Quantum Lace by Leigh (Bella) St John

3 stars (but I reserve the right to change that depending on future installments)

So......

Where to start?

First of all, major class points to the author-- my review copy was not only inscribed and signed, it came tied up in red ribbon with a personal note on monogrammed stationary sealed with red wax.

I mean, seriously-- how cool is that??

As to the book itself.... I really wish she'd chosen to publish a more full/complete volume.  This is basically a novella with the kind of cliffhanger ending that makes readers want to kill the author... except that then we wouldn't get any resolution.

This first installment is.... confusing, lol.  There's not quite enough there for you to really know what's going on.  Big on questions but super slim on answers.

Actually I'm not sure there were any answers at all.

Anyway.  Reviewing this feels like reading just the first few chapters of a book and then being asked to review that-- you don't know how you really feel about it because most of the story hasn't happened yet.

I'm intrigued, I'll tell you that.

And ready for book 2.

Now, please.

Mist of Midnight by Sandra Byrd

Copy received from the publisher for my honest review

I want to be very careful in how I word this review, because I mean no offense to the author or her fans.

I had many issues with this book.  I felt like the pacing was terrible, the character development all over the place, and the gothic touches irrelevant.

But, here's the problem.  I had gone into this thinking it was a mystery.  Yes, I knew there would be a romance, but I really thought it was going to be a mystery that was somewhat gothic and also had an element of romance.

From the standpoint OF A MYSTERY-- the pacing was terrible, the character development all over the place, and the gothic touches should have been left out entirely.

The problem is, now that I've read the book I realize it is, in fact, a ROMANCE with a touch of mystery and gothic.  And really, had I known that, I wouldn't have agreed to review it.  That's not my thing.

And if you're eating an orange, and it's the best orange in the world, but you wanted, you know, a bowl of mashed potatoes.... well, the orange is bound to disappoint.

What I can say is that despite my picking this up on a night when I was rather in the mood for something else, it did draw me in quickly and I still finished it in under 24 hours.  I rolled my eyes during several scenes, but again, I wanted potatoes and this was totally an orange. ;)

If what you like and want is an orange, I honestly would recommend this one.  If I look at it as objectively as humanly possible, I think it's probably a pretty good orange.

(Yes, this review is identical to my GoodReads review.  I honestly try to not duplicate like that, but once I'd managed to actually get down how I felt about this book I couldn't bring myself to try to either expand upon it for a blog post nor to condense it for GoodReads.)

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

5 stars
r- 1?
re-read

Oh my gosh, I had forgotten how funny this book is.  Not that I'd forgotten it was amusing, but it's downright hilarious.

Set in the same universe as Fire Watch and Doomsday Book, this one is pure comedy as the historians race to find out exactly where the Bishop's Birdstump (a hideous example of Victorian art at it's worst) was when Coventry was bombed.

And to put back a cat.  Or not.

And fix the paradox they created.  Or did they?

If you read nothing else by Connie Willis, you should really read this one.

(If you read nothing else by Connie Willis, though, I may seriously have to question our friendship... and your sanity.)

The Wild Princess by Mary Hart Perry

A Novel of Queen Victoria's Defiant Daughter

4 stars
R- 3
Copy received for review

A historical romance full of intrigue about Princess Louise, later Duchess of Argyll.

While I ended up really enjoying this one I have a couple of caveats.

One, little steamy and I'm not a fan of romances where one or both are married and they aren't married to each other.

Two, I'm sorry, but when your job, which you are evidently quite good at, depends HIGHLY on discretion, I struggle with the idea that you are going to get drunk and mouth off in a pub in the first 50 pages.  Really, I have a hard time respecting you at that point.

I will say, it felt like a fluke later.  As you got to know the character better you're left asking what in the heck was happening at the beginning of the book because it seems a bit out of character.  I get what the author was setting up and why, but seriously?  Made it hard to respect him as the book goes on.

Which is bad since he's the leading man.

Anyway, other than those annoyances, I did enjoy this one.  There was enough going on, enough intrigue, to keep it from just being a romance.

The Dark Enquiry by Deanna Raybourn

5 stars
R- 1.5

I love these books.

I will express some frustration with the continued back and forth between Julia and Brisbane-- JUST TELL EACH OTHER EVERYTHING for crying out loud-- but it works for the characters and it is getting better with time. :)

Looking forward to the next installment, as always.

(You must read these in order.  You simply must.)

Dark but always recommended. :D

(Appropriate for Friday the 13th too.)

The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker by Leanna Renee Hieber

5 stars
R- 2.5

Totally not what I expected.

Okay, technically I'm not sure what I expected.... but a Victorian paranormal so dark it was nearly Gothic with strong Greek mythology themes wasn't it.

Little heavy on the romance, but I'm such a sucker for mythology that I'm letting that slide. ;)

Looking forward to reading the sequel!

Overall, recommended.

A Flaw in the Blood by Stephanie Barron

3 stars
R- 2

Interesting premise, though it certainly doesn't paint Queen Victoria in the kindest light.

Honestly, I wanted to love it, but I had a hard time following parts of it (though that could have just been how crazy tired I've been) and some things just didn't seem very developed.

Overall, not a bad read.

A Traitor in the Tunnel by YS Lee

5 stars
R- 1.5
Book 3 of The Agency

It's kind of ridiculous how much I love these books.

The research doesn't feel terribly strong-- especially, in some ways, in this one...

But the story is so fun I just don't care.

Mary is such an engaging heroine that I just don't care.

Even when I briefly thought "Okay this side story is a little old" I didn't really care enough to be bothered.

This is always listed, everywhere I've seen it described, as a trilogy.  Which would make this the end.

But there are rumors about a 4th book....

And that would be seriously cool.

Until then, I'll reread the trilogy.

:)

Instruments of Darkness by Imogen Robertson

5 stars
R- 2

Okay, so I tagged this as Victorian, and it's totally not.  And I know that.  It's 1780-- that's definitively pre-Victorian.

BUT, in my brain, this book goes right next to the Robin Paige mysteries, the Lady Emily mysteries, and the Lady Julia mysteries.  All of which are Victorian.  So there you go.

I love mysteries like this.  The main characters are interesting and engaging.  The mystery was intriguing.

Overall, good stuff.  Possibly my favorite of this batch of Reader's Choice books...  maybe. Haven't read them all yet, though. ;)

It's also sufficiently macabre to be posted on Friday the 13th! :D

A Crimson Warning by Tasha Alexander

5 stars
R- 1.5?  It's Victorian, after all.
Book 6 in the Lady Emily mysteries

Oh how I love these books.

This latest installation is fabulous-- laugh-out-loud funny and utterly quotable.

For example:
"Have you ever met Lady Glover?" I asked Ivy, keeping my voice low.  "She drives her phaeton through Hyde Park with zebras pulling it."
"Yes, I've seen them," Ivy said.  "She makes it rather hard to miss."
"Zebras, Ivy.  Zebras," I said.  "Why are we not better acquainted with this woman?"

:D

All in all, wholeheartedly recommended.  But read the first 5 first, probably.

The Body at the Tower by YS Lee

The Agency, book 2
5 stars
YA

You know you are loving a series when to finish a book and are seriously tempted to start it again immediately because you don't have the next one yet but you want more.

I love these books.  Are they perfect? No, I'm sure they're probably not, but I absolutely love them.

Read the first one first-- A Spy in the House-- and then this one.

Looking forward to reading the third as soon as I can get my hands on it.  In the meantime... maybe it's time to reread the Robin Paige Victorian mysteries?

A Spy in the House by YS Lee

The Agency: book 1

5 stars
YA

A fun beginning to a new Victorian trilogy.

I love Victorian mysteries with strong female leads and Mary is that even if she is a novice and knows it.

It's a bit Hunchback Assignments... without the steampunk and shapeshifting. 

Totally fun no matter how you look at it.  I enjoyed it.  Already have the next 2 on hold.  :)

The Strictest School in the World by Howard Whitehouse

Being the Tale of a Clever Girl, a Rubber Boy and a Collection of Flying Machines, Mostly Broken
The Mad Misadventures of Emmaline and Rubberbones, Book 1

5 stars
JF

I'm kind of a sucker for books with awesome subtitles like that.  I mean, really, how can you NOT want to read a book with a subtitle like that?!

And this tale does not disappoint.

The heroine is indeed clever, the school is beyond horrible, the boy bounces and there are several broken flying machines.

Add in an eccentric aunt, some gypsies, a dignified Indian colonel serving as a butler, "the birds" and a completely crazy scientist and you've got a great book.

I am certainly looking forward to the next one.  :)