This is a murder mystery set in England in the 1920s. Rosemary Lilywhite used to help her late husband run his private investigator business, but she decides to put that all behind her now that he's gone. However, an old classmate comes to her for help after her father receives a death threat. In order to help her, Rosemary must reenter society, putting up with her mostly annoying family and everyone's scrutinizing eyes. She has help from her best friend, a scandalous flapper, and the detective in charge of the investigation for the murders, a friend of Rosemary's and her late husband's who is secretly in love with her. Additional motivation to solve the murders comes in the form of Rosemary's brother being the main suspect! I enjoyed this freebook (free ebook) and it really helped pass the time at the reference desk. I liked Rosemary and her flapper bestie and found the 1920s high society stuff interesting, but the author would jump from Rosemary's POV into a side character's head in order to tell us what they were thinking in a jarring way that is telling rather than showing. I would read the rest of the books in this series if the ebooks are free. 3.5 out of 5 stars. Trigger warnings for murder, blood, violence, attempted kidnapping, guns, sexism, alcohol and drunkenness/blacking out, classism
This novella is a Beauty and the Beast retelling with a nonbinary protagonist. The storyline closely follows the first half of the Disney Beauty and the Beast movie, except that "Belle" is dating "Gaston", and the inventor father is now the inventor mother. You can read the book summary here. The castle from the story is now the fabled castle of mythic mages, who are still talked about in fables told to children. No one even knew the castle existed. Worried about eir mother being trapped there with an injury, Heron leaves to go to her. The castle is just as cool and mysterious as other tellings' castles have been. Instead of the original (?) invisible servants or their floating hands (or Disney's anthropomorphized furnishings), there are automaton servants built by the mages. The "Beast" is the mysterious Theomer, who is not a beast or a mage but a quiet man hiding behind a cape and a wild mane of hair. The curse is hinted at in the title. Heron gets a job at the castle working as a gardener so ey can make some money to help eir mom and have time and space to think about what to do about eir partner Thiel, who keeps pushing em to move in with him. However, Heron and Theomer grow closer, and Theomer draws em in more than Thiel ever did... Overall, I enjoyed this book very much, but it left me wanting more. I wish the author had written a full-length novel instead of a novella so the relationship between Heron and Theomer as well as the curse could be fleshed out and dwelled on more. I highly recommend this book! 4 out of 5 stars; 1 chili pepper 🌶 for spice simply because there are off-page sex mentions and some kissing. Nonbinary (with neopronouns), queer, and gay representation. Trigger warnings for body horror, blood, uneven/controlling relationship dynamics, characters refusing to have adult conversations and running away from their problems
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