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Madeleine's 2014 reads

What did you read in 2014? Post your list here and update it as you go along! (One thread per member, please.)
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Madeleine
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 5860
Joined: August 2008
Currently reading: "Mania" by L J Ross
Preferred HF: Plantagenets, Victorian, crime, dual time-frame
Location: Essex/London

Post by Madeleine » Thu September 11th, 2014, 11:24 am

September

The Taxidermist's Daughter by Kate Mosse - I received this as a proof copy from a high street bookseller to review - first of all, it's quite different to most of Kate's other novels - for one thing, it's much smaller! Second, it's more of a Gothic thriller, rather than her usual timeslip novels, and it's very fast-paced. The titular daughter is Connie, who's lived with her widowed father (her mother died in childbirth) in lonely Blackthorn House out on the marshes near Fishbourne and Chichester, in Sussex. Her father once had a successful taxidermy museum and exhibition, but when he was sued for plagiarism he had to sell most of the exhibits to pay his costs, and has descended into a cycle of bitterness and heavy drinking. Meanwhile, Connie carries on his trade for the few commissions that they still get. Following a childhood accident at the age of 12, she has no memory of anything that happened before that age, until a mysterious woman starts to appear, and then flashes of memory begin to come back - brief glimpses at first, such as the remembrance of a nursery rhyme, but soon actual scenes begin to come back, and everything seems to centre around her accident. The young woman employed to help Connie recover, and then act as a sort of tutor/mentor to her, disappeared around that time, and Connie soon realises that there has to be a connection. Then another young woman is found dead near their home, her father disappears, and she finds herself caught up in a desperate race to discover what really happened on the night of her accident. I found this a fast-paced, page-turning read, although I did work out most of the plot, but it was enjoyable, and I found Connie a likeable, believable character, although many of the other characters are a bit cliched. It's also quite gruesome in parts, with lots of taxidermy descriptions! Great descriptions of the setting, too, and there's a real sense of tension as the weather worsens and the flood waters rise. 7.5/10

The Moonspinners by Mary Stewart - Nicola, a young English woman working in Athens, takes a holiday on the island of Crete, but on the way to her hotel, she is waylaid by a Greek with a knife, who takes her to his friend, an Englishman who's been shot after the pair witnessed a murder. Once she's allowed to go on her way and reaches her hotel, it soon becomes obvious that the staff at her hotel are also involved in the killing, and soon Nicola finds her path crossing once again with the Englishman and his Greek friend. I found this an enjoyable read, although it's more of a Girls' Own style romp than some of Mary's other books I've read, although it has a nice dash of humour to it, despite some of the dialogue feeling very dated. A fun read, with some lovely descriptions of Crete. 7.5/10

The Ides of April by Lindsey Davis - first in a spin-off series from the Falco novels, which features Falco and Helena's adopted daughter Flavia Albia, who has set up on her own as in informer, and finds herself investigating suspicious deaths. The problems she faces as a female informer, and her love life, are well described in a breezy style, and there's quite a bit of humour too. I did find it a little bit repetitive and think it could have done with a bit of editing, but it was a fast, easy read and the series looks promising.7/10

After Flodden by Rosemary Goring - following the battle at Flodden Field in September 1513 a young woman, Louise, heads for the battlefield to try to find out what happened to her brother Benoit. As the story progresses she meets a young boy, Hob, and also the leader of one of the notorious Border clans with whom she strikes an unlikely alliance, and there's also Gabriel Torrance, who works with Patrick Paniter, who is the King's secretary. Not everyone in this book is what they first seem, and things look bad for Benoit when rumours of a spy become rife. I thought the book was well-written, and I liked the characters of Louise, Hob and Adam, the leader of the Borderers clan. This would appeal to anyone with an interest in this period, and it's certainly an event about which I knew very little - I'd never even heard of until I visited Berwick-on-Tweed last year, and we nipped over the border into Scotland, and were very near to where the battle occurred (despite it taking place over the border in England!) 7/10
Last edited by Madeleine on Thu October 2nd, 2014, 8:34 am, edited 5 times in total.
Currently reading "Mania" by L J Ross

User avatar
Madeleine
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 5860
Joined: August 2008
Currently reading: "Mania" by L J Ross
Preferred HF: Plantagenets, Victorian, crime, dual time-frame
Location: Essex/London

Post by Madeleine » Fri October 3rd, 2014, 7:18 pm

October

The Watchtower by Lee Carroll - this was DNF just after halfway through. I enjoyed the first book in the trilogy - Black Swan Rising - but this one was dire - boring, terrible dialogue and silly stories with various fairy creatures; the fairies weren't the problem per se, it was just all so boring - the heroine escapes from a river fairy! She meets a tree fairy! And then the hero meets them too. And would an Elizabethan character, even one of the fey, tell someone to "fess up"? Perhaps these books would work better as YA, I don't know. I enjoy Urban Fantasy, and as I said, I liked the first book, but just couldn't carry on with this one. DNF

Lighthouse Bay by Kimberley Freeman - dual time-frame novel set in the small coastal town of the title, alternating between 1902 and 2011. In the earlier timeframe, Isabella Winterbourne and her husband Arthur are sailing from London to Sydney to present a ceremonial mace to the Australian government, as a gift from Queen Victoria - the Winterbournes are a prestigious family of jewellers but Isabella's marriage is loveless and childless, after their first baby died not long after he was born. When a storm wrecks the ship, Isabella is the only survivor and finds herself washed up in Lighthouse Bay, where after she recovers from her ordeal she becomes a nanny to a local couple, whose marriage seems equally loveless and who have a son exactly the same age as her own lost child. She plans to take the boy to New York with her once she has saved enough money to go and live with her sister, but in the meantime her husband's family are looking for her. Meanwhile, in the (almost) present day Libby Slater has just returned to Lighthouse Bay after 20 years away; she also has a connection to the Winterbourne family and up until his death had been having an affair with one of the family's directors of the company, but now she's back in Australia she has to try to make amends to her sister Juliet, whose life she wrecked one night all those years ago. It's not too difficult to work out how it will all play out - women from both timeframes have a connection to the lighthouse and the men who live there, they are both trying to escape their past and re-connect with family, and both women have secrets. It was an OK read, a lovely setting but no real surprises and I did find Isabella a little irritating, and found myself wishing the story would move along a bit faster. 6.5/10

Witch Hunt by Syd Moore - journalist Sadie Asquith is busy researching and writing a book on the Essex witch trials in the 18th century, but strange things start happening - she gets weird messages on her computer, keeps seeing small black moths and it appears that something or someone is haunting her. Worse, she has just lost her mother, who suffered from mental illness, and whilst Sadie at first puts her strange experiences and feelings down to stress, she soon starts to worry that she may have inherited her mother's condition. On a more mundane level, she's also being followed by someone in a large black car. As her investigations into the Witchfinder General and his hideous activities gather pace, and she visits the various sites of the witch trials, her experiences become more extreme, until she finds that she's in definite danger. I enjoyed this book at first, and there were a couple of creepy scenes, but as it went on I felt it became a bit repetitive and drawn out, although conversely I found the ending a bit rushed (and not totally convincing). But if you're interested in the Essex witch-hunts, and a possible connection to those that took place in Salem, it's worth a read. Barbara Erskine's "Hiding from the Light" covers similar ground, and personally I found that creepier. 7/10

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde - the famous story of the titular young man whose portrait is painted by an artist friend, and who wishes that he would stay looking forever young - he lives a life of debauchery and wanton-ness, but whilst his pretty-boy looks never change, his portrait ages, and also takes on the ravages of all his sins. It's a classic story of be careful what you wish for and, whilst I enjoyed it overall, I did find it very wordy - don't get me wrong it's very well-written and includes some of Oscar's most famous quotes, but I did have to skim some of the long lists and descriptions of art and poetry. However it's a great story, and certainly resonates with today's obsessions with looks and youth - goodness knows what Oscar would have written about plastic surgery and Botox! 7/10

Cauldstane by Linda Gillard - this is the second book by this author that I have read, and like the first it's also a ghost story. Writer Jenny Ryan is chosen by adventurer/explorer Sholto MacNab to ghost-write his autobiography, and duly heads to his ancestral home in the Scottish Highlands. Cauldstane Castle is a typically draughty, rather ramshackle Gothic edifice where Sholto lives with his sister, two sons and their housekeeper, but is also has a legend - that no woman who marries into the family will survive for long. Although the legend dates back a few hundred years, in more recent times both Sholto and his eldest son and heir, Alec, have been widowed, twice in Sholto's case and when Jenny and Alec become attracted to each other, it looks as if the curse may strike again, and Jenny finds herself fighting not only her own misgivings, but a vengeful ghost, as well as trying to help the family save themselves and their home. I enjoyed this; it's very well-written and is a great read, although I was a bit disappointed that the ghost didn't put up more of a spectacular fight at the end! It's a nice story, not really that scary and it would appeal to readers of Susanna Kearsley and Mary Stewart with a nod to "Rebecca" too. The setting is also great, with the castle and it's estate being characters in their own right, and the humans are all convincing characters. 8/10
Last edited by Madeleine on Fri November 28th, 2014, 3:01 pm, edited 8 times in total.
Currently reading "Mania" by L J Ross

User avatar
Madeleine
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 5860
Joined: August 2008
Currently reading: "Mania" by L J Ross
Preferred HF: Plantagenets, Victorian, crime, dual time-frame
Location: Essex/London

Post by Madeleine » Fri November 7th, 2014, 11:20 am

November

Bleeding Heart Square by Andrew Taylor - Lydia Langstone leaves her abusive husband and moves into Bleeding Heart Square with her hitherto estranged father. Another new tenant is Rory Wentwood, a journalist recently returned from several years spent in India, and he's helping his on/off fiancee, Fenella, to try to find out what happened to her aunt Phillippa, who supposedly went to live in America four years ago, and hasn't been heard of since. Phillippa owned the block of flats in Bleeding Heart Square, and the current landlord, Serridge, is the man she was romantically involved with before her supposed trip to the US. As Lydia and Rory try to work out what happened, it seemed that everything leads back to the rather seedy block of flats, and there's also a connection to a farm out in Essex, which once belonged to Lydia's father. And what about the strange parcels which keep arriving, addressed to Serridge, and there are various other incidents too, such as Rory being beaten up one night, and how much is Lydia's father involved?This was a well-written, absorbing if at times slightly confusing read, with a great sense of period (it's set in 1934 with flashbacks to Phillippa's diary from 1930) and I thoroughly enjoyed it, not as good as The American Boy but an involving read, even if the ending doesn't come as much of a surprise, and in the author's note, he describes how it's based on a real-life murder which his grandmother first told him about when he was a boy.8/10

Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo - first in a crime series set in rural Ohio, in a community with a strong Amish population. The Chief of Police, Kate Burkholder, comes from an Amish family herself, but left them to go to college and eventually join the police force, and now she's back in her hometown as Chief of Police, a post which she struggles to hold onto when the little town is rocked by a series of vicious murders of young local women. There was a spate of similar murders 16 years ago, so the immediate assumption is that the original killer is back. But Kate's sure that can't be true - for she killed the man herself when he attacked her whilst helping out on her family's farm. Now it looks as if her past is coming back to haunt her, while she battles to find the current killer and, predictably, comes up against various prejudices and lack of faith from the local community hotshots. And then troubled agent John Tomasetti is drafted in to help - he has a past as chequered as Kate's and is almost finished career-wise. This is a fairly straightforward police procedural, well-written although the constant changing from 1st person to 3rd person narration, and past and present tense, did jar slightly. There aren't many prizes for guessing how it turns out, although the killer was a bit of a surprise, and it's a promising start to the series; both Kate and Tomasetti are appealing leads, and the setting is also convincing. 7.5/10

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare - second in the Mortal Instruments series of urban fantasy novels set in modern Manhatton, where a group of Shadowhunters try to protect us lesser mortals (mundanes) from demons etc. In the first book, Clary discovered that she was more than an ordinary teenager, and also found out some shocking family secrets, but now she has to overcome this trauma and help to fight the powerful Valentine, who wants to bring an army of demons into the city to fight and defeat the Shadowhunters, and he also wants the Mortal Instruments of the title. It's an enjoyable romp, with some good battle scenes and a bit of dry humour too, and thankfully not quite as much teen angst as the Twilight series, although there is a love triangle which does involve a vampire. But at least Clary isn't as whiny as the tedious Bella! 7/10

Six Years by Harlan Coben - daft thriller in which a college professor, Jake, finds himself caught up in a deadly web as he tries to find out what happened to the woman with whom he had a passionate fling six years ago - they met at an artists' retreat, had a wonderful summer then she suddenly dumped him and invited him to her wedding. Six years later Jake spots an obituary for the man she married, but when he goes to pay his respects, it's not the same woman who he saw marry. He manages to contact her sister and a few people from their days at the retreat, but according to them the retreat never existed, and they deny all knowledge of ever knowing him or the woman. Despite warnings from friends to leave things alone, Jake of course insists on trying to find his love, and finds himself in more and more danger. I thought this was incredibly silly, and not particularly well-written, it's the first Coben novel I've read and I thought he was a better writer than this; at times it was downright corny and I wasn't sure if it was meant to be tongue in cheek, but the things he does are so silly that after a while I found him irritating. I more or less guessed what the mystery was, and also worked out the twist, but I think this is reminiscent of a not very good TV movie. OK for a holiday or long journey. 5/10

The Cornish House by Liz Fenwick - recently widowed Maddie inherits a beautiful but run-down house in Cornwall from an elderly aunt whom she barely knew, and moves there with her step-daughter Hannah to hopefully start a new life. She also wants to find out more about her own past - she was adopted and now wants to research her family and discover the identity of her father; Hannah too is also searching for her mother, who abandoned her when she was tiny. Meanwhile both of them meet new people, although they argue frequently with Maddie in particular finding it hard to move on. And the house seems to have it's own secrets too, and may even be haunted. This was an OK read, a lovely setting but the characters are fairly cliched and I wanted to shake Maddie sometimes. Fine for a gentle read but a bit "twee". 6.5/10
Last edited by Madeleine on Fri November 28th, 2014, 3:11 pm, edited 7 times in total.
Currently reading "Mania" by L J Ross

User avatar
Madeleine
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 5860
Joined: August 2008
Currently reading: "Mania" by L J Ross
Preferred HF: Plantagenets, Victorian, crime, dual time-frame
Location: Essex/London

Post by Madeleine » Tue December 9th, 2014, 10:21 am

December

A Little Murder by Suzette A Hill - first in a new cosy crime series set in the 1950s in London not long after the Queen's Coronation. Rosy Gilchrist finds herself caught up in family secrets when her aunt Marcia is found murdered - she didn't know her aunt very well but she had a reputation as a hedonist who was famous for her parties and glamourous lifestyle. However it turns out that Marcia had a secret past involving WW2 and a possible plot against Churchill - was she killed to stop her naming names? Rosy finds herself in more danger and is joined by a bizarre cast of hangers-on and one-time friends/lovers of Marcia. It was an OK read, a bit silly and although I liked Rosy I'm not sure if I'll read the next book in the series.
6/10


Mystery in White by J Jefferson Farjeon - a classic country house mystery, in which 6 people stranded on a train in a snowdrift decided to take a chance and walk to the nearest station, but they got lost and find an empty house instead. Finding the door unlocked, they go inside and discover that tea is being prepared, and fires are burning in the main room, so they decide to take advantage of the situation. In the meantime, there are suspicious goings-on in the house, other people are spotted wandering around and a few more "guests" also turn up. Then one of the passengers reveals that there was a murder on the train, and that there has also been a murder in the house, and fragments of a mysterious letter are found in one of the bedrooms. The mystery gradually unravels, very much in Agatha Christie style. I found this book very dated ,it was well-written and the descriptions were vivid, but most of the characters were so irritating I wasn't that bothered about what happened to them, and considering the snow was drifting practically up to the first window of the house, there was a surprising amount of coming and going, with a lot of people seemingly able to find their to the house despite being "lost", so I didn't find it totally convincing. 6/10

Something Borrowed, Someone Dead by M C Beaton - another instalment in the Agatha Raisin series, in which an idyllic village is scandalised when a local women is murdered, followed soon after by the death of a poacher. It seems the woman was murdered by someone who knew her habits well, and she was also unpopular in the village, but when Agatha tries to investigate the residents close ranks and both she and the police seem to be getting nowhere. However Agatha is nothing if not tenacious, and when one of her assistants is also attacked, the hunt for the culprit becomes personal. This was another daft read, which made for a fun light read on my commute. 7/10

Revelation by C J Sansom - 4th in the Matthew Shardlake series in which the lawyer finds himself forced to investigate when a friend of his is brutally murdered - more murders follow, and Shardlake eventually realises that all the killings seem to be linked to the Book of Revelation, and there's a race against time before there is another death. I found this a gripping read, very vividly written and with strong characters; Shardlake is as appealing and sympathetic as ever, and the supporting characters are convincing too. 8/10

The Mistletoe Bride and other Haunting Tales by Kate Mosse - this is the author's first collection of short stories (although some have been published elsewhere) and they're consistently good ranging from fairly long (around 30 pages) to very short - around 8 pages for an endearing story about costumes in a theatre coming to life when everyone has gone home, and the watchman has fallen asleep. Some were very creepy - especially Ship of the Dead, The Drowned Village and The Revenant, some are poignant, like The Ghost of Christmas Past; all are beautifully written and atmospheric, and there's a lovely illustration at the start of each story. A great collection for anyone who likes ghost stories. 9/10
Last edited by Madeleine on Wed December 24th, 2014, 8:18 pm, edited 6 times in total.
Currently reading "Mania" by L J Ross

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