Shana Abé

Another five star read, what goes on here? I loved this fictionalised account of Madeleine Astor, the young bride and widow of John Jacob Astor, and mother of his 'Titanic baby', born four months after she survived the tragedy and her husband did not. At first, I thought, 'Well, there's not much of a story there, apart from the Titanic', but how wrong I was.

Madeleine Force was an eighteen year old socialite, while Colonel Astor was nearly thirty years her senior, with a recent divorce to show more add to the scandal. The press hounded them, like modern day royals and celebrities - 'chipping away at any thought she might have had of privacy, of control of her own face or figure or destiny' - and they were engaged and married within a year of meeting (once Madeleine had turned eighteen). The Titanic was part of their honeymoon tour and Madeleine was five months pregnant. The novel covers Madeleine's sheltered youth in Bar Harbor, Maine, her first meeting with Jack at a society gathering and the sweet but sporadic courtship that followed, the private wedding ceremony and the start of Madeleine's married life in the draughty New York Astor mansion, snubbed by the 'Four Hundred'. Along with the 'unsinkable' Molly Brown - and I didn't know the two famous Titanic names were friends! - the Astors travel to Egypt, beautifully pictured by the author, and then onto the final, fateful voyage.

I found the narrative a little confusing at first - Madeleine recalls her memories of Jack and the Titanic in letters to her newborn son 'Jakey', and then the story switches to standard third person, which seemed an odd choice - but fell in love with the writing and the characters from the first chapters. Madeleine is lost in the shadow of her elder sister Katherine until she captivates the famous Colonel Astor, and I was both convinced by her love for him, and his for her eventually, while not entirely trusting his motives. I'm not one to be thrown by generation gap romances in novels, but (barely) eighteen and nearly fifty? I could easily understand his son Vincent's attitude towards his new 'stepmother'! The way Astor courted the press without respecting her wishes also put me off, reminding me of Prince Harry's memoirs - 'I have learned that you do not have to speak to the press at all. You owe them nothing', the widowed Mrs Astor finally realises. The Colonel also abandons his new bride to the gaudiness and rigidity of his New York mansion, like a scene out of Rebecca, but I had to laugh at Madeleine's judgement of his mother's horrendous decoration: Gold-leafed sconces, pilasters, cherubs, medallions. Gold-leafed tables and chairs, cabinets and commodes. There were still rooms in this hulking home that Madeleine had barely explored, but it seemed to her that Lina Astor had not spared her hand at gilding every lily she’d ever seen'. The only difference between the social strata in America is money, apparently, which does not buy taste!

Madeleine's story and Shana Abe's writing really made me emotional, from Jack's poor dog Kitty getting lost in Egypt and then staying with her master to the end, to Madeleine's deep and beautifully rendered grief. The final night on board the Titanic was also incredibly powerful, which isn't always the case (I'm going to watch A Night To Remember again, which is the best film about the infamous ship!) Madeleine's realisation that the lifeboats are surrounded by icebergs and her words to her son about his father's smile ('Oh, I hope you have his smile. I hope I get to see his smile again, through you') were two particularly poignant moments that really got to me.

Madeleine Astor went onto to marry again, twice, and had two more sons before dying relatively young in 1940. Her son with Colonel Astor, Jakey, contested the will of his elder half-brother, Vincent, claiming that he was an alcoholic when he died in 1959 and that his wife had forced him into cutting Jakey from the Astor fortune, but he only received a settlement. Would Madeleine and Jack have had a long and happy marriage had they not honeymooned on the Titanic? Did he really love his child bride, or was she a passing fancy, as Vincent claimed? I would love to believe in the romance of this novel, but reality was probably a lot less magical! show less

TST takes place in Georgian England and tells the story of drákons, shapeshifting creatures who live in secret in the beautiful Darkfrith valley in northern England. These creatures have the ability to shapeshift from human to smoke to dragon and back again. For centuries they have lived by a very strict set of rules. One of these rules is that no one is allowed to live outside their valley. Clarissa Rue Hawthorne is part mortal and part drákon and because of her mixed blood is made to show more feel like an outcast because she is different. On her 17th birthday she fakes her own drowning in order to start a new life free from prejudice.

Some years later the Council of Darkfrith is alerted to rumors that a jewel thief in London can disappear into smoke. They realize that this was not a human but another 'runner' who has escaped from Darkfrith without permission. The continued existence of their people and its traditions relies on their secrecy so they want the drákon runner captured immediately. Their Alpha leader, Christoff 'Kit' Ellery, Marquess of Langford, travels to London to hunt down the runner and brings the Herte diamond to use as bait for his trap. To his amazement he discovers that the runner is an Alpha female who can Turn (change from human to dragon), a phenomenon that has not happened in four generations.

TST was a totally engrossing book that I found impossible to put down. I had my nose in the book constantly and Bob was having a harder than usual time getting my attention. :) One of my problems with fantasy is there is usually too much world building and too many weird names and places. But there was NONE of that here. The world building was minor and very subtle and the names and places were 'normal'.

The plot was fascinating and inventive and the characters were fully drawn. Clarissa was a wonderfully strong heroine and a perfect match for Kit. But I did have a problem with Kit at first. He was so overly Alpha that I wanted to strangle him. When he finds out the Smoke Thief is female he is determined to have her at any cost. He lies and cheats and manipulates her so he can drag her back to Darkfrith against her will. But before he can do that they work together to solve a minor mystery and he grows to love her. The sensuality was hot and intense and the imagery of their flights together was beautifully breathtaking. I think AAR's reviewer, Lynn, had a problem with the ending, but I bought it completely. I found Kit's change of character very believable giving TST a terrific ending. (Grade: B+) show less

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales.

Quick & Dirty: Nothing is fair for Lora Jones, not in war or life and especially not in love.

Opening Sentence: Are your eyes truly open?

The Review:

This was a beautiful and amazing story. The details are just breathtaking. A simple night sky in Abe’s universe becomes a picturesque expanse of never ending amethyst! I’ve never been so moved by the mere description of sights or people. Seeing through Lora’s eyes makes my own vision seem weak and wrong show more now. I honestly don’t know how else to make anyone understand that even without the plot or the characters, I would read these pages again and again just to have these incredible images drawn in my mind over and over.

The heroine of the tale is Lora, an orphan girl with much spirit and fight, without becoming a Mary-Sue type character. She understands the way society works and knows her place as an orphan girl thrown among girls of pure blood and wealth, but she never lets these girls treat her as less than human. She hears their jeers and comments without letting them effect her personality in any way.

I love her interaction with the insanely annoying Chloe, a rich girl with zero personality. Although Chloe is constantly baiting Lora, Lora manages to make the girl eat her words every time. Chloe’s step-sister, Sophia, is really the saving grace for my opinion of the girls at the Iverson finishing school where they all attend. Sophia is constantly helping Lora in small ways merely for the fun of seeing how much it upsets Chloe. In the end, however, Sophia is won over by Lora’s cunning wit and spirit just as I was and, more importantly, just as Jesse and Armand were.

Jesse and Armand are polar opposites; where Jesse seems quiet and thoughtful, Armand is obnoxious and close minded, but Lora finds herself drawn to both. When I realized this story seemed to have something of a love triangle happening, I admit that I grumbled and complained a little but it didn’t last long at all. Lora and Jesse share that connection that has me swooning inside. Every touch, every look, it forces me to tap into the romantic side of me that I would rarely admit to possessing. Jesse helps Lora discover who and what she is and never once abandons her or truly forces her into anything. Their relationship blossoms so fast and so completely that I would probably be complaining about it in any other book, but I commend Abe on her amazing ability to make the story flow in such a way that while I was reading, I couldn’t remember a chapter where they weren’t in love.

Jesse’s is a character that I’ve never encountered before, and that makes me insanely happy. This book is in the paranormal genre so everyone who picks it up knows or at least expects there will be more than a love story between humans here, but it would be a rather large spoiler if I were to say here just what Jesse is, so I will only repeat my only tantalizing clue; he’s nothing I’ve ever seen before.

Armand is of a completely different breed. He’s rich and handsome and he knows it, but he finds himself quite bored. Meeting Lora, however, quickly ends his boredom when he finds himself drawn to her for reasons neither of them understand until Jesse actually explains it. An added bit of fun is found in Chloe’s pathetic attempts to claim Armand while everyone in the entire school knows that he only has eyes for Lora. Armand’s is probably my favorite character development. He’s the son of a Duke with a brother fighting in the war against the Germans, living just down the way from a castle full of girls and yet he goes through great lengths to forge a relationship with Lora. Their’s is one of those pairings I wouldn’t fight if it happened, but silently hope doesn’t.

The war adds an interesting historical twist to this paranormal tale. With everything set in the early 1900s, there is a certain simplicity to the story that I really enjoyed.

Overall, this book is stunning. It is not action packed until the final chapter, but it is a wonderful read. I didn’t want to put it down until the very end and when it was over, I felt a loss. When I did have to stop reading, picking it up was easy because I was pulled back into the flow of things without having to struggle to settle back into a grove. The Sweetest Dark is officially on my top five favorite books list.

Notable Scene:

At the age of twelve, I realized the songs were coming from the high stone wall surrounding the Home. From the metal rings and keys of the matrons who walked the halls with their nightsticks. From the pale, blazing diamond fixed in the stickpin the Home’s director, Mr. H.W. Forrester, wore in his necktie every single day. From even the distant stars. They weren’t the worst of it, though. The worst was the voice. The one that seemed centered not inside my head but instead just exactly inside my heart. It was cunning and fiendish, whispering the maddest things; That it was natural that gemstones would singe to me. That it was good to hate the Home, with its dull walls and dull boiled turnips and dull spiteful girls who openly scorned me, who tripped me in the hallways and dipped my plaits into ink pots during our few hours of schooling. The heart-voice would say things like, Smite them. Tear them apart. I won’t let you alone until you are who you are. And I wanted to. I was trapped and friendless, and if I’d had the slightest notion of how to smite anything, I bloody well might have. I grew up considered by one and all to be peculiar at best, aloof at least, and most, likely destined for the streets the day I turned seventeen, since even the factories had standards for hiring. None of them knew that each black night, long after they themselves had curled into their dreams, I would steal from my bed to perch upon the sill of the window close by, my no-color hair a slippery curtain against my back. I would press my palms flat against the glass and gaze down at the cobblestone courtyard below, four long stories below, and puzzle over the fiend in my heart. Every night, the fiend would whisper, Open the window. Jump. So finally I did.

FTC Advisory: Bantam Dell/Random House provided me with a copy of The Sweetest Dark. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. show less

*Many thanks to Bantam and NetGalley for allowing early access to this title*

If you're looking for an absolutely gorgeous book, look no further than The Deepest Night. It's a stunning follow up to The Sweetest Dark, which I loved almost more than words. We're back in Lora and Armand's world, smack in the middle of World War I. While the overall outcome is never really in question, the survival of all parties definitely is. There were moments when I just didn't know. I'm not ashamed to admit show more that I shed more than a few tears during this book, when I thought all hope was lost.

I love the character development going on here, and how Lora and Armand deal with their dragon abilities. I love how they grow together and how they come to realize that they possess different strengths. I love that they simply MUST rely on each other in order to even survive. I love that they are stronger together than they are apart.

I was a fan of Armand in the first book, and I must say, for me, he definitely outshines Jesse in this one. I didn't think it possible, and yet, there it is. He's just GOOD. A very good man who becomes better. He's so selfless and protective and caring and wonderful. He is ALL THE THINGS.

Lora was a little more prickly in this one, which is to be expected after the ending of The Sweetest Dark. Still, she has her own charm here. I thought she went through some marvelous trials that made her so strong in the end.

Shana Abé is a master of beautiful language. Really, you can't go wrong with her books. They're lyrical, beautiful, so full of feels, and all the good things. I cannot recommend her books high enough. I am desperately hoping for another in this series, but for now, it looks like only two are planned. PLEASE, give us more!!

5 Eiffel Towers for sheer gorgeousness.



Content Advisory
Language: Mild
Sexuality: Mild (there is nudity, but not in a sexual way)
Violence: Moderate show less