Operation "Fifty in Twelve": April Round-Up.
Ugh, I suck. I've been meaning to post this for ages but somehow I always kept forgetting when I had the time. No I actually don't have the time (because I really need to send off at least two or three more job applications before the end of the month) so that's of course the perfect time to finally get around posting my really meagre book count for April (and add one I forgot in the March round-up, huh). Let's get it on, then.
To Sir Phillip, With Love, Julia Quinn
Ah, yeah, another romance, another Quinn, another Bridgerton. This one was new for me and I've been wanting to read Eloise Bridgerton's story for a while before deciding to just give it a try. I liked it. I wasn't overwhelmed with love for this book (like I was for The Viscount Who Loved Me) but it was fun, it had a good plot arc and it tackled something rarely seen in romances, especially Regency romances: depression and suicide (so, if that is not your thing, steer clear of this one. It's a major plot point, so it's mentioned really often). I definitely liked Eloise for her no-nonsense personality and her decision to take life into her own hands, but I knew that already from the other Bridgerton books and it was one of the major reasons I wanted to read this book in the first place. I wasn't so sure about Sir Phillip because he's a bit of a difficult character for a romance novel but Quinn gave him a really great character development without completely changing his personality. At the end, he's still given to brooding and being a tad high-handed but Quinn had him confront his own trauma and insecurities over the course of the book, so I'm mostly okay with him. All in all, nice reading, good plot, likable characters but not really on par with Quinn's best works.
Rating: * * * */* * * * *
Lady Maggie's Secret Scandal, Grace Burrows
A Windham book (the original Windhams, not the cousins from the Windham Brides series). I wasn't really interested in it after first discovering the Windham series but I was kinda sold on it once I learned more about Lady Maggie in the other books. A few of the other Windham girls admire and envy her for having held out with marriage until she turned 30 (which is really, really old for a Regency romance heroine) and could finally convince her father (the Duke of Windham, of whom she is an illigitimate daughter) to let her set up her own household to live independently (she is described as having a head for investments and finances, so she actually is independently wealthy, despite being the daughter of a duke, which is pretty rare in Regency romance novels). I wanted to read something with a heroine older than 30 (I think she's 32 or something in the book), so I gave it a chance. I wasn't disappointed. The plot is pretty exciting, with subterfuge and secrets, I like the family theme (the entire plot hinges on Lady Maggie trying to stop her birth mother from destroying the family of her father, and I especially loved the parts of the book that concern themselves with the relationship between Lady Maggie and the duchess, her adoptive mother) and the dialogues are, as always, lovely. Benjamin Hazlit, the leading man, takes a little getting used to but I loved to read him verbally spar with Lady Maggie. This one was really fun and possibly one of my favorite Burrows books.
Rating: * * * */* * * * *
The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House, Kate Andersen Brower
I was on a little US policy and culture binge in March and April, and this was the tail end of it (I still have another couple books on the list like The View From Flyoverr Country, Madeleine Albright's Madam Secretary: A Memoir (Madeleine and I share a birthday, so naturally, she's my second favorite Secretary of State after Hillary Clinton), The Gatekeepers about the Chiefs of Staff and David Axelrod's memoir Believer but political books are usually heavy weights and I'd actually wanted to read some light stuff first before delving back into politics). I've read a lot of stuff about politics and policies but I also love reading behind the scenes how the hell does this work stuff and after the hullaballoo about Fire & Fury (and having read Alyssa Mastromonaco's wonderful Who Thought This Was a Good Idea?: And Other Question You Should Have Answers To When You Work In The White House in December. This woman was once on a list of "the ten most influential people in Washington D.C. you have never heard of" and was married by Justice Sonia Sotomayor. She's a few years older than me, has no kids but a lot of cats and is kinda my role model now), I wanted to know how the White House works, when, you know, an actual pro is at the helm, not that orange clown who's currently occupying it with his spawn straight out of nepotism hell. I actually didn't find anything on that but I did find The Residence, which turned out to be a lucky find. It takes a look at the private side of the White House (called the Residence), and especially the people working there and serving the First Family. Brower chronicles the White House Residence beginning with the Eisenhowers and ending with the Obamas, and man, I actually learned a lot from this book. I nearly cried during the parts when Brower talked about how the majority of the Residence workers are black and what it meant for them when the Obamas moved into the White House, and I never knew that the First Family has to pay for the renovations they order before moving in and about the art collection and people, this is a whole fountain of knowledge you never thought you needed! My only major peeve was that I couldn't really find out Brower's concept. Like, she meanders a lot between First Families and isn't chronological but I couldn't really find out what her line is instead. That threw me off a little, but she has an otherwise engaging style that keeps you reading and the research that went into this book must have been staggeringly extensive, so it's still really worth the read.
Rating: * * * */* * * * *
Book count as of April 30: 23/50
So what about you? Any interesting books? Or are you reacting to the first real heat wave of the year (I still have a bad feeling about this. Mainly that this heat wave will just stay here for the next three months, not ever letting up. Just like those eight weeks of hell we had like three years ago. Eurgh.) like I do, meaning your brain just shuts down and you pray for it to end so you can resume your normal cognitive functions?
To Sir Phillip, With Love, Julia Quinn
Ah, yeah, another romance, another Quinn, another Bridgerton. This one was new for me and I've been wanting to read Eloise Bridgerton's story for a while before deciding to just give it a try. I liked it. I wasn't overwhelmed with love for this book (like I was for The Viscount Who Loved Me) but it was fun, it had a good plot arc and it tackled something rarely seen in romances, especially Regency romances: depression and suicide (so, if that is not your thing, steer clear of this one. It's a major plot point, so it's mentioned really often). I definitely liked Eloise for her no-nonsense personality and her decision to take life into her own hands, but I knew that already from the other Bridgerton books and it was one of the major reasons I wanted to read this book in the first place. I wasn't so sure about Sir Phillip because he's a bit of a difficult character for a romance novel but Quinn gave him a really great character development without completely changing his personality. At the end, he's still given to brooding and being a tad high-handed but Quinn had him confront his own trauma and insecurities over the course of the book, so I'm mostly okay with him. All in all, nice reading, good plot, likable characters but not really on par with Quinn's best works.
Rating: * * * */* * * * *
Lady Maggie's Secret Scandal, Grace Burrows
A Windham book (the original Windhams, not the cousins from the Windham Brides series). I wasn't really interested in it after first discovering the Windham series but I was kinda sold on it once I learned more about Lady Maggie in the other books. A few of the other Windham girls admire and envy her for having held out with marriage until she turned 30 (which is really, really old for a Regency romance heroine) and could finally convince her father (the Duke of Windham, of whom she is an illigitimate daughter) to let her set up her own household to live independently (she is described as having a head for investments and finances, so she actually is independently wealthy, despite being the daughter of a duke, which is pretty rare in Regency romance novels). I wanted to read something with a heroine older than 30 (I think she's 32 or something in the book), so I gave it a chance. I wasn't disappointed. The plot is pretty exciting, with subterfuge and secrets, I like the family theme (the entire plot hinges on Lady Maggie trying to stop her birth mother from destroying the family of her father, and I especially loved the parts of the book that concern themselves with the relationship between Lady Maggie and the duchess, her adoptive mother) and the dialogues are, as always, lovely. Benjamin Hazlit, the leading man, takes a little getting used to but I loved to read him verbally spar with Lady Maggie. This one was really fun and possibly one of my favorite Burrows books.
Rating: * * * */* * * * *
The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House, Kate Andersen Brower
I was on a little US policy and culture binge in March and April, and this was the tail end of it (I still have another couple books on the list like The View From Flyoverr Country, Madeleine Albright's Madam Secretary: A Memoir (Madeleine and I share a birthday, so naturally, she's my second favorite Secretary of State after Hillary Clinton), The Gatekeepers about the Chiefs of Staff and David Axelrod's memoir Believer but political books are usually heavy weights and I'd actually wanted to read some light stuff first before delving back into politics). I've read a lot of stuff about politics and policies but I also love reading behind the scenes how the hell does this work stuff and after the hullaballoo about Fire & Fury (and having read Alyssa Mastromonaco's wonderful Who Thought This Was a Good Idea?: And Other Question You Should Have Answers To When You Work In The White House in December. This woman was once on a list of "the ten most influential people in Washington D.C. you have never heard of" and was married by Justice Sonia Sotomayor. She's a few years older than me, has no kids but a lot of cats and is kinda my role model now), I wanted to know how the White House works, when, you know, an actual pro is at the helm, not that orange clown who's currently occupying it with his spawn straight out of nepotism hell. I actually didn't find anything on that but I did find The Residence, which turned out to be a lucky find. It takes a look at the private side of the White House (called the Residence), and especially the people working there and serving the First Family. Brower chronicles the White House Residence beginning with the Eisenhowers and ending with the Obamas, and man, I actually learned a lot from this book. I nearly cried during the parts when Brower talked about how the majority of the Residence workers are black and what it meant for them when the Obamas moved into the White House, and I never knew that the First Family has to pay for the renovations they order before moving in and about the art collection and people, this is a whole fountain of knowledge you never thought you needed! My only major peeve was that I couldn't really find out Brower's concept. Like, she meanders a lot between First Families and isn't chronological but I couldn't really find out what her line is instead. That threw me off a little, but she has an otherwise engaging style that keeps you reading and the research that went into this book must have been staggeringly extensive, so it's still really worth the read.
Rating: * * * */* * * * *
Book count as of April 30: 23/50
So what about you? Any interesting books? Or are you reacting to the first real heat wave of the year (I still have a bad feeling about this. Mainly that this heat wave will just stay here for the next three months, not ever letting up. Just like those eight weeks of hell we had like three years ago. Eurgh.) like I do, meaning your brain just shuts down and you pray for it to end so you can resume your normal cognitive functions?