#Berkley Books

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

Francine Prose - Marie Laveau - Berkley - 1978

[the25centpaperback]

The Trouble Twisters by Poul Anderson, cover by David Egge (1977)

[theblackestofsuns]

Children Of Dune (1976)

Frank Herbert

Berkley Books

[mudwerks]

(via Pulp International - Berkley Books cover for One for the Money by Elliott Chaze)

[thehauntedrocket]

Vintage Paperback - Beelfontaine by Saliee O’Brien

Art by John Duillo

Berkley Medallion (1974)

[whimsicaldragonette]

Blog Tour and Arc Review: The Muse of Maiden Lane by Mimi Matthews

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Publication Date: November 19, 2024

Welcome to The Muse of Maiden Lane book tour with Berkley Publishing Group. (This blog tour post is also posted on my Wordpress book blog Whimsical Dragonette.)

Synopsis:

A silver-haired equestrienne and a charismatic artist turn a scandalous bargain into a vibrant portrait of love.

Stella Hobhouse is a brilliant rider, stalwart friend, skilled sketch artist—and completely overlooked. Her outmodish gray hair makes her invisible to London society. Combined with her brother’s pious restrictions and her dwindling inheritance, Stella is on the verge of a lifetime marooned in Derbyshire as a spinster. Unless she does something drastic…like posing for a daring new style of portrait by the only man who’s ever really seen her. Aspiring painter Edward “Teddy” Hayes knows true beauty when he sees it. He would never ask Stella to risk her reputation as an artist’s model but in the five years since a virulent bout of scarlet fever left him partially paralyzed, Teddy has learned to heed good fortune when he finds it. He’ll do anything to persuade his muse to pose for him, even if he must offer her a marriage of convenience.   After all, though Teddy has yearned to trace Stella’s luminous beauty on canvas since their chance meeting, her heart is what he truly aches to capture….

About the Author:

USA Today bestselling author Mimi Matthews writes both historical nonfiction and award-winning Victorian romances. Her novels have received starred reviews in Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Booklist, Kirkus, and Shelf Awareness, and her articles have been featured on the Victorian Web, the Journal of Victorian Culture, and in syndication at BUST Magazine. In her other life, Mimi is an attorney. She resides in California with her family, which includes a retired Andalusian dressage horse, a Sheltie, and two Siamese cats. Learn more online at www.mimimatthews.com.

Author Photo Credit: Vicki Hahn

My Rating: ★★★★

*My Review below the cut.

My Review:

This was less about Stella and Teddy falling in love with each other and more about giving each of them the courage and opportunity to step out of their suffocating lives and live freely, not caring what other people thought. Falling in love came as a bit of an afterthought.

That said, I really enjoyed this, maybe more than the other Belles of London books. It has some pacing issues, especially when Matthews spends so much time showing us how happy each of the previous couples are, but not enough to sour my view of it.

I really like the way she treats Teddy's disability. I could feel his frustration at being hovered over constantly, and his desire to do things for himself. I also like that falling in love doesn't cure his disability and that he is also more capable than people tend to think he is.

I also really liked his passion for his painting and also for Stella as his muse.

I could also feel Stella's frustration at being constantly forced into the background when she has so much passion. Her family were infuriating - although perhaps a bit cartoon-y in their villainy.

The only real issue I had with this book was that I have never heard of Scarlet Fever causing either paralysis or a lung condition. I couldn't dig up any reference to it either. Maybe Matthews got her diseases mixed up?

Aside from that, though, this was an excellent read and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

*Thanks to Berkley for providing an early copy for review & blog tour.

[driveintheaterofthemind]

Vintage Paperback - Buffy's Cookbook by Jody Cameron

Berkley (1971)

[theartisticendeavor]

Vintage Paperback - It Could Happen To Anyone by Margaret Maze Craig

Berkley (1970)

[sarah-hawley]

Look at this gorgeous UK cover for A WITCH’S GUIDE TO FAKE DATING A DEMON!!! I’m obsessed 😍

[retrogirlsbooks]

Sunwaifs by Sydney J. Van Scyoc

Cover illustration by David Plourd

ISBN 0-425-04645-1

[the25centpaperback]

The Trouble Twisters by Poul Anderson, cover by Angus McKie (1977)

[theblackestofsuns]

Dune Messiah (1969)

Frank Herbert

Berkley Books

[quirkycatsfatstacks]

Review: Local Gone Missing by Fiona Barton

Author: Fiona BartonPublisher: Berkley BooksReleased: June 14, 2022Received: NetGalley I enjoyed Fiona Barton’s The Child, so I knew I had to grab Local Gone Missing when I saw it available. You guys know I can’t pass up a good thriller! Elise has always been an ambitious person. She had high hopes for her career as a detective, but her medical leave is forcing her to take a step back from that…

[doodlesink]

The Knife Before Christmas by Kate Carlisle -- A Book Review

Happy Tuesday!  The Knife Before Christmas by Kate Carlisle is a festive cozy mystery.  Stop by to learn more about the latest A Fixer-Upper Mystery.  Happy Reading!

https://bibliophileandavidreader.blogspot.com/2024/10/the-knife-before-christmas-by-kate.html

[thehauntedrocket]

Vintage Paperback - Algorithm by Jean Mark Gawron

Berkley (1978)

[whimsicaldragonette]

Blog Tour: The Bump by Sidney Karger

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Publication Date: June 1, 2024

Welcome to The Bump Blog Tour with Berkley Publishing Group. (This Blog Tour post is also posted on my Wordpress book blog Whimsical Dragonette.)

Synopsis:

Two men expecting a baby via surrogate go on the road trip of a lifetime in this hilarious and poignant novel by Sidney Karger, author of Best Men. Wyatt Wallace is a practical, super organized director of TV commercials. Biz Petterelli is a child-actor-turned-magazine-writer who thrives on spontaneity. Though polar opposites, they are fully committed to their relationship and their life in Brooklyn with their dog, Matilda. They’re also about to have a baby together. And they’re freaking out. They’ve both dreamed of becoming parents, but now that it’s happening, they’re doubting everything. Their baby is due in a few weeks and instead of flying to California just before the birth as planned, Biz has a better idea. They could use one last hurrah, along with some serious “us-time” to mend the issues they’ve been having lately—before they get tied down by fatherhood and its impending responsibilities. So the daddies-to-be load up their 1992 Volkswagen Cabriolet and embark on an epic cross-country babymoon. They attempt to recharge at the beach in Provincetown, stumble through their impromptu baby shower in Chicago, and endure a Star Wars -themed wedding in Colorado before heading west for the baby.   But when they take several unexpected detours, old wounds are reopened and secrets spill out that could change their relationship for better or for worse, forcing the couple to reexamine the meaning of family while building their own. After all, what’s a road trip without a few bumps along the way?

My Rating: ★★★

*My Review below the cut.

My Review:

This was good, if a bit over the top for me. It was campy in a way that just doesn't appeal to me because it didn't really feel authentic and I could never get behind the characters 100% even though I did find many parts amusing.

What I really did appreciate was the topic. Road trip? Been done. Two men on a save the relationship road trip to reconnect before their baby is delivered? I haven't seen that before. If it had been slightly less over-the-top and I'd found the characters more relatable, I would have absolutely loved it.

As it was clearly intended to be a humorous and somewhat campy road trip, the situations and characters encountered, including Wyatt and Biz's family members and friends, were all over the top to the point that they felt like stereotypes. But then sometimes they would break through the stereotype and feel more real, and that I did enjoy.

It was told in alternating POV style, but for some reason whenever we were in Wyatt's POV and Biz said something, the dialogue tag would be Wyatt saying how Biz felt about it. The same happened in Biz's POV when Wyatt spoke. It was really strange and kept taking me out of the story because it didn't make sense for the characters to know what the other person was thinking, so maybe it was all assumptions? But it happened just about every time anything was said.

Wyatt and Biz also argued and were resentful and childish toward one another for the entire book. I was hoping they'd work things out, and a couple times thought they might, and then they'd revert to sniping at each other. It didn't give me a whole lot of confidence about their ability to handle actually raising a child together. The way it's told it's as if seeing the baby delivered magically fixes everything, cue the adorable 6 years later epilogue.

I liked it enough to continue to read the whole book, however, and I think it will appeal to a lot of people. Especially those who enjoy campy over the top humor.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for providing an early copy for review.