A Variety of Reviews of Summer/Fall Reads

I spent a couple of hours this past week, catching up on my summer reading list at Goodreads, so now I can share them here on my blog as well. I won't post all at once--but about half a dozen at a time. I read more mysteries and other novels this summer rather than Austen-inspired literature...the last two are seriously amazing books that I first read several years ago on FanFiction.net, so I'm thrilled that the author has published them now in e-book form. Yay!!

Now that I've caught up, I'm within only nine books of my 2018 Reading Goal of 70 books, eight books ahead of the pace I need to finish my goal by the end of the year. I've actually just finished another book this week, so I'll have to add that one, too. So only seven left to finish. Perhaps I ought to try a really long one, such as Les Miserables, to slow me down a bit. Our librarians love me, though!! 

So here are the next six books I read over the summer--quite a variety!

Come Rain or Come Shine by Jan Karon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This thirteenth Mitford novel is focused less on Father Tim and more on Dooley and Lace as they prepare for their potluck wedding at Meadowgate Farm where Dooley, now Dr. Kavanaugh, is taking over Hal's veterinary practice. We see most of the events through Lace's POV, but also through Dooley's and Father Tim's viewpoints. The Mitford folks are out in full force, and we also get to meet some newer friends as well...including a notorious bull!! :)

This novel is bittersweet as Lace faces health issues and a hard prognosis, yet joy arrives with the challenges, as is almost always the case in Mitford. It's the kind of place where tears and laughter are consistently intermixed, where hardness is healed and difficulties are prayed over with "the prayer that never fails": "Thy will be done."

Welcome home to Mitford once again--or, in this case, Meadowgate, and see the joyous craziness of the Big Day coming ever closer...until it arrives at long last.


Where Serpents Sleep by C.S. Harris
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In this fourth of the Sebastian St. Cyr mysteries, Sebastian is sought out by the daughter of the Prince Regent's cousin and advisor, Hero Jarvis, after the murder of eight former prostitutes in a Quaker house of refuge (which was also set afire to conceal the murders). One of the women obviously came from quality and was giving Hero an interview when the men broke in and started killing the girls. Hero and the woman ran away, but the woman was shot as she and Hero tried to escape. In frustration over the resulting cover-up of the murders, Hero approaches Sebastian to help her to discover the young woman's real identity and the reason and culprits behind the murders.

Once again, Sebastian finds himself working with a strong-minded woman, this one extremely powerful because of her father's position, in solving the mystery of the women's deaths and bringing their murderers to justice.


Cold Terror by Susan Sleeman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hannah Perry and her son are in Cold Harbor where Hannah, a forensic artist, is helping with a murder case when their cabin is breached and they flee in a boat to the mainland. When their boat capsizes, they are rescued by former Navy SEAL Gage Blackwell, Hannah's former fiance who abandoned her years previously.

Gage vows to protect the recently-widowed Hannah and her son, especially since Hannah's husband had been one of Gage's SEAL team members. He takes her to his compound, Blackwell Tactical, which is manned by former SEALs as they try to solve the mystery of the young woman's death and, in the process, are faced with the possibility that one of their former SEAL members may have not only murdered the young woman but also Hannah's husband as well.

Gage, the father of an autistic daughter and now a widower, finds himself falling in love all over again with Hannah. But can Hannah trust the man who left her a decade previously? And can she learn to trust God again, as well as Gage?

This mystery dragged at times and seemed focused too much on simplistic faith and vacillating emotions. It was okay, but I don't have any desire to continue reading the series.

Grey Mask by Patricia Wentworth
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The first of the thirty-something Miss Silver mysteries, which have all been republished in e-book form (yay!!!), this 1928 novel focuses on a young and very "blonde" (in every way imaginable) heiress named Margot after the death of her father. A young man named Charles overhears a plan to "remove" Margot so that the next heir, her cousin Egbert, can inherit all of the riches after the death of Margot's father. In overhearing this plan, Charles finds that he has stumbled onto a criminal syndicate of sorts, led by a completely amoral man wearing a grey mask.

Margot, only just eighteen, is vapid and innocent and has no idea of the danger she is in; she is far more interested in eating chocolates. Fortunately, the other young people she befriends, including Charles, his former fiancee Margaret, and Charles' friend, try to protect her, with the help of Miss Silver, a former governess-turned-private investigator, who is always invisibly present when needed.

This was a fun British mystery, and I really enjoyed it. The characters are appealing and even compelling, the twist was really twisty and one I did not see coming (Yay!), and the ending wonderfully suspenseful. I loved the 1920's slang and Miss Silver's cleverness which was masked perfectly beneath her primness. It's difficult to get ahold of the series in book form; I believe I checked out the only copy available in the entire state of California which sported a sticker from the San Francisco Library stating "Last Copy." But the books are available as e-books, and I may have to go that way for the second book since I can't find a copy anywhere in the Link Plus statewide library system.

This series reminds me of Dorothy Sayers' Lord Peter series although this one is much more lighthearted...and just lighter in general. It's as if Miss Wentworth were gently spoofing her own time/place of late-1920s London, and I loved every minute. I'm hoping to read through the whole series eventually, even if I need to check out e-books rather than the actual book-books. ;)

A Constant Love: A Pride and Prejudice Continuation by Sophie Turner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I first read Sophie Turner's books on FF.net, so I'm thrilled to find them published as well! I think I've read this series at least three times, and I loved it more every time I read it. My favorite Austen fanfics are continuations: what happens after Pride and Prejudice (and other novels). Sophie shows us such delightful relationships being developed after the events of Pride and Prejudice such as the friendship between Elizabeth and Georgiana. It's a lovely story...and the first of a series, too! Read 'em ALL!!!

We get to see Elizabeth and Georgiana take on a London Season and the ton, and both succeed well. But becoming "Mrs. Darcy" is a stretch for Elizabeth who becomes much happier after returning to Pemberley at the end of the season. Georgiana gains more experience with gentlemen, finding that sometimes being an heiress is more challenging than being relatively poor like Elizabeth was before her marriage. Both learn a great deal about society and themselves along the way. And we get to see Darcy and Elizabeth fall even more in love as their marriage progresses. A lovely, thoughtful novel.



A Change of Legacies: A Pride and Prejudice Continuation by Sophie Turner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I loved this second novel in the Constant Love series. This book focuses more on Georgiana and her marriage but still on Elizabeth and Darcy as well as they prepare for the birth of their first child. We also get to see Mary, the unmarried sister, perhaps start to fall in love, too--or at least she's interested in the younger brother of Georgiana's naval husband. There is so much wonderful development of the characters we know and love--and some intriguing angst, too--that this series remains one of my favorites. I don't want to say too much and give away spoilers, so I'll stop here. I'm so glad that Sophie Turner published her books so that I can re-read them over and over!! They are utterly delightful!!

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Obviously, I did a good deal of reading over the summer, as usual. The heat just saps my energy, so I end up reading a lot. Also, when my pain levels get rather nasty, reading helps me to ignore it as much as possible. So from my reading list, I think we can tell it was rather hot and my pain levels were above normal as well. ;)

Happy reading, everyone!