Month: May 2024

A Botanist’s Guide to Society and Secrets by Kate Khavari

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Historical Mystery, Interwar Period (Nov 1918 - Sep 1939), Part of a SeriesLeave a comment

A Botanist's Guide to Society and Secrets (A Saffron Everleigh Mystery)

Barbara’s rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
Series: Saffron Everleigh Mystery #3
Publication Date: 6/4/24
Period: Interwar Period – 1920 – London
Number of Pages: 336

As with the first two books of the series, this third book is blossoming with intrigue, murder, mayhem, and a bit of romance. It is set in 1920s London with a rich narrative of period detail. It quickly sucks you into a time when respect was almost impossible for working females to win – especially female scholars.

Saffron Everleigh is a brilliant botanist who has had to fight and claw to claim a place as a researcher at the University – and she has to fight against prejudices, jealousies, and resentment every day to keep that position. In the previous two books, Saffron has willingly become entangled in murder investigations involving poisonous plants. Those investigations jeopardized her job and personal relationships, and she is glad to have left that behind her. With things settling down – her research project underway – and things getting back to an even keel with her work colleague (and romantic interest), microbiologist Alexander Ashton, she is looking forward to her next steps. Until . . .

Alexander has spent a lot of time over the last two books admonishing Saffron for her involvement in murder investigations – though he still helped her. Now, imagine his chagrin when he must ask for her help – with a murder investigation. As part of his job as an engineer, Adrian, Alexander’s brother had traveled by train to pick up a set of plans. He didn’t pay a lot of attention to the only other passenger in his car – until the man died. Since the man was poisoned, Adrian was the prime suspect.

Saffron agrees to do what she can to help, but – this time – Inspector Green isn’t inviting her into the investigation. While she can work around him, his cooperation would be much more helpful. This intricately woven mystery takes Saffron from the university, through secretive government labs, and on to government organizations who all want the biggest, best, most effective weapons.

The mystery is engaging, the prose educational, and the story easily translatable into today’s world. I particularly enjoyed the growth of Saffron’s relationship with Alexander and hope that continues to be the case. Yet another interesting part of the story is Nick, Saffron’s best friend’s brother. Is he a good guy or a bad guy? He certainly gave no indications of any soft good-guy edges to him, so I have to wonder if we won’t see more of him because he wants Saffron to work at one of his secret government labs.

This is a well-crafted story that I can recommend if you enjoy a thrilling, thought-provoking read. When I mentioned above that it was educational, I was truthful, as it is filled with a plethora of information on plants, poisons, microbes, methodologies, etc. For me personally, I could do with less of that, but it doesn’t detract from the story in the least – and it might even raise my IQ a bit.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Warrior’s Forbidden Maiden by Lissa Morgan

On By TracyIn Book Publicity, Medieval (1066-1540), Middle Ages / Medieval (476-1454), Part of a Series, Tracy's ReviewsLeave a comment

The Warrior's Forbidden Maiden (The Warriors of Wales, 2)The Warrior’s Forbidden Maiden by Lissa Morgan

Tracy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: The Warrior’s of Wales, #2

Release Date: May 21, 2024

Several years ago, and after years of friendship, Cristin ferch Ifor and Llywelyn ap Cadwgan, shared a forbidden night of passion before Llywelyn committed himself to the priesthood. But the next morning brought the news of the death of his elder brother and ending Llywelyn’s hope of taking his vows. He leaves his sister’s home to take up the sword for Lord Rhys, the Prince of Deheubarth against the English. As he leaves, he breaks Cristin’s heart when he bids farewell to everyone except her, leaving with not even glance at her. Cristin is a bondswoman in service to his family and had relocated to sister Rhianon’s new home when she married, but after Llywelyn’s slight to her, she begs Rhianon to release her from service so she may return to their home at Ystrad Meurig. Once there she hopes to find out why Llywelyn left her as he did, but she doesn’t get the chance and soon after he left war came to Ystrad Meurig and the holding was captured by the English. It will be many years before she is reunited with her love, and once they are together again Cristin will have to find the boy, she once knew in the warrior who has returned. And even if she finds him, it won’t change the fact that he is a lord and she is a servant, and any match between them would be unheard of! But the heart wants what it wants no matter how impossible…

Llywelyn was raised by a cruel man and an indifferent mother, his sole joy as a boy was his friendship with Cristin and the solace he found with her family. He had set his heart on taking his vows and joining the monks at Ystrad Fflur, but that hope was crushed when his brother died, and it fell upon Llywelyn to fight for the prince. The wars took their toll on him, filling him with self-loathing and resentment. When he returns to retake his family’s holding, he seeks out Cristin for help, knowing he treated her poorly years ago, but hoping her loyalty would convince her to help him. Once he reclaims his castle, he hopes to finally lay down his sword and take his vows, but he didn’t anticipate his still burning desire for Cristin.

This was a very well written, emotional story with wonderful characters struggling to find a bit of happiness in war torn Medieval Wales. Cristin and Llywelyn shared an amazing bond and the chemistry between them was obvious, but war has taken its toll on them both and healing will be slow and at times agonizing. The book has war, talk of past abuse, class difference, pain, angst, a very slow-burn romance, vows, twist and turns, more vows, low steam love scenes, and finally redemption, forgiveness and HEA. My only complaint would be that there are a lot of Welsh phrases scattered throughout the book and most have no translation, making me wish the author had included a glossary of the Welsh words, as my Kindle couldn’t translate most of them. This is the second book in the series, but it could easily be read as a standalone title as the stories are very loosely connected. This book is a bit darker than I expected, but it is still a very satisfying read, and one I would recommend to readers who enjoy romances with a medieval setting.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested and was provided to me by the publisher. All opinions in this review are my own. *