This time around I am reviewing three books that Nick made me read. If you follow her on twitter she has pretty much been rambling about the Lady Sherlock books on and off for the past couple of weeks and as I’ve said before, she did convince me last year to buy the first two books in the series when I first visited New York. I finally pulled my finger out and read them just to shut her up (FYI, it didn’t work) and I have some brief thoughts.
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Source: Purchased
Genre: Mystery, Historical
My Rating:
With her inquisitive mind, Charlotte Holmes has never felt comfortable with the demureness expected of the fairer sex in upper class society. But even she never thought that she would become a social pariah, an outcast fending for herself on the mean streets of London.
When the city is struck by a trio of unexpected deaths and suspicion falls on her sister and her father, Charlotte is desperate to find the true culprits and clear the family name. She’ll have help from friends new and old—a kind-hearted widow, a police inspector, and a man who has long loved her.
But in the end, it will be up to Charlotte, under the assumed name Sherlock Holmes, to challenge society’s expectations and match wits against an unseen mastermind.
This is the first book in the series and let me tell you it is brilliant. The general premise of the series is that Sherlock Holmes is a fictional person created by Charlotte Holmes as a way for her to use her excellent skills of observation and deduction to solve mysteries. For many reasons, she leaves her family home in disgrace and ends up in the company of one Mrs John Watson, a former actress, who helps her in this deception of the public (and a police officer) so she can use her skills to solve a murder or two. But she is also happy to help with a riddle or two for people.
I have to say, I wasn’t sure how another retelling of Sherlock Holmes could really distinguish itself from the many that have been done before. I mean, we’ve all seen Sherlock or Elementary on TV, and if not that then House. We’ve seen the quirky, curmudgeon and the former addict. Even if we’ve not read the books I think it’s safe to say we all feel like we know what Sherlock Holmes is about so this retelling a female Sherlock is pretty damn genius. And Charlotte is not incapable of interacting with people and needing her sidekick John Watson to help in that, in fact, she has learnt how to navigate people. She is pretty damn skilled at it, but instead, she needs someone to help her keep a roof over her head and food in her belly. And having Mrs Watson, a former actress, to help her with this deception be it playing Mrs Hudson, the landlady, or to help play the part of Sherlock’s sister when Charlotte is unable to then she can. It was utterly genius what Sherry Thomas did with this. It made the whole story of Sherlock Holmes feel original.
I cannot say how closely it keeps to the original stories as I’ve not read them but I was cheering that even the books of Sherlock Holmes are referenced As Charlotte's sister hopes to tell a sensationalised version of the mystery we had here. I honestly don’t want to spoil too much but I can safely say this was a genius interpretation of a well-known character in a way which felt totally original with an interesting cast of characters who are not always likeable, but they are all interesting.
Source: Purchased
Genre: Mystery, Historical
My Rating:
The game is afoot as Charlotte Holmes returns in the atmospheric second novel in New York Times bestseller Sherry Thomas's Victorian-set Lady Sherlock series.
Being shunned by Society gives Charlotte Holmes the time and freedom to put her extraordinary powers of deduction to good use. As “Sherlock Holmes, consulting detective,” aided by the capable Mrs. Watson, she’s had great success helping with all manner of inquiries, but she’s not prepared for the new client who arrives at her Upper Baker Street office.
Lady Ingram, wife of Charlotte’s dear friend and benefactor, wants Sherlock Holmes to find her first love, who failed to show up at their annual rendezvous. Matters of loyalty and discretion aside, the case becomes even more personal for Charlotte as the missing man is none other than Myron Finch, her illegitimate half brother.
In the meanwhile, Charlotte wrestles with a surprising proposal of marriage, a mysterious stranger woos her sister Livia, and an unidentified body that surfaces where least expected. Charlotte’s investigative prowess is challenged as never before: Can she find her brother in time—or will he, too, end up as a nameless corpse somewhere in the belly of London?
The second book in the series is just as strong as the first and I will say it was way more twisty when it came to the mystery. We had a brief mention of Moriarty in the first book but the character really moved front and centre with this one.
I initially thought this one wasn’t as good as the first book. I didn’t get how everything was connecting up as I was reading. It seemed disjointed and a little all over the place. And whilst I found the first book employed multiple POV perfectly to really keep you guessing but also further explore plot points so you really got what was going on this one threw me at first as I didn’t get where it was going. Once the story got going though I was thoroughly impressed and eager to keep reading.
This time around we get to see far more of Lord Ingram, he was significant in the first book in bringing Charlotte into the crime-solving world and offered her assistance but this time around he played a major role. Well, him and his wife and family. I loved the inclusion of Lord Bancroft this time around, he seemed bland but I was really interested in Lord Ingram’s family and since Bancroft previously proposed to Charlotte I wanted to see what the interaction would be like. It’s safe to say it was brilliant. This book explored more of the characters beyond Charlotte. Especially her sister, Livia, and her life stuck at home with their parents and her hopes for the future.
This was definitely a slower build than the first book but I loved all the twists and turns that occurred and I was so thankful I’d gone and bought the third book already when it came to the ending of this one and we all know the ending is the most important part in any mystery because if you don’t want to keep reading and aren’t at least a little surprised by the big reveal then you’ve gone wrong.
Source: Purchased
Genre: Mystery, Historical
My Rating:
Charlotte Holmes, Lady Sherlock, returns in the Victorian-set mystery series from the USA Today bestselling author of A Conspiracy in Belgravia and A Study in Scarlet Women, an NPR Best Book of 2016.
Under the cover of “Sherlock Holmes, consulting detective,” Charlotte Holmes puts her extraordinary powers of deduction to good use. Aided by the capable Mrs. Watson, Charlotte draws those in need to her and makes it her business to know what other people don’t.
Moriarty’s shadow looms large. First, Charlotte’s half brother disappears. Then, Lady Ingram, the estranged wife of Charlotte’s close friend Lord Ingram, turns up dead on his estate. And all signs point to Lord Ingram as the murderer.
With Scotland Yard closing in, Charlotte goes under disguise to seek out the truth. But uncovering the truth could mean getting too close to Lord Ingram—and a number of malevolent forces…
Ugh, this third book I couldn’t wait to start reading because have you read that summary?! Lord Ingram is being accused of murdering his wife! You know I was there for Charlotte coming to the rescue in this one and it was even more fun because this time around we have her not playing the role of Sherlock Holmes’s sister, but the role of his brother (have I explained that Sherlock Holmes is bedridden and thus has the aid of his kind sister in his convalescence and this lets Charlotte do all her deducting without folks getting suspicious? No? Wow, you guys must be confused right now). It was so much fun having Charlotte cross-dressing and having some freedom to act like a man to investigate. Especially as it meant her comments are immediately respected by the investigators as a man her word held a touch more weight.
It was another slightly slow starter as we have the set up for Lord Ingram being framed for the murder of his wife and let me tell you I did not know how Charlotte was going to stop him from being framed. All the evidence pointed to him and if he hadn’t been established as being such a good guy in the first two books I would have definitely had some doubts. It was good to see some of our main characters being viewed from new perspectives in this book. We don’t know all that much about Lord Ingram and Charlotte's past together and so I was happy to jump on any small titbit of information to learn about them.
And you know how I was totally surprised at the ending of the last book and was making grabby hands for the next one? Well, this one had the twists of the second book beat because I wasn’t totally surprised by the reveal of that one. You could have knocked me over with a feather with after the surprise in this one but at the same time, it wasn’t unexpected because the clues were all there I just didn’t see them! But I was still making grabby hands for the next book. Is it October yet?
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And there you have it. So far, this series has been utterly genius and I want to know who I have to bat my eyelashes at to get the fourth one already. I will say it only once: Nick was right. This is a really good historical mystery series. It has a hint of romance and you know I am shipping it hard, but it’s really the mysteries and Charlotte’s genius which keep me reading. I will say, though, I was thrown every time I saw the US spelling for words in this. I even knew I was reading a book published in the US but it’s crazy how these little things throw you off for a second.
Have you read this series yet, or have I managed to convince you to read? And do you have any recommendations for books which you feel like have a similar vibe to them because I am stuck on what to read next?
Red, White & Royal Blue – Casey McQuiston
Published: 14th May 2019
Source: Purchased
Genre: Romance, Contemporary, New Adult
My Rating:
A big-hearted romantic comedy in which First Son Alex falls in love with Prince Henry of Wales after an incident of international proportions forces them to pretend to be best friends...
First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz is the closest thing to a prince this side of the Atlantic. With his intrepid sister and the Veep’s genius granddaughter, they’re the White House Trio, a beautiful millennial marketing strategy for his mother, President Ellen Claremont. International socialite duties do have downsides—namely, when photos of a confrontation with his longtime nemesis Prince Henry at a royal wedding leak to the tabloids and threaten American/British relations.
The plan for damage control: staging a fake friendship between the First Son and the Prince. Alex is busy enough handling his mother’s bloodthirsty opponents and his own political ambitions without an uptight royal slowing him down. But beneath Henry’s Prince Charming veneer, there’s a soft-hearted eccentric with a dry sense of humor and more than one ghost haunting him.
As President Claremont kicks off her reelection bid, Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret relationship with Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations. And Henry throws everything into question for Alex, an impulsive, charming guy who thought he knew everything: What is worth the sacrifice? How do you do all the good you can do? And, most importantly, how will history remember you?
Welcome to my first review in a while, please don’t mind me while I dust off the cobwebs. And my first review is for the first book I managed to finish in a few weeks: Red White & Royal Blue. Before we even get into the main part of the review I will right off the bat say this is a new favourite for me. Literally everything about this book worked for me and I am so pleased that this impulse buy wasn’t an epic flop (that happens far more than I probably say).
I know this book has been everywhere (or at least, the reviews I’ve managed to catch for it make it seem like everyone has been talking about it, I don’t really know, I’ve still got 150+ reviews to catch up on) and that there is some hype around. But I missed all of that when I fell off the face of the blogging world for a while so for once I got the chance to go in pretty much blind with this one. I only looked at it in the bookshop because I’d seen the cover on twitter and when I read the back of the book it seemed like my kind of read. In fact, I almost didn’t buy this but I was hanging around for my mom to come out of the loo before I checked out and ended up going back and grabbing it while I was waiting.
Best decision ever!
As soon as I began reading I knew I had made the right decision. Something about the writing and the characters just felt familiar and I sank right on into the story pretty much immediately. There was no dithering about whether or not I liked it, it just clicked for me. Alex was kind of cocky and very intense and he could have been a character I didn’t like because he was a lot but it worked. He was confident in himself and his abilities. He knew he was smart and he was determined to succeed in politics right off the bat. He was impulsive and he made some bad decisions, but he was never doing them for bad reasons. He was just off before he thought things through and that endeared me to him.
Also spoiler (sort of, I mean, just be wary of this whole paragraph just in case) I did think Alex knew he was bi because from the very start his hatred of Henry seemed a bit much. Because why would any guy be that interested in another guy at a young age? And some of the things he said and the way he acted made it seem like he was. I think some of his jokes with Henry during their forced friendship time make it seem like he was. He made off hand jokes about their relationship being more than a friendship. I think there was a pregnancy joke and everything and I just got that vibe. I know it was part of the story line where he realised this about himself and that he in fact had been slowly realising for a while that he was bi because a lot of things he’d done when he was younger were not how you would act if you weren’t interested in guys too. And his family and friends all seemed to have realised this about him too so maybe I was meant to realise before he did but it did throw me for a second when reading.
Anyway, Alex, he was a sweetheart I wasn’t sure I’d love because he was very full on and what I would view as a typical American. But then there was Henry who I also thought I might not like. Have I mentioned before I hate how some people write Brits? I mean, I’m British and I’m pretty sure if a lot of you heard me speak you wouldn’t instantly think British (unless you’re from the UK< but come on, that’s cheating). It always annoys me when you have posh folk as your typical Brit. I’m also wary of books involving royalty (unless it’s Alyssa Cole’s Reluctant Royals series) because the royal family is viewed a bit differently here than some of you think. I mean, I like to refer to the Queen as Queenie but I feel like most people kind of forget about the royal family until someone gets married/divorced/dies. So there were two things here that could make me potentially hate Henry. Luckily, he was very well-written and I loved this previous cinnamon roll. He was cold and standoffish but I just knew that was to hide a major secret. And loved how much drama there was going on with his whole family! I wish the royal family was as interesting as his family was (although, I totally wanted to call out the fact that his dad got to be an actor and keep working because I’m pretty sure the royals have to give up work but I don’t know the logistics of that one so don’t take my word for it).
I will say after reading this Alex and Henry are my OTP. They were properly adorable. I mean, we all knew shit was going to go down at that Royal wedding when Alex was dumb enough to get drunk and start talking to Henry. Did I expect an expensive ass cake to go flying? Not so much, but loved the fake friendship. Who knew I’d love that as much as a fake relationship? I mean, knew it was love with this book when there was a reference to Harry and Draco and the definite undertones happening with that relationship and then a Remus mention too? I mean hot damn. Way to grab a girls attention and make her scream her love for a book. I was about ready to kill for each every character in this book. I wanted to befriend them and beat up the big meanies (looking at you Queenie) and protect them from all. And considering this book was 400+ pages, I would have been happy to read more. I want the secondary characters to have their own books and for this gang to take over the world one country at a time with their political power and good deeds.
Basically, if you haven’t figured it out from this weird, twisty, rambling review. I was head over heels for this book. It was funny and the characters were so likeable without being boring. It was so easy for me to begin reading and then lose myself for a few hours. It’s not often a book captures my attention so completely but this one managed it.
Have you read Red, White & Royal Blue? Give me your thoughts. And do you sometimes find yourself struggling to explain why a book worked but you know it definitely did?
Well hi there! Like the title says, long time no see, which is totally on me. My ‘small hiatus’ began earlier than I planned (with no announcement or prior warning) and then the motivation to open up a blank post and start typing words grew ever more daunting.
I’ll be honest, I did plan a two week break from blogging, I was going to post a May wrap up and take two weeks off and come back to my blog refreshed from a break to New York and have all these posts prepared but as my holiday approached my motivation to blog just up and disappeared. I didn’t want to reply to blog comments. I didn’t want to comment on other people’s blogs. I didn’t even want to read posts and have 20 tabs open for posts I would totally comment on soon. Hell, it got to the point I lost all motivation to read! It was a dark time and I am now convinced holidays where I am going to be busy just fully drain my reading and blogging mojo because this happened last year when I went on holiday too and now I’m a month behind on ARCs and only just getting back into the swing of things with reading.
It was a nightmare.
On the plus side, despite DNF-ing 4 books (which I will probably reattempt reading because I know it was a mood thing) I did read a whole heap of Drarry HP fanfiction during my hiatus. Honestly, guys, I think some fanfiction is better written than some books I’ve read. I hope the authors of this fics are actual authors or aspire to be because they have the whole storytelling thing down! I don’t think my lack of reading motivation was helped by my rediscovery or the marvel that is sending AO3 fics to my Kindle. Those arcs I intended to read to were usurped by the shiny new fanfics I downloaded instead.
Thankfully, my reading mojo is returning for more than just fanfic. I bought Red, White & Royal Blue when I was away and it was the first book I read when I returned home and utterly adored it. I will review (but don’t expect any kind of coherent thoughts on it). And I also finally got convinced by Nick to start reading the Lady Sherlock series because she was getting hella judgemental on that front. To be fair, I did buy the first two books last year! But she was right, these books are good and I’m only one and a half books in and I’m in love. I bought the third one and I’m plotting who to beg, borrow or steal the fourth book since it’s not out until October (yep, what is this bullshit?) and Netgalley is conspiring against me on that front.
But let’s not digress.
I mostly wanted to say I’m not dead, I am starting to write blog posts again and give me like five years and I might have caught up on the 200+ unread blog posts you guys have written. If you could take a summer break or something to give me a chance to catch up that would be brilliant.
What’s been happening while I’ve been gone? Recommend me books and all the posts I need to read.
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