The Librarian of Crooked Lane

The Glass Library, Book 1

De: C.J. Archer

Narrado por: Marian Hussey

A librarian with a mysterious past, a war hero with a secret, and the heist of a magic painting. The Librarian of Crooked Lane is an intriguing new fantasy from C.J. Archer, the USA Today best-selling author of the Glass and Steele series.

Librarian Sylvia Ashe knows nothing about her past, having grown up without a father and a mother who refused to discuss him. When she stumbles upon a diary that suggests she's descended from magicians, she's skeptical. After all, magicians are special, and she's just an ordinary woman who loves books. She seeks answers from a member of the most prominent family of magicians, but she quickly learns that finding the truth won't be easy, especially when he turns out to be as artless as her, and more compelling and dangerous than books.

War hero Gabe is gifted with wealth, a loving family, and an incredible amount of luck that saw him survive four harrowing years of a brutal war without injury. But not all injuries are visible. Burying himself in his work as a consultant for Scotland Yard, Gabe is going through the motions as he investigates the theft of a magician-made painting. But his life changes when he unwittingly gets Sylvia dismissed from her job and places her in danger.

After securing her new employment in a library housing the world's greatest collection of books about magic, Gabe and Sylvia's lives become intwined as they work together to find both the painting and the truth about Sylvia's past before powerful people can stop them.

But sometimes the past is better left buried?

©2022 C.J. Archer (P)2022 C.J. Archer

This is a Spin-off of Glass and Steel Series

A Great start on this spinoff series, looking forward to next book. I Strongly advise reading the Glass and Steel Series before reading this book, because a lot of characters who were originally written about are in this book.
Narrator does a very good job with the various characters voices and the entire storyline.

Can’t wait for the 2nd book

A pleasant light listen. Narrator was great. Good inflection and character rendering. Simple yet engaging mystery. Great book to listen to while working. Can’t help but love the characters to.

Great plot twist!

librarian, library, theft, art-history, artist, magic, mystery, romantic, London, investigation, art-theft, detective, law-enforcement, unputdownable*****

Librarian Sylvia Ashe has come to London to find out who the magic user is who her brother (died in recent WW1) thought had answers to questions they've had all their lives. Father unknown and mother VERY secretive about the past. She believes that while she and her brother are artless, there is some sort of connection with those who have silver magic. Soon she meets the son of the woman she seeks (who is wealthy, war hero, police consultant), loses her job, becomes entangled in a web of art theft, becomes endangered. Fast moving and excellent read!
Once again, Marian Hussey Voiceover brings everyone to life!

Not so great

Felt like the story meandered in a desperate pointless manner. Won’t go further with this series.

Loved it

My favorite author and favorite characters along with even more. cannot wait for the next one.

Thoroughly Enjoyable

I thoroughly enjoyed this first book in The Glass Library series and will definitely be purchasing the next one. I found myself eager to get back to it when I wasn't listening to it and I quite enjoyed the narrator.

Very good book

Very good book. Interesting story line. I can’t wait for book two. It is a mix of Harry Potter and Sherlock Holmes. The author does a wonderful job telling the story and the narrator does an equally as wonderful job bring the story and characters to life.

Entertaining

I enjoyed the character development, the time period of the book and the plot and storyline. It was a lot of fun and I’m anticipating the next book in the series

What a fun book

I had such a great time listening to this story. I can’t wait for the next one. The narrator was fabulous too.

It kept my attention

I'm not a big fan of romance, but I do love when authors mix fantasy and other genres - in this case, historical. So I gave it a try. To my surprise, it kept my attention enough that I listened to the whole thing.

I found Silvia a mostly-reliable character. However, when she decided to take the side of the guy who kept trying to hurt her and put her down, that was a bit of a stretch. It seemed more like the author put their political thoughts into it. But besides that, it was mostly an enjoyable book. Nothing earth shattering, but enjoyable all the same.

I do wish we had gotten to know Gabe a bit more. For a love interest. he was pretty innocuous. I'm still not sure 'who' he is. I know more about Nash than about him.

I doubt I will continue, but I do think this book was enjoyable. Definitely escapist lit to be sure. Not a lot of depth and the characters are pretty much 1-2 dimensional beings. It's something you can listen to in the background while you work without having to worry about missing anything big. That makes it sound droll... which it would have been without the magic elements/ I hope the author adds more about those later. All the different magics conceptualized. Quite fascinating. Cotton magicians, paint magicians... time magicians. It's an interesting universe to be sure.