cyphomandra | Entries tagged with julia quinn

Last Saturday night I was just over halfway up a grade 16 rock climb at the local climbing gym (the hardest difficulty I attempt and not one I’ve completed) and feeling mildly chuffed at reaching my highest ever point. I had my left leg tucked up underneath me and was holding on to two not terribly convincing holds so, mindful of all the advice I’ve had to climb with my legs rather than my arms, I put my full weight on my left leg to straighten up and grab for the next hold.

At which point I felt/heard a horrible ripping sound unrolling across my left calf. I let go of everything, got my belayer to lower me down into a painful heap on the floor, said a number of bad words, and checked that my Achilles tendon was still intact (when I was a teenager doing kendo, two of my class ruptured their Achilles tendons during training in the same week and one of them did the other one when he came back to training, which made rather an impression on me). It was, and as the damage was in my left calf I could still drive, although walking is somewhat difficult and I can’t put my left calf behind me and put weight on it yet. I have, according to my physio, a grade 2 calf tear, which has an excellent prognosis, and I should be walking normally in the next few days but can’t run/jump/lunge; I can start strengthening exercises next week and then possibly cautious return to climbing the week after.

Obviously I can still read.

Finished:

Life after Life, Kate Atkinson. Just pulls off the ending. I liked it a lot although the recurrence of misogyny and abuse in Ursula’s personal relationships plus current world news occasionally veered towards too much for me.

The Silence of Snow, Eileen Merriman. Jodie is a first year doctor at Nelson Hospital, struggling with the workload and her loss of love for her long-distance fiancé; Rory is a Scottish anaesthetic fellow at the same hospital who is dealing very badly with his role in the death of a former patient.

( Spoilers. )

Death Below Stairs, Jennifer Ashley. Kat Holloway is a widowed cook in Victorian England who takes a new position (I was unable to get the catch-phrase "She was a good cook as cooks go; and as good cooks go she went" out of my head when reading this) in a marginally eccentric household and, just as she is getting her new assistant trained to her satisfaction, the girl is found murdered in the pantry. This has a lot of good stuff in it (as well as a lot of Mrs Beeton) and I was well over halfway before a breakfast of hot buttered muffins sent me checking to confirm my instant assumption that the author was American, but the focus on household management does not entirely work with an ultimate plot of royal assassination (by bombs, not cookery) and there's a lot of character backstory that feels like it gets shoe-horned in. But I would read another one, because I like the concept.

WA. Novel for critique; currently on second read-through.

It’s in His Kiss, When He Was Wicked, On the Way to the Wedding, Julia Quinn. The last three of the Bridgertons – Hyacinth, Francesca, Gregory (in that order). Hyacinth is too smart and outspoken for most men, but notorious rake Gareth who needs her to translate a mysterious diary in Italian finds her increasingly attractive. Francesca wants a baby and so is finally ready to put off mourning for her husband, who died suddenly from a cerebral aneurysm, at just the same time as her husband’s cousin, who was his best friend and secretly in love with Francesca, returns to England from India. Gareth falls for the conventionally attractive but uninterested best friend of Lucy (resigned to being the less desirable friend and already promised to marry), before realising that Lucy may be exactly who he needs.

Quinn seems fond of having the first sex scene be under false pretences to a greater or lesser degree and I’m not keen on Regency men having the internal dialogue that they will ruin the reputation of their loved one before marriage so that they can’t get away. I still haven’t finished the fourth of these but although they’re readable and I do actually like reading about a group of siblings who fundamentally love and like each other, only An Offer from a Gentleman has really worked for me as a romance.

In progress:

I was most of the way through Philippa Perry's The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read when the library whisked it back from my ereader, and I'm considering whether to reserve it again. It focuses on the parent-child relationship, and how to nurture this, acknowledging feelings, being present etc, and I do find this useful. But I've had similar from other books, and they didn't have a chunk in the middle about how you should always instantly respond to a crying infant (I note the author only had one child) and if you spend too much time on your phone your child will become a drug addict and it's all your fault. She's big on saying that things can always be repaired, which is nice, but she also says that there's no possible risk to the adult in constantly subjugating their needs to those of their child and, well, no, plus see also multiple children.

Into the Spotlight, Carrie Hope Fletcher. Modern take on Ballet Shoes. Hasn't grabbed me.

No Man's Land, AJ Fitzwater. Lesbian shapeshifters in North Otago during WWII, or at least I think that's where we're going; intriguing so far, plus gave me an idea for a completely different story.

Up next:

I want to finish Vita Nostra, I've been contemplating the third Dal Maclean book, and I really, really must finish Death Sets Sail and stop wibbling over it.

Gaming:

Have flung myself into Stardew Valley, the 1.5 update on the Switch, and trying to see if I can get an upgraded barn *and* a friendly pig by the end of winter. Also, was the Skull Cavern always this hard, or am I just far too low in combat level?

Finished:

City of Girls, Elizabeth Gilbert. I read this in February but missed it from my last post. This is a book with an amazingly strong middle section that I liked a lot and a weird framing sequence that irked me. Vivian is kicked out of Vassar and sent by her long-suffering parents to live with her aunt Peg, who runs a struggling low-rent theatre in Manhattan, just as WWII gets underway. All the Manhattan theatre bits are fabulous, as is the fashion – Vivian is a talented seamstress/tailor who rapidly gets involved in making costumes for the actors, as well as her own clothes, and her eye for those around her and their outfits is keen. I could have read even more of this. But it’s framed by Vivian, in her 90s, looking back on her life and her relationship with one particular man – and, if I’d been that man’s daughter, to whom Vivian is apparently telling the story, I’d be pissed off at all these masses of irrelevant details. That part of Vivian’s story felt bolted on, rather than the fulcrum; it’s an uncomfortable mix.

The 52 Week Project: How I Fixed My Life By Trying One New Thing Every Week for a Year, Lauren Keenan. Obviously the subtitle gives this one away. Lauren is separated, struggling, and keeps getting rejected; she decides on this project and learns about herself (and others). Competent, breezy, self-deprecating; also very careful in what it doesn’t say. Enjoyable enough but lacking the personal connection of other memoirs I’ve found more meaningful.

The Second Term at Rocklands, Elsie J Oxenham. Despite title this is not remotely a school book and is yet more Abbey stuff with a long lost relative subplot flung in at random and some deeply significant Morris pipes. I continue to be unable to reliably distinguish between Joy, Jen, and Joan, despite having read probably 30-odd Abbey books over the years. Basically it was free on Project Gutenberg and I do still have a fondness for Oxenham’s Damaris Dances that means I will occasionally try to see what other fans find in the rest of the series.

The Perilous Life of Jade Yeo, Zen Cho. Jade is trying to break into London literary society in the 1920s, and writes a scathing review of the latest novel by literary darling Sebastian Hardie, who is intrigued by her audacity and talent. Hardie is very much HG Wells with regard to relationships and careless disregard for responsibility; Jade is practical, determined, and not convinced. The voice really carries this story (the denouement would be too slight and not all that satisfying without it) and it’s great.

Loving a Warrior, Melanie Hansen. Re-read. I really just like all the SEAL training stuff and, while the romance is fine, the bit where Matt thinks Shane has dropped out is all too obviously the BIG MISUNDERSTANDING and arrgh, really, these are supposed to be competent adults and not teenagers. But it's great for SEAL training (I told a friend I was reading a SEAL romance and despite my attempts to explain I still think they haven't really appreciated the capital letters).

To Sir Phillip, With Love, Julia Quinn. Eloise Bridgerton suddenly realises being single is less appealing now everyone else is in a relationship; she bolts off to the countryside, and longtime correspondent Sir Phillip, himself a widower (and father of two children) struggling to relate to anything other than his plants. It’s better than the last one and I like the kids; the depression backstory (for Phillip’s wife) teeters on the edge of being too contemporary in sensibility and also clashes with what I've seen of the series (I think I'm most of the way through episode four).

Concrete Rose, Angie Thomas. About Starr’s (from The Hate U Give) father, Maverick Carter, as a seventeen year old who’s just found out he has a son to a former girlfriend. He’s also failing in school, dealing drugs, and running with the King Lord gang, and seems destined to end up as just another statistic, but Thomas continues to write excellent books about real people in real communities navigating the difficult process of forming their identity, and Maverick is no exception. I’d also forgotten just enough of THUG to make the ending of this one extremely tense.

Currently Reading:

Life After Life, Kate Atkinson. Ursula Todd is born in 1910 and dies - at birth, multiple times, as a baby overlain by a cat, a child pulled out of her depth in sea water, falling off an icy roof at midnight, in the clutches of influenza during the pandemic - everytime the fall into darkness, and the rebirth. Things change with each cycle, as does Ursula's understanding of the process; we circle between wars and domesticity, the constraints and secrets of family life, and the horrible weight of foreknowledge. I liked Atkinson's Jackson Brodie books but bounced off some of the others and, in fact, tried to read this twice previously. This time it's definitely stuck and I'm enjoying it a lot. It reminds me of Jo Walton's My Real Children, but I'm liking it a lot more and hoping for a better ending.

Also a novel for critique, assorted MM Kayes, and I am giving myself a stern talking to about not stalling on Death Sets Sail, because it's not like I can change what happens by waiting and I do want to know.

Up Next:

I'm sure that, somewhere, I have the second and third of KJ Charles' Magpies trilogy in ebook, but it's not on the Kindle and Stanza isn't working. I read the on-line sample and really want to re-read the rest. Also rather a lot of romances on the library ebook app.

Gaming:

Have fallen back into Stardew Valley and am playing it on the Switch for the first time, as the 1.5 update isn't out yet for mobile. Just had a conversation with Willy that I think is setting things up for new content. I have put aside Genshin Impact for a bit as I like it but the gacha aspects are a constant irritation when I'm playing. Also doing a replay of Breath of the Wild as it's oddly soothing to start over with a blank map but (marginally) better gaming skills.

Just finished:

Silver Spoon 9-11, Hiromu Arakawa. I will review these when I finish the series (four more to go) but they continue to be a delight. My six year old son picked up volume 4 and read his way through it with determined bemusement; I think reading things beyond your age range is a valuable experience and have given him volume 5, although I have suggested he go back to 1-3 at some point.

The Viscount Who Loved Me, Julia Quinn. Sharp-tongued older sister Kate wants to see her younger sister married well; Anthony Bridgerton, the eldest son & head of the family after his father’s untimely death, believes he will also die early and so is looking for a wife who satisfies his family obligation but whom he will not inconveniently love. This was not all that engaging and the family battles of Pall Mall were not as endearing to me as the author obviously thinks they are.

An Offer From A Gentleman, Julia Quinn. I was going to return the 3 in 1 with this unread, but I was looking for something better than Common Goal, gave the first chapter of this a go and it pulled me in. Sophie is an earl’s bastard, raised in his household but never fully acknowledged; he marries again to a woman with two children who hates her and, after the Earl’s death, forces her to become her maid. One night Sophie sneaks out to a masquerade ball in a borrowed outfit and meets Benedict Bridgerton, only to have to leave him at midnight – yes, it’s all very obvious, but it’s also deeply satisfying. Sophie is a great character, existing in that liminal space between social acceptability and being outcast, and Quinn is setting up quite a few things for her large cast in this story. However, now that Netflix is playing the series, all the library copies are locked up for months. I do have an audio of the next one so will give that a go.

Common Goal, Rachel Reid. Eric is a bi & divorced goal-tender in his 40s who is considering retiring and men, not necessarily in that order; Kyle is a grad student bartender who has a hopeless crush on his soon-to-be married friend but also really likes older men. This was a solid meh. The whole “I will educate you in how to hook up with guys but oh no, feelings” felt way too artifical, the sex itself was boring, and Eric is a bit of a vanilla pudding of a character. Every so often Ilya Rozanov shows up and the whole thing tightens up, but my enthusiasm for the forthcoming Heated Rivalry sequel is tempered by the hints in this book that it may well be kidfic (I’ve read great kidfic (Maldoror’s Kindred, Speranza's With Six You Get Eggroll ) but I’ve read a lot that was totally dire).

Currently reading:

My Dark Vanessa, by Kate Elizabeth Russell. When she was fifteen Vanessa had a sexual relationship with her English teacher, a relationship that she tells herself was love, special and consensual; sixteen years later in the #MeToo age the teacher is accused of sexual abuse by another student, and Vanessa has to re-examine her past. This is brilliantly disturbing writing, grounded and all too believable in every last telling detail.

At my single-sex high school one of the male teachers there had his own special coterie of favourite students; it took twenty years for a complaint to be filed and 25 for him to resign while under investigation. I wasn’t in the coterie, but a friend of mine was, and I was taught by the teacher in question for a year; it’s exhilarating, feeling that an adult recognises how special you are, takes you seriously, treats you as an adult – and it’s a line that blurs very easily when the adult involved wants it that way.

Up next:

I put Vita Nostra aside as My Dark Vanessa was due back sooner, so that, and the rest of Silver Spoon. I am also reading Robin Stevens' Death Sets Sail, the last of the Wells & Wong 1930s schoolgirl detective series, at a glacially slow pace because of MASSIVE SPOILER; hitting the line, "And [X} had two" at the end of one chapter made me too mournful to continue for about a week.

Just finished:

The Southern Bookclub’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, Grady Hendrix. Patricia feels lost after giving up her nursing career to raise her family, but after she fails to read a suitably worthy book for her official bookclub (Paton’s Cry, the Beloved Country) she’s invited to join a more rebellious group of women reading true crime (suitably disguised:

“We just read a wonderful book about life in a small Guyanese town in the 1970s.”

She didn’t mention that it was Raven: The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones and His People.)

Then James Harris, a mysterious stranger, moves into the neighbourhood, and Patty’s initial fascination with him becomes an obsession with who - and what he really is. I really liked this, without any of the caveats I’ve had for his earlier books - you can definitely see his growth as a writer. The bookclub are great, and James Harris is a convincing predator - one who enjoys fattening up his victims beforehand. The time skip is brilliant.

Unmasked by the Marquess, Cat Sebastian. Robert Selby wants his pretty sister Louisa to marry well, so he lies to the current Marquess of Pembroke (Alastair) that his late father was Louisa’s godfather, in the hope that he will help launch Louisa into society. But Alastair is more interested in Robert, who is also concealing the fact that he was born Charity Church, a foundling and housemaid (author’s note describes Charity as nonbinary; she uses she/her in the text). Charity/Robin worked well for me as a character, but the instant bond between her and Alastair (who is apparently uptight and proper in all things) didn’t work for me and, as with Sebastian’s other novels, it’s all a bit forgettable. I’d actually be most interested in reading about Charity’s past, and how she moved from housemaid to attending Oxford.

The Duke and I, Julia Quinn. I am objectively terrible at watching live action TV dramas. In the last six years I’ve managed 11 episodes of Guardian, all of And Then There Were None, 18 minutes of the Untamed, and an episode and a bit of The Queen’s Gambit. I therefore thought I’d have more luck if I read the books and then tried to watch the Netflix Bridgerton series (this worked well for And Then there Were None, where I can just admire the clockwork brilliance of it all, but with Queen's Gambit I know the text so well and it's a relatively faithful adaptation, so I keep getting this weird echo effect when watching. Plus everyone is way too pretty and clean). In this one Daphne Bridgerton, fourth of eight alphabetically named siblings and the oldest daughter, makes an business-only arrangement with Simon Hastings, a rake with daddy issues, in order to increase her perceived marriageability, and they end up in love. Eventually. After they’re married but before Simon’s issues are dealt with, Daphne has unprotected sex with Simon when he’s drunk because she wants to get pregnant and he has refused to. Quinn has an author’s note about how this scene reads differently now to when she wrote it in 2000, which is true, but it did make the happy ending somewhat bitter, and the second prologue with everyone’s hordes of loving offspring made me feel as if I were back reading later volumes of the Chalet School (or, given the naming systems, the Abbey Girls).

Silver Spoon volumes 3-8, Hiromu Arakawa. Hachiken Yuugo burns out at prep school and flees to Ooezo Agricultural High School in Hokkaido. This is just so much fun to read. Hachiken hasn’t grown up with farming the way the other students have, and so he approaches things quite differently - and the other students learn from this, too, as when Hachiken names one of the piglets they raise for meat (“Pork Bowl”) and then grapples with the whole process. Many, many fabulous food scenes, lots of information, fantastic character moments. My personal favourite character is Tamako and the panel in which she submits her business case for the pizza oven had me laughing for about five minutes.

Currently reading:

The next Silver Spoon - I have all bar the last (15th) volume out from the library. The Bridgerton books are a 3 in 1, so I am also about halfway through The Viscount Who Loved Me and am not loving it. I just started Vita Nostra, by Maryna and Serhiy Dyachenko, about a young woman invited/summoned to join an odd magical university, and it's compelling and atmospheric so far.

Possibly abandoning:

A Queen from the North, Erin McRae and Racheline Maltese. In an AU Unified Kingdom where York and Lancaster are still rivals, the widowed Prince of Wales proposes to the daughter of a northern Earl for political reasons - but both of them develop feelings. I am still not convinced by the backstory (in worldbuilding terms this conflict seems to be replacing Irish nationalism but it's way less intense and I haven't seen it on the page for all that the northern character keeps going on about how much York is oppressed) nor am I that convinced by the romance, and all the characters feel like they’ve just started the book at the same time I did - the prince is apparently a good friend of Amelia’s older brother, yet they have no history - for example. I am keeping reading because I do like the title and I'm hoping it might improve.

I am definitely ditching Tal Bauer’s Enemies of the State, because I am in no way in the mood for newly inaugurated American president hooks up with his special agent bodyguard.

Up next:

More Silver Spoon. Also my father pinched Iain Maloney's The Only Gaijin in the Village (nonfiction, author moves to rural Japan with his Japanese wife) off me and has nearly finished it.

Audio:

Finished Briar’s Book, the last in Tamora Pierce’s The Circle of Magic series, and started on Magic Steps, first in the The Circle Opens. While I’ve loved all four, this was my least favourite, largely because it deals with a plague and partly now is not the time, but partly

( Spoilers )

Gaming:

I think there’s only one chapter left of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, although there are a lot of minor missions. I am avoiding most of the Divine Beast ones because the controls are terrible. I am in winter of year two in a Stardew Valley game, and I want to marry someone by the end of the season but can’t decide who - maybe Leah? Or Elliott? Also, trying to get to level 100 in the Skull Cavern; have made it to 72. I have also just downloaded the trial of Genshin Impact onto my phone.