January Roundup

Books Finished: 11 (but I've been bad about reviewing. I WILL be better about that this year...)

Favorite January Book:

Lady Anne and the Howl in the Dark - a Gothic romantic suspense novel. To me it seemed very much like Amelia Peabody investigating the Hound of the Baskervilles (and given how much I love both of those, that's high praise)!

Just a teaser for now - you can expect a full-length review closer to the publication date (April 2009). But keep your eyes peeled!

Author Encounters: (links to authors websites/Amazon)

Donna MacMeans stopped by my Best of 2008 post to thank me for including her marvelous romance The Education of Mrs. Brimley and to get me all excited about the sequel coming out this April with promising fashion tidbits!

Jamie Ford sent me a nice quick reply to an email I dropped him about Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. Thanks Jamie!

If you get a chance, I really urge you to read this one. It's a lovely story about young love, WWII on the home front, and jazz in Seattle. Plus there's just a gorgeous cinematic quality about the writing. Give it a shot!


Books Read: (links are to my reviews)

1. The Last Templar - Raymond Khoury

2. To Seduce a Bride - Nicole Jordan

3. Gladiatrix - Russell Whitfield

4. A Room with a View - E.M. Forster

5. The Unmasking of Lady Loveless - Nicola Cornick

6. A Duke to Die For - Amelia Grey (out April 2009)

7. King's Fool - Margaret Campbell Barnes (out April 2009)

8. Lady Anne and the Howl in the Dark - Donna Lea Simpson (out April 2009)

9. The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

10. The Luxe - Anna Godbersen

11. Rumours - Anna Godbersen

Waiting on Wednesday

No cover yet, but L.A. Meyer's inestimable Jacky Faber is back for another book (7?). The title will be:

Rapture of the Deep: Being a Further Account of the Adventures of Jacky Faber - Soldier, Sailor, Mermaid, Spy

And if Jacky's hijinks are anything like what she's got up to in the previous books in the series, we're in for another treat!

I'm a huge sucker for maritime adventure stories, especially with a plucky heroine. And with a title like that, it seems our Jacky will be headed back to sea! She's constantly meeting historical people, getting into scrapes, squirming out of scrapes, and generally causing mayhem. Just the sort of story I love to sea! Hooray for more Jacky!

Rapture of the Deep will be coming out September 28, 2009. Which means if you haven't fallen in love with Jacky yet, you have plenty of time to hop aboard. The first book is Bloody Jack in which our dear Jacky seeks a way out of her street rat life as a ship's boy aboard the HMS Dolphin.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet will be released today!

Summary: In the opening pages of Jamie Ford’s stunning debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle’s Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made an incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese families, left whenthey were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II. As Henry looks on, the owner opens a Japanese parasol.

This simple act takes old Henry Lee back to the 1940s, at the height of the war, when young Henry’s world is a jumble of confusion and excitement, and to his father, who is obsessed with the war in China and having Henry grow up American. While “scholarshipping” at the exclusive Rainier Elementary, where the white kids ignore him, Henry meets Keiko Okabe, a young Japanese American student. Amid the chaos of blackouts, curfews, and FBI raids, Henry and Keiko forge a bond of friendship–and innocent love–that transcends the long-standing prejudices of their Old World ancestors. And after Keiko and her family are swept up in the evacuations to the internment camps, she and Henry are left only with the hope that the war will end, and that their promise to each other will be kept.

I absolutely adored this book. It got one of my rare 5 star ratings. Here's why.

Looking for a great book to curl up with this winter? Do yourself a favor and pick this one up.

The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

**** - Oscar Wilde is always a good read, and this is a chilling Gothic story. At times, though, Wilde is too focused on being clever and quotable at the expense of the story. I can't help but wonder how much of himself he saw in Henry Wotton.

For those who don't know the story: An extraordinarily beautiful young man in Victorian England has his portrait painted, and makes an ardent wish that he never have to age. His wish is granted - his body remains ever young and beautiful, and his portrait shows the evidence of age and misdeeds - but at a price...

Oscar Wilde is always good for the quotes in his writing, and Dorian Gray is no exception. Particularly Henry Wotton, the aesthete who lures Dorian onto a hedonistic path, tears his fellow characters to pieces with witty epigrams and observations of society. There were chapters in the middle, though, where it seemed that Wilde let this tendency get in the way of actually telling his story about Dorian. This is a terrible shame because Dorian's life goes from bright and innocent to creepy and dark, a very Gothic tone to the story creeps in.

There is plenty of moral turpitude, fog, death, and paranoia to go around, which made this an excellent quick read curled up during a London winter. I was always drawn back to the text (though there are some boring parts where Wilde shows off his knowledge of fabrics and such), and although I knew the basic premise, I couldn't help but tear through the story to see how exactly it ended. I loved the small, hideous changes Dorian sees in the portrait and how terrifying it is to see such a record of his sins.

A creepy, fast read in a Gothic vein. A classic well worth reading (especially since it's so short).

In other happy news: There's a new movie in the works called Dorian Gray and starring the beautiful Ben Barnes (not blond, but pretty enough that I'll allow it) as Dorian, Colin Firth as the bored socialite Henry Wotton and Ben Chapman as Basil Hallward - the artist. I think the story will lend itself beautifully to film, though it may lose some of Wilde's quotability.

The movie is set to come out this fall (September/October), and I for one will definitely be there!

Do you like Oscar Wilde? Do you prefer the plays or Dorian? Have you seen the other movie adaptations of his work (The Importance of Being Earnest, An Ideal Husband)? Will you be seeing this one?

Tuesday Thingers - Swapping

Today's question: Have you ever used the Swap This Book function which can be found on the main page of any book (here is an example of Flirting With Forty by Jane Porter: link shown on book page, what it looks like if you click on the link)? If so, what do you think about it? If not, are there any other swap sites you utilize to exchange books once you are done? What do you do with your books if you no longer want them anymore?

I don't really use the Swap function on LibraryThing. My main swapping vehicle (up until now) has been Paperbackswap, and they haven't yet made their data available to LT. So it's not really useful for me. Of course, right now I'm in the process of moving away from the US, so PBS won't really be an option anymore. I'm already kind of sad about it as the other swap sites don't suit me as well.

Generally when I'm done with books, they go back onto my bookshelves - I'm a dreadful packrat, particularly when it comes to books. If the book wasn't really to my taste, though (I try to give myself a star rating cut-off point), I'll usually sell it to Half-Price Books. Though I always come back from there with more books than I started out with...

What about you? Do you use swap sites?

Waiting on Wednesday

In the late 17th century, famed pirate Emer Morrisey was on the cusp of escaping pirate life with her one true love and unfathomable riches when she was slain and cursed with the dust of 100 dogs. Three hundred years later, after one hundred lives as a dog, she returned to a human body—with her memories intact. Now she's a contemporary American teenager, and all she needs is a shovel and a ride to Jamaica.

Let's see. Female pirates, swashbuckling, curses, dogs, AND YA? This book is practically written for me. In fact, when I finally get my grubby hands on a copy, I'm almost positive that it's in the dedication: 'To Lana, my favorite hoyden (though we've never met), I wrote this just for you.' THAT is how much it sounds like I will love this.

And if the rave reviews from the bloggers lucky enough to land an ARC are anything to go by, I will not be disappointed. It comes out Feb. 1st, shortly before my birthday, how much more destined could this be?

Tuesday Thingers - Common Knowledge

Have you ever looked at the Common Knowledge page, or viewed the history of changes/additions? If you were aware of this section, have you added any information? Do you find this information useful or interesting?


Don't look now, but I'm a complete Common Knowledge junkie. I love to enter characters, important places, first lines, and series information. First off, it's practical because I can search for those characters, etc. if I can't for the life of me remember the title of a book. And it's always helpful if someone else has entered series information for something I didn't know was a series, so I try to help out when I can, too.

Second of all, I really enjoy it. There's something about cataloguing that stuff that makes me happy and feel accomplished to boot. What's not to love?

A Room with a View - E.M. Forster

*** - The first classic I read on my brand-new e-reader. I am officially in love. Though more with the reader than with the book. The book was a nice enough story, but not something I think will endure in my mind.


Lucy Honeychurch travels abroad for the first time to Italy. While staying in a pension in Florence, she makes the acquaintance of the Emersons - father and son who are deemed quite unrefined and tactless by the ton. The Emersons believe in saying what you mean and reject the social niceties in favor of living honestly. Lucy is drawn to them, particular the young man George, but struggles to choose between doing what is expected of her and living passionately.

This is a short novella, very similar in vein (though much more cheerful) to The Sorrows of Young Werther. The main emphasis is on the passions of youth and the struggle to find the right way to live. There's a rather blatant theme of breaking with the old conventional mores and moving into the modern. But the strength of the story is when it talks about Lucy. My favorite quotes from the book are descriptions of Lucy - 'She was like a woman of Leonardo da Vinci, whom we love not so much for herself as for the things that she will not tell us.'

The book is full of little truths and memorable quotes. And even though the story is simple, it kept me wanting to pick it back up. It's a quiet novella - not much action happens. It's not sweeping or Gothic, and at times the author talks directly to the reader which irritated me. But A Room with a View is a quick read and one full of the struggles of youth.

The Unmasking of Lady Loveless - Nicola Cornick

*** 1/2 - Fun and sexy novella in Harlequin's new historical short story line. The page count certainly has its limitations, but these are fun little morsels if you're pressed for time.

Lord Alexander Beaumont is quite miffed. According to the members of his club, his estranged wife Melicent in Yorkshire is writing thinly veiled accounts of members of the ton's erotic escapades under the pen name of Lady Loveless. He is determined to unmask her (and seduce her if necessary).

There's a nice story in these four quick chapters and the sexual chemistry between the two characters fairly sizzles to the point where I couldn't help but be surprised that they hadn't noticed it before. Given the short format, the characters couldn't be deeply developed and there are some emotional leaps the reader just needs to accept. But I was surprised by the eventual unmasking, and I loved both characters together.

This short story is linked to Cornick's recent Harlequin release Unmasked and another book soon to be released. I can't help but hope that Feckless Aloysius will make another appearance! So if you're looking for a romance 'snack', I recommend this. Even in this short work, I fell for Nicola Cornick's style and characters.

Interested in other opinions?

Smart Bitches, Trashy Books - did a fun liveblogging post on this.

Waiting on Wednesday

Jill over on Breaking the Spine hosts a meme on Wednesdays in which bloggers highlight the not-yet-published books we're pining for. Here's mine:

The Seduction of a Duke by Donna MacMeans (April 2009)

William Chambers, Duke of Bedford, ascended to the title upon his father’s death, but he also inherited his father’s extensive debts. Desperate to avoid scandal and ruin, he is willing to go to any lengths – including marrying, sight unseen, a reclusive American heiress known as Frosty Franny.
Not pleased to be trapped in an arranged marriage, Francesca Winthrop conspires to turn lemons into lemonade with the assistance of a courtesan’s journal.

(Click here for an excerpt)

This is the sequel to my much-beloved The Education of Mrs. Brimley, which sent me off on a wild-goose chase for more artist romance hero/ines trying to capture that elusive transformation when the heroine becomes the hero's muse. It was pure magic. And after an experience like that, of course I'm desperately awaiting the sequel!

What are you waiting for?

Gladiatrix - Russell Whitfield

Gladiatrix comes out April 14th.

** 1/2 - A lot of violence, obligatory training scenes, nasty trainers, lesbian love scenes. Certainly a fast-paced read. But I was extremely uncomfortable with the rape scenes. Definitely not for everyone. Not for me - though I have to say, I LOVE the cover.

I received a free copy of this book for review through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.

After her ship sinks in a storm, young Spartan priestess Lysandra is captured by the Roman province's leading trainer of gladiatrices for the arena. Her warrior upbringing and natural martial talent soon save her life as she is forced to fight for survival and the possibility of her freedom. But her sense of superiority and her Spartan culture make it difficult for her to adjust to her new life and soon make her some powerful enemies among the other gladiatrices.

For the most part, Gladiatrix was exactly what I expected, and what the author promised - a version of Gladiator with a female heroine. From the very first pages, the book is steeped in fast-paced battle scenes, and the pace rarely lets up. As is to be expected, there's a lot of fighting, made even gorier by the fact that the women fight nearly nude to titillate the crowds.

On the downside, Lysandra is a difficult character to like. She's arrogant to the point of hubris, and her innate disdain for everyone else is irritating when it becomes clear that no-one is going to put her in her place. Although I didn't want her to die in her bouts, I was hoping that she would have to rely on the missio at least once to take her down a notch. Unfortunately her vaunted superiority never takes much of a beating - though it was nice to see her concerned about her chances of winning near the end. And in all honesty, I have to admit I rooted for her to win despite her annoying traits.

But what placed this book firmly in the not-for-me category were the rape scenes. It's a book set during ancient Rome, a book about female slaves under harsh trainers. I shouldn't have been surprised that there would be rape. But Nastasen's brutal fantasy in the early parts of the book and the depiction of the rapes were too much for me. That's not to say that the author dwelled on these scenes - they were included for purposes of plot and character development as well as depiction of the harsh life women faced. Still, the depictions (particularly Nastasen's fantasy) just marred the book for me.

So, would I recommend the book overall? It's a fast-paced and action-packed read for those who don't mind plenty of violence and sex. I enjoyed the training sessions in particular, and the battles have a definite cinematic quality to them. I was often reminded of both Gladiator and the HBO series Rome. So, for those looking for an action-movie of a read, I'd say yes. Pick this one up. But not if you're as squeamish as I am about rape scenes.

Interested in other opinions?
Carla Nayland's Historical Fiction
Graeme's Fantasy Book Review

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet - Jamie Ford

***** - I almost never give out 5 stars. I really almost never give out five stars after only one reading. But in this case, I just had to make an exception. Truly bitter sweet, never maudlin, and beautiful... a gorgeous story, and a fantastic read.

Thank you so much to the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program for providing me with a free review copy.

While passing the boarded up Panama Hotel in what used to be Japantown, elderly widower Henry Lee witnesses the discovery of an entire basement full of belongings left their right before the Japanese internment. And the sight of a parasol takes him back to the most important events of his life...

Growing up in Seattle's Chinatown in 1942, Henry has a lot of expectations to live up to. His parents want him to grow up 'American' so he is not allowed to speak Cantonese, but they also want him to finish his education in China. He's on scholarship to an all-white prep school where he endured the taunts and bullying of his classmates. And most difficult of all, his father is obsessed with the Japanese invasion of China, and Henry's closest friend is Japanese.

Told in alternating points of view between the young and elderly Henry, this novel tells the poignant story of innocent young love, jazz, parents and sons, devotion and prejudice, and the terrible events of Japanese internment. I had some misgivings that the book would wax overly sentimental or maudlin, but they turned out to be completely unfounded. The title has it perfectly - the novel is a perfect mixture of bitter and sweet. I was both heartbroken and elated, and all without ever feeling manipulated into emotion. The story of Henry's love is so very touching.

And in this case, it really is the story that is the shining star. The prose and the author's presence never intrudes or shows off. The words came to life in front of my eyes, so that I felt that I was watching the action unfold. Key scenes were very cinematic - and I mean that in the best possible way.

As usual with books I loved, I'm not sure if my rambling can do it justice. Just let me say that I've been recommending it to essentially everyone. It's a lovely, tender, satisfying story that's suited for those who enjoy literary fiction (which I don't), historical fiction set during WWII, or romances. And yes, I think guys will like it, too.

Interested in other opinions?

On My Bookshelf

The Printed Page

From My Bookshelf

To Seduce a Bride - Nicole Jordan

*** - I originally expected to like this one best out of the Courtship Wars. I love a good Hoyden plotline - as if you hadn't guessed from the blog title. There are fencing lessons and wild rides through the park, but Lily's wildness stems from deeper insecurities. A nice emotional story, but it didn't quite work for me.

The youngest of the beautiful Loring sisters, Lily is determined never to marry. After her parent's hostile marriage, the spitfire cannot bear to risk her independence by submitting to a husband - even if that husband comes in as attractive a package as Heath Griffin, Marquess of Claybourne.

Heath has never shown any interest in leg-shackles before, but he is entranced by Lily. Her spirit and sense of adventure appeal greatly to him, and he relishes the challenge of pursuing her. To evade him, Lily hides in the last place anyone would think to look for her: with her friend Fanny Irwin, instructing members of the demimonde in etiquette and deportment.

I'm somewhat ambivalent about this read. There were parts of this that I absolutely loved, including most of Heath's descriptions of Lily, his declaration of love, and most of all his courtship. In trying to win her, he was thoughtful, generous and strong, and I adored him in those moments. I particularly liked that he let her 'rescue' herself in the rowboat showing that he allowed her independence and had faith in her abilities.

But I found myself much less drawn to him when things turned steamy. I think it's because every time things turned to sex, he would insist that he knew exactly how she felt. The phrase most often on his lips was "Don't bother to deny it". As an independent-minded hoyden myself, I find that kind of presumption incredibly vexing, and I was surprised that Lily didn't throw something at him.

I was also a bit disappointed that we didn't see more of Lily's adventurous side. I loved her work with the prostitutes and how it influenced her view of things, but I could have done with rather more races through the park, fencing lessons and similar hoydenish moments. That said, I did think her reluctance to wed was well-thought-through, though I'm not as sure of her sudden revelatory turn-around.

Finally, I really enjoyed the stirrings of Fanny's secondary romance and the elderly courtesans machinations. I do wish I had seen more of Eleanor and Tess, though. Thank goodness they have stories coming. I have high hopes for Nell in particular!

Interested in the others?

Book 1: To Pleasure a Lady

Book 2: To Bed a Beauty

Book 3: To Seduce a Bride

Book 4: To Romance a Charming Rogue

Best of 2008!

Favorite Books of 2008:

The Heir and the Spare & The Rogue and the Rival - Maya Rodale

Possibilities of Sainthood - Donna Freitas

Bewitching Season - Marissa Doyle

The Specialists series - Shannon Greenland

The Heretic's Daughter - Kathleen Kent

Powder Monkey - Paul Dowswell

The Lady Elizabeth - Alison Weir

The Spymaster's Lady - Joanna Bourne

Mara, Daughter of the Nile - Eloise Jarvis McGraw

Island of the Blue Dolphins (reread) - Scott O'Dell

Miss Maitland's Letters - Martha Kirkland

Assassin - Lady Grace Cavendish

Perfect Rake (reread) - Anne Gracie

The Education of Mrs. Brimley - Donna MacMeans

Crocodile on the Sandbank (reread) - Elizabeth Peters

(Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet - Jamie Ford) - counting this for 2009 since that was when it's published


ETA: I'm not allowed to schedule posts anymore... I wanted this to post for the new year and managed to post it for 01/01/2008...
Hope you enjoy despite my complete dating failure. :)