ARC Review - The Art of Theft by Sherry Thomas

The Art of Theft by Sherry Thomas
The Lady Sherlock series, book four
Published Oct 2019 by Berkley

Format Read: Print ARC provided by publisher for review

Description from Goodreads:
As "Sherlock Holmes, consulting detective," Charlotte Holmes has solved murders and found missing individuals. But she has never stolen a priceless artwork—or rather, made away with the secrets hidden behind a much-coveted canvas.

But Mrs. Watson is desperate to help her old friend recover those secrets and Charlotte finds herself involved in a fever-paced scheme to infiltrate a glamorous Yuletide ball where the painting is one handshake away from being sold and the secrets a bare breath from exposure.

Her dear friend Lord Ingram, her sister Livia, Livia's admirer Stephen Marbleton—everyone pitches in to help and everyone has a grand time. But nothing about this adventure is what it seems and disaster is biding time on the grounds of a glittering French chateau, waiting only for Charlotte to make a single mistake...

My Review: 

As some of you know I read a lot of cozy mysteries for both work and fun and I LOVE a good historical mystery. I'd been intrigued by this series for a while, after hearing amazing things about author Sherry Thomas's skill as a writer. I also love the imagined twist on the character Sherlock Holmes.  So, when given the opportunity to read The Art of Theft, I couldn't pass it up, even though it is book four in the series.  

As such, my review will be more of a teasing spotlight, as like I will recommend to you, I intend to go back and start this series properly with book one, A Study in Scarlet Women. The writing in this series is wonderful, full of rich historical detail, flirtations with "current events" of the time and character development that leaves no character as simply a caricature of themselves. The mystery unfolds well, and though I've heard it is not the most exciting in the series, I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I did feel as though I were missing pieces of the characters' interactions with each other, though, having not read the previous books. This is a series that truly should be read in order.  

So, book one is highly recommended for readers who enjoy a good historical mystery and like the idea of a female behind the incredible mind of the infamous Sherlock Holmes. 

The Girl in the Clockwork Collar

The Girl in the Clockwork Collar
by Kady Cross
Steampunk Chronicles, book two

In New York City, 1897, life has never been more thrilling-or dangerous Finley Jayne and her "straynge band of mysfits" have journeyed from London to America to rescue their friend Jasper from the clutches of a devious criminal demanding a trade-the dangerous device Jasper stole from him... for the life of the girl Jasper loves. 

One false move from Jasper, and the strange clockwork collar around Mei's neck tightens and tightens. From the rough streets of lower Manhattan to elegant Fifth Avenue, the motley crew of teens follows Jasper's elusive trail. And they're about to discover how far they'll go for friendship. 

More than ever, Finley must rely on powerful English duke Griffin King to balance her dark magic with her good side. Yet Griffin is at war with himself over his secret attraction to Finley... and will risk his life and reputation to save her. 

Now, to help those she's come to care for so deeply, Finley must infiltrate the criminal gang. Only problem is, she might like the dark side a little too much... (Description from Goodreads.com)

God, I need to catch up with this series! There's four books now and I'm JUST reading book two *facepalm*.  Not only do I love Kady Cross' (also known as Kate Locke, whose books I DEVOUR) writing, but these are such fun steampunk adventures.  

I really enjoyed not only getting to follow some more of Finlay's adventures, but also getting to learn more about some of the secondary characters, especially Jasper.  Learning more about his origins added a whole new layer to the series and I'd love to see even more of that in the other books...we'll have to see when I catch up! LOL.  There were new nuances to the romantic relationships in this follow-up, as well, which left me grinning and slightly swoony at times.  I can't wait to see Finlay and Griffin finally figure their relationship out!! 

I liked the jump over to America in this one.  I thought it let things sort of start fresh for a few people.  The addition of some key New York inhabitants had me grinning, and I longed to be there at that time (in this steampunk world, of course! I want to ride a dirrigible!!). A great read that has me scrambling to find time to read the next one... 

Full Disclosure: Borrowed from My Library 

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry 
by Gabrielle Zevin

On the faded Island Books sign hanging over the porch of the Victorian cottage is the motto "No Man Is an Island; Every Book Is a World." A. J. Fikry, the irascible owner, is about to discover just what that truly means.

A. J. Fikry's life is not at all what he expected it to be. His wife has died, his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history, and now his prized possession, a rare collection of Poe poems, has been stolen. Slowly but surely, he is isolating himself from all the people of Alice Island-from Lambiase, the well-intentioned police officer who's always felt kindly toward Fikry; from Ismay, his sister-in-law who is hell-bent on saving him from his dreary self; from Amelia, the lovely and idealistic (if eccentric) Knightley Press sales rep who keeps on taking the ferry over to Alice Island, refusing to be deterred by A.J.'s bad attitude. Even the books in his store have stopped holding pleasure for him. These days, A.J. can only see them as a sign of a world that is changing too rapidly.

And then a mysterious package appears at the bookstore. It's a small package, but large in weight. It's that unexpected arrival that gives A. J. Fikry the opportunity to make his life over, the ability to see everything anew. It doesn't take long for the locals to notice the change overcoming A.J.; or for that determined sales rep, Amelia, to see her curmudgeonly client in a new light; or for the wisdom of all those books to become again the lifeblood of A.J.'s world; or for everything to twist again into a version of his life that he didn't see coming. (Description from Goodreads.com) 

This quirky story is set up in chapters, each headed by a different "review" of a book. As A.J.'s life changes, the reader sees the reflections in the vignettes of his life, and in the ways that the "reviews" change. The story is touching and heartfelt, I could not help but be charmed as cranky A.J. went from being the curmudgeonly bookseller to being a family man and part of the life blood of his small town.    

Zevin is an author that I like in general and I loved this foray into the adult world.  I felt that the characters were interesting and the whole concept was exceedingly well done.  The way the story unfolded was easy to follow and drew me right in, making me much more emotionally invested than I had thought I would be.  This was one of my favorite summer reads. 

Full disclosure: Borrowed from my Library

Infinityglass

Infinityglass
by Myra McEntire
Hourglass, book three

No time like the present.
No time in the present.
No time left. 

From the moment the Hourglass group violated the rules of the space time continuum to rescue a murdered loved one, time has been in flux. People from other centuries slide into our time, intruding into our space, threatening our world.

Frantically seeking a way to turn back this tide, the Hourglass begins a search for the legendary Infinityglass, tracking it to the city of New Orleans, a place where the past rests easily with the present.

Quiet, reliable Dune, the group's favorite geek, is selected to travel to the Crescent City and somehow retrieve the renowned object.

But there's a problem.

Because the Infinityglass is not an object, it's a person.
A beautiful, headstrong dancer named Hallie, a girl so enticing Dune can't take his eyes off her.

And time is not on her side. (Description from Amazon.com) 

I love this series.  

They are fun, romantic, and while time travel doesn't always make sense in general, at least here it seems clear enough on the surface, and there are rules set in place so that there are consequences if things are not done properly.  

But... back to the swoony-ness!  Dune.  Ah, Dune.  He was very hot (and smart!! Which I love...) in this book.  Even better, I really wanted to BE Hallie. She was cool, confident, smart...and yet, totally human.  She was a kick-@ss character.  

The setting.  New Orleans. *sigh* Every book I read set there just makes me want to get on a plane immediately.  I really need to see N'orlens soon.  SOON! 

I'm sad that this was the final book in the series, but I was satisfied.  I hope to read more from Myra McEntire someday.  

Full disclosure: Borrowed from my Library 

Splendors and Glooms

Splendors and Glooms
by Laura Amy Schlitz

The master puppeteer, Gaspare Grisini, is so expert at manipulating his stringed puppets that they appear alive. Clara Wintermute, the only child of a wealthy doctor, is spellbound by Grisini’s act and invites him to entertain at her birthday party. Seeing his chance to make a fortune, Grisini accepts and makes a splendidly gaudy entrance with caravan, puppets, and his two orphaned assistants. 

Lizzie Rose and Parsefall are dazzled by the Wintermute home. Clara seems to have everything they lack — adoring parents, warmth, and plenty to eat. In fact, Clara’s life is shadowed by grief, guilt, and secrets. When Clara vanishes that night, suspicion of kidnapping falls upon the puppeteer and, by association, Lizzie Rose and Parsefall. 

As they seek to puzzle out Clara’s whereabouts, Lizzie and Parse uncover Grisini’s criminal past and wake up to his evil intentions. Fleeing London, they find themselves caught in a trap set by Grisini’s ancient rival, a witch with a deadly inheritance to shed before it’s too late. (Description from Amazon.com) 

This book is very gothically atmospheric.  The characters are intriguing.  The sorcery that gets blended into the story is done very well and I found myself drawn in by both the storylines and the horrific things that the children and even the adult characters were facing.  And yet... I found this story read very slowly.  Don't get me wrong. It was beautifully written, I enjoyed the story and I was satisfied when it was done, but it also took me about five days to read and for me, that is a *really* long time.  I'm not sure exactly why it was so slow, but I have a feeling readers who are only halfheartedly interested may not make it through this one... 

Full disclosure: Borrowed from my library 

Safekeeping

Safekeeping

by Karen Hesse

 

Radley’s parents had warned her that all hell would break loose if the American People's Party took power. And now, with the president assassinated and the government cracking down on citizens, the news is filled with images of vigilante groups, frenzied looting, and police raids. It seems as if all hell has broken loose.

Coming back from volunteering abroad, Radley just wants to get home to Vermont, and the comfort and safety of her parents. Travel restrictions and delays are worse than ever, and by the time Radley’s plane lands in New Hampshire, she’s been traveling for over twenty-four hours. Exhausted, she heads outside to find her parents—who always come, day or night, no matter when or where she lands—aren’t there.

Her cell phone is dead, her credit cards are worthless, and she doesn’t have the proper travel papers to cross state lines. Out of money and options, Radley starts walking. . . . (description from Amazon.com)

 

This was a super-quick read. Once you get past the first small section, almost every page has a picture on it.  The pictures, taken by Hesse herself, add to the story, propelling the reader more deeply into the wilderness and Radley's desperate situation.

 

This was a book that gave me the shivers.  It was one that was very realistic and had such potential to actually occur that I found myself wondering what I would do if our government suddenly went into a military lockdown! I'm pretty sure that I would just end up hiding and hoping for the best. I don't think I'd be as brave as Radley, walking all the way to Canada!!

 

The only issue I had with this book was that Radley's situation seemed just a hair unrealistic at the end.  Once she gets her life back under control, there is nothing then stopping her from doing what she chooses to do. While the entire book had been about Radley overcoming horrific obstacles to do what she felt was right and to survive, suddenly it seemed just a bit too easy. 

 

Full disclosure: Borrowed from my Library

Will Sparrow's Road

Will Sparrow's Road

by Karen Cushman

 

In his thirteenth year, Will Sparrow, liar and thief, becomes a runaway. On the road, he encounters a series of con artists—a pickpocket, a tooth puller, a pig trainer, a conjurer—and learns that others are more adept than he at lying and thieving. Then he reluctantly joins a traveling troupe of "oddities," including a dwarf and a cat-faced girl, holding himself apart from the "monsters" and resolving to be on guard against further deceptions. At last Will is forced to understand that appearances are misleading and that he has been his own worst deceiver. (description from Amazon.com)

 

While I enjoyed the setting of this book - the Elizabethan English market circuit - I found myself having a hard time really becoming invested in it.  I'm not sure if it just read too young for me or if it was because I found Will to be too naive to believe...or what. I loved seeing the sort-of birth of freak shows and how the market folk treated one another and what life was like on the road.  I also eventually enjoyed seeing Will figure life out and come to a happy ending, but until then I felt sort of ambivalent about the whole thing.

 

Full disclosure: Audio book received to review for SLJ

Gold Star Review: Etiquette and Espionage

Etiquette and Espionage

by Gail Carriger

Finishing School, book one

 

Publication date: February 5, 2013

 

It's one thing to learn to curtsy properly. It's quite another to learn to curtsy and throw a knife at the same time. Welcome to Finishing School.

Fourteen-year-old Sophronia is a great trial to her poor mother. Sophronia is more interested in dismantling clocks and climbing trees than proper manners--and the family can only hope that company never sees her atrocious curtsy. Mrs. Temminnick is desperate for her daughter to become a proper lady. So she enrolls Sophronia in Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality.

But Sophronia soon realizes the school is not quite what her mother might have hoped. At Mademoiselle Geraldine's, young ladies learn to finish...everything. Certainly, they learn the fine arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but the also learn to deal out death, diversion, and espionage--in the politest possible ways, of course. Sophronia and her friends are in for a rousing first year's education. (description from Amazon.com)  

 

Gail Carriger is awesome. I love her blend of steampunk and the paranormal. When I found out she was coming out with a YA series, I just about blew a gasket!! Then I started to worry a little...what if it just wasn't the same as her adult Parasol Protectorate series?

 

I should have known better than to worry!! I LOVED this first book.  In fact, here's my tweeted reaction from about halfway in:  

Reading @gailcarriger's ESPIONAGE AND ETIQUETTE and am properly enchanted. Cannot put it down!! #curtseyscrumpetsandconcealedweapons
 

The blend of proper behavior, the distinct ignoring of said proper behavior (LOL), adventure, friendships, and "mechanimals" was brilliant. There are airships, balls, poison classes, "sooties," werewolves, and of course, Bumbersnoot. Who is Bumbersnoot? Why he's the most fashionable little mechanical dachsund ever! He eats coal, produces ash, and can conceal a prototype for the proper Lady spy.

The tie-ins to Carriger's adult series had me giggling throughout.  Hints dropped here, there, and everywhere. :)  I don't want to give anything away, but if you've read her other series, you will find at least one or two familiar faces...

With wonderful witty word choices and frankly fashionable fetes, Etiquette and Espionage is a bang-up start to a new series that leaves me shouting, "HUZZAH!" I cannot wait to return to Finishing School!

 

A gold star book, indeed. And, just to whet the appetite, check out this awesome trailer that was created for the book! LOVE.

 

 

Full disclosure: ARC received for review from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Fake Mustache

Fake Mustache

by Tom Angleberger

 

Regular kid Lenny Flem Jr. is the only one standing between his evil-genius best friend—Casper, a master of disguise and hypnosis—and world domination. It all begins when Casper spends money from his granny on a spectacularly convincing fake mustache, the Heidelberg Handlebar #7. With it he’s able rob banks, amass a vast fortune, and run for president. Is Lenny the only one who can see through his disguise? And will he be able to stop Casper from taking over the world? (description from Amazon.com)

 

This is actually my "BOOKWORMS" book club (grades 4&5) pick for January. It's our inaugural book club meeting and I couldn't think of a better way to start than with something slightly ridiculous humorous. Stay tuned...after our meeting on January 17th, I'll post about the program and how it went!  

 

Anyway, I thought this was a funny, absurd book. I liked the friendship theme...poor Lenny trying to figure out if it's okay to turn in his best friend, who's apparently turned evil...and Lenny making a new friend, a very pretty, very cool friend...

 

Although Lenny is a great character and the story is funny, it's really Jodie O'Rodeo who steals the whole show here. She is a fun girl who can actually DO things.  She rescues Lenny a couple of times and bemoans the fact that she wasn't allowed to do real stunts on her TV show. I think she's a great role model character for this age group and can't wait to talk about her with the kids.

 

If you're just looking for a fun book to make you laugh, I would suggest this one...and for my librarian friends out there, I think you'll agree with me that any book that features a slew of school librarians hypnotised into breaking into a federal bank must be worth reading, LOL!

 

Full disclosure: Borrowed from my Library


The Traitor in the Tunnel

The Traitor in the Tunnel

by Y. S. Lee

The Agency, book three



Queen Victoria has a little problem: there’s a petty thief at work in Buckingham Palace. Charged with discretion, the Agency puts quickwitted Mary Quinn on the case, where she must pose as a domestic while fending off the attentions of a feckless Prince of Wales. But when the prince witnesses the murder of one of his friends in an opium den, the potential for scandal looms large. And Mary faces an even more unsettling possibility: the accused killer, a Chinese sailor imprisoned in the Tower of London, shares a name with her long-lost father. Meanwhile, engineer James Easton, Mary’s onetime paramour, is at work shoring up the sewers beneath the palace, where an unexpected
tunnel seems to be very much in use. Can Mary and James trust each other (and put their simmering feelings aside) long enough to solve the mystery and protect the Royal Family? Hoist on your waders
for Mary’s most personal case yet, where the stakes couldn’t be higher — and she has everything to lose. (description from Amazon.com)

This was a great addition to The Agency series! It was drama-rama at its best in Victorian England. Mary dealt with family issues, job issues, romance issues....just issues everywhere!

I loved that Mary is so devoted to every case that she takes on that she is willing to work as a maid for weeks just to hunt out a thief. I really loved that it turned out there was much more going on than just petty theft in the castle! I admired the way that Mary held herself even as the Prince may have been trying to give her some unwanted attention...

I cannot wait to see what happens as Mary moves forward.  The Agency itself has taken a huge hit and I find myself anxious on the behalf of all involved! I am most curious to see what the future of spying looks like for these ladies... (and perhaps some new gentlemen!)

Most of all, I *CANNOT* wait to see what happens to Mary and James in the future! Their romance practically sparks right off the pages in this one and I lurve it.  Every stolen kiss, every bickering quarrel, every potentially dangerous moment when they could be caught spying together... <3 <3 <3!

I am totally hooked and cannot wait for the next intrepid adventure.

Full disclosure: ARC received from Netgalley

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I'll Be There

I'll Be There

by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Sam Border wishes he could escape. Raised by an unstable father, he's spent his life moving from place to place. But he could never abandon his little brother, Riddle.

Riddle Border doesn't talk much. Instead, he draws pictures of the insides of things and waits for the day when the outsides of things will make sense. He worships his older brother. But how can they leave when there's nowhere to go? Then everything changes. Because Sam meets Emily.

Emily Bell believes in destiny. She sings for her church choir, though she doesn't have a particularly good voice. Nothing, she feels, is mere coincidence. And she's singing at the moment she first sees Sam.

Everyone whose path you cross in life has the power to change you--sometimes in small ways, and sometimes in ways greater than you could have ever known.  (description from Amazon.com)

This novel reads beautifully. It is touching and compelling.  I think that almost every reader would find something here to love. 

While Sam and Emily find each other, the romance is only a fraction of this book.  There are great examples of familial relationships and there is also the perfect example of a horribly dysfunctional family.

There is danger, there is excitement, there are secrets, betrayals, and hidden agendas.

There is beautiful music, art, and cooking. 

There are facets and hidden nooks in this book that make it wonderful and it reads very quickly.  I would highly recommend this book to anyone.