The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab

October 22, 2020

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab

Addie LaRue is a girl who always wanted more than life in her small French village offered.  Born in the late 17th century, in a moment of desperation, she makes a bargain with a dark god, gaining immortality but cursed by the god to be forgotten by everyone she knows or meets.  But all of that changes 300 years later, when she meets a young man in a bookstore and he remembers who she is.

This was an interesting take on the Faustian bargain with the devil, bartering one's soul for eternal life.  Characters throughout fiction have made such deals, including Faust and Dorian Gray.  Although at devastated at first at everything she has lost, Addie gradually learns what she has gained from her pact.  We experience history through her eyes, from Paris in the early 18th century through World War II, up to the present day. 

To be honest, I got a little bored and felt this could have been 50 or so pages shorter - the reader doesn't need to know every little facet of Addie's life as an immortal.  But fantasy enthusiasts will find it entertaining and fresh.

The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton

 October 17, 2020

The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton

Samuel Pipps is the most valuable agent employed by the Gentlemen 17 who run the United East India Company.  His cases are read by the public like the adventures of Sherlock Holmes.  But after successfully completing a mission in Batavia on the island of Java, he is suddenly arrested and imprisoned in a dungeon before being transported to Amsterdam to stand trial for an unknown offense.  His bodyguard and associate Arent Hayes is determined to not only find out what Sammy stands accused of, but also to discover and thwart the unknown force that is threatening to destroy the ship they are sailing on.

The second title by the author of The Seven and a Half Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, this is another historical mystery but with less of a fantasy overtone than Turton's first book.  Almost all of the story takes place on an Indiaman, a type of 17th century sailing ship, and without a diagram of the ship, it was difficult to figure out exactly where the players were located at any given time.  It is a clever mystery although the ending felt rushed and therefore a little unsatisfactory.

Sailors were a superstitious lot in the 17^th century – they may still be, although my husband was in the Navy and while there were lots of bad habits, they didn’t seem to indulge in much superstition.  But it seems like just about everyone was extremely superstitious in the 17th century.  Superstition, religion, and social standing ruled everyone's lives.

I have an uncommon last name, and I was startled to find that it was used in this book – it was a little disconcerting every time I saw it in print. 

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC in return for a review.

Sex with Presidents by Eleanor Herman

October 6, 2020

Sex with Presidents:  the Ins and Outs of Love and Lust in the White House by Eleanor Herman

Oh my.  The men that the American people have elected president, and those who have sought this high office.  It's surprising some of the men who have been sex magnets for women - who would have thought that women would be throwing themselves at chain-smoking 5-pack-a-day Lyndon Johnson?

Best presidential lover:  Bill Clinton.  He always tried to satisfy his (many) sexual partners and give them a good experience.

Worst presidential lovers:  it's a tie between Kennedy and Trump (there are a number of other parallels between the two).  One actress noted that her sexual encounter with JFK was "a memorable minute."

Full of trivia about a select collection of presidents and First Ladies, this is a light and entertaining read to get your mind off the pandemic.  Don't feel too sorry for some of those First Ladies:  most of them knew what they were getting when they married their husbands (some knew and schemed to marry them anyway), and some First Ladies gave as good as they got.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC in return for a review.