The Agency 2: The Body At The Tower by Y.S. Lee

This is the second installment of The Agency series about a young lady in Victorian England who is doing undercover work for a secret agency consisting of only women. I love these books and everytime I read them I taken back to my Nancy Drew obsession days...

The young lady is Mary Quinn. The case is of course, a dead body. The setting is the clock tower at houses of parliament aka Big Ben aka St. Stephen's tower.

The tower is under construction and mysterious goings on are occurring around and on it. A bricklayer falls to his death in the middle of the night from the top. Why? Is it foul play? An accident? Why was he there at that time?

It is up to Mary Quinn to find out and to do this, she dons male attire and calls herself Mark and heads out to the construction site to work. She doesn't count on running into James Easton again tho.. Those who read book one (A Spy In The House), will remember this handsome fellow who appeared at all places and times, even in closets. He could very well foil her plans in this one.. or help Mary make her case.

There's drinking on the job, love affairs gone wrong, petty theft, annoying reporters, and men on the "take." Mary must get to the bottom of it all without falling or being thrown from the clock tower herself. While attempting to solve the case, Mary also has her own private issues. She longs to know more about her Chinese heritage, but will she ever come to terms with it well enough to find out what she wants to know?

This is a mystery so I'm leaving it at that. This was a fun, light read and just what I needed.

Laugh out loud moment: Mary has discovered beer (inevitable when working with all men) and thinks to herself while sitting in the Pig & Whistle.... "On a diet that meant she was eating less than ever before, in a job that required more physical labor than she was used to, she recognized in her daily pints an important form of nutriment. Harkness was off his rocker, trying to ban his workers from beer. How else could they find the energy to work?"

I bought this book from Amazon. 

Goodbye Glamour Gals by R.J. Dailey

This is a historical novel about a real life cat fight...

Cat number one being Jacqueline Cochran, famous record breaking aviatrix...

Cat number two being Nancy Harkness Love, wife of an Army Major and a reknowned pilot herself.

During world war II, both women approached the U.S. government about the pressing need to permit women to fly military aircraft. The government was producing five thousand planes a month. All those planes needed to get from point A (the factory) to point B (the soldiers) and STAT. Every woman ferrying these planes freed a man up to go do the dirty work: fight. Both women had plans and both women wanted to be in charge. Promises were made from different higher ups to both women..

It ends up being a cat fight. I wanted to jump in this book and say, "Ladies, there is a war going on!! Instead of worrying about getting the glory, just get the job done!" But alas, that's not how women work...

Jacqueline forms the Women's Flying Training Department or WFTD. She demands a mere 200 (and later, less) flying time and trains women to be ferry pilots. Her base begins in Houston and ends up becoming the WASP located at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas. What begins as a group of women staying in miscellaneous houses and using a hotel bus as transportation, becomes a complete base and barracks complete with top notch aircraft trainers.

Nancy Love, meanwhile begins the Women's Auxiliary Ferry Squadron and because she caves to the higher ups demands, her requirement of 500 flying hours limits the number of women she can have. After all, there is a war going on and recreational flying is banned so how are women going to obtain the required flight hours? Added to that complication, Nancy prefers to fly in the air rather than from behind a desk...

Another factor of note: Cochran believed in protecting the women, forming a union of women only pilots because she knew firsthand the difficulties the women would face at every base, the animosity from men. The first part of this book really shows how women were treated back then. (Love this quote: "If they'd just let me do this job and stop acting like children..." )

Hm.. May the best woman win.. or can they learn to work together to save the WASP? I really enjoyed this book, but I have a strong interest in the subject. My only complaints: 1. The last quarter went on too much about the Costello law, an attempt to militarize the WASP. (The WASP tho part of the Army Air Corps did not receive death benefits or health care.) 2. The novel did at times feel like a biography and didn't go much into the women's personal lives. If you want a romance, this is not for you. If you want to learn the story of the most ground breaking accomplishment in women's aviation, this is it. Both women opened what until their time, was pretty much a barred and locked door, women flying military craft. As Jackie says in this book, "We won't just be typists and secretaries and stenographers and housewives and nurses anymore. Women can do anything. And one day we will do everything."

These ladies proved it.

I bought this book on Amazon.

The Secret Eleanor by Cecelia Holland

I think most everyone knows of Eleanor of Acquitaine and probably has read a book or two about her. She was Queen of France when married to Louis VII (in this version, he is a terrible pansy who makes no decisions for himself) and later, queen of England when married to Henry d'Anjou, son of Empress Mathilda. This novel begins during her marriage to the pansy and chronicles her love at first sight and supposed extramarital affair with Henry. After having done the horizontal mambo with Henry, Eleanor swears she will be with him and help him take the English throne, but Louis is in her way. Can she obtain an annullment. Better yet, can she hide her growing pregnancy? If not, all her plans will go down the chamber pot mighty fast.

Basically, it's a historical love triangle involving a very horny, lusty queen...

And two men, one the weak king of France...

And one the future king of England with thighs like columns (I will explain)...

This is my first Eleanor of Acquitaine novel. I am grateful to my friend Daphne (do visit her blog: http://shelfandstuff.blogspot.com/) for posting a giveaway for this book on her blog and as a result, allowing me a chance to read it. I actually feel bad for not enjoying it as much as she did but here is why I didn't like it:

"Drawn to that lust in his voice, she reached out to him and they joined again, fierce as leopards, scratching and clawing and roaring at the peak, as if they crushed worlds betwen them. Afterward, his weight still pressing her down, his lance still deep inside her".. yadda yadda... and later.. "His manhood slid slowly from her crevice." and even later.. "she used her shift to wipe his jism from her thighs."

EW. I wanted to read about her leading an army of women.. not wiping jism from her thighs!

And ladies, have you ever thought of your men in the following manner?

"When she thought of him her body grew warm and taut, and she remembered his passionate mouth, his muscular chest with its mat of thick curly, red hair, his thighs like columns, the sword between them that fit her scabbard so well."

Well... (clearing throat..) I do have something good to say about the novel believe it or not tho. I actually enjoyed the twists and deceits involving Eleanor's sister, Petronilla. I found myself applauding them for the cloak and horse switching and little ways they out foxed the court spies and religious men. Claire and the lute player tho... as Eleanor would say, "Bah!" I could have done without that little side story.

And priceless, laugh out loud moment, a quote from Eleanor: "Damn their souls to some deep, hot hell where only men can be - a hole dug with penises!"

Say what?? LOL

Since I won this from my friend's blog, but didn't like it well enough to keep, I will be passing it on to someone who I hope will enjoy it more. Be watching for it on my September Pick-A-Book giveaway.

Mare's War by Tanita S. Davis

This is a fictional novel with fictional characters based on a real group of women, the 6888th African American Battalion of the Women's Army Corps. During world II, women gained their own army and because segregation was in effect in those days, African American women had their own battalion.

The story of these women is told from the viewpoint of Mare, who relates this tale while taking a road trip with her grandchildren one summer. In between rest stops, hotels, restaurants, teaching fifteen year old Octavia to drive, and arguing about music with seventeen year old Tali, Mare tells about leaving an unhappy home in 1940s Alabama to join the Women's Army Corps and enable a man to go off and fight. (It should be noted that during this time, women joining the Army was frowned upon by mainstream society. They were perceived as "mannish girls with unnatural desires" so our heroine dealt with prejudice of all kinds.) The first half of the story is boot camp. There is marching, beds tight enough to bounce quarters off of, more marching, and gas mask training.

From training, the 6888th goes to England where they have 6 airplane hangars full of mail to sort and get to its destination. These ladies were in charge of "soldier's morale." If troops didn't get their mail, their morale went down. What these women did was very important. Mare does not limit her narrative to military stuff tho. She also talks about the way English people treat the African Americans compared to the way Americans treat them. She talks about learning to dance and having her first drink. She also remembers taking cover during air raids. After England, the Battalion goes to France and they participate in a parade honoring Joan of Arc. This really did happen in real life.

I really enjoyed this. I highly recommend it to all ages and all races. It is very important that these women receive recognition and that their contribution never be forgot. I could have done without the modern day parts of this book, but they didn't detract from my enjoyment.

Favorite quote: My nails might not be nice enough for polite folk, and my face might not be clean, but I earned my place in this man's army."

I got this book from the library.

Den Of Wolves by Luke Devenish

I'm fond of saying..."If you are going to entertain me for 4 days (aka 600 pages), you better grab me from the get go." I do have a very short attention span and I hate extremely lengthy paragraphs describing dresses and trees and clouds. (YAWN) I will say one thing in this book's favor. It did grab me from the get go even tho I thought it was kind of weird.

Why weird? The narrator is 100 years old. (He also narrates book 2 so I guess he is about 115 or 120 at that point.) That's strange itself, but the man/woman and the little oracle boy that kills birds and reads their entails... VERY WEIRD. Nevertheless, I was hooked because the book was different and the heroine, Livia Drusilla, tho unlikeable, is strong.

Livia marries Tiberius Nero. He is not the one she really sees herself being with tho. She aspires much higher. She aspires to marry Octavian, Julius Caesar's nephew, the first emperor. Thanks to a very sinister slave, Livia attains her goal and seduces Octavian.

She becomes Empress. I gotta mention at this point, the sexual depravity was there but no real details. You KNOW they are doing the nasty, but the author doesn't go for paragraphs about it. However, Martina, the sinister slave seems to bring up the subject of breasts every time she appears in the story. Cleopatra, upon saying goodbye to her literally takes a book out and starts squeezing it. Livia is seduced by Martina's tattooed breasts and falls on her knees to um.. err.. play with them. Very werid, this Martina and breasts.

I said, up until this point, the sexual depravity was minimal.. However, upon reaching page 166, it went to new heights. Livia announces to Tiberius that she is carrying Octavian's child and all that.. While he is on the floor begging her not to leave him, she throws hot coals on his body and does the following: "She raised her long, white stola from the coals and stood astride him, giving him his final view of her privates. Then she let go a hot stream of urine, dousing his face and hair with it until she had put out the last of the embers."

And... well.. at that point, I became rather frightened of what may yet be coming. (Copulating dwarves or something?) I also realized that 170 pages into the novel, I didn't like or care about a single character. I bailed.

I bought this book from Amazon and if anyone else has the guts to try it, I will be posting it as one of the choices on my Pick A Book giveaway for September. Be watching for it.

Soldier's Secret: The Story of Deborah Sampson by Sheila Solomon Klass

Deborah Sampson really existed. She was a Massachusetts gal who donned a pair of britches and fought in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary war. This is a fictional account of her life, parts of it anyway.

The story tells a bit about Deborah's childhood. Her dad abandons her, her mother and siblings (or he got lost at sea... who knows for sure?) and Deborah's mother cannot afford to feed all the mouths left to her so off Deborah goes to be an identured servant for TEN years. This does somewhat parallel the Annie Oakley novel by this same author. However, Deborah doesn't find her way back home. Instead, she dons male attire and joins the Continental Army posing as a young man.

In the Army, Deborah (now known as Robert Shurtliff) developes a crush on Roger. They become quite close but when Roger finds out her secret, he may not react the way she hopes. They both find themselves imprisoned in Tory loyal farmhouse and at death's door. The ending finds Deborah exacting revenge on the Tory loving farmer and suffering a severe injury and fever herself. Plus, her secret is out...

Deborah Sampson really did join the Army and really did receive an honorable discharge in 1783. She really did receive two musket balls in the leg also. She later became the first woman lecturer in the United States. The book doesn't go that far tho. I liked it, but I must say it is def aimed at the much younger crowd, not necessarily young adult, but pre teen. There were some religious moments as well. Four stars because I HATED Roger. He being a fictional character, why was he made to be such a wimp????

Statue of Sampson outside the Sharon, Massachusetts public library

Great quote: "I never wanted to be a boy or a man. I was content in my femininity. What I always wanted was to be the equal of any boy."

I bought this book on Amazon.

The More I Owe You by Michael Sledge

First of all, right off the bat, I gotta say, for two women that obviously made enough impact on the world in the 1950s to go down in history and even have a novel written about their romance, they sure did live very dull lives. (That's if this book is anything to go by.)

Elizabeth Bishop, the heroine of this tale, was a real American poet. This novel is about her love affair with Lota de Macedo Soares, a Brazilian architect. During a bad time in her life, Elizabeth travels to Brazil. She is an alcoholic, has various ailments, suffers from bad memories regarding her mentally ill mother, and really, just fades into the background of this story.

If you are looking for a story about Elizabeth Bishop, this may not be for you. Lota de Macedo Soares def steals the show. Her character is so strong where Elizabeth is so weak.. Lota controls everything. What she commands, Elizabeth does. Lota is obsessed with architecture and is building her house.. Much... TOO MUCH of this book is about that bloody house.

And the story goes somewhat like this: (AFTER Lota dumps her live in partner and demands Elizabeth moves in with her) The women talk about poetry, they talk about the house, they get a flat tire, they talk about poetry, they talk about the house, Elizabeth gets sick, they talk about the house.. and between all this talk of the house, the book goes on and on and on about Brazilian flora and fawna and roads and other people's houses.

I made it to 40% and after falling asleep twice, I called it quits.

There's one thing keeping this from being a mere one star book tho. I laughed my butt off for half an hour upon reading this bit here:

Elizabeth: "If you watch any Brazilian man for five minutes, you'll see him scratching and adjusting himself. It's as if they're constantly arranging flowers in a vase."

Lota: "Those aren't flowers. Those are the jewells of Brazil! If they didn't keep grabbing their balls, they'd forget they were men. That's the problem with this country: The men have to keep reminding themselves they are men, and the women are even worse. They have no balls, either!"

I bought this book from Amazon.