Darlene's Digest

Secret Sisters by Jayne Ann Krentz My rating: 4 of 5 stars If you're a fan of JAK (and I am), you know what to expect, so it's always an enjoyable reading experience when she delivers the goods. Secret Sisters features her trademark laconic heroes and plucky heroines, and this time the heroine was especially plucky, a hotel executive willing to make the first moves for romance. I like a strong-minded woman who knows what she wants, and apparently so does hero Jack Rayner. The mystery is sufficiently convoluted and surprising to keep the reader guessing, the secondary characters are well crafted and interesting, and the ending is satisfying. What more do you want? This book is what JAK fans desire, and it will please new fans as well. View all my reviews

A Curious Beginning by Deanna Raybourn My rating: 4 of 5 stars Delightful new entry in the amateur lady detective sub-genre, as Deanna Raybourn begins a new Victorian mystery series. The mystery surrounding Veronica Speedwell's background is intriguing, though I figured out what the big reveal was fairly early. Nonetheless, the characters are engaging enough that we can expect more adventures in the future, and the secondary characters offer their own intrigue and secrets to keep things going. The dialog was snappy, the settings were delightful, and Ms. Raybourn has another winner on her hands with Miss Veronica Speedwell. View all my reviews

Make Me by Lee Child My rating: 4 of 5 stars I love it when a mystery surprises me, especially when we're 20 books into a series. I thought I knew what was going on, I was wrong, and this made me very happy. It's a testament to the author's skills. MAKE ME is classic Jack Reacher. He's got no place to go and no where to be, so he gets off a train one day because the name of the town--Mother's Rest--intrigues him. Of course, since this is a Reacher novel, he stumbles into a nest of WTFery? and spends the rest of the book using his special skill set to straighten things out. There is a woman, not young, and not skinny (another nice treat) and lots of great Reacher moments. Highly recommended for hardcore Jack Reacher fans. View all my reviews

Clockwork Samurai by Jeannie Lin My rating: 4 of 5 stars It's hard to be the second book in a trilogy. You have the "gee whiz!" excitement of new worldbuilding in the first novel, a resolution of conflict in the third, but the second book has to do the heavy lifting with little of the glory. Despite these limitations, Clockwork Samurai carries the load and advances The Gunpowder Chronicles as the action shifts from China to Japan. Both nations are confronting Western interference, paralleling events in our own world in the 19th c. However in this universe, the Asian powers have airships and mechanical automatons and opium zombies and more. New characters are introduced, old characters re-emerge, and the excitement is heightened as the groundwork is laid for an East vs. West confrontation in the next novel. Readers are well advised to start with Gunpowder Chronicles #1 while the rest of us eagerly await the next volume. View all my reviews

Amber Quill Press is offering an early sale on ebooks, half off through Boxing Day (Yes, all that research I did for my Regency & Victorian romances does pay off)! Load your ereader with hot reading for cold nights, and settle in with a cup of your favorite beverage. You've been good girls and boys, and you deserve a treat.

Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie My rating: 5 of 5 stars Wonderful, moving, deeply satisfying conclusion to one of the most imaginative SF trilogies published in recent years. It's definitely going to be on my ballot for Hugo Nominees. I'm in awe at Leckie's ability to craft such well rounded characters without gender identification. It made me think about the people involved in an entirely new fashion, a different way of considering characters than the classic Left Hand of Darkness , which showed everything through a male human's eyes. Here we just had Breq and "her" people, both on-station and aboard ship. There were even moments of humor, and the scene with the Thousand Egg Song made me laugh. I look forward to reading more from this talented, award-winning author in the future. View all my reviews

The Crossing by Michael Connelly My rating: 4 of 5 stars Excellent police procedural as Harry Bosch, retired (under duress) from the LAPD, crosses over to the other side by helping his half brother Mickey Haller (The Lincoln Lawyer) investigate a case involving one of Haller's clients. Harry's not thrilled about helping the defense put another criminal back on the street, but the more he digs, the more he realizes there's a great deal missing from the murder investigation. Connelly shows his deft touch in laying out the case, piece by piece, even as we see Harry's troubled adjustment to civilian life. This latest Bosch mystery is sure to please the legion of fans who've been following Bosch's adventures for 20 books, and hoping for more from Connelly in the future. Harry may be retired, but he's far from done with investigating crime in the big city. View all my reviews

Doing No Harm by Carla    Kelly My rating: 4 of 5 stars Another sweet tale of good people doing the right thing, one of Ms. Kelly's trademarks. It's especially appropriate to the season and the current world situation, as the people of a small town struggling to survive open their hearts and homes to refugees who just want a chance, and a safe place to raise their families. The long war with Napoleon is over, and RN surgeon Douglas Bowden finds himself adrift, finally washing ashore in the Scottish lowlands town of Edgar. A medical emergency requires his skills and he puts himself to work, never planning on staying. However, he didn't count on spinster Olive Grant, who has worked herself to a nub assisting displaced Highlanders driven from their land by the clearances to make room for more profitable sheep. The novel deals strongly with issues of PTSD, both the form suffered by former military men like Douglas, and the kinds affecting small children who've been traum...

The Immortal Heights by Sherry Thomas My rating: 4 of 5 stars A strong and satisfying conclusion to an excellent fantasy trilogy. The action was non-stop--almost literally. I was exhausted reading it, and the world-building was intense. Titus and Iolanthe, along with their friends and allies, are moving closer to stopping the Bane and removing his threat to their lives and their very world and there's no time to waste. The entire series is a Harry Potteresque world of mages living alongside mundanes, their world mirroring ours in many ways. I missed the scenes at Eton that made the first volumes so interesting, but our characters had outgrown that phase of their lives. If I have one quibble about the books it was characters with names that were too similar (Amara/Aramia), a problem which could easily have been avoided. There was a great deal to keep track of in the wonderfully complex plot, and having to stop and remember who's who didn't help. However, I would cheerfull...

Burning Bright: Four Chanukah Love Stories by Megan Hart My rating: 5 of 5 stars Burning Bright: Four Chanukah Love Stories , is out in ebook, just in time for the holiday: “Miracle” by Megan Hart—This sweet tale touches on a little known issue, very religious Jews who go “off the derech ”, leaving their strictly observant communities for the wider world. It’s a difficult adjustment for Ben Schneider, but he finds his neighbor Amanda willing to help him navigate through new customs and traditions as she shows him her Chanukah celebration of helping her neighbors experience the holidays with joy. “A Dose of Gelt” by Jennifer Gracen—“Gelt” is money, the traditional Chanukah gift, symbolized by foil wrapped chocolate coins. Evan Sontag and Shari Cohen have so much in common and such a great relationship that when Evan brings Shari to his family’s annual Chanukah party, there’s discussion of when they’re setting a date. Honestly, Evan, if you didn’t think that was going to happen at the...

Bitch Planet, Vol 1: Extraordinary Machine by Kelly Sue DeConnick My rating: 4 of 5 stars Every now and then I feel like subverting the patriarchy (OK, I feel like that most days), and it's refreshing to run across graphic novels like Bitch Planet. It's in-your-face, subversive, we won't be "quiet ladies", fun with a strong tongue-in-cheek attitude and a lot of womyn behaving badly. Can't wait for the next volume! View all my reviews

Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith My rating: 4 of 5 stars Excellent writing, very good mystery that kept me guessing right up until the Big Reveal. The protagonists aren't always sympathetic (isn't that part of what makes noir noir?), but their lives seem very real as they unfold before our eyes. Cormoran Strike and his partner/assistant (depending on who's being asked) Robin Ellacott receive an especially nasty mystery to solve when a delivery to Robin turns out to be a severed human leg. That unpleasant day at work rather sets the tone for the entire novel, but it's very well done. There are still unresolved issues between Robin and Cormoran, between Robin and her fiance Matthew, and we learn more about what makes these two tick. I look forward to more excellent (if sometimes stomach churning) suspense from Galbraith in the future. View all my reviews

Alex returned and added water to the pot, careful not to let it fall below a boil. Eventually, after some whining (the dog) and grumbling (Miss Farnham), he pronounced the crabs ready for consumption. He extracted the crabs by using his stick to flip them into the air. “Catch them, Daphne! Quick, before the dog grabs them!” Holding the valise open, Miss Farnham dashed about, catching the manna as it fell from the heavens. The dog barked and she laughed and Alexander felt almost lighthearted. He put it down to hunger. --Castaway Dreams I've always felt it's important to count your blessings as often as possible, but Thanksgiving gives us a special focus on being grateful for the little things--food, shelter, puppies, and people who love us. I'm especially grateful for each and every one of my readers. When you take time to drop me a note saying you enjoyed my stories, it recharges my batteries and gets me back to the keyboard. Thank you. I couldn't do this...

The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher My rating: 5 of 5 stars Aeronauts! Steampunk! Space Pirates! Privateers! Naval battles! Giant freakin' spiders! Cats with thumbs! ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6Ccx... ) This book has everything, and it's held together with brass and leather and optics and steam as Jim Butcher strikes out for new territory. It's post-apocalyptic steampunk gooey goodness when the forces of noble Albion are fiendishly attacked by their hereditary enemies of Aurora. New recruits to the Guards will be tested in fire, and new alliances forged (as well as a relationship or two formed in the heat of battle) when Albion defends its very existence. The airship battles rival anything Patrick O'Brien penned, and the hefty first book in The Cinder Spires is a page turner sure to satisfy adventure fans. View all my reviews

St. Augustine was a cosmopolitan piece of Europe bordering the new United States. With Florida tossed like a shuttlecock between Spain and England, the Americans were poised to seize the territory of East Florida and shore up their coastline, eliminating the foreign threats from their southern shores. “See? A perfectly respectable establishment,” Jack said when he ushered Sophia into Captain Roberts’s home on St. George Street. The two-story house had a stuccoed lower floor, its creamy walls reflecting the afternoon sun, and a wooden second story with a balcony. It did indeed look like the abode of a prosperous sea captain, neatly maintained if sparsely furnished. There were no pictures on the wall, none of the little touches making a house a home. --The Bride and the Buccaneer I modeled Captain Roberts's house ( Captain Sinister's Lady ; The Bride and the Buccaneer ) on the Ximenez-Fatio House Museum on Aviles Street in St. Augustine, Florida. I "relocat...

The Accidental Assassin by Nichole Chase My rating: 4 of 5 stars This was a fun book, perfect for a weekend getaway at a historic inn (yes, I had a lovely time, thank you very much). The H&H were perfect for each other, the secondary characters shone, and the non-stop action kept the finger swiping on the ereader. American gal Ava's tired of her life being in a rut, so she strikes out for London, anxious to stretch her boundaries. She's flat-sitting at her best friend's yummy place, and job hunting, sightseeing and people watching. One of those people is a hunky guy who makes eye contact with her in a neighborhood coffee shop. When Ava accidentally runs over one of the residents of her apartment building, she finds herself targeted for a hit and on the run with Hunky Coffee Shop Guy, who's a professional assassin. What I really liked about it is Ava doesn't make TSTL mistakes (her one slip-up was understandable), and her skill set is modest, but realistic. I ...

The Queen by Tiffany Reisz My rating: 4 of 5 stars A satisfying conclusion to a complex and thoughtful erotic series about a dominatrix, her lovers, and their lives. Of course, it's much more than that. Anyone who followed The Original Sinners through the Red Years (starting with The Siren ) and the second part, The White Years, knows that it's not a simple love story. Rather, it's a story of forbidden love and a triad relationship that evolves, becoming so complex with the people drawn into the orbit of the protagonists that one practically needs to diagram it to remember who's connected to whom. Nora, Soren and Kingsley's lives unfolded in the manner of Scheherazade's storytelling, with flashbacks and exposition sandwiched into current events. In this final book we learn the full backstory of how Nora became the Red Queen, the top domme in NYC, and what that meant regarding the "forever" she and Soren had promised each other. I'm still not san...

Dr. Murray looked like he was about to say something, but Carville spoke up, saying stubbornly, “I still don’t believe the United States surrendered.” “A peace treaty is not a surrender, Carville,” Charley said. “I am sure there is more to this than we know.” Indeed, when Captain Doyle returned there was a full report. A peace treaty had been negotiated restoring Great Britain and the United States to their antebellum status. “But what of the prisoners?” Charley asked Captain Doyle. “A Yankee trader from France bound for Charleston put into port a few days back. That is how we got the news. The governor is not interested in having a gang of Americans roaming through Kingston, and asked if we would ‘host’ them for a while longer until they can ship out with their countrymen.” It was that simple. Men who two days earlier would have run each other through or blown each other to pieces, now were up on deck toasting each other’s countries with carefully rationed grog. Cap...

Corridors of the Night by Anne Perry My rating: 4 of 5 stars Well done mystery involving William and Hester Monk. Part of what I enjoy about these novels is the protagonists are very much part of the middle classes, not the gentry (though in Monk's case we can't be positive since he has no memory of his early life). They have to think about paying bills, and cooking food, and making ends meet. They can't just hie off on mystery solving like Peter Wimsey or Sherlock Holmes. This novel involves a question of medical ethics and the price of success. If experimentation involving live subjects--human subjects--can bring life-saving results for millions, should we condemn the scientists who conduct the research? It's much more complicated than that, naturally, but the mystery involves something we very much take for granted in the 21st c., blood transfusions. In an age before an understanding of blood typing, no one knew why it almost always failed. Hester gets involved wi...

The Price of Valor by Django Wexler My rating: 4 of 5 stars Another crackin' good yarn as we go deeper into the political turmoil of Vordan, in events that parallel the French Revolution. And yet, even as things lead to what would be the rise of the First Consul in our history, in The Price of Valor we have a monarch still very much involved in the country (too much so, according to her grumbling handler), and we have the "woo-woo" element as well. This is the third book in Shadow Campaign series, which will total five volumes, according to the author. No one should start the books at this point, in my opinion, because we've had so much wonderful character development and growth in the earlier books, especially in characters like Winter. However, if you like a good fantasy with a faux-European set-up and lots of well done battle scenes and political intrigue, this is the series for you. View all my reviews