eyes.2c Reviews

Outcasts of Order  (The Saga of Recluse #20) by L. E. Modesitt, Jr.           The story of Beltur, a black order Mage with healing powers, and the companion of his heart, the healer Jessyla continues. Their path is hazadous. As always the on going balance between chaos (white magic) and order (black magic) is reflected throughout the situations that Beltur finds himself in. (The humble yet noble hero, who will make the hard decisions when faced with them, is a recurring theme in Modesitt's works and Beltur is no exception). Is Beltur being guided by the ways of the universe of Recluse, the natural laws surrounding chaos and order as it were, or are random happenings encouraging non random outcomes? (I am always fascinated that somewhere writings that expound on order and chaos or principles and understandings of the universe appears for the main protagonist to ponder on, which we in turn are privy to. For Beltur such a work is the book, Consideratio...

The Shepherd's Hut: A Novel by Tim Winton Winton's opening instantly raises the tension. Justifiably angst ridden teenage Jaxi is heading for safety. His flight into the Australian outback 'bush' is grueling and I for one am amazed that he can even contemplate it, beginning as he does on foot. No one in their right mind heads into the Australian Outback as precipitously as Jaxie does! Carrying a gun, a few supplies, binoculars and water, all that he's able to scramble together, Jaxie heads out from Monkton in Western Australia north to Magnet to find his cousin and girlfriend Lee. His only friend. The only one who gets him. Jaxie worked with his father Sid Clackton, aka Cap, the local butcher, a vicious alcoholic who has abused his wife and son all of Jaxie's life. When his mother dies with cancer, Jaxie is chained to his circumstances not through love as he had been, but through despair. The thing is Jaxie arrives home to find Cap's body under the ...

The Duke of Lies  (The Untouchables #9) by Darcy Burke                              The return of a dead husband after six years is a hard thing, especially as the man who disappeared was not pleasant. The man who returns is the complete opposite. What happened to Rufus Beaumont, Duke of Blackburn, in those intervening years to change him so? Verity has to somehow take this on board without risking her son, or Rufus' displeasure. Although on the surface that appears to be a thing of the past. Verity finds herself in a difficult place. How to trust that the monster who left her will not be hidden somewhere inside this new aspect of Rufus. What is the true face of the man she called husband? Plots, plans and dark deeds are afoot. Rufus has to use all his ingenuity to prove himself to Verity and his son. But will he be exposed? And will Verity accept him when the truth comes out? A NetGalley ARC *...

The Hellion (Wicked Wallflowers #1) by Christi Caldwell                            The sparks between the two main protagonists are fiery. The fiercely denied attraction flares between them growing into a love tangible. Cleopatra Killoran is going to have a season and marry a lord if she can survive the ton in general  and Adair Thorn in particular. Being thrown into the lair of the enemy, into Thorn's family stronghold, arch enemies of the Killoran's is a choice Cleopatra makes to protect her siblings. Adair is convinced that his gaming hall has been destroyed by the Killorans. He has no sympathy or trust for anyone to do with that family! Despite the attraction he fights every inch of the way! Riveting! A NetGalley ARC *****

Wagering For Miss Blake  (Lords and Ladies in Love #4 )   by Callie Hutton     Out of left field cupid's arrow strikes the 'marriage is not for me' confirmed rake, Mr. Giles Templeton, third son of the Earl of Wexford. A position Giles is thoroughly content with. It gives him room to be himself without the larger responsibilities of being the heir or spare. The object of his desire is Miss Suzanna Blake, who becomes more attracted to him as time goes on, particularly as he is genuinely a nice person. Early on Giles starts referring to Suzanna as his bride-to-be, completely ignoring the fact that she has already told him she will only marry a 'titled' man. However our hero is not to be deterred! Giles plans his campaign  with no stone left I turned, including wagering with Suzanna about her falling in love with him. Giles asks his friend Lord Hawkins to ensure Suzanna is invited to Hawk's mother's house party, the type of event that Giles generally es...

Island of the Mad   (Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes #15)  by Laurie R. King     Not only but also! An absorbing investigation by Mary and Sherlock that takes us from Bedlam to the Lido and onto the Venetian asylum island of Poveglia. What a fabulous conondrum for the wonderful Mary Russell and her ever fascinating husband Sherlock Holmes. Mary is asked by an old friend to find out about her aunt Vivian Beaconsfield who seems to have absconded from Bedlam along with some family jewels. The whole family seems cowered by Vivian's brother the Marquess of Selwick, who may or may not have been responsible for confining Vivian to Belam. The search leads Mary to pre war Venice with Mussolini in power and his Blackshirts are instilling their reign of terror. Wonderful descriptions of the Lido and the going on of the permanent visitors to Venice, including Cole Porter are detailed. (Mycroft has asked Sherlock to look at the Fascists. He is disquieted!) I love the...

The Earl, the Vow, and the Plain Jane  (The Lords of Eton #2) by Cheryl Bolen  A pleasing story that has you're upstanding hero reluctantly clinging to the deathbed vow made to his father to restore the family castle to its original glory. To do this he has to marry an heiress. Of course there's one available, even with several hitches. I must admit I found myself annoyed with Lord Slade as he clung to his duty and then left an amazing woman like Miss Jane Featherstone to suffer, the woman he admired who understood Whig politics and their ramifications. All this was mother's milk to Jane, having been given full reign to join dinner conversations with some of the leading minds of the day from her early years. Of course Jane's not acceptably beautiful, probably more arresting. At least Lord Slade finds her pretty. I really disliked that Lord Slade was rude to Mr. Poppinbotham who is not only standing for a parliamentary seat but seems to want to court Jane. Lord S...

Reluctant Assassin, The: An Elizabethan mystery (Ursula Blanchard Mystery #16)  by Fiona Buckley  Ursula Blanchard's young son is kidnapped. The ransom is not money something more deadly. An act of regicide. A problem that only her half-sister, Queen Elizabeth, can help her with. It's 1581 and some in the kingdom are affronted by the possibility of Elizabeth marrying the Duke of Alençon, a French Catholic. The return of the harsh days of Queen Mary are still remembered. Ursula finds herself in an impossible and ever increasing dangerous situation. How to save her son, whilst balancing calling off the search for him without arousing general suspicion. How to do the kidnapper's bidding as the Queen herself leans towards the kidnappers demands, solving other political problems? The faithful members of her household once again rally around, with the additional support of a surprising new member. The hints of Elizabeth torn between wanting love and rule is beautifully u...

The Shadow Killer: A Thriller (The Flovent and Thorson Thrillers)  (Reykjavik Wartime Mysteries #2)    by Arnaldur Indridason                             World War II Reykjavík. It's 1941, a man is found dead, a cyanid pill in his suitcase. Iceland as an area of interest is host to armed forces from both the British and Americans The murder investigation by a member of the understaffed Reykjavík police with the support of a Canadian RMP officer (officers Flóvent and Thorson) turn up a strange trail of events as they look at the why and what of the man they seek. Lives are turned inside out, harsh events from the past come to light. Their discoveries impact the current political situation and war effort. Another enthralling entry into in to the Nordic Noir genre. A NetGalley ARC ****

Marriage of Convenience: A Regency Romance by Janet Woods I found this Regency romance bland. I don't know why. It had all the right ingredients but the chemistry just didn't happen. Grace Ellis, companion to Lady Florence, has been left a legacy upon her mistress's death. A legacy tied up with conditions. Grace's first meetings with Dominique LeSayres just didn't ring true and as far as I'm concerned things went downhill from there. I struggled to finish. The marriage of convenience trope has so much to play with but the playing here just didn't live up to its full potential. It's pricing is definitely a snafu. A NetGalley ARC **

The Hyperspace Trap by Christopher G. Nuttall OK! I do not want to see this book as a visual production--just too scarey in parts for me. This new series is set in the same universe as the Angel in the Whirlwind series, after the Commonwealth has won the war against the Theocracy. Basically we have your poor little, spoilt, rich girl (Angela) traveling on the equivalent of the Titanic's maiden voyage (the interstellar liner, The Supreme) along with her dysfunctional owner parents, her strange little sister (Nancy), her rather fierce  governess, the rich and famous who can afford this voyage, and a host of sycophants, when the ship is forced by pirates into a hyperdrive vortex, that comes complete with a veritable graveyard of hundreds of dead alien spacecraft. It seems a thing or somethings want to drain the energy and life force of people and ship. Of course the alien whatever's take over human bodies in a brain/emotion overcoming vampire type move and suddenly there...

The Death of Mrs. Westaway  by Ruth Ware                            I really didn't see the final resolution of this suspenseful novel coming, although the tension throughout fully supports the unveiled dart exploding all previous suppositions. Margarita Maggie (Hal) thinks she'll just go along with an inheritance that comes her way even though she knows this is a case of mistaken identity. Maybe she'll come away with enough money to pay the loan shark whose threatening her. Maybe she'll be able to move away with her tarot cards, gifted from her mother and continue elsewhere. Cards, that as we read, don't tell Hal's future but do help her to figure her way through the maze she's found herself in. Hal certainly didn't expect the 'inheritance' to be what it was. Complications, surprises--ugly and tragic, dog the pages. Well worth the read! A NetGalley ARC *****

Burning Bright (The Extraordinaries #1 ) by Melissa McShane Extraordonaires is an interesting series set in a Regency era where magical talent is manifest. I must admit I kept thinking about the Sharon Shinn's Twelve Houses books and Mercedes Lackey's Elemental Masters series. I really enjoyed this and am sad it took me so long to get around to it. In fact I purchased the next in the series, 'Wandering Sight', after reading 'Burning Bright.' What more do you need? A young, talented woman, Elinor Pembroke, trodden down by an autocratic, self seeking father, a handsome captain, Pirates, treachery, Lords of the Admiralty who see not the person, or disregard the person, a couple of navy Lordlings with helicopter relatives who pave their way. Elinor is a Scorcher (fire adept) whose talent develops late. Being suddenly treated by her father as a genetic experiment to be married off to the highest bidder (think Earl or Viscount) with another talented family in o...

The Council of Twelve  (The Hangman's Daughter #7) by Oliver Pötzsch                                  The Kuisl family travels to the Munich of 1672. Jakob, has a Hangman's Guild meeting--The Council of Twelve. However as usual nothing is ever simple with the Kuisls. But then that's the norm for the empire's executioners. Needed and yet despised, seen as the lowest of the low by the empire's citizens. It seems a serial killer is at large murdering young women in a series of bizarre ways. Simon, Magdalena's physician husband has written a treatise on cleanliness and well-being that he's trying to bring to bring to the attention of a famous physician in Munich. Jakob has decided to marry his daughter Barbara to a fellow hangman (against her loud protests!). Magdalena gets caught up in a Bavarian silk factory scandal that takes her into danger, her son Peter meets a prince and Paul makes the a...

You Never Forget Your First Earl  (The Worthingtons #5) by Ella Quinn                                 This novel went to a place I didn't expect. It developed not only an interesting romantic plot but provided extra fascination by describing Brussels at the time of Waterloo. However one cannot read of these times and this place without thinking of Georgette Heyer's, An Infamous Army. I still think of Heyer's Duchess of Richmond's ball and all those young men leaving for death and destruction after dancing gaily, then slipping away as duty and honor calls. Quinn's novel aptly recalls these emotions (as Quinn points to her personal and obviously very raw feelings in her author's note. Bravo!) Geoffrey, Earl of Harrington, needs a wife to take up a post in Brussels. Elizabeth Turley has set her sights on Geoffrey but he needs to come up to scratch for theirs to be more than a marriage of convenienc...

A Devil of a Duke  (Decadent Dukes Society #3) by Madeline Hunter                               Even though I quite liked the lead characters their story just didn't grab me. Gabriel St. James, Duke of Langdon, is a man who completely disregards society's opinion. Amanda Waverly, is a jewel thief, targeting the rich and famous  by night, and a competent secretary by day. Amanda's nightly personae has to do with her mother being held as a surety for Amanda's compliance. Parts I liked, such as Amanda's intrepidness, but her naivety about rescuing her mother and the circumstances surrounding her mother's situation just annoyed me. As the cut and thrust of these two unlikely people coming together plays out they lack frisson in their together moments.  I don't mean sexual tension, I mean their interaction  more generally. I was somewhat disappointed. The story had a great basis for being ...

The Portrait of Lady Wycliff  (Lords of Eaton #1) by Cheryl Bolen                                     Blue stockings, reformed pirate lords, a mislaid valuable portrait, carriage journeys across the wilds of Cornwall, all make for an exciting time. Unfortunately the whole picture just didn't quite unfold as one would hope. Still I did enjoy Louisa Phillips and the very focused Earl of Wycliff's story. A NetGalley ARC ***

Us Against You: A Novel (Beartown #2) by Fredrik Backman I finish reading Backman's latest novel about Beartown and am both exhausted and rewarded. I'm somewhat ravaged by the emotions that run through this story of a community that is at once damning of the mob like human condition and uplifted by various individual's actions and dives into communal core values. The rape of Maya has far reaching consequences for Maya, her family and the town that continue to unfold. Familiar protagonists are encountered in the aftermath. New charcters bring new challenges. I try to slow my reading but I can't. I am driven by the pace of unfolding events to consume the story at an ever increasing rate of knots. The personalities I encounter are awesome. I stand tall with the Black Jackets , flinch with Maya, am appalled at the exposure of Benji, am confounded by Ana's actions in a moment of rejection--a new moment that changes lives, am caught up by Vida, and feel the silen...

It's All About the Duke (The Rakes of St James #3)   by Amelia Grey                                 I wanted to like this. Right from the beginning I wasn't engaged and almost decided not to finish but soldiered on. The slow going continued and the story held little chemistry for me. Other novels in the same trope, of rakes being punished via a wickedly wielded pen, have held more sparkle. A NetGalley ARC **