Walt Longmire Mystery Series by Craig Johnson

 

Title: The Cold Dish

Author: Craig Johnson

Genre: Fiction

Other Books I've Listened to by this Author: Death Without Company, Kindness Goes Unpunished

Synopsis: Sheriff Walter Longmire solves crimes in Absaroka County, Wyoming with his deputies and best friend, Henry Standing Bear.

My Thoughts

I was a big fan of the Longmire television series inspired by these books, so I decided to check out the books. I truly love to read so I had not ventured into the world of audiobooks, but when I decided to take the train to Montana I knew this would be the perfect series to enjoy along the way. Having motion sickness and knowing that I would want to see all the scenery traveling from Ohio to Montana I decided that it was time to give audiobooks a try. 

The narrator who reads this series has the perfect voice for Walt Longmire. He is very good and really enjoyable to listen to, though sometimes it is so soothing I accidentally drift off. I can't imagine enjoying the rest of the series in any other format.

As for the novels themselves, I really love the author's style. The humor is smart and quippy, the characters are well developed, and the mystery always has some twists and turns that keep the reader guessing. Sheriff Longmire is a complicated person with strong relationships with the people of the community, his out-of-state daughter, meanwhile dealing with the loss of his wife.

While the storyline is a bit different than the tv show, I find it just as enjoyable with a modern western feel and relatable characters.

Comment below if you have read this book or have suggestions for others like it!

To buy this book from Amazon now, click on the image at the top of the post.
To see more from the author, visit the website linked above

The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier

 

Title: The Last Runaway

Author: Tracy Chevalier

Genre: Historical Fiction

Other Books I've Read by this Author: The Girl With the Pearl Earring

Synopsis: "Honor Bright is a modest English Quaker with a broken heart. Emigrating to Ohio with her sister in the hope of making a new life, she soon discovers that 19th-century America hard, precarious place to live. Its people are practical and unsentimental, its climate challenging. Even its quilts are different from those she makes. Moreover, it is divided by slavery, legal in southern states and opposed by many northerners.

One day a runaway slave appears in the farmyard of Honor’s new family, and she must decide what to do. Even Quakers - famed for championing human equality - may hesitate to break the laws of the land. Drawn into the clandestine activities of the Underground Railroad, a network of people helping runaways escape to freedom, Honor befriends two surprising women who demonstrate what defiance can achieve. Eventually, she must decide if she too can act on what she believes in, whatever the personal costs." - Back Cover

My Thoughts

As an Ohioan myself, I was so intrigued to read about Honor Bright's immigration here in the 1850s. This novel brings together so many interesting topics, immigration from England to the US, the Quaker faith, Ohio homesteads in the Quaker community, the Underground Railroad and the role Oberlin played in it, and the Fugitive Slave Law. 

It is definitely a coming-of-age story for Honor but also highlights the difficulty in deciding between what is morally right vs what the law requires. The reader can understand why the Haymakers would follow the laws rather than their conscience and the teachings of their Quaker faith and also why Honor cannot ignore her principles. 

Reading about what life was like in Ohio in the 19th century is also super interesting especially when many of the cities mentioned still exist today. Oberlin still carries a reputation for being a progressive town but I didn't realize that it extended so far back into its history. I really enjoyed this novel and look forward to reading more from this author.

Comment below if you have read this book or have suggestions for others like it!

To buy this book from Amazon now, click on the image at the top of the post.
To see more from the author, visit the website linked above

The Queen's Secret by Karen Harper

 

Title: The Queen's Secret

Author: Karen Harper

Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis: '1939. As the wife of King George VI and the mother of the future queen, Elizabeth—“the queen mother”—shows a warm, smiling face to the world. But it’s no surprise that Hitler himself calls her the “Most Dangerous Woman in Europe.” For behind that soft voice and kindly demeanor is a will of steel.

Two years earlier, George was thrust onto the throne when his brother Edward abdicated, determined to marry his divorced, American mistress Mrs. Simpson. Vowing to do whatever it takes to make her husband’s reign a success, Elizabeth endears herself to the British people, and prevents the former king and his brazen bride from ever again setting foot in Buckingham Palace.

Elizabeth holds many powerful cards, she’s also hiding damaging secrets about her past and her provenance that could prove to be her undoing.'- Back Cover

My Thoughts

As a lover of the British Royal Family, I was excited to read this novel as soon as I saw it was coming out. It was a cute look into life in the palace during WWII, with some moments of sadness and tragedy of war, but not the best story of WWII London that I have read. It focused intensely on rumors about The Queen Mother that I had never heard before, questioning her legitimacy and stating that her children were products of artificial insemination. She is also afraid that Bertie will find out that she was sexually assaulted by his brother David in her youth. I wouldn't mind a story that focuses on her fear of these secrets coming to light but it was repetitive and obvious in restating how afraid she was that anyone would find out. It was not following the 'show, don't tell' model that budding writers are encouraged to use. 

If you are looking for a quick and easy read featuring the royal family this is fine, but not deep or hard-hitting. 

Comment below if you have read this book or have suggestions for others like it!

To buy this book from Amazon now, click on the image at the top of the post.
To see more from the author, visit the website linked above

Written in My Own Heart's Blood by Diana Gabaldon

                                                          

Author: Diana Gabaldon
Genre: Fiction, SciFi, Historical, Fantasy

Other books I've read by this author: Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, Drums of Autumn, The Fiery Cross, A Breath of Snow and Ashes, An Echo in Bone

Synopsis: "1778: France declares war on Great Britain, the British army leaves Philadelphia, and George Washington’s troops leave Valley Forge in pursuit. At this moment, Jamie Fraser returns from a presumed watery grave to discover that his best friend has married his wife, his illegitimate son has discovered (to his horror) who his father really is, and his beloved nephew, Ian, wants to marry a Quaker. Meanwhile, Jamie’s wife, Claire Randall, and his sister, Jenny, are busy picking up the pieces.

 
The Frasers can only be thankful that their daughter Brianna and her family are safe in twentieth-century Scotland. Or not. In fact, Brianna is searching for her own son, who was kidnapped by a man determined to learn her family’s secrets. Her husband, Roger, has ventured into the past in search of the missing boy . . . never suspecting that the object of his quest has not left the present. Now, with Roger out of the way, the kidnapper can focus on his true target: Brianna herself." -Back Cover

My Thoughts

I have been a little remiss in my posting of these reviews recently. I have read two books since I last posted, so I am trying to catch up. You guys all know how much I love this series, it just keeps getting better. We continue to see the American Revolution from the perspective of those from both sides of the war, the Frasers (Continental Army) and the Greys (British Army). I continue to love getting to know William Ransom as portions of the novel follow him. He is now dealing with the knowledge that Jamie is his biological father and all the feels that come along with that. Lord John Grey is one of my favorite characters, so I am always excited when he is back in the Frasers' lives. 

I have read so these novels so quickly in the past year and a half that I have now only one currently written novel left to read, which is sadly still only in hardcover. Yep, it's that new. As of now, Gabaldon has promised this is a 10 book series, so I am excited and sad to be done with 8 of them. I am keeping my spirits up with the knowledge that there are still all the books the focus on John Grey that intersperse with the main novels, so I still have plenty of Outlander reading to do in the future. 

Can't wait to head back to Fraser's Ridge when the next book makes its paperback debut! 

Comment below if you have read this book or have suggestions for others like it!




To buy this book from Amazon now, click on the image at the top of the post.
To see more from the author, visit the website linked above

 

Tidelands by Philippa Gregory

                                                            

Title: Tidelands
Author: Philippa Gregory
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis: "On Midsummer’s Eve, Alinor waits in the church graveyard, hoping to encounter the ghost of her missing husband and thus confirm his death. Until she can, she is neither maiden nor wife nor widow, living in a perilous limbo. Instead, she meets James, a young man on the run. She shows him the secret ways across the treacherous marshy landscape of the Tidelands, not knowing she is leading a spy and an enemy into her life.

England is in the grip of a bloody civil war that reaches into the most remote parts of the kingdom. Alinor’s suspicious neighbors are watching each other for any sign that someone might be disloyal to the new parliament, and Alinor’s ambition and determination mark her as a woman who doesn’t follow the rules. They have always whispered about the sinister power of Alinor’s beauty, but the secrets they don’t know about her and James are far more damning. This is the time of witch-mania, and if the villagers discover the truth, they could take matters into their own hands."

Other books I have read by this author: The Other Queen, The Boleyn Inheritance, The Constant Princess, The Last Tudor, The Taming of the Queen, The Queen's Fool, The Other Boleyn Girl, The Lady of the Rivers, The White Queen, The Red Queen, The Kingmaker's Daughter, The White Princess, The Red Princess, The King's Curse, The Virgin's Lover, Three Sisters, Three Queens, Changeling, Stormbringer and Fool's Gold, Dark Tracks

My Thoughts

Disappointing. Yep, I said it. As you can see from that intense list of books I've read by this author I keep coming back for more awesome historical fiction from her. After being disappointed by the Order of Darkness series, I was a little tentative picking up Tidelands, but I hoped since it was not written as YA fiction that this novel would satisfy my high expectations of the writing I've come to expect from Gregory's Cousin's War novels. My hopes were sadly dashed. 

This novel is set during the English Civil War, which I was super excited about. Unfortunately, this story is the played-out 'women have no rights at this time and an unmarried woman is in a precarious situation, especially in a small town' storyline just set in English Tidelands. There was nothing fresh about this novel, it was entirely predictable. Now, I understand that in historical novels you may know the outcome of the historical event, but that doesn't mean that every aspect of the story had to be predictable on the way there. Honestly, I couldn't wait to finish this book and move on to another. I think Gregory works best in the parameters of filling in the blanks of the life of historical figures in biographical fiction than creating interesting characters of her own. I have no interest in reading the rest of this series in the least.

Comment below if you have read this book or have suggestions for others like it!


To buy this book from Amazon now, click on the image at the top of the post.
To see more from the author, visit the website linked above

An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon

                                                          

 Title: An Echo in the Bone

Author: Diana Gabaldon
Genre: Fiction, SciFi, Historical, Fantasy

Other books I've read by this author: Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, Drums of Autumn, The Fiery Cross, A Breath of Snow and Ashes

Synopsis: "Jamie Fraser, former Jacobite and reluctant rebel, is already certain of three things about the American rebellion: The Americans will win, fighting on the side of victory is no guarantee of survival, and he’d rather die than have to face his illegitimate son—a young lieutenant in the British army—across the barrel of a gun.

Claire Randall knows that the Americans will win, too, but not what the ultimate price may be. That price won’t include Jamie’s life or his happiness, though—not if she has anything to say about it.

Meanwhile, in the relative safety of the twentieth century, Jamie and Claire’s daughter, Brianna, and her husband, Roger MacKenzie, have resettled in a historic Scottish home where, across a chasm of two centuries, the unfolding drama of Brianna’s parents’ story comes to life through Claire’s letters. The fragile pages reveal Claire’s love for battle-scarred Jamie Fraser and their flight from North Carolina to the high seas, where they encounter privateers and ocean battles—as Brianna and Roger search for clues not only to Claire’s fate but to their own. Because the future of the MacKenzie family in the Highlands is mysteriously, irrevocably, and intimately entwined with life and death in war-torn colonial America." - back cover. 

My Thoughts

Love. Gabaldon somehow intertwines so many storylines and characters into one book and does it with ease. The reader gets to learn more about Lord John's stepson, William Ransom as he fights for the British in America. As always, Gabaldon does an amazing job of incorporating the historical time period into the events of the novel and the lives of the characters. Seeing the American Revolutionary War from the perspectives of Claire, Jamie, and William provides a unique view of a time in history I've read many novels about.  

The way that Brianna and Roger get to 'keep tabs' on Claire and Jamie is also a cute way to keep their stories intertwined in different times. So many characters from previous novels make an appearance once again and some important new ones play a large role in the plot. Plus, time is spent by many of them back at Lallybroch, which I was so glad to get to visit once again.

My only complaint about this novel would be that ONCE AGAIN Jamie and Claire are attacked while on a ship. This storyline has been totally played out so far in this series, in my opinion. 

Comment below if you have read this book or have suggestions for others like it!




To buy this book from Amazon now, click on the image at the top of the post.
To see more from the author, visit the website linked above

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

                                                            

 Title: Memoirs of a Geisha

Author: Arthur Golden

Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis: 9-year-old Chiyo lives in a poor fishing village with her parents and sister in Japan. Chiyo's mother is dying and when Mr. Tanaka, a wealthy man from town, encounters Chiyo in the street he makes an offer to her father, she and her sister are sold and taken to Gion. Chiyo is sold to an okiya as a maid and is offered the possibility to train as a geisha, but it is not as simple as it sounds. It is a difficult life, to begin with, but especially when the only geisha in the okiya has decided Chiyo is the enemy. When Chiyo meets the chairman of the major electric company in Japan her hope of becoming a geisha is renewed, but that brings its own unique set of challenges.

My Thoughts

I know I'm super late to the game on this book, it is already critically acclaimed and has been made into a movie, but when it was first published I was much too young to read it. (I was about nine.) A colleague of mine had recommended it several times as his favorite book so when I found it on the clearance rack at Barnes and Noble I had to pick it up.

I really enjoyed following Chiyo's journey to becoming Sayuri, a Gion geisha. I learned a lot about the life, training, and expectations of a geisha and the added historical context of being a geisha in Japan during WWII. I have read so much about the perspectives of the people in Allied countries during WWII but much less about those living in Axis countries, especially those who were not active military participants. There are so many layers to this novel driven by complex characters and I really loved reading it... even if I was late to the game. 

Comment below if you have read this book or have suggestions for others like it!

To buy this book from Amazon now, click on the image at the top of the post.
To see more from the author, visit the website linked above