Book Review: West With The Night

Title: West with the Night
Author: Beryl Markham
Genre: Memoir
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Publication Date: 1942
Pages: 294
Format Read: Audiobook
Standalone or series: Standalone
Where I got the book: Library Libby app
Date finished reading: June 21, 2020

Goodreads Description: West with the Night is the story of Beryl Markham–aviator, racehorse trainer, beauty–and her life in the Kenya of the 1920s and ’30s.

My Review: I heard about this book via Jeff O’Neal on the Book Riot Podcast. Based on his description, I thought it would be an interesting travelogue. The goodreads description, as you can see above, can hardly be considered a comprehensive description. I really did not know what to expect with this book. I just really wanted to read something set in a different part of the world. Plus, Jeff O’Neal mentioned that this book was given high praise from none other than Ernest Hemingway.

I am ashamed to say that I had never heard of Beryl Markham. I have definitely been missing out. Her life was absolutely fascinating! She lived a free life, yet maybe at times a bit lonely. West With The Night has everything you could think of: descriptions of the Maasai culture, a lion attack, horse racing, malaria, World War 1, colonialism, fascism, and aviation by only maps, protractors and compasses (no navigational or radio systems).

Plus, Hemingway was absolutely correct. Beryl Markham was a beautiful writer. Her descriptions put you in another time and place beyond what may be imaginable. This book was a truly a remarkable and memorable reading experience. I highly recommend it!

My Rating: ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ½

“Every tomorrow ought not to resemble every yesterday. Still I look at my yesterdays from months passed and find them as good a lot of yesterdays as anybody might want. I sit there in the firelight and see them all.”

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Book Review: The Seduction Expert

Title: The Seduction Expert
Author: Saya Lopez Ortega
Genre: Romance
Publisher: VSP Publishing
Publication Date: June 26, 2019
Pages: 174
Format Read: Ebook
Standalone or series: Series (Book One of The Seduction Expert)
Where I got the book: NetGalley ARC
Date finished reading: June 2, 2019

Goodreads Description: She’s the seduction expert.

Women contact her to take over their love lives. She steps in when they’re lost, she’s supposed to succeed where they failed. She handles their single status, their relationship, their breakup, and very often their partner’s affairs. Her job is a life priority, she spends most of her time at the office or between two flights in business class and the fact of having a sports car that can reach one hundred kilometers in less than six seconds often make her feel like a super-heroine in service to women.

Anyway, take her card.

You’ll see, it’s much better than spending holidays in St Barts.

My Review: I was really excited to get this book from NetGalley. It looked like it could be a fun, short read to enjoy as we head into the summer months. Short it was. Fun? Not for me.

One of the things that intrigued me about this book was the fact that the main character was a powerful, successful and ambitious woman, called the Baroness. By the description, I thought she was really helping a lot of women have successful relationships. However, I was immediately turned off by her cold demeanor. The Baroness was harsh to her clients (who often are going through difficult marital problems and possibly divorces), her employees (who work very hard) and her fiancé (whom she appears to only be marrying for money and status). She seemed incapable of sympathy and/or love. I disliked her future mother-in-law a lot, and yet I almost cheered her on for trying to destroy the Baroness’ business and relationship with her son. I almost always have to like at least one of the main characters to really like the book, and I just didn’t with this one. I don’t understand why a female character has to be cruel and manipulative enable to have her success and power.

Also, how is this classified as a romance? Is it a romance just because the main character got engaged? I felt no love or passion in this book unless the love and passion was for obtaining money and power.

This book should be out at the end of the month. While some of the early readers gave it some love on Goodreads, this one fell flat for me. The author did have an intriguing transition to the next book in the series, but I just don’t think I want to continue with these characters

My Rating: ♦ ♦