Claudia Gray

This is the third in the Austenesque mystery series featuring Jonathan Darcy and Juliet Tilney. Written in the style of Jane Austen, Jonathan is the son of Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy and his wife, the former Elizabeth Bennet. Juliet is the daughter of residents of Northanger Abbey. Challenging the mores of the time, they have worked together investigating and solving two prior murders. This time, they are called to the home of Jonathan’s great aunt, the formidable Lady Catherine de Bourgh, who show more has been the victim of two attempts on her life. As further attempts are made, the pair, somewhat stymied, work diligently to solve the mystery while shying away from what may be a budding romance between them. Other characters familiar to Austen readers play roles in the story.

This is a delightful book! I enjoy the young characters….both of them with their intelligence, unique charm, and Juliet’s willingness to accept Jonathan’s somewhat neurodivergent behaviors. The mystery is well plotted and kept me guessing. Gray remains true to the Austen writing style and employs a good sense of humor. I can’t remember the last book that made me laugh out loud a few times as this one did.

Although I did read and liked one of the prior novels in this series, this one works well as a standalone. They are so charming, though, I would suggest reading all three to thoroughly enjoy the characters. You do not have to be overly familiar (or remember!) Austen’s writings to appreciate these books for their plots and reflection of the society at that time. My advice is to read them slowly to savor the language and nuances.

I am looking forward to the next installment.

Thanks to #NetGalley and @aaKnopf for the DRC show less

This was a delightful Austenesque mystery and third in series featuring the young Jonathan Darcy and his charming sleuthing companion, Miss Juliet Tilney. As an investigative team, they've been summoned to the home of Jonathan's imperious grand-aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh. There appears to have been several efforts to "do in" Aunt Catherine, hence the summoning. Can our plucky sleuthing team solve this mystery before the culprit succeeds in their nefarious plot? Only time will tell.

Ms. show more Gray has done a fabulous job of renewing and continuing our affection for these Austen characters. She writes exquisitely and in perfect form for the period represented. The character development is steady throughout and we slowly learn of each character's thoughts, concerns and motivations. The tension increases gradually throughout the story drawing to a peak and then relaxes to a satisfying conclusion. The friendship between Jonathan Darcy and Juliet Tilney is sweet and chaste and perhaps someday, a little bit more than that. This reader is ever hopeful that yet another sequel is forthcoming where their relationship can be even further developed. If a Jane Austen style mystery is your jam then this may well be the perfect book for you.

I am grateful to author Claudia Gray and her publisher, Vintage Books, for having provided a complimentary uncorrected proof of this book. Their generosity, however, did not influence this review - the words of which are mine alone.

Publication Date: June 18, 2024
Pages: 352
Publisher: Vintage Books
ISBN: 978-0593686584 show less

Bianca, Lucas and Balthazar return in this compulsively readable follow-up to Claudia Gray's Evernight, the most enjoyable vampire novel I have read since L.J. Smith - creator of the Night World series - took a hiatus from writing in the late 1990s. Separated by seemingly insurmountable differences, Bianca and Lucas are still very much in love, and determined to find a way to be together. When Balthazar catches Bianca returning to Evernight from a secret meeting with Lucas, he strikes a show more bargain with her: he'll help the star-crossed lovers meet, if they'll help him track down his estranged sister Charity, who has fallen in with a dangerous vampire tribe. But none of them - not Bianca and Lucas, not Balthazar - could have foreseen the chain of events this bargain would set in motion, or the consequences for both human and vampire...

I'm always a little cautious in approaching the sequel to a book I have thoroughly enjoyed, as it can be such a disappointment to find that it does not fulfill the promise of its predecessor. Fortunately, Stargazer is a worthy second chapter in the Evernight series - entertaining, emotionally involving, and thoughtful. As both Bianca and Lucas struggle with the knowledge that their world is more complex than they had ever imagined, that the conflict between vampire and human is not so clear-cut, Balthazar's unexpected depths and tragic history emerge. I enjoyed watching the characters learn and grow, and although I was able to predict certain narrative developments, I remained riveted until the very end. Now... if only the third installment were already available! show less

Romance in a Galaxy far far away...

Claudia Gray immediately grabbed my attention with her narrative style that is descriptive without being daunting or boring, her beautifully crafted characters and with a story that it is both exciting and beautiful in it’s own merit. The fact that it is set in the Star Wars universe is a plus.

Thane Kyrell and Ceana Ree are childhood friends turned lovers that end up in opposing factions in the galactic civil war that we got in the Original Trilogy. The show more story explores the horrors of the Empire from an interesting insider perspective and serves to explore how not everyone serving Emperor Palpatine was a terrible person but in cases were either deluded or realized their error too late.

The story also sheds light on major obscure events that transpired in the background of the original Star Wars trilogy... but I won’t spoil those here.

All in all a beautiful book that is probably among the best stories out of the Star Wars franchise in recent years, precisely because of how it is it’s own thing set during the events of the original Star Wars trilogy rather than just another rehash of classic Star Wars tropes. No Jedi, no lightsaber duels, not even reliance on major characters but little cameos here and there just the story of two lovers fighting for opposing teams in a galactic civil war.

9.5/10 show less