A Court Of Thorn And Roses by Sarah Maas

 

Feyre's family is not doing well.  Raised in wealth, her family's money was lost when her father's ships were wrecked in a storm.  She, her father and her two sisters have moved from their comfortable home to a hovel near the forest and Feyre must hunt for food for them to survive.  One day while hunting for a deer or rabbit, she is surprised by a wolf and kills it.  

But this was no ordinary wolf.  It was a fae shapeshifter and now she has committed a crime against the fae world.  She is taken from her home to their kingdom by one of the High Lords, Tamlin.  He tells her that she won't be harmed but she can never return home due to an agreement reached years ago between the fae and the humans at the end of a war that divided the world.  Tamlin has a beautiful mansion and Feyre is left to her own devices to amuse herself.  The only contact she has is her maid, Tamlin and his best friend, Lucian.  

Over time, Feyre starts to like the men who surround her and soon, she falls in love with Tamlin.  But all is not well in the fae kingdom either.  An evil fae witch has taken control and she is cruel; her only desire to have Tamlin as her mate.  She surrounds herself with monstrous creatures and lives only to think of new tortures.  Her ultimate plan is to break the treaty that ended the war between fae and human and take over the universe.  

When Feyre is taken to her underground kingdom, she is taunted for her love of Tamliin and his for her.  But she is not killed right away.  The witch states that she will release Fayre and Tamlin if Fayre can either solve a riddle or survive three tasks.  Can Fayre save them all?

This is the first book in a five book series.  I've been interested in reading Sarah Maas for a while now as she is known in the fantasy world for her intricate series.  This was a great opening novel and I plan to read the rest of the series.  There are steamy scenes as Tamlin and Feyre discover their love and the book is suspenseful as Feyre goes through the series of tasks that may kill her.  This book is recommended for fantasy readers.  

Broadway Butterfly by Sara DiVello

 

On March 15, 1923, Dot King was found murdered in her Manhattan apartment.  Dot was known as the Broadway Butterfly and even now, over a hundred years later, her murder has not been solved.  Dot was a 'model' and lived by being supported by her various lovers.  One was a gang boss, one an Italian gigolo and one a very wealthy, very politically connected banker.  The story is told through the viewpoints of the women involved.

Dot was found by her maid, a black woman named Ella Bradford.  Ella was from the South but came to New York for better economic opportunities.  She was married and had a baby.  She had seen Dot the day she died but had left at her normal time.  Still, she knew many of Dot's secrets and liked her as she had always been kind to Ella.

Julia Harpman was a female reporter in a time when that was not common, and more usually, was assigned to the crime desk.  She is determined to get justice for Dot and chases the case even after the police have declared it closed.  Although she comes across as a bit self-righteous, the case would have died in the public eye if it had not been for her continued attempts to solve it and her expose of those involved, even up to the Attorney General of President Harding.  

Frances Stotesbury Mitchell is the wife of the wealthy man supporting Dot, J. Kearsley Mitchell.  Her father is one of the wealthiest men in the country and she had what she thought was the perfect life.  Several large homes, two healthy children and a husband who could support her and her society adventures.  She is about to host President Harding on a golfing weekend in Florida when the story breaks.  Frances is shocked to find out her husband has been cheating on her and must make a choice between staying with a man she no longer respects or loves or being shunned in society as a single, divorced woman.  

Sara DiVello is known for creating an interview series called The Thriller Mavens where she interviews mystery writers.  She sticks close to the facts of the case, and has various thoughts on why the crime wasn't solved.  There were political reasons as the district attorney tried to run his own investigation instead of leaving it to the police.  There were suspicions of influence peddling with rumors the Frances's father had paid $500,000 to have the case closed.  There were multiple suspects.  Mitchell was the last person to admit seeing Dot alive as he had stayed until 2 a.m. of the morning she was killed.  The gigolo was known for beating Dot and intimidating her into doing things she didn't want to do.  The connection to organized crime could have been a motive as Dot had been depositing large amounts in her bank, the source unknown.  Regardless, the reader will have enough facts to make up their own mind.  This book is recommended for true crime and women's fiction readers.  

The Maker Of Swans by Paraic O'Donnell

 

It's a strange household, this mansion in the countryside.  The owner, Mister Crowe, is the member of a secret cult where his talents are revered.  But he has given all that up and lives quietly in the countryside.  The only other occupants are Eustace, the butler and his young ward, Clara.  Clara also has powers although she doesn't know it yet.  She is mute and lives happily in the country, roaming the fields and forests and gardens of the estate.  There is also always a floating assortment of Mr. Crowe's women but no one pays them much mind as they are temporary.

Then violence.  One night an opposing member of the cult sends men to take Clara.  Although Mr. Crowe shoots one of them, they manage to get away with her.  Eustace, who was the closest person to Clara, is stunned.  He cannot believe that he has failed to protect her.  Clara is held for ransom, but not of money.  Her captors want Mr. Crowe to rejoin and perform something that only someone with his powers can do.  

The household falls apart.  Eustace has a breakdown and leaves, to stay inebriated in the rum spots and pleasure houses of London.  Mr. Crowe becomes even more of a recluse and falls under the influence of the latest woman.  But things change when one of the men who Eustace had hired as a bodyguard finds a clue of where Clara is being kept.  Can she be brought back home?

Paraic O'Donnell is an Irish author.  What is it that makes the Irish such wonderful storytellers?  I was totally entranced by this novel, its mysteries, its language and its revelations.  It's even more astonishing when the reader discovers that this is his debut novel.  I listened to it and the narrators were amazing.  There was a male and female and both were wonderful.  The female brought Clara to life as a young girl but when she voiced the statements of the woman in residence, I could almost see her stretched out on a chaise lounge, with a cigarette holder, languidly speaking.  There are things that are never explained such as the powers Mr. Crowe and Clara have or the thing that her kidnappers want him to do but it doesn't matter in the end.  This is one of my favorite books I've read recently and recommended for both fantasy and literary fiction readers.  

Monsters by Claire Dederer

 

This book, by critic Claire Dederer, questions what is the ethical thing to do when we discover that one of our heroes in the arts is discovered to be a monstrous person?  It seems to be an issue that rears its head more and more often lately.  She starts with well known examples such as Woody Allen, Roman Polanski, Bill Cosby and Miles Davis but the list continues with more recent examples being outed all the time.  Two recent ones that broke my heart were Neil Gaiman and Cormac McCarthy, who I think might be the best American novelist of our time.  Do we try to separate the man from the work?  Do we boycott the work, taking volumes off our shelves or pictures from our walls?

Dederer spends time discussing the fan and how certain works seem to speak to our innermost selves and express what we believe about the world or how we wish the world was.  One example is the way the Harry Potter books took over the teenage universe, showing a world where everyone was included and good ultimately defeats evil.  What to do with those feelings when the creator is shown to act diametrically opposed in his or her personal life?

Then she discusses genius.  We tend to give a pass to those we believe are geniuses such as Picasso or Hemingway or Michael Jackson.  They are full of freedom and energy, ignoring the needs of others in order to create great art.  In a quote from the author, 'The thing is, freedom and energy can become confusing, morally or ethically speaking.  If you are handsomely rewarded for giving in to some of your impulses, doesn't it begin to seem like all of your impulses ought to be honored?  Especially because it's hard to tell the good from the bad.  Why would you quash an impulse, no matter how savage or destructive, when it might be one and the same thing as the impulse that allows you to do this mysterious, free thing everyone says is genius?  What follows logically from there is the idea that the artist ought to be free in all his doings.  Otherwise, if he constrains himself, he might turn off the energy.  He might somehow accidentally sit on the muse and squish it to death.'

Claire Dederer is a critic whose work appears regularly in publications such as the Nation, the New York Times, Vogue and a host of others.  After posing the questions above, she goes into her own life and that of other female artists, questioning why their voice is so often silenced and if it is possible to both be a great artist and a great mother simultaneously.  She also is honest about her own foibles, such as her alcoholism.  While she doesn't answer the question fully, she does suggest as the book ends that we are all full of both good and monstrous impulses and poses another question, should we be judged on our life by the worst thing we have done?

I read the last page of this book knowing that it would stick with me for a long time and that there is so much to think about in the questions posed that I would be mulling over them for quite a while.  In the end, it seems that each person must draw their own line in what they are willing to accept or in what extent they can divorce the artist from his or her work.  This book is recommended for nonfiction readers and those sickened by revelations about their heroes.  

The Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova

 

Alexandra Boyd has come to Bulgaria to teach English and to honor the memory of her brother whose dream had been to come there.  She comes a week or so before her job starts so that she can tour the country and get situated.  The cab from the train takes her to the wrong hotel so she is standing outside it deciding  what to do when she notices some elderly people trying to get into a cab with their possessions.  There is an old man in a wheelchair, a woman the same age and a middle-aged man who is probably their son.  Alexandra goes and helps and in the process, one of their bags ends up mixed in with hers.  The cab has left and she looks in the bag to see if she can find some identification so she can return it.  She is taken aback to see that it contains an urn with cremated ashes and a name, Stoyan Lazarov.

Even more determined to return such a honored possession, Alexandra gets in a cab.  It turns out to be driven by a man who says to call him Bobby and when she explains, he decides to help her return the urn.  Thus are the two drawn into the history of the Lazarov family.  Stoyan had been a violinist around the time of World War II and the taking over of Bulgaria by Russia.  Like many artists, he is declared a criminal working against the government and placed in a labor camp where he almost dies.  

Over the next few days, Alexandra and Bobby go to a monastery, the police and villages from the mountains to the sea.  They find people who know the trio they are seeking and even some relatives but they can't find a trace of the three they are looking for.  Along the way, they find a hidden compartment in the urn in which Stoyan had told his story of the camps and all that occurred there.  Soon they realize that someone else is interested in the urn and the story and will kill to get it.  Where is the family?  Who will end up with the urn?

From the 1940's up to the late 1980's there were over a hundred of these labor camps in Bulgaria.  Although they were said to be operated by criminal labor, most of the inhabitants were merely those the government considered a threat for one reason or another.  Tens of thousands of Bulgarians were confined in these camps.  Elizabeth Kostova is an American author whose three novels are extensively researched.  She married a Bulgarian scholar and in this novel tells the story that was hidden in Bulgarian history.  This is her third and most recent novel, published in 2017, and is recommended for readers of historical and literary fiction.  

These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever

 

Some love affairs are best never started.  If Paul and Julian had never met, three lives would not have been ruined.  Paul is an introverted young man, just starting college and trying to rebuild his life after his father, who he idolized, dies.  Although Paul is shy, he is also convinced that most people around him are his intellectual inferiors.  He is the only person he knows in his middle class life who loves art and poetry.  His dream is to become a scientist, perhaps studying the butterflies he has always collected.

Julian is the opposite.  From money, he has the assurance and confidence of those who have always been provided for and who know their lives are set up to be a success.  He is also convinced that most people around him don't know how to live the life that he anticipates for himself full of beauty and literature.  He can dismiss others with a word or even a glance.

When these two encounter each other in college, they are instantly drawn together.  Since both are gay, it is not long before they form a romantic relationship.  Paul would do anything to please Julian yet he is the dominant one in their lovemaking.  Julian takes as a project the task of convincing Paul he is as good a person as Julian sees him.  This sets up a relationship where the stakes are constantly being raised as each tries to convince the other that they would do anything for the other and the life they want together.

Unfortunately, that results in their project.  They decide to kill someone who deserves to die to seal their love forever.  They choose someone who was involved in war atrocities.  They spend weeks planning their crime, sure that it cannot fail.  Yet after the crime, things do not go as they had planned.

This is a debut novel and was released to great anticipation in many quarters.  The author, Micah Nemerever, writes that he was these young men, lonely in so many way, offput by most people he met yet yearning for a relationship that could sustain him.  It is also, of course, influenced by such true crime cases as Leopold and Leob and Parker and Hulme.  The reader is drawn into the fevered world of these two men and the bad choices they make as a result of their love for each other.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction.