In Libris Vita

I thought these (it's a trilogy) sounded good the first time I heard about them.  Then I stumbled into being friends with a die-hard fan and got even more hooked on the whole concept. 

Well, I'm here to tell you, I was not disappointed.  Emma Jane Holloway  has created a very credible addition to the Sherlock Holmes canon. 

Evelina Holmes, niece of the vaunted Sherlock, may have grown up in a circus, but she's living with her best friend and doing her best to be a lady, now.  Set in an alternate Victorian London where Steam is king and the Steam Barons have more power than Parliament, even for a lady, life isn't always easy.   Cross the Steam Barons, and you can be Disconnected - no light, heat, or status in society.

Unfortunately, Evelina ends up tangled in a mess involving her host family, forbidden magic,(remember the talking mouse?) and a lost treasure.  Twists and turns and surprises abound, until 50 pages from the end I was thoroughly (but pleasurably) confused, and couldn't see how any of them were going to make it to the end alive!  Make it (well, most of them anyway)  did, and though a good chunk of loose ends were wrapped up, there were more than enough left to make me want to grab the second book and just start reading immediately.  Unfortunately, the second book won't be out until the end of the month, so I'll have to put my curiosity on hold.

The reader gets a lot of bang for their buck with this book - at nearly 500 pages, it's pretty hefty for those us who are used to quick 250 page reads. However, in contrast with some longer works, this one never got bogged down.  Well worth the time investment - highly entertaining, and highly recommended.

An outstanding cozy series debut.  Merry Wynter is in a bind. She's inherited a castle in upper New York State, but not only is it run-down and need updating if it's ever going to sell, but someone's digging holes all over the lawn! 

Fast paced and highly entertaining, I can't wait for the next installment of Merry's adventures.  Also, this has one of the best lines EVER in a cozy, as one of the characters remarks, “Not a clue, my dear girl. Not a clue! But it seems like an awful lot of tragedy for one small family and business, unless you’re in the middle of a Greek drama or a Shakespeare play. Or one of those cozy mysteries, where the residents of a tiny town are bopped off one by one, and yet no one gets the willies and leaves.”  Loved it.

I love historical mysteries, so when I saw this at NetGalley, I requested it and was fortunate enough to be approved. 

This is very true to Thoreau as I remember him from Walden.   Also a solid mystery, and some tough subjects tackled such as syphilis, first cousins marrying, and racial tensions of the time. 

It's a handy reminder that some subjects that we wince about now, were more widely accepted in the past. 

....to see the name of the town you live in in a book.  It's also very nice to have met the author and know that she is a sweetheart and has a memory like an elephant. (How else would she remember me from meeting me ONE time at Printer's Row two years prior to our next and most recent meeting?  Of course, due to my son's enthusiasm for her  YA series, she may now never forget me...).

Anyway - This series is set in a fictional town named Indian Falls, Illinois.  On a map, it's probably somewhere between Sterling and Polo.  A lot of area towns get cameos, though Dixon seems to be the most frequent (or maybe that's just because I live here so I'm looking for it.)  Rebecca has inherited a skating rink from her mother, and has had to come home from her established life in Chicago to figure out what to do with it.  At first, she was determined to sell and get the heck out of Dodge...erm, Indian Falls, but as time goes by, memories, relatives, responsibilities, and small town life start to change her mind.

There's no denying that I am a child of the 70's.  I spent every weekend possible at the skating rink in the next town over during my junior high and high school years. And I had the biggest crush on the rink owner's  younger son, Joel, who was the epitome of early 80's crushworthiness (he looked like Shaun Cassidy with darker hair).  So the roller rink setting is instantly both nostalgic and comfortable for me.  Reading these make me long to take a trip home, go to the rink and rent a pair of skates.  Being that I'm now 47 and never was very good at skating in the first place, this is probably a very bad idea, but it doesn't stop me from wanting to do it!

The latest in the series, which I just finished (because it was just released two days ago), should have been titled "Skating ON the Wire".    I feel like I have been left teetering on a tight rope on roller skates!   Which way will Rebecca's affections turn? Will it be Lionel, the steady, faithful, veterinarian who is already in love with her?  Or will there be a twist and she will end up with her former nemesis, Sean, the cop who has nearly arrested her more times than I remember?  Sean made sure that he let it be known in no uncertain terms that he'd be interested in a relationship if things don't work out with Lionel.  To make things even more complicated, it is my understanding that there's going to be a longer-than-usual wait for the next chapter in Rebecca's adventures to hit bookshelves.  I'll just have to deal with the book hangover and be patient!

No sophomore slump here!  I had been anxiously awaiting the followup to last year's Alchemystic, the first in Anton Strout's Spellmason series, since I absolutely adored it.  After doing everything but having the labor pains to bring it forth,  I finally, finally got my hands on it on release day. I barely managed to hang on til I'd finished my current read before starting Stonecast. 

Once started, it wasn't easy to put it down!  I'd been fairly sure that Stanis wasn't down and out for good (it wouldn't be a series without him) but I sure couldn't figure out what was going to happen, or how he and Lexi were going to work out that whole human/gargoyle attraction thing.  (Yes, I am twisted enough to have asked Anton about that angle, and his reply was for an adult audience, though somewhat expected...think chafing...).

Anyway - this second in the series delivers - lots of twists, suspense, and (maybe) a fresh outlet for Lexi's affections. I'm definitely staying tuned for the third book, and hopefully  many  more!

Spellbinding! Deft mixture of history and suspense. This may have been geared for a YA audience, but it kept me glued to the pages. It's a quick read. At first I couldn't figure out how they were going to make a series out of this, but it became clear at the end that there are a few threads in the storyline that can keep going. I will definitely be picking up the next one!
A thoroughly likeable young heroine (I was very impressed with Peggy, for her courage, and her ethics), and a behind-the-scenes glimpse at palace life in the 1700's  make this a title that any lover of historical fiction will enjoy, no matter the age.

Simply put, this book is magical.  I can't even begin to describe how wonderful this book is.  You'll just have to read it.   But to whet your appetite, here's the synopsis that hooked me, from Fantastic Fiction:

A magical debut about an enchanted house that offers refuge to women in their time of need

Distraught that her academic career has stalled, Alba is walking through her hometown of Cambridge, England, when she finds herself in front of a house she's never seen before, 11 Hope Street. A beautiful older woman named Peggy greets her and invites her to stay, on the house's usual conditions: she has ninety-nine nights to turn her life around. With nothing left to lose, Alba takes a chance and moves in.

She soon discovers that this is no ordinary house. Past residents have included George Eliot and Beatrix Potter, who, after receiving the assistance they needed, hung around to help newcomers - literally, in talking portraits on the wall. As she escapes into this new world, Alba begins a journey that will heal her wounds - and maybe even save her life.

Filled with a colorful and unforgettable cast of literary figures, The House at the End of Hope Street is a charming, whimsical novel of hope and feminine wisdom that is sure to appeal to fans of Jasper Fforde and especially Sarah Addison Allen.

*I received a digital ARC of this via NetGalley*

Susan Wittig Albert undertook a brave task when she decided to write about Rose Wilder Lane, and her role in the creation/editing of the famous Little House books with her mother, Laura Ingalls Wilder. After all, who wants to mess with a modern-day legend, that of the Pioneer Girl who became famous for her "memoirs"? Even so, Susan's sympathetic treatment of the beloved Laura Ingalls Wilder lessens the sting that might otherwise have spoiled the book for those determined to hang onto the idealization. The book is written from Rose's point of view and in Rose's very unique voice.

I should probably disclose here that Susan is one of my favorite authors, and her China Bayles series one of my must-reads. But even so, this historical novelization is both masterfully written, and fascinating. This has been "can't put it down" reading for me. I find myself looking up and being relieved that we're not in the middle of a dust storm.

And that last sentence brings me to what I was feeling in the most gripping point of this book, where Susan (in Rose's voice) is describing the Dust Bowl days in Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma. I'm a native Texan. I grew up in the Texas Panhandle. I've lived through dust storms (though not as bad as what they had in the 1930's.) But the descriptions in A Wilder Rose bring the Dust Bowl days to grim life, and vividly remind me of how tough the Depression really was. My mother was born in 1932 in the Texas Panhandle, and though she always made light of her childhood, I know it could not have been an easy life, as a member of a pioneer family in the largely (at that time) unsettled Texas Panhandle.

Startlingly, there are a LOT of parallels in Rose's description of the angriness of people about the state of the country then, and the angriness of people about the state of our country now. I found myself not agreeing with Rose's politics, but I had to admire her passionate stance.

Both Rose and her mother came alive for me in this book,and I was sorry to read the ending. When I get my print copy of this, it will go on my "classics" shelf, next to my leather-bound copy of the first four "Little House" books. I believe that's where it belongs.

(Read in July, 2013)

Well - if you don't like sex scenes, don't read this, because there are some seriously hot sex scenes. Don't say I didn't warn you.

For everyone else though, this is a MUST READ. Jessica takes your heart and soul and puts them on a roller coaster, then just when you can see the end of the ride, she takes them back and puts them through a washing machine wringer. Then when you're just about wrung out, she adds one final flip...leaving the reader hot, breathless, worn out, wrung out, happy, sad, traumatized, and content.

This is a little out of my usual cozy mystery reading comfort zone - but I definitely do not regret branching out for this.  It's an amazing book.

These just keep getting better and better. I would love them for the in-depth history lessons about San Francisco alone, but add an engaging cast of characters, ongoing puzzles (there are a few unanswered questions spanning through several titles), and of course, the cats, and this is one of the few series I can say that I don't wait to read. I'll put down something else in favor of a new entry in this series.

In my opinion, this series goes a little deeper than most "cozy" series on the market. There's more history, and more loose ends, and the author has a very distinct "voice" that I really enjoy.

I can hardly wait for the next entry,  How to Paint A Cat!

As far as I am concerned, Jenn McKinlay is an absolute genius and she's outdone herself with this series debut. I don't recall another series with a millinery shop since Barbara Jaye Wilson's series, and to put it on Portobello Road, was, again, sheer genius. And there's a maybe-ghost! Love, love, loved it and can't wait for the next one.  This has been a banner year for me for series debuts, I've read some great ones, and this one really stands out. 

I had to put it down for awhile at page 82 because my stomach hurt from laughing so hard.  At the same time, this title is very au courant with the terrible situation of adjunct instructors.

Can't wait for more of Sid's adventures!

I had read the first in this series, "A Lack of Temperance", and it left me wanting more.  Then I heard that this second title would be set in Galena, IL (an easy 80 miles away from me) and I wanted to read it even more.  I was lucky enough to be approved for a digital ARC of it via NetGalley and was ecstatic.

Anna Loan-Wilsey described Galena so beautifully that I feel as though I could find my way around the town, despite having never been there!  This title also features a lot of Lincoln and Civil War era history (hence the title), and a solid mystery.  

I have been very impressed with both titles, and will be very interested in seeing this series continue.  I'm recommending this for purchase for my library, not only for the local interest angles of the setting and the Civil War, but for the seamless melding of history, mystery, and travelogue.