Bibliophile Support Group

The Masque of the Black Tulip is an adult historical novel with a contemporary mashup and the second in the Pink Carnation series by Lauren Willig. Many years ago I read The Secret History of the Pink Carnation and enjoyed it. I am finally getting interested in continuing the series, which last I checked now has twelve novels and is not done yet!! I would definitely recommend reading The Secret History of the Pink Carnation first, as it introduces the reader to the fictionalized world of flowery espionage in England during the days of the Napoleonic wars. We also first meet our cast of characters in it. Though The Masque of the Black Tulip puts emphasis and focus on a different set of characters, they are within the same family and social circle. So, I still recommend reading it first. Okay, now onto deets of The Masque of the Black Tulip! Having discovered the shockingly delicious identity of the Pink Carnation, modern day graduate student Eloise has even more questions....

Of Noble Family is the fifth and final novel in The Glamourist Histories by Mary Robinette Kowal. I am passionate about this series, primarily due to the absolutely wonderful characterizations and lovely Regency atmosphere. Therefore, I strongly recommend reading these books in order: Shades of Milk and Honey: Here Glamour in Glass: Here Without a Summer: Here Valour and Vanity: Here Of Noble Family As you can see, you can click on each prior title to be swept away to my reviews of those books. Again, if you are not caught up with the series – I ardently recommend reading them, in order, before this review of the final book! After their exhausting time in Italy, Jane and Vincent have been able to do some relaxing with Jane’s family, including her sister’s new baby, whom they both find themselves enjoying immensely. Yet, when news comes to Vincent stating that his estranged, fugitive father has died – his soul is thrown into turmoil. He attempts to push aside the tumultu...

Jane and the Madness of Lord Byron is the tenth historical mystery in the Jane Austen Mystery series by Stephanie Barron. As I said last week regarding Jane and the Barque of Frailty , these are really books best read in order to get the full impact and understanding of relationships and such. However, I believe they could potentially work as stand-alone stories, as well. When Henry’s adored, animated wife Eliza passes away from illness, Jane and Henry mourn her deeply. Calling on the recuperative, distracting power of the ocean and sea air, the pair head to Brighton to enjoy the teeming, dazzling resort life favored by so many. It is not long before Jane’s path crosses with the famous, possibly mad, undeniably magnetic poet and seducer of women: Lord Byron. His reputation is known to Jane, but even she cannot help but be shocked by the circumstances in which she meets him. So, when a beautiful young girl barely out in society is found murdered and placed in Lord Byron’s be...

Jane and the Barque of Frailty is the ninth in Stephanie Barron’s Jane Austen Mystery series. I thoroughly recommend reading this fantastically imagined, Regency whodunit series from the beginning. You would want to start with Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor . I’ve been a huge enthusiast of this series from the beginning as a fan of both Jane Austen and mysteries! It’s 1811 in London and Jane Austen is enjoying a month-long visit with her brother Henry and his lively wife Eliza. She’s awaiting publication of her first novel, Sense and Sensibility and spending her free time socializing during the height of the Season. When a mysterious, exiled, lovely Russian princess is found dead outside of the abode of a notorious Tory minister, though – even Jane is surprised. The determination of self-murder does not sit right with Jane, and she is happy to investigate further. What is more surprising, however, is that Jane and Eliza manage to thrust themselves into the ca...

Longbourn is a historical fiction novel by Jo Baker that takes the below stairs perspective of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice . As one of the housemaids at Longbourn , Sarah spends her days doing all the things the genteel Bennett’s do not want to even think about – scrubbing laundry, emptying chamber pots, assisting in serving dinner, cleaning, etc. Yet, as upstairs there is furor over the influx of marriageable, wealthy men in town, Sarah finds herself also pulled into romance. And as an enigmatic new footman arrives – apparently a “fine young man” but without references that can be named – the servants’ hall becomes more mysterious and intriguing than ever… This tie-in to Pride & Prejudice has been lauded and mentioned so often that I was quite excited to read it! Sadly, it did not work for me. At all. I hate to be negative – clearly there are many, many people out there that have enjoyed Longbourn – and you could be one of them!! So, remember to take my revie...

The Season is a YA Regency-era romantic mystery by Sarah MacLean. It is time for seventeen-year-old Lady Alexandra Stafford’s first season – and she is not pleased about it. Less than thrilled about dress fittings, balls and the generally encouraged feminine pursuits, Alex’s opinionated independence sets her apart. And she is not in the slightest bit interested in finding a husband. However, she and her close friends Ella and Vivi are thrust into the London season and manage to keep each other amused enough to prevent from being bored to death by the safe, respectable suitors being pressed upon them. Yet behind the scenes of the glamorous gowns, dances and dinner parties, there is espionage and murder occurring. Unintentionally finding themselves caught up in the intrigue, Alex, Ella and Vivi find their season turning far more interesting – and dangerous. And most unexpectedly yet – perhaps some true romance is around the corner also… The Season was a fun read! It’s ...

Valour and Vanity is the fourth book in Mary Robinette Kowal’s historical fantasy series The Glamourist Histories . Having read all four of the released books, I implore you to read this series in order!!! First there’s Shades of Milk and Honey , then Glamour in Glass and third there’s Without a Summer . Once you’ve read all three of the prior books, THEN you can read this review of Valour and Vanity without fear of spoilers! Got it?!? Having happily kept Melody company throughout her marriage and the beginnings of the new couple’s tour of the continent, Jane and Vincent are rather ready to separate from Jane’s family and continue their glamour experiments – just the two of them. In Murano, Italy Jane and Vincent plan on studying with acclaimed glassblowers to pursue their theories on glamour in glass. However, while sailing to Murano their ship is set upon by Barbary corsairs – just as Jane’s fretful mother feared. Though blessedly not enslaved, Jane and Vincent find thems...

A Heart’s Rebellion is a Regency-era Christina romance by Ruth Axtell. Jessamine Barry has spent years of her life loving a man that was almost hers – only to have her hopes dashed when he fell in love with another woman. Well, she’s done with that. The patient, dutiful personality that caused her to waste time on a man that clearly didn’t have enough love for her to stop him from falling passionately for another is no longer wanted in her opinion. Instead, Jessamine would like to be the kind of woman that is the recipient of that ardent desire, that allure that some women seem to have. That’s why when Lancelot Marfleet, second son of an aristocrat, appears to take an interest in her during the London season, she doesn’t consider him a suitor. He’s too much of a respectable cross between her former beloved and her father. She wants zeal and intrigue, and to be the sort of woman to inspire it… But will that sort of life truly give Jessamine what she wants? Anymore I ten...

Persuasion is a classic novel (that hopefully all bibliophiles have heard of) by Jane Austen. This was the only Austen novel I had yet to read – and I had to fix that! Anne Elliot is seven and twenty and not yet married. Eight years ago she had been in love. She had been engaged. But as he was a poor, lowly Royal Navy man, her family and friends persuaded Anne to break it off with Captain Wentworth. She is still unmarried – because she knows she will never love another man as she loved him. When circumstances throw them together again, Anne finds it difficult to ignore the searing pain of seeing him – the look of low regard in his eyes that she has resigned herself to deserve. And yet – is there hope? Her heartbreak all these years later leads her to realize that her feelings are no less deep – and the persuasion that led her to give him up all those years ago could not touch her now… if he would only have her once more. Oh wow. It’s been a while since I’ve read J...

A Reluctant Courtship is the third novel in The Daughters of Bainbridge House trilogy, a Regency era historical romance series, by Laurie Alice Eakes. Though each novel focuses on a different Bainbridge sister, and therefore has its own story, reading A Reluctant Courtship before the other two books could potentially give you spoilers of events in the previous books. I recommend reading the books in order. First is A Necessary Deception and then A Flight of Fancy . Click on the titles to read the reviews. Honore Bainbridge, the youngest of the sisters, has been left to the country estate – in hopes she’ll stay out of trouble. And out of the public eye. After two scandalously bad courtships – one of whom was a traitor, the other a murderer – it seems that Honore’s taste in gentlemen constantly leads her astray. So, when she meets Lord Ashmoor – tall, dark and handsome – it’s almost a given that he also would be unsuitable. Of course he is. His American upbringing and f...

Dr. Frankenstein’s Daughters is a historical horror YA novel by Suzanne Weyn. In 1815 twin sisters Ingrid and Giselle are notified of their father Victor Frankenstein’s death. They have never known him, as he disappeared shortly after their birth and mother’s death, but he has left them a large inheritance and a castle on a remote isle. Though close, the seventeen-year-old twins are very different. Giselle has thoughts of glamorous parties to bring life to the dark, sprawling castle, whereas Ingrid’s more intellectually interested mind becomes fascinated with the journals penned by their father and his fascinating experiments. In fact, upon meeting a cantankerous, lonely, wounded naval officer next door, Ingrid begins to wonder if she could perfect some of her father’s brilliant ideas to help her neighbor… whom she is becoming more and more fond of. Rumors of Victor Frankenstein’s madness, of his obsession with an idea that a thing was hunting him to his dying day, haunts the...

Without a Summer is the third novel in the adult Regency-era magical/historical series The Glamourist Histories by Mary Robinette Kowal. Oh yeah - It’s also TOTALLY AWESOME!!!!!!!! Because it is so awesome, you definitely don’t want to read them out of order. Here’s the order and the links to the reviews so you don’t spoil yourself here, if you haven’t read books one and two yet: Shades of Milk and Honey Glamour in Glass And – truly – each one gets better and better!!! Now, LOOK AWAY if you haven’t read BOTH of the previous novels. Immediately!!! Okay then, for those who are all caught up with the books, here’s a vague synopsis: Married glamourists Jane and Vincent have been taking a break from their international travels and visiting with Jane’s family when they receive a commission to work for a prominent London family. This gives Jane a great opportunity to pull her younger sister, melancholy-of-late Melody, out of quiet Long Parkmeade to give her a chance to mee...

Moonlight Masquerade is a regency romance by Ruth Axtell. Rees has worked hard to lift himself out of his middle-class upbringing, working to provide for his sister and mother and make them proud. So when he was offered an important job with the Foreign Office he took it. However, it involves him masquerading as a temporary butler stand-in in a high-class household. Essentially, he is to investigate, or spy on, Lady Celine Wexham – French by birth, but seemingly a model British subject. Widowed and beautiful in 1813, she remains unmarried and is inconceivably kind to her servants. But she could also be passing along information to those in favor of Napoleon staying in power. Commissioned to find out where Lady Wexham’s loyalties lie, Rees does his very best to fit in the fashionable London townhouse – and not be too enchanted by her. What haunts him, though, as he watches her thoughtful eyes and graceful poise as she goes about her day, is what will he do if he does find e...

The Tutor’s Daughter is a historical fiction novel by Julie Klassen. Well aware that her father’s boarding school is ailing financially in 1812 Devonshire, Emma Smallwood reaches out to a baronet that previously educated his sons with them. Two sons that Emma shares childhood memories of – one fondly, one not so fondly. Knowing that he has two younger sons perfect in age for her father’s services, she writes to him in the guise of her father – determined to salvage their life’s work. In response, they receive an invitation to move to the baronet’s cliff-top manor for a year to school the young men at home. Since her father had also been frighteningly out of sorts since her mother’s illness and death, they accept – hoping for a fresh start. When they arrive they find themselves in the midst of a enigmatic display of shock at their presence. The strangeness doesn’t stop there. Late in the night Emma hears someone playing the pianoforte, yet when she mentions it no one else ack...

Glamour in Glass is a Regency-period fantasy novel, and the sequel to Shades of Milk and Honey , by Mary Robinette Kowal. If you haven’t read Shades of Milk and Honey – you definitely don’t want to read anything about Glamour in Glass ! It’s just too good to have spoilers!! So, take a look at my review of Shades of Milk and Honey here and go read that (it was on my Stand-Out Books of 2012 list!) – then you will want to read Glamour in Glass ! I’m trusting that if you’re still reading, you’ve already read Shades of Milk and Honey – yes? Okay then: If you loved, or even just liked, the Jane Austen homage Shades of Milk and Honey and the refreshingly new and fleshed-out magic of glamour it presented, you don’t need me to tell you to read Glamour in Glass really. I’m going to give you only the scantest of details. After Napoleon abdicates his throne, Jane and Vincent are encouraged to honeymoon outside of England. The newlyweds go to Belgium where tension are still high but ...