I kept expecting the actual wolves to be a bigger part, like at some point all the grown-ups would be eaten by wolves and the children would be left alone. It felt like reading a Sherlock Holmes story a lot of the time (in a good way). I just wanted it to be a lot darker than it ended up being.

 

Last year I got a Humble Bundle of Small Bear Press books that I archived and never got to, so I'm dedicating June to at least testing out some of them. I read one last year called Stranger Things Happen that a lot of people seem to like but I hated it. A lot of these look good though. They seem really creative so I'm holding out hope. Once I finish Dragondawn, I will tackle this pile and see where it leads.

The Smile of the Stranger - Joan Aiken That's two down and one more to go. Then I'll do the reviews. This was really good. An innocent but feisty main character who moves quickly from one danger to another. She doesn't know who to trust and she's surrounded by some she can't and some she should. But nobody's sharing their secrets. Full review soon.

My Review:
I'll try to get these in the correct order, though they don't have to be read in order, or even together. This book has a great heroine. She was in Italy with her father. Then he gets killed in France. So, she jumps into a hot air balloon with a man she doesn't know and escapes across the Channel to England for her first season, which she handles with aplomb, of course. She's quite a plucky character and well traveled by now.The unknown hot air ballooner flits through the shadows from time to time, but she still doesn't know who he is. She does know that he kisses very nicely.

She keeps having to explain whose side she's on, as she keeps getting into trouble. But in the end, the Count claims her and keeps her out of any more trouble. So there's the HEA.

I received this eARC from Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I am not being compensated in any way. All opinions are fully my own.
~ Judi E. Easley

Girl from Paris - Joan Aiken This was a very interesting book. Not much of a romance, though there is a bit. More a bit of this and a bit of that. But taken all together, really quite good. I still have Aiken's other two to read. Then I will review them all.

My Review:
This book doesn't seem to know what it wants to grow up to become. It probably doesn't want to be a romance novel, since it only has a tiny bit of romance in it. It could be a historical novel, but it's not about any really famous historical figures. I guess we'll have to go with its being a period piece since that's what people seem to be categorizing it as. No one really seems sure, though. Even the book doesn't seem sure. It's a timid piece and the weakest of the three pieces in this series. It's a nice enough little story, but it really didn't excite me very much.

I think that sometime I will have to go back and reread these three books in the correct order and see if doing so makes a difference in how I view them.

I received this eARC from Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I am not being compensated in any way. All opinions are fully my own.
~ Judi E. Easley

The Weeping Ash - Joan Aiken My Review:
Fanny is another intrepid heroine, especially given her time. She is thrown in with a bunch of people who are rather extraordinary, though. So I can't say what might have happened to her if she had been on her own. If she hadn't fallen in with neighbors down the tunnel, she really wouldn't have come through this whole ordeal in quite the same shape. Yes, I said, "down the tunnel", over the wall, and around the corner. This book is chock full of crazy little twists and turns. They really add to the tenor of the book and allow for some of the unique happenings in the book. I think of the three books in the Paget family series, this is the one with the most outlandish happenings. I just don't think some of these things would have been gotten away with, even by aristocrats. Some things I just don't think you can hush up. But it all made for a really great book and probably the best of the three.

I received this eARC from Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I am not being compensated in any way. All opinions are fully my own.
~ Judi E. Easley