Let me start by saying I'm totally a fan of K. A. Merikan this writing duo is amazing. In general they are one of my go to for stories that have a darker, edgier undertone to them. Their 'Guns 'n Boys' series is just so much book crack for me and this one sounded like it was a guaranteed win. Sure it was historical which isn't my favorite time frame but it's not a deal breaker by any means either and I mean...really, who doesn't like a sexy highwayman?

 

I know it wasn't too dark for my taste. Hell I loved ICoS (In the Company of Shadows), willingly sobbed my way through 'A Little Life', 'When All the World Sleeps', 'Into This River I Drown', Avril Ashton's 'Run This Town' series and on and on...so not too dark, in fact compared to some of those it was practically fluff and no that wasn't the problem either because I like fluff too (I won't bother with a list for that).  

 

I can't even fault the writing because I was impressed by the writing. The attention to detail was for me just right not so much that it bored me and definitely enough to keep my in the historical setting. So just right from my perspective.

 

I actually finished reading this one a couple of days ago and have been pondering things and trying to see if in hindsight it would become clear as to why I didn't love this book the way I had thought I would and so far I have to say "I got nothin'."

 

I think at the end of the day what it came down to for me is that just like we sometimes love a book and can't really explain why...we just know we do. The opposite can also happen we read a book it's good and we feel like we should really love it, we should have devoured it and been over the moon with the story, we aren't. Something just didn't fall into place...maybe the stars weren't in alignment. Who knows...I don't.

 

What I do know is I'm still a fan of K. A. Merikan. There is no chance that I won't be making grabby hands for the next 'Guns 'n Boys'...oh, wait I've already done that and I look forward to the day that I can dive into some of the other books that I have diligently hoarded on my TBR list waiting for the time when I can just curl up in a corner and fall into a dark, edgy marathon of Merikan goodness with their 'Sex 'n Mayhem' series or 'The Werewolves of Chernobyl' or maybe some 'Zombie Gentlemen' as a rule I don't do zombie books but I'm totally willing to make an exception with this author.

 

So this one was good just not great for me and I don't know why, but I'm not going to lose any sleep over it, however, if you like historical and don't mind your stories a little on the darker side from time to time. You need to give this one a good look because it may just be the next read that you're looking for.

 

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An ARC of 'The Black Sheep and The Rotten Apple' was graciously provided by the authors in exchange for an honest review.

Here's a sentence that I can't help but think has a lot of (undocumented) stories behind it.

 

p 187 (Kindle Locations 2948-2951):

"A great deal of evidence was required to convict someone of murder; infanticide, a common crime among poor young women, could be disproved by the defendant producing in court a little shirt she had sewn, which would show that she had been preparing for the birth of her baby - even if, unbeknownst to the jurors, she had made it the day before she appeared in court."

Of course it was also extremely easy to be convicted of many other crimes, all of which led to a death sentence or transportation (to America or Australia usually).

 

And because it's somewhat sad to post just that bit, how bout...

 

p. 132-133 (Kindle Locations 2059-2066, 2069-2076):

Such stories lent highwaymen an allure that captivated the reading public - particularly the female side. Claude Duvall was one of the best-known highwaymen of the late seventeenth century - a heart-throb, as famous for his lovemaking (he was French ) as for his wit, generosity and wild lifestyle. One of the most often told stories about him recounts how he held up a couple and asked the gentleman for permission to dance with his beautiful young wife, which the man could hardly refuse. Duvall helped her out of the coach and danced a minuet with her on the roadside. ‘Scarce a dancing master in London, but would have been proud to have shown such agility in a pair of pumps, as Duvall showed in a great pair of French riding boots.’ His epitaph read,

 

Here lies Duvall, Reader, if male thou art,

Look to thy purse, if female, to thy heart.

...In 1709 Mrs Crackenthorpe of the Female Tatler mocked the fantasies of middle-class women dreaming mistily of being held up by a masked highwayman who kisses their sweaty palms as he takes their husbands’ money, and gallops off into the distance, his cloak streaming out behind him.

 

'Mrs Mary Fanciful, having heard a world of stories about highwaymen, has a curiosity to see one. She sets out for the bath, on Monday next, with ten guineas (not hid in the privat’st part of her coach) therefore, if any of these gentlemen please to clap an uncharged pistol to her breast, only that she may know how it is to be robbed, they shall receive the ten guineas with a sincere promise never to be prosecuted for the same. Her sister, Mrs Sarah Fanciful, wants mightily to see a ghost.'

In the ebook the Female Tatler is instead Taller in this quote. (eyeroll)

I had fun discovering a few websites discussing this periodical:

 

Issuing Her Own: The Female Tatler

University of Michigan 2002, student project. Specifically good for the authorship page - so many periodicals/pamphlets/etc. were written under pseudonyms that this is one of those continual academic problems. And of course a ladies name didn't guarantee a women writer. The links on that page aren't all working - so I'll refer you to Delarivier Manley. Who I now must find a biography on.

 

Short Excerpt from The Female Tatler

Norton Anthology of English Lit. site

 

Tatler (1709 Journal)

wikipedia entry for the original that the other Tatlers spun off from

 

Reviewed for MM Good Book Reviews
http://mmgoodbookreviews.wordpress.com/2013/02/10/all-mine-by-marie-medina/

A nice short story All Mine follows Theodore and Nicholas. Well mostly Nicholas’ desperate attempts to convince Theodore that they are meant to be together.

Quite a funny read actually, in the middle of a kingdom where the men of the story remind us of Robin Hood, and sorceresses curse handsome young men out of spite, curses that only true love can break.

I liked it, a lot. Theodore has to overcome his fear, after all he has lost love twice, and now an arrogant, gorgeous young man tells him he will fall in love with him. Theodore tries to make sense of the situation and feels yet once again as if he has no choice in his life. Like everything is slipping out of his control. But truth is Nicholas is irresistible and as much as he tries Theodore cannot escape fate, or love.

So if you love a nice fairytale, with lots of love and a bit of romance this is a nice quick read for you.

Thommie!