Category: HM

Suzy Henderson, The Beauty Shop

World War II Romance

Archie McIndoe, John (Mac) Mackenzie and Stella Charlton are the main protagonists in Suzy Henderson’s WWII novel. The ‘beauty shop’ refers to the Guinea Pig Club and gives its readers a different viewpoint of the horrors happening during the Second World War, presenting the pilots who become casualties, with horrific burns, often permanent damage to their appearance, and, in many cases, their mental well-being. A New Zealand plastic surgeon, Archibald (the Maestro) McIndoe does wonders in restorative surgery at East Grinstead, the home of the 91st Bomb Group. 

From the start, Stella is torn between her proposed fiancé and the American pilot she meets, doing service at close to the airfield. Mac falls for her the moment he sets eyes on her. He admires her integrity but can help to pursue her regardless of her prior ties. Stella’s doubts about her fiancé become pressing, especially because Mac shows her admiration as well as understanding.

The Beauty Shop is not only a romance, but it gives insight into the horror of war. Ms Henderson describes war action in all its aspects when the crew can return after a successful drop, and the anguish they live though when things go wrong. This is a realistic but touching read that leaves the reader wondering about human folly. Highly recommended.

***

Pearl Tate, Bren’s Blessing

Erotic Sci-Fi Novella

Hannah is a high-ranking scientist on a solitary mission to Mars. Bren is a commander of one of many spaceships that circle the universe. Bren’s world is stagnating, due to infertility. This is a female-led world where the males must share married life with several other males. Procreation can only be achieved by insemination. These are the premises for an outer space romp that involves numerous erotic scenes and an exploding spaceship, Hannah’s.

Conquered by the aliens and taken aboard their ship, she realizes that she has become a slave. At the same time, she feels exceedingly attracted to the seven feet tall Bren, who claims ownership over her. In a mindbogglingly fast courtship, the two come together – and it becomes clear that Bren has dreamed of his human mistress for a long time. Their bonding is instant – and politically incorrect.

Pearl Tate pulls all erotic stops.

***

Mary Anne Yarde, The Du Lac Chronicles

Medieval Fantasy with a Dash of Mythology.

We are in post-Arthurian times, the Roman influence is still to be found, but the Saxon impact is strengthening. Alden, Eighteen-year-old king of Cerwin and a younger son of Lancelot Du Lac, was defeated and captured by Cerdic of Wessex. Alden has been lashed to within an inch of his life. He will be executed on the morning – but Annis of Wessex, daughter of Cerdic, has other ideas. She rescues Alden – and this is where the narrative begins.

Mary Anne Yarde weaves a tale of intrigue and violence, romance, and myth. There are vivid characters to love or hate – beautiful descriptions and excellent dialogue. All in all, there is everything that befits a historical fantasy. We are in safe hands, Ms Yarde knows how to create a believable web and hold a reader’s attention. The only thing that mars the reading experience, in my opinion, might be a moot point, but it needs a mention. So many series leave the story with an obvious hook. That means the novel has no true ending, which may fit other genres, but in this case, I at least long for closure. At 317 pages, the book isn’t too long to bring this chronicle to a more satisfying end.

***

Ellie Midwood, The Lyon Affair

French Resistance WWII Drama

A resistance-conspirator’s life is never simple. In The Lyon Affair, Ellie Midwood shows many aspects of the drama, the uncertainty, and the crises that can mar or make their existence. To survive, it is necessary to leave behind name and identity. It doesn’t end there; the resistance operator must learn to stay silent and detached. That is what becomes an issue for Blanche, newly arrived from the north of France. She enters the resistance out of conviction, but her character may not be suitable for the work. Other people in the Lyon Group are suspicious of her, but they still accept her for simple duties, like delivering a banned newspaper. The focus doesn’t stay on Blanche, and that’s what makes this such a compelling read. The gallery of strong characters is complex and convincing. There is Jules, or Marcel, which is his real name. He is young and fervent but also gets into trouble. The group leader is a strong man and manages the group carefully. When it breaks up, as all such groups may do, most of the members survive and move on to other work.

The German characters, especially Standardführer Sieves and Karl Wünsche, are vivid. They show the right mixture of humanity and nihilism to send chills down the readers’ spine.

While reading The Lyon Affair, it never occurred to me that this was the second part of a trilogy. That says a lot for Ellie Midwood’s writing acumen. Highly recommended.

***

Susanne Leist, The Dead Game

A Haunted House with a Vengeance

Vampires live disguised in a small town in Florida, mixing with the population. Newcomer Linda opens a bookshop and befriends Shana, who has an esoteric shop. There are young men and a blonde bimbo to go out with – and everything is fine until they get an invitation to a party at End House.

In Ms Leist’s village, there are several unexpected species. The hybrids, half human, and half-vampire, are difficult to single out. Then there are two groups of vampires, one of them working to protect humans and hybrids. The other group, the DEAD, wants to take over the world and rid it of human beings. Of course, the humans just want to live normal lives. Also, the village, and especially, End house, is full of illusions, some resembling the scary house in a fairground, except for the fact that they are armed with real predators and flying saws just to mention a few. The horror isn’t absent, but it is accompanied by not a few winks. It was an entertaining read that gave an insight into the antics of humans – let alone the vampires.

***

Elliott Baker, The Sun God’s Heir

The Ultimate Swashbuckler

The Sun God’s Heir has everything – ladies in distress, pirates, a proverbial wonder-woman, evil villains, heroes, comrades, magic, Egyptian mysteries, Pharaohs – and sailing ships (Windjammers). A case of less is more.

All in all, there were positive passages and well-developed characters. I’m in no doubt that Mr Baker had a whale of a time putting this tale together, and he has managed to give it some basis in the fifteenth-century reality. The sea fights are superb. The educational sword fights between the protagonist René Gilbert and his master, the Maestro are interesting and reminded me of certain passages in books by Rafael Sabatini. On the other hand, the use of metaphysical lucid dreams came across as a bit heavy-handed.

In my opinion, the use of French phrases like ‘S’il Vous plaît’ and ‘merci’ became repetitive. The triangle between René and the two heroines established the need for more books in the series, as did the reincarnated supervillain. The use of a hook at the end of the book always leaves me with a feeling of being cheated, but it seems to be the trend these days. No doubt, Mr Baker knows his metier.

***

M Ainihi, Rise

YA Fantasy

A girl, Amanda, and her father live a comfortable life together. They make weekend trips, and on one of these, Amanda finds an artefact. It turns out to be the prison, holding a jinni, Erol. Erol must serve her for the rest of her life. Amanda has no idea of the dangers surrounding her, but she soon loses her father and gets confronted with an evil Sorcerer and his creature a twisted Genie. The sorcerer sends Amanda on a quest and, unable to resist, she complies. This opens new worlds to her and forces her to change her opinion of a world where mythologies clash.

Sending a youth on a quest, a common YA fantasy idea that may seem inept, but Ainihi’s writing brings the different realms to life. This is as much a coming of age tale as a fantasy and that’s what makes it worthwhile.  The characters are solid, and all, maybe except the evil sorcerer, have a share of humanity. A fast-paced novella that serves as an introduction to the four-part series of which it’s the first part. Recommended.

***

Daniel Kemp, Once I Was a Soldier

The Key is in the Prologue

Melissa Iverson, newly orphaned and rich, plays lightly with her power and may live to regret it. Francesca Clark-Bartlett, socialite, and power-hungry is married to a man who wants to become the president of the US. Terry Jeffries is a British intelligence officer and a womanizer. These are the pro- and antagonists of Daniel Kemp’s intriguing thriller Once I Was a Soldier.

The (triangular) power game and the underlying sexual tension is one of the elements in this work, and Daniel Kemp uses it with skill. There are several levels of deception and that causes unexpected twists and turns. There is also a rampant maniac, who threatens Melissa’s life. The questions posed, span from ‘who is who’, and ‘who plays with whom’, to ‘who serves whom’, and why. Also, the identity of the maniac and his motivation comes as a shock to the unwary reader.

This is a complex and ambitious work with many characters and strong prose.

***

© HMH,2020

JT Atkinson, Beneath an Indigo Moon

Thought Provoking and Bold

It is difficult to write about this book, but it must be done. Honestly, it wasn’t an easy read, because of the challenging subject. Still, it is an important book if one wants to understand the hardship, people of another sexual observation suffered and still suffer. In my experience, gay people are just that – people – and it would be wrong to ignore a book that was written to open our eyes to bigotry and intolerance. We can’t close our eyes to the witch hunts that took place in various forms throughout our collective history.

One might discuss if there’s too strong a focus on sex and blatant violence, but there’s no doubt that the time leading up to Stonewall was this violent. My only complaint in this connection is that both the sex and the violence became somewhat repetitive in Atkinson’s writing. His characters are believable, all the same.

It seems only right to quote JTAT’s afterword here, as it puts the theme into perspective: “BAIM is a work of fiction. It is, however, inspired by real-life events. In the early days of queer politics, the pervasive mood was one of fear, anger, and desperation. Twenty-five years after Stonewall, things had changed. The law had changed. People’s rights had changed. But attitudes hadn’t changed. There was a general feeling that twenty-five years of advancement had amounted to very little and a more active approach was required. It was during these times that the most extreme forms of queer politics came into being. Small groups, frustrated by the lack of direct action from the authorities, took it upon themselves to redress what they saw as an imbalance in society. Their thinking was simple. They would do to others what others had done to them. The events in BAIM are inspired by the activities of just such a group. The story may be fiction. The thinking behind it, however, was very real.”

I recommend anybody who wants to understand a group of people who have been persecuted too often for their situation to read this book.

***

Val Penny, Hunter’s Chase

Murder Most Foul, and Cocaine

Hunter Wilson is up against it. His former boss gets robbed, and there’s a large supply of cocaine knocking about. Things get complicated when the murderer doesn’t stop at one victim, Hunter is witness to the second – but only partly catches the runaway car’s registration plate number. It doesn’t stop there, but underneath is a tangled family affair that must be unravelled to close the case.

Val Penny presents her characters in depth, often with the use of multiple points of view. Penny has done her research, which can be seen in a realistic post-mortem scene. Her writing is complex and the story compelling.

***

Mari Collier, Twisted Tales from the Desert

Paranormal Stories from the American Mainland

In Twisted Tales from the Desert, Mari Collier lets her fantasy out to play. There are all manners of ghosts, active Stone Lizards, murderers, infantile and grown-up, just to mention a few. Certainly, there are twists and turns and surprises at every corner. The reader feels comfortable in her deft hands – except when the stories go to the bare bones of humanity. That’s when cold shivers run down your back. There is mythology and subconscious horrors to enjoy in this collection of short stories that I can recommend to those readers who dare.

***

Malcolm, Hollindrake, Threadbare

An Extraordinary Detective Story

Starting with DCI Bennet Book 9 throws you right into the water at the deep end. For me, the beginning was confusing, a marriage between Cyril and his beloved didn’t make much sense. No matter, as the story unfolded, it was easy to get to know the characters.

Snake bites, a shooting, a man with the brain of a seven-year-old child, a wish for revenge, a retired gentleman with a penchant for spiders, also, dead sheep, a biblical snake, and old photos form a puzzle that puts the young officer (Owen), who takes over from Cyril while he is on honeymoon, through the hoops. On his return, Cyril must help to disentangle the threads. The search for the murderer becomes increasingly urgent, and one of the clues to solving the crime lies buried in the Book of Genesis.

This is an unusual detective story, especially because of the many references to art and music.

***

LM Lacee, Dragon’s Gap

A Parallel Modern-Day World

They use cars outside Dragon’s gap. Inside Dragon’s gap, there are swords and magic. LM Lacee is a storyteller but struggles with writing. No doubt, thorough editing of her work would help the author to reach a potential that momentarily is hidden under uncertain writing and grammar.

Shapeshifters (half- and full-bloods), dragons, a goddess, elementals, witches, as well as magic, treason, love, and hate abound in Dragon’s Gap.

Once I got used to the strange use of the full stop, and the run-on sentences, it became easier to get a grip on the storyline. LM Lacee has good ideas and builds a believable world – it would be wonderful indeed if her potential could be unlocked through some editorial emergency treatment.

***

Lynne Fischer, After Black

Does Life Begin After Widowhood?

In some cases, this is true. Janet blossoms after a cowed existence, but all isn’t well. Her memories of Frank, her husband, dying can be pushed aside, but there is an upstart in her workplace. Marian is driven and wants the same promotion that would make Janet’s life at Masons Retail Store complete. Hence, Janet pulls all stops and wins. Does this change her life for the better? Not for a while. Janet must confront her demons and face her past.

In After Black, Lynne Fisher challenges the reader with a protagonist it is difficult to like. That it doesn’t stay that way is down to a masterly plot. Not only that, but all the characters must also learn and grow through unwanted and – for the reader as for the dramatis personae – unexpected developments. Ms Fisher kept me at the edge of my chair throughout this brilliantly written novel that explores love and loss, abusive and painful relationships, as well as the possibility of redemption. Anybody reading this will gain insight into the machinations that can mar or make humanity.

***

Nina Romano, The Secret Language of Women

Historical Fiction of Beauty and Refinement.

Lian meets Giacomo and sweet music emerges. The young Italian man and the part Chinese girl, who assists her physician-father can’t resist a love that binds them together until death. The secret language of women holds a large part of the story together. It’s an old language, written and spoken, that Chinese women have nurtured throughout the imperial period. We are at the end of this period and the Boxer insurgency accompanies the love story, separating Lian and Giacomo almost as soon as they meet. Their longing and love help them find one another, but not before Lian has been married to a peasant and born her daughter sired by Giacomo.

Nina Romano writes this story with confidence and knowledge. Still, to me, it seemed that she had a better grasp of Lian’s character, maybe through the first-person point of view. Giacomo comes across as slightly remote, and his part of the story is heavy with historical detail. This shows Ms Romano’s immaculate research and does her honour. All in all, I enjoyed reading The Secret Language of Women and can recommend it to everyone with an interest in the beauty and intrigue of imperial China in troubled times.

Sayara St Clair, Kiss Me, Bite Me

Amusing and endearing Love Story with Bite

Kayana Castello Branco literally bumps into Greg Morgan but must forget him as he’s already affianced to an ‘ice princess’. Later she meets him again and they hit it off, but there is trouble on the horizon.
This vampire tale is a boy-meets-girl story with a difference. When Kayana and Greg meet again, he is free but has a condition that makes their love-life daunting in some respects. They strive to ignore it, but Greg must eventually tell his Kayana about his craving. Not that it stops their love-affair. In some ways, it deepens their bond.

There isn’t much left of the brooding and angst that haunts you in Interview with a Vampire, there isn’t as much bloodshed, but there are unforgettable characters, humour, intrigue, and not forgetting sensuality.

In Sayara St Clair’s competent hands the reader goes from belly laugh to horror, and back. More than that, Ms Clair knows how to write erotic scenes that are steamy and convincing. Don’t wonder if your heart rate goes up at certain points in this fable. Highly recommended

***

© HMH, 2020