First Books of May
May. 5th, 2021 08:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
under_the_silk_treeHere are my first books of May and one I am using for my LJ book bingo card found here:
Seventeen-year-old Anglet Sutonga makes a living repairing the chimneys, towers, and spires of Bar-Selehm. Dramatically different communities live and work alongside one another. The white Feldish command the nation’s higher echelons of society; the native Mahweni are divided between city life and the savannah. And then there’s Ang, part of the Lani community who immigrated there generations ago and now mostly live in poverty on Bar-Selehm’s edges.
When Ang is supposed to meet her new apprentice, Berrit, she finds him dead. That same night the Beacon, an invaluable historical icon, is stolen. The Beacon’s theft commands the headlines, yet no one seems to care about Berrit’s murder—except for Josiah Willinghouse, an enigmatic young politician. When he offers Ang a job investigating the death, she plunges headlong into new and unexpected dangers. ~Goodreads Description
I have wanted to read this book for awhile and so I was pretty pleased to finally get my hands on it. It did not disappoint. I really grew to love Anglet and her determination to solve the mystery of her apprentice's death. The author does a really good job of showing us the world Ang lives in and how her job as a steeplejack comes into play within the story. I loved all of the descriptions of the various climbs Ang has to do as she tries to find the killer. The vertical nature of this story was really interesting and I can't wait to get my hands on the next book!
Rosalind Thorne has slowly but assuredly gained a reputation as “a useful woman”—by helping respectable women out of some less-than-respectable predicaments.
Her latest endeavor is a tragedy waiting to happen. Desperate Margaretta Seymore is with child—and her husband is receiving poisoned pen letters that imply that her condition is the result of an affair with the notorious actor Fletcher Cavendish. Margaretta asks Rosalind to find out who is behind the scurrilous letters. But before she can make any progress, Cavendish is found dead, stabbed through the heart. ~Goodreads Description
I am still greatly enjoying this series. I love Rosalind and the way she goes about solving problems for the people who hire her is very clever. She is pragmatic which I love in a protagonist but at the same time she doesn't carry it too far. I am also loving Adam Harkness who is a bow street runner and the subtle friendship/partnership/relationship that is developing between the two. I can't wait to read more.
Nell Caldicott awaits the return of her violent sailor husband with trepidation, but for once her fears are not realised. Her husband’s ship, the Brig Minerva, has sunk off the Cornish coast. Nell is free, but her husband has left her with little money and many questions about his past. Gradually, as his secrets are laid bare, she realises she didn’t know her husband at all. Can she uncover the truth? And can she ever learn to trust a man with her heart again?
Nathan Harbottle is on a quest to find his missing cousin, but the tragic wife of the Minerva’s captain attracts him more than he cares to admit. He wants to help, but he’s powerless to intervene. However, their lives are destined to collide in unexpected ways, and his resolve to be nothing more than a friend to the beautiful widow is sorely tested. Can he set aside his own past and convince her to take a chance on love? ~Goodreads Description
I thought Nell and Nathan's developing relationship was well done. There is a twist that you see coming a million miles away but even though I figured it out it didn't really take away from the story. There were some things I don't think worked very well so in the end I thought it was just middling. Since Nell lives on the coast and everyone in this story is impacted by the sinking of a ship at sea I am using it for the "Read a book featuring water" square for my LJ book bingo card.
Seventeen-year-old Anglet Sutonga makes a living repairing the chimneys, towers, and spires of Bar-Selehm. Dramatically different communities live and work alongside one another. The white Feldish command the nation’s higher echelons of society; the native Mahweni are divided between city life and the savannah. And then there’s Ang, part of the Lani community who immigrated there generations ago and now mostly live in poverty on Bar-Selehm’s edges.
When Ang is supposed to meet her new apprentice, Berrit, she finds him dead. That same night the Beacon, an invaluable historical icon, is stolen. The Beacon’s theft commands the headlines, yet no one seems to care about Berrit’s murder—except for Josiah Willinghouse, an enigmatic young politician. When he offers Ang a job investigating the death, she plunges headlong into new and unexpected dangers. ~Goodreads Description
I have wanted to read this book for awhile and so I was pretty pleased to finally get my hands on it. It did not disappoint. I really grew to love Anglet and her determination to solve the mystery of her apprentice's death. The author does a really good job of showing us the world Ang lives in and how her job as a steeplejack comes into play within the story. I loved all of the descriptions of the various climbs Ang has to do as she tries to find the killer. The vertical nature of this story was really interesting and I can't wait to get my hands on the next book!
Rosalind Thorne has slowly but assuredly gained a reputation as “a useful woman”—by helping respectable women out of some less-than-respectable predicaments.
Her latest endeavor is a tragedy waiting to happen. Desperate Margaretta Seymore is with child—and her husband is receiving poisoned pen letters that imply that her condition is the result of an affair with the notorious actor Fletcher Cavendish. Margaretta asks Rosalind to find out who is behind the scurrilous letters. But before she can make any progress, Cavendish is found dead, stabbed through the heart. ~Goodreads Description
I am still greatly enjoying this series. I love Rosalind and the way she goes about solving problems for the people who hire her is very clever. She is pragmatic which I love in a protagonist but at the same time she doesn't carry it too far. I am also loving Adam Harkness who is a bow street runner and the subtle friendship/partnership/relationship that is developing between the two. I can't wait to read more.
Nell Caldicott awaits the return of her violent sailor husband with trepidation, but for once her fears are not realised. Her husband’s ship, the Brig Minerva, has sunk off the Cornish coast. Nell is free, but her husband has left her with little money and many questions about his past. Gradually, as his secrets are laid bare, she realises she didn’t know her husband at all. Can she uncover the truth? And can she ever learn to trust a man with her heart again?
Nathan Harbottle is on a quest to find his missing cousin, but the tragic wife of the Minerva’s captain attracts him more than he cares to admit. He wants to help, but he’s powerless to intervene. However, their lives are destined to collide in unexpected ways, and his resolve to be nothing more than a friend to the beautiful widow is sorely tested. Can he set aside his own past and convince her to take a chance on love? ~Goodreads Description
I thought Nell and Nathan's developing relationship was well done. There is a twist that you see coming a million miles away but even though I figured it out it didn't really take away from the story. There were some things I don't think worked very well so in the end I thought it was just middling. Since Nell lives on the coast and everyone in this story is impacted by the sinking of a ship at sea I am using it for the "Read a book featuring water" square for my LJ book bingo card.
Reading Challenges:
Mount TBR: The Widow
Reading Writer's of Color 2021. May: Radical Social Movement or Historical Event: N/A
Cloak and Dagger Challenge: Steeplejack, A Purely Private Matter
LJ Book Bingo April-Jun: The Widow
Mount TBR: The Widow
Reading Writer's of Color 2021. May: Radical Social Movement or Historical Event: N/A
Cloak and Dagger Challenge: Steeplejack, A Purely Private Matter
LJ Book Bingo April-Jun: The Widow
