So long Shakespeare...

I miss Lily Bard...I miss Jack Leeds. And I miss Shakespeare, Arkansas and all its freaky, endearing inhabitants. For Christmas my mom got me the new Berkely Crime edition of the first Lily Bard mystery, Shakespeare's Landlord, by Charlaine Harris. This is the second series I've read by Harris, the first being the deliciously funny Southern Vampire series featuring the irrepressible Sookie Stackhouse, telepathic barmaid extraordinaire. Lily's story is much darker than Sookie's (despite its distinct lack of vampires) and I was delighted to find myself immediately sucked into Lily's world as she seeks to carve out a life for herself in the not-so-sleepy town of Shakespeare. The next day when I'd finished it, I sat down anxiously at my computer to search out the four remaining books in the series (no small feat, I discovered).

The 2nd book, Shakespeare's Champion, is out of print and hard to find, though I managed to secure a decently priced copy through good, old Abebooks. Don't get me started on publishers publishing series books out of order, with no indication they're doing so, as if they're trying to pull one over on unsuspecting readers. It makes my eye twitch.

The 3rd book, Shakespeare's Christmas, is in print but by a different publisher and none of the local stores carry it. So I ordered that one online as well. There's nothing like getting book packages in the mail.

The 4th and 5th books, Shakespeare's Trollop and Shakespeare's Counselor, respectively, the local stores had in stock in Berkley's new editions. So I blew through all five books, only to read on Harris' website that she has no intention of writing any other Lily Bard mysteries in the forseeable future. And so now I find myself in the old familiar place--nostalgic, morose, trying to fill the void with other books, other characters, when only Lily and Jack will do.

Comments

Angie's 2026 Must Be Mine

As ever, begin as you mean to go on. And so here are my most anticipated titles of 2026: And no covers on these yet, but I'm just as excited for each one: The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Volume 9 by Beth Brower Finest Kind of Fate by J.J. Mulder My Kind of Guy by Sarina Bowen Ravenous by Kresley Cole Mastermind by Sarah MacLean Game of Rogues by Julie Anne Long Grim Tidings by B.K. Borison Villain Edit by Rosie Danan What titles are on your list?

Retro Friday Review: Song of the Sparrow by Lisa Ann Sandell

Retro Friday is a weekly meme hosted here at Angieville and focuses on reviewing books from the past. This can be an old favorite, an under-the-radar book you think deserves more attention, something woefully out-of-print, etc. Everyone is welcome to join in at any time! So this is a book I've spent a lot of time talking about. Chances are, if you've hung around these parts, you've heard me push it. But I actually read it for the first time way back in the olden days before the blog was, well, what it is now. I read it shortly after it was first published, back in 2007, when I was writing monthly posts, mere collections of mini-reviews. So Song of the Sparrow got shortchanged. I decided to address that situation today. The fun thing is lots of friends have read (and reviewed) it since, and so I was able to trip through their lovely thoughts and remember my own. When I heard about a retelling of Tennyson's " Lady of Shalott ," I was so in. I mean, I'...

Bibliocrack Review | Don't You Forget About Me by Mhairi McFarlane

There's really very little to say, isn't there? I hope you are well, wherever you are. I hope that your loved ones are. I hope that you're finding small ways to stay afloat, to remain connected to something, someone, someplace (real or fictional) that sustains you. Dark and difficult times, indeed. I've rather been holding on to this review. I felt so much, so quickly, so irrevocably for this book that it rapidly became hard to talk about to anyone who hadn't read it. And so I hope I can do it justice, just barely enough justice that, if you haven't, you'll run right out and do so. Now is the perfect time. I feel strongly that this book is what you need in your life at this moment. And so. You might want to prepare yourselves. I'm about to wax rhapsodic. But first, and introductory excerpt: At the end of that session, Fay said, What if it's not what happened with this boy you regret, it's you? It's the you who you left behind. It's ...

Angieville

Search This Blog