The Gentleman’s Daughter (The Gentleman Spy Series #2), By Bianca Schwarz ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Espionage, Historical Fiction, Misogyny, Mystery, Physical Abuse, Regency England, Romance, Secret Societies, Sex Trafficking, Sexual Abuse, Suspense, Trauma

Thanks to NetGalley and Central Avenue Publishing for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: July 6th, 2021

352 Pages

Synopsis: The Gentleman’s Daughter is the second in a darkly entertaining historical romance mystery series set in Regency London…

Sir Henry, secret agent to the crown, must marry a lady above reproach to afford his illegitimate daughter entrance into society. After narrowly escaping marriage to a highborn bigot, he takes an assignment in Brighton, leading him to an abandoned abbey full of dark whispers, and a sinister secret society, the very one Henry has been investigating for three years.

Isabella is as beautiful as she is talented, but falling in love isn’t part of her plans. She only wants to paint, forget her painful past, and keep her overbearing mother at bay. But gaining one’s independence isn’t easy for a woman in 1823, so Isabella embarks on a fake courtship with Sir Henry. Soon, love and a painting career no longer seem so utterly incompatible.

But when the man Isabella fears most kidnaps her, all appears lost. Realizing the kidnapper is part of the same organization he is investigating, Henry chases after them. Entrapped in a web of secrets, both Henry and Isabella must face old enemies, and fight for their happily ever after. (Goodreads)

The Gentleman’s Daughter is a wonderful sequel to The Inkeeper’s Daughter, that much to my delight, surpasses the first book in The Gentleman Spies series.

I was immediately pulled into the story and easily finished this in two sittings. Like its predecessor, this is not your typical frothy Regency romance, as it deals with much darker themes such as: sex trafficking, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and espionage. 

My main issue with The Innkeeper’s Daughter was that I was uncomfortable with the romance between Henry (who is in his 30s), and Eliza (who is barely 18). Thankfully the age difference between Henry and Isabella is not such a yawning chasm. Although their romance is a slow burn through much of the book, I almost immediately loved them as a couple and was rooting for them the entire time. There are some fairly steamy scenes between the two, but they’re well written and believable. While I thought the middle of the book was noticeably slower than the rest, this wasn’t a huge issue and it didn’t take long for the action to pick back up. The ending wrapped up any loose ends ends which left me quite pleased.

Although The Gentleman’s Daughter is the second book in this series, you needn’t have read the first as this does an excellent job recapping without taking away from the current storyline. What I love about this series thus far is though it maintains the Regency setting which I love, Bianca Schwarz is unafraid to go deeper and darker, which makes The Gentleman Spies series quite unlike most others of its genre.

The Shadow in the Glass, By J.J.A. Harwood ~ 4.0 Stars

Tags

Abortion, Fairytale Retellings, Historical Fantasy, Miscarriage, Physical Abuse, Rape References, Romance, Supernatural, Suspense, YA Fiction

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperVoyager for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: May 4th, 2021

416 Pages

Synopsis: Once upon a time Ella for more than her life as a lowly maid.

Now, forced to work hard under the lecherous gaze of the man who she once called stepfather, Ella’s only refuge is in the books she reads by candlelight, secreted away in the library she isn’t permitted to enter.

One night, among her beloved books of far-off lands, Ella’s wishes are answered. At the stroke of midnight, a fairy godmother makes her an offer that will change her life: seven wishes, hers to make as she pleases. But each wish comes at a price and Ella must decide if it’s one she’s willing to pay…

A smoldering, terrifying new spin on Cinderella—perfect for fans of Laura Purcell and Erin Morgenstern. (Goodreads)

The Shadow in the Glass is an extremely dark retelling of Cinderella  that bears little resemblance to the Disney version, but is definitely something that the Grimm brothers would have appreciated. It’s very different and unique, with a hint of Goethe’s Faust woven in, but it may not be everyone’s cup of tea. I however, found it utterly delicious and was captivated from the very first page.

Ella is a complicated character whose actions will leave readers emotions in turmoil. Despite her difficult circumstances, she starts out as an innocent naive young girl, but quickly descends into a morally gray area as she makes her wishes. The decisions she makes are somewhat understandable, but they’re truly terrible and lead her farther and farther down the dark path she’s on. The third person narrative brings the reader directly into Ella’s mind and helps bring all her emotional pain to life which is why I remained empathetic toward her for the most part.

The setting and world building are wonderfully written, and I loved the blend of Victorian era fantasy, gothic, and supernatural elements. Skillfully underlying this is the appalling conditions of the poor, particularly women, who had no rights, no protection, and more often than not, nowhere to turn. The ending, has left me conflicted, and a day after I finished, I haven’t decided whether I liked it or not. I don’t want to say anything more, except that it’s definitely NOT a happily-ever-after. There was some repetition and I think the narrative could have been tightened a little, but for the most part this stayed a page-turner for me from beginning to end.

The Shadow in the Glass is a beautifully told and memorable dark fairytale and Ella will stay in your mind for long time after you’ve finished. It includes a few themes that could be triggers for some readers, including: physical abuse, references to past rape and the possibility of future rape, abortion, and miscarriage. I highly recommend this to readers who enjoy dark fantasy, flawed characters, and don’t mind the inclusion of difficult themes. 

The Project, By Courtney Summers ~ 4.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Cults, Mystery, Physical Abuse, Suspense

Thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: February 2nd, 2020

352 Pages

Synopsis: “The Unity Project saved my life.”

Lo Denham is used to being on her own. After her parents died, Lo’s sister Bea, joined The Unity Project, leaving Lo in the care of their great aunt. Thanks to it’s extensive charity work and community outreach, The Unity Project has won the hearts and minds of  most in the upstate New York region, but Lo knows there’s more to the group than meets the eye. She’s spent the last six years of her life trying—and failing—to prove it.

“The Unity Project murdered my son.”

When a man shows up at the magazine Lo works for claiming The Unity Project killed his son, Lo sees the perfect opportunity to expose the group and reunite with Bea once and for all. When her investigation puts her in the direct path of its charismatic and mysterious leader, Lev Warren, he proposes a deal: if she can prove the worst of her suspicions about The Unity Project, she may expose them. If she can’t, she must finally leave them alone.

But as Lo delves deeper into The Project, the lives of its members, and spends more time with Lev, it upends everything she thought she knew about her sister, herself, cults, and the world around her—to the point she can no longer tell what’s real or true. Lo never thought she could afford to believe in Lev Warren…but now she doesn’t know if she can afford not to.

Welcome to The Unity Project.

The next pulls-no-punches thriller from New York Times bestselling and Edgar award winning author Courtney Summers about an aspiring young journalist determined to save her sister from a cult.

I loved Courtney Summer’s Sadie, so I was quite excited when I saw The Project on NetGalley, especially with that gorgeous cover! I’ve read a few books centered around cults, but this is the first time I could see why one like this would attract so many people. I spent the majority of the book second guessing as to whether The Project really was dangerous, or was its charismatic leader, Lev Warren, sincerely trying to use the trauma of his abusive childhood to help others. The question of whether The Project is a cult is played out through alternating chapters between Lo and Bea. Both sisters are very strong characters, yet each have unique vulnerabilities which make them very relatable. I was kept guessing until the last few chapters, and even then there were a couple of surprising twists.

Overall, while I don’t think The Project was quite as good as Sadie, it was a thought-provoking read, and I was still musing over the characters and various aspects of it two days after I read it. For me, that makes it a resounding success.

The God Game, by Danny Tobey ~ 5.0 Stars

Tags

Contemporary Fiction, Physical Abuse, Politics, Social Issues, Substance Abuse, Techno-Thrillers, Theology, YA Fiction

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: January 7th, 2020

496 Pages

Synopsis:

You are invited!

Come inside and play with G.O.D.

Bring your friends!

It’s fun!

But remember the rules. Win and ALL YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE. Lose, you die!

With those words, Charlie and his friends enter the G.O.D. Game, a video game run by underground hackers and controlled by a mysterious AI that believes it’s God. Through their phone screens and high-tech glasses, the teens’ realities blur with a virtual world of creeping vines, smoldering torches, runes, glyphs, gods, and mythical creatures. When they accomplish a mission the game rewards them with expensive tech, revenge on high-school tormentors, and cash flowing from ATMs. Slaying a hydra and drawing a bloody pentagram as payment to a Greek god seems fun at first. Harmless even.

But then the threatening messages start. “Worship me. Obey me.” Complete a mission, however cruel, or the game reveals their secrets and crushes their dreams. Tasks that seemed harmless at first take on deadly consequences. Mysterious packages show up at their homes. Shadowy figures start following them, appearing around corners, attacking them in parking garages. Who else is playing this game and how far will they go to win?

And what of the game’s first promise: win, win big, lose, you die. Dying in a virtual world doesn’t mean you die in real life—does it?

As Charlie and his friends try to find a way out of the game, they realize they’ve been manipulated into a bigger web they can’t escape: an AI that learned its cruelty from watching us. God is always watching, and He says when the game is done.

The God Game, first caught my eye because of many early reviews comparing it to Stranger Things and Ready Player One. I personally think it bears more a resemblance to the latter rather than the former, but comparisons don’t really matter because what this IS, is a high octane crazy thrill ride that I found impossible to put down. I’m not exaggerating. I started this after supper Sunday night and wound up staying awake until almost 3:00 a.m. I kept telling myself “just one more chapter,” but nope. That didn’t work out.

Often times with books that have so much action, character development falls by the wayside. Not here though. There are quite a few characters in this story and you get almost all of their perspectives. This makes it so much easier to become emotionally invested in them. Every single one of them have things going on in their lives that will draw on your empathy, even the bullies. There are quite a few social themes that could be triggers for some readers. These include: death of a parent, death of a sibling, physical abuse, substance abuse, and bullying. There are scenes that are very dark, but they’re not overwhelming. Instead it made me understand how a “game” like this could appeal to so many.

The plot is creative and despite previous books like Ready Player One, manages to stand completely on its own. As I said, the pacing is just NUTS, and if you get this when it comes out in January, good luck putting it down once you’ve started reading!

The God Game is an intriguing and frightening look at the proliferation of AI in our society. It also explores theology, sociology, and politics as seen through the eyes of teenagers. It has so many anxiety-inducing twists that the only thing I could be sure of is to expect the unexpected, especially at the end. There are a couple of things that aren’t fully explained, but these are so minor (plus, given the lateness of the hour, I might have just missed them), that I’m not taking any points off. With the advances in AI technology, I’m not even going to say this is science fiction. Rather, it falls under the sub-genre of techno-thriller, so if you’re a fan of that, I highly recommend this. And, although this technically falls under the heading of YA, don’t let that stop you. Some of the perspectives are told from the adults in the story, so I can see this having wide appeal for teens and adults. Now who do I talk to about making this into a movie?

Foul Is Fair (Foul Is Fair #1), by Hannah Capin ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Contemporary Fiction, Physical Abuse, Rape, Substance Abuse, Suspense, YA Fiction

Thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: February 4th, 2020

336 Pages

Synopsis: Elle and her friends Mads, Jenny and Summer rule their glittering LA circle. Untouchable, they have the kind of power other girls only dream of. Every party is theirs and the world is at their feet. Until the night of Elle’s sweet  sixteen, when they crash a St. Andrew’s Prep party. The night the golden boys choose Elle as their next victim.

They picked the wrong girl.

Sworn to vengeance, Elle transfers to St. Andrew’s. She plots to destroy each boy, one by one. She’ll take their power, their lives, and their control of the prep school’s hierarchy. She and her coven have the perfect way in: a boy named Mack, whose ambition could turn deadly.

Foul Is Fair is a bloody, thrilling revenge fantasy for the girls who have had enough. Golden boys beware: something wicked this way comes.

Obviously the synopsis for Foul Is Fair appealed to me because otherwise I wouldn’t have requested it, but I’m thrilled to say that this clever modernization of Macbeth surpassed my expectations!

You might surmise from the synopsis that this story could trigger some readers. Let me reaffirm that. Trigger warnings I’d include are: Gang rape, substance abuse, physical abuse and of course murder. The actual rape scene is seen through a series of flashbacks. It’s not graphic, but seen through Elle’s hazy memories (she was drugged), and her subsequent injuries, it’s obvious what happened, and it’ll make you want to take revenge yourself against those involved yourself. The murderous and bloody mayhem that ensues at the hands of Elle/Jade and her three friends/coven is not believable in any sense, especially when it’s clear that Elle’s parents and possibly a few other adults know at least some of what’s going on. But believability isn’t really the point of this tale. No, this is about a group of young men who have gotten away with raping countless girls who finally attacked the wrong one. Like Lady Macbeth, Elle isn’t even particularly likable, but I found myself rooting for her all the same.

Another thing I simply have to mention is the way Hannah Capin tells this. In a further nod to Shakespeare, this is almost poetic in style. This might turn off some readers, but I think it adds even more depth to the story. This is a suspense-filled quick read and I finished it in one sitting mainly because there was no way I was going to sleep until I got to the not-so-happy ending.

Foul Is Fair is a bloody, provocative revenge tale that’s perfect for the #MeToo era and lays waste to the adage “Revenge is a dish best served cold.” It doesn’t attempt to teach a life lesson but rather fills that fantasy that so many of us have whenever we read about someone not getting the justice they deserve because of their social circumstances among other things. Think Macbeth meets Kill Bill with a dash of Heathers. Due to the subject matter, violence and language, I’d say this is for ages 16 and up. Otherwise, I cannot recommend this highly enough!

 

 

Shivaree ~ By J.D. Horn – 4.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Incest, Korean War, Mississippi, Physical Abuse, Sexual Abuse, Southern Gothic, Vampires

I received this e-book from NetGalley and 47North in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis: As the Korean War ends, practical and well-mannered nurse Corinne Ford returns stateside to live in the Mississippi town of Conroy with her new fiance, Private First Class, Elijah Dunne. She wonders if their love is strong enough to overshadow their differences, but upon her arrival to Elijah’s backwoods stomping grounds, she understands that culture shock is the least of her worries.

After four good ol’ boys are attacked in the night whole seeking to terrorize a local black family, decades of buried secrets begin to rise. From Conroy’s most powerful citizen–known as the “Judge”–to the man Corinne intends to marry, no one is innocent. Yet the deepest secret of all involves the beautiful, cruel, and dead Miss Ruby. The former belle of Conroy and Elijah’ s lost love, is neither forgotten nor truly gone. But her death is only the beginning of a slow vengeance that won’t stop until it’s hunger is satisfied.

Southern Gothic:  “A style of writing practiced by many writers of the American South whose stories set in that region are characterized by grotesque, macabre, or fantastic incidents.”

~ Encyclopedia Britannica ~

I really enjoyed J.D. Horn’s Witching Savannah series so I was intrigued when Shivaree popped up on NetGalley. While this novel is much darker than his previous stories it’s Southern Gothic at its very best.

“Kudzu vine, rapacious and never sleeping, had nearly swallowed the old Cooper house whole.”

One thing I love about about J.D. Horn is the exquisite detail he puts into the description of his settings without taking anything away from the plot. You can feel the sultry air caressing your skin and smell the heady mix of smoke, and creosote emitted by the town’s paper mill, and hear that slow southern drawl when people speak. From the very first chapter you’re captivated by what seems to be your typical sleepy little southern town but it’s quickly revealed that underneath that deceptive exterior, Conroy is seething with racism, corruption, and other dark secrets that its townspeople would rather not see the light of day.

Poor Corinne unsuspectingly walks into this nest of vipers, expecting to settle down and start a family with the charming young man she met in Korea. Even without the supernatural evil doings going on, Corinne would never fit in with the residents of Conroy. She’s level-headed, outspoken and independent, and because of these attributes she’s met with suspicion and derision, particularly by Elijah’s mother. While Corinne attempts to get along with her future in-laws, she’s no pushover. She wants to love and support Elijah, and if it means butting heads with his family or even the sheriff, so be it.

Elijah comes across as an earnest, sweet country boy at first, but he’s hiding some pretty dark secrets from Corinne which makes him slightly less sympathetic. This doesn’t make him an unlikable character though. Just one that is a product of the time period and his environment. 

The main villain of the story is Ruby, who even before she’s turned into a vampire, is one nasty piece of work. Yet I found myself reluctantly feeling sorry for her at times. The daughter of the truly abhorrent Judge, she never really had a chance given her upbringing. 

As far as the rest of the characters, they’re all pretty despicable, and deserve what’s coming to them. The only exception is Lucille, the Judge’s maid, aka slave. Forced to send her two children away to protect them from not only the supernatural evil which has invaded the town, but also the local Klan, she’s forced to stay and wait hand and foot on the Judge, fearful of him sending his minions after her if she attempted to flee. She and Corinne make a dynamic duo in the end.

While the Korean War is the background for Corinne’s and Elijah’s romance, it does seem a little superfluous. It’s kind of thrown in there, but there’s no real apparent reason beyond setting the time period of the early 1950s and perhaps an explanation for Corinne’s feminism. I found myself wishing the author had used this to explore a little more the traumatic effects of war. Since the novel is under 300 pages maybe he just didn’t have the time to fit it in. Or, maybe I’m just being overly fussy. Sometime a story is just a story.

Shiveree touches on many issues including racism, physical and sexual abuse, incest, and bullying, yet it never gets bogged down by these weighty themes. The ending while satisfying, definitely leaves the door open for a possible sequel. If you like deeply conflicted characters and plots that slowly unveil their secrets like peeling back the layers of an onion, than I highly recommend this book.