The Angel Maker by Alex North

Review by Melissa B. (dragoneyes)

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

Review by Pat D. (pat0814)

The Padavano family is a close-knit Italian family living in Chicago.  It is comprised of the matriarch Rose, Charlie, her husband, the dreamer, and four daughters: Julia, Sylvie and the twins, Emmeline and Cecilia.  The four daughters are especially close under the watchful eye of Rose and their caring father, who greets each of the girls with “Hello, beautiful” when they enter a room.

Each of the girls has strengths that contribute to their essential well-being.  They compare themselves to the characters in Little Women.  When Julia marries William, their lives are momentarily upended.  William is the child of a loveless home and is swept up into belonging to acceptance by this family. What follows is a demonstration that the sisters maintain their tight bond.  Rose is shattered when divorce, a pregnancy out of wedlock, and homosexuality intrude into what she wanted the world to perceive as her perfect family.  An unexpected marriage by one of the sisters leaves her devastated from her new home in Florida and a rift in this family.  Throughout their sometimes-turbulent lives, they are strengthened by the memories of Charlie’s unconditional love.

Ann Napolitano continues the tradition she began with Dear Edward in these in-depth character and family studies.  This is a profoundly insightful novel into the deep love and losses of these people.
5 stars.

Hold Fast by J.H. Gelernter

Review by Cyndi J. (cyndij)

The year is 1803 and Great Britain is fighting Napoleon. Thomas Grey was the head of the British spy network in Malta, until his wife was killed.  He blames himself for allowing  her on the ship that ended up in a battle with a French warship. Now he can’t bring himself to remain on the job, so he resigns intending to head for distant Boston, where he has relatives.

However, hostilities with the French are not over, and after participating in another sea battle, he ends up in Portugal looking for a ship heading for the Americas.  It’s a tricky spot and he is not going to advertise his former career, although identifying himself as former military will have advantages. But he runs into a disaffected Irishman, part of a network working for France. This man thinks Grey might be brought around to give vital military information to the French.

As soon as Grey hears this, the possibility of revenge for his wife’s death blooms huge. He’s all in, and it’s just a matter of convincing the enemy he has what they want.

Thus begins an exciting, tension-filled adventure with Grey against d’Aumont, the captain of the ship which killed his wife.  Lots of historical detail, but it doesn’t take over the story. Grey is sort of like a James Bond figure, with exceptional skills in sword-fighting, gambling, and even casual hook-ups. His adversary has a few redeeming qualities.  Most of the other characters are thin, although we meet his wife in some flashbacks. There are a number of very convenient events to help the plot along, but there’s enough momentum to let them whip past you.  Sea battles, duelling, antique firearms, torture, escape…it’s all there.

As I write this there are three in the series. This first book,  is a complete story, no cliffhangers, but the ending makes it obvious that Grey’s adventures are just beginning.  The cover blurbs reference Patrick O’Brian, but while it’s set in the same period you won’t find that same richness. That’s fine. It’s a good thriller with a tough competent hero and an evil villain, set in a very turbulent period so plenty of room for major plot action, and has some interesting bits of history both large and small.

Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister
Review by Melissa B. (dragoneyes)

Mystery, thriller, family life and time travel all rolled into one. This story sets off with a bang and keeps on going. With twists and turns galore, it will keep you guessing until the end.

Jen is a night owl but on this particular night, she is waiting for her teenage son, Todd, to get home. When he finally arrives she watches as he makes his way to the house. In matter of seconds, her son is approached by a man. She sees her son pull out a knife and stab the stranger. She screams for her husband and they both run out to find the man on the ground, possibly dead, and her son standing there. The police show up and arrest Todd. Jen and her husband, Kelly, follow them to the station. Trying to get answers, the only thing the parents get is the knowledge that their son doesn’t want a lawyer. Finally, after a long night, they head home to get some sleep. When Jen wakes up, she immediately starts to worry about what they can do for their son.  When she sees her son in the house, she starts to question him. Through many deductions, she realizes that it is the night before the murder and she is the only one who knows what is about to happen. Then, she finds, that each time she falls asleep, she goes back in time more. Sometimes it is a day and sometimes it is longer. With each day, she tries to find reasons for Todd’s actions and ends up finding more than she bargained for.

It was a crazy ride that journeyed around a wonderful family that you just couldn’t help root for. As that journey continues, you start wondering if they are so wonderful after all. I really enjoyed the way the book was set up. Found it entertaining. You could see why she went back on certain days. It all came together in the end. I really enjoyed the characters as well. From the family to the co-workers to the bad guys, each were drawn out quite nicely. Looking forward to more books by this author.

The Iron Princess by Barbara Hambly

Review by Cyndi J. (cyndij)

Barbara Hambly, well-known author of the Benjamin January mystery series,  returns to fantasy with THE IRON PRINCESS.

Clea is the second daughter of a very rich merchant prince, one of the rulers of the city. Far from a pampered socialite, she’s been disinherited a couple times and spent her formative years on the run, learning tradecraft from the thieves and secret fighters of her mother’s family.  She hates her father but there’s still just a bit of loyalty left.

This is a grim world. Magic used to be reliable, but over the last few generations spells increasingly go awry. The substance adamine helps it work, and so the search for it becomes larger and larger, with thousands of slaves brutally treated to dredge adamine from dangerous swamps and rivers.

Out of the five classes of mages, only the Crystal Mages seem to have control of their magic, but Clea believes they have malign intent.  Horrible monsters are erupting from the adamine mining areas, killing hundreds, and Clea has seen the Crystal Mages attempting to control the monsters for their own ends.  They also seem to have designs on her younger half-brother, whom Clea loves despite herself. Clea is determined to save her people and her little brother.

She goes in search of a legend, the incredibly powerful magician Ithrazel who supposedly destroyed an entire city 75 years ago, and was punished for it – bound to a rock in another world, with giant eagles disemboweling him every day only for him to resurrect each night.  Of course she’s going to find him. Then it’s just a matter of forcing him to work with her…easier said than done.

Hambly has wonderful powers of description. The world is described in detail, although there isn’t much beauty here – I would have liked a few more moments of grace for the characters to enjoy.  But there are some lovely phrases your eye will go back to. The characters are well-drawn, you know who’s talking without being told.  Clea is tough and determined, Ithrazel tired but even after decades of torture, he’s slowly finding it within himself to care what happens.  Hamo turns out to be a lot more interesting than I thought; would have been good to see more flashes of that. However, the reader will notice stereotypes.

It was slow to get moving. I wasn’t sure at first exactly why Clea went in search of Ithrazel – what did she expect him to do?  Then I waited expectantly for Hambly to explain why he’d destroyed the city (that seemed a rather large character flaw) and I wasn’t disappointed.  In the second half the action really gets going and it all comes to rather an explosive ending.  I really liked the explanation behind the Crystal Mages’ need for young mages, I definitely wasn’t expecting that.

I don’t know if Hambly intends to make this a series or not. It works as a standalone, but there are still plenty of problems for Clea or Ithrazel to solve if the author decides to go back to it.  So – excellent world-building, good characters, and good pacing after the first part.

Nightbloom by Peace Adzo Medie

Review by Pat D. (pat0814)

Cousins Selasi and Akorfa are born in Ghana on the same day, and become integral to each other’s lives through their childhood.  Despite their different personalities and different family situations, they are inseparable until Selasi’s mother dies in childbirth, and she is sent to live with her grandmother and extended family.  Akorfa studies diligently with the hope of becoming a neurosurgeon after graduating from an American university.  She is admitted to Pitt, and very upset with having to deal with insidious forms of racism.  Selasi eventually flourishes as a restaurant owner until she has a dispute with a high-ranking political figure.

Akorfa and Selasi’s stories are told in two different parts of the novel, leading to a better understanding of the rift that developed between them.  As adult women, they are forced to deal together with the common atrocity that both endured separately.  There is a common theme in this book of families worried about what others think of them, and achieving perceived prestige at any cost.
Algonquin continues its tradition of publishing noteworthy books.  I will read whatever they publish.

4 stars

The Case of the Negligent Nymph by Erle Stanley Gardner

Review by Matt B. (BuffaloSavage)

This 1959 mystery starts with the usual working girl – pretty, naturally; full of moxie, certainly – needing super-lawyer Perry Mason when she finds herself in a jam. Perry is in a canoe scoping out a millionaire’s island on behalf of a client in a real estate case. The naked nymph, pursued by a savage dobie, swims up to the canoe so Perry saves her and takes her to her own battered yacht.

The next day Perry finds out that the game and canny beauty he rescued is wanted by the cops on suspicion of stealing $50K worth of gems from the millionaire’s island mansion. She is apprehended and bound over for trial for grand theft. In an exciting courtroom scene, Perry fires off legal fireworks during a cross-examination and gets her bail whittled down to a manageable $2,500.

Things start looking up for the accused, but, self-reliant to a fault, she makes errors in judgment, the worst of which are not following Perry’s legal advice and then lying to him. Perry ends up defending her on the inevitable murder charge.

He finds his back up against the proverbial wall yet again since he faces as many legal woes as his client does if he doesn’t find out the truth. Perry kicks himself for letting impulse rule him and helping the fibbing brat in the first place, but he defends her with all he’s got. Perry acknowledges his own fallibility and is thus compassionate about the short-comings of others.

Usual. Of course. Inevitable. Why return again and again to the Perry Mason stories that invariably feature damsels in distress, the powerful exploiting the vulnerable, and the cunning and resourceful hero who combines wise tactics and swift action to exonerate the innocent? Because these irresistible elements, the essentials of heroic myth and folktales, possess magical appeal to our sense of fairness and courage that is hard-wired in us because we are human beings wired with the same nature.

Sure, everybody wants an honest, loyal and efficient lawyer that will fight when the going gets rough. But even more, everybody wants a supporter, an advocate who knows their weaknesses and understands messed-up choices but pleads their case eloquently and shrewdly anyway.