Alex and Eliza: a Love Story by Melissa De La Cruz

My teen reading hasn't been the best this year, so when I found out there was a novel about Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth Schuyler's courtship, I just had to read it. 

 I was curious to see how Melissa De La Cruz, who's known mostly for her Blue Bloods and the Witches of East End series, tackled history; especially a well known love story.  

I'm happy to say I was pleased with this retelling of a passionate love story that has become widely known due to the musical Hamilton.  While it isn't jam packed full of historical anecdotes or have the depth of an adult historical novel, it certainly fleshes out enough of the political climate to make a person curious to explore more.  Alex and Eliza lived in an extraordinary time, surrounded by giants in American history; even as Alex himself was becoming one of those very giants himself.  A new nation struggling to defeat the British under the constant stress of harsh weather conditions, lack of food and shelter, and never knowing exactly who was firmly on the American side or the British side.  Can you imagine being part of a time where the country you lived in was brand new?  What that must have been like?  The possibilities and the unknowns?  

Melissa De La Cruz smartly decided on writing about Alex and Eliza's early meetings and the years before they were married.  Alex was a red-headed, blue-eyed, strikingly handsome wunderkind who arrived in America as a young teen with no money and no family.  All he had were his brilliant mind and ambition.  He landed an extremely important job as aide de camp to General George Washington; writing all the General's correspondence and being his right hand man. He was so valued by George that even though Alexander wanted to fight in the Revolution, George refused to send him into battle. It was frustrating for Alexander, who felt he should be able to lead a regiment into battle and prove himself to those who felt he kept himself safe by quill and paper.  

Elizabeth Schuyler was the middle of three oldest daughters to the Schuylers, a powerful family who could trace their time in America back to the 1600's.  Her father was a general in the Revolution, and marrying into the Schuyler family was seen as a savvy political move to any man who had ambition.  

Elizabeth and Alexander met at a dinner in 1777; after that they didn't meet again until 1780, when Elizabeth traveled to Morristown, NJ to stay with her Aunt.  Alexander was there with General George Washington as they wintered in town and prepared for the Spring battles that were sure to come. Elizabeth and Alexander certainly had a spark, and fell deeply in love. This is where De La Cruz takes some fictional license and creates obstacles along the path to true love.  This had me thinking about the few choices women had in matters of marriage and living a life they wanted to live.  It reminded me of just how much freedom we do have now, in America, to choose our partners, have a career, have or not have children, and support ourselves financially without a partner. While Elizabeth can, at times, sound a bit more like a modern young lady, I can see this intelligent young lady thinking about life as a woman during the revolution and wondering about her choices.  

Overall, I enjoyed this teen novel.  Even knowing the history of their marriage, and the early death of Alexander by a fatal duel with Aaron Burr, the novel ends with hope and the love of two people who truly found their better halves.  

Rating:  3/6 for a teen historical novel that takes some liberties with the love story, but overall gives life to a long ago love that still fascinates us today. Plenty of historical figures in this novel; the background of the struggles to become a nation adds a sense of urgency and danger to an enduring love story. 

Available in hardcover, audio and ebook. 

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Alex and Eliza: a Love Story by Melissa De La Cruz

The Traveling Tea Shop by Belinda Jones

Not only do I love to watch cooking shows, I love to read books where food is a main plot device.  Warning:  this book is not one to read when you're hungry.  

The Traveling Tea Shop by Belinda Jones is a delightful novel about a famous British baker, a travel agent, and a red double decker bus.  It takes places on the East Coast of the United States, and is at parts a delicious food novel, a travel guide, a romance, and a family drama.  It all combines to be an excellent read about how life can change for the better even when it doesn't seem like such a good idea at the time.

Laurie Davis is a Brit living in New York City, running a travel/tour-guide business with her partner.  She's given the opportunity to work for Pamela Lambert-Leigh, a famous British baker (and Laurie's idol).  Pamela is traveling around the East Coast visiting places known for their famous desserts, learning how to make them, and "exchanging" those recipes for a British dessert recipe.  It's all part of an idea her publisher has for a new cookbook.  Along for the ride is Pamela's fun-loving mother Gracie and her sullen and sulky 20 year old daughter Ravenna.  There's clearly tension between Pamela and her daughter, and Gracie and her granddaughter.  All get together on a red double decker bus fitted out with a kitchen and driven by Gracie as they travel from New York City to Newport, Rhode Island, Maine, Boston, and other ports of call.  Along the way all sorts of stuff happens.  Potential love matches, accidents, revelations, and evolving relationships.  I loved all the characters and they made a great group dynamic.  I have decided I really, really need to visit Newport, Rhode Island.  It sounds like a spectacularly beautiful place.   

Kick off your summer vacation reading with this novel.  You'll love it as much as I did.  A refreshing breath of air after finishing school and graduating last week.  
Available in paperback and e-book.  

Rating:  7/10 for a great group dynamic between the characters, a unique plot and OH THE FOOD.  

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The Traveling Tea Shop by Belinda Jones

Midnight in Peking by Paul French

This is not my usual read.  Readers of my blog know I usually read lots of historical fiction, but I do have a deep and unending curiosity for true crime, forensics, and most of all, historical unsolved mysteries.  

Paul French takes us to 1937 Peking to uncover the mysterious and horrific murder of Pamela Werner in his non-fiction tale Midnight in Peking.  This book is a featured title at my bookstore, and of course my curiosity peaked when I read the back blurb.  I haven't read much on China or it's history.  Mix together the encroaching Japanese forces into China, the foreign elements who live in Peking, and a young girl's bizarre murder and it's just something I have to read!  How does it all come together?  This real murder is truly stranger than fiction.

Pamela Werner was just 20 years old on January 7, 1937 when her body is found lying in a ditch in front of the Fox Tower, a landmark in Peking which is known by locals as a place haunted by fox spirits.  Pamela had not come home from an ice skating date with friends the night before, and her father, E.T.C. Werner had spent the night combing the neighborhoods looking for her.  A local traveling by the Fox Tower that morning sees something strange in the ditch, and stops to look.  It's Pamela, and she's been horribly murdered.  It's quite clear this is a "white" woman, and this is big news in Peking.  Soon her father arrives and recognizes his daughter by the clothes she's wearing and her grey eyes.  What happened to Pamela?

Peking in 1937 was a seething mass of foreigners living in compounds, poor emigrants living in hovels, and the Chinese working to make a living however they could.  French, American, British, and Russians made up a large enclave of people taking advantage of the wealth they could make in Peking. The Badlands was a stretch of whorehouses, opium dens, slums, and bars that the rich visited for kicks, and the rest of Peking either ignored or somehow used to make money.  It was a place of secrets, lost hopes, and for most, the last stop.

 The Japanese were on the march through China, slowly making their way towards Peking.  People knew when the Japanese did arrive, hell on earth would come with them.  Yet the foreigners felt they were untouchable, and carried on with their parties, drinking, and living the high life.  Pamela's father was a well known British scholar who had lived in China for most of his adult life.  He could speak more Chinese dialects that the Chinese who lived in Peking.  He preferred to spend his time alone writing papers; he often left Pamela alone at home with the servants while he traveled around China doing research.  He was not part of the party crowd, and many people didn't care for him.  He was also much older; in his 70's at the time of Pamela's murder.  

This book is about the first official investigation into Pamela's death, and the bureaucracy that bungled it so badly it was quickly shelved after 6 months.  The Chinese and British investigators were blocked from questioning certain suspects, barred from talking to Werner, and quickly gave up.  But Werner himself would not rest, and spent his life savings finding out what happened to Pamela.  This is the part of the book that really gets interesting.  It's amazing how money makes people talk, especially in times of great political upheaval.  

I enjoyed this book because it gave me a peak into a time in Chinese history that I wasn't familiar with--the beginnings of Japanese might and what would lead to World War II.  The foreigners in Peking were fascinating; so many people from so many places, all congregating in one city with secrets that continued to haunt them.  I had no idea Russians had fled the revolution of 1917 and come to China.  Many were without official papers, and had no where to go.  Many lived in poverty, and became addicts or prostitutes.  

All this seething underbelly played a part in Pamela's death, but I won't tell you how or why.  That's for you to find out when you read this book.  I would recommend this for anyone who is a history buff, enjoys true crime, and just wants a good old mystery.  It is a bit gory in a few spots--Pamela was viciously murdered.  But why?  Thanks to Werner, his endless quest to uncover who killed his daughter, and the author, we find out. The story of a young British woman in Peking in 1937, long forgotten, has come back to life.  

Rating:  7/10.  The author gives great detail about Peking, the people, the political climate, and the police investigation.  There is plenty of historical background to help the reader understand the whole picture.  Photos of major places in the story are included, as well as photos of Pamela and key players.

Available in paperback, e-book, hardcover, and audio.

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Midnight in Peking by Paul French