Book Review: Reputation by Lex Croucher

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Reputation
Author: Lex Croucher
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Publication date: April 5, 2022
Length: 338 pages
Genre: Historical romance
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

The hilarious debut novel from Lex Croucher. A classic romcom with a Regency-era twist, for fans of Mean Girls and/or Jane Austen.
Abandoned by her parents, middle-class Georgiana Ellers has moved to a new town to live with her dreary aunt and uncle. At a particularly dull party, she meets the enigmatic Frances Campbell, a wealthy member of the in-crowd who lives a life Georgiana couldn’t have imagined in her wildest dreams.
Lonely and vulnerable, Georgiana falls in with Frances and her unfathomably rich, deeply improper friends. Georgiana is introduced to a new world: drunken debauchery, mysterious young men with strangely arresting hands, and the upper echelons of Regency society.
But the price of entry to high society might just be higher than Georgiana is willing to pay …

Sex, drugs, and… Regency?

It all began at a party, as almost everything of interest does.

In this historical romance, 20-year-old Georgiana longs for some excitement in her life, but gets more than she bargained for. Sent off to stay with her nice but boring aunt and uncle after her parents decide to basically ditch her for some seaside living, she’s just bursting for fun and interesting conversation. At a weird and disappointing party, she encounters rich girl Frances Campbell, who plies her with drinks and entices her to invade the hostess’s closet… and that’s mild for Frances.

She was certainly no swashbuckling adventurer or windswept nobleman, but Georgiana knew at once that she was in the presence of a Main Character.

Frances takes a shine to the new girl, and begins inviting Georgiana to her own crowd’s parties — filled with the young adults of the upper class, who seem to take every opportunity to drink to excess and engage in every sort of debauched behavior they can imagine. What’s in that pipe they’re passing around? Georgiana doesn’t know, but it does make her feel silly and floaty, and leads to a bizarre interaction with the man she’s crushing on.

As the novel progresses, the pressure to keep up with Frances’s behavior and to fit in with her friends leads Georgiana to lie to her aunt and uncle, repeatedly sneak out of the house for unchaperoned and inappropriate outings and parties, and to be rude to someone who actually might make a true and positive friend.

She seemed to have forgiven Georgiana for whatever wrongdoings she had previously attributed to her at the picnic; Georgiana wondered if she was very kind or if she simply had an extraordinarily short memory, like an octogenarian or a goldfish.

While mostly silly, there are some heavier plot points, including a man of Frances’s circle who in reality is a sexual predator, although no one seems willing to call him on it. Meanwhile, Frances seems to become more desperate and out of control as her love interest turns out to be much less than honorable, and Georgiana’s tenuous position with the in-crowd becomes harder and harder to hold on to.

Reputation is billed as a mix of Austen and Mean Girls, and I see the Mean Girls comparison much more so than the Austen! As in Mean Girls, an outsider is drawn to the popular crowd and does what she needs to do in order to fit in and be accepted, despite the fact that these people really are pretty awful.

While Reputation is set in the Regency era, the behavior of the characters bears very little relation to anything we might read in a Jane Austen novel. Yes, there are balls and parties, but the behavior! I don’t pretend to be an expert by any means, but I’ve never read another novel that depicts the behavior of the upper crust as so debauched — non-stop alcohol, outrageous pranks and games, the mysterious pipe contents mentioned above, drugs in people’s drinks (which I suppose must have been laudanum, although it’s not specified).

Georgiana was beginning to suspect that this game was designed solely to give everybody involved a socially acceptable excuse to feel one another up.

Sticking with this book was challenging for the first 25% or so. The Mean Girls behavior cannot be overemphasized, Georgiana makes some very poor choices, and the writing, while mostly on the clever and witty side, also includes some clunkier and/or modern phrasing that’s jarring in this setting.

In fact, ignore the shifts and waistcoats and reticules, and many of the party scenes could be plunked down into a frat house party with little to no difference. It was difficult to reconcile the supposed theme of reputations being all with the blatantly disreputable behavior that the characters seem to all indulge in. In fact, the reputation aspect aspect only seems to be addressed head-on on rare occasions, including a scene in which an upper class girl explains some basics to Georgiana:

“I don’t say this to do you harm. I am simply laying out the facts. You would not be unhappy, I think, with an ordinary life befitting your station. Here — now — you have truly stumbled into the lion’s den. The potential for unhappiness here is vast. Nobody here will be shamed or cast out for the many sins I’m sure they’ll commit before Monday. There is almost nothing we can do that will not be excused because of our wealth, our standing. Our parentage. Can you say the same?”

This being a romance, of course there’s a happy ending, but not without drama, fights, and scandal before getting there. As the end approached, I found myself cheering for Georgiana, especially as she starts making better choices, including showing appreciation for the people in her life who truly care for her and taking a stand when it’s most needed.

Reputation, all in all, is a fun book. As I said, I’m no expert and have no idea if the wealthy of the period really did indulge in such extremely decadent behavior behind closed doors, rather than sticking with the polite balls and card parties of Jane Austen novels. For me, since almost everything I know about the era comes from Austen and the Bridgerton books (not a well-rounded historical education!), the behavior of the characters in Reputation was downright shocking.

Still, I did find myself caught up in the story by the conclusion and quite entertained. So, take the historical representation with grains of salt as needed, don’t accept drinks that have passed through Frances’s hands, and enjoy Reputation for the sheer silly romp of it all.

21Mar2022

The Monday Check-In ~ 3/21/2022

Posted in The Monday Check-In by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

My Monday tradition, including a look back and a look ahead — what I read last week, what new books came my way, and what books are keeping me busy right now. Plus a smattering of other stuff too.

Life.

Another busy work week, but we’ve also squeezed in some fun, including two different dinners out for my husband’s upcoming birthday (first a “date night” dinner for the two of us at a favorite restaurant, then a family dinner for six with yummy food).

What did I read during the last week?

The Marriage Game by Sara Desai: I finished this audiobook at the end of last week. My 1.5 star rating is generous! My review is here.

Scorpica by G. R. Macallister: An impressive start to a new fantasy series. My review is here.

Outlander!!

Week #3! The 3rd episode aired last night, but since we were out for a while, I didn’t get to watch yet. Overall, this season is good! But I’m struggling a bit in terms of the storylines, because nothing pleasant happens in the 6th book, and the show is being very faithful to the big events.

I love the characters as much as ever, but these episodes can be really hard to watch.

Pop culture & TV:

Bridgerton! With season 2 coming later this week (yay!), I thought a re-watch of season 1 would be a perfect binge for this week. I’m loving it all over again!

Puzzle of the Week:

I finished this one mid-week — it was more challenging than I expected!

Fresh Catch:

Exciting new books! Although I’ll probably hold off a bit before starting any of them, considering how overloaded with ARCs I appear to be right now.

What will I be reading during the coming week?

Currently in my hands:

Reputation by Lex Croucher: I’m almost done! I had my doubts early on, but this close to the end, I’m eager to see how the plot wraps up.

Next up will be The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth. A real change of pace, but I do always enjoy this author’s books.

Now playing via audiobook:

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker: My book group’s pick for March — I started last week, and have about an hour left to listen to.

Ongoing reads:

Over at Outlander Book Club, we’ve started our group read of BEES, reading and discussing two chapters per week. If anyone wants to join us, just ask me how! All are welcome.

Aaaaaand…. I joined the Classics Club Spin for the very first time, and here’s what my spin turned out to be. I’m happy with the way the spin turned out! This is Georgette Heyer’s first novel, and while I’ve read several of her other books, this one will be new to me. Plus, it’s available via the Serial Reader app, so I’ll be reading it in 33 daily installments starting this week, which means I’ll be finished before the April 30th target date.

So many books, so little time…

20Mar2022

My Classics Club Spin book will be…

Posted in Bookish Thoughts, Fun and Whimsy, The Reading Life by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Yesterday, I shared a post with my list of books for the Classics Club Spin challenge (see it here), and today, this spin’s number was announced.

Hosted by The Classics Club blog, the Classics Club Spin is a reading adventure where participants come up with a list of classics they’d like to read, number them 1 to 20, and then read the book that correponds to the “spin” number that comes up.

For CCSpin # 29, the lucky number is:

And that means I’ll be reading:

The Black Moth by Georgette Heyer, published in 1921, 355 pages.

Synopsis:

A disgraced lord, a notorious highwayman
Jack Carstares, the disgraced Earl of Wyndam, left England seven long years ago, sacrificing his honor for that of his brother when he was accused of cheating at cards. Now Jack is back, roaming his beloved South Country in the disguise of a highwayman.
And the beauty who would steal his heart
Not long after Jack’s return, he encounters his old adversary, the libertine Duke of Andover, attempting the abduction of the beautiful Diana Beauleigh. At the point of Jack’s sword, the duke is vanquished, but foiled once, the “Black Moth” has no intention of failing again?
This is Georgette Heyer’s first novel – a favorite of readers and a stirring tale to be enjoyed again and again.

I’ve read several of Georgette Heyer’s books already, but not this one, and since it’s her first published novel, I’m really eager to give it a try.

I’m also really happy that this spin landed me with a book that’s available through Serial Reader. The Black Moth is on Serial Reader in 33 installments, so if I start this week, I’ll definitely finish before the April 30th target date.

Wish me luck! I’m excited to get started. And who knows? If this works out for me, I’ll be back for future spins!

Here’s my list of 20 titles for Classics Club Spin #29:

Frenchman’s Creek by Daphne DuMaurier
A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
Queen Lucia by E. F. Benson
Howards End by E. M. Forster
The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
The Black Moth by Georgette Heyer
Foundation by Isaac Asimov
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham
Passing by Nella Larsen
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
The Sound of Waves by Yukio Mishima
The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay

Did you participate in this Classics Club Spin? If so, what book will you be reading?

19Mar2022

My very first Classics Club Spin!

Posted in Bookish Thoughts, Fun and Whimsy, The Reading Life by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

I’ve been seeing other bloggers participate in the Classics Club Spin over the last few years, and I suddenly got inspired this week to join in the fun!

Here are the dates and guidelines from the host blog:

On Sunday 20th, March, we’ll post a number from 1 through 20. The challenge is to read whatever book falls under that number on your Spin List by the 30th April, 2022. That’s a six week reading window for this spin. You may like to stack your list with books that you know are do-able for you within that time frame.
We’ll check in here on Sunday the 30th April, 2022 to see who made it the whole way and finished their spin book!
What’s Next?
Go to your blog.
Pick twenty books that you’ve got left to read from your Classics Club List.
Post that list, numbered 1-20, on your blog before Sunday, 20th March.
We’ll announce a number from 1-20.
Read that book by 30th April, 2022.

This is probably the worst possible time for me to do this, since I’m completely backlogged when it comes to my reading plans and have way too many ARCs lined up for April and May.

Still, I’m intrigued by the concept, and I really like Hopewell’s Library of Life‘s idea to refer to Serial Reader for books that can be read in few enough installments to finish by the deadline. (And, by the way, Serial Reader is fabulous, and if you want to know more, see my post here for more info!)

Enough introduction!

Here’s my list of 20 classics for my first ever attempt at the Classics Club Spin:

Frenchman’s Creek by Daphne DuMaurier
A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
Queen Lucia by E. F. Benson
Howards End by E. M. Forster
The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
The Black Moth by Georgette Heyer
Foundation by Isaac Asimov
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham
Passing by Nella Larsen
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
The Sound of Waves by Yukio Mishima
The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay

A few of these would be re-reads for me, but given how many years have passed since I first/last read them, I’d be happy to read them again!

I’m just dipping my toes in cautiously, trying to pick books that are both doable in the time frame and that I would feel excited to read. No huge books, no huge obstacles…

Wish me luck! We’ll find out tomorrow what the spin number is!

19Mar2022

Book Review: Scorpica by G. R. Macallister

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Scorpica
Series: The Five Queendoms, #1
Author: G. R. Macallister
Publisher: Saga Press
Publication date: February 22, 2022
Length: 448 pages
Genre: Fantasy
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

A centuries-long peace is shattered in a matriarchal society when a decade passes without a single girl being born in this sweeping epic fantasy that’s perfect for fans of Robin Hobb and Circe.
Five hundred years of peace between queendoms shatters when girls inexplicably stop being born. As the Drought of Girls stretches across a generation, it sets off a cascade of political and personal consequences across all five queendoms of the known world, throwing long-standing alliances into disarray as each queendom begins to turn on each other—and new threats to each nation rise from within.
Uniting the stories of women from across the queendoms, this propulsive, gripping epic fantasy follows a warrior queen who must rise from childbirth bed to fight for her life and her throne, a healer in hiding desperate to protect the secret of her daughter’s explosive power, a queen whose desperation to retain control leads her to risk using the darkest magic, a near-immortal sorcerer demigod powerful enough to remake the world for her own ends—and the generation of lastborn girls, the ones born just before the Drought, who must bear the hopes and traditions of their nations if the queendoms are to survive.

In this ambitious novel, historical fiction author Greer Macallister turns her talents to the world of fantasy, writing as G. R. Macallister. Because I’ve enjoyed her historical novels, and since I generally enjoy fantasy fiction, I thought I’d give Scorpica a try.

In Scorpica, the known world is divided into five queendoms, each with its own strengths and gifts. The land of Scorpica raises and trains warriors; Arca is known for magic; The Bastion is a stronghold for scholars and archives; Paxim is a crossroads and a center of trade and negotiation; and Sestia is a fertile land with thriving agriculture. The different lands worship different gods and goddesses and have different cultures and societal structures, but one thing they all have in common is that women rule.

The queendoms are matriarchal societies, where power belongs to women alone. From queens to warriors to any and all positions of power, all roles of importance are held by women. Men are subservient, there to support women and offer pleasure and participate in making babies, but they do not wield authority or take any role in combat.

The coexistence of the five queendoms and their continued survival are thrown into turmoil when baby girls stop being born. Known as the Drought of Girls, this lack of girl babies means there can be no future queens and no future warriors. As each of the queendoms struggles to figure out what to do if the drought doesn’t end, there’s another force at work in the shadows seeking to overthrow the queendoms entirely.

As the story progresses, we see events unfold from multiple perspectives, mainly through the Queens of Scorpica and Arca and various women of their queendoms. We get to learn the customs of the different lands, their superstitions and fears and politics, and for some of the characters, get insight into their more personal emotions and challenges.

There are a lot of characters to keep track of, and that’s not always easy. Fortunately, there’s a map of the Five Queendoms included at the front of the book, which helps a lot in terms of visualizing the basic geography and how that influences the plot. This is one of the rare occasions where a glossary of characters would have been helpful, although usually I shy away from those.

The premise of the book is quite interesting, and I liked a lot about the development of this world, how the queendoms interact, and the internal functioning of Scorpica and Arca. Where I think there’s some weakness is in the individual character development and, perhaps consequentially, in the emotional impact.

While there are some characters we spend more time with than others, this is a big book with a lot of ground and time to cover, and the individuals often get lost in the shuffle. There weren’t many that I felt I really knew well, and so I wasn’t able to develop an emotional connection with more than two or three of the characters — and even with these few, they only appear from time or time or in limited capacities.

The fantasy-world-speak is a little over the top at times:

She’d returned to Scorpica with a belly set to swell, as did so many warrior sisters, their seed watered with a man’s rain.

Okay, I’ve never heard it called rain before… Still, awkward phrasing like this (which makes me laugh despite — I’m sure — not being intended to be funny) doesn’t really detract from the generally well written world-building, descriptions, and forward motion of the major plot points.

I did enjoy the overall concepts of the book. It’s quite large in scope, and is supposedly the first in a series. I’d guess that there will be a book titled for each of the five queendoms, and that should help fill out and broaden the world quite a bit. In Scorpica, we mainly spend time with characters from Scorpica and Arca, and I imagine that there’s future action planned that will bring the other three lands into greater focus and importance.

Assuming the next book in the series comes out soon enough that I’ll still remember the details, I’d like to keep reading. Scorpica ends with a lot of loose-ends — major conflicts and problems are resolved, but there’s a sort-of cliff-hanger about what comes next, and plenty more to explore in this fantasy world.

17Mar2022

Book Review: The Marriage Game by Sara Desai

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Marriage Game
Author: Sara Desai
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: June 9, 2020
Length: 338 pages
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Purchased (paperback); Library (audiobook)
Rating:

A high stakes wager pits an aspiring entrepreneur against a ruthless CEO in this sexy romantic comedy.
After her life falls apart, recruitment consultant Layla Patel returns home to her family in San Francisco. But in the eyes of her father, who runs a Michelin starred restaurant, she can do no wrong. He would do anything to see her smile again. With the best intentions in mind, he offers her the office upstairs to start her new business and creates a profile on an online dating site to find her a man. She doesn’t know he’s arranged a series of blind dates until the first one comes knocking on her door…
As CEO of a corporate downsizing company Sam Mehta is more used to conflict than calm. In search of a quiet new office, he finds the perfect space above a cozy Indian restaurant that smells like home. But when communication goes awry, he’s forced to share his space with the owner’s beautiful yet infuriating daughter Layla, her crazy family, and a parade of hopeful suitors, all of whom threaten to disrupt his carefully ordered life.
As they face off in close quarters, the sarcasm and sparks fly. But when the battle for the office becomes a battle of the heart, Sam and Layla have to decide if this is love or just a game.

I wanted to like this book. I really did. I mean… diverse characters, San Francisco setting, family matchmaking, and contemporary romance. What’s not to enjoy?

Sadly, this was a bust. I almost quit multiple times throughout the story, and by the end, managed to convince myself to finish by deciding to think of the book as a parody. (To be clear, it’s not a parody.)

The “marriage game” of the title has to do with arranged marriages. To start a more stable life after some dating and career disasters, Layla decides to meet the men her father secretly selected for her via a dating site focused on Indians looking for arranged marriages. Sam and Layla agree that if Layla finds a husband, she’ll give up the office they’re fighting over, but if she doesn’t, Sam has to leave.

I’m not going to rehash the plot, because I just don’t have the energy for it. But here are a just a few points about the worst elements of this book:

It reads as if the author is someone who has never actually stepped foot in a modern-day office and imagines all workplaces based on impressions from bad 80s and 90s movies. One the one hand, we have characters repeatedly reminding each other that “this is a place of business”, yet behaving so unprofessionally and inappropriately that it makes my toes curl. Sexual innuendo, sexual banter, sexual harassment, discussion of personal lives, comments about bodies, not to mention weird interpretations of office rules and a lack of all basic office etiquette. It’s awful.
Other than Sam (the lead male character), one friend of his who appears infrequently, and Layla’s dad, every male in this book is a predator, a criminal, a harasser, or just grossly blunt and crass and sexist and awful to women.
The “game” that Layla and Sam play makes no sense. He goes on her blind dates as her chaperone, then interferes with every single conversation and ruins/undermines every interaction, while Layla focuses on him and not the person she’s meeting. Granted, the dates are all duds, but the dudes never get a chance.
The blind dates are supposedly all men that Layla’s father has prescreened and put into his “yes” list of potential husbands for Layla, but either he has terrible taste or he didn’t bother doing even basic due diligence. Again, just awful.
So many cringe-worthy scenes. From a blind date with a restaurant owner who has menacing security goons, gang tattoos, and a prison record to one with a corporate VIP who informs Layla in the first 60 seconds that he wants to “bang” her, not marry her… it’s just not amusing at all.
There’s a truly disgusting scene involving Sam and his business partner’s party to woo potential clients — including strippers (and their pole), lots of booze, and even angel dust. Again, is this some sort of parody of 1980s corporate greed? Nope, it’s supposed to be set now. It’s gross, and the fact that they win the contract makes no sense at all. AT ALL.
The sexual banter and the way the sex scenes are written are not sexy. There’s a line about Layla being jealous of Sam’s shirt because it gets to cling to his muscles. Ugh.

I think you get the picture.

You may be wondering why I gave this book 1.5 stars when I so clearly did not like it? I figure it gets one star simply because I finished it, and the extra 1/2 star is to recognize Layla’s family. The scenes with all the aunties are fun, even if they feel too similar to every other book I’ve read about Indian American families. But the family dynamics (and the descriptions of all the food) at least provide some scenes that are enjoyable, so that’s got to count for something.

From what I see on Goodreads, there are two follow-up books currently available, centered on other characters in Layla and Sam’s world. As you can probably guess, I’m out — those books will get a hard pass from me.

16Mar2022

Shelf Control #311: Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya

Posted in Shelf Control by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Welcome to Shelf Control — an original feature created and hosted by Bookshelf Fantasies.

Shelf Control is a weekly celebration of the unread books on our shelves. Pick a book you own but haven’t read, write a post about it (suggestions: include what it’s about, why you want to read it, and when you got it), and link up! For more info on what Shelf Control is all about, check out my introductory post, here.

Want to join in? Shelf Control posts go up every Wednesday. See the guidelines at the bottom of the post, and jump on board!

Title: Bless Me, Ultima
Author: Rudolfo Anaya
Published: 1972
Length: 297 pages

What it’s about (synopsis via Goodreads):

Stories filled with wonder and the haunting beauty of his culture have helped make Rudolfo Anaya the father of Chicano literature in English, and his tales fairly shimmer with the lyric richness of his prose. Acclaimed in both Spanish and English, Anaya is perhaps best loved for his classic bestseller …
Antonio Marez is six years old when Ultima enters his life. She is a curandera, one who heals with herbs and magic. ‘We cannot let her live her last days in loneliness,’ says Antonio’s mother. ‘It is not the way of our people,’ agrees his father. And so Ultima comes to live with Antonio’s family in New Mexico. Soon Tony will journey to the threshold of manhood. Always, Ultima watches over him. She graces him with the courage to face childhood bigotry, diabolical possession, the moral collapse of his brother, and too many violent deaths. Under her wise guidance, Tony will probe the family ties that bind him, and he will find in himself the magical secrets of the pagan past—a mythic legacy equally as palpable as the Catholicism of Latin America in which he has been schooled. At each turn in his life there is Ultima who will nurture the birth of his soul.

How and when I got it:

I bought a used paperback edition a few years ago.

Why I want to read it:

I was aware of this book for many years — yet another modern classic that somehow passed me by back in my high school and college years. Bless Me, Ultima came back to my attention in 2018 when PBS presented its The Great American Read program.

Bless Me, Ultima came in at #91 on the Great American Read list of top 100 books. (You can see the rest of the list here.) After the list came out, I set myself a very loose challenge to read more of the books on the list, with five titles as my short-term goal. Bless Me, Ultima was one of my five, but sadly, I still haven’t gotten to it.

While I wasn’t particularly familiar with the plot, I knew that this book has won awards, been targeted for censorship, and is often considered a must-read when it comes to diverse coming of age stories. For all these reasons, I’m interested in learning more about it and would like to read it… and just need to break away from my focus on new and recently published books to make time for it.

Have you read Bless Me, Ultima? If so, do you recommend it?

Please share your thoughts!

A. Perveen
Literary Potpourri

__________________________________

Want to participate in Shelf Control? Here’s how:

Write a blog post about a book that you own that you haven’t read yet.
Add your link in the comments or link back from your own post, so I can add you to the participant list.
Check out other posts, and…

Have fun!

15Mar2022

Top Ten Tuesday: Top ten books on my TBR list for spring 2022

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is about our spring 2022 reading plans. So many exciting new books to choose from!

Here are 10 books I’m especially looking forward to this spring:

Leviathan Falls (Expanse #9) by James S. A. Corey
The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi
Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher
The Lioness by Chris Bohjalian
The Emma Project by Sonali Dev
Reputation by Lex Croucher
To Marry and To Meddle by Martha Waters
The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth
Spear by Nicola Griffith
Something Wilder by Christina Lauren

What books will you be reading this spring? Share your links, and I’ll come check out your top 10!

14Mar2022

The Monday Check-In ~ 3/14/2022

Posted in The Monday Check-In by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Life.

It’s been a quieter week. Don’t get me wrong — work is still crazy busy. But, the weekend weather was nice, and I found time to get out for good walks and read in the sun. What could be better?

What did I read during the last week?

Tiamat’s Wrath (Expanse, #8) by James S. A. Corey: After finishing the 7th Expanse book, I had no choice but to continue straight ahead with #8. These books are just excellent! Since I didn’t write a review for #7 last week when I finished reading it, here are the links to reviews for both books:

Last week, I finished reading The Ladies of Missalonghi by Colleen McCullough, and finally got around to writing a review. You can see it here.

And yesterday, I finished listening to the audiobook of The Marriage Game by Sara Desai. Review to come… but here’s a sneak peek: I was basically hate-listening by the time I go to the end. Ugggggh.

Outlander!!

Week #2! I’m already sad that this is going to be a shorter than usual season (only 8 episodes) due to COVID-related filming challenges… but I will say that so far, it’s terrific, despite my trepidations about this season’s plotlines. (Knowing approximately which book plots will be included this season fills me with dread — the books are excellent, but Very Bad Things happen).

I haven’t actually had a chance to watch episode 2 yet, but plan to do so tonight!

Pop culture & TV:

In an utterly silly development, my son and I realized that we can now access the reboot of iCarly, now that we’re signed up for Paramount+! We loved this when he was little, and it’s so much fun to go back to the show’s goofiness, even if it is a little weird to see the characters all grown up.

In other TV watching updates, I think it’s about time for me to do a re-watch of Bridgerton season 1. After all, season 2 drops in less than two weeks!

Puzzle of the Week:

A work in progress:

I’m actually farther along now, so close to being done! But it came down to finishing or going to sleep before midnight, and for once, I made the responsible adult choice.

Fresh Catch:

I picked up the graphic novel I had on hold at the library… only to discover that I was wrong about it being a graphic novel. It’s a YA novel… with, like, pages full of words! I’m sure it’s fine, but it’s not what I thought it would be, and I don’t think I care enough to read it. Sigh.

What will I be reading during the coming week?

Currently in my hands:

Scorpica by G. R. Macallister: Scorpica is author Greer Macallister’s first foray into fantasy writing, and it’s holding my interest so far. I mean, what’s not to like about a matriarchal society ruled by queens and protected by women warriors? I’ve only read about 25% so far, and I’m eager to see where the story goes.

Now playing via audiobook:

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker: My book group’s pick for March — I’m planning to start this audiobook today.

Ongoing reads:

Over at Outlander Book Club, we’ve started our group read of BEES, reading and discussing two chapters per week. If anyone wants to join us, just ask me how! All are welcome.

So many books, so little time…

13Mar2022

Book Review: The Ladies of Missalonghi by Colleen McCullough

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Ladies of Missalonghi
Author: Colleen McCullough
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication date: 1987
Length: 192 pages
Genre: Historical fiction
Source: Purchased
Rating:

Sometimes fairy tales can come true–even for plain, shy spinsters like Missy Wright. Neither as pretty as cousin Alicia nor as domineering as mother Drusilla, she seems doomed to a quiet life of near poverty at Missalonghi, her family’s pitifully small homestead in Australia’s Blue Mountains. But it’s a brand new century–the twentieth–a time for new thoughts and bold new actions. And Missy Wright is about to set every self-righteous tongue in the town of Byron wagging. Because she has just set her sights on a mysterious, mistrusted, and unsuspecting stranger… who just might be Prince Charming in disguise.

After coming across a mention of The Ladies of Missalonghi online, I decided to give it a try once I saw the audiobook available via my library. This short book is enjoyable in many ways, but it also shows its age a bit, and has a troubling reputation as well. (See my quibbles section below…)

Set in the early 1900s in a small town in Australia, The Ladies of Missalonghi focuses on the sad little family living in a run-down house named Missalonghi on the shabby side of town. The town of Byron is dominated by the Hurlingford family, who own pretty much all of the desirable land and every local business. The nasty truth of the family is that thanks to an edict from its founding father who first established Byron, only males in the family inherit financially, while women descendents get a house and five acres of land. However, the houses and land have become worse and worse over the generations, and Hurlingford women who don’t marry well, become widowed, or (gasp) remain spinsters are doomed to a life of poverty and dependence.

Main character Missy Wright lives with her widowed mother Drusilla and her elderly aunt Octavia, and the three eke out the barest of livings. Missy is considered plain and unmarriageable, long past whatever youthful prime she might have had. To economize, the women dress in brown (appropriate for any occasion, and it doesn’t show dirt), have a very fixed routine of household chores, and rely on the condescending patronage of their richer relatives for meager treats and hand-outs.

When Missy meets a rough-hewn stranger and learns that he’s bought land in the adjacent valley, her imagination takes off — especially thanks to the romantic novels the town’s new librarian has been sharing with her. After a mild health scare, Missy decides to take matters into her own hands, throw off the burden of obedience and family deference, and pursue a life of adventure and love… even if she has to scheme and lie to get it.

While engaging in many ways, I do need to point out a few quibbles:

SPOILERS AHEAD

As I mentioned earlier, the book’s age shows in some of the depictions and dialogue. I don’t have a problem with historical fiction portraying an era’s inherent sexual inequalities, hang-ups, class issues, etc, but I actually feel that this book smacks a little too heavily of the 1980s. Published in 1987, The Ladies of Missalonghi has a love interest who’s the stereotypical bad boy in many ways, coming out with statements and attitudes that just wouldn’t fly today… and in historical fiction written now, I think authors tend to make their heroes a little less sexist/asshole-ish. If that makes any sense.

BIG SPOILER: There’s a weird supernatural element that’s revealed toward the end that makes no sense at all, bringing a ghost into the mix in the strangest way possible, then using that ghost as the explanation for Missy’s pursuit of freedom. Seriously, I don’t get it at all. The ghost in question appears as a real person to Missy, and provides Missy with books, legal documents, a new dress and hat, and even comes to tea at Missalonghi, where she interacts with Drusilla and Octavia. Again… I don’t get it.

Finally, I need to point out the plagiarism allegations that plague this book, specifically, that Colleen McCullough basically took the plot of The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery, tweaked it a bit and moved it to Australia, and published it as her own. Colleen McCullough denied the allegations, but suggested that “subconscious recollection” was at play — that she must have read the book at some point and inadvertently incorporated elements without realizing where they’d come from. The stories track so closely (with key differences being that Missy’s mother is kind and loving, and that Missy knows that her health crisis isn’t real and lies to her love interest) that it’s impossible to believe that the similarities are purely accidental.

Having read The Blue Castle recently, the shared plot elements are very obvious — and I have to say, if I had to choose between the two books, The Blue Castle wins hands-down.

END OF SPOILERY QUIBBLES

All that aside, there’s plenty to like about The Ladies of Missalonghi. There are some clever twists as Missy begins to assert herself, including her scheming to undermine the terrible male relatives who neglect and cheat the vulnerable women of the family. The descriptions of the setting are lovely, and there are moments of clever dialogue and sly social digs that make it fun.

The audiobook is narrated by Davina Porter, known to Outlander fans as the wonderful narrator of all Outlander series audiobooks, and she’s always a treat to listen to.

Overall, I’m not sorry to have read The Ladies of Missalonghi and I enjoyed listening to it, but the troublesome aspects make it a hard book to truly love.

And I have to say, the whole “marriage due to a medical crisis that turns out to be false” plot is handled much better in The Blue Castle, as is so much else about the basics of the plot.