Cheryl Cooper

Yet again, I found myself easily sucked back into the world of Emily, Leander, Fly, Gus, Magpie, Biscuit, and my favourite, Prosper Burgo.

I think it's obvious that Cooper's writing chops are just improving with each successive addition to this series, and I found this one to be the most intricately plotted of the three, yet easily followed.

Yet again, the characters were great, the story top-notch, the research well done, the suspense riveting, and the action? Well...

One of my complaints to Cooper has been that, for scenes of men on ships doing their best to blast each other to the bottom of the ocean, the first two books were curiously bloodless. So I was interested to see what would happen in a novel titled Runs Red With Blood.

Turns out the author finally relented and showed us more of the horrors of war. No, she didn't get suddenly over-descriptive and go all Friday the 13th on us, but she did include enough to get the sense that war is a violent, horrible thing.

Overall, once again, I devoured this book in big, 100 page gulps. And enjoyed every second of it.… (meer)

Oh, [a:Cheryl Cooper|3854744|Cheryl Cooper|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1411586567p2/3854744.jpg], what are you trying to do to me? Just to be clear... I don't read historical fiction. I'm not a fan of romantic stories. And both high seas adventures and high society shenanigans--especially those of 200 years ago--bore me to tears.

And yet...

And yet, along comes Cooper's sequel to [b:Come Looking for Me|17273544|Come Looking for Me (Seasons of War, #1)|Cheryl Cooper|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1390835060s/17273544.jpg|16401803]. I enjoyed that book. But this one? Oh hell, yes. I totally dug this one.

I'm not sure if it's the deepening of the various characters, or the injection of the new ones, or the dual plotlines...I don't know. I thought about it in the three days I attacked the book in 100 page marathons. I can't put my finger on exactly why I enjoyed this one more than the first, but I just did. Emily is a fun character, and her drawing of the Lindsay family was enjoyable as hell. But there was also the continuing adventure of Fly Austin and Leander Braden.

Yeah, I don't know why, but the writing was solid, the characters were solid, the pacing was solid, the stories were solid...

Okay, I give up. Just go, read the first book (because you'll dig it), then dive right into this one, because you'll dig it even more.

Good job, Cheryl Cooper. Now, let's see what you serve up next.… (meer)

A few things to get out of the way right off the top. First, I am a friend of Cheryl's, having gone through three Muskoka Novel Marathons with her (the three-day writing event that, in 2004, spawned the first iteration of Come Looking For Me). Second, she is a woman I greatly admire and respect. Third, had I not liked this novel, she never would have known, because I would have quietly removed it from my Goodreads list.

Instead, I get to write a review. So. Come Looking For Me. I'll talk about the title first: I'm absolutely not crazy about the title of the novel. As far as I'm concerned (and it's just my opinion), it doesn't prepare the reader for the fun and adventure that awaits them within the pages. As well, as long as we're being brutally honest here, if you took me into a bookstore and had me point out which novels I would be least likely to every purchase, let alone read, this one would be near the top of the list. It's got so many things going against it when it comes to my reading tastes...It's historical fiction (nope), it's got sea battles (who cares?), and it's got a romantic subplot (meh). Look through my list and you'll see some horror, some SF, some thrillers and police procedurals. You won't find any historical fiction.

And yet... Cheryl Cooper is a woman, as I said, that I greatly admire and respect. So, I bought her book, as well as the sequel, [b:Second Summer of War|17299491|Second Summer of War|Cheryl Cooper|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1391340938s/17299491.jpg|24096472]. And then I set about reading this one.

The author wastes no time dropping you into the action and intrigue of the plot, and introducing you to Emily, an enigma wrapped in a mystery. Cooper's strengths are building fascinating, varied characters that, love them or hate them, you care for them. Each has a carefully crafted backstory that drives them. The author's also very, very good at delaying revelations to the point where the suspense is so high, I'd swear it couldn't go higher, yet she pulled it off.

As can be gleaned from my normal reading list, I have no experience with ships or historical fact, but from what I read, Cooper definitely seems to have done her homework and has done her best to be as accurate as possible. I respect that.

I really only had two frustrations with the story, and both of them came near the end. While Cooper filled the book with a ton of action, I felt a touch ripped off that I didn't get to see a smaller ship take out the rudder and cripple a much larger one. And I also feel a key wedding scene would have only added to the story had it happened on-stage. Both of these, while not turning points, were scenes that I simply know I would have enjoyed, knowing how well Cooper wrote the rest of the novel. Still, the book was so loaded with action, intrigue, mystery, and yes, even romance, that this is a minor quibble.

By the way, while I enjoyed all the characters, and might have even misted up a bit at a scene with Gus and Magpie, the standout character for me was Prosper Burgo. He shows up later in the novel, but absolutely chews through every scene he's in. Fantastic character.

So, again, while this is absolutely not my genre, and I won't be going out and reading any other author's recounts of high seas adventure, I will read, and in fact look forward to, the Second Summer of War.

Highly recommended.

And look at that, [a:Cheryl Cooper|3854744|Cheryl Cooper|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1411586567p2/3854744.jpg], you got me to read something I would never have read had it not been for you. Good on you.… (meer)