Book Review – Hither, Page by Cat Sebastian

November 9, 2022 ~ A. Siegelster

Hither, Page by Cat Sebastian

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Hither, Page brings together a spy and a country doctor, both set on discovering who has murdered the village’s nosy charwoman. The spy must find out what happened in order to keep everything low-key. The doctor wants to find out what happened, all the while trying to forget his traumatic memories of World War II. Both doctor and spy want nothing more than peace, and as they are thrown together into this mystery, they find that peace might be possible.

This is my second book by Cat Sebastian, and I am still loving the way that her stories are upbeat and positive, with definitive happy endings for the protagonists. It seems that the struggles and troubles lie mostly with background and supporting characters, and I am fine with this. I loved that the main characters get to be happy – the world needs more happy endings.

I really don’t have anything negative to say about this book, so I will say what I loved most about it.

I liked the way Sebastian wrote the time period. It wasn’t overly emphatic that it was postwar England, but it was also not non-existent. The traumas of the War played an important part in this mystery, but they weren’t presented in a very dramatic way. It is subtle in a way that you know the characters experiencing trauma just want comfort. There are other times where Sebastian lets slip in the peculiarities of postwar England and of England before either World Wars took place. Again, these glimpses are very subtle, but they absolutely work. Sebastian is so good at writing period romances, at least as far as I can tell with the two books I’ve read.

I actually liked the characters a lot. Not just the main characters, but the elderly couple of two old ladies who definitely are not hiding anything; I loved the kind-of annoying teen girl who just wants to be helpful; I even loved the characters whom we only get descriptions of. They all (except for the murderer of course) just want to be happy and want everyone around them to be happy, and who can blame them?

I loved the scenery and the village where the story takes place. It was perfect for this time of year – Winter is just starting, and there are hints of Christmas, but the festivities aren’t quite there yet. I’d never been to the Cotswolds, but I have been to the Lake District, and the little village in this book reminded me of the small villages I saw there.

Not much more I can say except that I loved this book, and that I will be reading more of Sebastian’s books soon.

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Book Review – Help Wanted by Richie Tankersley Cusick

August 10, 2022August 11, 2022 ~ A. Siegelster

Help Wanted by Richie Tankersley Cusick

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Help Wanted by Richie Tankersley Cusick is about (fyi, the Goodreads description is incorrect) a high schooler named Robin, who answers an ad to work in the old, enormous house of Mr. Swanson, cataloguing books belonging to his late daughter-in-law. Robin goes to work, despite her annoyance at Mr. Swanson’s dashing grandson, and the warnings he made to her about his apparently insane sister, Claudia. Soon, Robin gets pulled into the family’s sordid history, which is rearing its ugly head in the present.

This is my third book by Richie Tankersley Cusick, and I am still having fun with them. I love that they are all about a girl going up against a mystery, and having to learn who to trust along the way or pay. Also the gothic atmospheres are absolutely wonderful. Cusick always provides the spookiest houses.

I thought this particular book was fun, but, again, the plotlines came together way too quickly. There were no little clues that you could follow to unravel the plot, or even to be tricked into predict a totally incorrect plotline. I do realize that because this is basically a murder mystery that Robin gets pulled into, there’s not much time for gradual revealing of the plot; however, how abrupt it all is is not my cup of tea. I like a bit more intrigue.

I wish we had gotten to know the characters a bit more in-depth. I feel like in Trick or Treat we really had an inside look into all of the relevant characters. In this book, it was very minimal – just enough so you know how they fit in with the mystery. It all felt a bit too shallow for me, personally. However, I know a lot of people like more of a crazy plot than spending too much time with characters, and I am sure that’s why many have loved this book.

Overall, a super fun, creepy read. I will be delving into more of Cusick’s books in the future, though, after three in a row, it may be time for a short break.

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Book Review – In The Company of Witches by Auralee Wallace

December 23, 2021 ~ A. Siegelster

In the Company of Witches by Auralee Wallace

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In the Company of Witches is about Brynn, who, after the loss of her husband, feels she can no longer do magic. However, when a murder happens right inside her family’s inn, she goes to try to solve the mystery of who committed the crime to clear her family’s name. During this harrowing experience, she realizes that maybe she can reconnect with her magic.

I loved this book, pure and simple. It has everything I could want in a story: mystery, magic, witches, ghosts, a loving family in a small town. The writing style is simple, but Wallace really brings each character and place to life with those simple words. I could imagine being in the small town and interacting with everyone that Brynn interacted with.

My favorite part, I think, was that even though they were all a little bit crazy in their own ways, Brynn’s family, the Warrens, were so loving to each other and tried to be supportive when they could. Even the animals, Dog the crow and Faustus the cat, lent their support where they could. That plus the witches and ghosts is everything I could ever want in life, and Wallace portrayed this family so, so well. Also, it brought back some nostalgia as it reminded me a bit of Sabrina the Teenaged Witch (from the 90s)!

The mystery was fun as well. You really could not be sure who did what in terms of the crimes committed, and that kept me on the edge of my seat. A whole family is involved, well, technically two families, and secrets are kept everywhere.

I absolutely recommend this book to anyone who wants a little magic and mystery in their life. What a great book to end my reading challenge on this year!

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Book Review – Widdershins by Jordan L. Hawk

June 23, 2021 ~ A. Siegelster

Widdershins by Jordan L. Hawk

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Widdershins is the first novel in Jordan L. Hawk’s Whyborne & Griffin mystery series. This book revolves around Whyborne, a museum philologist who is recruited by ex-Pinkerton detective Griffin Flaherty to solve a murder that turns out to be much more involved in the supernatural than either had foreseen. In the course of their time together they form a wonderful romance. Together with their Egyptologist friend, Dr. Christine Putnam, they endeavor to solve a gruesome mystery.

When I say this book had me on the edge of my seat the entire time, I mean THE ENTIRE TIME. The mystery and paranormal had me on the edge of my seat – eager to understand the evil that our heroes were fighting and whether they would make it out alive (I had read the last pages of this book so fast at that point) – and the romance between Whyborne and Griffin also compelled me so much that I feared so much for their safety at the end. Suffice to say, I became quite attached to these two goofballs.

And boy were they goofballs. Hawk could not have written them any better – I kept wanting to knock their heads together and at the same time hug them. I’m sure Christine also felt the same way.

Christine is a great character too: a doctor of archaeology in a time when women could barely do such things, she is strong and independent, but also fiercely protective of her friends. I am very excited to see more of her in the next books of this series.

The supernatural side of the mystery was an interesting choice. I have no idea whether it is based of actual ancient Egyptian mythology and folklore, but its complexity and involvement with death on many levels was very intriguing – definitely one of the reasons I kept reading this book!

I really have no criticisms for this book whatsoever. I loved the characters, as I said above, the book was very well-written, and I loved the setting and background of the mystery. Apart from the romance, what drew me to read this book was the fact that the main character is a philologist of ancient languages – much like myself! – and has to use his skills in language to defeat an ancient, supernatural entity. I hope the other books in this series use philology and ancient history as much as this book did. I know me and my classicist friends love books like these!

This is also a great book/series to start right now during Pride Month (or really any time because it’s so good!), as it is a M/M romance written by a very talented trans author.

I recommend this book to all classicists, and to those who like being kept on the edge of their seats.

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Book Review – By The Pricking Of My Thumbs by Agatha Christie

January 2, 2021 ~ A. Siegelster

By the Pricking of My Thumbs by Agatha Christie

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was my second Agatha Christie mystery ever, and I am so happy I read it. By The Pricking Of My Thumbs is book 4 of the Tommy and Tuppence mysteries, in which Tuppence goes on a journey to a small village to solve the mystery of a missing woman from her husband’s aunt’s retirement home. This mystery, however, unravels more than she was bargaining for.

This is one of her later books, and I very much like the writing style. The fact that it takes place in the 60s, later than her more known books, is actually kind of refreshing. I love the fact that Tommy and Tuppence are solving mysteries even as older folks, and I so want to be like Tuppence as I grow older, though maybe with less murder.

I’m not making this review too long as there is not much to analyze. It’s a fun mystery and I would recommend it to everyone.

I read half of the book in hardback, and listened to the latter half on audio via Scribd, with none other than Captain Hastings himself, Hugh Fraser, narrating.

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Book Review – There’s Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins

April 9, 2020 ~ A. Siegelster

There’s Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There’s Someone Inside Your House has been the most compelling read for me so far this year.
It is full of suspense, romance, and friendship, and I was kept on the edge of my seat the whole time.

The following are what I did and didn’t like about the book – warning: may contain some spoilers.

What I liked:
-Representation: the main character, Makani, is a teenager who is both Hawaiian and black; her grandmother is black; and one of her two best friends, Darby, is a transgender man. There was also a lot of balance gender-wise: good, deep female characters, and male characters that exhibit their own deep feelings.
-The suspense: the serial killer of this novel likes to mess with his victims, so it sent my heart a’thumping whenever someone seemed to be going out of their mind.
-Perkins really tried to make the characters help each other, and I think she did a very good job. One thing I was a bit nervous about at first was that some of the friendships got a bit rocky when the killings started to happen – thankfully friendship wins over murder.
-The romance: I really loved the protagonist and her romantic interest together – I kind of wish we would have seen more of them exploring their romance, but honestly, who could with a serial killer on the loose?

What I didn’t like:
-The ending: honestly even though everything pretty much got wrapped up in the end, we did not get to see the characters go back to some kind of normalcy. While I realize that they can really never lead a normal life again, I would have wanted the characters to get a chance to go back home.
-Friends dropping each other just like that: there is that one part in the story when Makani’s friends don’t support her. Now they do end up friends again shortly after, but it was the reason for such a sudden withdrawal that didn’t sit too well with me.

As you can see, there are more positives than negatives. I truly loved this novel, and I recommend it to everyone!

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