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The Golem and the Jinni
RECOMMENDED: The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker is $2.99! This is a fantasy historical and reader favorite, and a follow up is due out this year, I think. Carrie reviewed this book in June 2013 and really liked it. She says it doesn’t have romance as its primary plot, but it’s a beautiful read:
I loved this book, but not so much for the love story. I loved the mythologies, the settings, and the characters. The neighborhoods were incredibly detailed and vivid and interesting. The cultural and religious communities felt real and fascinating. I love books that let me see into another world, and this book gave me that feeling many times. The characters were all mesmerizing. I felt like I was in each setting, meeting these real people.
Chava is a golem, a creature made of clay, brought to life by a strange man who dabbles in dark Kabbalistic magic. Ahmad is a jinni, a being of fire, born in the ancient Syrian Desert. Trapped in an old copper flask by a Bedouin wizard centuries ago, he is released accidentally by a tinsmith in a Lower Manhattan shop.
Struggling to make their way in 1899 New York, the Golem and the Jinni try to fit in with their immigrant neighbors while masking their true selves. Meeting by chance, they become unlikely friends whose tenuous attachment challenges their opposing natures, until the night a terrifying incident drives them back into their separate worlds. But a powerful menace will soon bring the Golem and the Jinni together again, threatening their existence and forcing them to make a fateful choice.
Marvelous and compulsively readable, The Golem and the Jinni weaves strands of folk mythology, historical fiction, and magical fable into a wondrously inventive and unforgettable tale.
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The Orchid Throne
The Orchid Throne by Jeffe Kennedy is $2.99! This fantasy romance is the first book in the new Forgotten Empires series. I always get excited about new fantasy romances, but Kennedy’s books are usually hit or miss for me. Have you read this one?
Welcome to the world of Forgotten Empires from award winning author Jeffe Kennedy that begins with The Orchid Throne.
A PRISONER OF FATE
As Queen of the island kingdom of Calanthe, Euthalia will do anything to keep her people free—and her secrets safe—from the mad tyrant who rules the mainland. Guided by a magic ring of her father’s, Lia plays the political game with the cronies the emperor sends to her island. In her heart, she knows that it’s up to her to save herself from her fate as the emperor’s bride. But in her dreams, she sees a man, one with the power to build a better world—a man whose spirit is as strong, and whose passion is as fierce as her own…A PRINCE AMONG MEN
Conrí, former Crown Prince of Oriel, has built an army to overthrow the emperor. But he needs the fabled Abiding Ring to succeed. The ring that Euthalia holds so dear to her heart. When the two banished rulers meet face to face, neither can deny the flames of rebellion that flicker in their eyes—nor the fires of desire that draw them together. But in this broken world of shattered kingdoms, can they ever really trust each other? Can their fiery alliance defeat the shadows of evil that threaten to engulf their hearts and souls?Add to Goodreads To-Read List →
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How to Love a Duke in Ten Days
How to Love a Duke in Ten Days by Kerrigan Byrne is $2.99! I read this and want to warn that the book starts with a graphic rape scene and the hero is a huge asshole. However, I did pull a Bad Decisions Book Club while reading this one, but did I enjoy it? Who knows!
These men are dark, bold, and brave. And there is only one woman who can bring them to their knees…
Famed and brilliant, Lady Alexandra Lane has always known how to look out for to herself. But nobody would ever expect that she has darkness in her past—one that she pays a blackmailer to keep buried. Now, with her family nearing bankruptcy, Alexandra strikes upon a solution: Get married to one of the empire’s most wealthy eligible bachelors. Even if he does have the reputation of a devil.
LOVE TAKES NO PRISONERS
Piers Gedrick Atherton, the Duke of Redmayne, is seeking revenge and the first step is securing a bride. Winning a lady’s hand is not so easy, however, for a man known as the Terror of Torcliff. Then, Alexandra enters his life like a bolt of lightning. When she proposes marriage, Piers knows that, like him, trouble haunts her footsteps. But her gentleness, sharp wit, independent nature, and incredible beauty awakens every fierce desire within him. He will do whatever it takes to keep her safe in his arms.
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Cocaine Blues
Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood is 99c! This is book one in the Phryne Fisher Mysteries series. Elyse previously reviewed it and gave the book a B. In summary, she said that while the book was tons of fun to read, there were some things the TV show just did better, namely the costumes.
First in series from bestselling author, Kerry Greenwood
Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, now streaming on Netflix, starring Essie Davis as the honourable Phryne Fisher
The London season is in full fling at the end of the 1920s, but the Honourable Phryne Fisher—she of the green-gray eyes, diamant garters, and outfits that should not be sprung suddenly on those of nervous dispositions—is rapidly tiring of the tedium of arranging flowers, making polite conversations with retired colonels, and dancing with weak-chinned men. Instead, Phryne decides it might be rather amusing to try her hand at being a lady detective in Melbourne, Australia.
Almost immediately from the time she books into the Windsor Hotel, Phryne is embroiled in mystery: poisoned wives, cocaine smuggling rings, corrupt cops, and communism—not to mention erotic encounters with the beautiful Russian dancer, Sasha de Lisse—until her adventure reaches its steamy end in the Turkish baths of Little Lonsdale Street.
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That Kerrigan Byrne book needs a trigger warning! Very graphic scene right out of the gate, NOT what I was expecting based on the cover and reviews (they were not SmartBitches reviews, I learned my lesson there…)
If you haven’t heard, there’s a new Phryne Fisher book that will be released this summer. I’m excited but wary. The last book was so excruciatingly awful (it was basically horribly written JohnLock fan fiction with Phryne thrown in to watch) that I’m waiting for the book to make it to my library.
‘The Golem and the Jinni’ is easily one of the best books I’ve read in the past 10 years. Memorable, un-put-downable, unique.
John Pickett Mysteries box set 1-5 by Sheryl Cobb South is 1.99$ on Amazon. The first book (In Milady’s Chamber) was on the site’s pub banner for a while, and someone commented favorably in a WAYR (something about liking how the class difference between h&h was adressed, if I remember correctly). Here’s an opportunity to pick it up for those interested.
The Golem and the Jinni was a disappointment for me. The writing is really good so, at first, it’s interesting to read about a host of characters and their backstory while waiting for the story to begin. But then you get another character’s background, then again another… and nothing much happens… then nothing much keeps happening… In the end, the writing may be good, but I got bored waiting for the story to start, or for the characters to evolve. Wasn’t for me I guess.
I rarely disagree with reviewers here, but I do about Cocaine BLues. The TV series pointed me to the Phryne Fisher books but all the books are better than the series, which is far more conventional and far less feminist than the books. The villain in Cocaine Blues is particularly interesting: a twisted version of approved 1920s femininity … The books only got stronger from this debut, but it’s a very worthy start.
@ Jennifer in FL – thanks for the info! I didn’t care for the last Phryne Fisher – Greenwood seemed to have got out of practice. But of course, as the Twenties give way to the Thirties and the Depression, feminists do have an increasingly difficult time.
I listened to Cocaine Blues. I’d heard such good things about it and it seemed like it would be right up my alley, but nope. There were things I liked, but Phryne got right up my nose. She’s so beautiful, so clever, so sexy, so rich, so daring, she can fly a plane, she can drive fast cars, she can mix with the rich and poor…in short, she’s just the mostest ever! I couldn’t stand her. LOL
I saw so many people who loved the Bryne book and almost nobody in these early reviews mentioned the rape scene. It is right off the bat in the book and graphic and upsetting. I have no past trauma, but I DNF. I do have to admit that most people seem to be able to get past it and like it, but I just couldn’t.
The Golem and the Jinni is one of those books I recommend to everyone pretty much regardless. Dare I hope that the fact that it’s on sale means Wecker’s next book is finally coming out? I think I’ve had The Iron Season on my TBR for at least two years!
@Susan – Same here. I was disappointed because I really like Greenwood’s other series.
Byrne’s lost control of her voice, and even though she’s always written darker romances I feel like she’s been trying harder and harder to shock her audience these days. I didn’t read this one specifically because it opened with sexual assault.
Golem and the Jinni wasn’t on my radar at all, thank you Bitchery! I started reading the sample and didn’t want to stop, even though my library has a paper copy available. CClicking.
Got my wish for 2021, the next book I didn’t know I needed. So far it’s wonderfully immersive, an excellent distraction from everything.
@Susan That was my initial reaction to the Phryne of Cocaine Blues, but by the time I got to Flying Too High (or whatever Book 2 was), it no longer bothered me. YMMV
@ChaCha1 I feel this way about The Golem and the Jinni and fantasy isn’t my jam. But maybe the world-building is so organic; the novel’s overall tone was more magical realism than fantasy.
I tried to read The Golem and the Jinni a couple of years ago. I got about halfway through feeling the whole time that it was so well written that I should be enjoying it. But I didn’t, for some reason. I never felt really engaged with the story or the characters.
@Arijo, thanks for the heads up about the John Pikett books. I’ve already read the first two, but $1.99 for the three I haven’t read is still great. It’s a very entertaining series.
The new Phryne Fisher (Death at Daylesford) is already out, though you may have to order from overseas. I was also a bit wary about it – the most recent Corinna Chapman (The Spotted Dog) felt a bit off to me. Having read DaD I’m not entirely sure what I think. I may have to read it again. It was a bit underwhelming, more like some of the early books. Nothing like the Holmes one.