... On my current read: The Demon's Librarian by Lilith Saintcrow

I'm currently reading Lilith Saintcrow's The Demon's Librarian. I've had this book in my TBB list since 2009 and became interested in reading it again after reading her novella in the Dark and Stormy Knights anthology last year. Oh well... I do get to the books on my lists sooner or later.

Anyway, I couldn't help but come back here to share a couple of snippets with you all. Chess, the Jericho City Public Library's head librarian, had me in stitches throughout the beginning of the book with her personal ruminations about her joys and frustrations.

With libraries closing left and right around the country at this very moment, this first quote (from a book published in 2009) is the first one that caught my eye:

While the good citizens of Jericho City would pay
thousands yearly for plastic surgery and to pad the pockets of
the mayor's friends, they simply would not vote a couple of
measly bucks onto their property taxes to take care of her
library. Lovely. Remind me to spit in a city councilman's
coffee cup the first chance I get. Page 4

And after killing the demon, this one made me laugh because yeah... it just sounds so easy in the books, but imagine how tough it would be in reality. Plus, that last line! The bold lettering is from me:

She coughed and gagged again, trying not to lose
everything she'd ever thought of eating in the last week. The
books always make this stuff sound so goddamn easy. They
don't mention the smell. Or the way getting hit in the face
with a tentacle as big around as your thigh hurts. Her eye
was puffing closed, she could feel it throbbing and swelling to
almost the size of a baseball.

Wonderful.

Chess swallowed dryly, pleading with her stomach to stay
down. The smell of garbage coated the back of her throat,
and she probably had gotten some of the slimy water in her
mouth. I don't think it's good for my image to blow chunks all
over a ... what's this thing called again? Either a skornac or
just plain Demon-With-Many-Arms. Particularly allergic to a
fire-consecrated demon-hunter's knife. One more case where
an ounce of research is worth a pound of "oh fuck." Page 5

Later Chess has to deal with Mrs. Pembroke, an older lady who seems to think almost everything in the library contains "smut" and should be removed from the shelves. Here "the Indignant" comes in to demand that "Huckleberry Finn" be removed from the library's Young Adult section:

"Won't you sit down, Mrs. Pembroke?" Chess inquired
sweetly. "It's so good to see you. May I offer you a cup of
tea?" Or a face-to-face with a tentacled demon in the sewers?
I think that would be just up your alley, Pem.

Pembroke clutched her small purse to her solar plexus as if
strangling a small pet dog against her cardigan. "No ... no
tea." She sounded shocked. Relations between Chess and the
Indignant had been icily polite ever since the great Barbara
Cartland fiasco, with no détente in sight.

After dealing with an octopus-looking demon, Pembroke
the Indignant didn't rattle Chess nearly as much. Page 14

I've always been envious of librarians... working with all those books on a daily basis. *sigh* Of course, Chess is not your everyday librarian since she's out fighting demons, but I'm enjoying this aspect of her character.

Review: The Bargain by Mary Jo Putney

Mismatched lovers and unexpected attraction catch fire in this timeless novel by the New York Times bestselling author and legend in historical romance Mary Jo Putney. . .
Forced to wed to keep her inheritance, independent Lady Jocelyn Kendal finds an outrageous solution: she proposes marriage to Major David Lancaster, an officer dying from his Waterloo wounds. In return for making her his wife, she will provide for his governess sister. But after the bargain is struck and the marriage is made, the major makes a shocking, miraculous recovery. Though they agree to an annulment, such matters take time. . .time enough for David to realize he is irrevocably in love with his wife.

Haunted by her past, Jocelyn refuses to trust the desire David ignites in her. She never counted on a real husband, least of all one who would entice her to be a real wife. But some bargains are made to be broken--and his skilled courtship is impossible to resist. . .

The Bargain by Mary Jo Putney is the re-release of a book originally released in 1989 under the title The Would be Widow.

Jocelyn Kendal must marry immediately in order to keep her inheritance and independence. Major David Lancaster is slowly dying in a hospital ward from wounds received at Waterloo and is concerned about his young sister's future. Jocelyn makes a shocking proposal to David, if he marries her so she can keep her inheritance, she will endow his sister and take care of her after his imminent death. He accepts the bargain.  However after a miraculous recovery from his wounds the bargain becomes a problem for both of them. David finds himself falling in love with his wife and begins a courtship, while Jocelyn refuses to acknowledge there is more than just friendship between them.

There's more to this story though. From the beginning Jocelyn had her eye on the Duke of Canover as the man who would be her future husband and/or lover, but since time was running out and she could not bring him up to scratch, she settled for David instead. The Duke of Canover only makes a few appearances, but it is Jocelyn's musings and the decisions she makes involving him that affected this story for me. In many ways, her deepest thoughts are about him and not David. Jocelyn spent so much time avoiding her feelings for David that this reader never really made that emotional connection between them, at least from her side, until almost the end of the story. David's feelings for Jocelyn are quite palpable throughout.

Jocelyn also comes off as a cold and rather calculating woman toward the beginning of the book, and frankly it took a while before I even liked her as a character. However, Putney develops Jocelyn and as the real woman emerges there is warmth and character growth by the end of the story.

And what of the secondary characters? There's Sally, David's sister, who plays a major role in this romance and ends up having her own secondary romance in the story. I loved her personality, loyalty and inner strength, as well as her romance with the talented doctor Ian Kinlock.

Although The Bargain is not my favorite historical romance by Mary Jo Putney, there are still parts of it to admire. I liked the way Putney made me reconsider both Jocelyn and Sally's characters after an iffy beginning, and David is an admirable character from beginning to end. I love the secondary characters in this book, from the footman who gets to bring his brother home from the hospital to recover from war wounds, to Sally and Ian's romance. And after all that, I ended up rather intrigued by the Duke of Candover's character at the end.

Category: Historical Romance
Series: None
Publisher/Release Date: Zebra; Reprint edition April 5, 2011
Source: I won this book at Moonlight to Twilight Blog from MsM!
Grade: C+

Visit Mary Jo Putney here.

Hilcia's Weekly Reads

Hey a Weekly Reads post from me! It's been a while since I posted one of those, right? But then, it has been a while since I read enough books in one week to do so. Also, two posts in one day... that doesn't happen often around here either. But hey... why not? I've had a good beginning to April and decided to share it with you.

• Chill (Jacob's Ladder, Book 2) by Elizabeth Bear was a book that I began reading in March, but finished in April. This is the followup to Dust, the book that obsessed me back in February. It turns out that as a middle book, it was not as gripping as the first one and it took me a long time to finish it. It does suffer from a bit of the "middle book syndrome" in my opinion. The gorgeous world building is set, the principal cast of characters have been introduced, and now it's a matter of getting them to that finale. There's development of the characters and there's another interesting quest that furthers the overall plot line, but overall it was not as interesting as that first book, Dust. I am, however, really looking forward to reading the end of the trilogy and can't wait for this crew to get to their awaited destination, the planet. The book Grail has been sitting on my coffee table all this time and I just can't wait to find out what happens in the end. Grade C+

• I continued by picking up one of my most anticipated March releases, Children of Scarabaeus (Scarabaeus, Book 2) by Sarah Creasy, the second and last book in her Scarabaeus series. This is the follow-up book to Song of Scarabaeus, a book that I really enjoyed reading and reviewed by February. I have a review on the works, but I can tell you that I definitely look forward to reading other books by Ms. Creasy in the science fiction romance sub-genre.

• The Sweetest Thing (Lucky Harbor #2) by Jill Shalvis came next on list, and that was a wonderful surprise for me as you can read on my review. I didn't really like Tara, the female protagonist, in the first book and I truly dislike triangles, but ended up giving this book an A! The majority of my re-reads are contemporary romances and this book will be placed on that section of my bookshelf once I get the print edition. :)

• I followed by picking up another highly anticipated read, It Happened One Season (Anthology) with Stephanie Laurens, Mary Balogh, Jacquie D'Alessandro and Candice Hern. I took my time reading this anthology and read other books in between the novellas -- I actually finished The Sweetest Thing and Children of Scarabaeus in between novellas. As my Sunday Mini post states this was a mixed bag, but one I enjoyed.

• Yesterday I finished Slow Dancing on Price's Pier by Lisa Dale. This book was one of my anticipated releases for the month of April, and a book I've been looking forward to reading for over a year. I'll be reviewing it, so I won't say too much except that I continue to enjoy Ms. Dale's writing and the way she puts together a story, as well as her in-depth characterization.

• And last, but not least, yesterday I began and finished reading Kiss Across Swords by Teal Ceagh. I won this book over at lovely Leslie's blog, Leslie's Psyche. I downloaded the ebook and just... read it right then and there! It's an erotic, time travel, vampire tale -- MMF. The author was a guest on Leslie's blog on March 31st and I remember loving her post about Claddagh Rings, and also being intrigued at the time because well... the characters in this story go back to the fall of Jerusalem during the Crusades. It seemed as if the historical details alone would be up my alley. Plus, hey, time travel, vampires AND MMF... what's not to look forward to, right? I will be sharing a bit more about this book with all of you soon.

At this moment I'm reading Maisie Dobbs (Book 1) by Jacqueline Winspear. I have Winspear's latest release A Lesson in Secrets on my TBR already, but I decided to at least read the first book in the series to get an idea as to the character before reading her last release. I'm about 29% into the book (Kindle edition), and this is what I had to say in my Goodreads update:

"I'm really taken with how the plight of English soldiers, during and after WWI, is depicted in this mystery novel. I'm loving the details, and the characters so far. Just went backward in time to Maisie's childhood and I'm surprised that I'm enjoying that part of it as much as her "present" time."

That's it for me for the week! Wish me luck, maybe I can do another one of these next week too. :D How was your reading week?

Sunday Mini: It Happened One Season by Stephanie Laurens, Mary Balogh, Jacquie D'Alessandro, Candice Hern

It Happened One Season was an interesting historical romance anthology, and as with many an anthology a mixed bag for me. All the authors stuck to the one plot line they planned to follow: the second son of an earl who is back from the war and needs to marry to provide an heir for the family because his older brother has daughters and no sons. The female protagonist is considered a spinster, plain looking and has never had a beau or in some cases experienced real love.

However, even though all the authors had to follow the above mentioned plot line, each story is very different and tailored to each author's writing style. I specially liked Stephanie Laurens' novella, The Seduction of Sebastian and Mary Balogh's Only Love. Both novellas had well-plotted stories and romances that grew slowly but surely. The characterization was also excellent for novellas and they both felt like much longer reads. Hope Springs Eternal by Jacquie D'Alessandro was the weakest story in my opinion, with a rushed romance and very little conflict; and Fate Strikes a Bargain by Candice Hern was a good read, but not one that stayed with me.

Congratulations to Phyl from Phyl's quilts and books! Your idea for the book was wonderful and I enjoyed reading how the different authors went about interpreting it.

Category: Historical Romance

Series: Anthology

Publisher/Released: Harper Collins March 29, 2011 - Kindle Edition

Grade: C+

Friday to Friday: Historical Fiction and Leonardo Padura Fuentes

So how was your week? Mine is finally done! It's still rainy and cold in Jersey, but at least I'm home cozy and warm at the moment. I had a long working-week, but it turned out to be good with one book-related event this last week and some really nice reads.

Last Friday night, as a last minute outing, my brothers invited me to go along with them to meet Leonardo Padura Fuentes, a favorite author, in an evening at the Instituto Cervantes New York at Amster Yard in New York City. Mr. Padura was hosting a chat where he was discussing history and fiction in his latest release, the literary historical fiction novel El Hombre Que Amaba a Los Perros -- you might have seen that book mentioned here before. I've also mentioned my favorite works by him to date, the Inspector Mario Conde series.

It was an informal chat where basically he explained the process used while researching the novel, although he did address the fictional part of the book briefly. However, most of the evening was taken up with questions and answers about Trotsky's fascinating character, as well as that of his assassin, Rafael Mercader.

The key points for me came when he focused on how to pull together all that historical research he gathered throughout five long years and put together a fictional novel.  His points:

• Respect historical moments when writing the fictional aspect of the story. 
• Construct fiction as logically as possible while combining it with history. 
• Characterization is key, especially that of the fictional characters in the book. In El Hombre Que Amaba a Los Perros that would be Ivan, a seemingly insignificant secondary character, but the very important narrator of the story.
• Take into consideration that in a historical fiction novel there is no mystery as the end is usually well known. 
• The narrative, making it fast paced and constructing the plot into a novel instead of a historical piece, is key.

Mr. Padura was quite gracious and the question and answer session, where not only this book but his other works were discussed, lasted quite a long time, and he and his beautiful wife gave of their time afterward as well. I took the opportunity to speak to him personally and he signed my book. Meeting him was an unexpected pleasure. 

About the Author: Leonardo Padura was born in 1955 in Havana and lives in Cuba. He is a journalist and writer of novels and essays, as well as screenplays. His literary works include a number of short-story collections, literary essays and nine novels translated into over 15 different languages but international fame came with the Havana Quartet, all featuring Inspector Mario Conde.

The Inspector Mario Conde Series:

• Pasado perfecto (1991). Havana Blue (2007)
• Vientos de cuaresma (1994). Havana Gold (2008)
• Mascaras (1997). Havana Red (2005)
• Paisaje de otoño (1998). Havana Black (2006)
• La Neblina de Ayer. Havana Fever (2009)
• Adiós Hemingway (2005, novella); published with same title in English in 2006 - the first of his books to be translated into English.