Review: The Sparrow Sisters by Ellen Herrick

Title: The Sparrow Sisters
Author: Ellen Herrick
Publisher:  William Morrow Paperbacks (September 1, 2015)
ISBN: 9780062386342

Pages: 384 pages

How I Read It: eARC

Genre: women's fiction, magical realism
My Rating: 3 cups

Synopsis:
With echoes of the alchemy of Practical Magic, the lushness of Saving CeeCee Honeycutt, and the darkly joyful wickedness of the Witches of East End, Ellen Herrick’s debut novel spins an enchanting love story about a place where magic whispers just beneath the surface and almost anything is possible, if you aren’t afraid to listen

The Sparrow sisters are as tightly woven into the seaside New England town of Granite Point as the wild sweet peas that climb the stone walls along the harbor. Sorrel, Nettie and Patience are as colorful as the beach plums on the dunes and as mysterious as the fog that rolls into town at dusk.

Patience is the town healer and when a new doctor settles into Granite Point he brings with him a mystery so compelling that Patience is drawn to love him, even as she struggles to mend him. But when Patience Sparrow’s herbs and tinctures are believed to be implicated in a local tragedy, Granite Point is consumed by a long-buried fear—and its three hundred year old history resurfaces as a modern day witch-hunt threatens. The plants and flowers, fruit trees and high hedges begin to wither and die, and the entire town begins to fail; fishermen return to the harbor empty-handed, and blight descends on the old elms that line the lanes.

It seems as if Patience and her town are lost until the women of Granite Point band together to save the Sparrow. As they gather, drawing strength from each other, will they be able to turn the tide and return life to Granite Point?

The Sparrow Sisters is a beautiful, haunting, and thoroughly mesmerizing novel that will capture your imagination.

My Thoughts:

"For a second he was almost frightened. Not by Patience exactly but by this place where sisters sensed each other in the dark, this town that believed a young woman could keep them well with nothing but her garden: an ordinary place where flowers bloomed long past the first frost and people sniffed the air to guess what Patience Sparrow might be feeling before they checked the weather."

I'm a fan of magical realism and Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen is a particular favorite of mine, so the description for The Sparrow Sisters immediately piqued my interest. I dug in eagerly, and whilst it was entertaining and I did like this book, I didn't quite love it.

The premise is interesting, but some of the execution just doesn't deliver. Although there are some wonderful descriptions, the writing overall lacks some of the lyrical quality and charm found in SAA's work. This tale is also considerably darker, with more sadness and tragedy to be found as it unfolds, and there are some inconsistencies in the magical abilities.

Even so, there are several compelling themes explored here which make it a worthy read - small town dynamics, science vs. the mystical, conventional medicine vs. folk healing, the dangers of gossip, public opinion and mob mentality. I also particularly enjoyed the relationships between the Sparrow sisters themselves and even more so the 'sisterhood' of the women of the entire town as this story resolved.

The ending hints that there may be more Sparrow books to come, possibly dealing with the other two sisters, and I would be most willing to give those a read. These characters interested me enough to continue on with their story, and hopefully it will only get better as it goes along.

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Review: Tamer of Horses by Amalia Carosella

Title: Tamer of Horses
Author: Amalia Carosella
Publisher:  Thorskona Books (October 3, 2016)
ISBN: 9781535240499

Pages: 375 pages

How I Read It: eARC

Genre: historical fiction, fantasy, mythology, romance
My Rating: 4 cups 

Synopsis:
More than two decades before the events of Helen of Sparta...

Abandoned as a baby, Hippodamia would have died of exposure on the mountain had it not been for Centaurus. The king of the centaurs saved her, raised her as his own, and in exchange asks for only one thing: she must marry the future king of the Lapiths, Pirithous, son of Zeus, and forge a lasting peace between their peoples by giving him an heir. It would be a fine match if Pirithous weren’t more pirate than king and insufferably conceited, besides. But Hippodamia can hardly refuse to marry him without betraying every hope her people have for peace.

After the death of Dia, queen of the Lapiths, tensions are running high. The oaths and promises protecting the Lapith people from the Myrmidons have lapsed, and the last thing Pirithous needs is to begin his kingship by making new enemies. But not everyone wants peace on the mountain. There are those among the centaurs who feel it comes at too high a price, and Peleus, King of the Myrmidons, lusts for the lush valley of the Lapiths and the horses that graze within it. Pirithous needs a strong queen at his side, and Hippodamia will certainly be that—if he can win her loyalties.

But no matter their differences, neither Hippodamia nor Pirithous expected their wedding banquet to be the first battle in a war.

My Thoughts:

"Her dark hair was crowned with a wreath of white wildflowers, but even so, she had not lost the stray bits of leaf and stick, the disarray a reminder of her upbringing. A wild creature, born of the mountain and the wood, only waiting to be tamed by her king."

I loved Carosella’s previous two books, Helen of Sparta and By Helen’s Hand, so snapping up the ARC of Tamer of Horses as soon as it became available was a total no-brainer for me. The first two books reimagined the well-known tale of Helen and the lead up to the Trojan War, complete with the author's own unique twist upon the story. Taking place some 25 years prior, Tamer serves as a prequel to those books but can easily be read as a stand alone as well.

Although most everyone is familiar with the story of Helen, this book tells the story of one of the somewhat lesser known side characters of the Helen books, King Pirithous of the Lapiths, and his Centaur–raised bride Hippodamia. As an extra treat for readers of the previous books, King Theseus of Athens is once again present and plays a significant part in this story, and we also get to meet his first wife Antiope, the Amazon Queen.

Carosella’s writing is immersive and exceptionally readable. Her knowledge of Bronze Age Greece and Greek mythology is obvious and she does a marvelous job interpreting and fleshing out the classic myths and filling in any gaps that exist in those tales. Her characters are engaging and she truly brings the time period to life. I did feel there was a bit too much sexual/romantic angst at the beginning of this book, which slowed things down somewhat, but once the war with the Centaurs began the story picked up steam quickly, and I was completely engaged from that point on.

As Carosella states in the author’s note: “To be frank, I couldn’t imagine Pirithous taking just any woman as his wife. She had to have been exceptional and unique. Exceptional enough that decades later, he would accept nothing less than a daughter of Zeus for his second wife…” And, indeed, the author has succeeded in creating a strong and interesting female lead in Hippodamia. She is fierce, wild and stubborn yet loyal and honorable, and I found myself rooting for her in spite of her flaws.

Theseus is a favorite of mine from the Helen books, and experiencing his relationship with his Amazon wife was a definite highlight here. Antiope is a fabulous character in her own right, and I would love to see a future book entirely devoted to their story. In the meantime, I eagerly look forward to any and all new releases from this author. I am most certainly a fan and will pick them up without hesitation!

"She was queen. The only woman Pirithous thought worthy of the role. The only woman he trusted to rule in his place. She was his queen. And she must fight."

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Review: The Lake House by Kate Morton

Title: The Lake House
Author: Kate Morton
Publisher:  Atria Books (October 20, 2015)
ISBN: 9781451649321

Pages: 495 pages

How I Read It: eARC

Genre: Women's Fiction, General Fiction (Adult), Historical Fiction, Mystery
My Rating: 4.5 cups 

Synopsis:

From the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of The Secret Keeper and The Distant Hours, an intricately plotted, spellbinding new novel of heartstopping suspense and uncovered secrets.

Living on her family’s idyllic lakeside estate in Cornwall, England, Alice Edevane is a bright, inquisitive, innocent, and precociously talented sixteen-year-old who loves to write stories. But the mysteries she pens are no match for the one her family is about to endure…

One midsummer’s eve, after a beautiful party drawing hundreds of guests to the estate has ended, the Edevanes discover that their youngest child, eleven-month-old Theo, has vanished without a trace. What follows is a tragedy that tears the family apart in ways they never imagined.

Decades later, Alice is living in London, having enjoyed a long successful career as an author. Theo’s case has never been solved, though Alice still harbors a suspicion as to the culprit. Miles away, Sadie Sparrow, a young detective in the London police force, is staying at her grandfather’s house in Cornwall. While out walking one day, she stumbles upon the old estate—now crumbling and covered with vines, clearly abandoned long ago. Her curiosity is sparked, setting off a series of events that will bring her and Alice together and reveal shocking truths about a past long gone...yet more present than ever.

A lush, atmospheric tale of intertwined destinies, this latest novel from a masterful storyteller is an enthralling, thoroughly satisfying read.

My Thoughts:

"It wasn't so much the discovery of a single clue, as the coming together of many small details. That moment when the sun shifts by a degree and a spider's web, previously concealed, begins to shine like fine-spun silver. Because suddenly Sadie could see how it all connected and she knew what had happened that night."

Kate Morton never disappoints. Her books are always sure to be full of secrets and mysteries woven together like the spider web mentioned in the quote above, and she is a master at revealing and connecting the threads of that web, while throwing in various misdirections to keep her readers on their toes. All counts are true in her latest work, The Lake House, and she has turned out a winner once again.

She ever so skillfully weaves the threads together, revealing the secrets at the perfect pace, and while some twists you can see coming, others take you delightfully by surprise. Her stories are always so well crafted, however, that even when you've guessed the twist it doesn't ruin the reveal.

As always, Morton executes the intricate plot and dual timelines in this tale perfectly, and her descriptive prose is rich and gorgeous.

"This house might easily have been forgotten but for the story attached to it, the infamy of that little boy’s disappearance. Over time the infamy had gained an echo and eventually it had ripened into folklore. The fairy story of a little boy lost and a house cast into an eternal sleep, holding its breath as the garden continued to tumble and grow around it."

One of the main characters in this book is an author of mystery books, and I loved the many observations on storytelling and parallels to Morton's own craft interspersed throughout this novel.

"She'd realized recently (an awareness that coincided with her new obsession for Agatha Christie) that what her previous story attempts were missing was a puzzle, a complex, knotty twist of events designed to mislead and bewilder readers. Also, a crime. The key to the perfect novel, Alice had decided, was to revolve the story around a crime's solution, all the while tricking the reader by making it seem she was doing one thing when in fact she was merrily doing another."

Although it may not take over the top spot as my absolute favorite Morton novel, The Lake House is an outstanding read which further cements this writer's position on my list of "must read" authors. You simply cannot go wrong with a Kate Morton book!

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Review: Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly

Title: Lilac Girls: A Novel
Author: Martha Hall Kelly
Publisher:  Ballantine Books (April 5, 2016)
ISBN: 9781101883075

Pages: 496 pages

How I Read It: eARC

Genre: historical fiction
My Rating: 3 cups

Synopsis:
Inspired by the life of a real World War II heroine, this powerful debut novel reveals an incredible story of love, redemption, and terrible secrets that were hidden for decades.

On the eve of a fateful war, New York socialite Caroline Ferriday has her hands full with her post at the French consulate and a new love on the horizon. But Caroline's world is forever changed when Hitler's army invades Poland in September 1939—and then sets its sights on France.

An ocean away from Caroline, Kasia Kuzmerick, a Polish teenager, senses her carefree youth disappearing as she sinks deeper into her role as courier for the underground resistance movement. In a tense atmosphere of watchful eyes and suspect neighbors, one false move can have dire consequences.

For ambitious young German doctor, Herta Oberheuser, an ad for a government medical position seems her ticket out of a desolate life. But, once hired, she finds herself trapped in a male-dominated realm of Nazi secrets and power.

The lives of these three women are set on a collision course when the unthinkable happens and Kasia is sent to Ravensbrück, the notorious female-only Nazi concentration camp. The tragedy and triumph of their stories cross continents—from New York to Paris, and Germany to Poland—capturing the indomitable pull of compassion to bring justice to those whom history has forgotten.

In Lilac Girls, Martha Hall Kelly has crafted a remarkable novel of unsung women and their quest for love, happiness, and second chances. It is a story that will keep readers bonded with the characters, searching for the truth, until the final pages.

My Thoughts:

This is an ambitious debut novel, and I found it to be a good read but not a great one. Not an easy one either - but that's no surprise given the subject matter. Tales surrounding the Holocaust are seldom "light" reading, and much of the story here is quite grim and disturbing.

This book spans many years, beginning in the lead up to WWII and continuing well into its aftermath. It is a challenging tale to tell and no small task managing such a long timeline. This author does so with varying success, occasionally skipping over quite large periods of time which can give the writing a choppy feel. As the synopsis states, the story is told from the perspectives of three very different women: Caroline, an American socialite and philanthropist; Kasia, a Polish teenager and member of the Resistance; and Herta, a German physician and Nazi camp surgeon. Caroline and Herta were real people, while Kasia is a fictional character inspired by actual prisoners. Kudos to the author for attempting to represent Herta's viewpoint, which surely must have been a difficult perspective to envision and write. I'm not convinced she was entirely successful with this, but I do respect her effort in taking on such an unsympathetic and unrelatable character.

Much of the story centers around Ravensbrück, Hilter's only exclusively female concentration camp, where Kasia is eventually imprisoned and becomes one of the so-called "Ravensbrück Rabbits" - subjects of the horrific and torturous sulfonamide experiments performed at the camp by Nazi doctors, including Herta Oberheuser. Kasia's story is by far the most compelling, but be forewarned, the reading can be difficult and overwhelming, as Kelly does not shy away from the horrors and desperation of camp life and paints a vivid but harrowing picture. Interspersed chapters describing Caroline's work in New York at the French consulate, while not the most interesting, do help to temper the tale somewhat, but I still found myself having to set this book aside at times to take a break from the more grueling parts of the story.

The Author's Note at the end of the book is a highlight and well worth reading. It is full of additional information that sent me scouring the internet for more accounts of the actual events and people. Caroline Ferriday was a true hero in championing the cause of the "Rabbits" and bringing them to the States for medical treatment after the war. Unfortunately, she doesn't come across as quite so interesting in this book. Like several other reviewers, I found the fabricated romantic relationship between her and Paul Rodierre to be unnecessary and distracting. It seemed to serve little purpose other than to help introduce further effects of the war throughout Europe via the French storyline, and frankly, it became a bit of "information overload." In this and many aspects I feel the author simply tried to include too much and needed a more focused approach.

A little more selectivity in the storytelling may have evened things out and resulted in a better book, because I believe more time could have been spent shining a light on the courage shown by the imprisoned women in the face of the atrocities they endured. This aspect is touched on, to a point, but in my opinion is outweighed by their victimization and is not showcased enough. For these women truly were incredibly brave - helping each other, protecting and hiding the "Rabbits", secretly getting the story of their abuses out, staging a near mutiny in protest of those abuses. Theirs is a story worth telling, and they deserve to have their strength remembered just as much as their suffering, if not more.

"But it's fitting in a way...a lilac only blossoms after a harsh winter."

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Review: The Sisters of Versaille by Sally Christie

Title: The Sisters of Versailles
Author: Sally Christie
Publisher:  Atria Books (September 1, 2015)
ISBN: 9781501102967

Pages: 432 pages

How I Read It: eARC

Genre: historical fiction
My Rating: 3 cups 

Synopsis:
A sumptuous and sensual tale of power, romance, family, and betrayal centered around four sisters and one King. Carefully researched and ornately detailed, The Sisters of Versailles is the first book in an exciting new historical fiction trilogy about King Louis XV, France’s most “well-beloved” monarch, and the women who shared his heart and his bed.

Goodness, but sisters are a thing to fear.

Set against the lavish backdrop of the French Court in the early years of the 18th century, The Sisters of Versailles is the extraordinary tale of the five Nesle sisters—Louise, Pauline, Diane, Hortense, and Marie-Anne—four of whom became mistresses to King Louis XV. Their scandalous story is stranger than fiction but true in every shocking, amusing, and heartbreaking detail.

Court intriguers are beginning to sense that young King Louis XV, after seven years of marriage, is tiring of his Polish wife. The race is on to find a mistress for the royal bed as various factions put their best foot—and women—forward. The King’s scheming ministers push Louise, the eldest of the aristocratic Nesle sisters, into the arms of the King. Over the following decade, the four sisters—sweet, naïve Louise; ambitious Pauline; complacent Diane, and cunning Marie Anne—will conspire, betray, suffer, and triumph in a desperate fight for both love and power.

In the tradition of The Other Boleyn Girl, The Sisters of Versailles is a clever, intelligent, and absorbing novel that historical fiction fans will devour. Based on meticulous research on a group of women never before written about in English, Sally Christie’s stunning debut is a complex exploration of power and sisterhood—of the admiration, competition, and even hatred that can coexist within a family when the stakes are high enough.

My Thoughts:

"To the charming Nesle sisters," he says. "Each with their own charms, each unique. I would that I had known your mother well, ladies, that I could have thanked that most honorable woman for her efforts in producing such angels."

Five sisters, one king, four of the five 'ladies' become his mistresses -- The historical basis for this book is surely proof, once again, that truth can be stranger than fiction. Previously unfamiliar with the Nesle sisters and their association with Louis XV, I was certainly intrigued by the description of this book and curious to find out more.

The prose is easy-reading, and Sally Christie effectively conveys the atmosphere of the French Court with vivid descriptions of the luxurious surroundings and fashions, as well as the cutthroat maneuvering of the many courtiers. 

"In this vast palace it is hard to find one’s way; traps and trickery are everywhere and life is rich in rules that everyone seems to know but myself. The palace is like a treacherous flower I once heard about, beautiful and lush, that eats the flies that dare to land on its lips."

The story is told in alternating sections from the perspectives of the five sisters, and the author does a good job of giving each sister a unique voice. However, none are particularly likable and all feel one-dimensional -- almost 'cookie-cutter' representations of their personalities -- with virtually no character growth throughout the book.

It takes some time for the plot to get going, and once it does it tends to be somewhat repetitive and much like a soap opera. This is not altogether surprising considering that four of these women became the king's mistresses in turn, but I do feel there were missed opportunities by the author to create greater interest and tension through various political events or further interactions with influential figures such as the queen. Instead we are given primarily 'bedroom drama' and endless petty sniping amongst the sisters, which quickly becomes annoying.

Given the overall lack of reliable source materials regarding the Nesle sisters, Christie has made an admirable attempt at imagining their story. Unfortunately, though, it fell a bit flat for me, and I found it too shallow to be completely satisfying.

"Petty struggles, silly feuds, all of it, in the end, what does it matter? We were sisters; we should have loved each other."

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Review: Circling the Sun by Paula McLain

Title: Circling the Sun
Author: Paula McLain
Publisher:  Ballantine Books (July28, 2015)
ISBN: 9780345534187

Pages: 384 pages

How I Read It: eARC

Genre: historical fiction, Africa
My Rating: 4.5 cups 

Synopsis:

Paula McLain, author of the phenomenal bestseller The Paris Wife, now returns with her keenly anticipated new novel, transporting readers to colonial Kenya in the 1920s. Circling the Sun brings to life a fearless and captivating woman—Beryl Markham, a record-setting aviator caught up in a passionate love triangle with safari hunter Denys Finch Hatton and Karen Blixen, who as Isak Dinesen wrote the classic memoir Out of Africa.

Brought to Kenya from England as a child and then abandoned by her mother, Beryl is raised by both her father and the native Kipsigis tribe who share his estate. Her unconventional upbringing transforms Beryl into a bold young woman with a fierce love of all things wild and an inherent understanding of nature’s delicate balance. But even the wild child must grow up, and when everything Beryl knows and trusts dissolves, she is catapulted into a string of disastrous relationships.

Beryl forges her own path as a horse trainer, and her uncommon style attracts the eye of the Happy Valley set, a decadent, bohemian community of European expats who also live and love by their own set of rules. But it’s the ruggedly charismatic Denys Finch Hatton who ultimately helps Beryl navigate the uncharted territory of her own heart. The intensity of their love reveals Beryl’s truest self and her fate: to fly.

Set against the majestic landscape of early-twentieth-century Africa, McLain’s powerful tale reveals the extraordinary adventures of a woman before her time, the exhilaration of freedom and its cost, and the tenacity of the human spirit.

My Thoughts:

"Before Kenya was Kenya, when it was millions of years old and yet still somehow new, the name belonged only to our most magnificent mountain."

With that first line of Chapter 1 Paula McLain drew me in and never let me go until the final page was turned. So begins her account of the life of Beryl Markham, a remarkable and resilient woman who became the first licensed female racehorse trainer in Kenya as well as the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic from east to west. This book begins with her unconventional upbringing in Africa and culminates with that famous flight in 1936. In between, we are witness to her successes and failures, triumphs and tragedies, loves and losses, and through it all, her deep and lasting connection to the country that became her home.

"I had come alive here, as if I'd been given a second birth, and a truer one. This was my home, and though one day it would all trickle through my fingers like so much red dust, for as long as childhood lasted it was a heaven fitted exactly to me. A place I knew by heart. The one place in the world I'd been made for."

McLain tells her tale with prose that is rich and immersive, full of breathtaking descriptions of the African landscape and thought-provoking passages that make one stop and ponder and then read them over again to savor every word. I knew nothing about Beryl Markham before reading this book, but it soon had me searching the internet to learn more about this fascinating woman. She was flawed and not always the most likable person, and yet, one could not help but be on her side because of her sheer determination and tenacity.

"But you've never been afraid of anything, have you?"
"I have, though," I said, surprised at my own emotion. "I've been terrified...I just haven't let that stop me."

It's hard not to admire such strength of will, particularly given the attitudes of the time, for she was unquestionably the master of her own fate and refused to be forced into a box or restricted by societal norms. She made her share of bad decisions, for which she paid the price - failed marriages, scandalous affairs - but time and again was able to rise from the ashes like a phoenix to recreate herself and move on in a new direction. A quality she shared with the land she so loved:

"It's always new. It always seems to be reinventing itself, doesn't it?"

"Kenya was forever shedding its skin and showing itself to you all over again."

Fans of Out of Africa will appreciate the further insight into Karen Blixen and Denys Finch Hatton given here as well as the interesting dynamics within the love triangle that existed between the three. However, even readers unfamiliar with that work will have no trouble following the story and should find great enjoyment in this book in its own right. I must confess I fall into that category, and I don't feel my appreciation was hindered in any way. I loved this book from cover to cover. And ultimately, while her relationship with Finch Hatton may have been the great romance of Beryl's life, it was only one part of her extraordinary life. All things considered, it seems perhaps her truest and most enduring love affair was actually with Africa itself, for it was there her free spirit was able to soar.

"...Leaving Kenya? I've never thought of that. I wouldn't be the same anywhere else."

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Review: A Curious Beginning by Deanna Raybourn

Title: A Curious Beginning (A Veronica Speedwell Mystery #1)
Author: Deanna Raybourn
Publisher:  NAL/Penguin (September 1, 2015)
ISBN: 9780451476012

Pages: 352 pages

How I Read It: eARC

Genre: mystery, historical fiction, romance
My Rating: 4 cups 

Synopsis:
In her thrilling new series, the New York Times bestselling author of the Lady Julia Grey mysteries, returns once more to Victorian England…and introduces intrepid adventuress Veronica Speedwell.

London, 1887. As the city prepares to celebrate Queen Victoria’s golden jubilee, Veronica Speedwell is marking a milestone of her own. After burying her spinster aunt, the orphaned Veronica is free to resume her world travels in pursuit of scientific inquiry—and the occasional romantic dalliance. As familiar with hunting butterflies as she is fending off admirers, Veronica wields her butterfly net and a sharpened hatpin with equal aplomb, and with her last connection to England now gone, she intends to embark upon the journey of a lifetime.

But fate has other plans, as Veronica discovers when she thwarts her own abduction with the help of an enigmatic German baron with ties to her mysterious past. Promising to reveal in time what he knows of the plot against her, the baron offers her temporary sanctuary in the care of his friend Stoker—a reclusive natural historian as intriguing as he is bad-tempered. But before the baron can deliver on his tantalizing vow to reveal the secrets he has concealed for decades, he is found murdered. Suddenly Veronica and Stoker are forced to go on the run from an elusive assailant, wary partners in search of the villainous truth.

My Thoughts:

Deanna Raybourn has done it again! She never fails to deliver a book bursting with wit, clever plot twists, and pure entertainment. She is high on my list of 'go to' authors whenever I need a read guaranteed to put a smile on my face and whisk me away from the humdrum of everyday life into an exciting new adventure. I've read several of her books and she has never let me down. Above all else, her books are always sure to be loads of fun, and A Curious Beginning is no exception. Her delightful storytelling makes it impossible not to be pulled right into the story, and that cover is so gorgeous it simply begs you to open the book.

Many readers, myself included, were sad to see this author's Lady Julia Grey series come to an end. To fill the vacancies left by our beloved Julia and Brisbane, in this book we are introduced to a new mystery solving pair: the intrepid Miss Veronica Speedwell and the mysterious yet honorable Stoker. Once again, they are flawed but appealing characters, and while there are some similarities to their predecessors, these characters are also unique and cut from their own cloth.

Veronica is independent, plucky, and thoroughly modern for her time.

"Girls are not supposed to go roaming about the countryside without purpose. It is considered eccentric. So I bought a butterfly net and a killing jar, and that made it quite all right."

She plays by her own set of rules and is an exceptionally strong woman. Perhaps a little too strong at times, as a few of her actions and purported exploits feel a bit over the top (i.e. amputating a gangrenous toe without training or supervision), but I'm more than willing to suspend my disbelief and overlook that small complaint because Raybourn's work is just so deliciously fun to read! And Veronica is likable protagonist, in spite of her faults.

" 'I have been brought up to do good works and to conduct myself with propriety and decorum, and yet I am forever doing the unexpected. Something always gives me away for what I really am.'
 
'And what are you, child?'
 
'A woman in search of adventure,' I said gravely."
 

Stoker, for his part, is dark, moody, and full of secrets, not all of which are revealed in this installment. There is plenty of chemistry and slow-burning sexual tension going on, and as always, Raybourn is masterful with the witty banter and verbal sparring, particularly between the two leads.

" 'That is a tale straight from one of Mrs. Radcliffe's thrillers, Stoker. I expected better from you.'

 

'It is a perfectly logical hypothesis,' he returned. 'Now, do shut up and stop interrupting whilst I'm being interesting.' " 

 

The two are thrown together unexpectedly and must learn the truth of Veronica's unknown parentage in order to solve a murder and ensure their safety. Though an unlikely duo at first, they turn out to be quite kindred spirits in many respects and eventually begin to trust one another and form an effective pairing.

"You were entirely correct. The connection was there, only I failed to see it. That is the hallmark of a good partnership, you know - when one partner sees the forest and the other studies the trees."

The beginning of the book is slightly slower paced as we get to know these new characters, but the action really picks up in the second half as the mystery is solved. When all is said and done the groundwork is laid nicely for the continuation of the series. There are more than a few laugh out loud moments, and you feel the frustration as poor Stoker is at times outmatched by the very outspoken and headstrong Veronica.

"He dropped his head into his hands. 'Why must you argue before I have even had my tea? So many words.' "

By the end of the book, however, the two seem to be achieving more even footing, and I look forward to seeing their partnership continue and their relationship evolve in upcoming books. We also have the promise of additional glimpses into Stoker's shadowy past, and that is a tantalizing prospect in its own right. I enjoyed this first book tremendously and feel certain this series will only become even more engaging as it progresses, so sign me up for book 2, please! I can't wait for the next adventure to begin!

"As Arcadia Brown would say, 'Excelsior!' Ever upward, ever forward."

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.