WHEW. Last week was such a long week, it lasted until the following Monday. I eventually had to call last week’s post a wash and start over new this week. And I started this on Thursday, thinking I’d at least get to post! It’s 2024, so if my next sentence has too much information, it might be time to catch up, or this blog is not for you. But with the kickstart of my period came the entire cast of the Inside Out Emotions, along with a deep craving for salty foods and Marvel movies (literally. “The Marvels” is SO GOOD. I’ll be doing a post about it when I can do more research). And then my whole family got sick, including my husband. Everyone knows it’s really bad if it gets Dad, too. But he is not the usual type of man and handled everything swimmingly while I got absolutely bowled over by the flu. If I weren’t determined to not make this a post about parenting, I could spend at least a page lamenting being the mom on a Sick Day that falls on a Friday.
But we’ve passed that, we got better and recovered our house (much like the characters in the book I’m featuring this week). I was able to read two entire unexpected series in my illness and recovery (Ana Huang you are a GENIUS). I think I’ll be smut posting more often because they read quickly but they read DEEP. I hope you like my mini post about her because when I have all of her books, I’m going to deep dive so hard. I might have to add a subscription so you can agree to the spoilers. I do have a few tidbits to share, though.
First, all the men are emotional fighters. The third-act conflicts are varied and believable, and there’s no scene where one of them is staring and looking away while the other pines. PINING IS MUTUAL. It’s beautiful in a way I haven’t seen yet, but now want to find every smut book I read. Second, all the women are different. Different cultures, different upbringings, different personalities, different vibes. And they’re all friends, as are their partners, so the first character has three best friends and you watch them struggle or support their besties or be badasses or whatever they’re going to do, so by the time they get their book you have deep attachment and high expectations. Third, the foreshadowing is subtle and beautiful and my favorite kind. I won’t say more. Just know, it’s emotionally healing, which helped me as I did some very real physical healing.
Tldr, with a little romance and a lot of rest, I’m back on track and ready to talk about Weird London. Yes, I know. It doesn’t make much sense and it pulls from such different genres and modes of content, but that’s pretty typical of my inspiration search as well Just this week I’m researching Avatar: The Last Airbender and Xmen for When We Save the Day (henceforth known as WWStD or my terrible manuscript probably). But I think it’s a fun theme that aptly prepares you for the way I think and plan. So what does “Weird London” mean to me?
Most importantly it means magic and aliens. You know, like Peter Pan, he could arguably fit both. Just like we as Americans have done to New York with our superheroes, the British have enjoyed bringing all the weird to their country’s hub. What are my favorite examples? I would LOVE to tell you in this first post what’s going to be an ongoing theme. It’s not going to be a sequential theme – next week I’m reading an ARC (!) and the week after I’m putting out my first music review on Taylor Swift! It’s a little birthday present for myself and I’m very excited. But once I’ve passed these two important weeks, I’ll be back in Weird London for a couple of weeks, with movies and other books. So let’s get started now, and you can see if you want to stick around for the future ones.
The first and, in my opinion, most obvious example, is the British television show Doctor Who. I’m not going to go as deep into the show in this post (I’ve planned a whole post JUST for films and shows based in London), but it is the best example of what I’m talking about. He (sometimes she, I can’t explain because of spoilers) is an alien who picks British sidekicks of all genders to travel the universe getting into shenanigans. The storylines are beautiful, sometimes tragic, and always filled with adventures. There’s a deep niche of people who are obsessed with this show. I’m on the edge of it, but I completely understand the attachment. With thirteen seasons of nonstop wonderful moments, it is ripe for fanfics and ship theories. It streams on HBO Max and there’s a special on Disney+, but I would check the show out first or it won’t make much sense.
Next is a brief little nod to an author I love, who actually wrote two episodes of Dr Who (I learned this week thanks to the very nice person on threads). Because of this connection, those episodes are what I focused on in my research for this blog post. Neil Gaiman is a British author who is famous in pretty much every genre in the library. When I went to pick up this week’s book, the librarian said “Which Gaiman section would you like, he has many,” and it made me so proud to be part of the fandom. Because he deserves a fandom. With work from picture books to Master Classes, he truly has tried it all. Everyone has a favorite, so I won’t try to tell you what I think is best, but I added a short list of some of his work that I’m familiar with, which in my opinion really serves the best range of his talent.
I plan on doing a post later when I can gather more materials, but Neil Gaiman writes many things centering in London. For this short post, I was able to grab a copy of Neverwhere from the library, so I’ve got some great London quotes for you. The story is about a man who is on a date with his fiancé and is dragged almost but not quite against his will into what’s known as “London Below.”
I don’t want to spoil it, Gaiman’s work should be appreciated without forward from a lowly blogger like me, but I want to share a few of my favorite mostly-on-theme quotes that made me giggle as I was looking through the book this week. Up first is also my first reason I love all Neil Gaiman books – his hooks are amazing. Before any plot is even introduced, our main character – and the reader – is given a huge and confusing spoiler: “It starts with Doors.” (2) To set a story up so the reader is looking out for doors on paper and then plant the biggest one in front of the main character, it’s just amazing.
To set up why this book fits under the heading “Weird London” it’s important to explain “London Below” which is run and inhabited by a whole society that “London Above” (i.e. London as we know it) can see or know about. A little out of order, but Richard explains his view of both London’s as this: “There were streetlights too, and lights on buildings and on bridges, which looked like earthbound stars… they were reflected with the city in the night water of the Thames. It’s fairyland, thought Richard” (57). The second quote that really struck me came after he’s drawn into London Below. He gets a disturbing call after being drawn out of the shower. In the best lead-up I’ve ever seen written, Gaiman adds a whole level of fear and discomfort for the character, and the reader, just by the act of starting in a vulnerable state. At the end of the scene it says, “And then Richard put down his phone, went into the bedroom, and put his clothes on, because he was cold and naked and scared and there wasn’t really anything else he could do” (44). It’s not about London, but it’s so well written it deserves to added here. To stay on theme though, there are many descriptions of the fictitious London Below that I would like to share with you. “There’s a truce in the market. If anyone hurt anyone there, the whole of London Below would be down them like a ton of sewage.” I don’t think I need to wax on about the writing, but I could. I will one day.
But my main highlight for the week deserves the focus of the time today. India Holton is amazing and her first book (honestly, I’m assuming from the jump that all of them are the same level) is 5 Stars, 10/10, on my “books I recommend” page (should I make a list on my website? Check out my authors I recommend because she’s definitely on it with Ana Huang). There are literally no bad parts in this story (sometimes if I like a book, the good parts outweigh the bad. This is not one of those times. I would read this cover to cover every week). And although it was my first book, I’ve only abstained from reading more because now I know she has three more, with another coming out any day now. I am so excited to finish the series and find out who else she’s paired together, but I can’t help but want to benefit Ms. Holton as well. So when I have more followers and more people want to know what I have to say, I’m going to give her the best highlight I can. And I’m going to savor those first reads like I wish I could with Pride and Prejudice, A Court of Mist and Fury, and Once and Future Witches (Alix E. Harrow – she’ll be coming up in October and you KNOW I can’t wait for that).
As I was saying, The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels was so good I started calling it “Wisteria Society,” like I was a member, almost immediately. Her chapter titles, complete with the most unique and delightful scene titles, are unmatched. My favorites are as follows, in order:
- Chapter 1 – The Level Moon – Not the Level Moon. What a great way to acknowledge the whimsical, almost hot-air-balloon-ride vibe that’s going to be taking place on the following pages.
- Chapter 5 – Cecilia is shot, supper is postponed. The amount of spoilers I was given that didn’t prepare me for the actual event can be explained by this one section title. A lot more happened than that, and I’m not even sure those were the absolute focus while I was reading about it.
- Chapter 11 – Flaccid Faculties. I’m not sure I need to say much here
- Chapter 12 – The problem with men these days. The whimsy is unmatched.
- Chapter 14 – Constantinopla lets Tom take the lead. This is the best section (outside of the ones in the best chapter).
- All of Chapter 23. Truly, it’s perfection.
- All of Chapter 24. I’m not lying. The end is this good
- All of Chapter 25. I’m not exaggerating. In fact, I cut a few that I think should go on this list.
I also love the writing itself. While it’s a perk (nothing can be five stars if the writing doesn’t pull you in and spit you out) it’s not always a necessity if a writer can catch the heart of the story. But Holton didn’t just catch the heart, she grabbed it from the body of the book held it in her hand and crooned to it. The balance between British societal quip and serious commentary on both the period it’s based in, and our own, is pure magic. My favorite quote that exemplifies this happens late in the novel, and it literally happens while two lady pirates are taking tea very amiably while a “barbaric” man sits and pretty much gapes at them. “Cecilia nodded. ‘Only last month I robbed am an and tied him to his horse, and he did not bid me good afternoon as I sent him on his way.’” There’s nothing better than a sarcastic remark in the middle of tea time.
Somehow she’s managed to create a reading rhythm that is much like the vibe of her book. It’s the slight sway of a flying house, a delightful conversation over tea and knife sharpening, a whimsical fight through a field. The beginnings are sassy and delicious and the climax of every chapter has you sipping your tea in earnest. The romance itself was top tier. There was no power struggle, because like in all the best books he thinks he’s in control, but she knows she is. I relished the scenes where he thought he was telling her how the world really is only to be struck dumb by a response that much better suits the truth of their story. There’s so much whimsy and reflection it’s hard not to get sucked in like a good classic will do.
And she knows it. The way she’s pitted the dreariest Bronte vibe against the most whimsical of Austen vibes has this Classic’s obsessed reader GUSHING. I think the best example of this happens in the middle of the book. When Cecilia has reached her destination (telling you would be spoilers), she’s forced to relive many unpleasant childhood memories. But as a rational woman, she ruminates, “Cecilia had never wished to be a girl again, half-wild and hardy and free. Although she had been brought fairly later to propriety and self-restraint, she found they suited her. Indeed, if she were a bird, she would happily allow a net to ensnare her” (177). She is the freest kind of woman, and yet it’s wrapped in feminine sensibility. As I said in my initial social media posts “I will be reading this into my old age.”
All of this to say, I’m a HUGE India Holton fan now. Maybe the biggest. I can’t wait to read the other books in the series and her new book, Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love in July. I predict (and I’ll go more in depth in this when I get to her) that she could be her own genre, like SJM and Rebecca Yarros are turning out to be. No one has done anything remarkably close to Wisteria Society – flying houses alone are a genius addition. You don’t need faeries or deep drama to be unforgettable. SJM created a new vibe to a burgeoning genre (read my last post) and Rebecca Yarros is unrepeatable, both because of the dragon rider aspect and the romance she’s included that comes from writing regular Military romances (which I’ll be writing about here in the future). In my brand-new-fan opinion, India Holton could absolutely be on that list after her next series with her whimsical romance and soft-hitting commentary. It’s a bite of delight that is truly unmatched.
I wouldn’t say this list of Weird London experiences is exhaustive in the least. I don’t think I could make an exhaustive list of London-based stories on my own. But if you want to read about anything more, hit the subscription button and maybe I’ll take a special request (like the radio times of yore lol). Or reach out on social media. I love to collaborate so if you have something to say, I want to hear it!
Works By The Authors:
- India Holton
- Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels (5 Stars, 1 Pepper)
- League of Gentlewomen Witches
- The Secret Service of Tea and Treason
- The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love
- Dr. Who Episodes Written By Neil Gaiman
- The Dr.’s Wife (Season Six, Episode Four)
- Nightmare in Silver (Season Seven, Episode Twelve)
- Neil Gaiman (not even close to exhaustive)
- Good Omens, 1990
- Sandman, 1991
- Neverwhere, 1996
- Stardust, 1997
- American Gods, 2001
- Coraline, 2002
- The Graveyard Book, 2008
- Odd and the Frost Giants, 2008
- The Ocean at the End of the Lane, 2013
- Fortunately, the Milk 2013
- Norse Mythology, 2017
- What You Need to be Warm, 2023
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