09.10.26
Despite TJR being very, very keen to show off her extensive research at the expense of pace, despite the boringly self-righteous main character, despite the sometimes overwhelming sentimentality, even despite no-one from her previous Celebrityverse books wandering into scenes as they usually do... I really enjoyed this.
65%
31.08.24I thought this would just be throwaway fun but it turned out to be one of the best things I've read this year. Well enough written that the exposition didn't seem forced, serious enough for the funny parts to be very funny, and a vivid enough insight into a weird wealthy world to be educational and entertaining. The 'murder mystery', such as it was, hardly seemed necessary.
12.07.24
Something about this series is really engaging. Is it the effusive and well-placed swearing? Yes. Is it the eccentric British humour? Yes. Is it the surprisingly complex dynamic between the main character and the ghost that haunts her? Yes. Admittedly, this was rougher round the edges than Grave Expectations (and needed another proofread - but thanks to the author for acknowledging our work anyway) but it's basically just uncomplicated fun.
This was never going to be high literature or deeply poetic but it was a fun, funny and well written update of the supernatural murder mystery genre - the realistic volume of swearing and a non-binary character could upset die-hard (ha!) cosy mystery fans but it worked for me. It did wander a bit in the middle (as did the main character - it's always best to focus on one location in stories like this) but, overall, it was dead good (ha again!).
14.08.23
There's a thin line between cleverly self-referential and plain irritating, but I think this mostly balanced on it successfully. It's an entertaining murder mystery that plays by the rules - all sorts of rules - and is a lesson in writing (and editing) itself too. The actual story was more confusing than exciting but the hook - a family of killers! - held it together, even though (spoiler!) that turned out to be somewhat misleading.
22.05.23
I don't know what drew me to this but I'm glad I was. It's well-told speculative fiction, a vivid reinterpretation of the Wild West for women. Unfortunately, the author heaped too many misfortunes and poor decisions on the narrator, most of the characters were interchangeable and the ending was rushed and unsatisfying. But it was still a good read so I'm being generous with my grade.
65%
This is the 16th Georgette Heyer novel I've read in five years so I am clearly among those readers who regard her as an inexplicably underrated master of her art. This was slightly unusual in its subtle romance and rather predictable mystery, but it was no worse for that: I had to read some passages several times to savour their delights. Some wonderful characters here too, as usual, not least the rather plain, rather boring heroine who (spoiler) charms her earl with her unfashionable brains and good sense.
As I'm also writing a story about a middle-aged woman superhero, I thought I'd better check out the competition. Turned out it was better than anything I could manage, an angry feminist fable that's still funny and absorbing. What a refreshing change to see badass women fighting (literally) back. A little too predictable in places, and a little too glib in others, but all in all a good, original read.
07.07.21
I realised what the story was really about halfway through (spoiler: it was the same pretty obvious twist as in a book I read last year) but I still cried at the end. It's a sophisticated YA novel, portraying the complex self-absorption of teens and, yes, the characters and their circumstances are unsympathetic and the writing style is annoyingly mannered, but that's, y'know, the whole point.
Blank verse was an interesting prose choice, and its natural rises and falls and gaps and intensities generally works but isn't quite engrossing enough to be lost in the story. That said, I did need a lot of tissues for the end.
