5 stars “Three Thousand Years of Demonizing Women in Power.” I received an advanced copy of this book from Netgalley, and if I could give it more than five stars, I would. It’s an incredible historical journey into the origins of misogyny and the recurring tropes. Her guide to the misogynist handbook covers all weapons utilized by the patriarchy to keep women in their place. Overreach, and you can expect one, all, or some combination of the following criticism: she’s too ambitious; she’s unattractive; she can’t control her emotions because of hormones; her voice is too shrill; she’s unlikeable; who’s taking care of her husband and children?; she’s a witch (and other monsters like shrews, harpies, sirens, the anti-Christ, and generally any being with supernatural powers, which are often used to castrate men); she’s a bitch (and other animals like dogs, pigs, and snakes); she’s sexually depraved; and she’s a murderer. Some particularly intimidating women find themselves subjected to all of them. There are even some more modern ways to attempt to keep women in their place and these include: mispronounce her name; deny her her proper title; call her by her first name; don’t use her name at all (call her a “she”); keep repeating that she’s a “female” leader; compare her to a doll; prove that sexist thing you did is not sexist because you have a wife and daughters; use gendered words to describe her; focus on her body parts; vilify her when she makes a mistake (but not him); give her a really lousy toilet in a galaxy far, far away with no tampons; make sure it’s almost impossible for her to do her work if she has young children; and make sure she knows she doesn’t belong there. Every woman has either experienced or witnessed another woman being subjected to many of these things, and part of the purpose of that is to make sure that all women know that when they step out of their prescribed roles, they will be treated just as horrifically. One of the final chapters is focused on misogynoir, the double-whammy of being a black woman. I’m ashamed to say that as a white woman, I hadn’t taken the time to consider how demoralizing it can be to fight two prejudices at once. Ms. Herman debunks many of the stories we’ve been told about powerful women from history, by showing us the misogynistic tropes used to defame these women, in some cases hundreds of years after their deaths. The true stories of these impactful women and the revelations for why they struck fear in the hearts of men is, sadly, not something relegated to the past. And the absurdity of some of the claims would be hysterical if it weren’t for the fact that they cause such harm. I found this study fascinating. The Council on Foreign Relations blog featured an article titled, “Women’s Participation in Peace Processes.” In it, they revealed, the “participation of civil society groups, including women’s organizations, makes a peace agreement 64 percent less likely to fail.” Additionally, they found “when women's parliamentary representation increases by five percent, a country is almost five times less likely to respond to an international crisis with violence. Within countries, women’s parliamentary representation is associated with a decreased risk of civil war and lower levels of state-perpetuated human rights abuses, such as disappearances, killings, political imprisonment, and torture.” There were so many wonderful quotes in this book, I couldn’t possibly list them all, but here are a couple of the shorter ones: “...it’s much easier to say we don’t like a particular voice than acknowledge we don’t like the fact that a woman is talking. Or even expressing her voice through writing.” “Have you already chosen whether you want to be a bad mother or a bad minister?” (a talk show moderator’s question to Ursula von der Leyen, Germany’s minister for family affairs on International Women’s Day, 2021) Not content to point out where we’ve gone wrong, there is a chapter at the end devoted to reporters and commentators, with suggestions to avoid the misogyny tropes. To be fair, these guidelines were compiled by UltraViolet and distributed to the media, but it’s always helpful to reiterate important points. There are also suggestions for what the rest of us can do, both women and men, to lessen the effectiveness of tools that have been used for thousands of years. This is an informative and entertaining read—so much so, that I read aloud portions of the book I found most interesting or amusing to women in my family—and I highly recommend it to everyone who knows and loves a woman. Come to think of it, I’d even recommend it to those who don’t. March 27, 2022
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5 stars I received an ARC of this book from Wolf Publishing from a new-to-me author. I really enjoyed it. It has an unusual plot with fascinating characters and a great deal of tension. I don’t want to ruin the plot, but as of the writing of this review, I cannot find a plot summary on Amazon or Goodreads, or anywhere else for that matter. So here goes. Clarity is the oldest daughter of the Diamond family. Her father is an earl, patriarch to a boisterous family, full of love and excitement. Alexander is the son of a viscount and only a few years older than Clarity. They play together and get into a lot of trouble; most of the time their parents laugh it off, but Alex’s aunt is a bitter widow who seems devoid of joy. Thus, she is usually criticizing the discipline exercised by Alex’s parents. The Diamonds and the Hollidges are the best of friends so the children play together frequently. Then, Alex’s parents die unexpectedly when he is still quite young (12, I think) and they don’t see each other anymore. His aunt becomes his guardian. When they run into one another once again, Clarity is still the same enthusiastic and happy person, but Alex has changed. He barely smiles and seems intent on finding a wife with a bland personality who will help oversee the households of his various properties and provide him with an heir. Meanwhile, Clarity is disappointed, but she sees the occasional glimmer of the boy she used to love. Of course, Alex immediately tells her she is not the kind of wife he wants because she is not conservative enough. Despite their best intentions, each is drawn to the other, and eventually, they admit they love one another. Any other book would end there, but we still have to deal with that rotten aunt mentioned earlier. It quickly becomes obvious that she is the reason Alex is the way that he is. And after Clarity and Alex are married, she becomes a thorn in the side of Clarity. Alex seems unaware and eventually, things reach the boiling point. I expected Aunt Elizabeth to be ousted from the house, but we discover she’s not really the monster we thought. She’s still a monster, to a certain extent, but we learn her motivations and her history so she’s a bit more sympathetic. Based on her life experience, she was doing what she truly thought was best for Alex. It’s almost like getting two stories in one. The first dealt with Clarity and Alex trying to find their way to one another, and the second dealt with Clarity, and by extension Alex, learning how to deal with a controlling, set-in-her-ways aunt who shares their home, but really considers it hers because she has been there so long. Descriptions are clear and the characters are engaging. The writing is easily comprehensible, without any need to decipher what the author is trying to say. It’s really quite well written and I’m excited to read more from Sydney Jane Baily. March 21, 2022 4 stars I received an ARC from Netgalley for an author totally new to me. This isn’t her first book, but it is mine. It’s a standalone which doesn’t require reading other books in the series, but I’m sure they will be fun to read also. Grace is really the star of this story, but Noah makes for a great co-hero. Grace is estranged from her mother, a self-serving, narcissistic manipulator. She grew up in a series of trailers with no one to rely upon but herself. Her journey involves learning that she can rely upon other people. Noah is estranged from his father, a self-serving, narcissistic manipulator, but he comes from a very different background. For one thing, he has close relationships with his mother (divorced), his two brothers, and his sister. He already knows he can call on others for help. What he doesn’t know yet is that his belief that he is incapable of making commitments is due to never meeting the right person. Grace is the right person. They initially find a myriad of things about which they can argue. Grace inherited a small house on the beach from grandparents she never got to know. Noah recently purchased the larger house next door. Things get off to a rocky start when he assumes she will sell her property to him because he is offering her more than the appraised value. But there are more important things than money to Grace and when Noah boasts of his success in business, Grace responds, “Everyone has a different definition of success.” The attraction between them is palpable from their first interaction and it only builds the more they get to know one another. Naturally, they fall in love, and each learns to deal with their troublesome parent with the emotional support of the other. Both realize that there’s a difference between a house and a home and both find the home they’ve been looking for. There’s nothing earth-shattering about it, but it’s a fun, engaging story. Although it wouldn’t make it to the list of favorite stories, it would make the list of stories I enjoyed and would be willing to read again. March 19, 2022 Silver's Trouble: Billionaire Age Gap Forbidden Romance (Silver Brothers Securities Book 4)3/30/2022 5 stars I’d give this more than 5 stars if I could. Even though I knew the resolution (mostly) since reading the other books in the series, this one was still heart-wrenching, and at times, difficult to read. It was extremely tense, and maybe that was because I had a pretty good idea of what was going to happen, but I didn’t know when. If I’m being honest, prior to this book, I had very little understanding or empathy for Kendra or Julian. I can’t say that anymore. I got sucked into the saga of these two and found myself cursing everyone who tried to prevent them from being together. Trigger warning: I don’t know if the author included one, but there should probably be a trigger warning because Kendra is abducted and physically and sexually abused. This was the hardest part of the book for me to read and I found myself mentally reliving some of it long after I’d finished reading. There were definitely hints at a Jeffrey Epstein-type character in this book and the author delves into the sex trafficking of sometimes-underage girls. Reading this book made the reality of the real-life victims’ suffering more concrete to me. Normally, I get an ARC from the author, but this time, I’m pleased to say I edited the book. Lacey thoroughly engages every sense and entices readers to emotionally invest themselves in the characters and their story. These two were brought to life and made memorable. Of course, I’ve always found her stories memorable, but there’s something about this one that will haunt me. I suspect that’s because I found it easy to imagine some of the girls who are victimized in the real world and I sincerely hope there are organizations like the Silver brothers’ business to help rescue them. This book starts when Kendra is just a teenager and readers get to experience her growth over the course of several years. Let’s just say, Kendra is a bit precocious. Julian didn’t stand a chance. Still, it’s easy to understand why he tried so desperately to reject her overtures. He took care of her as a baby! It can’t be easy to make the switch in your mind from guardian to lover. Ultimately, I have to say that I highly recommend the boo. ,As well as every other in this series. March 18, 2022 4 stars I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley. I chose it because I like Sophie Barnes’ stories. This one is a bit of a Cinderella story with a twist. Calista is an American who came to London to marry, but discovered her future husband had died in the time it took her to travel to him. She finds herself destitute and unable to return home so she seeks employment. Unfortunately, no one is willing to hire her because she has no references. She finally gets a job at the Hotel Imperial, owned by a Mr. Steven Donahue. When she comes to Mr. Donahue’s attention, he realizes that despite her scullery maid uniform, she is actually a “lady” of refinement so he determines to learn her story. He rescues her from the kitchen and promises to find a chaperone for her and pay for her fare back home. Of course, during the time it takes to find said chaperone, the two of them start to fall in love. But Mr. Donahue is known for his deliberate way of making decisions and will not make a spontaneous decision to marry Calista. The solution he finds is a surprise, but it works well. It’s a good story and its similarity to other stories is balanced by the personality of Mr. Donahue, who will not allow himself to make decisions based entirely on emotions. March 14, 2022 4 stars I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley. My emotions are so jumbled after reading this story that I want to give it both five stars and one star. I feel like a damp cloth discarded into a pile of rancid rags, left to molder, but it wouldn’t be possible for me to feel this way if the writing weren’t so damned good. Ms. Greenberg, I hate that you made me care about your characters before tearing out my heart and stomping on it. That’s why I’m only giving you four stars. I honestly don’t know how to write this review without spoilers, but I will try. If you’re reading this review and don’t want to have any idea what happens in this book, perhaps you should stop now. Initially, I couldn't put this book down because I found Zooey self-deprecating and just plain funny. Some of her observations were all too much like something I’d think. When asked by her best friend Hannah to meet her cousin Rylan for a date, Zooey replies, “...which part of me looks like I date bros who have Roman numerals tacked on to their names?” Nevertheless, she agrees and he texts her: “My cousin says your the greatest person she knows, and that I would be lucky to buy you a drink. How’s next week? —Rylan.” Her next bit of narrative is, “”Your’ howled at me,” and we know she’s going to tell him to get lost, but then he texts back: “You’re. I promise, I aced middle school grammar.” She decides, “Fine. Maybe I would let him see me naked.” Some of the other humorous observations were these: “I was two beers past sober, and thus the harbinger of the world’s greatest wisdom.” And “I grabbed my glass of Pinot as if it were the banister and took a much-needed gulp…” And “To enjoy this song, one must enjoy it in such an over-the-top manner that other people become unwilling participants.” And “I slowly turned my head, as if I could somehow delay humiliation if I simply pretended that I wasn't born with the correct neck muscles to look sideways at people.” The narrative is told entirely from the POV of Zooey, which would make you think you’d understand her a little better, but ultimately, I didn’t. She’s a likable and relatable character who embraces her individuality and wears it like a crown. In my view, however, she wears it like a ball and chain. How can I empathize with a woman who consistently chooses the most painful path? Who fights against what her heart wants because it doesn’t fit with the image she has of herself and how life is supposed to be? It’s as if she was born perfectly-formed and self-aware and there’s no need for her to mature and change her views. And she certainly won’t compromise. It’s maddening. Sometimes a theme is so obvious, it’s impossible to ignore. The theme of the story is that holding onto secrets is damaging to our souls and we must be willing to speak our truths, no matter how ugly they may be, no matter what the outcome might be. To me, that’s too cut-and-dried. Sometimes we need to temper the truth with compassion, and sometimes what’s true today is not true tomorrow. Unfortunately for Zooey, once she discovers her “ugly” truth, she decides it will never change. The power and importance of friendship is also a strong throughline. Again, this is simplified. Zooey and Hannah have been best friends for thirty years, and yet they keep secrets from each other and neither is willing to tell the other the hard truths. Yes, I know; eventually they share their secrets and that’s part of the healing Zooey experiences, but I found it disheartening that Hannah doesn’t share with Zooey that she might be making the wrong choice. Instead, she repeats what Zooey said to her earlier about Graham being a guy who would “move mountains” for her: “You’re worth moving mountains for too, Zooey.” And a small voice in her head asks Zooey, “Am I the mountain? Am I the very thing standing in my own way?” Oh, you’re so close, Zooey! YES, you’re the mountain! Of course, she decides she’s not, but the more important question (to me) is, why is she unwilling to move mountains? Is it only the man’s job to do that? Seems a bit sexist to me. Just sayin’. Maybe Zooey isn’t as confident and self-sufficient as she thinks she is if she’s afraid of losing herself in someone else. There were some priceless bits of wisdom sprinkled into what I originally thought was a very funny story but which I eventually came to realize was a tragedy. I love Romeo and Juliet as much as the next person, maybe more, but at least, they chose the path that they believed would bring them together. Although taken out of context from the story, this explains my response to the ending. It was “...a moment—a big moment—the kind you prepare for, but are never prepared for.” I keep reliving the final encounter and thinking WTF? I cannot imagine saying “I love you. I want to be with you,” but only on my terms. It’s not open to discussion or negotiation. Even though both of us will be miserable as a result. Is it so important to prove a point that you’re willing to forsake your own happiness? In the end, I really didn’t relate to her at all. It’s very pro-feminist, which I loved. But I found Zooey’s inability to articulate her needs and her unwillingness to understand, much less accommodate, someone else’s beyond frustrating. Still, I’ll point out what I did love. First was this: “Society and biology work together to try to put rogue women in their place.” Yes, it’s true, but there’s no need for one person to stand up and say, “Not me,” at the expense of her own happiness. There’s a saying for that…something about removing something from your face… And I thought Zooey’s revelation to Hannah was a powerful one: “I think that too often, women take pieces of themselves they have no reason to hate, and they carry those pieces around like failures. If enough women stopped apologizing, then maybe there’d be less of an expectation for us to always burn bright and stand still. Maybe our complications would become our backbones instead of our scarlet letters. Hannah, it’s a relief to stand tall in my own body, rather than shrink because I’m not the woman someone else expected me to be.” Although I could understand this comment from Zooey, it was followed up with a complete failure to recognize she had the power to redefine the societal expectations of what marriage could mean as a construct. “There was comfort in knowing that by coloring outside the lines, I was in control of where I wanted my pen, and it was not where someone else told me to put it.” Rylan never wanted her to change and I don’t believe he would have ever told her where to put her pen or where to color. She gave up the “perfect” man because she couldn’t see a way to combine her love for him with her need to express her true self. It made me want to shake some sense into her and remind her, “This is what you wanted all along! You can have everything you want!” But maybe the author doesn’t believe that’s possible. I appreciate that the title of the book is explored, and eventually, redefined in a much more positive light. It makes more sense. One of the other things Ms. Greenberg does with her narrative is clever and memorable. It’s a little thing, but sometimes little things can have a great impact. It’s common enough, when someone asks what’s wrong, to say, “Nothing.” Whenever this happens in the book, Zooey narrates, “It was not nothing.” After an encounter with Rylan, Zooey is thoughtful and Rylan asks her what she’s thinking about. As with everything Zooey, it’s not a simple answer: “I felt a thickness in my throat as the answer tore through my bursting heart. ‘Will I ever love another man as much as I love you in this moment?’ I was living in a moment I knew I would one day ache for. I was home, and I was homesick. He was magic, but magic was fleeting. ‘Nothing…’ I lied. It was everything.” And it was heartbreaking. And I still want to cry. I’m exhausted. March 13, 2022 4 stars This is a fun, sexy read from Cassandra Lawson (who gifted me a review copy of the book). I enjoy her style of writing, which features lots of dialogue, which prevents her from telling rather than showing. Characters are likable and relatable, and as a result, it’s easy to identify with their feelings. There’s not a huge amount of tension, which I appreciate because life has enough uncertainty and I welcome the opportunity to escape to a fantasyland where everyone ends up happy in the end. This story delivered the HEA I wanted so I’m happy. March 11, 2022 5 stars I really enjoyed this series, but I thought it had finished. Therefore, I was more than a little surprised when I received an ARC of this book which is, surely, the last one. Aside from the sex scenes, which are graphic and a bit too much for me, I think the book is exceptional. The connection between Blayde, Maverick, Nix, Stellan, and Rhys is palpable and the struggles they go through, along with Blayde’s twin brother Lennox, are heart-wrenching. Some of the violence is a bit over-the-top, but not gratuitous, if that makes sense. There were many surprising twists and turns to an ultimately satisfying ending. I recommend the series, and if you’re going to read those, you might as well read this too. March 8, 2022 5 stars I haven’t read any of the other books in this series, but I loved this one. I recently discovered Charlie Lane through the anthology, The Brazen Belles. As a result, I joined their mailing list and received this as a free gift. Apparently, there are two previous books in this series, with at least one more to come. This one centers on Devon and Lillian. I always enjoy an intelligent and quick-witted heroine and Lillian exceeds my expectations. Naturally, Devon is also clever, if only because he is not intimidated by Lillian’s brilliance. There are some wonderfully evocative descriptions, like this one about Lillian’s hair: “it streamed down her back like a river of sunlight. If he touched it, his hand would evaporate in a wave of heat.” And this one is wonderful: “her eyes so brown he could drown in them but, in doing so, find life, not death, air, not suffocation.” I adored this description because it was so easy to visualize: “He slumped lower onto the table and turned his head until his cheek pressed against the cool wood, and when he spoke, his lips pouted out under the pressure of his smooshed cheek.” And this one made me truly feel Devon’s heartbreak: “He understood he felt like crying. His lip even maybe slightly—barely at all, really—trembled when he spoke.” Although he appeared to be a flirt and a libertine early on, these were the masks he wore to disguise his tender heart and his free spirit. The theme of the book is significance and peoples’ definitions and quests to find it. Lillian wants to be significant enough to be noticed, to be a respected member of the ton, so she can help other wallflowers (she was once one) to shine. Devon wants to be significant in his own right, not to be defined as “the spare,” since his older brother is a duke. To that end, he refuses to use his inheritance, preferring instead, to earn his own money. Naturally, the ton looks down on that, so when Lillian and Deven realize their attraction to one another, it puts their individual dreams in opposition to one another. As they fall more in love, the question becomes whether they can have their dreams of significance AND have love. The arc of the story is unexpected and engaging. Conversations are clever as when Devon discusses an issue of importance with his brother Arthur and a friend, George (both characters in the other stories mentioned earlier). The brother is not as helpful as Devon would like so he tells George, “‘You are a gentleman among swine, my dear friend.’ Devon cut his eyes to his brother at the porcine part of the sentence to make it clear what he thought of his brother.” There’s also this gem of an observation from Lillian that made me laugh: “Handsome men always refuse to acknowledge the presence of other handsome men out of fear of being the least handsome man in the room.” March 7, 2022 5 stars Tangled brings the happy ending that was lacking in Twisted, but it’s a long and tense journey to get there. And it’s not as happy as I hoped it would be, but it’s certainly realistic. While trying to escape the Russian bratva, the Butorins, Tristan tries to fulfill his financial obligations to Mary Ververa Bell, the secretive villain of the story. Tristan received an ominous letter from her at the beginning of Twisted and in part two, he actually sees her, but that doesn’t happen until the end. Meanwhile, he and Colleen are falling hopelessly in love. As has become more and more common with Blair Babylon, there is plenty of social commentary thrown into the story. Some people might be turned off by it, but I like the stories even better for it. Some of the observations include Colleen arguing with her father that college is important, explaining that “more women than men are enrolling in college now, so people like you are devaluing it because it’s not just for men anymore. When Colleen tells a man she has a boyfriend as a way of rejecting potential overtures from him, she’s weighed down by the “societal implications that she had to be some other man’s property for a guy not to molest her.” Later, while considering an action that’s illegal, but necessary, Colleen’s friend wryly states, “It is not unethical, like a politician getting a briefing about a coming deadly pandemic and selling all their manufacturing stocks and buying shares in healthcare companies. Or a rich guy buying a small generic pharmaceutical company and jacking up the price of insulin or EpiPens a thousand-fold so that regular people can’t afford their medications and die. Or oil companies knowing from their own research that gasoline cars and oil-based plastic are destroying the planet that we live on but paying politicians to stomp out research and innovation in electric cars and other materials. Yeah, that’s all perfectly fine, but this is illegal. Yeah. Sure.” There are also some other fun descriptions, like when she explains that Tristan is so good at talking, he “could talk a used car salesperson into paying him to take a car off the lot.” I loved when Colleen met Maxence and his beauty is described, “...his sculpted bone structure was the natural ideal that plastic surgeons envied but could never really copy. He was a movie star and a model and a demigod, and he was somehow standing next to her.” Then he’s introduced. “The man smiled, and the heavens parted, and the angels sang.” It was so over-the-top, I had to laugh. Tristan “Twist” King is another Le Rosey graduate and Colleen Frost is another resident of Arizona—Phoenix, to be exact. Many of the characters in Blair’s stories seem to be connected in one way or another—usually from Le Rosey or Arizona, but a surprising one is referenced in this story. Angel, the protagonist in The Angel of Death, is mentioned by Colleen as a sniper on the Phoenix hostage negotiation team that she saw on TV. Why a hostage negotiator is mentioned is not a part of this review. Overall, the story is tense and packed with surprises. It’s thoroughly enjoyable. March 4, 2022 |
Elizabeth J ConnorWriter. Editor. Proofreader. Archives
September 2022
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