Fang Fiction / Kate Stayman-London

 

3 out of 5 stars 

Halloween Bingo 2024

Not nearly as much fun as I anticipated. I liked it, but it could have been so much better.

Have you ever daydreamed about visiting your favourite fictional world? If I'm having trouble getting to sleep, I imagine having a conversation with one of my favourite characters. It relaxes me enough that I'm soon out like a light. Tess not only gets to dream about it, she is sent through a portal to experience it, but what was meant to be a quick message delivery turns into something rather more complicated.

Tess's beloved book is Blood Feuds which describes the lives of vampires, banished to an alternate reality overlaying mundane Manhattan. When she gets there, everything seems familiar. She recognizes the major players and the landmarks. But does she really know them? This all seemed like a good idea when Octavia, an accidental escapee from the Island, talked her into it, but now she's one lone, tasty human among a lot of bloodsuckers. Will she find safety with Callum or with Felix?

The additional wrinkle is that Tess has trauma in her past. The author flirts a long time with the details, but any woman will recognize the situation—date rape drugs. She experiences panic attacks and leaves the university where she and the man in question both study and teach. (And in real life, it doesn't usually wrap up so positively.)

So, on the surface, this a story about Tess falling in love with a vampire, but really it is a rather thinly disguised sermon on consent and the way women are treated when they report sexual assault. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I prefer messages such as this to be less blatant. Tell me without spelling it out directly. I mean, it's a good lesson, but I want a fun novel more than I want a moral to the tale. In addition, once this point is hammered home, the rest of the plot is rather tepid and paint-by-number. Disappointingly, the vampires aren't too much different from mortals.

I read this book to fulfill The Carpathians square of my Halloween Bingo card.

The Broken Sword / Poul Anderson

 

3.75 out of 5 stars 

Halloween Bingo 2024

I liked this book fine, but it was Anderson's use of history and folklore that was fascinating. As one of my friends has pointed out, this novel and The Fellowship of the Ring were published in the same year (1954). Even though Anderson and Tolkien used the same basic material, they made very different fictional worlds. Tolkien chose to make his elves to be tall, beautiful, and noble. Anderson sticks closer to the ones we know as the Fae in current literature—believing themselves vastly superior to humanity, rather callous toward them, and existing in a slightly different reality. Anderson based his story in our historical, mundane Medieval Northern Europe, while Tolkien created his own Middle Earth, containing many similarities to our world, but separate. (I have taken a couple of Medieval history courses lately that cause me to appreciate some of the details very much.)

This is, at its root, a Changeling story. Skafloc is the human, raised among the Elves. Valgard is the Elven-troll hybrid sent to grow up among humans in his place. While Skafloc excels in Elven society, Valgard makes everyone uneasy and rightly so, as he has no empathy for those around him. In this version, it is trolls rather than orcs/goblins who are the main enemy. Skafloc, like Aragorn, wields a sword that has been reforged, though this one appears to be cursed. The gods of the Norse and the Irish both stick their noses into the action.

I can definitely see the influence on Michael Moorcock and his Elric of Melniboné series. He took the cursed sword idea and ran with it. And although D&D is largely influenced by Tolkien, the idea of light elves and dark elves shows up in the Legend of Drizzt books by R.A. Salvatore. As a result, I am somewhat surprised that this novel doesn't get more love from fantasy lovers. I also have a powerful urge to re-read The Lord of the Rings—it must be at least 10 years since I last did that.

I read this book to fulfill the Sword and Sorcery square of my Halloween Bingo card. It is also number 22 in my 2024 Read Your Hoard Challenge.

Love Sucks / Cynthia St. Aubin

 

4 out of 5 stars 

Halloween Bingo

Hanna Harvey's life has changed beyond recognition in a very short time. She's divorced, living on her own with three cats, and working at an art gallery owned and operated by werewolves. Werewolves who insist that she's a werewolf too. Hanna refuses to believe this (despite her love of a good steak). Her boss, Mark Abernathy, keeps his cards close to his (drool worthy) chest, but finally reveals that Hanna is heir to an alpha werewolf line and that mating with an alpha male will trigger her transformation. Of course he then disappears, as he is prone to doing.

If that wasn't enough, Hanna, an art history major, has discovered how many famous artists are also werewolves and she can hardly contain herself. Despite this newfound delight, she is being determinedly and forcefully pursued by a crowd of hopeful male werewolves, all convinced that she will choose to mate them. Hanna has news for them, she is going to London to track down Abernathy and get the truth out of him.

Hanna's devotion to food, especially cheese, is amusing, as is her reaction to a crowd of men in hot pursuit. Her snark is fabulous as she deals with secretive men, drunken artists, jealous women, art shows, and threats to her life. And you have to know that Oscar Wilde would make an excellent vampire, yes?

I can see book 3 in my future. Abernathy is doing his damnedest not to take advantage of her, despite her current lack of control. I think I need to see how that works out for him.

I read this book to fulfill the Urban Decay square of my Halloween Bingo card. It is also number 21 in my 2024 Read Your Hoard Challenge.

Trader's Leap / Sharon Lee & Steve Miller

 

4+ out of 5 stars 

Halloween Bingo 2024

The Liaden Universe never fails to charm me and this volume was like visiting an old friend. I recognized the characters, applauded their plans, and was pleased to see them prevail. Lee and Miller are/were expert at creating a sweeping number of people who could carry this complicated number of plotlines while making it seem easy.

Shan yos'Galen, master trader, has been charged by the Delm of Clan Korval to find new trade routes and to do his best to replenish the clan's finances following their expulsion from the planet of Liad and relocation to Surebleak. He is training his daughter Padi, who had been suppressing her mental talents until they dangerously exploded on her. Now she must learn to control them and to shield herself, without injuring others. Padi is a talent, a dramliza of extraordinary power, but her heart's desire is master trader status.

This novel is very much centered on Padi and Shan. In the very first books that I read in this series, Shan was a small boy, so the authors have persevered over many years (and I do note that this is volume 23). I am every bit as engaged today as I was at the beginning.

Korval still find themselves pursued by the Department of the Interior—their welcome has been withdrawn at many space stations and they are treated deceitfully at others. This makes trade next to impossible, leading Shan to think outside the box. Now that the Dust is settling away from the planets of the Redlands, they are an untouched market. The traders outfit themselves with an assortment of trade goods, including up-to-date stellar maps and useful ship parts and set off to try their luck.

I greatly enjoyed this visit with my favourite family and I would be lying if I didn’t say that the novel was finished far too soon. However, I still have not reached the end of the line. Rumour has it that Sharon Lee will continue writing despite her mate's untimely recent death. I wish her all good things with her future endeavours and tender my sincere thanks for the hours of entertainment that she and Steve have provided to me over the years. I am a faithful re-reader, so I know their books will provide sustenance for years to come.

I read this book to fulfill the Lost in Space square of my Halloween Bingo card. It is also number 20 in my 2024 Read Your Hoard Challenge and number 530 of my Science Fiction and Fantasy Reading Project.

We Solve Murders / Richard Osman

 

3.5 out of 5 stars 

Halloween Bingo 2024

I wasn't sure how I would feel about this new offering from Richard Osman, seeing as it's not a Thursday Murder Club book. Would I like these new people? Would it be as much fun? I needn't have worried. They aren't quite as charming as the folks from Coopers Chase, but they have a brand new set of rather endearing quirks.

Steve is a retired policeman who is set in his habits and it's a chore to get him out of his comfortable rut. Rosie is a well known author who is willing to do all kinds of new things while spending lavishly to make them more to her taste and she has never met a drink she didn't like. Amy started out as Rosie's bodyguard, but has become an assassination target herself. When she needs help figuring out what's going on, she calls her father-in-law, Steve. Amy strongly believes that guns are the solution to all her problems (and maybe a bit of punching TBH). Between the three of them, they set out to investigate who is trying to frame Amy for murder and/or kill her.

I loved the way they relied on each other and just kept moving and investigating. Just like our team of good guys, there are equally quirky bad guys. Everyone is interesting and everyone has a story. Rosie can get people to talk, Steve can logic things out, and Amy can plan & act decisively. An excellent team.

The last chapter leaves little doubt that this will become a series. I'm sure I will read future volumes. But I don't feel the compulsion to own this novel, like I did with the Thursday Murder Club. Who knows? Perhaps my mind will change with the next volume.

I spent my Sleepy Hollow wild card to use this book to fulfill the In the Dark, Dark Woods square of my Halloween Bingo card.

Last Argument of Kings / Joe Abercrombie

 

4 out of 5 stars 

Halloween Bingo 2024

I’m not sure why, but reading this book felt like wading through pudding. It was delicious pudding, but I felt like it was much more than 600 pages. None of the characters are particularly endearing, yet I like them and I’m interested in their antics. I mean, Sand dan Glokta has a fabulous inner dialog. Logen Ninefingers, when he’s not berserking out as the Bloody Nine, has plenty of practical wisdom (Better to do a thing than live in fear of it. You can never have too many knives). Ferro, with her disgust for the vast majority of humanity, is highly entertaining. Even poor old Jezel has his moments.

I suspect my problem was a combination of the plethora of battle scenes and the torture sessions. Lately, I have found the endless battle scenes in fantasy fiction to be exhausting and repetitive. And much as I enjoy Glokta, his profession as torturer is off putting. The good news is that the second half of the book seemed to go easier and I picked up steam. The writing is excellent, the settings well realized, the plot is complex enough to keep me reading, but as I indicated above, it was the characterization that cinches this book as well worthwhile.

Abercrombie has tied up enough loose ends to satisfy me. At this point I don’t believe I’ll be continuing on beyond the First Law trilogy. Dark fiction has just worn me down. My apologies to the unfortunate person waiting patiently for me to return this tome to the library—it will be 3 days overdue when I chuck it in the book return tomorrow.

I read this book for the Dark, Darker, Grimdark square of my Bingo card. It is also Book number 529 of my Science Fiction and Fantasy Reading Project

Gone With the Twins / Kylie Logan

 

3.7 out of 5 stars 

Halloween Bingo 2024

I'm both glad and sad that I've reached the last Literary Ladies novel. I will miss learning of the future adventures of this funny foursome: Bea, Chandra, Kate and Luella. They have come a long way since the first book, where they were sentenced to a court-ordered book club where they could work out their differences. But I also think that this is a good stopping place.

Each mystery in this series centres around some classic novel that the book club is reading. This time it's Gone With the Wind, which I found a little odd for a series set on a little island on Lake Erie, deep in Yankee country. Obviously, Kylie Logan had come up with a way to use details from the classic to dress up her cozy mystery and was willing to live with that dissonance. There's a new B&B in town, run by twins who are famous for being kidnapped and mysteriously escaping. They've named their establishment Tara and are hosting a Civil War themed fund raising gala there. And they seem to be out to ruin Bea's business.

In the meantime, there's been a murder of a local real estate agent who has so many detractors that the police are spoiled for choice of suspects. Bea learns that the dead woman broke up Chandra's first marriage and Chandra has been acting erratically. It doesn't take Bea long to take up the hunt for the killer in order to clear her friend.

This was perfect for the Twilight on the Great Lakes square of my Bingo card, as it takes place on South Bass Island on Lake Erie.

The Fake Mate / Lana Ferguson

 

3.5 out of 5 stars 

Halloween Bingo 2024

So this was and wasn't what I expected. I mean with a title like The Fake Mate, I knew that faking would backfire on Mackenzie and Noah. The fun would be in watching it happen. That was the expected part.

The unexpected part was the werewolf part. I'm glad I had previously read (and obsessively re-read) Bride, so the whole idea of knotting wasn't new to me, but in that book the woman of the couple is a Vampyre. No going into heat for her. That was a new (somewhat horrifying) concept. And werewolf sex is … um….juicy? There are an awful lot of bodily fluids involved. I have never been so pleased to be plain vanilla human!

Ferguson also portrays the roles of alpha and omega much differently than my other instructor, namely Patricia Briggs. You couldn't get much different from Charles and Anna Cornick. But I liked Mackenzie's smart aleck sense of humour and her teasing of the initially grumpy Noah. I also enjoyed watching them deal with Noah's mother and Mackenzie's gran, all while trying to maintain the nonchalant façade.

So, reluctant romance reader that I am, I must admit that I enjoyed this quite a bit. Still not as much as Bride—I don't think it'll be in my re-reading queue—but I'm glad I picked it up. (And if this had just been humans in a similar plot, I'm pretty sure it would have bored me to death.)

I read this for the Shifters square on my Bingo Card.

How to Book a Murder / Cynthia Kuhn

 

3 out of 5 stars 

Halloween Bingo 2024

As cozy mysteries go, this one is middle of the road for me. Emma Starrs isn't an idiot, although she does eavesdrop an awful lot. She doesn't seem to believe the police are bumblers, although she does question their priorities. I think I might feel similarly if I was accused of murder. However I always feel like the police don't behave realistically in this genre either.

What I did like was the family business aspect and her relationships with her sister and aunt. Those felt real and grounded the story. I found the “mean girls" from high school, now thinking that they run the town, a little over the top. I mean, do people really carry teenage grudges that long? I would expect Emma to have grown enough to stand up to them better. She has a PhD, for Pete's sake! She has brains and skills, which her nemesis Tabitha does not.

Thankfully the other cozy tropes were pretty mild: the family bookstore has a cat but it doesn't play a major role. Emma's sister finds a love interest, but Emma hasn't yet. There are hints at the end that a certain author might be interested, but they only have a coffee date. The author isn't hurrying to throw absolutely everything into the bucket right away and I appreciate that restraint.

I'm unsure that I'll pursue the series, but stranger things have happened.

I read this for the Cozy Mystery square on my Bingo Card.

Le Fay / Sophie Keetch

 

4.25 out of 5 stars 

Halloween Bingo 2024

OMG, the second “ugly crying" book this week! Will my sinuses ever recover? And, yes, I know this is a Morgan le Fay and King Arthur retelling, so happy endings are just not probable.

Morgan stands up to Merlin, to the judgment of Christians (who frankly don't act very Christian), to Queen Guinevere (who is determined to control her), her brutal husband Urien of Gore, and to the unyielding misjudgment of her brother Arthur. She is not without fault—impetuous, easily angered, unwilling to be limited by anyone, stubborn. Yet I could strongly identify with her independence and determination. Merlin has managed to subvert her brother and his kingdom, leading him to seek power only through violence, foregoing negotiation and not caring to understand Morgan's position. Morgan has lost so much and feels it so deeply.

I must believe at this point that there will be a third book. There just has to be a continuation that includes Lancelot, to humanize Guinevere and teach her to judge less harshly. Does Morgan get a show down with Ninniane, with whom she once had an understanding? Where is Morgan's second child? Will Morgan make good on her vow to bring down the golden city of Camelot? It will undoubtedly make me cry again, but it will be worth it.

I read this for the Grimm Tale square on my Bingo Card.

Poison or Protect / Gail Carriger

 

3.5 out of 5 stars 

Halloween Bingo 2024

This little novella is the story of two operatives, sent by the vampires and the werewolves, who are to unobtrusively protect their host, the Duke of Snodgrove. Preshea Villentia has outlived four husbands and has a reputation as a skilled poisoner. Captain Gavin Ruthven is a massive Scotsman, retired from the military. They immediately recognize each other as potential assistance or obstacles and the dance begins.

They do manage to prevent the Duke’s assassination and to ruin the courtship of his daughter by an unsuitable young man, Gavin’s companion Jack. As usual with Carriger, there are ridiculous situations (a live lobster scurrying around the daughter’s bedroom, for instance). But these are just the framework the author uses to display the developing romance between Preshea and Gavin.

It turns out that Preshea’s marriages were arranged by her employer and the men were marked for death. But before they died, their behaviour towards Preshea has confirmed her opinion that men are brutal and that she is incapable of love. Gavin approaches her gently, treating her like a skittish horse. Can he convince her that she is completely safe with him, that he will never overpower her or take away her options? His careful courtship and Preshea’s sexual awakening are the true point of the story.

I read this for the Punk’d square on my Bingo Card. The steampunk details are few, but present.

Bright Young Women / Jessica Knoll

 

4 out of 5 stars 

Halloween Bingo 2024

”Things grow differently when they're damaged, showing us how to occupy strange new ground to bloom red instead of green. We can be found, brighter than before.”

I have to admire Jessica Knoll for writing this whole novel calling the murderer only The Defendant. She does for this offender what Hallie Rubenhold did with her nonfiction book The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper, taking the focus away from the infamous murderer and centering the book where it belongs, on the victims. I confess to reading quite a few books about The Defendant years ago, trying to make sense of those events of my young-woman-hood, back when readers were fascinated by the criminal rather than how to prevent the crime and help the victimized. It brought Jacinta Arden, former leader of New Zealand, to mind, refusing to use the name of the Christchurch shooter and denying him the glory he was seeking.

I have no doubt that Knoll portrays the Florida sorority girls realistically, if fictitiously. What made me volcanically angry was their treatment by law enforcement and reporters, as if they were children. They were systematically kept in the dark, only to be blindsided repeatedly. Those were the days of fighting for equality with men, trying to be taken seriously, while at the same time being expected to be perfect “ladies,” well groomed and ultra polite. Rather schizophrenic really. And it's not entirely behind us.

Knoll also kicks around the idea that the murderer was charming, handsome, or very intelligent and rejects it. According to her interview in Vanity Fair, she rapidly came to the conclusion that those characteristics were highly exaggerated by the press and law enforcement (probably to justify their failure to stop him). His successful murders were due to preying on the relentless socialization of young women to be helpful, caring, and open to men, using casts and crutches to appear weakened and in need of assistance. Honestly, looking at photos of the perpetrator, I have always been mystified how it came to be believed that he was handsome. He looked pretty ferret-like to me.

The pointiest stick in her novel is the contrast between the many, many books about The Defendant and the pathetically small coverage of those whose lives he impacted or took away. I am as guilty as anyone of reading those serial killer books, but I am learning that they support the patriarchal tendency to support even serial killers rather than the women they leave in their wake. As I often do, I recommend that every woman (and everyone who cares about the women in their lives) read Gavin de Becker's excellent book The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence (the first half, as the second half is seriously out of date).

I read this for the Free square on my Bingo Card.

Heavenly Pleasures / Kerry Greenwood

 

4 out of 5 stars 

Halloween Bingo 2024

This novel really qualifies as the ultimate in cozy mystery. If you are looking for tons of action, you will be disappointed. This is a book which deals primarily with relationships: friendships, workmates, neighbours, and romantic relationships. Not to mention the cats and kittens! And the baking (the main character is a baker, after all). It takes quite a while to meander its way to the first mysterious happening at the neighboring chocolate shop (from which the book gets its title). The development of the characters is front and centre.

If I care about the main character, I have infinite patience for this kind of thing. I really appreciate Corrina Chapman, so I plunged into the pages and inhaled the book in one evening. The mystery was solved, but more significantly, Corrina and Daniel survived their first serious argument and Jason was rescued after his first drug relapse since coming to work with Corrina. There are two more important interventions, both masterminded by Corrinna.

Not for the adrenaline junkie, but excellent for the humanitarian. Also satisfying if you like to see the patriarchy given a kick to the curb.

I read this book to fill the Death Down Under square on my Bingo card.

Death at the Sign of the Rook / Kate Atkinson

 

4 out of 5 stars 

Halloween Bingo 2024

I usually try not to start with the sixth volume of a series, but the rook on the cover of this novel overrode my good sense. As it turned out, I had no trouble figuring out what was going on. There were probably details that I didn't fully appreciate, but they weren't integral to this plot.

I do feel that reading the earlier books would have given me more perspective on Jackson Brodie, who seems to be rather a pain in the arse. Despite that, I couldn't help liking him. I also very much liked Reggie Chase and would like to know how Brodie made her acquaintance. Perhaps I will backtrack.

The book was complex enough to keep the little grey cells firing. It was like a Venn diagram, with three (four?) plots overlapping and interacting in interesting ways. Atkinson leads the reader on a merry chase, trying to keep up with her as she strews clues in her wake. The many characters are well realized, amusing, and varied. Two stolen paintings, two investigations, a soldier with PTSD, a vicar who has lost his faith, an upper-class family trying to hold their estate together, it all comes together. Really intricate, fast moving, and very well done.

I read this book to fill the Genre: Mystery square on my Bingo card.

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries / Heather Fawcett

3 out of 5 stars 

Halloween Bingo 2024

All work and no play makes Emily Wilde a dull girl. But Emily is an introverted academic who wants to talk to the Folk, but not to her fellow humans. She is happiest when immersed in her research or tracking faeries in the field. She is annoyed when her feckless colleague Wendell Bambleby invites himself along on her expedition to learn about the Hidden Ones who live in proximity to the village of Hrafnsvik in the far north.

Emily has suspected for some time that Wendell is himself a member of the Folk, yet he understands the villagers better than Emily does. He eases her way, which is both fortunate and infuriating to Emily. This expedition provides major life lessons to our obsessed academic. She learns to accept help, to be diplomatic, and to have friends. In short, to be less introverted. She also experiences empathy, learning to care for the villagers and even Bambleby, who is exiled from his home and misses it desperately.

I found myself impatient with the depiction of the Fae in this book. They weren't as tricky as I expected and their dealings with humans seemed very impersonal. I am used to powerful Fae who still treat people as potentially threats or allies. Fawcett's Folk seem to barely pay attention to humans or consider them to be easily controlled pets. I haven't fathomed the attachment that Bambleby feels for Emily—we are given no reasons for his fondness for her. That Emily sometimes wants to respond is more believable, as it's difficult to resist the lure of a determined suitor.

I buddy-read this with Moonlight Reader, without whose assistance I would likely have dnf'd. This qualifies it for the Wind in the Willows wild card. It will therefore fill my Home for the Horrordays square

 

Mother-Daughter Murder Night / Nina Simon

 

3.5 out of 5 stars 

Halloween Bingo 2024

It's nice when your book club selection can also fill a square on your Bingo card. My fellow book clubbers don't always choose the same kind of mystery that I would, so liking this novel was another pleasant discovery. Lana, a shark of a real estate mogul, is fighting lung cancer and is reluctantly staying with her daughter Beth and granddaughter Jack while undergoing chemotherapy. Lana and Beth are both strong willed women, too alike in some ways to be able to get along easily. Both are single mothers and fiercely independent and have very different ideas of how to live. Jack is a quiet kid, who loves being out on the water of the slough near their home.

Lana is used to being very much in control. Chemo leaves her feeling weak and out of control. During a sleepless hour one night, she watches a man across the water dump a wheelbarrow load of something into the water. Shortly thereafter, Jack finds a body in the marsh while leading a regular kayak trip. They end up dealing with a detective who is willing to believe that Jack may be involved in the man's death, so Lana decides she must take control of the investigation.

It turns out that Lana's real estate expertise is very useful. The three women find they have various ties to the murdered man and a local land owner. When they can stop fighting with each other, they cooperate in assembling the clues. The family that they are observing are even more dysfunctional than they are.

The novel is a mystery, yes, but it is also very much about family relationships. For a first novel, it is admirable. I would be willing to read other books by this author if she produces them.

I read this book to fill the Amateur Sleuth square on my Bingo card.

A Botanist's Guide to Parties and Poisons / Kate Khavari

 

Halloween Bingo 2024

I finished this book this morning while waiting on an oil change for my car. It is set post-WWI, at University College London. The main character, Saffron Everleigh, has been hired as a research assistant in the Botany department. She is following in her father's footsteps in that same department, trying to find her footing as a woman in the old boys club. The professor she reports to is supportive, but the head of Biology has assaulted her and continues to make demeaning comments.

Rumours, spread by the rejected department head and other men who feel that Saffron should be sexually receptive to them, cause her concern, especially when she meets a young man in Biology who interests her a great deal. Alexander Ashton has his own set of problems, namely shell shock/PTSD from the war, which makes him a bit unpredictable.

Saffron meets Alexander at a school dinner party, where everyone is shocked when a professor's wife collapses, apparently poisoned. Saffron has overheard the poisoned woman discussing the state of her marriage and quickly realizes that there are both personal and political currents swirling around the event. She soon also comes to the conclusion that she, as a botanist, knows more about poisons than the police do and she is determined to protect her employer.

Predictably, Saffron feels the need to conduct her own investigation into the matter and Alexander gets dragged along with her out of both worry and attraction. Also predictable is a bit of B&E using hair pins and some slinking around in greenhouses and gardens. If you have read any of the Victorian murder mysteries featuring female investigators, you will recognize the formula. The author doesn't make effective use of the 1923 time period, beyond Saffron not needing a chaperone while spending time with a male colleague. Alexander is damaged and attractive, but I didn't get a real feeling of who he truly is. He is apparently going on a university research trip to South America, so he must be a competent academic, but those three things plus his mutual attraction to Saffron are all I really learned about him.

What the author does represent well is the struggle that women experienced while trying to establish themselves in these patriarchal bastions, being sexually harassed, talked down to, and dismissed as lightweight (and sometimes still do).

I read this book for the Arsenic and Old Lace square of my Bingo card. That category has already been called, so I get to claim my first square!