eyes.2c Reviews

The Vincent van Gogh Atlas   by  Nienke Deneka  (Author),  René van Blerk  (Author),  Teio Meedendo  (Author),  Laura Watkinson  (Translator).     This is a superb production chronicling Vincent van Gogh's life journey--his early days, the places he lived, his various starts and passions, his communications with his family, his artistic development. An in depth look at the river Vincent's life flowed along. Van Gogh's story is supported by beautifully constructed pages.  Informative maps mark a clear path the most dedicated van Gogh aficionado would love to use for a pilgrimage, if not in actuality, at the very least via the written word, 'travelling in the footsteps" of Vincent van Gogh. Excerpts from letters between Vincent and members of his family are quoted, bringing van Gogh and his family to life. The narrative is accompanied by photographs and postcards from the time. Vincent's sketches and paintings of...

Dead Blossoms: The Third Geisha   by  Richard Monaco 1552. Three shipwreck survivors wash up on the Japanese shoreline and are immediately embroiled in a struggle for lordship and supremacy amongst the Japanese clans. Jiro Tazeko, a  classless samurai detective finds himself embroiled in the same unrest. The daughter of a lord's house has been murdered. One of the foreigners has been accused. However, Tazeko discovers some very odd facts, including the suspicion that the dead girl is not the Lady Osan. As plots are overlayed by more plots the end spirals out of control. All is revealed as this feudal world explodes in a fiery ball and then is reignited by a typhoon. Who wins is moot. What is left is ash and wind. I do like Tazeko, the hard boiled, hard drinking,16th Century Sam Spade type character. A NetGalley ARC *** 1/2

The Untouchable Earl (Fallen Ladies #2)   by  Amy Sandas When Lily Chadwick, debutante and innocent maid, is kidnapped, drugged and auctioned to the highest bidder in a brothel, she little expected to be bought by Avenell, the Earl of Harte, a man she has made eye contact with at various events. A man who sets her blood on fire. (Lily is one of three sisters whose dead father has left them in debt. They have come to London for the season, staying with their eccentric and fabulous great aunt  Angelique , the Dowager Countess of Chelmsworth. Only recently have the sisters come to realize how huge that debt is. (Sisters Emma and Pippa have their own secrets and the stories about them are developing simultaneously). Avenell's relationship with Madam Pendragon, owner of the brothel, has been one of long standing. She is privy to his secret--that touch causes him extreme pain. It was Madam Pendragon Avenell turned to for schooling in touch. She knows his Archill...

Tempting the Earl (The Muses' Salon #3)   by  Rachael Miles So how should you react when your father's drugged you, kidnapped you and then presented you with a bride as a fait acompy. If your  Harrison Walgrave, the Earl of Levesford,  you acquiesce, bed your bride and then flee to London and points abroad as an important secret agent for the English government. The left behind bride,  Olivia Walgrave,  is a woman of determination and strength--and an agent for the government. I Really liked  Olivia.   She was a fighter and survivor. Coming from an unsure childhood her fate could have been quite different if not for Lord Roderick's (Waverley's father) rescue of her, and subsequent placing of her in Mrs Flints school--a place where apparently young girls are educated and turned out as agents for the crown. Olivia has spent her years since being abandoned by Harrison yet determined to keep the estate in good order. She has also gathered tog...

The Legendary Lord (Playful Brides #6)   by  Valerie Bowman So what do you do when your parents have inveigled you into an engagement that you don't want, but that gives them no end of pleasure and lofty feelings of having done well? After all their daughter has landed Lord Brantford, the catch of the season, and a close companion of the Prince Regent. Lady Sarah Highgate, feeling the walls closing in, ran away to Scotland of course! Although it didn't help that she ended up in the wrong place in the middle of a snow storm knitting doggie capes and fending off apparent would be mayrauders with a sword she could  hardly lift. (I must admit to falling in love with Sarah in the hunting lodge stage!) And if your the owner of a hunting lodge that you've repaired to looking for a time of respite aware from the rapacious members of the ton, you don't expect to find a 'would be goldilocks' sleeping in your bed. What starts out as a mistaken encounter, end...

A Christmas Message: A Novel (Christmas Stories #14)   by  Anne Perry On the surface of this Christmas mystery, Victor Narraway and his wife  Lady Vespasia  (two of my favourite Perry characters) travel to Jerusalem for Christmas. En route, at their hotel in Jaffa, they run across an interesting older gentleman who hands them a parchment to deliver in Jerusalem just before he is killed by a mysterious figure "The Watcher". The story morphs into a Dali like journey of deserts and death, faith defined and refined, and deepening spiritual mysteries. Following the theme of the wise men seeking truth and wonderment as they track the star that lead them to Bethlehem, Narraway and Vespasia embark on a similar journey, followed by the dark watcher. Along the way they are joined by another. Three pieces of parchment, and the truth for all mankind, are part of this journey. Narraway and Vespasia are confronted by their own beliefs and the gradual refi...

Cast in Flight (Chronicles of Elantra #12)   by  Michelle Sagara Once more I was absorbed by this next in the Elantra Chronicles. O nce again, where Private Kaylin Neda is trouble surely follows--or precedes, it's a moot point and a truism!  This time we see more of the Aerians and Sergeant Moran dar Carafel in particular. The injured Moran is now residing with Kaylin, along with the rescued Barranis and the dragon Bellusdeo. When Moran is attacked, Kaylin comes in for some shocks. Shadow makes its appearance once again, and it's form appears changed.  The two Bararranis residing with Kaylin (one, Annarion is Nightshade's brother) are still coming to terms with coming into the now from their entrapped state. Bellusdeo is the same feisty female dragon. Kaylin is her wild and wonderful caring self who rushes in where others fear to tread. In Cast in Flight her thoughts and awe of the Aerians takes a different turn. Alongside Kaylin, we learn more ...

A Night of Forever: A Disgraced Lords Novel (The Disgraced Lords #6)   by  Bronwen Evans Arend Aubury as the emotionally fractured Frenchman, gorgeous to behold and trusting no-one is a wonderful hero. Lady Isobel Thompson as the step daughter of the despicable Victoria is a beauty inside and out. Of course the page sizzles whenever they meet and that sizzling increases in fervour as time goes on. (Almost too much sizzle and not enough story.) Isobel's vengeful stepmother Victoria appears to be trying to engineer an engagement between Isobel and Arente. They enter into a mock engagement in an attempt to entrap Victoria.  For those who don't know, Victoria has been systematically trying to destroy the members of the Libertine Scholars to pay for their father's dreadful sins against her (and given the extent of their depravities one can see why she is so gripped with the need for retribution). The point is that none of the Libertines have been ...