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Miss Elinor Please visit My Blog for my full review of this book and many others | I'm also on Twitter and Instagram if you want to give me a follow!
Miss Elinor Avely finds herself exiled on the Devon coast with her mother and brother after her reputation was ruined in London in a most public fashion. Accused of stealing a jeweled necklace, she self-destructs further when she shuns Lord Beresford, who tried to save her by declaring before one and all that she was his fiancee. Exiled from society, Elinor is determined to keep her head down and be a dutiful daughter. Until, that is, her evening is interrupted by a bat flying into her room, turning into a tiny, naked woman, and demanding to be fed a sheep. The two form an unlikely alliance when a local man turns up dead, piles of jewels and gold are missing and presumed smuggled over to France to pay Napoleon, and the identity of an English spy may hit too close for comfort.
This was an entirely agreeable cosy mystery. Or cosy fantasy. Either one would be accurate. Honestly, though. Who wouldn't adore a Regency cosy mystery fantasy romance? Elinor is a typical figure in many Regency romances and mysteries. She is curious, intelligent, and not at all afraid to speak her mind. If only Lord Beresford could appreciate that about her! Or does he?
Aldreda Zooth, the tiny bat-woman, is a vampiri from France. She is in England to search for a necklace that belonged to her lost beloved and she convinces Elinor to help. Elinor is what Eldreda calls a Diviner, one who can find hidden objects by a sixth sense. This is, of course, what led to Elinor’s disgrace in London - she found a necklace but was accused of stealing it. Elinor agrees to help Eldreda but they are soon both drawn into an intrigue. Elinor gets to display her bravery and intelligence in several instances, but is still able to be a damsel in distress. Eldreda is an ideal chaperone, even though she is fairy-sized, and is a plucky and fun character.
I will definitely be on the lookout for that book as well as others by this author. A light, somewhat silly, cosy mystery is exactly what I needed to read as pure escapism. Enthusiastically recommended....more
Hunting Prince Dracula is the second in the Stalking Jack the Ripper series by Kerri Maniscalco. In this installment, Audrey Rose Wadsworth and Thomas Cresswell return, this time to attend a prestigious Romanian forensics college. They struggle to learn the ropes, Audrey much more so since she has to deal with the institutional sexism of men in the Victorian era. They must also uncover the identity of a killer stalking the halls of the college, killing villagers and students alike, and stirring up superstitions of Dracula returned from the dead.
I really loved the more open examination of gender roles in the Victorian age. Of course, this was touched upon in the first book—a female medical examiner was practically unheard of—but now Maniscalco goes further and talks about the oppression of sexuality as well. The Victorian ideal of the Angel in the House is one that contributed a great deal to the misery and mental illness of women throughout the era. Maniscalco also creates two lesbian characters, which is a delightful, if minor talking point of the book. Gender identity and sexual orientation are discussions that need to happen a lot more in historical fiction, because these are not binary states, nor are they issues that have only recently been identified. These have always been part of the human condition, and it is excellent when authors address them.
The action and romance of the book will undoubtedly appeal to the YA crowd it is marketed towards, and those really are tremendous fun. Audrey and Thomas have plenty of tension, romantic and otherwise, and the novel’s pacing is quick. The action takes off right away and is mostly consistent throughout. A couple of places in the middle slogged a bit, but overall, this is a strong second novel....more
Blew through this in about a day. A quick, fun read. It's interesting to see the differences between the books and HBO's True Blood series. I like botBlew through this in about a day. A quick, fun read. It's interesting to see the differences between the books and HBO's True Blood series. I like both so far, but I can tell already the show differs quite a lot from the books. ...more
I don't know how I made it this far without reading Dracula! I thought I should remedy that, so I did. I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected. I likeI don't know how I made it this far without reading Dracula! I thought I should remedy that, so I did. I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected. I liked the way the whole story was told through letters and journals. It did make me wonder what Dracula's journal would have said, how it would have differed from the others'. Definitely recommended for all vampire lovers....more
I guess I'm getting kind of bored with these. This is only the second book in the series and I already don't care about Claire or Shane or Michael or I guess I'm getting kind of bored with these. This is only the second book in the series and I already don't care about Claire or Shane or Michael or Eve. I like Eve, too, and I still don't care. I needed a couple mindless books to read to get my head clear. Good to go now for something more adult. The third book will have to wait. :)...more
This was a great little urban fantasy. It was nice in that the ending wasn't perfect, but a compromise, like so many things actually are.
The plot wasThis was a great little urban fantasy. It was nice in that the ending wasn't perfect, but a compromise, like so many things actually are.
The plot was intriguing and held my interest from the start. I liked how Ash's ability to see faeries was not considered to be a gift or something fun. I think a lot of people would think it's cool to be able to see faeries but through Ash's eyes, we see another aspect to it that isn't cool at all.
I also liked how strong she was, even if she didn't think she was. It never gets old to see strong girls sticking up for themselves.
I did not care for Keenan. I'm not sure you're supposed to. But even so, I didn't like him much. I don't have much time for people who are basically blind to the wishes and needs of others, regardless of what rules he has to follow.
The ending, like I said, wasn't perfect, but it was definitely satisfying. I like how things turned out and will be interested to see it play out further in the following books. ...more
**spoiler alert** Well, if the rumors about Meyer not publishing her 5th Twilight book are true, that's perfectly all right by me. This was a decent e**spoiler alert** Well, if the rumors about Meyer not publishing her 5th Twilight book are true, that's perfectly all right by me. This was a decent ending to the series.
I found the whole accelerated pregnancy thing to be ludicrous. I don't know why, but abnormal pregnancies in fiction just bug the shit out of me. Whether it's Bella's accelerated pregnancy with a half-vamp fetus, or a woman well beyond childbearing years getting pregnant as in the last Star Trek book I read, or any other form of weird pregnancy, it just smacks me as stupid and weird and generally unnecessary.
But Meyer must have needed a deus ex machina to resolve the triangle with Bella, Edward and Jacob. Having him imprint on Nessie is a much better resolution than having them all face an eternity of angst and emo acting out. I wonder what Anne McCaffrey would think about imprinting? Clearly, she was a huge influence on Meyer for that aspect.
I would have liked to see even just one bonded pair that wasn't male-female. Even if it wasn't a sexual bond, why couldn't there be a pair of 2 females, or 2 males?
In some ways I was glad when Bella finally became a vamp. It allowed them to move beyond the teenage angst a little and into situations that were a little more grown up. In other ways, though, it's creepy. The idea of living for all eternity FOR another person just is weird. I would totally dig being a vampire, preferably an Anne Rice vampire, but living for another person who is essentially a supernatural stalker is NOT the message I would want my teenage kids to have.
I thoroughly enjoyed the introduction of other vampires in this book. I would have liked to get more story for each of them, particularly Garrett and the Irish coven. And there is a separate book, I'm sure, screaming to be written about Stefan and Vladimir and their vendetta against the Volturi.
All told, I think this book effectively ends the series. There are a few loose ends, but they aren't so drastic as to be annoying. In the case of Nessie and the Amazon half-vamp, I am not even sure if it's a loose end at all. This book pretty much put a neat little bow on the story. ...more
**spoiler alert** I liked this one a little better than New Moon. I think NM was too emo and I kinda missed Edward. :) Eclipse was totally angsty and **spoiler alert** I liked this one a little better than New Moon. I think NM was too emo and I kinda missed Edward. :) Eclipse was totally angsty and emo, too, but I thought the character interactions were more interesting this time. I liked learning more of the history of various groups and individuals. I wish she had developed the story of the newborns in Seattle more. She spent on awful lot of time on the preparation and background for the final confrontation but not enough, in my opinion, on the events that caused the confrontation.
I also like how she handled the triangle. I think we've probably all been in a situation where you are in love with two people, or where two people love you and you don't requite one of them. It's a horrible position to be in, and I felt bad even for emo Bella, Edward and Jake. ...more
This entire book can be described by one word: emo. It was riddled with teenage angst. It had little real plot. It had little character development--eThis entire book can be described by one word: emo. It was riddled with teenage angst. It had little real plot. It had little character development--either further development of Bella or the other known characters, or initial development of newer characters like Jacob. The whole vampire/werewolf conflict is cliched.
That said, I still liked it immensely. I give it 2 stars because I can't in good conscience bring myself to rate it higher. But I still liked it. :) ...more
I went into this book with essentially no expectations. I figured it would be the standard teen vampire book, fairly cliche, with vamps that had maybeI went into this book with essentially no expectations. I figured it would be the standard teen vampire book, fairly cliche, with vamps that had maybe one or two minor changes from the stereotypical vampire figure.
In some ways, I was right. There was teen angst and vampires who drank blood, were unfairly beautiful and were freezing cold to the touch. The change to the cliche is that they could go out in daylight, but bright sun makes them sparkle. So they stay in coudy, gloomy places.
But honestly, for a book that had not a drop of sex in it, it was amazingly erotic. The connection between Edward and Bella was intense and sensual, in the way that a book by Francesca Lia Block is sensual. All the senses were engaged in the descriptions of their interactions, from hate and loathing to desire and love and a hint of fear and danger threaded throughout it all. I loved it.
The characters were fairly well developed, but not as much as I would have hoped. That said, they were still rich and vivid. They had personalities and quirks. They weren't just flat, one-dimensional people. I didn't know as much about their history as I wanted to, and maybe that will come in the rest of the books, but what we learned about them in the present is sufficient to make me happy.
I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected I would, to be honest. I thought it would be cheesy or try too hard to imitate older vampire novels and just embarrass itself. I was very pleased to be proven wrong. I'd definitely recommend this to any lover of the vampire genre. ...more
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