The Shadow Palace (The Viper and the Urchin, #6) by Celine Jeanjean – Review

Tags

5 stars, Adventure, Book Review, Celine Jeanjean, fantasy, series, Steampunk

About The Shadow Palace by Celine Jeanjean

They made it into the palace…
…But will they be able to escape from it?

In the shadowy world of the Airnian court, nothing is more important than knowing who to trust. And nothing is harder to determine.

Rory and the gang need to make alliances if they’re to succeed in their mission, but their attempts are met with intrigue and betrayal. And all the while, the White Hornet is watching, waiting for an opportunity to make them disappear.

Longinus, meanwhile, continues with his quest to discover what happened to his family. His search for answers will take him deep within the palace, and deep within its secrets, until he is faced with a horrific choice.

Can Rory and the gang save him from a fate worse than death?

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Review of The Shadow Palace

The Shadow Palace takes up precisely where The White Hornet left off.  You may recall, that last story ended on a cliffhanger, which I tolerated only because a) I knew it was going to be a cliffhanger and b) I also knew the next installment would be coming soon.  It was a mere three month wait – well worth biding my time.

The Shadow Palace takes Rory, Longinus and crew to a place full of danger, mystery, dark passages, mysterious inhabitants and secrets. The mission, to find out which allies are loyal to Damsport and which allies have turned, has taken the crew to the Airnian Shadow Palace.  A place that is just as hard to get out of as it is to get into.

Their one “ally” is Simeon.  He is the abdicated prince who wastes his life on gambling and other sordid activities.  But for some reason, he has taken an interest in the “southerners”.  He is not to be trusted.  Rory knows it.  Rafe knows it.  They all know it.  Simeon freely admits he withholds the truth.  The very odd alliance constantly evolves and at any one point, you do not know where it will end up – until the end of the book.  I will venture that Simeon is much more than he seems.

Longinus and Rafe are the characters whose past will rise to haunt them.  We already know something about the family of Longinus.  Rafe’s family history has only been touched on briefly.  Both will deal with their past in one way or another, good or bad, giving even more depth to both of these characters.

The whole gang is constantly in some kind of danger.  Any minute their cover might be blown.  The White Hornet is after them, for some unknown reason.  They are constantly slinking about the hallways, basements, and dark passages, looking for information and a way out.  The constant peril makes the story seem much darker than previous books in the series.  I even began to long for a simpler time when it troubles were minor (in comparison) and it was just Rory and Longinus.

But if that were true, I suspect there would be fewer stories to tell.  More stories is better!

Thanks to the author who provided a copy of her book in exchange for my honest review.

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WWMB Best of 2019

Tags

Jenna Glass, Jody Wallace, Julia Vee, Juliet Marillier, Ken Bebelle, Kyndra Hatch, Lindsay Buroker, Maria Vale, Maxym M. Martineau, Meg Pechenik, Monica Enderle Pierce, Vicki Stiefel, W. M. Akers

For the last 4 years, I’ve been a part of the SFR Galaxy awards. Earlier this year, to my consternation, it was announced that those awards are ended.

I can’t just let that drop. I am a book blogger. I have opinions about books. I am compelled to let those opinions out.

Even though SciFi Romance figures heavily in my reading, I feature a variety of genres here on Whiskey With My Book. Without the constraints of the Galaxy awards, I can expand my choices of outstanding fiction published in 2019.

These are the books that I found to be unique, caused book hangovers, made me excited for the next book, made me laugh or cry or even made me angry.  They all evoked a level of emotion that persisted from the time I read them in 2019 to the day I made this list in 2020.  So, lacking any other formal title and in no particular order, here are my selections for the WWMB Best of 2019 (and maybe one or two from 2018).

(Note: Click on book covers for the Amazon link.  Link to Goodreads under each title.)

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Science Fiction Romance

Learn a New Language
The Mother Element (Glass and Iron, #2) by Monica Enderle Pierce
Goodreads

This book is not available in audiobook. If it ever is, I wonder if the narrator will be human or Ohnenrai. The author has created a big chunk of an alien language which is liberally dispersed throughout the book. Language, though, is not really why this book is on my list. The Mother Element is easily my favorite SFR of 2019. I don’t pick favorites often, but this year I will make the exception. Pierce is a new-to-me author who writes a complex story with a socio-politial problem that crosses species lines. Solving the problem involves trust, hope and the ultimate sacrifice. Along with the first book, Girl Under Glass, this was such an engrossing read! I have not yet finished my official review, because of the complexity of the story, but plan to – eventually.

Escape Old Age
Altered (The Made Ones Saga, #1) by Vicki Stiefel
Goodreads

Altered is a cross between Scifi and Fantasy that features transportation to a parallel world where the Earth-bound ravages of disease and age are miraculously wiped away. I have to say, I really like this idea. Of course, the miracle comes with a price.  One hopes the price will be worth it.  Bad guys with a dystopian-like control make things interesting.  Add the Wolf Clan heir apparent, romance, a coyote/wolf, a little humor, plus a couple of sisters for future stories and you have a series to be followed.

Hard to Forget this Story
After the Fall by Kyndra Hatch
Goodreads

I first read this novella in the Pets in Space 3 anthology in 2018. The story was released as a standalone in 2019. This was a standout in the anthology and was the one that I could not get out of my mind. The author followed up with the equally good Interrupting Starlight in the Pets in Space 4 anthology. Both stories feature characters of different races, and both have a crash landing to start the adventure. Plus, animals help bring the characters together and get them through the danger. I just don’t think you can beat the scifi/romance/pets combination!

All You Need is a Box
Catalyst (Cat Ship, #1) by Jody Wallace
Goodreads

In case you were not aware, this book has a cat as a major character. And he ends up at a box factory. I suppose if cats have a heaven, there must be boxes. In Catalyst, there are humans too, along with danger and romance. I love the author’s sense of humor.

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Science Fiction

Science Fiction

Glad I Did Not See This at the Movie Theater
Cold War: Alien Storm by Julia Vee and Ken Bebelle
Goodreads

I started with the prequel audiobook The Needle and then downloaded Cold War. This alien invasion series had me on the edge of my listening seat. In the theater, I would probably have closed my eyes. I’ll be frank, there is a lot of alien and human violence.  There is a war going on.  There is also a good deal of weird experimentation on humans by the aliens. But still, I am compelled to keep reading. The third book, Cold War: Alien Exile, is on my TBR list.

Washington Internship
Ascending (The Vardeshi Saga, #1) by Meg Pechenick
Goodreads

Ascending was actually released in 2018, but I read it last year. The heroine’s trip on the alien ship reminds me of my sophomore college year, when I went to Washington D.C. (From Lincoln, Nebraska.) By myself. Not knowing anyone. Everything felt alien. In Ascending, language, food, and pretty much every social custom is alien too. I felt the heroine’s isolation, loneliness and the fear of the unknown. Bright Shards, book 2, was release last August and is very high on my TBR.

Need More Time to Read
Shockwave (Star Kingdom, #1) by Lindsay Buroker
Goodreads

A heroine (Captain Bonita) well past her youth, a brainy hero (Casmir Dabrowski) and a cleaning-obsessed AI ship (Viggo). What more could I ask for in a science fiction novel? I thoroughly enjoyed Shockwave, especially the geeky hero.  But the adventure is just beginning in Shockwave.   Books 1-6 were released last year and I have only read the first one.  I need more reading time!

Tiny Mysteries
Westside by W.M. Akers
Goodreads

Gilda is the five-foot-tall, solver of tiny mysteries. “Those impossible puzzles that burrow into our brains like splinters and keep us awake at night.” This quirky heroine really caught my interest in the alternative New York setting.  Tiny mysteries quickly turn into something much bigger.  A most unusual book.

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Paranormal

Nailed the Wolf Shifter Genre
Forever Wolf (The Legend of All Wolves, #3) by Maria Vale
Goodreads

From the beginning of the series, I admired the unique take on the wolves that can wear skin. This is truly a unique world. Reading Forever Wolf, book three, put me into the head of one of the bravest wolves of the Great North Pack. This is what the author does. With the first person perspective, Ms. Vale told a story through a remarkable character that made me love the series even more.  Interested?  I highly recommend starting with book 1, The Last Wolf.

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Fantasy

The Author that Always Makes Me Cry
The Harp of Kings (Warrior Bards, #1) by Juliet Marillier
Goodreads

The fact that this author makes me cry is is good. Really! I became a fan of Ms. Marillier a couple years back and now I want to read all her new stuff. So last year, I read The Harp of Kings. Loosely tied to the Blackthorn and Grim series that I loved so much, The Harp of Kings is full of great adventures, beautiful songs sung by bards, and many heartbreaking moments. Even the happy scenes sometime bring a tear to my eye!

New Series With so Much Potential
Kingdom of Exiles (The Beast Charmer, #1) by Maxym M. Martineau
Goodreads

Great characters including a Brotherhood of Assassins, an array of unusual beasts, hopeless situations and an impossible romance made this a book to read into the wee hours of the morning.  These same aspects give the author so much potential for a few future stories.  I will be following The Beast Charmer series.

 

Brutal Cliffhanger
Women’s War by Jenna Glass
Goodreads

I really don’t like cliffhanger’s and if they are not announced (in the book blurb), I get a little pissy.  With The Women’s War, it was bad.  “Brutal” is the word that one of my review commenters used and she was spot on.  But the reason it was so brutal is that the book was so good!  I was not ready for such a hellish moment in the story to be the end of the book.  The Women’s War is one amazing story. Based on a society where women are considered second-class citizens, if they are lucky, this is the story of revolution led by two extraordinary women.  Book 2, Queen of the Unwanted, releases in May.

Cartier’s Hope by M.J. Rose – Review

Tags

3 stars, Book Review, historical, Hope Diamond, jewelry, M.J. Rose, New York City, news reporter, romance, suffrage

About Cartier’s Hope by M.J. Rose

From M.J. Rose, New York Times bestselling author of Tiffany Blues, “a lush, romantic historical mystery” (Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale), comes a gorgeously wrought novel of ambition and betrayal set in the Gilded Age.

New York, 1910: A city of extravagant balls in Fifth Avenue mansions and poor immigrants crammed into crumbling Lower East Side tenements. A city where the suffrage movement is growing stronger every day, but most women reporters are still delegated to the fashion and lifestyle pages. But Vera Garland is set on making her mark in a man’s world of serious journalism.

Shortly after the world-famous Hope Diamond is acquired for a record sum, Vera begins investigating rumors about schemes by its new owner, jeweler Pierre Cartier, to manipulate its value. Vera is determined to find the truth behind the notorious diamond and its legendary curses—even better when the expose puts her in the same orbit as a magazine publisher whose blackmailing schemes led to the death of her beloved father.

Appealing to a young Russian jeweler for help, Vera is unprepared when she begins falling in love with him…and even more unprepared when she gets caught up in his deceptions and finds herself at risk of losing all she has worked so hard to achieve.

Set against the backdrop of New York’s glitter and grit, of ruthless men and the atrocities they commit in the pursuit of power, this enthralling historical novel explores our very human needs for love, retribution—and to pursue one’s destiny, regardless of the cost.

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Review of Cartier’s Hope

I picked up Cartier’s Hope because I loved the author’s Tiffany Blues.  Both feature artists.  This time the medium is gems.

While Tiffany Blues described a lot of the art and influences of Louise Comfort Tiffany, Cartier’s Hope fell short of my hopes in that area.  Art was replaced with gem lore and history.  The history of the Hope Diamond figures largely in the story, so if you are a gem lover, you will find that information fascinating.

Like many of Rose’s novels, this book is about rich people acting rich.  The main character, Vera Garland, works trying to right social wrongs and advance the status of women – as a reporter writing under a pseudonym.  However, when the job is over, she goes back to her rich life style.  Though she does not share the prejudices of her wealthy family and friends, she does share their expensive taste in pretty much everything.  I believe the author was attempting to point out the extreme differences between the rich and the poor, but the poor were poorly represented.

As reporter Vee Swann, Vera plots to expose a blackmailer.  Doing so will involve Pierre Cartier, so she much also act as Vera Garland.  Her plan seemed iffy at best, based on a low odds that it would pan out like she wanted.  I kept thinking ‘Really?”

There is a little bit of a romance, but I didn’t embrace it.  There were too many secrets between Vera and Jacob.  While all secrets came out in the end, I did not feel the connection between the two.

Usually, I love this author’s books.  While Cartier’s Hope is a well written novel, it fell short for me.  But if you like M.J. Rose and/or gems, you might like this one.

Read Cartier’s Hope for the history of suffrage, women in newspapers, Pierre Cartier, the Hope Diamond.

Through Netgalley, the publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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Purchase Cartier’s Hope:

 

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