Can't Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne

 

Synopsis From Goodreads:

All Reyna and Kianthe want is to open a bookshop that serves tea. Worn wooden floors, plants on every table, firelight drifting between the rafters… all complemented by love and good company. Thing is, Reyna works as one of the Queen’s private guards, and Kianthe is the most powerful mage in existence. Leaving their lives isn’t so easy.

But after an assassin takes Reyna hostage, she decides she’s thoroughly done risking her life for a self-centered queen. Meanwhile, Kianthe has been waiting for a chance to flee responsibility–all the better that her girlfriend is on board. Together, they settle in Tawney, a town that boasts more dragons than people, and open the shop of their dreams.

What follows is a cozy tale of mishaps, mysteries, and a murderous queen throwing the realm’s biggest temper tantrum. In a story brimming with hurt/comfort and quiet fireside conversations, these two women will discover just what they mean to each other… and the world.

You know those books you genuinely enjoy while reading, but the moment you sit down to write a review, the flaws are all you can think about? Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea is one of those books for me, so I’ll try to keep this short.

I truly did enjoy my time with it. Reyna and Kianthe make a wonderful couple to build a series around. They balance each other well, bringing out strengths and tempering weaknesses. Starting the story with an already established relationship lets the author focus on plot rather than setup, which I appreciated. Still, this is the first time they’re spending extended time together, and while there are hints at growing pains, conflicts are resolved very quickly. I know this is a cozy fantasy, but as a gay man, I would love to see more of the mess and complexity that comes with intimacy, not just the tidy version.

The residents of Tawney are fun and distinct enough that I never confused them, but overall the characters, even Reyna and Kianthe, feel a bit two-dimensional. And no one suffers from this more than Queen Tilaine. If there’s a patron saint of bland villains, it’s her. If she continues as the primary source of conflict, I hope she becomes significantly more interesting.

World-building is also lighter than I expected for a first book in a fantasy series. Tawney itself feels mostly realized, though the layout remains murky in my mind. Beyond that? The wider world is a fog. I grew up with authors like Terry Brooks, David Eddings, Robert Jordan, and my favorite, Mercedes Lackey — writers who built rich, tangible worlds I can still map in my head. Here, I can picture Tawney and the castle Reyna fled… and that’s about it.

To be fair, this is just book one in what’s currently a four-book series. I’m hopeful these early quibbles will be addressed as the world and characters develop.

Despite everything I’ve mentioned, I genuinely enjoyed the time I spent with Reyna and Kianthe. I do plan to continue the series. I’m just not in a rush.

Finally, thanks to Tracy of Bitter Tea and Mystery for putting this book on my radar. I might not have picked it up otherwise, and I'm glad I did. 

The Last Hour Between Worlds by Melissa Caruso

Synopsis From Goodreads:

Kembral Thorne is spending a few hours away from her newborn, and she's determined to enjoy herself at this party no matter what. But when the guests start dropping dead, Kem has no choice but to get to work. She is a Hound, after all, and she can't help picking up the scent of trouble. 

She’s not the only one. Her professional and personal nemesis, notorious burglar Rika Nonesuch, is on the prowl. They quickly identify what’s causing the a mysterious grandfather clock that sends them down an Echo every time it chimes. In each strange new layer of reality, time resets and a sinister figure appears to perform a blood-soaked ritual. 

As Kem and Rika fall into increasingly macabre versions of their city, they’ll need to rely on their wits—and each other—to unravel the secret of the clock and save their home.

It’s been a long time, at least eight or nine years, since I’ve read a book based on another blogger’s review. When I stopped blogging, I also stopped reading blogs. Honestly, that hurt more than anything else, but I needed to completely step away; otherwise, I would have felt even worse for abandoning something I’d poured so many years into. I didn’t need the reminder of what I was walking away from, even though it was the right decision at the time.

That brings us to today and my absolute love of The Last Hour Between Worlds by Melissa Caruso. I had read Roberta’s review of The Last Soul Among Wolves on her blog, Offbeat YA, and I knew it was something I needed to read for myself. Since it was the second book in a series, I immediately opened my Libby app to see if I could get the first book from my library system, and I was thrilled when I found it! Luckily, there were no holds, and I started reading within twenty minutes of finishing Roberta’s review.

Truthfully, I was a little lost at first. For some reason, it took me longer than usual to catch onto the Echo system of alternate realities. I’m going to blame my recent inability to get decent sleep. Once my tired brain caught on, though, I was hooked.

Kembral is one of those characters I want to hang out with. She’s a new mother trying to balance her instinct to be there for her child with her desire to return to a profession she loves and excels at. She’s a Hound, one of the best. She has an innate ability to travel between alternate dimensions, called Echos, and retrieve people (or in one case, a dog) who have fallen into them. Think of an old illustration of the Earth cut in half, showing the layers inside: crust, mantle, outer core, inner core. That’s the picture I had in my head, except there are eleven Echos. As you go deeper, they become more and more warped. Trees can have hands, buildings may have mouths, and people you know in the Prime reality might no longer look human the further down you go. In other words, Kembral is a badass. I want to be her when I grow up.

To say I enjoyed this doesn’t do justice to how lost I became in the story. It wasn’t perfect; there were a few moments that pulled me out for just a second or two, but those pale in comparison to how quickly the author was able to pull me right back in. It has everything I need to keep my interest: larger-than-life characters who somehow still feel grounded in their reality, complex mythology and world-building, and stakes that couldn’t be higher. It also helps that there were a few murders thrown in for good measure.

This isn’t a reality I’d ever want to live in, but I’m more than happy to keep visiting and hanging out with Kembral and Rika (who I didn’t even mention until now, but her snark is amazing) for as long as the author keeps writing new adventures for them.

The Coast of Maine Looks Good This Time of Year

So what am I doing on my second day of vacation you may be asking, of course you may not be, but I'm going to tell you anyway.  Well more thank likely I got up a little earlier than I would have preferred so I would be able to take in the farmer's market that is less than 10 blocks from my house, but never get to visit. I'll have perused the stalls picking out some produce and hopefully this wonderful cottage cheese bread that is to die for.  I may pick up some fresh pasta, depends on what they have this time around.  After the market, I'll be visiting the Wichita Art Museum, which believe it or not, has one of the largest collections of American art in the country.  Admission is free on Saturdays, and I never miss a chance to go.  As far as the rest of the day goes, who knows.  I may go visit my favorite graveyard in town, no judging, and read for a bit.  I may go shopping, though at this point in time that holds no appeal to me.  I guess I'll just take the day as it comes.

In the meantime, I would like to introduce (though I doubt introductions are needed) to the wonderfully brilliant Sheila of Book Journey.  What can I say about Sheila that most of you don't already know?  She is one of the friendliest bloggers I have ever had the pleasure to come across and when I think about the stalwarts of this community, she is one that comes to mind every time.  When I first came across her, within my first month of blogging, and realized she was from MN, my home state, I started following her.  Her blog quickly became one that I looked up to and though I'm not sure I asked her a ton of questions, I'm sure I asked a few, and she never brushed me off.  She answered them and gave me helpful advice when I needed it.  Three years later, I'm still following her blog, and I'm pretty sure I won't stop anytime soon.  So when you are done reading her wonderful summertime book recommendation, head on over and say hi.

Greetings readers of Wordsmithonia!  I come in peace…..

LOL

Of course I come in peace!  It’s summer my FAVORITE time of year!  I love to be outside on my deck reading, inviting friends over to grill, biking, rollerblading, boating, hiking, going to the cabin…. Did I mention I LOVE Summer?

When Ryan shot me a message asking if I would do a guest post while he took a little break and my subject was “summer” I jumped at the chance.  He pretty much left the “what” up to me.  I could write about summer activities, a book, a movie, a song....

I decided immediately I wanted to talk about a book.

Many years ago I read a book that screams summer…. It is called The Summerhouse by Jude Deveroux and to this day it is one of my all-time favorite books.  The Summerhouse is about 3 girls who meet at the DMV when they are 16 and discover they all share the same birthday.  The girls are all from very different backgrounds, but build a connection through this encounter.

Now, flash forward and the girls are all turning 40.  Their lives have not turned out as they had dreamed.  Leslie’s dream of marrying the perfect guy is pretty much snuffed out when she realizes that “perfect guy” is having an affair with his much younger assistant.  Her two children are snots and don’t even acknowledge she exists.  Where did that young strong willed girl she used to be go?

Ellie is a writer, but recent happenings in her life and a nasty court battle coming up has left her unable to focus enough to write a word. 

Madison was on the straight track to becoming a dancer, her long lean limbs were perfect back in high school…. But a call from an ex fiancé who was in a serious accident and left wheelchair bound pulls her off track and she instead becomes an exhausted full time care giver for an ungrateful man who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and believes the world needs to cater to him.

Ellie, who owns a cottage in Maine, decided to invite the other two women, who she has not spoken to in years to celebrate their birthdays together.  She sends out the invites, not knowing what to expect, if they even remember her, and is pleasantly surprised when both accept the invitation.  

The three women meet in Maine and over an evening of wine and horduerves catch each other up on how their lives have turned out, and not for the better.  The next day, while exploring the town to find gifts for one another, each separately receives an invite to a Madame Zoya’s future reading.  As a hoot, the girls decide to go and check it out. 

Madame Zoya offers this:  “What if you could go back to a point in your life when you made a decision that led you one way that set your life’s course.  What if you could go back to that moment in time and choose differently… how would your lives have turned out?”

Each of the girls is put into a trance that takes them back in time for two weeks to that moment they chose and the book shares their “new life” as it would have been.

In the end, each has to make a decision….

1.   Stay with what they have and keep the memory of what could have been.

2.   Choose the life they just envisioned by taking that road not traveled, but then everything changes from that moment on, if you had kids in this life, you no longer do… all your memories from this time are gone…

3.  Stay with what they have and erase the memory of what could have been

This book was amazing… if you have ever thought of the “what if”, I think you will love this book.  We read it for our book club in 2003 and we had one of our best discussions ever over the topic of if we could go back, what would we do differently, what time did we say no and it should have been yes?  

I highly recommend you find this book, a spot on the beach, a lawn chair, your deck, a hammock, a boat…. A spot in the sun, and spend a little time with Leslie, Ellie, and Madison.  I think, I will do the same.  

(I was going to link my review to this book, but realized, I have never reviewed it since I started blogging…. I think perhaps it is time)

Enjoy your time of relaxation Ryan!  And readers, The Summerhouse by Jude Deveroux… my summer book selection I recommend for you. 

Books to Beat the Heat

Well today is the first day of my vacation, and more than likely as you are reading this, I'm in the process of getting my brakes fixed.  Not the best way to start of a vacation, but it's the first time I've really had the TIME to get it done.  Not good since my break light and service light have been on for over a month.  So needless to say this will be a long day.  To top it off, I'm not one of those people that can just drop the car off and come back later, I have to stay there.  It's almost like a compulsion with me.  To pass the time, I will be bringing at least two books.  So wish me luck and send warm thoughts that this won't cost me an arm, a leg, and an ear.

So while I'm twiddling my thumbs at the mechanic, I thought I would let one of my favorite bloggers give you some reading suggestions that will help you beat the heat.  I'm pretty sure this is going to be another scorcher of a summer and anything that helps take the mind of the heat is more than welcome.  Simcha of SFF Chat is one of those bloggers who I would miss if either one of use stopped blogging.  I would have to find a way to keep in touch with her.  She is an amazing writer whose reviews are often times better than the book.  I know I can count on her to guide my reading in the right direction and that I would never regret picking up a book she recommended.  Speaking of, I still need to read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.  I promised her I would read it last summer and I still haven't done so.  I promise it will be done by the end of the year though.  So please stop by her blog when you leave here and say hi.

Everyone has a different idea as to what makes a book a good summer read. For some it's a lighthearted romance and for others it's a fast-paced thriller.  As for me, I think a good summer read is one that helps me forget the scorching desert heat outside by transporting me somewhere nice and cold.

Here are few suggestions of great books to help you cool off this summer, in no particular order.

Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin:  I had read this book during the hottest time of the year and the scene in which Genly Ai and Estravan trudge through a blizzard was so descriptive that I was practically shivering.   This is a great book to keep handy in case your air-conditioner ever breaks.

Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu:  "The Snow Queen" is one of my favorite fairy tales and this modern retelling about a girl who travels through a frozen land to save her best friend  is a great summer read for kids and adults.

Nights of Villjamur by Mark Charan Newton:  I haven't had a chance to read this book yet but it's high on my list of things to do. It takes place in a world in which it's citizens are preparing for an ice age. It sounds like now would be a great time to read this book.

Swimming to Antarctica by Lynne Cox:  While I'm not particularly fond of swimming I do enjoy a good memoir and I've always wondered what it would be like to go to Antarctica. In this book Lynne Cox writes about her life and her experiences swimming the Bering Strait and the Strait of Magellan, which she was the first to do. She then swam a mile in the waters of Antarctica.

The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder:  Sometimes it's fun to curl up with a favorite book from your childhood and this account of the Ingalls' struggle to survive a difficult winter will provide a great distraction from the summer heat. It might even leave you tempted to turn on the heat, just because you can.

 Double Black (A Ski Diva Mystery) by Wendy Clinch:  Since I know that Ryan enjoys reading mysteries I decided to include one on this list even though I usually stay away from them. But this story, about a grad student dropout who finds a dead body while living as a ski bum, sounded like enough fun to even tempt me to pick it up. I haven't done so yet but this book is high on my list and  now seems like an excellent time to read it.

Ice by Sarah Beth Durst:  In this retelling of an old Nordic Fairy tale a young woman journeys across the arctic in search of her missing mother who had been taken away when she was a baby. There is also a romance with a talking polar bear.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis:  It seems that this book manages to slip into almost every book-list that I make, but that's because it's a wonderful book suitable for nearly any occasion.  And summer is the perfect time to slip into a magical world locked in perpetual winter by an evil witch.

Cold Magic by Kate Elliott:  If you could use a bit of cooling off then some cold magic might do the trick. This steampunk novel was one of my favorite reads of 2010. It's got magic, adventure, spunky heroines and one handsome, if overly-haughty, cold mage. I think I'll be rereading this one.

A Taste For Summer Mysteries

Well it's now Monday and I only have two days left of my vacation.  I'm sure, knowing myself as well as I do, I may end up doing some housework today.  I will probably be cleaning the kitchen and maybe even my bedroom.  Hopefully I will have bought the 4th bookcase I need to get and I'll be rearranging my books. It's amazing how quickly books end up taking up so much room.  Luckily for me, one thing I won't be doing is posting a blog post.  Today, I'm pleased to say that the lovely Tasha at Truth, Beauty, Freedom, and Books has agreed to do that for me.  If ever I want to read a review on a book that isn't something everybody else is reading, Tasha is one of the bloggers I look towards.  I can't even tell you how many books she has added to my TBR pile.  Today she did it again.  She will be discussing a book by an author I've read, but never this one.  I hope after reading this post, you will be adding it as well.

For me, there's something about summer that makes me want to read mysteries.  I wouldn't call myself a mystery fan, but when I was younger (i.e., elementary and middle school) that was all I read.  I even wrote and illustrated my own mysteries, like "The Body Buried on Boot Hill."

The summer between fifth and sixth grad was big for me.  I'd always spent summers reading, but that was the summer where I was like, "OMG, books are my LIFE."  Except I didn't use OMG because that totally wasn't in the vernacular back then.  Anyway, I read two books that became my straight-up favorite books ever:  The Vampire Diaries by LJ Smith and Night Train to Memphis by Barbara Michaels (a.k.a. as Elizabeth Peters.)

Night Train to Memphis is about an art historian (hmmmm...) named Vicky Bliss.  It's actually the fifth in a series of mysteries about Vicky, but it's the one I read first.  Vicky is asked by the German police and Interpol to go on a luxury archaeology cruise up the Nile as a lecturer--despite the fact that she's a medieval art historian and doesn't know anything about Egyptian art.  Vicky knows there can be only on explanation for this:  her sometimes-boyfriend and professional are thief, Sir John Smythe, is going to be on that cruise, and they want her to identify him before he steals something.  Vicky hasn't heard form John in a while and is worried about his, so she agrees--though with no intention of cooperating with authorities until she figures out what John is up to.

Vicky sees John on the cruise, just as she expects to; but what she doesn't expect is to be introduced to his mother... and his wife.

Michaels had me from that point on.  Even today, reading the book, I'm all like, "Whaaaaaat?  He's married??"  What's John up to?  What is hi in Egypt to steal?  And did he ever really love Vicky?

During the year after I first read Night Train to Memphis, I reread it at least 4 times.  It might have been as many as eleven.  I began rereading it as soon as I finished it.  I LOVE it--I love how it transports you to Egypt and how nothing as as it seems.  I also love the Agatha Christie-ish feel of solving a mystery on a luxury cruise.  It's by far my favorite book in the Vicky Bliss series.

Here's the thing about the book though:  It doesn't work if you've already read the series.  If you have read the other books, then John's actions and motivations don't seem so mysterious, and it's easy to be impatient with Vicky, who thinks she's pretty smart but who can't figure out what's so obvious to the reader.  It took me about five rereads before I was like, "Hey!  This book isn't the greatest."

But it sill kinda is.  It's the only book in the series that I've reread, and I still reread it.  Not every summer of course, but I do think about it.  It's a book that defines what I want in my summer reading.

What books did you read during the summer as a kid?


Have you ever read a book in the middle or at the end of a series that was better because you didn't know what was going on?