BBAW 4 Book Blog Discovery & Giveaway

Thursday September 17 Today we encourage you to blog about a book you read only because you discovered it on another book blog. Preferably, this will be a book you loved! You might also write a bit about the blog you discovered it on!

Not sure if this really counts... but through reading Author Michelle Moran's Historical Fiction Author Interviews Blog I have discovered several books that now reside on my TBR list. Yet the one author that she interviewed that I immediately located the book at my local library was Deanna Raybourn, shortly after Silent in the Grave was published. I read that book and enjoyed it. Easily I was very attached to the characters of Lady Julia and Nicholas Brisbane. Since then I have jumped when the next Lady Julia Novel was published and each one has been better than the last. Really the one of hers that I would say I absolutely loved was Lady Julia #3 Silent on the Moor. However, I highly suggest Silent in the Sanctuary as a good read as well.

Make sure you check out my other post today: Blogoversary Giveaway Autographed Extra #1 to enter for your chance to win an autographed copy of Silent on the Moor from Deanna Raybourn for yourself!!

My Reviews:
MIRA
Deanna Raybourn - Julia Grey Series
Silent in the Grave
Silent in the Sanctuary
Silent on the Moor

Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn (a review)

(Just a general market review, that never made it to the blog before...)

Silent In The Grave by Deanna Raybourn

These ominous words, slashed from the pages of a book of Psalms, are the last threat that the darling of London society, Sir Edward Grey, receives from his killer. Before he can show them to Nicholas Brisbane, the private inquiry agent he has retained for his protection, Sir Edward collapses and dies at his London home, in the presence of his wife, Julia, and a roomful of dinner guests.

Prepared to accept that Edward's death was due to a long-standing physical infirmity, Julia is outraged when Brisbane visits and suggests that Sir Edward has been murdered. It is a reaction she comes to regret when she discovers the damning paper for herself, and realizes the truth.

Determined to bring her husband's murderer to justice, Julia engages the enigmatic Brisbane to help her investigate Edward's demise. Dismissing his warnings that the investigation will be difficult, if not impossible, Julia presses forward, following a trail of clues that lead her to even more unpleasant truths, and ever closer to a killer who waits expectantly for her arrival.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
the Writing of this book really pulled me in and I found it overall to be a good long mystery that kept me slightly confused and full of vague guesses. It has been many years since I have read much mystery, and I did enjoy this one. As a basic Victorian English Mystery novel it was quite fun. The characters were likable and I do plan to read the future novels in the series.

This is not a series for everyone. It is very "worldly" and liberal with homosexuality and affairs. After all the murder weapon was for use on a phallus. This is definitely an adult novel. Part of me feels that they mystery could have gone a completely different way. It was not until late in four hundred pages that it even appeared to have the "lovers" and method of death. I am quite disappointed as to where it went, because those are definitely not my taste, and it is just plain blah. It was just annoying at first that her sister earlier displayed a leaning tendency toward her Jane, but it just went too far really. The writing is good, and such a better story could be told with the talent without being so sexual.

View all my reviews >>

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: Mira; First Printing edition (January 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0778324109
• ISBN-13: 978-0778324102
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.7 inches

Also available as a reprint in Mass Market Paperback.

Click here, to go read my review of the second in the series, Silent in the Sanctuary.
Click here, to go back and read my review of the third in the series, Silent on the Moor.

Mailbox Monday - May 11th, 2009

As far as the mailbox goes, this was a fairly uneventful week. Yet, I think for now that is probably a good thing, since I have a huge pile TBR and it does not seem to be shrinking in the normal manner and speed it usually does...

This week I received one book for review, and a second book from Paperbackswap.

Book 3 of Delaware Dawning (HP #823)
historical romance
Order through Heartsong Presents (call 1-800-847-8270 for toll-free; NOT on the HP site)
Order through Amazon.com
Order through Barnes & Noble
November 2008
ISBN-13: 9781602601895

View the spotlight on CAN's (Christian Author's Network) You've Got Books Blog

-- Living during the American Revolution and the formation of a new nation, Margret Scott gets involved with a spy and a life of deception that could endanger herself, her family and the man she loves. --

"If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit; Let me be weighed in an even balance that God may know mine integrity." ~Job 31:5-6

Is deception fair in wartime?

Margret Scott finds she must deal with this question as she becomes attracted to the enigmatic Samuel Lowe. As the tensions grow between the colonists and the British soldiers and loyalists, Margret struggles to determine where Samuel's loyalties lie, despite his reassurances that they lie with the colonists.

Samuel's duties have him working for both sides of this war, and he is often torn between what is right and what is wrong. He promises Margret she can trust him, and Margret promises him she does.

But can promises born in deception be trusted? Can relationships built in uncertainty survive?

Read Chapter One

---

This is the third in a series that I have read for review from Amber Miller (Stockton). I really enjoyed the first two. You can read my reviews of those here (PP) and here (QP).

Secondly, from PaperBackSwap, I received a hardback copy of Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn. I read this last year and really enjoyed it. I am very eager to have my own copy, since I read it from the library. It makes me very happy. Now, I just have to get my hands on the other two. I do have an ARC of the third one, Silent on the Moor. But I do not have a copy of book two, Silent in the Sanctuary. I would really like to find a copy of the original print in trade paper back, since that is my favorite cover. Yet, all the copies that come up on PBS seem to be Mass Market. *sigh* That is what I get for being picky.



These ominous words, slashed from the pages of a book of Psalms, are the last threat that the darling of London society, Sir Edward Grey, receives from his killer. Before he can show them to Nicholas Brisbane, the private inquiry agent he has retained for his protection, Sir Edward collapses and dies at his London home, in the presence of his wife, Julia, and a roomful of dinner guests.

Prepared to accept that Edward's death was due to a long-standing physical infirmity, Julia is outraged when Brisbane visits and suggests that Sir Edward has been murdered. It is a reaction she comes to regret when she discovers the damning paper for herself, and realizes the truth.

Determined to bring her husband's murderer to justice, Julia engages the enigmatic Brisbane to help her investigate Edward's demise. Dismissing his warnings that the investigation will be difficult, if not impossible, Julia presses forward, following a trail of clues that lead her to even more unpleasant truths, and ever closer to a killer who waits expectantly for her arrival.

I also have my reviews of these three books here (SITG), here (SITS), and here (SOTM).