Your third historical romance, book one in your Lively St. Lemeston series, begins in October of 1812, with a knock on Phoebe Sparks’ door. Phoebe, an author of Improving Tales for Young People, is contemplating what fate to inflict on the protagonist of her current story, who gives birth to an out of wedlock child in a ditch, when the knock interrupts her.

At her door is Mr. Gilchrist, a Tory election agent. Mr. Gilchrist has come to call on Phoebe at her home in Lively St. Lemeston because the Tories and Whigs are battling for every vote in the Lively St. Lemeston district. As a woman, Phoebe cannot vote. But she can have some impact on the outcome of the close election because as the eldest daughter of a deceased freeman—a man whose “freedom of the city” entitled him to vote—she can, according to the Lively St. Lemeston charter, bestow her father’s freeman status on her husband.

Phoebe is a widow. Her husband, a newspaper editor and printer, was a Whig. But Will died two years earlier and Mr. Gilchrist is sure he can persuade Phoebe to marry again. When he insists he knows her taste in men, Phoebe all but shoves him out the door. After a bad marriage and a heartbreaking miscarriage, she has no interest in remarrying, especially not for the sake of an election, and even if she were, her sentiments are on the side of the Whigs and not the Tories.

Meanwhile in London Nick Dymond, the middle son of an earl, is in bed when his mother, Lady Tassell, descends on him and demands that he too involve himself in the matter of Phoebe’s marital status. Nick’s younger brother Tony, a Whig, is running for the same seat Gilchrist wants for the Tories, and since Lady Tassell is campaigning on behalf his older brother’s Stephen’s behalf – yes, this is a political family – she expects Nick to help Tony win the Lively St. Lemeston district seat for the Whigs.

As it happens, Nick is the only member of his family who doesn’t give two flying figs for politics. He hates that the good of the party has been put ahead of the good of family members, and that his mother is always sure she knows what’s best for him.

But even more than that, Nick hates that his mother winces when she looks at him. Nick served as an officer in Wellington’s army and took a bullet in the leg at the battle of Badajoz. His leg was broken and healed weak and now Nick walks with a limp. And he can’t stand the way people – family members especially—have looked at him ever since.

So Nick makes a bet with his mother. He will get Phoebe to marry the Whig baker whom Lady Tassell has picked out for her, and if he is successful, Lady Tassell will never wince when she looks at him again. After an all-too-brief moment of empathy with her son, Lady Tassell agrees.

Of course, Phoebe still has no interest in marrying, but when Nick offers to help her with the laundry, she takes him up on his offer. An attraction develops as Nick continues his campaign for the vote to which Phoebe holds the key, but it’s not as though it would be appropriate for Nick and Phoebe to marry, or even indulge in an affair, when their stations in life are different and he is trying to get her to marry someone else.

To Phoebe her decision to meet Nick again is nothing more than a reason to leave the house after years of staying cooped up inside. And then—disaster. Phoebe’s sixteen year old sister Helen is cast out of her home by their mother. Helen is pregnant, but the father of her child refuses to marry her.

To save Helen’s good name and spare her suffering, Phoebe would do anything. Even marry a man she doesn’t love and has little hope of loving. Even struggle to suppress her growing attraction to Nick.

Since her miscarriage and the death of her husband, Phoebe has felt dead inside, but as she opens up to Nick about the conundrum she faces, something inside her begins to stir.

Nick too begins to come out of his depression and sense of loss at being unable to fight alongside his men. He sees that Phoebe and Mr. Moon, the baker, are all wrong for each other, even though to save his bakery, Mr. Moon desperately needs the money Nick’s mother has promised him in exchange for his marriage to Phoebe and his vote.

Both Phoebe and Nick are used to putting others’ needs ahead of their own desires. With family members and the outcome of the election depending on them doing just that, will Phoebe and Nick learn to shut out the clamor and listen to – as well as follow—their hearts?

I thought of some of my favorite historical romance authors as I read this book – authors like Courtney Milan, Judith Ivory, and Cecilia Grant – because of the good writing, the realness of the characters, and their psychological depth as well.

Nick and Phoebe are richly drawn, wonderfully complex characters with messy emotions that include hopes, fears, dreams and understandable resentments. Nick for example, can’t stand that he since his injury, he has had no control over the way others see him. Phoebe couldn’t wait to escape her critical, perennially dissatisfied mother by marrying Will, but feels guilty for having left her sister alone under their mother’s thumb.

Their attraction is almost a magical thing in that it gives them a new sense of power, not just the power of being attractive to someone you desire, but the power to recognize and express your own desires.

The ideas the novel communicates are at ones simple and complex. Here for example, is an excerpt from a scene in Nick’s viewpoint in which Phoebe confides in him about her sister’s pregnancy and her consequent need to sacrifice her freedom to salvage her sister’s reputation.

She drew in a deep breath and steadied like a raw recruit given a few encouraging words and a clap on the back. “I believe in my sister.”

He was going to win his bet with his mother. He looked away. “Talk to your sister. She’s apologizing because when she looks at you, she sees her guilt that she’s forcing you into marriage. And when you look at her, you see your father’s disappointment. I don’t care whether he would have been disappointed. He would have been wrong.” He couldn’t turn his gaze back to Mrs. Sparks’s face. When he looked at her, he was supposed to see his chance to show his mother the truth of himself. He wasn’t supposed to see her.

The writing in Sweet Disorder is thoughtful and fresh, with a subtle sense of humor woven throughout. The novel takes its title from the poem “Delight in Disorder” by the 17th century poet Robert Herrick. The poem closes with these two couplets: “A careless shoe-string, in whose tie / I see a wild civility; / Do more bewitch me than when art / Is too precise in every part.”

Nick quotes these two couplets during one of the sex scenes, but they serve as more than a charming, seductive line. They also function as a metaphor for Phoebe and Nick’s relationship, and for the book itself: a bewitching, disorderly whole.

As I try to think of what the flaws in this novel might be, I can’t think of many. I don’t enjoy mental lusting in books, although here it’s written with some freshness and there’s a later payoff for it during the earthy, original and character-specific sex scenes in the novel’s last third.

Perhaps too many of the novel’s characters have critical, disapproving or manipulative parents, but this is contrasted by Phoebe’s lovely (if deceased) father, and also ties into the theme of being true to oneself and one’s own needs, rather than to the expectations and needs of others.

A final flaw I can think of is that the epilogue mentions the possibility of reconciliation with a family member I think Nick and Phoebe might be better off keeping at arm’s length.

Other than that I love this book. I love that Phoebe is an ordinary, middle class woman. I love that she is heavy. I love that Nick is not an heir, nor does he ever become the heir. I loved that his limp pains him and that he finds some workarounds for dealing with it, but it is never miraculously cured.

I loved that Nick and Phoebe bring disorder into the other’s life. They agitate, distract, and fluster each other in the best of ways. The chaos their relationship creates extends from within them to without, and to others. If Phoebe allows herself to fall for Nick, she may endanger her sister’s happiness, and that of Mr. Moon, the anxious baker whose desserts are works of art and whose shop is part of the heart of Phoebe’s town. If Nick allows himself to express his desire for Phoebe, what will happen to the election and to his relationships with his family members?

The novel immerses its readers in the life of the Lively St. Lemeston community, and I loved the minor and secondary characters too. There are more of them than I can mention here, but each person is real, and each is both ordinary and extraordinary. Even the villains, such as they are, are human and unhappy. And all the characters are tied to others, entangled in their community, knit together – if one thread is pulled, everything can unravel.

Is there room for honest desires, then? The book answers with a resounding yes. Phoebe and Nick’s muddle is resolved not through order and obedience, but through the disorder made up of their messy emotions and rebellious epiphanies.

It wasn’t his leg that kept him from feeling like a whole man, he realized. It was something far deeper, a lack within himself. He had never wanted anything with such a bone-deep conviction. Sometimes, it seemed, he could go all day without wanting anything at all.

Like the poet Robert Herrick, I am bewitched. A-.

Sincerely,

Janine

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Two competent enemies. One public crisis. A slow-burn Montreal workplace romance where the hardest problem is learning to care without taking over.

Sophie Tremblay can make a room listen. Pierre-André Sainte-Rose can tell which words will survive the morning. They meet properly at a Montreal work event, where Sophie tells a funny story about Barcelona and P.A. is the only person in the room who knows what €694 has to do with it. Neither expects to be on the same crisis team by the next morning.

When a skincare client’s product crisis goes public, Sophie and P.A. have to build the response together. She knows what people need to hear. He knows what the company can stand behind. Their arguments sharpen the work—and keep giving them reasons to stay after the meeting ends.

A joke becomes a habit. A touch lasts too long. The attraction stops being theoretical.

But a crisis is easier to manage than the person across the table. Sophie will not be handled. P.A. is used to solving the problem in front of him before anyone else has to ask. The more they start to matter to each other, the harder it becomes to know when he is helping—and when he has taken the choice out of her hands.

The crisis needs a statement. What Sophie and P.A. need from each other is harder: an answer neither of them can write for the other.

Review

I really enjoyed the first book in this series “Not His Girlfriend (Yet)”. The compact writing style didn’t bother me. I loved watching the MCs edge sideways around what they were feeling. Cats are always a plus and I understand the medical background taking place. It psyched me up to read the next book.

Sadly this book just isn’t grabbing me the same way and I acknowledge that it’s a me problem. At the halfway point, I’m still not seeing enough of any potential relationship between Sophie and P.A. and what is there is buried under all the business/legal stuff that the plot is built on. That is literally all there is by the halfway mark. Incremental steps in trying to contain the business crisis and nothing more. There’s a reason I didn’t go to business school or law school and that is because I find the idea of them as interesting as watching paint dry. So having heaping helpings of both began to dim my enthusiasm almost from the start. By the time I stopped reading, my interest was dead in the water. This is a DNF for me.

~Jayne

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At the Academie of the Grand Duchy of Sieuxerr, every mage with the healer’s gift has five years to master their power and to prepare for the infamous Grand Exam—a five-day trial whose results will determine their entire future.

The list of exam rules includes:
• You will perform five practical cases.
• Your exam group is chosen at random.
• You pass together, or fail together.

It does not include:
• On the first day, your exam group will find a classmate’s dead body in the exam hall.

And as they will soon discover, this particular group all have something to hide… and all have a connection with the dead girl, a brilliant scholar who would have been first in their class.

Five scholars. Five secrets. Five days in which to solve a murder, pass the most important exam of their lives, and uncover a secret larger than all of their own combined. One with the potential to change the world.

Are you ready?

Let’s begin.

Review:

Dear Freya Marske,

I was so fascinated by the blurb of the book that I one clicked right away. I did really enjoy the setting and the in depth descriptions of how medical, healing magic works. I do not think I have ever read anything quite like it. I mean, I read about healing magic before, but I do not recall authors ever describing it with so many interesting details. I do consider myself an experienced fantasy reader and I read the stories with many interesting types of magic, and the magic in this book felt if not unique, then quite original to me .

As much as I love the well described settling in the book, plot and characters are also very important to me and there I run into problems.

Actually, I cannot say that I have had that many issues with the actual plot of the book, I think the execution was more of a problem for me. When I finished the book I thought that the story made sense, but how we got to the end took too long and with some unnecessary detours.

I think I understand why the author felt the need to take those detours – the actual story takes five days, thats it and during these five days (I think at least) that the readers should end up sympathizing/ empathizing with five *five* main characters. The group who is actually taking the exam described the blurb. I think it is very hard to do to describe five days in the characters’ lives and make them memorable/ relatable, etc. I think it is hard, but doable – I have read the books where I ended up caring for the characters where I was with them for *one* day in their lives.

Here the author wanted her group of characters to not fail a very important graduate exam ( presumably if they fail, they will be forced to repeat the year in the Academy and nobody wants to do that for many different reasons), establish/reestablish the personal relationships some of them had previously, figure out what they want/ have to/ be forced to do after they graduate If they pass the exam. Oh and let’s not forget the best part – investigate the murder of the classmate, who was the most brilliant scholar in their year and with whom some of them had close relationships.

Sorry, for me it was way too much and that is why first twenty – thirty percent of the book felt really weird to me, because some of the five characters were telling us long stories about their lives. I was thinking eh remember the murder? It is not as if they forgot about classmate, because at least for some of them it was a very traumatic event, probably for most of them, because some of these young people had close relationships with the dead girl ( friendship, professional, not romantic), but it was as if they occasionally remembered that murder took place and something needed to be done.

And to a degree I got it, after all how would you make us care for the characters if you won’t tell us about their stories, but pacing felt very off to me for a while, it was slow and yes, even boring at times. And these kids ( they have 22-23 years of age) had to balance passing the exam and trying to figure out what to do about murder, but fiction has different rules than reality and I wished the pace would pick up. it eventually did and I got more engaged in the plot but I cannot say that I ever ended up caring all that much for the characters. I mean they were all likeable do not get me wrong. If you are expecting real “Dark academy” vibes here, I will actually suggest don’t. Oh the establishment itself has issues and society has issues, but actual main characters are not evil I would say ( Is it SPOILER I am pretty much implying that none of them killed their friend, but I do not want people going in expecting DARK ACADEMY).

There are two main love stories, one starts on pages and another sort of reconnects from what happened in the past. I was happy for them, but cannot say that my emotions were engaged all that much.

Grade : C+

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At a sumptuous family wedding, two former friends rediscover their own love story and the lies that tore them apart in a chaotic and swoony second-chance romance by the author of Yours for the Season.

Toronto attorney Dina Haq is looking forward to her influencer sister’s lavish South Asian wedding. She wouldn’t dream of overshadowing the event of the season by revealing her carefully guarded secret: Her own marriage has gone bust. She just needs to make sure her odious ex keeps his mouth shut, too. Complications arise once she discovers that the groom’s best man is none other than Luqman “Lucky” Latif, a law school crush who ghosted her six years ago.

Forced to abandon his lawyerly ambitions to help his struggling family in Chicago, Lucky rebuilt his life, and a successful contracting business, and has moved on from past hurts…or so he thinks. Then he sees Dina again, the woman who not only rejected him but also had the nerve to marry his best friend instead. He’s not sure his heart can survive another encounter.

As the wedding festivities unfold, Dina and Lucky rediscover their connection and begin to unravel the part her manipulative ex-husband played in their almost-love story. The past isn’t quite what they thought, but is it too late to imagine a new future together?

Dear Ms. Jalauddin,

It’s been a while since I read one of your books but this cover caught my eye and I thought, yes, this one. I like it, mostly. Some things annoyed the shit out of me and I had to wait far too long before Dina grew herself a nice, shiny backbone, though.

Dina, Lucky, and Assad have been friends through law school but in the early morning hours before a make or break final exam, Lucky and Dina do an incredibly stupid and teenage thing when they separately ask Assad to be their romance intermediary. I mean did they not see his true nature through all the years they knew him, Lucky especially as he says he’s known Assad far longer? Guess not and that choice did not end well.

Now years later, Dina and Lucky are different people having been kicked by life – Dina in that she married an asshat and Lucky in that his father has died leaving the family with massive medical debt while his Uncle has stiffed the family out of the money he owes them. Then they meet at Dina’s younger (and almost, at times, insufferable) sister’s OVER THE TOP desi wedding. Will they ever manage to clear up the one major thing standing in their way to lifelong happiness?

There is a lot of discussion and examination of desi weddings, cultural norms, a walima, and South Asian families here. It’s full on for much of the book. The book didn’t have to tell me that these are far beyond just family affairs. Extravagance is noted and no one can be shown up in the hospitality department. Since Dina’s sister is also a hijabi influencer with further aspirations, everything is also being live-streamed and, if needed, augmented with faux drama as if desi weddings aren’t packed with that already. Lest anyone get mad at me for this paragraph, all of this is mentioned in the book.

I liked about half of the book cast and loathed the other half. Dina is smart but needs a backbone, her bestie Lisa is smart and would help bury a body, Aliyah is smart, funny and can see the truth almost immediately, Lucky and his family are delightful, Lucky’s friends Deepak and Hassan are the types who would drop everything to help you, Samir the bridegroom is great and knows how to be a friend. He also seems to know the type of bride he’s getting and I say good luck with that.

On the bad side I would place bride Hania who, as many other reviewers have mentioned, is often self centered with pitifully few things to redeem her. Me, Me, Me everything revolves around Me, damn it. Dina’s parents are either dismissive (dad who seems more impressed with asshat the son-in-law than his own smarter daughter) or iceberg cold (mom who is only slightly less dismissive of Dina). Arshad the asshole is such a classic villain that he ought to be twirling his mustaches while cackling.

Dina and Lucky are the first born of immigrant parents and they take their family responsibilities very seriously, working themselves to exhaustion and doing everything. Sadly only Lucky seems to be appreciated for all he does while for Dina it’s merely she’s doing the very least of what’s expected of her. The load each carries seems crushing at times. When Lucky faces rock bottom, through his own efforts he manages to pull his family out of their crisis while also finding a new career he actually enjoys. Dina is more ‘follow the rules’ and do what everyone demands of her while she stuffs her true self and needs into a tighter and tighter ball. It got hard to watch her keep doing this after a while.

Fans of misunderstandings and miscommunication rejoice because this book is for you. It starts on the Big Mis and is kept going as one after another miscommunication steps in to keep Dina and Lucky from finally telling each other what they truly feel. The families here are all Muslim but most of what is mentioned are hijabs and not drinking alcohol. If you know your Bollywood classics, you might recognize the famous dance scenes and music that are played at the wedding.

In the end, everything is cleared up with a slight surprise twist to boot. For a moment, I was afraid that Dina would continue to waffle long enough for Asshat to steal her thunder. A “year later” epilogue wraps things up. I’d like to put a plug in for a book for Aliyah as she seems the type who takes no prisoners and I’d be all over that. B-/C+

~Jayne

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The Rookscroft series is illustrated cozy fantasy — whimsical tales of talking animals, unexpected friendships, and the joy of discovery, told with warmth and charm.

It began one morning in late summer, when a pheasant appeared at my studio window. At first, I was startled—but my surprise quickly turned to delight when I noticed he was wearing a top hat, pulled down quite low.

I hurried to the door, hoping to catch a glimpse of him as he fled. But to my astonishment, there he was, standing squarely on the mat. He looked me over, blinked, and then began to speak.

He introduced himself as Vernon Cotterill and asked if I would be willing to paint his portrait, an offer I joyfully accepted. And that, my friends, is how this whole adventure began.

Dear Ms. Siroshton, 

What a wonderful little book. Told from the first person view of amateur painter Jayne, we watch a delicate love story play out among the birds who live near her country house. 

Vernon Cotteral forthrightly introduces himself to Jayne as ‘Vernon Cotteral, the third, to be exact.’ Vernon designs and makes lovely little hats. He wants his portrait painted and a delighted Jayne quickly agrees. Through Vernon, she is introduced to the local church down a country path where she sees a service led by an opossum then meets Quentin, a lovely golden pheasant who writes poetry and love letters for those needing that service. 

Two turkey sisters might have love in their future but as Jayne watches and listens to the more overbearing and outspoken of them, Madge, she and later Quentin fear that shy, soft spoken Connie might have her heart broken. Will true love win out and what will Vernon’s hats for the sisters look like?

Vernon might initially come off as a slightly snobbish bird, especially with regards to hats, but he was born into a highly thought of family in the barn. Quentin is a laid back and easy going bird who prefers to keep to himself but has the hot goss, while Madge is rather bold and Connie is content to smile gently in the background. But who is interested in whom and will hearts be broken?         

Well, I was on tenterhooks waiting to see what was going to happen. Beautifully handwritten written notes finally reveal the reason behind the choices that one of the sisters makes for her painting. Yes, I eagerly wanted to see twue avian love triumph. For readers interested in this, I urge you to make sure that you can read the short book on something that will show the abundant gorgeous color paintings. I’m looking forward to book two. A

~Jayne

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Charlotte Beresford has spent far too long under the iron rule of strict governesses and unflinching finishing school teachers. When she’s offered a brief window of freedom—an invitation to spend the summer with a recent acquaintance in a remote corner of Yorkshire, far from societal expectations—she jumps at the chance. Never mind that her new friend is odd, their chaperone questionable, and the village rumored to be cursed. Charlotte knows how to look after herself. All she must do is show a friendly face, keep her wits about her, and—above all—avoid the derelict manor house that stands on the edge of the moors…

Battle-scarred and bad tempered, Magnus Sterling never intended to return to England, let alone Yorkshire. But now he’s inherited the title, it’s his responsibility to settle his late father’s affairs. It should be simple enough to do without riling up the superstitious locals. Indeed, they don’t even need to know that the infamous son of the equally infamous Earl of Eversleigh is back on British soil. Magnus will keep to himself, and to the crumbling manor house, and for once in his miserable life avoid any cloud of scandal. A straightforward enough plan, or so he believes, until he catches sight of the bold, auburn-haired intruder infiltrating the grounds of his estate…

Dear Ms. Matthews,

It’s been a while since I read one of your books so I confess that it was actually a relief to me that the action focuses on the hero and heroine rather than her extended family, many of whom I’ve either forgotten or whom I’ve never met. I guess at some point I’ll need to remedy that. Anyway, this at first begins by leaning into Gothic-ie goodness – a dark and crumbling manor house, a scarred hero, an amnesiac heroine. 

The Hon Miss Charlotte Beresford is visiting a friend for the summer in the wilds of Yorkshire. One day, with her friend’s mother gone leaving the two girls alone, Charlotte spies an injured dog and given her family love of animals, she goes to its rescue. Only this leads her, after being confronted by a dark and brooding man, to lose her balance and fall. Magnus wasn’t going to shoot her, the pistol wasn’t even loaded, but what is he to do with this injured woman now and what will be left of her reputation – his is already in tatters – before The End?

Charlotte is delightfully forthright and determined. As she later tells Magnus, having two older brothers who teased her and her older sister Agatha, has made her tough. Magnus has had more than his fair share of reputational damage. He does fully accept his part and share of what happened to cause this but he never regained his father’s respect before that old curmudgeon died. Dear Old Dad also hid the fortune that should have come to Magnus which is why Magnus and his (more than slightly lazy) valet are digging up the grounds and tearing out the paneling of the family seat. 

Yay that Magnus is horrified at having to assist Charlotte after her fall. With no female servants and after Taylor’s unsuccessful efforts to winkle her identity out of the taciturn villagers (who still think Magnus is the devil in human form) to return her home, someone has to help her out of her corset and bustle. Poor Charlotte suffers what I generally hate in a romance – temporary amnesia – which thankfully begins to dissipate the next day leaving her slightly peeved that Magnus lets her believe they are married. I can understand his reasoning and will give him a pass on this – something Charlotte eventually does, too. 

Then the two begin to get to know each other and see beyond mere looks. Yes, Magnus has suffered in the service of his Queen in the Royal Navy but neither he nor Charlotte pay his scars much attention. Instead Charlotte is bound and determined to help him get requisitions from the village, have him take care of the dog she was trying to help, and convince him that she sees beyond his past. I like that she inveigles the truth from him and the means she uses. She also faces down the town gossip and busybody and gets her friend to see Magnus’s good side. 

Magnus valiantly tries to fend off Charlotte’s efforts to help him as he’s used to doing for himself now and he doesn’t want her to think he’s after her marriage settlement. Then her dear Papa appears on the scene to discover just what has happened to his daughter and who is responsible. Magnus sweats this out. If I was concerned about what was turning into a bit of insta-love, Papa neatly manages things with legal assistance. I wouldn’t want to face his cold ire. BUT, this still led to Magnus and Charlotte being separated for six months and only corresponding via letters so I wouldn’t have minded seeing a bit more romance on page.    

I was happy that Charlotte’s advice ends up helping Magnus. I wondered if it would be Charlotte or the dog to do so. The epilogue is Happy Families at Christmas with, as I mentioned before, a lot of characters I haven’t read about. I also am looking forward to the next book which seems like it will feature Charlotte’s sister. B        

~Jayne 

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The definitive, unofficial oral history of the making of the iconic and beloved Lord of the Rings film trilogy.

Celebrate the beloved, influential, and truly epic Lord of the Rings films with this essential read following the making of the trilogy, as told by cast and crew members. Journalist Sam Moore weaves together interviews with stars like Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Orlando Bloom, John Rhys-Davies, and Andy Serkis, to the writers and brilliant crew members who revolutionized filmmaking special effects and brought to vivid life what was thought of as a project as impossible to adapt as the hobbits scaling Mount Doom.

Twenty-five years after the first film’s premiere, There and Back Again takes readers behind the scenes into director Peter Jackson’s battles to get the trilogy made, the groundbreaking motion capture special effects that helped bring Gollum to life, and how the cast became a true fellowship that remains bonded to this day, complete with matching tattoos.

Through Sam Moore’s insightful and entertaining interviews with almost a hundred cast and crew members, There and Back Again is the definitive account of the making of these modern movie classics, which was almost as thrilling as the films themselves.

Review

Eons ago, when I was in college, I took an elective class called something like “The Heroic Journey.” I had to read “The Aeneid,” “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,” “The Odyssey,” and “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy. All but “The Odyssey” were new to me and I was surprised how much I enjoyed them all. Luckily I had the summer to read them all before the autumn class. Years later when I heard that the Rings books were being made into films I remembered how complex they are and thought, ‘good luck with that.’

Then the films came out and … wow. They did it. They actually filmed the “unfilmable” books – with some changes, of course. I saw this book and realized that yes, it’s been twenty five years since “The Fellowship of the Ring” was released. I asked to read it because I wanted some more details on the blood, sweat, and tears that went into the project.

Note this is an unofficial oral history and due to scheduling conflicts some actors and Peter Jackson couldn’t be interviewed for it. Extensive dives into other interviews and written documents had to suffice for them. The rest of the book is set up in chapters that start with the history of Tolkien writing the books and then move on to cover attempts to film them, who’s got the rights, Jackson’s attempts to work with Weinstein to film them (thank God that failed), reselling a new studio on filming them and only then gets to the above mentioned blood, sweat, and tears. All of those were literal at one time or another.

There’s stuff from actors, from special effects, about filming locations, and about costumes and weapons. Gollum/Andy Serkis gets his own chapter. And prosthetics – lots and lots about prosthetics. At times certain topics are covered from lots of different people which leads to a fair degree of repetition. A few actors involved gripe a little about their roles not making it into the theatrical release or even the extended edition.

As I read it, I took moments to head to the tube of You to watch certain scenes and I do believe I will need to pull out my DVD copies (extended versions) for a rewatch soon. If you just can’t get enough of the films, this is a nice addition. I would advise reading more slowly, a chapter or two at a time, rather than zipping through it as I did for this review. B

~Jayne

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From beloved author Martha Waters, a lightly magical, enemies-to-lovers rom-com about the owner of a speakeasy supplying magical drinks and an enforcer of the ban on magic who must team up when potions begin to go awry, proving that chemistry isn’t just for cocktails.

In an alternate version of 1920s London, vestiges of England’s magical past exist, but the use of magic has been outlawed, leading families still with powers to operate illegal speakeasies for a public still hungry for magic. Vesper Holloway runs her family club, where a dash of spell powder or an enchanted cocktail can add a little extra intrigue to the evening. But one night a man drinking a Flotation Fizz that should allow him to levitate a few inches finds himself bumping his head on the ceiling. Word among the magical elite is that such accidents have been happening more frequently, and the club owners are worried that the danger will spread.

Enter Maxwell Ashbridge, a onetime friend of Vesper’s brother, who has joined the government agency tasked with enforcing the ban, and who has a personal vendetta against the magical elite. But he does not have a vendetta against Vesper; in fact, he finds her rather enticing. He promises her immunity for her club, if she teams up with him to help gain entry to other establishments and find out who is responsible for the contaminated magic threatening her family business. But their investigation does little to quell the chemistry they share. As accidents continue and the fight to repeal the ban gains ground in Parliament, Vesper and Max will have to decide—is the magic between them worth fighting for?

Review:

Dear Martha Waters,

Your book was probably the most accidental book purchase I have had in the last five or six years. I visited the “Ripped Bodice” store, which we now have in Brooklyn because I wanted to treat myself after a dentist visit, and I was seduced by the cover of this story. I think it is very pretty. Blue and green color combinations do something nice to my senses and, after I liked the cover, of course I read the blurb and liked it too.

I have not read a single review of this story and I do not know whether my opinion of this book is an outlier or not. I really liked the setting of the story. I think 1920s England with some magic still left was very well done, although of course this is a historical fantasy NOT a historical. Magic will be the first clue and the second clue is that a lot of things are allowed in this world which would have been frowned upon in the real 1920s England.

I really enjoyed the main characters and some secondary ones. The book was a very easy read and I finished it in two days. However as much as I enjoyed Vesper and her family and thought Max was interesting, the plot to me badly lacked urgency. The blurb is very well written, but I just do not think that investigation was a significant plot line. I mean it was there, do not get me wrong, they were indeed going to different clubs and allegedly trying to investigate, but they did not? Not really. Maybe because nothing serious happened as a result of those poisonings by magical potions. I mean that was not really poisonings, misuse of potions? I know people suffered injuries, but it did not feel long term?

I did not feel as if the stakes were big if that makes sense and the characters were not really driving the investigation. To me the answer very much fell in their lap. This was a nice sort of a second chance romance. I say sort of because while the characters were friends before, they never were together. I mean, even “from enemies to lovers” in the blurb to me sounded exaggerated.

Yes, Max comes to Vesper’s club for the first time presumably looking for a reason to shut her club down, but the moment he sees her he realizes that no, that’s not what he wants or will do, because he likes her. They may argue, but I never got a sense that they were ever enemies before.

They were nice together, I will give the book that much – boring but nice.

Grade: C

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Set in post-WWII Paris, the wife of an American foreign correspondent stumbles on the body of her murdered classmate at culinary school and becomes tangled in a web that stretches from the halls of diplomacy to the city’s underworld.

Paris, 1949. It’s been five years since the war ended. The City of Light is only just beginning to rediscover its joie de vivre. Americans are arriving in droves, including the fiercely independent former reporter Kat Kelly and her husband—a hotshot foreign correspondent. Forced out of journalism by the old boys’ club, the tenacious Kat has moved on to pursue her love for French cuisine. But this new chapter turns deadly when she finds the bloody body of an American classmate, Toby.

After giving her statement to the police and breaking the news to Toby’s girlfriend, Kat quickly suspects that Toby’s life—and death—were more complicated than she imagined. The more Kat learns, the more certain she is that the police are only scratching the surface of the case. When another body turns up, Kat and her husband, Charlie, find themselves embroiled in the investigation. With the killer on the loose and time running out, Kat races to solve the case and save her marriage—and her life.

In a glittering city desperate to forget the devastation of war, some secrets refuse to remain buried. But when agonizing truths are forced into the light, no one is safe.

Dear Ms. Helwig,

I was intrigued by this post-WWII story that doesn’t feature a librarian or a book club. There is the happy marriage of Kat and her husband – pretty much love at first sight when they met four years ago – but the book focuses on solving crimes and – since at this point France still has the death penalty – possibly saving Charlie’s life.

Kat Kelly is happy with her life in Paris. Yeah, she’s still somewhat annoyed that in post war America, she had to step aside and give up her budding journalistic career for the returning GIs but she’s sorta made peace with it. Now she’s taking cooking lessons in Paris along with former GIs. I got more than a whiff of Julia Child’s early days in Paris here. Then Kat gets pulled into murder, war time cover-ups, recriminations, and saving her husband’s life – or at least keeping him out of prison.

Kat is intelligent and relishes dusting off and using her investigative skills. Before long, she senses that there’s much more to her classmate’s brutal murder than it first seems. There are also two French police officers on the case – one of whom is an asshat who might or might not actually want to solve the crime and one who for now is under his superior’s thumb.

Over the course of the investigation, Kat will need to think hard, search for elusive clues, and try to solve the case as if she was writing a news story and looking for the holes in it to plug with information. Powerful people have a vested interest in keeping a few things under wraps and at times Kat isn’t sure who to trust. Kat isn’t a trained criminal investigator and does make her share of mistakes – something I actually liked rather than her suddenly doing everything right and instantly solving the crimes.

I do wonder that her husband Charlie is so supportive, willing to do the dishes, and later offers to share a byline with her on a career making news story. Charlie is just a bit too good to be true. But he and his twin brother had to make their own way into and through Harvard against the Crusties so he does know opposition.

The opening section of the story is just a touch too overwritten, often slowing the pace to include a lot more “setting the stage” details than are needed. There are also French words randomly sprinkled through the spoken dialog which reads more as silly and annoying. Also, if a pet is included in a story, give us a happy ending for it rather than just dropping it. Yes, that’s a pet-peeve (pun intended) of mine.

Once the story really takes off, I was along for the ride, guessing whodunnit and why. It all makes sense and touches on wartime survival, choices, consequences, and postwar politics. I hope there will be future books and that this becomes a series. B-

~Jayne

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Hal (neé Harriet) is a young woman living in Brighton, England and working a job she inherited from her mother (killed in a hit-and-run three years previously). She does tarot card readings at a kiosk on Brighton Pier, mostly for tourists. Hal is down and out by pretty much every metric: friendless and barely scraping by financially, physically and emotionally spent.

Her financial situation is increasingly dire because she borrowed money from a loan shark, not realizing that the usurious rates would make paying the debt back impossible. Her naivety surprised me. I understand that she was young but I would think she would have first done what young, dumb me would have done did at that age: opened a bunch of credit cards she couldn’t afford to pay off (also a bad idea, but at least the credit card companies don’t actually break your bones). I dunno, maybe credit is different in the UK.

In general, I wondered about differences, either in the UK or in Hal’s specific circumstances, that meant that she had no other option but a job that she didn’t like and which did not afford her even the beginnings of a decent living. I’ve been given to understand that the social safety net is more robust in the UK than in the US, and even here there would be help for someone so poor that she could barely afford to eat, pay rent or heat the hovel she lived in.

Anyway, Hal is saved (at least potentially) from her bone-breaking predicament by a solicitor’s letter informing her that her grandmother, one Hester Westaway, has died, and inviting her to come for the reading of the will. As far as Hal knows, she has no grandmother Hester Westaway. She ignores the letter at first but finally decides to get out of Brighton temporarily and see if she can scam her way into a few bucks to pay off the loan shark. She doesn’t want to do this; in fact she feels terrible about it. But she is desperate.

A note on “scamming” – Hal does not believe in the tarot and her readings usually utilize cold reading skills and occasionally a little bit of Google searching. Looking for more information on her Westaway “relatives”, she tries the latter on her train trip to Penzance, her destination for the Westaway funeral. She doesn’t come up with much. I was a little surprised she didn’t utilize some of the more robust options out there for investigating people – I believe that there are sites that provide a good deal more information for a small fee. But again, maybe this a USA/UK difference. Plus, Hal is genuinely broke.

Hal’s Google research yields three supposed uncles: Harding, Abel and Ezra. Her supposed mother is Maud, who disappeared from the family decades before. When she arrives at Trepassen House – the family estate, Hal is welcomed fairly warmly. But this is clearly, from the get-go, a very dysfunctional family. The brothers bicker constantly and it’s clear they all want to get the estate disposed of and go back to their lives elsewhere.

Hal is shocked at the reading of the will to find that the late (and entirely unlamented) Grandmother Westaway has left almost her whole estate to Hal, with only small allowances made for her uncles and cousins. Rather than seeing this as a boon, Hal frets on several front. She feels guilt, as a fake Westaway, and she worries that the more substantial reward will come with a greater chance that her deception will be discovered.

Hal is already creeped out in general by Trespassen House, which is not the grand manor she had expected, but rather run-down and possessed of a malevolent housekeeper named Mrs. Warren, whom the Westaway sons openly deride as a “Danvers” ala Rebecca. Mrs. Warren seems to hate Hal on sight and relegates her to a cold attic room, where Hal finds “help me” scratched into the window glass.

Hal does discover a connection between her and the Westaways, in the form of a distant cousin who stayed with the family for a time. While still racked with guilt over her deception, she becomes determined to find out the truth of her parentage and the mysterious disappearance of Maud Westaway all those years ago.

As I indicated earlier, many of Hal’s early choices confused me; she seemed naive and helpless in a way that didn’t feel realistic to me. I did like her ambivalence over deceiving (and potentially financially defrauding) the Westaways. She’s sympathetic in her grief over her mother, who she was very close to. I just wanted her to be a little bit more fully drawn.

The brothers were depicted a little more fully – staid Harding, kind Abel and Ezra, who was Maud’s twin and is cynical and detached. All of them want to get the will business sorted out and get out of there. The late Mrs. Westaway hovers over the story like a malevolent presence, manipulating the characters even in death.

This was a pretty solid story and I’ll give it a B. I eagerly anticipate Ware’s next release.

Best,

Jennie

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