Visiting Vienna + A Giveaway!

City of Lost Dreams by Magnus Flyte (Penguin trade paperback, 26 November 2013).

Musicologist Sarah Weston has headed to Vienna in search of a cure for her student and friend Pollina Rutherford, who is dying of a rare illness.  She's hoping to convince a brilliant, but eccentric Viennese doctor to take on Pollina's case.  Meanwhile, the dwarf Nico Pertusato is on a similar quest in London, except that he is searching for an alchemical answer from artifacts in various museums. 

As Pollina gets sicker and weaker, her friends become more and more desperate to find a treatment for her.  But not only do both Sarah and Nico continue to be thwarted in their search, they somehow manage to not only follow wild geese, but get into trouble at every turn.

City of Lost Dreams is an intriguing sequel to City of Dark Magic (2012).  Many of the core characters return:  Sarah, Nico, Prince Max, Pollina and her caretakers, and even Sarah's former Boston roommate Alessandro, now studying medicine in Vienna.  Although there isn't as much time-shifting as in the first book, City of Lost Dreams makes up for it with bloodthirsty nobles, espionage, sorcery, humor, and yes, a certain amount of sex and bawdiness.

For a 355-page book it's a remarkably quick read, mostly because it's impossible to put down once begun.  Although a sequel is not even hinted at, the possibility is certainly there.  Here's hoping.


Now, just for fun:




The Penguin Group has very kindly offered a copy of CITY OF LOST DREAMS to one of my readers.  Please comment on this post, and make sure you include your contact information.  Entries from the US only, please.


FTC full disclosure:  Many thanks to the publisher for the review copy of this book. 

Crazy European Tour

Perry's Killer Playlist by Joe Schreiber (HMH Books for Young Readers hardcover, 6 November 2012).

Perry Stormaire, the protagonist of  Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick, is having a pretty good "gap year".  He's been accepted at Columbia, and his band Inchworm are booked to do a twelve-city/eighteen-day tour of Europe, thanks to his girlfriend Paula, who works for a music producer.

Subconsciously , Perry wonders if he might run into Gobi Zaksauskas, the exchange student who'd lived with his family the previous year, but was, in reality a hired assassin.  Consciously, he tells himself, his family and friends, that he's glad she's out of their lives. 

But when the band arrives in Venice, Perry finds himself wandering off on his own and ending up at the Harry's Bar, where Gobi finds him.  Before he can blink, he's jumping into canals, being shot at and wondering whom to trust.

On the surface, this quick read is pure escapism.  But there is some pathos when we learn what's really going on with Gobi, and Perry is forced to make some major adult-type decisions as he endeavours to keep both himself and his companion alive.

Each chapter title, taken from a song by musicians like Green Day (American Idiot), Death Cab for Cutie (You are a Tourist) and David Bowie (This is Not America), aptly describes the events within it. 

The trade paperback version of this book will be released next month.


FTC Full Disclosure:  I borrowed this book from my local library.

Teen Tuesday

Dirty Little Secret by Jennifer Echols (MTV Books, 16 July 2013).

Bailey Mayfield grew up playing bluegrass music all over the southern States, along with her younger sister Julie.  At sixteen, Julie got a recording contract.  By herself.  Without Bailey.

Because Bailey handled the news badly, her parents sent her to spend the summer with her grandfather, while they toured with Julie.  They even made her use her mother's maiden name:  Wright.  Bailey's not supposed to perform because she might "mess things up" for her sister, but her grandfather got her a job playing the fiddle for a company that provided musical impersonators for various events.

After a few days of playing the fiddle in cheesy costumes with "Elvis" and "Dolly", she's assigned to play with a Johnny Cash impersonator, Darren Hardiman and his son, Sam.  Not only is Sam incredibly gorgeous, he's an amazing guitarist and singer.  After their gig, he asks Bailey if she wants to play a gig with his band at a bar that night,  but when she asks her grandfather, he immediately refuses.

But Sam won't take "no" for an answer, and shows up on the doorstep telling Mr. Wright that he wants to take Bailey out on a date.  Bailey's grandfather is so charmed by Sam that he agrees, and they sneak Bailey's fiddle out with them.

Bailey fits in great with the band, musically, anyway.  Charlotte, the drummer, who went to high school with Sam is jealous of her, and the bass player, Ace, dislikes her because Charlotte does. 

Bailey is terrified that someone will recognize her, or that her family will find out.   And she's embarrassed to tell the band why she shouldn't join them.

Echols is very good at portraying strong young women in difficult circumstances (see last summer's Such a Rush).  We learn about Bailey's family and history organically, as the story unfolds, which makes her situation even more poignant and bleak.  I do, however, have an issue with the title, which makes Bailey's "secret" seem like something dark and sordid, which it really isn't.



FTC Full Disclosure:  Many thanks to the author for the advanced reading copy.

Connections

The Sound of Broken Glass by Deborah Crombie (William Morrow hardcover, 19 February 2013).

 The story begins fifteen years ago, as we meet a 13-year-old boy who lives in a rundown flat with his mother, who works in a local pub.  The boy, Andy, has to keep track of the money his mother earns so she doesn't fritter it away on drink and cigarettes.  He's a loner, until he meets the new next-door neighbor, a young woman who tells him her name is Nadine.

In the present-day, Detective Inspector Gemma  James is called early one Saturday morning to report to a homicide scene, at a hotel in an area of London called Crystal Palace.  A naked man has been found in a seedy hotel, bound and strangled.  Was it a kinky encounter gone wrong, or something more deliberate?
 The body turns out to be that of a well-respected barrister named Vincent Arnott.  As Gemma and her team begin to retrace his path of the previous evening, they discover that his evening had begun at a local pub, which he left after an altercation with one of the band members, though obviously not alone.

Meanwhile, Gemma's husband, Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid is taking his turn staying at home with Charlotte, their three-year-old foster daughter.  Although he's trying hard to not interfere with his wife's case, he encounters a friend who knows the same young musician, and discovers that perhaps London isn't such a big city after all.

Deborah Crombie moves skilfully between the 1990s and today, weaving an intricate and compelling web of connections.  It's wonderful to experience the development of Gemma and Duncan's relationship, along with their family and careers.  They're like long-time friends whom we don't see often, but look forward to meeting again soon.




FTC Full Disclosure:  I received an e-galley of the book through Edelweiss.

Meeting Beethoven

City of Dark Magic by Magnus Flyte (Penguin trade paperback, 27 November 2012).


Prague has a reputation for being a mysterious and shadowy city.
It's where  the  alchemists Edward Kelley and John  Dee  worked, for a time, under the patronage of Emperor Rudolf.  Superstition has it that Prague is also home to at least one hell portal.

When musicology student Sarah Weston accepts a summer position cataloguing Beethoven's manuscripts for a private collection in Prague, she is warned by more than one person that the city  "is a threshold, and it is steeped in blood".

Knowing that the experience will be the highlight of her resume, she accepts, but before she even leaves, strange things begin to happen. Her apartment is broken into, and though nothing is taken, a strange symbol is painted on the wall.

When she arrives in Prague, she learns that her mentor Absalom Sherbatsky, who recommended her for the position before his death, had been behaving erratically before his supposed suicide.  Her colleagues at the museum are distinctly odd, and she begins to suspect that Dr. Sherbatsky did not, in fact, take his own life.

It's difficult for Sarah to tell who she can trust, who might be dangerous, and who is playing a role, because the place is rife with intrigue and politics.

Complicated, yes, but the story is fascinating.   Reminiscent of the All Souls series by Deborah Harkness, this is much lighter, more humorous, and quicker to read, and should be popular with readers of romantic-mystery-paranormal fiction


The Penguin Group has very kindly offered a copy of CITY OF DARK MAGIC to one of my readers.  Please comment on this post, and make sure you include contact information.  Entries from the US only, please.



FTC full disclosure:  Many thanks to the publisher for a review copy of the book. 

Austen in Austin

Austentatious by Alyssa Goodnight (Kensington trade paperback, 31 January 2012).

Small spoiler ahead!

Nicola James is an engineer living in Austin, Texas, and has had her life mapped out since she was barely a teen.  Uncharacteristically, she sometimes wishes she had a Keep Austin Weird  t-shirt, and is a diehard Janeite.  One day she picks up an vintage blank book in an antique shop, intending to give it to her niece as a gift, but accidentally spilled a chai latte on it.

Since it's no longer useful as a  gift, she writes in it herself.  Imagine her surprise when she opens it and finds the words in place of her original entry.  Astounded and disbelieving, Nicola first tries to ignore it, but eventually finds herself in a sort of conversation with someone/thing who sounds very much like Jane.  Yes, that Jane. 

Miss Nicola James will be sensible and indulge in a little romance

And before she knows it, she's ignoring The Plan and going out with a guy she met at a wedding.  A musician, no, a rock star who's with a band showcasing at South by Southwest, and turns out to be a charmer from Scotland.

This was such an enjoyable book to read!   Planners like Nicola will cheer on The Journal just as much those who are Spontaneous.  You'll laugh, you'll sigh, and you'll probably stay up all night reading.

FTC Full Disclosure: Many thanks to the publisher, who sent me a galley of the book for review purposes.

Just finished reading...

Snare by Deborah J. Ledford.*

Deputy Steven Hawk is assigned to lead the local team guarding a young pop singing sensation by the name of Katina Salvo at her first concert ever, in the town of Bryson City, North Carolina.

Although this is Katina's first concert, she's released several CDs, and already has a huge following. Also, she's been receiving hate mail, a fact that she stumbles upon just the day before her concert. To make things worse, her father (who had been imprisoned for manslaughter) receives an early release for good behavior, despite the fact that he killed her mother and has threatened Katina, too.

Despite having bodyguards and a police presence, fans rush the stage and violence ensues. Hawk feels that he's failed to keep his promise to look after Katina, and resolves to make up for it.

The book opens with an exciting prologue/flashback that explains Katina's background, and although the level of emotion decreases once the narrative returns to the present day, there is an almost constant sense of being on the edge of a momentous occurrence. The major characters are generally appealing, though flawed, as humans are, and Ledford skilfully stokes the reader's desire to learn their fate. This is not a book to start at bedtime, unless you plan to stay up until you reach the end!

*FTC Full Disclosure: Many thanks to the author, who sent me an e-book for review purposes.