Yara N.

A Sweet Story about Love and Friendship

Revisado: 05-23-21

I didn’t give this book five stars because I thought the pacing was a little too slow but overall I enjoyed the story very much. The characters were charming and relatable and the romance between Josh and Amber was sweet, though probably a little too slow of a burn - wish there had been a chance to develop it further. Overall, I spent an enjoyable afternoon reading about village life in England.

The narrator was excellent.

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A truly original retelling of Sherlock Holmes

Revisado: 08-10-20

The Affair or the Mysterious Letter by Alexis Hall is a strange and original reimagining of Sherlock Holmes. Told from the perspective of John Watson or in this case John Wyndham as he recounts his first adventure with Sherlock Holmes, aka the sorcerous Ms. Shaharazad Haas; the story is written as a memoir. Part sci-fi, part fantasy, part paranormal, part steampunk, and part mystery it’s hard to categorize the genre. It’s certainly and original creation.

The mystery here is a letter blackmailing a frenemy of Ms. Haas and so Mrs. Wyndham who has just recently become the roommate to Ms. Hass is roped into the investigation. The two travel to distant places back in time, forward in time and a bunch of other wacky, crazy escapades that puts their lives in danger more than once.

Once you get use to the weirdness of quirkiness of the story and the world-building it’s very enjoyable. Clever and smartly written it weaves its tale and mystery beautifully. Though, I would say the mystery was huge, its resolution was inventive and unexpected. You start to warm up to the characters the more you get to know them.

One of the things I did found annoying was how the author chose to do omissions and how they were explained away. There was a lot of, “I won’t waste the readers time by going into such trifling matters” (paraphrasing). And it happens a fair amount throughout the book. A few times here and there is okay, but it happened far too often for my taste. And by the way the book is told in first-person, so FYI.

The narration is done by Nicholas Boulton, who is one of my favorite narrators. He does a phenomenal job and really brings the characters and the world to life with his performances.

Overall, I enjoyed it a great deal and I can’t wait for their next adventure together.

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An interesting though sometimes frustrating read..

Revisado: 08-10-20

The Dream Hunter is a rivaling tale of adventures in foreign lands and a less riveting tale of finding love and belonging.

Zenobia “Zenia” Stanhope is the daughter of British explorer, revolutionary and eccentric, Lady Hester Stanhope (real-life historical figure who comes to be known as the “Queen of the Desert”. However, she’s a self-centered woman who neglects Zenia. The girl feeling deeply her mother’s disdain and dreams of England and the father she never knew, searching for that love and support she has not received. So much so that she come to hate the desert and upon her mother’s death she wishes to finally make her way to England. Unfortunately, she has no money or resources and finds herself at the mercy of Lord Winter who takes her for a young man (as that is the way her mother had her dressed and behave). The two go on an adventure (reluctantly for Zenia) through the red desert where Lord Winter searches for a prize mare. Throughout their adventures and ordeals, the two form a bond. However, their lives come under peril and they are separated. Zenia finally makes her way to England where she’s built a life for herself, believing Lord Winter died in the desert. However, unexpectedly he reappears two years later and now they must both reckon with their new lives in England and come to terms with their shared past.

The first part of the book takes place in Syria with travels to other Arabian countries through the desert. The scenes are vividly painted, so much so, that you feel the burning heat of the desert sun and the thirst that comes along with it. There’s an excellent combination of world-building and character development.

Zenia’s behavior once Arden, Lord Winter, arrives in England can be seen as irritating, annoying, and maybe even childish. However, if we take into consideration her experiences, and the clear trauma at her mother indifference and frankly disdain we can understand some of her hang-ups. However, misguided her actions are, they come from a place of trauma, but it does become tiresome. Kinsale, is very good at creating these complexities in a character, thought I do feel that I time she pushes the angst and conflict too far and for too long. Her characters are complicated, the emotions and actions are contradictory at times but not without cause but still, there is a limit to what is plausible.

In regard to the depiction of the protagonist time/experience in the Arab desert there is some problematic aspects mostly comprised of (I’m not sure what the correct terminology is) “white awesomeness”. This is directed towards the H with his 10-shot Colt rifle and how the Arabs where in awe of him for it or the ultra-superstitious nature of the Arab people (I mean they could say the same about Christian superstition). Nonetheless, the scenery and the description of the cultures and political environment of the time felt realistic and well-drawn.

I love Laura Kinsale’s books because they aren’t typical or formulaic when it comes to their plots. However, she does rely heavily on the same types of tropes which she uses throughout all the books I’ve read from her. You have the reluctant hero/heroine trope paired with the hero/heroine who pursues them throughout the book once their feelings are establish. This then causes the on again/off again trope. Which is caused by the miscommunication trope.

I don’t mind any of these tropes, but not to belabor the point I do feel that Kinsale pushes them a little too far for a little too long. I wished she’d hold back sometimes. Having said that, I still happily read her books because she’s so good at telling her stories that even when I’m annoyed I still what to know how things turn out because I still care about the characters.

I gave up on the heroine right before she finally had her epiphany which is her serious “mommy issues”. She’s known this but it isn’t until the 11th hour that she’s ready to confront them. Arden, Lord Winter could also be frustrating with his inability to communicate but he at least came to the realization of his love and wanted to marry Zenia and moved heaven and earth to do so, which made him the better of the two protagonists. I’m glad Zenia finally relents but I really wish she’d done so sooner allowing time for the reconciliation and establishing of the relationship - now in a healthy way.

The narration for this book was done by Nicholas Boulton who is probably one of the best if not the best narrator I’ve listened to. He’s always spectacular, I have only praise for him.

Even with its shortcoming it was still a good book to read/listen to and I would still recommend it. Just be prepared to be frustrated.

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Poor narrator and too long

Revisado: 08-09-20

The story wasn’t bad, it had some very interesting elements such as the issues with Welsh mining, however, it was drawn out far beyond what it should have been. The dialogue sounded amateurish and frankly silly. It sounded unnatural, people don’t actually speak that way.

There were issues with anachronism for the period throughout the book. The premise of the story is completely unrealistic but it didn’t bother me most romance novels have unrealistic premises but other anachronistic elements such as language bothered me more.

The worst part was the narration. The narrators has a good voice but he was a terrible narrator his performance highlighted the worst aspects of the books.

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Sweet and uncomplicated

Revisado: 08-01-20

Dare To Cross The Water by Lorri Moulton is a clear and uncomplicated romantic novella. It takes place in Scotland in the mid 19th century as they are building a ferry train.

Short story short, worker falls in love with bosses daughter and she reciprocates. The characters are sweet and very likable, there's a little drama but it's so tame it doesn't raise your blood pressure. I will say that for a novella there's a A LOT of dialogue, too much in my estimation. And the use of "aye" was excessive. Nonetheless, I still enjoyed it.

The narrator was Siobhan Waring and she did a good job overall.

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Sweet Novella

Revisado: 08-01-20

Clarissa and the Poor Relations by Alicia Cameron is a sweet little novella, though it lost a little steam towards the end.

This is the first book by this author I’ve read. The novella is a romantic comedy/satire about a young woman who comes into an inheritance and invites her ragtag group of friends and colleagues (the poor relations) from the school they were all teaching at to come and live with her and try to make a go of reviving the dying estate she inherited. The only problem is that the young woman, Clarissa, is not of age and is at the mercy other older step-brother.

The story is sweet and humorous at times, the characters are charming and quirky. I thought the plot to keep Clarissa at her manor was both too complicate and simplistic. While I enjoyed most of the book, towards the end it got silly which is why I gave it three stars. The author was trying to channel Georgette Hayer and Barbara Metzger but didn't quite have the skill to pull it off. But there's promise there.

Overall, it was a sweet romantic novella and while it got a little silly I didn't mind spending my time reading it and would read another book by this other.

Audiobook Notes:
The audiobook was narrated by Heath Miller who did did a very nice job. I think I've listened to one other book narrated by her and she's been good. She's not on my list of top narrators but she does a good job.

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Fun and witty short stories.

Revisado: 07-20-20

This is a novella with three short stories by Barbara Metzger:

"Autumn Glory"
"The Management Requests"
"A Match Made in Heaven - Or Hell"

""Autumn Glory" was my favorite of the three short stories, followed by "A Match Made in Heaven - Or Hell", then followed by "The Management Request". Like the only other book I read from Metzger the writing is witty, the characters charming, and the story fun and entertaining.

I’m glad I found this author, I like the way she writes and her smart but simple stories.

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Fun way to spend a lazy Saturday

Revisado: 07-20-20

Fun story, I had picked up The Watchmaker's Daughter about a year ago and didn't get pass the first few pages. However, I decided to pick it up again and I couldn't put it down this time around. It seems I wasn't in the right headspace to read it when I first picked it up.

This is a mystery series with magical elements, though the magical elements are very minimal, barely noticeable. It takes place in Victorian times and follows the exploits of American (I won't give you his profession because it's part of thce first books mystery) Matthew Glass and his crew of merry men and woman and the daughter of said watchmaker -now deceased - India Steele. The story begins with India arriving at what use to be her father's watchmaking shop, which was swindled away from her by her former fiancé Eddie Hardacre. While she's there to give Eddie a piece of her mind she comes across Matthew Glass who is searching for a particular watchmaker. India, who grew up in the industry, and knows almost everyone, agrees to assist him in his search. Thus, the adventure begins.

It was a good mystery, though not particularly intricate and I should warn not wholly resolves because it's book 1 of a series. The characters were engaging and colorful though at times frustrating, especially India, with the indecision (why to authors make heroines so indecisive?). The story is told from India's perspective but I wish we got Matt's perspective because even though he's a main character, we don't get to really know him as well as we should, IMO.

I listened to the audiobook which was narrated by Emma Powell. I think this is the first time I listen to a book narrated by Powell, who has a great voice and did a good job, for the most part. There were a few missteps, especially with the American accents. Note to non-American narrators, people from California don't speak with southern accents and southern accents are actually quite varied. The Southern accent from Georgia, is very different from the Southern accent from Tennessee, or Mississippi, or Texas. Furthermore, not everyone who lives in the South speaks with a Southern accent. Best bet is to stick with a standard American accent (Pacific Northwest) you can't go wrong with that.

Additional note: the rest of the series is narrated by Marian Hussey who is an acquired taste. I love her narration of the Manners and Monsters series but I haven't been too crazy about some of her other narrations. Additionally, I've listened to most of book 2 and the accents for the American characters are painful. Southern accents, again, and not very good ones.

Overall, despite some of the issues I had I enjoyed the story, it was a fun way to spend a lazy Saturday.

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Excellent mystery, well worth your time!

Revisado: 07-20-20

The Mountain Wild is the debut novel by Sarah Stewart Taylor.

I decided to listen to this book because it was narrated by Marisa Calin, who I love and the few reviews it had were very good.

The story follows Long Island detective Maggie D'arcy who after 23 years finds herself once again investigating the disappearance of her cousin Erin, who disappeared in Dublin. The story is told using flashbacks, so we simultaneously read about the current investigation and the initial investigation into Erin's disappearance.

I don't want to give a lot away but I loved the way the investigation unfolded as well as the way we find out what happened to Erin. I read a good amount of mystery and I did not guess the ending, though the clues were there.

Throughout the book we get to know Maggie and we get to see her interaction with the Irish police detectives as well as an old flame (the one who got away). Aside from the mystery there's also some romance, but the romance never takes precedent over the mystery. It's a side story that is also tied to the main mystery so it doesn't feel superfluous.

The narration by Calin was excellent, as usual, though I was a little haired by her American accent which I was not expecting. She did a good job though.

Overall, I loved the story, the characters, and the writing as well of course the narration and I get wait for book no. 2!

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Witty, lovely, and full of love!

Revisado: 07-20-20

The Loyal Companion by Barbara Metzger is so stinking adorable, I can't even!

Love this novella so much, the humor, the characters, Fritz the dog, everything was handle beautifully.

Brief summary, Sonia who grew up carefree in the country is sent to London to her grandmother, for her come out. She's accompanied by her loyal companion, her dog Fritz. Sonia has a big heart, she's out to help the underdog and those in need and so she comes across Captain Darius Conover and his three nieces who are in dire need of a champion. With the help of Fritz, Sonia brings light and love to the Conovers.

This could have been a silly story, as part of it is narrated by the dog, but it was done in such a clever and witty way that I found it charming and refreshing. Fritz is no ordinary dog. he a scholar and a philosopher, and he'll straighten his mistress' life come hell or high water.

The romance between Sonia and Darius is sweet and touching. Sonia has lots of love to give and Darius is in need of someone to love and believe in him and so it's a match made in heaven. The character are all charming and lovable. This reminded me a lot of a Georgette Hayer novel, it's a similar style.

The narration was done by Stevie Zimmerman and she was excellent, however, the quality of the recording wasn't great. Still, it didn't detract from the story.

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