REVIEW: A PERILOUS UNDERTAKING by Deanna Raybourn

In Deanna Raybourn’s A PERILOUS UNDERTAKING, intrepid butterfly hunter Veronica Speedwell (I’ve finally stopped smirking everytime I read her name) and her crime-solving partner, natural historian Revelstoke Templeton-Vane aka Stoker, are thrown into a mystery that completely lives up to the book’s title.

This second adventure with Veronica and Stoker doesn’t suffer from a sophomore slump and if anything, it rachets up the tension and stakes for our protagonists.  We learned of Veronica’s unknown parentage in the first book and that fact is now a guarded secret in certain vaunted circles of society. Veronica, however, is unconcerned and mostly unbothered by this new information. I say mostly unbothered because Veronica is naturally a curious person. At the behest of esteemed persons who might or might not be connected to her, she agrees to look into the case of an artist who’s been murdered with the intent of clearing the artist’s married lover, wrongly accused and literally steps away from the gallows. On their way to uncovering the culprit, Veronica and Stoker encounter a truly chilling adversary who has committed a heinous murder and is intent on escaping punishment as well as seeing an innocent man hanged in his stead.

This is a masterful telling and the layers of the mystery and other interesting items are peeled back in a manner that keeps you on the edge of your seat.  Personally, I love books that impart knowledge along with a healthy dose of entertainment and this is a feast for the senses, especially for those with an interest in art and natural history. Raybourn’s already proven her deft hand at keeping the tension of a story at a high level while also holding readers in thrall with desire for a romance with the first book in this series. Patience darlings, patience. Perhaps we’ll get that molten hot Stoker scene we’re all clamoring for if we just can hold out.

We also find out a bit more about Stoker and his status as the black sheep of his aristocratic family when yet another Templeton-Vane shows up. I like to movie cast my reading and I kept picturing Adrian Turner at his best Ross Poldark, as Stoker. I waffle between Eva Green and a dark-haired, young Helen Mirren as Veronica. And when I grow up, I want to be Lady Wellie, who’s enjoying all the privileges of riches and has lived her entire life to suit herself. All of the characters leap off the page with depth and nuance.

             This book has everything a good Gothic Victorian mystery should have—compelling characters, a gripping murder mystery and rich detail and description that drops the reader right into the period, giving the book weight and teeth. I wholeheartedly recommend this book and can’t wait for the next one.  
I received this book from Berkley through Netgalley.

REVIEW: A Most Scandalous Proposal by Ashlyn Macnamara

Disclaimer:  I received my copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.

Ashlyn Macnamara’s smart and sexy debut is a pleasure to read and should earn her place in the annals of talented historical romance authors.

Benedict Revelstoke is shocked, no alarmed to find his childhood friend, Miss Julia St. Clare, the object of a wager in the infamous betting book at White’s.  As if the bet itself wasn’t outrageous enough, the wager’s been placed by the man who hopes to land Julia. The same man that Julia’s sister, Sophia, finds herself desperately in love with--William Ludlowe.  When Benedict learns that Julia means to accept Ludlowe’s suit because of a misguided notion, he makes a practical counter offer.

This story has been touted as a take on Sense and Sensibility and I can certainly see the parallels: one eminently sensible sister, the other in love with being in love and an utter cad coming between them. Being a Janeite, I was very excited to read a variation on Austen's theme.  But in my mind, this story is extremely original, even with its nod to Austen, in its realistic portrayal of all the characters’ circumstances and emotional reactions to said circumstances.  Julia’s desire to please her parents, to sacrifice herself to Ludlowe in order to save Sophia from unrequited affection and to settle herself into the unhappy life she thinks she deserves, all ring true.  Macnamara’s talent with language and her deft turn of phrase will have you eagerly re-reading passages.  Though Sophia’s story arc takes a few twists and turns and I did find myself wanting to strike her with a heavy object from time to time, things settle on a very satisfying note. Throughout Sophia’s storyline, her emotions and reactions show her to be a layered and textured character.

Usually I take a few turns with the hero, just to get their measure, both physically and mentally, but Benedict is so finely written that I could picture him in my mind from the beginning and he only rose in my estimation with each page.  Even when the characters reach a turning point, I couldn’t help cheering for them because they were so “real” and behaved like people instead of clichéd, cookie-cutter, tried-and-true characters.  That is a feat not easily achieved and Macnamara does it with aplomb.  Plus the sensuality and passion of this piece is smoothly done, especially in a friends-to-lovers piece where things can sometime seem awkward in that transition. 

Do yourself a favor and visit the author's site.  She's a wealth of information on Regency times and customs and it shows in her writing.  I absolutely adore books that entertain and teach me something at the same time.  The hot and sexy book trailer for A MOST SCANDALOUS PROPOSAL is just a bonus for visiting there :-).

I highly recommend this book and can’t wait for this author’s next book.

Get in the Ring

A friend recommended a book to me just the other day. And in what has become habit, I went out to a few sites to read the descriptions and reviews of said book. One of the places I checked was Amazon, where I decided to read what the rest of the world thought about the book. Well, the opinions were wildly varied and some of the lower-starred reviews were downright rude.

I'd never really given much thought to other peoples opinions on books and generally decide for myself based upon whether or not I like the premise. Like a bolt of lightning, a memory crashed in on me and I recalled that one of my Chicago North-RWA chapter mates debuted a book recently and the reviews on Amazon were favorable. All but one. One reader wrote what seemed a very narrow-minded view of what the author 'should' have been doing with the book instead of enjoying what she actually did. A nagging sensation brought a twinge of terror to mind.

What would happen if I were lucky enough to get published? Would I be relegated to never reading a review or avoiding Amazon entirely? My temper sometimes lends itself more to the 'waiting outside for you with a coke bottle (the old ones made of heavy glass) and stocking cap over my face' school of resolution rather than the 'everyone's entitled to their opinion' school of thought. But that can't be good, can it?

I applaud authors everywhere for remaining calm and ignoring the hurtful things that are sometimes said about their books while tucking away the useful advice for the next effort. Because really, who wants to hear that their baby is ugly? No one. And especially not those of us who own coke bottles.