Instruments of Darkness by Imogen Robertson

Review by Jerelyn H. (I-F-Letty)

Don’t you love when you are introduced to a new author who, just leaves you spell bound?  Well this is what happened to me. One of my friends H/F friends is a mystery buff, and she is always telling me about great books.  I requested Instruments of Darkness by Imogen Robertson from her.  I was very excited to read this, so I finished up the books I had going and picked this one up.  I was tearing up by page 50, always a good sign. Any book that can illicit that kind of emotion from me so early on is good.

This series is set in Georgian England during the American Revolution.  A dead body is found on the country estate of Mrs. Harriet Westerman, a woman newly come to the area.  Her husband Commander Westerman of his Majesty’s navy is at sea, and until the birth of her children Harriet had traveled with him, but now she is running the estate and raising their children.

Upon finding the body, Mrs. Westerman; who is not only a practical woman but one with worldly experience and intelligence, is leery about involving the local Earl. There are dark secrets that are whispered about, along with her own dealings with the Thornleigh family that make her reluctant to involve “The Hall”.   She sends for the magistrate, but as it happens she has recently read a paper written by a reclusive neighbor. Mr. Gabriel Crowther, an anatomist, she goes to him for help and reluctantly he agrees to help her.

Meanwhile London is simmering in the summer heat, and we meet Alexander Adams and his precocious children, a widower and owner of a small but successful music shop; he is murdered in front of his little family the very same day that the man is murdered miles away.   Is there a connection between his death and the one in Sussex?

Well get ready for an incredibly well written, page turner, and be ready to have the second book on hand.  I down loaded it immediately upon finishing Instruments of Darkness, and had the third ordered before I had read a few chapters of the second because, it is one of the best series I have read in quite some time. Even knowing who “done it” I am ready to read them again as I wait for book three.

5 stars

Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness

Review by Kelsey O.

First Line:

“We arrived in an undignified heap of witch and vampire.”

Harkness starts Shadow of Night right where her debut, A Discovery of Witches, left off. After falling head over heels in love Diana and Matthew now travel back in time to 16^th-century England in search of the Ashmole 782 along with the hope that they will discover more about Diana’s powers. They know they are going to face ridicule and that they will have to tread carefully so that they don’t alert people around them that they are from the future. Unfortunately for Diana, that is not possible and fitting in proves to be harder then Diana thought it would be.

Diana finally gets to meet the notorious School of Night group which includes many historic figures. One in particular, Christopher Marlowe, is hell bent on making Diana’s life miserable (due to the fact that he is in love with Matthew.) Besides trying to find the Ashmole 782, Diana must learn what type of Witch she is and how to harness her magic to get them home. Unfortunately for her, for every new discovery, bigger and more complicated matters emerge.

Matthew is hot-headed as ever and having to bring Diana back to this time in his life has him constantly on edge. He doesn’t want her to discover all the crimes against witches that he committed. Once he finally lets the shield down around his heart he learns to accept that he can’t change the past (even though she and Diana are trying). He now has to focus on the future of him and his bride and their bundle that is on the way.

The reader is taken on a fantastic journey back in time to one of my favorite time periods to read about. Set against the backdrop of Elizabeth I’s reign, Harkness pulls you in with her descriptions on how it was to live back then. I love that Diana had to learn to “fit” in and even though she is a historian, nothing can prepare someone to have to actually live the culture. Diana and Matthew’s characters really start to grow as does their family (including a few street urchins who worm their way into their hearts). Even though at times the writing becomes quite wordy, in the end it was worth reading this amazing voyage that Diana and Matthew embark on.

Between The Lines

by Jodi Picoult & Samantha Van Leer

Review by Brenna B. (demiducky25)

Although she’s been a past recipient of the Alex Award from the Young Adult Library Services Association for an adult book with teenage appeal (My Sister’s Keeper), this latest endeavor by Jodi Picoult is her first young adult novel.  Written in conjunction with her teenage daughter, Samantha Van Leer, Picoult delves into the realm of fairy tale and fantasy in order to tell a modern love story (Picoult notes in the intro that Samantha came up with the story and they decided to write it together).

Briefly summarized, a high school student named Delilah is a social outcast (in part due to accidentally breaking the leg of the head cheerleader during gym class the year before the events in the story) and although she has a best friend named Jules who is an outsider by choice, Delilah prefers to spend her time in the company of books.  One day she comes across the children’s fairy tale Between the Lines and finds herself drawn to this story for reasons she can’t initially explain.  She believes it’s because she can identify with the main character, Oliver, a prince who also grew up without a father just like Delilah, but she’ll soon find out it’s more than that.

It’s not once upon a time. It’s not even twice upon a time. It’s hundreds of times, over and over, every time someone opens up the pages of this dusty old book.

The above quote is noted by Oliver, the main character in the fairy tale Between the Lines.  He lives in a world where he is forced to perform the same story over and over again every time, falling in “love” with the princess he really can’t stand and his best friend secretly loves, and he doesn’t understand why no one else in the story feels the way that he feels.  Although he is “unscripted” when the book is closed, he wants to find a way to escape the story so that he can live the life he witnesses through glimpses of the Readers.  He just needs to find the right Reader willing to listen and realize that he doesn’t belong in this story anymore.  When Delilah discovers that she can hear Oliver she wants to help him escape, though they soon learn that it’s not going to be an easy task.  They start getting to know each other and fall in love, but what kind of life could they have together if they are stuck in different worlds?

Although this book is marketed to young adults, it really could be enjoyed by younger readers and is even suitable to read aloud much in the way that Harry Potter books have been read aloud.  There’s no sex, only “cartoon” violence, and if there was any bad language I can’t recall it.  The illustrations that go with the book, both the silhouettes that are scattered throughout the pages and the full page paintings that tell Oliver’s fairy tale really add to the enjoyment of this book.  I enjoyed learning about Oliver’s world when the book is closed and the characters aren’t forced to perform (think Toy Story when Andy’s not in the room).  Each character has interests and personalities far different from what their stage personas are.  I think I enjoyed that aspect of the story the most.  Overall this is a cute book, though a bit predictable since as you go along you can easily figure out what’s going to happen- though that doesn’t mean that it’s not worth the read.  I’m also not the target audience, so someone younger will probably enjoy this book a bit more since it is a very sweet and innocent tale.  This was a solid effort by Jodi Picoult and a great start to her daughter Samantha Van Leer’s writing career.

My rating- 3 ½ out of 5 stars

Bare Naked at the Reality Dance: Journal One by Suzanne Selby Grenager

Review by McGuffyAnn M. (nightprose)

This book has a unique energy, both invigorating and calming. In her search for herself, Suzanne Grenager teaches us how to find ourselves.

This journal is reflective, inspiring one to reflect on one’s own life and purpose. It is personal yet universal. We all wonder what the meaning of life really is, and where our place in it may be.

Suzanne guides you with her own intimate experiences. She encourages you to find your own way, offering courage to do so. Not only is the journal a tool in finding peace and calm, but it is a celebration of joy and positive energy within and around us.

Awareness of self is something that should be easy, yet it is often elusive. In youth we all seek to “find ourselves”, though it seems not all of us do. Some people are never able to find the courage to be who they are meant to be.

This book not only is inspires us, but encourages us to seek and be all that we are meant to be. Through her own experiences and journey, Suzanne Grenager shows you how to reach inside, to be and celebrate yourself. She makes you feel good about who you are.

The common sense and practical approach to life and living it will make you feel it was written for you. Perhaps this is because we are all basically the same at heart. We all want to be happy in ourselves and in life.

The Laughing Fox by Frank Gruber

Review by Matt B. (BuffaloSavage)

In 1940, Gruber wrote this mystery full of pulp elements that pulp fans expected. The hero is a gambling man with a gift of gab. His sidekick has the loyalty of a canine and the strength of steel.  Gruber valued variety and action so every two or three chapters some unexpected development occurs. Furthermore, unlike the usual urban setting of pulps, most of the action takes place at a Cattle Convention in Cedar City, Iowa. The theme is silver foxes, which exhibitors display with an eye on big profits at the climactic fox fur auction. All of these elements add up to an enjoyable read.

Smart and glib Johnny Fletcher and his sidekick Sam Cragg attend a Cattle Congress. Their day job is selling a body-building book for which Johnny makes the pitch and Sam’s pecs and lats break a chain wound round his chest. The night job is playing craps and poker games, in the subculture of ramblin’ gamblin’ men that didn’t fade in the US until the late 1960s.

Gruber liked writing about men who rambled, living in hotel rooms, making the most of free lunches in saloons, and enduring the endless hot dogs at diners on the road. Written in the late 1930s, the book is an artifact of the time when the US was coming back after the Depression, even though some people of promise have somehow missed the gravy train.

The background touches give us a confident feeling that the author is writing about people, places, and things that he knows like the back of his hand.  The antique slang and turns of phrase, the etiquette of gambling, the mug’s chivalry toward the ladies, and authentic local settings and plain people feel very old-school American – plain, warm, outgoing, confident, resourceful — to me.

It’s still a mystery though. To clear himself of the two killings in the story, Johnny helps the local Sheriff – an import from rough and tough Kansas City so he’s nobody’s hick. Johnny and Sam travel to Chicago – Gruber is careful to appeal to local patriotism by calling lots of streets by name – to interview people about the 20-year-old disappearance of a rich kid that may have a connection to the fox exhibition slayings.

This is well-worth reading, both as a solid puzzle mystery and a wonderful piece of Americana. It was the second of fourteen Johnny Fletcher and Sam Cragg mysteries by Frank Gruber.

With Violets by Elizabeth Robards

Review by Mirah W. (mwelday)

I remember being in my high school art class when I first learned about the Impressionists.  The way they painted the everyday moments of life changed the conception of art.  These artists had a different perspective and used their brushstrokes to bring light to canvas in a way that hadn’t been done before.  I can’t imagine the world without the haystacks and sunsets of Monet, the movement and beauty of Degas’ ballerinas, or the faces and events captured by Renoir.

But amongst the men were a few women.  One of the most well-known is Berthe Morisot.  She is the main character in With Violets by Elizabeth Robards.  Robards sweeps her readers back to Paris and gives us a glimpse into the lives of the artists who would change the landscape of what art could look like and how art is defined.

The novel opens with Berthe at the Louvre, copying the masters and trying to create a life of her own with her talent and canvas. She is past prime marrying age, as her mother is always willing to point out.  Berthe’s life is set on a path of happiness, heartbreak and scandal when she catches the eye of artist Edouard Manet.  Manet is a successful artist and he and Berthe begin what will become a heart-wrenching romance.  Even through her tumultuous relationship with Edouard, Berthe never loses sight of her real goal: to be recognized as a true artist, just as the men of her social circle.

Berthe joins some of her male artist colleagues, including Monet and Renoir, to have an exhibition of their own.  Tired of the constraints placed on them, they longed for an outlet to choose for themselves what paintings would be part of an exhibition.  They formed the Cooperative and Anonymous Association of Painters, Sculptors, and Engravers so they could independently showcase their works of art.   It is after this exhibition when the term ‘Impressionism’ is first used.

What Robards provides with this novel is a walk alongside the brilliant artists of the Impressionist movement.  We see they were real people with real problems; they argued with one another on the best way to gain a voice for themselves and their work.  Berthe was ahead of her time. She was an independent thinker when women were supposed to be compliant and follow the leads of their husbands.  Berthe followed her dream of being an artist even though it wasn’t what her family and society thought she should do.

I think Robards painted a masterpiece with this novel. It would have been amazing to sit next to Berthe as she painted at the Louvre or traded banter with Degas but being able to read With Violets was the next best thing.