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A Matter of Grave Concern Brenda Novak 9781477824528 Books

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A Matter of Grave Concern Brenda Novak 9781477824528 Books

If you read other historical romances from this period, then you may be bothered by the problems of the plot.
1. The author does not seem to have an understanding of dukes. They have responsibilities and oversight that require their presence. They have white uncalloused hands that would never pass muster with a gang of grave diggers. Most of all the dialect or speech of a noble-born person is very different from people in the unsavory parts of London. The author tries to excuse the problems with the hero's story that he is trying to make enough money to cover his debts, but the kind of work that he does in this story is not nearly lucrative to have a chance of paying a gentleman's debts. Also, a duke would hire people to find anyone he wants. He does not need to take the risk and danger himself. Duke's are trained this way, to hire the people who can investigate among the lower classes. That the Duke would go from ignoring his step-sister's plight to then ignoring his responsibilities and risking his life in order to find out what happened to his most-likely-dead half-sister is just not believable.
2. Timing. The days and weeks that went with certain aspects of the story were just not credible. This happens throughout the story but is nowhere more evident than the Duke's travel time towards the end of the book. The times used in the story are more that of modern travel [footnote 1], not a little over 2 months as in the book, but rather a minimum of 6 months for what transpired. (a ship in the period of the book has to stop for supplies and gets becalmed and gets blown off course by storms)
3. The heroine went from her dream of being a surgeon to giving it up without enough of the author sharing her thought process. It was too big an aspect of the book to be thrown over so quickly. I think the idea is that the heroine went from being naïve to gaining more of a worldly education during the story, but still there should have been more, such as a discussion with her father and maybe another advisor along with internal weighing of the issues. She was tenacious in other aspects of the book.
4. The "falling in love" was too facile and not understandable in the context. Lust, yes. Infatuation, maybe, but the speed at which the heroine was wholly committed to her love for the hero seemed wrong to me. Physical chemistry does not always translate into deep, can't-be-separated love.
5. The character of the father did not seem very solid. He seemed to be very passive, which is unlike the character that goes with a surgeon. Sometimes he evidently did not care very much about his daughter and other times he did care. His motivations and desires were unclear.

This book is more of a fantasy rather than a historical; it has modern US ideas with some United Kingdom 1800s aspects. Brenda Novak is a decent writer, but is too wed to the world she lives in and does not do a good job of entering the historical setting that she aspires to. Maybe it is just an issue of not enough research. The story held my interest enough to finish it, which is why I gave it three stars.

Footnote 1: Travel times are available on a web page by Australian National Maritime Museum, under search for "time it takes to sail from london to sydney in 1800s" - Amazon does not allow users to post links external to Amazon.


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A Matter of Grave Concern Brenda Novak 9781477824528 Books Reviews

I am not a huge lover of historical romance though I love history. Maybe it is because I feel like the story sometimes goes insane with the romance part and the historical part is dropped off. A Matter of Grave Concern though entertained me on both levels. The story starts with Abigail trying to buy a dead body. What woman does this? A woman whose father is her world and only parent. A woman who grew up at the Royal College of Surgeons where her father was head surgeon. A woman who desperately wants to follow in her father's footsteps in an era where woman married and ran households; if they were forced to work it was mostly frisky business they were doing. Abigail understands the human body but isn't so well informed of the human emotions. When the purchase of a dead body goes badly Abigail meets Max. Max is one of the men who stole from her. A Resurrectionist. Or is he something entirely different?
I love the story. As a teen I loved Frankenstein. Up until I read that story I had not thought much about how doctors learned so much about the human body. Then I was fascinated by the fact that they used deceased people as "live" samples to learn from. The thought of selling someone, deceased or not, made me queasy. I wonder at the desperation of the people who sold them. I had not given as much thought into people who bought them. Having a female character who buys dead bodies was extremely interesting. I assumed men did the buying and selling of them. I hate to say it but it was not only the era and the fact that not much was expected of women outside the home that made me think that way. It just seemed to me something men would do. (haha) Because of this Abigail fascinated me. That she would do so much for her father's love kind of saddened me. That she did it in part because of her own curiosity heartened me. It is good to know that woman who truly wanted to learn and experience had the courage to step out of bounds and find ways to do it. Max has his own demons. He is participating in some heavy evil as a resurrectionist with the gang of men he is with. That he sees Abigail and accepts her as is was awesome. I enjoyed his tug of war with doing what was right and doing what felt right. I also loved the chemistry between Abigail and Max. I think the demons that chased each of them are what brought them so close.
The author, Brenda Novak, is known to me. I have read her Whiskey Creek series, (which I love!), and a few other of her books. She has written 50+. That, to me, is amazing. The fact that the ones I have read are high quality astounds me and speaks of her talent and devotion. A devotion not only to her writing but to her fans. Some authors who have written that many books lose something in a few of them. Over time they seem to become the same thing using different names and words. I have not read all of Brenda's books. The ones I have read are fresh. Each has a story all its own. Since most of what I have read from her are her more recent books I believe she is an author with much to offer. Her characters are well written, not always the most likable people, but then when have you liked everyone you met? Her stories are researched and care is given for them to be "real". I like that more than I normally say. It is not so much that I want my stories to be realistic, (I read a lot of zombie books - so far not grounded in reality). I enjoy fantasy a lot. I just don't want to be taken so far away it is ridiculous. Brenda Novak has the line between reality and fantasy firmly in check and has the ability to blur them in an enjoyable mix. A Matter of Grave Concern shows off this ability with drama, intrigue, romance and heat. I enjoyed reading it. I hope you will too.
This book was a great mystery/love/historical that made really sucked my in and made me believe it.

The chemistry was amazing! The restraint and passion they both showed had a wonderful ebb and flow. It really gave this mystery a deeper layer that I enjoyed very much. I suppose I should have been concerned with the fact that Abigail clearly suffered from Stockholm Syndrome but it was written so well that I couldn’t have cared less.

Abigail was a feminist during a time when it wasn’t socially accepted to be. Her desire to prove herself was (I think) a driving force behind most of her actions. That and her need to be treated equally. And Max was pretty supportive of her for the most part. He didn’t shy away from treating her differently than the men, for example the vulgar language he used around her wasn’t held back. It was pretty funny to hear Abigail throw the same words back at him as if she spoke that way all the time. Her manner was very clinical and came of as funny from an outsider. But Max was there whenever she was unable to defend herself properly. It was a nice combo.

The mystery was great and pretty intricate. The author clearly didn’t hold back in any aspect of her story telling. Sometimes you will see that one aspect is emphasized more in a novel but this one had equal billing between the love story and the mystery.

The only thing I will say kinda bothered me was the ending. Without giving anything away I felt the ending was a bit melodramatic. It would have read just fine without the added drama. But that’s such a small part of the story as to barely tweak my radar.
If you read other historical romances from this period, then you may be bothered by the problems of the plot.
1. The author does not seem to have an understanding of dukes. They have responsibilities and oversight that require their presence. They have white uncalloused hands that would never pass muster with a gang of grave diggers. Most of all the dialect or speech of a noble-born person is very different from people in the unsavory parts of London. The author tries to excuse the problems with the hero's story that he is trying to make enough money to cover his debts, but the kind of work that he does in this story is not nearly lucrative to have a chance of paying a gentleman's debts. Also, a duke would hire people to find anyone he wants. He does not need to take the risk and danger himself. Duke's are trained this way, to hire the people who can investigate among the lower classes. That the Duke would go from ignoring his step-sister's plight to then ignoring his responsibilities and risking his life in order to find out what happened to his most-likely-dead half-sister is just not believable.
2. Timing. The days and weeks that went with certain aspects of the story were just not credible. This happens throughout the story but is nowhere more evident than the Duke's travel time towards the end of the book. The times used in the story are more that of modern travel [footnote 1], not a little over 2 months as in the book, but rather a minimum of 6 months for what transpired. (a ship in the period of the book has to stop for supplies and gets becalmed and gets blown off course by storms)
3. The heroine went from her dream of being a surgeon to giving it up without enough of the author sharing her thought process. It was too big an aspect of the book to be thrown over so quickly. I think the idea is that the heroine went from being naïve to gaining more of a worldly education during the story, but still there should have been more, such as a discussion with her father and maybe another advisor along with internal weighing of the issues. She was tenacious in other aspects of the book.
4. The "falling in love" was too facile and not understandable in the context. Lust, yes. Infatuation, maybe, but the speed at which the heroine was wholly committed to her love for the hero seemed wrong to me. Physical chemistry does not always translate into deep, can't-be-separated love.
5. The character of the father did not seem very solid. He seemed to be very passive, which is unlike the character that goes with a surgeon. Sometimes he evidently did not care very much about his daughter and other times he did care. His motivations and desires were unclear.

This book is more of a fantasy rather than a historical; it has modern US ideas with some United Kingdom 1800s aspects. Brenda Novak is a decent writer, but is too wed to the world she lives in and does not do a good job of entering the historical setting that she aspires to. Maybe it is just an issue of not enough research. The story held my interest enough to finish it, which is why I gave it three stars.

Footnote 1 Travel times are available on a web page by Australian National Maritime Museum, under search for "time it takes to sail from london to sydney in 1800s" - does not allow users to post links external to .