The Last Grand Duchess by Bryn Turnbull
Length: 400 Pages
Genres: Historical Fiction
Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

Trigger Warnings in this book for Violence, Gore, War, and Illness (Specifically that of a family member)

"In 1896, Prince Charles of Denmark took it upon himself to read the horoscope of the Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna, Tsar Nicholas II's infant daughter. Based on the relative positions of Jupiter and Neptune at the moment of Olga's birth, Prince Charles felt confident that the child would grow to be a woman of medium height, with a round face and chestnut hair. He predicted several 'critical periods' in Olga's childhood, noting that if she reached the age of eight, she would enjoy 'twelve years of peace.' This period of happiness was to be cherished, Prince Charles concluded...'for it is certain that she will never live to be thirty.'"

I think ever since I first saw the 1997 animated film Anastasia, I have had a fascination, and sort of love for the Romanov family, particularly the children. The majority of their lives were spent sequestered within the safety of their family, sometimes even to their detriment. The result of this is a family that is very close, one that knows everyone's faults, moods and opinions as well as their own. Olga and Tatiana were the two eldest girls, called "the big pair" by their family, and were each other's greatest confidantes, and sometimes their staunchest critics (though always with good intentions). It reminded me so much of my sister and I (we are also only two years apart, just like Olga and Tatiana), and so that is another reason why I find this story not only touching, but heartbreaking.

Olga Nikolaevna is the oldest child of Tsar Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, the first in a succession of four girls, punctuated with the birth of their final child, the long-awaited heir to the Russian empire, Alexei. She is like many older daughters; a sort-of second mother to her many siblings, a child expected to act as a good influence on them, all the while missing out on her own youth.

The opening scene of the book makes us privy to a secret many didn't know during their lifetime: that the Tsarevich is incurably ill with a blood disorder that makes even the slightest bruise a threat to his life, a genetic curse passed down through his mother, called hemophilia. Enter Rasputin -- heretic, priest, philander and prophet -- this man who will come to be a catalyst for the Russian empire, seemingly heals Alexei and brings him back from the brink of death, forever solidifying his place at the Empress' side.

Through Olga's eyes we will see naivete of the Romanovs, the great love that brings them all together -- for each other and their country -- and the mistakes that will crumble a dynasty. Told in passages that flip back and forth throughout the years, we learn of Olga's loves, passionate but all too brief, her work as a Sister of Mercy during WWI, and enjoy a brief glimpse into a life that was snuffed out much too early. 

Bryn Turnbull, I feel, perfectly captures Olga's powerful personality, which was described by her Swiss tutor, Pierre Gilliard, as thus: "The eldest, Olga Nicolaevna, possessed a remarkably quick brain. She had good reasoning powers as well as initiative, a very independent manner, and a gift for swift and entertaining repartee." She was even nicknamed the "Unmounted Cossack" by her family!

The writing was powerful, beautifully descriptive and without the sort of "textbook" style that can oftentimes be found in books about real events. It is obvious Turnbull is not only a great lover of history, but a great storyteller, as well.

Highly recommending, for those who love historical fiction and those who don't! If you're interested in wetting your toes in this genre, this a great starting place, showing some of the best historical fiction can offer.

Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna, c. 1914
Just four short years later, she, along with the rest of her family, would be murdered

I feel I would be especially remiss to not mention the devastating crimes being committed in the Ukraine by Russia. Since this book is about the Russian monarchy, I thought I would post several links to ways we Americans can help those in the Ukraine.

Crisis in Ukraine

Keep Ukraine's Media Going

World Central Kitchen

Sunflower of Peace

Save the Children

Book Review: Dreadful Company by Vivian Shaw

Dreadful Company by Vivian Shaw
Length: 400 Pages
Genres: Urban Fantasy, Mystery
Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

Trigger Warnings in this book for Some Violence and Gore

I'm back with the second book (here's the review for the first one) in the delightful Greta Helsing series by Vivian Shaw! These books, for me, are like the most delightful sort of well-made candy -- with a heart made of sweet marshmallow fluff and an outside coated with something sinfully dark and rich. And in this book, we're heading not just Paris, but the famed Catacombs of Paris! And I have to say, Shaw's description of them is one of the best I've ever read:

"The catacombs of Paris were a well-known tourists attraction: a curated series of passageways neatly lined with row upon row of skulls interspersed with femurs, the V-stacked shapes of their medial condyles forming a pattern reminiscent of rough knitting. There were some very big names down there -- Danton, Robespierre, Camille and Lucile Desmoulins, among others -- although it was now impossible to know which cranium was whose; liberté, égalité, et fraternité, demonstrated in death if not in life."

Greta Helsing and one of her favored companions, the always-fashionable and solicitous vampire, Lord Ruthven, are headed to Paris, rather unexpectedly. Greta has been called to present at a medical conference for monster doctors, and Lord Ruthven is simply there to show her around before heading onwards to his ancestral pile in Scotland -- and of course, like any self-respecting vampire, he insists on taking Greta to the Opera. There, they are surprised to find another vampire lurking about, but one that seems otherwise harmless, another patron there to enjoy show. Little do they know, this vampire is the second-in-command to the dangerous, dramatic, red silk and body-glitter clad leader of a local coven, Corvin. And he has quite the bone to pick with Ruthven.

So when Ruthven departs, he sees the perfect opportunity to bring him crawling back: kidnap Greta and keep her hostage in a cell deep in the catacombs his coven calls home.

And that's not the only thing brewing in Paris. Someone has been summoning little monsters: tricherpetons, also known as "hairmonsters", and the frog-like "wellmonsters", and it's done a number on the fabric of the universe. Ghosts, missing heads and legs and other parts, have shown up, most likely disturbed when the previous cemetery ran out of room and their bodies had to be moved elsewhere, passing easily through the "thin place" made by all this magic. It's up to psychopomps Crepusculus Dammerung and Gervase Brightside to put this all to rest, along with the help of the lovable demon Fastitocalon.

Just like the previous installment, this book is a magically fun-romp featuring classic gothic characters, like Varney the Vampyre, the aforementioned Lord Ruthven, a little mention of Dracula and co., plus a take on the fabled St. Germain. The only thing I disliked about this one was that Greta was imprisoned for more than half of the novel, and I found myself wishing she could have escaped sooner to do more investigating with the others. Otherwise, I loved catching up with Greta's wonderful found family of monsters and I was of course thrilled at the development in the relationship between Greta and the melancholy Varney!

Perfect for an urban fantasy and classic literature lover, this book has it all: pin-stripe suit wearing demons, werewolves, vampires and vampyres (there is a difference!), famous ghosts (featuring Oscar Wilde and Chopin) and even the Phantom of the Opera! Due yourself a favor and escape to the fantastical world of Greta Helsing for awhile -- you won't regret it.

Book Review: Washington Black by Esi Edugyan

Washington Black by Esi Edugyan
Length: 334 Pages
Genres: Historical Fiction
Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

Trigger Warnings in this book for Slavery, Racism, Torture, Abuse, Violence, Gore

“How could he have treated me so, he who congratulated himself on his belief that I was his equal? I had never been his equal. To him, perhaps, any deep acceptance of equality was impossible. He saw only those who were there to be saved, and those who did the saving.”

After absolutely adoring Edugyan's Half-Blood Blues last year, I was excited to dive into more of her work, but with a bit of trepidation, too. So many times I'll click with an author's work, only to discover it was, for me, one of kind, and to be disappointed by the rest. Happily, I can say Washington Black was just as excellent as the other, and I've gone on to tell people I'd read a shopping list if Edugyan wrote it! Now, I can't wait to see what she tackles next, in her beautiful and oftentimes heart-wrenching prose.

George Washington Black is only eleven-years-old, but has known the darkest parts of mankind since birth. For he is a field slave on the Barbados plantation, Faith, and is expected to work, and continue to work, until he is of no longer use. He has no family that he can recall, but is looked after by Big Kit, another slave from Dahomey, who has become his surrogate mother. Life is violence and bloodshed and back-breaking toil. Big Kit dreams of killing the both of them in the hopes that their souls will return to Dahomey, but even their deaths are stolen from them -- when slaves start to kill themselves, the sadistic master of Faith, Erasmus Wilde, beheads the corpses. To them, this signifies that their souls won't be allowed to move on, but to stay in a horrific limbo, perhaps destined to haunt the sugar-fields of Faith.

Everything changes when Erasmus' younger brother, the inquisitive Christopher Wilde, called "Titch", arrives. He is an inventor who is hard at work on his "cloud-cutter", a sort of flying machine which he hopes to cross the Atlantic in. One night, Big Kit and Washington are called to the house to serve at dinner, and it is then that Titch decides to take on Washington, who will make the perfect size ballast for his invention. But Washington becomes much more to the erratic Titch: an apprentice, a confidante, a companion, an artist, a like-mind, but never, truly, his equal.

When the Wildes' cousin Philip kills himself, with the only witness being Washington, Titch knows that Erasmus will use the opportunity to take him from him, and possibly, to kill him. Desperate, they escape on the cloud-cutter, and into a fugitive life, running from a slave-catcher. Their adventures will take them from the brutal shores of America to the vast nothingness of Antarctica, and eventually, Washington, on his own and lost without his master, to Canada and England, Amsterdam and Morocco.

Washington was such a fascinating and complex and devastatingly real protagonist, just like Sid from Half Blood Blues. And just like him, you want to Titch to see him as more, to be what Washington so desperately needs him to be. This novel is one that will stick with you for a long-time afterwards, a masterpiece of history and humanity and science and belonging. After finishing it, it was no surprise to me that it was Booker Prize nominee in 2018! If you're not reading Edugyan, you're truly missing out on an incredibly timely and important talent, one I see going very, very far.

Book Review: Homicide and Halo-Halo by Mia P. Manansala

Homicide and Halo-Halo by Mia P. Manansala
Length: 304 Pages
Genres: Cozy Mystery
Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

A special thanks to NetGalley and Berkeley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Trigger Warnings in this book for Death, Violence, Guns and Other Murderous Goings-On

Last year I got the first book in this series, Arsenic and Adobo, for one of my Book of the Month choices, and absolutely loved it! So of course, I simply had to request the sequel from NetGalley.

Set just a few months after the events of Arsenic and Adobo, Lila Macapagal is back on another case, though she is still reeling from the  previous events that took place in the little city of Shady Palms. This time it's not Lila's freedom and reputation on the line, but one of her Ninang's (Godmother in Tagalog) daughters, the snappy and competitive Bernadette.

You see, Lila has been roped into judging Shady Palms' Miss Teen Pageant, after hasty exit from one of the other judges. She won the title herself back in the day, and though she is loathe to relive it, as it brings up complicated memories of her now-dead mother as a bit of a momzilla, she agrees on the condition that her new cafe, which she runs with her BFF Adeena, and Adeena's girlfriend, Elena, gets some promotion. There are some strong personalities judging the pageant, like Rob Thompson, head of one of the wealthiest and most influential families in town, who is known as a creep, especially when it comes to the young contestants, his sister, Valerie, and the wise and beautiful Sana, who coaches entrepreneurial women and yoga classes. Everything seems be to going fine, until Rob Thompson is found floating in the water under the bridge in Shady Palms. He got into a very public fight right before his death, with none other than Bernadette, who threatened him when the girl she's coaching revealed he made her uncomfortable.

With a new business, PTSD, and memories of her mother that she would sooner forget than reexamine, can Lila get to the bottom of this tangled case before someone else falls victim?

Once again, I really love this series. It has such a wonderfully fun feel (though this book is a bit on the darker side, but still perfectly cozy), and I love the focus on Lila's family and her food. As someone who has always loved to cook, I'm always excited to see what new recipes will be featured in the book (I can't recommend the ube cookies from Arsenic and Adobo enough). In the swamp that is the cozy mystery genre, you can be sure to find something different and charming in Manansala's work!