A Hanging at Lotus Hall (The Steampunk Detectives, #2) by Corrina Lawson – Review

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5 stars, Book Review, Corrina Lawson, historical, magic, romance, series, Steampunk

About A Hanging at Lotus Hall by Corrina Lawson

Family secrets are the most dangerous…

All is not well at Lotus Hall, the home of the Dukes of Bennington, powerful mages who sit at the highest levels of power in the British Empire.

Consulting detective Gregor Sherringford, youngest brother of the current duke, is summoned home by his mother, the Dowager Duchess, after the mysterious arrival of a family member long presumed dead.

Joan Krieger, Gregor’s investigative partner and lover. accompanies him. In her experience, families bring nothing but grief. Besides, she’s no proper match for Gregor, with her reputation as a “fallen” woman, and being from a Jewish merchant family.

Her fears are realized after their arrival at Lotus Hall. The duke is distant, Gregor’s mother is concealing a secret, Gregor’s other brother is hiding an affair, and the other guests, important members of the Metaphysical Society, warn Joan of dire consequences if she continues to use forbidden magic in her investigations.

When one of the signature Sherringford inventions is used to kill, uncovering the truth behind all the facades becomes imperative. For someone is hunting Sherringfords and unless they can all learn to trust each other, their family will be utterly destroyed.

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Review of A Hanging at Lotus Hall

From page one, heroine Joan Krieger is placed in a situation that will be challenging to navigate. Why? Because she is a woman that wields magic. Make that a Jewish woman that wields magic. Illegally, since only men are considered to be able to handle the power of magic. But Joan’s challenge came in the form of an offer to be the first to teach girls at a mage school. Does this mean that society is ready to accept female mages?

Add all this to the fact that Joan is both the magical apprentice and lover of Gregor Sherringford, the 3rd son of a duke, and you can see that Joan’s life is not uninteresting.

When Gregor’s mother asks him to return home and bring Joan with him, the game is afoot. While only an attempted murder has occurred at this time in the book, the trip home sets up the circumstances for the real murder. Suddenly Gregor is the detective, with Joan as his assistant and everyone, from Gregor’s brother Jared (the Duke) to his niece, Anne, is a suspect.

This country manor murder mystery is both classic and original. The setting, the Sherlockian elements (down to the name of Moriarity), the family dynamics – those are all time-honored ingredients of many very good mysteries. Add the mage factor, the changing mage society in England and the conflicts that go with that and you have a fresh twist on the English manor murder mystery.

Intertwined in the mystery is the ongoing story of Gregor and Joan. Their relationship is solid, but on a wood foundation sort of way, as opposed to bedrock. Gregor is extremely protective and uncommunicative. These are Joan’s pet peeves and her reason for holding back. This is a couple that will always be interesting, but I would really like to see their relationship mature to more of a partnership. Hoping that A Hanging at Lotus Hall is not the last book in the series, I will be patient!

Gregor and Joan are the main characters, but this book is full of fascinating supporting characters. Gregor’s mother Vai, the returned-from-the-dead Edward Dale, and older brothers Jared and Nick. Just to name a few. Pay attention to each and everyone for clues if you wish to solve the mystery.

I read book one in the Steampunk Detectives series, The Curse of the Brimstone Contract, in 2015. At that time, I was really getting into steampunk. So I ate it up. Similarly, I devoured A Hanging at Lotus Hall. This book is for anyone that enjoys a complex plot, great character, and mystery with twist.

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

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Zoraida Grey and the Voodoo Queen by Sorchia DuBois – Review

Tags

5 stars, Adventure, cats, contemporary fantasy, magic, New Orleans, Sorchia DuBois, voodoo, whisky

About Zoraida Grey and the Voodoo Queen

Zoraida Grey needs help. With the witchy Logan clan holding her best friend hostage in a haunted Scottish castle, she can’t trust anyone—certainly not beguiling but dangerous Shea Logan. And Al, her overprotective boyfriend, doesn’t believe in magic.

Only one creature strikes fear in the blackened hearts of the Logan witches. Trouble is Jock disappeared five centuries ago leaving a trail of destruction across the Gulf of Mexico. Now he’s stepped into a steaming pile of Voodoo.

Can Zoraida drag wayward Jock back to Scotland? And what’s she supposed to do with two men who promise completely different futures?

A Scottish wizard, stripped naked and painted blue—a Voodoo priestess bent on immortality—a yacht-load of Caribbean pirates. What can possibly go wrong?

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Review of Zoraida Grey and the Voodoo Queen

You really should read Zoraida Grey and the Family Stones first. But if you haven’t, you may want to skip the next paragraph as it will contain spoilers for that book. For the rest of us, here is a very brief reminder of what happened last season on Zoraida Grey……

Granny says she is dying and needs a healing stone from the family castle in Scotland. Zoraida and her friend Zhu pack up and head that way. The cousin witches in Scotland, Michael, Shea and Ursula, Micheal’s mom, are on to Zoraida as soon as she steps foot in the castle. Likewise, Zoraida, with her raw, untrained talent is on to them and is also on to some mysterious stones and a ghost in the castle. Michael attempts to seduce Zoraida into finding the Stone of Adamantine, fails and throws her into the oubliette. She gets rescued by Shea who sends her back to the US, forcing her to leave Zhu behind with Michael. Also headed to the US is Shea, himself, and his cat. Oh, and there was much consuming of whiskey. Cliffhanger – what about Zhu and the Stone of Adamantine?

I am going to start out by announcing that Zoraida Grey and the Voodoo Queen ends with cliffhanger, just like Zoraida Grey and the Family Stones. But it is the same cliffhanger! I’m not sure if that is genius or evil. Maybe both. At any rate, since it is the same cliffhanger, I haven’t decided if that is a star deduction or not. I’ll let you know when I get to the end of my review.

First let me say that this story is one heck of an adventure! Or series of adventures! Paranormal, geological, meteorological and just plain magical adventures await Zoraida, Shea, Al and a few other friends. They go from one spot of danger to the next. Arkansas to New Orleans, to the Gulf of Mexico to the Yucatan Peninsula. Oh, and eventually back to Scotland. Honestly, with all that was going on in the Gulf of Mexico, I was beginning to think that poor Zhu would be left behind in Scotland. This was a book I could not put down for all the wondering what was going to happen next.

Al, Zoraida’s former and still-want-to-be boyfriend tags along on the adventure even though he doesn’t really believe in magic. For most of the trip, he is kind of a pain. And because of him I was annoyed at Zoraida for not ending it once and for all. I mean, we all know where she is headed. But Al’s presence in the story has a purpose.

Shea is the one Zoraida is headed for, if you didn’t know. Even if she does not know his agenda. He may be working in league with his brother Michael. He doesn’t act like he is necessarily on her side except to reach a certain goal. Zoraida’s first person perspective does nothing to help the reader figure Shea out any sooner that Zoraida does. But he is a great kisser and Zoraida can’t forget that. Neither does the reader.

If you are wondering why Zoraida and company head to the Gulf, it is because they are looking for Zoraida’s grand daddy, Jock. Onetime husband of Granny, but way to restless to settle in one place, Jock is very powerful. Granny believes he can help Zoraida face Michael and company when they return to Scotland. Jock is one colorful character – literally. He likes to cover his body with blue paint and go into battle naked.

The magic in Zoraida Grey and the Voodoo Queen is a combination of the witches of Scotland’s magic and the mysterious voodoo magic. All magic has a good side and a dark side and it is the wielder of the magic that makes the decision to go to the dark side or not. This is a common theme in many books but it never hurts to remind us of that truism. For the non-magically inclined, think money or power.

In this story, Zoraida spends a lot of time working out her abilities. She gets help from others along the way. So she is growing as a witch. Maybe enough to face the Scotland side of the family. All indications are that there will be a bit of a showdown in the next installment, so Zoraida’s skills will need to be better than the best.

I can’t end this review without mentioning whisky. There was much drinking of whisky – from a glass, straight out of the bottle or as a nip in a cup of tea. I like whiskey, mostly in the colder weather, but this book made me thirsty for my Jameson in July.

Well, I hope you now realize that I really, really enjoyed this story! And, though I am experiencing some anguish about Zhu’s fate and the Stone of Adamantine, I will have give Zoraida Grey and the Voodoo Queen 5 stars.

The author provided a copy of her book so that I could bring you my honest review.

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Kill the Farm Boy by Kevin Hearne and Delilah S. Dawson – Review

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5 stars, Adventure, Delilah S. Dawson, fairy tale, fantasy, humor, Kevin Hearne, magic, Puns, quest

About Kill the Farm Boy

Once upon a time, in a faraway kingdom, a hero, the Chosen One, was born . . . and so begins every fairy tale ever told.

This is not that fairy tale.

There is a Chosen One, but he is unlike any One who has ever been Chosened.

And there is a faraway kingdom, but you have never been to a magical world quite like the land of Pell.

There, a plucky farm boy will find more than he’s bargained for on his quest to awaken the sleeping princess in her cursed tower. First there’s the Dark Lord, who wishes for the boy’s untimely death . . . and also very fine cheese. Then there’s a bard without a song in her heart but with a very adorable and fuzzy tail, an assassin who fears not the night but is terrified of chickens, and a mighty fighter more frightened of her sword than of her chain-mail bikini. This journey will lead to sinister umlauts, a trash-talking goat, the Dread Necromancer Steve, and a strange and wondrous journey to the most peculiar “happily ever after” that ever once-upon-a-timed.

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Review of Kill the Farm Boy

To say that Kill the Farm Boy is Punful may be the best way to describe the book, in a way that Argabella, my personal favorite character, would appreciate.

There are many wonderful characters, but Argabella, the rabbit girl who wanted to be an accountant but her father made her study to be a bard, is the most adorable heroine. Her barding may need some practice, but she does have a way of cutting to truth seeking in a direct though slightly timid way. And despite the fact that she was not first in her bard school class, her ability to sing magical poems will come in handy during the quest. It was an enchantment that made her a rabbit girl. Throughout the story she wishes she was not a rabbit girl, but, it is in this furry form that the best and scariest things happen to her. Like meeting the Chosen One, the Dark Lord, a rogue assassin and her love, the mighty fighter.

The rogue is clumsy, the mighty fighter doesn’t like to fight, the Dark Lord’s finest ensorcellments come in the form of bread and the Chosen One is, well, not exactly what any fairy tale would pick as a Chosen One.

Despite the fact that these fine fairy tale characters are definitely thinking out of the fairy tale box makes Kill the Farm Boy all that much more interesting and totally unpredictable. The one archetypical fairy tale element that cannot be denied or messed with, though, is the quest. Indeed there will be a quest. A quest that will save king and country, the Chosen One and all his lively band of heroic fellow-questers. That may have been a lie. About everybody being saved. Sorry if you think this is a spoiler, but get real. There are swords and assassins in this tale.

In fact, there are so many more fairy-talisms that get turned on their ears, you will come to realize that this is story is not going to have a fairy tale ending. Any chance at a Happily Ever After is sure to take a wrong turn. The questers are going to make sure that what you think will happen, never will.

When I first saw the title, Kill the Farm Boy, I immediately thought of The Princess Bride. In fact there are quite a few things that make you think of the classic movie and one or more other movies. If you have a well-loved fantasy movie expect to see it crop in a mutated manner.

Would it be terrible thing to say that this book is too hilarious? There are multiple puns and jokes and guffaws on every single page. I am not exaggerating. That fact is, I think there was also an adventure in there somewhere, but I’m not sure for all the terrible puns. For multiple laughs on every page, Kill the Farm Boy is the perfect read.

Through NetGalley, the publisher provided a copy of this book so that I could bring you my honest review.

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