Tuesday Book Review

 

Five-star review of Keeper of Enchanted Rooms (Whimbrel House Book 1) by Charlie N. Holmberg

 Another fun fantasy read from Charlie N. Holmberg. When author Merritt Fernsby suddenly inherits a house said to haunted on an otherwise uninhabited island in Narragansett Bay, Hulda Larkin, trained to tame enchanted houses, is assigned as his housekeeper by BIKER, the Boston Institute for the Keeping of Enchanted Rooms. Merritt’s previous estrangement from his family over a teenage indiscretion and Hulda’s prior encounter with British magician extraordinaire Silas Hogwood, who steals magical abilities from others eventual present obstacles to their life at Whimbrel House.

 The characters are well-developed, particularly Merritt and Hulda. Interesting steam punk-like kinetic energy-driven boats and trams add a touch of science fiction to a story set in the mid-1800s in New England. I always felt like I was there with the characters on their adventures. The touch of romance was just right. I want be Charlie Holmberg when I grow up or at least write like her, given she’s less than half my age.

 

Tuesday Book Review on Wednesday

 

Four-star (more like 4.5-star) review of A Train to Moscow by Elena Gorakhova

 This was an interesting book. I couldn't help comparing it to Annie Karenina, (spoiler alert) especially the ending. Then again, it’s Russia and a rather Russian story. I also thought of Casablanca at the end. A girl, Sasha, grows up in a tiny Russian hamlet and dreams of becoming an Actress. (The capital A is appropriate.) Acting and playing a fictional character, for her, is important as a way to show people reality, but she lives in post-WWII Russia, where art of any kind is restricted to that which shows the Soviet Union in a good light. Although she earns a place at a drama school in Moscow and goes on to a career at a theater in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), she also must deal with friends and family at home. Her grandmother waits for a son who never came home from the war but also supports Sasha emotionally. Her mother, a doctor, seems to struggle with what she believes. And her stern grandfather frowns at her choice of career and is a die-hard Communist. Her remaining childhood best friend and sometime lover rises through the ranks of the party. The plot is tightly woven and the characters well-written. 

Tuesday Book Review

 

Five-star review of Vox by Christina Dalcher

 This is a book I’d recommend not only to women but also to men. It’s a cautionary story about a near-future United States where women and girls are limited to 100 words a day. A band on their wrists shocks them for each word over that and after a certain number of infractions they are brought before Reverend Carl Corbin, instigator for the Pure Movement, the quasi-religious and political push to limit women’s rights. Women can’t have a bank account, hold a job, even read a book. The first-person protagonist, Jean McClellan, a neurolinguist, wasn't allowed to finish her work on a serum to reverse aphasia. She’s now a stay-at-home mother to four children, the youngest a girl. Mounting motivations for Jean to do something include an adulterous affair with a former colleague, my least favorite part of the story. Her fears for her daughter’s future and her own mother’s illness in Italy are more acceptable reasons. There were a couple of holes in the plot but were supplanted by the message about not standing by and watching as these things creep up on us.

Tuesday book review

 

Three-star review of Credible Threat, Ali Reynolds series book 15 by J.A. Jance

 Surprisingly stilted dialog in the 15^th book in the series. I’ve enjoyed Jance’s other series and always found the writing smooth, but this story of a woman would-be assassin after the priest at the head of the Phoenix, Arizona diocese was repetitious at times with way too many descriptions of people driving somewhere. It could have been a tighter write and thereby a more exciting read. The elements and characters for all kinds of tension were there, and some were realized, but I wish that more were. Telling the story from Ali’s viewpoint, the murderer’s and others required intricate plotting and timing but also contributed to the reader being told the same things more than once.

 

Tuesday Book Review

Four-star review for Can I Get There By Candlelight?

 A lovely time travel story for middle grade students and up, this tells the adventures of a young girl, Gail, who’s living in an old carriage house with her parents while their new house is being built. One day she rides out on her horse Candy, short for Candlelight, through the woods and eventually comes out on the lawn of a mansion of a house where she’s greeted by Hilary, the lonely resident of the house, whose parents and siblings are in Europe for the summer. Little by little, Gail suspects she’s gone back in time to when the area was covered with mansions and girls had tea parties in summerhouses. This book was published in 1980 and it shows in little and big things, including the absence of any electronics. Could it have happened today?Four-star review for Can I Get There By Candlelight?

 

Tuesday Book Review

 

Five-star review of Grand Ellipse by Paula Volsky

This book was surprisingly enjoyable to read. I thought it would be like Around the World in Eighty Days, but it was so much more. In a fantasy world, a self-styled adept has created a form of fire that is green and responds to his mental commands. The rulers other nations in the world all want this potential military weapon, but the king who sponsors the adept claims neutrality. The king is portrayed as a man who has whims and when he does he follows them whole-heartedly. His latest is to sponsor a contest, the Grand Ellipse, in which contestants from many nations follow a prescribed route through many countries. The government of Vonahr sends two entrants, a woman they hope will win and then get the ear of the King to offer a substantial sum for the so-called Sentient Fire, and a man to make sure she wins. The series of experiences are mostly followed through the eyes of this woman, Luzelle Devaire, and many are much more dangerous than anything Phineas Fogg ever encountered. Along the way she, the other contestants, and the reader learn about the atrocities the nation of Grewzia are willing to inflict on the peoples of the lands they’ve recently conquered or otherwise made part of their imperium. The political angle of the story brings to mind the land grabs by Germany during WWII, but also more recent events.

Tuesday book reviews on Wednesday

Four-star review of Exiles by Ashley Saunders and Leslie Saunders

 In a earthquake-ravaged future Los Angeles, twins Crystal and Jade were plucked as orphans to become students at a special school on a mountain top by billionaire Damon Yates. This story takes place years later when Crys has been adopted by Yates, and Jade left the confines of the academy to lead a group of exiles, others who once attended the school and left for various reasons. Crys has panic attacks whenever she sees her sister—or looks in a mirror. Then a fellow ‘academy’ sibling of Crys’ and one of the exiles turn up dead. A fast-moving, page turner with lots of good characters. It took a while to get used to the reference of a disgraced researcher as they and their, but Hema was an intriguing character as was Poppy, a former wife of Damon’s and mother of his third son.  This is the first in at least a duology written by twins about twins. It’s an interesting post-apocalyptic story, interesting enough that I want to read the sequel when it is published in 2023.