Tee-hee! There’s a hilarious review of First Flight over at Tales of a Newbie Writer. It’s written as if it’s a transcript for a movie trailer and cracks me up.

Five out of Five stars for being imaginative.

(Said with the movie intro voice)

“In a world where people time travel, there is a woman.”

(Sounds of gunfire going off in the background, propellors starting up)

via Tales of a Newbie Writer: Book Review: First Flight.

Over on the  Adventures of Cecelia Bedelia, there’s a chance to win two copies of Shades of Milk and Honey, thanks to celi.a who seems to have fallen in love with my novel.  Here’s how her review starts off:

I found myself proclaiming to my friends that I’d found ‘the perfect book’ yesterday. I didn’t mean that it was THE perfect book for all time and all people. I did mean that I’d found the book that feels as if it was written expressly for me, because it fits my tastes perfectly. And luckily for the rest of you, it’s also well-written, so there’s a chance that you’ll find it just as enchanting as I did.

She goes on to talk about why she likes it AND THEN offers to give away two copies. Here’s the end of the review with the giveaway details.

Recommended for: historical fiction and subtle fantasy fans, Regency-era devotees, readers who view Austen as the comfort food of the book world, and anyone looking for a beautiful read with strong art overtones and a classic feel.

——

I’m giving away two copies of this book, because I loved it, and I want other people to love it too. Also, when I tried to buy it at Borders I found that they’re not carrying it in stores. Travesty!

To enter:

Leave a comment on this post with a word or phrase that makes you think of milk or honey. Synonyms, colors, associations, whatever you want – write it down!

Please include a method of contact. Giveaway is open internationally. Comments will close on September 15 at 11:59pm EST, and I will notify the randomly selected winners via email.

So drop by the Adventures of Cecelia Bedelia to enter her giveaway.

The Eugene Weekly has a nice review of Shades of Milk and Honey that manages to talk about the book without being spoilery.

Kowal has a good time with the tropes and tweaks of this sort of story, making both sisters sympathetic and tossing a few obstacles into the way, but Shades sparkles to particular life when its characters are working, thinking about or discussing glamour — the way it works, the relevance of passion, the power of a muse.

You can read the full review at the Eugene Weekly.

The Powell’s Books blog has a glowing review of Shades of Milk and Honey.

This is what a book crush is all about, this finding of a volume that is your perfect fit, the book you’ve been waiting for without ever knowing that you were waiting for it. This is one of those books that, upon finishing the last page, I closed the book, breathed a deep dreamy sigh, and floated off to bed on clouds of joy and wonder. And I’m afraid there is no way that I can explain to you why I’m so overjoyed to have found this book and why I occasionally have to clasp it to my bosom and twirl about the room in happiness. But I’ll try.

You can read the entire review at PowellsBooks.Blog

The August issue of Booklist reviews Shades of Milk and Honey

Take Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and add a dash of magic and you have this delightful story by Mary Kowal. This is the story of two sisters, Jane, who is more magically talented, and Melody, a stunning beauty, and their quest to find love and stability. Both girls hope to marry well despite their lack of inheritance, and are pursued by various suitors. They are quickly embroiled into the intricacies of their neighbors’ lives, and the resulting series of events is sure to entrance the reader. For those who love reading Jane Austen’s books, this will at least temporarily satisfy the craving. A touch of magic inserted into the story is enough to enhance, but not overwhelm the story line. A quick, light read, with characters that the reader will feel right at home with.

— Rebecca Gerber

Cory Doctorow at BoingBoing, says very nice things!

Shades of Milk and Honey is the hotly anticipated debut novel from Mary Robinette Kowal, who has already made a name for herself in science fiction with a series out outstanding short stories. It’s a Regency drawing-room romance, told in pitch-perfect style, with one important difference: these mannered and well-bred nobles are able to do magic. By conjuring “folds from the ether,” well-brought-up men and women are able to create optical illusions — or even breezes and smells — though such workings are quite exhausting and too much conjuring can leave the practicioner comatose, brain-damaged or dead.

You can read the whole review at Shades of Milk and Honey: Kowal’s debut novel is a drawing-room romance with magic and art – Boing Boing.

Hurrah! From the August issue of Romantic Times comes this really lovely review of Shades of Milk and Honey.

RT Rating 4-1/2 Star Top Pick

If Jane Austen had written a fantasy novel, Shades of Milk and Honey would have been the result. Written with painstaking attention to detail, Kowal’s prose is serenely evocative of the time period, and the fantastic elements are a seamless fit. The characterization is extremely well done and Jane is a sympathetic, strong and intelligent heroine whose devotion to her family trumps nearly every other concern. Give this one a try!

In an alternate Regency England where magic exists, young women practice manipulating glamour in their quests to land eligible bachelors. Both Jane and her sister Melody are well-practiced in this womanly art, and Jane’s ability in particular is remarkable. However, it is Melody who is fair of face and who gets most of the masculine attention while Jane, at the age of 28, is on the shelf.

When Jane realizes that one of Melody’s suitors is up to no good and is getting into position to take advantage of her, she pushes her skills to their very limits and, quite accidentally, finds her very own happy ever after. (TOR, Aug., 304 pp., $24.99)

Reviewed By: Natalie A. Luhr

From the June 15th edition of Library Journal comes this really lovely review of Shades of Milk and Honey

Readers will be disappointed only when they finish this enchanting story, which is suffused with genteel charm. The author’s judicious and effective changes to aspects of daily life clearly communicate how similar but different this world is from ours. With the grace of SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, a touch of classic fairy tale magic, and an action-packed ending, this debut novel by an award-winning short story writer will appeal to fans of Jane Austen, Jane Yolen, Patricia Wrede, Susannah Clarke, and even Jasper Fforde.

I think this might be my favorite review of all time. Dan Wells, author of I Am Not A Serial Killer. Apparently, Shades of Milk and Honey has left him somewhat irked. It’s a shame, because this review just makes me giggle.

Here’s the problem: Mary Robinette Kowal is too good. Not only is she famous, and gorgeous, and brilliant, she’s also a really good writer. This cannot be allowed. I tolerated it before, when it was just award-winning short stories, but her new book Shades of Milk and Honey is too much: clever and simple at the same time, with an unerring sense of historical yes-that’s-exactly-right-ness, and a mastery of craft and form belying the fact that she, like her characters, pretty much created the form out of nothing. To write a book I enjoyed this much, in a manner so talented I could never hope to recreate it, can only be considered a personal insult. Next time I see you, Mary, you’re dead.

He goes on with the review which, besides being very funny, exactly gets what I was trying to do with the novel. The quibbles that he has are, I think, perfectly fair which also pleases me.

Go read his review Shade of Milk and Honey, or, Why I’m going to murder Mary Robinette Kowal.

Oh, and you should buy I Am Not A Serial Killer which will hopefully mitigate his anger and allow me to live. Also, it’s really good.

Here’s an excerpt of the first official review of Shades of Milk and Honey from Joe Sherry of Adventures in Reading.

No matter whether one comes into Shades of Milk and Honey as an unabashed fan of Jane Austen or, like me, avoids the stuff like the plague, Mary Robinette Kowal has delivered a debut novel to satisfy any and everyone. Shades of Milk and Honey is silky smooth and beautifully written. Kowal uses, on occasional, the style, spelling, and formality of Austen-era fiction, but does so in a modern manner to ease the reader through the novel. It works and works to the point that not only can I recommend Shades of Milk and Honey to readers who would never otherwise pick up this book, but I can also state that after finishing Shades of Milk and Honey readers will be ready for Glamour in Glass now and won’t want to wait for next year.

This is the first of what I hope to be a regular feature called Getting to Know. The goal will be to give a brief overview of an author that is new to me and some of their short work while also mentioning what novel length works they have in the pipeline. This also plays in to my reading resolution of getting to more short fiction this year. First to fall victim is Mary Robinette Kowal.

via GETTING TO KNOW | Mary Robinette Kowal’s Evil Robot Monkey & More ~ Mad Hatter’s Bookshelf & Book Review.

Hey! I missed that Lois Tilton reviewed Apex’s all MRK issue.  She gave “The Bride Replete” a recommended which is lovely since she is so hard to please.

Kowal has created not only one fascinatingly alien society, but two, based on the same physiology. Pimi and her family don't quite seem human, but they are convincingly people, and not particularly ant-like.

via Locus Online Reviews: Lois Tilton reviews Short Fiction, #3.

I feel like I should frame this, the way people do with My First Pair of Shoes or My First Blanket.  My First Amazon Review is for my collection Scenting the Dark and Other Stories. How is the review?

First, let’s discuss short stories a bit. Short fiction is hard for me to review. Simply put, I don’t care too much for it.

Okay, he really does say that, but then! Then he goes on to say a whole bunch of nice things and wraps up with:

High-five, Mary. You made me like short stories again.

Whew.

I’ve been seeing reports that people have received their copies of Scenting the Dark and Other Stories from Subterranean, which is very cool.  YetiStomper has a particularly glowing review, which covers each of the stories and  finishes by saying:

All in all, Scenting the Dark makes it clear that Kowal can do in 5 pages what other authors can’t do in 50. It’s going to be interesting to see what she does with 300 or so pages to play with in her debut novel, Shades of Milk and Honey, due out from Tor this summer. I expect huge things.

via Stomping on Yeti: YetiReview: Scenting the Dark and Other Stories.

Rich Horton has just given my short story collection a really lovely and lengthy review. Here’s a teaser.

Scenting the Dark and Other Stories is notable, compared to other first books I’ve seen, for its brevity — only 8 short stories, some 80 pages. I rather think this is a wise choice — start with something of a taster, a sample. It’s not that she has used up all the good stuff either — for instance, neither of the stories I've reprinted is included here. The book does represent her style and concerns very well. It’s also representative temporally — a couple of her earliest stories are included, and a couple from 2009, including one new to this book. On the evidence of this book (and, I will add, her other work that I’ve seen) Kowal is a writer interested to a great extent in the characters behind her stories.

You can read the rest at The SF Site Featured Review: Scenting the Dark and Other Stories.  Needless to say, I am very, very pleased.