Book review : A Cold Highland Wind by Tasha Alexander

A Cold Highland Wind
Lady Emily Mysteries book 17
by Tasha Alexander
GENRE : #historical-cozy-mystery

My rating: ★★★★☆
Actually 3,8 stars rounded up to 4.

An old castle in Scotland, an ancient Celtic festival and a murder!
In parallel, a story dating back 200 years earlier, when people were afraid of witches and every woman was at risk of being accused of witchcraft!

Since the month of October is the month of Halloween and I'm too weak to read anything horror, this seemed like the right read to get into the right spirit, while remaining in my comfort zone.

___PLOT___ Lady Emily, her husband Colin Hargreaves and their three children are on holiday at Cairnfarn Castle in Scotland, guests of Jeremy, Duke of Bainbridge, Emily's dear childhood friend.The atmosphere is cheerful and lively, also thanks to a folklore event of Celtic origin that is being celebrated. Music, dancing, rum punch...everything is going well until Jeremy's gamekeeper is found dead and horribly disfigured.

In the same village approximately 200 years earlier, ancient rituals, phrases that could seem like magic formulas and people foreign to the village were not welcome and the risk of being accused of witchcraft was around every corner or rather behind every slothful and manipulative person.

____********_______********____


EMILY and COLIN _ the 2 MAIN CHARACTERS __ 
Reading a book in this series every now and then is like meeting up with a couple of my old friends.
I like them both either considered separately or as a couple.

COLIN: handsome and charming, intelligent and always loving and with great consideration for his wife, but also always responsible, thoughtful and realistic.

EMILY: always loving and admired towards her husband, but also independent in her choices and stubborn in pursuing her goals, beautiful and sweet with her husband, but sometimes a little too reckless and not inclined to follow his judicious advice.

Parents of 2 biological children and one of their wards, always careful in raising them, leaving them free to follow their passions but not without a certain discipline. Despite having been married for a decade, this couple does not lack romance and sentimental outpourings.

I love the fact that although the series is titled Lady Emily, in reality, the investigation is the work of both of them and there is great chemistry between them.

In the first books of the series, they acted separately and Lady Emily was always in the foreground and her husband was more of a secondary character, as time passed and the series grew, I can say that both are protagonists and I like this a lot.

__ ALREADY KNOWN SIDE CHARACTERS __ 

Bainbridge's two quirky aunts add a humorous touch to the story.
They are two spinster sisters, very old but with a lively brain and an adventurous spirit, they know everything about everyone and don't mince their words.

Jeremy is a loving nephew, a loyal friend and a duke who, despite self-deprecatingly calling himself useless, actually cares for the people of the village and does his duty with great sensitivity.

I like all these characters because together with Emily and Colin's 3 children, they help create a "cozy" atmosphere and bring more than a smile to the reader's face.

__ SETTING AND OTHER CHARACTERS ___ 
I haven't read all the books in the Lady Emily series, but I've read 11 of them including this one and I have to say that unlike the others, the setting here is barely intuitive.

There are usually detailed descriptions of both the location where the story takes place and historically important buildings and monuments, as well as the atmosphere.
Here, apart from the wind from the moors, you can't really breathe the air of the Highlands and the small Scottish village... nothing evocative or suggestive in my opinion and  this is one of the two things that lowered my rating for the book .

____MYSTERY___

----> In 1905 : Halfway through the book I thought I was so clever and had guessed the truth, but it wasn't like that and above all the culprit was really really unexpected!!I had a lot of fun making conjectures and hypotheses and until the end I was on tenterhooks, I couldn't wait to find out who the murderer was and several times I was tempted to go and peek at the back of the book, but I resisted!

Well done Tasha Alexander, the solution to the mystery was truly something I never expected.
A little more disappointing and hasty was the solution to a parallel mystery, also in 1905, connected to the murder.

----> In 1676: Up to 70% of the book, the protagonist of the story, set in the 18th century, kept me in suspense: her first-person narrative is full of suspense, the characters around her are ambiguous in their speeches, mysterious in their arguments and I really feared that the story would end in a dramatic way.

So the writer achieved her aim here too (to create an atmosphere of uncertainty, anxiety and deep emotion... but then without revealing the details everything was resolved in a way that was perhaps a little too easy, I don't know how to explain... .
I was expecting something more impressive and  this is the second thing that lowered my rating for the book.
Anyway, I was happy with the happy ending for the characters in this story.

__ HISTORICAL PART  ___ 
Unlike the other books I read in the series, here there are no historical notions or real-life historical characters except for the fact that the character of the mystery set in 1676 is inspired by two real-life black women, about whom the writer talks to us briefly in his notes at the end of the book.

Another historical reference is the witch hunt and the witch hunters who, in order to prove the fake, invented and falsified the evidence, you will also find a brief mention of this in the author's notes.

*****
This is one of the few series that I usually read in no particular order, each book in the series can be read as a standalone, but if you read them starting from the first one you will be able to enjoy better Emily's personal story (her engagement , marriage, children and all the recurring characters who contribute to creating a cheerful and pleasant atmosphere).

Thanks for reading my opinion and as always I ask you to be lenient with my English since it's not my native language.



If you want to know more about OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES, you can read some reviews here :

BOOK #2 : A Poisoned Season

BOOK #3 : A Fatal Waltz by Tasha Alexander

BOOK #4: Tears of Pearl

BOOK #5: Dangerous to Know

BOOK #13.5 : Upon the Midnight Clear ( Christmas novella )

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Book review : Once Upon A Wallflower by Wendy Lyn Watson

Once Upon A Wallflower
by Wendy Lyn Watson
GENRE : #regency-gothic-romance

My rating: ★★★★★
5 FULL STARS !! :-D

I LOVED IT FROM THE VERY FIRST PAGE TO THE LAST ONE !!!!!!!!!!
5 full stars well deserved!!

If you like love stories set in the Regency era with an undercurrent of suspense and mystery, then this book is a suitable read for you.

__ THE PLOT __ London.
Mirabelle Fitzhenry was betrothed, by her uncle, her guardian, to Nicholas, Viscount Ashfield, not a lover of society, considered by all to be strange, dark and believed responsible for the death of 3 young women.

So why did "Mira"'s uncle (as she is called by everyone) do this? Simply to honor a gambling debt and by making Nicholas' father, the famous libertine Lord Blackwell, believe that the bride was his beautiful daughter, also named Mirabelle Fitzhenry, but called "Belle" by everyone.

Mira is not too worried because she thinks that as soon as the viscount and her father realize that it is the wrong Mirabelle, they will back off and not accept the marriage. In fact, Mira has never had a season, she is not fashionable, she is not devoid of curves as the current fashion requires and she has red hair.

Nicholas Ashfield is not interested in getting married to a blond goose with ribbons (this is the Mirabelle he believes he should marry) and thinks that she will back down because she is scared of his height, grandeur and above all of the chatter that considers him a killer.

Actually, when Nicholas and Mira meet for the first time, they immediately like each other not only physically, but also because they spend a little time together, complicity is created and both decide to wait to let the other escape.
But there are unsolved murders that complicate the situation and Mira decides to find out who the real culprit is.

For his part, Nicholas is attracted to Mira, a spontaneous courtship ensues with sweet and passionate kisses, he wishes to marry her, but remains ambiguous regarding the murders and the possibility of investigating... He is truly innocent as Mira's instincts initially tell her ? Should she follow her heart or logic?

As things become more complicated and dangerous, the truth becomes confused with the killer's cunning machinations and the passionate love that is being born between Nicholas and Mira risks being destroyed before it can blossom openly in the sunlight.
______________

The story is well written, the part is narrated in the third person and the dialogues change in a pleasant way and the reading is always smooth.
I never encountered a dull moment, and while I longed to find out more about the mystery I enjoyed the moments of sensual romance with which Nicholas slowly won Mira's heart.

___ ROMANCE & MYSTERY ___ Both elements are well developed by the author and I felt engaged by the story from start to end.
The sexual tension and the longing that Nicholas and Mira feel for one another is palpable, just as the suspense and hypotheses about who the real culprit could be will make you turn the pages faster and faster.

THE TWO MAIN CHARACTERS are both, even if for different reasons, outcasts from aristocratic society, but this is not the only thing they have in common, they find in each other sensitivity of soul, spontaneity and a tenderness that until then had been missed to them.
They also like each other physically and the chemistry is perfect, despite the odds to the contrary, they are made for each other.

CARESSES, KISSES AND LOVEMAKING:
Barely touched kisses, passionate kisses, languid caresses, intense looks, whispered words and a long making-love scene (but clean and without anything vulgar) are expertly distributed throughout the course of the story and in my opinion this makes reading more enjoyable for those who want to read a love story.

INVESTIGATION _ Basically the story is a romance and Mira is not an investigator, so her questions and research are not those of an amateur detective that we usually find in "whodunits", but there are still many clues, phrases, attitudes and sudden discoveries that they will divert your hypotheses.
When you'll understand who the culprit is, you will probably be 70% of the way through the book (even if my suspicions had already begun before), however the author is good at making you doubt your hypotheses so much so that at a certain point, perhaps for a short while, for a very brief moment, you will wonder if Nicholas is really innocent (he is the protagonist and therefore we readers already know that he is innocent, but how often do unexpected twists happen in films???)
But don't panic, happy ending guaranteed.

I already miss this couple that I liked so much, it's really a shame that the author hasn't written other historical-suspense-romances, I like her style !

Thank you for reading my opinion and sorry for any English error in my text, it is not my native language.

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Book review : The Turncoat's Widow by Mally Becker

The Turncoat's Widow
Revolutionary War Mysteries #1
by Mally Becker
GENRE : #historical-cozy-mystery

My rating: ★★★★☆
Actually 3,5 rounded up to 4 of 5 stars is my real rating

I chose this book because I like spy stories, I love historical fiction and if there is also a touch of romance, then it is the perfect mix for me.

Unfortunately it took me the entire first half of the book to get into the story, there were no twists and the characters weren't developed enough to win me over.
-----> What saved the book's rating was the second half where action and twists finally engaged me and made me turn the pages with more interest than the first part.

___ THE PLOT ___ Set during the darkest days of the American Revolution.
1780. It's been a year since Daniel Alloway escaped from the British prison ship in New York City harbor.
Now he needs money and remembers that another prisoner confessed to him that he had left an important list of spies' names to his wife Rebecca Parcell who lives in Morristown, New Jersey. By selling the list to General Washinton it is possible to get a nice reward.

Unfortunately Rebecca knows nothing about it and is branded by the village minister as a traitor and accused of having handed her husband over to the British.

Despite being two strangers, Daniel and Rebecca find themselves entangled together in a dangerous mission imposed on them by General Washington, to find the precious list, otherwise they will both be left completely broke and without a future.

_________________

__HISTORICAL CONTEXT AND CHARACTERS WHO REALLY LIVED __ as I have already said, we are in the years of the American Revolution in which the British colonies in America want to become independent from the empire.
The war has lasted longer than expected, food is scarce and people are at the end of their strength and endurance.
There are no great historical notions in the book and not even historical notes from the author, but it was fun to see two great characters actively participate in the story: General Washington and his right-hand man Alexander Hamilton.
A few final jokes are also reserved for Washington's wife.

One thing I particularly liked was that the author highlighted how in the revolution (in this one and all revolutions and wars), although they fought for freedom, in truth both sides were oppressors:
--> The British would have taken everything from those who were not loyal and even Washington had no qualms about taking away lands and possessions from those who did business with the British or worse collaborated with them.
Every revolution, even if moved by a just ideal, then imposed the same arrogance of the previous oppressor in order to achieve its goal, therefore also using an iron fist and blackmail (for example like the French revolution and also the Russian one...).

___ SPY AND MYSTERY ___ perhaps the first part served more to introduce events and characters, I understand this, but for me it was too boring, while finally from 50% onwards the action moments and the plot between the suspects and the suspenseful scenes finally made me enjoy the story.
One of the culprits is quite predictable, but there are 3 others that I really never would have imagined!

___ CHARACTERS AND ROMANCE ___ in my opinion the author could have done a better job in developing the two main characters and should have dedicated a little more time to their interaction and the romantic story.
Otherwise she could have avoided the romantic hint altogether, to me it was the worst part of the book.

The impression I had was that a romantic part was not foreseen and that halfway through the book the author decided to add attraction and a future love story between the two characters.
While reading it seemed to me that the author had inserted, here and there and only at a later time, sentences that were supposed to foreshadow a love interest between Daniel and Rebecca, but these sentences were totally disconnected from the rest of the plot and did not evoke any emotion in me.

I use read several clean romances and even the description of a touch of a hand or a sweet thought from the other person can evoke butterflies in the stomach and give goosebumps if well described, but this was not the case.

After 50% of the book, the romance seemed to improve, it was described more believably, but then it was neglected again.
The reader has his "happy ending" but nothing really satisfying from a romantic point of view, just the premise of another spy adventure in book #2 of the series and the premise of other romantic attempts.

This is this author's debut book and so perhaps she can be forgiven, hoping that the following books will be developed satisfactorily.

WOULD I RECOMMEND IT? I don't know...maybe only to someone used to read cozy mysteries where neither the mysteries nor the love stories are explored in detail.

WILL I GET THE NEXT BOOKS IN THE SERIES? I would like it, but I confess that I am undecided, I don't want to be disappointed again or waste precious time since I have so many books on my list.

THANKS for reading my opinion and please forgive my English, it's not my native language.

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Book review : Letters to a Lover by Mary Lancaster

Letters to a Lover
Crime and Passion Book #2
by Mary Lancaster
GENRE : #historical-mystery-romance

My rating: ★★★★★

5 FULL STARS WELL DESERVED!! :-D

A wonderful light read!!!,
I loved it from the very first page to the last one.

Amazing read for those looking for a light read with a well-balanced mix of: well-constructed and intelligently developed mystery, romance with the right amount of kisses and clean, but exciting and well-distributed lovemaking scenes throughout the story.

___ SETTING ____  Victorian setting in the mid-19th century.
Even though the story is devoid of historical details, the author fully conveys the atmosphere of the time, through events of social and private life and through the characters and their way of thinking and acting, without being too frivolous as in some saccharine romances, nor too dark like in some mystery series.


____ PLOT ___ 1852, Victorian London.
Eric and Azalea, Viscount and Viscountess of Trench have been married for 8 years, theirs was a great love full of passion, but the marriage faltered three years ago, following her postpartum depression and an unbridled recovery of social life to react to such depression.
One day, after being caught by Eric spilling tea on the head of an insistent suitor, Azalia receives a blackmail letter: either she pays a large sum of money or her letter to a lover will be published.
Azalia still loves Eric deeply and does not remember writing letters or having lovers, however she suffers from memory lapses and cannot trust herself, so she decides to get help from her sister Grizelda and her Hungarian husband Dragan, who had already investigated in the past in a murder case.
Eric also still loves his wife very much, but he can't help but suspect that she has a lover and when he decides to follow her, he discovers the whole blackmail mess.
The blackmailer is much more dangerous than he seems at first and while all four of them try to capture him, adventure, mystery, courtship and loving passion are ineluctably intertwined.

____ _______ ______

__ READABLE AS A STANDALONE , but it's surely more enjoyable if you first read #book 1 in the “ Crime and Passion” series, since the co-protagonists of this book are the protagonists of that first book and you will also have the opportunity to have an introduction to Azalea and her family.


__ THE MAIN CHARACTERS ___ they are Azalia and Eric and I liked them very much.

Superficially observed (as in the first book and in the first chapter of this story) they may seem haughty and superficial nobles, but as we discover their thoughts and get to know their deepest feelings, the more we realize how good people they actually are, but unfortunately caged in a world of rules and behaviors dictated by aristocratic society.

We discover an Azalia who is much more unsure of herself beyond her own wealth and beauty and very much in need of the love and support that only a loving husband can give.
We see how she rediscovers, in the happiness of her sister's marriage, how beautiful and more satisfying spontaneity is, letting oneself be guided by feelings and not by the rules imposed by society.
Azalia, daughter of a Duke, grew up in a somewhat spoiled way and never paid too much attention to considering the internal wounds of others, but thanks to her problems and the desire to win back her husband, we see her mature deeply and open her heart not only to Eric but also to other people around her.

We discover a generous Eric, not only with his wife, always being compliant, but also towards less fortunate people, a sweet Eric, but also passionate and hot, who fights to find, together with his wife, that complicity that two happy spouses should have.

The kisses that Azalia and Eric exchange are initially tender and then fiery, because after having almost lost each other they find themselves in the same conditions as two lovers at the beginning of a story, when love burns, but there are a thousand uncertainties and yet they are advantaged by the fact that they know each other well and when passion finds its outlet in making love, they know how to complete each other in a perfect way.

In addition to the romance and character aspect of each of them, I also appreciated the fact that the couple actively participates in the investigation.
In fact, even if Griz and Dragan are the couple who dedicate themselves to amateur investigation in this series, in the plot of this book the protagonist couple does not hesitate to act personally in the plans designed to circumvent and capture the criminal.
Kisses and sex scenes (I repeat: clean but equally sensual) alternate pleasantly with action scenes, with chases, punches and stabbings.


___ CO-PROTAGON CHARACTERS __ Griz and Dragan are the official investigators of the series, main characters in book #1 (Mysterious Lover).

Both introverted and different from the rest of the aristocracy (Griz because she is shy and loves books and culture rather than parties. Dragan because he comes from a country torn apart by revolution and war, in which he worked generously as a doctor) they are now married and they perpetuate their extravagance by not caring about the label and living their love spontaneously by pursuing their own passions and hobbies, respecting others but without the fear of other people's judgement.

A beautiful couple therefore, who gave us beautiful romantic moments in the first book (but only kisses) and wit in investigating and courage in throwing themselves into dangerous situations.
They are only in the background in this book, but always pleasant to follow.
I really liked the chemistry that was created with the Azalea-Eric couple.


__ SPECIAL CHARACTERS ___ family members, acquaintances, business partners and villains.
They only serve to create the atmosphere, but although they intervene in an occasional and brief manner, they intersect perfectly and pleasantly in the story, creating funny or tense scenes depending on the moment.


____ MYSTERY  ___ I didn't even try to speculate because I just had no idea who the villain could be.
When I finally had the intuition about that, it was towards the end, when the protagonists also reached that conclusion thanks to the answers they received following their questions.
The mystery apparently starts in a simple way: with a blackmail letter, but it thickens and becomes more and more intriguing as the story progresses.
There are small action scenes, other scenes of suspense and from blackmail there is a risk of moving on to crime.


__ ROMANCE __  Although the two characters have already been married for 8 years and have distanced themselves from each other for the last 3 years, we can perceive, from the beginning, the invisible thread of the deep feeling that binds them.
The story begins with an unpleasant event which turns out to be a good opportunity to interact together and find each other, first through polite courtship and then by revealing one's fears and insecurities with an open heart, to give way to warm, well-measured kisses and finally to passion which rekindles and brings new energy and happiness.

A clean romance with 3 or 4 scenes of hot kisses at least 2 of lovemaking scenes that are never vulgar, with clean descriptions but which equally evoke warmth and deep passion and therefore exciting for the reader and which do not seem too fake and saccharine as in some books, but they are entirely plausible in reality.
----> I appreciated the fact that kisses and lovemaking scenes are well distributed throughout the story.
I mean I don't like it too much when nothing happens for half the book, then finally there's a romantic scene and then nothing more until the last page.
----> In this story you will have to wait for about a couple of chapters but then you will have the suspense of romance on the razor's edge throughout all the time and all the satisfaction of seeing things transform for the better as every reader desires.

CONCLUDING:
---> The book is well focused on the mystery, as a mystery should be (where the romantic part is usually too tepid or non-existent) and yet it is also well focused on the love story between the two protagonists, as it should be a romantic book (in which there are no mysteries to solve or if there are they are barely outlined and usually predictable and unsatisfactory).

---> The characters are not trivial at all, but they could reflect exactly the same problems of today's couples and despite the differences in time they could reflect the same feelings of people today.

---> 3 IMPORTANT POINTS WELL DEVELOPED THEREFORE WITH AN ADEQUATE AND EQUALLY WELL DEVELOPED ENDING!!
This is what in my opinion makes the book perfect to read for those who love this genre.
According to my tastes the rating is 5 full stars well deserved.

It goes without saying that I will continue reading the other books in the series (actually 1 novel and a couple of short stories, one for Christmas and one for All Saints Day)

Thanks for reading my opinion and please forgive my English, since it's not my language.

READ ALSO "Crime & Passion" BOOK #1:
#1 Mysterious Lover review

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Book review : Dark Deceit by Cathie Dunn

Dark Deceit
by Cathie Dunn
My rating: ★★★★☆

It would have been a full 5 stars but I had to give a lower rating for an important reason, but let's start with the plot on the back cover.

____PLOT___ 1140 Gloucester and Normandy
Geoffrey de Mortagne is an under-sheriff of Gloucester and a spy for the Empress Matilda. While he is returning from the Battle of Lincoln, together with two of his sergeants and great friends, he witnesses the ambush that some criminals carry out on a knight.
They fight to help him, but the knight's wounds are very serious, so they decide to leave him in the care of the friars and go to warn their daughter at the castle.

Arriving at the castle, they have a good welcome from Alleyne de Bellac and his trusted servant, they also make friends with the guards.
Unfortunately, the girl is obsessed from a young age by the beauty and charm of another noble man who thinks he will ask her as his wife very soon.

Alleyne thus calls Will d'Arques, an old acquaintance of Geoffrey, but this will prove to be anything but a gentleman and by the time Alleyne realizes this, after her father's death, things will now be adrift.

Geoffrey, humiliated and rejected in his amorous approaches, will still help the young heiress, because he is bound by a vow made to his father, but it will not be an easy undertaking...adventures and dangers are what awaits him.

_________________

This book was supposed to be the first of the Anarchy Trilogy, but actually book #2 and #3 do not exist.

MY OPINION :

I initially gave 5 stars, because the story is gripping and full of twists.
I also loved the main male character and also the supporting characters (I loved the heroine less, who was a selfish turncoat, but I was happy not to find the usual heroine who was perfect in everything!)

The book has a good fast pace and at a certain point I couldn't care less about the fact that there was very little romance.
Romance was based only on mutual attraction, except for a very quick kiss scene at the beginning and another little love approach after 60% of the book, but the story still kept me glued to the pages.

Towards the end I longed for the solution to all our heroes' problems, but at the same time I was sad to finish the book because I wanted to read about this story again and again...

-------------> And then I had a cold shower:
An abrupt and too fast ending, the development of which was not taken care of either in detail or in the way in which things unfolded (total absence of romance!).
The ending was so rushed, not at all romantic and unsatisfying that I couldn't believe the same writer wrote it.
... It's like at least 50 pages were missing.

5 stars would not be deserved.
I rate it 4 stars because I really enjoyed reading until almost the end, but for the poorly done ending I should rate it only 3 stars!
The ending should be the icing on the cake and here instead it is a sterile ending devoid of any romance!!

Let's not talk about the epilogue, which should be totally erased.
WHY ??
The epilogue does not tell us about the happiness of our heroes and their friends, after all the vicissitudes faced at the risk of their lives... but WARNING SPOILER !___ it tells us about the villain and how he is having fun unpunished and about the nefarious plans he wants to implement against our heroes SPOILER END___ ___.
Therefore a sterile ending and an epilogue which is a cliffhanger and which makes us wait for a sequel.
In fact, on Goodread (and on the cover of the book) it is written that this is book #1 of a trilogy.

12 years have passed and no other book has followed this one, so reading that epilogue, that actually include a cliffhanger, was to me like finishing a good meal with a bitter pill!

It would be nice if the author reprinted the book with some more expanded parts, especially the ending, and deleted that annoying epilogue or wrote a worthy sequel with new adventures and an ending as readers expect.

Another small annoying thing:
There were no historical notes at the end.
While I read books related to historical events that actually happened, I never fail to do my research on the web, however it would have been nice if the author also added something at the end of the book like many other authors do.

In conclusion: I'm happy to have read the book, but for making better the happy ending I had to use MY IMAGINATION. I mean : we have a happy ending by the author, but it's not so enjoyable as it should have been on the romantic side, more the the epilogue ruins everything.

I RECOMMEND THE BOOK TO :
_ I recommend it only to THOSE WHO LOVE ADVENTURE, fast-paced novels and the idea of a love story in the air without anything concrete ever really happening and without major clarifications between the two characters on the problems between them and without sensational declarations of love and passion.

I DO NOT RECOMMEND THE BOOK TO:
_No to romance lovers: the title says hint of romance and indeed it's really just a small hint.
_No to mystery lovers: there is a murder, but no investigation, just speculation about who did it.

Thanks for reading my opinion, I'm sorry for the author if I have been too harsh, but I have to be honest and reviews must be useful to people when they have to choose if to read something or not.
Please, forgive my poor English, it's not my native language.

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Book review : Medicus by Ruth Downie

Medicus
Gaius Petreius Ruso Book #1)
by Ruth Downie

Alternative title ( British Edition ):
Ruso and the Disappearing Dancing Girls

My rating: ★★★☆☆
Actually 2.5 rounded up to 3 because I loved the main character.

The plot on the back cover was promising and together the length of the book ( 400 pages ) made one think of a masterfully conceived mystery full of historical details.


___ PLOT ___ (Britannia, the era in which Hadrian had just succeeded Trajan as emperor, the writer does not say it, but we are in 117 AD)
A serial killer is on the loose in Roman-occupied Britain, and Gaius Petreius Ruso is out to catch him... if he isn't killed first.

The Gods are not smiling on army doctor Gaius Petreius Ruso in his new posting in Britannia. He has vast debts, long shifts, and an overbearing hospital administrator to deal with . . .

After the news of a woman's body fished from the river and after having saved a slave from the mistreatment of her master, Ruso, the doctor of the XX Legion finds himself, despite himself, wanting to shed light on the events.

__________________

This could have been an enjoyable read of a cozy mystery (or an enjoyable historical fiction to read, if well detailed historically speaking) set among the Roman legionaries in Britain.
Instead it's a cozy mystery (nothing bad, I love them, but at least they're shorter, quicker reads) stretched out with "thin air", no historical details except the name of the emperor at the time and maybe the name of the place (Deva), where the investigation is only a couple of questions up to 75% of the book, where the author inserts any idle talk except to focus on the mystery.

I think : if you don't know how to write a mystery, write something else, if you don't know historical notions and if you don't do some research before writing a historical novel, then write a contemporary one!

I really liked the main character, the Medicus Ruso and his friend/colleague Valens, unfortunately the story is a continuous digression on useless details that serve no purpose in the story; repetitive speeches about our "hero's" past, entire chapters in which the main character repeats the same question and the narrator continues to say that it is not answered; a modern dialogue among Romans that goes beyond the limit of the acceptable, catapulting the reader onto a 1920s cozy mystery book and sometimes on a Victorian movie set, certainly jarring in the Roman Empire era!


---> WHAT I LIKED ABOUT THE MAIN CHARACTER :

- Gaius Petreius Ruso : I liked him as a character, because he is not the classic hero of flawless books, he is a good person, full of troubles to solve who would like to live in peace without finding more problems.
The beautiful part of his way of being is that he cannot ignore his conscience, his profession is what it should be even nowadays: a vocation and a mission.
He knows perfectly well that by meddling in other people's business he will find trouble, he doesn't want to do that, but his good heart doesn't allow him to ignore all the bad things around him.
While other negative reviews have described him as boring, I say that he is not at all: it's true, the brilliant way he behaves in society and the always ready joke belong to his nice and handsome colleague Valens, but Ruso, in his way of acting calm, serious and sometimes gruff, he throws his ironic jokes (or thinks them) with great mastery.
This cute character is the only reason I rounded the rating up to 3 stars.


---> WHAT I DIDEN'T LIKE ABOUT WRITING STYLE, DIALOGUES and MYSTERY :

- WRITING STYLE : I usually like descriptions that give an idea of the place, the time in which the story takes place, the type of life the characters lead and their way of being.
I know that this is the first book in a series and I also know that the writer had never been a writer before, but the publisher and other people should have realized that it's like too much of a good thing ( How do they say ? "Less is more" !!! )

Throughout the first half of the book the author continues to repeat about Ruso's debts inherited from his father, every 3 sentences the author inserts Ruso's thoughts on what his hateful ex-wife would have said.
In each small scene, the narrator continually talks about visual details (such as a badly decorated wall, mice in the house, shouting and shouting in the street) which are too many, not relevant to the mystery and lengthen the same scene by pages and pages... they become not only useless but also irritating.
This was the trick I used at school, when the essay I wrote was too short and I didn't know what else to write.
Dear author, have you done the same thing? Disappointing and annoying !


- DIALOGUES : It is clear that a novel set in ancient times, to be read easily by readers, must have a non-archaic writing style and dialogues close to today's way of speaking.
But now I ask : since when did Roman legionaries talk to each other using words like "chaps" and expressions like "Right-oh" (British slang that I only found in modern cozy mysteries set around the 1920s)???

...And the following sentence: "Hey, mister! Got a penny, mister?"
... A PENNY ???????????????
Since when did the Romans have pennies in their coins??
I won't add any further comments on the matter, better not.

I accept the modernity of language which makes reading the book lighter and more entertaining for me, but I think that an author must set limits and check whether the type of language is suitable for that era and that people or if it clashes with the whole context, just like a jarring note!

Another thing that seemed out of place to me was the continuous knocking on the door and opening the doorknob, in one scene the slave comes back with her candle in her hand, knocks on the door and stops on the threshold... Well, it looks more like a scene with a maid in the Victorian era.
The first historical evidence of the use of actual candles dates back to the 8th century ( Wikipedia ) and I have never seen films and TV series set in the first century AD where people walked around with candles in their hands... they are usually seen torches on the walls and people walking around with torches.


- MYSTERY AND INVESTIGATION: Almost non-existent.
We have the first suspicious death at the beginning of the book, but even if Ruso is immediately hesitant about the fact that it is an accident and puts forward the hypothesis that it is murder, in fact he only asks a couple of questions around and the whole story is a continuation of patient visits by Ruso. Except for one, none of these patients are relevant to the mystery, they are just part of Ruso's daily life.
Well it's nice to know the character's daily routine, but here we have his life described minute by minute, day after day, from breakfast, to the nights, from all chats with his friend, to the questions he asks himself on his mind and to a thousand other silly things. ..
A book full of thin air!
Only 70% of the way through the story do we have more questions and only in the last chapters do we see a little movement in the story and then the solution (nothing sensational).

- HISTORICAL DETAILS : Same thing as before, i.e. almost non-existent.
Just a mention of the death of Emperor Trajan and the succession of Hadrian.
There is also mention of the Roman baths (that is, the slaves of a bar/brothel go to the baths, nothing else).

______________________

Maybe the following books in the series are better documented, but I think the writing style remains the same and it's not for me, I absolutely don't feel like going on with the series.
I will try other mysteries with the same setting, but by other authors.
So far, the truly well-documented and compelling historical fictions are those of the Italian writer Valerio Massimo Manfredi.

Thank you for reading my opinion and please forgive my English, it's not my native language, I am from Italy (and I live in a town founded by Romans! :-) )


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Book review : A Gentleman of Dubious Reputation by Grace Burrowes

A Gentleman of Dubious Reputation
The Lord Julian Mysteries book #2
by Grace Burrowes

My rating: ★★★★☆
4 full stars !!!!

2nd installment in The Lord Julian mysteries, you can read it as a standalone, but I suggest you start from book #1 since the personal story of the main character is as fundamental as the mystery talked about in the book.

The mystery is certainly more interesting than the bland mystery covered in the first book, however, unlike normal mysteries or cozy mysteries, Lord Julian's personal events, past and present, are the real focus of the book, what made it really interesting reading and what motivates me to continue the series.

The mystery to be solved in each book is not the reason why I would recommend this series, while the feelings and emotional growth of the character, in my opinion, are the real magnet that will keep you glued to these pages.

___ THE PLOT in short ___ Regency era, England.
Lord Julian Caldicott is summoned to the family seat by his brother Arthur, the duke of Waltham, whose bachelorhood is imperiled by the very determined Lady Clarissa Valmond.

Matters take a nasty turn when Clarissa’s brother, a talented artist, goes missing shortly before his debut London exhibition. Julian must unravel conflicting motives, dishonest witnesses, confusing evidence, old lies, and the real threats facing the duke if he’s to find the errant viscount before a fate worse than ruin befalls both surviving Caldicott brothers.

_______________


__ THE MYSTERY __
As I have already said, it is much more complicated than the previous book and therefore more enjoyable for the reader who loves suspense and difficult puzzles to solve and I must admit that until the end, I had no idea whether the missing person was alive or dead and all my hypotheses about what could have really happened were cleverly diverted by the new clues that the writer introduced through Julian's investigations.
There was only a very brief moment, towards 75% through the book, in which I felt exasperated at the fact that we didn't manage to discover something truly concrete and truthful, but this is part of the game of suspense and shortly after finally the truth has begun to make its way through the different tracks followed by our hero.

__ THE NARRATION __
The book is narrated in the first person by Julian and both the touching part of his story and the witty jokes that promptly lighten the atmosphere, made me feel closer to the character to the point of perceiving him as a dear friend of mine who is telling me the his story.

In addition to the magnificent job that the author did in balancing seriousness and touching details, with funny scenes and witty dialogues, another thing that fascinated me in the narrative is the constant similarity with military life and its rules that Julian makes in considering life situations and the people around him.
In fact he has never stopped feeling like a British army officer and in particular a reconnaissance officer even though he now lives in peacetime.
You will find his similes very interesting and truthful.

___ MAIN CHARACTER and SIDE CHARACTERS ___
I really enjoyed meeting up with some of the characters from the first book and getting to know Julian's brother better, who in the previous episode was only mentioned and remembered in the thoughts of the main character who I really grew fond of.

__ LORD JULIAN is a veteran of the war against Napoleon and like all veterans he suffers not only from physical debilitation but also from emotional trauma due to the cruel battles and above all to the death of his brother (who was in the same regiment) and the psychological torture he suffered when he was a prisoner of the French.
In the first episode we saw Julian return to normal life and take the first steps towards recovering himself and who he was.
In this second episode it is really pleasant to see how he overcomes his personal limits with determination and the desire to recover personal affections, to clear his name from the shame of the accusation of betrayal which is always whispered about in aristocratic circles (but actually he had been acquitted) and how he knows how to put his reconnaissance skills, the role he held in the army, to good use in investigation.

What I love about this character is that he gives a lot of importance to family ties, friendships and feelings without being a victim of those who treat him with malevolence.
He is a young man (29 years old) with a heart of gold but who knows how to stand up to those who try to provoke or humiliate him.
I love the fact that he is a lover of books and culture and that at the same time, he is a young man of action who, despite having grown up among the comforts of the aristocracy, knows how to get by in any outdoor survival situation ready for any eventuality.

I love his generosity: in the first book he immediately tells us that he gave up his marriage to Hyperia and in the second book he explains why.
He always puts the needs of his loved ones first even if they conflict with his own feelings and this makes him a "gentleman" in the true sense of the term.
The deep friendship with Hyperia can be felt throughout the book and the reader cannot help but root for this couple who in my opinion are made to stay together.

__ SIDE CHARACTERS ___ 
The supporting characters are all well delineated, whether they play a major role or a minor role in the episode told in the book, the author manages to show us their soul and mind simply through dialogues and actions.
Among the characters met previously, Hyperia gives an affectionate attention to Julian which cannot help but warm the hearts of the reader (as well of Julian), while the godmother Ophelia and the young Atticus bring joy and "verve", completely reciprocated by Lord Julian who has a great sense of humor (another characteristic that I love about him).

The character who added something new is Arthur, Julian's older brother and Duke of Waltham.
The character surprised me, because from previous stories he seemed like a good person, but also all of a piece and a bit boring.
Instead, we discover that he is capable of deep feelings both for Julian and in his private life and the relationship between the two brothers, which is shown in the book, a little playful and a little discovering each other's travails, It's really enjoyable to read.

Of course, I'll keep on reading the following books in the series as well.

RECOMMENDED for: those who love light mysteries, but also those who want to delve deeper into the souls of the characters and the atmosphere of the Regency era, made up not only of frivolities, but also of dramas and difficulties to overcome.

THANKS FOR READING my opinion and please forgive my English since it's not my native language.

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