A Girl Walks Into a Bookstore...

Hardcover? Or paperback? Illustrations? Or just text? First editions? Or you don’t care? Signed by the author? Or not? Lately, of the books I’ve bought, I’ve bought them in paperback—unless I really, really love the author, in which case I’ll buy in hardcover. Illustrations are OK as long as they add meaning to the text. First editions are nice, but I don’t own any of those. I also like signed books, but again, I don’t own many.

The Heretic Queen is Michelle Moran’s follow-up novel to Nefertiti . Fifteen years after Nefertiti leaves off, Nefertari, daughter to Mutnodjmet, has a hard legacy to live down: she’s the neice of Nefertiti and Akhenaten, and her reputation is tarnished by association. Thirteen-year-old Nerfertari nevertheless becomes the wife of Ramesses the Great, sometimes at odd with his other wife, Iset. I thought the story was good; very good, in fact. But I felt that something was missing; the tension in this novel is sadly not as great as that which is in Nefertiti . There’s no real conflict here. Also, I had a bit of a problem with timeline issues: Nefertiti was actually set eighty years before The Heretic Queen , not fifteen or twenty. Still, I was fascinated by Nefertari’s story—she and Ramesses had a very long, happy life together (and Ramesses lived into his nineties, almost unheard-of back then). I’d love to see sequel novel featuring the two of them. The Heretic Queen is a quick, easy...

In 1844, Lily Wilson becomes lady’s maid to Elizabeth Barrett, invalid daughter of a wealthy, overbearing London merchant. Elizabeth became a recluse, corresponding and eventually meeting the poet Robert Browning. Because her father disapproved of his children marrying, Elizabeth eloped with Robert to Italy. The story is half about Elizabeth Barrett Browning and half about Lily. I found the details of EBB’s life to be much more interesting than that of Wilson’s, and I wish there was more about her in this novel. I got the feeling that Wilson never really had a life of her own—everything she did was connected in some way with her mistress. However, I’d like to think that this was characteristic of the period—good servants didn’t really have lives of their own. Nonetheless, Wilson seemed to get herself into a lot of romantic entanglements that made me wonder what the point of it was. The writing style of the book is very dense, and it took me a long time to get through—much longer than i...

This is my first Teaser Tuesday! Teaser Tuesdays asks you to: --Grab your current read. --Let the book fall open to a random page. --Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12. --You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given! --Please avoid spoilers! “A cold, rain-laden wind gusted fiercely across the Downs. John stood on the wall walk of the keep, protected from the elements by his fur-lined cloak.” --From A place Beyond Courage, by Elizabeth Chadwick

Today’s question: Do you have a specialized blog where you only review a certain genre or type of book? If so, what is your favorite thing about that type of book? If not, what is/are your favorite genres? What makes that genre(s) favorites? I don’t cater to a specific type of book, but since what I mostly read is historical fiction, most of my reviews are likewise. I’ve always been enamored with history, especially the way that people lived, though, and felt, and historical fiction feeds that. So I guess that’s my answer for #3 and 4.

I’ve been anticipating Silent on the Moor ever since I tore through Silent in the Sanctuary , and Silent in the Grave before that. I can't remember when last I've enjoyed a series as much as the Lady Julia Grey books. This time, Lady Julia Grey travels to Yorkshire with her sister Portia, where Brisbane has recently purchased a decrepit mansion on the moor. Living there too are Lady Allenby and her two daughters, the descendents of Saxon kings but living in reduced circumstances after the death of Lady Allenby’s son, Redwall. I greatly enjoyed this story of poison, romance and revenge, compounded by a number of sinister and rather twisted family secrets. We learn more about Brisbane’s past, and we get to see more of his and Julia’s relationship—never smooth, but they have wonderful chemistry together. Julia’s maid Morag is back, too, still as feisty as ever. What I love about Deanna Raybourn’s books is that she’s so good at character and plot development, and Silent on the Mo...

Books added to my TBR list recently: Mary Reilly , by Valerie Martin. It’s the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as told by Jekyl’’s maid, Mary (the book was made into a movie with Julia Roberts over a decade ago). The Italian Boy: A Tale of Murder and Body Snatching in 1830s London , by Sarah Wise. Can’t remember where I heard of it, but I’ve just ordered it through Amazon. First sentence? “George Beaman, surgeon to the parish of St. Paul’s, Covent Garden, turned back the scalp of the corpse lying before him.” How can you resist a line like that? ...And not a recent find, but I have an ARC of Vanora Bennett's Figures in Silk coming to me in the mail.