BOOK REVIEW: Bring the House Down by Charlotte Runcie

 I received this book for free from Netgalley. That did not influence this review.

Wow! Bring the House Down by Charlotte Runcie  is a page-turner.

Sophie is a junior culture writer for a big London newspaper. She is on assignment in Edinburgh for the Fringe Festival, along with the paper’s top theater critic, Alex Lyons. They are sharing a rental flat provided by the company. They are work friends, not much more, when the real story begins.

Alex went to a one-woman show, put on by a young actress, Hayley Sinclair, about climate change and the patriarchy. The show was awful. He wrote a biting review and gave it one star. He filed it with his editor, then went to a bar for a few drinks. There, he met Hayley, also alone, having a drink. They hooked up. He didn’t tell her who he was, or that he had just written a potentially career-ending review of her show. She discovered this the next morning, reading the review in front of Sophie in the flat.

But Hayley turns the tables by re-inventing her show as The Alex Lyons Experience. She tells the audience what happened, reading aloud from the review, and encouraging women to tell their own stories about horrible men, particularly if the horrible man was Alex.

Over the course of the Festival, as more and more women speak up at the new show and on social media,  readers (and Sophie) see just what a misogynistic player Alex is, and how shallow and unrepentant he is. Only Sophie can see hints of vulnerability, and she makes readers see them too. It doesn’t make him any more likeable, but it does make him understandable.

Even recognizing his faults, Sophie is drawn to him. The more he confides in her, the more she learns about the forces that have shaped him, the more guiltily sympathetic she feels. And Sophie examines her own life as well. She desperately misses her mother, who died too young. She has conflicted feelings about her husband. She misses her carefree younger self and her one-year-old son in roughly equal amounts. She wonders if she is cut out to be a critic when she wants everyone to like her.

Runcie does a superb job of taking the reader into the heart of the Fringe Festival while also doing deep dives on the psychology of Sophie, Alex, and Hayley. The tension in the story keeps ratcheting up as Alex digs himself into a hole he can’t possibly climb out of, and, as a reader, I’m not sure that I want him to.

A gripping novel. Highly recommended!

BOOK REVIEW: A Tarnished Canvas by Anna Lee Huber

 I received this book for free from Netgalley. That did not influence this review.

I’ve been following Anna Lee Huber’s Lady Darby Mysteries since the beginning of the series. For fans of historical mystery, this is a series not to miss. A Tarnished Canvas is the thirteenth book, and there is also a novella tucked in there. While the latest novel can be read as a standalone, it would really be better to have read at least some of the earlier books to get the gist of the relationships. The mystery can stand alone, but you’ll lose out on a lot of the heart of the story.

Kiera Gage (Lady Darby) is an artist, a new mother, a skilled sleuth, and a devoted wife. That is a handful for anyone, but fortunately, she and her husband are wealthy enough to afford good help – a valet, lady’s maid, and nursemaid who also aid with the sleuthing. The valet and lady’s maid add a second element of troubled romance to the storyline.

Kiera is a sought-after portraitist amongst the members of high society, but she is currently working on material for an exhibition of the downtrodden populace. While she wants to make her peers see the subjects, she’s fearful of a negative response. (Her past has her very insecure about being attacked for her work.) As the book opens, Kiera receives an invitation and catalogue to an art auction. The effects of a deceased collector are being sold off. During the auction, calamity strikes. Part of the floor collapses, sending numerous attendees plummeting. Although at first it appears to be an accident, there are hints that it was intentional. Kiera and her inquiry agent husband, Sebastian Gage, are drawn into the investigation. They are aided, to Gage’s dismay, by the local crime lord Bonnie Brock (who is infatuated with Kiera.)

Once again, Huber crafts a well-plotted mystery that will keep you guessing until the end, and immerses it within ongoing complex family dynamics. This is an engaging series to follow!

BOOK REVIEW: Look Before You Leap by Virginia Heath

 I received this book for free from Netgalley. That did not influence this review.

Look Before You Leap by Virginia Heath is a delightful (moderately steamy) Regency Rom-Com.

Lottie Travers is a farmgirl whose family farm is failing, despite the efforts of her father and brothers. Lottie has been granted a great opportunity, education in Miss Prentice’s School, where she is to learn how to behave amongst wealthy aristocrats so that she can work as a governess, maid, or companion. She’s grateful for the opportunity because it allows her to earn wages to send home. Unfortunately, she is obsessed with fast horses, to the point that she can’t help flirting with stablehands in order to borrow mounts to go riding. And ultimately, in roundabout ways, getting herself fired. Fortunately, she is given the opportunity to be a companion to a crotchety old woman who seems amused by her escapades. Unfortunately, the lady is the aunt of a young lord with whom Lottie had collided in a park. The encounter was memorable for the lord’s rudeness and for his great good looks.

The lord, Viscount Wennington (Guy) is as grumpy as they come. Years ago, he made a fool of himself by making a very public proposal and being very publicly refused. Ever since, he has avoided female company, avoided polite society, and spent his time on his estate, taking care of his tenants. However, his 30^th birthday is approaching, and his grandchild-obsessed mother is plotting (along with her sister, Lottie’s employer, Lady Frinton) to throw him a birthday party filled with eligible ladies as guests. The party has to be kept secret because they know he’ll hate it.

While accompanying Lady Frinton, Lottie is repeatedly thrown into company with Guy. Their personality conflicts lead to a great deal of bickering and miscommunication, but the physical attraction is strong, and they are both good people at heart, so apologies follow the arguments and the two grow ever more enamored with one another. (Especially when Lottie is compared to the aristocratic competition!)

For fans of grumpy/sunshine romances, this one is fun!