Tag: Enola Holmes series

REVIEW: Enola Holmes and the Elegant Escapade by Nancy Springer

REVIEW: Enola Holmes and the Elegant Escapade by Nancy Springer

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received a free electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Wednesday Books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. This book is scheduled to release on September 6th.]

Summary

Enola’s friend, Lady Cecily Alastair, had been through a lot in their short acquaintance, and the pair had quickly become best friends. Enola was the one who had figured out that Cecily had two distinct personalities – one confident and clever, the other meek and helpless.

When Enola goes to visit her friend and is turned away at the door, she is concerned. Turns out, Cecily’s father has been holding her captive, locked in her room with no clothes other than what she is wearing and no food. Enola is able to rescue Cecily, but the girl soon goes missing  before Enola can find her a safe haven.

Almost immediately, Sherlock is on the case at the behest of Cecily’s mother who is also locked away, although with a bit more support than Cecily had. Enola is only too aware of the trouble Cecily can walk into, out in the world, alone, especially if her more helpless personality takes hold. So Enola needs to find and rescue her friend while dodging her brother, the famous detective. Well, it’s not like she hasn’t done that before!

Review

This was great! I enjoyed the mystery and loved Cecily and the other characters who help Enola with this case. The dual personality portion of the story was well done. (Earlier books in this series establish Cecily and Enola’s relationship and some of these factors. While I have read the earlier books, it’s been AGES, but I had no difficulty following this story without a review of the earlier tales.)

The relationship between Enola and Sherlock is as delightful as ever. I didn’t notice the Netflix tie-ins as much as I did reading the last book, Enola Holmes and Black Barouche, but it’s been awhile since I watched the movie. It’s not as fresh in my mind as it was when I read the previous book.

Mystery fans, Enola fans, and even Sherlock fans should definitely give this a try. I think fans of historical mysteries and historical fiction in general might enjoy this as well. There’s a lot to love! You can read more about Enola’s books here.

Rating: ♥♥♥♥*

*♥♥♥♥ = Great. Might re-read.

REVIEW: Enola Holmes: The Graphic Novels, Book 1 by Serena Blasco

REVIEW: Enola Holmes: The Graphic Novels, Book 1 by Serena Blasco

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received a free electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

The first three Enola Holmes novels by Nancy Springer have been adapted into graphic novels – The Case of the Missing Marquess, The Case of the Left-Handed Lady, and The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets.

Enola is on the run from her older brothers, Mycroft and Sherlock, as she looks for their missing mother. Along the way, Enola dodges her brothers and solves mysteries.

Review

This is a fun, colorful adaptation of the first three novels in this middle grade mystery series. Fans of the books will enjoy the visual delivery of familiar stories. Fans of the Netflix movie will see a few points of similarity as well as many changes for the movie’s purposes. Newcomers should absolutely check this out as a teaser to the full books.

Book 2 in the graphic novel adaptation will release in October. You can read my review of the latest Enola Holmes novel for young adults here; a second book in that series, Enola Holmes and the Elegant Escapade, will release in September.

BLOG TOUR: Enola Holmes and the Black Barouche by Nancy Springer

BLOG TOUR: Enola Holmes and the Black Barouche by Nancy Springer

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received a free electronic review copy from Netgalley and Wednesday Books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. This book releases August 31, 2021.]

Summary

Called to her brother’s home by Dr. Watson, Enola finds him in a debilitating melancholy. He won’t acknowledge her efforts to rile him, and he essentially ignores a young woman who comes to him for help.  Enola draws out the details of her case, and eventually Sherlock is intrigued enough to join in the preliminaries.

Miss Glover has been told her twin sister has died, but she refuses to believe it. And there is some evidence that the claim is false. Besides, Miss Glover’s brother-in-law lost his first wife, too, from another “sudden fever” which raises suspicions. So the Holmes take on the case. Enola works her angle, even gaining help from her friend, the Viscount Tewkesbury, Marquess of Basilwether, while Sherlock works his own leads.

Review

The book opens with a prologue, penned by Sherlock, outlining Enola’s earlier adventures as well as a description of his transformed feelings for her and about her – annoyance to begrudging respect to fondness. It’s a GREAT opening. I could hear it in my mind in Henry Cavill’s voice (from the delightful Netflix Enola Holmes movie). And it was only the first of many things I loved about this book!

I love Enola! She is an exceptional sleuth, challenging all of her famous brother’s garbage assumptions about women by just being herself. I thoroughly enjoyed how she and Sherlock worked their own aspects of the case while always managing to return to one another. I enjoy them so much as partners.

It’s been ages since I first read the early books in this series (this is technically Enola’s 7th adventure), so I’m not sure if the Netflix movie did an exceptional job of capturing the tone of the characters from those earlier books or if *this* book does an exceptional job of capturing the tone of the movie. Either way, I had the movie characters firmly in my mind as I read, and I found this story just as enjoyable as I did the movie.

The sleuthing was satisfying, and the resolution of the case was, too. Frankly, I thought the book was perfect! (Don’t be alarmed by the low reviews on Amazon. Apparently a lot of folks didn’t realize they were reading a TEASER and not the whole book. And then they wondered why it was so short. Ugh.) Mystery fans, Sherlock fans, and Enola fans should run right out and pick this one up when it releases next week. It’s an absolute treat!

Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥*

*♥♥♥♥♥ = Outstanding!