Review: Dark Road to Darjeeling by Deanna Raybourn
From Goodreads: With an exotic setting in the foothills of the Himalayas and the introduction of an arch-villain, Dark Road to Darjeeling promises to be the most exciting Lady Julia novel yet.
For Lady Julia Grey and Nicholas Brisbane, the honeymoon has ended…but the adventure is just beginning.
After eight idyllic months in the Mediterranean, Lady Julia Grey and her detective husband are ready to put their investigative talents to work once more. At the urging of Julia’s eccentric family, they hurry to India to aid an old friend, the newly-widowed Jane Cavendish. Living on the Cavendish tea plantation with the remnants of her husband’s family, Jane is consumed with the impending birth of her child—and with discovering the truth about her husband’s death. Was he murdered for his estate? And if he was, could Jane and her unborn child be next?
Amid the lush foothills of the Himalayas, dark deeds are buried and malicious thoughts flourish. The Brisbanes uncover secrets and scandal, illicit affairs and twisted legacies. In this remote and exotic place, exploration is perilous and discovery, deadly. The danger is palpable and, if they are not careful, Julia and Nicholas will not live to celebrate their first anniversary.
Oh how I love this series. Dark Road to Darjeeling is number four and I am hoping this series continues on for many more. Deanna Raybourn is a master of her genre and time period. As mysteries are a genre I tend to avoid, Lady Julia Grey and her acquaintances keep me entertained through-out the course of the novel.
While I recommend beginning at the first of this series, Raybourn’s thoughtful recaps can catch the reader up to this point in the series. However you will miss many small nuances of the March family if you choose to skip ahead.
I am forever spending the novel trying to figure out the culprit and rarely am I ever one-hundred percent correct in my private guessing game I play with myself while reading from a Lady Julia Grey Mystery. Raybourn has a great sense of action and Julia is such a strong persona that she exudes her empowerment from the pages.
Taking Julia and Brisbane out of England and into new and exciting territories was absolutely the best part of this novel. Raybourn was able to keep true to the characters and the general story lines while providing the reader with a glimpse into far and away places that weren’t available in the previous novels.
I will never be able to thank the employees at Fountain Bookstore in Richmond Virgina for turning me onto this series.
If you have read the previous works in the series then you will not be disappointed in Dark Road to Darjeeling. If you like romance, mystery, and Victorian Era fiction you should pick up Deanna Raybourn’s titles immediately.
FTC Disclosure: I received this book from a publicist for review.
Review: The Ivy by Lauren Kunze & Rina Onur
Goodreads:
Freshman year at Harvard–glamorous parties, blossoming friendships, steamy romances, and scandalous secrets. Freshman year at Harvard–glamorous parties, blossoming friendships, steamy romances, and scandalous secrets. Skip the campus tour and get right to the good stuff: classes are for scoping guys (and their Facebook profiles), not taking notes. The library is for study dates (the medieval history stacks get a lot of action), not studying. And success is a 4.0 GPA… plus getting into the most exclusive parties. How will Callie–a California girl with brains, beauty, and big dreams–and her three roommates survive?Get admitted to The Ivy, the first book in a provocative new series about the world of the Ivy League.
I picked this book up as an e-copy card at the Book Expo America. It sounded fascinating and I wasn’t disappointed. Callie is your girl next door type, she was in no way ready emotionally at least to walk the sacred halls of Harvard. She is pretty, smart, and funny but Callie makes a lot of bad decisions.
Personally I love watching her screw up at every turn and try to fix it. Throw in the fact that little miss perfect has a huge and life-at-Harvard changing secret and you have yourself a fantastic novel.
The book held my attention and I genuinely liked all the characters, even the spoiled princess mean girl. No, it is not by any means the next Jane Austen but what it gives you is a fun look into a society unbeknown to most who didn’t go to an Ivy League school.
If you like The Duff, or Tangled you will love The Ivy.
Review: The 8th Confession, The Women’s Murder Club book 8 by James Patterson
The 8th Confession by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro is the first of the Women’s Murder Club for me, and the 8th in the series. The book is up for sale on the 27th of April, so no spoilers here for you.
I have to admit I always wanted to read some of Patterson’s books and just never got around to it, my official excuse was “I am in the middle of so many trilogies and series now how can I possibly keep up with another one.” I still do not know the answer to that but I know this, I am adding several more series to my list of things to watch out for while I back read some of James’ work. I am especially interested in The Women’s Murder Club and the Maximum Ride books.
This book follows the women through several cases at once and some personal drama. Rich socialites keep turning up dead with no clue on cause of death. Even the toxicology reports are clean. Lindsay and Rich are having a hard time finding which way to go on this case and they had been pulled off a case they wanted to work. A local homeless messiah called Bagman Jesus turns up dead violently on the street, happens all the time for the homeless right? This story is just a bit different, everyone loved Bagman Jesus, he saved so many people on that block, and no one saw or heard a thing of course. Cindy the reporter and Rich start seeing each other and both decide not to tell Lindsay, of course Cindy has no clue how Lindsay and Rich feel about each other. These are the kind of secrets that rip friends apart.
I had to give this book five stars, I was reading it thinking, okay there are lots of characters here but I can keep up this is great, and all the characters are so well defined. There are 4 separate plots but they are all very interesting, but how is this going to tie in to the last couple of chapters. Well let me just say it all tied in, I stayed up late last night to finish this book and the ending was so mind blowing and sublime I immediately wished I had another Patterson novel to pick up and start with, but alas I will have to order them today and wait for the mail.
Big thanks to Miriam at Grand Central Pub and Little Brown for giving me the unique opportunity to discover and review Patterson.
