In March, instead of finishing my thesis, I read six books.
The first part of the month turned out as a kind of goodness sandwitch: a meh book between two great ones!
It Takes Two to Tumble (2017)
I don’t know what to tell you, dude. Don’t look at me like this. I know I said I was a literature snob, and here I am reading my third romance novel in the span of 30 days. In my defense, I never said I was a genre snob. I’ll read a romance if it’s two hundred years old, no problem. I’m more ageist than genrist. And yet, I picked up this 2017 gay historical romance, again on Cari can read‘s recommendation (I might have to start asking for ad money). And again I loved it. In fact, this was probably my favourite one out of the three (plus one novel).
Captain Phillip Dacre must come home to his estate and three unruly children after the death of his wife, but his only wish is for that stay on shore to go as fast as possible so that he can get back to his ship, the only place he feels comfortable, the only role he feels adequate in. In the meantime, he’s lost in his own home. His children are wildlings that he does not recognise, and he has a thing or two to say to the village vicar who was been tasked with caring for them ever since the last governess ran out. The vicar is too young and too fun and too… handsome (?) to raise his spawn into proper adults! Except that Ben Sedgwicks is the kind of man hard to ignore and even harder to dislike.
Hot for Slayer had the issues of a lot of short stories, it was too short to get into the nitty gritty of what living for centuries, seeing everyone one knows and loves die, hiding oneself, having to feed on others to survive, and fearing for one’s life, falling in lust then love with one’s mortal enemy, what all of THAT would do to someone. It was delved into just enough to give me a taste and I wanted more. The Entanglement of Rival Wizards was very fanfiction-y. I liked it in the moment but I felt like I had already read that story on AO3, maybe even a better version. Romancing the Duke was silly and fun, I would have no notes if it didn’t fumble the ending. It gave me whiplash.
In It Takes Two to Tumble, I did feel like the characters had actual reasons to like each others AND to be kept them apart rather than « just » self-worth issues. I mean, if anyone’s counting at home, there is: 1. being gay during the regency era; 2. mourning a dead lover; 3. being a man of god; 4. having the responsability of a crew and ship; 5. leaving in a month to get back to said crew and ship; 6. being engaged to a woman; 7. learning that one’s vicarage was obtained less through less than tasteful ways; and that’s just what I remember from the beginning of the month. All of the above offers one hell of a general reason for being a tad wary of starting a relationship, don’t you think?
Phillip and Ben were very sweet together and that, but what I preferred was their relationship with themselves, with being gay in that time period and context. None of them hate what they are or think that what they do is a sin. On the contrary, Ben thinks that this love, like all love, is of God, and that it’s the world’s interpretation of the word of God that is wrong. The same goes for Phillip, though he is not religious. He deplores society’s attitude, not the reality of his feelings. This was exactly the kind of gay historical romance I wanted to read: something fun with depth, where the characters do not wrestle with self-hatred for what they are and that does not end with suicide. Thank you Cat Sebastian, I will definitely be reading the other novels of her repertoire.
Yellow Jessamine (2020)
If like me English is not your first language, or if, like me again, you are the kind of person that identifies both fauna and flora with the same accuracy as a toddler, You may not know what yellow jessamines are. They are flowers. Yellow flowers. There’s one on the cover of the book. You’re welcome.
SO. I read Yellow Jessamine because I wanted to read The Starving Saints by the same author, Caitlin Starling, but it was not available at my library as an e-book until months from now. I looked through those that I could borrow right away and the plot of this novella intrigued me because of how vague it was… It gave gothic vibes and that was all, and I didn’t need more.
The city of Delphinium is under siege from its own empire since it tried to secede and few ships manage to get necessary goods through the military embargo. Evelyn Perdanu is one of the only shipping tycoon whose fleet succeeds without raising alarm and without bringing illnesses to the port – a fate that warrants the total destruction of both vessel and crew – that is until the men arriving with her latest shipment start to show signs of a strange sickness. Stranger still, the illness seems to know her…
I liked the vibes a lot! They felt gothic in the best way: a lady in black, a mysterious illness, a remote manor, a poisonous garden, the walls closing in as the threat crawls closer and closer, almost fated. Plus it was slightly sapphic! I particularly enjoyed the way Starling writes her characters and their interactions, especially Evelyn and her assistant Violetta, or Evelyn and the strange soldier, who had compelling dialogues together.
The writing was beautiful, but the story, though interesting, was too confined to move me the way it could have in a full-length novel. The end felt a bit pulled out of nowhere. It really wasn’t, in retrospect, all the signs were there, but I do not think they were set up in the most organic way.
I learnt a lot of words though! Who knew a street could be « furrowed », or that you could offer « graft » to public officials to get them to do your bidding, or that ships could be « liveried » on special days? I love the versatility of the English language and I cannot wait to see what knew vocab I will learn with each reads.
A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking (2020)
Okay, this is the redeeming mentioned in the article title. I was not the biggest fan of the one and only T. Kingfisher work I had read (What Moves the Dead, read and reviewed last month) and so I was not in a hurry to try her again. However, I could not pass a novel with THAT title. That PLUS the tagline? « Siege. Sorcery. Sourdough. »? Say less. These are all my favourite things. I borrowed it right away. I read it in three seatings. Let me tell you, I inhaled it. My partner was looking at me like I was crazy because I was just clackling to myself while reading it, kicking my feet in the air. Because I am generous, I shared some quotes with her, and they were funny enough to convince her – not a big fantasy fan – to read it next!
I am now fully on the T. Kingfisher/Ursula Vernon bandwagon and I would like to formally apologise for doubting her books’ worth. If you’re looking for me, I will be putting a hold on Paladin’s Hope at my library. This is a novel I wished I had discovered as a young teen because I think I would have been obsessed with it, and I will be recommanding it to my younger cousins, even if I have to translate it into French myself! (Wait, it’s been translated into French already? Someone hide my credit card)
Mona is a wizard, but like most of her kind, her power are lackluster: her magic only works on bread! She can prevent it from burning in the oven or make gingerbread men dance for the customers of her aunt’s bakery, but that’s it. She is not a hero at all, just a a 14 years old apprentice baker! Turns out shouldn’t sell herself short: she’s also a murder suspect since the morning she found a dead girl on the floor of the bakery… As a slippery assassin seems to target the wizards of her city, she must team up with a street urchin and an opiniated gingerbread man to save herself and maybe even the entire city.
Though it is targetted at a teen audience, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, the world and magic-system it discriedin many amusing details, and I especially appreciated the author’s message about the dangers of singling out a part of the population for whatever reason. I think it would have a well-deserved place on the shelves of any teen that is dipping their toes into fantasy.
Until next time for the rest of March’s books!
To come: an amazing fairytale fantasy, actually good hard science fiction, and a meh horror!
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