Yet another Reading Challenge: RIP X

It's that time of year again, when it gets darker and colder and the Readers Imbibing Peril (RIP) Reading Challenge kicks off. This is the tenth year (my third, I think), and this year the challenge is hosted over on The Estella Society. The challenge runs from September 1st to October 31st and while I may be a few days late in signing up for it, I've already read a bunch books in September that fit in with the challenge. As always the challenge is to read books that can be classified as mystery, suspense, thriller, dark fantasy, gothic, supernatural or anything sufficiently moody that seems to fit in with the genres above. You can go to the website to see the various levels of the challenge - I will, as always be doing all three Perils, because let's face it, the genres in question are pretty much what I read all year.

Let the autumnal reading begin!

Artwork credited to Abigail Larson. 

#CBR7 Book 86: "If I Fall" by Kate Noble

Page count: 352 pages
Rating: 3 stars

On the evening of her betrothal party, the duke Miss Sarah Forrester is set to marry, confesses that he is in love with another. Sarah is instantly named "the girl who lost a Duke" in society and prepares to become a complete social outcast. However, one of the leading ladies in society advises her to reinvent herself, and soon Sarah is known as "The Golden Lady", the glittering, carefree toast of the town. Not everyone is as happy about her drastic changes, though.

Sarah's childhood friend Lieutenant Jackson Fletcher is back in London as the ship he was serving on is too old to sail any longer. While he cools his heels, living with the Forresters, waiting to find out the final fate of his ship, he also determines to breach Sarah's glittering facade and see if there are any traces left of the trusting and adventurous girl he once knew. A truly outrageous scheme involving costumes, lurking in a cupboard and assumed identities leads to a passionate kiss, as well as Jackson being recruited to help solve a high-profile murder. The last thing he wants to do is keep secrets from Sarah, as secrets were what broke up her engagement with the Duke.

This was my first romance by Kate Noble, and I must admit, it was a bit of a hot mess. There were so many different story beats, and it seemed difficult to pin down what the story really wanted to be. There was Sarah's transformation to society "Mean Girl" in order to mask her heartbreak. There was Jackson's struggle to acknowledge that life as he'd known it might be over, and he'd have to get used to a civilian life. There was the preposterous scheme Jack hatched to re-awaken Sarah's sense of fun, which amounted to him disguising himself as "The Blue Raven", a masked spy having worked against the French during the Napoleonic wars, basically Sarah's childhood hero. Then there was the plot to uncover a murderer, which both Sarah and Jack eventually got involved in. Too many things happening, none of which felt like they were really properly committed to.

It didn't help that I couldn't really connect with Sarah. I felt bad that she was jilted, but she clearly didn't love her Duke all that much anyway. The social disgrace and fact that she was no longer going to be comfortably settled seemed to be more hurtful than the fact that her fiancee loved another. "The Golden Lady" is a self-centred bitch and I can't fault Jackson for wanting to make her stop being so dismissive of her sisters and behave better. What I couldn't really see was why he was so determined to "break her cover" or why he fell in love with her. Even when she admits that she behaved badly, she's still not very interesting.

From this book, I learned that after the Napoleonic wars, a huge number of naval officers in England were left without positions, as there simply weren't enough ships for them to serve on. I just didn't particularly care. Then there was the dumb scheme of Jack's, that turned into an elaborate murder investigation and the romance seemed to almost be forgotten.

I've bought a whole bunch of Kate Noble books in e-book sales in the past few years, so at some point I'm obviously going to read them. This is not the first book in the Blue Raven series. I started with this one because it fit in my Monthly Key Word Challenge. One of the books in the series is about Sarah's younger sister, whose hurt that her older sister is completely ruining her first season, and as I liked and sympathised with her a lot more than with the protagonists, I'm hoping that other Noble books engage me more than this one. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR7 Book 85: "Crocodile on the Sandbank" by Elizabeth Peters

Page count: 262 pages
Rating: 5 stars

Intrepid Victorian spinster Amelia Peabody travels to Egypt after her father's death, determined to explore the world and see the treasures she's read about for so many years. On her way through Rome, she is forced to send her companion home, but meets a lovely young lady in distress, and they strike up an instant friendship. Evelyn Barton-Forbes is the granddaughter of an earl, seduced by a scoundrel and left destitute in Italy. Disowned by her grandfather, Evelyn is rather desperate, but the practical and pragmatic Amelia loves the idea of a protegee and insists they travel together. As their friendship develops, it's clear that Evelyn, with her quiet persuasion is able to subtly influence her new companion in positive ways as well.

In Egypt, the ladies make the acquaintance of the Emerson brothers, Walter and Radcliffe. While Walter and Evelyn pretty much instantly fall in love, the relationship between Amelia and Radcliffe is rather more turbulent. Of course, being a destitute and fallen woman, Evelyn believes that Walter is way too good for her. Amelia, naturally, has other ideas. When visiting the brothers at their archaeological dig, the ladies are intrigued by rumours of a curse and the dig site possibly being haunted by a vengeful mummy. While they are all educated individuals, as the accidents keep getting more and more serious, involving disappearances and near-death experiences, it's clear that someone needs to step in and solve the mystery, and who better than Amelia?

I first discovered Elizabeth Peters back in early 1999, when my best friend Lydia sent me this book as a belated Christmas present. She'd mentioned the series, I was curious and fell in love with Amelia in the very first chapter, if my memory doesn't deceive me. I'm a big fan of the Victorian lady sleuth, among them Lady Julia Grey and  Lady Emily Ashton, but Amelia Peabody was probably the first series I pretty much obsessively read my way through. In complete honesty, I haven't read the last few books in the series, as it does get derivative, repetitive and needlessly soapy and melodramatic as the books go on, but the earlier books are solid gold entertainment. After Narfna read and reviewed this recently, I started thinking about the books, and decided that since it must be at least a decade since I read this book, it was time for a re-read.

Obviously, since I had rated the book 5 stars, I remembered it being good. But I think I actually got even more out of it now, having aged a bit myself, and improved my grasp of the English language even more. I had completely forgotten just how clever the plotting is, how great and mutually empowering the friendship between Evelyn (who I had incorrectly remembered as a bit wet and useless - not at all the case) and Amelia is and obviously, how amazing the slow-burning romance between Peabody and her Emerson is. Anyone looking for lots of sexy times should check out Mr. Impossible by Loretta Chase instead (or you know - as well, as it's a wonderful romance), because this is a mystery first, romance second. There is some kissing, but Ms. Peters makes you wait for it. What you do get is feminist spinsters, girl power, archaeology, mystery, mummies, cranky bachelors, gentle flirting, dangerous schemes and a wonderful adventure. I'm so glad I re-visited Amelia's first book. Once all my books are unpacked and organised on my shelves, I may re-read the rest of the early series too.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR7 Book 84: "The Heart of Betrayal" by Mary E. Pearson

Page count: 480 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars

This is the second book in the Remnant Chronicles, following directly on from The Kiss of Deception. It is impossible for me to review this without spoilers for the first book, hence, skip this if you're not caught up.

Princess Lia is a prisoner in Venda, surrounded by what she has been taught are violent and backward barbarians. Having accepted her feelings for Rafe, she may never have a proper chance to act on them, as they are both captives and the Komizar, the ruler of Venda, seems doubtful as to the use of either of his human prizes of war. Kaden, the Komizar's assassin doesn't want the girl he loves to be killed and argues that Lia's magical gift can be beneficial to the country. Rafe pretends to be a turn-cloak adviser to the Dalbreckian prince, claiming his master is just waiting for the King of Dalbreck to die so he can rule and make an alliance with Venda. Whether the Komizar allows Rafe to live because of this, or because he can be used as leverage to control Lia, is uncertain.

While initially seemingly unimpressed with his royal captive, the Komizar quickly changes his mind about her usefulness, to the worry of both Kaden and Rafe. As Lia is offered limited freedoms, she gradually discovers that all the stories she was told about Venda were lies, and the reason for the country's fierce raids is that the more powerful kingdoms of Dalbreck and Morrighan have brutalised the populace to the brink of devestation. The common people are strong, resilient and above all, in desperate need of hope. Additionally, Lia needs to decide if she can trust Kaden, the man sent to kill her, but who chose to spare her life instead, who is now arguing passionately for her survival. She also needs to examine whether her feelings for Rafe are still the same, having found out his true identity and had to confront all the lies he told her. Most of all, she needs to step extremely carefully, to survive the Komizar's manipulations long enough for her and Rafe to figure out a way to escape their captivity.

While Lia annoyed me for a lot of the first book, I'm completely on her side here and she has come such a long way from the spoiled and impetuous princess at the beginning of the story. Her entire world-view has been turned on its head, and she's forced to acknowledge that most of what she's known before has been lies told to keep her ignorant. While there are still traces of a love triangle, it's not really there on her part, she just needs some time to reconcile the knowledge that the man she fell in love with is not a lowly farmer, but the prince she was in fact betrothed to marry and ran away from. Yes, he lied to her about his true identity, but she did also run away from their wedding, forcing him to hunt her down. He gets himself taken prisoner with her, so as to stay close to her and does his best to reassure her that they will be rescued by his men. Kaden clearly loves Lia still, but I can't really fault Lia for using every advantage she has in trying to get free, even if it means manipulating a man who is risking his life and position to keep her alive.

While I found that some parts of the book still dragged a bit, and I found the Komizar a bit too moustache-twirly to be interesting, I am still enjoying the series. The tribal society of Venda was interesting, especially in contrast of what has been revealed of Morrighan and Dalbreck so far, as were the added revelations in the back story, gradually revealed in the ancient texts Lia carries with her. I'm very curious to see how the pseudo-medieval world in this series emerged from the remnants of a high technology civilisation. I'm assuming all will be made clear in the final part, when Lia, Rafe and Kaden are clearly in for a doozy of challenges after the final third of this book.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR7 Book 83: "You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost)" by Felicia Day

Page count: 288 pages
Audio book length: 6 hrs 17 mins
Rating: 4.5 stars

I'm trying to recall where I first encountered Felicia Day. I think it may in fact have been on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, where she played one of the many potential slayers in season seven. I know I saw her in Dr Horrible's Sing-a-Long Blog (true story, on our honey-moon seven years ago, I declined to go out and explore Stockholm with my husband until I had used the hotel wi-fi - which was really rather slow - to download and watch the second episode) before I actually watched and got completely hooked on The Guild.

I've known of and admired Felicia Day for a long time, is what I'm saying. I've been a member of her online book club, Vaginal Fantasy since it started, and one of the highlights of my month is watching her and her co-hosts talk about fantasy and/or sci-fi romance. I've probably watched most of the stuff she's put out on the web, including Co-Optitude, where she plays video games with her brother. So naturally I was going to pre-order this book. I chose to get the audio book, so Felicia herself could read me her memoir.

While I knew that Felicia Day was a good actress in the things I'd seen her in, as well as extremely smart, creative, fond of video games and romance and an internet entrepreneur, I learned so many new things about her from this book. That she and her brother were home-schooled, that she went to college at sixteen and ended up with a double major in violin and mathematics, or that the reason she cut her hair in a pixie cut a while back (which she, naturally, as a woman on the internet got so much hate about) was because stress and other very serious medical issues made her hair fall out in clumps.

I suspect that even if you don't really know who Felicia Day is, you'll enjoy this book. She's very honest and open and recounts stories from her life and her many impressive achievements in a very entertaining way. Being a successful woman in the social media age is not easy, being a successful woman who dares to have an interest in and opinions of video games on the internet has made her the target of a lot of hate and harassment. She's very forthcoming about her anxieties, the two years she was completely addicted to World of Warcraft, her obsessions and what drives her. I found her impressive and admirable before, now I'm very much in awe of her. This is not a funny celebrity autobiography like Bossypants or Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, although there are absolutely bits that made me laugh out loud. The closest comparison I can think of is Jenny Lawson's book, but they're really not all that similar.

This isn't a very long book, I listened to it in less than twenty-four hours. It pretty much made me feel all the feels and I can highly recommend it.
Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR7 Book 82: "A Wish Upon Jasmine" by Laura Florand

Page count: 323 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars

All Jasmin "Jess" Bianchi has ever wanted to do was make perfumes, like her father. The brain-child behind the massively popular Spoiled Brat, she has achieved great commercial success, but is everyone assumes that what she intended as an ironic comment on the industry is all she's capable of. When she inherits a small perfume shop in Provence, in the same year she had to bury her father and the little artisanal perfume company she had started was bought up by the powerful Rosiers, it's like a dream come true. Then she discovers that the Rosiers considers her little shop their rightful property, and the man she'll have to fight to keep it, is the man she almost lost her heart to, many months ago.

The Rosier family have a saying. "Be careful what you wish for, Damien will get it for you." While his cousins can be creative and nurturing, Damien Rosier is expected to be the calculating, ruthless and efficient one. He makes sure that the Rosier empire is strong, powerful and wealthy enough that his cousin Matt can grow roses and jasmine and his cousin Tristan can create new perfumes in his labs. Feeling deeply responsible not just for his large family, but the people and businesses in their little corner of Provence, Damien also makes sure that as many as possible are employed, preventing them from having to move from the area. He's very good at what he does, he just wishes everyone around him didn't think he was completely cold-hearted.

When Damien met Jess at an industry party many months ago, it was clear she didn't know who he was, and they shared a night of unforgettable passion. But the morning after, he woke up alone, and the next time he saw her, she looked stricken as she was told he had bought the company she was part-owner of. Now he finds her in the perfume shop where the Rosier brand started, discovering that his meddling great-aunt Colette has given it away. His grandfather wants Damien, the ruthless one, to make sure the shop is returned to the Rosiers. Damien wants an answer to why Jess just disappeared after their night of passion.

The big misunderstanding that is so often a feature in romances happens before the plot of this book really kicks off, revealed to the readers only in flashback. Jess and Damien are unaware of each other's true identities when they meet, spark an instant connection and share a night of hot sex together. Jess has to leave so early not because of second thoughts about her hook-up or guilt, but because her father is dying in hospital. All her life, Jess has heard stories of the Rosiers, who had such complete control over the region where her father was born, that as a non-Rosier perfumer, he had to leave to be able to make a name for himself. She believes them to be the enemy, a belief that isn't exactly disproved when her tiny company is gobbled up by their ruthless chief of acquisitions.

Due to their misunderstanding, the initial meetings between Jess and Damien in Provence are antagonistic, but they are also clearly crazy about each other and soon the hostility returns to the growing attraction they felt when they first met. It's pretty much confirmed that tante Colette keeps portioning out her inheritance to long-lost female heirs in some sort of really elaborate match-making scheme, but that she'd believed Jess to be a good match for Tristan, the youngest cousin.

While Laura Florand's books are always enjoyable, this one didn't really excite me much, probably because once Jess and Damien actually clear up their initial misunderstanding, there's very little tension left to overcome. Jess is also insecure to the point of stupidity, refusing to believe that Damien can have feelings for her for so long that I wanted to reach into the book and slap some sense into her.

That's not to say that I'm not going to keep reading Florand's books. There are after all, two more cousins left who haven't been paired off, and what I'm assuming are more attractive female heirs (or male, I would love if one of the cousins were gay, but I doubt it) tante Colette can give Rosier property to in upcoming books.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR7 Book 81: "Magic Shifts" by Ilona Andrews

Page count: 352 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars

Spoiler warning! This is book 8 in the series, and some really big stuff happened in the last book. Seriously, if you haven't read Magic Breaks yet, there will be spoilers, so return once you're caught up. If you haven't read any Ilona Andrews books yet, you should do your very best to change that as soon as possible. They write among the best paranormal books out there, you won't be sorry.

After a period of adjustment after the confrontation in the previous book, mercenary and magical powerhouse Kate Daniels is trying to settle down and make an honest living, aided by her fiancee, former Beast Lord of Atlanta, Curran Lennart. Being hired for supernatural jobs can be a bit tricky when your partner's a giant werelion, though, and their money situation is starting to get tight. While neither of them miss the constant need for diplomacy and the complex infighting of running the Pack, it's clear that being a simple mercenary is also not challenging enough for a man who ruled over a thousand shapeshifters for more than a decade.

When Jim, the new Beast Lord offers Kate and Curran a controlling share in the Mercenary Guild, both of them initially refuse. The many chaotic events in Atlanta over the last few years have wreaked havoc with the formerly quite orderly Guild, making it a bad financial bet. Then they are approached by George, the closest thing Curran has to a sister, asking them to locate her fiancee, the were-buffalo Eduardo. All the trails lead to the Guild, suggesting that Eduardo disappeared while out on a mission. While re-tracing his last known missions, it's clear that something big and dangerous is rising in Atlanta, a city now under Kate's protection, and they need to hurry if they're going to find Eduardo alive.

Because the Andrews' were only initially contracted for seven books in the Kate Daniels series, so much of the overarching plot in the series built up towards the events of the last book, Magic Breaks. This book takes place in the aftermath, where there's been a lot of changes for our protagonists, but life still goes on, and Atlanta is still a dangerous place to be. Possibly more so after Kate finally revealed just how powerful she is, in accidentally claiming the city as her territory in order to prevent her father, the ancient Roland, from doing the same.

This is a low-key book compared to the previous one, with an almost mundane search and rescue mission at its heart. Of course, it wouldn't be a Kate book without horrible monsters to fight , interesting mythological adversaries and Kate throwing herself head-long into danger, without any care for her own safety or mortality. That's not to say that there isn't gradual setting up for the final confrontation that Kate will one day have with her father, but for now, there is dinner at Appleby's, new neighbours to placate and bills that need paying. The Andrews' excel both at world-building and at populating their books with an awesome supporting cast. There's amazing dialogue, several laugh-out-loud moments, clever plotting and nail-biting action.

If you've enjoyed the previous Kate books, you'll like this one too. The stakes are lower, the pace is somewhat quieter, there's more actual detective work, like in some of the earlier books. This book ends with a wedding, and the next book promises to have another one, which I'm not going to pretend I'm not ridiculously excited about. Just such a shame I'm going to have to wait a whole year.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.