Book Blast: Murder by Misrule by Anna Castle

HF Virtual Book Tours proudly presents Anna Castle’s Blog Tour & Book Blast for Murder by Misrule, the first book in her Francis Bacon Mystery Series. Please join her as she tours the blogosphere from June 2 – July 4.

02_Murder by Misrule Cover
Publication Date: June 8, 2014
Formats: Ebook, Paperback

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A Kirkus Indie Books of the Month Selection for July.

Francis Bacon is charged with investigating the murder of a fellow barrister at Gray’s Inn. He recruits his unwanted prot?g? Thomas Clarady to do the tiresome legwork. The son of a privateer, Clarady will do anything to climb the Elizabethan social ladder. Bacon’s powerful uncle Lord Burghley suspects Catholic conspirators of the crime, but other motives quickly emerge. Rival barristers contend for the murdered man’s legal honors and wealthy clients. Highly-placed courtiers are implicated as the investigation reaches from Whitehall to the London streets. Bacon does the thinking; Clarady does the fencing. Everyone has something up his pinked and padded sleeve. Even the brilliant Francis Bacon is at a loss ? and in danger ? until he sees through the disguises of the season of Misrule.

The Francis Bacon Mystery Series

This series of historical mysteries features the philosopher-statesman Francis Bacon as a sleuth and spymaster. Since Francis prefers the comfort of his own chambers, like his spiritual descendent Nero Wolfe, he sends his pupil, the handsome young Thomas Clarady, out to gather information. Tom loves the work, not least because he meets so many interesting people, like Lord Burghley, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Christopher Marlowe. Murder by Misrule is the first book in the series.

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Stork by Wendy Delsol

Stork by Wendy Delsol(Cover picture courtesy of Wendy Delsol’s site.)

Family secrets. Lost memories. And the arrival of an ancient magical ability that will reveal everything.

Sixteen-year-old Katla LeBlanc has just moved from Los Angeles to Minnesota. As if it weren’t enough that her trendy fashion sense draws stares, Katla soon finds out that she’s a Stork, a member of a mysterious order of women tasked with a very unique duty. But Katla’s biggest challenge may be finding her flock at a new school. Between being ignored by Wade, the arrogant jock she stupidly fooled around with, and constantly arguing with gorgeous farm boy and editor-in-chief Jack, Katla is relieved when her assignment as the school paper’s fashion columnist brings with it some much-needed friendship. But as Homecoming approaches, Katla uncovers a shocking secret about her past — a secret that binds her fate to Jack’s in a way neither could have ever anticipated. With a nod to Hans Christian Andersen and inspired by Norse lore, Wendy Delsol’s debut novel introduces a hip and witty heroine who finds herself tail-feathers deep in small-town life.

It actually took me a long time to warm up to Stork.  I had read up until chapter three sometime in March but was so bored with it I put it down for a while.  Lately I’ve had a little bit of time to read during the day so I sat down and got down to the business of reading a significant chunk of the book at once.  It’s a good thing I did too.  Stork is one of those books that isn’t very fast-paced at the start but it draws you in slowly and soon enough you’re hooked.

Normally I’d hate a main character like Katla.  She’s a total fashionista and despises the small town ways (I myself live in a small town and feel the same way, but it gets tiring after a while).  I would have given up on this book except I reminded myself of the way she was raised.  Her father is very similar to her and raised her to be this perfect little fashionista that looks down her nose at almost everyone.  Eventually Katla improves and starts to realize that maybe fashion is just her way of hiding her insecurities and that maybe she should lighten up a bit.  Overall she is a well-rounded character, though.

This is loosely based off of a Hans Christian Andersen tale that I’ve never read so I can’t really comment on how true it stays to the story.  I think Wendy Delsol added a lot of her own flair into the myth and that’s how we get the storks: women who help bring babies to ‘troubled souls’.  They’re like the storks of myth in the cartoons that drop off babies on doorsteps, except they do it on a spiritual level.  It’s much more interesting than I’m making it sound and you really have to read the book to appreciate the world-building.

Stork is not the best book I’ve ever read, I’ll admit that.  It does drag on in some places and there are old tropes left, right and centre but overall I was actually quite impressed.  By the end of the novel I felt connected to the main characters and honestly cared about what happened to them.  That’s not bad considering my low expectations from the first three chapters.

Basically, if it sounds interesting to you give it a try.  It’s not the greatest book out there but it was good enough that I’m glad I bought the second book in the series to continue Katla’s story.

I give this book 3.5/5 stars.

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If I Stay by Gayle Forman

If I Stay by Gayle Forman(Cover picture courtesy of Gayle Forman’s site.)

On a day that started like any other…

Mia had everything: a loving family, a gorgeous, adoring boyfriend, and a bright future full of music and full of choices. Then, in an instant, almost all of that is taken from her. Caught between life and death, between a happy past and an unknowable future, Mia spends one critical day contemplating the one decision she has left—the most important decision she’ll ever make.

Simultaneously tragic and hopeful, this is a romantic, riveting and ultimately uplifting story about memory, music, living, dying, loving.

Here I am once again tackling a book that’s pretty much become a classic of modern literature.  I really tried hard not to let the hype influence my opinion of it but as you guys know it’s impossible to be totally oblivious to a novel as popular as this one.

I didn’t like If I Stay.  There, I said it.  So you can start writing your hate mail now but at least hear me out on my reasons why.

Mia was a horrible main character, to be honest.  No, she wasn’t an awful human being but she was boring.  Horribly, ordinary and boring with pretty much nothing to set her apart.  Sure she’s into music but her personality is about as dull as watching paint dry.  The book starts out with her accident and as she’s in a coma we learn more about her life prior to the accident.  And you know what?  It’s too good to be true.

She has the cool parents that every stereotypical teenager supposedly wishes for.  They’re cool, not uptight about anything and basically act like teenagers themselves.  She never, ever has any disagreements with them.  Ever.  That’s just not realistic at all.  And her relationship with Adam was so cheesy it almost made me gag.  That scene where they’re in Mia’s room and Adam asked her to “play [him] like a cello” (page 59).  And she literally played air cello on his body before he reciprocated by playing air guitar on hers.  I haven’t rolled my eyes so hard since I was 13 years old and even at that age I could have told you that two teenagers alone in a bedroom together are not going to play air-whatevers on each other.

Basically, If I Stay is a bunch of memories of Mia’s where she boringly examines her perfect life before deciding if she wants to die or not.  There’s no great lyricism to the writing, no real emotion in what really should be a heart-wrenching situation and I really didn’t care what happened to Mia by the end of the novel.  I just wanted the novel to be over so I could do something productive with my life.

If you want to read If I Stay to see what all the hype is about, go for it.  But set your expectations a little lower if you don’t want to be totally disappointed.

I give this book 1/5 stars.

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The False Princess by Eilis O’Neal

The False Princess by Eilis O'Neal(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)

Princess and heir to the throne of Thorvaldor, Nalia’s led a privileged life at court.  But everything changes when it’s revealed, just after her sixteenth birthday, that she is a false princess, a stand-in for the real Nalia, who has been hidden away for her protection.  Cast out with little more than the clothes on her back, the girl now called Sinda must leave behind the city of Vivaskari, her best friend, Keirnan, and the only life she’s ever known.

Sinda is sent to live with her only surviving relative, an aunt who is a dyer in a distant village. She is a cold, scornful woman with little patience for her newfound niece, and Sinda proves inept at even the simplest tasks.  But when Sinda discovers that magic runs through her veins – long-suppressed, dangerous magic that she must learn to control – she realizes that she can never learn to be a simple village girl.

Returning to Vivaskari for answers, Sinda finds her purpose as a wizard scribe, rediscovers the boy who saw her all along, and uncovers a secret that could change the course of Thorvaldor’s history, forever.

A dazzling first novel, The False Princess is an engrossing fantasy full of mystery, action, and romance.

This is technically YA but I’d definitely have to say it’s aimed at the younger demographic.  Maybe that’s why I had a harder time connecting with the characters than I should have.

I can’t honestly fault the plot.  It was fast-paced and interesting enough to keep me reading.  There were lots of unexpected twists and turns and I like how Eilis O’Neal turns some old tropes on their heads.  I thought The False Princess was just going to be another mash-up of fantasy tropes when I picked it up but I’m very glad I was wrong.

The only thing I was disappointed about was the characters.  The main character Sinda seemed like she had everything going for her: she was fierce, determined and generally easy to relate to.  Except, I had a really hard time connecting with her on an emotional level.  Sure, I wanted her to succeed and unravel the mystery surrounding her role in the succession, but I really couldn’t feel her emotions.  When she was sad I felt the same as when she was happy and in love.  Part of it is that this is a first novel so O’Neal doesn’t quite have that ability to write emotion into the story but the other part may be the target demographic.

Basically, The False Princess is an average novel that I would recommend to teens in the 12-14 age group.  O’Neal doesn’t talk down to her readers and the characters face some really terrifying obstacles on their way to uncovering the mystery.  I think younger readers will find Sinda and the others far more sympathetic than I did.  With all that said, this is not a bad novel and I’d even call it good.  It just wasn’t for me.

I give this book 4/5 stars.

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The Runaway Highlander by R. L. Syme

The Runaway Highlander by R. L. Syme(Cover picture courtesy of Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours.)

Anne de Cheyne has a choice. She can play the dutiful daughter and allow her mother to sell her to a greasy English sheriff, or she can take control of her own life and find her own match. After a frightening run-in with her promised husband reveals a dark secret, she makes a desperate choice. Flight.

Aedan Donne needs easy money and no-questions-asked. When Milene de Cheyne offers him enough to pay all debts, requests complete silence, and pays half up front, just for a simple recovery, he can’t believe his luck… until he meets his mark. Anne’s beauty and passion ignite something Aedan can’t ignore, even as she leaves him in the dust. Suddenly, he finds himself wanting to capture the runaway Highland lady for himself.

[Full disclosure: I received a free paper copy of this book in conjunction with the blog tour in exchange for an honest review.]

This is actually the second book in the Highland Renegades series, but they can be read as stand-alone novels, luckily for me.

As I’ve said in the past, I know very little about Scottish history.  Still, R. L. Syme managed to suck me into the period and really gave me the feeling that I was there along with the characters.  The dark, unstable atmosphere of the time particularly rang true and you could feel this sense of doom throughout the whole novel.  Scotland is highly unstable and in the middle of it, the main character Anne is being sold off to the highest bidder so her mother can prove her loyalty to the English overlords.

Anne is a decent enough character but I won’t say that she’s one of the most memorable heroines I’ve ever encountered.  She’s feisty, determined and brave but at the same time I just had trouble connecting with her.  It’s not that there wasn’t enough background information about her, but I had a hard time connecting with her emotions.  I didn’t feel what she was feeling, whether she was sad, angry, happy or in love.  But maybe that’s just me.  Aedan I could connect with a little more but like Anne he’s not the most memorable character I’ve ever read about.

However, the plot was fast-paced and quite exciting.  You can’t call The Runaway Highlander anything but a page-turner simply because of R. L. Syme’s talent with suspense.  There are twists and turns everywhere and just when you think you know what’s going to happen everything changes.  It definitely keeps the reader on the edge of their proverbial seat.

This was an essentially good novel.  It will never be one of my favourites but it was good enough that I’d recommend it to romance lovers as well as Scottish history fans.

I give this book 3.5/5 stars.

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