The True Story of Hansel and Gretel by Louise Murphy (Read 11/12/19 to 11/17/19)

This is my second Quarterly Book Exchange book.  It is set in Poland in the last year of World War II.  Two jewish children are sent into the Bialowieza Forest by their Father and Stepmother.  They are told to hide their identities and take the names Hansel and Gretel.  They find an old woman, Magda, in a hut on the outskirts of the village Piaski, the village calls her a witch.  This takes what you think you know about Hansel and Gretel, and weaves a magical and tragic tale about what could have been the real story behind the fairy tale.

I really enjoyed this book, it took the horrors of Nazi occupation of Poland and combined them with the fantasy of a Fairy Tale, to create surreal world, that was probably exactly how it felt to survivors.  I'm not going to lie, this had some very graphic movements, but I think that was Murphy's attempt to stay true to the graphic nature of that time period, it was an ugly brutal period in human history.  I love the writing style and the way she kept elements of the fairy tale in the story of these fugitive children.  It was beautifully written and heartbreaking at time.

The Other Son by Nick Alexander (Read 11/4/19 to 11/9/19)

I received this book as an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) through NetGalley. It was originally published I UK in 2015, 12/17/19 is US release
This is a story about a dysfunctional family. It takes place in London area.
The characters are Alice her husband of 50 years Ken, they are in their late 60’s almost 70’s. Their son Tim and his wife Natalya, and their other son Matt.
This book did a bit of timeline jumping, it was broken up into parts, Part 1 was about Alice and her marriage to Ken and her view on her relationship with her children. Part 2 was from Natalya and Tim’s view on their life and their relationship with Alice and Ken. Part 3 is a bridging section between what happens to Alice after Part 2 that leads to Part 4. The first part of Part 4 is from Tim’s point of view of his life, and the final part is from Alice’s view of Tim’s life and making some revelations about her own.
There is some touchy topic, abuse, drinking, prostitution, human trafficking.
I really enjoyed this book, I know that it has lots of triggers and may not be appropriate for everyone. I found the characters to be very realistic, even if they were not all likable. As a domestic abuse survivor myself I was really able to relate to Alice, Tim and Matt and understand their motivations for the choices they made. But I realize it is a heavy topic. It was a really well written book and compelling characters to me.

#TheOtherSon #NetGalley

The Glass Magician by Caroline Stevermer (Read 11/1/19 to 11/3/19)

I received this book as an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) through NetGalley. It will be published April 7, 2020.

I did not finish this book, I only made it to 36%. I found the world really interesting, it was set in the early 1900’s and focuses on stage magicians in the Vaudeville circuit. But the world had 3 classes of people, the Solitaire which seem to have no magic. The Traders who can change form into animals, and the Sylvetri who have some sort of affinity with nature. There was the start of some great world building and some interesting dynamics. There are some stolen ticks that seemed to be leading to a bigger conspiracy, and I know there is a murder in the future, but I didn’t get far enough in the book to find out what happened.

The reason I didn’t finish the book is the author describes people by color, they are white Solitaire or black Solitaire, a white Trader or a black Trader. At first, I hoped that it was describing if they were good or bad, but as the book went on I was disappointed to find it really was describing their skin color and I found it offensive and therefore did not finish the book. I feel like there was no need for the descriptions based on skin color and it just made the book very un-enjoyable for me.

The Companion by Kim Taylor Blakemore (Read 10/29/19 to 11/1/19)

I received this book as an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) through NetGalley. It will be published January 14, 2020

This book is set in 1855, Lucy Blunt is on death row at New Hampshire State Prison for killing two women, her employer and another woman in the house, Rebecca. This book jumps timelines a lot, it bounces between Lucy on death row, Lucy being hired by the Burton’s and being employed as their maid, and Lucy’s life before the Burtons.

The book starts out with Lucy being hired because the previous maid Mary Dawson had drowned. Lucy has lied and faked her references to get the job. We also find out that Lucy’s son died at 3 days old. The house is kept locked up tight, and keys are a frequently referenced item throughout the book, because Mrs. Burton wanders. We then find out that Lucy is telling her story to a newspaper man, possibly to try and get out of being hanged. One day Rebecca is locked out of the house and almost dies, it is never made clear how it happened, if Rebecca did it herself or if Mrs. Burton locked her out. While Rebecca is recovering Lucy is recruited to help Mrs. Burton. As the book unfolds we find out many secrets. Lucy and Mrs. Burton become close, and eventually form a romantic relationship, Rebecca is very jealous. It is never clearly stated that Rebecca and Mrs. Burton used to be lovers, but it is implied. Mrs. Burton gives Lucy many gifts such as lace, and dresses and jewelry, these are also used as evidence against her in the trial. But how does all this secrecy lead to two deaths and a woman awaiting her own hanging? Did she do it? Will her appeals be granted?

This was a good read, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The time line was a little jumpy, but I think that was on purpose. Lucy wasn’t thinking in a straight line, how could she tell her story in a straight line? The book got a little slow in the middle, but it really picked up in the end. It reminded me style wise, and even storyline wise of Sarah Water’s Fingersmith. The book kept me guessing right up to the end as to if Lucy really committed the murders or if she was framed.







#TheCompanion #NetGalley

In Cold Chamomile by Joy Avon (read 10/27/19 to 10/28/19)

I received this book as an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) through NetGalley. It will be published February 11, 2020.  This is the third book in the A Tea and Read Mystery Series, I have not read the first 2.  This is set around Valentines day and Callie Aspen and her Great Aunt Iphy Aspen have organized an event to raise money for Haywood Hall.  However, instead of love there is a murder.  As I have not read the previous 2 books, I was not attached to the characters, in fact I hated most of them.  I felt as people they were shallow, and selfish, and dumb, they made a lot of poor choices based on dumb reasons.  Callie spent all her time moaning about her maybe boyfriend Ace, and seems like a weak pathetic woman.  I expected as one of the lead sleuths that she would have a backbone and it was very much, "oh no! I didn't do what my boyfriend told me to do, oh is he breaking up with me?"   Iphy should also have been a spunky 70 year old sleuth who at her age didn't care about what people thought, instead her character came across as a lovestruck 16 year old who didn't know how to use logic at all.  Ace was a controlling jerk, who just wanted his girlfriend to "do as he said" and not disrespect him.  Peggy was a whinny pathetic woman, who caused a lot of dram for no reason at all, besides to get Callie further "in trouble" with Ace.  I knew it was a cozy mystery and I was hoping for something light and fun, but the characters were a little too light for me.  Joy Avon's writing was good, the story moved at a nice place, there was just the right amount of death for a cozy mystery.  But I didn't like a single character in this book. I hope that for fans of the series this was just a one-off, and that I am missing a great series because I won't pick up the others.

A Sister’s Courage by Molly Green (Read 10/23/19 to 10/27/19)

I received this book as an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) through NetGalley. It will be published November 28, 2019. Lorraine “Raine” Linfoot is the main character. Her mother, Simone is very French, her Father, Robert, who is older than Simone and English. She has two younger sisters, Suzanne (Suzy) and Veronique (Ronnie). This is described as being about the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA), which is the British Version of the WASPS. However, it is more about Raine and her love life than the ATA’s history. In 1936, at the age of 14 Raine flies for the first time, and it is then that she decides she will be a pilot. We see Raine achieve that dream and also get caught between her feelings for two very special pilots in her life.

I didn’t realize until I got to the end that this was the first in what I believe will be a trilogy, the 2nd book is due out May 2020 and is about Raines sister Suzy, called A Sister’s song. This was an ok book, it was more of a romance and less of a historical novel than I expected. Actually I felt like besides setting it wasn’t really about the ATA, it was about Raine’s love triangle.

I liked the strong character Raine is, she was not afraid to advocate for herself. In the WWII era, there was a lot of discrimination against women, especially in historically male work fields. She is a very strong character that way. I think that if I had realized it was more about the love story and not the history of the ATA I may have enjoyed the book more. It was well written, and there were some very well developed characters, I just wanted more history I think.

No One's Home by D.M. Pulley (Read 10/19/19 to 10/23/19)

This was the Spooky Once Upon a Book Club selection.
The Rawlingswood house has quite the history, but when the Spielman's buy it, it has been abandoned and treated as a teenager party house.  They buy it for a sweet deal, and throw all the money they saved into renovations, but all the changes are not enough to remove the ghosts that live there.  And then things start happening, doors left open or suddenly locked, lights left on, strange noises.  And the Spielman's were barely holding it together as a family before the move, now that ghosts are involved they drift even further apart.
This was a good book, I really liked all the intertwining stories of the house history.  It was a little slow in the start, but once we hit the middle things really picked up.   It had it's creepy moments, I admit I couldn't read it too late into the night.  But I wouldn't call it horror either, it just makes an empty house feel really empty.