Review: A Spy in the Struggle

"We're not all from the Bay Area and so goddamn politically enlightened. We don't all have Black Nationalist parents who tell us what the government is really up to. Some people are from  Midwestern towns where everyone watches Fox News and believe what the preacher tells them. Some people are from places where everyone doesn't have a goddamn 'question authority' bumper sticker on their car, from places where you get your ass kicked if you question authority, so you just do what you're told. And it doesn't make them stupid, it just makes them people in a bad situation."

I have a long history with illustrated covers. I hate them, thank you very much. But I took one look at the cover for A Spy in the Struggle by Aya de Leon and I was hooked. Never mind that when it comes to suspense I've never been one to gravitate towards espionage (films yes, books not so much...). Taking advantage of my local library, I took a swing on a new to me author and am happy to report that this was a success.

Yolanda Vance has done everything right. After her preacher father dies when she's very young, she and her single mother hopscotch around - Mom chasing bad relationships, a paycheck, and fliting from one new age guru to the next. Yolanda's dream is to escape her situation and she's your classic pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps story. She lands a scholarship to a prestigious boarding school (so long flaky Mom!) and works her way into Harvard Law. She hits Manhattan next, working in corporate law at a prestigious firm until one day the SEC shows up. Yolanda ain't no fool and sure as hell she's not shredding the pile of papers one of the partners shoved into her arms. Yolanda is a survivor and turns whistleblower.

Her firm is big news, and Yolanda's name is now mud in the world of corporate law. A girl has to eat. She didn't come this far to fail. So the whistleblower takes herself and her law degree to the FBI. She's settled in a New Jersey office when she's handpicked to go undercover in Holloway, California. A group of young African-American and Latinx activists who call themselves Red, Black & GREEN! are making trouble for a biotech firm with a big government contract. Yolanda, who went to college in the area, is the FBI's only viable option - never mind she's a lawyer with less than zero undercover experience.

Yolanda is not excited or happy about this assignment and her goal is get in, get out, get back to her comfortable life. But as she reacquaints herself with Holloway, meets a handsome professor on her alma mater's jogging path, and a dead body the cops try to pass off as "just another junkie overdose" turn up - Yolanda realizes there's more going on in Holloway than meets and the eye.  The question is - how far will the government go to protect this biotech firm?

I subscribe to the school of thought that all art is political (in some way, shape or form) it's just some creators embrace it more openly than others.  The immediate echoes in this story are, quite obviously, the Black Lives Matter movement and environmental racism. What saves this book from being a political manifesto or devolving into preaching is the character of Yolanda - who is complicated, nuanced, with a fascinating backstory.  Also, de Leon writes teenagers very well - which gives Yolanda an interesting cast of characters to play off from. She's straddling the line of helpful adult mentoring these kids and FBI agent / lawyer wanting her safe, comfortable life back.

A romance comes into play in the second half and there's a few fairly spicy love scenes - which will likely please romance readers and annoy suspense readers (who generally seem to be annoyed by sex in books in general IMHO).  Naturally Yolanda is lying to everybody in this story and that's going to blow up with Jimmy - who she's starting to have very real feelings for.  It makes for some great Black Moments in the second half.

It took me a few chapters to sink into the writing because de Leon likes to employ chapter breaks and occasionally shift timelines as she delves deeper into Yolanda's past and character.  These flashbacks appear at opportune times and fit into the narrative of what's going on with Yolanda in the present day, at that moment.  But it's a bit like head-hopping (just with timeline - not characters...) and did take a little getting used to.  That said, it largely worked for me.

A final note: this is the first book I've read that mentions COVID. It happens early on when Yolanda attends her first Red, Black & GREEN! meeting and one of the speakers talks about how their community has been more adversely effected by the pandemic than the white suburbanites who drive into Holloway to work at the biotech firm.  This is great - except for the fact that nothing else in this book reflects a post-COVID world at all. There's no mention of masks, Zoom, distance learning (the kids are still "in school"), stores and restaurants are open, people are still congregating at the church where Red, Black & GREEN! meet etc. This reads like the author had the manuscript complete and at the last minute her editor was like, "you need to mention COVID!"  But here's the thing - you can't just blithely mention COVID.  It has completely uprooted peoples' lives.  A passing sentence ain't gonna cut it if you want the story to feel authentic in a post-COVID hellscape.  Much better to just not mention it at all.  Let the reader live the fantasy of a pre-COVID time when we could attend street markets, eat in a restaurant, and not wear a mask constantly.  I get the author wanted this story to feel timely, and for the most part it does. But to bring in COVID requires more extensive rewrites than one sentence towards the beginning of the story.

A misstep (YMMV) but other than that, I liked this book quite a bit. It was compulsively readable, and I stayed up way past my bedtime to plow through the second half.  I'd read this author again in a heartbeat.

Final Grade = B

#TBRChallenge 2021: Roping in the Cowgirl

 The Book: Roping in the Cowgirl by Judy Duarte

The Particulars: Harlequin Special Edition #2505, 2016, book 1 in series, out of print, available in digital.

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: Duarte is a local author for me. I have an autographed copy which means I picked this up at a conference - likely RWA 2016 (San Diego) given the publication date.

The Review: 

CW: domestic violence

There is magic in a well-executed category romance, which makes them ideal comfort reading for me.  After a so-fast-your-head-will-spin DNF on my first choice, I randomly picked up this book which, conveniently enough, is the first book in a series.  It wasn't perfect, but I read this in one sitting.

Blake Darnell is a workaholic who has made partner at a prestigious Beverly Hills law firm and he's just gotten a letter from his Uncle Sam firing him as overseer of the family trust. After his wife died, Sam fell into a tail-spin, nearly dying himself - until he landed in a retirement home catering to retired cowboys and ranchers.  It's also a working ranch and Sam was named foreman.  He's thriving and has found love again with a younger woman.  Blake is concerned and frankly, projecting.  He recently got burned by a gold-digger ex, so naturally given his "firing" he suspects that's what's going on with Uncle Sam.  So he has his assistant clear his calendar and buy him a one-way ticket to Texas to sort it all out.

Things get off on the wrong foot when he arrives and meets the temporary head nurse, Shannon Cramer - who just so happens to be the niece of the woman Sam has fallen in love with.  Joy (who is 60) and Sam (who is 80) are genuinely happy and in love.  Shannon thinks anybody with eyeballs should be able to see that, but Blake - with his slick city polish and pessimism thinks shenanigans are afoot.  Naturally sparks fly between Blake and Shannon and even after Blake comes around on the old folks' relationship, his attraction to Shannon remains complicated. Shannon is country girl through and through, with no desire to leave Texas - and Blake's life is in California.

I loved the concept of this book, a retirement home for cowboys, and there's several secondary characters who liven up the proceedings. The romance between Sam and Joy and Blake and Shannon are also nice. That said....

Both Sam and Blake are pretty dense at times.  Blake assumes the worst in everybody and of course one gold-digger ex has shaded his opinion of Joy before having even met her.  But Sam is no better.  He's pissed at Blake mainly because he's a workaholic who has neglected his Texas family.  Um, HE'S TRYING TO MAKE PARTNER IN A BEVERLY HILLS LAW FIRM!  Should Blake get a free pass for being unable to balance his work life with everything else?  No.  But I did think the old coot could have cut his nephew a little slack.

This isn't perfect, but it's a largely pleasant read until an unexpected Very Dark Moment comes in out of left field towards the end.  I'm going to spoil it because I think it's worth spoiling.  Towards the end a severely battered, and pregnant, woman shows up at the ranch looking for one of the ranch hands.  She ends up delivering her baby prematurely and slips into a coma - not expected to live.  She doesn't die on page - but she will die, because this is all set-up for the second book in the series (I looked it up).  It's upsetting, with absolutely no foreshadowing.  I had the reaction of "wow, this came out of left field...." - I can only imagine how jarring it would be for a reader who 1) wasn't expecting it and 2) has a history with domestic violence.  I normally do my best to avoid spoilers in my reviews - but I'm making an exception here.

The romance turns out right as rain in the end, and while the men annoyed me from time to time, I did largely enjoy this story.  I also really liked the world and will likely continue on with the series. Out of nowhere domestic violence aside, it was a pleasant read.

Final Grade = B-

Top 4 Unusual Historicals for January 2021

Here's to 2021 which came roaring in with a Hold My Beer 2020 mentality that I don't think anyone in their right mind appreciated. I know I didn't. But a new year, no mater how dismal it may start out, still holds the promise of new beginnings - which brings us to this month's crop of Unusual Historicals.  There's some familiar names this month, trying new things...

 

The Ballad of Hattie Taylor by Susan Andersen

In the small, bustling town of Mattawa, Oregon, the turn of the century offers a new kind of frontier for women: a vast and exciting range of possibilities--to a point. It's a time for change, and no one is more eager to embrace new paths than free-spirited outsider Hattie Taylor. If only she could embrace Jake Murdock too. 

Jake can't remember a time he was so confused. Hattie is off-limits. The provoking spitfire is under his mother's protection--his protection--and he has always belonged to another. But now, with the passing of his wife, Jake feels something shift between them. Frustratingly aware of Hattie as a woman, he struggles with new feelings, new questions, new desires. 

 But when a desperate decision born of good intentions turns out to have ugly repercussions, Hattie confronts a cruel reality she can no longer ignore: the truth of where women really stand and the actions men take to keep them there. To navigate her new world of tainted justice and privileged order Hattie will draw on the strength of the women around her--and Jake will learn what it truly means to support the woman he loves.

When I first heard about this book my immediate reaction was "Could it be?...." and yes, turns out it is THAT Susan Andersen.  The same Susan Andersen who wrote a handful of romantic suspense novels and many a contemporary single title romance during the late 1990s and 2000s.  And oh my stars - she's now published what Berkley is calling a "coming of age western romance" about a "daring young woman pushing back on societal constraints."  Get. In. My. Eyeballs.

The Secrets He Keeps by Amy Sandas (novella) 

A fearsome woman. 

Callista Hale is the beautiful proprietor of London’s most elite brothel. When a new gentlemen’s club positions itself to lure away her wealthy clientele, she’ll do whatever it takes to protect her business. Even if it means accepting a wicked offer from the club’s mysterious and sensual owner. 

A man of experience. 

From the moment he meets Madam Pendragon, Erik Maxwell vows to have her in his bed. Her sharp mind challenges him while her lush body sparks every fantasy he’s ever had. But he’ll have to use everything he knows about desire to get past the jaded lady’s formidable walls. 

An offer too wicked to resist. 

If the man believes he has the talent and skill to seduce her, Callista will gracefully accept his defeat—and his exit from London—when he fails. And he will, of course. Unless, seduction isn’t all Erik Maxwell has in mind.

This novella is the third story in Sandas' Peril & Persuasion series and oh my, if there's anything I love more than historical westerns, it's "bad girl" heroines.  And please, please be a real bad girl heroine!  If Callista turns out to be a virgin I might start throat punching innocent bystanders - but that's experience of having been burned too many times before (who am I kidding - getting burned once by a Surprise Virgin Heroine was all it took to make me distrustful).  But it's a novella, and I'm willing to take the risk (please, please, please don't be a surprise virgin....) 

The Heiress Gets a Duke by Harper St. George

Even a fortune forged in railroads and steel can't buy entrance into the upper echelons of Victorian high society--for that you need a marriage of convenience. 

American heiress August Crenshaw has aspirations. But unlike her peers, it isn't some stuffy British Lord she wants wrapped around her finger--it's Crenshaw Iron Works, the family business. When it's clear that August's outrageously progressive ways render her unsuitable for a respectable match, her parents offer up her younger sister to the highest entitled bidder instead. This simply will not do. August refuses to leave her sister to the mercy of a loveless marriage. 

Evan Sterling, the Duke of Rothschild, has no intention of walking away from the marriage. He's recently inherited the title only to find his coffers empty, and with countless lives depending on him, he can't walk away from the fortune a Crenshaw heiress would bring him. But after meeting her fiery sister, he realizes Violet isn't the heiress he wants. He wants August, and he always gets what he wants. 

But August won't go peacefully to her fate. She decides to show Rothschild that she's no typical London wallflower. Little does she realize that every stunt she pulls to make him call off the wedding only makes him like her even more.

I love category romance and I have a disproportionate amount of baggage I lug around because of it.  St. George has written a slew of books for Harlequin Historical but this will likely be the first book some of y'all have ever heard of her and while I'm exceedingly happy (and excited!) for her - I'll be over here petting my Harlequin Historicals and waiting for the bitter bus.  Seriously Romancelandia - you need to be reading Harlequin Historicals.  Anyway, this is Gilded Age, the first book in a series, and sounds positively delicious.  

Portrait of a Forbidden Love by Bronwyn Scott

The Earl’s heir 

And the rebel artist 

Artist Artemisia Stansfield has four months to prove herself to the Royal Academy of Arts. When she finds out that aristocratic art critic Darius Rutherford has been snooping in her studio, she’s furious! Sparks of anger turn into flames of desire, but one lapse in judgment could give Darius all the fuel he needs to ruin her, as a lady and as an artist! Unless she trusts him enough to take the risk…

Speaking of Harlequin Historical, Scott is kicking off a new series about a three female artists "looking to make their mark on the world and live life on their own terms."  And this series has the best name EVER - The Rebellious Sisterhood.  The series is set in 1820 Seasalter, on the Kent coast - a town known for two thing during this period: oysters and smuggling. Seriously y'all, you need to be checking out Harlequin Historical...

What Unusual Historicals have you read lately?  Comments are open for business!

Reminder: #TBRChallenge Day is January 20!

It's here!  The official start of the 2021 #TBRChallenge!  Whether you are participating or just following along, #TBRChallenge Day is Wednesday, January 20.  This month's (always optional) theme is Comfort Read.

"Comfort" can mean a variety of things to readers - a favorite trope, author, or genre.  Those books we turn to when we need to sink into a story and just feel good.  And well, after 2020 and the start of 2021, I'm thinking we could all use a little comfort.

But remember, the themes are always optional.  If digging up something that would qualify as a comfort read just sounds like too much right now - hey, no problem!  The goal of this challenge is always to pull something, any book!, out of your neglected TBR pile.

To learn more about the challenge and links to the participants blogs, check out the 2021 TBR Challenge Information Page.

Review: Stolen Secrets

I have a complicated relationship with romantic suspense. I started out life as a mystery/suspense reader so unlike many romance readers who want a more prominent romance thread - I'm fine if the suspense takes more of the center stage. Also, while I'm generally fine with "women in peril" plots (I cut my teeth on Mary Higgins Clark who was a master at it), I abhor Danger Banging. "Oh noes! The evil drug cartel is chasing us through the jungle but let's duck behind this tree so you can give me an orgasm."  That's the appeal of the Love Inspired Suspense line for me. I'm not going to get any Danger Banging. The trick is - how much God Stuff is going to dominant the narrative?  In the case of Stolen Secrets by Sherri Shackelford, it's not much. A instance of the heroine praying for God's strength as she's dodging bullets and a conversation the hero has with a chaplain about grief.  So if you abhor danger banging but also don't want the author to convert you? This is your book.

Lucy Sutton is a software engineer who works on drone technology and someone is trying to frame her for espionage. She's been receiving mysterious text messages, there's been a security breach at her company, and someone who looks an awful lot like Lucy was caught on camera. It's also been a year since her fiancé, Brandt, was killed. He worked for the NSA (National Security Agency) and he was killed after his cover was blown.  His partner, Jordan Harris, was also hurt in the blast and he's finally keeping his promise to Brandt - he's checking in on Lucy.  But the conversation takes an unexpected turn when Brandt, planning to deliver the engagement ring that Brandt picked up overseas before his death, realizes Lucy already has the ring - an exact duplicate.  Why get a duplicate ring made? And then, right after Lucy shares her fears that someone is out to get her?  The coffee shop where they're meeting gets lit up like a Christmas tree in a hail of gunfire.  Lucy isn't imagining anything - someone obviously is framing her and now someone wants her dead.

This is a cat-and-mouse style suspense thread.  The identity of the bad guy isn't as important as the why of the whole thing - also how it all ties together.  Brandt killed overseas, a duplicate ring, a security breach, drone technology, and someone out to frame Lucy.  These various threads give the author plenty of rope and plenty of opportunity for red herrings.  After all, sometimes a coincidence is just a coincidence, the bad guys can just as easily be part of a large terror cell or your garden variety criminals.  Shackelford sets it up so she can take the story in several different directions and it succeeded in keeping me off balance for the entirety of the story.

The overall theme of the romance centers around grief, and how we process it - in our own way and time.  Jordan doesn't have survivor's guilt per se, but his guilt is centered around the fact that he's attracted to his best friend's girl.  Lucy loved Brandt and theirs was a whirlwind courtship.  She dreams of marriage, children and while she misses him - she knows it's time to move on.  She just didn't expect to move on with Jordan who sets off a host of butterflies.

I randomly picked this book out of my digital TBR without realizing it's part of a series, but it hangs together well and readers won't feel like they're missing anything (other than it's obvious a previous book featured Jordan's stepsister as the heroine...). I liked this, it kept me entertained, and it was a nice way to kick off my reading year for 2021.

Final Grade = B

Reading Year In Review 2020

Well, that wasn't very much fun. I think most of us are ready to put 2020 firmly in the rearview mirror and move forward into 2021 hoping for better.  Dear Lord, please be better.  2020 was a challenging year for many of you, for a variety of big and small reasons, and I'm no different.  My reading challenge every year is always to get through 100 books. I'm a slow reader by Romancelandia and blogging standards - so hitting 100 books is a pretty big deal for me. Yeah, 2020 saw me getting through 74.  Not great, especially when you consider I count DNFs, novellas, audiobooks - I count everything y'all, my challenge my rules. Here's how the number broke down:

5 Stars (A grade): 4
4 Stars (B grade): 21
3 Stars (C grade ; low B-): 28
2 Stars (D grade): 11
1 Star (F grade): 3
DNF (Did Not Finish): 7
Audiobooks: 13

These numbers are all in my usual ballpark, but 2020 saw more 3-Star reads than 4-Star reads and I always find that depressing.  Here's hoping that ship gets righted for 2021.  

Now, on to the fun part - the actual books. As a reminder, and for those of you new here, my "best of year" list is the best books I READ during said year. It's not specific to books published in that year.  There's older titles featured - mainly because I am always perpetually behind in my reading.  Now, on to the books:

The Romance (in no particular order):

The Lady's Companion by Carla Kelly (Traditional Regency, 1996) - This was my best romance read of the year and the fact it was published in 1996 isn't exactly lost on me. Gentry spinster heroine whose Daddy has ruined them financially decides to take her destiny in her own hands and accepts a job as a lady's companion to a cantankerous widow. She finds an ally and friend in the widow's bailiff. Compelling conflict, emotionally gut-wrenching, and tightly plotted. It's amazing, it's available digitally. Just read it.

To Dream Again by Laura Lee Guhrke (Historical romance, 1995) - This was a reread for me and the title link will take you to my original blog review from 2005. Second son comes home to England with the dream of making children's toys and buys the heroine's factory after the bank calls in her loan after her husband dies. Never mind she's the one keeping the business afloat while her husband chased one get rich quick scheme after another. A prickly heroine written in a time when those weren't the norm who is all out of f*cks when it comes to men. That said, parts of the story have not aged well which I detail a more in my GoodReads review. At one point the self-published digital edition was widely available but at the time of this post it's available via Kindle Unlimited.

Slow Dance with the Best Man by Sophie Pembroke (Harlequin Romance, 2017) - The Harlequin Romance line is one of my favorites because the books feel like warm hugs. Typecast Hollywood actor falls for the heroine, who is gunning for a managerial position at her hometown's Gothic manor that's been converted to a posh hotel. A fluffy concoction with the pleasing Hollywood star falls for A Nobody fantasy. I'm glad I have more Pembroke in my TBR.

Redemption of the Maverick Millionaire by Michelle Douglas (Harlequin Romance, 2020) - A hero who did the heroine dirty swoops into her adopted hometown looking to make amends, only to end up making a muck of things.  Basically this book is one long grovel, because boy howdy did the hero screw up.  Also, it's a small town romance where the author doesn't completely sweep the challenges of small town living under the rug.

Cinderella Unmasked by Susannah Erwin (Harlequin Desire, 2020) - Erwin wrote a book featuring a hero running for political office and I ended up really enjoying it. That's some kind of miracle for 2020. Heroine whose family was done wrong by hero's family ends up falling head over feet. A smitten hero in pursuit who is genuinely a nice guy (not a brooding, angsty playboy!), compelling family conflict, and a Cinderella trope that avoids heavy-handed rescue fantasy. After just two books Erwin is my newest autobuy.

Not Romance, Still Great (in no particular order):

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe (Nonfiction, 2018) - I read this based off Miss Bates' recommendation and this was easily the book of the year for me. At the end of 1972, Jean McConville, mother of 10, was dragged from her Northern Ireland home by the IRA, never to be seen again. It's a story of violence, of politics, where there are no heroes, and it was by far the most riveting book I had read in a dog's age. I cannot recommend it enough. I made all the incoherent great book noises during and after I finished it.

Get Well Soon: History's Worst Plagues and the Heroes Who Fought Them by Jennifer Wright (Nonfiction, 2017) - I've got Sasha Devlin to thank for this recommendation and this was a great listen on audio. Kind of weird to read a book about plagues that was written pre-COVID, and frustrating in that humans have this uncanny knack for repeating the same mistakes over and over again. Engaging, written with the layperson in mind, with a touch of gallows' humor. I really enjoyed this and even learned some stuff.

Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey (Dystopian, 2020) - A dystopian western that's queer and feminist AF.  Fleeing an arranged marriage when her best friend (and lover) is murdered, the heroine hooks up with a subversive band of traveling librarians. It's a slim book (category romance length) so the world building isn't terribly intricate, but I loved the feminist themes of the story and got sucked into the western world like whoa.  Not a typical read for yours truly, and one that I'm hoping will become a series.

Prairie Lotus by Linda Sue Park (Historical children's fiction, 2020) - After her mother dies, 14-year-old half-Chinese heroine moves with her white father to the Dakota territory. The author grew up loving the Little House series, while recognizing all the inherent problems with that series.  There are a lot of heavy themes in this story (racism, injustice, and the heroine is assaulted at one point - not raped) but it never feels like a heavy book. It's hopeful, with a lovely sense of place and history.  

When I started thinking about this blog post my impression was that I had a pretty dire reading year - but as I looked back I realized that there were gems - it's just said gems were buried in between mediocrity and books I'd rather forget. So long 2020. Please do let the door smack you on the way out.