Word Wenches

What We're Reading: August

August has been a busy month for the Word Wenches! We did manage to get a bit of reading done while traveling and enjoying other summer getaways and activities – and we found some real gems that we are delighted to share. Here's what we've been reading . . . . 

Pat here:

Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating, Christina Lauren (release date September 4, available pre-order) 

This book was an ARC I requested simply because I liked the set-up of a woman with no filter having an uptight male best friend. I was totally prepared to hate the female protagonist because she’s someone who gets drunk too often and says things even she knows she shouldn’t even when she’s not drunk. But I wanted to see how the author pulled it off. And she really does make it work, I think because she portrays a protagonist who has a huge heart and is completely herself and unwilling to let anyone change who she is. I’m so tired of reading women’s fiction about women who spend their lives counting calories, buying high heel shoes, and trying to please friends, family, and employers that Hazel is an entire hurricane of fresh air.

Hazel Bradford has known Josh Im since college, where she thought him a total hottie, then threw up on his shoes. His patience and understanding impressed her, even though there wasn’t any other connection. Some years later, they meet again through Hazel’s best friend, who turns out to be Josh’s sister. So Josh is pressed into service when Hazel needs help, and when Josh’s girlfriend turns out to be a real loser, Hazel decides to help him as a return favor. Because she has a heart as big as her mouth, Hazel refuses to let Josh hurt over someone who never deserved him, so she goads him into double-dating, with each of them picking dates for each other.

The results are often funny, poignant, and the relationship builds beautifully. Josh’s sensitivity is almost too much to believe, except he’s from a family that expects the oldest son to take care of those he loves and has trained him to look after others. It may be a little over the top, but I enjoyed every moment that they tortured each other, then pulled together against the world. A keeper!

Mary Jo here:

I've read several books this month, leaning heavily toward light mysteries like Carola Dunn's Daisy Dalrymple series. (I was delighted to find that I'd missed a couple so they're new for me.) 

But my favorite read was Jo Beverley's Lady Beware.  When I looked at the wiki for her Rogue series, which her husband has recently expanded and uploaded to her website, I randomly clicked on Lady Beware and immediately thought, "I have to read this again!"  

So I pulled out my copy and started reading.  The book is set in Jo's Rogue World after she'd written the stories of her dozen Rogues, who had forged an alliance as schoolboys at Harrow as a defense against bullying.  But her world was so well developed and interesting that stories just kept coming.

The seed of Lady Beware was formed at the end of her last regular Rogue book, To Rescue a Rogue, when an angry officer and schoolmate from Harrow shows up at a ball in honor of Lord Dare Debenham, and offers information that will make Dare's life a good deal easier.

The idea caught at Jo's imagination.  Why was Lord Darien angry?  What if he'd been a troubled boy who didn't love the Rogues because they all seemed so smug and entitled?  And yet he did the honorable thing and came forward with vital information to help a man he despised.  Interesting fellow! 

So Lady Beware begins with what had happened just before Darien came forward, which was to run into Dare's devoted younger sister, Lady Thea.  He promptly blackmails her into helping him improve his family's horrible reputation.  Darien doesn't much care about society himself, but his family is considered so horrifying that his younger brother is refused the hand of the girl he loves.  So Darien sets out to fix that, and Thea is going to help him whether she wants to or not. <G> 

 The story is Jo at her best, with complicated characters and an impeccable sense of time and place, and I enjoyed it thoroughly.  If you haven't read Lady Beware, maybe it's time you did!

Anne here:

I've been reading mysteries and fantasy lately, particularly the Kate Carlisle "bibliophile" mysteries. The titles are delightful -- a play on words, all about books. The protagonist is Brooklyn Wainwright, a skilled SanFrancisco bookbinder and restorer of old and rare books, and each of the mysteries are linked to the bookbinding world to some degree. They're fun reads with a cast of delightfully varied characters and an ongoing romance between Brooklyn and the tall, handsome enigmatic British former secret agent, Derek Stone. Highly recommended. The first book in the series is Homicide in Hardcover.

Click here for the "cast of varied characters."

The fantasy series I really enjoyed is by Kristin Cashore, the Graceling series. There are only three books in the series but I wish there were more. Start with Graceling, the first book. She's an unconventional heroine, not all that sympathetic at first -- she's been trained to hurt and maim since childhood -- but she grows wonderfully.

I've also read and enjoyed An Accidental Goddess, by Linnea Sinclair (sff) and the first three of the Flavia Albia books by Lindsey Davis (crime set in ancient Rome.)

Andrea here: 

I’ve been deep into a very eclectic mix of advance reading copies this month. The Burglar, by Thomas Perry, is a gritty contemporary murder mystery with a clever young grifter from a hardcrabble background who’s become a skilled at robbing the houses of the rich and famous in LA. It’s not my usual cup of tea, but the blurb sounded interesting so I decided to take a try. And I’m glad I did. At first, I wasn’t sure I was going to like Elle, the “heroine.” But when she stumbles a upon a
murder scene while robbing the mansion of an art gallery dealer, and realizes that the video camera recording the menage a trois sex has caught a glimpse of her, she steals it. On discovering it has recorded the actual murder (though with only a piece of the shooter’s arm) she’s conflicted about taking evidence  that might help the police solve the crime. She and her best friend debate what to do—and the stakes become higher when it seems the plainclothes police are on her trail anyway—though she has no idea how. She takes shelter at her friend’s apartment for a few days, only to return and find her executed. Determined to have justice for her friend, she determines to find out just what’s going on. And so begins a cchilling but riveting cat and mouse game. Elle is a highly skilled computer hacker, as well as clever and resourceful with high tech gadgets. She also deiscovers she has a conscience, and surpsing sense of right and wrong. The art world setting, with all its rich patrons and museum boards added really interesting color, and I really found myself cheering for Elle as she unraveled a very complex and twisty crime to bring the villains to justice. (And I loved the ending!) It comes out in January and is available for preorder.

 

Moving on to nonfiction, I was lucky enough to snag an ARC of Nathanial Philbrick’s new book on the American Revolution, In the Hurrricane’s Eye: The Genius of George Washington and the Victory at Yorktown, which focuses on how naval power was the key to forcing Cornwallis’s surrender at Yorktown, which effectively ended Britain’s hopes of keeping the colonies. I love how Philbrick weaves so many interesting stands together to make history come alive. In this book we get a really interesting side of George Washington and his temper—his frustration with the French, and how difficult it was to get them to sail into actionprovided a fascinating look at the war from a different perspective. Washington understood for several years that if the Biritsh controlled the sea, he could never win the war. As usual, Phlibrick paints great portaits of the generals and admirals involved on both sides, and takes the reader on the cat and mouse confict in the Southern colonies as the opposing armies tried to gain a “knockout punch.” The naval element has usually been treated as a minor element in America’s ultimate victory, but Philbrick thinks the actual history proves differently. It’s also available for pre-order.  

 

And lastly, I had the pleasure of getting a sneak peek at Pat’s upcoming November novella, The Wedding Surprise, which brings Mariah and Keegan, the two “gems" from her Crystal Vision novel even closer. I’ll be talking more about it in November, but it reminded me of how much I love her Crystal Magic mystery series about the delightful mysterious and quirky residents of Hillvale, where things are never quite as they seem. All the stories and novellas are, in a word, magical—filled with humor, intrigue 
and rich emotion—you’re missing something special if you don’t glom the whole wonderful series . . and there’s also a novella, The Wedding Gift, coming out in September!

 

Nicola here: 

 

I’ve been indulging in a glom on Alice Chetwynd Ley’s Regencies this month. To my astonishment I discovered that there were books of hers that I hadn’t read before – I thought I had all of them. Fortunately Sapere Books is bringing them out in e-book format so I snapped up a couple that were new-to-me. The first was The Guinea Stamp, set in 1804. There are spies and smugglers on the loose in Devon and rumours of invasion. Joanna Feniton is a heroine with good sense and courage, although she needs to learn that a person’s value depends on their character not their rank.  The supporting cast is a lot of fun and the spy story is full of intrigue. The hero is very attractive, although I do have a problem with the plot trope of not recognising someone you know quite well when you meet them in a different set of circumstances! However I was able to get past that to root for the happy ending!

A similar story was Letters For a Spy, set in Sussex in 1808. I liked that Elizabeth Thorne, the heroine, was an independent woman who had inherited a manor house and was determined to live there on her own even though the whole place was rather Gothic! Again, there was a great spy plot and the hero was a similarly attractive man of action and integrity. If you are in the mood for a traditional Regency you may well like these books which have stood the test of time pretty well since they were written in the 1960s. They also have lovely new covers and are available in the UK and US.

 

There you go, our picks from our towering reading stacks this month! What have you been reading -- and what would you recommend? 

 

Visiting Edinburgh

Finally, I’ve had time to explore Edinburgh—or the Old Town part, at least. The one time I’ve been to Scotland before was on one of those “if it’s Tuesday, it’s Glasgow” tours. We stopped in Edinburgh for the night, nowhere near Old Town, and saw one of those hokey Renaissance shows over dinner. I got to taste haggis but that was about the only genuine part of the evening.

Northern Isles: Shetland

by Mary Jo

I've already blogged about the RNA conference in Leeds and our wonderful visit to Orkney. Now it's time for the last chapter of our journey: Shetland, the island group that is the farthest northern reach of the archipelago that is Great Britain. The islands are due west of Norway, and the ties between Norway and Shetland are ancient and deep. Shetland has over 100 islands, about 15 of which are inhabited.

Like Orkney, Shetland was never a Celtic land, and the ancient language was Norn, which influences the present day dialect. Our fine driver/guide, Grant Redfern, said that when he had Norwegian customers, they could understand him, but to his annoyance, he couldn't understand when they spoke in Norwegian. <G>

Shetland is the farthest northern splash of the archipelago that is the British Isles, and Shetland is closer to Bergen, Norway than it is to Edinburgh. Smack dab in the middle of the sea routes from Norway, it was a jumping off place for Viking western explorations.

 

Peak Performance—the oldest golf club in Switzerland!

Andrea/Cara here, As many of you may have noticed, some of us Wenches have gallivanted hither and yon this summer and have been taking you on a virtual tour of our travels to historic places. (Trust me, your armchairs are SO much more comfortable than airline seats, and you don’t have to stand in security lines!) I’m going to continue the peregrinations today, but with a slightly different twist. I’m the resident Wench “jock,” so today instead of visiting castles or museums or Viking ruins, we’ll be taking a peek at some sporting history!

I just returned from playing golf at the oldest course in Switzerland (and the seventh oldest course in continental Europe.) The Engadine Golf Club, located a short drive from the legendary mountain resort village of St. Moritz, is not only set in a breathtaking beautiful setting, but it also has a fascinating history . . . so let’s tee it up and hit the fairways!

The Aussie RWA Conference

Anne here, and I'm just back from the Romance Writers of Australia annual conference, which this year was in Sydney. As always, the conference experience for me is a mix of catching up with writer buddies, making new friends, and being stimulated by the workshops, talks and panel discussions. 

I love it, but it's also exhausting. Wench Mary Jo once said, "Writers' conferences are full of introverts madly pretending to be extroverts" — and it's true. Really it is.

Of course the exhaustion is actually due to overstimulation of the brain from the excellent workshops. Nothing to do with all those very late nights up talking with friends. Or wine. Or the early mornings so as not to miss any of the program. Or breakfast. No, I'm talking a purely intellectual kind of exhaustion.

In the week leading up to the conference I was on two panels with Grace Burrowes and others, organized by ARRA (the Australian Romance Readers Assoc'n) The first was a "reading salon" in Melbourne, where we read from our books, and then answered questions from the audience, and were fed delicious sweet and savory morsels. (ARRA always provides good food.)

Twenty Years Ago

Nicola here, inviting everyone to join me in a small celebration! Twenty years ago this year my first book for Harlequin Mills & Boon was published. True Colours was named in homage to Georgette Heyer; the writing style probably owed a fair amount to her as well for she, along with Alice Chetwynd Ley, Clare Darcy and others had been strong influences on my developing love of the Regency romance.

Even now I can remember the sense of disbelief to see a book I had written actually in print. For years I had written in my spare time – 12 years to be exact. True Colours was begun when I was at college and was a long time in the writing and re-writing. Life went on around it – marriage, moving jobs, moving house… And then suddenly there it was in my hand and on the shelves. It was an extraordinary and almost unreal feeling. I also remember being a tad disappointed by the cover which looked rather vampirish to me (the US version that came later was much prettier!) I also remember spending my first royalty cheque on a new bicycle! Later that same year (August, in fact) my second Regency romance, The Virtuous Cyprian, was also published. I wrote two books a year in those days even though I was working full time in an office as well. Her I am in a bookshop looking very excited to be on the shelves with Penny Jordan and Sidney Sheldon! This is a photo of an old photo so apologies that it isn't that good!)

The Quick Brown Fox

Joanna here, talking a couple things.

I take my dog on a three-mile drive down the road sometimes to do the morning walk.

I go to a pleasant place in the National Park, a preserved mountain farm with an exhibition of old, old buildings, some native to the spot, some saved from destruction and moved in. It's a teaching site with a docent, illustrating life in the Appalachian Mountains in the last couple centuries.

Nice place, full of old smells, I suppose. Anyhow, the dog likes it.

Driving home with a tired, happy dog I spotted a fox crossing the road and that’s what I’m writing about. Foxes.

This is only the second fox I’ve seen in all my time living here. They’re obviously cautious. I suspect they’re also thin on the ground. 

Grey fox

I don’t think folks go out of their way to kill them. We’re a long way from professional chicken farms up here, hunting isn’t allowed in the National Park, nobody local gets dolled up in red jackets and rides across the fields hunting them, and nobody hangs foxes on the front of their pickup to bring them home for trophy bragging and the winter’s meat.

So why don’t I see more foxes?
That’s a big I dunnoh.
I saw them all the time in my small town in Germany.

Join the company of lions rather than assume the lead among foxes.
     Talmud, Aboth IV.20

The two foxes I’ve seen locally were both grey foxes. Grey foxes camouflage beautifully in the shadows. They move like cats. In fact, that's what I thought I was seeing this morning till I got a good look at it.

According to Virginia Game and Inland Fisheries (who should know) they eat meat like birds and rabbits in the winter and spring, adding more insects and fruit in the summer and fall.

Red fox

Fruit? Foxes eat fruit? 
I mean, who knew?

Grey foxes are “adept climbers, and use trees to escape enemies.” Next time you see a grey fox in a tree, that’s how it got there.

The red fox, which I haven’t seen any of but which is available locally anyway,
is red-furred with black legs and a white tip to its tail. 

Ask A Wench: Birthday Books

Susanna here.

Today is not only this month’s Ask A Wench, it’s also Nicola’s birthday—and since my July 23 post fell on Pat’s birthday, I’ve got books and birthdays all muddled up in a lovely way in my mind now, so instead of doing our usual thing and choosing a question from the ones you’ve asked us, I thought I’d ask my fellow Wenches: What were the best books you remember receiving as birthday presents?

For me, there would be too many to list here—my birthdays and my Christmases all brought those recognizable rectangular wrapped gifts that meant I’d be lost to my family for the next few days, tunnelled into my bedcovers, coming out only for food now and then. Every book my family gave—and gives—me as a present comes complete with an inscription on the flyleaf, marking the occasion and the date, to help preserve the memory.

Viking Scotland

Pat here:

As our regular readers know, I traveled with Mary Jo into the wilds of Scotland—Orkney and Shetland, (map) not the Highlands. Mary Jo wanted to see ponies, puffins, seals, and farm crofts. I wanted to see Neolithic ruins and castles. Both of us did our best to sample the culture, the dialects, and the distinct differences in landscape. I’m not sure what that says about us, but we’ll never completely cover all that northern Scotland has to offer.

Northern Isles: Orkney

By Mary Jo

After the fun of the RNA conference, it was time for the tourist part of this trip, which meant flying to the far north of the UK: Orkney and even farther north, Shetland. Fellow Wench Pat Rice and I flew to Orkney from Manchester with our husbands The Mayhem Consultant (mine) and The IT Guy (Pat's.)

The islands have been settled for at least 8500 years, first by various Neolithic groups, then by Norsemen in the 9th century CE. The Norwegian king pledged Orkney and Shetland as a temporary dowry for his daughter, Margaret of Denmark, but he never reclaimed it by paying the agreed upon dowry so the Scottish Parliament annexed the islands in 1472 and they've been part of Scotland ever since. (Map courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.)

Both island groups differ from the rest of Scotland because their roots are Norse, not Gaelic, and for centuries they spoke the now extinct Norn language. Gaelic became an overlay after the Scottish annexation, and later still, English. But even today, there is a local dialect with roots in Norn. One of the first things our wonderful guide, Lorna Brown, said was that she would speak to us in standard English, which isn't the way she spoke at home.

We spent three days in Orkney with Lorna and had fabulous sunny and mild weather. By the end, I was ready to move there. <G> Though I'm sure I'd feel differently in the very short days and long nights of a far northern winter!

 

A Royal Romp Through Kensington Palace

Andrea/Cara here, And as you might have guessed from my last post, I’ve recently been in a palace state of mind. (A reseach trip to England will have that effect on you!) Today we’re journeying from the outskirts of Oxford into the heart of London to take a look a Kensington Palace, which figures prominently in the opening scene of my next Wrexford and Sloane mystery. In fact, the title is MURDER AT KENSINGTON PALACE! (tentative release date—September 24, 2019) So of course I had to do a thorough walk-through of the rooms and gardens!

RNA: A Gathering of the Clans

by Mary Jo

I love writers' conferences, and I've been to my share of them. The sight of so many introverts blossoming into temporary extroversion is delightful. Creativity and connections and chocolate are all much in evidence.

I've met many of my best writer friends (and most of the Wenches) at writers' conferences. Which is why when Wench Nicola, currently president of the British professional romance writers' group, Romantic Novelists' Association, invited all interested Word Wenches to come to this year's annual RNA conference in Leeds, I jumped on it. (No, of course this had nothing to do with the chance to take a deductible trip to the UK! Why would you even think that? <G>)

 

Vale Janga

Anne here, writing on behalf of all the word wenches in a special Sunday post, a tribute to Janga Rholetter — one of our long time wenchly readers and a friend to many of us here, readers as well as writers. Janga passed away suddenly last week — we knew she was desperately ill, but the speed of her passing took us all by surprise. 

Janga loved words; she loved stories and poetry and romance and writing. She was an intelligent and insightful reviewer — I suspect many of us here became addicted to her reviews and have added to our TBR piles because of Janga. She was very active in the romance community; she was a wenchly reader from the very first — enter Janga into the search bar and you'll see so many comments over the years. She was also very active on the Eloisa James boards, she blogged and reviewed on The Romance Dish and also on her own blog.

I felt very privileged to know her. She wrote to me about my very first book, and that began a correspondence between us that lasted almost 20 years. We talked about books, about poetry, about writing, about teaching, and about life. She was a wonderful critic, perceptive and articulate and encouraging. She saw things in my work that I wasn't aware of. She made me feel a better writer than I am.

I am sad, though, that her own fiction never saw the light of day. She was, I suspect, her own toughest critic. She was a private person—there are no photos of her on her sites—and very modest. But though her fiction might not be out there, Janga left behind a rich legacy of her writing, in reviews, interviews, essays and blogs. 

Her good friend PJ Ausdenmore wrote a wonderful tribute to Janga on The Romance Dish. You will also get a lovely sense of the person Janga was by reading this blog that she wrote back in 2012, her gratitude list for Thanksgiving. 

I might be the one writing this post, but Janga was beloved of all the wenches. Goodbye, dear Janga, thank you for sharing your thoughts, your books and your wisdom, from Mary Jo Putney, Pat Rice, Susan King, Andrea Pickens, Nicola Cornick, Joanna Bourne, Susanna Kearsley and Anne Gracie. Rest in peace.

A Dip in the Pool of History

Nicola here! Last month we had a heatwave in England and now once again the hot weather is back, the grass has turned yellow and
there’s talk of banning the use of hosepipes. Our heat here (up to about 90 degrees Fahrenheit) is nothing though compared to the temperatures elsewhere in Europe and also across the world. It’s not something we’re equipped to deal with (no air con in most homes and other buildings) but at least as an island we have lots of lovely beaches and cool seas. I live as far away from the sea as it’s possible to do in England so I make do with the local swimming pool which is still very refreshing even though it’s a heated pool. Elsewhere in the country, the lidos - outdoor, unheated swimming pools - are becoming very popular again. It reminds me of the Spartan regime of my school swimming lessons which I always associate with the smell of wild garlic because they took place at an outdoor pool in the woods!

Playing at Cards

Card Players in a Drawing Room, by Pierre Louis Dumesnil the younger

Back in the late 70s and early 80s when I was at high school, every lunch hour in the cafeteria I’d be surrounded by a sea of tables filled with people playing what was then “the” card game—euchre. I never joined them, because I didn’t know the rules and, being a teenager, didn’t want to look more awkward and incompetent than I already felt. But I found it fascinating to watch.

Cards were never my forte. At home, I played cribbage and gin rummy, and I could shuffle a deck with real confidence, but we were more of a board-game-playing family, so trumps, tricks, and playing with partners weren’t things that I knew how to do.

Little did I know I’d grow up to write about characters who, because of their social class and the time period they live in, inevitably find themselves, at some time or another, sitting down to play at cards. And as you’ve probably figured out by now from reading my past posts here, it’s not enough for me to simply say, “They played at cards.”