Summer Book Reviews

Goodness, this summer just flew by! I taught a Shakespeare class and a Fan Fiction class online at Brave Writer, plus readied our youngest to attend college out-of-state (Yikes!!). The day after I returned from getting him settled, we had our eldest son's friend from Kentucky arrive to stay for a week (with trips to the San Diego Zoo and Disneyland) while spending most of our time at my parents' beach house before our son flew back to stay with the friend for another week. I'm back to teaching Playing with Poetry: Discovery at Brave Writer this fall, but somehow had no time to post my book reviews. So here are a few:


The Trouble to Check Her: A Pride and Prejudice Variation by Maria Grace
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read this book on Maria Grace's blog and on the Austen Variations site, and I loved it!! It's the second book in the Queen of Rosings Park series...although, in this volume, there is neither hide nor hair of the "Queen of Rosings Park," Lady Catherine. Mr. Darcy has given Lydia the opportunity to attend a "finishing school" of sorts--Mrs. Drummond's School for Girls, an institution for young ladies like Lydia who have lost their reputations to men who refused to marry them. Darcy has agreed to pay Lydia's tuition, but if she is expelled, she is completely on her own and will likely have to work as a servant.

Lydia enters the school in typical Lydia-style, immediately finding and befriending the rebels of the school and disdaining the young ladies who are trying to make amends for serious mistakes in their lives. Lydia is upset that she cannot room with Amelia and Joan, the aforementioned rebels, but instead must share a room with Juliana, a girl who is hugely pregnant and too sweet and naive for Lydia's tastes. Lydia detests the lessons, especially the new music teacher, Mr. Amberson, who chides her for her lack of practice on the pianoforte. And to be expected to clean her own room...like a maid-of-all-work?? No thank you!!

Will Lydia end up out on the streets so many miles from home, or will she begin to find her worth as she learns to work, study, and even play the pianoforte?

A wonderful story--with some romance from a very unusual direction!! I very much enjoyed reading it as a weekly serial and also now in e-book form!!



To Save and Protect: A Pride and Prejudice Variation by Paisley James
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

To Save and Protect is the first of three books in a three-part series of outstanding variations of Austen's Pride and Prejudice. After receiving the letter from Mr. Darcy on the morning after her rejection of his unfortunate proposal, Elizabeth wanders the grounds of Rosings, thinking over all that Darcy's letter has revealed about her sister, about Wickham, and mostly, about Elizabeth herself.

When news comes to Darcy at Rosings that there is a dangerous fugitive on the loose in the neighborhood, he searches for Elizabeth and at last finds her. They aren't terribly polite to each other, but Darcy is compelled by his "inner gentleman" to ensure her safety.

Together, Darcy and Elizabeth uncover a heinous plot involving murder, attempted murder, near-death, a near-attack, and blackmail...while Darcy's only wish is To Save and Protect the woman he loves...as she begins to return his feelings.

This novel is full of surprises; the plot is wonderfully twisty-turny, and the development of Elizabeth's feelings for Darcy is quite believable as his actions, more than his awkward words, demonstrate the quality of gentleman she rejected so rudely. The plot unfolds beautifully and with perfect timing, and the whole thing sucked me in completely.

This book is marvelously written, perfectly paced, and extremely compelling. I've read it at least four times--it's incredible, as are the next two books in the series.

Brava, Paisley James!!



Twenty-One Days by Anne Perry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have been a fan of Anne Perry's Charlotte and Thomas Pitt mystery series for ages and ages--I think I started reading them when only about eight books were in the series; there are now 27.

And enter Charlotte and Thomas' son, Daniel, a young (25-year-old) lawyer getting his start in 1910, thanks to a recommendation from his father, now Sir Thomas Pitt, who remains head of Special Branch. It's strange for me to read about Daniel since I feel as if I've watched him grow up--in a way, I have, as far as characters go.

Daniel is involved in his first real cases--both of which involve possible death penalty outcomes. The novel starts in the middle of the first case which then leads into the second case of a man accused of murdering his wife and burning her face so that she was unrecognizable. The man is decidedly unlikeable, but Daniel knows that he must do his best to prove this man innocent. Instead, a guilty verdict is handed down, and Daniel has twenty-one days before the man's hanging to find mitigating proof of his innocence.

In his quest for proof, Daniel comes across a damning manuscript written by the condemned man regarding Victor Narraway, his father's former boss at Special Branch, and Narraway's wife, Lady Vespasia, an elderly but powerful woman in London society and politics who was also related to the Pitts by marriage and assisted Thomas on many of his cases. With both Narraway and Vespasia dead, the fault for much of the implied wrong would fall on Sir Thomas Pitt, Daniel's own father. What is Daniel to do? And is there a leak at Special Branch?

I found this book as captivating as the entire Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series--in some ways, almost more so. Daniel is young and knows that he will inevitably make mistakes, but he has his mother's crusading spirit and his father's logical mind to fall back on, as well as the elderly head of the law firm who is an old friend of Daniel's father and sees the beginnings of a brilliant lawyer in young Daniel. Other new characters step in and out of the story, brilliant characters who attract our attention (and our hearts) and are instantly believable.

Anne Perry has always drawn amazing characters--memorable and lovable characters with weaknesses amid their strengths--who surprise us and involve us in their very thoughts. Perry is a masterful writer of the mystery genre, and this book may be among her very best yet. I rarely give "5" scores to books that are not classics, but this book definitely deserves this designation--the first of what I hope will be a long series of mysteries involving Daniel Pitt.


Mischief by Amanda Quick
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have seen Amanda Quick's novels often on our library's shelves, and when I had nothing to read, I snatched this one.

I enjoyed the Regency setting and the idea of Matthias' archaeological trips which resulted in the discovery of the lost island of Zamar and all the details of this "lost culture." I enjoyed Matthias as a character: his seeming coldness (nicknamed "Cold-blooded Colchester") is quickly warmed by Imogen. I appreciated the various mysteries they solved together, including the death of Imogen's friend and the murder of Lord Vanneck whom Imogen believes was the murderer of her friend, his wife.

However, I didn't care for Imogen's stupidity. She's an obviously intelligent woman, given her research into ancient Zamarian culture and her ability to read Zamarian script (only she and Matthias are true scholars of Zamar although as a woman, she could not join the archaeological explorations), but she is at the same time unbelievably naive about people and society to the point of absolute stupidity. I found her obtuseness quite annoying. And the intimate scenes between Imogen and Matthias were just...weird. I don't care for such scenes anyway, enough so that I doubt I'll pick up another book by this author.

I enjoyed the various mysteries as they unfolded, and I really enjoyed Matthias' character opening himself up to Imogen despite (or perhaps because of) her reputation as "Immodest Imogen, but her consistent belief that she was always right despite being dead wrong most of the time was annoying. She saw what she wanted to see and believed only what she wanted to believe despite the truth of the matter being right smack-dab under her nose. I also didn't care for Matthias' half-sister Patricia who appears partway through the story and flip-flops in her dislike for both Matthias and Imogen so often that I couldn't keep up with her.

So it was the various mysteries that drove this novel forward for me and kept me reading despite my annoyance at most of the female characters.



Netherfield: Rogue Dragon: A Pride and Prejudice Variation by Maria Grace
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was fortunate enough to be allowed to proofread this and the second Jane Austen's Dragons book by Maria Grace, and I have to say that I ADORE this series. Out of the 600+ Austen variation novels I've read over the past five years or so, this series is my absolute #1 favorite of all time!!!!!!

Seriously.

No exceptions.

It's a brilliant world Maria Grace has dreamed up and researched meticulously. Each type of dragon in this series of three books thus far (and a fourth coming out soon--a prequel to this trilogy) has been based on dragon lore of Britain, Scotland, Ireland, and northern Europe. And the Blue Order--the association of dragons in Britain and the dragon-hearers--those who see, hear, and care for the hundreds, perhaps thousands of dragons in England--is simply brilliant.

In this third book of the trilogy based on Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Darcy and Elizabeth have been declared engaged by the Blue Order Council in order for both of them to care for young Pemberley, the baby firedrake who hatched in mysterious circumstances in Book One. But a rogue dragon--one not subject to the Pendragon Treaty to which all dragon and human members of the Blue Order agree--may be living at Netherfield Park, just outside of Laird Longbourn's territory. Elizabeth is charged by the Blue Order to discover this rogue dragon and to bring it into the Blue Order while Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam travel throughout Britain, quieting dragonkind who are upset at the idea of a possible rogue dragon and searching for clues about its provenance. Lydia, who apparently just started to hear dragons (which can occur later in life) is missing from Netherfield which she was caring for while Jane and Bingley (both dragon-deaf) are honeymooning.

In addition, Elizabeth has been banished from Longbourn's territory for refusing to marry Mr. Collins and for leaving Longbourn to care for baby Pemberley at Rosings Park where she was pining for "her" (Elizabeth). Mary, the other Bennet daughter who can hear dragons, is installed as Junior Keeper under Mr. Bennet, Historian of the Blue Order. Mary and her father are charged with the education of Mr. Collins, now affianced to Mary, as the Longbourn Estate (and its dragon) are entailed to him.

So with the very future of the Blue Order and the Pendragon Accords in jeopardy, Elizabeth and Darcy and the dragons assisting them, seek to keep peace between humanity and dragonkind within England...while trying to pursue their own future as co-Keepers of young Pemberley who will become a very powerful dragon in the Blue Order due to her rank within dragonkind.

And I'll leave my description here now that the background is clear (I hope). Just read the whole series; it's absolutely brilliant!!!!!!!!!!

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Thanks for reading my reviews...which are a teensy more eclectic than the norm with two books NOT Austen variations although two are by Maria Grace. 

I'll be posting and also writing more reviews coming up. I had quite the list for the Summer Reading Program at our county library branch and managed to win our daughter a Kindle Fire 7 for her business. Last time I won something from the Summer Reading Program, I won a toaster oven which we just installed a month or two ago when the previous one decided to catch fire for some reason... Thus, I can tell my husband that reading really DOES PAY!! :D 

Warmly,