First Three Books of 2021
Jan. 12th, 2021 08:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
under_the_silk_treeHere are the first three books of 2021 and so far I am really enjoying what I am reading.
The first time the Nightmares came, it nearly cost Alice her life. Now she's trained to battle monstrous creatures in the dark dream realm known as Wonderland with magic weapons and hardcore fighting skills. Yet even warriors have a curfew.
Life in real-world Atlanta isn't always so simple, as Alice juggles an overprotective mom, a high-maintenance best friend, and a slipping GPA. Keeping the Nightmares at bay is turning into a full-time job. But when Alice's handsome and mysterious mentor is poisoned, she has to find the antidote by venturing deeper into Wonderland than she’s ever gone before. And she'll need to use everything she's learned in both worlds to keep from losing her head... literally. ~Amazon Description
I have loved Alice in Wonderland since I was a kid and so I try to get my hands on any pastiches, reworkings, or au's I can. This was such an awesome book. I loved how the author wrote Alice and how as a POC the teen has different worries to deal with in modern day America then the original Alice had in Victorian England. I've seen this touted as a cross between Alice in Wonderland and Buffy the Vampire Slayer and that is not entirely incorrect but only in the best of ways. Overall a very good book and I am definitely going to read the next one in the series.
Aboard the pirate ship Dove, Flora the girl takes on the identity of Florian the man to earn the respect and protection of the crew. For Flora, former starving urchin, the brutal life of a pirate is about survival: don’t trust, don’t stick out, and don’t feel. But on this voyage, Flora is drawn to the Lady Evelyn Hasegawa, who is headed to an arranged marriage she dreads. Flora doesn’t expect to be taken under Evelyn’s wing, and Evelyn doesn’t expect to find such a deep bond with the pirate Florian. Neither expects to fall in love.
Soon the unlikely pair set in motion a wild escape that will free a captured mermaid (coveted for her blood) and involve the mysterious Pirate Supreme, an opportunistic witch, double agents, and the all-encompassing Sea herself.
Deftly entwining swashbuckling action and quiet magic, Maggie Tokuda-Hall’s inventive debut novel conjures a diverse cast of characters seeking mastery over their fates while searching for answers to big questions about identity, power, and love. ~Amazon Description
This was a really excellent book. I loved the complex, fallible, and well-written characters. The world-building was excellent and so in-depth. The author switches pov's between chapters and does such a wonderful job of conveying each person's thoughts and motivations and how they see the other characters. All of the characters are so flawed and are ruled by their past while trying to navigate their way through a world that is harsh, unforgiving, and yet magical. A couple of warnings: there is a rape that happens off page before the book begins and it is spoken of a few times. Also there is a very detailed torture scene.
After nine months as a cigarette girl at the Third Door, one of Chicago’s premier moonshine parlors, Gina Ricci feels like she's finally getting into the swing of things. The year is 1929, the Chicago Cubs are almost in the World Series, neighborhood gangs are all-powerful, and though Prohibition is the law of the land, the Third Door can't serve the cocktails fast enough.
Two women in particular are throwing drinks back with abandon while chatting up a couple of bankers, and Gina can't help but notice the levels of inebriation and the tension at their table. When the group stumbles out in the early morning, she tries to put them out of her head. But once at home that night, Gina's sleep is interrupted when her cousin Nancy, a police officer, calls―she's found a body. Gina hurries over to photograph the crime scene, but stops short when she recognizes the body: it’s one of the women from the night before. ~Amazon Description
I greatly enjoyed this second book of The Speakeasy Murders. Still loving Gina and the world she lives in. The Roaring Twenties are in full swing in this second book as another mystery falls into Gina's lap while she works at the Third Door. I thought the mystery was a good one and the various side characters are all really well written and compelling. I enjoyed Gina's ongoing relationship with Roark and how they were both unsure of their place in each other's life. I think Calkins specialty is how she is able to convey a historical time and place with such a deft touch. All in all a good book.
Reading challenges:
Mount TBR: The Fate of a Flapper
Reading Writer's of Color 2021, January: By a Woman of Color: The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea, A Blade so Black
Cloak and Dagger Challenge: The Fate of a Flapper
LJ Book Bingo Jan-Mar: Diversity, Young Adult, Mystery/Crime
The first time the Nightmares came, it nearly cost Alice her life. Now she's trained to battle monstrous creatures in the dark dream realm known as Wonderland with magic weapons and hardcore fighting skills. Yet even warriors have a curfew.
Life in real-world Atlanta isn't always so simple, as Alice juggles an overprotective mom, a high-maintenance best friend, and a slipping GPA. Keeping the Nightmares at bay is turning into a full-time job. But when Alice's handsome and mysterious mentor is poisoned, she has to find the antidote by venturing deeper into Wonderland than she’s ever gone before. And she'll need to use everything she's learned in both worlds to keep from losing her head... literally. ~Amazon Description
I have loved Alice in Wonderland since I was a kid and so I try to get my hands on any pastiches, reworkings, or au's I can. This was such an awesome book. I loved how the author wrote Alice and how as a POC the teen has different worries to deal with in modern day America then the original Alice had in Victorian England. I've seen this touted as a cross between Alice in Wonderland and Buffy the Vampire Slayer and that is not entirely incorrect but only in the best of ways. Overall a very good book and I am definitely going to read the next one in the series.
Aboard the pirate ship Dove, Flora the girl takes on the identity of Florian the man to earn the respect and protection of the crew. For Flora, former starving urchin, the brutal life of a pirate is about survival: don’t trust, don’t stick out, and don’t feel. But on this voyage, Flora is drawn to the Lady Evelyn Hasegawa, who is headed to an arranged marriage she dreads. Flora doesn’t expect to be taken under Evelyn’s wing, and Evelyn doesn’t expect to find such a deep bond with the pirate Florian. Neither expects to fall in love.
Soon the unlikely pair set in motion a wild escape that will free a captured mermaid (coveted for her blood) and involve the mysterious Pirate Supreme, an opportunistic witch, double agents, and the all-encompassing Sea herself.
Deftly entwining swashbuckling action and quiet magic, Maggie Tokuda-Hall’s inventive debut novel conjures a diverse cast of characters seeking mastery over their fates while searching for answers to big questions about identity, power, and love. ~Amazon Description
This was a really excellent book. I loved the complex, fallible, and well-written characters. The world-building was excellent and so in-depth. The author switches pov's between chapters and does such a wonderful job of conveying each person's thoughts and motivations and how they see the other characters. All of the characters are so flawed and are ruled by their past while trying to navigate their way through a world that is harsh, unforgiving, and yet magical. A couple of warnings: there is a rape that happens off page before the book begins and it is spoken of a few times. Also there is a very detailed torture scene.
After nine months as a cigarette girl at the Third Door, one of Chicago’s premier moonshine parlors, Gina Ricci feels like she's finally getting into the swing of things. The year is 1929, the Chicago Cubs are almost in the World Series, neighborhood gangs are all-powerful, and though Prohibition is the law of the land, the Third Door can't serve the cocktails fast enough.
Two women in particular are throwing drinks back with abandon while chatting up a couple of bankers, and Gina can't help but notice the levels of inebriation and the tension at their table. When the group stumbles out in the early morning, she tries to put them out of her head. But once at home that night, Gina's sleep is interrupted when her cousin Nancy, a police officer, calls―she's found a body. Gina hurries over to photograph the crime scene, but stops short when she recognizes the body: it’s one of the women from the night before. ~Amazon Description
I greatly enjoyed this second book of The Speakeasy Murders. Still loving Gina and the world she lives in. The Roaring Twenties are in full swing in this second book as another mystery falls into Gina's lap while she works at the Third Door. I thought the mystery was a good one and the various side characters are all really well written and compelling. I enjoyed Gina's ongoing relationship with Roark and how they were both unsure of their place in each other's life. I think Calkins specialty is how she is able to convey a historical time and place with such a deft touch. All in all a good book.
Reading challenges:
Mount TBR: The Fate of a Flapper
Reading Writer's of Color 2021, January: By a Woman of Color: The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea, A Blade so Black
Cloak and Dagger Challenge: The Fate of a Flapper
LJ Book Bingo Jan-Mar: Diversity, Young Adult, Mystery/Crime
