Where did you get this book from: ARC from Publisher

Release date: Out now

This review contains some minor spoilers.

Blurb taken from author’s official website:

…Pride and Prejudice meets Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. It is an intimate portrait of a woman, Jane, and her quest for love in a world where the manipulation of glamour is considered an essential skill for a lady of quality.

Jane and her sister Melody vie for the attentions of eligible men, and while Jane’s skill with glamour is remarkable, it is her sister who is fair of face. When Jane realizes that one of Melody’s suitors is set on taking advantage of her sister for the sake of her dowry, she pushes her skills to the limit of what her body can withstand in order to set things right—and, in the process, accidentally wanders into a love story of her own.

When I received this book for review and saw the very intriguing title, I didn’t know what I was going to expect. Then I read the blurb, and there I was, immersing myself into this romantic fantasy tale.

Jane’s world is full of glamour that is created by threads and folds that come from the Ether. And ladies are expected to be accomplished at glamour. Glamour is an illusion that can be used on anyone and on anything: a person, a house, on a landscape and even used while playing a piano, it can even be used to create things. But it takes a toll on the person manipulating the glamour, and our heroine Jane is very accomplished in the glamour arts; she is considered to be the best in her neighbourhood.

But while Jane is astutely accomplished in the arts, she is considered to be plain of face while her younger sister, Melody, is the beauty of the family. Melody attracts the attention of suitable beaus, while Jane is considered to be the wallflower. While Jane is most sensible, and very calm, she becomes jealous of Melody who becomes enamoured of Mr Dunkirk, a man and neighbour whom Jane has deep feelings for. But Jane’s world of glamour becomes very exciting when Mr Vincent arrives on the scene. Mr Vincent is considered to be thee best glamour/illusionist in the country. And when Jane sees his work at a party, she is spellbound by what she sees. From there, Jane’s calm and not so content world is rocked with secrets that can cause scandals, and she has to endure the grumpy, but oh so fantastic Mr Vincent.

I found Shades of Milk and Honey to be the utmost charming read that features the touch of magic and the fantastical. While in some ways this is an adaptation, in other ways, it’s completely different.

Jane was a great heroine: smart, witty, and most importantly, she wasn’t the perfect, quiet, and meek heroine who didn’t let petty feelings get the better of her. She felt jealousy, she felt sorry for herself, and she expressed anger at her sister. And she wasn’t above letting her sister know those feelings. Jane also didn’t hide away her talent of glamour.  While I enjoyed reading about  glamour and what you could accomplish with it, I did wish it was explained in more detail. The background story of the Ether is not explored, there aren’t any explanations on how it came to be, who discovered it, and how did a person simply reach out into the Ether and manipulate the folds? But despite this, it didn’t distract me from the enjoyment of the book.

Jane’s relationship with Mr Vincent was very slow, but it’s not lacking in the least.  It stuck to the conventions of what was proper in those days (at least I think it did). It was like Lizzie’s and Mr Darcy’s courtship from P&P, but Jane wasn’t as mean as Lizzie . So there’s not much to say on the romance side because declarations of love didn’t come until the end of the book, but Jane’s and Mr Vincent’s interactions were like special occasions that I eagerly looked forward to.  And there’s an important and quite lovely scene in which Mr Vincent gives Jane a gift that was the changing point for their relationship.

This book has a little of everything: romance, magic, fantasy, and some action towards the end which revealed true personalities of characters – especially Melody who had insecurities of her own. Jane’s relationship with her sister was not easy, and both women craved what each other had. And even though Melody did come across as selfish and immature, she wasn’t all bad, even though what she came out with made her seem that way.

I wouldn’t hesitate in book pushing this book onto others, and I can’t wait to see if Mary Robinette Kowal will be writing any more books set in the world of Shades of Milk and Honey.

I give Shades of Milk and Honey 5 stars.

And here’s a very cool, and quite unusual trailer for Shades of Milk and Honey, featuring a style of Puppetry called Shadow Masks. The trailer  is featured over at Mary Robinette Kowal’s website.

Where did you get this book: Won in a contest

Release date: Currently available

This review contains spoilers!

Blurb taken from authors’ official website:

Sixteen year old Anne thinks her life is pretty ordinary – until she smacks into handsome, mysterious, and okay, annoying Ethan on her way to chemistry class. Now Anne has powers she doesn’t understand, a history altering mission she may not want, and a growing attraction to this blue-eyed stranger. And Ethan- who at eighteen made some choices he’s starting to regret – realizes that Anne is the girl for whom he’s been searching – for a very, very long time. Stir in doomed Russian Grand Duchess Anastasia – who is definitely not quite as dead as the history books say – and Baba Yaga, the legendary witch from Russian folklore, and you’ve got DREAMING ANASTASIA, a contemporary YA fantasy that alternates between the voices of Anne, Ethan, and Anastasia as Anne and Ethan join forces to battle the bad guys and save Anastasia. Only problem is – no one’s quite sure who’s really bad and who’s good. And everyone has some secrets.

I have to say, when I read the premise for this story, I was really excited. I’ve always been fascinated by the mystery surrounding the demise of the Romanovs. And when I first started reading the novel, I thought it was going to live up to my expectations.

The visions Anne had of Anastasia were interesting. Ethan popping up in unexpected places was fun. In short, I initially enjoyed discovering the situation with her. But over time, the excitement wore off. I still enjoyed the novel, but it wasn’t as winning as I’d hoped.

Having said that, the basic story itself is very engaging and the characters are interesting. I like how strong Anastasia stayed through her captivity, and I liked the fact that, unlike many YA stories, Anne had a generally good relationship with her parents. Ethan was cute and kind of clumsy with Anne, which was a nice change from the alpha males often seen in YA. And I enjoyed the inclusion of the Baba Yaga mythology. In other words, there were a lot of things I liked.

The problem is there was a lot I wasn’t fond of too. First, while multiple first person stories aren’t a turn off, I need all the narrators to have very distinct voices. I didn’t feel that with Dreaming Anastasia, particularly with regard to Anne and Ethan’s chapters. And while I liked the inclusion of Anastasia’s journal/letters, I’d like to deck whoever picked the font. It was horribly difficult to read, especially by book light late at night. (Though I don’t hold the author responsible for that choice, it still affected my reading pleasure.)

The way Anne kept worrying about things like skipping class (when Baba Yaga’s giant disembodied hands were chasing her) or getting her driver’s license (when she’d just been shot at) really bothered me. I felt it was a forced way to make her sound more like a teenager. For me, if a teenager is getting attacked by monsters or bad guys, they’re probably thinking the same thing as the average adult, which would be more along the lines of “Oh #*($, I’m glad I’m still alive!” The thing with the much older guy as a love interest bugged me. At first, I liked how they both approached their attraction in an oh-no-can’t-go-there kind of way, but considering the short timeframe of the story, they got over it way too fast. If it was squicky in when she finds out how old Ethan is it would still be squicky a few days later. And lastly, I could well be wrong, but to me it seems logical that an early twentieth century princess would have known how to ride a horse. Why, in that case, would Ethan put Anastasia to ride double on one of the three available horses with Anne, rather than having her ride the third horse alone? It seemed like the logic was twisted there with no explanation just to make it possible for the bad guy to follow them.

All in all, I wanted it to be a great book, I really did. For me though, the plot issues mentioned just made it not measure up to what I’d hoped for. It could have been fabulous, instead it was just okay.

I give Dreaming Anastasia 3.0 stars.

Sometime early last year I was either browsing my favorite book related blogs or looking on Amaxon.com for their list of recommended upcoming releases when I came across a book called Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire.  The back cover blurb caught my eye with the mention of a half Sidhe-half human Private Investigator, October Daye, who had lost 14 years of her life.  At first I thought the 14 years were the price she had paid for working some magic spell.  Boy was I wrong.  Instead of paying a price, she was unwillingly transformed into something other then human or fae and spent those 14 years unable to sense or comprehend the passing of time. Intrigued I picked up a copy when it was published and Ms McGuire sucked me into a dark, complex enjoyable tale.

When The Bookpushers were contacted to see if there was interest in reviewing her upcoming book called A Local Habitation that just happened to be the sequel to Rosemary and Rue, I leaped on the chance.  Per the FTC I am obligated to inform you that I received an ARC of this book from the author for the purpose of reviewing it.  (Confidentially I will admit that I will purchase a copy release week.) I will attempt to avoid major spoilers from Rosemary and Rue but some smaller ones are inevitable.

Excerpt from the Back Cover as stated at http://seananmcguire.com/alh.php

“Half-human, half-fae, outsiders from birth, most changelings are second class children of Faerie spending their lives fighting for the respect of their immortal relations.  Toby is the only changeling who has earned knighthood, and she re-earns that position every day, undertaking assignments for her liege, Sylvester, the Duke of Shadowed Hills.

Now Sylvester has asked her to go to the County of Tamed Lightening – otherwise known as Fremont, California – to make sure that all is well with his niece, January O’Leary, whom he has not been able to contact.  It seems like a simple enough assignment – but when dealing with the realm of Faerie, nothing is ever as simple as it seems…For Tamed Lightening has somehow been cut off from the other fiefdoms, and now someone has begun to murder January’s key people.  If Toby can’t find and stop the killer soon, she may well become the next victim…”

Ms McGuire has succeeded in taking a common theme, the Sidhe, and adding some unique twists that sucked me back into October’s life.  Set once again in San Francisco, home to October “Toby” Daye, the opening scene showcases Toby in a much lighter mood then than readers of the first book are accustomed to seeing.  Fans of this series might also be interested in the fact that we also get to see Tybalt, a very powerful Cait Sidhe and the local King of the Cats *waggles eyebrows* very early on.  Don’t worry I promise you that Tybalt appears again.

Throughout the course of Toby’s investigation in A Local Habitation, I was treated to more information about the Sidhe culture, its various members and Toby herself.  I found it to be a mark of Ms McGuire’s skillful writing style that her character and world building were seamlessly merged with the pace of the story so I never lost my reading enjoyment as the story unfolded.  All of the characters showed unexpected depths, including those victims who died before Toby arrived at Tamed Lightening.  Based on the other characters statements about one of the victims I had painted a particular picture but when Toby examined their office area my mental picture drastically changed.  In another instance I thought I had figured out who one character was attracted to and found I was entirely wrong.   Toby and her sidekick (name is a major spoiler for Rosemary and Rue) also learned some interesting lessons and faced some situations when Toby’s connection to her liege wasn’t necessarily believed or even helpful.

The murder mystery was complex enough that while I guessed some of the roles the different characters played I was not expecting all of the twists nor did I accurately guess the culprit.  Despite the gritty nature of the investigation, Toby and the cast of assorted characters do experience some lighter moments.  Ms McGuire’s October Daye series does not shy away from showing how the Sidhe have a very different viewpoint on life and what death really means.   I also got to see the manifestation of power and what it means to have and control that power.  While dark and gritty A Local Habitation ends on a note of hope.  I enjoyed reading it and look forward to the next installment in October Daye’s life, An Artificial Night.  Ms McGuire has very kindly provided the reader with a sneak peek of into that third novel due to release in September 2010.

I give it a rating of 4 of 5 five stars for the slight predictability in some of the characters and their roles and the fact that I believe in order to fully enjoy the book and understand at least one key scene you need to read Rosemary and Rue.  A Local Habitation releases in North America on March 2 as a DAW Mass Market Paperback.

This review contains spoilers.

I first want to mention, Opal, the heroine, is a character which features in the Study series. It’s based in the same world. So be warned, if you do read Storm Glass without reading the Study series, there are a lot of spoilers relating to the Study books, including Opal. While Storm Glass is not a continuation directly, I do think it’s somewhat linked.

I haven’t read all of the book in the Study series, so despite the spoilers, I really enjoyed this book. Maria V Snyder has such a unique story voice. The world she has created is vivid, and colourful. It’s mentioned that Maria has a hobby of glass making, and that knowledge is shown in great detail in the book.

Opal is a glass magician. She creates glass artefacts, which she infuses with her own magic, which can then be used as communicators. Opal thinks she is a one trick pony though, and has to fight her own insecurities which are tied with events that happened in the past. She’s trying to cope in the Keep, a magical academy for students, without any friends. One day, much to her surprise, she is called in to see the Master Magicians. They want her to go on a mission. A mission to help the Stormdancers!

The Stormdancers are a unique group of people who can trap a storm’s energy within a glass orb. Not only by trapping the energy does it help to temper down the dangerous storms, which can kill people, it also can be used as energy. There is a problem though. The orbs are failing, and two Stormdancers have died because of it. Opal must use her knowledge to help them, before anyone else perishes by the orbs.

Straight from the beginning, we see the love Opal has for glass making. She thinks her magic is not special or unique, and we see her disappointment. Through out the book though, Opal is proven wrong. Opal slowly evolves as a character, and new powers are seen. Opal is somewhat of a flawed character. There are scenes where she is being tortured, and she gives in. She’s not one of those heroines, who suffers in silence and stoically withholds the information they want. Opal does gives in, yet I didn’t think less of her. I would probably squeal like a pig if I was tortured!

Opal is the way she is because of events that happened in the past, which features in the Study books. Though, I did think that Opal should have been less trusting and less naïve in certain circumstances.

There is a undercurrent of romance in the story, and there are two love interests. Kade, a Stormdancer who is grieving over his sisters death, and Ulrick, another glass magician who has similar interests as Opal.

At the beginning we see the energy that literally sparks to life between Opal and Kade, but when Opal makes an opening, Kade shuts her down. I can understand why Kade did what he did. He was grieving for his sister, and I could understand his reluctance to give into his emotions. He was frightened of losing another person he cared for.

We then have Ulrick, who is also a glass magician, but he is frustrated and feels useless in his family’s eyes. Ulrick doesn’t know he is a glass magician until Opal tells him so, and he goes back with her to the Keep. Opal and Ulrick embark on a relationship on the urging of Opal’s sister, who tells her to stop living in the past.

I’m not sure what I make of the two love interests, and how Maria worked that through the plot. Both characters are featured through out the book, and I find myself in the Kade camp, whom I like very much.

There is a plot twist, that puts a spanner in the works with Ulrick. One night, after Ulrick comes back from visiting his sister, Opal thinks he is acting somewhat strangely, but puts it down to her imagination. She finally makes the important decision and decides to sleep with him. As their relationship goes deeper with these events, it finally emerges that a known enemy was impersonating Ulrick, who had been kidnapped on the night he visited his sister. Blue Eye’s, the enemy’s nickname, who we see in intermittent stages throughout the book, manages to use blood magic, which is forbidden, to accomplish this. It bothered me somewhat that there were no ramifications of Opal sleeping with the enemy, emotion wise. I hope Maria deals with this in Sea Glass, the next book in the series.

I was also confused by Opals decision at the end of the book.

Opal is kidnapped, again, along with Kade. After Kade watches Opal being tortured, he finally gives in and admits that he loves her. When things are resolved regarding the enemy, Opal is happy, and admits she loves him too. I was like yes! *pumps arms in air*

Next though, I was like, say what?

Opal tells Kade that while she loves him, she wants to find Ulrick and see what he has to offer her. I’m like nooooo! Why do you want to do that for. Didn’t you know enough about Ulrick while you were with him in the keep?

So, except for that issue, this book is one hell of a read. The plot kept on turning and going in different directions that kept me on edge. It looks like there is an unseen enemy, and we will probably see those events unfold in future books.

From now on, we have decided to rate books out of five.

Five being: This totally rocked my socks off.

And a one: I really, really didn’t like this book.

So, I’m giving Storm Glass a healthy 4/5.

Storm Glass is available now in the US as an ebook, and paperback.
The trade back release will be available in July, for the UK.