Fortunately, the Milk

Summary from Goodreads:
"I bought the milk," said my father. "I walked out of the corner shop, and heard a noise like this: T h u m m t h u m m. I looked up and saw a huge silver disc hovering in the air above Marshall Road."
"Hullo," I said to myself. "That's not something you see every day. And then something odd happened."

Find out just how odd things get in this hilarious story of time travel and breakfast cereal, expertly told by Newbery Medalist and bestselling author Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Skottie Young.

Neil Gaiman, just to top the amazing story success of The Ocean at the End of the Lane, also put out a chapter book this year.  It tells the story of a dad who returns from a milk run to the corner store, is gone far longer than intended, and returns with a wild tale of alien abduction and dinosaurs....but he never forgot the milk.

I read this while covering breaks at the store and it had me laughing out loud - it's a chapter book, maybe 110 pages long and it flies along.  Just the kids' reactions to the tall tale and how it just. keeps. going.  Apparently the UK edition had different illustrations (which some reviewers liked better) but I thought these were just fine.  Another ace-in-the-hole from Neil Gaiman's brain!

The Giver

Summary from Goodreads:
The Giver, the 1994 Newbery Medal winner, has become one of the most influential novels of our time. The haunting story centers on twelve-year-old Jonas, who lives in a seemingly ideal, if colorless, world of conformity and contentment. Not until he is given his life Assignment as the Receiver of Memory does he begin to understand the dark, complex secrets behind his fragile community. Lois Lowry has written three companion novels to The Giver, including Gathering Blue, Messenger, and Son.

Now, I am 99.99% certain that I read The Giver in the nineties.  I would have been in ninth/tenth grade when it came out and although that's a bit older than the intended audience, I remembered so much about the book I'm sure I read it.

I chose this to read during my "real-live human reading banned books" stint in the booth at the Coralville Public Library.  I had intended to read Shel Silverstein's A Light in the Attic because I thought we'd be reading aloud but since we were reading to ourselves (shame) I switched to The Giver.

Such a beautifully written, heart-wrenching book.  I think it's a bit underserved by being labelled a "children's" book because all adults should read it.  Amazing commentary on conformity, oppression, and euthanasia.  I'll definitely have to go on and read the other three books - I bought them all because of the gorgeous cover designs!

Looking for Alaska

Summary from Goodreads:
Before. Miles "Pudge" Halter's whole existence has been one big nonevent, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave the "Great Perhaps" (François Rabelais, poet) even more. He heads off to the sometimes crazy, possibly unstable, and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed-up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young, who is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart.

After. Nothing is ever the same.

Guess what, peoples...teenagers have been known to experiment with sex, drugs, and cigarettes.  Including upper-middle-class private school teenagers like those depicted in John Green's Looking for Alaska.  We visit the school through Miles's eyes and he isn't a cool, sophisticated kid - he's a nerdy, naive, inexperienced teenage boy who is obsessed with deceased poets and the last words uttered by famous people.  It's pretty much a given that he'd fall for the manic-pixie-dreamgirl of the book, Alaska.  However, things don't quite work out as planned.  Alaska is self-destructive as all hell, which is all you need to know.  A really well-constructed book; it didn't have the emotional gut-punch that The Fault in Our Stars did (which is good, because I don't know if I could handle that much crying over a book so soon).

I picked this up for Banned Books Week - people like to harsh on the "adult" themes but, hey guess what, teenagers will be teenagers and John Green assumes that they are smart people as opposed to living in a padded room or something.

Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic

Summary from Goodreads:
The emergence of strange new diseases is a frightening problem that seems to be getting worse. In this age of speedy travel, it threatens a worldwide pandemic. We hear news reports of Ebola, SARS, AIDS, and something called Hendra killing horses and people in Australia--but those reports miss the big truth that such phenomena are part of a single pattern. The bugs that transmit these diseases share one thing: they originate in wild animals and pass to humans by a process called spillover. David Quammen tracks this subject around the world. He recounts adventures in the field--netting bats in China, trapping monkeys in Bangladesh, stalking gorillas in the Congo--with the world's leading disease scientists. In Spillover Quammen takes the reader along on this astonishing quest to learn how, where from, and why these diseases emerge, and he asks the terrifying question: What might the next big one be?

Who likes infectious diseases?  Me, me!  I love infectious diseases.  I recently described Spillover as the happy intersection of reading for work (epidemiologist) and reading for pleasure (epidemiologists who work in hospital acquired infections, who aced infectious disease epidemiology coursework, and have a morbid curiosity regarding crazy zoonoses).  As the human-developed world pushes farther and farther into more "exotic" locations they've never lived, either for habitat or agriculture reasons, the animal world is pushing back with stranger and stranger diseases.  For the animals, these diseases are a bit like the common cold - a minor nuisance, rarely fatal - but once it gets into a previously un-exposed species - like a human - all bets are off.  Mortality rates skyrocket.  And this is where things like SARS or HIV or the newest recombination of influenza with the dreaded avian genes comes from.  The borderland of the human-animal interactions and where viral genomes can recombine with glee.

Quammen has gone all over the world looking at past outbreaks to see if there is a way to predict where the next global pandemic will come from.  Hint: it's unlikely that we can predict it.  He has a great writing style and drops a lot of literary references so I think that might help non-science-y readers get through a few of the more technical chapters. On the downside, it kind of makes you not want to go in caves (bats, ick). Ever. Or leave your house again. And I sure as hell don't want to visit an animal market in Asia - holy damn.

Just for fun, I Instagrammed a number of underlined passages from Spillover - here's the first one; if you follow #spillover and #zoonosis I think you can find the others.

PS: Influenza season is coming so get your flu shots and wash your hands!

The Baron's Betrothal (Horsemen of the Apocalypse #2)

Summary from Goodreads:

War hero and Horseman of the Apocalypse William Tyler de Sayre, Lord Clun, happens upon love while intending to avoid the catastrophe altogether by arranging a marriage to someone he’s never met.

Meanwhile, Lady Elizabeth Damogan, whose father betrothed her to the baron without so much as a ‘by your leave,’ will be damned if she marries a man she’s never met, much less a man who refuses to consider the possibility of love.

Until she realizes, sometimes it's the hero who needs saving.

Fun, and less scandalous than Jem's "decoration" to kick off the first book, but Elizabeth and Clun make a good couple.

A bit long, though. Too much contrariness on both sides. I think perhaps shortening the middle since the beginning and end were quite good.

The Untamed Mackenzie (Mackenzie/McBride #5.5)

Summary from Goodreads:

A WOMAN OF BREEDING MEETS A MAN OF NO STANDING…

To redeem her family’s disgraced name, Lady Louisa Scranton has decided to acquire a proper husband. He needs to be a man of fortune and highly respectable in order to restore both her family's lost wealth and reputation. She enters the Marriage Mart with all flags flying, determined to find the right bachelor.

But Louisa’s hopes are dashed when the Bishop of Hargate drops dead at her feet—and she is shockingly accused of murder! Soon, Louisa’s so-called friends begin shunning her, because the company of a suspected killer is never desirable in polite society.

The problem comes to the ears of Detective Inspector Lloyd Fellows, by-blow of the decadent Scottish Mackenzie family and an inspector for Scotland Yard. He has shared two passionate kisses with Lady Louisa–and vows to clear her name. For not only does he know she’s innocent, he recognizes he’s falling for the lovely lady.

Fellows is Louisa's only hope of restoring her family's honor—and it is he alone who intrigues Louisa in a way that may be even more scandalous than murder…


The new novella plays out much differently than how I thought the romance between Louisa (who was dead-set on making a Society match during the Mackenzie's Christmas novella) and Fellowes (who was pretty much dead-set on never getting married although he and Louisa kiss like a house on fire) would go. This is set in the spring following the Mackenzie Christmas novella (but possibly after the Epilogue in Hart's book bc Fellowes and Louisa aren't in the family picture). Very fun and a nice cross-class romance - I didn't see the resolution coming ahead of time so that was nice.

The only thing I thought odd that no one (and I mean NO ONE) mentioned was the big age difference between Louisa and Fellowes. Louisa is, what, 23? 24? in this novella (I'm basing on her age in Mac's book, when she was to debut, and it's about 5 years later now) and Fellowes is Hart's age, give or take a year (I think in Ian's book it's mentioned that Fellowes is two years older) so that puts him mid-40s. That's a pretty big age gap even for a Victorian-set novel.

Night Film

Summary from Goodreads:
A page-turning thriller for readers of Stephen King, Gillian Flynn, and Stieg Larsson, Night Film tells the haunting story of a journalist who becomes obsessed with the mysterious death of a troubled prodigy—the daughter of an iconic, reclusive filmmaker.

On a damp October night, beautiful young Ashley Cordova is found dead in an abandoned warehouse in lower Manhattan. Though her death is ruled a suicide, veteran investigative journalist Scott McGrath suspects otherwise. As he probes the strange circumstances surrounding Ashley’s life and death, McGrath comes face-to-face with the legacy of her father: the legendary, reclusive cult-horror-film director Stanislas Cordova—a man who hasn’t been seen in public for more than thirty years.

For McGrath, another death connected to this seemingly cursed family dynasty seems more than just a coincidence. Though much has been written about Cordova’s dark and unsettling films, very little is known about the man himself.  Driven by revenge, curiosity, and a need for the truth, McGrath, with the aid of two strangers, is drawn deeper and deeper into Cordova’s eerie, hypnotic world.  The last time he got close to exposing the director, McGrath lost his marriage and his career. This time he might lose even more.

Night Film, the gorgeously written, spellbinding new novel by the dazzlingly inventive Marisha Pessl, will hold you in suspense until you turn the final page.

About a million years ago (not really), I read Marisha Pessl's Special Topics in Calamity Physics and loved the shit out of it.  Weird school teacher-student relationship that winds up with bad/crazy/unexplained stuff going down in the woods?  Yes, please.  Now Pessl is back with a horror movie novel and, whoa ever, is it crazy.

First up: I have to thank Random House Reader's Circle for sending me an ARC of Night Film.  I won it, a contest entry I apparently forgot about, so thank you for drawing my name.

Second:  Holy crap.  Is this the best, best novel to read in the dog days of summer.  It will put so many chills up your back that you'll need a fuzzy blanket, warm cocoa, and the urgent need to sleep with the lights on.  There is a point in this novel where reality and belief and scaring-the-hell out of oneself starts to blend in a really cracked out way.  Nothing in this book is real (practically dripping with major Hollywood script bait here).

So, if you want to read a super crazy-weird-multilayered-creepy-trippy-ballsy-intricate-bullshitting-notbullshitting-realist-magical-magicalrealist-surreal-sublime novel, Night Film is for you.  If not, well, you're missing something really fun.

Dear FTC: I won a copy of the ARC from the publisher.

The Trouble With Being a Duke (At the Kingsborough Ball #1)

Summary from Goodreads:

Sometimes happily ever after…

Anthony Hurst, Duke of Kingsborough knows the time has come for him to produce an heir. But first he must find a bride. When he meets the most exquisite woman at his masquerade ball, he thinks his search is over…until the breathtaking beauty runs off. With few clues other than her figure, her scent, and the memory of her kiss, Anthony must find his mystery lady.

…needs a little bit of help.

Isabella Chilcott can scarcely believe it: she is finally at the Kingsborough Ball. As a child, she dreamed of dancing a waltz here and now, thanks to a gorgeous gown she’s found in the attic, Isabella is living her fairytale fantasy. And she’s waltzing with the Duke of Kingsborough himself! But she must escape before he discovers her secrets…for she is not who she pretends to be, and falling in love with Prince Charming is the last thing she can allow herself to do…

I love the idea of a series where all the books take their start at a single event (see also Sopha Nash’s Royal Entourage series). Sophie Barnes’s new series At the Kingsborough Ball takes it’s start at the titular masquerade ball – once an anual event but on hold while the new Duke of Kingborough mourns his father. This ball marks his entry into the Marriage Mart, an event greatly to be desired by all the marriageable misses of the ton. Anthony meets a masked young lady in a beautiful, if out-moded, gown and before he can discover her identity the ball descends into chaos when a guest is shot (setting up at least the next book, if not more). For the young lady, Isabella Chilcott, it is a lucky escape. She’s not an invited guest, she snuck in wearing a gown she found secreted away in the attic at her home in the nearby village, but she dreamed of attending the Kingsborough Ball for years. Now that it’s likely she’ll be married off to a man she does not love, she decided to take the chance. Catching the duke’s eye was not in the plans. When Isabella arrives home, it is to discover that her parents have been keeping a few secrets of their own….

Although I liked this first book, I kept thinking there was something else I was looking for. I don’t know if “every day” is the right term but it felt like a bit more dash was needed in places (for instance, the Lady Harriet plot seemed to fizzle out just when it seemed good and the Mr. Roberts plot as well). Isabella’s mother read very oddly to me – I don’t want to spoil that plot element too much but the whole insistence on Isabella marrying a stuffy, stuck-up, weaselly (think Mr. Collins but much more middle-class potential wife abuser) “business” man just rubbed me raw for too many pages to make the mother’s objections to Anthony believable. And then there’s the whole business with “mean girls” in the village. I think the story would have had a tighter plot if it had been edited down about 50 pages or so. I had a few issues with some of the language usage – was having one’s cover blown an accepted phrase in Regency England? I would think “being rumbled” was more appropriate. “Infamous” is also used several times in instances where I think “famous” would be better. Also, Lady Crooning is referred to as Mrs. Crooning at one point which is definitely something that should have been caught in the edits. I know some people don’t notice those things or find them annoying but they do stick out to me.

The Bookstore

Summary from Goodreads:

A witty, sharply observed debut novel about a young woman who finds unexpected salvation while working in a quirky used bookstore in Manhattan.Impressionable and idealistic, Esme Garland is a young British woman who finds herself studying art history in New York. She loves her apartment and is passionate about the city and her boyfriend; her future couldn’t look brighter. Until she finds out that she’s pregnant.

Esme’s boyfriend, Mitchell van Leuven, is old-money rich, handsome, successful, and irretrievably damaged. When he dumps Esme—just before she tries to tell him about the baby—she resolves to manage alone. She will keep the child and her scholarship, while finding a part-time job to make ends meet. But that is easier said than done, especially on a student visa.

The Owl is a shabby, second-hand bookstore on the Upper West Side, an all-day, all-night haven for a colorful crew of characters: handsome and taciturn guitar player Luke; Chester, who hyperventilates at the mention of Lolita; George, the owner, who lives on protein shakes and idealism; and a motley company of the timeless, the tactless, and the homeless. The Owl becomes a nexus of good in a difficult world for Esme—but will it be enough to sustain her? Even when Mitchell, repentant and charming, comes back on the scene?

A rousing celebration of books, of the shops where they are sold, and of the people who work, read, and live in them, The Bookstore is also a story about emotional discovery, the complex choices we all face, and the accidental inspirations that make a life worth the reading.

After reading and loving The Bookman’s Tale (review) I was quite interested in reading a love story set in a bookstore. This starts out very promising, with Esme getting ditched by her a-hole blue-blood boyfriend Mitchell and in need of a part-time job with someone willing to work with the fact that she is a) not a US citizen and on a student visa and b) pregnant. The Owl is a goofy, quirky, only-in-New York sort of store, a cross between The Shop Around the Corner and The Strand. And then Mitchell comes back on the scene….

I wanted to like The Bookstore more than I did. Esme has pluck. She’s very sweet and kind, if naïve. But what she doesn’t have is gumption. How many of you have seen The Holiday with Kate Winslet? Iris from The Holiday is Esme in this book except Esme doesn’t have an adorable neighbor played by Eli Wallach to make her watch a whole load of great Hollywood films and grow a spine. Esme has the odd cast of characters at The Owl, many with very sad stories, who don’t even recommend/force her to read some good books to read on top of her (seemingly non-existent but it must exist since she’s in grad school) art history reading. She does, however, have the emotionally abusive and distant boyfriend who hangs around way too long, railroads her into an engagement, and introduces her to his family who are so fanatically blue-blooded and snobby they might be crazier than a bag of feral cats. Even though Esme puts her foot down with Mitchell’s father, she never gets the chance to give Mitchell the old heave-ho because he ditches her again so we, as readers, have no pay-off to seeing Mitchell disappear. We just get a mopey, weepy Esme (who admittedly goes through a medical scare) with only a teeny spine who somehow manages to stay in grad school although we don’t see her go to school often and doesn’t really develop a relationship with the character who is quite obviously meant to be her real love interest (from the moment he was introduced – it was like he had a great, big flashing arrow over his head) until the very end.

A book with a lot of promise but I wished for a stronger heroine.

The Convenient Marriage (audiobook and book)

Summary from Goodreads:
Unconventional, warm and witty, this Georgian romance by Georgette Heyer unusually begins with a marriage rather than ending with one. When Horatia Winwood steps in to marry the Earl of Rule, the disappointed suitor of her elegant sister, it is the luxuries of high society life that she becomes entranced with rather than her husband. And yet, despite the countless misunderstandings, spats and blunders, somewhere along the line, this marriage of convenience turns into the real thing.

Who likes more Georgette Heyer?  Specifically Heyer that is read by Richard Armitage?  The Convenient Marriage is the last of the three Heyer romance novels Armitage narrated so I started it on the way back from Indianapolis.  Love.  Then I read the unabridged novel once I got home (thanks, nookbook).

The Convenient Marriage is a bit different from the other two in that it is set in the Georgian period, rather than the Regency but it sparkles all the same.  Perhaps even more. I just loved Horry, with all her scrapes and her stutter. She's so bold and brash and a teenager. Such great character development on Heyer's part to leave Horry's stutter alone, that getting married, growing up, gaining self-confidence, etc., didn't cure her stutter and Rule loved it as part of her.  Rule is also a fantastic Heyer hero - not a rake but a very confident, virile aristocrat who doesn't have any hang-ups (contrast that with so many current historical heroes).  The development of the relationship between Horry and Rule was so good - how does one broach the possibility that one has fallen in love with one's spouse when you've both previously agreed to the Georgian version of a sort-of open marriage?  Also, there's a great dueling scene, for Errol Flynn fans.

One quibble: what exactly happened to Louisa, Rule's sister? She confided all to Horry but it was off the page....are we to assume that Lethbridge had a similar plan for Louisa as he had for Horry?  This is where Heyer's tactic to leave the salacious details to the imagination leaves much to be desires.

Audiobook specifics:  I had wondered how Armitage was going to play two different rakes with his luscious rake-voice.  Fear not, he plays it off wonderfully.  Also, his foppish, lisping twitter was perfect for Crosby Drelincourt.

Among the Janeites: A Journey Through the World of Jane Austen Fandom

Summary from Goodreads:
For anyone who has ever loved a Jane Austen novel, a warm and witty look at the passionate, thriving world of Austen fandom

They walk among us in their bonnets and Empire-waist gowns, clutching their souvenir tote bags and battered paperbacks: the Janeites, Jane Austen’s legion of devoted fans. Who are these obsessed admirers, whose passion has transformed Austen from classic novelist to pop-culture phenomenon? Deborah Yaffe, journalist and Janeite, sets out to answer this question, exploring the remarkable endurance of Austen’s stories, the unusual zeal that their author inspires, and the striking cross-section of lives she has touched.

Along the way, Yaffe meets a Florida lawyer with a byzantine theory about hidden subtexts in the novels, a writer of Austen fan fiction who found her own Mr. Darcy while reimagining Pride and Prejudice, and a lit professor whose roller-derby nom de skate is Stone Cold Jane Austen. Yaffe goes where Janeites gather, joining a pilgrimage to historic sites in Britain, chatting online with fellow fans, and attending the annual ball of the Jane Austen Society of North America—in period costume. Part chronicle of a vibrant literary community, part memoir of a lifelong love, Among the Janeites is a funny, touching meditation on the nature of fandom.

Yet another instance of my fellow booksellers knowing my weak spots.  Among the Janeites was handed to me while I was in the cafe line ordering a mocha.  No conversation, no "hey, you like Jane Austen," just the tacit understanding that a lit studies book about Jane Austen is an auto-buy for me.

Yeah, I'm a Jane-ite.  There are a lot of us in the Jane Austen fandom, and we run the gamut from covert to overt.  Like Yaffe, I probably fall somewhere in the middle of the Jane-ites: not over-scholarly so I like to have fun with some of the Austen-universe fan-fic if it has a good concept/is well-written/the reviews are good, but not so enthusiastic that I regularly play dress up and read all the fan-fic as well as writing my own (though, when I make it back to the UK someday, Chawton et al. is on the list of places to visit along with Gads Hill and Haworth; I've already visited the Jane Austen Centre in Bath).

Yaffe strikes a good balance in all her research and interviews.  She walks us through the intricacies of buying a (correctly styled) Regency gown, complete with underthings and corset.  The corset proves to be a problem, particularly because it lends a certain shape without which her gown can't be fitted (having worn a corset once myself, I sympathize with all her complaints - and I was singing, so mine was only lightly laced, but it still sucked to wear).  She even (bravely) interviews someone who I think most of the other Janeites avoid.  Plus many points for being polite but I still think she thinks that he's a loon (dudes, I think he's a loon - Jane Fairfax got knocked up by Emma's brother-in-law before the start of the novel? uh, no).

The Passion of the Purple Plumeria (Pink Carnation #10)

Summary from Goodreads:
Colonel William Reid has returned home from India to retire near his children, who are safely stowed in an academy in Bath. Upon his return to the Isles, however, he finds that one of his daughters has vanished, along with one of her classmates.

Having served as second-in-command to the Pink Carnation, one of England’s most intrepid spies, it would be impossible for Gwendolyn Meadows to give up the intrigue of Paris for a quiet life in the English countryside—especially when she’s just overheard news of an alliance forming between Napoleon and an Ottoman Sultan. But, when the Pink Carnation’s little sister goes missing from her English boarding school, Gwen reluctantly returns home to investigate the girl’s disappearance.

Thrown together by circumstance, Gwen and William must cooperate to track down the young ladies before others with nefarious intent get their hands on them. But Gwen’s partnership with quick-tongued, roguish William may prove to be even more of an adventure for her than finding the lost girls…

Let me get something off my chest.  Ahem, Lauren Willig's publisher...tap, tap...yes, you.  I, as one of Lauren's loyal readers, am really annoyed at you for publishing Miss Gwen's book IN A PAPERBACK ORIGINAL INSTEAD OF A HARDCOVER.  Very annoyed.  I'd sick Miss Gwen and her parasol on you if I could manifest her in the real world.  I have a beautiful line of hardcover novels on my shelf that are now spoiled by a paperback.  Luckily for you the Pink Carnation stories can't be spoiled by format changes.

Back to Miss Gwen and Colonel Reid.

As a reader, it was such a delight to have Miss Gwen develop fully from her dragon-like chaperone role into deeply dimensioned heroine.  As much as she would despise the word.  She has so much armor built up over the years that it was a delight to watch those layers peel away through her interactions with Colonel Reid and how befuddled she gets when those pesky things called "feelings" start to get in the way of clear, rational thinking.  There is a point, very late in the book, where your heart just breaks for her.  It's hard to imagine the Miss Gwen of The Secret History of the Pink Carnation provoking sympathetic feelings; she was only slightly less terrifying than the Dowager Duchess of Dovedale and we really don't meet that dragon until The Masque of the Black Tulip (book two).  Speaking of "old" Miss Gwen - is it just me, or did she age backward in the series?  Because I would swear that she seemed much closer to sixty in book one but here she's obviously in her early forties (and had much less gray and grizzled hair here).

Colonel Reid also gets to shine.  In The Temptation of the Night Jasmine he seems like a jolly Scot of retirement age whose past amorous affairs have not resulted in easy lives for his children (Alex is fine because he is a legitimate son but Jack, being half-caste, has a very bumpy road....).  Here, we see how much he recognizes that he hasn't been a good father, particularly to the daughters he sent to England, and how much it pains him to own up to that fact.  His natural boisterousness is a great contrast to Miss Gwen's stand-offish personae; he makes a great foil.  I just loved him.

And then there's the simple fact that our hero and heroine are very much outside the norm for romances.  Even Vaughn, likely in his late thirties or early forties at most, is a conventional romance hero.  Miss Gwen and Colonel Reid are middle-aged and both looking for a second chance at a happy relationship.  So few romance novels have older heroines (older heros are slightly more common) so I applaud Willig for giving Miss Gwen her chance.

The Eloise-and-Colin framing story inches along toward a big decision but they get their own mystery in the form of the fabled Berar treasure.  But they also get saddled with Jeremy (turd) - Colin's cousin and step-dad - if they wish to actually find the treasure.  This was a nice diversion and I wonder how Lauren is eventually going to wrap up that relationship.  I expect a happy ending.

At this point in my review, I usually update my heroine rankings for the Pink Carnation series.  The standings after The Garden Intrigue: 

While I liked Emma, she didn't top Letty and Arabella in the heroine rankings (she's probably duking it out with Mary or Laura - after Caroline Murat, Lady Vaughn won't scare her). Augustus, on the other hand, doesn't fare so well in the hero ranking. After Geoff, Miles, Turnip, Vaughn, Richard and Andre (tied), and Alex, the only hero Augustus tops is Robert the Duke of Dovedale (who still strikes me as a wet blanket, sorry). He's probably tied with Alex. He has very tough competition.

However, Miss Gwen and Colonel Reid are so different from the previous Pink Carnation couples that I'm having trouble.  Plus, Colonel Reid is Alex's father, so putting them in competition seems just wrong.  So they get to be on a little pedestal all by themselves.  I think Miss Gwen would like that.

And now we must wait over a year for Sally Fitzhugh's book because Willig teased us with a bit of a chapter about Turnip's little sister.  I think she's going to give Letty and Arabella a run for their money.