A Hoyden's Look at Literature

Definitely, Maybe (2008)

2012-01-28T11:12:00.000-05:00

*** 1/2 - Inspired by the post at Dear Author, I decided to pick this one up. I've been dying for a romantic comedy lately, though. And while this was far from the typical romcom, I came away from it satisfied and smiling - plus with some really great quotes.

"I don't think anyone imagines on their wedding day they'll be part of the 46% that doesn't live happily ever after."

And thus the unconventional romantic dramedy of Definitely, Maybe begins with William Hayes (Ryan Reynolds) being served divorce papers. And his life doesn't get any easier when he picks his 10-year-old daughter Maya (Abigail Breslin) up from school and she demands to be told the story of how he and her mother met and fell in love.

"What? Do you think I'm going to tell you the story and it's going to make everything better? It doesn't work that way."

But Will relents -under one condition. He is going to change the names and facts and his daughter will have to work out for herself which of the three women in his life eventually became her mother - in Maya's words: "Like a love story mystery".

"What's the boy word for slut?""They still haven't come up with one yet. But I'm sure they're working on it."

The Candidates:

Emily (Elizabeth Banks)

EMILY: College Sweetheart who stays at home when idealistic young Will heads up to New York for a few months to work on the Clinton campaign.

"Everyone knows the girlfriend at the beginning of the story gets dumped."

Favorite Exchange:
"You're drunk."
"You're beautiful."
"You're horny."
"You might be right."

Summer (Rachel Weisz)

SUMMER: The Journalist, whom Will brings a "diary" from college that Emily sent with him. Also whom Will meets upon awakening from a serious drinking session with her bearded alcoholic boyfriend, the brilliant acclaimed writer Hampton Roth (Kevin Kline).

Favorite Exchange:
"Boyishly handsome?"
"Yeah, you know, I originally wrote 'William Hayes has seductive eyes and the intriguing look of someone whose clothes you want to rip from his very body, but my editor made me change it."
"There's just no room for truth in journalism."

April (Isla Fisher)

APRIL: The Copy Girl working at campaign headquarters but as part of a money game rather than any sense of political idealism.

Favorite Exchange: during a practice proposal

"Will you, um, marry me?""What do you mean 'will you ...um...marry me'? You haven't seen me in weeks! You don't look happy or excited at the prospect of our marriage. You're asking me to give up my freedom - my joie de vivre! - for an institution that fails as often as it succeeds. And why should I marry you, anyway? And why do you want to marry me aside from some bourgeois desire to fulfill a need that society embeds in us from an early age to promote a consumer capitalist agenda?

Will has nice chemistry with all three of his potentials (although I think his daughter's dismissal of one of the women as a bitch was unnecessarily harsh under the circumstances, as I found Will's actions far more at fault for their break-up than hers). I loved his sweet romantic gestures: buying CDs with the song that Summer sings for him or the way he checks old editions of Jane Eyre for the copy April lost with her father's inscription. After all, what bibliophile's heart doesn't go pitter-patter at that? (Although, did that remind anybody else of Serendipity?)

And to be honest, I rooted for each of the women to be the one Will married, and each seemed plausible for a while. And ultimately, the movie ends on a tentatively happy note - a sense that Will is embarking anew upon romance and with his daughter's support and blessing.

Plus for all the readers out there, one of the parts that sticks with me was April:

"I read it (Jane Eyre) every year or two. Each time it's different. It tells me different things."

So many of us have a book (or a few) like this that just resonates. Off the top of my head, I have two:
The Song of the Lioness quartet by Tamora Pierce that I've loved since I was eleven; and Anne Gracie's The Perfect Rake.

What are yours?

Official Trailer:

The Invention of Lying (2009)

2011-08-28T07:31:00.009-04:00

*** - A fun concept (or rather several), but there's not enough of a plot or a struggle for the characters to really become invested in. Still a pleasant enough way to spend an afternoon.

Mark Bellison (Ricky Gervais) is a bit of a loser - by his own admission. He's a struggling screenwriter about to be fired, he's broke, chubby and absolutely out of his league on a date with his dream girl Anna (Jennifer Garner) and everyone knows it. And as the movie is set in a world where everyone always tells (and all too often volunteers) the complete truth, no one hesitates to tell him so to his face. Despite the fact that he is hardly Anna's best genetic match (that would be Mark's obnoxious and inexplicably jealous co-worker Brad Kessler), once Mark discovers, quite by accident, that he can lie - he turns his new-found skill to become rich and famous, hoping that this and their blossoming friendship will be enough to win Anna's heart.

The concept of the movie (including Mark's inadvertent creation of religion) is quite funny, but after the original set of clever quips are exhausted, so is much of the film's momentum. After all, there simply isn't much in the way of plot driving the characters forward. The whole movie is more a bunch 0f loosely strung together more-or-less comedic episodes rather than a cohesive storyline.

Some of the writing is snappy and really clever, some merely sentimental and some falls flat - most notably most of Tina Fey's scenes, which was both unexpected and disappointing. That said, there's a hilarious cameo with the corrupt traffic cop (it took me a bit to recognize him - the voice was the giveaway), and Jennifer Garner played even her bitchiest comments with a disarmingly naive frankness that definitely had me giggling, though I did wish there had been more depth to her as a character - heck, to any of the characters.

That's the real trouble (along with a conspicuous lack of plot): We're never given any particular reason as to why Mark wants Anna so much, no plausible explanation (other than vapid shallowness) why Anna insists that marrying Mark is such a terrible idea when she has already confessed (quite anti-climactically) that she loves him. With no discernible obstacles or actual struggle to be seen, while I wanted Anna and Mark to get together (hey, I like happy endings), I wasn't particularly invested in either of them or the pay-off.

Mad About the Duke - Elizabeth Boyle (review)

2011-06-14T01:03:00.004-04:00

**** - Honestly, I wish more Regencies were funny!

I first fell in love with Elizabeth Boyle's writing style when a friend handed me Something About Emmaline and explained the plot to me (the hero invented a wife (a very Wildean Bunbury) in order to avoid matchmaking mammas - imagine his surprise when he suddenly begins receiving bills from the modiste etc. in the name of said fictional wife - go read it! You're Welcome!).

At that point I was reading almost exclusively paranormals and the occasional contemporary (I love you, Katie MacAlister!) because what I wanted most out of a romance was a good laugh along with my swoony moments. But Elizabeth Boyle got me well and truly hooked on historicals. Long story short, when I was looking for something to read on the flight to Istanbul that would properly scandalize my boss and assorted other fellow passengers, I picked up Mad About the Duke. And it certainly served its purpose. I giggled out loud on multiple occasions, and so will you, I mean:

James Tremont, Duke of Parkerton has always been the sensible one of the madcap Tremont family. Indeed his scandalous brother Jack (yes, ladies, Mad Jack of This Rake of Mine fame) might even insist he was stodgy. But all that changes when he encounters the widow Lady Elinor Standon - who mistakes him for a solicitor and insists he help birth a litter of puppies in her linen closet. Thanks to his brother's sartorial shabbiness and Felicity Langley's Bachelor Chronicles, James is soon hired to glean what knowledge he can of eligible dukes as matrimonial candidates for the lovely lady. Only to discover that he himself didn't make the list!

Mistaken identities! A masquerade! Picnics! People spilling tea on one another in an attempt to keep them from spilling the duke's identity! A duke endearingly bad at driving constantly stealing his brother's carriage! This book - it has all kinds of things that I adore. I loved that Elinor falls for James while she is convinced that he's a solicitor - and therefore can't marry him because she needs a lord to stand up to her sister's guardian. And that he can't simply 'fess up to being a duke because he's been burned before by a relationship - but not in your typical historicals "OMG all women are EVIL because one I had a thing for hurt me and I WILL NEVER LOVE AGAIN" way. In fact, he's quite the opposite. James never expected to fall in love again, and he certainly never expected it to turn his life topsy-turvy and have him behaving like the rest of his crazy family. But when he meets Elinor, he's intrigued, he's smitten and he's giddy as a schoolboy rather than angsty. And I LOVED it. It was sweet and happy and funny and full of sparking sexual tension. And the whole book just felt like summer to me (despite the dark-seeming cover). Hmmmm, and now I am struggling not to break into an off-key rendition of Grease's "Summer Lovin'". But I think you get the picture.

This book. It is not angsty. If you wish for angst, seek elsewhere. This book is fun and frothy and bubbly and sweet. If it were a cocktail, it would be a Bellini. And I LOOOOOVE Bellinis (in cocktail and in book form).

Interested in other opinions? Linky-love below:

Elizabeth Boyle - excerpt

Kay's Blog

Love Romance

Night Owl Romance

The Abduction of Julia - Karen Hawkins

2011-05-30T05:55:00.004-04:00

*** 1/2 - A fun story and intriguing enough of a first effort that I am anxious to pick up the Sequel-Baiting friend/cousin's stories.

Alec MacLean, Viscount Hunterston is in a devil of a fix. In order to inherit an absurdly large fortune (and keep it away from his devious cousin and rival), his grandfather's will stipulates that he must be married by his next birthday - in two hours time. So when it turns out he has eloped not with the Incomparable toast of the ton Therese, but with her frumpy, goody-two-shoes American cousin and chaperone (nicknamed the Dragon), he has no time to do anything but make her an offer - half of his fortune in exchange for a year lived free of scandal.

But given the chemistry between them, two scheming money-grubbing cousins and Julia's less-than-wholesome pet charity projects, that might be more difficult than expected.

The Abduction of Julia is a fun marriage of convenience story, sweet, but not really intriguing enough to make my keeper shelves. The story of Alec and Julia is one I felt like I read before -Spoiled Handsome Nobleman marries Frumpy Governess who is secretly in love with him to gain a fortune. They promise not to consummate, but their attraction to one another makes that increasingly difficult. Jealousy over a Big Misunderstanding surrounding Some Other Man rears its ugly head, but all comes right in the end. Which is not to say the story is boring; it was just rather comfortably familiar rather than inspiring and fresh.

I liked Julia slowly blossoming into the beautiful woman she could be - while not losing sight of her ambitions to continue to do good. But at the same time, I was a bit exasperated by her seemingly complete selflessness. I mean, she doesn't want to go shopping for nice clothes at all? She doesn't want to put her domineering petulant cousin in HER shadow for a bit? She doesn't enjoy being the center of not only Alec's attention (whom she has had a crush on for years), but also of his delicious (though dastardly) rival and cousin? Really? She may be just a bit too Goody-Two-Shoes for me. Particularly when even a five-year-old child could see that her plan to populate London's servant halls with reformed wayward women is BOUND to cause a scandal...

Anyway, what saves the book for me is some nice tension between Alec and Julia and the secondary (and sequel-baiting) side characters that completely stole the show over and over again. There's Gorgeous-Damaged-Misunderstood Sequel-baiting Nick (whom I really liked, actually). Wry and Teasing Studly Best Buddy Lucien Devereux (hi, his name is Lucien, he is DESTINED for a sequel). Bumbling Fashion Disaster Edmund, who just tries SO HARD. His Aunt the Formidable Battle-Axe of a Woman (who would put Dame Judi Dench to shame). Muck, the Incredibly Homely Urchin withOUT a heart of gold and with a distinct Fear of Baths. And let's not forget Burroughs, the butler who without fail brings Alec a glass of warm milk before bed. A collective 'Awwwwwwww', if you please.

The best part about Karen Hawkins' debut is the introduction of another (unfortunately scarce) author who writes humorous historicals. I love a good romantic comedy - hijinks and masquerades and mistaken identities make me oh-so-happy. But they're even harder to find in historicals than contemporaries (which is difficult enough!). So when Hawkins had me chuckling over Edmund's deplorable fashion sense and Lady Birlington's insistence that he fight a duel with a chimney-sweep in the middle of the road...well, I knew I would be reading on in this series. And so I am certainly looking forward to A Belated Bride (Lucien) and possibly even more so to The Seduction of Sara (Nick). Let's hope there is just as much giggling in the next!

Interested in other opinions?

Outlandish Dreaming

Romanceaholic

Girls Without a Bookshelf

Girl's Guide to Witchcraft - Mindy Klasky

2011-05-02T14:48:00.005-04:00

**** - really fun paranormal chicklit - I loved her best friend's baked concoctions, mojito therapy and Neko (who is sorry about the fish)

Summary: Nothing is quite going right for reference librarian Jane Madison. Her mother has made a surprise reappearance after decades of Jane believing she had died in a car accident. Jane's boss has decided that the library staff will now have to appear in period costume - and how is a girl supposed to catch the attention of handsome professor Jason Templeton dressed in hoop skirts? And to top it all off, instead of a raise, Jane has to move in to the caretaker's cottage on library grounds, where she finds a cache of magical books and a disturbingly feline familiar that land her in even deeper trouble.

For all my deep and abiding love for romance novels, I often have trouble getting into chicklit. I often find the heroines painfully shallow, dense or unlikable. But none of those descriptors apply in the slightest bit to Mindy Klasky's heroine Jane Madison. Even though she's prone to building up relationships based on wishful thinking and overanalyzing - who can't relate to that? And she's aware of it, which makes it endearing rather than irritating. And I actually liked how she tried so hard to make grand romantic gestures (the dinner based on Jason's research? So SO sweet).

I also loved Jane's strong relationship with her Gran - who is always making her promise the most random things (don't lick toads, dear, promise!) as well as her friendship with Melissa, which seemed blessedly normal. Also can I be best friends with Melissa, too? Mojito therapy and her penchant for delectable baked goods make her part of my fictional friend posse any day!

For paranormal chicklit, there was actually relatively little in the way of magic. But I very much enjoyed what there was - particularly Jane working with crystals was really interesting, and I'm hoping to see more of Jane's magic in future books. While I found Neko the cat-man familiar quite entertaining, I actually liked him best when he was being serious and helping Jane cope with her magic (although I loved his notes about the fish). I actually was a bit annoyed with his character otherwise; not because he causes trouble, but because he is so incredibly stereotypically "gay" stock character from chicklit central casting that it annoyed me.

Those quibbles aside, however, I really enjoyed watching Jane learn to cope with the demands of her job, her magic and her relationship woes, and I've got the next in the series on order already!

Interested in other opinions?

Blogging for a Good Book

Bitten by Books

Tomorrow, When the War Began - John Marsden

2011-05-01T12:19:00.010-04:00

*** 1/2 - Despite a slow start and my lack of patience for Ellie mooning about her (admittedly rather realistic) love triangle, I really enjoyed the fast pace and the difficult decisions once the sabotaging and exploding started. I'm psyched to see the movie (because film explosions are just that much cooler - provided you don't look at them).

Synopsis:

When Ellie and her friends go camping for a week, they don't realize that their situation is about to become permanent. But when they return to their homes, they find desolation - their families gone, their animals dead and dying, and all the streets empty. Before long they realize that Australia has been invaded by an unknown army, their entire town has been captured, and that they are some of the last ones free to do something about it if they can muster the courage.

I'm not sure why exactly, but I love a good survival story - and survival stories with added sabotage and guerilla warfare? Sign me up, please! Which is why I'm a bit mad at myself for having taken this long to cotton on to the fact that John Marsden's Tomorrow, When the War Began offers me all those things. Shooting, pilfering of heavy machinery, explosions - plus Australia and a hidden cache of historical documents of questionable relevance that lead to some soul-searching and serious smooching? WHY did I not read this before now? WHY?

Enough with the recriminations, though. Suffice it to say that once we got through the first fifty pages of the group camping and carefree and generally being hormone-filled, junk-food gorging lazypants (which, hey, I'm not judging! I'd be the same...it's just Not Terribly Interesting, when you know there's going to be An Invasion and you're just flipping pages going - WHY HASN'T ANYTHING EXPLODED YET? Or maybe that was just me...), this book takes off with a vengeance. There are some serious action scenes, but perhaps the best part about it is that Ellie and her friends are conflicted.

They're not sure whether to fight back, whether to surrender, whether to hide. They're scared and angry and they just want to know whether their families are ok, but they have no real way of finding out. They're quick-thinking and resourceful in ways they never thought possible when everything is on the line, and I love their transitions from thinking like school kids to thinking about tactics, strategies, supply lines, cover (and back again). Despite the shooting and the explosions, these kids are never action heroes. Things go wrong; they feel guilt and horror at some of the things they've done. They get on one another's nerves and pull each other through dangerous situations. It's a world of tough choices and makeshift family and little room for sentimentality. And I'm really interested in seeing what happens next - I'm running off to buy the sequel ASAP.

The one thing I found a bit off-putting was Ellie's descriptions of her love triangle. While the triangle itself didn't actually bother me because it was a messy tangled whirl and therefore realistic rather than the typical two-hot-dudes-both-want-me-woe-is-me-nice-guy-or-bad-boy dilemma, the fact that Ellie was acting as a scribe for the group irritated me. I mean, you KNOW your friends are going to read it, this isn't your personal diary, OMG WHY ARE YOU WRITING ABOUT THIS?! Know your audience! Posterity is not interested in a tally of which of the boys you would rather shag at any given moment! Or maybe it is, because Posterity is a snoopy voyeuristic little snot, but your friends will not love you for discussing this in such an open fashion! They will all be Mad At You and you will have No One to Blame but Yourself! Don't say that I didn't warn you!

Interested in other opinions?

Forever Young Adult (also the Movie Drinking Game)

The Hopeless Bibliophile

Persnickety Snark

I Want to Read That

Also - this has been made into a really cool looking movie - trailer below!

Sunday with the Bard - The Tempest (Act I)

2011-01-09T08:05:00.013-05:00

For this Sunday with the Bard, I bring you my thoughts on Act I of The Tempest in preparation for the very exciting new version of The Tempest starring Helen Mirren (though I'll have to wait until March to get a chance to see it).

(John William Waterhouse - Miranda: The Tempest, 1916)

Plot re-cap:

Act I	Scene I
Boatswain:	Dear sirs, I understand that you're incredibly important people with ruling experience and whatnot, and that you therefore think you can add valuable input in any given situation, regardless of your lack of particular expertise, but THE BOAT IS SINKING IN THIS GIANT HURRICANE SO GET OUT OF THE FRICKIN' WAY!
Assembled Noblepersons:	don't
	Scene II
Miranda:	Umm, dad…could you stop it with the tidal waves and lightning? All this humidity is doing dreadful things to my hair! Also the scared people screaming? Not cool.
Prospero:	Eh, I didn't kill anyone, get off my back. It's all part of my clever plan to regain my rightful place from my usurping jerk of a brother (whom I actually handed all my power to run off and study sorcery, but that's beside the point). And now, young whipper-snapper, let me tell you how we ended up on this god-forsaken island…
Miranda:	out like a lightbulb
Prospero:	Hey Ariel, did you sort out that ship like I asked you to?
Ariel:	Yup, I separated out the young hot one for you, though I have to admit…that's a little bit weird, master…and since we're on the subject of 'keeping promises', are you going to free me anytime soon?
Prospero:	Ummmm…no, instead I'm going to threaten to imprison you in an oak tree for a dozen years or so, how's that?
Ariel:	…You suck…
Prospero:	Oh, Miranda, wake up! Let's go torment the indigenous, deformed, would-be rapist Caliban! Because this doesn't say anything at all creepy about colonial attitudes...
Caliban:	cursing and whining You know how you're so ticked off at your usurping brother? What does it say about you that you show up on my island, are nice to me just long enough to figure out how not to get dysentery or poisoned by berries and then start smacking me around magically and using me as slave labor…what's next? Smallpox blankets? USURPER! OW - quit it with the magic hitting! Big people don't hit!!! OW! exit
Ferdinand:	Oooh, following the invisible iPod (Ariel's Song ) was a good plan. Look at the hot chick over there! So, baby, I'm a king's son…you got a boyfriend?
Miranda:	No. There's nobody on this island but dad and the Indigenous Deformed Would-Be Rapist, neither of which is suitable boyfriend material (ew!). You, however, are unrelated to me and walk upright. That so equals hot in my teenaged hormone-soaked world. I luuuurve you!
Prospero:	Awesome! Now I get to enjoy the one perk of being a teenage girl's dad - tormenting the boyfriend with threats of violence!

Quotes:

"Go make thyself like a nymph of the sea" (I,ii, 301)

"Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange." (I,ii,396-399)

(which reminds me: I have Aimee Friedman's Sea Change on my TBR pile)

Thoughts:

What struck me most about this first act? The many facets of Prospero - in one short scene, we are shown Prospero as the powerful sorceror who conjures up a powerful storm to shipwreck his enemies; the puppetmaster of those around him who bewitches a prince to fall for his daughter; the wronged ruler, usurped by his own brother - but we also see (though Prospero doesn't) that Prospero neglected his realm and his people in search of esoteric knowledge.

We see Prospero as a downright spiteful master to Caliban quick to punish, and one who continually promises Ariel his freedom in just a few days (how many times do we think Ariel has heard that before?), but we also see a father who dotes on his daughter as "a cherubin thou wast, that did preserve me!" (I,ii,152-153) and who fears losing her attention and his importance in her eyes as she grows up, especially now that he's brought another man to the island. Just look at how often he feels the need to assure himself that she is paying attention to him, listening to him.

It's this bit of vulnerability, this tenderness towards his daughter, even as he keeps her isolated from the world, that keeps me interested and intrigued by the character even as I'm a bit irritated by his meddling with Miranda and Ferdinand, and a whole lot irritated by his treatment of Caliban (however creepy he may be, it's difficult to feel that his treatment is justified when we've only ever seen him in pain - which leaves him bitter, resentful and lashing out.)

And I love to read Ariel - because just as I picture Susan Cooper's Nat Field as Puck every time I read A Midsummer Night's Dream, he is also my Ariel. Because I recall that line in King of Shadows where Shakespeare says to Nat: "Th'art a sprite, an aerial sprite, born of the air. One day I shall write thee an airier Robin Goodfellow." and, of course, that can only be Ariel.

A promising beginning, though not, so far, surpassing my favorites. Tune in next week for more!

Sunday with the Bard - Much Ado About Nothing (1993)

2011-01-02T12:00:00.008-05:00

This year, I thought I would spend some time with one of my favorite authors in a new feature I'm calling Sunday with the Bard. I'll be looking at the plays, movie adaptations, re-tellings - anything Shakespearean that strikes my fancy, really.

Please feel free to make recommendations!

For the inaugural Sunday with the Bard post, I thought I'd tell you a bit about my first full-scale encounter with Shakespeare. We were living abroad and used to spend some time on special Saturday mornings hanging around the tiny local English language bookstore. And this time, we found a real treat - they had just started a tiny English video section. I don't even remember what movie it was that my brother and I begged to see - all I know is that we succumbed to Jafar's Golden Rule: "The one that has the gold makes the rules." Mom wanted Much Ado About Nothing. And that's the movie we got. So I plopped my cranky pre-teen self down next to the couch determined not to enjoy the show - and failed miserably. I loved it then - and I love it now.

A full-blown Five Stars!

So your basic plot summary:

Don Pedro (Denzel Washington) and his army are returning from a war with his brother Don John (Keanu Reeves). And since all the fighting's done, the guys decide they're in a wooing frame of mind. So Count Claudio (Robert Sean Leonard) goes after Hero (the ever-gorgeous Kate Beckinsale) while his buddy Benedick (Kenneth Branagh) scoffs at the idea of marriage and engages in witty "I hate you, but it's just masking sexual tension" repartee with his one-time girlfriend Beatrice (Emma Thompson). Don Pedro decides to lend Cupid a little helping hand and plots a trap to throw the two of them into one another's arms, but Prince John, a bastard in more ways than one, is determined to sow dissension.

Much Ado About Nothing is one of my favorite Shakespeare plays - partially because it was the first time I saw Shakespeare and realized that he wasn't stodgy and pretentious like people always made him out to be. Shakespeare was hilariously funny! There are several scenes with the Watch where Michael Keaton as Dogsberry had me in stitches. And Benedick trying to work out how to set up his lawn chair always makes me laugh.

But best of all, there's Benedick and Beatrice: "They never meet but there is a skirmish of wit between them." And even when the two of them are swapping insults at such speeds that you don't catch them all, it's a joy to watch them spar with one another. These two have an excellent grasp of Shakespeare's lines (and what's going on between them), and each time I watch this, I come away with a better understanding of the play. Emma Thompson's portrayal of Beatrice as a prickly woman with a tender heart is masterful, and the audience quickly realizes that the barbs she throws Benedick's way are the signs of old hurt feelings between the two.

This is a lovely film adaptation - I love the gorgeous Tuscan countryside that adds an extra layer of lushness to the proceedings. Watching the masked ball is a definite treat, and I really love the music throughout. More than anything, I'd say this movie (despite Keanu Reeves uneven performance) is a treat, full of vibrancy and an infectious ebullient energy. It's obvious to me that the cast had glorious fun making the film - and I have a wonderful time watching them.

A Golden Web - Barbara Quick

2010-12-29T08:03:00.002-05:00

** 1/2 - Quick takes on the fascinating subject of a young female anatomist in the 14th century, who outshone her male counterparts despite all obstacles in her way. But I found Alessandra's story rather too sketchy to be satisfying.

Alessandra Giliani is a fascinating figure - a brilliant young woman from the small town of Persiceto who is said to have studied medicine and anatomy at the famous University of Bologna. Alessandra risks all, disguised as a boy, to learn as much as possible - and to discover the secrets of human anatomy that might have saved her beloved mother. And all of this during the 14th century when women were not only not allowed to study, but where a knowledgeable woman lived under constant threat of being persecuted and burned as a witch.

She is clearly a fascinating and inspiring character, and I am supremely glad that Barbara Quick found her story and allowed me to discover it alongside her. But despite having greatly enjoyed Quick's Vivaldi's Virgins, I found this little volume a bit unsatisfying. Perhaps it is because this is the author's first foray into young adult fiction, and perhaps it is merely because so very little is known about Alessandra, but due to the lack of details of Alessandra's hardships, fears and small triumphs in her studies, I felt oddly distant from the main character. Especially in the beginning of the book, she seems too precocious, too insightful and too aware for me to be able to connect with her and her drive to learn medicine.

What detail and local color Quick provides is deftly drawn, immersing the reader in the countryside of Persiceto and subtly teaching about the historical university at Bologna. I enjoyed these aspects of the account, and, indeed, of Alessandra's discovery. I also quite enjoyed the romantic aspects - Otto's friendship as well as Pierina's sweet romance with the shy, stuttering Giorgio. But there, too, the narration was sketchy.

As a quick sketch of the times and of the outlines of Alessandra's life, this works quite well. But as far as plot and character development go, I was hoping for something a bit more fleshed out. Though I failed to truly connect with Alessandra, and while I found snippets of the narration odd and off-putting (is a younger sister really eager to "show off her lovely new breasts" to her sister? That just seems strange to me...), I certainly enjoyed being introduced to Alessandra.

Edited to add: Now that I think about it a bit more, the theme and, to a certain degree the style, reminds me of Donna Woolfolk Cross' Pope Joan - another read about a woman whose contributions (and indeed, very existence) are surrounded by controversy. If you liked one, I sincerely recommend you try the other!

Interested in other opinions?

The Compulsive Reader

Enchanted by Josephine

My Reading Room

Medieval Book Reviews

A Game of Thrones - G.R.R. Martin

2010-12-28T08:00:00.001-05:00

**** - George R. R. Martin definitely puts the "epic" in the first of his A Song of Ice and Fire series. There are a ton of separate storylines and a great deal at stake. Although I'm annoyed at the head-hopping and quite irritated at the weird sex that seems thrown in at the expense of (or as a substitute for) characterization, I'm definitely entranced with Martin's world and eager to find out what happens next.

"Winter is coming."

Those words are the Stark family motto - urging them to be prepared as the longest summer on record is about to give way to what is sure to be years of the darkness and cold of winter. Winter is, indeed, coming - and with it come increased forays of the mysterious frightening creatures called the Others behind the increasingly ill-manned Wall in the North.

"When you play a game of thrones, you win, or you die."

As King Robert in King's Landing grows tired of the business of ruling, he brings his old friend and cohort, the intensely honorable and blunt Lord Eddard Stark, to the capital as the King's Hand. But Ned's family is poorly versed in intrigue, and they will need every ounce of strength, cunning and wit to hold their own against the Queen's power-hungry family.

I know that synopsis is a bit vague and doesn't give you a ton to go on. But given the many plot-threads (some of which don't even intersect yet), largely generic was the best I could do. So let me see if I can't throw some color in there:

The Starks and the Lannisters have a thinly veiled feud going on. The Lannisters are keen to get their hands on as much power as possible and have no qualms manipulating, torturing or murdering to get what they want. The Starks are borderline goody-two-shoes honorable, except that it lands them in deliciously tricky moral quandaries from time to time, where there is no real honorable solution. Does this sound vaguely Wars of the Roses to you? Well, with names so closely linked, it's a small wonder. Rest assured, though, they're not identical. For one, the ruthlessly clever deformed one (here a dwarf rather than an alleged hunchback) is a Lannister. But the level of intrigue and in-fighting certainly is similar, and I enjoyed the allusion.

Ned Stark's children are a fun bunch. Arya, the grubby tomboy who wants to train with a sword, was a great favorite of mine (and reminded me none-too-little of my much-loved Alanna of Trebond) - I couldn't get enough of her sections. The other clear front-runner in my affections was the bastard son, Jon Snow, who is sent up to the Wall, where he may advance even as a bastard. But I cared about all of the POV characters, even prissy irritating Sansa grew on me by the end of this book. In fact, I think the main difficulty I had with the book was that each of the characters' sections tended to end on a cliffhanger of some sort (undead killer zombie hands, anyone?) and then it would be something like 150 pages before the story would return to that character's point of view, and you actually found out whether anything turned out okay. Immensely frustrating when you had just become properly invested in someone! But to be fair, the device certainly kept me flipping pages, and rarely resented the time I spent with any of the characters (Daenerys was tough for me at the beginning, but got better, but I only managed to get through crazy Catelyn's sections without growling when she was hanging out with Robb.)

Although the storyline certainly kept me firmly entranced with Martin's world, and while I appreciated the grittiness of the storyline (seriously, no matter how much you love a character, bad stuff may very well happen to him/her/it) which added to the medieval-inspired world of dangerous tourneys and backstabbing nobles, I didn't much care for the way Martin handled women and sex. For the women, I honestly didn't see much in the way of difference between Cersei Lannister, Catelyn Stark and Lysa Arryn (other than that they were at differing degrees of crazy manipulative), and I thought that was a shame. It would have been nice to have more nuances there.

As for the sex, there was a lot of casual rape and other sexual cruelty thrown around in an almost off-the-cuff sort of way that was difficult for me to read. This is even more true since there was little affectionate, tender or even passionate sex to balance it out. It all seemed rather perfunctory, and if it's not going to mean anything, I'd rather not read the details, thanks! In addition, I didn't much care for the sexual shorthand being used - it got to the point where I literally turned to a friend and said: "Well, here's another dude molesting his sister - he must be EVIL...". I mean, change it up, kick a puppy or something...

So is it worth the 850 pages? It depends - I like fantasy, especially this kind that is peopled with characters who are afraid, who make stupid mistakes and hard decisions, and where the 'good' guys aren't black and white. It may take you a bit to get into this, with all the different characters flitting about. But I soon was reduced to a move I haven't pulled since high school - reading surreptitiously under my desk at work because I couldn't leave off mid-chapter. And despite my quibbles above, I'm definitely glad I have A Clash of Kings (Book 2) waiting on my nightstand. Because Martin sure didn't build any resolution into those 850 pages...

Interested in other opinions and other Linky-Love?

Daisy at The Broke and the Bookish

Recaps at Fiefdom (Intro post here - beware, re-caps may include spoilers for later books)

So, I was actually unaware (how could I be?), but it looks like HBO plans to release a series based on Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire - behold the link to the behind-the-scenes preview)

Love Actually (2003)

2010-12-27T07:44:00.003-05:00

**** 1/2 - One of my all-time favorite movies. I love how every time I watch this, I catch another nuance and fall in love with another character (or just all over again).

Love Actually - if you haven't seen it, it's a little hard to describe. After all, there are something like ten separate plot lines, loosely woven together to illustrate all kinds of love - first love, impossible love, love between friends. Love that's stronger than class or language barriers, love that may be crumbling, love that's been lost.

It's a beautiful, touching movie full of fairy tales (though not only fairy tales) that also throws in just enough poignant loss and goofy humor to keep it from being horrifically sappy. And although completely improbable, the film somehow manages to hit all the right notes to seem realistic on an emotional level. Or maybe that's just my own wishful thinking.

And I loved the characters, I love Mark's surprise at the wedding and his final Christmas present with the signs. I love Liam Neeson's broken-hearted widower trying to work through his stepson's first crush. I adore Hugh Grant's awkward Prime Minister ("I really must work on my wave...") and his fantastic Britain rules! speech. Bill Nighy as the washed-up has-been rock star out for a comeback at any price is completely priceless, and I smile and sniffle a bit every time Colin Firth stumbles through his broken proposal in Portuguese. And even though it makes my heart hurt every time, I love watching Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson. This year, more than ever, that storyline resonated.

And that doesn't even touch on the pure comic gold of Colin - Sex God on the Wrong Continent - on Shag Highway headed West (to Wisconsin?), Rowan Atkinson's interminable gift-wrapping, and the adorable sweetness of the porn movie stand-ins.

I could go on and on (and kind of have), and I still wouldn't come close to figuring out how something this disjointed manages to tangle itself into something so wonderful. So, please, do yourself a favor and go watch it. And then come back and tell me which storyline you loved most (this year)!

Interested in other opinions?

Dear Author

While You Were Sleeping (1995)

2010-12-26T09:07:00.001-05:00

**** 1/2 - This is actually one of my go-to holiday movies. It's sweet and funny without being cloying. And I challenge you not to giggle when Saul gives his big "you're a putz" speech.

Lucy Moderatz (Sandra Bullock) is in for another lonesome Christmas working in the token booth for the Chicago Transit Authority. But everything changes when she rescues her long-time crush Peter (Peter Gallagher) from an on-coming train. With Peter in a coma, Lucy finds herself mistaken for Peter's fiancee and adopted into his warm (and eccentric) family. Everything would be perfect - if only she weren't increasingly drawn to Peter's brother, Jack (Bill Pullman).

I just love this movie. Every time I see it, I end up grinning long after the final credits roll. Sandra Bullock is an adorable mix of awkwardly shy and fed-up with herself because of it. She just radiates sweetness here, and it doesn't take long for Bill Pullman's Jack to pick up on it - and wish he could steal her away from his brother. I loved the banter between the two of them, the way they slid around on the ice outside her apartment, the 'Lean'. And most of all, I loved this interchange when Lucy mistakes him for her landlord's sleazy (but goofy) son, Joe Jr.:

LUCY: "I don't want any flowers from you, I am not wearing black underwear, and I definitely do not want to move in with you, J..Jack."
JACK: "Well, I don't have any flowers, I wouldn't mind seeing you in black underwear, but under the circumstances, I don't think we should move in together…"

Seriously, I wish I had a clip because the facial expressions definitely make the scene!

Peter & Jack's family is great as well, with everybody talking all over one another, good-natured teasing, and if sometimes, it seems like they're a little too understanding for real life...well, it's romantic comedy-land, where the eccentricities are charming, not grating. And ultimately, I want to echo Lucy's declaration of love to the family as a whole. Because they sure do make this an amazing feel-good movie.

Happy holidays!

Interested in other opinions?

Dear Author

Love Romance Passion

Hope's Folly

2010-12-19T07:01:00.008-05:00

**** 1/2 - Hope's Folly is the third in Linnea Sinclair's Dock Five series, and although it could be read as a stand-alone, I'd definitely recommend reading Gabriel's Ghost and Shades of Dark first (links to my reviews). I've really enjoyed the space opera series so far, and Hope's Folly is the clear front-runner for my favorite.

When Admiral Philip Guthrie chose a career in the Fleet over the life his family wanted for him, he never thought he would find himself on the wrong side of the law fighting against a corrupt Empire. Nor did he ever picture himself the commander of a derelict old fruit transport with only a ragtag skeleton crew as support - and a possible saboteur on board. And he definitely never expected Rya the Rebel - the daughter of his first commander - to turn up on board determined to protect him.

Rya was once a member of the Imperial Security Forces, and she lives up to their motto of: Polite, Professional, and Prepared to Kill...well, except for the polite bit. Her impetuousness gets her into trouble, but nobody can claim that Rya doesn't show initiative. Nor that she's not doggedly tenacious when it comes to her self-appointed role as Philip's security chief and personal bodyguard, although she sometimes wonders whether insisting on remaining in his proximity is strictly professional.

Hope's Folly is a straight up space opera (no telepaths around in this instalment), with less focus on the romance and more on the adventure and discovering who might be responsible for the troubles on board ship. That's not to say, of course, that the romance gets short shrift. The interactions between Rya and Philip are heated enough to peel the paint off the bulkheads as more than one crewmember points out.

For example, one of my favorite moments:

"Is this," she asked hesitantly, "what I think it is?"
"What do you think it is?"
"Norlack 473 sniper, modified to handle wide-load slash ammo." There was a noticeable reverence i her voice.
He pulled the rifle out, hefting it. She had a good eye. Norlacks weren't common. But recognizing it was modified for illegal and highly destructive charges... Then again, she'd seen it in action.
"It is," he confirmed, amused now by the expression on her face. It had gone from reverence to almost rapture.
"That is so totally apex." Her voice was hushed. "May I," and she glanced shyly at him, her eyes bright, spots of color on her cheeks, "fondle it?"
He stared at her, not sure he heard her correctly. Then he snorted, laughing. Fondle it, indeed.
He handed it to her.
She took it, cradling it at first, then running her fingers lovingly down its short barrel.
Sweet holy God. He didn't have enough painkillers in him to stop his body's reaction to the smokiness in her eyes, or the way her lips parted slightly, the edge of her tongue slipping out to moisten them, as her hands slid over the weapon.

I really enjoyed watching the two of them working together, loved how they bounced ideas off of one another, one building on the other's thoughts. They made a fantastic team. And a good thing, too, as the ship is essentially falling apart around them (even without the help of a saboteur). With assassination attempts, fires, explosions and plenty of enemies determined to blow them to bits before they can manage to dock for re-fitting, Philip and Rya certainly have an action-packed journey from the moment they meet.

Because so much of the conflict between the two is external, I thought Hope's Folly read most like one of the space opera movies I adore (and I mean that in the best possible way). There's action a-plenty, a mystery to be solved (with plenty of twists - I was convinced I had it figured out, only to be thrown onto a completely different suspicious track several times), and sizzling glances galore. And, just like the first two in the series, the story has real emotional resonance as well. I tore right through it and was sad to see it end.

My only quibble? I wish I'd gotten to see a bit of Philip's brother before his story - Rebels and Lovers.

Interested in other opinions?

The Book Smugglers (Guest post by Linnea Sinclair - love her description of how Philip came into her office! This is what convinced me I needed to read the series)

The Good, the Bad and the Unread

Shades of Dark - Linnea Sinclair

2010-12-13T08:00:00.001-05:00

*** 1/2 - Shades of Dark was darker than the first in the Dock Five Universe series, with more focus on Sully coming into his powers and the trouble that causes. I preferred the first, but this was still a lot of fun.

Captain Chaz Bergren has her hands full - she's one of the leaders of a rebellion against the corrupt Empire, her brother has been arrested for treason and is now facing execution, and her telepath lover, Gabriel Sullivan, is having trouble with his increasingly strong powers. And Chaz is still trying to uncover and destroy the lab breeding jukors. As if the politics weren't difficult enough, Chaz' ex-husband Admiral Philip Guthrie turns up on board and Sully's mentor Del is out to seduce Chaz.

In short, there's a ton going on in Linnea Sinclair's second Dock Five novel, and all of it is pretty difficult. This is definitely not a sequel that can stand on its own - the events of the first book are integral to Shades of Dark. And spoilers for Gabriel's Ghost (link to my review) are unavoidable in the below. You've been warned!

While Sully spent most of the first book doing his best to downplay (or even ignore) his powers, that is increasingly impossible. In Shades of Dark, Sully must learn how to truly control his powers, and also how to accept all of himself - even his Kyi-Ragkiril powers which are so feared and hated throughout the Empire. As much as Chaz loves and trusts Sully, she is (quite understandably) afraid of some of the things that Sully can and does do in this novel. And she has to decide how to accept him - how much to accept, and where she needs to draw the line and it's all incredibly difficult. Angst levels are through the roof.

Things aren't so black and white, and there is a definite struggle as to where to draw the line as to what may be necessary in wartime and what crosses the line into something unforgivable. And this struggle, the fact that moral superiority can't dictate battle tactics but must nonetheless be considered, is a real strength of Shades of Dark and makes for some fascinating reading.

This novel focused largely on Sully, Chaz and Del - and sometimes there difficult relationship didn't quite work for me. First off, Sully seemed rather distanced throughout the novel as he grew closer to Del, and I ended up feeling a bit bereft and a bit short-changed when Sully would turn up but not seem quite there emotionally. He still needs Chaz' love and approval, but he's also disengaging in his excitement dealing with Del. It's...complicated.

And while I still loved Chaz as a no-nonsense strong heroine - and this was far more her story and how she comes to grips with Sully, I felt a little more out-of-tune with her emotions this time around. She didn't seem all that jealous, and in her interactions with Del, though Chaz would tell that she was uncomfortable, I didn't pick up on what was making her hackles rise, so it felt a little bit off to me.

I also missed seeing the other side characters. I particularly felt the loss of Chaz' close friendship with Ren that had built up in Gabriel's Ghost. That said, I loved the addition of Philip. While I had thought he was a bit on the pompous straight-laced side, in this instalment of the series, it's easy to see why Chaz and he made such a good team - and also why they simply didn't work out as a romantic couple.

On the whole, everything was kicked up a notch in Shades of Dark - more intrigue, more adventure, more romantic complications. I preferred Gabriel's Ghost myself, as it was more light-hearted and a bit, well, simpler, but this was an enjoyable read. And I loved getting to know Philip and am very much excited to read his story in Hope's Folly.

Interested in other opinions?

The Book Smugglers

Ramblings on Romance

Fantasy Cafe

Gabriel's Ghost - Linnea Sinclair

2010-11-29T08:00:00.003-05:00

**** - I had forgotten just how much I love space opera. This book - this series - has reawakened that love for me. Space ships, no-nonsense women with serious skills, sexy space-smugglers with wicked grins and hearts of gold, and plenty of adrenaline-pumping action. I sense a Firefly marathon coming on if I can't lay my hands on the next book right away!

Once upon a time I thought all the space stuff was for boys. My brother had an unreasonable obsession with Star Trek: Voyager and Star Wars (as is the nature of 9 year old boys), and I was having none of it (in the inimitable way of big sisters). I was having NONE of it, I tell you, until I walked by the television one day just as Leia was informing Han Solo that she happened to like nice men - and I swooned a little bit and stayed. And right there, my 10-year-old heart was lost to a space pirate with a killer grin.

And now, nothing much has changed. As soon as Sully swept in with his roguish grin masking some deep vulnerability, I was sold...but I'm getting ahead of myself. Without further ado - a plot summary:

Stripped of her command, ex-Fleet Captain Chasidah Bergren is left to molder on the inhospitable, lawless planet of Moabar for a crime she didn't commit. So when her sometimes-nemesis, the presumed dead Gabriel Sullivan, turns up offering to stage a prison break if she'll help him track down who's responsible for breeding long-outlawed killing beasts called jukors, she quickly finds herself on board. Because whoever is responsible for the project is just as monstrous as the jukors themselves.

But that doesn't really do it justice. The real joy in Linnea Sinclair's Gabriel's Ghost are the characters. The story is told in first person, by the fantastic Chaz Bergren. She's Fleet all the way down to her toes and her training shows - she's calm in a crisis, thinks through her options and can take care of her own self, if you please. But at the same time, she's not the kind of girl to turn down a little rescuing from her friends. No running headlong into Dire Peril to prove a point for Chaz. She's a great heroine, no non-sense, smart but understandably confused and afraid at times when she finds herself out of her depth, and with a generous nature.

And then there's Sully - he's the best kind of scoundrel from his wicked grin, his quick endearments and his playful gambling streak to his secretly playing Robin Hood. It's obvious why he has the undying loyalty of his crew (who are also great, by the way, I HEART YOU, REN!) and it's equally obvious that he has a Gigantic Crush on Chaz and has for a long time. Which is why he used to hang around and taunt her and figuratively pull her pigtails back when they were on opposite sides of the law. And he definitely kept me giggling, which is really important if you're going to pull out a brooding tortured alpha hero.

Because there is darkness to the story. The people Chaz and Sully are up against are some genuinely nasty folks doing genuinely nasty things. And Sully is harboring a dark secret - one that he can't always control and one that makes him an outsider from those he loves the most (see Tortured Alpha Hero). There's a lot going on for the characters - secrets, coming to grips with their relationship, finding the scourge of the galaxy, and plenty of explosions and blaster battles.

So, in short? This reminded me of the space opera I used to love to read and watch (and clearly still do). It's fast-paced and funny, and I've GOT to get hold of the sequel since the darned thing ends not quite on a cliff-hanger, but precariously close to the edge

Interested in other opinions?

The Good, The Bad and the Unread

Angieville

The Book Smugglers

Desiree (1954)

2010-11-28T15:06:00.002-05:00

*** 1/2 - A charming old-fashioned movie based on Annemarie Selinko's novel of the same name. Marlon Brando was excellent as the mercurial charismatic Napoleon.

When I saw in Elizabeth's review over at Scandalous Women that there was a movie based on Desiree (with Marlon Brando, no less!), I decided I had to take a peek. And as luck would have it, iTunes obliged!

FTC Disclosure: I rented this movie with my own hard-earned money, and I suggest if you like old period movies, you do the same.

The film opens with Desiree rushing into supper late - breathless with news that she has invited a pair of young men to dine with her family the next day. She intends to have the elder marry her sister, and she's eager to get a glimpse of the younger so that she can see a real-life general close up. From there, Desiree and Napoleon's destinies intertwine in romance, betrayal, highs and lows. And through it all, it remains clear that they still feel deeply for one another.

The movie laid far more emphasis on the love that continued to simmer between Napoleon and Desiree. Although Napoleon gives Desiree up for his ambition, it is clear in the movie that he still wants her, still loves her in his own way. The very last scene at the end of the movie is a beautiful summation of their difficult relationship, and one that had me sighing just a bit for what the emperor and the silk merchant's daughter could have had.

I admit to having approached the movie with a bit of trepidation about the casting. I needn't have worried. Marlon Brando excels at portraying the moody, mercurial, charismatic little general. I believed all of it - his affection for Desiree, his tempestuous outbursts when thwarted, his uncanny conviction that he would make history. I believed him when he was cold and calculating and I believed him when he was almost remorseful. Brando was exactly how I imagined Napoleon. And while I found Brando and Simmons more believable as a couple in Guys and Dolls, I enjoyed watching them.

Of course, there is a great deal in the novel that couldn't make it into the movie, but much of the sweeping storyline remains, and the gorgeous visuals of Desiree's travels in Rome, in Stockholm and in Paris were lovely. The pacing is a bit on the slow side, but I'm glad I dug this one out to watch.

Watched it? Reviewed it? I'd love for you to post your comments or links!

Desiree - Annemarie Selinko

2010-11-22T14:09:00.005-05:00

*** 1/2 - I feel like I learned a ton that I never knew about the French Revolution and Napoleon's reign. Desiree was a truly fascinating portrait, though I got a bit bogged down trying to work out who everyone was in this large cast of characters.

FTC Disclosure: I received a free review copy of Desiree from the publisher.

When it comes to Napoleon Bonaparte's love life, his tempestuous relationship with Josephine is almost always at the forefront. But did you know that before Napoleon met and fell in love with Josephine, he was engaged? Desiree Clary started out life as a silk merchant's daughter, but despite all of their differences, her life remained entertwined with Napoleon's - she was with him at his coronation and she was with him at his final abdication following Waterloo.

And Desiree is fascinating in her own right as well. She has the generous nature and (perhaps more importantly) the business sense to protect her family during the political vagaries surrounding Napoleon's rise and fall from power. A uniquely powerful woman who, at least in the pages of this fictitious diary, remains ever approachable and relatable.

One of the aspects of this novel that struck me the most is how the writing voice changes. At the beginning of the novel, Desiree sounds very young. She sees things remarkably clearly - not for her the imposed complications of society's strictures. She simply wants to get things done. Headstrong and emotional, it is easy to see how she falls utterly for the brilliant charismatic young general despite his almost stand-offish aloofness. But as Desiree grows beyond her heartache, the writing style subtly matures along with her. It was gradually done and not overtly noticeable as I was reading until I had put the book down for a bit and returned to it.

As much as I enjoyed that aspect of the diary narration, I did think the format had its limitations. When the narrative would pick up again (to omit years of 'nothing' happening), the explanations at the beginning of each section about why it had been so long since she wrote in her diary weren't particularly interesting or convincing. I would have preferred it if there had been some sort of editorial note about the intervening years having been omitted or something similar. That said, it may be a bit unfair of me - after all, how many times have I started a section with just such a recap when I've not written in a journal for a while...

I learned a great deal about Napoleon as well as about the Swedish royal family from this novel. I had never heard much at all about Sweden in the conflict, and I was utterly fascinated by the revelation that a French citizen was called upon to succeed as the Swedish heir to the throne. And I certainly sympathized with Desiree and the conflicting loyalties and expectations that she faces. What a very full life she led! But however interesting her life was, I did find that the novel was slow in parts - sometimes it seemed the character's limitations got in the way of the story. Desiree was not terribly interested in politics for much of the novel, and especially towards the end when political intrigue and strategy drive the story forward, it can be frustrating not to be shown what is going on because of Desiree's limited focus.

I found the balance between the human elements of love, generosity and jealousy and the more political historical side a bit off at times, but nonetheless, I enjoyed Selinko's story about Napoleon's first love a great deal. It's certainly something very different from the usual historical fare.

Interested in other opinions?

The Burton Review
Scandalous Women
Historically Obsessed
Passages to the Past

Waking the Witch - Kelley Armstrong

2010-09-02T05:21:00.017-04:00

*** 1/2 - An enjoyable urban fantasy/mystery read that focuses quite a bit on the mystery, actually. I mostly enjoyed this one for Savannah's relationship with Adam, which I hope to see continue to develop in the next book.

FTC Disclosure: I received a free review copy of Waking the Witch from the publisher.

Although this is the eleventh book in Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series , it works relatively well even if you haven't read the others in the series. Although it was clear that there was quite a bit of backstory that I was missing (certain character appearances/cameos were lost on me, and I wish I had seen the build-up of Adam & Savannah's working relationship), things were certainly explained well enough that I had no trouble following the plot or the rules of the urban fantasy world that Armstrong has set up.

Waking the Witch is the first in a new series (within a series) narrated by Savannah Levine - a powerful young witch who has been helping her guardians run a supernatural PI service. With Lucas and Paige away on vacation, however, Savannah steps up to take the lead investigating a series of murders in a small Washington town that appear to have a link to paranormal rituals. With the help of two half-demons and a detective from Dallas, Savannah sets to work investigating the killings - but someone wants her dead, and lately her magic has been misfiring at the most inopportune moments...

So Savannah - since I haven't read the prior books in the series, I didn't come to Savannah with any knowledge of her childhood, her character or how she's grown. Most importantly, I wasn't already predisposed to like her as I might have been had I come to know her over the course of many books. And Savannah can be a little hard to take. She's headstrong and reckless; she kind of knocks you over the head with her conviction that she's utterly bad-ass and irresistible; and she has a pretty huge chip on her shoulder that often has her rejecting anyone's attempts to help her. In short, she's just the kind of tough girl heroine that rubs me the wrong way, especially when she gets transplanted into a 'hick' town and has a chance to stick her nose in the air at what she perceives as backwardness.

But even though Savannah frustrated me, she still had moments of genuine vulnerability that kept me on her side. She's smart, capable and driven to get the job done, but she also grows to realize that she can't, shouldn't and doesn't have to always tough it out. That there's something to be gained by allowing yourself to feel and even to fall apart a little some of the time. And that was a lovely thing to read.

I enjoyed her relationship with Adam and how she dealt with young Kayla, who is determined to be a detective. Those were the real reasons I kept on reading, though, to be fair, I really liked watching her puzzle out the mystery. There were a lot of twists to the mystery plotline that kept me whirling about like a ballet dancer doing fouettes without having learned how to spot - and I mean that in a Good Way. The Great Reveal loses a lot of impact if you haven't read the rest of the series simply because you don't really have the necessary background to understand the implications, but it did encourage me to give more of Armstrong's work a try. Especially since Waking the Witch wraps up its primary plot but ends on a cliffhanger for the next book in the series!

Interested in other opinions?

Dear Author

Brothers of Gwynedd: Sunrise in the West

2010-05-17T13:21:00.004-04:00

Sunrise in the West - Book 1 of The Brothers of Gwynedd Quartet

*** - I know very little about the history of Wales, so when Sourcebooks offered me a chance to review The Brothers of Gwynedd Quartet throughout the summer, I jumped on it. While the history is undoubtedly fascinating, I found Sunrise in the West a bit slow to get into.

As much as I like reading historical fiction with a female point of view that is so prevalent nowadays, I very much find myself drawn to stories like Edith Pargeter's Brothers of Gwynedd that are told from a male point of view - but in a more reflective tone and more focused on the people than the action. In Sunrise in the West, as in Margaret Campbell Barnes' The King's Fool, the narrator serves a great leader - here Prince Llewellyn of Wales - and is thus prone to their more intimate moments and moods as well as those better-known to history.

Llewellyn's story is fascinating. Here is a leader who had to make a bitter choice between betraying either his family or his country, and who somehow manages (with significant difficulty) to avoid either. He's a truly admirable man, fierce in battle but great-hearted and forgiving. Best of all, it's wonderful to see him through his servant Samson's eyes, the man who sees his faults and his mistakes but loves him dearly all the same. For Samson and Llewellyn were born on the same day and the two of them share a common destiny. I enjoyed reading about Llewellyn's struggles with his countrymen, and particularly with his brothers. Samson paints such a wonderful loving yet suspicious picture of David (by far my favorite character), that I'm compelled to read on to find out what happens with him.

But despite the interesting characters and the history, I admit I found the story slow going. I was interested in what was happening and in the characters growth and development, but once the book was down, I was never driven to pick it right back up again. The pacing seemed a bit slow to me - particularly in the later sections when Samson is mooning over Cristin. As much as I enjoy sections of courtly life and planning, it would have been nice to be more closely present in more of the battles or ambushes with high stakes.

Perhaps part of the pacing issue is that this was written as a quartet - several threads are left loose at the end of Book 1, and I didn't feel as if the story ended on a satisfying climax. I feel a bit torn about it. I'll be reading the later books in the series - I'm definitely enjoying learning about the history and struggles with England, and I very much like the characters. But I find myself wishing it were more of a page-turner.

Interested in other opinions? Amy at Passages to the Past will be hosting a chat on May 24th. Please stop by and share your thoughts!

(sorry - I'll fix the links soon. At the moment, you'll have to cut and paste to see the others)

May 17 Reviews
The Burton Review
http://www.theburtonreview.com/
The Bibliophilic Book Blog
http://www.bibliophilicbookblog.com/
Rundpinne
http://www.rundpinne.com/
A Reader's Respite
http://readersrespite.blogspot.com/
History Undressed
http://www.historyundressed.blogspot.com/
Linda Banche Blog
http://lindabanche.blogspot.com/
A Hoyden's Look at Literature
http://caramellunacy.blogspot.com/
Royal Reviews
http://theroyalreviews.blogspot.com/

May 18 Reviews
Between the Pages
http://www.betweenthelinesandmore.blogspot.com/
The Broken Teepee
http://www.brokenteepee.blogspot.com/
Books and Coffee
http://bookswithcoffee.wordpress.com/
Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell
http://books-forlife.blogspot.com/
Tanzanite's Shelf and Stuff
http://shelfandstuff.blogspot.com/
Passages to the Past
http://www.passagestothepast.com/
The Book Faery
http://tbfreviews.net/
A Girl Walks Into a Bookstore
http://agirlwalksintoabookstore.blogspot.com/
Martha's Bookshelf
http://marthasbookshelf.blogspot.com/

May 19 Reviews
Beth Fish
http://bfishreads.blogspot.com/
Deb's Book Bag
http://debsbookbag.blogspot.com/
Book Tumbling
http://booktumbling.com/
A Work in Progress
http://danitorres.typepad.com/workinprogress/
Stiletto Storytime
http://www.stilettostorytime.wordpress.com/
Queen of Happy Endings
http://alainereading.blogspot.com/

May 20 Reviews
The Literate Housewife
http://literatehousewife.com/
Reading Adventures
http://readingadventures.blogspot.com/
Books Like Breathing
http://bibliophile23.wordpress.com/
Kailana's Written World
http://myreadingbooks.blogspot.com/
Confessions of a Muse in the Fog
http://muse-in-the-fog.blogspot.com/
Wendy's Minding Spot
http://mindingspot.blogspot.com/
Mrs. Q Book Addict
http://web.me.com/quirion
The Life and Lies of a Flying Inanimate Object
http://www.haleymathiot.blogspot.com/
Starting Fresh
http://startingfresh-gaby317.blogspot.com/

May 21 Reviews
Loving Heart Mommy
http://www.lovingheartmommy.com/
Peeking Between the Pages
http://peekingbetweenthepages.blogspot.com/
Celtic Lady's Ramblings
http://celticladysreviews.blogspot.com/
Bookfoolery
http://bookfoolery.blogspot.com/
One Literature Nut
http://mjmbecky.blogspot.com/
The Book Tree
http://thebooktree.blogspot.com/
My Reading Room
http://myreadingroom-crystal.blogspot.com/

May 23 Reviews
Carla Nayland's Blog
http://www.carlanayland.org/index.shtml

No Moon - Irene Watts

2010-04-21T02:50:00.004-04:00

*** 1/2 - An interesting middle-grade novel about life among the working classes (and the more privileged to an extent) around the turn of the century. There's less here about the actual Titanic disaster than the reader might expect, but I enjoyed Louisa's story of her life as a nursemaid.

FTC Disclosure: I received a free review copy of No Moon through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.

Fourteen-year-old Louisa Gardener wants desperately to help her struggling family, and to experience a degree of freedom, by going to work. Her father adamantly refuses to allow her to work in a factory, but allows her to seek a position as nursemaid to a wealthy London family. Louisa loves children, but she soon finds that there is more to being a nursemaid than loving her charges - a wealthy house has its share of rules and intrigues. Not to mention the difficult challenge Louisa faces when asked to set aside her memories of her brother's drowning and make a journey on a steamship known as Titanic.

Louisa isn't really the kind of protagonist I loved when I was a middle-grade reader. I was impatient with 'girly' girls who wanted to work with children (animals were ok), but Louisa certainly grew on me now. She's stubborn enough to hold out for what she wants, but clever enough to know when she needs to knuckle under to those above her station to keep things running smoothly. And I liked watching her life as a nursemaid - it reminded me a bit of a less poverty-stricken A Little Princess which I grew up loving.

My main complaint with the novel has to do with the sections about the Titanic. I appreciated the hints sprinkled in the narrative of some of the more heart-wrenching and difficult aspects of the sinking (such as a reference to a shot ringing out - which would certainly have sent me seeking an explanation), but especially given Louisa's fear of water, I found the entire section about the actual sinking of the ship too detached. I didn't feel all that involved in the narrative - and neither did Louisa, which is a shame. The emotional repercussions of the sinking are more interesting, after all, than the number of lifeboats - although I did think that Louisa's fear was a clever way of pointing out the lack of safety features. I also didn't much care for the inclusion of Roberts' story. It seemed a bit thrown in without much of a point, and it stuck out from the rest of the narrative rather than being woven in.

Watts story really shines at the beginning while describing Louisa finding her way as a new nursemaid, and again after Louisa must return to a 'normal' household that has no real grasp of what she and the family have been through. I enjoyed Louisa as a character and was quite attached to her career, but the sections about the Titanic would have frustrated me as a young reader if the reason I picked up the book was to read about the Titanic sinking. It takes over half the book to even board the vessel, and the disaster comes across as a bit, well almost sweet, and not as emotionally charged as I thought it should have been.

Interested in other opinions?

Once Upon a Bookshelf

Kittling: Books

Library of a Distracted Musician

A Fifth Century Woman - Guest post by Kathleen Cunningham Guler

2010-04-16T17:09:00.002-04:00

After having enjoyed Kathleen Cunningham Guler's A Land Beyond Ravens, I approached her to see if she would mind writing a guest post. What Kathleen wrote was about her fascinating character Claerwen - and the difficulties she faces in dealing with her estranged sister Drysi. Hope you all enjoy!

A Fifth Century Woman

Life in fifth century Britain is not easy, especially for Claerwen, the wife of an important spy. In addition, she has the gift (or curse!) of second sight which often sends her into trouble of her own. Imagine the harrowing situations a woman could get into!

Claerwen is the fictional heroine of the Macsen’s Treasure Series. She is inspired by her husband Marcus ap Iorwerth, whose greatest quest is to free Britain of Saxon domination. She also has her own unwavering mission to aid in the fulfillment of the prophecy that a great future king called Arthur will one day come. In A Land Beyond Ravens, the series’ fourth book, she is challenged by something new: her long lost sister, Drysi (pronounced Druh-see).

When Drysi abruptly arrives at the clanholding, she seems like simply a bothersome addition to the family. Claerwen (age 40) never knew her sister. Their family was almost completely destroyed in a brutal raid; Claerwen twelve at the time, Drysi only two.

Unfortunately, Drysi reminds Claerwen of their mother Linor, the only known surviving adult of the raid. When Claerwen was about seventeen, Linor, a distant relation to Ceredig, king of Strathclyde, negotiated a betrothal contract between Claerwen and one of Ceredig’s minor warlords. That’s when Claerwen, in her first encounter with Marcus, learned the warlord was not only a horrendous brute, but a traitor as well. Her mother refused to break the agreement. Betrayed and fearing for her life, Claerwen fled.

Linor also had a nasty habit of using shame to make Claerwen comply with her demands. Tearfully, Claerwen always gave in. But when she fled, she vowed to never again be shamed into doing anything. A difficult transition, but in time she sloughed off her sense of inadequacy and grew into a quietly determined woman who well matches the iron-willed, courageous Marcus.

Drysi doesn’t look like Linor, but she displays the same cold, insipid disposition and a disdainful attitude, especially towards Marcus. Claerwen tries to push aside the reminders of her mother, but tension escalates. Her visions are filled with impending doom and Marcus’s work seems to bring that doom closer instead of preventing it. Then they discover Drysi has a far darker reason for being there when she falsely accuses Marcus of a heinous crime against her.

Her idea of justice is to maim him, possibly even kill him. The unnerving distraction in the midst of chaos unleashes a seething desire in Claerwen to protect Marcus and strike out against her sister. But with profound self-control, she determines to learn the truth of who actually did wrong to Drysi. And in the process, she is stunned to learn the key to the doom in her visions!

The truth comes out, Drysi leaves—in shame. Yet Claerwen still cannot forgive her mother. Like her steadfast pride and strength born of the same source of strife, she will always carry the pain. The good news is that she and Marcus can get back to more important things: observing Arthur in the moment he takes control of Britain!

Intrigued? Check out Kathleen's website & blog (which includes a book trailer!)

A Land Beyond Ravens - Kathleen Cunningham Guler

2010-04-16T03:18:00.003-04:00

**** - I have a definite affection for historical novels as well as King Arthur, and as Helen Hollick's The Kingmaking proved, I really enjoy it when the two are combined! Guler's A Land Beyond Ravens is a fascinating look at a 5th century Britain just before the rise of Arthur with constant power struggles, deep-felt emotion, and just a hint of clairvoyance.

FTC Disclaimer: I received a review copy from the author - who has kindly also agreed to write a guest post that will go up later today. Lucky, aren't I?

Marcus ap Iowerth has acted as spy to Uther Pendragon for the past few decades, but his increasingly erratic master is convinced that Marcus is plotting against him (with his hateful neighbor Cadwallon, no less) and insists that Marcus remain cooped up at home rather than participating in the battles and power struggles of the time. For Marcus, who has always been a man of action, it couldn't be harder to sit and watch the fate of the land he loves be decided without him. In addition, Marcus' wife Claerwen is increasingly plagued by portentous visions shown by the 'fire in her head' of the last piece of Macsen's Treasure - the Grail. But Marcus and Claeri aren't the only ones to seek the grail - it is deemed more and more important as the power of the Christian church grows in the British Isles.

I haven't yet read the other three books in Kathleen Cunningham Guler's Macsen's Treasure series, but I found A Land Beyond Ravens to stand reasonably well alone. Important events from earlier books in the series were briefly explained in context, so I never felt lost as to what was going on, though it was clear that I was missing some of the emotional import behind, for example, the Iron Hawk. These teasers - as it was very clear that they were of deep significance for the characters - just made me want to seek out the rest of the series to experience Marcus' and Claerwen's adventures from the beginning. So well done, Kathleen!

A Land Beyond Ravens was an absorbing story of the tumultuous period after the Romans had left and when the Christian factions were gaining power in Britain. There are power struggles amongst the chieftains, fractured loyalties, betrayals, and a growing movement around the hidden boy Arthur. But where the novel really shines is in giving us a lovely emotional story of a family caught up in the politics. Marcus' frustration at his inaction and his pain at being betrayed by the man he has been loyal to at great cost to himself really make the politics important on a more personal level. The struggle between the old ways and up-and-coming Christianity are mirrored in the difficulties between Claerwen and her sister, Drysi.

And charming as Marcus undoubtedly is, it's Claerwen who was the most interesting character for me. Despite her physical weakness from her weak heart, she is, in her own way, stronger than Marcus. She puzzles through her visions, sorts through problems that stretch far beyond the domestic (or even local) sphere, and she has infinite patience (it seems) for her difficult husband's need to bottle up his emotions. And throughout all of this, she never comes across as a martyr or a goody-two-shoes.

If there was anything that disturbed me about Claerwen, it was her reaction to her sister. I understand that her reaction was often set off by the other's prickliness and because Drysi reminded Claerwen of their manipulative mother. And on many occasions Drysi was certainly completely insufferable - refusing to follow the old ways or even respect them when she was in Dinas Beris, accusing Marcus of a terrible crime. But what struck me is that no one tried at all to comfort her, to understand the depths of pain and horror that she was carrying around after the ordeal she experienced at 12 years old - and, it is implied by her son Glinyeu, once again barely a year ago - which isn't even mentioned again. I was disappointed that Claerwen and the rest of the village didn't try harder to reach her once it was clear what she had been through. Instead everyone bands against her to protect Marcus (understandable) which made my heart ache for the thorny Drysi.

A Land Beyond Ravens mostly wasn't an 'action' sort of book. There were some scenes surrounding battles, but the fact that Marcus may not leave Dinas Beris without risking severe consequences means that much of the drama surrounds the relationships between characters - and I found the balance suited me well. I enjoyed my foray into the Macsen's Treasure series, and I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for the others in the series so I can meet Marcus and Claerwen again!

Please 'stay tuned' - Kathleen has written a guest post about Claerwen and Drysi that I'll be posting later today. I'd appreciate it if you would stop by and chat with her to make her feel welcome!

March 2010 Roundup

2010-03-31T08:00:00.006-04:00

Books Finished: 13

Favorite March book: This month was a GREAT reading month - and I've been completely torn as to which book was my favorite this month.

I mean, I had (with recognition to AnimeJune at Gossamer Obsessions who is so much better at these than I am):

1 Reality Show of DOOM x2 with a Kickass Heroine and Awesome Costumes

1 Pseudo-Mongolian fairy-tale Commoner with Gumption who Makes Good

1 Artist Heroine who mistakes the Hero for her Nude Model

1 Celtic Warrior Queen determined to defeat the Inevitable Roman Invaders

1 Medicinally-Inclined Younger Sister to the Queen caught up in Egyptian Court Intrigue

1 Traditionally-Built Botswanan Detective

1 Football-Playing Girl

1 Titanic Sinking

3 Bronte Sisters (and a Bronte Brother in a Pear Tree...)

Who would you cast YOUR vote for?

Author Encounters:

Kathleen Cunningham Guler (Macsen's Treasure) agreed to write a guest post about the heroine of her Macsen's Treasure series set in the time of Uther Pendragon. I recently won and read A Land Beyond Ravens and really enjoyed it. It's the story of spy Marcus ap Iowerth and his wife Claerwen - who has 'fire in the head', the ability to see portents of what is to come. Review and the guest post will be forthcoming!

Anne Osterlund (Aurelia) recommended Maria Snyder's Poison Study to me. I know, I know - you're all thinking - we've been recommending that for AGES, Hoyden. When are you going to get with the program? Suffice it to say, I'm bending to your collective wills. It's up next on the TBR pile, promise!

Books Read:

1. The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein - Peter Ackroyd

2. Book of a Thousand Days - Shannon Hale

3. The Taste of Sorrow - Jude Morgan

4. The Men's Guide to the Women's Bathroom - Jo Barrett

5. Boudica: Dreaming the Eagle - Manda Scott

6. Nefertiti - Michelle Moran

7. Distracting the Duchess - Emily Bryan

8. The Geek Girl's Guide to Cheerleading - Charity Tahmaseb & Darcy Vance

9. The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins

10. Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins

11. Dairy Queen - Catherine Gilbert Murdock

12. No Moon - Irene N. Watts

13. The Full Cupboard of Life - Alexander McCall Smith

Boudica: Dreaming the Eagle - Manda Scott

2010-03-22T08:00:00.001-04:00

**** - My introduction to Boudica came by way of the disappointing Warrior Queen by Alan Gold which I felt rambled too much. Manda Scott's Dreaming the Eagle certainly isn't terse, but it kept my interest far better - or perhaps I was in a more patient frame of mind.

Dreaming the Eagle is the first in Manda Scott's quartet about the famous Celtic warrior queen Boudica. So despite the novel reaching a hefty 700 pages, Dreaming the Eagle only takes us up to the beginning of the Roman invasion under Claudius. Most of the novel is an imagining of day-to-day life among the Iceni and the other Celtic tribes as Boudica (called Breaca) grows to womanhood and learns to accept her place as a warrior. And the power struggles and tentative alliances among the tribes in the face of the Roman threat.

Breaca wants more than anything to be a 'dreamer', one of the revered mystics who interpret true dreams and who call upon nature's powers in battle. But from her first kill at age 11 or 12, it is clear that Breaca is destined to be a warrior. The opposite is true of her younger brother Ban, who despite his desire to fight, is marked out as a dreamer by his powerful visions. Dreaming the Eagle follows both of the siblings as they prepare for the inevitable Roman invasion.

Some readers will find this first book in the quartet slow - after all the invasion comes only at the very end. But I found Scott's reconstruction of life in Celtic Britain fascinating. I enjoyed reading about Breaca's quest for a true dream (which reminded me a great deal of a Native American vision quest) and the time she spends on Mona. I also enjoyed reading about Ban - I liked him more than I did Breaca despite his foolhardiness, so I preferred the sections about him despite some of the hardships he faced.

One issue that I did have with Dreaming the Eagle were the number of ambiguous relationships and ambiguous dialogue. At times, the characters (particularly Breaca and Caradoc) would have a conversation that clearly had a hidden significance, and I wasn't always sure what was going on. I don't mind having to work a bit for subtext, but I don't particularly like a section of dialogue to be one big riddle. It's frustrating, and there were at least a few times where I felt like I was missing the significance of some gesture or action that was never really explained.

Despite these frustrations, I was thoroughly engrossed in the world of the Iceni and of the Romans. There were enough battle or other action scenes to keep my blood pounding. And if the climactic battle didn't go at all how I expected it would (character-wise, not history-wise), it only made me more eager to read Dreaming the Bull - I need to find out what happens to Breaca and the others!

An article about Boudica's rebellion by margad of Historicalnovels.info

A Girl Walks into a Bookstore

Tanzanite's Shelf and Stuff

Val's Random Comments
Wandering Coyote

Links:

The Nostradamus Prophecy - Theresa Breslin

2010-03-15T03:52:00.002-04:00

*** 1/2 - A fast-paced historical adventure with some fantastical elements, and a great look at a neglected historical setting. Also - It has a LEOPARD!

Minstrel's daughter Melisande never thought she would be entangled in affairs of state, but when famed prophet Nostradamus foretells a great massacre that will rock France, he has a separate message for Melisande. And it is to Nostradamus that Melisande turns when she is forced to flee from King Charles' court. She finds that her fate is entwined with his, as well as with King Charles, Catherine de Medici, Henri of Navarre and the intriguing leopard-trainer, Melchior.

The Nostradamus Prophecy is a gripping tale of adventure - a historical novel with a touch of the fantastical and a 'fantasy-style' structure following Melisande along her quest to decipher Nostradamus' prophecy. I liked Melisande - her quick wits and good heart made her easy to root for, and I enjoyed the bits of the novel where she explored her musical talent as well. The scene where she sings a song to Paladin the leopard was particularly memorable.

I figured out the prophecy pretty early on - the hints are all there and a basic knowledge of history helped supply the rest, and I admit to being a little frustrated (probably unjustly) with Melisande for being slow to work that out when she was otherwise quick-witted. But I enjoyed reading about the political machinations of the house of Guise (and spying), the religious discussions that would so soon lead to catastrophe, and the medicine and astrology of the time. It was all drawn from history and fascinating.

Breslin also gets the reader to care about a number of the secondary characters as the novel progressed - Giorgio, the apothecary who suffered torture; Lord Thierry, a just lord but dangerous; and of course patient Melchior and his leopard Paladin. I was genuinely concerned for their safety, and I felt betrayed alongside Melisande when those we had trusted turned out to not be quite who we had believed.

The Nostradamus Prophecy was a fast-paced read, and while the story is slower in the middle, I never thought it dragged. It was a gripping adventure story, and one that got me interested in a little more research on the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre (obviously, the link contains spoilers for those who don't know about the event). Has anyone read other books about the Huguenot conflict that they can recommend?

Sunday Spotlight - Sourcebooks

2010-03-07T06:47:00.014-05:00

I don't usually pay much attention to who publishes the books I read - after all, aside from Harlequin (where it's pretty obvious), I tend to focus more on authors than imprints. But over the past year or so, I've happened upon a publisher where I just keep on finding gems - Sourcebooks. So I thought I'd put together a little spotlight, broken down by my favorite genres, so others don't miss out!

Historical Fiction

I first became aware of Sourcebooks as a publisher of historical fiction. I spent a summer in England, and got completely hooked on Elizabeth Chadwick - only to find that her books weren't in print in the US. And during my frantic search, I noticed that Sourcebooks had plans to republish The Greatest Knight.

I also stumbled upon a host of other great historical authors:

Helen Hollick with her Arthurian trilogy beginning with The Kingmaking - where she imagines Arthur as a warlord. No magic, no love triangle. Instead, the reader gets a gritty look at Britain after the Romans left. The land is torn by war, betrayals, and Arthur is cunning, brash and ruthless. All of the characters have flaws, but my favorite part of the novel was Gwenhwyfar - a strong character who fought with and beside Arthur.

Margaret Campbell Barnes, whose works showed me a new side of the Tudors. In The King's Fool she gives a realistic but sympathetic portrait of

Henry VIII (through all of his madness and all of his wives) from the point of view of his jester Will Somers. It was really refreshing to see historical fiction from a male point of view! Then in The Tudor Rose, Barnes tells the story of Elizabeth of York - whose marriage to Henry Tudor (Henry VII) founded the Tudor dynasty and ended the Wars of the Roses. Her portrait of Richard III was both chilling and fascinating - I've never seen a portrayal so believable.

I've also been introduced to Susan Higginbotham's The Stolen Crown - also about the Wars of the Roses, and I'm looking forward to reading what she comes up with next!

Romance

Sourcebooks also has some great romances - something for everyone.

They're republishing Georgette Heyer's novels - including the very fun The Masqueraders, which reminded me a great deal of The Scarlet Pimpernel meets a zany Shakespearean comedy - complete with cross-dressing hijinks!

They're also a great source of Austen sequels and re-tellings. My favorite so far has been Sara Angelini's The Trials of the Honorable F. Darcy. It's a present-day re-imagining of Pride and Prejudice if Elizabeth were an attorney appearing before Judge Darcy in court. It was a great story that really seemed to capture that feeling of falling in love. Plus, it was genuinely funny with a hilarious karaoke scene.

Another Sourcebooks favorite of mine is Donna Lea Simpson's

Lady Anne and the Howl in the Dark. It's first in a trilogy - the others are due out later this year, and I'm just dying for them. Lady Anne Addison is a no-nonsense strong-willed woman with both a brain and a sturdy parasol for prodding the uncooperative. The story is a bit like Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody investigating The Hound of the Baskervilles - there's a satisfying Gothic atmosphere, uncertainty as to whether the intruder may be paranormal, and a charmingly irascible hero. If you like Elizabeth Peters mysteries, or Gail Carriger's Soulless (which have a similar feel), please do yourself a favor and pick this one up. It's so much fun!

Prefer contemporary? There's certainly plenty of those to choose from as well! I recently read and enjoyed Joanne Kennedy's Cowboy Trouble, a contemporary Western with a sweet down-to-earth hero and a mystery to solve. And I've also picked up a copy of The Treasures of Venice by Loucinda McGary because who can resist a charming Irish rogue of a hero on a puzzle thriller-style adventure? Especially when there are jewels to be found? Not me!

Young Adult

Just this March, Sourcebooks has launched their new young adult imprint - Sourcebooks Fire. And with that, they've got all my favorite reading bases covered. Here, too, though the selection is small at the moment, the titles look really great.

Among the towering trees of magical Avalon, where humans dare not tread, lives Niviene, daughter of the Lady of the Lake and apprentice to Merlin the mage. Her people, the Fey, are folk of the wood and avoid the violence and avarice of man. But the strife of King Arthur's realm threatens even Avalon's peace, and Merlin needs his apprentice to thwart the chaos devouring Camelot. And so Niviene must use her special talents to help save a kingdom and discover the treachery of men and the beauty of love. A mystical love story, now back in print, sure to become a modern teen classic.

I love Arthurian legend, so I snapped this one up the moment I saw it in the store!

And I'm really looking forward to The Star Shack by Lila Castle:

Pete and Annabelle live for their summers together on Gingerbread Beach. They've always believed they were a perfect pair… until junior year, when Annabelle becomes obsessed with astrology. Now they can hardly stand each other. Pete thinks that Annabelle (a Leo) has become a total flake; Annabelle thinks Pete (a Scorpio) has become an uptight jerk.

When Annabelle dares Pete to open a summer business on the Boardwalk generating personalized horoscopes, their fast-paced, hilarious bickering soon rises to a fever pitch. The he-said/she-said advice of the Star Shack is wildly popular and seems able to fix any relationship problem… except their own.

But when one of Annabelle's star charts helps catch a thief, Pete might have to admit that the stars could really hold the key to the future… and to his own heart.

And last, but not least Dianne Salerni's We Hear the Dead

It started out as a harmless prank. But soon enough, spiritualism was the fastest growing movement of the nineteenth century, and Maggie Fox was trapped in a life of deceit.

Meticulously researched by the author, We Hear the Dead reveals the secret of how the Fox sisters faked their rapping sounds and their motives for inventing the séance and founding spiritualism.

FTC Disclosure: Yes, I occasionally receive review copies from Sourcebooks, which is AWESOME because I usually really enjoy the books they choose to publish. But I also buy a lot of their books on my own and with my own money. Also - nobody asked me to do this. It just seemed like fun.

Sovereign - C.J. Sansom

2010-03-02T08:00:00.001-05:00

*** 1/2 - I thought this latest installment in the Matthew Shardlake mysteries was weaker than the first two in the series. The timeline seemed too drawn out - it allowed there to be troughs between action rather than intertwining the plotlines as tightly as its predecessors.

Matthew Shardlake is once again drawn from his regular practice to become embroiled in politics - in this case Archbishop Cranmer asks him to go up to York to meet the King's Progress and help with some petitions for the King's justice. But that's not all, he is also meant to keep an eye on the health of a prisoner from the rebellion, and he finds himself investigating the murder of a local glazier as well. And all the while, someone is trying to harm Matthew.

In Sovereign even more than in its predecessors, Matthew Shardlake gets a taste of the cruelty of King Henry VIII. Matthew is made the butt of a cruel joke, and his bitterness towards Henry leaves him vulnerable to several of the plots around court - he sees Catherine Howard bidding an affectionate goodbye to Thomas Culpeper; he becomes privy to a Northern conspiracy that throws doubts on Henry's claim to the throne, and he also is responsible for the health of a prisoner whom he finds himself increasingly in sympathy with. In addition, Barak is becoming increasingly interested in one of Queen Catherine's overly bold servants, Tamasin, which keeps him out of Matthew's company. And that leaves Matthew vulnerable to the attempts on his life.

I thought Sovereign was weaker than its predecessors. The plot had a ton of threads and twists that were interesting, but there seemed to be far too much in the way of down-time between the individual sections. With so much going on, I would have expected there to be tighter plotting. I think this was particularly apparent after the speed and energy of Dark Fire.

I'm beginning to wonder whether Sansom is capable of writing a woman who is not incredibly irritating. I mean, I understand that Matthew is largely clueless, but every woman I've encountered in this series blows hot and cold with no apparent reason. I liked Tamasin well enough at the beginning, despite Matthew's disapproval of her boldness, she seemed well enough. But towards the middle, she turned horrible and I have no idea what the reason for it was supposed to be. It was just incredibly annoying, and I found it distracting from the rest of the plot.

But of course, Sansom's strengths are still very much in evidence. His evocative prose has the reader right there with Shardlake. You feel the cold wind, can see the tent city with all the incumbent waste, and certainly experience the dank terror of the Tower. I'm still excited for the fourth in the series - Revelation.

Interested in other opinions?

The Book Marque

Dark Fire - C.J. Sansom

2010-03-01T14:58:00.001-05:00

**** - More fast-paced and adventurous than the first Matthew Shardlake novel. I'm really enjoying how well Sansom mixes history and mystery in these.

After the events at Scarnsea, lawyer Matthew Shardlake thought he was through with the machinations of the powerful. But his attempts to practice in peace are thwarted when Thomas Cromwell procures a reprieve from a brutal death for one of Matthew's clients accused of murder. Favors from Lord Cromwell always come with a price - in addition to investigating the murder, Shardlake must also track down a stolen formula for the formidable ancient weapon known as Greek Fire with the help of boorish Jack Barak whom Cromwell has set to guard and assist.

This second instalment in the Matthew Shardlake series is more action-oriented than its 'locked-room' predecessor (Dissolution). Matthew finds himself shadowed by a pair of ruthless thugs, digging up corpses and struggling over orchard walls - and the bodies seem to pile up just one step ahead of him. The story is on a tight timeline - Shardlake has only 12 days to complete his missions, and it is clear that his client's life and Cromwell's teetering career hang in the balance.

Once again, Sansom brings Tudor England to life in all its danger and grime. Religious and political differences are at the forefront. Cromwell's career (and his head) are in jeopardy because of the King's dissatisfaction with the marriage to Anne of Cleves that Cromwell arranged, and the King's increased interest in the pretty teenaged niece of Thomas Howard, the Catholic Duke of Norfolk and no friend of Cromwell's. We also witness the aftermath of the dissolution of the monasteries Shardlake helped bring about in Dissolution, and the results aren't pretty - patients and orphans turned out into the streets, desecrated graves being plundered for baluables, money-grubbing landlords using legal technicalities to get out of dealing with dreadful sewage and other concerns, and the corruption of judges and other officials who care more about lining their pockets than dispensing justice.

The relationships bewteen the characters are what really make Sansom's mysteries stand out for me. Shardlake has plenty of room to debate the right and moral action, but here he is increasingly confronted with alternative perspectives to challenge his judgments: Barak grew up impoverished as the son of a cess-pit cleaner and raised his status in the world by his ready wit and sword as well as through a distinct lack of deference to those in rank. Lady Honor enjoys provoking heated discussions as her 'sugar banquet' salons, and Brother Guy points out the moral consequences of Shardlake's plans (and of his former reformist zeal).

The weakest point of the novel, in my opinion, was the crime Elizabeth was hiding. Perhaps because it got so little page-time due to all the interweaving plot-threads, I never felt as if the crime itself was satisfactorily explained. Given the horrific implications, and the fact that Elizabeth was willing to be pressed to death rather than reveal the secret, I was surprised that Shardlake didn't need to spend a bit more time coming to grips with the evil he had uncovered. I would have liked to see more of his thought process there.

That's a minor quibble, however. Dark Fire was an excellent fast-paced historical mystery. I barely closed the cover on this one before reaching for the next Matthew Shardlake mystery - Sovereign.

February Roundup

2010-02-28T08:00:00.009-05:00

Books Finished: 14

Favorite February Read: Double Play by Jill Shalvis

I'm not a huge contemporary fan. And I really don't care much for athlete heroes. But Jill Shalvis has pretty much just changed all that. Because Pace and Holly were a great pair. He's a pitcher, she's a reporter out to get the scoop on his team. And his team thinks the only way to keep a winning streak going is if he kisses her before each game. I was grinning the whole time.

Author Encounters:

Susan Higginbotham stopped by my review of her new release The Stolen Crown about the Wars of the Roses and the marriage between Kate Woodville (sister to Edward IV's queen) and Harry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham (who has Lancastrian relatives and a deep friendship with Richard III).

Pursuing the Lioness posts at Tempting Persephone:

Lan from Escapist Paradise Speaker discusses how the Lioness stories helped her get through grad school.

- I definitely know the feeling!

Books Read:

1. Dissolution - C.J. Sansom

2. Cowboy Trouble - Joanne Kennedy

3. The Stolen Crown - Susan Higginbotham

4. Dark Fire - C.J. Sansom

5. Today's Special - A.M. Goldscher

6. The Nostradamus Prophecy - Theresa Breslin

7. Sovereign - C.J. Sansom

8. Double Play - Jill Shalvis

9. The Lonely Hearts Club - Elizabeth Eulberg

10. The Masqueraders - Georgette Heyer

11. Heist Society - Ally Carter

12. The Ex Games - Jennifer Echols

13. A Match Made in High School - Kristin Walker

14. Labor of Love - Rachel Hawthorne

The Masqueraders - Georgette Heyer

2010-02-27T08:00:00.005-05:00

*** 1/2 - Heyer's written quite a romp in The Masqueraders, and I was glad to be along for the ride!

I received a copy of The Masqueraders for free to review from Sourcebooks. I've also purchased a copy. Make of that what you will, FTC.

Prudence and her brother Robin are on the run and in disguise. Robin had been involved in the failed Jacobite rebellion, and now he is hiding in petticoats at the behest of 'the old gentleman', his father. Prudence, disguised as the handsome young Peter Merriott, and Robin as lovely blond sister Kate take London society by storm when they help rescue heiress Letitia Grayson from an elopement gone awry. Meanwhile, the 'old gentleman' is vying for the title of Tremaine of Barham.

And to be truthful, that's not really the half of it. The masquerades carry on with Robin disguised as a dapper young hero in a black domino to enchant Letty's heart. Prudence is worried about the large Anthony Fanshawe (whom the siblings fondly refer to as 'the mountain') discovering her masquerade. There is blackmail, duels, and the ever-constant fear of discovery. A ton is going on in The Masqueraders, and I had a great time with it.

And thank goodness, there's a lot of love for Heyer out there, and I had tried The Grand Sophy before this and just wasn't terribly impressed. But I decided to give this one another try - with all the hijinks, how could it go wrong?

The pacing is a bit slow - it feels a bit like old classic adventures like The Scarlet Pimpernel and Robert Louis Stevenson's Master of Ballantrae. But a little bit of patience with that sort of style, and I was soon sucked into the deliciously implausible story.

The characters are great fun. Prudence is cool as a cucumber, Robin a hot-head who is enjoying his flirtations and his close friendship with Letty as a girl. The old gentleman is completely hilarious - he's so utterly full of himself, convinced of his mental acuity and his inability to go wrong. He's a kook - exasperating but certainly funny, and he certainly pulls off the melodramatic plot with panache. I wasn't always certain as to why he was asking his children to masquerade as the opposite gender. But then, the old gentleman likes to watch those around him dance to his tune!

Although there are some tender romantic elements, this seems more like an adventure story (complete with iffy identities). There are carriage chases, false arrests, enmities and duels. I read someone recently state that PBS should do a series of Georgette Heyer episodes (as for the Jane Austen stories) - and I think The Masqueraders would be an excellent choice if they do!

Interested in other opinions?

The Burton Review

Jane Austen's World

The Chosen One - Carol Lynch Williams

2010-02-26T08:00:00.001-05:00

**** - Williams' The Chosen One is a really tough emotional read, but a story that is well-worth knowing. An amazing book.

13-year-old Kyra savors any time she gets alone - especially any time she can spend reading the book she keeps hidden in a scrubby olive tree. In Kyra's communicty, secular books are forbidden. And with three mothers and a passel of siblings, any alone-time is precious. Kyra belongs to The Chosen Ones, an isolated polygamist sect in the desert led by Prophet Childs. He determines who may marry and when, how the community must behave, and how a disobedient member is to be punished. All of which Kyra discovers first-hand when she is chosen as the seventh wife of one of the community Elders.

The Chosen One is an evocative, smoothly written story. The reader is transported into Kyra's world - safe from the hostile, disapproving stares of the outside world - but also fraught with danger for anyone daring to disobey the community's strict (and often cruel) rules. The clarity of the writing makes this book incredibly difficult to read emotionally. Kyra, who loves books and music, who has favorites among her many siblings, and who must weather the ill temper of not one, but three separate mothers is easy to relate to, and easy to root for. And this makes her story all the more heart-wrenching.

What I admired most about The Chosen One was how well Williams portrayed the difficulties facing those trying to get out. She showed the gun-toting guards, but also the inner barriers - the weakness of Kyra's family (especially with regard to 8-month-old Mariah), Kyra's fear of losing her family along with her fear of the outside world. Williams also shows a community that started off as a kinder, less strict place, but where the rules were gradually tightened to a strangle-hold by a power-hungry, sadistic leader. It was terrifying, but important, to see how many of the victims were not only too cowed to fight back themselves, but also too crippled by fear to support another's bid for freedom regardless of the horrors she faced if she remained.

Despite all of the difficulties in Kyra's path, she is a wonderful strong character, determined to have some control over her own fate. Hers is a touching and powerful story and one that deserves to be read. Just don't pick up The Chosen One if you're looking for something fluffy.

Dissolution - C.J. Sansom

2010-02-25T08:00:00.001-05:00

**** - An intriguing 'locked-room' mystery set in the political and religious turmoil of Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries. I thought it read a great deal like a more accessible version of Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose. In a good way.

FTC Disclosure: I borrowed this book from a friend.

At the height of the English Reformation under King Henry VIII, property lawyer Matthew Shardlake is sent (at the behest of Thomas Cromwell) to investiage a gruesome murder at Scarnsea Abbey - and to persuade the abbot to voluntarily close the monastery. Accompanied by his assistant Mark Poer, Shardlake uncovers a tangle of sins, licentiousness and deceptions - as well as further murders. But he also unearths some ugly truths about his mentor and the reformist cause.

It is rather unusual to read a historical novel with a disabled main character. Sansom uses Shardlake's hunched back to good effect - given people's superstitions and downright cruelty, Matthew keeps himself at an emotional distance from those around him. Having had to cope with others' prejudices, he is determined to maintain fair and rational judgments rather than letting personal dislike or sympathies inhibit his investigations. Finally, his deformity plays a large role in reconciling his world-weary approach with his almost naive idealism when it comes to the reformist actions in England. Matthew Shardlake is such an interesting and multi-faceted character; I very much enjoyed learning about the political and religious turmoil of the times alongside him.

None of this is to suggest that the mystery gets short shrift in Dissolution. It doesn't. Sansom gives us many suspects, many motives, and a truly unexpected denouement when the culprit is finally unmasked. The snowbound monastery surrounded by a treacherous bog provides the reader with a truly creepy atmosphere. I constantly expected someone to spring out from a secret passage or a shadowy corner. And the fear and hostility of the common people towards the monastery and the monks fear of Cromwell and King Henry despite adherence to the 'new' rules is palpable - further enhancing the atmosphere.

I truly enjoyed Dissolution, and I would recommend it, both as a mystery and as a look at a part of Tudor England I've rarely seen in fiction.

Young Bess - Margaret Irwin

2010-02-24T08:00:00.001-05:00

*** 1/2 - Margaret Irwin's Young Bess is an insightful look at the early years of Princess Elizabeth's life. Irwin doesn't shy away from showing Elizabeth as temperamental and a difficult pubescent girl, but she also shows a great deal of empathy for the ambitious young woman's plight.

I received a free copy of this book for review from the publisher. Thanks, Sourcebooks!

Elizabeth Tudor is well-known as one of the strongest monarchs in English history - but young Bess had a difficult childhood. Elizabeth was by turns a favorite of her father's for her cleverness and disinherited, ignored and despised for any perceived likeness to her infamous mother. But always, men saw Elizabeth as a pawn to get closer to the throne. Foremost among these men was Elizabeth's (step)stepfather Lord Admiral Thomas Seymour.

Margaret Irwin doesn't shrink back from the difficulties of the relationship between Elizabeth and Thomas Seymour - as well as the strains this put on her relationship with his wife and her favorite stepmother Katherine Parr. I found Elizabeth's portrayal very realistic - she is a teenager trying out her burgeoning sexual awareness and enjoying the attention she gets from the much-older but still attractive Thomas Seymour. But Elizabeth is shrewd enough to realize that she is being used as a means to greater power - though the realization is hard on her emotionally. Their relationship is without a doubt uncomfortable to the modern reader - the age difference and his role as a father figure make it even more so. But I believe Elizabeth's disappointment with Seymour and the grief he caused her was channeled into her ambitions and that made theirs a very formative relationship indeed.

Elizabeth is certainly an interesting characters - she seemed older than her early teens, but given the political subterfuge surrounding her (as well as her intelligence), I had no trouble believing that. I found Elizabeth's quicksilver changes in mood and temper very teenaged - as was her revelling in what little power she could seize over those who hurt her. To my mind, Irwin did a remarkable job of piecing together the circumstances surrounding Elizabeth's childhood and putting together a credible explanation of how they influenced the queen she would become.

Personally, I would have liked to see more interaction between Elizabeth and her father and siblings - I thought the portrayal of Mary showed a distinct lack of the same understanding and finesse Irwin showed Elizabeth, and young Edward was nothing but a prissy royal pain. I would also have liked to see Bess meet Robin Dudley - though that may be in one of the next books in this intriguing trilogy.

Margaret Irwin's Young Bess showed an extraordinarily relatable portrait of Elizabeth, and one that was sympathetic but not fawning. I was definitely impressed.

Interested in other opinions?

The Burton Review

Truly, Madly - Heather Webber

2010-02-23T08:00:00.001-05:00

**** - I really enjoyed this first foray into the Lucy Valentine series. It's a cozy mystery with a strong romantic subplot and a fun psychic twist. It reminded me a great deal of Victoria Laurie's Abby Cooper, Psychic Eye series.

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

Ever since Lucy Valentine lost her ability to see auras (as the rest of her family can), she's felt like a misfit in her family. She can no longer dream of carrying on the family match-making business, and her ability to find lost objects seems useless in comparison. Useless, that is, until a little boy goes missing in the woods and until she 'sees' the engagement ring one of her father's clients lost - on the finger of a hidden corpse. Lucy enlists the help of Sean Donahue, the sexy P.I. upstairs to investigate the cases her ability reveals, and maybe to help do a little match-making herself.

Lucy Valentine is thoroughly charming - despite the fact that she's a 'never touch my trust fund' baby, despite the fact that she's appallingly slow to figure out that 'finding lost objects' could relatively easily translate into 'finding lost people' and despite her irritating harping on her family's 'cupid's curse' - she charmed me. I enjoyed the scrapes she got into during her investigative work with Sean. I loved her inability to say 'no' to a one-eyed hamster or a three-legged cat - and their very literarily apropos names (Odysseus and Grendel). I especially adored Lucy's conversations with her driver (who reminded me strongly of Hector Elizondo - probably because of his stint as Princess Mia's put-upon chauffeur in The Princess Diaries).

I was particularly drawn to the premise - romantic aura-matching, and psychic abilities are always fun, particularly when there are some steamy visions every time Lucy touches Sean (not described in detail). The mystery was intriguing with a (for me) unexpected solution. I liked watching Sean and Lucy work together and banter, and I was pleased that, unlike many other amateur sleuths, Lucy was tracked down and questioned by police in short order whenever she stuck her nose in police business.

Truly, Madly was a fun, light-hearted read. The mystery is cozy, the romantic elements high - and the sizzle factor promising when Lucy lands her guy. The real strength of Webber's debut, though, are the lovable secondary characters she creates - Raphael, Lucy's grandmother Dovie, her best friends, and even the three-legged cat. I'd recommend it for cozy lovers who enjoy a splash of psychic.

The Stolen Crown - Susan Higginbotham

2010-02-22T10:00:00.003-05:00

*** 1/2 - An intriguing look at the very complicated subject of The Wars of the Roses. My main complaint? It would have been nice to have a family tree showing how everyone fit together. Since everyone seems to be named the same things (Henry, Edward, Richard, Elizabeth), some way to distinguish who is related to whom would have helped.

I received a free review copy from the publisher Sourcebooks. Thanks!

Kate Woodville was only a young girl when the Yorkist King Edward IV married her sister Elizabeth in secret. But that marriage, and her own to the Lancastrian Harry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham will eventually plunge Kate into the middle of the struggles of the Wars of the Roses, especially given Harry's close friendship with Richard, Duke of Gloucester.

Susan Higginbotham does an excellent job at portraying the conflicting loyalties of the Wars of the Roses, and despite my relative unfamiliarity with the conflict, I was never completely lost. That said, I did often find it difficult to keep all the Margarets, Edwards, and Henrys apart, not to mention to remember whom they were related to and why it all mattered. This is, to an extent, inevitable given the complicated history involved, and Higginbotham generally included explanations in dialogue or inner monologue to help the reader figure things out. Especially the main strands of the story surrounding Harry and Kate are quite clear - but if you feel the need to understand the reason behind the various executions and battles, you should make sure you have some background material to hand.

While I'm generally not a huge fan of first-person narratives outside of a diary/epistolary format, I didn't find the POV distracting in The Stolen Crown. Higginbotham also made sure that the perspective wasn't as limited by including two point of view characters - Kate and Harry. Given how much of the history of the Wars of the Roses takes place on battlefields, I thought this was a strong move. For those that remember, the solely female point of view was what left me feeling somewhat lost for context in Margaret Campbell Barnes The Tudor Rose (which is about Edward IV's daughter Elizabeth of York & Henry Tudor). Higginbotham adroitly side-steps that problem by having a male character who is involved in the more martial side of things.

To be honest, I wasn't terribly fond of Harry. I thought he was a largely realistic character complete with flaws, frustrations and divided loyalties, and I enjoyed the blossoming love between Kate and Harry in the early days of their marriage. But once Harry has grown into a man, he still seems naive and too easily led. There are a few moments in Harry's story that suggest a strong love for Richard - which could explain his wilful blindness regarding the Princes in the Tower and make his subsequent decisions more heart-wrenching, but I'm not sure that I believed in the depth of his emotion. One of the hazards of first-person narratives is that it's much more difficult to pull off subtle/suppressed emotions. If I was to believe that Harry was in love with Richard, I needed more evidence since we were given so much insight into his head. I see the argument that Harry was in denial and was repressing his feelings and confused - given his deep affection for Kate. But again, I think to play with such subtlety, a third-person narration would have been more effective.

This, of course, leads us to the ever-fascinating (and ever-controversial) character of Richard of Gloucester. Higginbotham's Richard is unceasingly political - he's always manipulating people and twisting facts to shape events to his liking. He's ruthless towards his political opponents and thinks nothing of ruining a reputation or taking a life if he deems it necessary for the succession. Partially this can be ascribed to his learning from his brother's ill-fated attempts at mercy and compassion, but Richard comes across as inhumanly unemotional. Perhaps Higginbotham's Richard suffers coming relatively close behind what I thought was a masterful portrayal of the man in all his complexities in The Tudor Rose, but I couldn't see the Richard that inspired such devotion in Harry Stafford, nor the man who was so beloved of his subjects in York, nor the man so passionate about his wife Anne. So Richard didn't steal the show in Higginbotham's The Stolen Crown, but perhaps the novel would have been better for it if he had.

Susan Higginbotham's The Stolen Crown is a very readable and comprehensible look at the muddle that was The Wars of the Roses. I learned a great deal about the conflict and Edward IV and his family that I had never heard of. Particularly interesting, to my mind, were the attempts to prove Edward's marriage invalid - I saw portents of the future there! I enjoyed reading about Edward IV (who was shown as a charmingly larger than life character) and the Woodvilles. I'd recommend The Stolen Crown to someone interested in seeing what came before the Tudors.

Interested in other opinions?

Medieval Bookworm

The Burton Review (and author guest post!)

Cowboy Trouble - Joanne Kennedy

2010-02-20T11:59:00.007-05:00

**** - Kennedy's Cowboy Trouble is a funny romance with a very sweet hero. I wasn't expecting the suspense plot, and I found the mystery largely predictable. But I was definitely enamored of Luke and his charming family.

I received a review copy for free from Sourcebooks. Thanks!

Crime reporter and city girl Libby has wanted a chicken farm since she was a little girl. After a bad break-up, she decides to make her childhood dream a reality and work for the local small-town newspaper in Lackaduck, Wyoming. And her handsome neighbor Luke Rawlins will willingly lend her a hand! But when Libby starts investigating the town's only disappearance as a possible murder, someone keeps trying to warn her off.

My Thoughts: Luke Rawlins is my favorite sort of hero. He's a real sweetheart - he watches out for his parents; he's willing to take things slow with Libby since he realizes she's been hurt. He's just wonderful, and a huge help around town and around the farm. He even brings her a dog. A dog! How could anyone not love him? The sheriff doesn't stand a chance in their triangle - and happily Libby realizes that as well.

As for Libby, I didn't like her quite as much. She definitely has her good points - she's determined and she's kind. She shows real insight in how she deals with Luke's friend 'Crazy Mike' in her stories. But she also shows a distinct flair for doing stupid things - particularly considering she's investigating a possible murder, but she is also far from oblivious to danger.

I wasn't expecting the suspense aspect of the story - or rather, I thought it would be less central to the story than it turned out to be. I had thought there would be more funny hijinks involving chickens. There was some of that, of course, but far more mystery, and I just wasn't as convinced. I thought the solution to the mystery was pretty obvious, and there weren't a lot of stray 'leads' to track down.

I loved the relationship between Luke and Libby - especially the humorous bits. It definitely made me interested in picking up another contemporary Western, especially if I'll find more heroes like Luke. He seemed very real - a nice guy, and a great change from the usual 'Alpha hero' fare that I tend to dislike.

If you like contemporary Westerns, I'd certainly recommend you pick this one up. It's a lot of fun!

Interested in other opinions?

Love, Romance, Passion and (author interview)

Hazel - Julie Hearn

2010-02-14T08:00:00.000-05:00

*** 1/2 - This is another one of those books that seems to contain two stories - and where the UK (left) and US (right) covers choose to focus on different aspects. Which would you have picked up?

I checked this novel out from my local library.

Hazel Louise Mull-Dare has always been a pampered Daddy's girl. But when she witnesses a suffragette throw herself in front of the king's horse at the Epsom Derby to draw attention to her cause, Hazel begins to yearn to break out of the mold of the sweet naive girl who would never do anything her father disapproves of and to take action. The family's straitened circumstances and need for propriety lead to Hazel's 'banishment' to her grandfather's sugar plantation in the Caribbean - where she must confront even more family secrets.

My Thoughts:

Hazel is definitely not a simple escapist read - rather it is a historical novel that deals with burgeoning political awareness, votes for women, depression, gambling addiction, slavery and its aftermath, adolescent rebellion and betrayal. In short, Hazel is a realistic snapshot of the many pressures and influences an actual teenager of her time might have faced. She's not just a character with some fleshing out to capture the reader's attention - she's a full-fledged person The novel is more of a character study than a plot-driven story, and its weakest points tend to be those that rely on external plot for tension (such as the hurricane).

Hazel is an interesting contrast. The first half of the book focuses on Hazel's membership in a class of the oppressed. She gradually realizes how much society's polite strictures are meant to keep women powerless and docile, and she rebels out of desire for greater autonomy for herself and others. After she takes action, she is sent to her family's sugar plantation and must come to grips with being a member of the oppressors. She gradually awakens from her naivete to appreciate (to a degree) the hardships and continuing injustice the former slaves face on the island. She sees first-hand some of the prejudice they encounter, and she also must deal with hostility from the house-servants because of who her family is, and her own skin tone.

I found the treatment of racism and the after-effects of slavery interesting, though I was a bit annoyed at how the thread was introduced into the narrative. While the plantation workers certainly had ample reason for resentment against the Mull-Dare/Moulder family, I wasn't convinced that hostile messages to a 13-year-old girl holding her vicariously responsible for the sins of her family would lead to the kind of acceptance and acknowledgment Hazel demonstrates after her initial bewilderment. I've never thought hostility and blame were particularly effective didactic tools. Aside from my disbelief regarding how the message was brought across, it was good to see Hazel overcome her ignorance and blind naivete.

The end of that particular sub-plot was a bold one, I think. It must have been tempting to end the section on the Caribbean on a note of togetherness and racial acceptance - or at least overt steps in that direction, but Hearn doesn't let her story off the hook that easily. How Hazel comes to terms with her new-found knowledge is largely unexplored.

As to what I didn't like much - the choppy transition from the first half to the second half left a lot of story lines simply hanging (what happened to Gloria? the suffragettes in general?). The stark dichotomy between the first and the second halves of the story may very well end up overshadowing the struggle for women's rights in the reader's mind because of the worse situation in the colonial empire. And that would be a pity as it's this very contrast that makes the story unique. In addition, Hazel was hard to take at times, petulant, spoiled and naive - and I'm not sure at what point that supposedly changed.

Hazel was certainly a thought-provoking read that links two major issues of the early 20th century in an interesting way. I'm certainly looking forward to reading the loose prequel (Ivy) and the sequel (Rowan).

Sunday Notables

2010-02-07T08:00:00.000-05:00

Romance News:

Chapter Two of A Duke for All Seasons by Emily Bryan has been posted. Emily is writing a romance novel with a chapter each month and a chance to vote on what happens next (and win a prize) on her site.

Definitely, Maybe by Heather Webber (Truly, Madly) at She Loves Hot Reads - a short story that explains how Lucy Valentine ended up with the power to find things by touch (more or less). I really enjoyed Truly, Madly (review soon), so this was a nice bonus!

Ooh, segue involving psychic phenomena? I'm looking forward to Fox's Past Life (premieres Feb 9th on FOX inspired by The Reincarnationist and sequels by M.J. Rose. Does anyone else think this looks fun? If you want to read the books that inspired the show, the author has a free sampler of each of the three novels if you sign up for her newsletter.

YA News:

In even more psychic phenomena news, Harper Collins has posted the first few chapters of The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting if you'd like to give them a try. The story is about Violet, a girl who hears the souls of the dead call to her so that she can find their bodies - and now there's a serial killer on the loose in her home town...

Or for something a little more romantically inclined, perhaps you would be interested in the first few chapters of Forget-Her-Nots by Amy Brecount White. During a presentation on the Victorian language of flowers, Laurel discovers her gift to use the magic inherent in her bouquets - though they don't always do what she intends. I think this sounds incredible! I'd love to know more about the language of flowers!

Libba Bray has signed on for a new project called The Diviners set during the 1920s in New York. Should be fun!

Art History News:

Interview with David Hosp (Among Thieves) who wrote a novel imagining what happened the night of the theft at the Gardner museum. I know almost nothing about the theft, but I'm definitely intrigued! I have this and Ulrich Boser's The Gardner Heist on my TBR pile! Does anyone have other recommendations?

Author interview with Sheramy Bundrick (Sunflowers) at Passages to the Past - Sheramy (who also hosts the Art History Reading Challenge) talks about her love of van Gogh, her research trips, and the writing process. It's an interesting interview, and I'm now even more eager to see what she's made of Vincent.

Historical Fiction

The Young Bluestockings Book Club over at NineteenTeen will be reading Patricia Wrede's excellent Mairelon the Magician! I've really enjoyed NineteenTeen as an author blog and historical resource, and I'm looking forward to hearing others' thoughts on Mairelon the Magician - it was one of my favorites as a teen. If you're interested (or you too have fond memories) make sure you stop by!

Jamie Ford (Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet) is chatting over at LibraryThing about Hotel & his newest projects. Hotel is one of my favorite books ever, and I'm eagerly awaiting reading what comes next!

Check here for the Calendar of Events for the Historical Fiction Book Bloggers Round Table Event for O, Juliet - there are contests and a number of great posts about Romeo & Juliet and Renaissance Florence.

And with that in mind, I certainly couldn't resist posting the trailer to Letters to Juliet:

I think it looks so cute! Will anyone else be seeing it?

Leonardo and the Death Machine - Robert J. Harris

2010-02-03T17:06:00.005-05:00

*** 1/2 - a fun adventure story with a great protagonist. I'm looking forward to reading others in Harris' Young Legends series. If this one is anything to go by, they'll be fun!

Source: Library

Fourteen-year-old Leonardo da Vinci is eager to move beyond the dull copying exercises set for him in his apprenticeship to acclaimed artist Andrea del Verrochio. When an impromptu football match leaves his friend Sandro Botticelli unable to fulfill an important commission for the Medici family, Leonardo jumps at the chance to help. But he gets more than he bargained for when he stumbles across the plans to a mysterious machine. Soon Leonardo has a ruthless assassin on his heels as he attempts to uncover a plot to bring down the ruling family of Florence.

Leonardo and the Death Machine is a fast-paced historical adventure story that highlights all of Leonardo's genius (artistic and mechanical) in a way that doesn't make him seem like MacGyver. I enjoyed the interweaving of details of the way artists worked and the political situation in volatile Renaissance Florence, and I smiled at the inclusion of Leonardo's famous fastidiousness regarding his appearance. For all the inclusion of historical detail, though, Harris never let his research dictate the story. Sports matches, assassination attempts and flying machines make this a book clearly geared toward boys (I certainly enjoyed it as well) - after all, what teenaged boy could resist that title?

Leonardo da Vinci makes a wonderful adventure protagonist - he's ingenious, mechanically and artistically inclined and living during a turbulent and fascinating era. What better way to bring a history lesson alive? Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that there are more of Leonardo's adventures to come, but I'll certainly be picking up the author's other Young Legends titles, including Will Shakespeare and the Pirate's Fire!

January Roundup

2010-01-31T08:00:00.036-05:00

Books Finished: 11

Favorite January Read: The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams.

This was a simultaneously difficult and easy book to read. The story flowed along, the voice was engaging and believable, but the subject matter was just beyond heart-breaking. 13-year-old Kyra lives in the compound of a polygamous religious sect. When she's told that she's been chosen to become the seventh wife of one of the men in power, she rebels - but in so doing, she puts her family, herself, and those who care about her in terrible danger.

It's a powerful read, and a much more complicated one than merely condemning the sect or preaching morality. And while the horrors of the sect are presented, it is in a clear showing, not telling way that makes the book that much more painful, and that much better. A fantastic read, but one difficult to bear.

Author Encounters:

Author Ian Beck (Pastworld) stopped by my review to correct my mistaken assumption that the boy playing Jago in his (gorgeous) book trailer was not Indian. Despite the white

Harlequin makeup, Ian assures me that he is definitely Indian - and I am definitely glad to hear it. Thanks for stopping by, Ian. And congrats on the new release!

Michelle Moran (Cleopatra's Daughter), Laura Schaefer (Teashop Girls) and Melissa Walker

(Violet on the Runway) stopped by my Unsung YA Favorites list. Michelle loved King of Shadows, Melissa enjoyed The Possibilities of Sainthood, and Laura was basking in the well-deserved glory of being on my list. Here's hoping more readers pick up each of your books!

Pursuing the Lioness posts at Tempting Persephone:

Angie from Angieville discusses what Alanna the First Adventure meant to her. I especially love the last paragraph

when she talks about sharing the book with someone special.

Persnickety Snark talks about why she loves Alanna and her fierce determination, and how she lost and re-found the story!

Interesting Tidbits:

There's some talk of exhuming Leonardo da Vinci to see if the Mona Lisa is a self-portrait (as often rumored). I'm of the opinion that it probably isn't, but who am I to stand in the way of a good art historical debate?

The Historical Fiction Bloggers Roundtable is featuring Robin Maxwell's O Juliet -

which I'm eager to get my hand on. Check out this post on different versions of the story. I think my favorite version of R&J was the all-male production I saw about a year and a half ago. What's yours?

Books Read:

1. Ice - Sarah Beth Durst

2. The Borgia Bride - Jeanne Kalogridis

3. Pastworld - Ian Beck

4. Heretic - Sarah Singleton

5. Leonardo and the Death Machine - Robert J Harris

6. Hazel - Julia Hearn

7. Stupid Cupid - Rhonda Stapleton

8. The Chosen One - Carol Lynch Williams

9. Seduce Me - Robyn Hart

10. Truly, Madly - Heather Webber

11. Young Bess - Margaret Irwin

Out of the Shadows/Heretic - Sarah Singleton

2010-01-22T08:00:00.000-05:00

Elizabeth Dyer knows what it's like to feel alone - her family are the sole Catholics remaining in her village, and Catholics are viewed with extreme suspicion as plotting against the Protestant Queen Elizabeth. And now, to make matters worse, her brother has brought a Catholic priest to their home to hide.

When a moss-tinged girl who claims to have spent the past 300 years amongst the faerie turns up in the woods near the destroyed Catholic shrine that Elizabeth's family tends, Elizabeth befriends her, and the two set out to save Elizabeth's family from priest-hunters.

Cover: On the left is the US cover (Out of the Shadows) and on the right the UK cover (Heretic). I found it quite interesting that the US cover and title play up the paranormal and faerie aspects while the UK version focused more on the religious persecution and historical feel. I think they're both gorgeous - which would you have picked up?

My Thoughts: ** 1/2

To be honest, I think this story never quite figured out whether it wanted to be a paranormal story emphasizing Isabella's sacrifice or a historical one focused on the persecution of Catholics during Elizabethan times/wise women in general. I would have read either of those stories, but both seemed to get short shrift in Singleton's story.

The paranormal elements are largely told in flashbacks throughout the story when Isabella reflects on her past. I would have preferred if it had stayed like that, but there's a section near the end when the girls end up travelling through the Shadowlands that felt very oddly tacked on. Plus, it was confusing both as to how that section worked and in what way it was necessary to the plot.

The historical side of things is odd as well. There are some overly wise discussions of religious tolerance from Isabella (which I forgave since she had lived 300 years), but at no point does the author really focus on her issue - the religious persecution. While she implies that the persecution of Catholics during the Elizabethan age was wrong (which I don't deny), I thought it was odd that she didn't address at all the reasons behind the persecutions. Namely that the Pope had excommunicated Elizabeth in 1570 and exhorted all Catholics not to obey her lest they be excommunicated as well (which is a Big Deal at the time), and the numerous plots to kill Elizabeth hatched at the very seminary in Douai from which the priest arrives.

It seemed strange to me that it was never mentioned whether the Dyer family struggled with this order from the Pope or whether they were loyal to Elizabeth - the pope was a complete non-issue, which seems unlikely for a Catholic at the time. The entire lack of context and focusing only on how mean everyone was for being suspicious of the Dyers because they were Catholic really robbed the story of a lot of actual historical flavor for me. Instead, it felt a lot like a morality tale set during a 'convenient' time and without overmuch attention paid to historical detail. It doesn't help that (aside from the prevailing religion) there is nothing to set apart Elizabeth's life from Isabella's 300 years earlier.

Overall, Out of the Shadows/Heretic didn't really work for me, and I think the trouble was the attempt to blend the two stories. I liked both of the main characters, though I thought the depths of their friendship a little sudden. And I would gladly read either Heretic (the religious persecution historical) or Out of the Shadows (the loneliness and sacrifice of a girl leaving the Shadowlands), but this book tries to be both and, in my view, doesn't really succeed.

UnSung YA favorites

2010-01-21T08:00:00.003-05:00

At the end of 2009/beginning of 2010, it's the season for Best Of lists, and Kelly over at YAnnebe noticed that a lot of the lists feature books that made a big splash - certainly deservedly (or why would they be on so many lists?). But it got her to thinking, what about those great books that don't make a splash? The ones that people don't know about, but would love if they did?

And that's how her UnSung YA favorites event was born - so here is a list of my 10 unsung YA favorites (fewer than 500 copies on LibraryThing):

1. King of Shadows by Susan Cooper - this is a time-slip historical novel about a modern day boy actor rehearsing to perform A Midsummer Night's Dream with a company of boys in the reproduced Globe Theater in London - only to wake up in Shakespearean London and act as Puck there. This one has Shakespeare made accessible, a story of dealing with grief and finding a father figure, acting tips, and fantastic writing. One of my all-time favorites and sadly not terribly well-known.

2. Powder Monkey by Paul Dowswell - an adventure story of a teenaged sailor on a merchant vessel who is pressed into service in the Navy during the Napoleonic Wars as a powder monkey (the boy who fetches powder to bring to the cannons during battle). What I liked best about this story is that Sam isn't braver, smarter or even morally better than everyone else. He's just a normal boy caught up in a dangerous adventure.

3. The Possibilities of Sainthood by Donna Freitas - A fun young adult story about a girl determined to be named the first living Catholic saint - as well as catch the attention of her high-school crush. I loved the premise, getting to know Antonia's hilarious Italian family and the feel-good Meg Cabot-like story. This one is well worth picking up.

4. A Murder for Her Majesty by Beth Hilgartner - I have a distinct fondness for Elizabethan England. In A Murder for Her Majesty, a young girl sees her father murdered and so travels to York to escape his killers (whom she believes were sent by the Queen). She hides disguised as a boy in the Cathedral choir, where the boys fondly refer to her as Pup. It's a sweet story and very evocative of the music that means so much to Alice.

5. Nobody's Princess by Esther Friesner - This story is very much in the same vein as Tamora Pierce's Song of the Lioness series. It's the story of Helen of Troy, but the emphasis is far more on her scrappiness than her legendary beauty. She learns how to fight along with her brothers Cassius and Polydeuces and proves herself a true Spartan - full of determination, strength and gumption.

6. Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd - set during the Troubles on the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, Fergus finds a small body preserved in a local peat bog. His story, studying for his A-levels, his brother on hunger strike, and his friendship with the archaeologist's daughter who comes to study his 'bog child', alternates with the story of the girl whose remains he discovered. A lovely poignant story.

7. Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw - Adventure, spies, and a little bit of romance - all added to the fact that this is set in ancient Egypt, and is it any wonder this is one of my favorites? While the view of Hatshepsut as pharaoh has since become outdated (she was in fact generally considered a good ruler), it is nonetheless a charming story of conflicting loyalties and intrigue.

8. The Unlikely Romance of Kate Bjorkman by Louise Plummer - Kate isn't a huge fan of romance novels, but she sits down to write her own love story with the Romance Writer's Phrasebook - and the results are both hilarious and touching. Kate is myopic to the extreme, she has a distinct fondness for linguistics, and she's hardly the stuff that romance heroines are made of (or so she thinks). Her love story is charming to read, and I really wish there were more people to chat with about this one! Please let me know if you've read it!

9. Surviving Antarctica: Reality TV 2083 by Andrea White - With all the fuss surrounding The Hunger Games, it's surprising that this hasn't showed up more on 'similar titles' lists. A group of kids stuck in a dystopian reality where education is televised and careers are meted out based on lucky roles of dice hit their big break (or not) when they are chosen to take part in a reality show to Antarctica mirroring the doomed Shackleton expedition. The kids don't bond instantly but instead slowly come to rely on one another - and their situation keeps getting worse, making for a nail-biting read!

10. The Teashop Girls by Laura Schaefer - this may be more middle grade than YA, but it's such a charming read that I had to include it. The Teashop Girls are a group of friends who bonded when they were very young over special tea at Annie's grandmother's tea shop. Now that Annie has turned 13, she is determined to work at the tea shop she has always adored, but business is bad - and Annie has to come up with ingenious plans to save her beloved shop. Plus deal with all the drama of middle school (friendships, obnoxious boys, school...). The book is lovely, and comes with snippets of articles, tea advertisements, and recipes!

Bonus: The Specialist series by Shannon Greenland - a group of misfit kids are brought together in a secret camp/school to hone their skills to create a team of teenaged spies. There's a chemist, a linguist, a computer whiz, an experienced burglar, and more. Great adventures!

Waiting on Wednesday - The Body Finder

2010-01-20T08:00:00.001-05:00

The Plot: Violet Ambrose is grappling with two major issues: Jay Heaton and her morbid secret ability. While the sixteen-year-old is confused by her new feelings for her best friend since childhood, she is more disturbed by her "power" to sense dead bodies—or at least those that have been murdered. Since she was a little girl, she has felt the echoes that the dead leave behind in the world... and the imprints that attach to their killers.

Violet has never considered her strange talent to be a gift; it mostly just led her to find the dead birds her cat had tired of playing with. But now that a serial killer has begun terrorizing her small town, and the echoes of the local girls he's claimed haunt her daily, she realizes she might be the only person who can stop him.

Despite his fierce protectiveness over her, Jay reluctantly agrees to help Violet on her quest to find the murderer—and Violet is unnerved to find herself hoping that Jay's intentions are much more than friendly. But even as she's falling intensely in love, Violet is getting closer and closer to discovering a killer... and becoming his prey herself.

Why I'm Waiting:

Psychic abilities and serial killers mashed up with a best friends romance? I'm completely psyched for this book! I have my own morbid fascination with serial killers (though more from a profiling point of view), I love to read about psychic abilities, and I'm a complete sucker for a romance - especially friends to lovers. It sounds fantastic!

Kimberly Derting's The Body Finder comes out this March, but what if you can't wait that long?

The Contest: The author is hosting a contest for two ARCs (and assorted other swag) here to celebrate her new book trailer!

The trailer:

Pastworld - Ian Beck

2010-01-19T08:04:00.003-05:00

*** 1/2 - A great premise full of atmospheric fog, a serial killer run amok and the steampunk/dystopian fun of a corporation determined to make the experience authentic, but the end struck me as oddly unsatisfying.

FTC Disclaimer: I checked this book out from my local library, because libraries rule!

Gaslit Victorian London fuels the imagination - the fog-ridden world of Jack the Ripper, Sherlock Holmes and Dickens. And even in the sanitized future, it continues to exercise its pull, to the point where the actual London has been turned into a huge theme park dedicated to experiencing the authentic Victorian-era city. And it is authentic - from the clothing, to the dirt and poverty, all the way to the seemingly uncatchable serial killer, the Fantom who haunts the streets of Pastworld looking for a girl with unusual blue eyes.

My Thoughts: Pastworld reminded me a bit of a steampunk version of Margaret Haddix' Running out of Time, in that our heroine, Eve, has no idea that she is living in a theme park until she runs away to join a traveling circus. I loved the blending of the old-fashioned Victorian lifestyle with futuristic technology, and I thought the entire set-up of the Fantom was incredibly intriguing. The whole thing is twisting and thought-through to the point where I almost can't say much about the plot for fear of giving away some of the joy of experiencing the novel.

There were some things about the characters that struck me as a bit off - I never really grew attached to any of them, and I never figured out what the feud between Bible J's master and the ragged men was all about (a blatantly waving loose end). The characters all seemed a bit like placeholders - I think I liked Caleb the best for his doubts about leaving his father, but Eve was rather flat and Bible J seemed like a carbon copy of the Artful Dodger a few years older. The setting is really the saving grace of the story because it is masterfully described.

Beck does an excellent job of sprinkling clues to help solve the mystery and foreshadowing of the final showdown throughout the novel, and it is a delight to watch the plot unfold eerily in the flickering gaslight. But I have to admit to being less impressed by the end. There's some unfortunate monologuing, for starters, but really the climactic scene is rather anti-climactic - particularly since it ends so abruptly. While I didn't like the end, I was enamored of Pastworld, of Jago the circus clown, and of the originality of the premise. Pastworld is definitely a page-turner, I barely put it down.

I did like that while there is room left for a sequel should Beck care to write one (his interview at Wondrous Reads suggests maybe), this installment of the story stands alone - thank goodness for THAT in a world full of YA trilogies!

Links:

The book site (with the excellent trailer) - though I admit to being upset that Jago isn't Indian! (My mistake - Ian Beck stopped by to assure me that the young man playing Jago in the trailer is, in fact, Indian. Hats off to the production company. Sorry for doubting!)

The rules of Pastworld

Gaskella - The Truman Show Meets Dickensian Melodrama

Wondrous Reads review and author interview

The Borgia Bride - Jeanne Kalogridis

2010-01-18T08:00:00.000-05:00

**** - I so did not know what I was getting into. I knew very little about the Borgias going into this novel except that they were ruthless and power-hungry - but Kalogridis did an excellent job bringing the entire situation to life.

Jeanne Kalogridis' The Borgia Bride is the story of Sancha of Aragon, the illegitimate daughter of the cruel, ambitious Crown Prince of Naples. Used as a pawn to further a political alliance with the papacy, she is married off to the youngest of Pope Alexander's acknowledged sons - Jofre Borgia. But Jofre is the weakest of the Borgia clan, and his father and elder brothers as well as his sister Lucrezia all vie for power using violence, poison and passion - and Sancha cannot hold herself apart from the intrigue when she finds herself pursued by her husband's family.

My Thoughts: The most obvious comparison that springs to mind for this book is Philippa Gregory's Other Boleyn Girl. After all, we have sibling rivalry, corruption, intrigue and incest in spades. But where I was nothing but annoyed with Gregory's writing (something for another post), I found that Kalogridis truly swept me along though the twists of her story. I loved and hated Jofre and Cesare by turns, and I felt for poor Lucrezia who was manipulated and twisted by her own family. But most of all, I truly sympathized with Sancha - the strong woman desperate to fight off a legacy of cruelty and determined to protect her brother.

Sancha fights her way through a great number of troubles, though some I thought were glossed over rather too much - even a strong woman suffers lasting effects from some of the scenes Sancha witnesses and experiences, and I think the novel would have been stronger if the author had shown us a bit more of Sancha's reactions. Though part of Sancha's character is to keep a tight rein on her emotions, at times I found her reticence distancing as a reader.

Despite these quibbles, I tore through this book at a ferocious pace, eager to read about how Sancha would deal with Lucrezia, how her relationship with Alfonso and Jofre changed, and what machinations the Pope and his sons were getting up to. And I certainly wasn't disappointed. There's a lot going on and high passions running throughout the novel, just as you would expect in a story about the Borgias (who after all, inspired Machiavelli's The Prince), and while there was rather too much suffering to say that I enjoyed this time in Renaissance Italy, I certainly don't regret a moment I spent there with The Borgia Bride.

Linky-Love:

Tanzanite's Shelf and Stuff (music player)

Obsessed with Books

Books 'n Border Collies

In Between the Pages

Sunday Notables

2010-01-16T09:30:00.014-05:00

Reading:

I haven't gotten a lot of reading done this week. Work has been relentlessly busy, and has been going so late that I've been taking cars home rather than the train, which tends to be my prime reading time.

I did finish Pastworld, which I thought had a fantastic and suitably creepy premise. It's a kind of steampunk dystopia where future generations have recreated seedy Victorian London as a unflinchingly authentic theme park - complete with executions, poverty and a knife-wielding serial killer known as The Fantom. I enjoyed the novel with its atmospheric fog and chill a great deal, but I found the resolution more confusing than satisfying.

I've also been reading Heretic by Sarah Singleton (US title: Out of the Shadows) about a girl swept into the faery realms and another persecuted for her Catholic beliefs in Elizabethan England. It's a difficult book to categorize (not quite historical, not quite fantasy), and that may be because I have a sense that it hasn't quite decided where it's going...

Contests:

Carrie's YA Bookshelf is giving away a copy of Darklight by Leslie Livingston. Ends Jan 22.

Hist-Fic Chick is having a great three-book giveaway of Sharon Lathan's Darcy Saga (Mr & Mrs Fitzwilliam Darcy, Loving Mr Darcy, My Dearest Mr Darcy). Ends Jan 28.

The Story Siren is giving away an ARC of Sing Me to Sleep by Angela Morrison. Ends Jan 28.

Passages to the Past is giving away a copy of Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin. Ends Jan 29.

Sabrina Jeffries (The School for Heiresses) posted a Guest Blog over at The Good, the Bad , the Unread with some brilliant ideas for a Romanceland Theme Park. It's hilarious and wonderful. Plus? The best suggestion wins a copy of Jeffries' newest release!

Want to know more first? Read an excerpt from The Truth About Lord Stoneville.

Lauren Willig is celebrating the release of her lat

est Pink Carnation book (The Betrayal of the Blood Lily) with a contest to win a sneak peek at her NEXT book - The Mischief of the Mistletoe.

She Is Too Fond of Books is hosting a giveaway of the audio version of The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova (The Historian). Ends Jan 29.

Movies:

Pam Rosenthal has posted a lovely discussion of dancing and Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers' Swing Time on History Hoydens.

Percy Jackson trailer:

http://www.foxinternational.com/percyjackson/

Awards:

Polish Outlander awarded me the J'Adore Your Blog award.

Where is your favorite place to read a book?
Curled up in bed/on the sofa with a cup of tea. I also read on public transportation, but have been known to miss stops...

Bookmarks or dog ears?
Neither really, I tend to just flip through pages until I find where I left off. Generally works pretty well unless it's been a while since I last picked up the book. If I must choose, though, definitely bookmarks.

What is the best book you have read so far this year?
Well, 2010 has been brief so far, so I'm going to stretch back a few months and say that I'm really glad I picked up the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - I was really surprised and charmed by what I found. Of the three books I've read this year, I'd have to say the best was The Borgia Bride.

Do you like to snack while reading and if so, what is your favorite snack?
I love to snack while reading, my favorite snack being Cheerios or grapes (both easy to eat one-handed!).

Book borrower or book collector?
Decidedly both. I finally found time to join the library near my new apartment, and I feel so much better already. But I still feel the need to own those oh-so-good books - I just can't leave a book store without buying something!

I'll be passing on this and the One Lovely Blog Award next weekend - sorry for the wait!

Sunday Notables

2010-01-10T06:57:00.000-05:00

Chelle over at Tempting Persephone is hosting a challenge

called Pursuing the Lioness to read more of Tamora Pierce's books (no set number required), or if you've already read them to guest-post about your experience.

I've already posted about how important the Song of the Lioness series was to me (once before) - and I would love to see if it had an impact on any of you, or how you react to the stories the first time around!

I'm hoping to do a series of posts about her series and my favorite characters and link to the challenge. Please join us!

Emily Bryan (Vexing the Viscount) is posting a chapter a month of a delicious short story called A Duke for all Seasons. I took a look at the first chapter, and I'm enjoying it so far. He's a Duke who takes each mistress for one season and one season only - she's an opera singer who is mixed up in something a bit shady. Read along (and vote on how the story should continue here!

Emily also has a fun quiz up to tell you what kind of genius you are to celebrate the upcoming release of her new romance 'A Stroke of Genius' - there's an artist hero, so you know I'll be buying this one day of release! I'm a Romantic Genius - what are you?

In other fun bookish news, I've seen that Ridley Scott is turning Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth into a TV miniseries. I haven't read the book (yet), but the cast of this looks incredible - Matthew McFadyen, Donald Sutherland, Rufus Sewell... Will you be watching?

In other great news: Muse in the Fog has given me the One Lovely Blog Award! I'll have a think and pass it along next weekend to some of you lovely new-to-me bloggers! Thanks, Muse!

Contests:

I've found several great contests around the blog-o-sphere - there are links in the sidebars to all.

Author Robin Maxwell is hosting a series of contests for beautiful heart shaped necklaces in her ongoing Love Games to promote her new release O Juliet. Enter here!

Win a copy of The Queen's Dollmaker by Christine Trent over at Hist-Fic Chick - ends Jan 16th!

Also at Hist Fic Chick win a copy of Notorious Royal Marriages by Leslie Carroll - ends Jan 20th!

Over at Confessions and Ramblings of a Muse in the Fog, you can win a copy of Liszt's Kiss by Susanne Dunlap - ends Jan 25th!

Reading:

Work has been insanely busy over the last week, but not nearly as crazy as the world of The Borgia Bride which I've been reading this week. The story of Sancha of Aragon, her family and its entanglements with the dangerous and notorious Borgia family is full of poisonings, cruelty, manipulation, lavish parties, and the occasional bout of incest - all based in historical fact. It's been quite a whirlwind! Expect a review early this coming week. You can read the first chapter here, or meet the people involved.

For now, I've left Renaissance Italy behind and have instead turned back to London - but a creepy London that has been turned into a Victorian-era theme park called Pastworld. I'm expecting a gaslight fantasy version of Margaret Haddix' Running Out of Time - it's a great premise and I urge you to check out the website for a flavor of what to expect!

Or watch the booktrailer:

Tears of Pearl - Tasha Alexander

2010-01-04T07:46:00.003-05:00

**** - I love how Tasha Alexander has started sending her sleuths further afield from England. I'm always on the lookout for stories in new and exciting settings and Constantinople is definitely an alluring choice!

I received this book for free as part of LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program.

Lady Emily Ashton and Colin Hargreaves have finally managed to get married - and their honeymoon trip takes them on the Orient Express to Constantinople. But even their honeymoon is not devoid of mystery: when a harem girl is found murdered, Emily once again finds herself in the middle of an investigation - for no man may set foot in the sultan's harem.

To keep a promise to the dead girl's distraught father, Emily must match wits with two rival women who helped raise the sultan, struggle with her conscience versus her duty to the crown, and of course win a bet with her husband that she will solve the mystery first!

I loved this chance to visit Constantinople - Tasha Alexander manages to invoke the setting wonderfully. I particularly enjoyed the scene where Emily visits the baths and must overcome her own cultural limitations and expectations. On the whole I think the novel did a good job of evoking an exotic setting as well as focusing on the webs of intrigue and political alliances between the women in power, the concubines and the eunuchs. I thought that was interesting - and I liked how Bezime and Perestu often got the better of Emily because they were better-versed in intrigue. Despite all the new characters, though, I found myself missing my old favorites. Margaret shows up briefly (just long enough to get everyone into trouble), but I missed Cecile, her yappy dogs, and yes, even Emily's mother.

I enjoyed seeing Emily and Colin finally happily married and enjoying themselves -especially how even now there are constant references to literature, in this case Hero and Leander and swimming the Bosphorus. And I thought Emily's concerns regarding an heir and possible pregnancy added to the story. One of the things I like most about Tasha Alexander's mysteries is that the characters truly feel like real people solving mysteries. They have problems, worries, other interests unlike many sleuths, and I find it quite refreshing.

One thing that I did find a bit difficult was Emily's determination to help Roxelana. It seemed quite obvious to me that Roxelana was manipulating her and playing on her cultural prejudices for her own gain. While I appreciated the extra layer of duty not to cause diplomatic incidents and the dictates of her conscience - as well as the hijinks involved in planning an escape, I found it hard to believe that Emily couldn't see how adeptly she was being played.

The mystery itself was simultaneously a bit jumbled (what was going on with the garrote wires?) and relatively obvious. I had the right culprit picked out, but the wrong motive. I don't think the mystery in this one was as smooth as those in previous installments. It seemed to me like there were several loose threads that didn't end up going anywhere, which was a bit of a pity.

I found this an enjoyable installment in the Emily Ashton series - I don't think the marriage of the main characters has cost the series any tension, and I continue to enjoy the different locales Tasha Alexander uses for her characters.

Linky-love:

An interview with Tasha Alexander (international thriller writers)

Medieval Bookworm

Ice - Sarah Beth Durst

2010-01-03T08:00:00.002-05:00

**** - Reminiscent of Robin McKinley's Beauty in a sparkling ice palace and a dash of the Cupid and Psyche legend thrown in for good measure. These are some of my favorite stories, so it should be no surprise that I enjoyed Ice.

Cassie Dasent loves the Arctic ice. Ever since she was a little girl, she has lived with her father at his Arctic research station, tracking polar bears - and she's determined to stay there and become a polar scientist in her own right. So when she learns that the fairy tale her Gram always told her about her mother being kidnapped by trolls is true, she can scarcely believe it. But when she learns that by making her own deal with the Polar Bear King, she can rescue her mother - she takes a courageous step into a world that science cannot explain.

Sarah Beth Durst's Ice is a retelling of the Norse fairy tale East of the Sun, West of the Moon - but as I have never read/heard that story, I'll say that to me it seemed like an Arctic version of Beauty and the Beast mixed up with the story of Cupid and Psyche plus trolls and more! Intrigued yet?

Most of all, I enjoyed the first section of the story when Cassie is whisked off to the castle of the Polar Bear King in a place that defies her GPS. I love the descriptions of the sparkling turrets and the ice topiary and roses in the gardens. And particularly lovely in all of this is the gentleness and poignant vulnerability of Bear amidst all his strength and power, and how through laughter and time spent together, Cassie gradually comes to care for Bear - but not to the point where she's ready to blindly give up her future as a scientist. In fact, Cassie is determined that she must have a purpose - no matter how in love she may be.

This, I think, is the true strength of Durst's narration. She has a strong (sometimes headstrong) young woman as a protagonist who is willing to sacrifice a great deal for love - but who is not willing to become a wilting hanger-on who does nothing but wait for her beloved to return to her so that she might live. Instead, she throws herself into finding a way to marry Bear's skills as a creature of legend with her own scientific knowledge and skills - something I truly admired. I loved how that moment showed Cassie's adaptability and her strength of mind and purpose that allowed her to become Bear's full partner. There is an attitude towards love worth cultivating.

Once Cassie sets off to rescue Bear, though, the story becomes weaker in my opinion. Cassie sets forth on a quest to find the place East of the Sun and West of the Moon through Arctic storms that made me shiver with cold, through forests more sinister than they seem, bogs, winds and various death-defying antics. But, for some reason, all of these adventures seemed less gripping than the earlier simpler story in Bear's castle where Cassie grappled with her emotions. (Although I did find it amusing that her greatest torture was having to be 'properly feminine' - meek and cleaning all the time.) After all that Cassie goes through, there's no doubt that she's one tough cookie, and her brains aren't in doubt either as she comes up with the answer as to how to save Bear. But something just didn't quite seem to fit during the adventure parts of the tale - possibly for me SPOILER IN WHITE (highlight to read) that she leaped off cliffs, waded through bogs and climbed ridiculously high mountains all while about-to-pop pregnant... I know it was a crucial aspect to the story - her main obstacle and her main tool, but it just seemed like a bit much for someone with a belly the size of a watermelon.(end spoiler)

Despite some minor misgivings about the adventure half of the book, I very much enjoyed Sarah Beth Durst's Ice. The first section reminded me a great deal of Robin McKinley's Beauty (a favorite of mine), and I love the part where Cassie and Bear watch the last rays of the Arctic sun. I'd recommend this to those who like fairy tale re-tellings, but you might want to make sure you have a heap of blankets and something hot to drink because that Arctic North Wind will have you shivering.

Linky-love:

Sarah Beth Durst's site (with a very cool video interview)

Version of East of the Sun, West of the Moon

Interview at The Enchanted Inkpot

Angieville

Ticket to Anywhere

I was a Teenage Book Geek

Steph Su Reads

The Compulsive Reader

Bib-Laura-Graphy

Presenting Lenore

Historical Fiction Challenge 2010

2010-01-01T07:20:00.005-05:00

I joined the Historical Fiction Challenge! I don't think it will be any trouble to come up with 20 historical novels to read before the end of the year, do you?

My list:

1. The Borgia Bride - Jeanne Kalogridis: Renaissance Italy, the illegitimate grand-daughter of the cruel (and crazy) King of Naples is married off to the youngest of Pope Alexander's sons. She is soon drawn into the luxurious, ambitious and cruel world of the Borgias in Rome. She is sought after by many powerful men, but her only goal is to keep her precious brother safe from the clutches of her new family. A quick read about a family I knew little about - very much in the vein of Philippa Gregory, but in a style that I enjoyed.

2. Leonardo and the Death Machine - Robert J. Harris. Renaissance Florence, YA. Teenaged Leonardo da Vinci works on his painting, tinkers with machines, and in his spare time tries to foil a plot by the Pitti family against the ruling Medici. A fun read with some interesting historical detail - but mostly an adventure story.

3. Hazel - Julie Hearn. Turn of the Century England/Caribbean, YA. Hazel Mull-Dare's whole outlook changes when she sees a suffragette give her life for the cause. Hazel's resulting foray into political activism sees her banished to the family's sugar plantation in the Caribbean where she must come to grips with her family's involvement in the slave trade and racial oppression. A very interesting character study.

4. The Stolen Crown - Susan Higginbotham. The Wars of the Roses. When Kate Woodville's sister Elizabeth secretly marries Edward IV, Kate finds herself drawn into the conflicts between the Yorkists and the Lancastrians and amongst the royal family in the Wars of the Roses. Particularly difficult for her is her husband's deep friendship with Richard, Duke of Gloucester.

5. Young Bess - Margaret Irwin. Tudor England - Elizabeth I. A portrait of Elizabeth as a teenager as she gains and loses her father's favor, exercises all of her ample diplomacy to keep her cantankerous family happy while getting her own way, and is courted by power-hungry men - including her step-stepfather Thomas Seymour.

6. Dissolution - C.J. Sansom. Tudor England - Henry VIII. Lawyer Matthew Shardlake is sent by Thomas Cromwell to investigate a murder, and to persuade the abbot at one of the monasteries to give in gracefully to the institution's dissolution.

7. Dark Fire - C.J. Sansom. Tudor England - Henry VIII. Lawyer Matthew Shardlake must rush to track down a dangerous substance known as Greek fire and investigate a girl accused of murdering her cousin but who refuses to speak in her own defense. Her life, and Thomas Cromwell's hang in the balance.

8. Sovereign - C.J. Sansom. Tudor England - Henry VIII. Matthew Shardlake must accompany King Henry on his progress to York to hear petitions and to watch over a prisoner taken in the recent rebellion. As Shardlake gets drawn into the conspiracy, one of his enemies is out to kill him.

2010 Debut Author Challenge

2010-01-01T06:04:00.005-05:00

I'm going to start with 12, but I hope to read more - this year's debut authors look really incredible!

My list:

Challenge info: (for more click here)

What is the 2010 Debut Author Challenge?

The objective is to read a set number of YA (Young Adult) or MG (Middle Grade) novels from debut authors published this year.* I'm going to challenge everyone to read at least 12 debut novels! I’m hoping to read at least 30! You don’t have to list your choices right away, but if you do feel free to change them throughout the year. I will also be focusing on mostly Young Adult novels.
Anyone can join, you don’t need a blog to participate. If you don’t have a blog you can always share your views by posting a review on Amazon.com/BarnesandNoble.com/GoodReads/Shelfari, or any other bookish site.
The challenge will run from January 1, 2010- December 31, 2010. You can join at anytime!

The Art History Challenge 2010

2010-01-01T05:50:00.005-05:00

I really enjoyed this challenge last year, even though I didn't do particularly well in completing it. So this year, I'm signing up for the Enamored level - 9 books about art/art history in 2010.

My List:

Leonardo and the Death Machine - Robert Harris. Teenaged Leonardo da Vinci works on his painting, tinkers with machines and foils an assassination plot! It's mostly an adventure story, but there are some interesting details regarding the art and artist's craft - particularly preparing certain paints.

The Rules:

Do you love art? Do you love reading about art? Join The Art History Reading Challenge and challenge yourself to read at least 3 books about art in 2010. These books can be either fiction or nonfiction, and they can span every genre from historical fiction to graphic novel. Young adult and children's books count too. The challenge will last from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2010.

How much art needs to be in a book to qualify? Use your best judgment! I've read books I thought would be about art, and they weren't. I've read books I had no idea were about art, but they were. Relax, have fun and enjoy reading!

You can make your list in advance if you'd like, or you can read according to your whims.You may overlap your selections with those for other challenges.

This year there will be four levels of participation:

Curious - Read at least 3 books about art, either fiction or non-fiction.
Fascinated - Read at least 6 books about art, either fiction or non-fiction.
Enamored- Read at least 9 books about art, either fiction or non-fiction.
Utterly enchanted - Read at least 12 books about art, either fiction or non-fiction.

There will also be at least four extra credit assignments throughout the year to challenge you to take your curiosity, fascination, adoration and enchantment even higher. These will be completely optional, and you don't have to be signed up for the challenge itself to complete them. Either way, subscribe to this blog so you won't miss out!

A Fatal Waltz

2009-12-29T15:27:00.005-05:00

**** - I have a distinct soft spot for Vienna, especially when coupled with the Viennese waltz as it is here. I loved re-visiting the city, but it didn't quite make up for the more muddled plot compared to the first two in the Lady Emily Ashton series.

Lady Emily Ashton reluctantly attends a house party at the despicable Lord Fortescue's country estate. While trading barbs with the politician, Emily must also weather the pangs of jealousy - also present is a former lover of Colin Hargreaves - the beautiful Austrian countess Kristiana von Lange. But Emily has far more than romantic troubles facing her, a terrible murder breaks up the house party and sends Lady Ashton to the Hapsburg court just in time for Christmas in an attempt to clear Robert Brandon's name. Amidst the effervescent ballrooms and the comfortable cafes, Emily matches wits with spies and anarchists to save her friend's husband - and also to help clear up the mystery surrounding the Austrian crown prince's death at Mayerling.

Review:

There simply aren't enough stories set in Vienna! I spent a glorious, beautiful summer falling in love with the city, and simply cannot understand why more romantic books aren't set there. So when I find a story that evokes the moody morbidness of Vienna, the comfort and bustle of the charming café culture, the unapologetic sweet tooth, and the giddy joy the Viennese take in their music and dancing - I just can't help but adore it. And while Tasha Alexander's narration didn't transport me to any physical landmarks that I recognized (more's the pity with the gorgeous museums and palace!), it still captured the feeling of Vienna remarkably well.

I really enjoyed how the author wove the true story of Crown Prince Rudolf's suicide pact at Mayerling into her tale, and given that I know Empress Sissi's eventual fate, I was utterly petrified whenever the anarchists took the stage (quite often).

Added to the charms of Vienna are the charms of the protagonists' relationships. While it was difficult to have to watch Emily doubt herself when confronted with Kristiana's charms, I loved how it deepened their relationship and made it more real - who hasn't suffered pangs of jealousy and uncertainty, after all? I especially loved their running banter as to when they can (finally) get married. Also intriguing is how Emily will deal with Jeremy's feelings for her - although I have to admit that I'm not entirely convinced on that front. There was some excellent awkwardness, but it seemed to be largely swept away during Emily's dangerous encounters. I just think more could have been made of it - particularly given Emily's fears that Colin has returned to Kristiana.

The mystery plot in this outing was rather weaker than in the previous installments of the series (although the mystery isn't really ever center stage). For once, Emily is confronting someone who actively seeks to hurt her - and while certainly more realistic than the cozy villains she's dealt with before given that she is now dealing with international espionage, it was nonetheless a rather abrupt change of pace. I can't help but think that she should have been more cautious regarding her well-being. And I missed having Colin around for most of the story. One Viennese waltz, no matter how enchanting, is just not enough of the handsome suitor for me!

Interested in other opinions?

Shakespeare's Apprentice - Veronica Bennett

2009-12-28T11:16:00.004-05:00

** - I am very fond of stories about Shakespeare's apprentices. The theater, the poetry, there's so much potential for adventure and fun. But this version just struck me as dull.

Sam Gilbourne is frustrated with his life with the Lord Chamberlain's Men. Not that he doesn't love the theater, but after having played second fiddle to the striking William Hughes for so long, he longs to play a lead role. Soon Sam finds that his unassuming steadfastness does, in fact, win him the affection of the beautiful Lucie Cheetham. But their love is surely doomed to failure, for the niece of Lord Essex will never be permitted to wed a mere player, and her uncle's reckless behavior is risking the Queen's displeasure - and is sure to bring calamity upon the entire family.

There were some aspects of the story that seemed quite fresh - I rarely come across a Shakespearean tale where the dismantling of The Theatre and its move to Southwark. I thought that was a nice bit of fun. As for the rest of the story - to me, it dragged. The action stretches over almost three years, and while that allows for some time for Sam's relationship with Lucie to develop some, it also introduces an awful lot of downtime where not terribly much happens. Sam acts in plays and pines for Lucie. Lucie is forbidden from seeing Sam and pines for him. Sam has some existential angst over whether Lucie will love him if he has another profession (and whether he can bear another profession when he loves this one so much).

While their relationship was sweetly steadfast, it also simply wasn't terribly interesting. He sees her, she sees him, they fall madly in love, never do they doubt one another. Now all they must do is overcome the adverse circumstances. I mean, it was nice not to have to deal with a love triangle, but Sam and Lucie were simply a bit dull. No one really seemed to be trying to pull them apart, there was no imminent threat to their relationship. I just wanted more than niceness out of the two of them. I wanted a glimpse of passion (not to be confused with lust) between the two of them. Simply put, I was bored with their love story. And since that was most of the book, I didn't find myself eager to return to its pages.

May 17 Reviews
The Burton Review	http://www.theburtonreview.com/
The Bibliophilic Book Blog	http://www.bibliophilicbookblog.com/
Rundpinne	http://www.rundpinne.com/
A Reader's Respite	http://readersrespite.blogspot.com/
History Undressed	http://www.historyundressed.blogspot.com/
Linda Banche Blog	http://lindabanche.blogspot.com/
A Hoyden's Look at Literature	http://caramellunacy.blogspot.com/
Royal Reviews	http://theroyalreviews.blogspot.com/

May 18 Reviews
Between the Pages	http://www.betweenthelinesandmore.blogspot.com/
The Broken Teepee	http://www.brokenteepee.blogspot.com/
Books and Coffee	http://bookswithcoffee.wordpress.com/
Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell	http://books-forlife.blogspot.com/
Tanzanite's Shelf and Stuff	http://shelfandstuff.blogspot.com/
Passages to the Past	http://www.passagestothepast.com/
The Book Faery	http://tbfreviews.net/
A Girl Walks Into a Bookstore	http://agirlwalksintoabookstore.blogspot.com/
Martha's Bookshelf	http://marthasbookshelf.blogspot.com/

May 19 Reviews
Beth Fish	http://bfishreads.blogspot.com/
Deb's Book Bag	http://debsbookbag.blogspot.com/
Book Tumbling	http://booktumbling.com/
A Work in Progress	http://danitorres.typepad.com/workinprogress/
Stiletto Storytime	http://www.stilettostorytime.wordpress.com/
Queen of Happy Endings	http://alainereading.blogspot.com/

May 20 Reviews
The Literate Housewife	http://literatehousewife.com/
Reading Adventures	http://readingadventures.blogspot.com/
Books Like Breathing	http://bibliophile23.wordpress.com/
Kailana's Written World	http://myreadingbooks.blogspot.com/
Confessions of a Muse in the Fog	http://muse-in-the-fog.blogspot.com/
Wendy's Minding Spot	http://mindingspot.blogspot.com/
Mrs. Q Book Addict	http://web.me.com/quirion
The Life and Lies of a Flying Inanimate Object	http://www.haleymathiot.blogspot.com/
Starting Fresh	http://startingfresh-gaby317.blogspot.com/

May 21 Reviews
Loving Heart Mommy	http://www.lovingheartmommy.com/
Peeking Between the Pages	http://peekingbetweenthepages.blogspot.com/
Celtic Lady's Ramblings	http://celticladysreviews.blogspot.com/
Bookfoolery	http://bookfoolery.blogspot.com/
One Literature Nut	http://mjmbecky.blogspot.com/
The Book Tree	http://thebooktree.blogspot.com/
My Reading Room	http://myreadingroom-crystal.blogspot.com/

May 23 Reviews
Carla Nayland's Blog	http://www.carlanayland.org/index.shtml