The Most Targeted Books of 2023, S&S Celebrates 100th Birthday, Lord of the Rings Musical, Historic TV Adaptations, The Lights of Sugarberry Cove by Heather Webber, Everyone is Beautiful by Katherine Center, The Memory Library by Kate Storey, and Scarlett Legacy by Shelli Roswarne

Welcome and well-met my fellow book dragons! It's already mid-April, and spring and summer are on the horizon. I'm getting low on TBR piles, but I've found some great ebook deals lately, so I'm not out of engrossing stories yet! Below are a plethora of tidbits and four reviews. Enjoy...and I hope you get some sunshine this weekend!

 This depresses me and makes me angry as well. Ignorant people who use religion to perpetuate their racism and homophobia, never even having read the books they're
challenging, make me ill. We must fight against this fascism, otherwise we will be imprisoned in a world that grows stagnant and cruel.

The Most Targeted Books of 2023

No real surprises here, and the consistency is part of the point. The ALA has released its report about the 10 most challenged books of 2023, and you’ve probably guessed already that they are books that explore issues related to race and LGBTQ+ identity and experience. Speaking The New York Times’s Alexandra Alter, Deborah Caldwell-Stone, the director of the ALA’s office for intellectual freedom, sums it up:

More and more, we’re seeing challenges that say, simply, This book has a gay character, or, This book deals with L.G.B.T.Q. themes, even if it has no sexuality in it…We’re seeing those naked attacks on simply the visibility of and knowledge about L.G.B.T.Q. lives and experiences.

Or as my colleague kelly jensen regularly reminds us: it’s not about the books. Book challenges are just the thin end of the wedge in the far-right’s effort to whitewash American history and erase queer folks and people of color from public life. Eyes on the prize, friends. Call your reps, go to school board meetings, show up for local elections, and subscribe to Literary Activism to stay plugged in.

Happy 100th Birthday S&S!

 May you have another 100 years of publishing books in 'dead tree' and e-editions.

Happy 100th, Simon & Schuster!

Under clear skies Tuesday evening at New York City's Chelsea Piers,

Simon & Schuster celebrated its centenary with authors, editors, agents,

art directors, booksellers, sales reps, publicists, marketing directors,

and many other book enthusiasts, along with wonderful food, drinks, and

music.

S&S chair Richard Sarnoff

The remarks were brief, following the "Author! Author!" event Monday

night at New York's Town Hall, which featured some 30 S&S authors,

including surprise guests such as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham

Clinton and comedian Jerry Seinfeld, as well as rock-star contributors

to the S&S list such as Judy Blume, Judith Viorst, and Jason Reynolds.

A crowd that spilled over onto the terrace at Pier 60 on the Hudson

gathered around the dance floor to hear the remarks of Richard Sarnoff,

chairman of media, entertainment, and education for the Americas at KKR,

who serves as chairman of the S&S board (KKR purchased S&S from

Paramount Global last fall.)

"This could be a board meeting," Sarnoff said, "since all of the Simon &

Schuster employees are now shareholders." Loud cheers erupted from the

audience. Sarnoff said he was honored to have known the previous leaders

of the publishing house, including Dick Snyder, Jack Romanos, and

Carolyn Reidy: "Tonight we remember and honor her," Sarnoff said of

Reidy, who died suddenly in 2020

Then Sarnoff introduced S&S president and CEO Jonathan Karp, who

welcomed everyone and joked, "We're going to have to sell a lot of books

to pay for this party." He spoke of Max Schuster and Richard Simon's

first book, The Crossword Puzzle Book, published (of course) in 1924,

and their promise to "publish good books and only good books. Books that

we have read and about which we are generally enthusiastic."--a credo to

which Karp adheres. He then proudly held up a proclamation from Mayor

Eric Adams that April 9 was "Simon & Schuster Day." The inaugural song

to start the dancing was Carly Simon's "You're So Vain" (she's the

daughter of Richard Simon, co-founder of the 100-year-old institution).

Many happy returns, S&S! --Jennifer M. Brown

I can't imagine LOTR as a musical...it must be wonderful. I wish I could get to Chicago this summer to see it. 

 

On Stage: The Lord of the Rings--A Musical Tale

The Lord of the Rings--A Musical Tale,

which opened last year in the U.K. will stage its U.S. debut

in Chicago this July. Deadline reported that the production, based on

the books by J.R.R. Tolkien and directed by Paul Hart, begins

performances July 19 at The Yard at Chicago Shakespeare Theater

https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscQbZlr4I6a81J00lTg~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6nBC5f2poMLg-gVdw, running through September

1. An international tour will follow, with venues and dates to be

announced in June.

"I can't wait for this next step in the epic journey of The Lord of the

Rings as we craft this new staging for the U.S. premiere production with

Chicago Shakespeare Theater for Chicago audiences," Hart said. "We loved

creating this version which was retold from the perspective of the

Hobbits at The Watermill and will now be expanded far beyond those

horizons. It will be thrilling to share with new audiences

internationally as part of this next stage."

 

I love Shelf Awareness Editor Robert Gray's take on books and book adaptations and all things related to reading. Here's his take on the latest spate of historical book to TV adaptations. Though our Apple + streaming subscription has lapsed, I'm hoping to get it back soon so that I can watch Franklin.

 

Robert Gray Binges History TV Adaptations

Though I'm no historian by any definition, I do read history

books occasionally, and am addicted to film and TV adaptations. In fact,

I've been on something of a historical viewing binge lately

The most recent example is Franklin, premiering today on Apple

TV+ with the first three episodes, to be followed by one new episode

every Friday through May 17. Starring and executive produced by Michael

Douglas, the eight-part limited series is based on Stacy Schiff's book A

Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America. The

creative team includes writer and executive producer Kirk Ellis (John

Adams) as well as writer and executive producer Howard Korder (Boardwalk

Empire).

Although I tend to be an anti-binge-watching TV traditionalist (patience

is an underrated viewing pleasure), I've already seen the complete

series thanks to the small miracle of advance screeners. Franklin is a

great ride, and Douglas brings just the right blend of wit,

intelligence, charm, mischief, and susceptibility to temptation to the

role. A tip of the chapeau as well to one of my favorite actors,

Thibault de Montalembert as the shrewd comte de Vergennes.

As far as the ages-old book vs. screen adaptation debate goes, I've

never been a fan. Franklin is in fact a case of a series actually

prompting my interest in reading Schiff's book, not to decide which is

better but for further details. That's a good thing.

The series begins in December 1776, when the already legendary Franklin

embarks on a secret mission to France at the age 70. Without any formal

diplomatic training, he is tasked with convincing King Louis XVI to

underwrite America's troubled revolution against England. The eight-year

mission eventually leads to the Franco-American Alliance of 1778 and the

peace treaty with Great Britain in 1783, but in the TV series, the long

journey to those monumental results plays out on a deceptively smaller

canvas of back room negotiations (albeit fancy back rooms), personal betrayals, frustrating stalemates, and ongoing seductions (political as well as romantic).

The Lights of Sugarberry Cove by Heather Webber is a dense but short romance/cozy mystery that has southern charm and a lot of weepy 'family finally uncovers secrets and tries to heal' moments. Though the story was engrossing from the get-go, I found myself mired in the bog of "character oversharing" and "family flashbacks" more than a few times. Here's the blurb: The Lights of Sugarberry Cove is a charming, delightful story of family, healing, love, and small town Southern charm.
Sadie Way Scott has been avoiding her family and hometown of Sugarberry Cove, Alabama, since she nearly drowned in the lake just outside her mother’s B&B. Eight years later, Sadie is the host of a much-loved show about southern cooking and family, but despite her success, she wonders why she was saved. What is she supposed to do?

Sadie’s sister, Leala Clare, is still haunted by the guilt she feels over the night her sister almost died. Now, at a crossroads in her marriage, Leala has everything she ever thought she wanted—so why is she so unhappy?

When their mother suffers a minor heart attack just before Sugarberry Cove’s famous water lantern festival, the two sisters come home to run the inn while she recovers. It’s the last place either of them wants to be, but with a little help from the inn’s quirky guests, the sisters may come to terms with their strained relationships, accept the past, and rediscover a little lake magic.
 

Though the author and those who blurbed the book lean heavily on the idea that there's "magic" throughout the book, the only real evidence that there is of magic is a poorly remembered drowning by the main female protagonist, Sadie, who is saved from the local lake after being under for 10 minutes, and when she's revived, she has "sparkling" white hair, though she's only a child. Her sister, LC, has a long-running feud with their exacting mother, and way too much time is spent with the two of them sniping at each other. Though both Sadie and her sister are grown-ass women, they both act like immature teenagers who have no idea why their lives are so unfulfilling. Sigh. Cliches about the importance of family ensue, ad nauseam. The men are all weird but buff guys with names like "Buzzy" and "Camp," though the one obnoxious toddler in the book is named Tucker and his dog is Nigel. At only 261 pages, this book is an easy afternoon's read. For that reason alone (being concise isn't popular in fiction nowadays) I'd give this book a B, and recommend it to anyone who likes Hallmark Channel romance movies and Southern stories as good as sweet tea on a hot summer's day.

 

Everyone is Beautiful by Katherine Center is another short Southern fish out of water story with romance and some realistic juggling of three small children while trying to find yourself and integrate into a new East Coast community. Here's the blurb: Lanie Coates’s life is spinning out of control. She’s piled everything she owns into a U-Haul and driven with her husband, Peter, and their three little boys from their cozy Texas home to a multiflight walkup in the Northeast. She’s left behind family, friends, and a comfortable life–all so her husband can realize his dream of becoming a professional musician. But somewhere in the eye of her personal hurricane, it hits Lanie that she once had dreams too. If only she could remember what they were.

These days, Lanie always seems to rank herself dead last–and when another mom accidentally criticizes her appearance, it’s the final straw. Fifteen years, three babies, and more pounds than she’s willing to count since the day she said “I do,” Lanie longs desperately to feel like her old self again. It’s time to rise up, fish her moxie out of the diaper pail, and find the woman she was before motherhood capsized her entire existence.

Lanie sets change in motion–joining a gym, signing up for photography classes, and finding a new best friend. But she also creates waves that come to threaten her whole life. In the end, Lanie must figure out once and for all how to find herself without losing everything else in the process.

Katherine Center’s Everyone Is Beautiful is a hugely entertaining, poignant, and charming new novel about what happens after happily ever after: how a woman learns to fall in love with her husband–and her entire life–all over again.
 

Though I rejoiced in the more realistic portrayal of a mother's life (having babies takes a huge toll on the mind, body and spirit), I disliked Lanie's very laid-back attitude toward disciplining her three sons when they went about destroying their home every day. I never would have put up with that kind of behavior from my son, even as a toddler, because it's incumbent on parents, usually mothers, to teach children right from wrong, appropriate vs inappropriate behavior and the consequences of destroying their parents belongings and their home. I also, like Lanie, had a son who, as a toddler, was a biter. This was short-lived because a behavior specialist we'd been going to for a completely different reason explained that children who were frustrated with their ability to put things into words often bit their parents or other children (USE YOUR WORDS, was our mantra with Nick), and that they didn't realize that they were hurting the person they were biting, so we took to yeowling "OUCH" whenever Nick would try and bite us. This would lead him to cry, and because he didn't want mom or dad to be in pain, he stopped biting altogether. We also had consequences for bad behavior, and if there was a tantrum of screaming and thrashing around in the store, my husband or I would immediately take our son out to the car and explain that he wasn't allowed to go back to shopping or be in a store with us until he stopped pitching a fit and bothering other shoppers. Nick, being an extrovert who loved to shop, soon became a model child who charmed food samples from every clerk he met. But Lanie seems completely incompetent, as does her husband, in telling her children NO. Still, I loved this book's lovely ending, and Center's prose is evocative and moves swiftly along her sleek plot. I'd give this book an A-, and recommend it to any mother who feels she's lost her sense of being and her sexuality after having children.

 

The Memory Library by Kate Storey is what is now called "Women's Fiction" because it's a novel with strong female protagonists looking for themselves and often looking to the past to figure out where it all went wrong, and how to repair it. Here's the blurb:

For forty-two years, Sally Harrison has been building a library.

Each year, on her daughter’s birthday, she adds a new book to her shelves – with a note in the front dedicated to her own greatest work.

But Ella – Sally’s only child – fled to Australia twenty-one years ago after a heated exchange, and never looked back. And though Sally still dutifully adds a new paperback to the shelves every time the clock strikes midnight on July 11th, her hopes of her daughter ever thumbing through the pages are starting to dwindle.

Then disaster strikes and Ella is forced to return to the home she once knew.

She is soon to discover that when one chapter ends, another will soon follow.

All you have to do is turn the page…

Journey through the pages of this heartwarming novel, where hope, friendship and second chances are written in the margins. Perfect for book lovers everywhere and fans of Sally Page’s The Keeper of Stories.

 

I felt so bad for Ella and Sally in this book, because their estrangement was based on a complete misunderstanding that could have been averted if they'd just talked and listened to one another. Ella, who lionized her father (whom it turns out was a major philandering asshat) found a letter that her mother wrote to a friend while at her father's funeral, and Ella assumes that the man in the letter is someone her mother was having an affair with (not true...they'd been corresponding for years), so she packs up and moves to Australia and wants nothing more to do with her last surviving parent. But the two finally get the chance to bury the hatchet when Ella comes home and finds the room that her mother turned into a library in complete disarray due to water damage caused by her mother's burgeoning dementia (she left the bathtub faucet on). There's plenty of heartwarming moments in the book, and some romantic ones too, but I liked the way that the community that Sally had supported rallied around her in her time of need and got everything worked out. The ending was certainly a tear-jerker. I'd give this book a B, and recommend it to those who have repaired estrangements with their parents toward the end of the parents life.

 

Scarlett Legacy by Shelli Roswarne is a paranormal "werewolf" romance that has some unintentionally funny moments and times when readers will almost believe that the fairy tale "Little Red Ridinghood" is real. Here's the blurb: 

Natalia doesn't believe in fairytales. Until she's thrown headfirst into one. Now she has to trust a big bad wolf with both her life and her heart.

Natalia is done with men. Her cheating scumbag of an ex-boyfriend just the latest in a line of disappointments. She's definitely not going to be taken in by a sexy Scotsman with an honest-to-God castle, a disturbing affect on her libido, and a shit-ton of secrets.

Damian knows she's his fated mate. He's waited his whole life for her after all. But Natalia doesn't believe in destiny, or wolf shifters, and she sure as hell won't trust him to keep her safe. But if she doesn't then her life and his whole pack are in danger.

Scarlett Legacy is the first in the Highland Wolves series, a set of stand-alone but interconnected paranormal romance stories. If you like fairytale retellings and sexy Scotsmen in kilts, then you'll love this fast-paced shifter romance.

 

Due to my long-term fascination and love for all things Irish/Scottish and Welsh,I figured this novel would be right up my alley. My problem with it, though, was that the hottie Scottish Werewolf protagonist Damian was an arrogant arse who had no respect for Natalia's privacy, both internal and external. From the moment he met her, he invaded her mind and made her feel like she was crazy, which in the real world is known as "Gaslighting" and is considered abusive, and certainly no way to treat a woman you're trying to woo. His possessive actions were also more creepy than sexy, and his failure to explain to her that she could shapeshift while wearing the red cloak put her life and that of other wolves in danger when they were hunted by a radical anti-wolf sect. Of course the sex scenes were detailed and somewhat "paint by numbers" from what I've read in other romances, but the whole "I will die without you, you're my destined mate" mularky strains my credulity to the breaking point. Still, I'd give this revamped fairy tale a B-, and recommend it to anyone who likes wolf shifter stories, and egotistical, domineering alpha males.

 

University of Gallifrey Press April Fools Joke, Quote of the Day, Obituary Note for John Barth, Family Reservations Comes to TV, Forgetting to Remember by MJ Rose, Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff, and Spelled With A Kiss by Jessica Rosenberg

Welcome to April showers and Springtime for Seattle, which always includes lots of rain and hail storms, but also lots of budding greenery and flowers. It's been unseasonably warm outside here in Maple Valley, but I've not spent a lot of time enjoying the sunshine, because there are still books to read and review, though my TBR is becoming quite anemic, unfortunately. Below are some fun tidbits, including an April Fool's joke from Shelf Awareness to start us off (though I do wish that there was a U of Gallifrey in existence...I'd sell a kidney to actually attend classes in such a place! Imagine hanging out with characters from Doctor Who!)

 

The University of Gallifrey Press Takes Off

 

The University of Gallifrey Press, specializing in alternate history,

will start publishing in 2025, with a backlist of 3,259 (and counting)

titles. The first two books, Harnessing the Wibbly-Wobbly: The Physics

of Time and Custard by Petronella Osgood and Sartorial Lyricism: Celery,

Scarves, and Swoopy Coats by Tom Baker, will be printed by Johannes

Gutenberg under the Torchwood imprint. UGP reported that so far, 37

history editors have quit in frustration, but the nonfiction fiction

editors are all lifers.

The Union of Remote Space Workers will be responsible for coordinating

multiple metaverse metadata and have already confirmed that all errors

are correct in at least one timeline.

According to UGP marketing director Harriet Jones, slipped pub dates are

expected to create Amazon chargebacks that would make a Dalek cry, but

"we're working with operatives on the Seattle-based '1994 Project' to

help exterminate the problem." --Davida Breier <mailto:dgb@jhu.edu>

Quotation of the Day

'A Table of Books Is a Work of Art Itself'

"Independent bookstores are the center of intellectual life for most of

us. The tables covered with titles represent possibilities. A table of

books is a work of art itself."--Percival Everett

 

I was a big fan of John Barth when I was about 10 years old. I read the Sot Weed Factor and some of his critical essays, and found his prose to be divine. RIP to an author who had a life well lived.

Obituary Note: John Barth

John Barth, "a practitioner and a theoretician of postmodern literature" who contended in a 1967 Atlantic Monthly essay "The Literature of Exhaustion" that "old conventions of literary narrative can be, and indeed have been,

'used up,' " died yesterday, the New York Times reported. He was 93.

Barth published nearly 20 novels and collections of short stories, three

books of critical essays, and a book of nonfiction pieces. His

best-known works included The Floating Opera (1956), The Sot-Weed Factor (1960), and Giles Goat-Boy (1966).

The Floating Opera, Barth's first book, was "narrated by a character who

considers killing himself out of existential boredom before realizing

that this choice would be as meaningless as any other," the Times wrote.

The Sot-Weed Factor was "a huge picaresque written in Elizabethan style

and laden with puns," the Times observed. "It tells the story of

Ebenezer Cooke, the 'sot-weed factor' (tobacco peddler) of the title,

who travels through a sinful late-17th-century world with his twin

sister and his tutor, struggling to maintain his virtue." Time magazine

called the novel "that rare literary creation: a genuinely serious

comedy." And critic Leslie Fiedler, who taught with Barth at the State

University of New York at Buffalo, called the novel "closer to the Great

American Novel than any other book of the last decade."

This sounds absolutely fascinating, so I will be on the look out for it, either on regular TV or streaming via one of the main services I subscribe to.

TV: Family Reservations

Universal TV has acquired rights to Liza Palmer's latest book, Family

Reservations https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscQaOw-4I6a82dxl0Tw~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6nBXMKmpoMLg-gVdw,

which it will develop at NBC with writer/executive producer Ilene

Chaiken (The L Word) and Keshet Studios, Deadline reported.

"Liza Palmer's delicious book brings together the very things I love

most in the world--food and family drama!" said Chaiken. "I'm thrilled

and grateful that she has entrusted us with the television adaptation."

Palmer added: "Family Reservations is a labor of love that was written

every morning from 5:30 to 8:30 during cancer surgeries and day-job

headaches. Over those long months and years, the Winters became family

to me. I've ugly cried more times than I'd like to admit because I now

know my little complicated family are in the best of hands with the

brilliant, creative teams at Universal Television, Keshet Studios and

NBC. Having these precious, complex women in the capable hands of Ilene

Chaiken is truly a dream come true."

Here are the reviews:

Forgetting To Remember by MJ Rose is another of her delicious paranormal historical romance/adventure novels that are so addictive, I buy a copy the minute that it hits the shelves of the closest bookstore. Rose's prose is so elegant and engaging, and her plots so deep and fascinating that she never disappoints readers with a sub-par novel. Here's the blurb:

Discover a spellbinding love story in this dazzling time-travel adventure from the NYT bestselling author of The Last Tiara, M.J. Rose.

Setting aside grief from the fallout of the second World War and putting her energy into curating an upcoming show critical to her career as the Keeper of the Metalworks at London’s renowned Victoria and Albert Museum, Jeannine Maycroft stumbles upon a unique collection of jewel-framed miniature eye portraits—a brilliant romantic device and clandestine love token of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

One piece among the assembly intrigues her more than all the others: a twilight-blue man’s eye framed by opals shimmering with enchanting flashes of fiery color. But the beauty is just the beginning. Not only is the painting a self-portrait of one of her favorite Pre-Raphaelite artists, Ashe Lloyd Lewis, but the brooch itself is a portal eight decades into the past.

Despite being cast into an era she was never meant to be in, Jeannine and Ashe develop an immediate and passionate bond, complicated by the undeniable fact that she does not belong in 1867, and the disaster about to destroy her family and reputation in her time.

Striving to live a dual life and dangerously straddling two time periods, Jeannine fights to protect her career and her father from scandal in the present while desperately trying to save her lover’s life in the past.

Forgetting to Remember—richly embroidered with historical detail and heartbreaking conflict—is another luscious and thrilling masterpiece by M.J. Rose. A beautiful and compelling story of art, war, magic, and survival, wrapped in a love that defies time.

Having been a fan of the pre-Raphaelites  for decades, (Christina Rossetti, my namesake and favorite poet, was the sister of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood of painters in the 19th century) I was thrilled to read a novel that delves into the creation of these bejeweled eye-broaches that lovers had painted for one another, which allowed them to remain anonymous to society at a time when reputations were very important to one's lifestyle and livelihood. I found myself wondering if Neil Gaiman could take a book like this, which deals with time-travel and people falling in love across the centuries, and turn it into a tender and lovely episode of Doctor Who.  Wouldn't that be grand?! Anyway, I don't want to spoil the book for those who haven't read it, but I adored Jeannine and Ash's romance, and I shed more than a few tears at the bittersweet ending of the book. I'd give it an A, and recommend it to anyone who loves 19th century art and timeless love stories. 

Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff is a dark and blood-drenched vampire fantasy novel that took me a week to read because it weighed in at over 700 pages!The author uses some high fantasy prose, mixed with regular prose and graphic novel/manga style drawings that are placed in front of, or inbetween most chapters of this mammoth tome of a novel. Here's the blurb: From New York Times bestselling author Jay Kristoff comes Empire of the Vampire, the first illustrated volume of an astonishing new dark fantasy saga.

From holy cup comes holy light;
The faithful hand sets world aright.
And in the Seven Martyrs’ sight,
Mere man shall end this endless night.

It has been twenty-seven long years since the last sunrise. For nearly three decades, vampires have waged war against humanity; building their eternal empire even as they tear down our own. Now, only a few tiny sparks of light endure in a sea of darkness.

Gabriel de León is a silversaint: a member of a holy brotherhood dedicated to defending realm and church from the creatures of the night. But even the Silver Order could not stem the tide once daylight failed us, and now, only Gabriel remains.

Imprisoned by the very monsters he vowed to destroy, the last silversaint is forced to tell his story. A story of legendary battles and forbidden love, of faith lost and friendships won, of the Wars of the Blood and the Forever King and the quest for humanity’s last remaining hope:

The Holy Grail.

I found this book to be more horror/gory fiction, with fight scenes in every chapter, than "dark fantasy," which as a genre deserves better than to be thrown in with horror and Game of Thrones-esque political military/war fantasy fiction. Still, I slogged through chapter after chapter of overblown prose and redundancies that any decent editor should have caught and excised with a hard hand on the red pen. As a story, Empire should have clocked in at 400 pages of nice tight prose and plot-marching paragraphs. It starts slow and sad, and finally gets moving about 120 pages in, which is deadly for a book of this scope. If you're going to engage and retain readers, you need to grab them by the throat in the first 25 pages and never let them go until the final paragraph. SHOW, don't TELL, Mr Kristoff. A tall Australian with a bitter and dim outlook on life (if you read his bio at the back of the book), I wanted to smack him in the face with his grumpy whinging throughout the novel about how value-less human life is, and how easily expendable women and children and the elderly have become in his world because, well, men who have no morals or decency and who are drug addicts or power-hungry, emotionally dead killers are who can, and should, run the world into ruin. So the question that isn't answered throughout this gore-fest is, if the evil Vampire kings lay waste to all the human villages and kill anyone who isn't a blood-sucking immortal horror or a slave/thrall, what is left to rule over? What's left to feed on if humanity is dead? No one seems to know or care in this bleak and depressing story. I'd give it a B- (and I'm being generous) and only recommend it to guys who love the role playing games or computer games where they're warriors out to kill monsters and occaisionally have sex with whatever woman happens to be under their power at the time. TBH, you couldn't pay me to read the 700 page sequel to this dreadful novel.

Spelled With a Kiss by Jessica Rosenberg is a cozy paranormal romance/mystery that I got for less than a dollar on sale for my Kindle Paperwhite. So-called "cozy" books are novels that don't have blood or gore or graphic sex scenes that can make readers cringe. They're what used to be called "Positive" or happy stories that end satisfactorily and well. The cover art for cozy books are almost always lovely, and the enticing cover art here is no exception. Here's the blurb:

The stakes are higher in real life than fiction. Then again, so are the rewards.

Juliette just wants to run her bookshop, recommend great reads, hunt for treasures at estate sales, and savor quality time with her family and friends.

Her magic has other plans.

The emerging magical ability to return lost things to their owners has thrown her a curveball. She can’t communicate with someone who’s dead…or can she?

As she races against time to reunite lost loves and right tragic wrongs, Juliette is handed the power to finally overcome her chronic anxiety and debilitating panic attacks. But at what cost?

Will the help of a familiar fortune teller, her closest friends, and found family be enough for Juliette to battle the entity threatening her happiness? Or is she destined to be on her own forever?

Juliette once again dives into an adventure she used to only read about in Spelled With a Kiss. Book 2 in the Wyrd Words & Witchcraft Paranormal Women’s Fiction series is set in the same quaint beach town as Jessica Rosenberg's delectable Baking Up a Magical Midlife series.

My only problem with this book is that the female protagonist, Juliette, is an overly anxious, awkward and stupid mess of a character, whom I had trouble identifying with as an extrovert without autism or severe anxiety/depression or other mental health issues. I find it hard to understand someone who falls apart at the slightest roadblock or good looking male character to come her way.  Characters like Juliette always make me want to yell "GROW A SPINE ALREADY and GET ON WITH IT!" while I hurl the book into a wall in frustration. However, the prose is lyrical and the plot easy like Sunday morning. Books like this are perfect "palate cleansers" for the mind, when I've had to wade through dark and depressing books like Empire of the Vampire. I would give this quick read a B, and recommend it to anyone who wants something quick to read on an airplane or in a doctor's waiting room.

ABA's Dump Amazon Day Sponsored by Amazon, Obituary of Babar's Laurent de Brunhoff, Under the Bridge Comes to TV, Vernor Vinge Obituary, Silver in the Bone by Alexandra Braken, Desperation by Becca Ryden, and One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig

Hello fellow book dragons, to Easter and the last part of March, as we slide into Spring in April. I've been trying to read all of my TBR bed-stack, and the backlog of books on my Kindle Paperwhite, but I've found that more than a few books in both formats were boring or poorly written or both. So what that means is that I wasted time reading the first 5-100 pages, hoping the book would get better, when 98 percent of the time, it remained the same slog or got worse. One self published volume gifted to me by a dearly beloved found family member, took nearly all of the first 75-100 pages to get going, but once it did, I enjoyed the characters journey through the story arc.  I will review that book, and two others, after I present a whole bunch of tidbits for you all to enjoy.

 

Wow, this whole David vs Goliath situation has taken quite a turn.

 

ABA, Others Declare 'SBA: Dump Amazon' Day

The American Booksellers Association and other independent businesses

and associations have declared Wednesday, March 20, "SBA: Dump Amazon" Day, to protest Amazon's continued co-sponsorship of National Small Business Week, which takes place April 28-May 4. The ABA and Small Business Rising have complained to the federal Small Business

Administration, organizer of National Small Business Week, about

Amazon's participation but say their protests have gone "unheeded."

On March 20, small businesses, entrepreneurs, and others aim to make

"their voices heard, demanding that Administrator [Isabel] Guzman do the

right thing and 'dump Amazon.' "

ABA CEO Allison Hill commented: "Over the past two decades, Amazon has grown a stranglehold on the book industry and crushed healthy

competition in the marketplace for small business. It is preposterous

that a government agency charged with assisting and protecting the

interests of small business concerns and preserving free competitive

enterprise would select Amazon as a co-sponsor of National Small

Business Week--a disconnect heightened by the Federal Trade Commission's

simultaneous lawsuit https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscQfcwusI6a9uJE9-HA~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6nADsOjpoMLg-gVdw against Amazon for illegally maintaining monopoly power. Granting Amazon the opportunity of sponsorship allows it to whitewash anti-competitive behavior and the harm its doing to small business while forcing small businesses to engage with their biggest threat to accept this opportunity. Enough is enough."

 I used to love reading Babar books, along with Madeline stories they allowed my young mind to travel to France and feel like I was in the heart of Gallic civilization! RIP to Mr Brunhoff, who almost made it to 100 years old, and who treated the world to his exotic and exciting children's stories.

 

Obituary Note: Laurent de Brunhoff

French artist Laurent de Brunhoff

https://www.shelfawareness.com/ct/x/pjJscQaJkesI6a82IxgkGQ~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6nBW5CjpoMLg-gVdw,

"who nurtured his father's creation, a beloved, very Gallic and very

civilized elephant named Babar, for nearly seven decades," died March

23, the New York Times reported. He was 98. Babar was born one night in

1930 when Laurent, then five, and his four-year-old brother, Mathieu,

"were having trouble sleeping. Their mother, Cecile de Brunhoff,

a pianist and music teacher, began to spin a tale about an orphaned baby

elephant who flees the jungle and runs to Paris, which is conveniently

located nearby."

Enthralled by the story, they told it to their father, artist Jean de

Brunhoff, the next morning and he began to sketch the little elephant,

whom he named Babar. Histoire de Babar (The Story of Babar), an

illustrated picture book in which Babar's escapade is recounted in Jean

de Brunhoff's script, was published in 1931. Six more picture books

followed before he died in 1937, when he was 37 and Laurent was 12.

The last two books were only partly colored at the time of his father's

death, and Laurent de Brunhoff finished them. Trained to be a painter,

he decided at 21 to carry on the adventures of Babar.

His first book, Babar's Cousin: That Rascal Arthur, was published in

1946, and de Brunhoff went on to write and illustrate more than 45

additional Babar books. "For the first few years, many readers didn't

realize that he was not the original author, so completely had he

realized Babar's world and his essence--his quiet morality and

equanimity," the Times noted.

Charles de Gaulle was a fan, noting that the Babar books promoted "a

certain idea of France." So was Maurice Sendak, though he said that for

years he was traumatized by Babar's origin story: the brutal murder of

his mother by a hunter. "That sublimely happy babyhood lost, after only

two full pages," Sendak wrote in the introduction to Babar's Family

Album (1981), a reissue of six titles, including Jean de Brunhoff's

original.

For Laurent, the idea and the images came first, after which he began to

sketch and paint what that might look like. When he married his second

wife, Phyllis Rose, a professor emerita of English at Wesleyan

University, they often collaborated on the text.

In 1987, de Brunhoff sold the rights to license his elephant to

businessman Clifford Ross, who then sold those rights to a Canadian

company, Nelvana Ltd., with the understanding that Ross would continue

to be involved in the conception of future products. What followed was

what Times described as "an elephantine array" of

Babar-abilia--including Babar pajamas and slippers, wallpaper and

wrapping paper, perfume, fruit drinks, backpacks, blankets and bibs.

There was also Babar: The Movie (1989), as well as a TV series.

"Babar and I both enjoy a friendly family life," de Brunhoff wrote in

1987. "We take the same care to avoid over-dramatization of the events

or situations that do arise. If we take the correct, efficient steps, we

both believe that a happy end will come. When writing a book, my

intention is to entertain, not give a 'message.' But still one can, of

course, say there is a message in the Babar books, a message of

nonviolence."

This sounds fascinating. Enough so that I might have to renew my Hulu subscription.

 

TV: Under the Bridge

A trailer has been released for the Hulu series Under the Bridge

https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscQaJw-kI6a82IxBzHA~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6nBW8KhpoMLg-gVdw,

based on Rebecca Godfrey's 2005 book. Entertainment Weekly reported that

the project, from writer/creator Quinn Shephard and showrunner Samir

Mehta, stars Oscar nominee Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon)

and Emmy nominee Riley Keough (Daisy Jones and the Six). Under the

Bridge premieres on Hulu April 17.

"Neither of us wanted to make yet another classic murder mystery," Mehta

said. "We really wanted to find a way to elevate the genre and do

something new with it.... It was a crime book that didn't feel like a

crime book. There was a real gentleness and femininity to the way that

the story was told. I felt like it offered a lot of space to tell a

story both about Reena, but also about childhood and the stories of the

other teenagers."

Another great classic science fiction author is lost to the world. RIP VV.

 I loved his optimism for the future of mankind.

Obituary Note: Vernor Vinge 

Author and professor of mathematics Vernor Vinge

https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscQaKk-4I6a82Ihh2Tw~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6nBWJKmpoMLg-gVdw, who "was noted

for introducing the technological singularity concept (AKA the

Singularity) and known for his gripping hard science fiction," died

March 20, Locus magazine reported. He was 79.

His first published work of science fiction was "Apartness" in 1965.

Other notable short fiction includes "Bookworm, Run!" (1966) and "The

Peddler's Apprentice," which was written with his wife, Joan D. Vinge

(1975). He also published two Hugo Award-winning novellas: Fast Times at

Fairmont High (2001) and The Cookie Monster (2003). 

Vinge's debut novel, Grimm's World, was published in 1969. A Fire Upon

the Deep (1992), the first book in the Zones of Thought series, won the

Hugo Award, while the second title in the series, A Deepness in the Sky

(1999), took the Hugo Award, John W. Campbell Memorial Award, and

Prometheus Award. The Children of the Sky (2011) was the third novel in

the series. Other notable books include Hugo Award winner Rainbows End

(2006). His nonfiction work included the 1993 paper "The Coming Technological

Singularity: How to Survive in the Post-Human Era," which introduced the

concept and greatly influenced post-singularity SF, Locus noted.

In a Facebook post, author David Brin wrote, in part: "A titan in the

literary genre https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscQaKk-4I6a82Ihh2TA~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6nBWJKmpoMLg-gVdw that

explores a limitless range of potential destinies, Vernor enthralled

millions with tales of plausible tomorrows, made all the more vivid by

his polymath masteries of language, drama, characters and the

implications of science.... Accused by some of a grievous sin--that of

'optimism'--Vernor gave us peerless legends that often depicted human

success at overcoming problems... those right in front of us... while

posing new ones! New dilemmas that may lie just ahead of our myopic

gaze."

Silver in the Bone by Alexandra Bracken is a YA dark Arthurian fantasy, written in a modern mythical style that is by turns riveting and repulsive. There's also a strong romantic thread in this book, though I think it's ill-served by the severe and dark storyline. Here's the blurb: From the critically acclaimed author of Lore comes a stunning contemporary fantasy inspired by Celtic lore—the tale of a teenage girl who seeks her destiny in the cursed ruins of Avalon, driven by love, revenge, and pure adrenaline!

Born without a trace of magic, Tamsin Lark is no match for the sorceresses and Hollowers who populate the magical underground of Boston. But when the only parent she’s ever known disappears without so much as a goodbye, she has no choice but to join in their cutthroat pursuit of enchanted relics to keep herself—and her brother, Cabell—alive.

Ten years later, rumors are swirling that her guardian found a powerful ring from Arthurian legend just before he vanished. A run-in with her rival Emrys ignites Tamsin’s hope that the ring could free Cabell from a curse that threatens both of them. But they aren’t the only ones who covet the ring.

As word spreads, greedy Hollowers start circling, and many would kill to have it for themselves. While Emrys is the last person Tamsin would choose to partner with, she needs all the help she can get to edge out her competitors in the race for the ring. Together, they dive headfirst into a vipers’ nest of dark magic, exposing a deadly secret with the power to awaken ghosts of the past and shatter her last hope of saving her brother. 

  This book had a lot going for it, as the author has won rave reviews of her first foray into rewriting myths/legends with Lore. So I was surprised that this book was so full of redundancies and fluffy paragraphs that really needed a strong editing hand to excise them.

Still, Tamsin was an interesting, if somewhat cringy-wimpy character who required way too much rescuing by the male protagonists in the book. She seemed to be smart, at first, but then fell into the "I'm the only one who can save everyone!" trope, where she nearly dies trying to be a heroine instead of planning out her rescue efforts and being smart and strategic about her involvement, instead of holding her life so cheaply that she was recklessly thrown into battles that couldn't be won.

The book, I will tell you (SPOILER) ends on a cliffhanger, so I assume that there will at least be one more book in this series.

I'd give it a B, and recommend it to those who like YA fantasy very loosely based on ancient legends.

 

Desperation by Becca Ryden is a beautifully rendered urban fantasy novel that, though it appears to be self-published, is rich with colorful portrait inserts of the male and female protagonist, a bookmark and elegant fonts. I had trouble getting into the book, which takes about 50-70 pages to really get going, but once I got beyond those hurtles, it was all smooth sailing, for the most part (There were a number of typos and grammatical errors in the book that were jarring, including the back cover information, which had a glaring error that kept me from picking up this book until a couple of weeks ago. Here's the blurb:  

She believes he murdered her parents, the King and Queen of the Sky Throne. She believes he wants her and her sister dead. But one person's perception and reality are rarely so succinct.

Charlotte grew up being in love with the man she was promised to marry. Aurek was a warrior, a Daeva Prince to equal her Daeva Princess, and meant to protect their people when they took the throne. Where she was spoiled and young, he was patient and understanding. When she had outbursts, he was there to sooth her naive woes. It was a perfect match, just like her parents intended. Until he murdered them. 

Online Book Club blurb: "Desperation by Becca Ryden stands out as a tale that delves deeper into the human psyche and explores the complexities of relationships. Her writing is evocative and emotionally resonant. Becca Ryden's storytelling is rich and immersive, drawing readers into a world where romance is not just about love but about overcoming misconceptions, fighting for love, and confronting one's deepest fears. The narrative culminates in a breathtaking cliffhanger, leaving readers yearning for the forthcoming chapters of the story. As the layers of misunderstandings peel away, it becomes evident that more formidable adversaries lurk in the shadows than Charlotte could have ever fathomed.

One of the standout features of this novel that resonated deeply with me is the love that King Aurek holds for Charlotte. Amidst the upheaval, misunderstandings, and even moments of bloodshed that affected their relationship, King Aurek's commitment to protecting Charlotte remains unshaken. His actions throughout the book serve as a testament to the notion that true love is capable of making sacrifices and going to great lengths to ensure the safety and well-being of those we cherish. This portrayal of love is a resonating theme that enriches the narrative and makes Desperation an upsetting exploration of the enduring power of human emotion."

I disagree with the reviewer above, in that I didn't find Aurek's disgusing himself as someone else and then trying to win back the love of Charlotte (though he has killed so many people, including her parents, that he's not really a good person) to be more creepy and possessive/obsessive than romantic. They share a "magic soul McGuffin"  that continually draws them toward one another, but again, it's all the big strong man doing the majority of sword work and saving everyone, while the immature female protagonist consistently proves herself irrational and in need of rescue. Another heavily used trope here is the way Charlotte is infantilized as a damsel in distress and physically small and child-like, while the disguised Hunter/Aurek is described as huge, muscular, dark and manly, ie "tall dark and handsome." The writing was often overblown and Victorian, full of puffed up paragraphs that do nothing to move the plot or the characters forward. The plot was inconsistent, as a result, sometimes fast and often moving at a snail's pace. The ending was an inept cliffhanger that I assume will be resolved in the next novel. I'd give this book a generous B-, mainly for the portrait inserts and the cover art, and recommend it only to those who have a fainting couch handy while they read.

 

One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig is another dark romantic fantasy/mystery that creeps a bit too close to horror fiction for my taste. Still, it's one of the few books that I read that was engrossing from the first chapter onward, and the author's prose was deep and richly rendered. Here's the blurb: For fans of Uprooted and For the Wolf comes a dark, lushly gothic fantasy about a maiden who must unleash the monster within to save her kingdom—but the monster in her head isn't the only threat lurking.

Elspeth needs a monster. The monster might be her.

Elspeth Spindle needs more than luck to stay safe in the eerie, mist-locked kingdom she calls home—she needs a monster. She calls him the Nightmare, an ancient, mercurial spirit trapped in her head. He protects her. He keeps her secrets.

But nothing comes for free, especially magic.

When Elspeth meets a mysterious highwayman on the forest road, her life takes a drastic turn. Thrust into a world of shadow and deception, she joins a dangerous quest to cure the kingdom of the dark magic infecting it. Except the highwayman just so happens to be the King’s own nephew, Captain of the Destriers…and guilty of high treason.

He and Elspeth have until Solstice to gather twelve Providence Cards—the keys to the cure. But as the stakes heighten and their undeniable attraction intensifies, Elspeth is forced to face her darkest secret yet: the Nightmare is slowly, darkly, taking over her mind. And she might not be able to stop him.

I found this tale of one woman's slow descent into the madness of the magic creature that possesses her soul to be chilling but fascinating. Though there's a great deal of delving into humanity's more vile and vicious motivations for living, (ie a greed for power or immortality or beauty that trades your soul for magic), I was surprised by Elspeth's ability to wrangle her inner demon for years, when it would have been easier to just give in and become the monster within. Her ability to use what magic that she has, while allowing the monster king to come out and beat the snot out of  other horrible card users was by turns darkly comic and somehow satisfying, due to the confines of propriety that women lived under during that time/era. By the end, she's closer, but not finished, with her quest to gather all the cards to remove the disease/curse that is destroying her family and nearly everyone else in the country. I was rooting for the romance between Elspeth and the Captain, and I might even have to read the second book to find out what happens between them now that Elspeth is no longer in control of herself. Anyway, I'd give this book a B, and recommend it to anyone who likes dark fantasy romances full of monsters and magic.