The Escape by Mary Balogh.

This book is: refreshing and delightful.
Other elements: slightly illicit romance, war veterans, widows, narrowly-avoided scandal, Wales.
Read it: if you like historical fiction and character-driven romance novels with interesting plots, strong female characters, and good writing.
Overall rating: 8/10

I’ve always thought I would love romance novels if I could find the right romance novels, and Mary Balogh proved me right.

The Escape begins by introducing us to the “Survivor’s club,” a group of veterans who formed strong friendships while recovering together after the Napoleonic wars. The group is concerned about one of their number, Sir Benedict Harper. After many long months struggling to regain as much use of his legs as will be possible, Ben’s physical recovery from his war wounds is about as complete as it will ever be. He’s never going to walk again without crutches, and that is that. Ben is realizing that he doesn’t have much left in his life except for his injury. He can’t go back to the life he always wanted – the Army – so he has to figure out what else there is for him.

Samantha McKay is a woman trapped. After years of nursing her her sick husband through his war wounds (and crippling self-pity), she is now a widow under the iron thumb of her puritanical in-laws. Without a family of her own to turn to, Samantha doesn’t see a way out of her situation. That is, until one day when she runs into a rude gentleman who is staying with his sister in the neighborhood. When he calls on her to apologize for nearly running her down with his horse on their first meeting, Samantha discovers that Ben is a veteran of the same war that left her husband bitter and injured. The two strike up a friendship and struggle to observe the bounds of propriety as a crackling tension mounts between them.

When Samantha’s father-in-law moves to throw her out of her late husband’s estate, Ben and Samantha work to hatch a daring plan for her to escape her in-laws’ control. Self-discovery, unforeseen events, and opportunities for trysts ensue.

Things that rock about this book:

1. The heroine is a fully person with wants, needs, backstory, and personal growth who makes her own decisions and about her life and her body.
2. The hero is a fully developed person with wants, needs, backstory, and personal growth who makes his own decisions and about his life and his body.
3. Both characters go through significant growth of their own, separately. This is a novel as well as a romance novel.
4. There are no rape-ey, no-means-yes scenes where the woman isn’t into what’s happening at first and then changes her mind.
5. The romantic hero is disabled. His legs don’t work properly, but he’s still a strong, clever, virile man with physical desires.
6. Both of the romantic leads are willing to put aside their feelings of romance/desire for their own and the other person’s general well-being.
7. The writing is excellent.
8. It’s not just sex scenes stuck together by filler. It’s a story about two people and, as part of each of their stories, sex scenes do occur. But never at the cost of narrative or character development.

As you know if you’ve been keeping up with my What I’m reading posts, this book sent me into an epic romance novel binge that’s currently coming in at 31 books by Mary Balogh since I finished The Escape.  I can’t give you a higher recommendation than that.

My thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group – Bantam Dell for providing me with a copy of The Escape by Mary Balogh for review.

It’s been a minute since we’ve done one of these, hasn’t it, darlings? Long overdue.

It boggles my mind that I’ve written 66 book reviews since I started my little blog almost two years ago. My, how time flies. Here they are, all with their ratings and mini-summaries. I hope this list helps anyone who is recently graduated and looking forward to a leisurely summer (or anyone who is planning a beach trip) to find something wonderful to enjoy by a pool with a mojito. You can find these here anytime you like, but I like to trot the list out from time to time anyway, to reacquaint you all with it.

Without further ado: the book reviews.

Fire (Graceling Realm #2) by Kristin Cashore.
This book is: wonderful.
Other elements: femininity, love, moral imperatives, right vs wrong, family, duty, beauty.
Read it: if you’re a Tamora Pierce fan. If you love a strong, intelligent, complex heroine.
Overall rating: 10/10

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.
This book is: the most fun you’ll ever have witnessing the Apocalypse.
Other elements: angels, demons, condensed milk, dogs, aging mediums, talkative Satanist nuns, the nature of humanity, impending doom, hijinks.
Read it: if you enjoy wry humor. If you giggle at any of the quotes below.
Overall rating: 9.75/10

Daughter of Smoke and Bone (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #1) by Laini Taylor.
This book is: an enthralling, beautifully written story.
Other elements: hope, magic, sexy angels, creation myths, a star-crossed-lovers romance, blue hair.
Read it: if you appreciate wonderful writing, vivid description, creative storylines, magic, Prague, art, or romance between people who are very different.
Overall rating: 9.75/10

Shadow and Bone & Siege and Storm (Grisha trilogy books 1 and 2) by Leigh Bardugo.
These books are: fantastic.
Other elements: friendship, sacrifices for the greater good, loyalty, sunshine, scary monsters, darkness, royal intrigue.
Read it: if you like your adventure with a dash of magic and romance.
Overall rating: 9.5/10

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling.
This book is: Awesome.
Other elements: Humor. Being a woman, being yourself. Life.
Read it: If you admire smart, sane women who have smart, sane things to say about life.
Overall rating: 9.5/10

We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver.
This book is: terrifying and brilliant.
Other elements: parenting, marriage, children, psychopaths, motherhood, school shootings.
Read it: if you enjoy really chillingly brilliant characters. If you’re not prone to nightmares.
Overall rating: 9.25/10

Midnight Riot (Peter Grant #1) by Ben Aaronovitch.
This book is: precisely my cup of tea.
Other elements: Sarcasm, dark humor, crime, mythological figures, complicated blending of the supernatural and science.
Read it: if you like crime shows and fantasy novels.
Overall rating: 9.25/10

Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt.
This book is: quiet, eerie, beautiful.
Other elements: growing up, sisters, art, alcoholism, AIDS, family secrets, being a teenager, music, being an outsider, the sacredness of objects, Mozart’s Requiem.
Read it: if you can identify with a young girl who likes to hide in the woods alone so that she can pretend to be in the Middle Ages.
Overall rating: 9/10

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.
This book is: beautiful.
Other elements: fate, destiny, following your dreams, love.
Read it: if you enjoy a healthy dose of magical realism.
Overall rating: 9/10

Outlander (Outlander #1) by Diana Gabaldon.
This book is: a historical fiction time-travel romance.
Other elements: Romance! Adventure! Manly men in kilts! Rebellion. Sex. Botany.
Read it: If you like the idea of adventuring (and romancing) with manly men in kilts.
Overall rating: 9/10

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson.
This book is: a raucous yarn.
Other elements: elephants, communism, hijinks, bibles, murder, explosives, centenarians, crime, politics, atom bombs.
Read it: if your brain wants a treat.
Overall rating: 8.75/10

Cinder by Marissa Meyer.
This book is: a futuristic, dystopian reimagining of the Cinderella story.
Other elements: cyborgs, people who live on the moon, global pandemics, hot Princes, strong and admirable women.
Read it: if you love a good fractured fairy tale.
Overall rating: 8.75/10

My Charmed Life By Beth Bernstein.
This book is: a memoir about a strong woman and her jewelry.
Other elements: airplanes, divorce, family dynamics, marriage, jewelry, being a woman.
Read it: if you love (or even like) jewelry and stories about inspirational women.
Overall rating: 8.75/10

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente.
This book is: delightful!
Other elements: spoons, keys, ominous hats, little girls, paternal libraries, flying felines, heroines who save themselves.
Read it: if you love fairy tales: the kind that are beautiful but can also give you nightmares, not the Disney kind.
Overall rating: 8.5/10

Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King.
This book is: bright and sharp.
Other elements: teenage love, not wanting to repeat your family’s mistakes, what it means to be responsible, dealing with your baggage.
Read it:if you enjoy crisp writing and a good story.
Overall rating: 8.5/10

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce.
This book is: charming.
Other elements: walking, befriending strangers, what’s really important in life, marriage, growing old, mortality.
Read it: if you’d enjoy witnessing the adventures of an aging, mild-mannered Englishman.
Overall rating: 8.25/10

Someone Else’s Love Story by Joshilyn Jackson.
This book is: almost like a chick flick but too smart and well written to feel trite.
Other elements: Aspergers, Southern manners, virgin birth, robberies, death, chemicals, poetry, flowers.
Read it: if you like good stories about vivid, interesting characters.
Overall rating: 8.25/10

Graceling (Graceling Realm #1) by Kristin Cashore.
This book is: A YA fantasy novel, the first in a series, about a girl with a supernatural gift for killing.
Other elements: Right vs wrong, romance, friendship.
Read it: If you like YA fantasy, if you enjoy ass-kicking women, if you liked The Hunger Games.
Overall rating: 8/10

Confessions of a Sociopath: A Life Spent Hiding in Plain Sight by M.E. Thomas.
This book is: fascinating.
Other elements: brain chemistry, sociopaths, the myth of “normal”, how people live their lives, parenting, psychology
Read it: if you are fascinated by the differences of people; if you think you, someone you know, or someone you have given birth to may be a sociopath.
Overall rating: 8/10

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.
This book is: a well-written, totally insane psycho/mystery/love/crime story.
Other elements: Lies. Marriage. Public opinion. Love.
Read it: If you enjoy crime shows. If you like having your mind blown.
Overall rating: 8/10

Life of Pi Yann Martel.
This book is: about a boy and a boat.
Other elements: tigers, prairie dogs, turtles, boats, survival, religion, science, biology, human and animal relationships, the human mind.
Read it: if you’re interested in zoology, tiger taming, lifeboat survival, or religions. If you enjoy wonderfully precise description.
Overall rating: 8/10

The Longings of Wayward Girls by Karen Brown.
This book is: quiet and poignant.
Other elements: friendship, secrets, women, duty, family, secrets Chanel No. 5.
Read it: If you like novels that peek into the lives of everyday people.
Overall rating: 7.75/10

The Engagements by J. Courtney Sullivan.
This book is: entertaining.
Other elements: jewelry, marriage, advertising, engagement rings, relationships, diamond rings.
Read it: if you love jewelry or books about relationships.
Overall rating: 7.75/10

Thin Space by Jody Casella.
This book is: dark and heart wrenching with a pinch of magical realism.
Other elements: twins, sibling relationships, the death of a teenage, identity,
Read it: if you love strong, complicated characters.
Overall rating: 7.75/10

The Diviners by Libba Bray.
This book is: lustrous and absorbing.
Other elements: flappers, slang, the occult, belief, legends, magic in the real world, a Museum of Creepy Crawlies.
Read it: if you love the idea of 1920’s NYC with a dash of magic.
Overall rating: 7.75/10

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter.
This book is: a love story with several different love stories happening around it.
Other elements: old Hollywood glamor, scenic Italian coastlines, curses, Richard Burton.
Read it: if you’re in a romantic mood (or a bubble bath. I read most of this in a bubble bath.).
Overall rating: 7.75/10

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes,
This book is: an bright, engaging, character-driven novel.
Other elements: friendship, philosophy, being middle-aged.
Read it: if you are fascinated by excellent characters.
Overall rating: 7.75/10

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon.
This book is: A story told from the point of view of a 15-year old boy with Asperger’s or autism.
Other elements: Pets, parenting a special needs child, math.
Read it: If you’re interested in psychology, if you appreciate excellent first-person perspective.
Overall rating: 7.5/10

Watch How We Walk by Jennifer LoveGrove.
This book is: brutally well written.
Other elements: Jehovah’s Witnesses, what it’s like to grow up in a very religious family, depression, being different, sister relationships.
Read it: if you love “the family next-door isn’t so normal after all” stories.
Overall rating: 7.5/10

The Vampire Academy series (1-6) by Richelle Mead.
This book (series) is: marvelously entertaining.
Other elements: ass-kicking ladies, vampires, world-saving, star crossed lovers, misunderstood teenagers, political plots.
Read it: if you like the idea of a sassy supernatural teenage heroine who is good at beating people up.
Overall rating: 7.5/10

The Lies of Locke Lamora (The Gentleman Bastard Sequence #1) by Scott Lynch.
This book is: giving me conflicting feelings.
Other elements: fabulous con men, creative fantasy world, thieves, friendship.
Read it: if you like a good con man and you don’t mind a lot of description.
Overall rating: 7.4/10

The Man with the Golden Torc by Simon R. Green.
This book is: silly.
Other elements: urban fantasy, magic, adventure, saving-the-world, conspiracy theories, humor.
Read it: if you have the right sense of humor (do you enjoy Terry Pratchett? Monty Python?).
Overall rating: 7.25/10

The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides.
This book is: A book about college and relationships.
Other elements: Some degree of bildungsroman, life with manic depression/life with a manic depressive, how your parents affect who you are, the role of religion in a modern world, unrequited love.
Read it: If you are interested in early prescription treatments for manic depression, if you miss college, if you sympathize with characters having religious crises.
Overall rating: 7.2/10

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman.
This book is: entertaining.
Other elements: siblings, myths, gods.
Read it: if you like stories about mythical characters, if you like Neil Gaiman, if you love karaoke.
Overall rating: 7/10

The Art Forger by Barbara Shapiro.
This book is: a great story.
Other elements: art, crime, forgery, Degas, Isabelle Gardener, the Gardener museum heist, Boston.
Read it: if you have any interest in the art world or if you don’t but you love a good story.
Overall rating: 7/10

The Assassin’s Curse (The Assassin’s Curse, #1) by Cassandra Rose Clarke.
This book is: the opening of a intriguing YA fantasy series.
Other elements: pirates, magicians, pirate gender roles, supernatural islands, aspiring lady pirates.
Read it: if the draw of a burgeoning 17-year-old lady pirate sounds awesome enough to get you through a slow-starting story.
Overall rating: 7/10

The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #1) by Rick Riordan.
This book is: about a boy who suddenly finds out that myths are real and he’s related to one. Adventure ensues.
Other elements: Parent/child relationships, Greek mythology, learning disabilities.
Read it: If you like YA fantasy, if you enjoy Greek myths, if you are 10 years old.
Overall rating: 6.9/10

Spoiled by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan.
This book is: like a cupcake for your brain.
Other elements: designer clothes, bleached teeth, protein bars, LA, rich kids.
Read it: If you have a sense of humor and like the idea of a Clueless/O.C./Gossip Girl mashup
Overall rating: 6.75/10

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs.
This book is: creative and haunting.
Other elements: peculiarity, mental health, family dynamics, sheep murderers, reality vs fantasy.
Read it: if you like the idea of fantasy and the real world colliding.
Overall rating: 6.5/10

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones.
This book is: light and dreamy.
Other elements: hats, magic, sisters, love, green slime.
Read it: if you like whimsy and aren’t in the mood to think.
Overall rating: 6.5/10

Antonia Lively Breaks The Silence by David Samuel Levinson.
This book is: very well written but somewhat confusing.
Other elements: writers, betrayal, alcohol, the publishing industry, writer-ly angst, marriage, love, the nature of fiction.
Read it: if you love books about writers.
Overall rating: 6.25/10

Trains and Lovers by Alexander McCall Smith.
This book is: pleasant.
Other elements: Trains. Love.
Read it: if you’re in the mood for a non-committal but enjoyable peek into some strangers’ lives.
Overall rating: 6.25/10

A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick.
This book is: entertaining in a made-for-tv-movie way.
Other elements: hidden agendas, infidelity, seduction, sex with inappropriate people, poison, snow.
Read it: if you want a sordid, easy read.
Overall rating: 6.25/10

The Selection (The Selection #1) by Kiera Cass.
This book is: entertaining.
Other elements: Reality tv, Princes, social strata, rebels, lies, beauty.
Read it: if you like the idea of a Hunger Games of marriage.
Overall rating: 6/10

The Passage by Justin Cronin.
This book is: a creative, well-written story that just did not float my boat.
Other elements: viruses, vampires, apocalypses, government cover-ups, doomedness of the future.
Read it: if you like adventure, sci fi, and battling monsters created by humankind’s folly.
Overall rating: 6/10

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin.
This book is: A gritty crime novel set in a rural town.
Other elements: Class issues, race issues, nature of friendship.
Read it: If you like crime shows, don’t mind dialect, and aren’t easily depressed.
Overall rating: 6/10

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.
This book is: a disappointment.
Other elements: circuses, vagueness, mist, confusion, mysteries, stripes, clocks, incorporeal fathers.
Read it: if your love of description outweighs your desire for a coherent story.
Overall rating: 5/10

Delia’s Shadow by Jaime Lee Moyer.
This book is: reminiscent of several other books that are better.
Other elements: ghosts, serial killers, Egyptian mythology.
Read it: if you like quiet books with overtones of crime and the supernatural.
Overall rating: 5/10

Astor Place Vintage by Stephanie Lehmann.
This book is: a great concept that didn’t quite work out.
Other elements: vintage New York, small businesses, affairs, women in the workplace, vintage clothing.
Read it: maybe if you’re really into stories about old New York.
Overall rating: 4.5/10

Against the Light by Dave Duncan.
This book is: mediocre.
Other elements: cliches.
Read it: if you’re bored and it’s already in your hand.
Overall rating: 4.5/10

Charming by Elliot James
This book is: trying a bit too hard.
Other elements: badass, slightly-supernatural monster hunters; large-breasted warrior women; violent vampires.
Read it: If you like hard, gritty, violent action.
Overall rating: 4.25/10

Manor of Secrets by Katherine Longshore.

This book is: unremarkable.
Other elements: class differences, rich people acting badly.
Read it: if you like the idea of very watered down Downton Abbey.
Overall rating: 4.25/10

Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk.
This book is: flabbergasting.
Other elements: sex. STDs. Porn. Revulsion. Incest. Dandruff. Suicide.
Read it: if you have absolutely no threshold for depravity.
Overall rating: 4/10

The Elite by Kiera Cass.
This book is: meh.
Other elements: Reality tv, Princes, social strata, rebels, lies, beauty.
Read it: if you want to know what happened after the first book and don’t mind that it’s not going to be dazzlingly written.
Overall rating: 4/10

Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan.
This book is: dull and irritating.
Other elements: pleasing men, washing smalls in a bedsit, poetry, the Russians, Britain in the 1970’s.
Read it: if you’re having trouble falling asleep, or if you like spy stories but prefer to remain very calm at all times.
Overall rating: 4/10

The Reluctant Matchmaker by Shobhan Bantwal.
This book is: boring with sprinkles of offensiveness.
Other elements: fat-shaming, sexism, romance between people of different heights, arranged marriages.
Read it: if the idea of an Indian-American main character is enough to make you forgive a lot of flaws. If you think women without husbands are pathetic.
Overall rating: 3/10

The Camelot Papers by Peter David.
This book is: dull and off-putting.
Other elements: an attempt at a satirical Camelot story.
Read it: if you’re a scholar of Arthurian interpretations and have read all of the others.
Overall rating: 3/10 (DNF)

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain.
This book is: Historical fiction about Ernest Hemingway and his first wife.
Other elements: Women not standing up for themselves, adultery, dependence on men, emotional abuse, alcoholism, polyamorous relationships, bullfighting.
Read it: If you are fascinated by Hemingway, if you like Lifetime movies, if you don’t mind weak female characters, you’re stranded somewhere with absolutely nothing else to do and have run out of thoughts.
Overall rating: 2/10

An Escapade and An Engagement by Annie Burrows.
This book is: a romance novel about a horrible woman and a horrible man who have an unconvincing relationship.
Other elements: Sex. Patriarchy. Golden ringlets.
Read it: If your only alternative is death.
Overall rating: 0.01/10

If you want to read more of my bookish writing, please check me out on Book Riot!

The Kiss of Deception (Remnant Chronicles #1) by Mary E. Pearson

This book is: promising, especially in the last few chapters.
Other elements: runaway princesses, assassins, princes in disguise.
Read it: if you like YA love triangles. If you’re okay waiting 3/4 of a book for the main characters to become truly interesting.
Overall rating: 6.5/10

Good morning, my dears! I have been super into the reading lately, but less into the book reviewing. This is good news really, because it means I have lots to share with you. Bad news for me, because I keep looking at the calender on Tuesday nights and thinking “Oh no! I need to have book thoughts!”

I read The Kiss of Deception as a DRC – that means that it’s not due for publication quite yet; the publisher let me have a sneak peek. It’s the beginning of a YA fantasy series, which you know tends to be precisely my cup of tea.

I enjoyed this book. The universe is creative and intriguing. The characters are interesting enough, if a little simplistic. There is an impetuous princess, a lovesick servant girl, a rebellious prince, and an assassin. For the first 3/4 of the book, the characters bumble around, doing somewhat interesting things. A love triangle develops. Both of the young men in the love triangle introduce themselves to their lady love with fake names, and it took me several chapters to figure out which was which; the handsome, brooding young men weren’t distinctive enough to distinguish one from the other right away. The main character – the princess who runs away to seek a new life – is a bit empy-headed, and it’s hard not to get frustrated with her fluffiness from time to time.

Doesn’t sound like it should have a 6.5 yet, does it? I was expecting to give this book a lower rating too. But then, about 3/4 of the way through, things suddenly got awesome. Basically, the shit hits the fan, and the main characters all face the fact they’ve been selfish and immature for most of the book. The heroine – our erstwhile silly princess – begins to wake up and become a powerful character who takes responsibility for her actions. By the time the book ended, I was genuinely excited to see what the characters were going to do next. My least favorite person (the princess) had become my favorite person.

I wish the introduction to the heroine’s self-awareness had been a shorter, but getting to see her as a silly, selfish teenager for a couple hundred pages did make it all the more meaningful when she started to grow up. If the introductory portion of this book had been 25% shorter – or 25% more interesting – I would have been happy to give this a higher rating.

That said, I’m still going to keep an eye our for the sequel. I want to know what happens next.