Review: The Magpie Lord

The Magpie Lord by K.J. Charles
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A bit of a surprise this one, not at all what I was expecting the story to be but found myself being absorbed by an interesting lot and intriguing characters. My only criticism is that is was too short! I loved the dynamics between our main characters, the reluctant Lord Crane, his manservant Merrick and the justicar Stephen Day brought in to help protect Crane. The dialogue was witty and sharp, characters likeable and the story flew by so quickly I have had to invest in the rest of the series to keep up my new found addiction.

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Review: Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic

Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic by Meghan Ciana Doidge
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Not exactly a ground-breaking novel in this particular genre as this is your standard urban fantasy with the usual mix of witches, vampires and werewolves. The main difference is that our heroine owns and runs a cupcake shop and I do admit to suddenly developing a craving for them now as they sounded so yummy. I found this to be very reminiscent of series such as the Women of the Otherworld series by Kelley Armstrong but not quite as well written, I don't mean that is a spiteful way as this is the first in this series, and as I have said in reviews before, first novels are often a little shaky due to having to introduce the characters, settings and relationships. Its not a bad novel, just not the best I've read.

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Uprooted by Naomi Novik

For me, this would fall somewhere between 3 and 4 stars - it was an excellent story with good plot twists and great relationships, particularly between our heroine Agnieszka and her best friend Kasia, but some points were a little *too* convenient. For example, Agnieszka discovers that she has a latent magical ability that develops, but the rate of which this happens is a little too unbelievable, one minute she is fluffing spells left right and centre, next she is summoning great illusions and casting spells that haven't been cast for hundreds of years!  The other part of the novel that felt a little odd for me, and i never thought that I would find myself writing this, was the sex scene...yes yes, that's right, I thought the sex scene was not in keeping with the rest of the story and was unnecessary! It kinda came from out of the blue (so to speak) and didn't really have much bearing on anything else in the story to be honest.  The rest of the book read like a grown up fairytale which would have worked perfectly well without the scene in question.  Still, it was a great read however I read it in fits and starts (as I have been having staying awake for more than 10 minutes at a time whilst reading recently) and I really would have benefited from reading it in bigger chunks to appreciate it more fully.  Plus the main baddy is great and would happily read a stand alone about them alone!

A Spear of Summer Grass by Deanna Raybourn

This is another one where I would love a 'half-star' rating system.  Set in the 1920's Delilah Drummond is an American socialite living it up in Paris when she is embroiled in one scandal too many and exiled by her family to newly colonised Africa.  Here, she is to spend some time away from the headlines until things calm down, but it seems trouble follows Delilah wherever she goes.  Staying light hearted, it briefly touches on the conflicts between the colonists and the natives, the impact upon nature and politics of the time, but mostly the story focuses on delightfully witty and headstrong Delilah who tries her best to make the most of a less than ideal situation.  She is sharp witted, modern and fiercely independent, especially for the period and admits herself that she is broken.  It was refreshing to read a strong female lead who has many layers to her and obviously delighted in her freedom as a woman.  A touch of romance too that I was expecting to have more closure to it, but turned out perfectly in the end.

3/5 stars