This novel was about Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein, and her relationships with Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron, and how these entanglements influenced her novel, still a classic of horror and science fiction. It is listed as 'feminist' but it's really more of a look at the tangled relationships of the poets and writers of the era, who lived outside of 'polite society' with extra marital affairs and the like. The writing had a gothic feel and the characters were well-drawn and true to what I have read.
Not my usual genre--a black humour novel about a young female serial killer--but I spent evening laughing out loud as I read it, and quickly devoured the whole series. It does have some gory bits, but they humour is great, especially the MC's daily lists of those she wishes she could kill, which included vapid celebrities, conspiracy nuts, and antivaxxers!
'If you like your thrillers darkly comic and outrageous this ticks all the boxes' The Sun
The last person who called me 'Sweetpea' ended up dead...
'I haven't killed anyone for three years and I thought that when it happened again I'd feel bad. Like an alcoholic taking a sip of whisky. But no. Nothing. I had a blissful night's sleep. Didn't wake up at all. And for once, no bad dream either. This morning I feel balanced. Almost sane, for once.'
Rhiannon is your average girl next door, settled with her boyfriend and little dog...but she's got a killer…
At first I thought this book might be too heavy on the 'romance' but I am so glad I decided to read it anyway, as it wasn't a romance as I had been led to believe. The author knows the Wars of the Roses period very well and brought her lead character to life. Parts are gritty, but realistic for the era. I particularly enjoyed the household dynamics.
Wheel of Fortune is the gripping first book in C.F. Dunn's major new Wars of the Roses series, The Tarnished Crown.
‘The best Wars of the Roses novel I have ever read. A magnificent book I didn't want to end. All the characters were so well drawn that they performed the alchemy of stepping out of the book and into the room.' - Elizabeth Chadwick
‘Dunn's world is utterly believable, the research meticulous, the characters deep and rich, and the sights and smells disguise the devastation that lurks at every turn.' - Matthew Lewis
She is a great heiress; he is the wickedest man in Normandy.
Known to men far and wide as 'The Devil,' Robert de Belleme terrorises France alongside his equally fearsome mother, Mabel the Poisoner. But even a Devil needs an heir, and Mabel chooses the wealthy heiress Agnes of Ponthieu to be her son's bride.. The marriage is unhappy, though the longed-for son and heir is eventually born...but when Robert is away on one of his military campaigns, Agnes flees back to her father's castle.
She is not safe; her young son William is not safe.
