2024

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.

It’s been a pretty quiet week, all in all. Lots of catching up at work, but some fun during my down time too, including dinner with good friends and a few opportunities to dance.

And reading, of course!

Bookish stuff:

I’m contemplating various approaches for downsizing my physical collection of books, mainly because I’m out of room yet again. I’m experimenting with listing books on Pango Books — just a few so far, and we’ll see how it goes.

What did I read during the last (two) weeks?

The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare: My book group finished this play last week. As always, it was a terrific experience delving into a classic with such a great bunch of people.

My Calamity Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows: The 3rd Lady Janies book was just as much fun as I’d expected! Can’t wait to continue onward with the series. My review is here.

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune: This audiobook was a reread for me… and just as lovely the second time around!

It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover: Well, at least I can say that I’ve read a CoHo book! My review is here.

The Night Guest by Hildur Knutsdottir: Short and creepy! I’ll post a review later this week.

I also read two graphic novels over the weekend:

Zombies Calling by Faith Erin Hicks: Cute and fun… and I needed a “Z” book for a reading challenge!
Fangirl, volume 4 by Rainbow Rowell: The final volume of the manga version of Fangirl — it makes me want to go back and read the novel again!

Pop culture & TV:

I’m still watching Snowpiercer! I’ve made it a few episode into season 3 so far. The 4th and final season is now airing, and I should be able to catch up with “live” episodes before the finale. I’m finding the show pretty riveting — very dark and bloody, but such a good cast and interesting episodes!

As I mentioned last week, Prime Video has cancelled My Lady Jane after just one season — but apparently there’s a fan campaign to save it! If you’re interested, sign the petition here.

The new season of The Rings of Power starts later this week. I ended up really enjoying season 1, and season 2 looks great from the trailer!

Fresh Catch:

My set is complete!

What will I be reading during the coming week?

Currently in my hands:

Songs for the Broken-Hearted by Ayelet Tsabari: Just getting started!

Now playing via audiobook:

The Sound of Waves by Yukio Mishima: My classics club spin book!

Ongoing reads:

My longer-term reading commitments:

Damn Rebel Bitches: The Women of the ’45 by Maggie Craig: Over at Outlander Book Club, we’re doing a group read of this non-fiction book, discussing one chapter each Friday. Progress: 61%. Coming up this week: Chapter 17, “For Better or For Worse”
Right Ho, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse: After wrapping up The Winter’s Tale last week, my book group is moving on to a new classic. This one should be fun! We’re just starting this week, and will be reading and discussing two chapters per week.

What will you be reading this week?

So many books, so little time…

25Aug2024

Book Review: It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: It Ends with Us
Author: Colleen Hoover
Publisher: Atria
Publication date: 2016
Length: 386 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Borrowed
Rating:

Sometimes it is the one who loves you who hurts you the most.

Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come a long way from the small town in Maine where she grew up — she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. So when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life suddenly seems almost too good to be true.

Ryle is assertive, stubborn, maybe even a little arrogant. He’s also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily. And the way he looks in scrubs certainly doesn’t hurt. Lily can’t get him out of her head. But Ryle’s complete aversion to relationships is disturbing. Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his “no dating” rule, she can’t help but wonder what made him that way in the first place.

As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan — her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened.

Well, at least I can say that I’ve read a CoHo book…

I was pretty sure, based on everything I’ve heard, that Colleen Hoover’s books would not be for me. But the movie version of It Ends with Us has been generating so much buzz (negative and positive), and a friend was super excited to lend me this book… so yes, I finally read a Colleen Hoover book, and it went about as well as I’d expected.

Let me just note, right up front, that it is not okay that the synopsis of the book does not make the key point explicit: This book includes scenes of emotional and physical partner abuse and domestic violence. Readers need to know that ahead of time.

I’m not even sure what to say about this book. It’s the story of 23-year-old Lily, living on her own in Boston, who dreams of opening her own flower shop. She meets a gorgeous neurosurgeon on the roof of a building one night, and they start a game of “naked truths”, where they tell each other major secrets that they wouldn’t normally share with anyone. He’s not a relationship guy at all, but one of his naked truths is that he’d be happy to have a one-night stand with her (although he doesn’t phrase it quite that way). She’s looking for love, not sex, so it’s a no… but she’s mighty tempted.

As their paths continue to cross, the attraction grows, and eventually they do fall into a passionate relationship, but there are all sorts of warning signs.

Oh, why am I bothering to recap this book? Here’s what you need to know (spoilers ahead!):

Lily grew up with an abusive father who regularly beat, berated, and raped her mother.
Lily’s never forgotten her first love.
Ryle does a lot of love-bombing, and bursts into violence when he’s angry (although he claims that he blacks out when it happens)
Ryle is physically abusive to Lily, and she eventually leaves him, even though she loves him.

So much of the plot makes no sense. Randomly moving from least offensive to much more offensive… Lily’s flower shop, for one thing — she opens a business in Boston, with no business plan or firm idea of what to do, has a ridiculous description of the aesthetic she’s going for, and yet is instantly, wildly successful.

Ryle’s sister becomes Lily’s best friend and first employee, totally redecorates Lily’s business, and provides whatever Lily needs, whenever she needs. She’s also described as never having had a job in her life, because her husband struck it mega-rich in tech… but really, she’s a grown woman who’s been rich for only a few years and never even had a part-time job?

Lily’s teenaged diaries are written as letters to Ellen DeGeneres. Why? There’s a reason provided, but it’s odd and unnecessary. We learn about her relationship with Atlas through these diaries, which later become something that ignites Ryle’s rage. (Also, the author seems to gloss over the fact that 15-year-old Lily enters into a romantic and sexual relationship with an 18-year-old, I guess because he’s so special and awesome? Just, no.)

After Ryle hits Lily for the first time, she forgives him after warning him that if anything like that every happens again, she’ll dump him. And then they move forward, and all is well and happy and she’s super in love, and they even have a spur-of-the-moment wedding in Las Vegas… but at no point does relationship counseling get mentioned.

We eventually learn about the childhood trauma that’s shaped Ryle, but if his anger is so uncontrollable, how does he function as a neurosurgeon?

Okay, that’s enough rambling. I did not enjoy this book, so why did I give it 2 stars?

If you’d asked me early on, I would have said that 1 star, or maybe 1.5, would be the highest I’d go, and despite how awful I think most of the book is, it was oddly compelling too. My experience reading It Ends with Us was similar to my experience reading Fifty Shades of Grey (yes, I read it…) — I was aware that it was not good, but I also wanted to see where the story went.

I will say that by the end, I could see how the messaging around domestic violence and the exploration of the emotions involved could be important to share. Lily absolutely loves Ryle, and through her first-person narration, we see the inner turmoil she goes through in trying to sort out her love for her husband, dealing with the memories of what she witnessed in her parents’ marriage, and understanding what safety and trust mean for her going forward.

Still, the ending of the book leaves Lily and Ryle in a place that feels unrealistically positive. They’re divorced, but share a child, and their custody arrangements seem courteous… but how does Lily know that she can trust Ryle with their baby? She makes the decision to leave him to end the cycle of violence that she experienced and to create a healthy life for her daughter, but how does that ensure that his anger won’t explode in the future, with Lily, her daughter, or someone else?

Finally, I’ll just mention that the sex scenes earlier in the book, when they’re first falling in love, are unappealingly explicit. There’s one in particular, where he uses a stethoscope to monitor her racing heart rate as she gets more and more into it — I’m sure it’s meant to be hot, but it’s actually just icky.

Clearly, I did not like this book. But I finished it, and it held my attention… so 2 stars seems fair.

And — I hate to even admit this — I’m probably going to read the follow up book (It Starts with Us) too. Maybe some of my complaints will be addressed! Maybe I just need to see if it’s as ridiculous as this one is. Maybe I just can’t help gawking at a train wreck.

23Aug2024

Book Review: The Wind Knows My Name by Isabel Allende

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Wind Knows My Name
Author: Isabel Allende
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Publication date: June 6, 2023
Length: 253 pages
Genre: Historical/contemporary fiction
Source: Purchased
Rating:

This powerful and moving novel from the New York Times bestselling author of A Long Petal of the Sea weaves together past and present, tracing the ripple effects of war and immigration on one child in Europe in 1938 and another in the United States in 2019.

Vienna, 1938. Samuel Adler was six years old when his father disappeared during Kristallnacht—the night their family lost everything. Samuel’s mother secured a spot for him on the last Kindertransport train out of Nazi-occupied Austria to the United Kingdom, which he boarded alone, carrying nothing but a change of clothes and his violin.

Arizona, 2019. Eight decades later, Anita Diaz, a blind seven-year-old girl, and her mother board another train, fleeing looming danger in El Salvador and seeking refuge in the United States. However, their arrival coincides with the new family separation policy, and Anita finds herself alone at a camp in Nogales. She escapes through her trips to Azabahar, a magical world of the imagination she created with her sister back home.

Anita’s case is assigned to Selena Duran, a young social worker who enlists the help of a promising lawyer from one of San Francisco’s top law firms. Together they discover that Anita has another family member in the United States: Leticia Cordero, who is employed at the home of now eighty-six-year-old Samuel Adler, linking these two lives.

Spanning time and place, The Wind Knows My Name is both a testament to the sacrifices that parents make and a love letter to the children who survive the most unfathomable dangers—and never stop dreaming.

The Wind Knows My Name is a compact but powerful story about lost children, sorrow, and resilience. It’s also quite political, which I didn’t have a problem with, but some may readers may wish to know that the author is very up front in her thoughts on a certain former President and the current, ongoing immigration crisis.

But beyond the politics and the highly charged topics, The Wind Knows My Name is deeply affecting because of the individual characters, their painful childhood experiences, and the way unexpected connections help them forge new paths forward.

The book opens in Vienna, 1938, as the horrors of Kristallnacht unfold. For young Samuel Adler, it’s the night his whole world falls apart. Eventually, to save his life, Samuel’s mother sends him off to England on a train filled with other Jewish children — and while Samuel does go on to live a long and fulfilling life, the early trauma never leaves him.

Later, we meet Leticia, a Salvadoran girl whose father crosses the border into the US with her after their entire family is murdered in the massacre of their small village.

And still later, closer to the present day, we meet Anita — also from El Salvador, cruelly separated from her mother at the border as they seek asylum from extreme danger back home.

As these three people come together, with assistance from Selena, a social worker, and Frank, the ambitious lawyer who finds his true calling in pro bono work helping undocumented children, their complicated pasts offer reflections of commons experiences, even while each has suffered in their own unique and unforgettable way.

At less than 300 pages, The Wind Knows My Name is a fast read, especially as it’s so compelling that it’s difficult to pause and come up for air once you start. Each character’s story is absorbing and tragic, and yet, there are rays of hope in each of their stories as well — even more so as they come together in an unusual but lovely found family.

My main quibble with this book has to do with the storytelling itself. Isabel Allende is a masterful writer and has a beautiful way with words, and she’s highly gifted when it comes to evoking her characters’ inner lives, dreams, and nightmares. However, the writing in this book relies too often on telling rather than showing. Especially in the later chapters, new interludes open with a recitation of what the characters have been doing. We don’t see these events unfold; we hear about them after the fact.

The story itself and what the characters experience is never uninteresting, but there’s a distance because of this narrative approach that left me feeling the emotional impact a little less than I’d expected.

I also felt disappointed that Samuel’s adult life is largely skipped and told in summary after the fact, when we meet up with him again in his 80s. I couldn’t help but feel that there was so much more to see and understand. Given the length of the book, perhaps there wasn’t room to go deeper into the characters’ lives, except in terms of how they all connect, but I wished for more, for Samuel and the others. The Wind Knows My Name might have been more satisfying if it had expanded further on all of the characters and let us go deeper into their worlds.

Overall, however, the events and experiences contained within The Wind Knows My Name are deeply moving, and I came to care deeply about all of its people and the relationships they create and nurture.

Highly recommended.

21Aug2024

Book Review: My Calamity Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, & Jodi Meadows

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: My Calamity Jane
Series: The Lady Janies, #3
Author: Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication date: June 2, 2020
Length: 544 pages
Genre: Young adult
Source: Purchased
Rating:

Welcome to 1876 and a rootin’-tootin’ America bursting with gunslingers, outlaws, and garou.

JANE (a genuine hero-eene)

Calamity’s her name, and garou hunting’s her game—when she’s not starring in Wild Bill’s Traveling Show, that is. She reckons that if a girl wants to be a legend, she should just go ahead and be one.

FRANK (*wolf whistle*)
Frank “the Pistol Prince” Butler is the Wild West’s #1 bachelor. He’s also the best sharpshooter on both sides of the Mississippi, but he’s about to meet his match. . . .

ANNIE (get your gun!)
Annie Oakley (yep, that Annie) is lookin’ for a job, not a romance, but she can’t deny there’s something about Frank she likes. Really likes. Still, she’s pretty sure that anything he can do, she can do better.

A HAIRY SITUATION
After a garou hunt goes south and Jane finds a suspicious-like bite on her arm, she turns tail for Deadwood, where there’s been talk of a garou cure. But things ain’t always what they seem—meaning the gang better hightail it after her before they’re a day late and a Jane short.

The Lady Janies books are quickly becoming my go-to cheer-me-up reads… and the 3rd in the series, My Calamity Jane, absolutely hits the spot!

In this cheeky, silly reimagining of Wild West legends, Wild Bill Hickok’s traveling show is highly entertaining, super popular… and a front for a band of garou (werewolf) hunters. Calamity Jane herself is a 17-year-old who’s an ace at performing tricks with a bullwhip, and she’s also devoted to Wild Bill, who gave her a family when she had nowhere else to turn. Bill’s son Frank is Jane’s brother and best friend, and the tight-knit band travels from town to town, putting on great shows and dealing with garous who threaten public safety.

Things take a turn for the terrible when Jane is bitten during an attempt to bring down the garou Alpha, and their lives only get more complicated from there. Between fast-talker Annie Oakley insisting on joining their crew and the persistent attentions of a young woman reporter (who goes incognito as a young man, because writing just ain’t a career path for a woman, doncha know), Jane and the gang have to move and think fast… and their lives get even more dangerous once Jane decides to run off to Deadwood in pursuit of a rumored garou cure.

Ah, this book is fun! Lots of familiar names and places pop up — but if you’re like me, it’s helpful to keep Wikipedia handy too. I never watched the Deadwood TV series (although now I’m tempted!), and had only passing familiarity with most of these real-life people — so looking into their stories was a huge boost while reading My Calamity Jane.

Note: I do have a vague recollection of listening to some of the songs from the musical Annie, Get Your Gun as a child. Does anyone — besides devoted theater kids — still know this show? Parts of it looks really offensive, based on looking at the movie trailer, so I kind of hope not. Anyway, I digress…

The writing in My Calamity Jane, as in the other Lady Janies, is funny, tongue-in-cheek, and quite silly. The narrators pop in to comment throughout, which is always good for a laugh.

“Mama!” Annie turned around, horrified. “He’s near forty years old! He’s ancient”—(at this point, your faithful and likewise ancient narrators die inside)—“and he’s already married.”

The werewolf storyline fits surprisingly well within a Western setting, and the main villain of the piece offers some clever surprises (plus lots of sneering and manipulation). Even the portrayal of henchmen and lackeys is funny.

Jack McCall straightened his spine (although your narrators don’t know how he did it, considering we are pretty sure he was spineless).

The story includes a couple of quirky love stories, as well as shoot-’em-up action sequences and some familiar-sounding rivalry.

But that didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy herself. She put on her sweetest smile. “Anything you can do, Mr. Butler,” she said, “I can do better.”

“No, you can’t.”

“Yes, I can.”

While the page count might seem a little much at the outset, trust me — it moves quickly. Even when we get the sadder moments of learning the characters’ backstories and childhood traumas, we’re never more than a page or two away from an exchange to lighten the mood.

“Oh, no,” gasped Winnie. “Oh, no, no, no. A story like this takes time.”

Frank drew out his pocket watch. “You’ve got, like, two hours.”

Jane snorted. “That’s loads of time. A person could write a whole book in two hours.” (To which we, as the narrators, say no. A person can’t. And now we’re crying a little.)

Plain and simple, My Calamity Jane is a hoot, just like the rest of the books in the series. The Lady Janies all work as stand-alones (or at least, the ones I’ve read so far do). So, if the Wild West isn’t necessarily your thing, but you’re a Jane Eyre fan, start with My Plain Jane, or if you love Tudor history, pick up My Lady Jane. You get the point — pick one that appeals to you, see if you like the approach, and then give the rest a try!

For me, I’m ready to dive into the Mary books!

And I’ll close with the words of Calamity Jane… just because she makes me laugh:

“Frank! Get the lead out! Annie! Get your gun!”

20Aug2024

Top Ten Tuesday: Is there room for me? Bookish families I’d like to join (or at least visit… )

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 Relationship Freebie (Pick a relationship type and choose characters who fit that relationship as it relates to you. So, characters you’d like to date, be friends with, be enemies with, etc. Bookish families you’d like to be a part of, characters you’d want as your siblings, pets you’d like to take for yourself, etc.).

I love reading about big or unusual or quirky bookish families, so that’s my theme for this week. Below are ten families I’d love to join… or at least, have Sunday brunch with or visit for the holidays… or just pop in for tea now and then.

Frasers – Outlander – Was there any doubt that I’d include Outlander folks on this list? I wouldn’t want to be around for all the terrible things that happen to these people, but would happily attend one of their big (joyful) gatherings on Fraser’s Ridge.
Weasleys – Harry Potter — I want Molly to knit me a sweater!
Bridgertons — I mean, no, I could do without all the pressure to make a good match, but I’d down for afternoon tea and cakes with Violet and whoever else is around.
Price-Healy family – Incryptids – Yes, there’s a lot of weaponry involved… but this family of cryptozoologists is all sorts of awesome (and there are religious talking mice involved!)
Bennetts – Green Creek series – So a family of werewolves might not be the safest place to be on an ongoing basis, but their Sunday traditions are awesome.
All-of-a-Kind Family – What is their last name??? I couldn’t find it… but they must have one, right? In any case, I grew up on these stories, and thought living with these five sisters must have been the ideal childhood.
Chen family (Aunties) – Dial A for Aunties series – Oh, the Aunties would drive me batty… but isn’t it good to know that your family will have your back no matter what, even when it comes to hiding a body?
Hastings – A Stitch in Time – The sisters in this family all get an adventure going through a time stitch, and I’d like to join them!
De Clermonts – All Souls – I’m not saying I’d actually want to be a vampire or witch… but I’d enjoy hanging out at one of the family’s fabulous castles and hear about how they lived over the centuries.
Not a single family – Game of Thrones – Too many opportunities to end up dead, gruesomely. (Clearly, my ideas failed me by #10)

Would you want to join any of these families? Are there other fictional families you love?

What was your TTT topic this week? Please share your link!

Save

19Aug2024

The Monday Check-In ~ 08/19/2024

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

Life.

I’m back!

I skipped last week’s Monday Check-in because I was away for a long weekend, attending a family wedding in Boston. The wedding was lovely, and we even had time to do a bit of daytripping while there too, including a trip to Salem.

Salem is such a weird, fun little town. So unbelievably kitschy… but then there’s also a beautiful little park that’s a memorial to the victims of the witch trials, which was really moving to see.

And now we’re home. For some reason, this trip really knocked me for a loop, and I came back exhausted — it took me a good three or four days to start feeling like myself again.

As always, I took full advantage of the long flights to fit in some quality reading time — always a plus!

What did I read during the last (two) weeks?

A Castle in the Air (A Stitch in Time, #4) by Kelley Armstrong: A great wrap-up to a terrific series. I’m just sorry to have reached the end! My review is here.

Haunted Ever After by Jen DeLuca: A cute romance set in a ghost-filled town. My review is here.

The Mercy of Gods by James S. A. Corey: A 5-star read! A powerhouse start to a new sci-fi series. My review is here.

The Thirteenth Husband by Greer Macallister: Historical fiction about real-life heiress, adventurer, and author Aimee Crocker. My review is here.

Moon-Madness and Other Fantasies by Aimee Crocker Gouraud: After reading a fictionalized version of Aimee Crocker’s life, I couldn’t resist reading her slim book of short stories — so interesting to see her imagination on the page!

Puzzle of the week:

I did a mystery puzzle! This was a super fun challenge — you can find out more about it here.

Pop culture & TV:

I watched such a silly movie on the plane — Mother of the Bride, with Brooke Shields and Miranda Cosgrove. It’s really ridiculous, but was a good way to pass the time!

On a much darker note… I’m watching Snowpiercer (the TV series), and have just started season 2. I’d never watched the movie, so I had no idea what to expect. Great cast, and it’s pretty compelling… but tons of blood and violence.

And in TV news, I was sad to see that Prime Video has cancelled My Lady Jane after just one season. What a letdown! The first season was very cute, and is still worth checking out.

Fresh Catch:

It always feel like a treat when book mail arrives! Here are my three new arrivals from the last two weeks.

I bought a copy of the Shel Silverstein book (actually, two copies — one for me and one for my daughter) after reading this tribute to the author in the New York Times, and realizing that this particular book was one I’d missed out on!

What will I be reading during the coming week?

Currently in my hands:

My Calamity Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows: I decided to go for something light — I’m about halfway through this 3rd book in the Lady Janies series. (Note: You can read them in any order — each works as a stand-alone).

Now playing via audiobook:

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune: This is a re-read for me, and it’s so much fun! I wanted to revisit this adorable book before the sequel arrives in September.

Ongoing reads:

My longer-term reading commitments:

Damn Rebel Bitches: The Women of the ’45 by Maggie Craig: Over at Outlander Book Club, we’re doing a group read of this non-fiction book, discussing one chapter each Friday. Progress: 60%. Coming up this week: Chapter 16, “I Blame the Parents”
The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare: My book group has been reading and discussing two scenes per week — and today, we’ll be done! Coming up this week: Act V, scene 3.
It’s the Classics Club spin book! The newest spin landed on #17, and on my list, that’s The Sound of Waves by Yukio Mishima. This is a reread for me, and I just got a copy from the library. I’m still not sure exactly when I’ll start, but there’s plenty of time before the spin deadline of 9/22.

What will you be reading this week?

So many books, so little time…

18Aug2024

Just For Fun: A puzzle with a murderous twist

Posted in Fun and Whimsy by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Murderous Most Puzzling: The Clairvoyants’ Convention
500 Pieces
Chronicle Books

My amazing daughter gives amazing gifts… and this terrific puzzle is a recent example! She actually gave this to me last year, but the mood finally struck this weekend and I decided to dig in. So much fun!

This is a jigsaw with a twist. The inside cover of the box provides the setup to a mystery: Someone has been murdered at a convention of clairvoyants! The detective in charge needs our help — but to solve the mystery, we first have to solve the puzzle!

As a low-key puzzle snob (sorry…), I was wondering whether a 500-piece puzzle would be much of a challenge, since I usually stick to 1000 pieces or more. I needn’t have worried! The trick here is that there’s no picture provided as a guide, so the puzzle is solved without anything to refer to. I’m definitely not used to doing puzzles that way, and it was really a great brain challenge.

In the end, the finished puzzle is gorgeous to look at, with terrific artwork, bright colors, and so many interesting little details.

But wait! Once the puzzle is done, there’s still a mystery to solve! I’m not usually very good at deciphering visual clues, but after looking at the puzzle for a while, stepping away for a bit, and then coming back to it, I thought I had my answer.

There’s an envelope provided, but don’t open it until you’re ready for a clue (or you’re totally stuck, and need help). Opening the envelope halfway provides a clue… and then, fully opened, provides the full picture of the puzzle as well as the answer to the mystery.

I guessed correctly (*patting myself on the back*), although I wasn’t sure that what I guessed was going to be the right answer… but it was!

This was a really fun puzzle experience, and I had a blast doing it!

Beyond the puzzle image and the mystery challenge, I also appreciated the quality of the puzzle itself. The pieces are well-cut and sturdy, no fraying or split edges, and the fit is satisfying and precise. The puzzle comes in a book-shaped box that looks very cute on a bookshelf!

The puzzle creator, Stephanie Von Reiswitz, has a book of visual puzzles available, as well as another mystery-themed jigsaw puzzle… which may tempt me at some point down the line. It looks adorable!

Affiliate link: Buy now at Bookshop.org

15Aug2024

Book Review: The Thirteenth Husband by Greer Macallister

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Thirteenth Husband
Author: Greer Macallister
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Publication date: August 6, 2024
Length: 336 pages
Genre: Historical fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

Based on a real woman from history, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo meets The Haunting of Hill House in this fictional tell-all narrated by the glamorous Aimee Crocker, revealing everything from her mischievous days in German finishing school to dinners with Hawaiian royalty to lavish Astor parties in Manhattan. But behind Aimee’s public notoriety, there’s private pain.

When Aimee is ten years old, as the night dips into the witching hour, the Woman in White appears to her. Minutes later, Aimee’s father is dead—and Aimee inherits a fortune. But the Woman in White never really leaves Aimee, appearing as a sinister specter before every tragedy in her life. Despite Aimee’s wealth, her cross-continental travels, and her increasingly shocking progression through husbands, Aimee is haunted by the unidentifiable Woman’s mysterious motivations.

Tearing through millions of dollars, four continents, and a hearty collection of husbands, real-life heiress Aimee Crocker blazed an unbelievable trail of public scandal, private tragedy, and the kind of strong independent woman the 1880s had never seen. Her life was stranger than fiction and brighter than the stars, and she whirled through her days as if she was being chased by something larger than herself. Greer Macallister brilliantly takes us into her world and spins a tale that you won’t soon forget.

I’d never heard of Aimee Crocker before coming across this new historical novel by talented author Greer Macallister — but I suppose if I’d been around in the 1880s, there’d be no avoiding her. I get the feeling Aimee Crocker was Paris Hilton or Kardashian-level tabloid fodder back in her day. Her every move was analyzed, gossiped over, and fed through the scandal and rumor mill.

Amy (as she was originally named) was the daughter of an extremely wealthy man, and at age 10, upon her father’s death, inherited $10 million — in today’s economy, that would be equivalent to upwards of $275 million.

Amy was never exactly sedate, but in her earlier years, it seemed her mother at least attempted to keep her in line with society expectations. As portrayed in The Thirteenth Husband, Amy marries her first husband after he wins her in a poker game (well, he wins the right to propose to her) — and Amy, always up for adventure, decides to go along with it.

She’s quite the free spirit, as we see over and over again throughout The Thirteenth Husband. Not only does Amy divorce her husband at a time when being a divorcée is considered shameful, she remarries, travels the world, takes and discards lovers, loses custody of her child in an ugly court case, gets tattooed, and embraces Buddhism, spiritualism, and even the occult.

Images of Amy (miscellaneous sources via Google)

The Thirteenth Husband is written as a first-person account of Amy’s life, through her ups and downs and many marriages. Her life is very much influenced by her interactions with a ghostly presence who visits her in her dreams and seems to offer warnings of loss and disaster. These dream visits propel Amy to seek out palm readers, mediums, and other spiritualists throughout her life, as she seeks the key to understanding her purpose and the hidden messages from the Woman in White.

It’s an interesting character study, as well as a look at the life of someone who refuses to play by society’s rules — and the good and bad outcomes that she faces as a result. Of course, it’s her millions that give her the freedom to behave as she does — someone without that huge fortune (and the power it conveys) could never have gotten away with these types of escapades.

She does make very questionable choices about men and marriage, and in fact (or at least, in the fictionalized version of her life), she only truly marries for love once out of all her relationships. (And no, she doesn’t actually have thirteen husbands… but there’s a reason for the book’s title).

I enjoyed The Thirteenth Husband, but it didn’t quick click for me as a flowing narrative. Amy herself is fascinating, of course, but the book feels very episodic. Each episode is interesting, especially when we learn that many of the most sensational events actually occurred in real life (such as a deadly train crash on her first honeymoon and the kidnapping of her daughter during her divorce proceedings). Still, each episode ends and the story moves on, and it can be difficult to see the connections between parts of her life or how they change her over time.

I’m glad to have read The Thirteenth Husband, and appreciated reading the author’s notes on sources and where she embellished versus sticking to the documented history. It’s also fun to learn that Amy herself was an author! During her lifetime, she published both a book of stories (which she refers to as “fantasies”) and a memoir (which has a defiant name that I love).

Moon-Madness and Other Fantasies is free to read/download via Project Gutenberg. (It’s quite short — I read it in one sitting, and was enchanted get a glimpse of Aimee’s imagination)
And I’d Do It Again: Aimee’s memoir, available through the usual new and used book sources. I definitely want to read it! Especially based on this preview of the opening pages:

I’m so glad to have been introduced to this remarkable woman through The Thirteenth Husband!

14Aug2024

Book Review: The Mercy of Gods (The Captive’s War, #1) by James S. A. Corey

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Mercy of Gods
Series: The Captive’s War, #1
Author: James S. A. Corey
Publisher: Orbit
Publication date: August 6, 2024
Length: 433 pages
Genre: Science fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

How humanity came to the planet called Anjiin is lost in the fog of history, but that history is about to end.

The Carryx—part empire, part hive—have waged wars of conquest for centuries, destroying or enslaving species across the galaxy. Now, they are facing a great and deathless enemy. The key to their survival may rest with the humans of Anjiin.

Caught up in academic intrigue and affairs of the heart, Dafyd Alkhor is pleased just to be an assistant to a brilliant scientist and his celebrated research team. Then the Carryx ships descend, decimating the human population and taking the best and brightest of Anjiin society away to serve on the Carryx homeworld, and Dafyd is swept along with them.

They are dropped in the middle of a struggle they barely understand, set in a competition against the other captive species with extinction as the price of failure. Only Dafyd and a handful of his companions see past the Darwinian contest to the deeper game that they must play to survive: learning to understand—and manipulate—the Carryx themselves.

With a noble but suicidal human rebellion on one hand and strange and murderous enemies on the other, the team pays a terrible price to become the trusted servants of their new rulers.

Dafyd Alkhor is a simple man swept up in events that are beyond his control and more vast than his imagination. He will become the champion of humanity and its betrayer, the most hated man in history and the guardian of his people.

This is where his story begins.

I’m not sure how an author (or in this case, an author duo) manages to start something new after completing what could easily be considered their magnum opus. Fortunately for readers, James S. A. Corey has done just that, and have published their first novel since the conclusion of The Expanse series. And it’s a doozy.

The Mercy of Gods opens by introducing us to humans on their home world, Anjiin. No one quite knows how humans ended up on this planet**, whose native flora and fauna are not compatible with human biology — but there they are, and have been for thousands of years. As the story opens, another year of scientific achievement is wrapping up with a celebration, and no one is more lauded than rockstar scientist Tonner Freis and his team of researchers.

**I’m sure this is just me going off on a wild goose chase, but could these humans on Anjiin have originally passed through the gate in the Expanse series to a new world? Perhaps this is all happening several thousand years later… just a thought.

Trouble looms when lowly research assistant Dafyd Alkhor catches wind that their team may be acquired and split up by rival labs. That devastating news is quickly overshadowed by a world-changing cataclysm, as Anjiin is attacked and quickly defeated by the invading forces of the Carryx — proving for the first time that humans are not alone in the universe.

The Carryx are vastly superior in technology and firepower, and humans don’t stand a chance. The research team and countless others are rounded up, taken aboard a Carryx ship, and transported back to their world, where the nature of their new lives soon becomes apparent. The Carryx evaluate humans and all other captive species by one metric — how useful are they? If Dafyd and the others want to survive, they have to demonstrate their utility. Species that can’t or won’t live up to this standard are eliminated. There’s no mercy, there’s no kindness — and hope seems pointless. Humans are chattel; Carryx see them as animals, just the same as the many other species they’re penned up with.

As the first in a series, The Mercy of Gods has a lot of heavy lifting to do in terms of world building, and this is literally the case as life on Anjiin is established, as is the new world the human captives find themselves in after being captured. It’s a lot to take in, and requires a great deal of concentration, but it’s well worth the effort.

The plot of The Mercy of Gods is complicated, and the authors throw a lot at readers right from the start, with terminology and structures and societal norms introduced without explanation. We can figure it out, eventually, but at least for me, it was a struggle for the first third or so of the book to find a rhythm. (Oddly, once the alien invasion begins, I found the plot and writing easier to follow, and ended up completely immersed.)

Does The Mercy of Gods live up to The Expanse? Well, it’s probably not fair to compare the first book in a series to a series that’s already complete. Still, I have opinions! While I found the plot, the conflicts, and the concepts in The Mercy of Gods fascinating, I didn’t feel the same sort of connection to the characters themselves as I did with the characters of The Expanse. Yes, the characters of The Mercy of Gods are interesting, some more so than others, and the relationships, needs, and motivations of the characters make for compelling conflicts and circumstances. Still, I didn’t feel an emotional connection to these people — but perhaps that will come with the rest of the books in the series, as the story continues to build and deepen.

The synopsis, as well as some asides early in the book, all make clear that Dafyd will be a driving force in whatever is yet to come. He’s referred to as “champion of humanity and its betrayer, the most hated man in history and the guardian of his people” — and I haven’t seen that yet, or at least, not more than just the earliest steps toward what’s to come. I’m frustrated to not know more… but also appreciate how well the suspense is built up by the end of The Mercy of Gods. I need the next book!

All in all, The Mercy of Gods is a fantastic read. While initially a bit challenging to get into, it quickly becomes an absorbing, frightening, high stakes story that’s impossible to put down.

13Aug2024

Book Review: Haunted Ever After by Jen DeLuca

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Haunted Ever After
Series: Boneyard Key, #1
Author: Jen DeLuca
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: August 13, 2024
Length: 352 pages
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

It’s love at first haunting in a seaside town that raises everyone’s spirits from USA Today bestselling author Jen DeLuca.

Small Florida coastal towns often find themselves scrambling for the tourism dollars that the Orlando theme parks leave behind. And within the town limits of Boneyard Key, the residents decided long ago to lean into its ghostliness. Nick Royer, owner of the Hallowed Grounds coffee shop, embraces the ghost tourism that keeps the local economy afloat, as well as his spectral roommate. At least he doesn’t have to run air-conditioning.

Cassie Rutherford possibly overreacted to all her friends getting married and having kids by leaving Orlando and buying a flipped historic cottage in Boneyard Key. Though there’s something unusual with her new home (her laptop won’t charge in any outlets, and the poetry magnets on her fridge definitely didn’t read “WRONG” and “MY HOUSE” when she put them up), she’s charmed by the colorful history surrounding her. And she’s catching a certain vibe from the grumpy coffee shop owner whenever he slips her a free slice of banana bread along with her coffee order.

As Nick takes her on a ghost tour, sharing town gossip that tourists don’t get to hear, and they spend nights side-by-side looking into the former owners of her haunted cottage, their connection solidifies into something very real and enticing. But Cassie’s worried she’s in too deep with this whole (haunted) home ownership thing… and Nick’s afraid to get too close in case Cassie gets scared away for good.

“The Most Haunted Small Town in Florida” — Boneyard Key — is the setting of Jen DeLuca’s first book in a new romance series, where the locals and their residents ghosts seem to live in a friendly sort of coexistence.

When Cassie relocates to Boneyard Key from the Orlando area, it’s for purely practical reasons — rents are out of control and her social group is no longer a fun place for a single, childless woman… so maybe buying an affordable home in a new town (with ocean views!) is just what she needs to reinvigorate herself. The renovated little cottage is adorable, although the electricity is a bit wonky. Luckily, there’s a cute coffee shop with reliable wifi nearby. Added bonus: The owner is hot and makes a mean banana bread.

At first, Cassie is skeptical about the town’s claim to fame and assumes the ghost fixation is all for the sake of tourism, but after some weird experiences in her new house, she’s willing to admit there may be more to it than she realized. And as Cassie learns more about the town history and her house’s former occupants, she comes to understand that she may need to find a way to connect with — and make peace with — the ghost she shares a home with.

Meanwhile, after a bumpy start with Nick, the cafe owner, a very nice little romance seems to be brewing (!) … until his behavior becomes concerning when he visits her house. Is he secretly a sexist ass… or is something else going on?

I love a good ghost story, but I’m not sure that Haunted Ever After really delivers one. Most of the ghosts we meet are perfectly nice, and their presence is more or less on the amusing side. There’s one nasty ghost — the rest are all lovely, and even offer dating advice and company for binge-watching trashy reality shows. As for the nasty ghost, it represents a key plot point that is really obvious to the reader, if not to the characters involved, and gets resolved by the end of the book.

Haunted Ever After is lots of fun, and makes an entertaining bit of fluffy summer diversion. I’m a big fan of the author’s Ren Faire series (Well Met plus three more books), so I had high expectations going into this book. Haunted Ever After is cute, but doesn’t quite live up to the richness of the other series — the characters aren’t as engaging, and the premise itself takes a bit more of a “just roll with it” attitude.

Haunted Ever After is cute, and the romance is sweet. As I mentioned, it’s pretty fluffy — but it’s enjoyable fluff, and made for a nice bit of reading over a few days when I needed something on the light side. It’ll be interested to see where the author goes next with Boneyard Key — I’d imagine that future books will focus on some of the side characters we meet in Haunted Ever After — and while they didn’t especially stand out for me, I’m guessing they’ll be much more interesting once they get leading roles of their own.

Overall, Haunted Ever After is a good choice for a late summer read… or save it and read in October, if you’re in the mood for a non-scary haunted house book!