Carol Goodman: The Drowning Tree

From the back of the book-
Juno McKay intended to avoid her fifteenth-year college reunion, but she can't resist the chance to see her longime friend Christine Webb. Though Juno cringes at the inevitable talk of her troubled personal life-and the husband who ended up in a mental hopsital only two years after their wedding-she endures the gossip for her friend's sake.
While lecturing at the Penrose College library, Christine shocks the rapt crowd by reavling little-known details about the lives of two sisters-memebers of the influential family whose name the college bears. Christine's revelations throw shadows of betrayal, lust, and insanity over the family's distinguished facade.
After her speech, Christine seems distant, uneasy, and sad. The next day, she disappears. Juno is alarmed and begins to peel away the layer of secrets and madness that surround the Penrose dynasty. She fears that Christine discovered somethig damning about them, perhaps even something worth killing for. And Juno is derermined to find it-for her friend and for herself.
This tangled combination of historical and modern mystery tales has a strong literary flavour. The pace is slow, the characters complex and the story deceptively straight forward.
My last foray into this author's work didn't leave me partiuclarly impressed but I'm pleased to say this effort was much more enjoyable. There were enough red herrings thrown in to cloud the antagonist's identity without it coming as a complete surprise at the end of the story or worse, being telegraphed loudly throughout the book. A complicated romantic subplot fits in well.
I would class this as a mild modern gothic worth a look for those with an interest in the genre and comfortable with a less sensational approach.-Lynn

Jane Rule: Against the Season

The death of an elderly woman sends quiet ripples throughout her tiny community. Her sister copes with her loss by reading her sibling's diaries. Her shy grandnephew, sent to assist his surviving great aunt, learns courage from their pregnant and unwed housekeeper. A couple of lonely middle-aged friends turn to each other for comfort and are finally able to admit to wanting something more. An elderly couple throw caution and public opinion to the winds in order to be together. And the reclusive town butch is courted publicly by a very determined social worker.
It has been months since I read this and my memories of it are warm, almost affectionate.
As is the nature of Literature very little actually happens within the pages of this book but it is so deftly written that I barely noticed.
This is really a character study examining how people of various ages, experiences and inclinations react to love in all its forms. The characters slowly and gently unfold to the reader, beautiful in their complete ordinariness.
Well worth the effort if you're in the mood for mellow.-Lynn

Laura Anne Gilman: Blood From Stone

After the final battle had been fought and won, all this retriever wanted was to return to her quite life. But things can never really return to normal with society so changed and her attempts to force them to result in her having to face the worst of her past.
On top of that she’s having trouble renegotiating the boundaries of a relationship that has been put to the ultimate test.
When an old friend asks for her help she doesn’t hesitate but she soon discovers that she’s taken on some fairly powerful dark magicians and if she doesn’t get things right it’s not only her life that’s on the line.
Naturally she manages to save the day.
This is the last book in the retriever series and as much as I enjoy this world I think it was the right time to end it. I think to continue on could have compromised character integrity and stretched believability beyond breaking point. Not all the threads are neatly tied up and the open ending felt right.
This particular instalment was a return to the basics of the first book. There was a job to do and our heroine got in there and did it. It was small and personal and I quite enjoyed the simplicity of that after the complexities of previous episodes. Character development continued right through until the end and the story finished with great hope for the future.
There author has set another series in this world, following the adventures of a minor character from this series. I’m not certain that I will be reading it any time soon but I am glad that the option is there should I wish to revisit this universe.-Lynn.

Carolyn Parkhurst: Lost and Found

Alex has already reviewed this book twice; see either of those for a more detailed synopsis. To briefly recap-
This story follows the progress of several pairs of game show contestants as they are filmed searching the globe for esoteric items in a bid to win a million dollars. Team loyalties are tested and partnership dynamics irreversibly changed as the show’s creators introduce challenges designed to reveal each contestant’s darkest secrets.
Unlike Alex, I am not a fan of the kind of reality TV show upon which this story is based, but since she thought the book good enough to read twice in such a short space of time when I saw it in my local library I thought I’d give it a try. To my surprise in the end I found that I liked it very much.
At first glance I found the main characters and their conflicts unrealistic, but as their stories progressed and aspects of their personalities were revealed they became more believable. The game show setting worked well, introducing tension and temptation that highlighted the cracks in foundering relationships and allowing the author to explore a number of controversial issues in an accessible way. The (probably) realistic technicalities of filming the show added a layer of realism and interest.
I don’t see myself rereading this book any time soon but it was certainly worth stepping outside my usual area of interest.-Lynn

For Alex's reviews click here (2009) or here (2010).

Tobsha Learner: Soul

When a geneticist researching a possible genetic basis for violence kills a man in self defence without compunction she begins to believe that not only a tendency to violence, but also to remorselessness, may be hereditary and that she has inherited those traits from her great grandmother, a woman who was accused of murdering her husband.
In the wake of her action her life starts to spiral out of control. Her husband runs off with her best friend. She suffers from a traumatic miscarriage resulting in infertility. Her colleagues are not supportive of the military funding her research, a subject about which she is severely conflicted, particularly when she discovers the army is keeping information from her. She then discovers that her husband’s lover is pregnant. At each point violence becomes a more and more attractive option until she finds herself planning her ex-husband’s murder.
Interlaced throughout this story is the tale of her great grandmother’s life, from her engagement through to her trial for her husband’s murder.
The book culminates in a revelation about the importance of nurture’s impact on nature. And as vague as this summary is, I can’t really go into any more detail without giving too much away.
I was initially attracted to this story because of the main character’s ethical dilemma about the potential uses of her research and while this is an integral part of her character it isn’t the focus of the entire story and the book is none the worse for that.
This author is known for her erotica collections and there was a touch of erotica in this book but it is a distinctly minor element, thank goodness because her erotic writing style doesn’t appeal to me and is the reason I put off reading this for as long as I have.
I needn’t have worried. I really enjoyed watching the two interwoven stories unfold. The actions of each woman seemed not only completely believable but entirely reasonable from their point of view. Identifying with them as heroines makes the reader think about their own potential for violence in similar circumstances-where exactly would you draw the line.
The plot skips along at times and while that thinness is filled out by great characterization it is a fault that prevents this story from taking the step from very good to great.
It leans heavily towards the literary end of the scale but is highly enjoyable and I will be seeking out more of Ms Learner’s work.-Lynn

Dr Rick Kausman: If Not Dieting, Then What?

From the back of the book:

So how do you manage your weight? There is a solution and it’s all about attitude. In Not Dieting, Then What? shows you how to look at food in a more positive way and move away from the ‘no pain, no gain ethos’, an well as explaining how to fine-tune fat content without sacrificing food enjoyment.
Dr Rick Kausman is recognised as the Australian pioneer of the non-dieting approach to healthy weight management. In this straightforward, no-nonsense guide to weight management he shares his, and his clients’ experiences with the reader. You can learn how to: enjoy food without feeling guilty, increase your eating awareness, improve how you feel about yourself, fit some sort of activity into your day, and achieve and maintain a healthy, comfortable weight for you, without being deprived of food or quality of life.

Since I’ve decided to finally follow my doctor’s advice and stop dieting I’ve begun researching intuitive eating. The basic principle is simple: eat when you’re hungry, don’t eat when you’re not. But anybody who has ever had a genuine weight problem (and not just carried four or five excess kilos) can tell you that hunger often has very little to do with eating. This author understands that.
The purpose of this book is to give the reader the tools they need to get out of the yo-yo dieting cycle and get back in touch with their body. With chapters that address why diets don’t work, the importance of choosing realistic goals, non-hungry eating, body image and the inevitability of losing focus occasionally, this book covers the most commonly asked questions of this approach to weight management.
Personally I found chapter 3 ‘Non-hungry eating’ and chapter 7 ‘Eating with awareness’ to be of particular interest. I am making an effort to apply the techniques suggested to relearn to recognise my body’s needs with the hope that eventually these will become second nature (or is that a return to ‘first’ nature). At the time of writing this it all still requires considerable conscientiousness on my part and it is much too soon to say if the techniques will, in fact, work for me.
As far as “diet” books go this is one of the most reasonable and sensible ones I’ve ever read. The local references were a novel bonus too.-Lynn

Brian Wansink: Mindless Easting (Why we eat more than we think)

From the back of the book-

What does your favourite comfort food say about you? Can the size of your plate really influence your appetite? Why do you eat more when you dine with friends?

In this much-talked-about book, food psychologist Brian Wansink revolutionizes our awareness of how much, what, and why we’re eating-oftenwithout even realizing it. His findings will astound you….
Director of the Cornell University food and Brand Lab, Wansink uses fun and fiendishly clever experiments-like the “bottomless soup bowl”-to reveal the hidden dynamics behind our dietary habits. Starting today, you can make more mindful, enjoyable and healthy choices at the dinner table, in the supermarket, at the office-even at a vending machine-wherever you satisfy your appetite.

This is a fascinating look at the connection between how our minds perceive food and how our stomach responds to it.
The author presents an interesting array of experiments that show no matter how well educated a person is, or believes they are, they are still at the mercy of this connection and are easily exploited by food manufacture and service industries through it.
He goes on to offers suggestions as to how we can use this connection for our own benefit-to either lose or gain weight.
Interesting, fun and accessible, this isn’t the sort of diet book that makes claims about weight loss but by drawing awareness to the psychology/biology connection aspect of eating provides the reader with information that they may use to make better eating choices.-Lynn

The Medieval Murderers: King Arthur's Bones

From the back of the book-

Five compelling interlinked mysteries from Michael Jecks, Susanna Gregory, Bernard Knight, Ian Morson and Philip Gooden.
During excavation work, an ancient leaden cross is discovered buried several feet below ground. Inscribed upon it are the words: hic iacet sepultus inclitus rex arturius… Could this really be the legendary King Arthur and his queen, Guinevere? ... As the secret of the bones’ hiding place is passed from generation to generation, those entrusted to safeguard King Arthur’s remains must withstand treachery, theft, blackmail and murder in order to keep the legend intact.

This collection of five novellas follows King Arthur’s bones from their discovery at Glastonbury Abbey in 1191 to the rediscovery of them in London in 2004. As might be expected from the authors’ pseudonym these tales take the form of mini murder mysteries. And as might also be expected in any anthology some stories appealed to me more than others but unlike other works of its type I did enjoy all of these to some extent.
I particularly liked the seamless way in which each story interconnected with those that went before. I also found realistic the way the history of the bones was slowly forgotten by those into whose hands they fell until at the end their relevance is completely unknown.
I was a little disappointed that in a couple of the stories the bones themselves didn’t play a central role. While these instalments were good enough as a fan of all thing Arthurian I would like them to have stuck a little closer to the theme.
Overall an enjoyable collection and a great opportunity to try a few authors I hadn’t read before.-Lynn

Libba Bray: Rebel Angels

It is the 1895 Christmas holidays and one young lady in particular is looking forward to getting away from school and spending time with friends and family in London. But it’s not all beaux and balls. She is being plagued by increasingly violent visions of three young school girls-victims of violent magic. Soon she and her friends return to the magical realms, where they meet up with the spirit of a recently deceased friend and are soon frolicking amongst the magic.
However something is not quite right. It soon becomes apparent that her earlier attempt to rebalance the magic hasn’t worked and now it has become wild and destructive and it is up to her to bind it before a greater evil does. Finding and defeating that greater evil proves a harder task than she ever imagined but in the end she manages in the process changing her outlook on life forever.
This is the second book in a trilogy and sadly suffers from a common problem of the form-sagging middle. There is quite a lot happening in this book, not only is the main plot progressing and deepening but a number of secondary plots are playing out as well. Yet for all that this book was slowwww. Very little seemed to be happening most of the time and twists were visible well in advance.
The anachronistic dialogue remains, and though I’ve come to accept that, the behaviour of the heroine and her friends was inconsistent for girls of their time and class and that grated a little. Having said that I am not the target audience for these books and I’m sure teen readers would identify well with the ‘historical’ characters.
Given the quality of the first book I was a little disappointed in this second episode but I’ll reserve judgement until I finish the final instalment.-Lynn

Mercedes Lackey: The Serpent’s Shadow

A young half-caste female doctor returns to England from India after the suspicious death of her parents, hoping to hide from their killer amongst the outcasts and the poor. She attempts to use her magical talent to hide her household drawing the attention of local mages wanting to know who had invaded their patch. Upon deciding the woman is harmless one smitten young gentleman accepts the task of training her in magic.
All goes well until the killer from India tracks the woman down and sets in motion a plan to murder her in order to absorb her power.
With the help of some local mages, her seven familiars (that take the shapes of native Indian animals) and the street people she has treated in her capacity as doctor, the murderer is defeated, her life saved and a happy ever after for all ensured.
This story, the first in a series of re imagined fairytales set in Edwardian London, is a retelling of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. While all the elements are present they are beautifully incorporated into a story all of there own yet unmistakably derivative. This aspect of the tale was very well done.
What wasn’t so well done was the period. The setting is very good, capturing a true sense of time and place; it is the characters that let the piece down. All the main characters have very modern sensibilities but the heroine, in particular, is a twenty-first century girl dropped into 1909. Quite regularly I felt that I was reading a treatise on the treatment of women and conditions of the poor at the turn of the last century rather than a work of fiction, and that pulled me out of the story every time.
In spite of that I did like The Serpent’s Shadow and will read others in the series but not in any great rush.-Lynn

Where Underpants Come From - Joe Bennett

One afternoon, after purchasing six pairs of underpants (a five pack of everyday undies and a more flattering pair for special occasions), Bennett was struck by the fact that

underpants can be made in China and transported to New Zealand, passing through the hands of, and making a profit for, I don’t know how many middle men, and still be sold to me for just NZ$5.99. And as for the pack of five pairs for NZ$8.59, well, the economics of it is beyond me.

This realisation is followed by awareness that, apart from some vague notion of cotton fields, spinning jennys, and elastic, he has no idea how underpants are made, and that this “is representative of a far wider ignorance… about the commercial and industrial processes on which my easy existence depends.”

Where for most of us that would be the end of the story, for Bennett this insight was the first part of an exploration into how a particular pair of underpants came to be, tracing them from his starting point (The Warehouse chain store in Christchurch) to theirs (a cotton field in Urumqi, roughly midway between China’s borders with Kazakstan and Mongolia). Along the way he also learns about the history and culture of the world’s most populous nation, a country without which the global economy would collapse, and about which the West as a whole knows virtually nothing. There are, says Bennett, “plenty of better-informed books about China, but I suspect this is the only one to begin with a pair of underpants.”

Those books are also unlikely to be funnier of more entertaining than Where Underpants Come From. I was sold when I got to page four - after a brief introduction to the agricultural and population might of China, Bennett opens with the shopping decisions that started his quest, and the aspirational nature of his ‘special occasion’ jocks:

Underpants ought to be a swift purchase… but it takes me a minute or two to settle on the Authentics. What delays me is vanity. It is a ridiculous concern. No one will ever see these underpants except my dogs and the occasional sexual partner. The dogs will take no interest, and if a sexual partner and I reach the underpants stage, then, frankly, it’s a done deal. It would take more than pictures of racing cars to halt the momentum. Nevertheless I am clearly not alone in taking aesthetic considerations into account, otherwise there wouldn’t be hundreds of different varieties of underpants.

This combination of self-deprecation, humour and insight continues for the next 254 pages, interwoven with information. While some of this involves the manufacturing process Bennett set out to explore, more of it relates to the culture, history, mores and behaviours of China and her people, both in their own right and in comparison with the West.

For example, Bennett discusses the problem of applying western concepts like queuing to the task of buying a train ticket in China, where there are crowds instead of queues:

The shape [of the crowd trying to buy train tickets] resembles the head of a cauliflower, each customer a floret… and if you look closely at its heart you’ll see a single static floret. That’s me.

There are many aspect of Where Underpants Come From that I want to reference, but if I discussed all of them my review would be almost as long as (and far less entertaining or informative than) the text.

His description of a lunch menu is equally visual:

'Braised chicken intestines with satay sauce’ looks more tempting than the ‘stewed pigs tendons with assorted meats’ but I pass on both. I don’t choose the pigeon soup either… The soup is a broth with a few vegetable slivers floating on its surface. The pigeon is a pigeon. It lies slumped on its side in the broth. The difference between this pigeon and one in the street is that this one is dead and plucked. Its claws poke over one side of the bowl, its head flops over another, its eyes and beak are intact, and its skin is the colour of putty.

Bennett does not shy away from the many distressing aspects of modern Chinese society, from endemic corruption, a long cultural history of (sometimes justifiable) xenophobia and racism that would be wholly unacceptable in a modern Western setting, to a brief discussion about crime and punishment - 99% of people charged with a capital crime are convicted, and trials are rare as most people admit to the crime. For example, a man who initially denied killing his wife confessed “after a few days and nights of polite questioning,” but wasn’t executed, because his wife turned up to rescue him. And the use of death penalty criminals as organ donors is mentioned in passing – “the condemned are paraded into a stadium, made to kneel and shot in the base of the skull. A doctor is usually in attendance” to remove and preserve the organs.

The contrast between Chinese industrial safety and standards in the west is shocking – laws are lax and

[China] competes but plays to different rules. It will cut any corner. An article in the China Daily… announced that fatal workplace accidents had fallen 10 per cent…. This month only 7321 people died at work. That’s a mere 250 people a day…

Although little explored, there is reflection on the changing nature of China’s youth – none of the subsistence farmers Bennett sees are under 30, and a generation of indulged only children who, after 30 years of the One Child policy, will be the end point of two parents, four grandparents and eight great-grandparents.

China, Bennett observes,

is no longer in the grip of any sort of political or social ideology. Those in power have only two objectives. The first, as always and everywhere, is to stay in power. The second is to make China rich. In that aim they are entirely at one with the people they govern. The aim of the second objective is to help them achieve the first objective.

But, Bennett explains, this race is unsustainable – China is destroying the resources on which its vast population depends in the race to increased manufacture combined with minimal oversight, little regulation, active avoidance of what legislation there is, and an official policy of masking pollution problems.

Water is the more pressing issue:

China has never abounded in water. Now the stuff is becoming scarce and dirty, especially in the north. Recently the thirst largest lake in Chian turned toxic. Only half of China’s sewerage is treated before entering rivers and lakes… According to government figures, and the Chinese government is not known for inflating a problem, over 90 per cent of urban water is contaminated by industrial or organic waste… In short, the charge up Industrial Wealth Street is entirely understandable, but what’s further up the street does not look pretty.

I’ve made it sound as though Bennett has been critical and harsh, which is not the case – his approach is clear eyed and sympathetic, to the people if not to the institutions running China. His interactions with the people of China are almost uniformly pleasant and helpful, and I believe he leaves as something of a Sinophile, but it’s a little hard to tell. This is particularly because Where Underpants Come From trails off, rather than conclusively concluding, but the impression it leaves behind, of contradiction, complication and crowds, is appropriate for at least a partial glimpse of China. I’m interested in trying others of his writing. - Alex

Jane Lindskold: Through Wolf's Eyes

When an elderly king’s heir dies the country’s noble families start jockeying for position all hoping the new heir will be selected from their stock. One minor noble, unlikely to be named heir, seeks to improve his standing by reuniting the king with his long ago disinherited son. In order to do this he heads across a mountain range into uncharted territory following in the footsteps of the renegade son and his entourage. What he finds there are the remains of a burnt out village and a wild teenaged girl. He believes the girl to be the king’s granddaughter and wants her to return to society with his small band of men.
The girl was raised by wolves and is more wolf than human. She agrees to accompany the men back to civilization on the proviso that a giant wolf keeps her company. They agree and after some initial training she is presented to the court where she is received by the other nobles with great suspicion.
Fortunately life amongst a pack of wolves has left her reasonably well prepared for life at court. She makes a few friends and carves out a place for herself.
As domestic political intrigue deepens, war breaks out on the boarders and the girl finds herself and her wolf-like skills in demand.
After a decisive battle peace is declared, the king treats with a neighbouring nation marrying his heir to theirs. The move garners much support from both nations but enemies are made as well and the question is left as to how long the peace might last.
This fantasy novel is first and foremost a tale of political intrigue. My brief synopsis here goes no way towards describing the complex network of personalities and alliances that make up the backbone of the story. Though there are several fantasy elements, including hints of magic and talking animals, they remain decidedly in the background. The setting is well described (my copy even had a map) and the world building excellent. There is also just a hint of romance. This is the first book in a series of six but could easily stand alone, with most of the big questions answered by the end of the story. There is no great cliff hanging ending forcing a reader to pursue the rest of the series in order to find answers to basic questions. This is a blessing in a genre that often asks more of a commitment from readers-here you can sample the author’s style in a satisfying manner and if you chose not to continue with the series you have still read a great story.
Though this is was not what I expected (I had thought there would me more of child raised by wolves and less of political machinations) and, to be honest, not something I would have read if the synopsis had been clearer as to the content, I still enjoyed it very much and may read the rest of this series at some point.-Lynn

Laura Anne Gilman: Bring It On

After a seemingly routine job went pear-shaped and resulted in the death of a long time friend all this witch wants is life to return to normal. So when she is asked to retrieve a piece of jewellery at the centre of an inheritance dispute, it looks like just the kind of simple task she needs. But nothing is ever easy and she soon discovers the necklace in question is, in fact, a powerful artefact. Considering it too dangerous to pass on to the woman who hired her, she knows she should turn it in to the authorities. But she can’t trust the magical authorities, who she strongly suspects are behind the disappearance of a number of her freelance colleagues.
Those same freelance colleagues who are dragging her into the middle of a coalition whose one purpose is to fight the authorities by forming an alliance with other persecuted magical creatures.
With the magical community on the brink of open warfare, she must find a safe place for the artefact and choose her side.
This is the third book in the retriever series and the story is starting to pick up pace. With the world well established in the first two novels, this book focuses on the bigger story arc and events directly related to it, leaving the tale of this instalment as an almost secondary plot. This being the case, it is definitely not a stand alone read.
The main characters and their relationships to each other continue to develop and the tension is building nicely as the plot steams ahead.
I’ve quite enjoyed this series so far, and from its scarce availability at my local library I’m guessing others have as well. There are only three more books left in the series and I am seriously considering grabbing all three so I can know how it all ends up.-Lynn

Susan Krinard: Dark of the Moon

When a junior female reporter stumbles onto the story of a lifetime (a cult of blood-drinkers is stalking the poor of the city) she finds herself the target of killers. Saved by a vagrant, she determines to save him in return, not realising he is an ex-enforcer for a now disbanded vampire gang. When he learns of the story she is pursuing he tries to dissuade her but she will not be put off and he soon finds himself dragged back into a turf war he became an outcast to escape.
As if being hunted by rival vampire gangs isn’t enough, the two soon find themselves drawn into a cult dedicated to the peaceful co-existence of vampires and humans. But while the cult espouses peace, its methods are anything but peaceful and the pair is in more danger than either of them realise. Soon he is forced to do the unthinkable in order to save her life once more and she must summon the courage to cope with her fate and the compassion to forgive him.
This is the second story set in the paranormal underworld of 1920s New York. It picks up some months after the events of Chasing Midnight but can easily be read as a stand alone novel.
I really enjoy this particular time period and Krinard uses it to great effect in this series bringing the criminal and the supernatural underworld together seamlessly. This story offers plenty of plot twists and while some are easily anticipated, others come as a surprise. Certainly the shifting allegiances and double crossing keeps both the reader and the main characters guessing as to who is and who isn’t on their side. It was a pleasant change to find that there were no clear cut ‘good’ or ‘bad’ guys but simply a choice between a greater and lesser evil for the individual involved. It was a level of realism that brought the fantasy world to life.
I have had both positive and negative experiences with this author in the past so wasn’t really sure of what I could expect from this novel. I needn’t have worried. It was a return to the vivid world building, rounded characterization and fast paced action that drew me to her work in the first place. I’ll definitely be following on with this series.-Lynn

Phil Rickman: The Smile of a Ghost

When a young boy dies falling from the tower of a ruined castle the question of accident or suicide is raised. But his recently retired police detective uncle thinks neither to be the case. He suspects something a lot more sinister and confides the fact to his priest.
Along with gang related violence on the estate where the boy lived, the child’s fascination with history and involvement with ghost walks, a death obsessed singing star had befriended him shortly before his fall and a number of her goth fans have copied his example and leapt off the tower since.
The priest, facing an uncertain future herself, becomes entangled in the case. Slowly she unravels the bizarre web in which the boy had inadvertently become involved. Setting a number of spirits to rest in the process.
The Smile of a Ghost was a welcome return to form for Rickman after the not quite up to par Prayer of the Night Shepherd.
The main characters and their relationships to each other continue to grow and develop realistically without becoming too predictable. The primary plot was delightfully complex without becoming unnecessarily complicated. I particularly liked the secondary plot which I found by turns to be believably frustrating for the heroine and amusing in its likelihood.
I am very happy to see this series is nowhere near running out of steam and look forward to reading the next instalment.-Lynn

Jane Harris: The Observations

A young woman tries to escape her sullied past by taking a job as a maid in lonely house outside Edinburgh. She is fascinated by her beautiful new mistress, if somewhat confused by the lady’s increasingly strange requests. As her affection for her mistress grows so too does her jealousy toward her predecessor-a young woman who died under mysterious circumstances. Learning that her employer preferred the dead girl to her, she decides to ‘punish’ the woman. But her practical joke takes a turn for the serious and she soon finds herself caught up in a web of sex, lies and insanity.
Through it all she remains faithful to her mistress but can’t help but wonder what really happened to the other young woman and to make matters worse, her past is catching up with her, threatening to destroy the tenuous hold she has on her new life.
As the mysteries are unveiled one by one everything falls into place sending her life off on a tangent she never expected.
I really enjoyed this intriguing tale, particularly the unexpected ending. Though some of the secondary characters were a little clichéd, the main pair was quite well developed. Historical detail is scattered throughout with a light hand and the style imparts a strong sense of place.
It took me a little while to customise myself to the liberal use of dialect in the writing, something that I am not usually fond of but that works here. (And I was surprised at just how many words and phrases are still in use today-at least in my house).
This is an unusual story, and a step apart from others of its genre.-Lynn

Victoria Holt: Mistress of Mellyn

A penniless young gentlewoman takes a job as a governess in a lonely house on the Cornish coast. But, if the servants’ gossip is to be believed, the house has dark secrets and its enigmatic owner is only one of them. The man is insufferable and it is only her concern for her poor motherless charge that stops her from leaving and leads her to seek the truth behind multiple family tragedies.
Little does she realise that uncovering that truth may cost her life.
This book was exactly what one would expect of an old-school gothic romance.
Spooky old house-check.
Dark and mysterious man-check.
Unsolved mystery-check.
Heroine in danger-check.
Secondary characters with ambiguous motives-check.
Possible paranormal element-check.
It was all here. No wonder I loved this book.
I read somewhere that old style gothic romances are love stories between a woman and a house and in this case, at least, nothing could have been truer. A fan of the modern romance is bound to be disappointed. The hero barely rates a mention for the bulk of the story. To say he is two dimensional is to give him more substance than he possessed. He is present only insomuch as he is required to move the plot forward. The supernatural elements hinted at are, in the end, quite mundane, but I think, no less interesting for that.
Victoria Holt is the Grande Dame of gothic romance and this book is a prime example of how she became so. I just wish there was more of the same around today.-Lynn

Julie Kenner: Carpe Demon

A retired demon hunter suddenly finds herself back on active duty when a spate of demon attacks occur in her, hitherto, demon-free small town.
Fifteen years out of the game have hardly left her in peak condition and with a two year old still in nappies, a teenaged daughter and husband with an eye on political office, the last thing she has time for is demon hunting.
But with the help of her best friend and an elderly hunter of questionable sanity, she manages to take on her old role without letting her family know what she’s up to.
And though it’s a close thing, she does manage to save the day.
This was a refreshing change from what has become the norm of this genre. Unlike many of her compatriots this demon hunter has no magical powers, relying on knowledge and training to do her demon destroying thing. Neither is she young, fit and oversexed. Instead she’s middle-aged, exhausted by her daily to-do list and has priorities other than herself. A situation that undoubtedly a lot of readers will relate to.
The writing is well paced and has just the right amount and style of humour to be funny without tripping over into ridiculous.
Though the heroine is a little slow to pick up on signs the red herrings are believable. I spotted the twist coming but even so was delighted Kenner didn’t go down the obvious track.
This book is the first in a series and though I enjoyed it I think it could grow old very quickly so I would suggest a long gap between instalments.-Lynn

Click here for Alex's review of Carpe Demon.

David Blair (ed): Gothic Short Stories

This is a collection of 20 Gothic stories covering the spectrum from the supernatural through insanity to just plain violent horror. It includes both works by famous authors (Poe, Dickens, Hawthorne) and gems from lesser known writers. It is well annotated with explanations of references unfamiliar to a modern reader and a short biography of each author’s writing life.
These Gothic tales are classics. They illustrate the development of the genre from the eighteenth through to the early twentieth century. Like any anthology there were some stories that appealed to me more than others but I believe each earned its place in this collection.
I enjoyed the stories not only for their own sake but also recognising them as the basis of many modern stories enabled me to see how individual tales could be adopted and grown.
A well selected and presented collection I would recommend to those with an interest in Gothic Literature.-Lynn

Emma Holly: The Demon's Daugher

A society very similar to Victorian England has made a pact with a race of Demons. The outcasts of demon society are free to live amongst humans in exchange for the use of their advanced technology. But the deal has a dark side. Demons can, and do, feed from human energy, though supposedly only with the consent of the humans in question. Both governments turn a blind eye to the practice but secretly acknowledge the power differential by the employment of police officers, who have been enhanced with demon technology to give them greater strength and speed required to keep rowdy demons under control.
When the bastard daughter of a renowned courtesan is discovered to be half demon-a situation thought to be impossible-both governments want her for their own nefarious purposes. It is up to the prototype enhanced police officer and her demon father to save her from a terrible fate.
This they manage to do, all while avoiding diplomatic disaster, learning to accept themselves and each other and of course, discovering the many meanings of love.
Emma Holly is best known for her erotic romances and this story does have more than its fair share of erotic scenes, many of which do not further plot or character development. Having said that, they are for the most part, well written and varied, and not used as the only attraction between the main couple, making them welcome additions to the story-something other authors have not managed to carry off with anywhere near this level success.
I quite like steampunk when it’s done well and here the world building is excellent. So subtle that much of the mores of both societies must be inferred from background information and behaviour, yet detailed enough to make that inference easy and believable. The extracts from various texts presented as quotes at the beginning of each chapter serve both to assist with world building and to add a touch of humour to the story. I enjoyed many of these asides almost as much as the main story.
Romance, erotica, fantasy and intrigue: The Demon’s Daughter works on a number of levels. I am delighted to have discovered this book and pleased that Ms Holly has set at least two other stories in this fascinating universe.-Lynn