Weekly Mews: Bookish Thoughts on Lavender House & On the Edge/A Look Back to What I Was Reading Ten Years Ago

I am linking up to the Sunday Post hosted by Kim of Caffeinated Book Reviewer and The Sunday Salon (TSS) hosted by Deb Nance of Readerbuzz  where participants recap our week, talk about what we are reading, share any new books that have come our way, and whatever else we want to talk about. I am also linking It's Monday! What Are you Reading? hosted by Kathryn of Book Date where readers talk about what they have been, are and will be reading.

Nina is staring at me. She does that a lot. Sometimes with wide eyes and other times, like now, with half closed eyes. And there. She chirped at me. Just a little mew. She has been extra playful lately, chasing Gracie around the house and attacking my ankle playfully when I walk by her. It's the little joys.

It's been a week. We went to pick up the mail at the post office today, and I am missing a couple of packages and other mail that my informed delivery e-mail earlier in the week says were delivered. For those who weren't here last week, our communal mailbox was broken into about three weeks ago and so we have to go to the main post office to pick up our mail. So the packages should be safe at the post office. Maybe they misfiled it all. I hope they find it by the time we go back next weekend to pick up this coming week's mail. One of the neighbors was saying they were told by a postal worker that 80 mailboxes have been vandalized or broken into throughout the area. It's no wonder the lines at the post office are so long.

Work was okay this past week, but in office days are always more exhausting than the days I am able to work from home. I am not sure why exactly, considering I do the same thing in either place. Mouse is sick, which means the rest of us will likely be getting sick as well. Oh, and the garbage disposal is broken again. I still haven't taken my Christmas decorations down. I really need to do that this weekend. We are still under fire watch in my county, but it doesn't seem quite as bad now that the winds have died down; at least for now. I have seen some of the news stories about the Palisades Fire which is only 49% contained. I cannot believe how rent prices in L.A. are soaring right now. It's shameful how there are those who will take advantage of someone's misfortune just to make more money. The temperatures are starting to get cooler and perhaps that will help some. 

I am grateful for this three day holiday weekend. My husband has to work, but Mouse and I have the day off. I am  hoping to get in some quality reading time.

What have you been up to?

I just began reading The Mystery Guest (Molly the Maid #2) by Nita Prose, January's TBR winner, and am about to start The Temple of Fortuna (Wolf Den #3) by Elodie Harper, my next historical fiction book club read. I did not make much progress in my current nonfiction book, Being Mortal by Atul Gawande this past week, but I am taking it one slow. I hope to finish it before the end of the month, but we'll see. 

What are you reading right now? 

This past week I finished three books. Let's take a look! 

Lavender House (Evander Mills #1) by Lev A.C. Rosen
Forge, 2022
Mystery/Historical; 304 pgs
Source: Own TBR

Lavender House, 1952: the family seat of recently deceased matriarch Irene Lamontaine, head of the famous Lamontaine soap empire. Irene’s recipes for her signature scents are a well guarded secret―but it's not the only one behind these gates. This estate offers a unique freedom, where none of the residents or staff hide who they are. But to keep their secret, they've needed to keep others out. And now they're worried they're keeping a murderer in.

Irene’s widow hires Evander Mills to uncover the truth behind her mysterious death. Andy, recently fired from the San Francisco police after being caught in a raid on a gay bar, is happy to accept―his calendar is wide open. And his secret is the kind of secret the Lamontaines understand.

Andy had never imagined a world like Lavender House. He's seduced by the safety and freedom found behind its gates, where a queer family lives honestly and openly. But that honesty doesn't extend to everything, and he quickly finds himself a pawn in a family game of old money, subterfuge, and jealousy―and Irene’s death is only the beginning.

When your existence is a crime, everything you do is criminal, and the gates of Lavender House can’t lock out the real world forever. Running a soap empire can be a dirty business. [From the Publisher]

My mystery book club met this past Thursday to discuss the January read, Lavender House, the first in a historical mystery series by Lev A.C. Rosen. Count me among the members (all of us) who loved it. While the whodunit may not have been a big surprise to most, other aspects of the novel more than made up for it. There is a definite noir influence in the way the novel is written and how the story unfolds. It is a fairly straightforward mystery with no real side stories to compete for the reader's attention. The novel opens with the protagonist, Evander "Andy" Mills, getting drunk in a bar. He feels hopeless and desperate, having lost his job as a police inspector because it is discovered he is gay. When a woman walks into the bar to ask his help solving the murder of her wife, Andy is reluctant, but she soon talks him into it. 

The Lamontaine estate, called Lavender House, is nothing like Andy has ever seen or experienced before. He's always had to keep that part of himself hidden, wearing a mask day in and day out, careful to hide his sexuality and knowing it will not just cost him is job, but everything else as well. I was especially taken with how Rosen is able to demonstrate how significant insignificant moments were to Andy because they were experiences he had never had. Hands touching, heads on shoulders. Little moments of intimacy and love shared openly. 

Each of the characters were richly drawn, their backstories compelling. At first I wasn't too fond of most of the residents of Lavender House, each one a suspect in their own right, but that changed the more I got to know the characters. There was one point while reading that I turned to my husband and told him I didn't want any of them to be the killer because I liked them all. Well, mostly all of them. There were one or two characters that I didn't warm too. That old adage of not judging a book by its cover holds for people too. You never know what a person is going through--or has been through--unless you take the time to get to know them.

Rosen captures the time period very well. I am kicking myself for not recognizing the double meaning in the title right away, especially after reading books like Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo and Pulp by Robin Talley. The Lavender Scare was a horrible time in U.S. history with mass job firings and blackballing, normalizing persecution and spreading moral panic of anyone who was or was believed to be homosexual. It at the height of McCarthyism. It's an interesting choice for the title of Rosen's novel and the name of the Lamontaine family home to bear the word Lavender in them. Lavender was Irene's favorite flower and scent, which is how Lavender House got its name, and I like that the author reclaims the word here.

There were some tense and brutal scenes in which the reader is given a glimpse of how cruel people, especially those in authority were at the time, but there was also the occasional moment of kindness and hope. While it's nice to think we have come a long way since that time, in many ways unfortunately, we have barely scratched the surface and sometimes it feels like we are sliding backward.

*

On the Edge (The Edge #1) by Ilona Andrews
Ace, 2009
Romance/Fantasy; 340 pgs
Source: Own TBR

This wasn't a novel I ever saw myself re-reading and even questioned whether I would continue after years of not picking it up, but I was motivated by the the COYER Ilona Andrews' Edge and Inn Keeper read-a-long, and I have no regrets about joining in. I thought it would be interesting to compare my initial thoughts on this novel and compare it to my thoughts today. The indented italics portions are my review from September 14, 2010.

After finishing the first four books of the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews, I wasn't quite ready to say goodbye just yet. My husband recommended I read On the Edge by the same author. Although set in a different world, the premise of On the Edge intrigued me. The Edge is that in-between place between the Broken (our world) and the Weird (the magical one). Rose was born and raised in The Edge and had lived a hard life. After her mother's death and her father ran off for adventure, Rose is left to care for her two young brothers, one of whom is a changeling and the other a necromancer. Rose has her own power, one that has brought her nothing but grief over the years, especially when it comes to love. In walks Declan Carmarine, a blueblood from the Weird. He challenges Rose, asking her to give him three challenges, and if he wins, he wins her. Rose is determined to stump him and make him leave empty handed. As if that isn't enough, an evil has come to the Edge and is threatening to destroy it.

I first read On the Edge nearly 15 years ago and gave it a 3.5 paw (Good+) rating. I had fallen in love with the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews around that time, and had high hopes for the Edge series. I liked it, but wasn't as smitten with it as I hoped to be. 

While On the Edge has an obvious romantic component at its core, the story of this small community of people and their daily struggles, both with magic and without, as well as the mystery, finding the source of the evil and the attempt to rid the area of was what drew me in. As someone who prefers any sort of book to be light on the romance and heavy in other areas, I thought there was a nice balance of the two.

On the Edge has more of a paranormal romance feel to it than an urban fantasy one. My enjoyment of romance has grown in recent years, and I wondered if that would impact my enjoyment of  On the Edge on the second go around. While I do agree with my view that there was a good balance between the romance and the more action/thriller elements in the novel, upon re-reading it, I found the romance to be a little less satisfying. It wasn't quite as fully developed as I think it could have been. I definitely was drawn more to the non-romance story-line.

Rose is a strong heroine and yet vulnerable. She is softer than Ilona Andrews' Kate Daniels from her other series. You don't often run into heroines in urban fantasy series that are acting as single mothers, and so having Rose caring for her two young brothers who have special needs added an extra layer of complexity--and heart--to the novel.

It has been awhile since I have read a Kate Daniels novel, and so whether I still believe Rose is softer than Kate, I cannot say. In re-reading the novel, I had less patience for Rose at times, her prickliness and stubbornness tried my patience at times. It is understandable given her history why she is the way she is, given all she has been through. Declan in the re-reading comes off as too perfect. On the plus side, Rose is very much his equal. Georgie, Jack and their grandmother were my favorite characters.

The mix of the ordinary versus the fantastical was well played in the novel. It was very believable and well thought out. The authors, a husband and wife team, have proven yet again that they have a gift for world building. 

I continue to be in awe of Ilona Andrews' skill in world building. On the Edge is full of eccentric characters, interesting supernatural creatures, and a well crafted setting. I most enjoyed getting to know (again) the residents of the Edge and their interactions with those in the Broken. The mystery/thriller element and the history of who was behind the bad things happening in the Edge kept me captivated. I liked how things played out in the end. Overall, my initial rating of 3.5 paws (Good+) stands after re-reading the novel.

*

This past week, I also read Schooled in Murder the first in the Campus Sleuth cozy mystery series by Victoria Albert. I shared my thoughts on it this past Friday if you want to take a look (just click on the title)!

What was the last book you finished? Would you recommend it?  

A monthly feature in which I l share the books I read that month ten years ago. 

(Rating Scale: 5 Paws=Outstanding; 4 Paws=Very Good; 3 Paws=Good; 2 Paws=Okay; 1 Paw=Didn't Like)

The titles are linked to my original reviews of each book when available. 

I began tracking the books I read in late 2003. I like to look back on what I have read over the years and thought it would be fun to add a monthly feature in which I share the titles I read that same month ten years ago. January 2015 was a month for mysteries! I read two historical mysteries, both of which I remember fondly even today. Rich Zahradnik's mystery was atmospheric and suspenseful, and Tessa Arlen wooed me with her wonderful characters and a great sense of time and place. Windy City Blues was an an enjoyable read, but I admit I do not remember much about it. 

That January ten years ago, I also read a book of poetry, Joy Street. I always struggle with reviewing poetry because it is so personal. That month I also read A Man Called Ove, which I absolutely loved, and still think of fondly. 

Last Words (Coleridge Taylor Mysteries #1) by Rich Zahradnik

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

Windy City Blues (Jules Landau Mysteries #2) by Marc Krulewitch

Joy Street by Laura Foley

Death of a Dishonorable Gentleman (Lady Montfort Mystery #1) by Tessa Arlen

And because it's my favorite Storygraph chart, below are the moods related to my January 2015 reading: 

Do you track your reading? Do you remember what you were reading all those years ago? Have you read any of these books, and if so, what did you think? 

I am really enjoying Agatha All Along. We have been watching an episode a night when we are able, and have about two more episodes to go. It's so good! I have enjoyed most of the Marvel Universe shows, and am glad to finally be watching this one. I recently started watching the show, Evil, on a whim. It's a mix of supernatural and mystery. I like it so far. 

What have you been watching lately? 

Following in the footsteps of Deb of Readerbuzz - With all the worries and stressors in life, 

I want to highlight some of the good, even the seemingly small stuff. 

1. I met with the Cellar Door Book Club last weekend for the discussion of Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. It was a packed group, with about twelve people in attendance. Everyone loved the book and we had a good discussion. As one member said, this is a book that could be discussed over several meetings and we still wouldn't be able to touch on everything. 

2. Also, this past week, I joined the mystery book club for the first time, in which we discussed Lev A.C. Rosen's Lavender House. I worried that I would not finish the book in time, but I did. We had a lively discussion, and I am so glad I was able to go. 

3. Mouse came up behind me to give me a kiss on the top of my head tonight. Which reminded me of all the times my husband, Mouse, and I go in for a group hug. I am not much of a hugger outside of my immediate family, but I sure do love family hugs. 

I hope you have a great week! Let me know what you have been reading!

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