Waiting to read your new book’s first reviews is an agony of anticipation, a time of hope freighted with dread. You tell yourself every person’s reading is subjective, that any book will delight some readers and bore (or worse) others. So when you get a big thumb’s up from a respected veteran book reviewer like the Pacific Northwest’s Barbara Lloyd McMichael, it’s a huge relief. And when McMichael, who writes as The Bookmonger, praises Relative Fortunes in glowing terms, it gets even better.
I’m sharing McMichael’s recent review of my 1920s historical mystery because her comments reveal that she saw the blend of “style, wit, and substance” that I tried so hard to weave into the book. It was as if she listened in on my daydreams of how an ideal reader might understand Julia Kydd, her world, her aspirations, and the challenges she faces.
You can read McMichael’s review in the Coast Weekend supplement to Oregon Coast Today here. She begins with words to warm any writer’s heart:
This is it. The summer read I’ve been waiting for: a tantalizing mystery that blends chic characters, cheeky repartee, glamorous settings and—as a bonus—lively historical perspective.
And a bit later she adds this: “‘Relative Fortunes’ is the perfect title for this frisky murder mystery—even while dealing with family relations,gender discrimination, women’s rights and the political landscape, the author also treats us to the insouciance of the Jazz Age, from fashion and lingo to cigarettes and speakeasies.”
Summarizing, she writes: “Thanks to terrific language, a twisting plot, and immensely engaging characters, the story [is] a grade-A romp.”
Pinch me.
