If you have school-aged children, check out this fun end-of-the-school-year tradition with the book Oh the Places You’ll Go!

Attention Dr. Seuss fans! You’re gonna love this keepsake idea.

At the end of each school year, ask your child’s teacher to write a short note or sentiment about your child inside the cover of the popular children’s book Oh the Places You’ll Go by Dr. Seuss. This will begin to look much like a yearbook over the years, except will it be all from teachers, coaches, educators, or any school staff that had a positive impact.

While the school year isn’t over just yet, this is still a great time to grab your copy of the book so you can start the tradition this year!

Consider grabbing a copy or two of Oh the Places You’ll Go hardcover books for your family!

I initiated this idea for my Dr. Seuss-loving kids in Kindergarten and it’s cute to see how excited the kids have been to read what their teachers write each year. We have moved around a bit and it’s fun to see the teachers from various schools included so we never forget them. This book is honestly such a special memory piece now.

Even during Covid, I taped in some emails from teachers when they weren’t able to sign at the end of the year. ❤️

It’s hard to believe my daughter is finishing up 8th grade and this is the last year we plan to include this as a tradition, although you can consider continuing. I started my job here at Hip2Save when she was in Kindergarten and now 8 years later here we are!!

Oh the Places You’ll Go makes a great graduation gift for all ages!

Do you have a graduate in your life this year from preschool to high school, or even college? Including a copy of Oh the Places You’ll Go book with an encouraging message is a thoughtful gift idea.

The Dr. Seuss story itself is an inspiring message that encourages self-confidence, expecting adversity in life, and overcoming obstacles! I highly recommend it if it’s not a part of your library already.

Here’s what this special Dr. Seuss book means to our team members…

Need another gift idea for your grad? Head here…

London’s Slough House is where disgraced MI5 operatives are reassigned to spend the rest of their spy careers pushing paper. But when one of these “slow horses” is kidnapped by a former soldier bent on revenge, the agents must breach the defenses of Regent’s Park to steal valuable intel in exchange for their comrade’s safety. The kidnapping is only the tip of the iceberg, however, as the agents uncover a larger web of intrigue that involves not only a group of private mercenaries but also the highest authorities in the Security Service. After years spent as the lowest on the totem pole, the slow horses suddenly find themselves caught in the midst of a conspiracy that threatens not only the future of Slough House, but of MI5 itself.

Review:

Dear Mick Herron,

I finished this entry in your series yesterday and I still cannot figure out how to review it.  I enjoyed the book a lot, however I also spent a lot of my reading time yelling at a certain character and it is really hard to explain why without talking about spoilers. The blurb conceals the punch of the story, but I have to at least try and this is at least mentioned in the blurb.

So here it goes, when as blurb says one member of the “slow horses” team is kidnapped, another member of the team is contacted by the kidnappers and asked to steal something or “the kidnapped person’s” safety is not a guarantee at all.

Can someone please please explain to me why the person whom kidnappers contact does not call Jackson Lamb, who is this person’s boss and the kidnapped person’s boss? I mean, what in the name was that?  I understand that this person had the kidnapped person’s safety in mind of course I do, but if you need to have your “grand adventure,” at least call your boss first then rush to do it if you so desire. Oh my god.

Again, all members of this team became Slow Horses because they either made a mistake or their superiors decided that they did, so I get that, but this was to me such a disappointing lack of trust that I could not shake it off for most of the book.

I still like this character a lot mind you, such is the talent of the writer, but my opinion of this character’s intellectual abilities went down a lot.

As I said above, I get that it was done because of the desire to help the kidnapped member, which was great and I want to go into what I actually appreciated a lot. I thought that the Slow Horses Team actually started to trust each other and care for each other more than before. Oh, they do not do fluffy bunnies stuff, but I thought that it showed in their actions in the field a lot. I was happy that the characters continue to develop and showed us some new layers, good or bad.  And Jackson may not have perfect trust of his team yet, but if I had any doubts that he cares for his team and their safety, this book erased them.

I sort of complained about previous books being a little too slow in the beginning. I actually did not feel this about this book at all, maybe because I was worried about several characters at the same time and it started too early in the story.

Grade: B/B+

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Hope is dangerous. Love is deadly.

1506, Joseon. The people suffer under the cruel reign of the tyrant King Yeonsan, powerless to stop him from commandeering their land for his recreational use, banning and burning books, and kidnapping and horrifically abusing women and girls as his personal playthings.

Seventeen-year-old Iseul has lived a sheltered, privileged life despite the kingdom’s turmoil. When her older sister, Suyeon, becomes the king’s latest prey, Iseul leaves the relative safety of her village, traveling through forbidden territory to reach the capital in hopes of stealing her sister back. But she soon discovers the king’s power is absolute, and to challenge his rule is to court certain death.

Prince Daehyun has lived his whole life in the terrifying shadow of his despicable half-brother, the king. Forced to watch King Yeonsan flaunt his predation through executions and rampant abuse of the common folk, Daehyun aches to find a way to dethrone his half-brother once and for all. When staging a coup, failure is fatal, and he’ll need help to pull it off—but there’s no way to know who he can trust.

When Iseul’s and Daehyun’s fates collide, their contempt for each other is transcended only by their mutual hate for the king. Armed with Iseul’s family connections and Daehyun’s royal access, they reluctantly join forces to launch the riskiest gamble the kingdom has ever seen:

Save her sister. Free the people. Destroy a tyrant.

READ THIS NOTE, ESPECIALLY THE END

Author’s Note – King Yeonsan (deposed name: Yeonsangun) ruled from 1495 to 1506 and was considered the worst tyrant in Korean history. Supposedly, he ruled decently for the first nine years of his reign, but in 1504—after learning of how his mother had been executed—he went on a revenge spree that began the bloodiest purge of his reign.
Emboldened by the absolute power he held, Yeonsan began committing widespread atrocities—stealing land from the people to turn into his personal hunting grounds, executing his own family members, murdering government officials in the cruelest ways, and kidnapping and enslaving women from every province.
I believe it’s important to tell history as it is, with all its violence and corruption, and so I did not shy away from the realities of Yeonsan’s reign. His crimes were so numerous, though, that I couldn’t mention them all in the story. But for the ones I did, I’d like to offer the following content warnings:
rape (mentioned), sexual abuse, misogyny, kidnapping women and girls, sex trafficking, incest (mentioned), violence, murder, animal cruelty, suicide (mentioned), infanticide (mentioned), psychological trauma, panic attacks

Dear Ms. Hur,

Two years ago, I read and enjoyed “The Red Palace” which had some dark stuff in it. Well, this one tops that. I’m glad that you included what you did in your author’s note and I hope people pay attention to the warnings. This book is being tagged (given the age of the MCs) as young adult but given the nature of the content, I would be very careful about how old readers are who read it.

Iseul was the pampered youngest daughter of a high ranking Joseon Korean magistrate when her world came crashing down. Her parents were murdered by soldiers on order of the king leaving Iseul and her older sister to seek refuge with their grandmother (who is only mentioned in the book). Then her sister (with whom Iseul has a fractious relationship – all due to Iseul) is kidnapped and taken by the king as a concubine – one among almost a thousand most of whom are subjected to sexual abuse. Iseul is convinced that this is all her fault and she’s going to make it right. How, she has no clue but she’s gonna do it.

Arriving at an inn not far from the capital, Iseul is taken under the wing of the innkeeper and a former investigator. Yul promises to treat Iseul like family in exchange for Iseul helping at the inn (something she only sporadically does) while Wonsik tries to tutor her in how to investigate a series of murders and discover who the serial killer is (something Iseul pouts about as Wonsik actually wants her to use her brain while she just wants him to tell her what she wants to know). Then an illegitimate prince gets involved (as he also scrambles day by day to keep his psycho half-brother the king from killing him). Iseul wants to save her sister while Daehyun has grander plans – to overthrow the king in a coup. Will they get what they want or die trying?

I applaud the use of this unusual setting and the fact that readers are not molly coddled by having Korean words, terms and things used and then immediately translated into English. The meanings are made plain through the descriptions and if that doesn’t work then there’s always Google. Also booyah for (as stated in the author’s note) not shying away from the brutality of what was actually happening in this time. Yes, it’s hard to read but how much harder must it have been to try to live through it.

While I enjoyed being set down in Joseon Korea again, there were a lot of things that didn’t work for me here. Iseul is, quite frankly, a spirited young woman who hasn’t an ounce of common sense. I understand that she was raised to be waited on by servants, has no life skills, is probably still upset about how her life has been upended, and probably looking for a way to get it back. However she’s ready to snap at anyone who (she thinks) is getting in her way and charge off into danger without bothering to think things through. That these people she’s snapping at are often trying to help her or that if her harebrain (lack of) plans might get her killed or kidnapped herself don’t stop her. I’ll give her courage. I’ll give her determination. But she doesn’t seem to learn and she’s also at times an idiot.

Daehyun is a bit smarter and can roll with a dangerous situation while keeping a cool head. He’s had to as the king loves playing “games” that usually end with a courtier being killed for the king’s amusement. Daehyun has plans though. If he and a small, loyal band can seize the moment, they can dethrone the tyrant making everyone’s life hell. Except he knows that this rag-tag band isn’t enough so some (I’ll be honest, boring) scenes of behind-the-scenes political negotiation to induce powerful men to join them take place. First though he has to attempt to keep Iseul from doing anything stupid and rescue her a time or three when she does.

The story has tons of secondary and tertiary characters. Honestly, too many. And it’s not trying to keep the Korean names straight that was my problem. I would feel the same if this were a historical set during the English War of the Roses. After a while, people began to blur. After a while, plot points began to blur as well. There’s Iseul saving her sister, Daehyun plotting, Wonsik giving Iseul tips on murder investigation, Yul keeping the inn afloat, the whackjob king, sleazy courtiers, a group of court jesters who skip in and out, lots of running around the countryside, a violent coup, and tons of background details. As the plot revved up and sped towards the finish I had already gotten more than a bit lost.

I cheered when (some of) the mistreated women rescued themselves. I did love that Iseul refused to give up trying to get her sister out of a living nightmare and then further protected her from the terrible fate that met many of the other women the king had kidnapped and debauched (and society is rarely forgiving of a woman’s loss of “honor”). I never quite got what Daehyun saw in Iseul beyond that she’s feisty as she never grew much as a character. I questioned the need for the murders in the story and also began mentally picking apart and poking holes in how the serial killer managed all that was done. The reality of the post-coup was depressing as well. I think if I had read this book when I was younger, I might like it more but I didn’t and I don’t. C

~Jayne

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I haven’t done a “what I’m reading” post in a while, in part because I’m reading so little (sad face). But I thought I’d do a short rundown of recent suspense books I’ve read (spoiler: not a hugely successful lot):

Last Night by Luanne Rice

If I recall correctly, I read one book by Rice years ago. It was women’s fiction and featured, I think, an abused wife. I will be blunt and say I thought it was boring and hadn’t tried the author since. But this book came across my radar, and the fact that Rice has delved into suspense, plus the setting, intrigued me. Specifically, the story is set in an iconic hotel in Rhode Island in the midst of a fierce blizzard.

Maddie Morrison resides at the hotel with her young daughter CeCe; Maddie is a famous artist in the middle of a divorce from a European movie star. As the blizzard approaches, Maddie is preparing for the arrival of her sister Hadley. For unclear reasons she treks outside the hotel with CeCe, assuring the staff that she’ll be back soon and that she and CeCe will be fine. But that’s not the case – Maddie is shot dead by an unknown assailant, and CeCe is kidnapped. Hadley arrives in the midst of this chaos.

Also on the scene are a couple of characters who were introduced in a previous book – a detective named Conor Reid and his girlfriend Kate. Kate’s sister was also murdered, apparently, in this previous book, which felt like a weird coincidence. Anyway, because of Kate’s history and Conor’s profession, they quickly become entangled in the investigation.

There are various suspects – the soon to be ex-husband and a previous ex-husband among them. But I suspect Rice is just not the author for me (which is fine; she’s obviously very successful!). I found Last Night as dull as the previous book of hers I read all those years ago. The characters, save one, a teenaged criminal, did not move me at all. The resolution to the mystery was….okay, I guess? I didn’t really figure it out ahead of time but I guess it made sense? I don’t know. My grade for this is a C/C-.

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Good Half Gone by Tarryn Fisher

This one was weird.  It was one of those books with a messy plot; those types of books confuse me because I’m never sure if the chaos is gritty realism or just bad plotting. Anyway, our narrator is Iris Walsh, and she’s had a hard life – absent father, drug addicted and thoroughly selfish mother, and at 15, a rocky relationship with her twin sister Piper. Piper is stereotypically the pretty, popular twin, in contrast to bookish Iris. They live with their grandmother, who is not conventionally grandmotherish, but who does take good care of the twins and loves them very much.

Things get exponentially worse when Piper is kidnapped in front of Iris from a movie theater. It takes the police a while to even believe Iris’s account of what happened, and by the time they make any sort of effort to get out the word about a missing teenager from the wrong side of the tracks, Piper is long gone.

About a decade later (the timeline was…challenging at times, and I stopped trying to make sense of things based on the information that I had), Iris is living with her son and her grandmother, and plotting to get a job at an asylum on an island off Seattle. Iris thinks she’ll discover some truth about who took her sister and why, but the details take a long time to come out, and when they do they don’t bear close scrutiny.

Anyway, Iris gets involved with her boss, the charismatic director of the institution, and tries to get closer to the truth. All this while she ignores the weirdness around her – a worker goes missing; various other workers seem to be suffering from substance issues or just plain falling apart. The dénouement was batshit even by my fairly expansive batshit monitor. And that was before I read a Goodreads review that pointed out a gaping and obvious plot hole that I’d missed which made the ending even more insane and ridiculous.

I’ll give Good Half Gone a bit of leeway for being relatively entertaining for most of the story. Still, I’m giving this a C-.

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The Silence in Her Eyes by Armando Lucas Correa

I heard about this book somewhere and was intrigued by the premise – the narrator, Leah, has suffered from akinetopsia, aka motion blindness, since she was eight. As close as I can understand it, akinetopsia is a visual disorder in which the subject has trouble perceiving motion, which, as it turns out, makes it hard to see accurately. I struggled to really understand what Leah saw; it seems like maybe a combination of seeing things and people as static images, and seeing them in movement as blurs.

Leah’s mother has recently died (her father died when she was a child, around the time her akinetopsia started, though the connection doesn’t become clear until late in the book). Leah lives a very proscribed life in a New York city highrise, and has for a long time; her mother’s loss makes her circle smaller. A new neighbor, Alice, moves in next door, and Leah is instantly intrigued. (One unsettling fact about Leah is that she tends to get laser-focused on people and let her imagination run a bit wild about them.)

Leah’s other senses are honed to almost superhuman levels by her disability (this felt like a bit of a cliche, but whatever). She has both acute hearing and a very strong sense of smell. She begins to suspect that Alice is in trouble – something about her ex-husband, who Leah deduces carries the smell of sandalwood when he visits. Eventually, Leah and Alice become friends, though Alice is erratic and secretive. Leah has her own problems – she is awakened at night by an intruder who smells of sandalwood, though nothing comes of it and she does not report the break-in to the police. Leah has a pervading fear of being taken away; there is a past incident of instability that is kept vague and Leah is compelled to visit a doctor regularly.

Things go sideways in a less-than-shocking way, and from there the story is weirdly split between being predictable and being surprising. On the predictable track: not everything having to do with Alice and the less-than-shocking event is as it appears. On the surprising track: Leah ends up developing some interesting relationships in the wake of the event, and then…(I feel like I need a batshit ending alert, like a red flashing light or something?) comes the ending. To be fair, there were signs that I should have picked up on. Let’s just say there are a LOT of deaths in this book, and I didn’t question them as they occurred, but I should have.

It’s definitely an ending that upends everything I thought I knew. That’s not a bad thing, I guess, but it left me unsettled (which also isn’t categorically a bad thing but I don’t like it much). I’m not sure how to grade The Silence in Her Eyes – I thought it was decently written and it held my attention, though the plot was pretty slow early on. I might grade it a little higher but I think my negative feelings about the ending make it a B-.

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The Alone Time by Elle Marr

I felt like this one had potential: dual timelines (which I generally like) follow two sisters, Fiona and Violet Seng. In the earlier timeline, set 25 years ago, the girls and their parents Janet and Henry are flying a small private plane from their home in San Diego to British Columbia. Henry has recently gotten his pilot’s license and borrowed the plane from a friend; the trip is somewhat impromptu and intended to ease tension in the parents’ marriage.

The plane malfunctions and crashes in the Washington wilderness, and Fiona and Violet aren’t rescued for 12 weeks. Henry and Janet do not survive;  the specifics of what happens to them – and when – are doled out throughout the book.

In the present day, Fiona sculpts using found natural materials; it’s her way of dealing with the trauma of her past. She has a big show upcoming and is garnering increasing interest as an artist. Fiona is estranged from Violet, who is one year sober after more than a decade of drug abuse and antisocial behavior (she stole from both Fiona and the aunt who raised them after their parents died, for one thing). Violet is making another of many attempts at community college; she hopes to earn a living as a writer some day.

The Seng sisters lives are disrupted when a woman named Geri Vega comes forward, alleging that she was having an affair with Henry Seng at the time of his death, and intimating that she knows secrets that Fiona and Violet would prefer to keep hidden. Still, for reasons, the sisters decide to cooperate with a documentary film producer doing a story on the tragedy.

There were a lot of aspects of The Alone Time that just weren’t credible even on the surface. The idea that the world would still be intently interested in a sensational case from 25 years before was not realistic. No one would care that Henry Seng had a mistress all those years ago – stories like this move through the public consciousness fast. Further, the sisters fear that the police will reopen an investigation into the case, but whatever they did all those years before, it would seem impossible that the cops would be as suspicious as they appear to be of two women who were 13 and 7 at the time of the crash.

The latter half of the story is taken up with nonsense with the mistress and the documentarian, and dire implications that either Fiona or Violet is a psycho. I didn’t find this hugely compelling, particularly given that Violet, at least, was a little tot at the time and it just seems absurd that she was running around in the wilderness committing vile crimes.

The denouement is silly, with a return to the scene of the crime and various characters acting in ways that make no sense. I stopped caring what happened and who was responsible. I gave this a C.

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Ariantes is a Sarmatian, a barbarian warrior-prince, uprooted from his home and customs and thrust into the honorless lands of the Romans. The victims of a wartime pact struck with the emperor Marcus Aurelius to ensure the future of Sarmatia, Ariantes and his troop of accomplished horsemen are sent to Hadrian’s Wall. Unsurprisingly, the Sarmatians hate Britain–an Island of Ghosts, filled with pale faces, stone walls, and an uneasy past.

Struggling to command his own people to defend a land they despise, Ariantes is accepted by all, but trusted by none. The Romans fear his barbarian background, and his own men fear his gradual Roman assimilation. When Ariantes uncovers a conspiracy sure to damage both his Roman benefactors and his beloved countrymen, as well as put him and the woman he loves in grave danger, he must make a difficult decision–one that will change his own life forever.

Dear Ms, Bradshaw,

Some months ago, your name was mentioned, in glowing terms, on a thread at DA and the descriptions of some of your recommended books caught my attention. Since to me hearing the words “Roman Britain” are like the bell to Pavlov’s dogs, I knew eventually I’d try this book. The first chapter excerpt read wonderfully with vivid characters and a fascinating set-up which hooked me there and then. I couldn’t wait to get started.

Ariantes shepherds all his men, along with those of the other two commanders who aren’t as willing to make the overtures and smoozing needed to smooth the process, across the channel to this island none of them were even sure existed since they couldn’t see it. Things only get worse as the journey continues with both sides rubbing the other the wrong way, honor at stake and the full impact of their exile finally hitting home to these proud men. And that’s before the paperwork kicks in.

The first third of the story is a lot of bureaucracy and paperwork. Roman style. Ariantes is a reluctant diplomat as well as military leader. But he is a leader and one who takes the lives and welfare of his men very seriously. He’s a thinking man though he can wield a sword and dagger as well as anyone. He’s a man lost in a new world, trying to not only find his way with honor but lead his men in finding their footing in their new lives as none of them can ever go back and have already been mourned by their people as dead.

New alliances must be forged among people they don’t know, using customs new to them in a land they were convinced was made up. These are proud men used to commanding absolute obedience, working individually and taking nothing from anyone so their changed reality takes some getting used to.

To be honest, it does take this book a little while to gather itself together and gain a lot of momentum, though the ground work laid in the early section comes into play later on. Just be patient, let it slowly sink in and get its footing. The visual of the Sarmatian units, or dragons as they’re known, outfitted in their ringed armor with silk pennants snapping in the wind must have been something to see.

This is definitely more a historical fiction with romance than a true romance. The relationship, once it arrives, is heartfelt and true though rather fast in a coup de foudre way. But the Lady in question is more than a match for Ariantes and tells him a thing or two when she feels it’s needed. I like that though Ariantes isn’t expecting to find a second love in his life, the loss of his first wife doesn’t send him into the throes of “I’ll never love again!” He quickly realizes that Pervica is a treasure with a will of iron and a level head and he’s damn lucky she says yes when he proposes.

The conspiracy is both intricate and believable and draws in the various factions of the age and time as well as tossing in a few Christians and Druids. The tension grows as Ariantes must solve who is behind the plotting while at the same time keeping the Romans at bay since he can’t make accusations without proof but the conspirators are more than willing to keep trying to kill him until he does. With mutual black humor, he and Pervica set the date for their wedding “providing Ariantes is still alive then.”

The humor is something I hadn’t anticipated yet which I enjoyed immensely. Ariantes’ world weariness as he tries to navigate the Sarmatians through this “Island of Ghosts” ruled by Romans who mistrust them speaks to anyone who’s dealt with middle management anywhere. By the time he’s safely through, with his head and honor intact and the woman he loves by his side, the poor man has more than earned his (hopefully) happy future. B

~Jayne

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Mark Chan this. Mark Chan that.

Writer and barista Emily Hung is tired of hearing about the great Mark Chan, the son of her parents’ friends. You’d think he single-handedly stopped climate change and ended child poverty from the way her mother raves about him. But in reality, he’s just a boring, sweater-vest-wearing engineer, and when they’re forced together at Emily’s sister’s wedding, it’s obvious he thinks he’s too good for her.

But now that Emily is her family’s last single daughter, her mother is fixated on getting her married and she has her sights on Mark. There’s only one solution, clearly: convince Mark to be in a fake relationship with her long enough to put an end to her mom’s meddling. He reluctantly agrees.

Unfortunately, lying isn’t enough. Family friends keep popping up at their supposed dates—including a bubble tea shop and cake-decorating class—so they’ll have to spend more time together to make their relationship look real. With each fake date, though, Emily realizes that Mark’s not quite what she assumed and maybe that argyle sweater isn’t so ugly after all…

Dear Ms. Lau, 

Despite the fact that generally I’m not a fake-dating fan, I loved this book. I think this is a standalone novel but honestly I enjoyed it so much that I was a little sad that the sisters of the MCs are already married. Ms. Margaret Muffins, who often looks unimpressed with the world, is an unexpected treat and I adore that the hero talks to her as I do to my cats. Yes, they understand me, why do you ask? The heroine’s horror at the realization that she might actually be “getting old” (per her niece), was amusing to me as I look (way) back on the age Emily is now.  

Emily Hung’s last single sister is married and even Emily’s five year old niece (and I adored Scarlett and her sister Khloe) is questioning why Emily is single and tells her that she’s old. But all of that is in a loving five year old way. As Emily sees her mother bee-lining towards her, she knows that something is up. Mark Chan isn’t exactly thrilled with the forced meeting at this wedding but Mrs.Hung convinces him that Emily wants to see him again. Well, that isn’t true but Emily’s out-of-the-blue suggestion to fake-date takes him by surprise until he decides, why not. Can they keep it up long enough to get Emily’s mom off her back while also convincing half of Toronto that it’s a real relationship? And what will happen once all the secrets start coming out?

The book brings to life the story of immigrant’s hopes and expectations for their Canadian children, how those children feel about what their parents want, lots of family drama and dynamics, some scrumptious sounding restaurants, good friendships, the outrageous prices for Toronto real estate, living your own life and dreams, and a cat. Even though Emily (and to a degree her sisters) moan about their feeling at being pushed to choose a prestigious career, it is obvious across the whole of the book that their parents love them and just want the best for them. Emily often thinks about how much her parents gave up in order to immigrate to Canada with hopes for their future children. There is a truly lovely revelation at the end that is both heartwarming as well as bittersweet when Emily learns something her mother has never told her. 

Emily is a hard worker who has dared to leave a career that her degree in mathematics got her in order to do what she loves – writing. She’s got one book published but as she (eventually) explains to Mark, the fucked up publishing world gives no guarantees of future success based on past performances. Emily is that increasing rara avis – the midlist author – and she’s worried that after she’s finished this three book contract, she won’t ever get another. I liked seeing so much of her writing job as well as the fact that in order to afford half of a two bedroom Toronto apartment, she has to do two other part time jobs. Roommate Paige is delightful as well and the two definitely have each other’s backs. 

Ashley frowns. “So what happened?”
“The kiss … we were sitting on a bench, and then I saw my auntie.”
“Oh my God,” Paige says, “Your auntie saw you tonguing your fake boyfriend?”  
“We were not tonguing.” I paused. “Okay, maybe there was a little tongue.”

Mark initially didn’t make a good impression on Emily but after they open up and discuss the wedding, Emily realizes why he was texting so much and what his facial expression meant when she mentioned her roommate. Emily, to her credit, immediately apologizes for her misunderstandings. I had thought that the book would be totally shown from Emily’s first person POV so the switch up at halftime to both character’s POV was a nice surprise. As Mark says, he wishes he could know what Emily is thinking because he’s thinking he likes her. A lot. 

Mark: Margaret will stay home. She doesn’t like car rides. I’ll ask my neighbor to check on her once a day.
Me: You’re on a first name basis with your cat now?
Mark: No, she calls me Mr. Chan, alas.

Their romance slowly plays out as things become clear to both of them and the shift from fake dates, to real fake dates (it makes sense in the book) to real dates feels real. I never felt that things were moving either too quickly or too slowly and totally believed in their changed feelings. I felt that Mark was a bit more thoughtful at times than Emily who let herself get overwhelmed by the whole fake-dating circus but her final act confession of her true feelings was heartfelt. Maybe with the two of them together, Ms. Margaret Muffins’s social media presence will increase to what she deserves. B+         

~Jayne

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Déjà vu can be deadly…

A year ago, Rose Mcgovern’s sister was found dead at the bottom of a bridge. A tragic accident. That’s what the police called it. What they still call it. What everyone except Rose believes to be true. But she won’t change her mind. No matter how many seconds and minutes and days go by, no matter how much time she’s had to spend in the psych ward, and no matter how much her life falls apart. She will never give up on her quest for the truth.

And now, it’s happening again.

Another woman’s body has been found. The circumstances are far too similar to be a coincidence. There might even be more victims. Which would mean that Rose was right all along. But the police have long since dismissed her as paranoid, and she’s driven away every friend she’s ever had. With nothing but her own conviction on her side, how can she prove that an accident is really a murder? And even if it’s possible, can she do it before she makes a deadly mistake and the killer claims her life, too?

Dear Ms. Di Lorenzo, 

Another one of our reviewers reads a lot of mystery/thrillers and I decided to give one a try. This one attracted my attention because of the fact that Rose has had to battle not only with her own fears but the fact that so many others see her as being paranoid and won’t believe her. I wanted to know how she was going to solve this mystery and get people to take her seriously.

This was a fast read. Rose is a sympathetic character and I was on her side from the get-go. Not only has she lost her beloved sister (no mention of the parents) but despite the fact that she’s taken her concerns to the police sergeant in charge of the (non) investigation of her sister’s “accident,” not only has nothing been done but Rose has ended up in a psychiatric hospital twice for a few days each. It’s never made explicitly clear but from what I gather, she left her stove on twice to the point the fire department was called (though there’s no mention of smoke damage to her apartment) and she hears her dead sister talking to her in her head and (I’m guessing) sometimes talks out loud in reply. Then she finds something that she’s sure will get the sergeant to see what Rose has been saying all along – Daisy’s death was no accident and not only that, her death mirrors that of another woman six months prior. 

Of course nothing works out as Rose hopes but she catches a break when she discovers and unexpectedly connects online with someone who also lost a person to an “accident.” Orin actually believes Rose and Rose believes Orin. Together the two begin to try and find what might have linked Daisy to Orin’s sister-in-law only to realize that they’ve got something much worse on their hands. 

Orin and several other characters are written in such a way that Rose is alternatively sure and unsure of what their motives might be. Things happen, people act strangely but there are reasons for all this. Right? This could just be Rose being more paranoid (both mentally and due to what she’s worried is happening) or a coincidence. Yes? Or is someone really after Rose, trying to cut off her investigation and maybe kill her? 

I waffled back and forth a bit before settling on my pick for whodunnit. Rose and Co finally realize who the killer probably is which sets up a fast paced finale showdown. Rose does her fair share of “I know I shouldn’t do [whatever]” before she goes ahead and does just that but to her credit, what she does isn’t TSTL level stuff. There are some slightly, okay fairly, unbelievable things that conveniently occur to speed the plot along but I wanted to know what was going to happen and how all the pieces of the puzzle were going to fit together. I was left with a few niggling questions such as how did the killer choose his victims and manage to kill the last person, but most everything else was wrapped up and the feeling I get is that Daisy won’t be “talking” to Rose anymore. The twist at the end? That did catch me by surprise though. B-   

~Jayne

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I am no stranger to m/m hockey romances and I’ve reviewed a few here. This one has been on my TBR for a while and my library hold finally came in yesterday. Yes, I read it that quickly, folks. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that I devoured it.

Ezekiel Boehm, or Zeke as he is more commonly known, is a gym teacher at a relatively posh private school. (The school is a Quaker one and has fantastic politics.) He’s also a huge hockey fan, specifically of Spencer McLeod. He owns four of his jerseys, he daydreams about him, he watches all his interviews. Serious fan. So who is the new child in his class? None other than Spencer’s five-year-old daughter.

The first part of the book involves Zeke trying his best not to freak out too badly that his idol is talking to him, inviting him to games, etc. It was tough at this stage to imagine Zeke being anything other than a starstruck fan. The book does a masterful job of showing the fan element slowly fading away and being replaced by a relationship of two equals.

The journey to that status is punctuated with some seriously witty banter. Zeke has a flair for the dramatic sometimes and Spencer’s mumbled, shy, on-the-surface-abrupt utterances are charming rather than annoying. Spencer’s emotions are primarily communicated in half smiles and blushes. It’s very endearing.

As for plot, this book focuses on small events that lead to love like when Zeke helps prepare Spencer for this turn at leading the reading circle. Or Zeke helping Spencer choose a dog to adopt. What this book did differently to others is that there’s no tension building up to a dark moment that tests their relationship or commitment. It just kind of ends. Before this book I would have sworn up and down that I don’t enjoy reading the dark moments of books, but this book has made me rethink that stance. I really missed some indication that their relationship can withstand a test of some sorts.

If you’re looking for a book that will make you swoon from the giddiness of falling in love, then this book will hit the spot. Just don’t be too surprised when it ends abruptly.

The Cleric Chih accompanies a beautiful young bride to her wedding to the aging ruler of a crumbling estate situated at the crossroads of dead empires. The bride’s party is welcomed with elaborate courtesies and extravagant banquets, but between the frightened servants and the cryptic warnings of the lord’s mad son, they quickly realize that something is haunting the shadowed halls.

As Chih and the bride-to-be explore empty rooms and desolate courtyards, they are drawn into the mystery of what became of Lord Guo’s previous wives and the dark history of Do Cao itself. But as the wedding night draws to its close, Chih will learn at their peril that not all monsters are to be found in the shadows; some monsters hide in plain sight.

Though all the novellas are standalone, I would recommend reading at least one or two earlier ones to get a feel for the world and more information on the background of Chih and Almost Brilliant.

Dear Nghi Vo,

A new Singing Hills novella with Cleric Chih! This time it’s got some weird goings on, a strange family, a mystery. But where is Almost Brilliant?

Cleric Chih, a story gatherer from the Singing Hills Monastery, is on the road, traveling with a young bride and her parents on her way to meet a man her parents want her to marry. Pham Nhung is very young, sweetly charming, and acts and is treated as if she’s more fragile than fine porcelain. When the retinue reaches the compound, Nhung takes Chih with her ahead of the rest and surveys the strong walls that surround it, wondering aloud if she will find her future here.

The events get weirder after that when a bizarre young man warns Chih to have Nhung ask the lord what happened to his other brides. Wandering around the grounds that night, Chih and Nhung enter several buildings with Nhung coyly asking Chih to go in first and check for monsters. The mystery of the place deepens when the lord’s son, the young man from earlier, warns Chih and reveals something awful about his situation there and old family secrets. But the monsters Chih is expecting aren’t the ones they find.

“The world starts with a story. So do dynasties and eras and wars. So does love, and so does revenge. Everything starts with a story.”

Once again, a perfectly paced story unfolds in novella format. Some novellas end up too rushed or too thinly written with not enough to keep me interested. With the Singing Hills stories, I know that this won’t be the case. Words are carefully used to create and shade in the background worldbuilding which is filled with characters given nutshell sketches that tell us all we need to know about who they are without wasting pages on unneeded information.

The terrible situation is slowly built up, little by little with an aftertaste of unease, like a fire started and then allowed to heat up before bursting out in raging flames. There are subtle clues but they are softly dropped into the story and the reader is allowed to notice them and ponder what they mean before all the plot points are tied together and everything is let loose.

What didn’t work quite as well for me is

~Jayne

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It is the summer of 1919 and Constance Haverhill is without prospects. Now that all the men have returned from the front, she has been asked to give up her cottage and her job at the estate she helped run during the war. While she looks for a position as a bookkeeper or—horror—a governess, she’s sent as a lady’s companion to an old family friend who is convalescing at a seaside hotel. Despite having only weeks to find a permanent home, Constance is swept up in the social whirl of Hazelbourne-on-Sea after she rescues the local baronet’s daughter, Poppy Wirrall, from a social faux pas.

Poppy wears trousers, operates a taxi and delivery service to employ local women, and runs a ladies’ motorcycle club (to which she plans to add flying lessons). She and her friends enthusiastically welcome Constance into their circle. And then there is Harris, Poppy’s recalcitrant but handsome brother—a fighter pilot recently wounded in battle—who warms in Constance’s presence. But things are more complicated than they seem in this sunny pocket of English high society. As the country prepares to celebrate its hard-won peace, Constance and the women of the club are forced to confront the fact that the freedoms they gained during the war are being revoked.

Whip-smart and utterly transportive, The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club is historical fiction of the highest order: an unforgettable coming-of-age story, a tender romance, and a portrait of a nation on the brink of change.

Dear Ms. Simonson, 

Huzzah. A new book from you. I’d almost given up when I saw it on a “to be released” list and sprang at the chance to read it. It’s a complicated and at times melancholy and heartbreaking book. It also, yeah, takes a while to get into gear and truly had me guessing how certain things would be resolved.

Constance Haverhill is drifting in the early summer of 1919. She has been firmly eased out of the job she did to “do her part” for the war effort. Dreading becoming a governess, she gladly agrees to be a companion to a (truly sweet) elderly lady at a seaside resort and there becomes acquainted with a group of women similarly looking for the means to support themselves. The War has changed social mores and expectations, or so Constance and the other women hope. But has it really and is Constance truly a part of this society or merely there for a summer?

Rereading my review of “The Summer Before the War,” I should have remembered that your style is to slowly introduce the characters, set the scene, and only then allow the story to get going. This mimics the slower pace of life in a smaller seaside vacation town of 1919. People are not flicking and scrolling their phone screens and rushing around. Even with the gentler tempo, things are still going too quickly for middle aged characters who decry the sudden changes that are jolting their world. Meanwhile (usually wealthy) young women who see new opportunities are champing at the bit to enjoy life or, if they’re working class, are desperately attempting to find a job and scrounge a living. Those who fought and survived are learning how to live with their new realities.

Tertiary characters fill out the background and show how various social outcasts ease through this world. Naturalized German Klaus was once a sought after waiter in better hotels but made it through the war working hard in low rent jobs in London. Captain Pendra, a skilled Indian pilot, had to approach the French to get a commission before the embarrassed British would accept his credentials. Simon and Matilde de Champney have always faced racism due to their mother and the fact that their parents weren’t married. Sam might have money but it was made through trade so he’s not quite totally accepted into the golden circle. Meanwhile as one working class man says the rich live by different rules. 

Constance is inhabiting a middle ground. She’s not truly a part of the wealthy titled world that she lives in and can easily see herself sinking into the unnoticed working class. She knows that she must forge her way in the world which still views women as wives and mothers even though there is now a generation of women who will never find a husband. The camaraderie she sees in the motorcycle club draws her though some women are dilettantes and others are looking for money to supplement woeful pensions. I liked Constance and felt she was standing up for herself as well as she could in her situation. Yes, she bites her tongue at times but she has to keep on on the good side of certain characters who control her employment. But she does stick up for Mrs. Fog and that woman’s lovely second chance.  

She’s not at all sure about the brother of her new friend, Poppy. Harris has inherited a barontency but is mired in depression due to his amputation and the feeling that he should have died in the war with his friends. He is (usually) well mannered but also brittle and given to retiring from social events. A strong sense of responsibility for his former mechanic and a gift from his sister might be what drags him back even before the stark realities of the financial situation of his estate yank him out of his funk. I could understand Harris’s desire to withdraw from company, especially as we learn of past relationships that have been broken. Poppy is a character who both charmed and annoyed me. Often her heart is in the right place but she can also duck responsibility when she feels like it and makes a decision that causes a stunned Constance to tell Poppy that she just doesn’t understand the people in this (rarified) world. 

There are events and revelations that call out the racism and classism of this world. Some people will end up having to reap what they have sown. Some innocents will pay the price for jingoistic attitudes. I was annoyed at how a few people seemingly abandoned those who depended on them but at the same time, some of this was caused by the post war government policies dictating what genders could be employed. Still it stung. Rigid conventions almost upend a relationship until one person’s true colors emerge which allows the changing social mores to finally deliver what I’d been waiting for. This story is much more historical fiction with romantic elements than a romance. The pace is  leisurely. Bad things happen to some people. Other people get off the hook. But Constance’s eyes are open to what she’s going into and Harris knows that he’s found the woman he can respect and admire. B  

~Jayne

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Astronomers’ Library by Karen Masters

Indulge in this collection of the best astronomy books from the past 800 years. The Astronomers’ Library is a rich history of astronomy (and astrology) publishing across Europe.

This is a carefully selected arrangement of publications from all over the continent – Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, and the UK. And of course, as the original world leader in astrology, the middle east is featured, with multiple books from Persia.

Humankind has looked to the heavens since the dawn of time, wondering what is out there, as well as how everything works and (originally) who was responsible for it. Every tribe, race and civilization has wondered about our place in the universe and what lies beyond and what lies within it, below our feet.

Lately, attention has turned to the origins of the universe. From the turn of the millennium, knowledge and ideas were recorded, first on tablets or rock, then in the form of simple manuscripts, and eventually in a much more elaborate fashion as illustrative and engraving skills evolved.

The advent of printed books saw the production of highly illustrated tomes that showed off the skills of the printers as well as the newfound knowledge of the scholars and artists that wrote them.

Many of these works pushed the boundaries of illustrated publishing (and continue to do so to this day). They commanded expert illustrators and skilled engravers and hence didn’t come cheaply. They were treasured in the libraries of the wealthy and their intrinsic worth has meant that there is an incredible wealth of beautifully preserved historic examples from the 14th century onwards.

The significant difference we acknowledge today between astronomy and astrology has a relatively recent past, and the stars have long been associated with creatures, gods, characters and all sorts of divine beings. The study of such has a long, fascinating history that is shown in beautiful detail in the pages of these many beautiful books, and the transition from seeing the stars as characters to understanding them as spinning, celestial beings and part of our huge universe is akin to witnessing the history of the world.

Review

The blurb will tell you almost all you need to know about the book. Professor and author Karen Masters takes us through the best historical books about astronomy/astrology (as for a long time these were synonymous) from around the world. She selects best examples of books and arranges them loosely in chapters such as Star Atlases, Mapping Other Worlds, Astronomy and Culture, and Modern Astronomy – which contains a great resource list for further reading.

Rather than sticking closely to European viewpoint, entries are from all over the world with many more Islamic, Asian, and Mesoamerican examples than I’m used to seeing in similar books. The names by which they’re known might differ but the stars are the same as is the fascination of those who gazed at them and tried to understand them. I did notice a tendency for Renaissance European illustrators to include lots and lots of stargazing cheeky cherubs.

The illustrations are gorgeous and the tidbits and nuggets of information that Masters shares about her selections are fascinating. Given the layout and wealth of images, plus the fact that the digital and hardback prices aren’t that much different, it might be worth it to get a hardback copy in order to better enjoy it. The price right now will probably limit the book to hardcore enthusiasts. B

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A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages: The World Through Medieval Eyes by Anthony Bale

A captivating journey of the expansive world of medieval travel, from London to Constantinople to the court of China and beyond.

Europeans of the Middle Ages were the first to use travel guides to orient their wanderings, as they moved through a world punctuated with miraculous wonders and beguiling encounters. In this vivid and alluring history, medievalist Anthony Bale invites readers on an odyssey across the medieval world, recounting the advice that circulated among those venturing to the road for pilgrimage, trade, diplomacy, and war.

Journeying alongside scholars, spies, and saints, from Western Europe to the Far East, the Antipodes and the ends of the earth, Bale provides indispensable information on the exchange rate between Bohemian ducats and Venetian groats, medieval cures for seasickness, and how to avoid extortionist tour guides and singing sirens. He takes us from the streets of Rome, more ruin than tourist spot, and tours of the Khan’s court in Beijing to Mamluk-controlled Jerusalem, where we ride asses across the holy terrain, and bustling bazaars of Tabriz.

We also learn of rumored fantastical places, like ones where lambs grow on trees and giant canes grow fruit made of gems. And we are offered a glimpse of what non-European travelers thought of the West on their own travels.

Using previously untranslated contemporaneous documents from a colorful range of travelers, and from as far and wide as Turkey, Iceland, North Africa, and Russia, A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages is a witty and unforgettable exploration of how Europeans understood—and often misunderstood—the larger world.

Review

This looked interesting and for the most part it was. After an opening chapter on what travel means (just keep going through this), Bale dives into various historical accounts of (mainly) Europeans venturing far from home for various reasons though the last chapter covers a few journeys made to Europe, Africa, and the Arabian peninsula by people traveling westward from China and Mongolia. 

The most time is spent on religious pilgrimages to Rome, Jerusalem, Egypt, and other parts of the Middle East by European Christians. Maybe this was covered so extensively due to the availability of texts? It’s interesting but does go on a bit. Honestly, the conditions sounded as horrendous as the pilgrims probably found them to be. Traveling simply for wanderlust or pleasure didn’t appear to be that popular though perhaps the Europeans who left home for this reason decided not to go home and thus left no records? Trade was another major incentive to leave home and several merchants and traders left accounts of what they went through trying to buy and sell or set up trade hubs and links in foreign lands.   

The book jumps back and forth from various sources to cover different aspects of a typical journey that might have been made rather than sticking with one person’s narrative for a whole trip. Some travelers were enthusiastic while others were grimly determined and also expecting things to be ghastly. For pilgrims, the suffering along the way seemed to enhance the payoff of the trip (shortening time in Purgatory by years or totally for those who made it to the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem but check the 1450 guide in Rome to see exactly what indulgences are available and how much time you’ll save or how to get one soul out of Purgatory!). Some traders loved the chance to see new places while others caught cities or rulers having a bad day. One Chinese traveler was awestruck by Hormuz while a Mongolian Christian enjoyed sitting in a beautiful garden in Naples overlooking a sea battle.  

Bale doesn’t shy away from the fact that – just like today – people had their prejudices and preconceptions. Some of these are racist. Some people are great to travel with while others are grumps. What got written about depended on what a person thought was important rather than what we might love to read about today. 

Several fun tidbits of information are included such as an exchange rate so you know how far your plapparts will take you (also change money in Bruges where there’s a bank), don’t forget a staff (support and beating off bandits) and a bag, where to find a licensed guide in Venice who won’t cheat you while booking your travel on to the Holy Land, some travel costs in Egypt and the Holy Land (just accept that you’re going to be stiffed for money all along the way), that the locals who aren’t making money off of you will probably be annoyed by you (jeering and stone throwing are probable), some handy phrases translated into Greek, Albanian, Turkish, and Arabic, medical advice for those traveling overseas (some of which is … not bad), India has both manticores and unicorns, and when traveling from Tana to Khanbaliq (Beijing) don’t be chintzy when hiring a dragoman – splash out and hire a good one,. 

The little snapshots of things I hadn’t expected – life in a caravanserai (like a modern travel pit stop); that people from all over the world had traveled much farther into distant lands than I expected; that an Italian saw and saved two Tartars in bondage in Italy, one of whom he’d met before on his travels – were what made the book for me. It ends with sources, references, and further reading.  When it’s all said and done, it appears that travelers and traveling experiences haven’t changed all that much over the centuries. B      

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Otherworldly Antarctica: Ice, Rock, and Wind at the Polar Extreme by Edmund Stump

With stunning original photographs, an Antarctic scientist and explorer takes us to one of the most sublime, remote, and pristine regions on the planet.

The interior of Antarctica is an utterly pristine wilderness, a desolate landscape of ice, wind, and rock; a landscape so unfamiliar as to seem of another world. This place has been known to only a handful of early explorers and the few scientists fortunate enough to have worked there. Edmund Stump is one of the lucky few. Having climbed, photographed, and studied more of the continent-spanning Transantarctic Mountains than any other person on Earth, this geologist, writer, and photographer is uniquely suited to share these alien sights.

With stories of Stump’s forty years of journeys and science, Otherworldly Antarctica contains 130 original color photographs, complemented by watercolors and sketches by artist Marlene Hill Donnelly. Over three chapters—on the ice, the rock, and the wind—we meet snowy paths first followed during Antarctica’s Heroic Age, climb the central spire of the Organ Pipe Peaks, peer into the crater of the volcanic Mount Erebus, and traverse Liv Glacier on snowmobile, while avoiding fatal falls into the blue interiors of hidden crevasses. Along the way, we see the beauty of granite, marble, and ice-cored moraines, meltwater ponds, lenticular clouds, icebergs, and glaciers. Many of Stump’s breathtaking images are aerial shots taken from the planes and helicopters that brought him to the interior. More were shot from vantages gained by climbing the mountains he studied. Some were taken from the summits of peaks. Many are of places no one had set foot before—or has since. All seem both permanent and precarious, connecting this otherworld to our fragile own.

Review

Fifty years ago, geologist Edmund Stump began a love affair with the beautiful but also brutal world of Antarctica. Luckily for us, he’s also a great photographer and he snapped gorgeous pictures of the continent while doing scientific research there. Major bonus points that he accomplished this in an age before drones.

Think of purest white—the brilliance of all colors—and fathomless blue. Sprinkle in a few dark rocks and the total lack of green and you have Antarctica’s minimal pallet.

If someone offered me a chance to visit Antarctica, I’d be hard pressed to turn it down regardless of my risk of panic attacks while flying. Seriously, it wouldn’t be pretty. But if I could see IRL what I see in these images? I might take a deep breath, live better with chemistry, and go for it.

We were suspended on a transparent surface surrounded by bits and pieces of sparkling crystal, tinged blue beneath the waterline. A dome of matte gray illuminated the shadowless landscape. Ringing the cove were steep walls of ice fed by glaciers from the slopes above. Their faces bore the scars of tension and release where they had calved the icebergs that spread throughout the cove. The ice of the walls was young, only faintly blushing blue.

The book is divided into three sections: Ice, Rocks, and Wind. Stump adds geographic information for each image as well as describes his time there. There is a lot of scientific geology-speak to explain what readers are looking at which is helpful but Stump is also awed by his surroundings.

In the lifeless world of Antarctica, the wind is an animate force active in human-time— miles per hour, a heartbeat. It may be fierce, it may be calm, it may be steady, it may be restless or fickle or faint. Sometimes it isn’t even there at all. It is the bearer of cloud and the deliverer of snow. It can be a fearsome force, roiling through the mountains.

I found myself spending more time studying photos, inhaling this truly “otherworldly” place. Some photos made the landscape appear to be an intimate 50 or so feet across only to have the author reveal a scale of miles instead. Other images are up close and have a span of mere twelve inches. This is another book which is probably best as a coffee table hardback edition. B

If I had one hour more to savor Antarctica, it would be on a névé—a snowfield, circled at a distance by low mountains, snow gracefully rising to narrow ridgelines. A light breeze would nip my nose to remind me of where I was. The midnight sun would be low in the southern sky, casting long shadows and a faint alpine glow. And I would be standing in the midst of a field of the most exquisite sastrugi—wind-carved snow—as far as the eye could see.

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Shop these trendy and comfortable Halara waffle pants everyone’s raving about. 

People are raving about these wide-leg Halara waffle pants! They’re perfect to dress up or down and will be a new favorite staple piece!

Here’s what a Hip reader recently wrote to us about these Halara wide-leg pants:

“I have a question (or looking for help). Have you seen the wide-leg Halara Waffle Pants? I’m in love!! I don’t want to buy from a site I’m not sure of though.” – Hip2Save reader

Our team isn’t new to Halara so I knew ordering these pants would be seamless. Their exercise dress we rated in the past won the best exercise dress overall so one look at these wide-leg pants and I knew they’d likely be worth every penny. 🤩

I ordered my pants on a Friday morning and they arrived on Monday so shipping is super quick too! 📦

All of that to say, this Halara pants review is for you Hip readers! 

The Halara Wide Leg Waffle Pants come in 15 colors and multiple sizes ranging from petite, regular, and tall. I bought the “Mountain Spring” color because I love the dusty blue trend right now and wanted to step outside my neutral comfort zone. 😉

(And they didn’t disappoint.)

These pleated wide-leg pants are begging to be dressed up! 🤩

I coordinated them with my new cowl neck top that I had been struggling to style since I bought it. Slipped on some strappy sandals and completed my look with a cute bag I recently bought for upcoming wedding festivities.

For someone who rarely gets dressed up, I couldn’t be more obsessed with this outfit. On the flip side, they’re just as easy to dress down because they make any outfit feel totally effortless since they’re so stretchy and comfy! I’ve already decided I’m wearing these for my birthday dinner this month because of how many people have complimented them. 💁🏼‍♀️

I’m regularly a size 25/0 in women’s pants so I ordered an XS regular and they fit perfectly. I’m almost 5’6″ and the length is also perfect so I definitely recommend getting your true size.

These pants are one of my favorite wardrobe purchases so far this year. 🙌🏼

I’ve washed and air-dried these pants a couple of times and they still fit the same and don’t come out wrinkly. (Who doesn’t love a truly effortless wardrobe piece?!) 👏🏻

The waffle material is so comfortable to lounge in too. I can’t think of a better work-from-home pant if you want to look professional without sacrificing comfort.

All in all, to the Hip reader who wasn’t sure, these are a “YES” for me. 😍

Don’t just take my word for it, here’s what other reviewers are saying about these Halara waffle pants:

This week’s top LTK sellers are perfect if you’re looking for more trendy pieces. 

Dear Julie Ann Long:

This is the latest (the seventh) installment in the Palace of Rogues series; I believe I’ve read every book except book three, though I started out of order. I began with book four, After Dark with the Duke, which is still by far my favorite in the series.

Anyway, on to My Season of Scandal. Catherine Keating is a young country miss in London for the Season, courtesy of an acquaintance named Lady Wisterberg. There’s not room for Cat at the crowded London townhouse that Lady Wisterberg and her goddaughter are staying at. So Cat is staying at the Grand Palace on the Thames, where the proprietresses will serve as chaperones when she’s not in the care of Lady Wisterberg. Cat is the sensible daughter of a widowed country doctor; at 22, this is likely her only chance to come to London, experience some adventure, and perhaps meet a husband.

Lord Dominic Kirke is also staying at the GPotT; his home is unlivable currently due to his mistress having set it on fire. Dominic is 35 (I side-eye such age differences, especially coupled with life-experience differences, in a way I never used to) and a notorious member of the House of Commons. I’m a tiny bit confused, in retrospect, about him being a lord and being a member of the House of Commons, though to be fair I don’t really know how that all works, and Dominic’s title is definitely not inherited, so perhaps it makes sense.

Cat and Dominic first encounter each other after he visits her room late at night to complain about the noise Cat is making; freshly arrived in London, and unused to her new surroundings and relative freedom, Cat is belting out a naughty song she learned in the GPotT’s drawing room, and dancing around, inadvertently knocking over furniture. The encounter is brief but Kirke makes an impression.

They meet again the next evening, at a ball. Catherine, overwhelmed by the crowds, is hiding among ferns when she overhears an encounter between Kirke and an obnoxious aristocrat, Farquar. That meeting ends with Farquar trying to punch Kirke, and Cat hurries away, only to run into him again minutes later in a secluded location (of course). They engage in banter and she confesses to him that she was made to feel bad about the age of her dress and not having the most in-fashion sleeves. There’s an attraction; hesitant on Cat’s part due to Kirke’s infamy and dangerous air, and somewhat detached on Kirke’s part, because he knows they aren’t suited (I’ll give him a bit of credit there). Still, after they part he does her a service – pays a footman to make sure that Lady Wisterberg, apparently a gambling fiend, leaves on time with Cat in order to get Cat home before the GPotT’s curfew.

The two continue to be thrown together at balls and at the mandatory GPotT’s dinners and evenings spent in the sitting room. There’s a slow-ish build up to admiration and attraction, which I appreciated, and as mentioned above Kirke is pretty sure that it can’t go anywhere, and Cat is probably a bit too dazzled and unworldly to imagine that it could, either. Kirke does go out of his way to do something unusual for him – he dances with Cat publicly at a ball, thus setting her up as the Next Big Thing in the minds of the ton.

Cat is happy with her newfound social success but she is still very drawn to Kirke. Kirke is nursing a secret (though some in the ton know, so I guess it’s not entirely a secret) and eventually he shares it with Cat.

Eventually Cat and Kirke’s relationship progresses to doing naughty things in the garden of balls, which…no, I am just over that at this stage in my life. Maybe once it seemed daring and sexy, now it just seems dumb and I wonder what the h/h think they are doing.

I felt like there was perhaps a bit less time spent at the GPotT than in previous books. I had mixed feelings about that; on the one hand I really like the cozy “found family” conceit of the setting, however twee and unrealistic it may be. On the other hand there is just so much lore and insider information that gets repeated in every book, and it can get tedious.

To borrow a phrase from today’s youth, My Season of Scandal was very mid for me. I think I would have gotten a lot more out of it at another time in my romance reading. It has good writing, a nice, simple plot without a lot of extraneous nonsense, and sympathetic characters. But it’s a plot and characters that, with minor variation, I have seen a thousand times. And that just doesn’t do much for me anymore – maybe it never will again. I just know that when I dip my toes back into historical romance, nine of ten (or more) books just aren’t moving me because they aren’t unusual enough. After Dark with the Duke might actually be the last one that qualifies.

So, my grade for My Season of Scandal is a C+, with the qualification (one I seem to be making almost every time I review historical romance these days) – I think a lot of other historical romance fans might like this more than I did.

Best,

Jennie

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