I can see why they recommended this at SBTB: it’s a clever, succinct romance between two characters who share obvious charisma. The prose is witty and sophisticated, and Lucy Parker struck a remarkable balance in writing dialogue that demonstrated the characters’ intelligence while also remaining casual, which made everyone on the page seem much more realistic than I often encounter in contemporary romance. (This, in fact, is a hidden pet peeve of mine: authors bend over backwards to inject “cleverness” in banter between characters, but […]
Jack Reacher in Europe, with an unexpected twist
While I won’t claim it’s his best, or even that great, I found this latest (19th) Jack Reacher story an intriguing enough premise, a rapid page-turner (including the ballistics details which others found boring but which I enjoyed), a truly scary bad guy, and an unexpected punch-to-the-gut ending. Someone has taken a long-distance shot at the French president, but special bullet-proof glass protected him from assassination. The CIA decides, along with Europe’s top intelligence agencies, that this was just a practice run aimed at […]
Dancing with Werewolves, or at least a Werewolf
I have to admit that I’m actually kind of glad that I read the sequel first. It made this series a lot more fun (and it’s a lot of fun already) for all the “oh, now I get it” moments. The opening of the first volume of the Parasol Protectorate presents vague Cinderella elements in the heroine (although her likely prince charming is both werewolf and not very charming-or is he…). Alexia was never allowed to participate in society in order to give her younger […]
More Than the Sum of Its Parts
I had no expectations going into this e-book checked out from my local public library. I didn’t know that it was originally published in England (with a slightly different title) and then republished in the US a year later. Though there are a lot of familiar elements in this YA urban fantasy, there are also some memorable twists, most involving Japanese mythology, that made this a fun read. A day before her 16th birthday, Mio Yamata ventures into the attic to find an old family […]
Let me take you by the hand and lead you through the streets of London
These, as Maria von Trapp would have it, are a few of my favourite things: 1. Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere; 2. The city of London; and 3. chocolate. Rivers of London just about covers two of these three, so it’s a good start. The book is about PC Peter Grant, newbie in the Metropolitan Police. Peter is basically an intelligent underachiever facing a long career in paper-pushing from behind a dreary desk in an uninteresting outer borough while the colleague-slash-friend that he fancies sees him as […]
London, you’re a Lady
Let’s get this out of the way: I really, really love London. I duly loathe the London Eye, I have my favourite Camden Lock stands and I feel a shiver of excitement whenever I smell the tube’s musk. Other tourists ask me for directions. As soon as I win the lottery – which is only a matter of time, really – I’m moving there. Until then I’m content to take my students there every year (twice, sometimes) and when I show them around, I love […]