Zenith of Tea by R. F. Whong

 

Zenith of Tea takes place in the Guangdong province of China and in western Canada. China is going through a rough time with the end of the Qing dynasty, forcing Mijen and Joseph to flee to Canada.

The story takes place in the 19th century, shortly after America has passed the Chinese Exclusion Act. Canada is considering a similar law. There is a lot of bigotry against Asians in both countries.

I enjoyed learning about that period of time and I think the author did a good job of weaving the pleasure of family and friend moments with the desperation of living as second class citizens.

The novel is a Christian romance. Mijen and Joseph have trouble getting together because of cultural and religious beliefs. This strengthens the Christian aspect, but weakens the romance. Their relationship seemed more intellectual than emotional.

Overall this is a good read and I enjoyed each time I went back to it.

Awakening by Jordan Leger

 

Colin is a werewolf in Jordan Leger’s Awakening: An adult paranormal romance book 1. But his alternate identity is not emphasized in this novel. We readers know what he is, but most of the story is about his relationship with a woman whom he finds along the side of a road after she was attacked. When the woman wakes from a coma, she has no memory of her past. After she no longer needs to stay in the hospital, Colin brings her to his house and takes care of her. He gives her the name Jane Blake, because she doesn’t know her own name and gradually, Jane and Colin grow close. There are hints that Jane is a woman Colin knew before the attack, but that isn’t spelled out completely.

There is a warning at the beginning of the book stating:

Awakening is intended for ages 18+ only. This book contains adult content that may make some readers uncomfortable. Please read at your own risk.

That warning is valid. The author uses some strong language and there are some very graphic scenes.

Also, the book ends with a cliffhanger. Readers will have to read the second book in the series to find out what happens.

Allure of Elegance by R. F. Whong

 

Allure of Elegance is a good mystery where the main character, Tina, works for an insurance agency investigating crimes to see if there is any fraud involved. She and her partner, Carlos, work alongside the police, but often have to reach out on their own because there is not enough evidence of major criminal activity to get police involvement. Here, they are looking into a robbery of a truck carrying luxury goods such as Birkin bags that can sell for thousands, sometimes even millions, of dollars.

What bumped this novel up from four to five stars is the glimpse into the lives of two groups of people I’m not familiar with: women who love to show off their expensive accessories and fundamentalist Christians, without the messy politics we hear so much about.

The Missing Pages by Alyson Richman

 I bought the audio of The Missing Pages and listened to it on the way from North Carolina to New Jersey and back again. It held my attention, kept me alert, and made for a safe trip.

The novel is a great read (or listen). I love the paranormal aspects and the depth of Violet Hutchins’ character. She is a sophomore at Harvard who had lost her boyfriend the previous summer. He died in a drowning accident while she was watching him swim.

Now Violet is trying to rebuild her life as she works her way through her grief. She has a great deal of help from a friend of her lost boyfriend, which makes for an interesting relationship.

Meanwhile, she is working at a library on the Harvard campus and experiencing some odd messages from the ghost of the person for whom the library was named.

I won’t go into any more depth than that, but I want to say it’s well-written, the characters are fully developed, and the plot is interesting.

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

  

The God of the Woods is a novel that pulls you into a community and lets you live there for a good length of time. In this case, it is the young campers and counselors at a summer camp in upstate New York, along with the members of the family who own the camp and the police called in to look for a missing person.

The event at the heart of this story is the disappearance of a camper, the daughter of the camp's owner. She is also the sister of a boy who disappeared in a similar fashion years earlier. Police are brought in to look for the missing girl and everyone in the community begins to rethink the earlier tragedy.

Points of view and time frames switch around from chapter to chapter as the mystery unfurls, allowing readers to get to know all the characters simultaneously, even when they are from different generations.

I listened to the audio which I would recommend for anyone looking for a good listen on a long ride.

Becoming Catherine by Jane C R Reid

 

The plot of Becoming Catherine combines time travel with hints of reincarnation and karma to make a story I looked forward to reading every time I picked up the book. It's about a young woman named Kate who contracts the flu and falls into a deep sleep. When she wakes, she's back in time, in the body of Catherine, the sister of Kate's ancestor Byron.

Byron and Catherine are the children of Bertrand Lloyd, a famous nineteenth-century opera singer whose career plummeted when he lost his voice. This “new” Catherine has to adjust to a different era with old-fashioned societal norms while dealing with Bertrand, who has a dark side, and with the fact that she doesn't know the “old” Catherine's history.

Jane C R Reid's writing and characters are excellent. I recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys paranormal stories centered on a dysfunctional family.

The Shroud by George Bachman

 

The Shroud is an interesting combination of historical and mystical fiction. George Bachman apparently researched sixteenth century England thoroughly. I read the Kindle version. It gave me the opportunity to highlight names of people and groups, so I could check their Wikipedia entries.

Bachman also gives us an occult side from that era, through the perceived powers of the Shroud and the appearance of characters such as a cherub who arrives from out of a mirror, “as if through a window.”

The core of The Shroud's plot is the desire for multiple groups to possess the real Shroud of Turin.  It exists and so do the groups who are trying to steal it. But there are several fakes. The thieves represent interests such as Pope Sixtus V, Queen Elizabeth the First, and “Philip, king of Spain and Portugal and rightful ruler of England.”

This is a novel I would recommend to people who have an interest in the history of sixteenth century England, but also enjoy stories with mysticism.