Author: HCNewton Page 293 of 610

Down the TBR Hole (26 of 29+)

On April 15, 2021

My first thought when I saw the ten books on the chopping block today was, “Well, the List isn’t going to lose a lot of entries this week.” I think four or five of them came from the same list of “new PI novels to try” or something and all look too intriguing to cut (even if I figure I’m only going to really like half of them—I just don’t know which half).

But I didn’t expect these results.

This meme was created by Lia @ Lost in a Story—but Jenna at Bookmark Your Thoughts is the one that exposed me to this, and as my Goodreads “Want To Read” shelf is scarily long, I had to do this.

The Rules are simple:

Go to your Goodreads to-read shelf
Order on ascending date added.
Take the first 5 (or 10 if you’re feeling adventurous) books.
Read the synopses of the books.
Decide: keep it or should it go?
Keep track of where you left off so you can pick up there next week! (or whenever)

What distinguishes this series from the Mt. TBR section of my Month-end Retrospectives? Those are books I actually own while Goodreads contains my aspirational TBR (many of which will be Library reads). The Naming of the two is a bit confusing, but…what’re you going to do?

(Click on the cover for an official site or something with more info about the book)

	Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo Blurb: A woman who left her Amish community comes back to the area after many years away as Chief of Police. Soon, a murder pits her family and past against her duty. My Thoughts: Recommended by a friend, and while “Amish Mystery” doesn’t necessarily scream my style, she hasn’t led me wrong yet. Verdict:
	By Sea & Sky: An Esowon Story by Antoine Bandel My Thoughts: There’s some sort of magic and pirates inspired by “the West Indies, The Swahili Coast, and Arabia”, and some sort of airship. Magic pirates in the sky=a combination that I’ve got to try. Verdict:
	The Last Place You Look by Kristen Lepionka Blurb: An emotionally troubled PI is on the hunt for a murder victim who might actually be alive in order to save the man convicted of her murder. Verdict:
	Broken Places by Tracey Clark Blurb: “former Chicago cop turned private investigator looks into a suspicious death as a favor to a friend—and makes some powerful enemies.” Verdict:
	Last Looks by Howard Michael Gould Blurb: There’s a former LAPD detective living in solitude as some sort of penance for failure in a case. He’s brought back to LA by his former love to help an eccentric actor suspected of a murder My Thoughts: That’s a lousy 2 sentence summary, but the blurbs are too long for this space. I like the idea of the damaged cop back to try to navigate through the case, his personal baggage, and other problems. John Michael Higgins does the audiobook, and I am incredibly curious about him as a narrator. Not curious enough to buy it, but curious. I wonder if that says something abou the tone of the book, too. It may be unfair, but I don’t see Higgins doing a great job on a dead-serious crime novel. Verdict:
	What Doesn’t Kill You by Aimee Hix Blurb: “Willa Pennington thought that becoming a PI would be better than being a cop. She thought she’d never have to make another death notification or don a bulletproof vest again…But she couldn’t have been more wrong, because Willa’s real problem is that she’s always sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong…Now, agreeing to do a simple favor has netted her a dead body, a missing person, and an old friend who just may be a very bad guy. If whoever is trying to kill her would lay off she could solve the murder, find the missing girl, and figure out if the person she’s trusted with her life is the one trying to end it.” My Thoughts: I think it was the “becoming a PI would be better than being a cop. She thought she’d never have to make another death notification or don a bulletproof vest again” part of the blurb that gets the hooks in me. Because you know it’s going to go wrong, and with that as the baseline, it’s going to be very wrong. Verdict:
	Black and Blue in Harlem by Delia C. Pitts Blurb: “Rook came to Harlem to re-build a life. You hit bottom, the only way out is up, right? Nice home, nice job, nice girl. With a few breaks, a hard-luck private eye can land on his feet, even if his balance is still shaky. But now that cozy home has turned deadly. With his pal NYPD Detective Archie Lin working the case, Rook joins the investigation into the death of his neighbor. Nomie George was a gentle, unassuming city bureaucrat, with few friends and no apparent enemies. Minding her own business, following government rules, and hoarding her skimpy paycheck were Nomie’s chief pleasures. But a frosty fifteen-story plunge ended her life. Could her lonely death be a suicide? Or might a brutal murderer be on the loose?” My Thoughts: The premise of this makes this a slam dunk for me. But I see that it’s the third in a series. Reading it would probably bug me, so I’m going to give it the ax (and we’ll just ignore the fact that I’ve just added the first in the series to the list, because I need to cut something in this post). Verdict:
	*Random Sht Flying Through the Air by Jackson Ford Blurb: Teagan Frost, “psychokinetic operative” for the government seems to have her life about on track for the first time in ages, and then a “young boy with the ability to cause earthquakes has come to Los Angeles – home to the San Andreas, one of the most lethal fault lines in the world. If Teagan can’t stop him, the entire city – and the rest of California – could be wiped off the map.” My Thoughts: I thought the first Teagan Frost book was a blast and have been looking forward to digging into this one. Not sure why I haven’t. With book 3 coming out at the end of this month, I’d best get to it. Verdict**:
	Half a World Away by Mike Gayle Blurb: When they were children, siblings Kerry and Noah, ended up in the UK equivalent of the foster system, and ended up in very different places as adults. Kerry cleans homes and barely makes ends meet. Noah is a very successful barrister. When they reconnect, everything changes. My Thoughts: Years ago, I tore through my local library system’s collection of Gayle books in a few weeks and couldn’t find any more. I’m not sure why I stopped looking. I saw a reference to this somewhere last year and it brought back a lot of good memories, I need to start reading Gayle again and I might as well start with this. Verdict:
	Just Like You by Nick Hornby Blurb: Lucy is “a nearly divorced, forty-one-year-old schoolteacher with two school-aged sons, and there is no script anymore. So when she meets Joseph, she isn’t exactly looking for love—she’s more in the market for a babysitter. Joseph is twenty-two, living at home with his mother, and working several jobs, including the butcher counter where he and Lucy meet. It’s not a match anyone could have predicted. He’s of a different class, a different culture, and a different generation. But sometimes it turns out that the person who can make you happiest is the one you least expect, though it can take some maneuvering to see it through.” My Thoughts: It’s Hornby. The only reason I didn’t read it last fall (and probably have it on a best-of 2020 list) is that it fell victim to that time and money crunch that was my unexpected move. Verdict:

Books Removed in this Post: 1 / 10
Total Books Removed: 144 / 290

Anyone out there read any of these books? Did I make the right call with any of them?

(Image by moritz320 from Pixabay)

Blood and Treasure by Bob Drury, Tom Clavin: A Look at Dream Come Truers

By HCNewton

On April 15, 2021

In History, Non-Fiction

Blood and Treasure: Daniel Boone and the
Fight for America’s
First Frontier

by Bob Drury, Tom Clavin

eArc, 400 pg.
St. Martin’s Press, 2021

Read: April 5-14, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

What’s Blood and Treasure About?

It’s pretty much in the subtitle—this book is about 2 things—Daniel Boone and the fight (literal and metaphoric) for America’s first Frontier—with a focus on what we now know as Kentucky, but pretty much everything on the Western edge of the American colonies/states.

It’s not a biography of Boone (I’ll tell you now, I wrongly expected this to be more of one), it’s more like he’s the organizing principle for the book, as we learn about Boone’s roots, early life, and adulthood the authors talk about the conflicts with the Indians on the edge of white civilization’s expanse. We’d get a chunk of a wide-view of history over a period, and then we’d focus on Boone’s life around that time. Then the focus would widen a bit and we’d look at another period of time—and so on.

Two significant ingredients in “the Fight” for the Frontier were what’s called The French and Indian War and the American Revolution. There’s the French and Indian War (and conflicts that led up to it and sprang from it) to begin with, paved the way for the latter conflicts—we see the pressure put on various tribes from the expansion of settlers, the resistance those settlers faced (from shifting alliances of Indians between themselves, and varying alliances between Western powers and the Indians).

As for the Revolution—while most histories/documentaries/etc. about it will acknowledge the fighting in the South and West, few take any time to focus on it. Instead, we casual history readers just get repeated retellings of the stuff we learned in elementary school—Washington*, the Continent Army, Benedict Arnold, Nathan Hale, the Green Mountain Boys, and whatnot—and whatever expansions on some of those topics that Hamilton has taught us in the last few years. This book is a great corrective to that showing how the Indians were largely pawns for the British to use against the colonies, to distract from the larger skirmishes as well as to try to open up another front on the war—another way to steal power and influence from the colonies. You see very clearly how easily the entire War could’ve changed if not for a couple of significant losses suffered by the British and their Indian allies.

* Washington is also featured pretty heavily in the earlier chapters, too—even if he maybe only briefly met Boone on one occasion.

Language Choices

I know this sort of this is pretty customary, but I really appreciated the Note to Readers explaining the authors’ language choices—starting with the tribal designations they used—the standard versions accepted today (there are enough various entities mentioned throughout that if they’d gone with contemporary names and spellings, I—and most readers—would’ve been very confused).

At the same time, they did preserve the varied and non-standard spellings for just about everything else. For example, there were at least three variant spellings for Kentucky: Cantucky, Kanta-ke, and Kentucki (I think there was one more, but I can’t find it).

I was a little surprised that they stuck with the term “Indian” as much as they did—but their explanation for it seemed likely and understandable.

An Image Shattered—or maybe just Corrected

Yes, I know that the Fess Parker TV show I saw after school in syndication was only very loosely based in reality. And that the handful of MG-targeted biographies I read several times around the same time were sanitized and very partial. Still, those are the images and notions about Boone that have filled my mind for decades. So reading all the ways they were wrong and/or incomplete threw me more than I’m comfortable with.

His appearance was particularly jarring—the actual Boone eschewed coonskin caps because they were flat-topped and preferred a high-crowned felt hat to look taller. THat’s wrong on so many levels. “Tall as a mountain was he” is about as far from the truth as you can get.

The fact that he spent most of his life bouncing between comfort and/or wealth and massive debt is both a commentary on his strengths and weaknesses as it is the volatile times he lived in—he lost so much thanks to colonial governments being mercurial. It was reassuring to see the repeated insistence that he was an honest man, who worked to repay his debts even if it took too long.

In the end, Boone seemed to be a good guy trying his best to get by and provide for his family—who accidentally stepped into some degree of celebrity, that magnified some good qualities and replaced the man with a legend.

So, what did I think about Blood and Treasure?

The writing itself? There are moments that were fantastic. On the whole…., but from time to time, when Drury and Clavin wanted to drive an image or description home, they could be stunning. I would have preferred things to be a bit more even—a bit more balanced and consistent on that front. But the topic and scope didn’t really allow for that. So I’ll just enjoy those moments of it that I got.

As for the book as a whole? It was impressive, entertaining (generally), and informative. When it was at its best, it didn’t feel like reading dry history but a compelling look at that portion of US History. At its worst, it was a litany of names, dates, and ideas that didn’t do much for me. Thankfully, those moments were few and far between. It’s not a difficult read at any point, just pretty dry on occasion.

There are so many other things I’d like to have mentioned or discussed—but it would make this post unwieldy. The notes about hunting (both the good and the horrible), Boone’s heroics, his character, and family; various aspects of the Indian customs discussed and so much. There’s just so much in this book to chew on that I can’t sum it up.

I liked this—I liked it enough to look at a few other books by this duo to see what they can do with other topics, people, and eras. I think anyone with a modicum of interest in Boone will enjoy this and be glad for the experience.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley in exchange for this post—thanks to both for this.

3.5 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

The Lore of Prometheus by Graham Austin-King: Don’t Make Him Angry. You Won’t Like Him When He’s Angry

By HCNewton

On April 14, 2021

In Book Tour, Fiction, Urban Fantasy

The Lore of Prometheus

by Graham Austin-King

Kindle Edition, 287 pg.
Fallen Leaf Press, 2018

Read: April 9-12, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

What’s The Lore of Prometheus About?

Not that long ago John Carver was in Kabul as part of a Special Reconnaissance Regiment squad. As is too often is the case, a mission went awry and Carver watched his comrades die in front of him—he alone survived due to circumstances he could not explain.

As the book opens, he’s in London and isn’t dealing with his PTSD in any constructive or healthy way. Again, as is too often the case, he’s trying to numb himself with alcohol, gambling, and other self-destructive acts. Like taking out a significant short-term loan from a loan shark. The loan needs to be repaid soon, and there’s no way that Carver can do that.

He may be self-destructive, but there are limits. So he cashes in a favor and gets a job for a private security firm. His first assignment is to return to Kabul and train a government official’s security team. The last place he wants to go is where he’s known as “The Miracle of Kabul.” But it’s that or meeting a very painful end in London.

Carver doesn’t want to think of the incident—and will put in the effort to distance himself from it. But there’s a group more determined to find out exactly what happened. They’re well-funded, organized, and single-minded. They want to be able to explain people like Carver and the abilities they seem to have—and will take extreme measures to find that explanation and hopefully replicate those abilities.

Reality Check

The early chapters have Carver in London and then in Kabul. Those chapters have a gritty realism that I’m not used to in Urban Fantasy. In terms of setting, atmosphere, and characters—it’s like they stepped off the pages of a top-notch military thriller. More than once I had to ask myself, “We’re getting to the fantasy elements, right? Did I forget the blurb—this is fantasy, isn’t it?”

And sure, at a certain point, there’s no question—this is a Fantasy novel. But up until that right turn into Fantasy, Austin-King could’ve turned left and given us a perfectly serviceable (possibly very good) thriller full of true-to-life details.

You don’t see that very often and I wish I did.

Embracing the Ambiguity

I took several Creative Writing courses and workshops in college, in the decades since I’ve forgotten almost everything that my instructors or fellow students said about my workshopped pieces. But some of those comments I’ll carry until I’ve run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible. One of those concerned a supernatural event in one of my stories, a student (who was 50x the writer I was) argued that I should leave it ambiguous as to what happened, let the audience decide what the nature of the event was—it would be more effective. I saw his point about that scene, but the story hinged on that being a supernatural event—the rest was meaningless if that scene had a naturalistic explanation.

That came to mind as I was thinking about part of what Carver experiences. To keep it as vague as possible, we know that he can do certain things and that other characters can do other inexplicable things. But there are some things that could be an expression of his PTSD or could be paranormal in origin. It is far more effective, like the man in my workshop would say, that we don’t know what’s going on there. The scenes in question are very different depending on how you interpret those experiences. And I’ve enjoyed debating the interpretation with myself, I imagine I’m not alone.

Along those same lines, there are a couple of explanations given for the rest of what Carver (and just about everyone else) experiences—magic or “fringe” science thing worthy of Walter Bishop (and the door is open to other explanations, too, I think). Not only does Austin-King not give us an answer, he really doesn’t even explore the idea, debate the issue, or anything. It’s almost as if the text doesn’t care—it certainly doesn’t matter for what we need to know. That’s the way to do it.

I’m certainly not saying that McGuire, Hearne, Butcher et. al are wrong to say “magic” or that those like Jackson Ford who have a more science-y take on it are making a misstep—like me, their stories depend on a certain take on the idea. The Lore of Prometheus on the other hand shines in the lack of certainty.

Why I Almost DNFed This

There was a significant portion of this book that focused on people other than Carver and those in his immediate sphere of influence.

The theory embraced by those who are trying to understand his abilities is that those abilities are first and most easily manifested at emotional extremes, at the point of exhaustion where the subject’s mental barriers are most likely at their weakest. We’ve all seen things like this in various guises. To get the subjects to that point, they’re isolated, caged, only given the barest essential food and drink—essentially tortured.

And there’s a lot of that depicted. And not only did I not enjoy those portions of the novel, they just about drove me to stop reading. If I’d bought the book or checked it out of the library, I probably would have. But I’d agreed to this post, and that only comes through reading the book.

The first several chapters were fine, the last few chapters were better than fine. But I’m just not sure about that large middle section. Act II, if you will*. Was Act III worth working through that? I’ve had at least five answers to that in mind as I wrote this post. I think I’m going to leave the question unanswered. Some readers will think Act III pays off well enough to justify the second act. Others will absolutely disagree. Others will think I’m over-reacting and Act II isn’t that bad.

* I’m not entirely certain that this fits the three-act structure, but let’s use that for the sake of argument, okay?

As for me? It surely might have been worth pushing through. But I just don’t know.

So, what did I think about The Lore of Prometheus?

Well, I’m just not sure.

Can I see where a lot of people would like the novel and Austin-King’s writing? Absolutely. I’ve talked about some of the reasons for that above. Can I see where people wouldn’t enjoy the novel? Absolutely. But I’ve spent most of a week trying to decide what I think of the novel and I’m not sure. I’m probably going to spend a few more days wrestling with that. Maybe the fact that I’m spending this much time on the question rather than just shrugging it off and moving on says more than a definitive answer reached immediately after finishing.

It’s an interesting premise, well-executed, with compelling characters, gripping action, and a very satisfying ending. I’m sure of that. I’m confident most readers will see that. I’m just not sure what I think about the novel as a whole. If you find this intriguing, you should give it a chance.

I received this book from the BBNYA tours organized by the @The_WriteReads tours team, and thank them for the opportunity. As always, all opinions are my own.

BBNYA is a yearly competition where book bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors.

If you are an author and wish to learn more about the 2021 BBNYA competition, you can visit the official website (https://www.bbnya.com/) or our Twitter account, @BBNYA_Official. If you would like to sign-up and enter your book, you can find the BBNYA 2021 AUTHOR SIGN UP FORM HERE. Please make sure to carefully read our terms and conditions before entering.

If you are a book blogger or reviewer, you can apply to be part of BBNYA 2021 by filling out this form (also remember to read the terms and conditions before signing up)!

BBNYA is brought to you in association with the Folio Society (If you love beautiful books you NEED to check out their website!) And the book blogger support group TheWriteReads.

BOOK SPOTLIGHT: The Lore of Prometheus by Graham Austin-King

By HCNewton

On April 14, 2021

In Book Tour, Fiction, Urban Fantasy

I’m very pleased today to welcome The Blog Tour for the winner of the inaugural Book Bloggers’ Novel of the Year Award. The Lore of Prometheus by Graham Austin-King. This Tour Stop consists in this little spotlight post and then my take on the novel coming along in a bit. Let’s start by learning a little about this novel, okay?

Book Details:

Book Title: The Lore of Prometheus by Graham Austin-King
Publisher: Fallen Leaf Press
Release date: December 9, 2018
Format: Ebook/Paperback/Audiobook
Length: 320 pages

Book Blurb:

John Carver has three rules: Don’t drink in the daytime, don’t gamble when the luck has gone, and don’t talk to the dead people who come to visit.

It has been almost five years since the incident in Kabul. Since the magic stirred within him and the stories began. Fleeing the army, running from the whispers, the guilt, and the fear he was losing his mind, Carver fell into addiction, dragging himself through life one day at a time.

Desperation has pulled him back to Afghanistan, back to the heat, the dust, and the truth he worked so hard to avoid. But there are others, obsessed with power and forbidden magics, who will stop at nothing to learn the truth of his gifts. Abducted and chained, Carver must break more than his own rules if he is to harness this power and survive

About the Author:

Graham Austin-King was born in the south of England and weaned on broken swords and half-forgotten spells.

A shortage of these forced him to consume fantasy novels at an ever-increasing rate, turning to computers and tabletop gaming between meals.

He experimented with writing at the beginning of an education that meandered through journalism, international relations, and law. To this day he is committed to never allowing those first efforts to reach public eyes.

After spending a decade in Canada learning what ‘cold’ really means, and being horrified by poutine, he settled once again in the UK with a seemingly endless horde of children.

To date he is the author of five novels, drawing on a foundation of literary influences ranging from David Eddings to Clive Barker.

Website ~ Twitter

I received this book from the BBNYA tours organized by the @The_WriteReads tours team, and thank them for the opportunity. As always, all opinions are my own.

BBNYA is a yearly competition where book bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors.

If you are an author and wish to learn more about the 2021 BBNYA competition, you can visit the official website (https://www.bbnya.com/) or our Twitter account, @BBNYA_Official. If you would like to sign-up and enter your book, you can find the BBNYA 2021 AUTHOR SIGN UP FORM HERE. Please make sure to carefully read our terms and conditions before entering.

If you are a book blogger or reviewer, you can apply to be part of BBNYA 2021 by filling out this form (also remember to read the terms and conditions before signing up)!

BBNYA is brought to you in association with the Folio Society (If you love beautiful books you NEED to check out their website!) And the book blogger support group TheWriteReads.

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Book Titles That Sound Like They Could Be Crayola Crayon Colors

By HCNewton

On April 13, 2021

In News/Misc.

The topic for this week’s Top Ten Tuesdays is Book Titles That Sound Like They Could Be Crayola Crayon Colors.

It’s been 11 months since I’ve done one of these (for no real reason), but this topic was so…strange that I had to try it. I’d like to say that I could describe what these particular crayons would look like, but if I could describe subtle nuances of color, I’d be writing things for book blogs to talk about, not writing about books for my blog. I got some input from my daughter, but I probably should’ve asked for more, this is her area.

Book Titles That Sound Like They Could Be Crayola Crayon Colors
(in no order whatsoever)

	White Noise by Don DeLillo I’m thinking this is a white with little specks of gray/black, like a TV tuned to a dead channel (for those who are of a certain age), or maybe Cookies and Cream ice cream. A fitting visual depiction of the variety of external stimuli and odd notions that combine into the titular white noise.
	Bloody Rose by Nicholas Eames Maybe this is too on-the-nose, but I’m thinking the deepest, darkest red—almost black. Like if you took a red rose and super-saturated it with, well, blood. I haven’t read it yet (don’t ask me why, I don’t have a good reason), but I’m thinking that Rose spends a good deal of time pretty saturated with blood.
	The Salmon of Doubt by Douglas Adams So salmon is sort of a pinkish-orange, right? So start with that and then add a little gray for doubt. Which, I guess sounds like fish that’s been left in the fridge for too long and you no longer want to cook with it. A pretty unappealing idea, but that’s a fairly specific color. An odd enough idea, that it might appeal to Dirk Gently, the protagonist of the incomplete novel that lends its title to the book.
	Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire It’s right there in the name, isn’t it? Green Grass Fields. Don’t think I could improve on it. (well, maybe the mixers at Crayola could figure out how to add a dew-like glisten, I think that’d be a nice touch).
	Jade City by Fonda Lee What would concrete made with jade as the aggregate look like? That’s what comes to mind here. That’s not what the novel makes you think of at all, but it fits for a crayon, I think.
	Woad to Wuin by Peter David Obviously, you start with a good blue woad (yeah, that’s a tautology, shhh). But then the wuin, sorry, ruin brings up ideas of browns or grays. Leaving me with a muddy blue, I guess. It’s been a couple of decades, but I believe that’s a decent description of ol’ Apropos of Nothing: muddy blue.
	Domestic Violets by Matthew Norman I’m thinking this is a nice, comfortable violet. Which is not really in the spirit of the book, but it fits the name.
	Lethal White by Robert Galbraith Part of me wanted to try to look up the description of the horse that described this way in the book, but as anyone who’s read it knows, that’s just too much effort for a jokey post. So instead, I’m leaning toward a white. A bright, intense, burn-your-retina white. Except safe for kids and their crayons.
	Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye Steel-gray is your base, but I was stuck after that. My daughter offered, “The color you’re missing from Jane Steele is a red. Idk why but Jane makes me think of some sort of red.” I don’t get a red off of Jane (maybe because there’s no way that “plain Jane Eyre” would go for red). But, Jane Steele is a murderer, I remembered. Nothing says murderer like red (except, I guess, a fancy prose style).
	Burning Chrome by William Gibson A gleaming, bright orange chrome is what my minds-eye conjures up here. Shiny and bright (and hot), like most of the stories in that book.

Saturday Miscellany—4/10/21

By HCNewton

On April 10, 2021

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

Spring is on the verge of springing here and the birds are chirping like crazy and one of the canines in residence really wants to go out and play with them (sadly, they have no desire to play with her). Hope the pollen isn’t getting to you all too much.

Short list this week—I’ve clearly been busy this week (not that you can prove it from my posting)—but there are some gems.

Odds n ends about books and reading that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
bullet The Joy and Privilege of Growing Up in an Indie Bookstore
bullet I Work in a Bookstore. Why Am I Still Shelving “Mein Kampf”?—I don’t think Abdalla convinced me here, but I almost wish she did.
bullet The Best Spy Novels Written by Spies, According to a Spy—I’m tempted to take the next two weeks off from everything and read this list.
bullet Why Murder Mysteries Are a Lot Like Science, According to a Neuroscientist and Novelist—I didn’t set out to post two pieces by Erik Hoel (someone is clearly trying to promote his new book), but I liked them both—and this isn’t anything like his growing up in a bookstore, so it’s not redundant.
bullet The Myth of Accurate Representation – Neurodivergence in Fiction—this is good.
bullet Dragonlance Week: A Celebration—This week, Witty and Sarcastic Book Club took a break from working in Dragonlance references to 63.2% of their posts and devoted an entire week to focusing on the series. It kicked off with that piece, but you can find them all here. This series is second only to Lloyd Alexander in making me a fantasy reader, nice to read all these pieces and remember why.

This Week's New Releases That I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet Animal Instinct by David Rosenfelt—The second book in the Andy Carpenter spin-off series is another solid read. I talked about it a bit recently.

Lastly I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to deardailydiary81, Operation X, Siddharth menon, Hannah , and Ccoutreach who followed the blog this week. Don’t be a stranger, and use that comment box, would you?

The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding: BOOK XVIII., viii. – xi.

By HCNewton

On April 9, 2021

In Fiction, Fridays with The Foundling, General Fiction/Literature

Fridays with the Foundling
Last week we learned everything except who killed JR and what is the Colonel’s secret blend of herbs and spices. This week we see what happens after the beans are spilled (and learn a thing or two in addition).

Mrs. Waters has one more bit of commendation for Tom, telling Allworthy:

…it was then I accidentally met with Mr Jones, who rescued me from the hands of a villain. Indeed, he is the worthiest of men. No young gentleman of his age is, I believe, freer from vice, and few have the twentieth part of his virtues; nay, whatever vices he hath had, I am firmly persuaded he hath now taken a resolution to abandon them.

The attorney, Mr. Downey comes along at this point and Allwrothy gets him to spill the beans—why did he approach Mrs. Waters, who put him up to that, who put him up to getting the support of witnesses for the prosecution. He even gets Downey to admit that he knew Tom was Allworthy’s nephew, he’d told Blifil and had given Blifil a letter from his mother to Allworthy about it. Not surprisingly, Blifil neglected to pass along the messages. Which pretty much seals both of their fates in Allworthy’s eyes.

Western pops in, beside himself about this letter he’s found from Tom to Sophia—the most recent one. He wants these shenanigans finished and has locked her up again. Allworthy talks him down from that, promising to go talk to Sophia that day.

Mrs. Miller’s worried about what horrible things Mrs. Waters told Allworthy, and tries to defend Tom. Instead, Allworthy tells her what he’s been learning, closing with

O! Mrs Miller, you have a thousand times heard me call the young man to whom you are so faithful a friend, my son. Little did I then think he was indeed related to me at all.—Your friend, madam, is my nephew; he is the brother of that wicked viper which I have so long nourished in my bosom….Indeed, Mrs Miller, I am convinced that he hath been wronged, and that I have been abused; abused by one whom you too justly suspected of being a villain. He is, in truth, the worst of villains.

As he leaves to go talk to Sophia, Allworthy says something to his younger nephew about the letter from his mother, leaving “Blifil in a situation to be envied only by a man who is just going to be hanged.” While on the road, Allworthy reads the letter from Jones to Sophia, starts to understand what Tom feels about her, and gets choked up by some of what he reads about himself from Tom’s hand.

When he talks to Sophia, he spends a lot of time showing her that he’s on her side when it comes to Blifil.

I heartily congratulate you on your prudent foresight, since by so justifiable a resistance you have avoided misery indeed!

The scales are truly fallen from his eyes.

If I had married Mr Blifil—” “Pardon my interrupting you, madam,” answered Allworthy, “but I cannot bear the supposition.—Believe me, Miss Western, I rejoice from my heart, I rejoice in your escape.—I have discovered the wretch for whom you have suffered all this cruel violence from your father to be a villain.” “How, sir!” cries Sophia—“you must believe this surprizes me.”—“It hath surprized me, madam,” answered Allworthy, “and so it will the world.

This is so fun to watch Allwrothy catch up with the reader and narrator on this front.

Allworthy then goes on to try to convince Sophia to give Tom another chance—and tells her everything he learned about him that day. Sophia remains unmoved, however. I mean really unmoved.

At present there is not a man upon earth whom I would more resolutely reject than Mr Jones; nor would the addresses of Mr Blifil himself be less agreeable to me.

Things look dire for the two of them.

Squire Western, on the other hand, has a complete change of heart regarding Tom. He’s 100% Team Tom now.

After Allworthy gets back to Mrs. Miller’s, he sees that Tom is, too, and they meet again.

It is impossible to conceive a more tender or moving scene than the meeting between the uncle and nephew (for Mrs Waters, as the reader may well suppose, had at her last visit discovered to him the secret of his birth). The first agonies of joy which were felt on both sides are indeed beyond my power to describe: I shall not therefore attempt it.

A lot of flowery language flows between the two as they apologize to each other and take all the responsibility and blame for their recent problems on themselves.

Mrs. Miller tells Tom how she tried to explain things to Sophia who would not listen. Western comes in, assures Tom he’s very supportive of him now, all is good between the two of them.

The conversation which now ensued was pleasant enough; and with which, had it happened earlier in our history, we would have entertained our reader; but as we have now leisure only to attend to what is very material, it shall suffice to say that matters being entirely adjusted as to the afternoon visit Mr Western again returned home.

If that’s not enough, we get to learn the details of Tom’s release. Fitzgerald realizes that he was completely in the wrong about Tom and seeks to make amends, and gets Lord Fellamar on board, he wants to make things up to Tom, too!

Things continue to not go well for Tom’s younger brother:

…a message was brought from Mr Blifil, desiring to know if his uncle was at leisure that he might wait upon him. Allworthy started and turned pale, and then in a more passionate tone than I believe he had ever used before, bid the servant tell Blifil he knew him not. “Consider, dear sir,” cries Jones, in a trembling voice. “I have considered,” answered Allworthy, “and you yourself shall carry my message to the villain. No one can carry him the sentence of his own ruin so properly as the man whose ruin he hath so villanously contrived.” “Pardon me, dear sir,” said Jones; “a moment’s reflection will, I am sure, convince you of the contrary. What might perhaps be but justice from another tongue, would from mine be insult; and to whom?—my own brother and your nephew. Nor did he use me so barbarously—indeed, that would have been more inexcusable than anything he hath done.

Tom not only melts his Uncle’s heart with these words but lives up to them.

He goes to see his brother who is despondent—not that he’s treated Allworthy and Tom so poorly, but that it’s all falling apart. Tom encourages him that he’ll try to work things out with Allworthy, but in the meantime, Blifil needs to get his act together and take this like a man. Tom promises to treat him as a brother and to try to let bygones be bygones.

That’s a lot of stuff for four chapters of this book—and I didn’t get as detailed as I was tempted to. It doesn’t have the style (outside of a sentence or two scattered throughout) as the rest of the novel, but man, it’s fun to read now that everything is coming to light.

Next week, we finish the novel. I’m not sure how I’m going to be able to wrap things up, but I have a pretty good idea how Fielding will. Guess we’ll see.

The Friday 56 for 4/9/21: Cross Her Heart by Melinda Leigh

By HCNewton

On April 9, 2021

In Currently Reading, News/Misc., Quotations, The Friday 56

This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
Find a snippet, short and sweet.
Post it

from page 56 of:
Cross Her Heart

Cross Her Heart by Melinda Leigh

It felt like time was speeding up, moving too quickly, out of her control.

An African American woman in clean black scrubs moved out from behind the desk. “I’m Dr. Serena Jones. I took care of your sister.”

Matt did the introductions, but Bree’s hearing sounded muffled, Dr. Jones turned to face her. “You can see your sister on a monitor—”

“No.” Bree cut her off.

“I didn’t think you’d take that option, so I had your sister moved to a private room,” Dr. Jones said as if Erin were her patient instead of a corpse. “This way.”

The sense of impending doom grew heavier with each footstep down the tiled hallway. Bree kept her eyes on the back of Dr. Jones’s shirt. They went into a small room. In the center of the space, a sheet-covered body occupied a gurney. Dr. Jones walked around to the opposite side of the gurney and faced Bree over her sister’s body. Matt stayed at Bree’s side.

The doctor waited until Bree lifted her eyes to hers and nodded.

Cross Her Heart by Melinda Leigh: A Fast, Addictive Introduction to a New Series

By HCNewton

On April 9, 2021

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Cross Her Heart

by Melinda Leigh
Series: Bree Taggert, #1

Hardcover, 319 pg.
Montlake, 2020

Read: April 5-6, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

What’s Cross Her Heart About?

Bree Taggert is a homicide detective in Philadelphia. She’s successful enough, has a great partner, and is able to generally keep her personal demons in their place.

And she has more demons than most—her abusive father killed her mother and then himself with Bree and her two siblings nearby. She was raised by a demanding aunt while her brother and sister were raised by their grandparents, who couldn’t handle their older sibling.

Then Bree’s sister, Erin, is murdered. Erin’s estranged husband, Justin, is the prime suspect and is missing. Erin’s body was discovered by Matt, Justing’s friend. Before a shooting left him unable to work, he’d been a detective and a K-9 officer for the local sheriff’s office. He’s not in law enforcement anymore, but he still has the experience—his knowledge of Justin and his experience tell him that Justin’s innocent. He just needs to prove it.

Recent events have left the department without a sheriff, and while the Chief Deputy seems to be a good cop, he’s not much of an investigator—recognizing this, he’s willing to work with Erin and Matt, assuming they share information with him. He knows he won’t stop them from looking into things, so he might as well profit from it.

Bree wants someone to pay for the murder, so does Matt, but he wants his friend to be safe, too. The question is—will both of them be able to achieve their goals?

Fastest Way to Make Me a Fan…

…is to include a dog. More and more I find myself a sucker for a strong canine presence, and Leigh delivers one here. On top of an already compelling read, that’s just icing on the cake.

As I said, Matt was a K-9 officer before his shooting. His dog, Brody, left the department with him. Brody’s a steady presence throughout the novel—Matt has to leave him home (or with Erin’s niece) frequently, but he’s still around, helping. Matt’s sister runs a rescue shelter, too, and so there are plenty of dogs around.

They’re all depicted as helpful—both for in the hunt for Justin and the killer, but also in helping Erin’s kids cope with their mother’s death and some of the other things going on around them. This is done in just the way I’d like to read it.

The Pilot Episode

Even if I didn’t know that there were three books in this series already (and, I assume, more on the way), I’d have known more Bree Taggert books were intended to follow this. The title/subtitle might as well have been “The Pilot Episode.” Sure, the emphasis of this novel is finding the murderer and possibly clearing Erin’s estranged husband, but it’s also about setting up the series.

This is not necessarily a bad thing, really. I’m just describing things.

Story beat after story beat you could just feel “oh, this is happening to establish this character/idea/etc. so we can revisit it later/in every book” or “this is going to play out for a while” or “this is how this relationship is going to be set up.” It eliminates a bit of suspense from the book, but just a bit. And there’s always the chance the reader’s wrong about thinking something/someone is safe.

Fool Me Once

Early on—partially due to the pilot-y nature of the book, partially due to the way Leigh started the book, partially due to hubris—I was convinced I knew all the major plot points, how they’d be resolved, how the reveals would happen, who the killer was, what the ramifications of various events would be and what new status quo would be set up for the series.

And for most of the book, I was either right or I gathered more evidence for my ideas. The key word is “most.” I’m not going to say exactly when Leigh started proving me wrong, but it was somewhere in the last quarter of the book. Boy howdy, was I wrong. At least about the two or three most significant storylines—overall, I think I’d give myself a B for predictions. But the things I was wrong about? I was very, very wrong about them.

I love that. She didn’t cheat—everything was right there for the reader to pick up and interpret the clues as they should be interpreted, but Leigh did it in such a way that you’d think I’d never read a mystery novel before.

So, she got me this time-I’ll watch for her next time.

So, what did I think about Cross Her Heart?

So, if I was so confident I knew what was going to happen, why did I keep reading? Because something about the way Leigh wrote this kept me from stopping. I can’t point to any one thing (or handful), but this book got its hooks in me and wouldn’t let go. I’d planned on reading a chapter or three just to dip my toes in the water one night—and ended up reading just shy of 100 pages! I gave serious consideration to just bailing on sleep until I finished, too.

While a good hook, an original idea/take on an idea, or a type of character no one’s thought of before are great to get you into a book. It’s the execution of an idea that keeps you reading (and coming back for more). And Cross Her Heart is well-executed. I’d like to be able to point out one or three things she’s doing that makes it work so well, but I can’t. She’s got some sort of alchemy going on here, and I just couldn’t stop reading.

I like this world that she’s established, and see a lot of promise for this kind of series with these characters and this setting*. I’m in for at least the next two books—give this a shot and I think you’ll be sticking around for more too.

* I didn’t have time or space to get into the way that Leigh weaves the personal and family stories into the mystery, but I really appreciated that too, and think it’ll be a strength of future books. Hopefully, I can address it more fully soon.

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

WWW Wednesday, April 7, 2021

By HCNewton

On April 7, 2021

In Books, Currently Reading, News/Misc., WWW Wednesday

I may be having a hard time finishing a book post lately, but that’s not for lack of material—my reading is going full-steam ahead, so at least I can do a WWW Wednesday.

This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words—and shown to me by Aurore-Anne-Chehoke at Diary-of-a-black-city-girl.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Easy enough, right?

What are you currently reading?

This is one of those odd times where I’m doing a couple of books at once—I’m reading Blood and Treasure: Daniel Boone and the Fight for America’s First Frontier by Bob Drury & Tom Clavin, Cross Her Heart by Melinda Leigh, and am listening to Slow Horses by Mick Herron, Gerard Doyle (Narrator) on audiobook (which is so good, I’m wondering why I didn’t move on to the rest of the series after I read it a couple of years ago).

Blank Space

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished Kate Sheeran Swed’s Prodigal Storm (I can’t believe I misspelled that title last week) and No Country for Old Gnomes by Delilah S. Dawson & Kevin Hearne, Luke Daniels (Narrator) on audio.

Blank Space

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be The Art of Violence by S. J. Rozan—I should have read this last fall, and can’t wait to finally get to it—and Next to Last Stand by Craig Johnson, George Guidall (Narrator) on audiobook.

Blank Space

What about you—reading anything good?

Author: HCNewton Page 293 of 610

Books Removed in this Post: 1 / 10 Total Books Removed: 144 / 290

What’s Blood and Treasure About?

Language Choices

An Image Shattered—or maybe just Corrected

So, what did I think about Blood and Treasure?

What’s The Lore of Prometheus About?

Reality Check

Embracing the Ambiguity

Why I Almost DNFed This

So, what did I think about The Lore of Prometheus?

Book Details:

Book Blurb:

About the Author:

What’s Cross Her Heart About?

Fastest Way to Make Me a Fan…

The Pilot Episode

Fool Me Once

So, what did I think about Cross Her Heart?

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

Books Removed in this Post: 1 / 10
Total Books Removed: 144 / 290