Whom the Gods Love (1995) Kate Ross
Alexander Falkland has been killed. His head smashed in with a poker while one of his famous parties rages upstairs. But Alex is the darling of the ton (it took me awhile to figure this one out; the ton is the bon ton, or high society in London) [...] Read more »
A Broken Vessel (1994) Kate Ross
The second Julian Kestrel mystery, A Broken Vessel looks at prostitution in 1800s London, and the Reclamation houses that existed to recover these women. Julian is introduced to this world through his manservant Dipper, who discovers his lost sister, who is working as a ladybird.
One of the most interesting things [...] Read more »
Green Rider (1998) Kristen Britain
Karigan G’ladheon is on her way home after getting suspended from school when a Green Rider, arrows in his back, comes across her, and begs her to carry his message satchel to the King. Meanwhile, in various spots throughout the kingdom, bad things are happening.
This is an interesting story, but I [...] Read more »
Kingdom of the Golden Dragon (2004) Isabel Allende
Translated by Margaret Sayers Peden
Alexander Cold asks his grandmother, Kate, if he can accompany her on her latest expedition for International Geographic, this time to a remote country in the Himalayas. A country nicknamed The Forbidden Kingdom, because of its far location and the fact that very few [...] Read more »
The Summer Country (2002) James A. Hetley
The deciding factor for buying this book was the fact that there was a blurb by Chares de Lint on the cover. Since I love his writing, I was curious as to what he would like enough to blurb.
Maureen Pierce isn’t quite right. That’s what her family thinks, and [...] Read more »
Dead Beat The Dresden Files Book Seven (2005) Jim Butcher
I had Michael read this book first, so he could warn me if it had a cliffhanger ending. He doesn’t mind being left hanging, whereas I hate it with a passion. But Michael said I’d be okay with this, so I dove right into the seventh [...] Read more »
The Dragon Queen (2001) Alice Borchardt
Usually when I don’t like a book, there’s something specific I can point to, to say, “THAT horrible thing is what ruined the book for me.” Not so for The Dragon Queen. It was more like the death of a thousand paper cuts. A whole bunch of little things adding [...] Read more »
Rearranging bookshelves requires a will of iron.
Unfortunately, when it comes to books, I have a will of aluminum foil.
Let me repeat what I said the first time I read these: Wow.
All I wanted to do was update my book database and rearrange a couple of bookshelves. However, I foolishly opened Born in Fire–just for a [...] Read more »
Cut to the Quick (1993) Kate Ross
Reading the T. F. Banks books put me in the mood for another Victorian mystery, and lucky for me, I had one waiting here to read.
Julian Kestrel is a dandy. He’s making his mark on London society by being a sharp dresser, and the perfect gentleman–even if he doesn’t [...] Read more »
The Black Forest 2 (2005) Todd Livingston, Robert Tinnell, Neil Vokes
I read The Black Forest in January, and liked it. We’d picked up The Black Forest 2, but I’d somehow forgotten we had it, but when I was putting Hellraiser away, I noticed it and picked it up.
Although it took me a bit to get [...] Read more »
Hellblazer: Rare Cuts (2005) various
Rare Cuts is a collection of John Constantine stories spanning 1988 to 1994. It is my understanding that Rare Cuts was published after the movie Constantine came out, as an introduction to the comic, and written by Jamie Delano, Grant Morrison, and Garth Ennis.
These stories cover a lot of [...] Read more »
The Emperor’s Assassin Memoirs of a Bow Street Runner (2003) T.F. Banks
aka Ian Dennis and Sean Russell
Although this book was as well written as the previous, I found myself disappointed in the ending. The mystery was perhaps even better than the first book, however, it was a Hollywood ending, with guns a-blazing, shots fired, [...] Read more »
Hellblazer: Original Sins (1987) Jamie Delano
So. Well.
I first came across Constantine in the Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes, when Constantine helps Morpheus get his bag of sand back. He was a strange character, and I wasn’t sure about him. But I was curious.
Then we watched “Constantine” which was an okay action movie, although I didn’t [...] Read more »
The Thief Taker: Memoirs of a Bow Street Runner (2001) T.F. Banks
aka Ian Dennis and Sean Russell
I was browsing Sean Russell’s web page, when I saw two books listed that I didn’t own: The Thief Taker and The Emperor’s Assassin. My immediate reaction was one of shock: Sean Russell had co-written a series books? And [...] Read more »
Definitely Dead (2006) Charlaine Harris
First things first, this book had me laughing out loud, and reading passages to Michael. That usually only happens for Steven Brust books, but in multiple places Charlaine Harris nailed the dialog, and forced me to keep interrupting Michael game so he could laugh with me.
Additionally, for those of you [...] Read more »
Moon Called (2006) Patricia Briggs
I have to say, Moon Called was a lot of fun to read. I had no expectations of the book at all (I bought it because I liked other books by Patricia Briggs), so everywhere the story went was a surprise. And a pleasant surprise at that. Also, this book was [...] Read more »
War for the Oaks (1987) Emma Bull
Wow. I’ve been bypassing this book for years. Initially, because wasn’t on the shelves. Then when the reprint came out, because the cover made it look like something I wouldn’t like.
Boy was I wrong.
And I shouldn’t have been, because I liked Freedom & Necessity, which she co-wrote with [...] Read more »
Path of Fate (2003) Diana Pharoah Francis
This book had a lot of potential. Unfortunately, when it lost my attention in the beginning of the book, it never really regained it, even though the story got better.
Reisil is a tark. (Actually: A healer. Why they just couldn’t call her a healer is beyond me.) Because she [...] Read more »
Blood Rites The Dresden Files Book Six (2004) Jim Butcher
This must be the point at which Jim Butcher started getting really popular. Because we’ve suddenly switched from having the title at the top of the page, to the author name at the top of the page at double the font size of previous books. Which [...] Read more »
Death Masks The Dresden Files Book Five (2003) Jim Butcher
Interestingly, I liked this book more once I put it down and started thinking about it, than right after I closed it. Not that I didn’t like it before–I just liked it better after thinking about it. One of the reasons is that (in case you [...] Read more »
Summer Knight The Dresden Files Book Four (2002) Jim Butcher
Okay, so apparently the last book, Grave Peril, was a fluke, because I really enjoyed Summer Knight.
Harry’s has spent his time since the events in Grave Peril searching for a way to cure Susan. Without luck. He has also been ignoring the fact that he [...] Read more »
Past the Size of Dreaming (2001) Nina Kiriki Hoffman
The sequel to A Red Heart of Memories, Past the Size of Dreaming is superior to its predecessor. Which is impressive, because A Red Heart of Memories is very good.
Edmund and Matt and Suki are back at the House, and are gathering together Edmund and Suki’s old [...] Read more »
