Tagged: masq1
The Courtesan’s Lover by Gabrielle Kimm
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
Francesca Felizzi knows she wields an immense power over men. Her patrons see only a carefree courtesan, and they pay handsomely for the privilege of her time. Francesca never saw him coming, the man who cracked her heart open and ruined her for the job. But he’s shown her what a gaudy facade she’s built, and she doesn’t know how to tear it down without taking her beloved daughters with her. The wrong move could plunge all of them into the sort of danger she has dreaded ever since she began her perilous work all those years ago.
An exquisite tale that explores the intricate nature of a mother’s heart. The Courtesan’s Lover draws you close and whispers in your ear. In the tradition of Sarah Dunant and Marina Fiorato, a compelling and vibrant tale from an up-and-coming fresh voice that readers will want to savor.
I’ll be honest with you guys: the only reason I bought this book was because it was on sale at 3 books for $10 and I needed a third book to get the discount. The cover of my edition was hideous and the blurb sounded somewhat interesting but pretty stereotypical. That’s why I didn’t really pick up the book until I was on my holidays around Christmas. And lo and behold, Gabrielle Kimm surprised me.
Francesca is a main character that you can’t help but love. She plays the carefree courtesan well and interacts on a more personal level with all of her clients but on the inside you can tell she wants something more out of life. Even if she doesn’t know it in the beginning, Francesca always wanted a better life for herself and for her daughters in particular. When she suddenly falls in love with the upstanding father of a young client things suddenly spiral out of control and she realizes just how empty a life she was living before. In Luca, she suddenly sees everything that her life could be and despite the fact she’ll have to live modestly without her courtesan’s income, Francesca is determined to make a new life for herself. It’s actually a rather touching journey and of course not everything goes according to plan for our main character.
Francesca is very well fleshed out and she’s definitely the main character but Gabrielle Kimm also lets us see things from the eyes of the other characters, most notably Luca and Modesto. Luca is a kind of upstanding old patrician who thinks Francesca is a pure and innocent widow; at the same time he has a lot of depth and can be very progressive for a man of the time. Modesto (in my opinion) is far more fascinating. He’s a gifted singer, which meant in 16th century Napoli that he had been castrated before puberty so that he would always have a pure, high voice with the power of a full grown man’s lungs. He’s nominally Francesca’s servant but he acts as both a pimp and a caregiver. It’s his war with his feelings for Francesca with the reality of his situation (particularly the fact that she loves Luca) that makes him almost as fascinating as Francesca herself. Yes, I’m sort of a sucker for tragic figures.
This is not a fast-paced book, even by historical fiction standards. It’s very interesting, especially because Kimm seems to know her way around 16th century Napoli so well. There are just little details from everyday life that make the whole book far more interesting and make the characters and their world come alive. The whole time I read The Courtesan’s Lover I felt like I was in Napoli along with Francesca, Modesto and Luca. And considering the fact that I knew almost nothing about the time period coming into the novel, that’s no mean feat. So while the book is not fast-paced it is a thoroughly enjoyable read because the plot itself is interesting.
I wouldn’t say that the plot is unpredictable but it does have the occasional surprise. Some wrenches get thrown into the works but I think it’s pretty easy to predict the ending of this book. But you know what? Sometimes you just need a guilty pleasure read, one that will suck you into a whole new world and make you fall in love with its characters even if you can predict what’s going to happen at the end. Even though I didn’t know it at the time, that’s exactly what I needed so I’m very glad that I picked up The Courtesan’s Lover by chance. If the blurb intrigues you and you get a chance to buy the book, go ahead. We all need a little more lighthearted romance in our lives sometimes.
I give this book 4/5 stars.
The Mission by Fiona Palmer
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
Recruited into the secretive, shrouded MTG Agency, Jaz dives headfirst into her training, regretting nothing about her decision to help save the world at the age of 17. Now she’s ready and anxious for her first mission — to prove she has what it takes… and to start making a difference.
The only thing that stands in her way is Ryan, the dangerous and sexy agent who first recruited her, and is now guiding her. He doesn’t want Jaz to sink too deeply too quickly into his world of secrets and lies, but his inability to trust her to know her own mind only makes Jaz furious.
When a job comes along that only Jaz can do, Ryan has to let go, and Jaz soon learns that she can swim with sharks, but she’ll come away with scars.
[Full disclosure: I requested and received a free ebook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
One of the things that I didn’t like about The Recruit, the first book in the MTG Agencies series, was that the plot was so predictable. That has been improved on a bit in The Mission but it still does need a bit of work. What really improved was the fact that more things actually happened because Jaz is now a full recruit into the MTG Agency and has to go on missions. At first I thought it was going to be fairly predictable just like the first book but although things start out as “hot young female agent has to shadow hot young teenage boy and accidentally falls in love with him”, Fiona Palmer doesn’t play that trope straight. She changes things up a bit and really surprised me with how Jaz’s relationship with Ryan played out throughout the story. So in terms of plot, The Mission was far more enjoyable than the first book.
Jaz, who was such an eager recruit in the beginning, is a little more mature now and although she makes a lot of dumb mistakes, she learns that being a secret agent maybe isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. Things get tough, school isn’t always the first priority and she starts to see Ryan and his occasionally morose personality in a whole new light. Being a secret agent, she realizes, is tough on friendships and it’s especially tough when you have to lie to your friends and family. A lot of books involving secret agent main characters wrestle with this idea and I actually liked how Fiona Palmer made it an important conflict for Jaz, but not the main focus of the book because then that would be too boring and repetitive. It’s just like Jaz’s feelings for Ryan are a secondary conflict but the main conflict and focus of the novel is on her actual mission. And that’s how you know Jaz has really grown as a character; her personal conflicts are annoying but she puts them aside in the name of her job. It’s a stark contrast to the first book.
One of the only things I can really criticize was the pacing. In the beginning we have to get our bearings a bit but I just wish that more could have happened in a shorter time frame. It’s important to get character development into the mix and all that but I really would have liked for a little more action in the beginning. I can’t describe things too much without giving away the plot points, but the ending left me only partially satisfied because the events at the end seemed a little forced. It’s like Fiona Palmer was writing and realized she had to quickly insert a climax in a really forced sort of way. Don’t get me wrong—I did for the most part enjoy the plot. However, I was a little disappointed that the ending was more predictable compared to the rest of the book. It left me feeling kind of disappointed but because of how good the rest of the book was I’ll definitely still pick up the third book. I just have the feeling that the ending could have been done better.
To sum things up, here in The Mission we see a lot more character development on the part of Jaz because now she has a job that she takes seriously. She’s no longer just floating around aimlessly through life; she has a purpose and she’s going to fulfill her mission despite the danger to herself. The pacing was generally much better than in the first book but it still needs work and aside from the ending, the plot was so much better than it was in The Recruit. It didn’t have the best ending but it was well written and I enjoyed it enough that I’ll almost certainly be looking out for the next book. Basically? This was a good book, not a great one.
I give this book 4/5 stars.
The Traveler in Black and White by Jemima Pett
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
In the fourth book in the Princelings of the East series, Lord Mariusz of Hattan narrates, in his own Chandler-esque style, how he came to explore the world on the end of the time tunnel, and why he adopted the pseudonym Hugo in the first place.
In the Princelings world of 2001 we meet old friends as their much younger selves. You think Victor is cute? You should see him eight years younger – “a bundle of flying legs and hair”! Prince Lupin is much as he ever is, but Baden has yet to escape the succession wars at Castle Powell. Saku is, of course, well established as Lord Mariusz’s ingenious professor at Castle Hattan, but we find he knows more about the workings of time than we imagined. The Honourable Smallweed is only getting started on the trail of deceit and meanness that will characterise all his future dealings. And we journey to new places, Sowerby, Powell, and a strange city full of females, hidden in a forest. We also discover that stories of ghouls, ghosts, vampires and werewolves are not just tales to frighten children after all.
The Traveler in Black and White is suitable for tweens and teens up to the age of one hundred or so.
[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook from the author in exchange for an honest review.]
I think I was understandably a little skeptical when I first accepted this book as part of my submissions. A book about talking guinea pigs? It didn’t sound like something aimed at tweens and teens as well as people of all ages, but I resolved to keep an open mind and give it a go. Of course by the end I was so glad that I went into it with an open mind.
The Traveler in Black and White is the fourth book in the Princelings of the East series but it can be read as a sort of prequel, which is how I read it seeing as I never read the first three books. And when the blurb says it’s written in a Chandler-esque style, it’s not kidding. Hugo, our narrator’s travelling pseudonym, really does speak like he’s a private eye in a noire novel. In the hands of some authors this would be annoying but Jemima Pett does it quite well, making the dark undertones a part of the story so that narrating it this way makes complete sense. It also adds a little humour to the situation at times, something that’s always needed in fiction.
Hugo is a pretty awesome character. He’s quick-thinking and smooth-talking but unlike characters with similar traits, he’s not immune to failure. His business venture down the tunnel doesn’t always go as planned and he experiences more than his fair share of setbacks. At the same time, he never gives up and so continues trying to muscle in on the Honourable Smallweed’s traditional territory. As someone coming into the series midway I know I didn’t fully appreciate all of the characters’ backstories but even if you’re like me and haven’t read the other books you really do get attached to the characters fairly quickly. Especially Hugo, even if he is a philandering sort of character who can be a little ruthless in his business practices—not violently so but more so in shady business practices. He’s sort of an anti-hero but you just can’t help it; you’ll love him by the end of the book. He’s a true three dimensional character, something I didn’t expect from a novel about talking guinea pigs.
The plot blew my mind. I don’t say that very often but it is very true in this case. Jemima Pett has constructed such a fascinating and intricate plot that I know I’ll have to read the book at least three more times to get all of its subtleties. Unfortunately I can’t really tell you much about the plot because it reveals some pretty big spoilers but needless to say, the tunnel isn’t all that it appears and neither are the people who live within it. Even Hugo is hiding some pretty big secrets of his own. I’ll say this about the plot, however: whenever you think you have things figured out, a wrench is thrown into the works just to keep you guessing. Vampires, ghosts, palace intrigue, love, betrayal…The Traveler in Black and White does have some pretty heavy themes but Jemima Pett manages to pull things off without making the story too terribly dark.
As I said, this is a book I’ll have to read at least three times to get all of its subtleties and part of that is because of the plot but the other part is because of the world-building. It’s quite well done and what surprised me the most is how much it’s like a human world and yet not like a human world. What I mean by that is that of course where you have palaces you have intrigue and royal assassinations yet at the same time there are some things you would expect in a guinea pig society like huge families. This quirky blend really works well for the novel and makes you feel all the more invested in the plot as well as the characters. I suspect that to fully appreciate the world-building here I’ll have to read the first three novels, but that’s hardly a chore.
Overall, you could say that The Traveler in Black and White was a huge surprise for me. I didn’t honestly expect it to be a Chandler-esque novel with complex characters, a mind-blowing plot and a fascinating society. But it was! Hugo is and will likely always remain one of my favourite non-human characters of all time. I’d say that pretty much sums up how much I enjoyed this book.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
The Sanctum: The Girl by Madhuri Blaylock
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
The Sanctum, an all-powerful governing body founded by ten families, entrusted to maintain the peace amongst Magicals and ensure the ignorance of humans, has been corrupted by greed and savagery for generations, but is all Wyatt Clayworth has ever known.
Dev, the hybrid demon prophesied to bring an end to The Sanctum and destroy the world for Magicals and humans alike, is not what Wyatt expected to find when sent out on his latest mission. Believed to be hunting a killing machine, Wyatt finds little more than a broken girl with haunted eyes and a bit of a death wish. Drawn to one another for reasons they cannot begin to explain to themselves, much less anyone else, Wyatt is determined to protect Dev and help her realize her mission to avenge the deaths of her family at the hands of The Sanctum.
Set against the backdrop of New York City, THE GIRL is described as “outstanding, original, complex, deep and intoxicating”, a “well written, unique…fast-paced read” that begins as one girl’s simple quest for revenge and evolves into a complicated tale of trust, friendship, honor and love.
[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook from the author in exchange for an honest review.]
One of the things that really stuck out for me as a reader was the characters in this book. They’re all teenagers but because of their life experience you get more mature points of view. Some would say that it’s not quite believable, but if you had to go through what Dev does in the beginning of the book, you wouldn’t act your age either. Even Wyatt and the others in the book who are teenagers act more maturely and that really does showcase that perhaps The Sanctum isn’t as benevolent as they claim to be.
Dev was a pretty good character. She’s the product of an affair between an angel and a demon and that makes her the one from the prophecy that is supposed to end The Sanctum and bring about the end of the world to boot. Except when you meet her, sure she has a warrior attitude but at the same time she’s a healer. She doesn’t want to hurt people that she doesn’t have to except when The Sanctum murders her whole family and gives her even more reason to hate them (other than the fact they are judge, jury and executioner for all magical beings like her). Madhuri Blaylock sure hooks her readers in the beginning with Dev’s unique point of view and then she holds their attention by switching between Dev and Wyatt mainly but a few other minor characters as well. It keeps the plot moving along at a good pace and although in the hands of some authors POV switches that frequently would be confusing, The Girl doesn’t stray into that territory.
Even better than the characters, the plot is very fast-paced. It’s largely character-driven, which makes the frantic pacing unusual but for this book it works. There’s a lot of character development (obviously) and there are some nice little slice-of-life interludes for readers to catch their breath but for the most part we’ve got mostly action. That’s a good thing too because Madhuri Blaylock nicely balances action with dialogue so not only do we get exciting scenes, the dialogue reveals quite a bit about the characters themselves. And best of all, she balances description with action so that the descriptions don’t feel like they’re slowing down the action nor are we left with the feeling that we’ve been dropped in a dark room of talking (and fighting) heads.
One of the things that was good but not great with The Girl was the world-building. It was good because it was relatively believable because The Sanctum keeps tabs on magical creatures and kills any that cross the line and let humans know what they are. Some of the creatures were quite interesting and I loved discovering Dev’s different powers along with the other characters but it just didn’t have that ‘wow’ factor. Like I said, it was good but not amazing. There weren’t any super-unique creatures or anything like that and the prophecy element to the whole story has been done before. It didn’t stray into ‘meh’ territory but it wasn’t the most awesome, unique world-building that I’ve ever come across and there’s really no shame in that. The world-building was solid, believable and for most people I think it will have that ‘wow’ factor.
Essentially, The Girl is a great start to The Sanctum series. It ends on one heck of a cliffhanger and overall it’s a very good book with realistic characters, great pacing and solid world-building. It doesn’t yet have that ‘wow’ factor but it’s a good book and I’m very eager to read the next book: The Boy.
I give this book 4/5 stars.
September Sky by John Heldt
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
When unemployed San Francisco reporter Chuck Townsend and his college-dropout son, Justin, take a cruise to Mexico in 2016, each hopes to rebuild a relationship after years of estrangement. But they find more than common ground aboard the ship. They meet a mysterious lecturer who touts the possibilities of time travel. Within days, Chuck and Justin find themselves in 1900, riding a train to Texas, intent on preventing a distant uncle from being hanged for a crime he did not commit. Their quick trip to Galveston, however, becomes long and complicated when they wrangle with business rivals and fall for two beautiful librarians on the eve of a hurricane that will destroy the city. Filled with humor, history, romance, and heartbreak, SEPTEMBER SKY follows two directionless souls on the adventure of a lifetime as they try to make peace with the past, find new purpose, and grapple with the knowledge of things to come.
[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook from the author in exchange for an honest review.]
One of the things that I’ve noticed about time travel novels is that oftentimes the protagonists will try to change history but will usually fail. But what if they succeeded after a fashion? John Heldt explores that far more interesting possibility in September Sky as a sort of side dish to the main course: the journey of Chuck and Justin in the past in a bid to find a purpose in their lives.
As with John Heldt’s Northwest Passage series, his new American Journey series has one thing that really stands out: its characters. He’s able to create fascinating and realistic characters that can be strong but are also very human because they have their weak moments. Chuck has problems reconnecting with the son he ignored because of his career while Justin has problems coping with his latest romantic debacle and the fact that he doesn’t even really know his dad. Both of them can be incredibly selfless like Justin in the last huge event in the book but both can be selfish because they fall in love and want to take the women they love back to the future when they leave, assuming that their time is far better. What will they do in the end? The answer may surprise you but when I look back on their actions, it completely fits in with how they developed and grew as characters throughout the novel. It’s a rather satisfying journey to see two directionless men find love and possibly even a purpose in life. Chuck and Justin as well as Charlotte and Emily all stick out to me as memorable characters. And even though the book focuses on the journey of the two men, Charlotte and Emily are both three dimensional characters with problems, motivations and strengths of their own; they’re not just there as romantic subplots.
Of all the things that surprised me in this book, I think the world-building was the most surprising. The Northwest Passage series had time travel in various locations, yes, but it was never really explained in all that much detail. Here in September Sky we actually meet someone who has harnessed the power of time travel and can go back to the past at will (with some important limitations, mind you). We get a sort of explanation of how it works which was actually quite satisfying even if it’s not exactly the most scientific ever; it’s based on science and is completely speculative. Still, it was actually fascinating and a main source of conflict for Justin and Chuck because they had to have their individual ‘keys’ back to the future or else they would be stuck in 1900 forever.
The plot was not very fast-paced in the beginning but the characters and the events were so interesting that it didn’t matter. As the novel goes on, however, the pacing just keeps increasing until you just can’t put the book down. And trust me when I say that John Heldt certainly hasn’t lost his capacity to surprise his readers. Just when you think you know how things are going to happen, he throws a wrench into the works and you’re left guessing until the very end of the novel. These plot twists don’t come out of nowhere, however. When you look back on how the characters develop and how their actions tend to drive the story it makes sense. It’s just hard to see the twists when you’re reading September Sky the first time around. And trust me when I say that this is a book you’ll want to read over and over and over again. It’s just that good.
Here in September Sky, you have everything that you can ask for in a time travel novel: a little bit of science and imagination, some romance, great characters and an unpredictable plot. You can’t ask for anything more! Even though the book has a satisfying conclusion, if you’re like me you’ll be left eager for the next installment in the series to see how John Heldt is going to get his other time travelers into the past. Will we meet our mysterious professor again? Or are there other people out there who know more about the past than they’re letting on? I can’t wait.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
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