Book review : Vienna Dawn by Mary Lancaster

Vienna Dawn
by Mary Lancaster
The Imperial Season book #3
GENRE : #regency-suspence-romance

My rating: ★★★★★

Actually 4.6 rounded up to 5 stars.

Another lovely regency romance by Mary Lancaster!
I adored the "Imperial Season" series ( 3 main works ) set in the capital of Austria during the 1814 Congress of Vienna.
The 3 books are all wonderful and well connected to each other. Each book tells the love story of a specific couple with several important side characters that we meet in all 3 books ( sometimes in the  main roles and sometimes in secondary roles ).

There is also a short story as book 4 in the series ( which I haven't read yet ), but it's very very short and with brand new characters that are not connected to the ones in 3 main books. The only thing in common with the other 3 novels in the series is the setting : 1814, Austria :  Congress of Vienna.  

__ PLOT in short __ Autumn 1814, Vanya's family (book 1), mother, 2 sisters and the husband of one of them, are going to Vienna. Following an argument, Dunya, the heroine of this story, runs away but runs into a libertine who tries to take advantage of her.Entering a random room in an inn, she meets the English captain Richard Trelawny, who lost an arm in the war, but has lost no gallantry, no generosity, no courage.
 Together with his faithful servant, he saves the girl and decides to help her in her plan to win back an old boyfriend, thus rediscovering verve and joy of living. Lies, misunderstandings and dishonest people will complicate the whole situation, bringing a whirlwind of negative and positive emotions until the happy ending.

____ WHAT I LIKED IN THE BOOK ___
Speaking of this 3rd installment I loved the main couple: Dunya, a young Russian countess without dowry and sweet and handsome and also penniless Captain Trelawny.

Their falling in love happened slowly and neither of them ever denied it to themselves.

There are only two kisses in the book (while I expected more like in book 2), but the plot, despite being light, completely involved me from the beginning.

---> I liked Dunya's liveliness, resourcefulness and ability to admit that she was wrong about some people.
---> Trelawny made me fall in love right away, not only because he is handsome and doesn't back down when faced with the needs of others, but because despite the horrors of war and the loss of his arm having dulled his desire to heal and live a little, he doesn't cry on himself.
Indeed, he gets involved in the girl's vivacity and without ever having an ulterior motive, he protects her and supports her in his plans so that she can find happiness.
Honor, kindness and honesty are not his only qualities. He's also smart and brave, in fact, the war has taught him to fight and despite not having an arm, he doesn't hold back when it comes to foiling an espionage plan or confronting the arrogant and despicable person with the sword.

---> I loved the fact that the protagonists of the 1st book (Lizzie and Vanya and the children with the dog and other characters) were secondary characters in this 3rd installment and I liked finding again, even if only in small cameos, the protagonist couple of book 2 ( Esther and Zelig).
Finding characters I was already very fond of and seeing them actively participate for most of the narrative allowed me to enjoy the whole story even more.

___ LITTLE THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE so as not to give 5 full stars___
I rated it only 4.6 stars ( rounded to 5 because Goodreads doesn't allow half a star ) and not a full 5 stars, like the 2 previous books, because though the love story is gripping and very sweet to read, there are some open doors ( especially one in the ending ) which not only weren't necessary but they lead the reader to think that some events and adventures will follow ( in this book or in the next one ), but the truth is that the series is closed ( the last book is dated 2017) and the short story written by the author as book 4 is not connected to either the events or to the characters of the previous 3 book.
This means that I finished reading the book with a bit of terrible feeling of dissatisfaction and things left unfinished.

TO PEOPLE WHO DON'T MIND SPOILERS and also TO THE AUTHOR just in case she reads my opinion, I will explain myself a little better :  
There are 3 things that remain open:

__ 1) the most important at the end : ___WARNING : SPOILER____ our couple is stopped by two highwaymen with rifles, who then change their minds and leave. Dunya asks Richard who the villain was with the gun pointed at them, since it was clear that he recognized Richard and therefore let them go without robbing them. Richard doesn't answer and the novel ends with something unfinished which is decidedly annoying for the reader. This cliffhanger would make sense if the series continued, but it didn't and it made me angry. ___SPOILER END ____

__ 2) The second thing is less important, but it seems like the introduction to a new story and instead it leads to nothing: ___ WARNING: SPOILER____in this book we find Misha, Vanya's trusted servant, brother of the novel's heroine. Misha convinces Dunya (the heroine) to take in a maid who was being mistreated and this is because it turns out that he is in love with her.
Maria, the maid and Misha, are mentioned a couple more times and then in the end Dunya and Richard leave on a trip with no definite return, around the world. Dunya says she wants to give Maria time to say goodbye to Misha and hopes that Misha will maybe ask her to marry him, but still he takes the maid with him, separating her from her beloved... BUT WHAT'S THE SENSE? The author could have written that Maria married Misha and they both remained employed by Vanya or another solution for them to be together. What the hell is the point of introducing a newborn love and then separating the characters forever, other than disappointing the reader? Let's remember that these are light romances where there is a happy ending for all the good characters (and here we even had a happy ending for a really bitchy girl, another thing I didn't like) ___SPOILER END ____

__3) This third thing is perhaps not so important, but it bothers me that it doesn't make sense:
___WARNING : SPOILER____ at a certain point in the novel, the heroine's mother says a sentence that has nothing to do with the important events and characters at that moment.
He asks her if she treats her daughter-in-law (Lizzie, heroine of the first book and Vanya's wife) badly. Everyone answers yes in unison, then the whirlwind of events continues its normal course.
THAT PARTICULAR QUESTION and THAT ANSWER make the reader assume that there will be a clarification between the two characters and that Vanya's mother-countess will finally begin to treat her daughter-in-law with affection... NONE OF THIS... nothing happens in this book or in the next one because there is no continuation of the events of these characters.
At the end of the book Vanya says that Lizzie will try to talk to the angry countess... but then nothing more is said, no scene between the two women is described and she will no longer know anything about their relationship.
It seems that the writer thought about improving the relationship between the two characters, but then changed her mind (did she forget? Did she no longer want to dwell on the novel? ) well, in this case, before printing the book she should have deleted that question and that answer from the others... IT MAKES NO SENSE ___SPOILER END____

___ __IN CONCLUSION: do I recommend reading the book? Certainly yes and even if readable as a standalone, I recommend reading the series in order or at least the first book, because you will be better able to enjoy the presence of the side characters and their actions.
---> Book 2 is not important to enjoy book 3, but book 2 for me was absolutely the best, so don't miss it!

:-) Apologies for my faulty English, which is not my native language, thank you for reading my review, I hope it can be useful to you in choosing whether or not  to read the book.


READ ALSO "The Imperial Season" BOOK #1 and BOOK #2:
#1 Vienna Waltz
#2 Vienna Woods

Join me on FB Tizi Cozy Corner page to be always updated on new posts

Book review : An Honourable Thief by Douglas Skelton

An Honourable Thief
by Douglas Skelton
Company of Rogues book #1

My rating: ★★★★☆
3.7 rounded up to 4 stars is my actual rating.

It really took me a long time to get into the book and to get fond of the characters but finally, almost halfway through the novel I felt involved in the plot.

The author divided the story into 3 main parts.

-----> Part 1 starts with a lot of action and humorous lines by the main character and the villains and other people around him.
I generally love action and also humorous books. I dare say that action+humour+mystery-or-and-adventure is the perfect mix for me, but I had a great problem with this story.
The humorous lines were indeed so exasperated and the dialogues with jokes so long that they sound ridiculous, it sounded like reading an old hard boiled starring Sam Spade ( do you know The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett ? ) with a fatal female or some comics starring Spider or Batman... I expected to read "boom, splash, boing, gulp, crack and so one " at any moment !

I take the author wrote PART 1 of the book as a sort of introduction to the hero and his way of living... but too many chapters with action and jokes with no real substance...it felt more like a competition between the hero and his adversaries to prove who was the coolest.

___ THE PLOT begins in fact with Jonas Flint, the hero, who despite having been a thief and a scoundrel, works as a sort of secret agent for an important character who in turn works for the monarchy.
The action I was talking about takes place during a mission, in which the character shows off all his James Bond skills, with guns, sword and dagger and during the danger and fighting he also has time to joke non-stop.
We are in 1715 London and the main mission of the book is to recover a document written by the dying queen, which could compromise the future of the throne and the stability of England in a period in which the Jacobite uprisings are already causing unrest and death.

Part 1 also introduces the historical setting of the novel.
When a sovereign has no direct heirs there's always great tension and a great risk of riots, revolts and wars to gain power...

------> PART 2 was a little more serious and far better than the first one.
It takes the reader into the hero's past life and and deeper into the patriotic feelings of the people, especially the Scots towards the English monarchy, in the daily difficulties of common people and in the dullness of thought that, at that time, saw slavery as normal.
The intelligence and sensitivity and goodness of heart of a few people were unfortunately subject to the arrogance of rich people and those of aristocratic rank.

In this second part there is no shortage of moments of lightness or ironic and nice jokes, but here I was able to appreciate them because they were well-dosed (not too many and forced, nor non-existent) and skilfully mixed with deep feelings and emotions.
In this second part I began to grow fond of the characters and suffered with them in difficult moments.

Although Jonas' mission was always important and always his final goal, the second part explores more the introspective side of the main character and his family/friends.

Talking about characters, the main ones are fictional, but they are well blended with real historical figures and you'll find many clarifications on the matter in the author's final notes.

---> Part 3 is also interesting and engaging.
Even if it's more focused on the main mission (to recover the important and dangerous document), all the events of the second part come to a head.
There are a couple of very important twists and if one is a little bit predictable by the reader ( I expected that ), the other one is really surprising and I have to warn you: it's a little bit sad and bitter.

Overall I'm happy to say that I liked the book and I'm thinking of reading the next one in the series too.
The series is named "Company of Rogues" and it includes 3 total works.
Each book is readable as a standalone, but I think that reading all three in a row gives the reader a more complete vision of the soul of Jonas Flint, the hero. This is very important because Jonas is not a hero without reproach and I must admit that at the beginning I wasn't happy to have a protagonist who killed people left and right, even if they were villains... But his past helps the reader to accept him and at least in this first book, we also see the good sides of his soul and the shame he feels in having led a certain kind of life.

WARNING : some crude and bloody scenes are present in the book, just as the language of certain characters is crude and trivial.

Sorry for my bad English, it's not my native language and thanks for reading my review.
I hope my opinion and impressions can be useful to you when deciding whether to read this historical fiction or not.


Join me on FB Tizi Cozy Corner page to be always updated on new posts

Book review : The Jewel Thief by Jeannie Mobley

The Jewel Thief by Jeannie Mobley

My rating: ★★★★☆
Actually 3,7 rounded up to 4 of 5 stars

The French court of the Sun King, a large 115-carat blue diamond, a love story...

I love fiction inspired by true events, if you add to this a bit of romance and a context (that of the stonecutters) that is different from the usual, the recipe is perfect.

The premises of the plot of the book are therefore fascinating and in fact I liked the story in its entirety, unfortunately however the author's narrative style did not allow me to become passionate about the characters or to jump with emotion for what was being told.

The story is narrated by the heroine of the book, while she is in prison and has to give a statement.

__THE PLOT _ Juliette Pitau, sixteen-year-old daughter of King Louis XIV's former jeweler, finds herself in a cell in the Bastille.
She is accused of stealing the Tavernier Violet, a large, deep blue diamond, which her father had been tasked with cutting and making as bright as the sun. Unfortunately, making such a dark diamond shine was an almost impossible task, which only the man who had cut Mazarin's famous diamond collection could have performed with precision.
To go to the aid of her father, Juliette devised a plan that was not entirely legitimate, for this reason she is also accused of treason and of having conspired against France together with a family of Jews, who at that time had been exiled from many European countries including France.
Giving testimony that shows the king her good intentions and that clears her of the charges is the only way she can avoid the death sentence. Unfortunately, her well-intentioned lies and the wickedness of some greedy people have made her guilty even in the eyes of those who loved her, like René, the young man who has to write down her declaration of innocence.
_________________

As I have already said, the story itself is fascinating and took me into a world I knew nothing about: that of precious gems and the different types of cuts to make them more brilliant and precious, in the world of diamonds and jewels of crown and the legends in which they are surrounded.

Some things are explained at the end of the book in the author's notes, others can be read in the hundreds of articles found on the web about the Tavernier Violet, which was cut and then transformed into French Blue, which then disappeared for many years afterwards during the French Revolution and which then reappeared, differently cut, as Hope Diamond.

What didn't allow me to fully enjoy the story was the narration told by Juliette herself.
The story is reported a bit like a "news story" and even if from time to time the dialogues that the protagonist remembers are reported, this is not enough to give emphasis to either the facts or the characters. For me it was all unexciting and lacking in suspense.

Not even the fact that the person who took the deposition was Juliette's lover, who initially believed her to be guilty and greedy, while slowly realizing the suffering that led her to make desperate and catastrophic choices, did not help to excite me.

There are several kisses in the book, some sweet, some more passionate and a sex scene without explicit descriptions... however in my opinion, not only were they not very believable inside a cell where you can be seen from moment to moment 'more from the guards, but the description didn't involve me or make me feel butterflies in my stomach, which often happens to me with other clean romances where the author manages to excite me even just with glances and small stolen kisses.

I liked the characters for better or for worse, but each of them should have been explored more.
I liked the choice of the two protagonists, in love, but fragile in the uncertainty of being loved only for appearances and not for who they really are.
I would have preferred a father who goes out of his way for his daughter and not a cowardly drunk who only knows how to cry about himself while his daughter tries to move mountains to help him, but an involuntary villain could fit in.

I liked the other positive characters and the 2 tyrants of the jewelers' guild (the head of the guild and his wife), I also liked the capricious Sun King in his selfishness and egocentricity...
When I say that I liked the characters, it means that they made sense to me and were in the right place in this story... but for each of them, as a reader I got an idea of their character, but the monotonous way to tell the story chosen by author did not allow me to savor them fully.

I think if the writer had told the facts in real time (and not through a story told afterwards by the protagonist while she is in prison), she would have been able to develop the dialogues and characters more.
If the dialogues had been expanded and the characters more in-depth and with more space, they would have indelibly captured my soul as a reader and the author would have equally had the opportunity to show us the romantic love with ups and downs between René and Juliette.
In fact, the point that I liked most was the ending, when the events finally take place outside that dark and damp cell and we finally perceive the pathos of what could or could not be.

Of course it is a matter of taste, because I have read many nice reviews on this book, but my personal opinion is this and this does not make me want to read the next book in the series, nor I will never reread this.

It is a book suitable for young adults and perhaps it can have a stronger emotional impact on them than it had on me and as I said the story is still a good story.

Sorry for my bad English, it's not my native language and thanks for reading my opinion :-)

Join me on FB Tizi Cozy Corner page to be always updated on new posts

Book review : Vienna Woods by Mary Lancaster

Vienna Woods
The Imperial Season Book 2
by Mary Lancaster
GENRE : #regency-spy-romance

My rating: ★★★★★
5 FULL STARS !! :-D

Wowwwwwwww!!
This was a fabulous read!!

Not only do I give 5 full stars, but I decided to establish a 6th star, i.e. a GOLDEN STAR for those books, like this one, that I would start reading all over again immediately !!

The genre of this novel is: clean romance.

----> The recipe includes :
the right dose of joy and lightness, a nice handful of adventure and a little espionage suspense and a few splashes of drama and tension, just to make our hearts beat faster!
Oh I forgot: fantastic HERO and HEROINE, very different from each other (she is brighter, he is more introverted and mysterious), but they're perfect together.

Before I delve into my opinion, let me introduce you to THE PLOT:

__1814, Congress of Vienna.
Esther Lisle, is the daughter of an English general, now a diplomat in a small European kingdom and unofficially engaged to the heir of the aforementioned kingdom, a man whose bad reputation, meanness and arrogance are known to many.
__ One day Esther wakes up in the woods of Vienna, with an agent of the tough and feared Austrian secret police in front of her, who asks her questions about her relationship with Prince Otto, whose corpse is just a few steps away.
__ Secret Agent Zelig, also called Agent Z, has the task of maintaining security in Vienna and above all foiling any conspiracy and devious plan that could ruin the important congress and peace negotiations that will be discussed by the heads of government of the whole Europe.
__The death of the prince has a heavier weight than it may seem and although Esther and Agent Z don't know if they can trust each other they will try to collaborate to get to the truth.

In a world where you have to pay attention to every word said, because everything can be conspiracy and betrayal, it will not be an easy task.
Between masquerade balls, tournaments and all the "bon ton" prejudices of the time, reality and truth will be even more confused and elusive. To increase the tension and emotions there is a pleasant physical attraction, not foreseen by both, but which, little by little, will transform into a strong feeling and bond.
__________ ________

I REALLY LOVED THE CAST OF CHARACTERS:

1) the HERO of the story is not the usual consummate libertine (as is present in almost all romances) and who when he meets true love magically redeems himself (it's an overused cliché).
He is a very good young man of few words, very mysterious also because of his job, who despite a past of poverty, does not feel sorry for himself and does not resort to alcohol when he is desperate.
He earns his living with his work, which he is really good at and does not solve problems with the bottle, but by throwing himself headlong into his duty.
Put like this, he may seem like a boring boy, but he is not at all devoid of passion.
His icy gaze in contrast with his kind and polite ways, his tender gestures towards Esther and some street kids, whom he takes care of, fascinated me. I loved his hidden and barely visible smiles
And the way he kisses Esther...I wanted to be Esther! 😜😁

2) I also loved the HEROINE of the novel: yes, a beautiful girl, but above all with charisma. A young girl, but with a good head on her shoulders and who knows how to respond with intelligent and playful jokes, even if she is taken by surprise.
Esther is courageous and generous (but without being too saccharine or far-fetched) and the thing I like most about her is that she doesn't classify people based on social rank, but knows how to make friends with every good person.

3) among the complementary characters that I adored, there are the two main characters of book #1, plus 3 street thieves who help Agent Z in some unorthodox missions.
They are just over fifteen years old and like all young people they exude energy, liveliness and spontaneity from every pore.

This is the second book in a series of 4, all romances and with a hint of adventure/mystery.
I really liked installation #1 and rated it 5 stars, but this #2 is absolutely superior to the first.

I LIKED THIS SECOND NOVEL MUCH MORE THAN THE FIRST because the whole story mixes romance, mystery and espionage well, keeping the reader in the tension of "what will happen next?", so much so that it made me turn the pages one after the other with voracity.

Compared to the first novel we have more romantic moments in which the emotion of the couple's attraction and falling in love are truly palpable...indeed, despite being a slow-burn romance, the heartbeat and courtship begin immediately.
The kisses are clean, but described so well that it's like watching a movie.
Final sex scene, also clean with nothing explicit or vulgar and therefore readable even by younger people.

---> I want to remember one thing though: the books are born as romances and even if there's a little mystery adventure, they are not comparable to real "mystery crime or spy stories", if you're looking for that genre , this is not for you).

Each book develops around a different couple, so you can easily choose one as a standalone, but my advice is to read them all in a row, because the main characters of one book become secondary ones in subsequent ones and the stories, in one way or another, are intertwined.
In fact the protagonist of this book, Garin/Agent Zelig, was not a simple extra in installment #1.
He had a small active role, so when I started reading this story I felt already a little fond of the character
As a counterpart, the main characters of book one ( Lizzie, Vanja and family ) have an important role in this adventure

---> UNLIKE THE FIRST NOVEL, here the historical figures of the time are only named and have no active role. However, the plot was so intriguing and engaging that I didn't miss it.
The description of the balls and the display of opulence, the subterfuge, the lust for power, the corridors of the Hofburg and the rides in the Viennese woods, make us imagine the setting and the political context.
Furthermore, if like me, while reading, you listen to the notes of the waltz in the background (you can find hundreds of wonderful playlists on Youtube) then you will feel directly catapulted into 1814 in the glittering Austrian capital!

I will definitely also read books 3 and 4 in the series, but first I have to take a break with a mystery where love has nothing to do with it, because I was so involved in this one that if I read another one I wouldn't be able to enjoy it... I must first get rid of the very pleasant intoxication.

Thanks everybody for reading my review and please be lenient with my English as it's not my mother tongue.
I hope my opinions have been helpful to you and if you read it I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.


READ ALSO "The Imperial Season" BOOK #1 and BOOK #3:
BOOK #1 Vienna Waltz
BOOK #3 Vienna Dawn

Join me on FB Tizi Cozy Corner page to be always updated on new posts