eyes.2c Reviews

A Conspiracy of Wolves (Owen Archer #11) by Candace Robb           A return to the world of the stunning one-eyed Owen Archer, longbow marksman and former Captain of the Guard, solver of mysteries, is a moment to delight in. It's 1374 and the former spy for John Thoresby the Archbishop of York" A new age is dawning, a new archbishop is coming. And with that a new mire of political difficulties. Owen has possibilities offered by York and and Prince Edward. However, at this time the body of wealthy businessmanHoban Swann, son of the Coroner of Galtres Forest, Bartlof Swann, is found with his throat torn out. Archer is called on to determine the cause. Geoffrey Chaucer turns up to play a part. Alisoun, Magda Digby's (a talented healer known as the Riverwoman) apprentice has been staying at Magda's whilst she was away to help any who might turn up. She already has had some dealings with a a client who has a suspicious injury from dogs or something mor...

Dragonslayer (Dragonslayer #1) by Duncan M. Hamilton         The idea of a new series about dragons had me super excited. That said, I found myself so over the story by a third of the way in and struggled to finish. Things that had promise didn't quite live up to that. Obviously many loved it, and that's great. Reading is such a personal thing, up there with how you like your coffee (not a banal statement when the morning rises and falls on this little fact). To mix the metaphors, Dragonslayer was just not "my cup of tea!" Mind you I will take another run at this story after a bit to see if I change my mind. A Macmillan-Tor/Forge ARC via NetGalley **

The Flowers of Vashnoi (Vorkosigan Saga #14.1)   by Lois McMaster Bujold           A tightly worded, short story continuing the lives of Ekaterin, Lady Vorkosigan and Lord Miles set in the Vashnoi exclusion zone, an area destroyed during the Cetagandan invasion of the planet Barrayar. That exclusion zone is part of Miles' inheritance. Underneath this delightful novella beats the complexity of Miles and his world, it's dark history, and recovery. Fans will identify immediately, knowing the stories behind simple statements. Scientist Enrique Borgos and Ekaterin have been experimenting with Brother Mark's bioengineered butterbugs with a view to revitalizing areas that are in restricted radiation zones. The rad bugs have been redesigned to consume vegetation in these areas, absorbing the radiation. Think radiation pooping dung beetles, sort of. Ekaterin had been part of the project helping with their design making them more colorful to represent danger. T...

Black Death (A Christopher Marlowe Mystery #10) by M.J. Trow           Kit Marlowe, playwrite and sometime agent for the crown! Smart, witty and a pleasing rogue, with a conscience it seems. Yet "Kit Marlowe was dangerous man to know." It's September 1592. Pestilence stalks the streets and the theaters have been closed. When Robert Greene, a former fellow student, whose relationship with Kit is one of mutual dislike writes and says someone is trying to kill him Kit pays a visit. Only to find Robert is dead. Not content to leave the matter Kit, in the dead of night, with assistance takes the body out of the grave, collects evidence and finds that indeed Greene has been murdered. That interfering with the grave leads to another thread, and then another. Indeed the whole story unravels like a plate of stolen delights interwoven into a slippery pasta. One death follows on another and there is a mysterious disappearance of a loved theater worker, Tom Sle...

The Merciful Crow (The Merciful Crow #1) by Margaret Owen   Puzžling and yet not. A society where each caste has a bird attribute, and their place within the pecking order depends on their gifts and occupations. Lastly there is the Crows, the unclean caste whose job it is to remove those dead from plague, grant the act of mercy of those infected but still alive, burn the bodies and stop the plague from spreading. A payment is granted as they leave the place they were called to. All too often that payment is unworthy. The crows are hated by the other groups. But think on this. The organic nature of the community means that all have value, even if it is not immediately determined, due to fear and feelings of superiority. If the Crows do not attend to their calling what would eventually happen? It doesn't seem that has been thought of. And the Crows must attend. It's part of their mandated calling by their universe. Often the crows reward is vilification. They are hunted...

The Duke Is But a Dream (Debutante Diaries #2) by Anna Bennett           A columnist for a young lady's guide to "how-to-survive" for Debutantes, a fight in a tavern, a lad discovered to be a lass, a brooding stranger, memory loss and safety. Lily Hartley writer of the gossip column The Debutantes Revenge for London Hearsay delivers her latest work, enjoys a moment of exploring life as a scrawny messenger boy, and then disaster strikes. Eric Nash, Duke of Stonebridge, has fled his house after a fight with his sister, ends up having a drink in a seedy tavern in an even seedier part of London and steps into assist a youth being set upon. Imagine his surprise when that lad turns out to be a lass! And when that lass/lad is knocked unconscious, then suffers loss of memory. Nash takes her home, calls the doctor and allows Lily to stay until they can discover who she is. Unfortunately the alarm won't be sounded as Lily's parents think she's staying with he...

Highland Captive (The Sons of MacGregor #4)   by Alyson McLayne          When Laird Gavin MacKinnon discovers his lost son Ewan in the care of a young woman, Deirdre MacIntyre he is filled with rage and the need for revenge. Deirdre is disturbed and like a mother bear with a cub flees, after all this wee lad is her son! Taking back his son it seems will include Gavin taking this ridiculous woman who claims to be the mother of HIS son. But more than that, by taking Deirdre war with her clan becomes imminent, just another result of retrieving his son. What Gavin did not expect was to come to have feelings for this so determined woman. A worthy Highlander romance. A Sourcebooks Casablanca  ARC via NetGalley ***

Brazen and the Beast (The Bareknuckle Bastards #2)   by Sarah MacLean          The cover has a quote from Entrainment Weekly citing MacLean as being "the...utterly intoxicating queen of historical romance." I certainly have to agree with the "intoxicating" moniker. I'd been feeling a bit disgruntled lately with the historical romances that had come my way. Very little new and exciting. Imagine my inner cheering when within the first pages of "Brazen and the Beast" I was hooked! I loved Lady Henrietta Sedley (Hattie) who had determined to take her fate into her own hands. And her list! Well not many would be so decisive. Hattie had perfectly thought out requirements for the salacious appointment she had that night. What a hoot! Beast was wonderful, despite the unusualness of their meeting. Their repartee was magnificent. The chemistry fairly zinged off the page even as they both fought it. As events unfold, Hattie, a woman ahead of her times, f...

Three Ways to Disappear: A Novel by Katy Yocom          What an unusual story; intriguing and immersing with the switch between past reminiscences and the current day of two sisters. Sarah DeVaughan, a disillusioned journalist is “Done. With journalism.” She's covered the worst of areas evidencing man's inhumanity to man and is now turning her back on the world of war and heartbreak for what will become a different sort of heartbreak, the world of animal protection and sanctuaries. A world of poaching, and of death and life revisited and the past revisited at the Tiger Sanctuary, Ranthambore (a place she'd last visited when she was seven and her twin Marcus was still alive) in Sawai Madhopur, India doing media work and fundraising for a conservation NGO. Underlining Sarah's move is the story of her childhood, her family's half remembered early life in India, and the death of her twin. Something her sister Quinn has never come to grips with. That tragedy f...

The Kurdish Bike: A Novel by Alesa Lightbourne         An unusual story set in Northern Iraq where divorced teacher, Theresa Turner takes on a stint of teaching in a ultra conservative school, the International Academy of Kurdistan, for the upper echelon in the far reaches of Kurdistan in 2010. Somewhere between a novel and a memoir, I was fascinated by Theresa's purchase of a bike and steps towards exploring the culture she was working within. Her developing relationships with the women of the village is a jewel. Her entree into their hopes and dreams, their disappointments and the rules they live by is eye opening. Her brief moments of journeying with these women is wonderful. What's not so precious is the showing up of the teacher she's replaced with a somewhat sinister aura. That played into sinister shadows of disgruntled converts, something I didn't like and didn't think was necessary. And why didn't Theresa just toss the guy's mysterious packa...

The Reluctant Duchess (The Brides of St Ives #4) by Jane Goodger         I must admit this Beauty and the Beast stimulated story left me cold. I struggled to finish it. Oliver Sterling, eleventh duke of Kendal, lives locked away in his overpowering mansion, Horncliffe Manor. Having seen a painting of a beautiful young woman, Oliver decides he must have her as his wife at any cost. Little did he know his guardian Mr. Winters will follow that instruction to the letter. Rebecca Kane has been used as a gambling token by her father. He lost and now Rebecca is the payment that will save her family from poverty. Of course Rebecca agrees. What else can she do? Oh, BTW the marriage was 'by proxy.' How Rebecca can forgive her father is totally beyond me. Oh well, the role of the victim sits somewhere here I suppose. But wait, is this the same young woman who posed for an artist" Surely not de rigueur for a female of her standing as a gentlewoman. It seems Rebecca the ...

Eye Spy (Valdemar: Family Spies #2) by Mercedes Lackey            A new gift! Queen's spymaster Mag's daughter, Abi, finds herself with a different gift, seeing and feeling abnormal stresses in constructions. A bridge is about to collapse and Abi is able to save the day. Off to School of Artificers, for her, with training in construction and with a talented healer. Stresses in bones and illnesses being likened to stresses in architecture. Of course there's a conflict with a snotty nosed highborn but given her background, Abi has more than a few tricks up her sleeve. Then events take Abi beyond the Valdemar border and face to face with some nasty mages. The ending was a bit flat, and really, although I quite enjoyed aspects of the story it was just not all that different from previous tales. A Berkley Group ARC via NetGalley ***

When a Lady Kisses a Scot (Her Majesty's Most Secret Service #4) by Tara Kingston        When Rose Fleming slips back into England having fled for her life to New York ten years ago she little suspected she'd run smack dab into the love of her life, MacAllister Campbell. Rose was being pursued by an arcane arts practicioner and his thugs, having been brought into their circle and mysteriously tattooed as a child with a falcon. To say MacAllister was rendered speechless by this happenstance is no rash assumption, particularly as he believed Rose had died then. But a kiss will always tell through. Rose has returned to England in disguise to get to the bottom of her aunt's untimely death and to lay to rest once and for all the mystery behind what has happened to herself and her loved ones over the years MacAllister, a prominent newspaper journalist, is in reality part of a cohort of spies, the Colton Agency, acting for the Home Office. He is not about to let Ro...

One Night to Remember (Wicked Dukes Club #5) by Erica Ridley         A woman blacksmith, sister to a Duke, captures the heart of well known rogue and whip Giles Langford. Felicity Sutton, brought up in squalor has fought her way to being a gifted blacksmith with an unbeatable knowledge of the performance of carriages. Yes, she does work in secret disguised as a lad. What a pair these two would make! However Giles has no money and title, and Felicity's fear of poverty well experienced has decided her to only settle for a wealthy suitor of the ton. However that was before these two has met. Now Felicity will settle for one night with Giles before marching towards a future of security with no smithing. The Sparks do fly and this is a worthy addition to the complicated lives of the members of Dukes Tavern. A WebMotion ARC via NetGalley ***

The Darwin Affair: A Novel by Tim Mason               Startling  Victorian thriller featuring Chief Inspector Detective Charles Field supposedly the model for Dicken's Inspector Bucket character. Much to Field's chagrin. It's 1860. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert are in danger. Prince Albert is much struck by the theories of Charles Darwin. Shockwaves are felt in certain quarters. A consortium of  powerful people collude to bring Darwin's theory into disrepute. They let loose a man with a powerful motive to rid the world of Darwin's theories. Murder follows. Unfortunately this talented yet insane protagonist, the Chorister, cannot be controlled and slips the reigns of his handlers. Inspector Fields must dig deep to come anywhere near solving the issue, if he even does. I really enjoyed the complexities involved. An Algonquin Books ARC via NetGalley *****

The Woman Who Spoke to Spirits (A World’s End Bureau Victorian Mystery #1) by Alys Clare             A strong period mystery with a hint of the supernatural set in the Victorian England of 1880. When Lily Raynor, of the World’s End Investigation Bureau is approached by Ernest Stibbins to investigate his wife's frantic insistence that someone wants to hurt her, Lily and her new assistant Felix Wilbraham are somewhat in doubt seeing as the information comes from Albertina's spirit guide. Mediums were all the rage at this time, and the stepping into the medium's parlour is a delicious slant Alys Clare has given to a mystery. However it seems that Albertina's is a gifted spiritualist, and indeed she and her cohort become persons of interest. Lily and Felix follow these leads, and indeed, when Lily joins the seance she does feel the presence of--something! "Lily’s skin is crawling. She can almost see the menace." And then there's this, as Felix disc...

Midnight on the River Grey by Abigail Wilson       A young woman who has fears of descending into madness like her mother, a dead older brother, a mysterious guardian, a supportive aunt and a rather cute small dog all figure in this Regency mystery. Things come together when Rebecca Hunter is forced to leave London to stay with her now guardian Mr. Lewis Browning at the large and inhospitable Greybourne Hall. It appears that in this supposedly safe place, death doesn't stop with Rebecca's brother, Jacob. Just after her arrival, a friend of Lewis' is found dead under the bridge nearly in the same spot as Jacob was discovered. Couple that with, rumors about Lewis' clandestine moonlight rides are doing the rounds of the village. (Rebecca has witnessed evidence of these). The talk is so strong that the locals call Lewis the Midnight Devil. Then there's the widow of Lewis brother, Isabell, her rakish brother Adam who leave in the Dowager residence and the neighb...

Soul of the Sword (Shadow of the Fox #2) by Julie Kagawa              Taking up from where Shadow of the Fox left off, the quest continues with Yumeko our heroine Kitsune shapeshifter having to take part of the ancient and mysterious scroll to a temple of the Thousand Prayers to the Steel Feather. Being chased by the released demon Hakaimono, and looking for protection from a compromised companion, Kage Tatsumi of the Shadow Clan, leaves a lot to be desired and the way is full of pitfalls. Another wonderful tale from Kagawa in this unusual and exciting series. A Harlequin TEEN ARC via NetGalley ****

The Burning Chambers (The Burning Chambers #1) by Kate Mosse                I love historical fiction. This particular time, the mid 1500's in France, is fraught with terror, persecution by the Inquistion, and the conflict between Catholics and Hugenots. All seen through the eyes of inhabitants of those times, like Minou Joubert a young Catholic woman and a Hugenot convert, Piet Reydon. The action sweeps from Carcassonne to Toulouse and back. Underneath the story is the Inquisition's search for a stolen, important relic, and the terror and violence inspired by this organization. And let's not forget the human politicking and ambition. The Hugenots fled to many countries and it seems this weighty trilogy in the future will take us in some diverse directions. A series for the committed. As a story it's somewhat weighty and yet interesting in the telling. A St. Martin's Press Minotaur ARC via NetGalley ***

The Right Sort of Man (A Sparks & Bainbridge Mystery #1) by Allison Montclair            A witty post World War II mystery set in London. Miss Iris Sparks and Mrs. Gwendolyn Bainbridge decide to use the skills they have acquired during the war years to start a business--The Right Sort Marriage Bureau. When a client is murdered and the prospective husband they'd recommended is charged these two intrepid souls decide to clear their man's name and save their business. Unusual premise gives an interesting angle to the period murder genre. Rather a treasure really! A St. Martin's Press Minotaur ARC via NetGalley ****

Priest of Lies (War for the Rose Throne #2) by Peter McLean         Tomas Piety had thought the war was over. He'd returned to Ellinburg to rebuild his gang holdings and his soldiers on the streets, The Pious Men. He'd returned, along with his cohort of survivors who'd seen more atrocities than one could contain. Some didn't. Always the words Messia and Abingdon drew memories and fellow feelings that need never be explained. Much is forgiven the survivors. It's a byword that survivors don't talk about, they just nod and get on with things. Tomas is also a priest. A somewhat different priesthood with a very different way of operating. The trappings of his priesthood may seem strange but in the darkness that has been his and his fellow soldiers' lives, this is all the more appropriate. At one stage Tomas describes his people to the Governor of Ellinburg in a throwing down of the gauntlet action, "We survived Messia, and we survived Abingon while y...

Priest of Bones (War for the Rose Throne #1) by Peter McLean            McLean has pressed all the right buttons. A cynic, a soldier, a gang leader, a spy for the Queen's Men and a priest. That's Tomas Piety, returned from the body and mind breaking horrors of the recent war to reclaim his territory in the city of Ellinburg. Along with those who fought by his side and survived, like Bloody Anne his sergeant, and now his "second in the Pious Men and his most loyal friend", and Billy the Boy, a young child survivor found amongst the horrors of Messia. Billy though has 'cunning' (something akin to a hedge witch skills) but becoming more powerful. Of course the Pious Men survivors are a tight knit, experienced group who know how to fight, and have every reason to. The Queen's Men have not finished however with Tomas. It seems his homecoming has strings, or maybe that's fishhooks attached and securely embedded. Tomas discovers that once a Queen...

The Disappearance of Alistair Ainsworth  (The Daughter of Sherlock Holmes #3) by Leonard Goldberg       A thoroughly mezmerizing  chase that piles fact upon fact with Sherlock Holme's  daughter Joanne smoking Turkish cigarettes and deducing information from both what is present and what is not. The aside factor of her son Johnny coming home from Eton declaring that he only needs a home tutor is something Joanne handles beautifully. And of course there are tentacles attached to the current case that see Johnny coming home. It's November 1915. An awfully clever, high ranking codebreaker, has gone missing and as Joanne, her now husband John Watson, and her father-in-law, Dr. Watson go on the hunt the bodies pile up. Joanne deduces that Alistair Ainsworth, "was not taken prisoner in his workplace, but somewhere outside the agency, preferably in a secluded location where no one could see the capture or hear his cry." The logical development around clues...

Murder at The Loch: A traditional murder mystery set in 1950s Scotland (A Langham and Dupre Mystery)  by  Eric Brown What's not to enjoy with this cosy read. A 'who dun-nit' that recalls a past era. Set in a crumbling Scottish castle by a loch, with plenty of action and a cast full of possibilities. It's 1955 and about to be married,  Donald Langham accompanies his old army chum and friend turned private investigator, Ralph Ryland to a remote part of the Scottish highlands. Their ex-commanding officer, Major Cartwright has requested Ryland's help.  Cartwright and a friend are attempting to salvage a German plane that crashed into the loch  just before the end of the war. But what ensues is murder, and the perpetrator must be one of the guests trapped within the snow bound castle!  I felt like I was there, lost in the 1950's, as the puzzle becomes even more tightly knit and the culprit or culprits ever more evasive. A NetGalley ARC ...

Someone to Honor (Wescott Family #6) by Mary Balogh       And now it's Abby Westcott's story! Although a different take, the trope was familiar. The Waterloo and Peninsula Campaign veteran, a hero with a past. The emotionally wounded young woman who's at last coming to grips with who she is. A problem or two to be solved and a rather startling solution. Both leading characters are making momentous decisions that will come around but the getting there is tricky. Of course there's a problem or two to be solved! Somehow! Some quite delightful scenes, Abigail Westcott mistaking her wounded brother Harry's friend, Lieutenant Colonel Gilbert Bennington, for a servant chopping wood and displaying a scarred but splendid torso, the rambunctious but endearing dog 'beauty', the amazingly secretive meeting of Aunt Matilda (Lady Matilda Westcott) with someone she has previously known (therein lies a story!), the solid beauty of Abigail inside and out, the Westc...