L. ShelbyCríticas

I was looking for a light-hearted adventure, and Serendipity's Tide fit the bill perfectly.

Apprentice engineer Batiya works on an diesel-powered liner. Her routine is disturbed when a group of foreigners is rescued from the ocean. Even worse, their mysterious pursuers—who seriously have it in for the leader, Chunru—simply won't give up. Batiya is dragged into a series of adventures with Chunru that she probably didn't expect when she signed up to go to sea.

The setting is an alternate world with different cultures, but with familiar technology from around the early 20th Century. So I'd say the flavour is exotic rather than fantastic.

The prose is a very easy read, and I only noticed one typo. There's plenty of action, which I started finding a tad relentless in the latter part of the book. Batiya is a fun and likeable character (the entire story is told from her point of view) although sometimes I found her improbably oblivious to social context. That said, I really enjoyed her verbal fencing with the snootier passengers she met.

I found this book a pleasant and refreshing change from the grimmer books that I've picked up more recently. Highly recommended.

For a novella, this was a slow starter for me. I was wary of the setting, with its "exotic" court. The characters didn't pull me in right away either, so I stopped about a third of the way through and didn't pick it up again for months. But once I muddled through a few more pages, the two leads finally started to shine. I wasn't invested in the mystery so much as seeing the Most Astute (snerk) and his partner-in-detecting finding their rhythm and solving the mystery. I'll be looking for more from this author.

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from a member giveaway.

Velvet Lies was a very quick read, but it was incredibly slow and hard to keep my interest focused on the book. I found myself at times needing to take breaks from it. The book never picked up the pace, and nothing was exciting in the sense of needing to know what was going to happen next.

I loved the overall idea of the novella and how the author used a 'Scooby-Doo' approach. The character discovered clue after clue, but never revealed who was responsible until the very end. I liked that I was guessing throughout the book, trying to discover who was at fault along with the main character.

This book has so many overwhelming names and titles that ended up giving me a headache. The names didn't really flow and took more thought then I would have ever wanted to have given a name. Quite a few times, I had to reread the names when I got caught up on them.

*Note: I received this book free from L. Shelby in exchange for an honest review.

This book was great! I enjoyed the intelligent, courageous, and heroine and lots of adventure. This book also has some romance. I think the author is a very smart writer. I would not have picked this book up on Amazon just because the cover was something that, just at a glance, didn’t jump out at me. But as they say “don’t judge a book by it’s cover”, this book was great and I’m glad I got a chance to read it. * This book was given to me from the author in exchange for an honest review*

Serendipity's Tale is a great YA romance with adventure. This is a very fast paced book and it isn't to explicit.

The conclusion. Back to Batiuya's point of view. Now in her in-law's country she has to cope with the language which she's picked up very quiickly in a year, and even worse their differences in culture and customs, not just as society but as part of the imperial line. IF they can persuade the Emperor that she is a worthy mother for the nations future. WHich seems to mean persuading the rest of the nation who are already unhappy about Chonru's recent expedition South and prospect of modern technology.

They continue to be dogged by the roblems they've avoided so far, but there's lots of running around. And a somewhat explicit live birth scene mid chase, which seems unlikely. As for the rest of the series it's hard to know what the target audience is.

TBC

Continuation of the trilogy. From Chonru's point of view which makes it very different from the preceeding volume.

It's all about the culture clash - what we'd think of as Eastern vs Western although here it is portrayed as South vs North. And fo course the impact of technology which always uproots traditional systems. Chonru and Baita have made it to the embassy so that Chonru can carry out hsi mission - only to discover that his ambassador has been declared persona non grata by the local king. He has no idea what he's done to cause such an offense, and the king is not hearing his appologies. Which leaves Chonru and Batiya to try and unravel things whilst furthering their own agenda and without contravening any of the local customs or their own honour.

The naturally restrained Chonru doesn't really make the best of storytellers. His passion for his wife is the only leavening feature. Somehow the timeline doesn't quite feel right though - I'm not sure how old either character is, but at times they're cast as being young, but at others they seem much older. Neither really works consistenly throuout the plot. Given that he's a rpince and used ot being obeyed it also doens't make for much of a mystery because there's little explanation of the deatils - someonme is summoned to get the paperwork and find the discrepancy. It all happens off screen.

Engaging and fun a quick read it doesn't quite have the novelty of the first one.½

Fun, first of a series with a bit of an abrupt ending, it is nevertheless a well crafted story that's quite difficult to characterise. Part YA romance, part adventure, almost a comedy of manners, yet set in a fantasy world, without magic or anything unusal, but clearly not earth. There are cruiseliners, and machine guns, so kind of seventies feel to it maybe. I don't know how well this will work for the clearly target audience of teenagers. The plot is breakneck frantic rushing from one scene to the next, skipping over days if nothing exciting is happening.

The basic premise is that Baitha, is a young girl from a working class but respectable agricultural part of a modern country. Being somewhat of a tomboy she has been allowed by her family to become an engineer and is working her first passage as part of the engine crew. The passengers are all 'burgies' by her dialect, upper class citizens of wealth and money but not necessarily class. Everythign she knows changes however when the liner stops to pick up some castaways, and she suddenly finds herself adrift with a handsome but strong willed and self-controlled stranger.

I did enjoy it - but it wasn't quite to my taste in few areas. The romance is quite light, but there's an awful lot of it. Even though Baita is quite level headed and doesn't understand any of that 'moon-eyed stuff'. She is quite possibly the least romantic lead heroine ever, but it still gets in the way sometimes.There's nothing explicit, but an awful lot of unbuttoning. I did enjoy her resolute practicality. The pacing seemed too fast throughout, there wasn't much exploration fo the characters or the world, or even just the situations they found themselves in, just action bang bang bang. I never quite a had a feel for the ships or the details of the engines that Baita spent so much time in - it certainly isn't a steampunk novel.

But generally lighthearted fun, and fast. I have the rest of the series so it will intruiging to see what happens next.

An easy mystery of shocking proportions high lighting the peculiarities of life in the arctic.
Native life feels alien, as they tend to huddle down for the chilly conditions.

The arctic climate has been well depicted. As this is a story that focus on the ramifications of hars climate and technology the populace comes out cold, i.e. short spoken and introverted. This means that we readers must stretch our imagination to find ourselves routing for the protagonists.
This short story by L. Shelby certainly makes me hungry to discover more of her worlds. And to eplore more of "Polaris: A Celebration of Polar Science" edited by Julie E. Czerneda where it first appeared

If you'd ever asked me would I enjoy a comedy of manners romance, I think it's safe to say NO, thanks but not my cup of tea. And as always with such generalisations I'd have been dead wrong. This is just enthralling fun.

Set in a magical (slightly) otherworld Africa, this is the tale, as told by the scribe, of the rise to eminence of one of the lords of the Emperor's court. No-one would believe the the sophisticated lords and ladies could ever have come from anything less than Celestially noble beginnings, but Families have widespread branches even so. Etiquette at court has any significant statement announced in song. Circumscribed by this practice our captain has a lot to learn, and a vast array of servitors to help him, but misunderstandings arise so readily. Even those experienced in such matters can make mistakes, and not everyone who claims to be is really your friend - although in that at least the captain has some degree of awareness.

The inclusions of lots of the songs, and their formal names for them, should have been a major turn-off. It didn't work for Tolkien, and it has seldom worked for anyone else that I've read. But because these are so integral to the plot it actually worked really well. The balance and pacing were good, with the captain about to make progress then suffering reverses in unpredictable but wholly believable manners. The viewpoint from the scribe who couldn't acknowledge anything improper tempered all actions wonderfully, keeping the feel of delicate court life, whilst maintaining the accuracy of events. If I was going to be really picky then at times there is a little repetition of language - the use of 'ajar' for behavior that might considered at the bounds of decency (describing a brother lord in slightly unflattering language) was the worst offender. The romance is gentle and as you might expect, confused between different parties. But the sincerity of feelings always comes through with understated passion. - a brief glimpse and a lingering smile.

An author to watch out for.½