Love by the Morning Star by Laura L. Sullivan (2014)

I LOVED this book. It's a young adult novel that doesn't feel like a young adult novel and it is perfectly lovely.

Love by the Morning Star would make a gorgeous screwball comedy of the 1930s or a perfect musical. Two young women come to a country house in England (think Downton Abbey) for two very different reasons and accidentally end up in each other's spots. 

Anna Morgan is sent by her Nazi sympathizer father to work as a kitchen maid and spy on the liberal Lord Liripip. Hannah Morgenstern, a half-Jewish daughter of a distant relation to the Liripips, is sent away from Berlin and her family's cabaret after Kristallnacht. Hannah, intended for above stairs ends up as the kitchen maid, and vice versa. And of course, there is a handsome heir who both girls fall for. 

Beautifully written, this is one of those books that where the plot propels me but I want to slow down and really appreciate the writing. And did I mention Hannah's compatriot and new coworker Waltrud/Traudl? Every character is beautifully written and the humor is sophisticated and a bit naughty. Perfectly gorgeous.

The Uninvited by Cat Winters (2015)

This historical novel is set during WWI and the influenza epidemic. Ivy recently recovered from a bout of the flu, and is finding the world has changed radically since she took to her bed. Not only is she dealing with the loss of family members, she still has her lifelong ability to see ghosts.

She struggles with the overzealous American Protection League and her feelings for a German living in her town while taking on the job of driving a Red Cross ambulance. And did I mention she see ghosts? So very lovely and romantic.

See also the romantic ghost stories of Simone St. James.

The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo (2013)

Oh my gosh, I LOVED this book. I have no idea where it came from, why I requested it but it's marvelous.

Li Lin lives in colonial Malaya with her opium-addicted father and her beloved Amah. All is satisfactory pretty much until she receives a marriage proposal from the son of an influential neighbor. However, the son is dead and the proposal is for Li Lin to be his ghost bride. When her intended haunts her in her dreams and she falls in love with the new (live) heir to the family, Li Lin embarks on a fantastical voyage among the dead. 

Choo creates a marvelously rich and detailed world of the dead, from paper funeral offerings and hell money, to the Plains of the Dead and the afterworld bureaucracy. Along the way, she meets Er Lang, a guardian spirit who is not at all what he appears to be. 

This novel is utterly original and impossible to label in a particular genre. It's historical fiction, and fantasy, and a bit of horror, and a bit of romance as well as being wonderfully suspenseful and beautifully written. Much of the mythology is based on Chinese folklore, and Choo's notes section outlines the original stories and her own creations. CRIPES, I loved this book.

The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo (2013)

You MUST read this book.

I hear about books from a lot of sources.  Blogs, friends, reviews, whatever.  And then there's the books that I just run across in the library catalog while looking for something else.  Which is to say, I have NO idea how I found this book.  But I'm so glad I did!

Set in colonial Mayala, among the Chinese who reside there, the story is about Li Lin, a young woman of marriageable age who lives with her opium-addicted father and her beloved Amah.  Despite the loss of her mother at a young age, all is pretty much satisfactory until she receives a marriage proposal from Lim Tian Ching, the son of an influential neighbor.  A promising engagement with one small detail: Lim Tian Ching is dead and the proposal is for Li Lin to be his ghost bride.

Lim Tian Ching begins to haunt Li Lin in her dreams, and she is quickly drawn into a dark world of murder, hungry ghosts and restless spirits.  She also falls in love with Tian Bai, the new (live) heir to the family.  Li Lin ventures into the Chinese afterlife, travelling to the Plains of the Dead on an errand for the mysterious Er Lang, a man who may not be what he seems.

Choo creates a marvelously rich and detailed world of the dead:  paper funeral offerings and hell money, afterworld bureaucracy and the shifting corporeal nature of ghosts.  This novel is utterly original and impossible to slot in a particular genre.  It's historical fiction with elements of fantasy, wonderfully suspenseful and spooky with more than a touch of romance.  It's also just beautifully, vividly and cinematically written.  Much of the book's world is based on Chinese folklore, and Choo's notes section outlines the original stories as well as her own creations.  CRIPES, this is a good book.

Pride and Pleasure by Sylvia Day (2011)

I recently read about a huge advance that Sylvia Day got for a recent book and decided I'd better check out her work.  Day is one of the authors who got very popular after the Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon and her books were published with covers suspiciously similar in appearance.  (By the way, you should really read Brigid *Flying Kick-a-pow!*'s GIF-laden GoodReads review of Fifty Shades.  It's stinking hilarious.)

Back to the book.  And I have to tell you:

OOH, Sylvia Day writes a good romance. Pride and Pleasure is a Regency-set romance with a great plot, about a heiress who's been through six seasons and has no desire to marry.  However, (there's always a however) she's in danger by someone, so she hires Jasper Bond, thief-taker, to pose as her suitor and track down whoever is trying to scare her. Fabulous simmering of chemistry and tension, strong, likable characters, and of course, great dishy love scenes. Quite well done!

[I don't love that cover, though.  It makes the characters look inert and vapid--neither of which they (or the plot) are.]

The Girl You Left Behind by JoJo Moyes (2013)

Jojo Moyes has written some books that I very much enjoyed.  Windfallen, an unfortunately titled novel with a terrible cover, but nonetheless a lovely novel about a stately home and the family it belongs to, and Me Before You, about a girl who works for a young man who has been paralyzed.

This is a different feel from those, as it is set during WWI in France (at least in the beginning) and focuses on Sophie Lefevre, the wife of an artist (currently off fighting) and her struggles with the Germans who have occupied her town and one General's obsession with a portrait of her. The second half of the novel is about Liv Halston, who owns the painting now and is facing a challenge to return the painting to its "rightful" owner. A wonderfully unfolding story, with vivid characters and a truly suspenseful plot. Very enjoyable.

I do have to quibble with the cover art, though. It looks exactly like the art for Me Before You, which was a great success for Moyes, but this novel is so very different from that one, it seems like it should have a different cover.

Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez (2010)

Wench is an utterly original and fascinating novel set before the Civil War at a resort in Ohio where white slaveholders brought their favored slave women on their vacations.  The women who spend their summers there struggle not only with their own lives, but with the prospect of freedom tantalizingly close at hand.

Perkins-Valdez provides an amazing look at a very specific part of the slave experience and provides insight into the bigger world of slavery. Unbelievably vivid and evocative of what life must have been like for these women--from losing their children to struggling with the decision of whether to try to escape. Memorable, touching characters and an amazing look at a very specific part of history.

Longbourn by Jo Baker (2013)

As I've mentioned before, I do love a good Jane Austen spinoff, take-off, adaptation or reference.  And occasionally, they are awfully good.

Quite a buzzy title this year, Longbourn follows the household staff of the families in Pride & Prejudice.  When I first heard about this, I thought it was going to be quite focused on another perspective on the Bennets and the Bingleys, but it turned out to be quite different.

Baker uses the setting as the springboard for a completely different story, one that really examines the inner lives and work of the household staff, and what having such a position in those times really meant.  As someone who loves a good supporting character, I loved the way the original story of Pride & Prejudice touches the servants only as it relates to their lives.

This is a beautifully researched novel, vividly realistic and a fresh take on a classic story.  Definitely one of the best of the Austen-inspired novels out there.

Astor Place Vintage by Stephanie Lehmann (2013)

In my ever-enduring quest to point out the excellent novels hidden in plain sight on the racks of the many enticingly-covered trade paperbacks found on your local library shelves, I present Astor Place Vintage.

Amanda Rosenblum runs a vintage clothes shop in Manhattan and, during the course of accepting a consignment of clothing from an elderly woman, finds a journal written by Olive Westcott, a woman who moved to Manhattan in 1907.

It's a novel with much affection for New York and a very strong sense of place, both Old New York and new.  The chapters alternate between the two narrators very skillfully--often a tricky thing for writers to accomplish.  Rather than try to depict Olive's story completely through her journal, Lehmann includes a paragraph from Olive's diary, and then the chapter goes off into Olive's POV and narration. 

I was not enamored of Amanda's character, due to her enormously bad judgment in her personal affairs, but liked the novel very much anyway and found both stories equally compelling.  Well written and pretty well researched, it also includes some charming photos of old New York--very much a novel for anyone who loves New York City.

The Edge of Dark Water by Joe R. Lansdale (2012)

Prepare for massive gushing ahead ...

First, the plot summary:

Trying to escape her worthless life leads to unexpected and disastrous consequences when Sue Ellen steals money and a raft and embarks on a journey to dig up her best friend's body, burn it, and sprinkle the ashes in Hollywood.

You can see how this is not an easy sell plotwise, but let me tell you that I loved this book. LOVED it. LOVE Joe R. Lansdale.

His writing about East Texas (see also The Bottoms), so evocative and filled with dark insight about the area always reminds me of Harper Lee. His writing about Texas is incredibly vivid and almost affectionate (despite the darkness of the events that occur.)

He writes amazingly realistic but unusual characters and the dialogue is perfect--I'd love to see him write a play. The characters in this book--Sue Ellen, her friends Terry and Jinx and her alcoholic mother-- are as vivid to me now as when I read the book months ago--I loved spending time with them and the very dark journey that they are on.

Their trip down the river reminded me so much of the river trip that the children take in Night of the Hunter. It's as if that trippy, black and white journey was transformed into an entire book, in full color with fully fleshed out characters, and it sustains that eerie, unsettling atmosphere through the whole book.

Trust me on this one--it's MARVELOUS.

Laura Lamont's Life in Pictures by Emma Straub (2012)

Elsa Emerson was born and raised in Wisconsin, where her family runs a summer theater company.   She grows up around theater and actors, and becomes an actress herself.  She marries another actor and heads off to make their fortune in golden-age, studio system Hollywood. She has a couple of kids, gets discovered by a studio head and becomes a minimal star--now known as Laura Lamont.

She struggles between her identities and faces all sorts of challenges. It's basically a women's picture, like Mildred Pierce, and is a pretty good rags-to-riches actor story that doesn't end when the stardom does.  The story follows Elsa/Laura from ingénue-you're-going-to-be-star-baby to mature actress to dipping her toe into television, the whole time watching Hollywood change as she does.

I really liked some of the characters and the story takes some unexpected turns which are awfully interesting, but the passivity of the main character at times left me slightly cold.  Although I didn't love it while reading it, the more it sits with me, the more I like it and the more it lingers with me.  I love the scope of her life and her career, and how she changes as Hollywood changes--a story that just isn't told very often.

Lucia, Lucia by Adriana Trigiani (2003)

Charming story of a seamstress in fifties Manhattan. A lovely portrait of mid-century New York City with lush descriptions of clothes, social life and featuring a strong, independent woman while still remaining within the cultural realities of the time period.