Author: Meg

BOOK REVIEW: This Earl of Mine & To Catch an Earl, by Kate Bateman

- Meg

BOOK REVIEW: This Earl of Mine & To Catch an Earl, by Kate BatemanTitle: This Earl of Mine by Kate Bateman
Series: Bow Street Bachelors #1
Published by St. Martin's Press
Published: October 29th 2019
Genres: Romance
Pages: 325
Format: eBook
Source: Library
Buy: Bookshop(afflilate link)
Goodreads

Introducing the Bow Street Bachelors―men who work undercover for London’s first official police force―and the women they serve to protect. . .and wed?

WILL A FALSE MARRIAGE
Shipping heiress Georgiana Caversteed is done with men who covet her purse more than her person. Even worse than the ton’s lecherous fortune hunters, however, is the cruel cousin determined to force Georgie into marriage. If only she could find a way to be . . . widowed? Georgie hatches a madcap scheme to wed a condemned criminal before he’s set to be executed. All she has to do is find an eligible bachelor in prison to marry her, and she’ll be free. What could possibly go wrong?

LEAD TO TRUE AND LASTING LOVE?
Benedict William Henry Wylde, scapegrace second son of the late Earl of Morcott and well-known rake, is in Newgate prison undercover, working for Bow Street. Georgie doesn’t realize who he is when she marries him―and she most certainly never expects to bump into her very-much-alive, and very handsome, husband of convenience at a society gathering weeks later. Soon Wylde finds himself courting his own wife, hoping to win her heart since he already has her hand. But how can this seductive rogue convince brazen, beautiful Georgie that he wants to be together…until actual death do they part?

A wealthy heiress who needs to marry and become a widow to run her business in peace? YES. Georgiana chooses a prisoner on death row to marry, though little does she know she’s chosen an earl. I’m not entirely up to par on writing about romance since I had avoided the genre for too long, but I really enjoyed the chemistry between Georgiana and Benedict. The dance they do after Georgiana figures out he’s not only a prisoner, but an earl working as a Bow Street runner, feels realistic and drew me in immediately.

When I had requested and been approved for To Catch an Earl, I hadn’t realized it was the second in the series, so I borrowed this from the library as soon as I could! I read it in like two sittings because I wanted to know how everything developed and resolved, and I was left completely satisfied.

BOOK REVIEW: This Earl of Mine & To Catch an Earl, by Kate BatemanTitle: To Catch an Earl by Kate Bateman
Series: Bow Street Bachelors #2
Published by St. Martin's Press
Published: June 30 2020
Genres: Romance
Pages: 336
Format: ARC
Source: Netgalley
Buy: Bookshop(afflilate link)
Goodreads

A case of secret identities finds reunited lovers on opposite sides of the law in this fun, flirty Regency romance.

There's only one case Bow Street agent Alex Harland, Earl of Melton, hasn't cracked: the identity of the mysterious woman who stole a kiss from him before he left for war. He's neither forgotten—nor forgiven—her for leaving him wanting. When he starts investigating the Nightjar, an elusive London jewel thief, he keeps running into the alluring Emmy Danvers, who stirs feelings he hasn't felt in years.

Even though Emmy's loved Alex for years, she can’t risk revealing her heart, or her identity as the Nightjar. With Alex on her case, Emmy knows that her secrets are in danger of being discovered. Their cat and mouse game heats up with every interaction, but when Emmy’s reputation—and life—is at risk, will Alex realize that some rules are made to be broken for love?

The second of the Bow Street Bachelors was not as strong of a connection between the main characters as I felt there was with the first. Emmy, for a jewel thief, wears a personalized signature scent even when she’s thieving, and it seems a little obvious that if, narratively speaking, she excels at this work she wouldn’t wear such an obvious tell? Alex, having inhaled that scent four years previously, is driven to distraction by that scent in his memories until he meets Emmy again.

The tension and connection didn’t seem as polished or as well developed as I felt it was in the first in the series, but the twists and the plot otherwise kept me engaged! The enemies to lovers trope didn’t play out as promised on the cover copy, and I felt Alex had it figured out too soon (with little reaction between both of them about it until much later), so I felt like it dragged in some places as well because of that. It’s an enjoyable read nonetheless and sets up for the third in the series.

An advance reader copy was provided by the publisher and Netgalley; all opinions are my own.

BOOK REVIEW: Beheld, by TaraShea Nesbit

- Meg

BOOK REVIEW: Beheld, by TaraShea NesbitTitle: Beheld by TaraShea Nesbit
Published by Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: March 17th 2020
Genres: Fiction, Historical
Pages: 288
Format: ARC
Source: Netgalley
Buy: Bookshop(afflilate link)
Goodreads

From the bestselling author of The Wives of Los Alamos comes the riveting story of a stranger’s arrival in the fledgling colony of Plymouth, Massachusetts―and a crime that shakes the divided community to its core.
Ten years after the Mayflower pilgrims arrived on rocky, unfamiliar soil, Plymouth is not the land its residents had imagined. Seemingly established on a dream of religious freedom, in reality the town is led by fervent puritans who prohibit the residents from living, trading, and worshipping as they choose. By the time an unfamiliar ship, bearing new colonists, appears on the horizon one summer morning, Anglican outsiders have had enough.

With gripping, immersive details and exquisite prose, TaraShea Nesbit reframes the story of the pilgrims in the previously unheard voices of two women of very different status and means. She evokes a vivid, ominous Plymouth, populated by famous and unknown characters alike, each with conflicting desires and questionable behavior.

Suspenseful and beautifully wrought, Beheld is about a murder and a trial, and the motivations―personal and political―that cause people to act in unsavory ways. It is also an intimate portrait of love, motherhood, and friendship that asks: Whose stories get told over time, who gets believed―and subsequently, who gets punished?

Nesbit’s Beheld offers a glimpse into the lives of the Plymouth settlement ten years after their arrival told through the eyes of some of the women who lived there. I don’t really recall reading much historical fiction about the early Plymouth settlement, but I loved the imagery and the tension Nesbit explores in this novel. It’s a short novel, but it’s filled with the right amount of empathy for each of the women’s situations. The Plymouth settlement is fraught with disagreements, underlying and unresolved emotions, and flat out hatred that’s often glossed over in popular history’s retelling of a perfect new world for religious freedoms. At least for me, anyway. It wasn’t until I was an adult and in college that I began to really learn about the realities of Plymouth settlement.

Nesbit’s strength in this is making you care for and understand each of the women’s perspectives, even when they clash with someone else’s views. I understand why each of the women made the choices that they did and didn’t, and each of the characters felt so real to me. For me, sometimes characters in historical fiction almost feel like standees or caricatures, but characterization and character development is where Nesbit excels.

Beheld is a short historical crime novel that packs a punch and will leave you thinking about it and the early American settlements long after you’ve finished reading.

Thank you to Bloomsbury and Netgalley for an advance reader copy! All opinions are my own.

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Books on My Summer 2020 TBR

- Meg

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly discussion hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl (and formerly hosted by The Broke and the Bookish), and this week’s topic is “Books on My Summer 2020 TBR.” I have an endless unread shelf because I work in a bookstore, have a decent discount, and am buying things that catch my interest, but this summer, aside from my yearly challenges, I want to read the following books.

  • Witchmark – C.L. Polk – How many times have I added this to a TBR and never read it? Enough. After I finish one of my current reads, this is getting read. The final installment of the trilogy was just announced, so it’s time to actually buckle up and read this. I also have a problem with finishing series, especially not finishing series until the final book is out.
  • A Song of Wraiths and Ruin – Roseanne A. Brown – This has been on my radar since I saw the announcement for it a long time ago, and I’m finally glad to have the book in my hands! I’ve heard so many good things about it so far, and a stabby, deathy YA fantasy is something I need to read right now.
  • Beach Read – Emily Henry – This one I bought partially because of Instagram’s influence, but also because once I started reading people’s reviews, it appears to be much more than your typical summer beach read romance. I love the idea of writers switching from their usual genres, so I’m looking forward to this one!
  • Binti: The Complete Trilogy – Nnedi Okorafor – I have read the first of this trilogy, but when these new covers and this omnibus came out, I needed it, mostly because this omnibus also has some short stories that interconnect the novellas.
  • Crave – Tracy Wolff – This one is so out of my usual genre (I have never read Twilight!), but one of my friends read it and loved it because she said it’s just so out there that I have to read it so that we can talk about it.
  • Rosewater – Tade Thompson – I’ve had this book on my shelf forEVER, and again with the series thing, but I want to read this and the other two in the series ASAP.
  • Something to Talk About – Meryl Wilsner – I am a sucker for Hollywood stories? I don’t know why? I’ve had this on my radar since it was announced, it’s a f/f romance, and just looks like a fun escape.
  • The City We Became – N.K. Jemisin – I haven’t finished The Broken Earth Trilogy yet (also to be read/reread soon), but this one is an urban fantasy about New York City that looks so good. Everything I’ve read by Jemisin has been a masterpiece, so I fully expect to enjoy this one.
  • When We Were Magic – Sarah Gailey – Gailey is one of my favorite authors, and their work is everything I want and more, so to have a book like this about queer teen witches and a murder, I need it. I NEED IT.
  • The Shining – Stephen King – Full confession, the only thing I’ve read by King is On Writing and I don’t think that counts, so I’m starting here and seeing how I fare. I’m not one for horror, generally speaking, but it’s on my shelf, I bought it because I wanted to give it a go, and summer feels like a good time to read it.

Have you read any of these? What’s on your Summer 2020 TBR?

 

BOOK REVIEW: The Glass Magician, by Caroline Stevermer

- Meg

BOOK REVIEW: The Glass Magician, by Caroline StevermerTitle: The Glass Magician by Caroline Stevermer
Published by Tor Books
Published: April 7th 2020
Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 288
Format: ARC
Source: Netgalley
Buy: Bookshop(afflilate link)
Goodreads

A gilded menagerie rules a Gilded Age: Bears and Bulls are not only real, but dominate humanity in The Glass Magician, an amazing historical fantasy by Caroline Stevermer

What if you could turn into the animal of your heart anytime you want?
With such power, you’d enter the cream of New York society, guaranteed a rich life among the Vanderbilts and Astors, movers and shakers who all have the magical talent and own the nation on the cusp of a new century.

You could. If you were a Trader.

Pity you’re not.

Thalia is a Solitaire, one of the masses who don’t have the animalistic magic. But that is not to say that she doesn’t have talent of another kind—she is a rising stage magician who uses her very human skills to dazzle audiences with amazing feats of prestidigitation. Until one night when a trick goes horribly awry…and Thalia makes a discovery that changes her entire world. And sets her on a path that could bring her riches.

Or kill her.

 The Glass Magician is set in an alternative Gilded Age New York City in which magic exists beyond the stage performance. Thalia is a stage magician who realizes after watching a trick go horribly wrong for her and again on stage for someone else that there is more to her world than she knew before. It is a world of shape shifters tied by bloodline, and she is one of them after thinking she was a Solitaire (a human who doesn’t shape shift) for her entire life.

I ended up feeling rather so-so about the last third of the book because it felt both melodramatic and rushed at the same time. The magic trick at the end to reveal the true killer and motive didn’t seem to flow as well with the story as I would have liked, but I think that’s also to do with the world building. However, it did leave me hopeful that there would be more books set in this universe because the foundation has been laid for a lot more exploration and examination.

I enjoy “quiet” novels, stories that are a bit slower and softer than the usual fantasy fare of high-octane action. I loved the setting of an alternate New York City in the Gilded Age, and I imagined magic and magic tricks revealed and performed in gas-lit rooms and lush dresses of mint and lilac and rose contrasting with the darker elements of this society and the magic therein. Most of these thoughts were more of my own projections of my enthusiasm of the era, but I enjoyed this book for what it was. I think I was left wanting because I knew there could be more – from world building to character development to character interactions. So much of it felt like a superficial magic trick. Pretty to read and to look at, but I felt like I could see right through the tricks.

Thank you to Tor Books and Netgalley for the advance reader copy; all opinions are my own.

WRAP UP: April & May 2020

- Meg

Between COVID, the protests, and going back to work, I feel like the last four weeks have been a non-stop roller coaster of emotions and willingness to do anything that ultimately feels frivolous, like posting on social media and writing blog posts, because neither of those things seem important compared to what’s going on right now. But, I think having a place to share ideas and a place to write is important for me, so I’m working on how to navigate and use this space now and in the future.

Black Lives Matter. There’s no question about it. I’ve always thought myself to be progressive, but one thing that’s come to light for me recently is how much I still have to learn and how much I’ll always have to learn. I’m listening, I am working on unpacking my thirty-three years of living in privilege, and I am making a promise to myself to be better. I know I’ll make mistakes, but I am willing to put in the work, take responsibility, and do better. Not just now, but for the rest of my life. This carrd and this google doc/spreadsheet have a lot of information about protests, where to donate, and where to educate yourself. As a reminder, do your own research and do not ask Black people to do the work for you! There are many resources available online that people are sharing.

I also failed completely at Wyrd and Wonder, but this was also because I joined last-minute and didn’t plan anything. For 2021, I’ll be on the lookout for the initial post and hopefully be better about planning posts! I think for the time being I’ll have a set schedule, so I’m going to work on scheduling 2-3 posts a week (either reviews or lists of books I’ve read/want to read) just to keep my blog active and get my writing chops back because I feel like I’ve got a case of quarantine brain and nothing I write seems to make much sense to me anymore.

Now onto the reading!

In April, I read:

  • This Time Will Be Different, by Misa Sugiura (4/5 stars)
  • To Have and to Hoax, by Martha Waters (4/5 stars)
  • Be Prepared, by Vera Brosgol and Alex Lonstreth (3.5/5 stars)
  • Strange Love, by Ann Aguire (4/5 stars)
  • Sin Eater, by Megan Campisi (4/5 stars)
  • Peter Watts Is An Angry Sentient Tumor, by Peter Wars (3/5 stars)
  • The Girl in the White Gloves, by Kerri Maher (3/5 stars)
  • Her Body and Other Parties – Carmen Maria Machado (5/5 stars)
  • Beheld – TaraShea Nesbit (4/5 stars)
  • To Catch an Earl, by Kate Bateman (3/5 stars)
  • Crown of Three, by J.D. Rinehart (4/5 stars)
  • Monster, She Wrote: The Women Who Pioneered Horror and Speculative Fiction, by Lisa Kröger and Melanie R. Anderson (4/5 stars)
  • Jagannath, by Karin Tidbeck (3/5 stars)
  • A Court of Thorns and Roses, by Sarah J. Maas (4/5 stars)

In May, I read:

  • Future Tense Fiction: Stories of Tomorrow, ed. Kristen Berg, Torie Bosch, et all (4/5 stars)
  • The Deep, by Alma Katsu (4/5 stars)
  • Death by Shakespeare, by Kathryn Harkup (4/5 stars)
  • Notre-Dame de Paris, by Victor Hugo (4/5 stars)
  • Prince Charming, by Rachel Hawkins (4/5 stars)
  • Over Sea, Under Stone, by Susan Cooper (4/5 stars)
  • The Queen of Blood, by Sarah Beth Durst (4/5 stars)
  • The Wrong Mr. Darcy, by Evelyn Lozada and Holly Lorincz (DNF)
  • The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins (4/5 stars)
  • Middlegame, by Seanan McGuire (5/5 stars)
  • Sorcery of Thorns, by Margaret Rogerson (5/5 stars)
  • Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins (4/5 stars)

I read quite a bit during quarantine (statistically double each month than the previous six months), but one thing I’ve noticed is that I have a lot of books by BIPOC authors that I’ve bought but haven’t read (some for YEARS), so for the rest of the year, I am going to shift my reading focus to actually reading those and posting about them on social media and here on this blog. Next year I will likely do a full-year shift to reading more works across the board by BIPOC and non-white writers and continue that focus from here on out. It’s so easy to fall into reading “comforting” things that generally trend toward white writers, and while there’s nothing wrong with that, I can do better about stepping out of that comfort zone.

I also want to finish series that I’ve started but have never finished, so along with my 20 in 20 books challenge and my classics challenge, I’m going to try to finish up as many book series as I can! This includes N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy, Sarah J. Maas’ ACOTAR + TOG, Sarah Beth Durst’s Queens of Renthia series, and likely others that I’m currently forgetting.

What have you read in the last month that really stuck out with you? How do you see yourself changing your perspectives on reading in the coming months and years?