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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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Death at the Manor
By Katharine Schellman. Crooked Lane Books Lily Adler is back with a third mystery in the series and it’s another great story. Lily is visiting her aunt along with her friends, Ned and Ophelia. Captain Jack, who appeared in the first two books, is absent for this book but he does show up as a correspondent a couple of times. Instead, we have Matthew Spencer, who appeared in the previous story, to provide some assistance and male companionship for Lily. Matthew takes the visitors to see Belleford manor along with its famous ghost. Unfortunately, they don’t get to see much due to the sudden and suspicious death of the owner,…
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Under the Whispering Door
Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune. Tor Books. Wallace Price is a lawyer, and like many of his kind, he’s cold, analytic, and mean. One day he wakes up at his own funeral and is soon escorted away by the newly minted reaper, Mei. At first, Wallace doesn’t quite get what’s happening and he’s pretty calm. But he soon catches on and he suddenly wants to get back home and runs away. By this time he’s arrived at Charon’s Crossing at the teahouse run by Hugo, who just happens also to be the ferryman. It’s while at this way-house that Wallace learns how to live. This was a delightful…
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He’s Cancelled
He’s Cancelled by Sophie Ranald. Bookouture Natalie and Archie have been going out for a year now and then Archie proposes, launching the wedding preparation process. While Natalie is from a single-parent family with limited funds, Archie’s family is reasonably well-to-do and has offered to pay for the whole shebang. Archie’s sister gets involved along with his mum and the planning takes off in ways neither Natalie nor Archie could imagine. They really just wanted a simple and small wedding with a “do” at the local pub afterwards. At the heart of the story is a couple with family taking over plans and leaving them with little control. I found…
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How to Talk to a Goddess
How to Talk to a Goddess and Other Lessons in Real Magic by Emily Croy Barker. Semrland Books Four years ago I read the first book in this series and fell in love with it. Since then I’ve reread it a few times and still go back and read passages I particularly enjoyed. As the book had been released four years earlier, I think it’s fortunate I didn’t have to wait quite so long as the first readers to find out the next part of the story. Earlier this year the audiobook was released and I managed to get a review copy of it. But being new to audiobooks, I…
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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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the springtime of my life began with you
Suehiro is a first-year high school student that nobody really notices. She’s always got her head in a book and she doesn’t have any friends. Takasago is the outgoing and popular guy that’s been given the penalty game where has to ask out an unpopular girl. He chooses, Suehiro, of course, but after Suehiro calls out the penalty game, he tells her he still wants to go out. This is the first volume of a series and so far, it’s pretty typical for a shoujo manga. Suehiro fits the nerdy, wallflower stereotype and Takasago fits the popular guy one. Takasago is rather pushy early on, which is a bit annoying…