Mini summer Review: Tell Me, Pretty Maiden (Molly Murphy Mysteries) by Rhys Bowen

Book info:


Hardcover: 293 pages

Cover via Amazon

Publisher: Minotaur Books; First Edition edition (March 4, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0312349432
ISBN-13: 978-0312349431
Genre: crime mystery, historical fiction
Target audience: adults

Synopsis:


Starting this one I didn’t know it was a part of a highly successful series, starring the Irish immigrant PI, Molly Murphy. Still, I didn’t have problems with catching up – apparently it is a series of books you can jump into and get your bearings after several pages without being constantly told boring backstories.

December 1902, New York City. Molly is back from her trip to Ireland and her business is booming – almost at once she must juggle multiple cases. Well, she has no choice, she has to accept the orders as they are coming is she wants to earn her living.

First, she must check the background of a prospective husband, a young man named Leon Roth – his fiancée’s family of rich Jews would like to know what kind of man he really is. Then Molly and her beau, a suspended police captain, Daniel Sullivan, find a near-dead girl clad only in a flimsy white dress in a snowdrift. Molly decides to help poor creature, as the girl seems to be deeply traumatized - she can’t communicate with the outside world and, apparently, has no family to take care of her. Meanwhile a great vaudeville star, Blanche Lovejoy, hires Molly seeking protection against a mysterious ghost, haunting a theater where her comeback Broadway play is supposed to debut. If it wasn’t enough, an elderly acquaintance of Molly, would like her to find out what happened to John Jacob Halsted, a rich Yale student, accused of robbing friends right before he vanished.

Are these cases somehow connected? As the narration progresses you find that indeed, they are and the help of Daniel becomes indispensable.


What I liked:


The era and the place of narration. It was the same as in the case of The Alienist by Caleb Carr, a book I greatly enjoyed. Bowen's portrayal of the early twentieth century can almost make you feel as though you are shivering in the slushy streets of New York.

This book is as much about the history as it is about the mystery - it is really well-balanced here. Occasionally, the plot wanders, but every one of those details becomes an important part of the story sooner or later. Sometimes the mystery is secondary to the evolvement of characters and the ordinary discourse of life that binds them.

Molly is a feisty Irishwoman who happens to have a lot of character and invention along with a tender heart. I liked her a lot, and her two women friends, Sid and Gus, who wonderfully dress up the dialogue.

What I didn’t like:

Romance. More precisely, I don’t like Molly’s paramour, Daniel. For someone who supposedly loves Molly dearly, he simply does not understand and appreciate her ENOUGH. More often than not he treats her efforts to be an independent woman as a mere whim and it seems he is rarely there when she needs a strong arm and an open head the most. It got on my nerves after a while. I don't want them together but it seems they will end up together. Oh well – a small fly in the ointment I can live with.

Final verdict with a list

I liked this one very much and I am willing to continue reading the series to see what will happen to Molly. If you like historical fiction with mystery and a bit of romance, it is something for you. For those who prefer to start a series properly, not jumping in the middle of things, here is the list of all the books with different awards they won.

Murphy's Law (2001)
2001 Agatha Award for Best Novel
Finalist 2002 Mary Higgins Clark Award


Death of Riley (2002)
Finalist 2002 Agatha Award for Best Novel


For the Love of Mike (2003)
2004 Anthony Award for Best Historical Novel
Finalist 2004 Macavity Award for Best Novel


In Like Flynn (2005)
Finalist 2006 Macavity Award for Best Historical Novel


Oh Danny Boy (2006)
2007 Macavity Award for Best Historical Novel
Finalist 2007 Barry Award for Best Novel


In Dublin's Fair City (2007)


Tell Me, Pretty Maiden (2008)
Finalist 2009 Bruce Alexander Award


In a Gilded Cage (2009)
Finalist 2010 Bruce Alexander Award


The Last Illusion (2010)

Mini summer review: The Strange Case of Finley Jayne (The Steampunk Chronicles) by Kady Cross

Book info:


Form: e-book, pdf

Genre: steampunk, adventure novella
Target audience: YA


Synopsis:

This novella is set in alternate-world London, late April 1897 and it features Finley Jayne, the heroine of other Kady Cross's book, The Girl in the Steel Corset. I suppose it is a prequel. I might be wrong.

Finley, a young maid, has just lost her job again – this time she dared to punch a governess who had mistreated a child in her presence. The punch was powerful enough to knock out some of  the governess's teeth. Being from a rather poor, working-class family Finley needs a new job badly. Surprisingly, right the very next day an offer presents itself in the person of a fashionable Lady Morton who seeks a lady companion for her youngest daughter, Phoebe. Lady Morton is aware of Finley’s problems and that fact doesn’t discourage her. Quite the opposite.

Phoebe Morton is betrothed to rich and much older Lord Vincent so why would she need a companion at all? Especially a companion who is not only known to defend children in the most unladylike manner but also doesn’t come from a good family? Of course Finley doesn’t refuse such an advantageous, well-paid offer. Soon enough her situation at the Mortons becomes even stranger. She is treated by both Lady Morton and Phoebe practically like a member of their family, not a servant - she is given her own, spacious room, they buy her some fashionable clothes. She goes with them to cafes and parties. Then she is asked to tell all and sundry that her name is Finley Bennet and she is Phoebe’s distant cousin from the country. What's really going on?

What I liked:

· Finley was a likeable character indeed – a girl you would like to befriend, honest, honourable and intelligent. Freakishly strong but still...rather nice.

· The narration flowed smoothly and was well-paced – in short it was an entertaining and short read, perfect for a summer afternoon.

· Chocolate features a lot in here and, as I adore eating it, reading about it and smelling it (preferably all these combined. ;-)) I was fully satisfied.


What I didn’t like:

· The author didn’t manage to persuade me that she really likes and knows steampunk. Mentioning automatons, mechanical horses, mad inventors and brains in viscous liquid is not enough to make your novel/novella steampunk. Not really.

· To tell you the truth the plot was predictable and not very original. From the very beginning we know Lord Vincent is up to no good (we are right) and poor Phoebe needs help (we are right again). We also get too many clues about the possible nature of the danger – the mystery was really too easy to solve.

· The world building I found a bit lacking (and nineteenth century London is such a nice place to write about!) but, after all, it was just a short novella.

Final verdict:

I enjoyed this one well enough to wish for The Girl in the Steel Corset, featuring the same heroine. Finley’s all secrets weren’t revealed here and she has just found another job - sounds interesting. I only hope a fully-fledged novel will be better when it comes to world-building.

Mini review: AngelFall book I (A Novel of Hell) By S.E. Foulk

I received a digital copy of this novel from the author free of charge, in exchange for an honest review. This fact didn’t influence my opinion in any way.

Synopsis:

The plot of this one is set in Hell, presented as a mixture of Dante Alighieri’s Inferno and Hades from ancient Greece. There are several circles of Hell, populated by the Fallen (demons) imps, their servants, Elders, who rule in Limbo, Plutus and much much more. Limbo is also a place where you can meet Aristotle, the only dweller who ventures to lower parts of Hell, often illegally, writing travel journals afterwards. Aristotle is helped by a young boy, Socius, saved by him from Whirpool. One day Aristotle is said that Azza, the leader of Fallen, sent a messenger after a fugitive being. Curious Aristotle goes to Hall of Minos to find out more about it; he is mutilated and then captured by a trio of Fallen. Then he meets that fugitive, called by him Mortuus, and sends him on his way to Limbo, remaining the prisoner of the Fallen. Will Chiron the centaur, Aristotle’s friend, be able to save him this time? Will Mortuus reach Limbo?

What I liked:

Originality of the created world surprised me nicely here. The author really has an extensive knowledge of Greek myths and Dante’s work and he uses it in a fresh, creative way. Mainly because of that feature the book was readable. Aristotle, as one of the main characters with itchy feet, was a great hero to follow.

What I didn’t like:

In this book I faced a case of unexpectedly disappearing heroes – first the narration is led by a boy who read Dante's Inferno, grew up a bad man, had a nasty car accident and went to Hell. Then we switch to Aristotle. Where the boy has gone? What’s happened to him? Then the narration switches to Mortuus’s trek to limbo. Then we see some other fugitives, Aethos, Darius and Panos, not connected with the previous characters of the story, escaping the Hell as well. Such a lack of coherence and narrative continuity was a bit unnerving. It ruined for me otherwise quite entertaining experience.

Final verdict:

A novel full of fresh ideas but begging for more continuity and, overall, a strong, main thread. I felt the general motive of escape was not binding the whole narration well enough.

Musical Monday, 4 July

Welcome to Musical Monday! 

What songs can't you simply keep out of your head? Would you like to share? Today I present something ridiculously new, compared to my previous picks - listen to Keane!

Here you have the lyrics (the vid is not my favourite but the sound is the best so...):

"Bend and Break by Keane"

Image via Wikipedia

When you, when you forget your name
When old faces all look the same
Meet me in the morning when you wake up
Meet me in the morning then you'll wake up
If only I don't bend and break
I'll meet you on the other side
I'll meet you in the light
If only I don't suffocate
I'll meet you in the morning when you wake

Bitter and hardened heart
Aching waiting for life to start
Meet me in the morning when you wake up
Meet me in the morning then you'll wake up

If only I don't bend and break
I'll meet you on the other side
I'll meet you in the light
If only I don't suffocate
I'll meet you in the morning when you wake

If only I don't bend and break
I'll meet you on the other side
I'll meet you in the light
If only I don't suffocate
I'll meet you in the morning when you wake

I'll meet you on the other side
I'll meet you in the light
If only I don't suffocate
I'll meet you in the morning when you wake 

Do you think this song is really about a suicide pact?

Poem of the month's analysis - Sonet 18 of William Shakespeare (Shall I compare thee to a summer's day...)

                                                 Wikipedia

Some of my dear readers and followers have admited that they don't read and/or don't understand poetry. I decided to share the joy of making a poem understandable, at least to some extend. Of course there is no such a thing as one unambiguous analysis of a poem, unversally correct and accepted - the beauty of poetry is that every reader might understand it in his/her own way ! 


Let's start it easy - with one of the most known Shakespeare sonnets. Below you get the original text (on the left) and its more modern version (on the right).

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?	Shall I compare you to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:	You are more lovely and more constant:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,	Rough winds shake the beloved buds of May
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:	And summer is far too short:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,	At times the sun is too hot,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;	Or often goes behind the clouds;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,	And everything beautiful sometime will lose its beauty,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;	By misfortune or by nature's planned out course.
But thy eternal summer shall not fade	But your youth shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;	Nor will you lose the beauty that you possess;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,	Nor will death claim you for his own,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:	Because in my eternal verse you will live forever.
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,	So long as there are people on this earth,

  So long lives this and this gives life to thee. So long will this poem live on, making you immortal.


First things first: in my humble opinion it is still a poem about love of a kind- you won't compare your accountant or your lawyer or your boss to a summer's day, will you? Well, no unless you are in love with them...my point exactly.

At first glance the poem is simply a  praise of the beauty (rather internal than external but eventually, I suppose, it doesn't matter) of the beloved; the author states that even summer can't compare as it tends to unpleasant extremes of windiness and heat; the beloved one is always mild and temperate (an Internet acquaintance perchance?). In other words he/she is perfect.  A bit idealistic approach but sometimes an infatuation can make you that blind. Ok, what's next?


The stability of love and its power to immortalize the poetry and the subject of that poetry is the other theme.


Here things become more complicated and interesting as well. The poet's answer to his love interest's perfection  is to ensure that he/she remains forever in human memory, saved from the decay and oblivion that accompanies death. He achieves this through his verse, believing that, as history writes itself, his friend will become one with time. You can also say that sonnet 18 do not explicitly encourage the young man (or woman) to have children  to preserve his/her beauty - it is included in the final couplet, which reaffirms the poet's hope that, as long as there is breath in mankind, his poetry too will live on, and ensure the immortality of his muse. So love might make you immortal but only if you love a poet or a writer and he/she decides to immortalize your humble person in his/her work. ;p Yes, you are very pretty and your character is incredibly sweet but I am a Pigmallion to your Galatea...isn't it a bit selfish statement? Well...selfish love is also love of a kind and artists tend to be rather self-centred, don't they?

After that short paragraph, you shouldn't be surprised that not everyone is willing to accept the role of Sonnet 18 as the ultimate English love poem.

As James Boyd-White puts it:

What kind of love does 'this' in fact give to 'thee'? We know nothing of the beloved’s form or height or hair or eyes or bearing, nothing of her character or mind, nothing of her at all, really. This 'love poem' is actually written not in praise of the beloved, as it seems, but in praise of itself. Death shall not brag, says the poet; the poet shall brag. This famous sonnet is on this view one long exercise in self-glorification, not a love poem at all; surely not suitable for earnest recitation at a wedding or anniversary party, or in a Valentine. (142)

As if a scholar might persuade anybody not to recite such a well-known, elegant poem when occasion arises. Note that James Boyd-White refers to the beloved as "her", but it is now almost universally accepted by scholars that the poet's love interest is a young man. Well, they had some hard proof I believe - if you want to find out more just consult this link to Wikipedia where some options are presented and names given.

Now let me know what you think. Would you like me to do it more often or do you find it rather pointless?
:-)

MiDi summer review: Elemental Assassin series: Web of Lies (02),Venom (03), Tangled Threads (04) by Jennifer Estep.

My review of the first part of this series, Spider's Bite,  you can find here

 Book info:

Form: e-book (pdf format)

Genre: urban fantasy, paranormal romance

Target audience: definitely adult females with a dark streak ;-)

Synopsises (a record so far – the shortes I’ve ever written):

Web of Lies

An retired assassin, Gin Blanco, now an owner of a restaurant called Pork Pit, faces an unexpected challenge. One of her customers, Violet Fox, was almost murdered before her own eyes. Shot more precisely. Gin is curious why somebody wanted to murder a young college girl and not...her. She decides to investigate and finds herself facing a really though opponent (dwarfish-tough) while her beloved cop, Donovan Caine, simply can’t decide who or what he likes best: his lover or his career and principles...a broken heart is guaranteed but whose it will be?

Venom

Roslyn, a vampire owner of a fashionable club and a former hooker, is in trouble. She has helped Gin and, as a result, she is being stalked by one ugly, sadistic giant, employed by Mab Monroe, who simply never takes ‘no’ for an answer and enjoys killing his girlfriends. Eventually. He also has the full protection of Mab no matter what he does in private so forget about informing the corrupt police. Gin tries to get rid of that gigantic problem but panicked Roslyn is not exactly helpful. As Donovan Caine moved out of the city, Owen Grayson takes his place and he is far better as Gin’s new love interest than Donovan ever was. Oh, and we meet Bria Coolige, Gin’s little sister, now an law-abidding police officer. Will Gin be able to protect her friends this time?

Tangled Threads

Mab Monroe, Gin's nemesis, had to hire a new security consultant because the last one literally lost his head. She chose a very smart, very expensive female assassin, Electra LaFleur, who has been given one main task – kill Gin, Bria and the Spider. Of course Electra doesn’t know that Gin is the Spider. Sill, does it change anything? LaFleur is a strong Air elemental who electrocutes her victims and enjoys every minute of it. Does it leave poor Gin any choice? If she wants to spend her Christmas with Owen, Bria, Finn and the rest of her gang she has to kill LaFleur before she kills her. The problem is how to do it...and keep alive everybody else.

What I liked:

• I grant you - Owen Grayson is far nicer than that asshole Donovan. Sisters Devereux are also very good secondary characters. Sophia being my favourite Goth dwarf ever.

• There is plenty of action and heart stopping moments.You won't be bored.

• Gin seems to grow up with every new addition to her ‘family’. She becomes softer, she accepts more noble “pro bonos” and finds more tender feelings inside her chest. One day she might become a normal girl. Oh, and Gin's progression in her elemental abilities with each book is starting to look better and better.

What I didn’t like:

Prepare yourself: Anachronist gets into the venomous Spider mode - she attacks and she will be merciless to the extreme because let's face it, things went south with this series for me. Let me explain why.

• Owen and other background characters are a bit too two-dimensional  – we are constantly TOLD about their lives, business and skills but we are rarely shown anything substantial. It might be tolerated in first two books but not further. What's more, in the case of Owen  the author did something close to an accidental character assassination. In one scene the guy admits to Gin that Mab killed also his parents and made him and his sister homeless. I know, it was supposed to show that he really understands his girlfriend and her revenge drive but that revelation almost made me gag Excuse me? So you knew? You knew from the very beginning? Mr. Grayson, you are now an adult male and a very successful businessman to boot, you are fit, you have money, you have connections, right? What have you done with your knowledge then? I mean why haven't you reacted earlier, why haven't you done anything to destroy and/or kill that horrible Mab? You have been attending even some of HER parties for goodness sake! Don't tell me you've been just waiting for an assassin girlfriend to stick her bottom up for you like a perfect coward? Gin haven't reacted of course (as she is madly in love with the guy) but for me it was one of these 'duh' moments when my thinking switched on unexpectedly and I was shortly elecrocuted by the narration problems.

• This series should be actually read the other way round – starting from the last book. I was really annoyed (if not entirely pissed off) – 45 % of the Tangled Threads’ content consisted of blasts from the past...a character enters the scene – backstory, something happens – backstory, Gin uses her magic – backstory...ok., it makes the novel a stand-alone but then why bother with other parts at all when everything will be repeated anyway?

• All the parts of this series so far has been following the same old scheme: first we get a pinch of chaos, action, blood and drama, after some (but not too much) ado the heroine is triumphant, the villain is defeated (read: dead) and the distressed damsel remains still a damsel but in considerably less distress. It’s high time the authoress mixed these ingredients in a slightly different way. Hello, the fifth book is coming!

·        The fighting scenes…from a high class assassin you would expect some finesse and originality, right? Well, I must disappoint you a bit - every fight in the last three books has been handled in a way more reminiscent of Conan the Barbarian than Gin the Assassin we met in the first installment. All this hacking, throat-slitting, carotid-cum-jugular-slitting and disemboweling…what’s more ridiculous Gin can’t keep her mouth closed. Not really. She almost always throws some thrash talk before the fight starts, regretting it later (and/or criticizing her opponents for doing the same). Pure professional, right?

• Finally…Gin started the series as a distinct, layered and complicated even if slightly sinister character. In the last book (Tangled Threads) she has somehow lost most of  these features. She is still this mysterious shadowy assassin with magical powers, but is seems that right now the only person who doesn't know that is her arch nemesis Mab Monroe. For a professional killer she doesn't do much to protect her secrets. I know, falling in love makes you stupid but every stupidity has its limits…please, kindly remember that readers have their limits too.

Final verdicts (yes, several of them):

First: Ms Estep, as your reader I would be really grateful if you hired a new editor. Pronto. You have a series to save.

Second: how to enjoy these books? It's is simple: read them really quickly, satisfy your craving and curiosity and then black out. NEVER give yourself enough time to actually think about what you are reading because you might end up ditching the series for good and, after all, it started well and  it might improve. Maybe. If you catch yourself thinking: ‘wait, wait, what is she/he doing?’ (I did catch myself thinking it more than a dozen times) drink some margaritas, listen to some Cher songs or go have a manicure. Or go shopping.

Third: To those who are yet to discover the series... well go read it, it’s summer. Even if some of these books are rather disappointing, they are still better than 80+% of the chicklit out there.

Friday Flash Fiction

Amy C at Romance Book Wyrm and Dottie atTink's Place have come up with the idea for a Monday Morning Flash Fiction challenge. Each Monday a new picture prompt will be posted and if you choose to participate - you publish your Fiction Flash  on Friday - 350 words, give or take. Below you can find the picture posted last Monday:

This picture of a lovely lady allowed me to continue Tanisia's story - the first part can be found here. Let's face it - I owed her a bit for that bladder control issues!

The shop was already closed but Tanisia didn't want to go home. There were so many things to do, so many objects to examine. She has been enjoying her new life despite the fact that she had to work now. She was young, fit and beautiful again, nothing else counted. Almost nothing else...well, she had certainly to be more careful. After several people recognized her host and called her out on the street she decided to dye her long  hair blond and change the style of her clothes a bit. After that she could start looking for a job. She needed money as well as new artifacts for her magical treasure trove - the source of power of every witch, magician and warlock.

This little pawn shop with rare books, pictures, furniture and drawings caught her eye as soon as she visited it the first time. She was a bit lucky - the owner, an old lecherous coot,  liked his 'girls' young and pretty so he hired her without any problem. It wasn't him that intrigued her the most, of course. His shop happened to be full of hidden magical treasures and she doubted the owner was aware of it. Tanisia decided to exploit his lack of knowledge. After her last dealing with that warlock she was as close to broke as ever.

Today she found one perfect specimen of the kind she has been looking for. At first glance it was just a simple charcoal drawing - a portrait of a young boy in his teens, his lips smiling, his eyes full of energy, happiness and mischief. However, if you used magic and looked at it at the right angle you could glimpse quite another face - that of an elderly, desperate woman in a hat, crying. Tanisia knew the drawing was supposed to show other things too. It was a special artifact, a link connecting all members of a given family. It could also be attuned to whoever you wanted, providing you had the proper skills.

Tanisia has been sitting in total silence for a long time, exploring her catch, watching the changing faces, totally enthralled by their similarities and differences. All of a sudden she saw a movement of tiny specks of dust, hanging in the air, right out of the corner of her eye. She froze. Somebody else was with her in the shop but who? The owner went home long time ago - she always made sure he went home earlier and slept very soundly now adding special tincture to his afternoon tea. She wanted to have more quality time with his shop. Then she felt a cold hand on the nape of her neck.

'Don't move, don't say anything, don't shout or you are dead.'

The voice was barelly a whisper but it carried a lot of authority - so much that indeed she didn't dare to disobey. Not when she wasn't sure who and what she was dealing with.

'Good girl. Now put your hands on the table where I can see them. Slowly.'

She did what she was told, feeling more and more uneasy. Something was horribly wrong. Her ears caught  strange jingling, her hands became sweaty and very, very heavy; so heavy as if an invisible power glued them to the table. Magic. Somebody was using magic on her. She closed her eyes, focusing on other senses. She felt a strong aura surrounding her but nothing else - no smell, no sound, just sheer power. A ghost? An apparition?

'Tanisia...my girl. What a pleasure to meet you again'

This time the whispering was a bit louder, her left earlobe almost burned from the hot breath of her assailant. As he came much closer she recognized the voice without any troubles. It sent shivers down her spine. The warlock she considered safely and happily dead, Barnabas Oak, somehow managed to survive her assault and now was standing right behind her, binding her with his magic. She groaned invardly. Her long day was going to end in an unexpected way.