The Astral Library

Kate Quinn has said that The Astral Library (#1,347) is the book she has always wanted to write, but that her publishers pushed her to write more of her outstanding historical fiction.  Well, I for one, am glad that they did because I've enjoyed those novels so much.  But, with that being said, this is the novel I've been waiting for her to write!

"Have you ever wanted to live inside a book?"  The Astral Library offers that chance to those who are desperate to escape their lives in the real world.  If you are invited in, sanctuary in your favorite book is possible.  There are, of course, some restrictions, as Alix Watson finds out when she tumbles into the Library from the Boston Public Library Reading Room.

A foster child, Alix is barely eking out a dreary existence with three part-time minimum wage jobs when her roommate tells her she is being booted off the couch in their shared apartment. Desperate to find a place where she can safely stay the night a door opens for her in one of her favorite haunts - the Boston Public Library Reading Room.  Just as the Librarian (with a capital L) is about to help Alix into her chosen novel, warnings arrive that the Astral Library is under siege.  Alix is determined that this final sanctuary will not be ripped away from her and the others who have found refuge there, so she clings to the Librarian's elbow as she sets off to save the Library.  It's Alix's very first quest!  And it only gets better from there.  Once the true enemies behind the Library attack are revealed, it's not surprising that the same forces threaten our own libraries in the real world.

This book has everything: a hero to root for, humor, a quest, a believable Foe, and yes, even a dragon!  Not to mention a champion for all our libraries in the real world in Kate Quinn!  

I know several of my friends did not care for this book; they just want more of the same historical fiction (which I would actually like, too!), but honestly, if I rate those books as 5 stars, The Astral Library gets a 10+ from me.  More, please!

Hole In The Sky

I saw my husband reading Hole In The Sky (#1,346) by Daniel H. Wilson, and the cover intrigued me.  Think alien contact, but from an indigenous point of view.  Dr. Wilson, who has quite the impressive resume and is a Cherokee member himself posits the idea that the Mound Builders who populated the North American continent with many of their strategically located sites had some connection to a race beyond our stars.  Where did they go when an obviously thriving culture to when it mysteriously vanished centuries ago?

There's code breaking, family drama and mayhem enough to keep the reader glued to the book through the last page.  I don't want to give away the book's ending.  Let me just say that I personally am not planning to visit Oklahoma any time soon!  An unexpected find.

The Water Keeper

Two of my book club friends highly recommended Florida-based writer Charles Martin's mysteries featuring Shepherd Murphy.  They were right!  The first in this series is The Water Keeper (#1,345), and if you decide to read these books, this is the place to start.

Shepherd Murphy lives on an island off the north Florida/Georgia border, tending a church built by slaves and its attendant graveyard and citrus grove.  One evening a beautiful young woman comes to the church off a luxurious yacht seeking a priest.  She's clearly high on drugs or alcohol or both, but Shepherd listens to her until she reboards the boat, hoping she will decide to stay on the island.

As he sets out on his own voyage to say goodbye to his past far down in Key West, he encounters another beautiful woman on a mission of her own: to save her daughter.

What follows is a taut chase after some very bad people and a gradual unraveling of secrets in Shepherd's own past.  It makes for a fascinating read.

Plus, it's always fun to read about places you visit every day in a novel!

I can't wait to read the other four books in this exciting and provocative series.

Murder Most Royal

Murder Most Royal (#1,344) is the third book in the delightful Her Majesty The Queen Investigates series by SJ Bennett.  This time Elizabeth is glad to leave Buckingham Palace behind for the rural pleasures of Christmas at her estate of Sandringham in Norfolk.  Neither she nor Prince Phillip are feeling well, so a chance to rest and recuperate amongst family is most welcome.

But of course, nothing goes as planned.  Rozie Oshodi, her Assistant Private Secretary, brings her the news from the local Chief Constable that a severed hand has been found on a nearby beach, complete with a photo.  The unique signature ring on the pinkie is recognized by Her Majesty as being that of a neighboring gentleman and acquaintance.  The hunt is on for the body itself, and for the presumed killer as well, with Her Majesty's name being discretely kept out of things.

As Rozie and Queen Elizabeth track down leads, the noose tightens, imperiling even Her Majesty herself.  The mystery is cleverly done with insights into royal life.  I look forward to more!

If I Stopped Haunting You

Colby Wilkens' novel "If I Stopped Haunting You"(#1,343) is full of such a jumble of ideas, it's hard to know exactly what type of book it wants to be.  Is it a romance?  Is it a ghost story?  Is it claiming a literary spot for indigenous writers?  And to be honest, to me, none of these angles were completely satisfactory.

Two indigenous writers are trapped by a mutual friend at a Writer's Workshop in a remote Scottish castle.  Yes, they had a "meet cute" if you can call being clipped by a book which leaves a lasting scar "cute".  He's a best-selling author of indigenous horror and she has had a sole book published, which she is proud to say represents her culture appropriately.  They wrangle, which of course leads to pages and pages of ultra steamy sex.  Not my choice for reading.  And only the two of them can see the malevolent ghost haunting the castle.  Will they escape with their lives?!  Frankly, I didn't care.  Maybe you will.

The Last Spirits of Manhattan

I heard about John A. McDermott's novel The Last Spirits of Manhattan (#1,342) from another member of my book club, so I decided to give it a shot.  It's lightly based on a true event, an extravagant party given by Alfred Hitchcock in a supposedly haunted mansion in Manhattan in the 1950s.  The family who owned that townhouse are equally real, and relatives of the author.  The 50s era niece Carolyn who attends the party is fiction, as are the host of "spirits" who also attend.  It makes for a story unlike anything I've read before.  

It's not a scary story (well, except for some of the guests attending the party who encounter the "spirits"!).  I can remember as a young girl reading some of Alfred Hitchcock's short story anthologies and being scared silly by them!  It's actually more of a love story for a time and a place which will never be again.  The spirits are given their own voices, and the editors have made clever use of a decorative element to distinguish their tales from the ordinary characters.  Who knew the afterlife could be quite so busy?

If you're in the mood for something a bit different, The Last Spirits of Manhattan could be your invitation to a beguiling evening.

Skylark

Paula McLain has finally written her World War II novel, but it's not at all what you might think.  Her latest book Skylark (#1,341) opens with a reclamation expert combing the remains of Notre Dame Cathedral after the disastrous fire of 2019.  She comes upon a small glass fragment etched with the outline of a bird.  That's the hook Ms. McLain uses to interweave two stories of Paris: one set in the 1660s and one set in the period leading up to and including the Nazi occupation in WWII.  Both use the extensive tunnels excavated below the city of Paris from Roman times to the present as an important story element.

Aloutte lives in the fetid enclave of Sant-Marcel, home to the influential dyers' guild.  Her father is obsessed with perfecting a unique shade of red.  Aloutte learns the fundamentals of dying from him, but in the own experimentation she finds her own unique color.  Both are framed for withholding their knowledge from the Guild and sentenced to imprisonment.  Aloutte must survive the infamous Salpetriere's women's prison for three years if she is to have any hope of ever being released.

Kristoff is a Dutch psychiatrist who has come to Paris to learn new methods of treating the mentally ill, especially those veterans shell-shocked from their experiences in the Great War.  He becomes friends with his neighbors living on the floor below him in his apartment building, a family who fled from the Nazis in Poland.  He also spends considerable time with one of the other residents at his hospital exploring the network of tunnels under the city.  When the Nazis begin emptying the psychiatric wards and rounding up Jewish families, Kristoff is forced to act in the only way he knows how.

How Ms. McLain binds these seemingly disparate stories together as both plot lines build to a climax keeps the reader turning the pages to find out what happens next, and if there is any hope for the future in either timeline.  Highly recommended.