The Other Typist
The Other Typist is one of the most interesting books I’ve read this year. A little slow (surprisingly so) but otherwise, excellent.
Twisty, turny, and throw in some girl crush for good measure.
Now…. who did it? Rose or Odalie?
Women
The Ashford Affair
Yay Lauren Willig! (Even if The Ashford Affair is not a Pink Carnation series book, sigh.)
Same story-style. Similar characters. No spies but a little family history mystery.
All of which goes to say that if you liked The Pink Carnation books and you aren’t tired of them, then you’ll like this one.
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Farewell, Dorothy Parker
Total impulse pick up because I like Dorothy Parker and because Michelle really, really likes Dorothy Parker. How could I not pick up a book where the ghost of Dorothy Parker arrives to help a movie critic (and everyone else she meets) get her life in order.
Turns out the book critic helps Mrs. Parker and everyone lived happily ever after, except Dorothy Parker (who was dead) but she was happy with the way it ended too.
Farewell, Dorothy Parker is fun chick lit for those who like Dorothy Parker.
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Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker
Aye. It took me a week to read Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker – I thought it would be a fast read. Ha. I liked it, mostly, but slow, slow, slow read. Not enough action. I wanted less of Mrs. Lincoln and more dressmaker. Elizabeth Keckley is cool (So is Mary Todd Lincoln), but I was hoping for … more.
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Eyes Right: Confessions of a Woman Marine
Eyes Right was… interesting. Reaffirmed my conviction that I would never, ever want to be a woman Marine (especially in the 80s.)
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The Teahouse Fire
After reading The Last Nude and loving it, I was surprised to see that TW only gave The Teahouse Fire three stars on GoodReads. Now that I’ve finally made my way through it, I understand.
There were a lot of problems with this one — it’s really long, the storyline is less than plausible, the ending was a lot far-fetched (and even worse, unnecessary.) I wanted to really love it, and I did love parts of it. Cut 100 pages or even 50 pages and change the epilogue drastically and this would have been a great book.
Princess Elizabeth’s Spy
I think I liked Princess Elizabeth’s Spy more than I liked Mr Churchill’s Secretary. I liked the little princesses. I like Maggie (mostly) without a man – too bad she doesn’t seem to be able to keep from entering relationships with so many of them. Sheesh. The next book is going to be awfully complicated and I’m a little disgruntled about Maggie’s mom… I knew it was coming but still, I’m not loving that. I hope I like it better as it plays out.
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The Last Nude
In my quest to read my lesbian fiction, I sometimes stop and grab recently reviewed or mentioned titles from The Lesbrary feed in my feedreader. The Last Nude is one that I added to my library reserve list after seeing it on that blog. I’m glad I did. It was even better than I expected it to be, part one, in particular. Part two… well, I didn’t hate it but it was somewhat unsatisfying but that’s probably the best way to leave a story about Lempicka’s life.
Tamara de Lempicka was fascinating, in this book and in everything I’ve ever read about her… it would have been fascinating to meet her. Here’s the page that shows her work, during the primary period of the book. La belle Rafaëla in red is better than the green.
The Salt God’s Daughter
I gave The Salt God’s Daughter four stars on GoodReads, I probably should have given it three… there were some parts that I loved and some that bored me and I felt a little let down by the ending (not because I wanted a different ending but because I don’t think it was as well-told as the majority of the book.
I loved the beginning. I hated the beginning of part 2. Part 3, I enjoyed – until the end.
I’m doing that deep sighing thing right now – yep, I probably should have given it a three. Three and a half would really be ideal.
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The Chaperone
I finally found time to read The Chaperone, FINALLY. It’s been on my TBR list for ages. Sheesh.
I really enjoyed it – the Louise Brooks aspect and the story of Cora. I would have liked it more if there wasn’t quite so much time packed into the book, or if it was another 100 pages. Time passed so quickly without any real character growth once Cora came back to Kansas.
(And now I want to watch some Louise Brooks movies, lol.)