#BlogTour: The Paris Daughter by Soraya Lane

For this blog tour, we’re looking at yet another excellent entry in Soraya Lane’s Lost Daughters series that seemingly brings us that much closer to the finale. For this blog tour, we’re looking at The Paris Daughter by Soraya Lane.

First, the review I posted to the book sites (Hardcover.app / BookHype.com / TheStoryGraph.com / Goodreads.com):

(Mostly) Solid Next Entry In Series, Brings Us Closer To Finale. What seems to be clear with this series is that our final book in it will seemingly be the origin story of Hope House, the very entity that essentially started the entire series – which itself would be an intriguing dynamic, storytelling wise. This book does a phenomenal job of bringing us that much closer to that tale… possibly as soon as the next book after this one???

Otherwise, this book largely works to the same degree and in the same ways that its predecessors do – they all manage to superbly combine both elements of Soraya Lane’s romance writing prowess and her historical fiction writing prowess (as Soraya M. Lane). In this particular book, yet again both elements are particularly strong, though I might perhaps give the edge to the historical side – Evaline is truly one of the more assertive (in the best of ways) ladies Lane has ever created in a fictional period, and yet Evaline is also true to her times – she manages to have that steel hand wrapped in velvet that women of earlier times were well known (at least in some circles) for, and yet nothing is actually out of place here. The modern timeline is another of the “writer writes about her life” trope, and yet again, it works well with Lane writing it.

I say “Mostly” in the title because the back part of the tale just felt like it was missing… something? I’m not even sure what, exactly. Maybe more time with Evaline post-war, rather than the way we (the readers) get that information here? Even then, I’m not *sure* that’s what I felt was missing, I just know that the ending ultimately felt a touch abrupt and not as complete as these tales have been, for some reason. But you, the reader of my review, should absolutely read this book and maybe help me figure out what I missed here?

Ultimately truly another excellent entry combining both of Lane’s strengths.

Very much recommended.

After the jump, the “publisher details” – book info, description, author bio, social links, and buy links.
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#BlogTour: A Small Affair by Flora Collins

For this blog tour, we’re looking at a tale that seems to describe New York City (at least its yuppie Upper West Side types) to a T. For this blog tour, we’re looking at A Small Affair by Flora Collins.

Here’s what I had to say about it on Goodreads:

NYC To A T. I’ve been trying to think about what to say about this book for four days and I’ve got… nothing. There isn’t anything overly technically wrong here (the time and perspective jumps can be jarring at times, maybe, but that’s about it), and it is in fact a mostly engaging story – you’re going to want to know what happened, and then you’re going to want to know how and why it happened. On both of these points, Collins gets rather explosive. Overall though this book just has the feel of an utterly pretentious New York… witch… who can’t see beyond her Upper West Side aspirations. Certainly for the characters, and maybe Collins herself was simply being a solid conduit of these characters. If you like tales of that particular yuppie New York world, eh, you’re probably going to LOVE this book. And again, even if that isn’t overly your thing, this is still a good book. But if you’re more of a Southern Suburbanite/ hillbilly type who remembers with fondness the old Pace Salsa commercials with their “*NEW YORK CITY?!?!?!?!?* tagline… this is NYC to a T from that perspective. So know that going in. Recommended.

After the jump, an excerpt from the book followed by the “publisher details” – book description, author bio, and social media and buy links.
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#BookReview: Worn Out by Alyssa Hardy

More Memoir Than Investigative Expose. At least for me, the current description as I write this review nearly three months before the book’s scheduled publication reads more that this book would have been an investigative expose similar to Maxine Bedat’s 2021 book Unraveled. And while many similar issues are discussed – from the rampant sex abuse in sweatshops to the mass markets in Africa where fast fashion castoffs that don’t wind up in landfills ultimately wind up, among others – this is still mostly a memoir based narrative with some interviews to back up Hardy’s own observations from her career in fashion. A career Hardy mentions a few times she left, and which becomes clear she is still processing her time within. Still, as a bit of an “insider’s look” rather than active investigative journalism, this tale largely works and it does show a lot of the perils of the modern fast fashion industry. Indeed, the book really only suffers from two flaws: One is that it discusses COVID frequently, and I am on a one-man crusade against any book that mentions COVID for any reason at all. My only real tool in this crusade is a one-star deduction, and therefore it applies here. The second star deduction comes from the dearth of a bibliography. Even for similar memoir-based narratives and even with my extensive experience working with these narratives in advance reader copy form, the bibliography here is quite small, clocking in at just 2% or so of the text – when 10% is more normal even for this particular type of narrative, and 20-30% is more normal for nonfiction more generally. Still, for what it is and what it discusses, this book is well written and engaging (and a fairly quick read, for those looking for that), and is reasonably solid given the caveats above. Very much recommended.

This review of Worn Out by Alyssa Hardy was originally written on July 2, 2022.

#BookReview: Gucci Girls Don’t Date Cowboys

Solid Single Dad Meets City Girl Romance. This is the second book in the new O’Sullivan Sisters Series, and as such contains at least minor spoilers from the book before (that are obvious due to it being a romance book, nothing really more than that). And yet, while it does contain the overall series mythos to a certain degree… it doesn’t really do much to advance it other than a surprising moment at the end to rather blatantly set up the next book. Ultimately this one is mostly concerned with telling a standalone (though set in a common world) romance… and that absolutely works here. It has enough length so that growth doesn’t appear sudden, even as it mentions months passing by in single sentences to show time progressing that way as well. In the end, a satisfying romance that does just enough to continue the series. Very much recommended.

This review of Gucci Girls Don’t Date Cowboys by Sophia Quinn was originally written on February 14, 2022.

Featured New Release Of The Week: Deconstructed by Liz Talley

This week we’re looking at a book that is a solid cross between Mark Twain and the 2014 comedy The Other Woman that also does a great job of showing a wide swath of Southern US culture. This week we’re looking at Deconstructed by Liz Talley.

More Amusing Than Timing A Centipede Across The Kitchen. Yes, the title here is actually a play on a line from the book. So sit down, grab some popcorn (Michael Jackson meme style), and get ready for a funny yet poignant cross between Mark Twain (as another Goodreads reviewer noted, which I found appropriate) and the 2014 movie The Other Woman (the one with Cameron Diaz, Leslie Bibb, and Kate Upton’s boobs). This book has a solid look at “well, maybe the grass *aint* so greener on the other side” as we see two women from different sides of the tracks – one an ex-con, the other a respected banker’s wife who owns her own antique shop – realize that they actually have quite a bit in common and quite a lot to offer each other as they develop a solid friendship. And this is a world that feels like this particular book does a good job setting up… and which could be fun to come back to in a loosely coupled series that maybe looks at some of the other characters introduced here while having many of the primary characters “drop by” in those future stories. Who knows, I’ve suggested similar in reviews before and the author later ran with it, so maybe Talley will too. ๐Ÿ˜€ Overall truly a fun book, and a solidly relatable dose of humor set in the Southern US, but relatable to most anyone. Very much recommended.

Featured New Release Of The Week: Sapphires Are A Guy’s Best Friend by Nicola Marsh

This week we’re looking at a romance tale that manages to tell three separate second chance stories all in one excellent tale that combines second chance romance with the world of high fashion. This week we’re looking at Sapphires Are A Guy’s Best Friend by Nicola Marsh.

Here’s what I had to say on Goodreads:

Fun Merger Of Haute Couture. Jewelry, and Second Chance Romance. This is a really fun and fairly short (barely 200 pages) look at the glitzy and glamorous world of high end fashion… which Marsh then wraps a solid second chance – in more ways than one – romance into. Solidly written such that both the business and the personal are given their fair due and are equally compelling, this is *not* one for the “clean”/ “sweet” crowd. But for those that appreciate a good amount of steam – maybe not enough for a sauna, but easily enough to set off a smoke alarm… you’re gonna like this one. Very much recommended.

#BookReview: Unraveled by Maxine Bedat

Eye Opening, Yet Critically Flawed. Bedat does *phenomenal* work in this text when reporting what she has found in her investigations of trying to track even a “typical” cotton *garment* from the cotton seed to its eventual use and destruction. Using each chapter as a way to trace one particular step in the chain was truly a stroke of editing genius, as it concentrates just what is happening at that particular stage. And some of it – including the direct link, in Bangladesh at minimum, between garment factories and sex work (where in one particular harrowing tale, a source tells Bedat that when she gets in the van to be taken to a factory as a day worker, she sometimes finds herself at a massage parlor instead) – is utterly horrific. It is these sections of the book that are *so* strong that the book *had* to be rated fairly highly.

HOWEVER, when Bedat speaks almost at *all* of policy or her own opinions… well, this is when the critical flaws become apparent. To be fair, she *is* at least somewhat more balanced than many leftists, and outright points out things that ardent Bernie Sanders / AOC types won’t want to hear. But in her attacks of “neoliberalist capitalism” – a running strawman throughout the narrative – … eh, I’ll be a touch gentle and go with “YMMV”. If you happen to be on that side, you’re going to love her commentary here. If, like me, you find yourself more an adherent of Milton, Mises, Hayek, Bastiat, etc (the so-called “Austrian School of Economics)… you’re not going to like her commentary so much. The star reduction, to be clear, isn’t from the fact that I don’t like much of the commentary – but that I can so easily refute it, despite not being a trained economist (just a – clearly ๐Ÿ˜‰ – well read human :D).

And yet, the actual reporting here is simply too strong, too eye opening. This is a book that *needs* to be read for its current issues reporting, if for no other reason – and even if her commentary leads one to contemplate defenestration of the book. If you’ve read Hafsa Lodi’s Modesty or Virginia Postrel’s Fabric of Civilization (among presumably numerous other recent texts on fashion / clothing/ fabric), do yourself a favor and read this one too. Even if you haven’t, do yourself a favor and read all three books. ๐Ÿ˜‰

Very much recommended.

This review of Unraveled by Maxine Bedat was originally written on February 20, 2021.

Featured New Release of the Week: Modesty by Hafsa Lodi

This week we’re looking at a seemingly comprehensive look at modern Muslim fashion. This week we’re looking at Modesty by Hafsa Lodi.

I grew up in a fairly conservative Christian tradition, the Southern Baptist Church. While my church was a *bit* more moderate in dress – women were allowed to wear pants, though it was frowned upon by the senior citizen crowd, for example – I was in a region (exurban Atlanta) where knowing people who attended more conservative churches with more stringent dress codes wasn’t uncommon. On church beach trips or pool parties, for example, one piece swimsuits for females were a common requirement. Even in that era, men and boys were expected to at minimum wear pants and close toed shoes along with some appropriate top (could be just a tshirt, as long as the torso was covered, though men generally wore at minimum polo shirts to services, and often dress shirts and ties). Hell, for much of my life my dad has been a deacon (church elder, basically) in the church my parents and brothers (and their families) still attend to this day. I actually remember one infamous example where our preacher was preaching at a church in a neighboring County in August. This being Georgia, let’s just say you don’t exactly want to wear pants in Georgia, and this was a Revival service to boot – a week long (ish) event of nightly church services, seen as a way to be extra pious and encourage more people to come to church. So it wasn’t exactly like this was a Sunday morning service (the “most holy” services in at least that brand of Christianity, where standards and protocols tend to be the most stringent). My parents were insisting I wear pants. I was insisting I wear shorts because it was so hot. At this point I was in my early teens or so, young enough that I couldn’t yet drive, old enough that I could make my desires known and fight for them. I actually don’t remember how that situation turned out – I don’t remember if we made the service that night or what I wore, though there is a faint thought that I did in fact wear pants and we did in fact make it to service.

The point being, while I’ve never actively considered how hard it may be to find trendy clothes that fit the modest standards of such groups, I have been a part of a culture that at least expects it, if not outright demands it/ forces it. So I get a version of where Lodi is coming from here, even while never experiencing her exact situation.

Which ultimately leads to the one criticism I have of this book.

Lodi does an *amazing* job of documenting Generation M, the Muslim Millenial Female, and its desires for trendy yet traditional (ish) fashion. She truly does a remarkable job of showing the history of both uncovering a century ago or so and recovering over the last 50 years or so, including the various debates and schools of thought on each. For a treatise specifically on these issues, this book is seemingly damn near perfect and for that alone it was utterly fascinating – as despite having watched a few episodes of America’s Next Top Model or Project Runway, I’m not exactly knowledgeable of that world at all really.

But the most glaring weakness of the book, the one that leaves it at just “amazing” rather than elevating it closer to “transcendental”, turns out to be that very laser focus on Muslim issues specifically. Sure, she starts and ends with an example of her childhood Mormon friend, and Christians and Jews (and specifically Mormons, whose Christianity is doubted in at least some circles) are mentioned sporadically and even no-faith reasons are mentioned even less, but are in fact mentioned. But they are almost always more as an aside and are never considered in any real kind of depth. What this book really needed was maybe just a single chapter each where Lodi stepped away from the Muslim angle and actually – if briefly – explored the same histories. thought processes, and modern issues of those specific groups. Particularly from the non-faith, skin care/ sun avoidance angle, it could have been a truly remarkable addition to the text here.

But again, even with that omission, this is truly an excellent book and particularly for those remotely interested in fashion generally or modest fashion in particular – and especially if you’re an Instagram addict with those proclivities – you’ll want to pick up this book immediately. Very much recommended.

As always, the Goodreads/ Amazon review:
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