Book review: The Illusionist’s Apprentice by Kristy Cambron

Not a fancy picture because I read the ebook version!  Pardon it, please.  But still a beautiful cover!


This week, I read Kristy Cambron’s fourth book, one that is more mystery than she normally writes—exactly what I always like to hear, with my love for mysterious doings in stories!  I gave it four stars. Here’s the review I posted on Goodreads:

I tried to start this a couple times a few months ago and never got past the first chapter or two.  Thanks to a group read, I dove in and soon found myself entirely absorbed.  Then I had the opposite problem of being unable to lay the book down at all!

The mystery of Peale and his double death soon morphs into a bigger mystery of who is calling the shots in a very literal sense.  I enjoyed the atmosphere of the Prohibition years and the unique character Wren is.  Add to that Elliot and his fascination with Wren and her art of illusion, and we have all the elements for a good tale.  The story has several shocker twists that left my mouth ajar.

I didn't care for the lack of specification about what a seance could do (for those who don't know, it is a summons of demons)...it was rather chuckled as a materialistic fraud, but the portion of the story that dealt with actual spiritualism was somewhat dismissed as being unreal.  Spiritualism as a sort of religion wasn't mentioned or defined beyond using the word to describe characters and to mention seances to contact the dead as a mainstay of their philosophy.  Wren and Elliot speak of faith and prayer and make a few comments about "only one man ever rose" as an oblique reference to Christ (which isn't truth anyway, since they are talking of people being summoned from death—Jesus was different because He had the power to raise up from the dead without being summoned—He Himself restored many, including Lazarus, Jairus's daughter, the widow's son, and the saints at His death).  In a story so full of spiritual cloak-and-dagger, I missed Jesus.  I needed to see that clear ending conclusion that the Jesus way was the ultimate answer to the claims of the spiritualists.

Also, several phrases were too modern for the twenties...most notably "gone missing," a 1990s term used more than once.  "Alright" used for "all right" also bugged me.

But, overall, a beautifully written book that is worth a read and very hard to put down!

Thanks to NetGalley for providing a free copy for an honest review.

Book review: A Dangerous Legacy

Along with having one of the prettiest covers of the year, this one is one of my favorite Camden has ever written.  I gave it a rating of 4 out of 5 stars.  Here is what I said in my review on Goodreads:

I definitely enjoyed this tale of New York, reporters, Morse Code, and danger.  It came in the mail today, and I was glad to dive right in.  I intended to read a single chapter and get back to the other book I'm reading, but the story grabbed me from the beginning.  

Lucy is likable from the start, and it's easy to identify with her longing to find justice and to shake off her uncle's stalkers, who are content to spy on her life and keep her and her brother from realizing their full potential in life.  From there the story moves swiftly, as she encounters Sir Colin Beckwith and as he stumbles across her family's nasty history.  With Colin's eyes fresh on the family secrets, Lucy and Colin quickly realize that much more is going on in the family than she first imagined.  In other words, the Saratoga Drakes aren't scrupulous about crushing more than family, if others get in the way of their plans.

Before long, Colin is mixed into the issue, despite his being an unlikely ally.  After all, he's a reporter at heart, and the draw of a good story is hard to resist.

It fell just shy of five stars for me, but makes four (very good) easily.  It's Camden's best in years (since Beyond All Dreams, in my opinion)—well-researched, detailed history, and two lead characters with clear chemistry.  (Their banter is excellent.  Brings to mind classic movies like Desk Set and His Girl Friday...)

Things that helped shy away from an "excellent" rating: 

-An "oh my heavens" exclamation

-"Hear, hear" misspelled as "here, here" (pet peeve)

-Woman referred to as "hero"...in 1903, she'd be offended.  She's a heroine.

-Content.  Lucy entered a situation that requires a forced bathing (not something she was expecting ahead of time).  For me, it got a bit too far into her feelings as the two women scrubbed her down.  It's only a paragraph, but I'm intensely visual and didn't want to have that image.

It's also MUCH better edited than the last two releases, and the words flow with a lot more authenticity.  Definitely worth a read!

Thanks to the publisher for a free review copy.  A positive review is not required.

...This is the first book I got through Bethany House Publishing's blogger reviewer program.  I was so excited to have this copy come in the mail!  Be watching for more Bethany House new release reviews here in the near future.  

Has anyone else read Elizabeth Camden's work?  Do you have a favorite of her books?

Book review: Jane of Austin

In May, I signed up for Blogging for Books!  I get books in the mail for review purposes and give an online review in exchange.  For my first one, I signed up for "Jane of Austin" by Hillary Manson Lodge, a new-to-me author.

About the book:
“Know your own happiness. You want nothing but patience - or give it a more fascinating name, call it hope.” ― Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility


Just a few years after their father’s business scandal shatters their lives, Jane and Celia Woodward find themselves forced out of their San Francisco tea shop. The last thing Jane wants is to leave their beloved shop on Valencia Street, but when Celia insists on a move to Austin, Texas, the sisters pack up their kid sister Margot and Jane’s tea plants, determined to start over yet again.

But life in Austin isn’t all sweet tea and breakfast tacos. Their unusual living situation is challenging and unspoken words begin to fester between Jane and Celia. When Jane meets and falls for up-and-coming musician Sean Willis, the chasm grows deeper.

While Sean seems to charm everyone in his path, one person is immune – retired Marine Captain Callum Beckett. Callum never meant to leave the military, but the twin losses of his father and his left leg have returned him to the place he least expected—Texas. 

In this modern spin on the Austen classic, Sense and Sensibility, the Woodward sisters must contend with new ingredients in unfamiliar kitchens, a dash of heartbreak, and the fragile hope that maybe home isn't so far away.

2.5 stars
I read the first chapter online and expected to love it.  I'm nuts about hot teas, and loved the whole tea-shop aspect.  However, in the end, it fell flat.  It's published by a Christian publisher, but not billed as such in the summary; thus, the sole reference to faith is that one character wishes to go to seminary and start a church plant; the MC, Jane, doesn't even ask if the dashing man who comes to their rescue is a believer or not, which obviously should be one of the first things a Christian girl should ask a man who asks her out.

I liked the sister parts, though after the fun of the trip, the plot itself seemed to lose focus.  I expected it to be more concerned with the tea shop part, but it wasn't.  The recipes were also a fun part, though the tip about "not using boiling water" doesn't apply to black tea...for teas like Assam, you want to bring it just to the boil and then use the water.  Also, her "tea farm" of tea plants was unrealistic; she has enough plants to fill the back of a pickup truck bed, which might be enough to supply one tea drinker's moderate habit, but definitely nowhere near enough to support an online business or a tea shop.

What dropped it below three stars for me was two instances of potty humor and one gay reference ("their clientele in CA was women and gay men")...as a gal in a tea-shop-attending family with regular guys, it's quite insulting to think that the only guys who use tea rooms are gay.  I actually know a young military man who takes his buddies to tea shop outings because they discovered the best sweets are there.  I don't know if I was more offended by a gay reference by a Christian writer, or by the stereotype about men.

Thanks to Blogging for Books for my free review copy.