ARC Review: A Longer Fall by Charlaine Harris

A Longer Fall
Author: Charlaine Harris
Series: Gunnie Rose (Book 2)
Publication: Gallery / Saga Press (January 14, 2020)

Description: #1 New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris returns with the second of the Gunnie Rose series, in which Lizbeth is hired onto a new crew, transporting a crate into Dixie, the self-exiled southeast territory of the former United States. What the crate contains is something so powerful, that forces from across three territories want to possess it.

In this second thrilling installment of the Gunnie Rose series, Lizbeth Rose is hired onto a new crew for a seemingly easy protection job, transporting a crate into Dixie, just about the last part of the former United States of America she wants to visit. But what seemed like a straight-forward job turns into a massacre as the crate is stolen. Up against a wall in Dixie, where social norms have stepped back into the last century, Lizbeth has to go undercover with an old friend to retrieve the crate as what’s inside can spark a rebellion, if she can get it back in time.

New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris (Sookie Stackhouse mysteries and Midnight, Texas trilogy) is at her best here, building the world of this alternate history of the United States, where magic is an acknowledged but despised power.

My Thoughts: The second Gunnie Rose book has Lizbeth hiring on with a new crew who has the job of delivering a crate into Dixie. Lizbeth doesn't want to go into Dixie which has reverted back to an earlier time period in its culture where women are only valued if they are married and dress appropriately and Blacks aren't valued at all.

Problems start right away when the train they are on is derailed and hired gunmen attack to steal the crate. Lizabeth is about the only one of her crew who survives mostly unhurt. It is up to her to find the crate and deliver it to its destination even though she doesn't know who hired the crew.

Lizbeth runs into Prince Ilya Savarov who she met in the first book and discovers that he is also on Bthe trail of the missing crate. After the events of the first book which left Eli and his family in disgrace, completing this mission is his only hope for salvaging his family's reputation. However, some of the grigori don't want his mission to be successful. Neither do some of the powerful white residents of Dixie.

I really liked this story. Lizbeth is an intriguing character - practical and pragmatic and intensely loyal to her own values. Because the story is told from her point of view, we don't have quite as clear a picture of what Eli wants and thinks which makes interpreting their relationship less clear. Lizbeth does love Eli but believes that they don't have any sort of a future because their lives are so different. She tries to convince herself to live in the present and not make plans for a future that has them together.

The world building is excellent in this story which tells of a fragmented United States with the Holy Russian Empire complete with its magicians controlling what used to be California and Oregon. Lizbeth's region of Texoma, Dixie being composed of the Southern States mostly east of the Mississippi, and Britannia which is the Northeast part of the former United States.

Fans of alternate history with magic and with an intrepid main character will want to read this series.

Favorite Quote:

"Eli, we judge every day. We decide that person is bad and this one is good." It was a struggle for me to talke about what  felt. I wasn't used to it.

"There is a difference. We have to fight people who are trying to kill us, to block our path to the goal we have promised to reach."

***

"But that's different from picking people out of a crowd and deciding that person isn't worthy of live," Eli said.

"What makes it different?" When Eli didn't answer right away, I went on. "What's the difference between deciding someone has to die because they're shooting at me, and me deciding someone has to die because they don't believe people different from them are human?"

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: Spitfire by M. L. Huie

Spitfire
Author: M. L. Huie
Series: A Livy Nash Mystery (Book 1)
Publication: Crooked Lane Books (January 7, 2020)

Description:  A page-turning new historical mystery for fans of Susan Elia MacNeal's Maggie Hope series and Kate Quinn's The Alice Network.

How far would you go for vengeance?

It's V-E Day 1946 in London. World War II is long over, and former spy Livy Nash is celebrating with her third drink before noon. She went to war to kill Nazis. Dropped behind enemy lines as a courier, she quickly became one of the toughest agents in France. But her war ended with betrayal and the execution of the man she loved. Now, Livy spends her days proofreading a demeaning advice column for little ladies at home, and her nights alone with black market vodka.

But everything changes when she meets the infamous Ian Fleming. The man who will create the world's most sophisticated secret agent has an agenda of his own and sends Livy back to France with one task: track down the traitor who killed the only man she ever loved. Livy jumps at the chance, heading back to Paris undercover as a journalist. But the City of Lights is teeming with spies, and Livy quickly learns just how much the game has changed. With enemies on every corner and ever-shifting alliances, she'll have to learn to fight a new war if she wants to conquer the past once and for all.

My Thoughts: Livy Nash spent her war as a courier dropped in France to be part of the Resistance. She had many hard times culminating with being arrested by the Nazis, imprisoned, and tortured. She watched the man she had come to love stood up in front of a firing squad and shot just before a shell hit that kept her from being killed too.

She's been back in England for a while, working as a copy editor for a third rate publication, and drinking herself into oblivion to try to forget her loss. When Ian Fleming who runs a spy agency loosely disguised as a news bureau comes to her and offers her a job and a chance to get revenge on the man who betrayed her and her lover, Livy is eager to go. Besides the adrenaline rush of war is the only thing that makes her feel alive.

She's sent back to France where she quickly discovers that the political landscape is shifting and new alliances are being formed making old friends into new enemies.

The story was packed with action. Livy was a sort of female James Bond with her derring-do. I liked the way she played all the different parties off against each other to find her own solution to the job she was sent to do.

Fans of fiction set in World War II and spies will enjoy this fast-paced story.

Favorite Quote:

Livy pretended to read over the familiar document as Fleming waited. Did she really want this again? A life of secrets? But wasn't that better than what she had now -- no life at all? Her war had ended in ore pain than she'd ever known, and it had all begun with signing this very same piece of paper. Livy's mind raced, remembering the end of the war, her war.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (Jan. 6, 2020)

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? is now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date.

It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week.  It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list.

I will be combining my YA and adult reading and purchases on this one weekly roundup.

Other Than Reading...

This was a gray and gloomy week. I haven't been posting the amount of solar energy we have produced because the amounts are minuscule. Either the panels are covered with snow or it is too cloudy to make energy. We did buy a roof rake to try to take the snow off the panels. My brother was using it when he came in to tell the the rake got stuck between two panels and he couldn't get it out. After some work, we did manage to push up from under the panels and get it loose but it has made him very reluctant to try again.

My brother went back to work this week. He did three eight hour days to get back in the groove and learn all the new things that have happened in the three months he was gone. We are still waiting to hear from his doctor giving him clearance to exercise. I did go to an orientation at the fitness center was shown how to work six of the machines. I came home sore and with little confidence that I will know how to set up each machine. I want to take part in a class on Monday and I'll see how that goes.

We did splurge on New Year's Eve and bought a pizza from our favorite pizza place. I figure we ended up eating a couple days worth of fat and sodium but it was well worth it. Best pizza ever! I baked bread a couple of times. We're using more now that he's bringing a lunch with him to work.

New Year's Resolutions

Personal - Stick with a healthy diet and regular exercise.
Reading - Stop reading books I'm not enjoying even if they are review books.

2019 Report

According to my records, I read 300 books last year. Goodreads says I read 310. 181 were mine including 71 rereads. I read 118 review books. Mysteries and thrillers led the way in my reading with 182 books. Urban fantasy came in a distant second with 72. 236 of the books I read this year were ebooks.

I added 331 titles to my LibraryThing this year. That is 154 book less than I added in 2018. 108 are still marked unread. 127 of the new arrivals were Review Books. 222 were Kindle books and 14 were audiobooks. My total number of unread books is 2175 with most of those Kindle books. I still have 76 that I added when I started LibraryThing in 2008 that are marked TBR. I'm pretty sure I've read some of them though. I won't know for sure until I start them again and they seem familiar.

Read Last Week

If you can't wait until the review shows up on my blog, reviews are posted to LibraryThing and Goodreads as soon as I write them (usually right after I finish reading a book.)

• The Princess Who Flew With Dragons by Stephanie Burgis - This middle grade title is the third in a series and was a great story about a Princess who found what she was good at. My review will be posted on Jan. 15.
• Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey - This is a reread of my favorite part of the long Valdemar series. Talia goes from abused holdergirl to Herald to the Queen with lots of bumps along the way. My review will be posted on Jan. 14.
• Arrow's Flight by Mercedes Lackey - This is the second in the trilogy and follows Talia during her internship where she has to learn to control a magic that goes out of control while also dealing with bandits, a blizzard, and a murderer. My review will be posted on Jan. 21.

• Arrow's Fall by Mercedes Lackey - This is the final book in the trilogy and has Talia dealing with a traitor within and a prince who wants to conquer Valedemar from without. She also has to deal with loss and a romance. My review will be posted on Feb. 6.
• Unnatural Death by Dorothy L. Sayers - This is the third Lord Peter Wimsey mystery and has Peter trying to solve the "perfect crime." My review will be posted on Jan. 16.

DNF

• Rogue Princess by B. R. Myers - I read 28% of this one before abandoning it. I felt like I had read the story many times before - runaway princess, low class thief and secrets. Nothing seemed new or fresh to me.

Currently

One of the three books from my own stack listed below.

Next Week

• Boundary Broken by Melissa F. Olson (Mine) - Urban Fantasy
• Shadow Girl by Gerry Schmitt (Mine) - Contemporary Thriller
• Felicity Carrol and the Perilous Pursuit (Mine) - Historical Mystery 

• An Everyday Hero by Laura Trentham (Review; Feb. 4) - Contemporary
• A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson (Review; Feb. 4) - YA Mystery
• Belle Revolte by Linsey Miller (Review; Feb. 4) - Epic Fantasy

Reviews Posted

• The Woman in the Veil by Laura Joh Rowland
• The Vanishing by Jayne Ann Krentz 

• There's a Murder Afoot by Vicki Delany
• A Perfect Eye by Stephanie Kane

Want to See What I Added to My Stack Last Week?

• Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid - Kindle Daily Deal that I heard so many good things about last year.
• An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green - Another Kindle Daily Deal for a book I heard about a lot last year. 

• Still Life by Louise Penny - Kindle Daily Deal for the first in a mystery series I've been meaning to try.
• The Heralds of Valdemar by Mercedes Lackey - Kindle copy of a book on my shelf that I wanted to reread.

What was your week like?

Book Review: A Perfect Eye by Stephanie Kane

A Perfect Eye
Author: Stephanie Kane
Series: Lily Sparks (Book 1)
Publication: Cold Hard Press (September 1, 2019)

Description: Some are born with a perfect palate, others with perfect pitch. Lily Sparks was born with a perfect eye. As Conservator of Paintings at the Denver Art Museum, she uses her keen visual powers to restore masterpieces and detect what's authentic and what is not. When the museum's billionaire benefactor is brutally murdered and Lily is dragged into the case, the grisly tableau stuns her: it's the human embodiment of the museum's prized landscape by famed Impressionist Gustave Caillebotte.

Lily comes to believe the Caillebotte was forged and the killer is a painter the art world spurned. But this knowledge comes at a terrible cost. As she confronts where art ends and fraud begins, she must face the deceptions in her own past.

My Thoughts: Lily Sparks is Conservator of Paintings at the Denver Art Museum. This is a second career for her and uses her perfect eye. She was trained since childhood by her single father to really see what is around her. Her talent came in handy when she was a lawyer and it comes in handy now too.

When the billionaire benefactor of the museum who donated a large amount of art to the facility is found brutally murdered, Lily is called in by old flame FBI Agent Paul Riley to use her talent to see what others have missed. Even though their relationship broke up ten years earlier when he neglected to mention that he was married, she hasn't really gotten over him and working with him is painful. What's worse is that he seems to have an agenda of his own and isn't really listening when she brings up how much the murder scene mirrors one of the billionaire's donations to the museum.

Lily comes to believe that the landscape by Impressionist Gustave Caillebotte is a forgery which doesn't make her at all popular with the museum director who claims to have a perfect eye of his own. The tension at work combined with her investigation bring a lot of tension to the story.

I enjoyed the multiple viewpoints in this story. The action was fast-paced and the tension was quite high through the story.

Favorite Quote:

Driving home, she thought about what Margo said. Was Kurtz's generosity to the museum a cover, to burnish his reputation while he funneled assets to less savory beneficiaries?

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from the author's publicist. You can buy your copy here in multiple formats.

Friday Memes: A Perfect Eye by Stephanie Kane

Happy Friday everybody!

Book Beginnings on Friday is now hosted by Rose City Reader. The Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice. Check out the links above for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Beginning:

It began on a Saturday morning walk when she was five, right after her mom died. Like musical chairs, he suddenly stopped. Tell me what you see, Lily. A house with a fence. What else? A truck. What color? Red.

Friday 56:

"What happened next?"

"'Rosie's the real expert,' our guy says. 'If he says it's modern, who am I to disagree?' Case didn't even reach the jury. The U. S. Attorney blamed us, then bitched about being micromanaged from D.C."

This week I am spotlighting The Perfect Eye by Stephanie Kane. I was approached by a publicist to read and review this one. Here is the description from Amazon:

Some are born with a perfect palate, others with perfect pitch. Lily Sparks was born with a perfect eye. As Conservator of Paintings at the Denver Art Museum, she uses her keen visual powers to restore masterpieces and detect what's authentic and what is not. When the museum's billionaire benefactor is brutally murdered and Lily is dragged into the case, the grisly tableau stuns her: it's the human embodiment of the museum's prized landscape by famed Impressionist Gustave Caillebotte

Lily comes to believe the Caillebotte was forged and the killer is a painter the art world spurned. But this knowledge comes at a terrible cost. As she confronts where art ends and fraud begins, she must face the deceptions in her own past.

ARC Review: There's a Murder Afoot by Vicki Delany

There's A Murder Afoot
Author: Vicki Delany
Series: A Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery (Book 5)
Publication: Crooked Lane Books (January 7, 2020)

Description: Just in time for Sherlock Holmes's 166th birthday, the fifth installment in national bestselling author Vicki Delany's Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mystery takes Sherlockania to the max with a Holmes convention and historic 221 Baker Street.

Gemma Doyle and her friends travel to London for a Sherlock Holmes convention--but will Gemma's father take the fall for a felonious forger's fatality?

The 6th of January is Sherlock Holmes's birthday, and lucky for Gemma Doyle, January is also the slowest time of the year at both the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium, and Mrs. Hudson's Tea Room. It's a good time for Gemma and her friends to travel to England for a Holmes Convention. For Gemma, the trip provides an opportunity to visit her parents, Jayne Wilson is excited about seeing all the sites London has to offer, and Ryan Ashburton just wants to spend some time with Gemma. But the trip is immediately derailed when Gemma's father Henry recognizes his brother-in-law Randolph Denhaugh, who disappeared more than thirty years ago on the night he stole a valuable painting from his own parents.

Henry, a retired detective with Scotland Yard, has been keeping tabs on the man's career as a forger of Old Masters and he warns Randy to stay away from his family. It's up to Gemma, with the help of her friends, to plunge into the "lowest and vilest alleys" of London to save her father from prison.

My Thoughts: Gemma and her friends have traveled to London to attend a Sherlock Holmes convention. Ryan and Jayne are more excited to see London and spend time with Gemma but Donald doesn't want to miss one Sherlock Holmes related thing.

Things are going well until Gemma meets an uncle she didn't know she had who is soon found dead with her father standing over him. The police inspector assigned to the case has a long-standing grudge against her retired police inspector father and so Gemma knows that it will be up to her and her mysterious sister Pippa to find the real murderer and save her father.

I enjoyed the setting and the the characters. I liked that Ryan and Gemma's relationship seems to be prospering after some earlier setbacks. I liked getting to know Gemma's family and meeting her sister Pippa who works in some mysterious job for the British government.

This was an entertaining episode in a very engaging mystery series.

Favorite Quote:

A male security guard stood at the entrance to the banqueting area. His arms were crossed over his chest and he no doubt thought he looked very formidable. It would have helped with his image if he'd been old enough to shave. "No one moves until the police get here," he announced.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: The Vanishing by Jayne Anne Krentz

The Vanishing
Author: Jayne Ann Krentz
Series: Fogg Lake (Book 1)
Publication: Berkley (January 7, 2020)

Description: From New York Times bestselling author Jayne Ann Krentz comes a gripping new romantic suspense trilogy fraught with danger and enigma. 

Decades ago in the small town of Fogg Lake, The Incident occurred: an explosion in the cave system that released unknown gases. The residents slept for two days. When they woke up they discovered that things had changed—they had changed. Some started having visions. Others heard ominous voices. And then, scientists from a mysterious government agency arrived. Determined not to become research subjects of strange experiments, the residents of Fogg Lake blamed their “hallucinations” on food poisoning, and the story worked. But now it has become apparent that the eerie effects of The Incident are showing up in the descendants of Fogg Lake.…

Catalina Lark and Olivia LeClair, best friends and co-owners of an investigation firm in Seattle, use what they call their “other sight” to help solve cases. When Olivia suddenly vanishes one night, Cat frantically begins the search for her friend. No one takes the disappearance seriously except Slater Arganbright, an agent from a shadowy organization known only as the Foundation, who shows up at her firm with a cryptic warning.

A ruthless killer is hunting the only witnesses to a murder that occurred in the Fogg Lake caves fifteen years ago—Catalina and Olivia. And someone intends to make both women vanish.

My Thoughts: Jayne Ann Krentz begins a new paranormal suspense story with THE VANISHING. Some years ago an accident in the small California town of Fogg Lake caused the people living there and their descendants to develop paranormal powers. Catalina Lark and Olivia LeClair had always been taught not to let anyone know about their powers.

Now, after Catalina was outed by a former boyfriend, she and Olivia have opened an detective agency that investigates people. Their work is helped by their ability to see auras and Catalina's ability to get brief glimpses of the future. When Olivia goes missing, Catalina needs to call in some help.

Slater Arganbright is sent from the shadowy organization known as the Foundation because he needs Catalina for a different task. But Catalina is only focused on finding Olivia and it soon becomes apparent that their goals are the same.

Slater is looking for someone who killed noted collectors of paranormal artifacts which may lead to a hidden lab which was built to weaponize paranormal powers. The government shut down the labs years ago but there are still those looking for the things that were discovered and willing to murder anyone who gets in their way.

Slater and Catalina have both had difficulties with relationships before they met each other. However, each has what the other needs and a relationship begins between them. The relationship does take a backseat to discovering who kidnapped Olivia and solving the mysteries that surround Fogg Lake and the missing lab.

This was an entertaining paranormal suspense story. I liked the characters and the banter between them. I can't wait to read the rest of the series.

Favorite Quote:

Catalina sniffed. "Can't say I blame them. How far do you trust Gwendolyn Swan?"

"Define 'trust,'" Slater said.

"Excuse me? I sense deep cynicism and a jaded view of human nature."

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from the publisher. You can buy your copy here.