Darynda Jones

Hi there!  Yes, it has been so long, I doubt anyone is still reading this blog.  September?  Wow, I feel terrible.  In the meantime, I got a substitute job, then a part time job at a local public library.  So that has been keeping me busy.  Though not busy enough to really give up doing this, so I have no excuse.  I guess I got bored, but I can't really explain what happened.  Other than, as I have said before, I really love reading so much that taking any additional time out to review is like wasting time to me.

In other news, very excited that Darynda Jones's new Charley Davidson book is out.  I joined her Grimlets, so the rest of this post will be a sort of vague review of the series and trying to push Charley and Reyes....drooling.... on you.  Oh, Reyes, you ask?  He's Charley's love interest, so to speak, though it is really a bit more complicated than that.  Charley can see dead people, but not because she has a sixth sense.  She is actually a supernatural being who is in fact the Grim Reaper.  Hence my being a Grimlet.  Dead people walk through Charley when they are ready to cross over, and she shines like a beacon that they can see across the world.  Reyes, on the other hand, well, I won't spoil anything for you, but suffice it to say, he is supernatural too.  Supernaturally hot!  Oh, and supernatural.

Charley is addicted to coffee, and I think the feel and writing of the books reflects that.  Charley herself is not soft like her best friend and employee Cookie, who does all the tech stuff.  She remembers every moment of her life after being born. I would imagine that could be kind of intimidating, but Charley is laid back.

I will say not everyone will like the books.  I have recommended them to several people, and sometimes they aren't caught by Charley's spell.  I am not sure what was not to their liking, but I sort of remember that first reading and it was different.  Now, of course, I can't get enough of our Grim Reaper and her Uncle Bob, Cookie, Reyes, and everyone.  They are totally addicting to me, and I hope they will be to you.

The first book in the series by Darynda Jones is titled First Grave on the Right.  Enjoy!

Chilling, no really my hands are cold...

I have been quite slow with this blog, I really need to pick up and do more.   I think I will also do some adult books here, since not that many people are reading this and I feel like of late I have been reading more adult books.  Especially the Outlander series, which I am now addicted to.  Oddly, it took a while for me to get through the first book, but after part of book 2, I have been flying through them.  Coming up for air this week and a break with some other library books, but I love Jamie and Claire, Roger and Brianna.

Oh, you want to know about the title?  Well, it is the second day of autumn here, and I am wearing a long sleeve shirt and jeans and smart wool socks, does that answer your question?  September has been odd, weather wise, but that's Cleveland for you.

In addition to reviewing Outlander, I think I will also do the Charley Davidson series by Darynda Jones.  An adult mismash of genres, to be sure.  It has mystery, paranormal, romance, not to mention Reyes, who has his own category because he is so HOT.  Of course, I say I will do these things, but really, I only hope to.  Here's hoping I will finish up Enola Holmes today while my KnowItNow shift is a bit light.  Au revoir, mes amis!

The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets

As I mentioned before, these Enola Holmes books delve into the meaning of flowers.  This book in particular is all about it.  The Victorians were curious creatures, a mixture of the proper and improper, but for some reason we tend to remember the former much more than the latter.  I certainly won't get into certain improper things here, as it is not the proper place to do so, but one way they got around the proprieties was through messages.  Fans (which is the next novel) and flowers could convey secret messages by how they were arranged and what flowers were present.  Pretty cool, huh?

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The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets
by Nancy Springer

Enola is distressed to learn from the papers that Dr. Watson is missing, so she dons one of her many disguises (this time, the beautiful lady, Viola Everseau, her crowning achievement) and visits the worried Mrs. Watson in order to determine what has happened to the good doctor.  While there, she notices what is a strange bouquet among traditional arrangements: red poppies, white hawthorn, convolulus, and asparagus.  The meanings of these are sleep, bad luck, and a convoluted or twisted meaning with the asparagus, which Enola does not know the meaning of immediately.  However, it is clear that the sender does not mean to comfort the woman.

When Sherlock Holmes appears while Enola is there, she stays in character and gushes over him, then effectively makes her escape.  But who could have created such a strange bouquet?  Deciding to keep watch for further messages within flowers, Enola starts boarding across the street, makes a message to the creator of the bouquet in the classifieds of the time, and waits and watches.  It is only a day or two before another bouquet comes.  The meaning looks like something dire has happened to Dr. Watson, and Enola is once again on the case, this time trying to find the dear friend of her brother.

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Again, there is quite a bit of danger to Enola in the book, but the readers should have no trouble separating fact from fiction.  I give this nine out of ten sonic screwdrivers.

The Case of the Left-Handed Lady

So I am taking back all of the Enola Holmes books to the library, making it necessary to finish up these reviews before doing so, just so I can check little things.  Mostly, I know the series pretty well, so I could probably talk out of a certain part of my body and have no problem with the general story, but to be fair to you, I don't want to do that.  This particular title resonates with me as I am left-handed.  Sometimes my brain works in mysterious ways, which I think may be a product of everything being made for a right-handed world.  Or I am just making that up in order to have a reason for my brain.  Either way, enjoy...

* * * * *

The Case of the Left-Handed Lady
by Nancy Springer

Since she is rather pleased with how she was able to find the missing young marquess, Enola decides to put her skills to work by advertising herself as a Perditorian.  That would be someone who finds missing people or things for a living.  However, she cannot be a female Perditorian, as that would not be feasible in Victorian London, so she makes herself up as a secretary to Dr. Leslie T. Ragostin, Scientific Perditorian.  As Ivy Meshle, Enola has changed her appearance to that of a Victorian shopgirl, looking nothing like her former self.

Strangely, one of her first customers is Dr. John Watson, who wants Dr. Ragostin to help her find. . . herself?  And her mother?  Oh dear.  While Dr Watson is there, Enola gleams a case that her brother is working on, a missing daughter of baron, and is also worried to learn that Sherlock appears to be in a decline (though she also fears the entire visit may be a trap).

Enola keeps up correspondence with her mother via flower cipher in the magazines, goes out at night giving to the poor in the guise of a Nun, and now begins work on the case of the missing Lady Cecily Alistair.  New disguises abound, as do close calls and meetings with her dear brothers.  Enola won't be dismayed, even after a rather terrible run-in with a garrote.

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The overall mystery is great, with questions of dual identity with the left-handed drawings of Lady Cecily (something that wouldn't have been tolerated in that time).  I don't think I figured out the mystery the first time around, not until it became obvious to Enola.  There are plenty of scary scenes, especially when Enola gets garrotted, but I think the mature readers that would be involved can handle it.  After all, there is much worse stuff on television and movies.  The writing continues to impress.

I give book Two of Six: 9 out of 10 sonic screwdrivers, again.  I love this series.

The Case of the Missing Marquess

Yes, I have been terrible once more with updates.  Can I just give the excuse that I love reading so much, I would rather do it than write?  However, if you like children's mysteries, historical fiction, and Sherlock Holmes (that would pretty much describe me to a T), then you should enjoy the Enola Holmes series by Nancy Springer.  Now, Enola is an odd name, to be sure, but if you look at it backwards, you will realize it has meaning.

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The Case of the Missing Marquess
by Nancy Springer

Enola Holmes is a much younger sister to the great detective, Sherlock Holmes.  Her mother had Enola late in life, and so Enola is about to turn 14 as our story begins, while her brothers are much older gentlemen.  Enola has been raised by her somewhat liberal and suffragette mother, though perhaps raised would not be the best term.  The butler and housekeeper have acted more as parents, as her mother, descended of the Vernets, goes out daily to draw and paint watercolors of flowers out in the fields.  Enola, left to her own devices, has become somewhat of a tomboy or hoyden.  She has read every book in the library but has had no governess, can ride a bicycle, and can climb a tree pretty well.

On Enola's 14th birthday, she has a mostly normal day, but her mother is not back for tea, so the butler Lane gives her the gifts her mother left for her.  They include a book of ciphers, which Enola has never enjoyed.  But when her mother fails to return, Enola realizes something is wrong.  Her famous older brothers come at word of their mother's disappearance, full of terrible ideas for Enola of boarding school and becoming a proper young lady.

This is the last thing Enola wants, and she sets about solving the ciphers after her brothers' departures, finding hidden things about the house with the book of flower meanings that Enola also received from her mother.  

For some reason I want to relay the whole book, so I think I will stop there.  Suffice it to say, Enola sets off on her own, determined to escape her brothers and boarding school, and stumbles onto another mystery.  The book is surprisingly adept at creating a real, if tomboy, Victorian girl.  The addition of Victorian meaning of flowers (throughout the series, actually) is quite interesting.  I think anyone with a love of SH, mysteries, and children's literature would love this, though so also would bright school age readers who love delving into other time periods. (I know I did at that age.)  There is some violence in the book, but the most likely readers should not have a problem with it.  Who doesn't like a good adventure story, and if you find SH a bit prissy, keep reading the series.  You will find that his Victorian attitude is much more flexible than Mycroft's.

I give this first book in a series of six: Nine out of Ten Sonic Screwdrivers

Airplane reading

7:17 am

What is it about airplanes that make it hard to read with full comprehension?  Is it the loud droning noise in the background, the small seats, the lack of legroom?  Whatever it is, I barely ever feel like reading, or when I do read, it feels somewhat awkward. Like I can't quite transport myself to London or Fool's Gold, or wherever the book is set.  Because forever there is the drone of the plane, an unending loud noise that makes you feel like there are insects crawling on your skin.

So I sit here, back aching for some reason, listening to a relaxation track, hoping that the next hour will go by quickly.

8:26am

It was actually an hour and a half from then.  Making descents aren't always fun. Ears popping. I did get a little reading in earlier, but not that much.

 1:00pm

I'm on the second flight, tired out of my mind. I thought it was an hour later that it really is, so another 1.5 hours remain.  I don't have patience for reading again, but sleeping is not working either.

Theodosia and the Staff of Osiris

Well, I am finally getting to what I promised initially-- reviewing the complete (so far) Theodosia Throckmorton series.  And it had better not be done, Robin Lorraine LaFevers, so help me.

Theodosia and the Staff of Osiris
by R. L. LaFevers

Things have settled down somewhat for Theodosia since her last escapade.  However, her father makes her start cataloging the artifacts down in the basement, which is worrisome to Theo because of the potential curses she feels coming from these objects.  Theo begins her usual methods of checking for dark magic, but in the midst of her working, a jackal statue seems to come to life.

Following some other strange happenings, all the mummies from all the museums and the like disappear, only to begin turning up in the hallway of Theo's father's museum.  There is definitely magic afoot here, but is it the work of the Serpents of Chaos group or something else entirely?

Meanwhile, Theo's grandmother, who seems to have an admirer in an Admiral, brings new loathsome governesses to educate Theo, but our clever girl needs none of that deportment stuff.  Nor does she need to be doing lessons all day when she has to protect the British empire from all these curses!

Sticky Will, the pickpocket turned messenger for the Brotherhood is not as helpful or open as he once was, and Theo feels more alone than ever.  Her father is on the verge of arrest for stealing the mummies that appear in his locked museum every morning, and something is amiss with some of the artifacts down in the basement.  What can Theo do to prevent the arrest, stop the mummies from wandering, defeat the Serpents again, and get back her friendship with Will?


This book continues from where the last one left off after Theo and her mother get back from her unscheduled trip to Egypt.  I love how LaFevers continues to show the steps to defeat the curses.  As I said before, some might find these parts slow moving, but I think it just further envelops the reader in Theodosia's world, making it seem more real.  There is still plenty of excitement, though the first part of the book is not as full of action as the second.  The idea of mummies walking on their own might scare younger readers in the suggested range, but if they read the first book, there isn't anything much scarier than what happened within.  The book is very engaging once more, though it does suffer a little for being a second book in a series.  But not too much.

I give this 8 out of 10 sonic screwdrivers.