Mademoiselle Revolution by Zoe Sivak
Length: 432 Pages
Genres: Historical Fiction
Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

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

Trigger Warnings in this book for Racism, Slavery, Violence, Death, Gore, Mentions of Torture, Racial Slurs, and a Graphic Birth Scene

"By the age of eighteen, Sylvie de Rosiers has mastered fractions."

[...] On the French colony of Saint-Domingue, fractions were not innocuous numbers separated by a line of dark ink (though she knew those, too). Here, fractions had faces. M*latto, qu*adroon, oct*roon--these terms divided the blood into halves and quarters and eighths, black and white and whiter still."

Sylvie de Rosiers has lived her whole life on her white father's coffee plantation in Saint-Domingue. She is beloved by her father and one of her brothers, Gaspard, reviled by the other and tolerated by her father's wife. As much as her father loves her, has pampered her and given her everything she wants, she knows she does not fit in, amongst her white siblings or the slaves that they own. It is an existence she feels she must accept--until the rebellion started by Vincent Ogé, a Creole aristocrat, ends in his ghastly execution, one that her elder brother insists she sees. The man is put upon the wheel and broken, and it is this act that wakes the revolutionary hidden in Sylvie's heart.

The masters thought it would end the rebellion to kill the voice of it--they thought wrong. As Saint-Domingue burns, plantation after plantation taken over by slaves, Sylvie and her brother escape, fleeing to France in the hopes of peace. But France is in the middle of its own revolution, headed by the icy Maximilien Robespierre. Here, Sylvie will find education as a rebel of France, and fall into a soul-consuming love, not only for Robespierre, but for his mistress, Cornélie Duplay. And as we know, history is not kind to revolutionaries.

I loved this book, and some of that is the amazing writing, the time-period, etc., but most of it is because of the protagonist, who starts off as being almost unlikeable but always understandable, and develops so well over the book into a woman who is not afraid to challenge the status quo. Sivak does something that is so hard as a writer--lets her character be full of faults, and slowly, so slowly we hardly notice it, lets her develop into someone we want to succeed over everything, and love. Revolutionary France comes to vivid life in Mademoiselle Revolution, and I loved every one of the little details that were put in, so obviously well-researched! And of course, loved seeing so many historical figures: Danton! Napoleon and Josephine! Marat and his killer, Charlotte Corday!

This book is a contender for one of my favorites of the year, and I can't wait for everyone to get their hands on it and experience Sylvie de Rosiers--revolutionary, woman, sister, and Rhea Silvia!

Book Review: Ruthless by Anne Stuart

Ruthless by Anne Stuart
Length: 409 Pages
Genres: Historical Romance
Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

Trigger Warnings in this book for Mentions of Rape (Done to the heroine at seventeen and mentioned by the Hero as something he has done in the past) and Pedophilia, Murder, Violence, Consensual Non-Consent, Incest, and a Hostage Situation between the Hero and Heroine

I've been meaning to get around to reading some Anne Stuart for quite some time, as I've heard almost nothing but good about her work (even from my own very discerning sister!). I chose to start with the series that appealed to me the most, with the first one set in 1768 in Paris and featuring the infamous "King of Hell", Viscount Francis Rohan.

Right away, I was struck by the strength and practicality of the heroine, Elinor Harriman. She is a woman who has had nothing but hardship in her life. Her mother, the once clever and charming Lady Caroline, has been struck down by the Spanish Disease, which is better known now as syphilis. All her life, she has been mistreated by her mother, and left to care for her younger sister, Lydia. Now, her mother, in one of her more lucid states, has taken the last of their money and run off to gamble it away. The place she is going is rumored to have Satanic orgies, black magic, and sacrificial virgins. It is the Viscount Rohan's domain, and his group of hedonists, the Heavenly Host, are in the middle of one of their revels.

Francis Rohan is known as the "King of Hell"--he is beautiful, dangerously so, and has an appetite for pleasure that few can compete with. Unfortunately, after many years of having all the delights a man could hope for, he's left bored. Until one night, when a destitute young woman walks into his own personal underworld and offers him something he hasn't had--a female immune to his charms. Now, he must have her, is determined to not take no for an answer,

Anne Stuart is know for her "dark romances" and even darker heroes. This is a book that will be too much for some readers, maybe for most--the hero is as horrible as he claims and often does horrible things to the heroine, such as using Elinor's virginal younger sister as leverage in keeping her where he wants her. He is the type of man that in real life, you would run far, far away from (and you would be wise to do so). This is a book that is a total guilty pleasure, and if you like such dark things it will surely appeal to you. I wish there had been a less abrupt ending, but the characters of Elinor and Rohan (and all the delicious things they get up to) are one of a kind, and so I couldn't give this anything less than five stars. Now, I'm on to read the rest!

Book Review: Miss Aldridge Regrets by Louise Hare

Miss Aldridge Regrets by Louise Hare
Length: 368 Pages
Genres: Historical Mystery
Rating: 3 out of 5

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

Trigger Warnings in this book for Racism, Violence, Attempted Rape, and Murder

Miss Aldridge Regrets by Louise Hare had an air of promise about it. It was a breath of fresh air in a genre first populated by Agatha Christie, and is thus, filled to brim with the white upper-crust of British society, usually set on one of their sprawling estates. But here, we have a female protagonist who is British, yes, but is also straddling the world between black and white--you see, she is the product of a short affair between a white woman and her black father, though she easily passes as "Mediterranean", if she so pleases. And another change comes in the setting--all the mystery takes board upon a ship. I wish I could say the promise paid off, but for me, it did not.

Lena Aldridge has known hardship all her life, being the daughter of a black musician in England, and never knowing her mother. All she dreams of is making the big-time and escaping singing in smoke-stained bars like the Canary, which is owned by her best friend's philandering husband, Tom. But fortune seems to have been tipped in Lena's favor when an American by the name of Charles Bacon offers her the deal of a lifetime: come to star in a brand new show on Broadway. It seems that Charles' employer knew Lena's father and feels as though he owes him, and since he is now gone, sees the only opportunity to make amends is though his daughter. After the untimely death of Tom in the middle of the club right after her friend, Maggie, fiddles with his drink, Lena is need of a new job and sees no other course than to agree to the arrangement. But death is following close on her heels, and will claim many more lives on board the Queen Mary. And Lena will find out more about her past than she ever intended to, or even wished.

I loved the setting of this book, and the time period is one that is always fascinating, but Miss Aldridge Regrets was rather lackluster. The writing, I felt, was its chief fault, and at times I found Lena's decisions, especially when it came to trusting some people on the ship, a little hard to follow. And the climax, along with the discovery of the culprit, left me cold and not at all in a good way. The book ended abruptly and I wished we had had a bit more of it, to perhaps smooth away any bumps with the characterization. All in all, it was a solid three stars, middle of the road novel that could have been much better.