Tread Lightly by Catherine Lane

Tread Lightly
by Catherine Lane
Pages: ?
Date: February 15 2017
Publisher: Ylva Publishing
Series:

Review
Rating: 4.21
Read: Feb 9 - Feb 10 2017

*I received this book from NetGalley, and Ylva Publishing in return for a fair review.*

Firstly – I do not know how long this story is, though I believe it’s in the ‘short story’ category.

Secondly – this story will be published February 15 2017.

And now on with the review.

This story stars two fantasy characters, though only one has a point of view. First up is Claire (we’ll get to Tamiel, the guardian angel, a little later). Claire is the point of view character in the story, and is a ‘fairy godmother level one plus’. The fairy part? Repeatedly mentioned in the story that, whatever she is (she’s uncertain, though knows she’s half-human and half something else) she isn’t a fairy. As in, Faerie creatures. That ‘level one plus’ has to do with her rank in the organization. She’s on the top tier of agents sent out into the field, though she has a boss, and then there are the unnamed ‘upper management’ people.

Several things to know about both Claire and what she does. Claire is roughly 400 years old and very very experienced in her profession. She’s like the gold standard, what with having such critters as Cinderella and Grace Kelly as successful clients (that’s what they call them, clients). In ‘modern times’ the ‘clients’ are a little less excited to meet their fairy godmother than they were in the past – what with having to break through the ‘not believing’ part. As noted, 400 years, much experience, and . . . . somewhat very naïve and inexperienced in certain matters. For example – until this specific story here, despite having lived and worked for 400 years, she wasn’t actually sure demons were real until this story. And, while she knew guardian angels were real (and that there’s a conflict between godmothers and angels), she’s never actually meet one before this story. That naivety and inexperience in certain matters (somewhat unbelievable inexperience), plus long age and deep experience in other matters, was beginning to irritate me. It seemed as if the author wanted the best of both worlds – someone super good, bright, experienced, but they also wanted to have them encounter new things, however unbelievable it would be for them to only know encounter them. Beginning, but then it started to become apparent why there would be this naivety – it gets indirectly explained in the story and becomes a lot more believable.

Tamiel is a guardian angel who Claire encounters while on a case. Being a character without a point of view, there is a lot less known about her than about Claire. Though certain things are known. Just like Claire, in her natural form she’s drop dead gorgeous (though Claire tends to use her powers to morph herself as needed, like into plump little old ladies, or as small children). The kind who wears silvery barely there clingy outfits. And has fire for eyes. Yeah that one threw me. Fire? Ah, hmm.

Story: The story follows Claire as she tries to help two ‘clients’, a Frankie and an Abby. One comes with tattoos, piercings, and a certain reluctance to believe; other is quite eager to believe a fairy godmother has turned up to help them. Both come with issues – Abby, the first meet, is disagreeable and seems determined to not help herself when help is offered; while Frankie has literal demons attacking her on and off.

While trying to meet Frankie for the first time, Claire teleports to her location. And finds herself in a dark dirty dingy alleyway. And the artist Frankie is ‘tagging’ a building. With graffiti. Then a voice begins screaming in Claire’s head, a demon appears, a guardian angel appears, and – well, hell breaks loose. And Claire has to overcome her prejudices against angels, and both the angel and the fairy need to try to help defeat the problems confronting them.

Overall - After I got past that issue of Claire being both experienced and inexperienced, I found her to be an interesting character. And Tamiel seemed interesting enough, though hard to ‘pin down’. I liked what occurred well enough, I might even have been a little tear-eyed at one specific moment (or two). I can’t say anything about the graphic sex scene, though, as that suddenly ‘attacked me’ while I was out and about in public so I mostly skimmed.

Rating: 4.21

February 10 2017

Magnetic by Robin Alexander

Magnetic by Robin Alexander

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I've been burned by some Alexander books. And I've been greatly overjoyed by some. I think that's why I have both a reluctance to read, and a strong draw to read this author's works. So, what happened this time?

I mean, I did just read another book by this author that I wanted to put on my top shelf but couldn't (because that's only for rereads, something I haven't yet done for an Alexander book) - and I do get 'burned out' at times. So . . ., I'm not sure there's an 'obviously' here. I'll note that that other book, 'Next Time', was one of the funniest books I've ever read. And this one? There was a point where I actually thought to myself, somewhere mid-stream, maybe late-ish in the read, that I hadn't so much as giggled. At least didn't recall doing so. So . . . (now we can do an 'obviously', right?). Late in the book there were some rather funny moments, so it wasn't completely humorless.

Right, sorry, I've dragged this out too long. This might be one of the best romance books I've read. Not really sure how or why that occurred, but it did. And almost everything about it screams that it's the kind of story that I'd run away from, or, if I saw the right type of hints, add to my 'not read because' shelf. Yet . . . I loved this romance. So, yes, this is yet another Alexander book I wish I could put on that top tier shelf, that six star one. Instead I have to content myself with placing it on my 5+ shelf.

The story? Well, a top level executive, the kind who basically works non-stop, is in Detroit about to do a presentation. Her six year long relationship comes to a close right beforehand, though, via e-mail. She then hooks up with a woman who pushes the right buttons, and she pours all the passion and desire into that hook up that has mostly been missing for the last six years. She then leaves, expecting to never see this woman again.

Something like a month later, Layne's boss (this being that hard charging woman's name) forces her to take a two week vacation. He 'misses his tiger' or some weird wording like that. With great reluctance, Layne goes on said short notice vacation. She brings along her three best friends. Two of them are a long term couple, third is a player. That player, though, has been in a 2 week vacation - completely unlike her. And her girlfriend turns up at the airport before they fly to Florida. That girlfriend is the woman Layne slept with in Detroit. Stacey. Both are shocked at seeing the other. The vacation goes on. Much tension.

Layne, it would appear, now finds herself having 'feelings' for a woman who is a girlfriend of one of her best friends. She's in a very bad situation now - and she can't get away from it, much as she tries. Every time she turns around, she runs into Stacey (almost literally, it was Stacy who, while jogging, ran into Layne, that one time).

Events unfold. Stuff happens. Weirdly, for me, I found it to be a great romance. Also, weirdly for me, I actually read the graphic sexual scenes while in public (something I've commented before on - that I seem cursed to always have those scenes come up while I'm in public, and so I tend to skim them). Less because I wanted to specifically read those scenes, and more because I wanted to read all the words on the page about this somewhat different romance.

By the way - I've made comments here and there, noticing certain things that this author likes to include, little hints here and there that it is an Alexander book (humor, location, old grandmas, etc.) - well, I know and felt that I was reading an Alexander book, but I didn't feel as if I'd already meet any of these characters before. Nor did most of those other little bits of other stuff turn up (except for the Louisiana part). This is something I noticed, but now forget how I wanted to make note of it in this review. Um . . so . . that occurred? heh.

Rating: 5+

February 10 2017



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Roots of Murder by R. Jean Reid

Roots of Murder: A Novel of Suspense by R. Jean Reid

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


My link to the internet hasn't been good so I might rewrite the below at some point when I have a better connection. Spend more than 3 minutes on it.

Long and short: Good solid mystery set in Mississippi. The owner of a small town newspaper, a woman and the lead character, is still in mourning after her husband was killed by a drunk driver. The story follows her on her 'officially there' first issue, then I believe for 3 to 4 weeks. Several issues of interest: the girlfriend (or wife?) of the man who killed Nell's husband (Nell being the as yet unnamed by me main character) keeps calling Nell begging for Nell to not press charges because . . . . it's too hard to have him go to jail - plus the brothers miss their little brother and . . . might do something (threat followed through).

Meanwhile there's a mayor's race - current incompentent mayor running against two no-chance candidates - one because he wants to go back to the good old days of slavery and stuff (Everett) and is therefore too extreme, while the other one is . . . black. So obviously Marcus, the black candidate, has no chance. Then a man from a prominent family throws his name into the ring, late but still - he is from a prominent family. So now it's neck-and-neck for the mayor race. The book is less about that race than about the newspaper covering it and uncovering things from long ago.

The main story-line, though, involve the uncovering of bones that show obvious evidence of murder. There is a good chance that this long ago murder might have an impact on the mayor race - since the bones had been on the current mayor's former land (donated to become a park with the prevision that it would not be developed). The long shot can't win candidate, Marcus, tips Nell off on who the bones might belong to - though somewhat indirectly by pushing a specific name in front of her - that specific name knew of corrupt land deals that moved 20% of the black owned land to white owners from around the late 1950s to late 1960s (or there abouts). Is the land corruption that occurred roughly at the same time as the murder have any actual connection with each other? That's one of those mystery things that's tracked in the book.

I rather liked most of the characters. Very well rounded, deep critters. My main problem with the book lies in something Nell did during the story. 1) she drank a lot (in and of itself . . meh; 2) her husband was killed by a drunk driver (view spoiler)[and there is a long scene during which Nell drove around drunk. She had gone to a party - driven there by someone else, so she allowed herself to drink. When she was dropped off at home, her kids were at her dead husband's mother's place and . . the house was too empty. So she drank more. Then, couldn't stay in that empty house and . . . . went driving. Randomly. With no destination. While dunk. WTF? (hide spoiler)]

Rating: 4.54

February 9 2017



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The Time Before Now by Missouri Vaun

The Time Before Now by Missouri Vaun

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Ah shesh. heh. - A) seconds (minutes, or whatever) before 'it' happened, an event before the end of the book, I had the thought that 'the way two lesbians would, in this world, get a kid . . .' would be x. Then, seemingly immediately after that thought, x occurred. mmphs; B) a 'touching' Cheerekee story is told - problem is that I've heard/read that story way too often while still feeling annoyed about what all occurred just there at the end of the book.

But that seemed to be a theme of the book. Tragic events occur - beginning, middle, end. Weird overly dramatic events. That don't impact me the way they probably should. Like - in the beginning of the book, Elizabeth (side character) and Vivian (main character) had an affair. There was a massive amount of foreshadowing - the kind where the character herself, Vivian, was telling herself that she was being stupid and then . . . she's horribly horribly betrayed when the worst happened. Which, sadly, can be realistic - no matter how you prepare yourself for something, an event can still deeply negatively impact you. Reasonable for the character. For me the reader? I was mostly 'meh' about the issue.

Reoccurring theme. As noted. People bouncing along and . . tragedy! Each. Bloody. Turn. I think there might have been a section missing, that I either accidentally missed, or wasn't in my book - when Vivian crossed the Mississippi river - because she arrived thinking that she had nothing to trade. She was waiting to cross on the ferry. Now we are miles away. Um, wha? And Vivian feels bad about what happened 'back there'. I mention this because that specific river crossing seemed to be the only occasion in the book wherein something 'tragic' didn't get slipped in. Every bloody step of the way - tragedy. mmphs. Unrelenting tragedy. That I mostly felt meh about pre-during-post occurrence. Weird - that.

Another weird thing was I figured I'd begin this review talking about other stories I'd read that were like this one here - the kind like S.M. Stirlings that showed 'us' (as in the readers world) go into a disaster event, and then over the course of the series reach one or more generations later - the generations that don't even 'know' how the 'prior' world was really like - the kind of world where people entertained kids by telling them stories - recreating movies in oral bard like ways. Or, stories more like this one here - wherein some event occurred, and we, the readers, are picking things up a century or more after the fact.

These kinds of books can be neat. And this one also was 'neat'. It was also . . . overly determined to have every bloody moment have a scene of tragic importance in it. mmphs.

Rating: 3.64

February 6 2017



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The Sniper's Kiss by Justine Saracen

The Sniper's Kiss
by Justine Saracen
Pages: 288
Date: March 14 2017
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Series: None

Review
Rating: 4.25
Read: February 2 to 3 2017

*I received this book from NetGalley, and Bold Strokes Books in return for a fair review.*

Genre/tags: Historical Fiction, military fiction, politics, war, WWII
Location: New York, Washington DC, Tehran Iran, Moscow Russia, Other parts of Soviet Union, Eastern Front (including Belarus)
Characters: Main - Mia Kramer and Alexia Vassilievna Mazarova (both have Point of views);
famous side characters: Harry Hopkins (boss of Mia), Franklin Delano Roosevelt (USA President), Eleanor Roosevelt, Lorena Hickok (Eleanor's 'close' friend), Joseph Stalin (Soviet Premier), Vyacheslav Molotov (Minister of Foreign Affairs - Soviet Union), Lyudmila Pavlichenko (Soviet sniper with 309 kills), Fyodor Dostoyevsky ('obviously enough' Dostoyevsky does not make a physical appearance in the story - but he is brought up so often, his writings and the like, that he feels like another character in the story).

The book was not exactly what I thought it would be about - it opens with a prologue - a discussion with a Russian/Soviet sniper with someone named 'Mia'. Then moves to Mia's Point of View doing stuff . . . in the USA. As a citizen of the US. That's part of the - 'not exactly what I thought' comment.

Another part of that 'not exactly what expected' leads directly from the synopsis of the book 'It is 1944 . . . in the midst of it, two . . . women meet . . .murder in her heart . . . killed a hundred of them . . .' are all misleading. It's not 1944 when the book opens in chapter one in 1942, and for a good portion of the book, it is 1943. And the two women do not meet in the midst of the war in Europe, they meet in Iran, I'm not sure what 'murder in her heart' refers to, and that last one is . . . well, wrong. Though the sniper in the prologue had killed 309 men for Stalin. Not a main character, though.

Mia Kramer, otherwise known as Demetria Fyodorovna Kaminskaya ('They made us change our name when we arrived in the country'), starts the novel answering questions from the police. Who suspect her of having murdered her father. They can't pin it on her, though, so she moves on with her live - to a certain extent, finally starts it (since she had been under the very controlling thumb of her father before hand). She moves to Washington DC to work for the Government, and eventually, about a year later, moves to a job with the Lend-Lease program and living & working in the White House directly for the man running Lend-Lease, Harry Hopkins.

Mia is 29, though I wasn't certain of that until I looked over the book again just now - and saw her application where it listed her age. So, Mia is 29 in 1943 when she begins work as Harry Hopkins assistant at the White House. Before she can even learn what her actual duties entail, a man in a wheelchair enters the room - the president. So - it's that kind of book. The kind where a lower ranking individual is close to several people of power, including the president, his wife, and others. And even has drinks with Stalin (I might mention why later).

And before Mia can settle into her new job, she's off to Tehran with Hopkins for a meeting between Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill. This is where Mia first spots the other lead character of this book, as a very sharply dressed guard. Though the reader encountered Alexia earlier in the book. They don’t actually meet at this time Tehran, though, just see each other.

Alexia Vassilievna Mazarova started the book as a teacher – specifically one attempting to fight fires at her school in Arkhangelsk caused by German planes. When the school explodes, Alexia sees it as a sign to join the fight. And so she does, she enlists in the Red Army. After training she ends up in an elite guard unit that guards such things as the Kremlin and Stalin. Whether or not it is accurate, it is speculated that she got the job because of her looks. (Though she did get high marks in marksmanship in training.).

Story:
The book follows both Mia and Alexia as they attempt to live their lives against the backdrop of WWII (at least during the years of 1942-1945) - their lives mostly out of their own control because of WWII. Through various means, Mia ends up working directly for the man who runs the Lend-Lease program for Roosevelt. Which means that she rubs shoulders with several historically significant individuals, some clearly remembered in our time (the Roosevelt's and Stalins of the story), some more hidden (the famous, at the time, snipers and government officials).

Similarly Alexia ends up being a low-level individual who through various means, apparently mostly because of her looks, ends up rubbing shoulders - or at least is in the same room as some famous individuals. Mostly through her first assignment after training - working as an elite honor guard in Moscow.

"A name, for a kill? What's that?"
"The sniper's kiss."

Those following along, and/or seeing the title, seeing the book description, might be confused. Up to this point the only sniper I've mentioned is a side character, a famous one, but still - a barely seen side character. So . . . what gives? Well, somewhere along the line Alexia feels that it is somewhat 'cowardly' to be in the honor guard while a war is on. She feels like she needs to be at the front. And, somewhere along the line, she transfers from this elite honor guard to the sniper school - and from there moves to a unit to be a sniper.

The book, to a large extent, is quite interesting - though more as a look into an area of history largely outside most fictional accounts of the war, and less as something else, like, say, a romance (though there is something of that going on). Specifically the parts seen from the eyes of Soviet troops (Alexia . . . and later Mia); and specifically the parts seen by government types making sure the lend-lease program is operating correctly (Mia).

The book is more satisfying as a work of historical fiction, than as a romance. Largely because the people involved were reacting to events and unable to control them, shape them, mold them.

Rating: 4.25

February 4 2017