I continued my journey to find the heir to Georgette Heyer’s Regency novels. I had mostly given up on this quest but then the Netflix TV show became popular. I had to reconsider. I did not watch the TV show before reading the novel. I have started it as of this writing.

This is probably the second or third modern romance novel I’ve read. I do not count the Outlander series. I am finding that romance novels have a couple of tropes which include a lot of angst from the male lead. Back to this novel, it was not bad overall. I think there were a couple of really funny moments. I actually wanted to read more about the female characters like Daphne’s mother Lady Bidgerton and Lady Danbury.

I found the book a bit too long. Most of the novel, I just wanted it to get to the point. It seemed too many drawn out shenanigans. If one would resolve, another conflict would resolve. I did not relate to Daphne either as I am not really inclined to a large family. There was just not enough character development for me. I feel like Simon got the most and it became a bit too angsty for me.

So not a bad read, but I will not be reading the sequels. The TV show is fine. I like the visual, the music, and the casting. I am overlooking the writing to be honest.

Read May 23-25, 2021.

Duplicate Death by Georgette Heyer

I was a fan of Heyer’s romances and this is the second mystery from her. After Detection Unlimited, I wanted to try again. However, I was bored and underwhelmed again. I do not really know precisely why I do not like Heyer’s mystery writing when I could speed through her romance novels. The dialogue in these mysteries are clunkier. Heyer really is a bit too extra with her character development through dialogue. I just kept thinking that I wanted to read an Agatha Christie novel.

Read April 19-23, 2021.

Elephants can Remember by Agatha Christie

I had a couple unread Christie novels on my bookshelf. I got them from the wonderful Free Little Libraries in my neighbourhood.

After the Heyer novel and a period of mourning, I needed something reliable. Even with the dark themes in this novel, I really enjoyed it. It took my mind off my recent stress. I always know what I am getting from Christie. This is a Poirot cold cast. I called the twist halfway through the novel, but I still wanted to see how it would unfold. I have always found spoilers do not bother me especially in mysteries. It was a nice, easy read.

Read May 22, 2021.

It’s been awhile since I posted on this blog. I’ve been reading lots of books and even broke my reading goal of 38 goals in the month of May. I started drafting this book’s review some weeks ago. I decided to go back to it and some other book reviews after a significant event in my life.

I’ve been reading Bryon’s books for over twenty years. I really enjoy him as a writer. His memoirs are better than a lot of these nonfiction catch-all topic books generally. I still learn a couple things.

After a year of this pandemic, this book would be a hypochondriac’s nightmare (or dream perhaps). There are so many things to make one sick. I find that most of this book was averaging 3 stars. It was long and mildly interesting, but it meanders in a way too. It took me awhile to read. It was nice and well written in Bryson’s style, but it didn’t knock me over for the most part.

As I approached the end of the book and the topic of aging and death, the book’s topic started crossing into my life. I had a significant conversation about death with a close friend of mine who was very ill at the time. After that, I read the end of this book. The book’s reflection of of illness and death made more thoughtful about mortality. It reminded me that death how it is the most common thing about our lives .

A couple days after I finished this book, one of my parents passed away suddenly. It was a significant loss which I still grieve and mourn. In a strange way, this book may have helped me a little to prepare for it. It was the last thing I read before my loved one passed away.

I liked the end of the book and I elevated the book to 4 stars.

Read March 6 – May 6, 2021. Read mostly in late April and May.