![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
This is Weird West as opposed to Wild West. I bought it because of a good review on Goodreads, but still can't make up my mind as to whether I like it, even though I think it's good. It's violent and grim. Wil Cutter, once a truly nasty piece of work forced into violence to defend his kind from the might of the Church, has settled down, but the wife who changed him is dead of the croup, and his farm is failing, not likely to be able to provide for him and his sons for much longer. So when an old friend offers him a bounty hunting job he cleans up his rusted pistol, leaves the boys in charge of the farm and rides off. It's all nail-bitingly downhill from there for Wil. Violence and pain are the two driving forces behind this, but the author really get's under Cutter's skin and we see not only the story going forward, but also what let up to it. The Church is all powerful and those who have talents that can't be harnessed are outside the law. Cutter is a null. He can counter other people's magic and also open gateways that can allow deadly creatures from a parallel dimension into his own world. But we discover the magical elements slowly. At first this reads like a regular western, but it's far from that as it pounds to its inevitable conclusion.
Nov. 21st, 2020
Julia Quinn is always reliable. She writes witty regency romance that has now been filmed for television (as Bridgerton). Violet Bridgerton is the (widowed) mama to eight childen named in alphabetical order from Anthony to Gregory. This book is how the youngest female Bridgerton gets her man. Hyacinth Bridgerton is somewhat different. She's smart, outspoken and (to her siblings) somewhat annoying. She's had several seasons but failed to attract a suitable proposal of marriage (though there have been a few unsuitable ones). She's staunch friends with the eccentric and irascible Lady Danbury, so when Lady Danbury's rakish grandson, Gareth St Clair, is in need of a translator to unlock the secrets of his other grandmother's diary, Hyacinth volunteers. Gareth is hiding one family secret, but the diary contains another, and it holds the key to Hyacinth and Gareth's future, or does it?
Gregory is the youngest of the eight Bridgerton siblings and the only unmarried one. He believes in true love - why not when all his siblings have found love-matches? So when invited to his oldest brother's houseparty he spots the incomparable Hermione Watson, he knows she's the one for him. Sadly Miss Watson doesn't seem equally smitten, so he turns to her friend Lady Lucinda Abernathy for help, not realising until it's almost too late that Lucy, with her sharp wit and sunny personality is the one for him. What a pity Lucy is already engaged and her cold-hearted uncle is not about to let her back out. What's a poor besotted gentleman to do?
A Regency romance mystery with Gothic overtones. Charity Halliwell arrives at Loxby Manor after five years in India. She intends to stay for a year while her parents are in the Americas. It's the home of her childhood friends, and yet… Seline Cavanaugh goes missing on her first night and everyone but Charity believes she's eloped with the stable boy. Piers, Seline's brother with whom Charity was once in love, and still might be, is the only one who understands her fears. They work together to figure out the scant clues, but Piers is mired in accusations of cowardice. There is certainly something secretive going on which might involve their best friends. A nice combination of romance and peril, though at times the action moves with glacial slowness as weeks go by in the plot-line, if not in the narrative. Eventually all is revealed, of course, but you'll have to read the book. I'm not giving away spoilers.
A short story in the Frogmorton Farm series. Joy, Russell and Jenny Checkland's now teenage daughter, is being – well – a teenager, and driving her parents mad. She's a teenager – it's in the job description. So when a friend invites her to a concert in the park, despite being grounded, Joy decides to go. Yes it's another glimpse into life at Frogmorton farm with all its wacky cast of characters, but also it's a warning against the perils of online-only friendships. And yes, Thomas the golden horse who smells of warm ginger biscuits, makes an appearance. Jodi Taylor is always readable, so this is enjoyable, if short.
It's three hundred years ago in a small French village, Addie is doomed to marry a widower with children – a replacement for his recently deceased wife. Desperate to avoid her fate she calls upon the gods for help, but you should never call upon a god when it's dark. Instead of a benevolent daylight god, Addie gets the Dark himself, and does a deal. He can have her soul when she's finished with it in return for life… a long life… even immortality… until she decides it's time to surrender. It's a blessing, but it's also a curse. Throughout her long life Addie will not be able to make any mark upon the world, and everyone will forget her the instant she's out of their sight. It's a strange life. She can't make friends, have her own home, hold down a job, or take a lover for more than one night without starting afresh every morning. She learns to navigate the world invisibly, her three hundred years punctuated by visits from Dark to see if she's ready to surrender. And then, in modern New York, she meets Henry, the only one who doesn't forget her.
We see Addie's history as well as her trials in the present day. She flits from situation to situation, the only one she can relate to is Dark – or Luc as she comes to call him – until suddenly she meets Henry.
I had this as both a review copy and an audiobook from Netgalley. I usually listen to audiobooks on my phone. I'm not sure what the difference is between a Netgalley audio and an Audible audio, but while listening my phone got so hot that I had to switch it off. So I listened to the first half and read the second half. The audio was well read by Sophie Aldred, but I think I got more out of the text.
Two girls (lovers) went tramping over Dartmoor to hunt cryptoids, and only one came home. Despite investigations and search parties, Lee survived but Mal was never seen again… until four years later. Julian Sabreur, MI5 agent, is investigating an attack on top scientist Kay Amal Kahn – an attack dramatically and violently thwarted by strange-looking people who might be agents of an unknown power. And there in the grainy CCTV footage is an image of a girl, missing, presumed dead on Bodmin Moor.
Cracks between worlds are opening up and might be about to end all life in the universe. This book goes from a small-scale mystery to a major crisis involving parallel worlds. Sciency but still portraying interesting characters this is a book that delivers on many levels.