The Opposite Of Innocent by Sonya Sones

The Opposite of Innocent by Sonya Sones, 260 pages

Sonya Sones writes most of her books in prose, but this one was a little different.  I had no idea what this book was about until I read it.  Lily is a fourteen year old girl who thinks she is in love with Nick, a 29 year old living with her family.  But, when Lily starts a relationship with the young man, he wants to take it much further.  But when Lily tries to stop him, he blackmails her into going all the way.  With the #metoomovement, will she realize it is not her fault.  Very helpful resources in the back of the book.

When Falcons Fall by C.S. Harris

When Falcons Fall: A Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery by C.S. Harris --- 355 pages

The eleventh book in Harris' intriguing Regency mystery series.  It's 1813, and Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, has brought his family to the small village of Ayleswick-on-Teme in Shropshire, ostensibly to honor a promise to a dying friend. But the truth is that the friend, Jamie Knox, a London tavernkeeper, looked enough like Devlin to be his brother; and was killed by a man who mistook him for he Viscount.  Now Sebastian hopes that Jamie's family in Ayleswick might be able to tell him something more about the mysterious man who may have fathered both Jamie and himself.

But no sooner did Sebastian and his wife Hero and their entourage arrive in the village when Sebastian is forced to put aside his own quest to assist the young and inexperienced local magistrate in investigating the death of a young widow, also a visitor to the village, whose body is found in the watermeadow beside the River Teme, with an empty laudanum bottle at her side.

It takes very little effort for Sebastian to determine that Emma Chance did not commit felo-de-se ---suicide --- a criminal offense in 19th century England. It takes a little longer to determine how she really met her death, but the true challenge is discovering why she died and who killed her.

With Hero's assistance, Sebastian learns that Emma Chance was not her real name, and that her purpose in coming to Ayleswick was not just a sketching expedition. But was there some connection between the dead woman and Lucien Bonaparte, the estranged brother of the French Emperor Napoleon? Lucien supposedly broke with his brother and fled to England for refuge; he and his family are visiting an estate near Ayleswick. When a British agent keeping Lucien under surveillance is ambushed during a meeting with Sebastian, the Viscount wonders which of them was actually the target?

Sebastian’s investigation takes a new turn when he discovers that Emma is just the latest in a series of young women in Ayleswick who have supposedly committed suicide. Ayleswick reveals itself to be a place where greed and injustice have festered for decades — and where someone is pursuing a relentless revenge. What will it take to stop the killing? 

Click HERE to read a review from High Voltage.

Click HERE to read a review from the Historical Novel Society.

Click HERE to read a review from Kirkus.

Click HERE to read a review from Publisher's Weekly.

Mr. Kiss and Tell (Veronica Mars #2) by Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham

Mr. Kiss and Tell (Veronica Mars #2) by Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham - 330 pages

I liked reading this one a lot. It's the second Veronica Mars mystery set after the film of the same name. It is set 6 months after the end of the first mystery novel. A girl from Veronica's past is raped and beaten at the Neptune Grand and Veronica sets out to find the person responsible. Also, there's more drama around the incompetent Balboa County Sheriff Dan Lamb and a new contender to replace him in the November election. This one was better than the first novel, although I enjoyed reading both. It had everything I liked about the show and more. If you liked the show and movie, I would recommend reading the two novels that have been written so far.

Easy by Tammara Webber

Easy by Tammara Webber- 310 pgs

Instead of going to a music conservatory to continue her love of the upright bass, Jacqueline Wallace follows her high school boyfriend to a state university.  Three weeks into their junior year, he breaks up with her, leaving her devastated.  On the way home from a party, Jacqueline is almost sexually assaulted, until Lucas rescues her from her attackers clutches.  After that fateful night, Lucas seems to be everywhere and Jacqueline can't help but be attracted.  There were some twists and turns and some of them could be seen a mile away, but it was a good read.  It really pushed the message home that sexual assault is never the victim's fault, which is a good lesson for someone of any age to hear.

Midnight at Marble Arch by Anne Perry

Midnight at Marble Arch: A Charlotte and Thomas Pitt Novel by Anne Perry --- 337 pages

This is the 26th novel in Perry's series featuring Thomas Perry (now head of Special Branch, the special British police unit organized at the turn of the 19th century to deal with European anarchists and Irish revolutionaries), and his clever wife Charlotte.

Thomas and his predecessor at Special Branch, Victor Narraway, become involved in the investigation into the brutal rape and subsequent suicide of the wife of a wealthy and influential London investment banker. Meanwhile, the observant Charlotte suspects that several young debutantes have also been sexually assaulted by a young man of dissolute and violent disposition. One of them, the daughter of the Portuguese ambassador, falls to her death in the middle of a ball. Is this coincidence? Can there be two violent rapists attacking socially prominent women in London? Is there more at work here than appears on the surface? Although these crimes appear to fall outside the remit of Special Branch, Narroway appeals to Thomas to help, and Charlotte urges him on.

Then the police make an arrest. Narroway, Thomas and Charlotte are convinced that the man arrested is not the rapist. But their efforts to find evidence to prove his innocence are thwarted by the accused's strange reluctance to reveal the true reasons for his frequent meetings with the banker's wife.

Anne Perry tells a compelling tale, revealing the dark side of the glittering British Empire at the height of its power, corruption and hypocrisy.