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A Dreadful Splendour
By B.R. Myers. Harper Collins. Back when I was a teenager, we didn’t have the lovely young adult books available today. Once you were beyond what I called chapter books that were common for young readers, there were only adult books to read. I quickly took to reading books my mom read, many of them gothic romances. Think Victoria Holt, Phyllis Whitney, etc. I loved the combination of mystery, darkness and romance these combined. This genre seems to have fallen off my radar upon adulthood. While this book isn’t quite the same, it is a gothic murder mystery and there is a romance that evolves. And it definitely evokes some…
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A Lark’s Tale
By Lynn Messina. The Book Whisperer Verity Lark’s alter ego, Mr. Twaddle Thum the gossip columnist, is being impersonated around town and that’s a problem. Much of Verity’s time is spent in various disguises to find out what’s really going on among the ton. But it seems this imposter is in danger and it’s her duty to keep that person safe, even if they have stolen her name. And so Verity embarks on a mystery-solving adventure in the same universe as the Beatrice Hyde Clare mysteries. In fact, Beatrice Hyde-Clare is one of Mr. Twaddle Thum’s favourite targets, not to mention Verity’s connection with the duke that Beatrice is married…
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Convergence of Desire
By Felicity Niven. Bletherskite Books. Harriet (Harry) Lovelock has important concerns with regard to Fermat’s Theorem. She is sure she can solve it if only she could rid herself of the balls and social occasions required of her as an unmarried young lady in English society. Meanwhile, Thomas Drake is trying to enjoy life without allowing his heart to begin feeling for others, particularly women. After a chance encounter, Harry decides on a plan that she believes will benefit both of them: a marriage of convenience that will allow her to continue her work undisturbed and for him to carry on life with no feelings attached. What follows is a…
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A Narrow Door
A Narrow Door by Joanne Harris. OrangeSky Audio It’s the beginning of a new school year at St. Oswald’s Academy and the way of things has changed considerably. Roy Straitley, the long-standing master of Latin is still there but the latest change might be a step too far. The school now admits girls and the new headmaster is a woman, Rebecca Buckfast. Straitley’s Brody boys come to see him the day before classes begin and report having found a body on the site of the new swimming facility that is under construction. After a number of scandals in recent years, Straitly is reluctant to report this incident but goes to…
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Betrayal on the Bowery
Betrayal on the Bowery by Kate Belli. Crooked Lane Books In the second installment of Gilded Gotham Mysteries, Genevieve and Daniel team up to solve another murder. Daniel’s friend Rupert has just gotten married and is set to go on his honeymoon when a dead man is found in their cabin on an ocean liner. Rupert is soon accused of murder as the dead man was acquainted with his new wife. The sleuthing pair get into all sorts of difficulty as they seek out the culprit. I really enjoyed the first book in this series and was happy to have the opportunity to read this one too. Genevieve and Daniel…
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The Island of Missing Trees
The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak. Viking Teenager Ada has the worst day ever at school when she stands up and screams in front of her class. Life has been tough for her after her mum dies and her father is left heartbroken. Then her mother’s sister arrives and it feels like it’s all getting worse. Why didn’t her aunt show up at her mum’s funeral? But this book isn’t so much about Ada as about her parents, how they met, how two people from Cyprus ended up in London, and about a fig tree. This book is one that shifts from the present to the past and…
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A Woman of Intelligence
A Woman of Intelligence by Karin Tanabe Simon and Schuster Australia Katharina Edgeworth was once a translator at the United Nations. She loved her life and then she fell in love with Tom Edgeworth, a pediatric doctor from a well-to-do family. They eventually married and when she had her first child she stopped working and became what would today be called a stay-at-home mother. Her life appeared to be just about perfect but the reality was anything but that. Her husband was almost never, home, more married to his work than to her. Meanwhile, she has lost herself to motherhood. As much as she loves her children, it’s not complete.…
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Winterly
Winterly: Dark Creatures Book One by Jeanine Croft It’s while Emma Rose is in London that Markus Winterly comes to her aid one night and she is both entranced and afraid. Winterly invites Emma and her sister to stay with him and attend a ball. It’s while at Winterthurse that Emma falls further under Winterly’s spell and she finds herself making a bargain with him to keep her sister Milli safe from harm. While she is afraid, it’s not so much of Markus as the darkness she fears that is inside her. I will say from the outset this is a pretty complicated book. It’s long and it goes on…
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Hunting the Wren
As Bennet is completing his training as a master astrologer, his esteemed mentor dies leaving him a book spelling out predictions about what’s going to happen next in his life. Christa Wren comes into his life through a client who is murdered. She has no place to go and the establishment needs someone to help out with household duties. The two soon become a pair of sorts and end up in all sorts of intrigue related to the murder and to other occurrences in the town. This turned out to be a pleasant enough read although there are parts that were a bit hard to fathom. I just don’t feel…
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The Ripping Tree
At the age of sixteen, Thomasina Trelora, “Tom”, finds herself sailing for Australia to be married to a vicar she’s never met. She’s had a radical upbringing and isn’t too happy with the plan for her future, particularly the lack of any say in the matter. There is a shipwreck along the rocks on the coast and Tom finds herself rescued by an aboriginal man from the wreckage. She’s left on the verandah at Willowbrae, a well-to-do estate belonging to the Craw family in the middle of nowhere. At first, she feels she has gained a reprieve from her fate, and due to her (feigned) lack of memory, she tries…