Carole's Monday Review: The Christmas Eve Secret by Elyse Douglas

Author:  Elyse Douglas 

Title: The Christmas Eve Secret (Book 3)

Genre: SciFi, Romance, Historical, Mystery

Pages: ebook

Published: September 16th, 2019

Where I Got It: My shelf (given to me by the author/publisher for my honest and unbiased opinion)

Despite their happiness, Eve is having premonitions that something dreadful is about to occur. Concerned about the future and the safety of their child, she insists that they destroy the time travel lantern. Patrick is more cautious.

One afternoon when Patrick is out, a sinister man breaks into the apartment and forces Eve to give him the lantern. In many ways, Eve is relieved the lantern is gone. She hopes they can now live a more normal life.

A day later, Patrick shadows a woman who has been staking out the Gantly’s brownstone apartment, and he confronts her. To his and Eve’s utter shock, they learn that Lucy Rose is from 1924 and that she time-traveled with the man who took the lantern. He returned to 1924, but she chose to stay behind. She offers to sell the lantern back to Eve and Patrick, and they reluctantly agree, hoping to keep it out of unscrupulous hands.

Convinced that the lantern is a threat to their future happiness, Eve and Patrick decide to destroy it.

But the lantern has more power than they could have ever imagined. Once the lantern is destroyed, Eve’s life is completely changed. She must set off on an adventure, in a struggle that will return her to the past, where she will learn the secret of the lantern’s origin and delve into the farthest reaches of her heart.

Book 3! So exciting! I really enjoyed the last one quite a bit!

The story continues with Eve and Patrick. Despite everything seeming to be perfect, Even cannot brush off this fear and premonition something bad is on the horizon. In order to protect her and Patrick and their unborn baby, they decided to destroy the time travel lantern once and for all. And of course....this does not end well.

Even though I wanted book 3 and more of their stories, I also didn't. I want Eve and Patrick to be happy!! They really deserve it! Time travel is not all rainbows and kittens. Even though it brought them together, it keeps messing things up. 

I adore Eve and Patrick. I like Joni too even though I wanted to shake her sometimes! No one forced you to go woman!

OooOOOooo what to say without spoilers? 

Honestly, I was hooked from page one. I think I liked this book better even though it ripped my heart out! Ugh! SOBS! So good, so good. 

The middle dragged a touch there, but after some events, the ball got rolling again. I was so anxious and I wanted Eve and Patrick to be happy. 

Oh, that ending! Melted my cold heart! I love it. 

And that big reveal of how the lantern(s) got created??????? WOAH! I did not see that coming. Such a good twist! A fun twist! But made me want to shake somebody!

All-in-all, this was really good. I liked it just a touch more than the last one I think. The story was good and I loved the reveal! Didn't see that coming. The ending was good too! I for sure recommend this series. I'll stamp this one with 5 stars. 

Carole's Monday: Odell's Fall by Norman Bacal

Author:  Norman Bacal
Title: Odell's Fall
Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Romance
Pages: 352
Published: October 2nd 2019
Where I Got It: My shelf (given to me by the author/publisher for my honest and unbiased opinion)



Where do you go once you've clawed your way from obscurity to the pinnacle of success? When you've finally found the woman of your dreams. When the ethical rules guiding your life need to be broken in order to have her. When you've eloped to avoid the stigma of an inter-racial marriage among Alabama's elite. If you're Odell Moore, one of New York’s most successful lawyers, the entire world is watching your inevitable descent. And two New York detectives will be waiting to greet you in hell.

Love, jealousy, and deceit lead to murder in a penthouse apartment. But did Odell do it? Even he can’t be sure.

Othello has re-emerged in modern Manhattan. Will it end better for him and Desdemona this time?

Othello had been one of my favorite plays by William Shakespeare so when I read that this is pretty much a modern version, I could not help but give this a read. 

The story follows Dee and Odell. The two fell in love right away and married quickly. Odell is extremely successful and rich and charming and Dee comes from a prestigious Alabama family. However, due to his race, they knew they wouldn't find acceptance so they eloped. They move to New York and things don't get better. Jealousy and deceit start plaguing them.

The beginning was a drag for me if I am to be frank here. Maybe we are supposed feel bored alongside Dee and Emily? They live lonely existences because their husbands, Odell and Jackson, are busy successful men and simply just want to work all day and all night. Booo! They are just the wives at home and we barely got to see Odell and Dee just be together and be in love. I think I was missing that bonding time with them to see the love. 

However, after a certain event started unfolding at the store and then at the beach I was intrigued again and I knew it was beginning to happen. Iago...I mean Jackson...was beginning his insidious plan to ruin Odell's life. Ooooo that baddie. Always so bad!!!! 

I was ABSOLUTELY hooked at this point. The intrigue and the drama. Ooooooo that father-in-law!!!!! I hated him. Horrible, horrible man.

I felt for Dee. She was just a dumb, rich girl who just wanted to be happy and in love. 

Odell has a lot of issues and I felt for him. Poor guy! I also felt for his friend Michael. 

Poor everyone! Except for our baddie and the father-in-law. Heck! I even felt for Emily. She was equally a victim. 

The ending was awesome. TOTALLY didn't see that coming. I loved the detectives. The ending made me happy. 

What else to say without giving away spoilers?? MMMmmmmmMMM

Yes, this was a good one. It was like the original play but with many different twists and turns and we got to see a lot more character development. The modern take was fun and done well. Kuddos to the author for not just copy-pasting this story. The author truly found a different way to tell this story and make it different. You don't at ALL have to read the original play. This was its own story. 

All-in-all, I really enjoyed this book. The beginning was dragging there for a bit, but once the ball got rolling I was totally glued to the pages. I highly recommend this if you are looking for a good people story. I'll stamp this with 4 stars with a touch of romance and a bunch of mysteries. 

19 out of 16/25

Audio: A golden grave by Erin Lindsey

This is book 2, and even if it does work as a stand alone in a away, then you really should read book 1 first to see how it all happened.

Rose used to work as a maid, now she is a Pinkerton agent. And her new partner is the man she used to work for, and the man she has a crush on. Rose is clever, she can feel ghosts, and she will not have other agents hold her background against her.

I do enjoy how some of the Rich have something called "Luck", which of course is how they became rich. There are different sorts, like remembering everything you see, feeling where something has been and so forth. It brings in something extra in this world that also has shades and other dimensions, and that is why there are Pinkerton, special branch so the rest of the population does not find out.

Oh and yes her partner Thomas, I do like him (and they should totally get it on). A rich Englishman who is ell very English.

A hunt for a murderer who has Roosevelt as his next target. Rose trying to juggle her new life. New friends and old friends showing up. A good mystery, a good hunt.

Narration

I like Barrie's voice. She does a good voice for men and women, different accents and so on. She brings something extra to it all

Narrated by: Barrie Kreinik,____Series: Rose Gallagher Mystery, Book 2____Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins Unabridged Audiobook --------Release date: 09-17-19-------Publisher: Macmillan Audio------Historical fiction Mystery ------In exchange for an honest review

Rose Gallagher always dreamed of finding adventure, so her new life as a freshly-minted Pinkerton agent ought to be everything she ever wanted. Only a few months ago, she was just another poor Irish housemaid from Five Points; now, she’s learning to shoot a gun and dance the waltz and throw a grown man over her shoulder. Better still, she’s been recruited to the special branch, an elite unit dedicated to cases of a paranormal nature, and that means spending her days alongside the dashing Thomas Wiltshire.

But being a Pinkerton isn’t quite what Rose imagined, and not everyone welcomes her into the fold. Meanwhile, her old friends aren’t sure what to make of the new Rose, and even Thomas seems to be having second thoughts about his junior partner. So when a chilling new case arrives on Rose’s doorstep, she jumps at the chance to prove herself – only to realize that the stakes are higher than she could have imagined. Six delegates have been murdered at a local political convention, and the police have no idea who–or what–is responsible. One thing seems clear: The killer’s next target is a candidate for New York City mayor, one Theodore Roosevelt.

Convinced that something supernatural is afoot, Rose and Thomas must track down the murderer before Roosevelt is taken out of the race–permanently. But this killer is unlike any they’ve faced before, and hunting him down will take them from brownstones to ballrooms to Bowery saloons. Not quite comfortable anywhere, Rose must come to terms with her own changed place in society–and the fact that some would do anything to see her gone from it entirely.

The serpent's mark - SW Perry

Hardcover, 424 pages

Expected publication: June 6th 2019 by Corvus

Series: Nicholas Shelby #2

Historical fiction Mystery Thriller

To review

It was hard solving a crime or getting to the bottom of a conspiracy in the olden days. How anything got done I do not know, but then again, things did not get done so...yeah.

Nicholas was a doctor, but then he could not save his wife from dying in childbirth, so he became a drunkard, then he solved something and on of the queen's men took notice. He also made a good friend in a local tavern owner (and hey maybe one day there will be love there). And now he gets called upon a again.

A young boy is in danger. There is a conspiracy to overthrow queen Elizabeth. And Catholics are sneaking around. Business as usual in London.

I like Nicholas, he has come to see that medicin in that age is total bs. I mean the things they practiced. Horrible! He is smart and resourceful and he does not give up.

Then there is Bianca Merton. Catholic, owns a tavern, and trying to stay under the radar. I do like her. She has a brain, she has guts and she does not take BS. They make a perfect mix to solving a mystery.

I liked the conspiracy in question, and I can not say anything about it. Then there is this devil doctor too who was a creepy zealot. People who think they are right are just so scary.

It is not a fast book, how could it be. Solving this takes time, talking and effort.

I enjoyed it. It makes you think.

Treason sleeps for no man...
London, 1591. Nicholas Shelby, physician and reluctant spy, returns to his old haunts on London's lawless Bankside. But, when the queen's spymaster Robert Cecil asks him to investigate the dubious practices of a mysterious doctor from Switzerland, Nicholas is soon embroiled in a conspiracy that threatens not just the life of an innocent young patient, but the overthrow of Queen Elizabeth herself.
With fellow healer and mistress of the Jackdaw tavern, Bianca Merton, again at his side, Nicholas is drawn into a dangerous world of zealots, charlatans and fanatics. As their own lives become increasingly at risk, they find themselves confronting the greatest treason of all: the spectre of a bloody war between the faiths...

Carole's Sunday Review: The Catherine Howard Conspiracy

Author:  Alexandra Walsh 

Title: The Catherine Howard Conspiracy

(The Marquess House Trilogy #1)

Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery, What-If

Pages: ebook

Published:  March 28th 2019 

Where I Got It: My shelf (Given to me by the author/publisher for my honest and unbiased opinion)

What secrets were covered up at the court of Henry VIII …? 

Whitehall Palace, England, 1539 

When Catherine Howard arrives at the court of King Henry VIII to be a maid of honour in the household of the new queen, Anne of Cleves, she has no idea of the fate that awaits her. 

Catching the king’s fancy, she finds herself caught up in her uncle’s ambition to get a Howard heir to the throne. 

Terrified by the ageing king after the fate that befell her cousin, Anne Boleyn, Catherine begins to fear for her life… 

Pembrokeshire, Wales, 2018 

Dr Perdita Rivers receives news of the death of her estranged grandmother, renowned Tudor historian Mary Fitzroy. 

Mary inexplicably cut all contact with Perdita and her twin sister, Piper, but she has left them Marquess House, her vast estate in Pembrokeshire. 

Perdita sets out to unravel their grandmother’s motives for abandoning them, and is drawn into the mystery of an ancient document in the archives of Marquess House, a collection of letters and diaries claiming the records of Catherine Howard’s execution were falsified… 

You all know my love for what-if and mystery tales! This was right up my alley so I couldn't deny it!

The story follows Perdita in 2018 and Catherine Howard in the 1500s. Perdita and her twin thought that they were cut off from their granny but after their granny dies they realize they are left the Marquess House and all of her money. After moving in, Perdita sets out to uncover the motive for the granny abandoning them. This leads to a darker and more intriguing mystery...did Catherine Howard really die?

I did really enjoy both POVs. I am always inclined to like the historical one a touch more and it was true in this one. Catherine Howard isn't given much love since she wasn't queen long. Her and poor Anne of Cleves are pretty much ignored in the wife series of Henry. *laughs at own joke*. Do I believe Catherine had an affair? I wouldn't blame her in the slightest! However, she was not dumb. I don't think she really did...c'mon the man already murdered one wife and it was your cousin! One would have to be daft for sure. That is why I always questioned the whole thing personally. But again...he was old and gross...can't blame a lass for wanting love!

This tale was a huge what-if. WHAT if Catherine's death was faked? How? Why? And by who? Certainly not by good ol' Henry. *grumbles about insanity and murder* 

Now...I agree that Henry had the temper of a wild man, especially in his later years. Do I think he was physically abusive? Maybe...but I don't think he really was. The author really wanted to make sure you hated this man. It is nice and refreshing to see him in this light. Really filling in those bad guy shoes. Some people weren't a fan of this...but I think it fit and it was refreshing. It was also refreshing to see Catherine Howard differently. She wasn't some dumb little girl. She had a brain and I liked it. It was different. 

I did enjoy the mystery and the what-if-ness. SO unlikely for 100 reasons, but that is why I liked it. History is written by the winners. We will never, ever truly know. 

My only issue was the explanations of certain things. I know it is a what-if, but I felt they were a little weak in explanations. 

Also, I wanted more in the ending! YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME LIKE THIS AUTHOR!!! NOO! 

Overall, I did like this book. It was refreshing and I was glued from page one. I read it in a couple of sittings because I had to know what was going to happen next! I like that the author took risks with the characters and the story twists. All-in-all, not a bad what-if tale! I'll stamp this with 3 stars. 

Carole's Sunday. The Time Collector

Author:  Gwendolyn Womack  

Title: The Time Collector

Genre: Fantasy, Mystery, Fiction, and Romance

Pages: 352

Published: April 16th 2019

Where I Got It: My shelf (Given to me by the author/publisher for my honest and unbiased opinion)

Roan West was born with an extraordinary gift: he can perceive the past of any object he touches. A highly skilled pyschometrist, he uses his talents to find and sell valuable antiques, but his quiet life in New Orleans is about to change. Stuart, a fellow pyschometrist and Roan’s close friend, has used his own abilities to unearth several out-of-place-artifacts or “ooparts”—like a ring that once belonged to the seventeenth-century mathematician and philosopher René Descartes, but was found buried in prehistoric bedrock.

The relics challenge recorded history, but soon after the discovery, Stuart disappears, making him one of several psychometrists who have recently died or vanished without a trace. When Roan comes across a viral video of a young woman who has discovered a priceless pocket watch just by “sensing” it, he knows he has to warn her—but will Melicent Tilpin listen? And can Roan find Stuart before it’s too late?

I was drawn in right away! The summary, the cover, and just the general idea of it. I was for sure a moth to the flame. 

The story follows Roan and Melicent. They were both born with amazing gifts. They both can perceive the past of any object they touch. Melicent's powers are not as good yet, but Roan is pretty good at it. Stuart, Roan's pal, has used his own powers to unearth several out-of-place-artifacts. There is a connection between all of them but what? When Stuart goes missing along with a few others with similar gifts, Roan is forced to figure out what is going on and warn the young Melicent. 

I have always wanted this power or something similar. I love history and antiques. Can you imagine?? That would be amazing. Like all powers, there are cons to having them. 

The whole ooparts is amazing to me and I loved the author's blend of this real-life oddity to the story! 

Roan was fun. I liked him. 

Same with Melicent. I liked her from the beginning. Her little brother was a snotball. Yes, I get the WHYS, but still. I wanted to kick him and shake some sense into him! Sun was awesome and so strong. I wish we had more Sun!

The author was amazing. I was hooked from page one and I didn't want to put it down. The mystery was intriguing and I had my theories but I was wrong. Kuddos to the big twist! It all made sense though. HOW DID I NOT SEE IT? Maybe it was because I really didn't want to? IDK, but I was surprised. Ooooo that baddie. 

The romance aspect seemed a touch forced and I didn't really see the chemistry there, but the romance isn't the main aspect so it wasn't a huge issue.

Overall, I really liked this book. It was super good. The romance aspect was my only little hiccup. Everything else was awesome. The characters, the story, the mystery, the jumps to the past, and the twist at the end. I'll give this a 4! 

Book 11 of 16/25

Audio: A memory called Empire by Arkady Martine

• Teixcalaan, Book 1
• By: Arkady Martine
• Narrated by: Amy Landon
• Length: 15 hrs and 37 mins
• Unabridged Audiobook
• Release date: 03-26-19
• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Audio

My Thoughts

This was a planet bound scifi, and it really was more about this alien city, which was not that alien since they are human too. This was politics and mystery.

Mahit has lived her entire life on a station. She has never seen anything else, and she has dreamed of the City. Teixalaan, the empire. She speaks the language, she reads the poetry and she is chosen to be the ambassador. Since the previous one died all the sudden. Which of course is the whole mystery, why did he die? Is something rotten in this vast empire?

Mahit's people also saves the memories, if they are good memories and implant them into others. She gets the bad end of the stick, 5 years of the previous ambassadors life, since he has not be back to the station in 15 years. And she does not have enough time since it is a sort of symbiotic relationship. She will no longer be just Mahit. She is Mahit, and Iskander at the frey.

She is enchanted by the city as she arrives but she can also see the faults as she is new and not stuck in old ways as the Teixcalaan.

“You pump the dead full of chemicals and refuse to let anything rot—people or ideas or … or bad poetry, of which there is in fact some, even in perfectly metrical verse,” said Mahit. “Forgive me if I disagree with you on emulation. Teixcalaan is all about emulating what should already be dead.”

It was a fascinating culture. They sure liked their poetry. If you did not know poetry you were like dead to them. It was all about poetry.

And I liked Mahit, she is doing her best and she knows that she needs to know more to survive. Politics and murder mystery. And she gets a  great sidekick along the way too!

I enjoyed this story, but it did end. So I am curious what the next book will be about, if it will still be about her or someone else.

Narrator

I liked her voice. She brought desperation into Mahit's voice and the superiority to the Teixcalaans, since all are barbarians to them. She did well with male and female voices too as Mahit does have a male voice in her head

Blurb

Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in the center of the multi-system Teixcalaanli Empire only to discover that her predecessor, the previous ambassador from their small but fiercely independent mining station, has died. But no one will admit that his death wasn't an accident - or that Mahit might be next to die, during a time of political instability in the highest echelons of the imperial court.  

Now, Mahit must discover who is behind the murder, rescue herself, and save her station from Teixcalaan's unceasing expansion - all while navigating an alien culture that is all too seductive, engaging in intrigues of her own, and hiding a deadly technological secret - one that might spell the end of her station and her way of life - or rescue it from annihilation.  

A fascinating space-opera debut, Arkady Martine's A Memory Called Empire is an interstellar mystery adventure.