jackaby" by William Ritter

Page count: 304 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars

 From the Goodreads synopsis, because it's been a month since I read it, and the blurb is part of what drew me in:

Newly arrived in New Fiddleham, New England, 1892, and in need of a job, Abigail Rook meets R.F. Jackaby, an investigator of the unexplained with a keen eye for the extraordinary - including the ability to see supernatural beings. Abigail has a gift for noticing ordinary but important details, which makes her perfect for the position of Jackaby's assistant. On her first day, Abigail finds herself in the midst of a thrilling case: A serial killer on the loose. The police are convinced it's an ordinary villain, but Jackaby is certain it's a nonhuman creature, whose existence the police - with the exception of a handsome young detective named Charlie Cane - deny. 

Doctor Who meets Sherlock in William Ritter's debut novel which features a detective of the paranormal as seen through the eyes of his adventurous and intelligent assissant in a tale brimming with cheeky humour and a dose of the macabre. 

I can absolutely see why the publishers decided to mention both Doctor Who and Sherlock in an attempt to draw readers to this book, which I first saw mentioned by The Book Smugglers. The gorgeous cover and the interesting blurb made me curious, and I saved the book to read during October's 24-hour Readathon. I'm glad I did. I'm assuming the Doctor Who comparisons come from the fact that we see the story through the eyes of a clever young woman, like so many of the Doctor's companions through the years. Jackaby himself is clearly at least partly modelled on Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock, both in looks and mannerisms. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional detective is even name checked early in the book. Yet there is a supernatural twist to this Victorian mystery, involving a number of creatures from Gaelic mythology. There are ghosts, a man turned into a duck, a werewolf and some fairly gruesome murders.

Abigail Rook is a delightful narrator. Having run away from her family's expectations to join an archaeological dig (and finding it rather dull), she ends up on a ship to America. Trying to find a job, so she doesn't have to return home, she meets the eccentric and mysterious Jackaby, who's looking for a new assistant. He's not at all sure she is suited for the position, but after accompanying him to a crime scene and impressing him with her quick thinking and admirable common sense, a nice balance to his own off-beat thinking, he agrees to keep her on for a trial basis.

Having been granted room and board, Abigail discovers that Jackaby's landlady appears to be the ghost of the woman who once owned the house, one of his former assistants is now a duck who lives by a pond on the third floor and there are more things between heaven and earth than was dreamt of in her philosophy. As it becomes obvious that they're dealing with a dangerous serial killer, Ms. Rook grows closer to Charlie Cane, probably the only police detective in New Fiddleham who will give Jackaby the time of day.

I figured out the identity of the murderer fairly early on in the story, but it didn't detract from my enjoyment in the slightest, as the main thrust of the story doesn't really seem to be unmasking the killer, but just watching Abigail and Jackaby's partnership develop. I loved that there isn't even a hint of romance between the two of them, although there are romantic possibilities elsewhere in the story. I loved the faerie elements and the various supernatural entities that make up part of Jackaby's world. While Abigail can see some of them, she is in some ways the Scully to his Mulder, and there is nothing wrong with that. The story had a very nice build towards a very tense and dramatic conclusion, the world building is creative, the characters are lots of fun to spend time with. As this is Ritter's debut novel, I have no idea if he is planning any more books about the characters, but the ending is open enough that there are promising possibilities. I will happily spend more time with Ms. Abigail Rook and her strange boss.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read,

#CBR6 Book 116: "X Marks the Scot" by Victoria Roberts

Page count: 352 pages
Rating: 2 stars

It will come as no surprise to anyone who actually bothers to read my blog, or check out my Cannonball progress, that I read a LOT. So much so that, fingers crossed, while I severely doubt I will be able to complete the triple Cannonball this year (it nearly killed all my joy of reading last year), if I actually manage to complete my current backlog of reviews and keep going, I will at least have completed more than two and a half the requirement, which isn't shabby, by any means.

Because just competitively reading and blogging and collecting money for cancer charities as a nice bonus somehow wasn't enough, last year, inspired by one of my chief CBR competitors, Jen K (who sadly has not updated her blog since July), I started finding reading challenges. All sorts of reading challenges, to force myself to vary my reading material a bit and occasionally force me out of my comfort zone. One of the challenges I'm doing this year is Alphabet Soup, where you try to read one book starting with each letter of the alphabet (you're allowed to remove articles like a, an and the from the start of the book) and for Q, X and Z the word with the challenge letter can actually be anywhere in the title. But where's the fun in that? So this year, I decided to try to see if I could find books that ACTUALLY started with all the letters of the alphabet. No convenient shortcuts (we'll see what happens with Q and Z, the only two letters I now have left this year).

This long preamble is all to justify why I would ever have voluntarily read X Marks the Scot. The title is dumb enough that I might have been tempted, but the cover, with a bronzed, oiled Highlander * didn't exactly fill me with confidence. I read a lot of romance, though, and so when the universe saw fit to provide me with one starting with X (there are not a whole lot of books out there in ANY genre with titles starting with X), I pretty much had to give it a go.

* Seriously, have ANY of the cover designers for these things ever been to Scotland? Especially the Scottish Highlands - it is not a place to run around shirtless, and you would have to work pretty hard to get a tan. I used to live in Scotland, and I rarely in my six years there had to worry about getting sun burned.

So what is this glorious piece of fortuitous fiction about, you ask? Apparently the second book in the series awesomely titled Bad Boys of the Highlands, because OF COURSE it is, this book concerns the romance of Declan MacGregor and Lady Liadain Campbell. They clearly originally met in the first book, where there appears to have been some sort of kidnapping plot orchestrated by Liadain's evil half-brother (now executed for his crimes), where Liadain selflessly risked her life to save women and children from the MacGregor clan and at some point there was a rescue operation where Declan's dagger ended up against Liadain's throat. Don't you just love those 17th Century meet cutes? Now Liadain is a ward of King James (VI of Scotland, I of England) and the Campbell lands are her very tempting dowry. Declan keeps hanging around the court, allegedly to keep an eye on Liadain, and it's clear that they find each other very attractive even though they're clans were mortal enemies. Not that this stops Declan from sowing his wild oats all over the place and showing off his wicked archery skills. This bad boy of the Highlands has no plans of settling down.

Liadain was the healer of her family (because of course she was) and as she plies her healing trades, malicious tongues start whispering about witchcraft. Declan is worried about this and asks her to be more circumspect. Conveniently to the plot, Liadain's ex, one of the king's trusted advisers show up, and because he's also worried that Liadain may be accused of witchcraft, he cunningly orchestrates an archery competition where the Campbell lands are the prize. Of course Declan wins it. But oh noes! There's a catch. The only way to get the lands is by marrying the lady whose dowry it is. You don't really refuse to marry one of the king's wards, especially when it's extremely beneficial to you and your family and so Declan and Liadain are stuck with each other until death do them part.

Which may be sooner than they may have thought, as this book also happens to take place right around the time of the Gunpowder Plot, yup that one, with Guy Fawkes and "Remember, remember, the fifth of November". Oh yes. A number of noblemen plotting to assassinate King James, and for reasons that never became clear to me, although I think they may have involved gaining control of the Campbell lands, Declan is implicated as one of the chief conspirators (despite the fact that being very publicly back on route to his new estate in the Scottish Highlands should have been ample alibi for anyone). It's very dumb.

Suffice to say, this is not a great book. If it hadn't been such a perfect fit for my reading challenge, combined with the fact that I'm really rather stubborn and a book has to be either exceptionally awful or very long for me to abandon it, I probably wouldn't have finished it. I am quite certain that I'm not going to go out of my way to seek out any other books by Victoria Roberts. I am certainly not going to bother reading the other two books in the series. If you're curious, it's not an awful book, by any means, and I did get a kick of the way the Gunpowder plot was shoe-horned to add drama to the story. There is, however, so much GOOD romance out there. Why would you read sub-par stuff. Unless you too are doing an A to Z challenge. In that case, you're welcome - here is the book you need for X.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR6 Book 114: "The Wicked Wallflower" by Maya Rodale

Page count: 384 pages
Rating: 3 stars

One evening, when Lady Emma Avery, popularly known in the ton as "London's Least Likely to Misbehave" is getting drunk with her two best friends (who are also wallflowers who will be meeting their intended husbands in later books). While she isn't noticed by most of polite society, Emma does have a young man whom she dreams of a future with, but after three years, he's still not shown any signs of proposing to her. Her friends joke about how she might get more attention if she announced her betrothal to the most eligible bachelor in town, the Duke of Ashbrooke, and even pen a fake announcement.

Emma is appalled when she realises the fake announcement has been printed and everyone suddenly thinks she's snagged the Duke of Ashbrooke without anyone even noticing. Ashbrooke himself is rather amused to find he's engaged to a woman he's never met, but considering his business ventures are currently suffering because of his reputation as a rake and a libertine, being romantically linked with one of the most proper and respectable misses in London can only count in his favour. He also has an eccentric old aunt who every year forces all her relatives to compete in a series of random and unpredictable trials at her country seat. The winner becomes the heir to her fantabulous fortune for until the next trials are completed. Ashbrooke has never won, but very much needs the money to finance his new inventions and believes that bringing Lady Emma along may improve his chances. He therefore convinces Emma to agree to pose as his fiancee, promising to split the fortune with her if they win this year's trials. As Emma doesn't really have any dowry to speak of, and believes that may be why her reluctant suitor is still undeclared, the promise of a massive fortune (as well as the chance to spend some time with the ridiculously attractive Ashbrooke) gets her to agree.

Ashbrooke is used to any woman falling for him within minutes and turns on all of his considerable charm to win Emma over. She keeps her beloved Benedict firmly in her mind and while she's melting on the inside, refuses to show Ashbrooke how he affects her. Naturally this just makes him more determined to seduce her. As they are forced to fake their infatuation, spend copious amounts of time together and even write fake love letters to one another to support the story of their secret whirlwind love affair, Emma's feelings for Ashbrooke grow stronger, while she's also worried that the minute she succumbs to him, he'll get bored and dump her.

What I like about the book is the portrayal of female friendships. Emma and her friends have a realistic relationship, and I also actually liked Emma's Mean Girl nemesis. You rarely see women in romance actually getting together and getting drunk, or even spending all that much time together except as rivals for the same guy. Sadly, most of the book is focused on Emma and Blake and the many zany things they have to do to amuse his cranky old aunt, but I appreciated their presence in the beginning of the book. I liked Blake's relationship with his aunt and how they would say really mean things to each other to mask their true emotions. Blake was orphaned at an early age and his aunt was one of the few people who gave him emotional support without coddling him. While there was absolutely a slightly mercenary aspect to him competing for her money, the reader is never in doubt that he loves her, and part of the reason he even travels to the competition is to spend more time with his ailing aunt.

As the inimitable Mrs. Julien has already pointed out, this book passes the time agreeably enough, but doesn't have many of the qualities that make the story memorable or really great. It's not a bad book, but I read it about a month ago now, and I'm struggling to remember all the details. While I'm less bothered about anachronistic details than my partner in romance reviewing is, there was nothing here that made me want to run out and track down more books in the series. Of course, before reading this, I actually bought the sequel in an e-book sale, so Rodale is guaranteed at least one more review from me, but she's going to have to raise the stakes if she wants to graduate to my auto-buy list.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR6 Book 113: "Kiss of Steel" by Bec McMaster

Page count: 448 pages
Rating: 4 stars

In an alternate history Victorian London with Steampunk gadgets, werewolves, a ruling nobility known as the Echelon, where the men are all enhanced with vampire blood, Miss Honoria Todd (who certainly doesn't in any way dress or appear anything like the burlesque streetwalker on the cover of the book) has been forced to move to the Rookeries of Whitechapel after the death of her father. She is working as an elocution coach under an assumed name to support her younger sister (who also takes in mending) and ailing brother, and they are all hiding from the rich, powerful and very dangerous former protector of her father's, who wants Honoria for a number of nefarious purposes. They are barely making ends meet, and when Honoria's brother takes a turn for the worse and Honoria loses her job, she has no choice but to turn to Blade, the master of the Rookeries, for help.

Normally only the members of the Echelon and their chosen servants are allowed the blue blood that gives enhanced abilities, speed, strength and an extended lifespan, but Blade survived the experiments of a nobleman and escaped into the Rookeries, where he and his men rule with an iron fist, challenging the authority of the ruling lords. He desperately wants revenge on the corrupt duke ruined his life and when he discovers that Honoria and her siblings are hiding from the same man, he extends his protection to the little Todd family. Doesn't hurt that he's instantly drawn to the prim, yet fiery Honoria, determined to make her his.

It shouldn't surprise me that books with absolutely prepostrous covers in the paranormal fantasy/romance genre can contain entertaining and well-written stories. I've seen Bec McMaster's book mentioned on a number of "If you like books by X, you'll probably enjoy..." lists, but always avoided it because of the horrible cover. In October, it was the alt book in Vaginal Fantasy Hangout and I decided to finally give it a chance. I'm glad that I did. The world building is clever and I like both the alternate history Steampunk twist and the variation on vampires and werewolves here. Apparently all the men of Echelon, the ruling families of England, are given the blood of vampires when they turn sixteen, to give them enhanced abilities and skills. They have thralls - servants, retainers, even highly cherished mistresses that they drink blood from (and who frequently get a sexual thrill from donating the blood) and are carefully monitored at all times to make sure they don't turn all the way into out of control crazed vampires.

Honoria's father was a doctor and a scientist, apparently working on a cure for the vampirism, but died before he had a chance to perfect it. The duke who was his patron wasn't above medical experiments, which early on resulted in Blade getting turned and in his initial blood craze killing his own sister. So he's pretty motivated for revenge. Honoria and her siblings were also given the "vaccine", but her brother seems to have reacted badly to it, and is slowly turning into a vampire, something Honoria is trying desperately to prevent. She is terrified of Blade, but even more scared of the duke hunting them and realises that she had to get help somewhere, even if it means surrendering as a blood thrall to the master of the Rookeries.

The characters are all interesting, and it's quite clear that McMaster is setting up a number of story lines for later books. I liked both Honoria and Blade and their romance builds gradually, even though they're attracted to one another from the start. I also liked Blade's werewolf lieutenant (who is the hero of the second book) and some of the more sympathetic Echelon lords portrayed in the book. I was especially taken with the one ruling lady who was turned by her father in general violation of the wishes of polite society, and some poking about online reveals that she's the heroine of the fifth and final book in the series. Having now tried the books, I will most likely read the full set and I really must try to remember that a dreadful paranormal romance cover doesn't always reflect the quality of the contents inside.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR6 Book 112: "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley

Page count: 269 pages
Audio book length: 8 hrs 35 min
Rating: 3 stars

I refuse to spoilertag anything in this review, because people, this book is nearly 200 years old. You've had ample time to read this book, if anything in my review spoils it for you, on your own head be it. 

 Captain Robert Walton writes letters to his sister Margaret, recounting his journey to the North Pole in a quest for scientific fame. He writes of the strange and charismatic man they rescue in the wilderness, a Victor Frankenstein. Through Walton's letters, we also get Frankenstein's tale of terrible hubris, as well as the story within the story of the creature Frankenstein in his arrogance created and abandoned to ultimately wreak havoc.

The son of a rich and loving parents, Victor Frankenstein is able to pursue his dreams as a student of science and natural philosophy. He goes to Ingolstadt in Germany and becomes obsessed with the idea of reanimating dead matter. He labours for years with his theories and eventually creates a disfigured giant cobbled together of all sort of scavenged corpses and manages to infuse the creature with life. He's so horrified by its yellow skin and ghastly visage that he runs away from the flat where he conducted his experiments and promptly has a nervous breakdown.

Being a scientific genius doesn't go so well for Victor Frankenstein. The creature he created and then ran away from is a sentient being, not all too pleased that its creator made it into such a terrifying monster. The creature longs for companionship and friendship, but has been met with only shrieks of terror and rejection whereever it goes. Victor meets the creature again, after becoming convinced it murdered his younger brother and allowed an innocent woman to hang for the crime (he's not wrong). The monster has taught himself to speak and reason and rails at his creator for basically giving him life he never asked for and then abanoning him to a life of loneliness and despair. He demands that Victor make him a companion, as he, like all living creatures is entitled to a mate and happiness.

Victor goes off into the wilds of Scotland to create a bride for the monster, but is so plagued by guilt because of the actions of his first creation that he cannot go through with it. He destroys the female he was making, causing the creature to appear and swear his vengeance. Suffice to say, things don't go well for Frankenstein, or most of his extended family and he eventually ends up nearly frozen to death in the Arctic telling his story to an explorer.

Frankenstein was not what I expected, mainly because most of my impressions come from pop culture references and my knowledge of movies (none of which I've actually seen). I was pretty sure there wasn't going to be a a mob with pitchforks trying to kill anyone, or a hunchbacked servant with a lisp or Victor Frankenstein triumphantly exclaiming: "It's alive!" but I wasn't expecting to feel so much sympathy with the creature, who really is dealt a very shitty hand. It goes on quite the murderous rampage throughout the book, which isn't exactly a nice thing to do, but I feel that Victor bears at least half, if not more of the blame, as he is the one who imbued a freakish patchwork of corpseparts with life and then ran away, forcing the creature to fend for itself. If you're an awful and neglectful parent, you don't get to turn around and be upset when your child turns out less than stellar in the morals department.

While I didn't exactly love the book, it was very interesting to me, and I am in awe of young Mary Shelley who started the book when she was 18. On a dare. Really, that girl was wicked talented. Her Frankenstein is so much more of a lasting classic than the poetry of her then much more famous husband and still inspires people today. One of the reasons I wanted to read the book was so that I could finally start watching Frankenstein, M.D, from the creators of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries and Emma Approved. I love getting my classics retold in YouTube video form, it seems. I wasn't expecting such a sophisticated book. The story within a story within a story narrative, the philosophical and moral quandries that are discussed throughout the the book, the genuine horror of the situation - girl is a genius. The book is frequently described as the first science fiction novel, and it's certainly a very good creaping horror story. Having read up on her on Wikipedia before writing this review, I also had no idea just how awesome a lady Mary Shelley seems to have been, and how scandalous her relationship with Percy Shelley actually was.

I will leave you with this webcomic by the extremely talented Kate Beaton:

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.