Infamous

I really hate coming in at the middle of a series ("The Chronicles of Nick") but I would have to put in some concerted effort to start at the beginning with the set of characters in this book by Sherrilyn Kenyon. Apparently there are multiple series, each with multiple books that share overlapping characters. Even so-- being constantly reminded that there was a lot I didn't know about the history of Nick Gautier, 15-year old New Orleans teenager and potential destroyer or savior of humankind--this was an enjoyable read because Nick is in many ways a wise-cracking teen with all the usual angsts (parents, girls, bullying) but also trying to survive a whole lot of evil creatures (and some not so evil) who want him dead. He is the son of the Malachai, which is the penultimate evil creature and if he matures, his father will die and humanity will suffer. Protectors have been sent to look after him, one being his girlfriend who is also not what she seems. Raised by a poor single mom who was disowned by her own parents when she became pregnant from a violent rape, Nick fights more mundane persecution as well, labelled "white trash" by other kids at school. But now someone is posting horrible claims and pictures about the kids at school on the internet--Nick is getting a fair share of the blame and the fallout. Is this a plot concocted by those seeking to destroy Nick, or just garden variety human evil.  The action is non-stop, characters are complex as well as mostly supernatural. Intriguing enough that I would seek out additional books in this specific series (preceded by Infinity and Invincible) as well as other series by this author.

Shakespeare's Trollop

This is the 4th installment in the Lily Bard series by Charlaine Harris set in the small town of Shakespeare, Arkansas (preceded by Shakepeare's Landlord, Shakespeare's Champion, Shakespeare's Christmas). Lily originally came here to hide from the publicity and terrible memories of having been kidnapped, tortured and raped as a young woman. She makes her living as a cleaning person which gives her rather unique insight into people's character. Not surprisingly, she is the one to sense something fishy about the apparently sexually motivated murder of the town's "loose woman," Deidre Dean. Deidre may have been careless with her body, but she was fastidious with her belongings and she just would NOT have thrown her clothes and pearl necklace over a  tree branch where they could be damaged, nor, for that matter, would she ever have been likely to have sex in the woods instead of her bedroom. Lily does not want to become involved, but when a fire is started in the home of another one of her clients and eventually he dies, she just can't help trying to figure it all out. Meanwhile, she is sort of, kind of, starting to feel like she belongs in this town and she is sort of, kind of, feeling that her very occasional relationship with Jack is just too important. Apparently he thinks likewise, and the results may surprise followers of the series. Lily is a wonderfully dark but resilient character who is working hard to move on with her life. I really like her and these books are well written; the whole series has been great and this one is no exception. I only have one left (Shakespeare's Counselor) so I hope she writes another one soon!

Wicked Business

This is the 2nd or 3rd installment of the "Lizzie and Diesel" series by Janet Evanovich, a pair with special powers (Diesel  makes an earlier solo appearance in Plum Spooky with Stephanie). The premise of the series is that Lizzie, cupcake baker extraordinaire, is able to sense which things have magical power, so she comes in really handy when trying to locate the seven SALIGIA stones which are charmed/cursed with the deadly sins. Apparently the "lust" stone has now surfaced in Salem and Diesel, his cousin and nemesis Wulf, and a really crazy lady who calls herself Anarchy are all trying to get to it first. Lizzie doesn't particularly care who gets it, but Diesel definitely does--since that's his job. He drags Lizzie reluctantly along as they track the clues because she is the one who will recognize the stone when they find it. Lizzie seems to have some of the same bad luck that Stephanie does with cars and guys, although here the issue is that two people with special powers (i.e., Lizzie and Diesel) can't get "together" without one of them losing their powers. Lizzie would gladly do without her powers, but the results can't be predicted, so lots of teasing but no consummation. Humor is ever present in Evanovich's books, usually provided by quirky characters as well as ridiculous situations. We have Glo, a wannabe witch who takes Broom with her everywhere; Hatchet, who views himself as a medieval minion to his lord and master, Wulf; Carl, the monkey who lives with Diesel; Nina runs the local supply store for witches and other supernaturals in Salem; and Cat 7143 who lives with Lizzie. Fun light read as always with these books.

The Secret History of Elizabeth Tudor, Vampire Slayer

Well... the title of this book by Lucy Weston (ostensibly also a vampire) pretty much says it all. Decently written, good plot, and fun read overall for those who like the supernatural stirred into their historical fiction. The timing on reading this was particularly opportune since I had just finished reading Hilary Mantel's fictionalized biography of Thomas Cromwell (Wolf Hall) and this book takes up with the ascension of Elizabeth to the throne. Elizabeth was the child of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, which forms the structure of Mantel's book, and provides the background to this tale. We are to believe that on the day of her coronation, Elizabeth is taken to her mother's tomb (Henry had Anne beheaded because she failed to produce a male heir) and becomes aware that she has special powers and that she is destined to fight off a take-over bid for the kingdom by none other than Mordred, bastard son of King Arthur and now King of the Vampires. Entries are alternately from a "secret journal" of Elizabeth's (discovered by the author) and ruminations by Mordred on his frustrated efforts to convince Elizabeth that they should marry and rule both the Vampire kingdom and England together. It ends with less than a definitive conclusion to the struggle-- leaving open the possibility of a sequel. I still prefer the Gail Carriger vampire/werewolf/soulless books because if you are going to be over the top about the supernatural, do it with your tongue firmly in cheek.  Thanks to my book pal Dale Pehrsson for sending this to me.

Summer of the Big Bachi

This is the first in a series of books by Naomi Hirahara that feature protagonist Mas Arai. I would almost say, the anti-hero, Mas Arai, because at least in this first book, I did not find much to like about him. He was 15 years old and living in Hiroshima the day the bomb was dropped. He survived physically but many around him did not and he lives with the images of the dead and dying and with the things the survivors did that are hard to reconcile. Some people did overtly bad things, others--like Mas--just failed to do things that in retrospect they wish they had. Bachi is a little like karma and Mas' has come back to bite him one fateful summer in his 69th year. He lives in Altadena and has made his living as a gardener, marrying Chizuko, and then sending their only daughter, Mari, to Columbia. But he is neither a very good husband or father, since he keeps secrets, hides his earnings and spends them on the races, and is generally emotionally unavailable to either spouse or child. His wife has since died of stomach cancer and he hasn't heard from his daughter in a long time. In fact, it is only through a friend, who has a daughter the same age, that he learns his daughter is married and pregnant. The big secret that Mas has kept all these years is that his pal Riki Kimura left their friend, Joji Haneda, to die and stole his papers so he could escape to the U.S. at the end of the war, and has been living under that name ever since. Now someone is looking for Joji Haneda and bad things are starting to happen. When a young Japanese man, claiming to be the grandson of Riki Kimura and Haneda's sister, Akemi, also comes to town and starts snooping around, Mas is reluctantly dragged into sorting things out to prevent an even greater miscarriage of justice. This is an intriguing glimpse into the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd generation Japanese American culture in southern California.

Wolf Hall

Aside from being a provocative name for a book, not sure why Hilary Mantel called this book Wolf Hall.  Jane Seymour's family resides there, but they are really fairly minor characters in this densely populated tome. My leisure reading tends to go fairly quickly. It seldom takes me more than a few days--a week at the outside--to finish a book, but this one took me about a month. Every single page is THICK with conversations that reveal relationships, intrigues and implications for the whole of Europe. Even with the help of a 5-page "cast of characters" and two royal family trees at the front of the book, I'm sure it would take me three readings to get everything that goes on. And I was really pissed to find that the author provided virtually no overview of the actual historical events that are the setting for the book, nor does she indicate her sources, except for one book by Cavendish about Thomas Wolsey. One can certainly find interviews that make clear she did her research! Nevertheless, the critics love this book, which won both the Man Booker and the National Book Critics Circle awards. The author certainly creates a compelling portrait of the main character, Thomas Cromwell, who rose from--according to this author--an abusive and impoverished life as a blacksmith's son to become the 2nd most powerful man in England during the reign of Henry VIII. Henry, Anne Boleyn, Thomas More, Cardinal Wolsey and several more minor characters are also well enough drawn to become distinct figures. It was often hard to keep the rest of the cast sorted out. Cromwell is portrayed as the consummate politician in a time when a miscalculation meant at least a fall from grace and at worst a horrible death. Mantel turns the common portrayals of Cromwell upside down by portraying him as compassionate, loyal and loving as well as strategic. It is a fascinating and challenging read for those who relish historical fiction. I will almost certainly read the sequels--one already published (Bring up the Bodies) and one still to come. There a more formal review of the book in the Wall Street Journal that works for me.