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Review: Mr. Churchill’s Secretary

Mr. Churchill’s Secretary (Maggie Hope Mystery #1) by Susan Elia MacNeal

I give this book a 3.

 

First thing I want to admit is that I’m just now becoming acquainted with historical fiction in books. In the cinema it has always been one of my favorite genres, but I’ve never stopped to read any of it. With that being said, I’m starting to have an appreciation that is still very new and maturing.

Maggie is a very smart, almost genius, young mathematician, who is supposed to be flattered by an unexpected opportunity to be one of Mr. Churchill’s secretaries. WWII is just beginning to take its toll on London as the Nazis and the IRA take turns dropping or planting bombs in the city where Maggie and her friends struggle to just get by and make it through.

Of course, not all is quite as it seems. For one, a man Maggie is sure can’t stand her begins to look out for her well-being, then friends begin to act strange and she’s not sure if it’s a coincidence or not, and on top of everything else not mentioned, one of the parents she thought died years ago might still be around.

I think my problem with this book is that I really enjoyed the historical aspects of the story, but had difficulty reconciling the fiction aspects and the development of the characters. All the characters are well-developed, but I just don’t know if I relate to them. As a woman, still in an age facing the glass ceiling, it was easy to relate to Maggie, but the rest of the characters are a puzzle to me.

I feel as if the emotional aspect of the story could have been more involved. I get it, Maggie is this strong-willed woman who rises above her struggles, but what about everyone else. I just feel like that emotion was put to the side because there was a war on, as it should be, but it didn’t feel real to me.

The suspense and espionage was great and kept me interested in times when I was not emotionally attached, and as much as I hate to say it, I wish Maggie had more romance in her life (I’m not a traditional romance, chik-lit kind of girl).

[A slight tangent here-I encounter more and more stories every day with homosexual characters in them, in the same manner as is on TV and in the movies so that is no big surprise, but I wonder if there is a trend involving the “special aunt”. I’ve seen this general character quite a bit now.]  Trend or not, I like the aunt. She’s one of the few characters I felt really expressed good emotion and she did it in a letter, without interacting with any of the other characters.

All in all, this was a very entertaining story and an easy read/listen. I’d recommend this for adults with a love of history, spy thrillers, and or WWII, though it does seem to be geared toward women and may not be welcomed by conservative readers.

This review has been posted to GoodReads. If you’d like to obtain a copy of this book, try this link.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

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Review: Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

I give this book a 4.

 

This is a story that I thought that I’d already read. I have read other Austen books in the past and since so many people talk about this book, I guess I just felt that I’d already read it. I even thought maybe I saw a film adaptation of it and that was the reason I hadn’t read it. Going back and truly thinking about it, I realized that I had made it to the ripe old age of, none of your business, without reading this book and then decided to rectify that.

When I started reading the book I remembered why I hadn’t read it in the past. I read Sense and Sensibility in high school and it was a really tough read for me. The language is almost Shakespearean but not so poetic, and the conversation are more humorous. I quickly remembered that back then I was not much of a fan of Elizabethan culture and I’m still not, but this is still a good story.

It doesn’t take too much imagination to get to the core of this book’s overall message and apply it to modern times, thus the title. This book is the perfect example of how pride, perceived pride, jealousy, prejudice, stereotypes, and so much more are a part of our everyday lives and how they can twist things about so innocently, and not so innocently.

Since I read mostly fantasy and sci-fi, my classic literature muscles were strained when reading this, but it was a good strain. Austen’s creativity is obvious and the amount of emotion she is able to express is astounding. Always one to consider the high and low points of social interaction, I found the ideas of etiquette in this story to be quite amusing.

I wish there was more I could say, but I am at a loss for words. This is an excellent story and one I feel more young people should read or maybe even be used as a tool to explain the pros and cons of social etiquette. I must, however, admit that I prefer reading a more modern vernacular. For that reason, I can’t say that I love this book, but I do really like it.

This review has been posted to GoodReads. If you’d like to obtain a copy of this book, try this link.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

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Review: Mercury Falls

Mercury Falls (Mercury Series #1) by Robert Kroese

I give this book a 4.

 

I must start off by saying that this book isn’t for everyone, but if you have a good sense of humor it’s worth your time.

Here you meet Christine, a journalist having second thoughts about her career choices, as she heads out to cover yet another apocalyptic cult story. Soon near death experiences begin to follow her around like mosquitos to which you’d think the angel, Mercury, she picks up along the way would at least try to swat away from her. It may take a while to get everyone involved, and I’m talking a lot of “people”, on the same page, but at least before long Mercury decides to help Christine as she tries to thwart the coming Apocalypse.

This book tells the story of the coming Apocalypse that gets wrapped up in red tape and sits in a holding queue of bickering egos, but that’s probably over-simplifying things. On the surface, it seems that this story will have you questioning faith, but it goes far beyond that. It has you questioning everything with any kind of assumed order. I feel like this book is making fun of every major aspect of modern society, not just religion. Not all the issues of concern are as obvious and developed as others, but there are hints of issues concerning: faith, religion, government, relationships, media, legal systems, education, social standards, and even a barely mentionable jab at race.

The main reason I didn’t give this book a 5 was because there were too many times when I had to re-read a passages just to be sure I clearly understood what I read. The text is complex and the dialog is heavy, but I still liked it.

I just don’t know if social satire is quite the term to sum this up, but it’s all I have for the moment. This book is very funny and would recommend it to adults with a good sense of humor, but if you are sensitive to ideas that question “the system” or religion, you might want to pass.

This review has been posted to GoodReads. If you’d like to obtain a copy of this book, try this link.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords