Let's get MYSTERIOUS!

My reading tastes have been all over the map the last few months.  I definitely got into mysteries during this time, many of the cozy variety.  Here are my latest discoveries:

Mr. Churchill's Secretary
by Susan Elia MacNeal

Such an interesting time period and I loved that it was from a female perspective and one that is heavily involved in the war effort. There was lots of historical information from WWII which really helped to flesh out the story. I went in expecting that this was going to be another cozy mystery but was pleasantly surprised to discover that it was full of thrilling, intellectual, and well developed characters and plot points! Maggie Hope is a great heroine! I'm really looking forward to reading the next installment, Princess Elizabeth's Spy!

First Grave on the Right

by Darynda Jones

First in the Charley Davidson Series, the lead character is a PI by day and the Grim Reaper by night...and usually during the day too...ok, most of / all of the time.  Charley is a sassy and smart character and it's lots of fun to read about her adventures (more likely misadventures!).  For fans of Janet Evanovich, J.R. Ward, and Sherrilyn Kenyon! Mixes the right amount of mystery with paranormal romance.  I'm looking forward to reading the next few in the series.

Secondhand Spirits

by Juliet Blackwell

Another series first, this one from the Witchcraft Mysteries.  Lily Ivory has just moved to San Fran and decided it's time to set up roots somewhere and here is as good a place as any.  She has opened up a vintage clothing shop (expect lots of fun descriptions of amazing clothes) and is trying hard to balance her new working girl lifestyle with the one she is trying to keep a secret; she is a witch (a pretty powerful one at that).  When a client is murdered and children start disappearing, Lily is dragged into the case.  Naturally, there are 2 sexy men for readers and Lily to choose from; Aidan Rhodes, a powerful male witch, and Max Carmicheal, a 'mythbuster'.  Funny and spooky, a great series for holiday or beach reading!

On What Grounds

by Cleo Coyle

The first in Coyle's Coffeehouse Mystery series; full of lots of coffee, fun characters, and mysterious circumstances.  I liked that the main character, Clare Cosi (and how cute is her name?) is an older and wiser heroine then many series I've been reading of late.  Having a middle aged mother and divorcee really complemented the story and atmosphere created.

Notorious Nineteen

by Janet Evanovich

Oh Stephanie Plum, how I love you...Nothing beats curling up on the couch with the newest adventure of Stephanie, Lula, Morelli, Ranger, and more.  This one features Grandma Mazur going undercover at a nursing home.  Need I say more?

Curiosity Thrilled the Cat

by Sofie Kelly

My new favourite cozy mystery series.  I picked up this first in the Magical Cats Series at White Dwarf Books.  I picked it up and discovered

a) It featured cats.  Cats that look like my cats according to the cover image.

b) The cats are magical ! 

c) It takes place in a quaint small town

d) The main character is a librarian

I was sold!  This is a lovely series that is we written and full of feel good fun.  A must for cat lovers and cozy mystery fans.

I have since read book 2 (Sleight of Paw) and book 3 (Copycat Killing) and both are just as good as the first one!

More genres / reviews to come soon! :)

“They don't hang dukes, darling. He'd be let off by reason of insanity. Everyone knows the upper classes are batty.”

When I was down in Seattle with my mom this past December, I had the good fortune to visit a fabulous bookshop, the Seattle Mystery Bookshop!  If you get the chance to visit I do recommend it! Full of fantastic finds and knowledgable staff, it was just lovely! I plan on getting lost in there again on my next visit.

The best thing I took away from my visit was the complete (at the time) set of Rhys Bowen's Royal Spyness Mysteries.  One of my favourite authors, Lauren Willig, recommended this series awhile back on her blog and it had been on my to read list for some time.  Upon finding a complete autographed set of all 5 books (there has since been a 6th novel published) I knew we must be together and my lovely mom bought them for me as an early Christmas present.  Hurray!

I read all 5 books back to back and I loved them!  Here's the premise for the first novel, Her Royal Spyness:

Her ridiculously long name is Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie, daughter to the Duke of Atholt and Rannoch. And she is flat broke. As the thirty-fourth in line for the throne, she has been taught only a few things, among them, the perfect curtsey. But when her brother cuts off her allowance, she leaves Scotland, and her fiancé Fish-Face, for London, where she has:

a) worked behind a cosmetics counter-and gotten sacked after five hours
b) started to fall for a quite unsuitable minor royal
c) made some money housekeeping (incognita, of course), and
d) been summoned by the Queen to spy on her playboy son.

Then an arrogant Frenchman, who wants her family's 800-year-old estate for himself, winds up dead in her bathtub. Now her most important job is to clear her very long family name

Such a fun read for mystery and historical fiction fans! Bowen has created a wonderful character with Georgie and I really enjoyed reading all of her adventures.  The latest novel is a holiday themed one (came out late 2012) and the next installment is due out August 2013.  You can bet that I'll be getting my hands on both of them.

Her Royal Sypness Series

0.5: Masked Ball at Broxley Manor (ebook) (2012)
1: Her Royal Spyness (2007)
2: A Royal Pain (2008)
3: Royal Flush (2009)
4: Royal Blood (2010)
5: Naughty in Nice (2011)
6: The Twelve Clues of Christmas (2012)
7: Heirs and Graces (2013)

I'm Back!

Oh my goodness! It has been awhile hasn't it?? Life seems to have flown by me and I just discovered that there hasn't been a new post since JANUARY 1ST! That's crazy!  Well let's get back on track shall we? As you can tell from my handy dandy Goodreads Reading Challenge Link, I've clearly been reading up a storm in the first 3 months of 2013! So look forward to new posts coming up asap!

Much Love :)

2012 Year in Review Book Style

Here are a few year in review articles by some excellent book and blog sites! Lots of good recommendations and interesting information to help you pick your next great read!

AbeBooks: a Literary Review of 2012

The Midnight Garden Favourite Books of 2012

My Best Reads of 2012

I read so many good books this year it was hard to pick my favourites!  Here are my best reads of 2012 (in no particular order):

The Help - Kathryn Stockett

My Review

Doomsday Book - Connie Willis

My Review

The Dovekeeper - Alice Hoffman

My Review

Shadow and Bone - Leigh Bardugo

My Review

Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn

My Review

The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen - Susin Nielsen

My Review

Ready Player One - Ernest Cline

My Review

Still Life - Louise Penny

My Review

Wonder - R.J. Palacio

I laughed and cried my way through this amazing book.  August Pullman is an ordinary boy with one difference; he was born with a facial deformity which has kept him out of public school...until now.  Such an incredible story! Inspiring, funny, and courageous; this is a must read.

The Causal Vacancy - J.K. Rowling

Oh J.K. you have done it again.  Such a different book from her Harry Potter series, you wouldn't even know it was her!  The story of a small town full of awful and fascinating people and what happens after a local man dies and leaves a spot on the local town counsel.  So well written and engaging; I really enjoyed it!

Fables, Unwritten, and Sandman...Oh my!

You have probably noticed that I'm really into graphic novels lately.  There are just to many gems out there! Here are the few of my newest discoveries as well as some old favourites!

Fables: Werewolves of the Heartland
by Bill Willingham

This is within the Fables world / series however this is somewhat of a side adventure that features fan favourite Bigby Wolf as he travels across the American heartland in attempts to find a new location for the recently destroyed Fabletown.  This is not my favourite Fables based adventure but it did have some interesting bits and did contribute to the overall story that Willingham is telling.

Unwritten
Vol. 1: Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity
by Mike Carey & Peter Gross

I was turned onto this series by a coworker and I'm really looking forward to reading more!

Tom Taylor's life was screwed from go. His father created the Tommy Taylor fantasy series, boy-wizard novels with popularity on par with Harry Potter. The problem is Dad modeled the fictional epic so closely to Tom's real life that fans are constantly comparing him to his counterpart, turning him into the lamest variety of Z-level celebrity. In the final novel, it's even implied that the fictional Tommy will crossover into the real world, giving delusional fans more excuses to harass Tom. 

When an enormous scandal reveals that Tom might really be a boy-wizard made flesh, Tom comes into contact with a very mysterious, very deadly group that's secretly kept tabs on him all his life. Now, to protect his own life and discover the truth behind his origins, Tom will travel the world, eventually finding himself at locations all featured on a very special map -- one kept by the deadly group that charts places throughout world history where fictions have impacted and tangibly shaped reality, those stories ranging from famous literary works to folktales to pop culture. And in the process of figuring out what it all means, Tom will find himself having to figure out a huge conspiracy mystery that spans the entirety of the history of fiction

Really well written and a fun concept! 

Fairest

Vol. 1: Wide Awake

by Bill Willingham

Since the Jack of Fables series ended, Willingham has only been working on the main Fables series.  This is the first in a new series that, as expected, takes place in the Fables universe, and focuses on the women characters; Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Thumbelina...He has lots to choose from! This graphic novel focuses on Sleeping Beauty and also includes a story about Belle (which is amazing!).  I'm really excited to see where this series goes from here since it has a very strong introduction with this issue.

Absolute Sandman Vol. 1

by Neil Gaiman

The first of 5 volumes which compiles all the Gaiman's infamous Sandman stories.  My husband has been telling me to read Sandman for years and I finally got around to tackling this first hefty volume.  And may I just say...WOW!  An amazing read for graphic novel fans, Neil Gaiman fans, Mythology fans, and many many more lucky readers.

Chick Lit Party

I recently indulged in reading two wonderful 'chick lit' authors since it seems that I've been reading a lot of heavier books as of late and my mind needed to escape to the lovely and sexy mindscapes of romance literature.

I had never read Lisa Kleypas before but had picked up the first novel in her Friday Harbour Series when at Powell's earlier this year.  With a title like Christmas Eve at Friday Harbour, it felt like a good time of year to read this! Well I enjoyed this one so much that I immediately picked up Rainshadow Road (which was also lovely!) and Dream Lake (currently on my to-read pile), the next two installments in the series.  Being a west coaster, I really enjoyed the Seattle setting in these novels and all the visual imagery Kleypas uses to paint a picture of life on this side of the world.  She writes strong women characters and sexy men to accompany them; a fun series if you are looking for something contemporary, light-hearted, and a touch magical.

I had read the first two books in Eloisa James' Fairy Tale series before but I enjoyed them so much that I really felt the need to revisit these characters.  Book one is A Kiss at Midnight and is James' retelling of the Cinderella story with a feisty heroine named Kate and a dashing prince / budding archaeologist named Gabriel, along with a sexy half brother / butler, a saucy older godmother, a kind yet dimwitted step sister, and a bunch of little dogs.  Add this all together and you have a fun few hours in which you can get lost in this book.  The second book, When Beauty Tamed the Beast tackles the Beauty and the Beast tale and again we see James putting her own spin on things.  The Beauty of the story is socially ruined (and believed to be knocked up) Linnet and the Beast is the cranky doctor / duke Piers (modeled after tv's 'House').  Lots of fun dialogue between our lovers and some very sexy stuff sprinkled in.  There are at least 2 more novels and 3 novellas (eBooks only as far as I know) in this series and I'm looking forward to reading them!

If you too need something fun to read, grab any of these books and you won't be disappointed!

Great Graphic Novels

After my post on graphic novels yesterday, I thought it would be fun to recommend some of my favourites!  There are a number of graphic novels that I'm wanting to read so hopefully this list will continue to grow!

1) Fables and Jack of Fables
Both by Bill Willingham

Both great series but I would recommend reading Fables first since Jack of Fables is a continuation / spinoff.  My favourite graphic novel series out there, my husband and I are always excited when a new comic comes out!

2) Archie: The Married Life
Who doesn't love Archie?!
My Review

3) Maus
By Art Spiegelman
My Review

A stunning series by a fantastic writer and artist!  A story of a Jewish survivor of Hitler's Europe and his son, a cartoonist who tries to come to terms with his father's story and history itself.
  
4) Hark! A Vagrant
By Kate Beaton
My Review 

Love love Kate Beaton!  

5) Smile
By Raina Telgemeier

I had the opportunity to meet Raina a few years ago and she is lovely! Her debut graphic novel is wonderful and definitely a great read for anyone who has ever had braces (not a requirement to read though!)

6) Bone
By Jeff Smith

All 9 comics in the series are wonderful! A great adventure story for readers of all ages!

7) Scott Pilgrim
By Bryan Lee O'Malley

"Scott Pilgrim's life is totally sweet. He's 23 years old, he's in a rockband, he's "between jobs", and he's dating a cute high school girl. Nothing could possibly go wrong, unless a seriously mind-blowing, dangerously fashionable, rollerblading delivery girl named Ramona Flowers starts cruising through his dreams and sailing by him at parties. Will Scott's awesome life get turned upside-down? Will he have to face Ramona's seven evil ex-boyfriends in battle? The short answer is yes."

8) Castle Waiting 
By Linda Medley

The Story of an isolated, abandoned castle, and the eccentric inhabitants who bring it back to life.  Lots of fun!

9) The Exile: An Outlander Graphic Novel
By Diana Gabaldon, Hoang Nguyen

My favourtie novelists first graphic novel! Outlander from Jamie's perspective!

10) Marvel 1602
By Neil Gaiman

"All's not well in the Marvel Universe in the year 1602 as strange storms are brewing and strange new powers are emerging. Spider-Man, the X-Men, Nick Fury, Dr. Strange, Daredevil, Dr. Doom, Black Widow, Captain America, and more appear in the waning days of the reign of Queen Elizabeth."  
  
Happy Reading! 

Raise a Glass to Graphic Novels

I found this article on the Chapters / Indigo Blog really interesting and thought I would share it.  One of the editors discusses how their list "The Best Books of 2012" was chosen and why certain titles made the cut or did not.  I'm especially interested in the following blurb:

"We as a group weren’t all on the same page about the titles either – there were several heated discussions about the inclusion of some of them (I’m looking at you, Batman), and the exclusion of others. Obviously, most of our Indigo Spotlight titles are there (not all), but some titles that were pitched for Spotlight unsuccessfully did make the cut here.
But back to Scott Snyder’s Batman: The Court of Owls. Yes, it’s there. Thank you to those of you who love its inclusion, and apologies to those of you who question it. Again, I’m the guy who nominated it – and I got some grief when I did.  Truth of the matter is that I happen to think Scott Snyder is the best thing to happen to Batman since Christopher Nolan."
 (To read the rest of the article, go here. )

I love that a graphic novel made the cut and I find it fascinating that there was apparent controversy to its inclusion.  Graphic novels are still the underdog in the literary world and it makes me wonder what it's going to take for them to start getting the credit they deserve.  There are some AMAZING graphic novels out there; in fact, when Time Magazine did their list of "All Time 100 Novels" they included 10 graphic novels.  For anyone who has ever read any of them, you know that they are very worthy.

A really interesting literary issue to watch in the coming years!  I work in a book store and everyday I see more and more people (both kids and adults) buying graphic novels and, as I mentioned earlier, there are some really good ones out there! The stories are great, the art is beautiful, and they often take just as much time and energy to read as a good novel.

“What happens to you changes you. Fer good or ill, yer changed ferever. There ain't no goin back. No matter how many tears you cry.”

I LOVED Moria Young's debut novel, Blood Red Road, so I was super excited to read the sequel in this planned trilogy, Rebel Heart which just landed on the shelves this month.  I finished it a few nights ago and am still in the process of forming an opinon of it.  I gotta say, I'm feeling somewhat disappointed.  I find that with sequels I often have one of two reactions: 1) It is even better than the first book (ex: Catching Fire in my opinion), or, 2) It falls short of the first book.  Which is sadly what happened here. 

The books starts off on a high note.  We pick up right where we left off with Saba, Lugh, Emmi, and Tommo traveling west in hopes of a better life; Jack having left them to deliver the news of Ike's death to his sweetheart Molly.  There is a lot of interesting things going on with these people. Saba and her subconscious as her guilt over Epona's death (and many others) catch up with her.  The reader is also left wondering what is going on with Lugh; what really happened to him during his captivity and why is he having such extreme mood swings?  The character of Emmi is also becoming more intersting as we see her developing even more into a strong willed young woman.  We also see the side story of Tommo's developing feelings for Saba.  Most interesting is trying to figure out who exactly Jack is and what side is he on?

So clearly there is a lot happening here so I should be jumping up and down with excitement.  And I will admit, I was loving parts of this novel.  However, I really am not sure how I'm feeling about a side story that Young brought in halfway through the novel (and clearly is going to be a big plot point in the next book) involving the former Tonton leader, DeMalo.  It just felt somewhat out of place to the rest of the story as well as how out of character for some.  I don't want to give to much away for those of you who haven't read this yet so I will leave it at that!  I think I might need to reread this in a few months and see if a second reading changes my mind.  Despite everything I'm still really looking forward to the third book since I'm interested to see how Young ties up everything.

"I wish I could say I was afraid, but I wasn’t. Quite the contrary. This was by far the most interesting thing that had ever happened to me in my entire life”

I am in love with young Flavia de Luce, the young heroine of Alan Bradley's debut novel, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. 

When I first read about the premise of the novel, the first in a series of mysteries staring an eleven year old aspiring chemist with a passion for poisons, I just wasn't' sure what to make of the concept.  Most novels I have read that have a young adult as the main character either read like a YA or Teen novel or just read poorly, as if the author really has no idea how to write in the voice of a young person.  Alan Bradley does a wonderful job tapping into the mind of Flavia!  He gives her a unique voice that manages to make her seem wise beyond her years yet still give the impression of her youth.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie takes place in the summer of 1950 when a series of unexplainable events occur at Buckshaw, the falling apart English Mansion that Flavia's family calls home.  A dead bird is found on the doorstep with a postage stamp pinned to its beak. Hours later, Flavia finds a man lying in the cucumber patch and watches as he takes his dying breath. For Flavia, who is both appalled and delighted, life begins in earnest when murder comes to Buckshaw.  

A delightful series for cozy mystery fans! I'm looking forward to having more adventures with Flavia!(and what a great name, right?)

Flavia de Luce Series

1. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (2009)
2. The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag (2010)
3. A Red Herring Without Mustard (2011)
4. I am Half Sick of Shadows (2011)
5. Speaking From Among the Bones (2013)
6. The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches (2014)