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mwgerard's reviews
1693 reviews
Misery Hates Company by Elizabeth Hobbs
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
This book was a mess, and it’s too bad. The protagonist had some similarities to Anne Shirley, which was very welcome, but the book was all over the place. The tone shifts confusingly. The middle bit reads like a Victorian “Emma”, with dances and matchmaking and dresses and balls. The mystery isn’t much of one, and it is hardly Gothic. It was too many things smashed into one novel and none of them were able to shine.
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I Married a Dead Man by Cornell Woolrich
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
The Night at the Crossroads by Georges Simenon
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
Her Lotus Year: China, the Roaring Twenties, and the Making of Wallis Simpson by Paul French
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
My full review is at https://www.mwgerard.com/lotus-year/
It’s hard to find anyone who doesn’t have an opinion about Wallis Simpson — even harder to find someone with a good opinion of her. Even the staunch mutual devotion of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor loses some of its sheen when you know that they basically honeymooned with high-level Nazis, including Hitler, Göring, and Goebbels.
It’s hard to find anyone who doesn’t have an opinion about Wallis Simpson — even harder to find someone with a good opinion of her. Even the staunch mutual devotion of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor loses some of its sheen when you know that they basically honeymooned with high-level Nazis, including Hitler, Göring, and Goebbels.
But what if you could take a look at Simpson before any of that — before she was thrust into the international spotlight or deemed a viper who sought to destroy the British monarchy. In the 1920s, Wallis Simpson was then Wallis Warfield Spencer, a young woman from Baltimore who was trying to repair her marriage to an American aviator stationed in the Pacific.
Now out of the air and posted to an administrative role, Lt. Commander “Win” Spencer was even less of a pleasant husband. Assigned to Hong Kong, Wallis decided to visit Win to see what could be salvaged of their relationship. Not much, as it turned out, but she still vaguely followed his routes up the Chinese coastline. They eventually agreed divorce was the best option and separated until they could finalize the paperwork. Wallis headed inland, to Peking.
Now out of the air and posted to an administrative role, Lt. Commander “Win” Spencer was even less of a pleasant husband. Assigned to Hong Kong, Wallis decided to visit Win to see what could be salvaged of their relationship. Not much, as it turned out, but she still vaguely followed his routes up the Chinese coastline. They eventually agreed divorce was the best option and separated until they could finalize the paperwork. Wallis headed inland, to Peking.
It was 1920s Peking (now Beijing) that Wallis spent most of what she called her “lotus year.” She stayed with friends, began to ride horses, encamped in ancient temples, and practiced the art of buying antiques and jade. She learned how to be herself (rather than a military wife) and to consider a future happiness. She also learned she loved the (well-to-do) expatriate lifestyle. She had a modest alimony payment from Win but she lived in a stylish hutong with the very wealthy Herman and Kitty Rogers. She partied on rooftops with other nouveau riche, diplomats, and expatriots.
This is a new look at a famous figure, set against a very specific time and place. It brings new perspective to both Wallis Simpson and 1920s legation Peking.
This is a new look at a famous figure, set against a very specific time and place. It brings new perspective to both Wallis Simpson and 1920s legation Peking.
My thanks to St. Martin’s Press for the review copy.
The Lost Village by Neil Spring
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
This was a very odd but vibrant book. It’s short. It’s blunt. It is strange. It’s the inner narrative of Winifred, governess to the Pound children, who could not be any less like Mary Poppins. I am not surprised it is already being turned into an A24 movie.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Gore, and Violence
Moderate: Fatphobia
The Heads of Cerberus and Other Stories by Lisa Yaszek
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
5.0
Read my full review: https://www.mwgerard.com/review-heads-of-ceberus/
Francis Stevens (real name Gertrude Barrows Bennett) published her first story in 1904. She was just 17 years old. Like the teenage Mary Shelley and Frankenstein before her, she changed how speculative fiction would be written afterwards, but for some reason Stevens is not a household name. Hopefully, that is about to change.
Francis Stevens (real name Gertrude Barrows Bennett) published her first story in 1904. She was just 17 years old. Like the teenage Mary Shelley and Frankenstein before her, she changed how speculative fiction would be written afterwards, but for some reason Stevens is not a household name. Hopefully, that is about to change.
Stevens’ writing is both reflective of the societal upheaval in her time and freshly insightful. And frighteningly, there are intense similarities to tensions today. Her clear-eyed, laser pointed writing strips away any pretense, leaving the simple truth to make the reader queasy.
Anyone who enjoys speculative or science fiction like The Twilight Zone, or steampunk like Jules Verne, or dystopian novels like The Hunger Games needs to be reading Francis Stevens.
Anyone who enjoys speculative or science fiction like The Twilight Zone, or steampunk like Jules Verne, or dystopian novels like The Hunger Games needs to be reading Francis Stevens.