At First Spite / Olivia Dade

 

4 out of 5 stars 

I have been on a romance novel reading jag for over a month now. Me, who wouldn't have picked up a romance five years ago. I usually need an injection of mystery or fantasy to help me enjoy a romance book. At First Spite has neither of those things, but I knew when I read the description that I needed to read it.

Athena has been jilted by her fiancé Johnny, largely because of his judgmental brother Matthew. She had already purchased Johnny's wedding present, the Spite House, a 10 foot wide addition built onto Johnny's house by a historical brother taking revenge on his selfish sibling. She's made the deal and can't afford to move away. Besides, shouldn't she try to get a bit of revenge herself? As she's moving in, she discovers that the insufferable Matthew lives in the house next door, the one that she could almost touch by leaning out her window.

The ironic thing is she and Matthew met at her engagement party and really enjoyed their banter until they discovered each other's identity. And despite having kiboshed her wedding, Matthew continues to be a kind, thoughtful neighbour. Significantly, however, he neglects to tell her why he objected: that he thought she was too complex and intelligent to be satisfied with Johnny for the long haul.

So, this is an enemies to lovers story, as well as a proximity romance. I came to truly love the stiff and proper Matthew, who never got a childhood, ran himself ragged as a pediatrician, and acted more like a father than a brother to Johnny. When Athena sinks into a deep depression, he does what he has to and makes sure she gets the help she needs, all the while longing to be touched and touch in return. It was a pleasure to see this gentle man, who had never taken time for himself, learn about popular culture from the ebullient Athena.

In truth, this novel reminded me of another, one that my grandmother had handed off to me when she finished with it. So I was 11 or 12 when I read The Pretty Witch, which also featured a woman engaged to a younger brother, but being more attracted to his handsome older brother. It was an anemic romance but for some reason, I fixated on it and reread it a lot. (I wish to goodness that I had never given it away.) I think At first Spite benefited from this mental association. It clicked that “formative romance" pattern in my brain.

I stayed up far too late reading this and I'll admit that my eyes leaked at several junctures. Do men like Matthew exist? I have never met one. But the romance genre can provide that fantasy, which hurts no one, and I'll continue to enjoy it.

The Murder on the Links / Agatha Christie

 

3.5 out of 5 stars 

2026 Re-Read

I stand by my original review. This novel is all about capable women and one very irritating Arthur Hastings. I think I vote this the most irritating version of Hastings, and that's saying something.

Original Review

Popular opinion would have you believe that women are the sentimental, romantic gender and that men are rational and matter-of-fact. How Ms Christie must have enjoyed turning this notion on its ear! This may be only the second Poirot novel, but we are already familiar with Captain Hastings, who has never seen an attractive woman that he wasn't dazzled by and who simply cannot believe that women are capable of crime!

The contrast between Hastings and Poirot was a brilliant idea. Dame Agatha gives us the emotional Hastings as our guide to these adventures, a deliberate hampering of our own deductive abilities. As we identify with him, we are as confused and off track as he is. I think her talent for misdirection is what makes it so difficult for me to finger the correct criminal so frequently in her novels.

And contrary to popular belief, the women in this novel prove to be cold and calculating (Mme Dubreuil), strong and smart (Mme Renaud), daring and manipulative (Mlle Dubreuil), and strong and good hearted (Mlle Duveen). They don't back down from challenges and they are pretty clear about what they want and what they are willing to do in order to get it. Compare that to our narrator, who “falls in love" with a girl whose name he doesn't know, compromises a crime scene to gain her favour, and falls for a simple ploy which results in the theft of the murder weapon. Then he spins himself a story about this Cinderella and tries to thwart Poirot with it!

I was warmed by the obvious affection that Poirot has for Hastings. We can overlook many weaknesses in our good friends (even if Poirot does comment at one point that his friend should have a harem!) And the two men share a good moment when the French detective who wants to be Sherlock Holmes gets his comeuppance.

The Blonde Identity / Ally Carter

 

4 out of 5 stars with sprinkles on top

If The Blonde Identity was a candy, it would be SweeTarts. Sugar loaded, sure, but with a great sour pucker too. Ally Carter writes a witty, rom-com version of The Bourne Identity. The first two sentences set the stage perfectly.
”Here's the thing about waking up with no memory in the middle of the night, in the middle of the street, in the middle of Paris: at least you're waking up in Paris. Or so the woman thought as she lay on the cold ground, staring up through a thick layer of falling snow at the Eiffel Tower's twinkling lights.”
No accident that the novel is set in Paris, a city closely associated with romance. Also no accident that the guy with a gun who appears and tells her to run is the hottest guy she has (probably) ever seen. Events unfold and it becomes obvious that the hot guy, the CIA, and the Russians all think she is Alex, her twin sister. Who she also doesn't remember.

I loved how Zoe (because that's what she and Sawyer figure out her name must be) kept trying to describe their situation in romance-trope terms. And Sawyer keeps telling her not to. “Oh, is this enemies to lovers?” When they are pretending to be a honeymoon couple, Zoe is saying, “ Oh, fake marriage! Oh, only one bed!” So by halfway through, I figured that she must be a romance author.

Sawyer keeps trying to maintain his distance. He knows her badass sister, but Zoe is nothing like her. Zoe is sweet and sassy, but also a lot tougher than she looks and smarter than he gave her credit for. She makes him smile despite himself. (She's very funny throughout.) So we know where this ship is headed—the question is whether they will all survive to the end.

Delightful! A wonderful palate cleanser before heading into a couple of more serious mysteries. I have The Blonde Who Came in From the Cold on hold at the library and I can hardly wait to get my hands on it!

Femina / Janina Ramirez

 

4 out of 5 stars 

”It wasn't just rich and powerful men who built the modern world. Women have always been a part of it, as has the full range of human diversity., but we are only now beginning to see what has been hidden in plain sight.”

Just as the victors write the history books, researchers can influence how we think about the past through what they choose to focus on or to leave out. It seems that one can learn a great deal about Medieval women from the records if you are willing to pay attention. In addition, archaeology is providing new views of life in the Middle Ages.

Of course there are more records available for women in the role of ruler or nobles. Ramirez introduces us to women like AEthelflaed, daughter of King Alfred the Great. She seems to have absorbed statecraft from her parents and was a force in the Anglo-Saxon world. Another prominent ruler was Jadwiga, crowned King of Poland, who led a fascinating life. Hild of Whitby chose the route of religion and became a highly respected advisor to male rulers from her convent. Hildagard von Bingen of Germany pursued this same path and produced prodigious amounts of music and other writings which have survived the centuries.

Archaeologists have revealed the complexities of gender roles among the Vikings of the time. A number of warrior burials have been DNA tested, proving the warriors to be women. There is a wonderful chapter on this research. The Loftus Princess from Northern England had an elaborate burial topped with a substantial mound, which placed her at the very centre of the surrounding graves. Her grave goods tell a tale of the conversion of England to Christianity.

Last but not least, the book of Margery Kempe was dictated by that woman and describes her life as she strove for status and wealth. Her father was the mayor of Kings Lynn, so she grew up in relative security, but it appears that her ambition was to be recognized for her own accomplishments.

The more I read about Medieval history, the less foreign the people of that time seem to me. They are complex and perplexing, just as contemporary folks are. I look forward to the ideas that future research will inspire.

City of Stairs / Robert Jackson Bennett

 

4 out of 5 stars 

I am finally finished this book! It was a very good book, but so many things got in my way as I tried to finish it. Other books, with urgent due dates. Family events which required my presence. Events which I had signed up for and truly wanted to attend. Even regular household maintenance, which requires my attention much more frequently than I desire. I have much more sympathy now for the people who complain that it takes them a long time to read a book. They are absolutely right—it is difficult to properly appreciate a novel when you can only read it in bits and snatches.

I have very much enjoyed Bennett's latest two novels and I can see where this earlier work was a training ground for their production. He is very skillful at creating original and somewhat menacing environments for his characters to navigate. City of Stairs explores the nature of colonization from both sides the question, conquerors and conquered. It poses interesting possibilities concerning divinity, it's limitations and requirements.

I recognize that this is a very good novel and my star rating matches this belief, even if I didn't actually get the full benefit of it. That is my unfortunate fault, being distracted as I was. Will I finish the trilogy? If I can find a lull in life that provides the unbroken time, I will definitely pick up the next volume.

Trace Elements / Jo Walton and Ada Palmer

 

3.77 out of 5 stars 

This is a collection of essays which I wish I could have taken more time over. But library books have due dates and I've found myself in quite a traffic jam of library books recently. Ideally I would have read one or two essays and paused to digest them before moving on. As a result, I got much more out of the first half of the volume, when my mind was fresher.

If you're a writer, you have probably thought about many of the concepts discussed in these essays, and if you're a reader, you have at least felt some of the boundaries of genre when you've rubbed up against them. Walton and Palmer discuss the author-reader contract: what we as readers expect from each genre and what the author is “contractually obliged” to give us. Fantasy gives us swords and horses, while science fiction gives us lasers and robots and mysteries produce a body, some clues, and a detective. The author may deliver a surprise that subverts the expectations or produce an extremely proficient product according to specs. ”We might compare such novels to gymnastics, in which the mystery with a deeply original structure is like a uniquely choreographed floor routine, while the formulaic mystery is like the athlete doing a specific vault, fun because we are watching a master of the art perform a set of formulaic motions with outstanding excellence."

Experienced readers of a particular genre have acquired a feel for the order of events and the pacing of that genre. When switching genres, you must adjust your expectations until you have enough experience to know what to expect and how to enjoy it. A committed romance fan may not know what to make of a hard science fiction novel, and may bounce off it, not because the SF novel is bad, but because the novice reader is unfamiliar with the conventions of SF. This is one of the reasons that reviewers of literary fiction give poor reviews to SF literature—they haven't the right reading history to be able to properly appreciate it. Once you've read a certain amount in a genre, you get a feel for which details are important and which you should not get hung up on. For example, faster-than-light space travel is often present in SF and you must accept it rather than demanding an explanation if you are to enjoy the novel it appears in.

I remember when I first began to try cozy mysteries. They have particular conventions (no gore, lots of personal details of everyday life, often a sub-plot of romance) with which I was unfamiliar as a reader of Scandinavian noir. With each cozy that I finished, I knew better what to look for and came to like the genre better. Now, many books later, I have a soft spot in my heart for a well written cozy.

The authors don't stick to SF&F. There was a chapter on manga and anime, which was a new subject to me. So far I haven't picked any flowers in that garden. However, the chapter on the romance genre was extremely well done, explaining the mechanics required of authors quite clearly. I found the concept of romances being based on economic issues particularly intriguing. The authors also point out that this genre is aimed at women, hence its denigration by the elite literary reviewer. (Just as SF&F is downgraded as being aimed at “geeks and nerds.”)

The authors have also finally provided an explanation that makes sense to me of the difference between fantasy and magical realism. One big difference between genre fantasy and magical realism is that the genre fantasy contract promises that the consequences of the fantastic element will be deep and significant, consistent through the world, while in magical realism the fantastic element will not affect the larger world and serves mainly as an allegory to help character(s) undergo character development.
If nothing else, I am glad to have this distinction cleared up!

Platform Decay / Martha Wells

 

5 out of 5 stars 

Book 8 of the 2026 Read Your Hoard Challenge

Barish-Estranza is the gift that just keeps on giving. Murderbot is on a mission to retrieve some humans being held on an enormous torus-style space station, while dodging B-E flunkies. The torus is split into lots of sections, each with its own governing corporate body and security. Murderbot and Three have a plan, but no plan survives contact with the enemy. As Murderbot says, you can't trust humans to behave in sensible ways.

We quickly learn that Murderbot has a new mental health module. This module queries regularly, asking how our bot is doing. Murderbot is also attempting to be more honest with itself and its clients. The combination of these two factors were amusing to me. Plus, Murderbot is still trying to calibrate its risk assessment module.
Risk assessment just hit the roof.
I'm not sure I like having risk assessment be more accurate. It keeps scaring the shit out of me.

The book has a familiar pace and tension to the plot. However, I felt like there was a little magic missing from the secret sauce. I haven't yet identified the change for sure, but it might have to do with Murderbot's internal dialogue. It felt like there were fewer parenthetical comments than in previous books. I also feel like Murderbot is either less angry or maybe more in touch with other emotions. It's evolving and I'm resisting change? Don't get me wrong, I still loved it, but it may take another repetition or two until I come to terms with this installment.

In the acknowledgements Wells states that “It's been another hard year,” perhaps an indication of why this book feels different. It has been three years since the last Murderbot offering, so she also thanks her audience for “still being there.” Where else would we be, Ms. Wells? You've created a beloved character. I hope this year is a better one for you.