Illusion of a Boar by Celia Lake Series: Land Mysteries #5 Published by self-published on 11/10/2023 Genres: Fantasy Romance, Historical Fantasy Pages: 393 Format: Kindle or ebook Source: my personal collection Purchase: Amazon | Bookshop | Barnes & Noble | Kobo Add to Goodreads Also by this author: Pastiche, Weaving… Read more »
Set in Oxford’s magical community a year or so after the end of World War II, this gentle, slowly-unfolding romance features intelligent, good-hearted, skilled and competent people treating others with kindness and respect—a hallmark of Celia Lake’s Albion novels, and the reason I (and her other fans) love them so much.
Slow, plodding, and flat
What on earth has happened to Stephanie Laurens? She seems to have largely abandoned writing romances and turned to mystery. The problem is, she’s not always good at it, especially when she omits the passion, emotion, and spirited characters that epitomized her best romances. The Curse of Ill-Gotten Gains is a case in point.
I loved this latest Albion novel from Celia Lake, which features music, magic, history, and romance in 1920s London.
I really love this quiet, thoughtful, slow-paced (but never dull) novel. Technically, it is a historical fantasy romance, but the romance is only one facet of the relationship between the main characters, and only one facet of the plot. There’s also a bit of a mystery threaded throughout, although the book isn’t quite a mystery novel, either.
Rom-com meets action-adventure spy novel in The Blonde Identity. It’s full of danger, chase scenes, and action sequences, but it’s also funny and sexy and frothy in all the right ways. And it hits some familiar romance and spy novel tropes in ways that somehow feel comfortingly familiar and fresh at the same time.
The Verity Kent series gets off to a good start with This Side of Murder. Huber revisits the classic “trapped on an island with a killer” trope, but gives it tension and immediacy… Huber is skilled at plotting, characterization, and atmosphere. I found all three here, plus a believable, complex heroine.
I generally enjoy Agatha Christie, and I love Miss Marple, but this is not one of my favorite of her books. On the other hand, the 1985 BBC adaptation starring Joan Hickson is a longtime favorite and a comfort movie for me.
Weaving Hope is a very gentle, very slow-burn closed-door romance set in magical 1920s Britain.
Naomi Novik’s Buried Deep and Other Stories is a stellar collection of short fiction that displays all of her skill as a writer as well as the breadth of her imagination. I read it slowly, savoring each story.
