Island Queen

When I initially saw this novel for sale on Amazon I was not sure whether I wanted to buy it. However, I did get it and I am glad that I read it. It is the fascinating, true life story of Dorothy Kirwan Thomas, a free black woman who rose from slavery to become one of the wealthiest and most powerful landowners in the colonial West Indies. At 592 pages, the book qualifies as a selection for the Chunkster Challenge.

The publisher's summary:  

Born into slavery on the tiny Caribbean island of Montserrat, Doll bought her freedom—and that of her sister and her mother—from her Irish planter father and built a legacy of wealth and power as an entrepreneur, merchant, hotelier, and planter that extended from the marketplaces and sugar plantations of Dominica and Barbados to a glittering luxury hotel in Demerara on the South American continent.

Vanessa Riley’s novel brings Doll to vivid life as she rises above the harsh realities of slavery and colonialism by working the system and leveraging the competing attentions of the men in her life: a restless shipping merchant, Joseph Thomas; a wealthy planter hiding a secret, John Coseveldt Cells; and a roguish naval captain who will later become King William IV of England.

From the bustling port cities of the West Indies to the forbidding drawing rooms of London’s elite, Island Queen is a sweeping epic of an adventurer and a survivor who answered to no one but herself as she rose to power and autonomy against all odds, defying rigid eighteenth-century morality and the oppression of women as well as people of color. It is an unforgettable portrait of a true larger-than-life woman who made her mark on history.

The story began when Dorothy was five-years-old. It started out slow but picked up when Dorothy was 18. At that point I couldn't put the book down. There were a couple of unsavory sections where Dorothy or another female family member were being raped and/or referred to with racist and sexist language. The book is not for everyone but it does tell a part of history that we don't usually hear about. I was surprised at how easily and quickly Dorothy was able to save money to buy herself and several family members freedom from their slave owners. This ease seemed wrong from the history that I have been told over the years. Her ability to get away with talking back to her white owners did not feel right to me either. Perhaps she was able because she lived in the Caribbean. I am not sure. Dorothy was able to build several businesses and became one of the most wealthy women in the Caribbean. It would be interesting to find out whether this was a norm or an anomaly for black women in the Caribbean during the early 1800s. 

Dorothy pushed her daughters to marry white men. She prospered off of these relationships but perhaps her motivation was just to ensure that her children had food to eat. These white husbands had the power of manumission and this was one way for Dorothy to keep her descendants free people. The language used in the book took some getting used to. The West Indies dialect as well as the Irish words used by the white slave owners was very hard to get used to. Most of this language was used in the first half of the book. It got alot better in the second half.  With all of these issues in my mind I am still thinking to myself about my feelings about the novel. There are many questions that the Author's Note does not answer.

3 out of 5 stars.

The New Girl

Ruth Heald is one of my newest favorite authors.  I read her The Wedding and I Know Your Secret, both of which were fantastic psychological thrillers. When I saw an ad for her newest book, I couldn't wait to get it. Heald now has a respectable six novels to her credit. She only writes the psychological thriller genre and is superb with this type of writing. Heald studied Economics at Oxford University and then worked in a mix of sectors from nuclear decommissioning to management consulting. She worked at the BBC for nine years before leaving to write full time. Heald stated on her website that she is fascinated by psychology and finding out what drives people to violence, destruction and revenge.

Sophie Williams has moved from Dorset to London in order to escape her past. She thought that she could keep her past a secret by moving with no possessions other than a few clothes. She soon lands her dream job in advertising and it comes with a bonus. Sophie is offered the use of an apartment that her new employer owns for free. She is attracted her boss James and he feels the same about her. With James by her side, Sophie begins to feel safe again, more secure than she has felt in years. However, Sophie begins to hear odd noises at night and has a feeling that she is being watched. James convinces her that she is imagining things but when a new dress appears in her closet, Sophie wears it to work the next day. She is stunned when the atmosphere becomes chilled. 

Wow! This was a page turning mystery with many twists and turns. I found my heart beating fast everytime something happened to Sophie. I thought she was pretty gullible and knew she would be in danger because of her poor decisions. She should have known that all of the gifts that her new employer gave her were for a reason, a reason not good for her. I think most women would have had their antenna up and swirling furiously. I began dreading each new chapter because I knew she would find a simple reason to excuse all the bad things that were happening and ignore the obvious. The author did a great job of writing suspense into each chapter. The suspense was so high that I was scared for Sophie. It's been a long, long time since I cared this much for a character. However, I have had similar experiences with men and recognized every trap that she fell into. 

5 out of 5 stars.

Hotel Portofino

I had high hopes for Hotel Portofino. The beautiful cover attracted me to pick it up but that old adage, don't judge a book by it's cover, seems appropriate. I just didn't care for the story. The plot premise was good, which was another reason why I borrowed it from my local library. The story revolves around a British family who opens an upper class hotel on the Italian Rivera during the 1920s. After only being open a few weeks, owner Bella Ainsworth is struggling to deal with a pile of problems. Her high society clientele are demanding and Bella is targeted by a corrupt politician. When her marriage falls apart Bella doesn't think she can handle any more adversity but it keeps on coming.

I had difficulty becoming interested in the book from its opening pages. I thought that once I knew who all of the characters were that it would get better. It didn't. Other reviewers have said that the story is similar to Downton Abbey and I think Hotel Portofino might make a great movie like Downton because it is high on atmosphere. However, it falls short as a novel. There was not much action and even that beautiful setting couldn't keep me interested.

Unfortunately, this one a little dull. 2 out of 5 stars.

The Perfect Home

This is Kevin Lynch's second book. The Perfect Home is a psychological thriller set somewhere in the UK. The place is not mentioned but since the author uses the anglicized spelling of words, it must be in either England or Ireland. The author lives in Dublin so Ireland is a good guess. 

The story opens with June Sweeney gardening in her back yard. She loves her home, which she retained in her divorce from Nick. It is where she raised her two kids who are now college age. June has filled every room with family photographs and trinkets. She especially loves the garden and works on it every day. June likes the neighbors in her cul-de-sac and the feelings are mutual. The neighborhood is peaceful. She has the perfect home . . . until Steve Murray moves in next door.

Steve keeps 3 or 4 cars parked in his driveway and plays music loudly all day and night while he repairs them. June meets with her neighbor Fred almost every day to discuss their mutual complaints about Steve. When June brings her complaints to son Sam and daughter Cathy, they do not side with her. They believe Steve is an OK guy. He is just trying to recover from a setback. June begins to feel all alone in her misery thinking that it can't get worse. It does. Strange things are happening in her house late at night and even more disturbing, June’s cheating ex-husband suddenly seems to always be at her house. It’s almost as if he’s stalking her. Then Fred is murdered. What is happening to June's perfect home?

I love finding new authors who can write these tension filled thrillers. Kindle seems to bring many of them to my attention and I am thrilled (pun intended) to discover Kevin Lynch. He had my complete attention from the first page and I couldn't put the book down until I read it in one sitting. The pace is fast as each page moves the plot forward. There is no wasted dialogue or setting descriptions other than this perfect cul-de-sac, referred to in the book as "the estate." I am not sure what that is but in my mind I picture a cul-de-sac.

June is presented as a June Cleaver on steroids. With the eerie atmosphere of the novel, I can see her as a character in the movie Psycho. The story felt like it could have been written by Alfred Hitchcock and would have made a great episode of the Twilight Zone. 

I am rating this a 5 out of 5 stars. It is a must read for all.

Fast Girls

Fast Girls tells the story of the 1936 US women's olympic athletics team, a timely historical fiction novel given we have just watched the Beijing Olympics last month. The story actually begins with the 1928 women's athletics team and continues on to the 1932 team before getting to the main storyline. The athletes featured in the book are from real life. Betty Robinson, Helen Stephens and Babe Dickrickson are the best known. I was surprised that several of these women were from the Chicago south suburbs. I grew up there and loved seeing news articles from a local high school. What surprised me was that the school was integrated. 

Half of the book covers the 1928 and 1932 Olympics. The last half deals with the 1936 Olympics in Hitler's Germany. Louise Stokes was black and not welcome in the Third Reich but none of the others really were either. Because these Americans were expected to win gold, their German hosts did their best to tire them with activities. Their rooms were also rather cold. Helen had a meeting with Hitler that terrified her. She wrote in her diary that he groped her in front of a group of people and wanted to see her privately. Her coach led her to safety. I was astonished that the host country's leaders would behave in this manner. However, haven't we all recently read how the Chinese government publicly excoriated American athletes of Chinese descent? The athletes were told that they should have competed for China. Nathan Chen was told by government leaders to leave China after his gold medal skate. He refused.

The novel covers many races that these ladies participated in over an eight year time span. While there is alot of political drama, Fast Girls is basically a sports story. 

5 out of 5 stars.

A Catered St. Patrick's Day

I selected this book for the Calendar of Crime Challenge. It is a culinary cozy mystery that was published in 2012. I have not read any book in the series before and had no expectations, either good or bad, for the book. Unfortunately, I didn't like it much.

The story opens on St. Patrick's Day with sisters Bernie and Libby Simmons making pies for a customer of their bakery, A Little Taste of Heaven. After receiving a call from their brother Brandon, they leave the shop and meet him at the bar where he works, RJ's. When they arrive Brandon shows them the dead body of Mike Sweeney, a local business owner. He found the body when he came into work that morning. The boss shows up shortly thereafter and calls the police but continues to plan on opening the bar for his best business day of the year. Bernie and Libby promise their brother that they will look into the death. 

It initially was difficult to figure out the relationships between the characters. The story assumes that you know the backstory from earlier novels in the series. Also, the dialogue between the sisters was so mundane I didn't know why it was part of the story. Another problem that I had was that there was no catering job that the sisters were involved with. The title assumes that a catered event is part of the plot. The only part of the novel about the March holiday is that the murder took place on St. Patrick's Day. No clues involved the holiday. I wonder whether the author wrote a generic story and later gave it a holiday title. 

Alot of things didn't add up about this novel. Since this is the first Isis Crawford book I have read I won't be reading her in the future. 2 out of 5 stars.

The Magnolia Palace

The Magnolia Palace is the 6th book written by Fiona Davis. I had previously read her books The Address and The Masterpiece and loved them.  The Magnolia Palace takes it place among them both as great historical fiction.

The publisher's summary:

Eight months since losing her mother in the Spanish flu outbreak of 1919, twenty-one-year-old Lillian Carter's life has completely fallen apart. For the past six years, under the moniker Angelica, Lillian was one of the most sought-after artists' models in New York City, with statues based on her figure gracing landmarks from the Plaza Hotel to the Brooklyn Bridge. But with her mother gone, a grieving Lillian is rudderless and desperate—the work has dried up and a looming scandal has left her entirely without a safe haven. So when she stumbles upon an employment opportunity at the Frick mansion—a building that, ironically, bears her own visage—Lillian jumps at the chance. But the longer she works as a private secretary to the imperious and demanding Helen Frick, the daughter and heiress of industrialist and art patron Henry Clay Frick, the more deeply her life gets intertwined with that of the family—pulling her into a tangled web of romantic trysts, stolen jewels, and family drama that runs so deep, the stakes just may be life or death.

Nearly fifty years later, mod English model Veronica Weber has her own chance to make her career—and with it, earn the money she needs to support her family back home—within the walls of the former Frick residence, now converted into one of New York City's most impressive museums. But when she—along with a charming intern/budding art curator named Joshua—is dismissed from the Vogue shoot taking place at the Frick Collection, she chances upon a series of hidden messages in the museum: messages that will lead her and Joshua on a hunt that could not only solve Veronica's financial woes, but could finally reveal the truth behind a decades-old murder in the infamous Frick family.

This was a relaxing, easy read. I enjoyed Lillian's story more than Veronica's and am not sure the 1966 subplot was necessary. Usually alternating plotlines end up with characters being related in some way. Not so for Veronica. While Veronica and Joshua figured out what happened in the Frick family in 1919, I don't think the author had to use an alternating plot to inform the reader what happened earlier in the century. I usually like alternating plots but this book might have been better without it.

Lillian is an engaging character. Her ability to go with the flow contrasted with Helen's cryptic personality. As a model past her prime at age 18, Lillian shows us the futility of relying upon beauty for riches. Helen, on the other hand, was a woman who yearned for a career instead of marriage. Normally I would love this kind of character. For some reason she didn't impress me. I didn't see her as an independent person even though she turned away suitors so she could help out in her father's business. Still, this was an amazing story and I highly recommend it.

4 out of 5 stars.

Honey Roasted

Honey Roasted is the 19th coffeehouse mystery by Cleo Coyle, the pen name of husband and wife writing duo Alice Alfonsi and Marc Cerasini. This series is my favorite cozy mystery series and I waited over a year for this installment of the series. I was not disappointed. Honey Roasted was a fun, relaxing read. 

The story opens with Village Blend coffeehouse manager Clare Cosi creating a new coffee drink for her upcoming wedding reception. The drink is made from honey processed coffee. The honey for the new Honey Cinnamon Latte was sourced by Village Blend owner Madame's old friend Bea Hastings. Bea has cultivated a rare, prize winning nectar from her rooftop bee hives. One night after the shop was closed for business, Clare finds a swarm of bees in the Blend's chimney and basement. She believes that the bees may have come from Bea's rooftop greenhouse and walks over to Bea's home for a conversation about them. However, Clare finds Bea unconscious on her balcony. The police determine that Bea attempted suicide but Clare disputes this idea knowing that Bea would never abandon her hives. She sets out to investigate what happened to Bea and discovers the world of competitive urban beekeepers. 

I enjoyed this novel. I read it in one sitting but had a few adverse thoughts about the story. Clare is depicted for the first time in the series as an anxious woman who can not make any decisions on her own. This is not in keeping with her character. Also, her relationship with Mike Quinn is portrayed differently. For the first time, they have problems. While this can be attributed to their approaching matrimony something felt wrong about how much stress they were under. They were not communicating at all. What has always made their relationship solid was their ability to talk with each other about anything. To suddenly start avoiding each other was unusual. Another different aspect to the story was that there was no murder, only an attempted murder. I thought alot about these differences from earlier books in the series and began to see that the authors needed to make changes in their series to keep it fresh. It was all entertaining anyway so were these changes damaging? I don't think so. When there is always a murder in the same place the reader can become bored. 

While this book is advertised as a being able to be read as a standalone, I think it would be best if new readers start with another book in the series. The story presupposes knowledge about the Blend and the characters.  Highly recommended. 4 out of 5 stars.

Book of the Month: February

My best book for this month is Tom Savage's Valentine. While it was published in 1996 I recently found out about it from searching for a selection for the Calendar of Crime Challenge. It is so good that I rated it 10 out of 5 stars. The story was suspenseful but the ending was shocking. I never expected what happened and cannot believe Savage came up with the idea for the ending. If you haven't read it I recommend you check it out. It is unbelievably good.

The theme of Valentine is revenge. While in school, several girls play a nasty practical joke on a fellow student on Valentine's Day. He spends his life churning his anger over the "joke" and eventually gets even. All of the girls who ridiculed him died in accidents except for Jillian. Jillian begins receiving notes from a secret admirer who always signs his name as Valentine. While the ending seems to be predictable, it's not. 

You must check this book out. You won't be disappointed.

Book Cover of the Month: February

I love the cover of Fern Michaels 19 Yellow Moon Road. I chose it as my book cover of the month for it's color scheme. The bright yellow, pink and teal colors are what made me select the book for the Color Coded Reading Challenge. While I was familiar with the author and had a good impression of her writing, I had not read anything by her in years.  I am glad this cover was enticing because the story was outstanding. Michaels is back on my radar and while I wait for her next novel I am going to read her 2020 book Bitter Pill. In this case, it was right to judge a book by it's cover.

Billionaires

Billionaires is Darryl Cunningham's 2021 graphic novel. It is a biography of three of the world's current billionaires, Rupert Murdock, Jeff Bezos and the Koch Brothers. Billionnaire Robert Maxwell plays heavily in Rupert Murdock's story. At 244 pages, each of the billionaires receives about 90 pages of space in the book. Cunningham begins each biography with the birth and childhood of the person. They continue until their death or their current state of affairs. Each of them was driven to succeed by destroying every competitor they had. The key word here is destroy. They were not content to push the competition out of business but rather destroy the owners themselves. All of them had instincts that drove their businesses far above their competitors and created new ways of doing business that other companies have followed.  

While I had previously read alot about each of these men, when I looked at them as a group I saw similarities that I had not seen before. The last four pages of the book discussed the economic and societal problems that stem from the actions of these billionaires. It did sound a little sanctimonious even though I agree with the author's conclusions. However, I cannot think of any way that Cunningham could have said it differently. He addresses the effects they had on American policy making and political campaigning.While each of these men used a philosophy of small government and low oversight over corporations to build their empires, what society has received is the exact opposite. We have alot of government oversight of American businesses. How did this happen? These men used political power to stop any competition. This can only happen if government oversees the affairs of all of the other companies. 

The political power these men held influenced world affairs in a negative way. The founder of the Koch dynasty supported Nazi Germany with its oil refineries. Murdock's love of gossipy newspapers and his media mergers is what gave us opinionated news anchors. In my opinion he gets the bad rap for creating Fox News. Bezos' predatory acquisitions brought us his vision of The Everything Store. No one seems to be able to succeed in selling any products because Bezos will just start selling the product cheaper, putting other companies out of business. 

Billionaires is an insightful graphic novel that gives the reader all the knowledge they need about the lives of these three men. The author has successfully told their stories but in a funny way. There are alot of laughs throughout the book and I can confidently rate it 5 out of 5 stars.

Putin's Russia

Darryl Cunningham's latest graphic novel is Putin's Russia: The Rise of a Dictator. It was published on February 15, 2022 and is a biography of the Russian dictator. As publisher Drawn & Quarterly said recently, it is unfortunate that this comic arrived at this point in time. With Russian troops now in eastern Ukraine, it could not be more timely. News articles state that World War III is right around the corner. I do not understand why WWIII is a possibility but when you read about Putin's rise in Russia you see what he is capable of. 

In this biography of Vladimir Putin we see the development of a schoolyard bully in Soviet era Leningrad into a KGB officer, then on to a corrupt commodities trader and continuing on to being the president of Russia. The reader is shown the brutality that Putin has waged against his detractors as well as his lawless financial dealings. What I gleaned from the book is that everything Putin does politically enhances his personal finances. Taking that idea further, I imagine that Putin will make billions off of Ukraine. Money is the only thing he is interested in. Yes, there are advantages to Russia for invading Ukraine. It has oil and plentiful wheat fields that Russia could benefit from. However, when you see the totality of Putin's life you see that every political decision he makes only makes him richer. 

Putin was lucky is obtaining jobs that brought him more and more power. He was able to join the KGB in which membership is by invitation only. When returning from an assignment in East Germany he somehow found jobs that allowed him to take advantage of the post-Soviet chaos. By becoming affiliated with Boris Yeltsin, Putin was able to become president of Russia. Someone obviously helped him rise to power but the author does not tell us who that person is. Most likely no one knows this information other than Putin himself. Anyone with knowledge about Putin's past ends up dead and by controlling the media, he is able to create his own biography. 

This is an eye opening picture of the Russian dictator. Personally, I like to refer to him as Czar Putin. Highly recommended. 5 out of 5 stars.

The Widow Clicquot

The Widow Clicquot is a biography of Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin Clicquot. After the death of her husband she became driven to succeed as a champagne vintner and created the Veuve Clicquot brand. Veuve means widow in French. Nicole was called Veuve Clicquot by her contemporaries and that is how the brand got its name. I think it is the best champagne in the world.

The book begins in 1789 Reims with an eleven year old Nicole. When the French Revolution arrived in Reims, Nicole had to leave the royal school she attended and be disguised as a peasant in order to safely return to her home. Soon thereafter, her family was discussing possible matches for a marriage. Nicole was lucky to catch the dashing François Clicquot. François was from a wealthy textile family. He, however, preferred to dabble in the production of wine than working in the textile business. François died early in the marriage. A business competitor, Jean-Remy Moet, told everyone who would listen that François killed himself because his business was failing. However, Nicole vowed to make something from her husband's vines. Moet, though, continued to lie about Nicole to keep her business from growing. He wanted her out of business so that he could buy her land. 

During this era sparkling wine was rare. It was not yet called champagne. It was vin mousseux. I was surprised to read that there were several successful women in the wine business during the 18th century. I always thought Nicole was a trailblazing anomaly but she wasn't. These other women were not from the bourgeois class and had more freedom to become entrepreneurs than Nicole had.

Most of the book discusses the problems Nicole had in building her company. She had to deal with the internal politics of France as well as Russian politics. Russia was where she could sell alot of wine, if she could get her bottles over there. Moet again was a trouble maker. He frequently thwarted her plans to have her bottles put on ships that were headed towards her market in St. Petersburg. It kind of makes me want to ban Moet champagne in my household so I can be in solidarity with Nicole. She is definitely seen as a heroine in the book, almost like a character would be in a fiction book. 

The Widow Clicquot tells an inspirational story that anyone can prosper if they don't give up. It took Nicole a lifetime to reach her goal. I think today people would give up after a few years of poor sales but our heroine had a vision that she could not ignore.

4 out of 5 stars