eyes.2c Reviews

A Shadowed Fate (Claire Clairmont Mystery #2)   by Marty Ambrose         I must admit to being more and more taken with Ambrose's tribute to the seemingly infamous Claire Clairmont, stepsister to Mary Shelley, and the propositional mystery surrounding Allegra Byron, Claire and Lord Byron's daughter, said to have died from typhus in the convent Byron had placed her in. The question becomes for Claire, did Allegra die or was this all a ruse to protect her from Byron's enemies? Ambrose gives a genuine voice to Claire's life, presenting Claire in a more gracious light than others have. The story is loaded with unknown threats for Claire and her traveling companions as she searches for the truth about Allegra. Made more so by the restrained yet menacing undercurrents. I was much struck by the thoughtful reflections from the eighty year old Claire, particularly after having visited the convent at Ravenna. "There are so many unknowns when it comes to how fate ...

Trace Elements (Commissario Brunetti #29) by Donna Leon         Two seemingly simple cases that had no connection. A couple of Roma girls have pick pocketed the wife of a powerful person who wants them out of Venice in case further enquiries open up something they don't want exposed. A dying woman who has something to confess to the police. As investigations unfold, both cases are a minefield of complexities for Commissari Guido Brunetti and Claudia Griffoni. As always they are ably assisted  by the highly efficient Signorina Elettra, whose computer skills allow them into places that  they normally couldn't access. One case involves a question of the health of the planet. Both cases speak to what the powerful are able to get away with. Brunetti is faced with conflicting choices. As Brunetti summarizes his reflections and the questions the situation demands we are reminded of his love of mythologies of the past, "His thoughts turned to the Eumenid...

A Duke is Never Enough (The Spitfire Society #2) by Darcy Burke          Phoebe Lennox deserted her betrothed at the altar and set the society gossips and London's ton on its collective ear. Gossips had a hey day and Phoebe thanked her lucky stars that she'd had enough gumption to not take that final step that would've left her shackled to a husband who delighted in inflicting pain. Society was even more shocked when she set up house by herself. Marcus Raleigh, Marquess of Ripley, draws a different sort of attention. A rake and a womanizer, although to be fair, he drew the line at some actions. So when Marcus discovered his cousin had been actively swindling gullible ton members with dubious investments, he confronts Drobbit in the park, resulting in fisticuffs. Enter Phoebe who helps Marcus clean some blood of his face. That's their beginnings. Drobbit later turns up dead. No-one is surprised. Except Marcus and Phoebe, as Marcus is now a suspect in a mu...

A Counterfeit Courtesan (The Shelly Sisters #3) by Jess Michaels        Oh my, the this third Shelley sister, Juliana (the quiet fixer of the family) might just end up being the most scandalous of the lot. As they say "watch out for the quiet ones!" And the Shelley cohort and Ellis 'Hansome" Maitland had reason to beware because when Juliana fixed her sights on something nothing would get in her way--all accomplished in a quietly determined manner. Comprehending that she would never marry now that she was disfigured (a scar on her face), and with the realization that her father had decided to selfishly retain her into spinsterhood, as his secretary and hostess, at his beck and call for as long as he lived. Feeling berefit, seperated from the closeness she and her triplet sisters once shared, lost even, Juliana decides to take the opportunity to experience life at an exclusive club renowned for being a meeting place for illicit relations. Needless to say, wh...

The Grace Kelly Dress by Brenda Janowitz     A story of traditions, of precious things passed down. In this instance a wedding dress modeled on Grace Kelly's. As the story weaves between the woman who designed the dress, the French  grandmere, the current mother of the bride, and the bride, strands of what it is to love, loss, standing your ground, knowing when to say no, familia relations, the fifties, the seventies and the now are braided to get her with loving care. There's Rose, the seamstress in the Parisian xx, Joanie her daughter and Rocky her granddaughter. As each face their particular fears and demons, the indecisions and strengths, the writing becomes more focused and telling. I was unsure at first as to whether I would engage sufficiently but as the story progressed, as I became used to it's rhythms, I was well and truly beguiled. But then, how could anything associated with Grace Kelly and her fabulous wedding dress not fail to please. I loved the...

Frida in America: The Creative Awakening of a Great Artist   by Celia Stahr         Frida Kahlo. I love her work, her ideas, and the colorfulness of her personality. And yes, when I've visited Mexico I've picked up some wonderful pieces of fun jewelry that represent her, kitsch or not. I enjoy wearing something that harkens to the talented and revolutionary soul Frida was in oh so many ways. This book covers the years Frida spent in the United States and how that influenced her aesthetically and politically. Celia Stahr has captured the person of Frida.  One idea that struck me was that, 'the duality of life for the Aztecs, as for Frida, was a bringing together of opposites. “Everything is all and one."' Added to this was that that "notion of duality remained rooted in the land, and it shaped Frida’s psyche," and is reflected in her work. In its unpacking, a foundational concept about Frida and her creative spirit. Adding relevant art works or ph...

Sparrow: A Novel by Mary Cecilia Jackson        Domestic violence and children. Violence and boyfriends. A harrowing read! The story of Sparrow, a young woman, a gifted ballerina, and a victim of violence is a story of anguish, of darkness, and ultimately of hope and taking charge, after a long, long road to the start. More a goat track than a road really. I must admit to not really liking the subject matter. I cannot deny though that I found Jackson's treatment of the topic empathetic, tight, tense and really well written. Told in the voice of Sparrow, alternated with that of one of her best friend's, Marcus her dancing partner in Swan Lake, the read was a roller coaster of emotions and imaginings! There is a side story about Marcus which was really well integrated. I loved his Irish grandmother (wise woman in the hills analogy), her acceptance and her wisdom, and Marcus' maturing. I felt that their friend Delaney was a marvellous character who needs her ...

Knife Children (The Sharing Knife #4.5) by Lois McMaster Bujold       Ah, the Lakewalkers! It's been so long since I've read the Sharing Knife series that I'd almost forgotten Malices, and Bonded knives. The Lakewalker's commitment to rid their world of the blight monsters that feed on living things, and as they grow more powerful, reproducing vassals out of mud from animal and humans. Eew! I'd also forgotten about the beguilement aspects of the Lakewalkers. Barr Foxbrush out of Pearl Riffle Camp, had discovered two years after her birth that he'd shockingly fathered a daughter, Lily Mason, with a farmer's girl, Bell Mason, he'd had a brief liaison with.  And yes he had beguiled her, although as Barr tried to tell himself, "He’d not mistaken those artful glances of admiration she’d cast his youthful good looks."  Something his leader would have been more than furious about if she'd known. His confession to his mentors Dag and Fawn B...

An Inconvenient Duke (Lords of the Armory #1)   by Anna Harrington        I really liked the main protagonists, General Marcus Braddock and Danielle Williams. Prior to Marcus' return to England from the continent and the defeat of Napoleon, Danielle had written to him to notify him of his sister Elise's death. The Honorable Danielle Williams, daughter of Baron Mondale, runs the Nightingale pipeline for deserted and battered women, spiriting them away to other parts of the country or the Americas, where abused women are given safe havens. Marcus, now the Duke of Hampton, has been awarded a dukedom as a reward for his heroic campaigns. Marcus has been trying to talk to Danielle about his sister's death. Dani is avoiding him. She is troubled that he might find out about her secretive enterprise, of which Elise was a part. What Marcus does discover is that Elise was murdered. Dani had "warned Elise to stay away from Scepter.” Now Dani is in a quandary. Had ...

Wild, Wild Rake (The Cavensham Heiresses #8)   by Janna MacGregor A couple of tropes happening here, the enemy turned to lover and the unexpected virgin--with a twist. Avalon, Marchioness of Warwyk, was married at a young age to Richard Pearce, the Marquess of Warwyk. He was a cad and bully. Her parents had forced her into this marriage, well both of them actually. Warwyk despised her for that even though he was the architect of his own problem, whilst Avalon was merely her parents' pawn. Yet she is painted by society as a cold hearted woman who trapped her husband into marriage. For goodness sake, Warwyk lost his favorite property, Bumble Green to Avalon's father whilst playing cards. He chose that action. He could have refused to marry Avalon but he wanted the land. So he trapped both himself and Avalon. Talk about being too much of a coward to take responsibility for his own actions. Warwyk consummated the marriage and left. Avalon fell pregnant and only saw her husban...

The King's Justice (Maggie Hope #9) by Susan Elia MacNeal        After having escaped the serial killer Nicholas Reitter, dubbed by the press, the “Blackout Beast”, Maggie Hope's life is grim and becoming more so. She's frenetic, drinking too much, smoking too much and defusing bombs with the Bomb Disposal Unit. She is doing all she can to feel alive whilst flirting with death, to live in the moment.  After all she's been through, with Reitter and her "false imprisonment and near death" at the hands of the Special Operations Executive, Maggie feels not only betrayed but shattered. In today's parlance we'd say she's experiencing PTSD. Her relationship with Detective Chief Inspector James Durgin has rocks strewn in its path. It seems Maggie's looking for the quick fix but Durgin is holding back. They are drawing further apart. And then there's Maggie's mother, a constant undercurrent in her thoughts. Nicholas Reitter is convicted ...

The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré         It took me a while to fall into the rhythms of Adunni's patois Nigerian Anglo voice. I wondered about that at first but the reality is that Adunni's voice enabled me to enter into her head space and culture more quickly than I otherwise would have. A fifteen year old girl, against her wishes and dreams, is sold off to be the third wife of an old man who wants sons. No pity or consideration here. Adunni's future is a transaction between her father and her husband. Her father benefits from the bride dowry. Adunni suffers the consequences. When she fearfully flees her husband and circumstances surrounding wife number two,  Adunni little knows that she will enter another hellish world. She is essentially  trafficked. Once again she is an unpaid servant with no rights who is beaten by her mistress and has to keep dodging the attentions of the master. But she finds friends in unlikely places who help he...

The Bachelor (Duke Dynasty #2) by Sabrina Jeffries         This second in the Duke Dynasty series is a cracking good five star read with all the mystery, energy and frustration one could wish for. Lady Gwyn Drake is a person holding deep secrets. I was won with the opening description of Gwyn where she's pacing an "ornamental bridge like a tigress in a crate." Is that just not the perfect gambit sure to entice?  With a malevolent blackmailer pursuing her, Gwyn finds herself in troubled waters. That's not a problem! She has a plan. Although not all plans run smoothly. Who better than a navy man to help rescue her? Even if it's at the request of her brother Thorn. The brooding Major Joshua Wolfe, injured in naval action and now the estate’s gamekeeper, is to be Gwyn's bodyguard in London after he'd rescued her from being manhandled by the odious Captain Malet. Of course Gwyn wants none of this. She has secrets to keep and being followed by Joshua doe...

For the Sake of a Scottish Rake (Besotted Scots #3)   by Anna Bradley          A romantic melodrama, complete with a heroine whose father was rumored to have been mad, a Scotsman languishing from unrequited love, and a tyrannical bully of an uncle who thought nothing of selling his niece to a sinister Lord to pay his gambling debts. All the ingredients are here for a super read but it just didn't fire for me. Well to honest the first part was great. I was sure I was in for a rollicking read. The second just didn't continue the promise. Lady Lucinda Sutcliffe is about to undertake her first season, and hopes to delay any marriage commitment until she turns twenty-one and is able take charge of her considerable fortune. (And who would blame these heiresses given that all properties and monies go to their husbands when they marry). Her uncle has taken a house prior to the season at Brighton. Ciaran Ramsey has joined friends there whilst he mourns his l...

Chasing Cassandra (The Ravenels #6) by Lisa Kleypas          I was enchanted by Cassandra and her relationship with railway magnate Tom Severin. Tom it seems is restless. "Things that gave him pleasure now bored him." With that jaded mind set Tom accepts an invitation to Pandora Ravenel's wedding and finds himself even more adrift. The now married Revenel men are no longer as amusing as they once were. How to dispel his mood? "Maybe he should marry" After all he's made his fortune, and marrying into the right circles should help to advance him socially. Retreating to the library whilst considering all this, he's quite startled when he overhears Pandora's twin Cassandra sobbing to West that she's now about to become an old maid, and proceeds to list her deficiencies. Such a delicious moment when the distant Tom, apparently a man who only knows FIVE emotions, leapt out of an alcove in the library and declared himself ready to marry Cassand...

The Last Passenger (Charles Lenox Mysteries #0.3)   by Charles Finch       The third and final of the prequels about the eccentric society detective, Charles Lenox's pulling together more of his background as a beginning detective. The disdain from many of the upper one thousand, his relationship with Scotland Yard, the development of his inquiry techniques, and his family and friends. A male body is found in a train at Paddington Station. The 449 from Manchester. No clues as to who the man was. Even the tags had been cut from his clothing. This case will take Charles from undesirable denizens of London to those placed in the highest in the land. And just when Charles thinks the case is solved a Mr Winston Cobb, a detective and an American Federal Marshal, turns up at his door. Together they come to realize that the resolution of the case is a double bind, a smokescreen, and their enquiries will have to go back to the beginning. It is indeed a case with a da...

The Lady is Trouble (League of Lords #1) by Tracy Sumner           Love her or protect her? There seems to be no middle ground for Julian Alexander, Lord Beauchamp and Lady Piper Scott, known as the Scandalous Scott. They are part of group of people whose unusual talents have left them as pariahs and outcastes. Drawn from all different areas of society they are vulnerable or dangerous to themselves and others if their gifts can't be trained  Julian has followed his mentor's lead to bring  together these mystic misfits into a supportive League. "Piper’s grandfather had started the society years ago as a place for those genuinely afflicted with a mystical talent to find shelter because to be afflicted was nothing short of a cruel fate." Piper, his mentor's granddaughter, and the true love of his life is a healer. He promised his mentor to not pursue her but protect to her. That struggle between Honor and love almost destroys them. As a boy Julia...

A Small Case for Inspector Ghote? (An Inspector Ghote Mystery #26) .  by H.R.F. Keating     Promoted to the Bombay Police Crime Branch, Inspector Ganesh Ghote finds himself relegated to Bandobast duty, overseeing organizational tasks. He's wondering why he's been promoted to if this is all he does? But when his duty servant's head appears wrapped up in his trash bin things take a definite u turn. Although his superior, Assistant Commissioner of Police Mr Ramprasad Divekar, has told him to not bother about it, to dispose of the head. There are more important matters, including the death of an important man's son-in-law.  Ghote's ethics won't let the matter rest. After all, no matter their caste, Ganesh strongly feels that a victim is deserving of justice. The path to the truth about the appearance of a head in his bin is arduous (sometimes painfully slow) yet Ghote moves forward spurred on by his wife Protima, and the god's own luck. I love that Ganesh...

Inspector Ghote's Good Crusade (An Inspector Ghote Mystery #2)   by H.R.F. Keating            I'm becoming increasingly fond of Southern Asian detective novels. This Inspector Ganesh Ghote novel, first published in 1966, is set in Bombay (now Mumbai) and despite the dated outlook still has arresting appeal. An American philanthropist has been murdered and Ghote of the Bombay C.I.D., must find the culprit whilst struggling with his desire to charge his bete noir, criminal Amrit Singh. Throughout Ghote  is challenged by the idea of care and charity, with understanding the street wise boys who are part of the Frank Masters Foundation for the Care of Juvenile Vagrants, and with the pressure from above to reach a conclusion even if it means framing a lesser employee or Amrit. His home life, his relationship with his wife Protima, comes under scrutiny and we start to see a fuller exposition about who Ghote is. The consideration of the refrigera...

Foresight: The Lost Decades of Uncle Chow Tung (Uncle Chow Tung #2)   by Ian Hamilton    Once more I am dazzled by Hamilton's understandings of historical times in China and Hongkong. An escapee from China under tragic circumstances has Uncle vowing never to return. But needs must. When Uncle turns his eyes towards Shenzhen there is the worry that even though Uncle has HongKong ID, the People's Republic will not respect that. I was absorbed by the continuing story of Uncle Chow and the Fanling triad's move into business in the Special Economic Zone in "Shenzhen, next door to Hong Kong and on Fanling’s doorstep." Zones created by Premier Deng Xiaoping as a move towards transforming "China into an economic superpower." (A happening we are now all familiar with.) Its 1981 and Uncle and the Fanling triad are in trouble. The Hong Kong Jockey Club has a legal betting monopoly and they have been gathering momentum putting Uncle's operations under i...

Never Forget (A Victor Lessard Thriller #3) by Martin Michaud   A gritty murder mystery that segues  into the bizarre. Set in Montriel, a detective and his partner are confronted by a series of grotesque murders that have a dark history. I reveled in this thriller. Devastating Quebecian crime noir! Always that cutting edge that is present in many of the movie and literary contributions from this part of the world. I loved Victor Lessard a detective sergeant with the Major Crimes Unit of the Montreal Police. Victor is introspective, taciturn and a recovering alcoholic, taking copious amounts of anti anxiety pills, who has returned to the major crimes unit after having left in disgrace. He has a hair trigger temper when aroused. Jacinthe Taillon is his gung-ho, take no prisoners partner. She's dynamite and totally not PC. Together they are a seemingly ill matched yet superb duo. When the murders lead to past CIA experiments in mind control and questions are raised abou...

Above the Bay of Angels by Rhys Bowen   Isabella Waverley takes a chance and like her 'not so dear' old papa used to say 'Carpe Diem'. Under false pretenses she and enters service as Helen Barton an apprentice cook for Queen Victoria. Of course nothing is smooth. Given the times, there are challenges for a woman in a man's world. Identity theft results in blackmail. What amounts to sexual harassment by a member of the upper class, and the divide of class distinctions. A peeve for me was how Isabella kept (in her head) harping back to being educated and from an upper class background. It seemed to me she was repeating somewhat her father's mantra, albeit in a different way. That feeling of deserving more may have given her the courage to take risks. Her checkered upbringing, and having to make do to survive, meant she did have the ability to move seamlessly between the various groups of people she encountered. What I did like about the story was the glimp...

The Unspoken Name (The Serpemt Gates #1)   by A.K. Larkwood  Firstly let me say what a fascinating cover! It quite drew me in to this story with Orcs, magicians, portals and strange lands. And let's not forget those gods who always have other plans! A new fantasy saga. What more could I want? Csorwe is our Orc maiden who knows her future. She is to be the Sacrifice to the Unspoken God. (Ok folks! I had a lot of trouble speaking Csorwe's name. The first part 'Cs', pronounced like the 'ks' in books had me stumped. I never did get the hang of it!) That aside, when Csorwe choose the path to Life presented to her by the mage Belthandros Sethennai, her world opens up in unexpected ways. I was struck by  Sethennai's comment to Csorwe as they left the Unspoken One's Shrine. "The secret of greatness is to know when you should risk the wrath of god.” It seems this is a path that Sethennai has oft contemplated. Mind you I wouldn't trust Sethennai b...

Mercy House: A Novel  by Alena Dillon Sister Evelyn runs a woman's shelter in Brooklyn along with her sister nuns. The work is challenging and often rewarding. Over the years Evelyn's concepts of Catholicism, her working faith have been confronted by the women's needs. This does lead her down a different path to that proscribed and opens up many questions. The crux however is that Sister Evelyn harbors a secret just as wretched as her charges. When the author of that secret, the vengeful Bishop Robert Hawkins targets their work for his "nun-quition" Evelyn's repressed past bubbles to the surface. Confronting  issues involved with abuse and power within the church, I found this a powerful read. As well as the way the nuns must face the reality of their charges circumstances. I applauded the residents of Mercy House and I loved the way the nuns had become part of the local community. Their work quietly has earned the support of their neighbors is telling....