Jennie's B(ook)log

A (Very) Brief (Non-scientific) Study in Perceptions of Romance Novels

2011-10-20T09:17:00.000-04:00

A few months ago, I asked y'all to answer a survey for me. It was a project for a grad school class I was taking. I meant to share the results with you, but I never got around to it until now. Sorry! Read on if you're curious.

For my individual project, I decided to use my social media networks to find out a little bit about people's varying perceptions of romance novels. I am a long-time reader of popular fiction, including romance novels. And romance novels have long gotten a bad rap -- it's actually hard for some people to admit that they like to read them because so many people look down on them as "garbage." I'll totally admit that there are a lot of romance novels that are silly and badly written, and a small step up from porn in book format. But, in my opinion, there are lots of romance novels that are beautifully written, with great stories, complex characters, and interesting plots. A romance novel is simply a story that is about love, which ends happily. What's not to like?

But getting you all to understand my love of romance novels is not what this project is about. I thought it would be interesting to somehow capture a visual representation of people's perceptions of romance novels -- and somehow to compare the perception of people who actually read romance novels to the general population.

Methodology
So, this study was not at all scientific. But there was a method to my madness. I created two surveys using Google forms. They both asked the same question: What is the first word that comes to your mind when you think of romance novels? I posted the link to one of the surveys to my facebook page, asking people to take the survey and then post the link to their facebook walls to spread it to more people. These participants were meant to represent the "general population." Now, granted, this is not at all a valid sample of the general population -- they are all people I know, or people who know someone I know. But it is a fairly mixed group of people. The second survey I posted to my book blog. This is a blog that I've kept for the last five years or so, which is entirely devoted to my book reviews of popular fiction -- and the vast majority are romance novels. Nearly all the people who visit the blog are people who read romance novels. I asked this readership to take the survey, then post the survey to their own romance book blog. This group was meant to represent romance readers -- people who frequently actually read romance novels.

The number of participants for each survey was pretty good. I was hoping to have at least 100 people answer each survey. My facebook survey was slightly disappointing, since I only got 79 people to answer. My romance reader population was a problem at first, since not that many people read my blog. However, I sent an email to the writers of one of the most popular romance blogs in the blogosphere (Smart Bitches, Trashy Books), and they were nice enough to tweet the plea for people to take my survey (AWESOME!). I soon had almost 200 responses to that survey.

I then took the one-word answers of each survey and plugged it into Wordle. This produced a word cloud that shows the most common answers in large font, with less popular answers in increasingly smaller fonts. It provides an immediate visual representation of people's perceptions of romance novels.

Results
Here is the Wordle for the general population:

And here is the Wordle for the romance-reading population:

[You can click on the photos to view larger.]

You can see that there is a huge difference between these two populations' perceptions of romance novels. The general population thinks romance novels are all about sex, that they are trashy and cheesy. For romance readers, by far the most popular answer was "love," followed by happy and fun.

I loved the way this project allowed me to use my social networks to tap into large populations of people almost immediately. I posted the surveys and just sat back and watched as my data streamed in. I was also able to target a particular kind of participant by using the romance-reader blogosphere that I've become a part of. The power of Web 2.0!

Kristan Higgins glom

2011-10-18T10:50:00.006-04:00

Angie posted a few weeks ago about Kristan Higgins, saying that she was a great writer for Jennifer Crusie fans. Of course, I am a huge Jennifer Crusie fan, so I decided to check Higgins out. So glad I did! I went on a glom and read all 7 of her books. And my library didn't have any of them, so I bought them all for my Kindle! This is quite a compliment to Higgins, as I am quite cheap.

I'm not sure exactly how to classify Higgins' books -- they're contemporary romances, but they also feel a bit womens-fiction-y, in that they focus quite a lot on the heroine's family and personal growth/issues. And they're all very funny. I was immediately sucked into all of them -- I thought all the main characters (with just a couple exceptions) were really great and interesting and likeable. They're all set in New England, most of them in idyllic small towns.

They're the kind of book I start reading and hours later I'm still reading and don't want to stop.

My favorites were Catch of the Day (the heroine is an identical twin!) and All I Ever Wanted. And she has a new one coming out on 10/25 -- will probably have to buy that one too. :)

Please take my short, short survey!!

2011-04-03T11:46:00.002-04:00

Hi all! I am really hoping you all can help me out and follow the link below to take a super-short (1-question) survey about romance novels.

TAKE THE SURVEY!

I need about 100 people to take the survey, so I'd also really love it if anyone wants to post the link on their own blog. Because otherwise, I won't get enough participants. BUT, this survey should only be taken by people who read romance novels frequently (defined as several per year), so please post to your blog only if most of your readers fit this description.

THANK YOU!!!

This is for a school project. Basically I'm comparing people's perceptions of romance novels -- between those who often read romance novels and the general population (as I can reach through my facebook account). It's not exactly a scientific study, but I think it'll be interesting.

When Beauty Tamed the Beast, Eloisa James

2011-03-03T11:32:00.004-05:00

Title: When Beauty Tamed the Beast

Author: Eloisa James

Published: 2011, HarperCollins

Category: Historical Romance

Rating: 8/10

Eloisa James is one of my absolute favorite romance authors, so I bought this one as soon as it came out. Even though I wasn't crazy about her last one (A Kiss at Midnight) and I was even less crazy about The Lady Most Likely, which she co-wrote with Julia Quinn and Connie Brockway. But When Beauty Tamed the Beast was lovely! Yay.

This is (obviously) a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, though it follows the original storyline only very slightly and is quite original. Linnet Thrynne is the beauty -- the most beautiful woman on the marriage mart in London. Unfortunately, she attracted the attention of the prince, who then dumped her and ruined her reputation even though she didn't really do anything wrong. So her father sends her off to Wales as a prospective bride for Piers Yelverton, who is the son of a Duke. He is the beast of the story, but rather than being beastly in appearance, he's beastly in attitude -- a seriously painful injury sustained as a child has made him an irascible man who is rude to pretty much everyone. He's also a doctor, which is quite unusual for a gentleman of that time period. Linnet at first thinks that this match is impossible, but as she gets to know him better, she sees him for the good man he is.

I really loved all the characters in this book. Linnet is smart and surprisingly not annoyingly snobby about her beauty. And Piers! So funny. As I was reading the book, I was thinking, who does this guy remind me of? And then it occurred to me -- House! And the author actually says in the afterword that he was the inspiration for Piers. The dialog between Linnet and Piers is such a delight to read. I also appreciated that while it's a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, it's really very original, with a great little twist on the story at the end.

Waking the Witch, Kelley Armstrong

2011-02-28T18:33:00.003-05:00

Title: Waking the Witch

Author: Kelley Armstrong

Published: 2010, Dutton

Category: Fantasy

Rating: 7/10

I can't believe this is the 11th book in the Women of the Otherworld series! It doesn't seem like that many, but I think I've read them all...

This installment of the series focuses on Savannah Levine, the powerful young witch first introduced in Stolen (right?). She's 21 now, and she's been working for years with Paige and Lucas in the supernatural detective agency that they set up. She's been doing mostly grunt work and background research, but now Paige and Lucas are on vacation when a multiple-murder case comes in. Savannah sees it as her chance to take the primary investigator's role and prove to everyone that she can handle it. She travels to the little town where three women have been murdered in what appears to have been some sort of supernatural ritual. She has lots of suspects, as well as handsome men who all seems to want to help her investigate: Adam, from the previous novels; Jesse Aanes, another supernatural detective; and Michael Kennedy, a human police detective.

I enjoyed this one, but it's not my favorite of the series. The mystery was well done and interesting, though I felt that the magical elements were slightly under-used until the very end. Savannah is a great character -- definitely the best part of the book -- and her budding relationship with Adam is sweet. I only have one major complaint: CLIFF HANGER. Argh! I flipped the last page thinking there just had to be more to read. But nope. Just have to wait until the next book, I guess. ;)

What the Librarian Did, Karina Bliss

2011-02-13T17:51:00.003-05:00

Title: What the Librarian Did

Author: Karina Bliss

Published: Harlequin, 2010

Category: Contemporary Romance

Rating: 8/10

I hardly ever read Harlequins -- it's really not because I'm a snob! I have tried several in the past and been disappointed by them. But this one got such a lot of good buzz in the blogosphere I had to give it a shot. Plus it's about a librarian! Score.

Rachel is a librarian working in a university in Auckland, New Zealand. When Devin Freedman comes in for help she treats him like any other student -- she doesn't know that he's a world-famous musician whose wild lifestyle and alcoholism has ruined his music career. He's now getting a business degree and trying to find a new life for himself. Devin finds Rachel's reaction to him refreshing, and they strike up a little flirtation. Rachel also meets another student named Mark, who she soon realizes is the son she gave up for adoption 17 years previously. She's not ready to tell Mark who she is, but she really wants to get to know him. Luckily Mark has befriended Devin, and Devin keeps asking her out on dates. So she decides to get to know Devin, so that she can get to know Mark through him.

Okay, so the plot may be a little ridiculous, but I really enjoyed this book! The New Zealand setting was quite interesting and different. I found the dialogue between Rachel and Devin really funny.

"It figures you'd be an advocate of prohibition," he commented as he opened the passenger door.

"I've noticed before that you typecast librarians," she said kindly. "But as your experience of learning institutions is obviously quite new I'll make allowances."

And when Rachel comes down dressed for their date in a black dress and cardigan:

Cardigan? He might not be a hell-raiser anymore but Devin valued his reputation. "Haven't you got anything sexy?"
"Yes," said Rachel. "My mind."

The love story is very nice, as is the way Rachel's relationship with her son develops. I may find it a little hard to believe that a rich, spoiled rock star would act the way Devin does (i.e. so normal), but it was very entertaining.

Does anyone know how to find the copyright date in a Kindle book??! It doesn't display on the copyright page. The librarian in me just died a little bit.

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson

2011-02-06T21:20:00.003-05:00

Title: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Author: Stieg Larsson

Published: 2009, Knopf

Category: Mystery

Rating: 6/10

I finally read this because I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. It turned out to be one of those books that I could appreciate, but not really enjoy.

Mikael Blomkvist is a Swedish journalist who has been convicted of libel for trying to take down a corrupt businessman. While he's down on his luck, he's convinced by Henrik Vanger (another businessman) to investigate the disappearance (and assumed murder) of Vanger's niece Harriet, which took place 40 years earlier. Mikael travels to the small town where Harriet lived -- the murder mystery becomes a closed-room story, as it soon becomes obvious that Harriet's murderer must have been one of the people in the extended family. Mikael is helped by Lisbeth Salander, a troubled young woman who is incredibly intelligent and an excellent hacker.

As I said earlier, I can appreciate this book as a story that intrigues and stays with you long after you finish it. The characters are complex and interesting, and the mystery is well done. But it's simply not my cup of tea. The Swedish title is Men Who Hate Women, and in my opinion is much more appropriate for the book. The main theme of the novel is how women are mistreated (quite horribly and graphically) by men. Each chapter starts with awful statistics that prove how many women are mistreated by men. It quite depressed me.

Also, the first hundred pages are sooo slow. And full of confusing Swedish names, places, political and economic history, and currency. So, if you try this book, keep trucking through the beginning -- it does get better.

Upstairs, Downstairs Stories

2011-02-03T15:43:00.004-05:00

I almost didn't hear about Downton Abbey, the new 4-part series that aired on Masterpiece! Luckily PBS has put the full episodes online, so I was able to watch them. LOVE! Unlike most Masterpiece movies, it's not based on a classic novel. But it was written and produced by Julian Fellowes, who also wrote Gosford Park (another favorite). I love this period (just before WWI), and I've always liked upstairs, downstairs stories. Maggie Smith is so very funny, and the ladies' costumes are wonderful. And there's going to be a second season of it! Hooray.

Of course, the movie put me in the mood for The Countess Below Stairs -- one of my absolute favorite books -- so I'm rereading that now. Anyone else have recommendations for upstairs, downstairs books?

Marrying the Royal Marine, by Carla Kelly

2011-01-18T20:57:00.003-05:00

Title: Marrying the Royal Marine

Author: Carla Kelly

Published: 2010, Harlequin

Category: Historical Romance

Rating: 8/10

This is the third in Carla Kelly's new trilogy, and in my opinion the best one. It's about Polly Brandon, sister to the women in the first two books in the series. Polly is just 18, but she's decided that she wants to help out in some way during the Napoleonic War. She goes to stay with her sister, Laura, who works in a military hospital. On the voyage from England to Oporto, Portugal, she meets Hugh Junot, the Royal Marine of the title. They become great friends on the journey, but there are lots of impediments to any relationship: their age difference, her sisters' disapproval, each character's uncertainty that the other would return their affection, the war.

I enjoyed these characters more than I have the heros and heroines of the earlier books in this series. Carla Kelly's characters are always endearingly stalwart, and excruciatingly honorable, and good. And of course this is a good thing, but occasionally it crosses the line into gloomy for me. Polly and Hugh are a little lighter than some of her characters -- Polly is young and naive (but not stupid), and Hugh is refreshingly non-traumatized by the grueling war. He's a very attractive hero (and funny!).

The action in this book is also quite good -- I was reading the pages fast and furious. And that's really a bonus for a Carla Kelly book -- I generally read her books because I enjoy reading a romance about characters who actually seem like real people!

Advent Calendars!

2010-11-11T22:16:00.003-05:00

Twin has created the most adorable garland advent calendars!

She's actually been making these for a few years, and I always love they way they look hanging over the mantel or across the wall back when we lived in a little apartment with no fireplace. This year she's decided to sell the kit in her etsy shop -- so you can make your very own! The kit is a downloadable PDF with instructions and templates for two different designs.

You can read more about them on Twin's blog. My mantel is definitely going to be decorated with the Starry Trees design this year. :)

Jenna Starborn, Sharon Shinn

2010-11-06T17:40:00.004-04:00

Title: Jenna Starborn
Author: Sharon Shinn
Published: 2002, Ace
Category: Science Fiction / Romance
Rating: 7/10

I was really wanting to read Shinn's new book, Troubled Waters, but it's a hardcover so I didn't want to buy it and it's not available at any of my libraries. Sigh. So I read this one instead -- it's one of the few on Shinn's backlist that I hadn't read yet.

This is a science fiction retelling of Jane Eyre, which is a story that deserves retelling because it's so good. The plot follows the original story very closely, though the characters live on distant planets, Jenna is a nuclear reactor technician rather than a governess, and the unwanted wife's troubles are a bit different. I was torn between enjoying the futuristic version of the original story's events (which I know so well) and wishing that the plot was a little less similar. I've read Jane Eyre so many times that I knew exactly what was coming next.

Shinn captures the gothic, gloomy feel of Jane Eyre quite well, giving it a new spin by placing most of the action on a dark and inhospitable world. Jenna is as annoyingly good and moral as Jane is, though somehow you still end up liking her. My one real complaint about the book is actually also a problem I have with Jane Eyre: the overdramatic, "If I can't have you, I'll die!" ultra-romantic, overwrought action of the love story. I think this is why many people love Jane Eyre, but it's never sat particularly well with me. But it's a great story, nonetheless. :)

The Search, Nora Roberts

2010-10-29T15:31:00.002-04:00

Title: The Search

Author: Nora Roberts

Published: Putnam, 2010

Rating: 7/10

La Nora's summer release for this year, picked up from the library for a nice weekend read. Her books don't really wow me (I think I've read too many for them to do that anymore), but they're almost always a pleasant read.

Fiona Bristow lives a peaceful existence on Orcas Island in Washington. She trains dogs for a living, including search and rescue dogs. One day she gets a new client with a very badly behaved puppy named Jaws. His owner, Simon, turns out to be quite the hottie, and Fiona ends up spending lots of time with both him and Jaws. The suspense plot in the book revolves around a serial killer who is mimicking an earlier killer who had tried to kill Fiona and failed. It soon becomes obvious that the new killer is targeting Fiona, trying to kill her when his predecessor had failed.

I found the suspense in this book to be quite tepid, which to be honest is just fine by me. When pages were devoted to the killer's movements and motivations, I was just reading through to get back to the good stuff. The good stuff being the descriptions of Fiona's life as a dog trainer, her relationships with her friend and mother-in-law, and the romance between her and Simon. While Simon is not really my idea of a hero (a bit gruff and overbearing to me), it was nice to read about these two very independent people as they learn how to make a serious relationship work.

Roberts's language is a bit on the overdramatic side for me, but she is a great storyteller.

Jubilee Trail, Gwen Bristow

2010-10-24T20:46:00.004-04:00

Author: Gwen Bristow
Published: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1950
Category: Historical Fiction
Rating: 5/10

I was browsing through AAR's DIK reviews a couple of weeks ago -- and found an A review for Jubilee Trail by Gwen Bristow. One of my favorite books of all time was written by Gwen Bristow (Celia Garth), and I realized that I'd never tried any of her other books. My library had this one, so I gave it a try.

Garnet Cameron turns 18 in the year 1844. She is the daughter of a nice, well-to-do family, who live in a nice house on Union Square in New York City. She has marriage offers from respectable men who, well, bore her. She wants adventure in a time when young ladies of good birth didn't get to have adventures. Then she meets Oliver Hale, a man who makes his living by trading along the Jubilee Trail, which stretches from St. Louis to California. When Oliver proposes, Garnet jumps at the chance to have an exciting life. And off they go on their way to California.

Now I think I understand why my mom (who gave me Celia Garth) never gave me this one to read. I read this whole, looong book, but I was close to giving up lots of times. By the end I was skimming because while I really wanted to stop, for some reason I also wanted to know what happened in the end. I think this means that the story and plot was good, but that the characters were poorly done.

Garnet is naive, but plucky and brave in a way that is not very believable (and, imo, quite annoying). She, and all the other characters, struck me as sadly one-dimensional. Her adventures seem unrealistic too. And one thing that really disgusted me was several scenes in which the Indians encountered along the way are described as non-human. Now, this book was published in 1950, but that doesn't excuse it.

Honestly, this book made me wonder what I would think of Celia Garth had I read it for the first time now, instead of when I was a preteen. I know that my standards have gotten a lot higher.

Bibs for a Baby!

2010-10-18T19:42:00.006-04:00

We found out a couple of months ago that Collin's sister is having another baby. Which means, yippeee! A baby to sew for!

My first projects for the little one were these cute quilted bibs. I found the pattern here. They go together really fast. And they're washable, so they can actually be used.

I'm working on a baby quilt now!

Death in the Stocks, Georgette Heyer

2010-10-14T19:27:00.004-04:00

Author: Georgette Heyer
Published: 2009 (reprint), Sourcebooks, originally 1935
Category: Mystery
Rating: 5/10

I have been steadily reading Heyer books (with great delight) since I discovered her a few years ago. She has a huge backlist, which consists of historical romances, mysteries, and historical fiction. The romances, of course, are my favorites -- but I'm running out of new ones to read! So, I picked up this mystery when I saw the pretty re-issued edition by Sourcebooks.

Andrew Vereker is found dead, his corpse carefully arranged so he's sitting in the stocks on the green of some little English village. The police soon have more suspects than they can handle: the nephew who is heir to Vereker's fortune, a corrupt employee who was cooking the books, a mysterious stranger who was seen fighting with Vereker before his death. Everyone seems to be lying about where they were the night of the murder, and everyone seems to have hated the deceased.

I was sadly disappointed by this book. For one thing, I totally guessed who "done it" really early in the book, which either means I'm really clever or it was obvious. I think it's the latter, because I never know who the murderer is when reading mysteries. I'm nearly always surprised in the end. My second reason for not liking the book: I found all the characters extremely annoying. They struck me as lazy, spoiled, selfish, snobby upper-class Brits and I didn't like them. A couple of people grew on me toward the end, but it was waaaay too long coming.

The only saving grace for me was the intelligent, witty dialogue, which is classic Heyer. I'm undecided whether I want to try any more Heyer mysteries. Anyone have any advice? There are a couple of her romances that I haven't read yet -- will definitely have to track them down.

What I Did for Love, Susan Elizabeth Phillips

2010-09-27T19:19:00.004-04:00

Author: Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Published: 2009, William Morrow
Category: Contemporary Romance
Rating: 7/10

SEP books are a little bit hit-or-miss for me, but every few months I crave one -- mostly because I think Phillips has such a good sense of humor. Her books always have some great, funny dialogue.

Georgie York is a young actress who has been in the public eye since she was a teenager starring in a popular sitcom. At the beginning of the book, her life isn't going so well: her career has stagnated and she's just been dumped by her perfect actor husband (think Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt). Through crazy events I can't quite remember, she wakes up from a drunken Las Vegas night married to her old costar Bram Shephard. Bram is a serious bad-boy movie star (gorgeous but selfish and spoiled). Georgie is appalled to be married to him, but can't face the embarrassment of another high-profile divorce. Bram, on the other hand, is getting some great publicity and career boost out of the marriage. So the two make a pact to stay married for a year.

I think every one of is fascinated to some extent by the movie star lifestyle, and this book definitely satisfies that. I'm not one to follow Hollywood gossip, but even so it was still amusing to read about it all. It helps that the main characters are fairly down-to-earth and nice -- Georgie especially is way more normal than most stars probably are. There's a nice big cast of characters, and we actually get two little romantic subplots that are quite nice.

So my verdict is -- slightly ridiculous plot, but still a satisfying read.

Maybe This Time, Jennifer Crusie

2010-09-22T19:31:00.003-04:00

Author: Jennifer Crusie
Published: 2010, St. Martin's Press
Category: Contemporary Romance
Rating: 7.5/10

Jennifer Crusie is one of my all-time favorite authors, and we have been waiting a looong time for a solo book from her. She's been co-authoring books, but it's been years since we got an all-Crusie book. I should have been counting down the hours until this was published - but what with all my crazy summer, I'd pretty much forgotten about it. Until the other day I was browsing through my library's new books, and I saw it on the shelf! A loud gasp escaped me as I snatched it off the shelf and held it up like the holy grail. The little undergraduate next to me gave me a funny look. But that's okay. I took it home and had a lovely Saturday, reading all day long stretched out on the couch.

Andie Miller is ready to get engaged, but before she can go through with it she feels like she needs some closure with her ex-husband. So she visits him to return years of uncashed alimony checks. He's having a slight crisis -- he's become the guardian of some young cousins and he needs someone to take care of them. He offers to pay Andie a boatload of money to go out to their house in rural Ohio and see what's what. Andie's got a soft heart (plus she could really use that money), so she accepts. What she finds is an ancient, dirty, creepy house, a hostile and weird housekeeper, and two seriously messed up kids. It comes out that the house is haunted -- so not only does Andie need to help these troubled children, she also has to figure out how to exorcise some ghosts. And decide if she's still in love with her ex-husband.

This was a good read, though I don't think it'll be a favorite Crusie. It had many of the things that I love about Crusie's books: an extremely likable heroine, funny dialogue, and complex relationships that really seem genuine (Andie's relationship with Alice is especially well done). The love story is classic Crusie and very satisfying.

What didn't sit so well with me is the ghostly aspects of the book. It's not something Crusie has done before, and I'm just not sure it works for me. This may be just a personal thing -- I'm really not a fan of ghost stories. But the combination of light romantic comedy and dark, gothic thriller seemed an uncomfortable mix -- it wasn't scary enough to be a serious ghost story, but the ghost story was serious enough to make it certainly out of the realm of light comedy.

Still, it's a Crusie book, so I have no reason to complain. I plowed through it in a day and it was a highly enjoyable day. Here's hoping she writes many more. :)

Wake up, bloggy!

2010-09-19T21:10:00.011-04:00

I am going to try to revive the blog! I've haven't really been posting with any frequency for years, but I want to start again. I've missed it. Life has finally settled down a little, I've been reading more again, so hopefully I can get a couple of posts up a week. We'll try anyway. :)

Some life updates, for those interested:

I haven't mentioned this guy yet, have I? I met my very own real-life hero over two years ago. He's better than any fictional hero I've ever read about. His name is Collin. He fully supports my reading habits, even though sometimes he likes to read the back cover copy in a dramatic voice and make fun of it. That's okay. I make fun of his fantasy sports, so we're about even.

Twin got married! Wasn't she a beautiful bride? And she's so happy! She had the most lovely wedding I've ever been to -- full of personal touches and happy people. Twin has disgustingly good taste, so the whole day was gorgeous. She's been posting about it on her blog.

I graduated from the library science program at UNC Chapel Hill in May. I'm a librarian! So exciting. Less exciting was the job search that followed -- but I was extremely fortunate and got a fabulous job as the Web Librarian at Appalachian State University. So Collin and I have moved to Boone, which is a small town in the mountains of North Carolina. And they pay me to play with the web all day! Score.

All right, I've just finished the new Jennifer Crusie book -- let's see how long it takes me to get a review up. :)

Blog Hiatus

2010-03-12T16:19:00.002-05:00

I'm finishing up my masters degree (graduation on May 9!!). Obviously the blog has been on a break for a while, but I definitely plan to resuscitate it this summer. I really want to get back to reviewing books, and I should have lots more time for reading. Right now, I need to concentrate on finishing my Masters Paper and, um, getting a job. :)

Some great books I've read lately:

Michelle Moran's books about Egypt (love them!)

Julia Spencer-Fleming's Reverend Clare Fergusson mystery series (I've just read the first one and can't wait to get to the rest)

Sara Donati finished up her Into the Wilderness series with The Endless Forest

Jennifer Crusie's re-issued The Cinderella Deal

See you in a couple months!

Giveaway over on the Mary Stewart blog

2009-09-17T10:21:00.002-04:00

Hi everyone! I'm still alive, just very busy with school. I'm popping in to announce that we're giving away a Mary Stewart book over on the Stewart blog. Never read Stewart??!! Here's your chance. It's an amazing book, so head on over and enter to win.

Re-reading

2009-07-08T17:18:00.003-04:00

My mom recently forwarded me a New York Times editorial titled "Some Thoughts on the Pleasures of Being a Re-Reader." It's a great article and describes exactly how I feel about re-reading. The author talks about how many people brag about never reading the same book twice, desiring to always discover new information. But she says, "At heart, I’m a re-reader. The point of reading outward, widely, has always been to find the books I want to re-read and then to re-read them." I always make fun of my mother because she reads the same books over and over and over again. Your chances are pretty good if you guess that Maurice Walsh's And No Quarter or Susan Howatch's The Wonder Worker are on her bedside table. She has read some new stuff on my suggestion and I'm always very proud of myself if one of those books becomes a re-reading favorite (Jennifer Crusie's books are an example).

But I looooove to re-read too. It's so comforting to settle into a book that you know you're going to love, because you've loved it before. I've spend the last couple weeks re-reading Harry Potter numbers 6 and 7. (Number 6 so that I'm ready for the movie to come out, and 7 because I couldn't stop myself.) Then none of my new books really called to me, so I've started re-reading Sara Donati's Into the Wilderness books.

Occasionally I think that I shouldn't be wasting my precious summer re-reading old books -- I should be discovering new great books. But then I realize that I only have a limited time available to read for fun, so I'll do whatever gives me the most pleasure. And right now that's re-reading favorites. :)

Upcoming books/Updates for my favorite authors

2009-06-05T14:35:00.006-04:00

I've been web surfing, checking up on all my favorite authors. Here's the latest:

Kelley Armstrong: I still haven't gotten to reading her latest in the Otherworld series (Living with the Dead). It's definitely on the list for this summer. She's announced the next book in the series: Frostbitten, which will be out in November. Looks like Clay and Elena will be narrating. Woo hoo!

I've kind of lost interest in her other two ongoing series (YA Darkest Powers and thriller Nadia Stafford). They're just not quite my cuppa.

Mary Balogh has just put out the first four books in the Huxtable series. I've read the first and bought the second. But why is the fourth one in hardcover when all the others were paperback? I do not understand the reasoning there. The last book in the series will be out next year (I think).

Meljean Brook: The next Guardians book is out in October. Yay!

Lois McMaster Bujold is in the midst of writing a new Miles book. (Her MySpace blog says she's about halfway through.) This does not actually terribly excite me as I still have many, many older books in the Miles series still to read. It will take a couple years to catch up. But still good news for most fans.

Loretta Chase's newest is due out at the end of the month! Don't Tempt Me.

Jennifer Crusie has a pretty new website, but unfortunately no good news on upcoming books. She's planning to release a Mayer/Crusie sometime in 2009 and a solo book (!!!!) in 2010.

Sara Donati has announced the publication date for the next (and final) Wilderness book!!! YAYYYY!!!! This one makes me ecstatic. The Endless Forest (nice title) will be out January 26, 2010. Less than 8 months to wait.

Eva Ibbotson: Penguin has just republished The Magic Flutes as The Reluctant Heiress. Have already read it and will post a review soon. Preview: it's lovely.

Eloisa James: Just bought her newest last night. This Duchess of Mine is Jemma and Elijah's story. And she has another book coming out 7/28 -- A Duke of Her Own, which is Villier's story. Two books in one summer -- nice!

Susanna Kearsley is writing "a story of historical suspense set on the southern coast of Cornwall." Excellent! Will keep stalking her website for more details.

Carla Kelly: Bought her newest last night as well -- The Surgeon's Lady. This is the second in a trilogy, I believe. Don't know whether the third has been announced yet. Anyone know?

J.K. Rowling -- The 6th Harry Potter movie is out in mid-July. The previews look good. I need to start my pre-movie reread of Half-Blood Prince soon.

Sharon Shinn: I still haven't read Fortune and Fate, the newest in her Twelve Houses series. Gotta get to that soon. I'm excited about Quatrain (due out October 6) which is a book of four novellas, each set in a different world that she's created (especially excited about the one set in Samaria and the one set in the Summers at Castle Auburn world).

Mary Stewart -- Chicago Review Press is re-releasing My Brother Michael (one of my favorites!) in November.

Lean Mean Thirteen, Janet Evanovich

2009-06-05T13:28:00.002-04:00

Author: Janet Evanovich
Published: 2007, St. Martin's Press
Category: Fiction
Rating: 5.5/10

I've had this book sitting in the TBR pile since it came out two years ago. I read the first 8 or so books in this series with absolute enjoyment -- really great reading. The later books just haven't been living up to the earlier ones. I'm not really sure why, though I'm guessing that it's because they're really all the same at this point. The characters aren't developing, the plots and the jokes all feel like slight variations on an earlier theme. And the love triangle, which was cute at first, is now just annoying.

But I picked this one up finally when I saw adds for Finger Lickin' Fifteen, which is due out at the end of the month. Lean Mean Thirteen was a fun read, though still pretty disappointing.

Stephanie is again broke and struggling in her job as a bounty hunter. She's chasing her usual list of crazy FTAs (failure to appear in court), this time including a grave robber and a taxidermist with anger management issues. She has another fight with her slimy ex-husband, Dickie Orr, and when Dickie goes MIA everyone thinks that she's murdered him. We soon find out that Dickie's law firm was definitely into some shady dealings and 40 million dollars is missing along with Dickie. The partners in his firm (who are really mobster-types) are all looking for Stephanie to find out where their money is.

This book had me rolling my eyes almost constantly. I think the problem is that Evanovich feels the need to top the craziness of the previous book. So while originally it was funny that Stephanie's cars all get destroyed, now she goes through 2-3 of them per book. It just all becomes too ridiculous. And if Joe Morelli asked my advice on his love life, I'd tell him to move on because he deserves better.

I'm not sure if I'll read #14. Any advice here? I'm definitely not shelling out hardcover price for it. Maybe one day I'll get it from the library. Or maybe I'll go back to One for the Money and start re-reading the next time I'm in the mood.

Secret Society Girl, Diana Peterfreund

2009-06-03T12:22:00.004-04:00

Author: Diana Peterfreund
Published: 2007, Bantam
Category: Young Adult Fiction
Rating: 7/10

I picked this one up from the library mostly because Li loves the series and I was looking for something light (not like what most of what I read isn't "light", but you know what I mean). There are currently four books out in the series.

Amy Haskel is a junior at ultra-preppy, ivy league Eli University. It's a big deal at this school to be chosen for one of the many secret societies, and junior year is when it happens. Amy is waiting to be tapped by the literary society, when she instead gets an invitation from Rose & Grave, the oldest and most notorious society on campus. She thinks at first it's a hoax, seeing as how Rose & Grave picks the most elite (and generally richest) students. And they've never before tapped women. We see Amy's crazy initiation, meet the very interesting and zany people also tapped that year, and watch the backlash as the society's alumni question the group's decision to admit women.

I did enjoy this book. It's sort of fun to live vicariously through Amy as she attends this swanky, elite university and hobnobs with the rich and beautiful people. It's saved from being Gossip-Girl-vapid by the fact that Amy is very down-to-earth and sensible, and surprisingly resistant to the snobbery. I've requested the second book from the library. :)

Powder and Patch, Georgette Heyer

2009-06-03T12:11:00.003-04:00

Author: Georgette Heyer
Published: 1923, Mills & Boon originally, most recent edition is Harlequin, 2004
Category: Historical Fiction
Rating: 7.5/10

I am still making my way through Georgette Heyer's huge list of historical romances. Someday I will run out of new Heyers to read and it will be a sad, sad day. But then I will re-read them all and be happy again.

Powder and Patch follows Philip Jettan, the son of a country squire. Philip loves his country life, and at 19 has no wish to taste the delights of town. He's also in love with the belle of the neighborhood, the beautiful Cleone. Cleone returns his affections, but is appalled by his lack of town polish. He's a bit of a country bumpkin, see, and in that age such coarseness is unforgivable in an English gentleman. So Philip, whose marriage proposal has been rejected, takes off for Paris and London to begin a transformation into the powdered, foppish man he thinks Cleone wants.

This book seemed shorter and simpler than many of Heyer's -- fewer characters and a less complicated plot. According to this bibliography, Powder and Patch was only Heyer's third novel and was originally titled The Transformation of Philip Jettan (which I think is a better title). Still a very charming read, though. Philip is a lovable character and it's fun to see how he transforms himself from a gauche boy into the toast of London.

The Penderwicks, Jeanne Birdsall

2009-05-27T21:41:00.004-04:00

Title: The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy
Author: Jeanne Birdsall
Published: 2007, Random House
Category: Children's Fiction
Rating: 9/10

I can't remember how I discovered this book, but I am so so so happy I did. Because I love the Penderwicks! I want to be a Penderwick with all my soul. :)

The Penderwick family consists of four sisters, their absent-minded but devoted father, and a huge and badly behaved dog. Their mother died years ago, and it's fallen to the older sisters, especially the eldest, Rosalind, to take care of the youngest, an adorable four-year-old named Batty. This first book takes place during the family summer vacation -- they rent a cottage in rural Massachusetts. When they arrive they find out that the cottage is on the grounds of a great estate called Arundel, which is owned by an icy, snobby lady whose only forgiving trait is a son named Jeffrey who quickly becomes fast friends with the girls.

The Penderwicks get into all sorts of scrapes and have many summer adventures. We get to know each sister, who are all very much individuals. The book is funny and sweet, and just completely charming.

The book has a very 1950s sort of nostalgia to it; the girls don't play video games or watch TV, they play with dolls or run around outside exploring or playing soccer. My taste in books often runs a bit to the old-fashioned (some of my favorite authors are L.M. Montgomery, Mary Stewart, Louisa May Alcot, and Eva Ibbotson). Sweet nostalgic books are my comfort -- especially in children's literature. Cozy books you want to wrap around yourself are the best.

Title: The Penderwicks on Gardam Street
Author: Jeanne Birdsall
Published: 2008, Random House
Category: Children's Fiction
Rating: 9.5/10

The second in the Penderwick series. Jeanne Birdsall's website says that she's working on a third (yay!) and there will be five books in all (yay yay!). This book picks up almost immediately after the first one -- the Penderwicks are home again, returning to school and their normal activities. One thing upsets their happy equilibrium: their aunt arrives with a letter that their mother had written before she died, telling their father that it's time he started dating again. Mr. P doesn't really want to date, and the girls really really don't want him to date. So the sisters implement the Save-Daddy Plan to sabotage his reluctant efforts at dating.

I think I might have liked this one even better than the first. My favorite part was when Sky and Jane (the two middle sisters) switch homework assignments (one's good at science and the other's good at writing) with hilarious results. I can't wait to read the next book. :)

Catch-up reviews

2009-05-16T14:54:00.004-04:00

Did you know that root canals are really, really not fun? I do now. Sigh. Everyone thank their lucky stars for their healthy teeth -- they are so important!

Otherwise, I am enjoying my summer so far. Getting lots of good reading in. Here are some mini-reviews of books I've read over the last few weeks.

Title: Angelica
Author: Sharon Shinn
Published: 2003, Ace
Category: Science Fiction
Rating: 8.5/10
I started out not loving Shinn's Samaria series, but I have completely changed my mind. If you haven't read the series, you have to start with Archangel, or you'll really miss out. Angelica was published fourth in the series, but it actually takes place first (I think). But it should definitely be read after Archangel, Jovah's Angel, and The Alleluia Files.

More than a hundred years before Archangel, Samaria is visited at random intervals by mysterious strangers dressed all in black. They appear and disappear, leaving behind fires of utter destruction. The Archangel Gaaron is glad that his new Edori bride, Susannah, is a calm and capable woman who can help him through this crisis, while aiding him in the impossible task of controlling his wild sister Miriam. What Gaaron doesn’t know is that Susannah, who still mourns for her former lover, has a secret connection to the god Jovah—a secret that could save the whole planet. He also doesn’t know that his runaway sister has met one of the invaders and is prepared to risk everything to keep him alive.

I loved this one! So interesting. The theme is all about feeling out of place -- Susannah feels lonely and isolated among the angels and Gaaron's human sister, Miriam, feels isolated among the angels. It's so satisfying when they finally find their place that feels like "home." And the action is really exciting too.

Title: First Comes Marriage
Author: Mary Balogh
Published: 2009, Dell
Category: Historical Romance
Rating: 6.5/10
The first in Balogh's new trilogy. Balogh is still an autobuy for me -- they're always comforting reads for me.

Against the scandal and seduction of Regency England, New York Times bestselling author Mary Balogh introduces an extraordinary family—the fiery, sensual Huxtables. Vanessa is the second daughter, proud and daring, a young widow who has her own reason for pursuing the most eligible bachelor in London. One that has nothing to do with love. Or does it?

The arrival of Elliott Wallace, the irresistibly eligible Viscount Lyngate, has thrown the country village of Throckbridge into a tizzy. Desperate to rescue her eldest sister from a loveless union, Vanessa Huxtable Dew offers herself instead. In need of a wife, Elliott takes the audacious widow up on her unconventional proposal while he pursues an urgent mission of his own. But a strange thing happens on the way to the wedding night. Two strangers with absolutely nothing in common can’t keep their hands off each other. Now, as intrigue swirls around a past secret—one with a stunning connection to the Huxtables—Elliott and Vanessa are uncovering the glorious pleasures of the marriage bed…and discovering that when it comes to wedded bliss, love can’t be far behind.

Enjoyable, though not particularly memorable. I did like it enough to buy the second in the series, and I'm sure I'll read it next time I'm in the mood for a nice Regency. I liked the relationship among the Huxtables best (their parents died and they've taken care of each other for years) -- the romance in this one was a bit problematic. Why do the ugly ducklings always have to be so sweet and perfectly well-adjusted? I found Vanessa a bit annoying.

Title: Rachel's Holiday
Author: Marian Keyes
Published: 1998, Avon
Category: General Fiction/ Chick Lit
Rating: 6/10
I read this for a book group that met twice and then sadly died. I really enjoyed it though -- for all that I love to read, I've never been in a book club before. I might try to find another.

Twenty-seven and the miserable owner of size eight feet, Rachel Walsh enjoys two naughty habits: a lover who likes his leather pants tight, and a fondness for recreational drugs. But as Rachel learns, what goes up must come down. First she loses her job, then her lover, and then finds herself being marched off to the Cloisters, Dublin's answer to the Betty Ford Clinic. Outraged—surely she's not thin enough to be an addict!—it suddenly dawns on Rachel that it's about time she had a vacation, and where better than a place crammed with jacuzzis, gyms, and rock stars going tepid turkey? What she gets instead, however, are middle-aged men in sweaters and enough group therapy to drive her to distraction.

This was a really fast, easy read (though it was long -- her editor could have slashed at least 200 pages). It was an interesting look at drug addiction -- it seemed to capture the experience well while still being funny and not too heavy. The gradual revelations about just how sad and pathetic Rachel's life had gotten were well done. I did find her extremely annoying at times -- her naivete and denial got old. And there is a sort-of love story, which I thought was distracting from the more important story of Rachel's recovery.

Title: Heart of Gold
Author: Sharon Shinn
Published: 2000, Ace
Category: Science Fiction
Rating: 7/10
Another Shinn -- this is one of her stand-alone novels.

Two races—the matriarchal indigo and the patriarchal gulden—uneasily co-exist in a single shared metropolis. Nolan, a young indigo male, loves his job working in a biological lab, though he knows he will soon be called home to his family estates to marry his longtime fiancee. Everything in his life changes when he meets Kitrini, a high-caste indigo woman who has defiantly thrown her lot in with the gulden. Issues of class, culture, gender, prejudice, loyalty, and honor shape their choices when Nolan and Kitrini realize that he holds the knowledge that could save the life of the man Kitrini has always loved.

Not my favorite Shinn. The premise is interesting, but I found the racial drama a bit heavy-handed. And I didn't like the way the heroine is in love with someone else (a terrorist, too!) for about 3/4 of the book. Makes her look a little inconsistent. Still a good read, though.

Library School: Semester 2

2009-05-05T16:50:00.007-04:00

I'm not sure if anyone who reads this blog is at all interested in a librarian's education. But I know that when I was trying to decide whether to go to library school or not I had lots of questions about what it would be like. So I'll add my two cents, in case anyone is in a similar pickle. Short answer: Library school is awesome! Read on for the long answer.

I'm now officially halfway through my two-year program at UNC. Woot! First semester wrap-up is here. This semester I took:

Human-Information Interactions You might be thinking, what the hell does that mean? Well, I was asking that too. This is the basic information science theory class that we're all required to take. Basic questions covered: What is information? Why and how do people seek information in different contexts? How do we assess and evaluate information? I was dreading this class because it sounded abstract and theoretical and horrible. But I actually really enjoyed it. Good professor definitely helped.

Organization of Information This class was a giant headache, though I did learn a lot about how information professionals organize information (not only bibliographic info, but all kinds, including business). Our semester-long project was to invent a system of organization for any kind of "document" we wanted -- a classmate and I did board games, which was pretty fun. If that sounds interesting, you can see the whole project here.

Management for Information Professionals This class was a bit of a joke. I understand why it's a requirement (as librarians we will probably all have to supervise people), but it all seemed very much common sense to me. But it was a really, really easy class, so I'm not complaining. My final project was a website about work-life balance (beware: it's quite bull-shitty).

Web Development My favorite class this semester! I completely love making websites. We learned XHTML and CSS (and whoa, was I creating some seriously non-standard and messy HTML before this class). We also did a little PHP, which about made my head explode because I'd never had any programming. But I think I got the important bits. I created two websites for the class (both completely HAND-CODED, oh boy!): Body Systems (a pretend gym equipment company) and Durham Speaks (a prototype that may actually be used by the Durham Public Library for their oral history project).

So next year I get to take 7 more classes, write a master's paper, and find the perfect job. Hmmm. That's several months away, though. :)

This summer I'm continuing with my job at a branch library at UNC. And I also got a really cool internship georeferencing historic maps (so that we can overlay a historic map on a current google map and people can see how areas have changed over time). It's really fun!

I've got catch-up book reviews that I'll post soon. :)

More beautiful library photos here!

Another books meme.

2009-04-30T15:25:00.004-04:00

One more paper to clean up and I'm officially done with my semester. And halfway to my Masters degree! Phew. Good thing I have the summer to recharge. And read lots of fun books!!

So to ease myself back into blogging, a meme:

1) What author do you own the most books by?
Mary Stewart -- I own all her romantic suspense and historical fiction books. Two copies of most of them -- they take up at least two shelves.

2) What book do you own the most copies of?
L.M. Montgomery's The Blue Castle. Two mass market copies that are falling apart from being read so many times. And I bought myself a hardcover 1920 edition off eBay a few months ago. Pretty! Loves it sooo much.

3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?
NO. That is the stupidest grammar rule ever. “This is the sort of bloody nonsense up with which I will not put.” --Winston Churchill

4) What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
Sir Peter Wimsey. He's funny and brilliant.

5) What book have you read the most times in your life (excluding picture books read to children; i.e., Goodnight Moon does not count)?
Hands down, The Blue Castle. It's my comfort book. Second place is probably Persuasion, by Jane Austen.

6) What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?
I don't really remember. Was this the age I was reading The Baby-Sitters Club books? There was a Super Edition where all the girls went on a Disney cruise. That was definitely a favorite for a long time.

7) What is the worst book you've read in the past year?
I stopped keeping my reading spreadsheet this year, mostly because I wasn't reading much to put on there. And when I had time to read, I generally read sure-thing good books. But if I had to choose, I'd say either The Conquest, by Elizabeth Chadwick (yawn) or Rachel's Holiday, by Marian Keyes. Neither were horrible, just sort of meh.

8) What is the best book you've read in the past year?
Sharon Shinn's Archangel series. OR The Penderwicks, by Jeanne Birdsall. OR The Sharing Knife: Horizon. I can't decide.

9) If you could force everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be?
I'll go with The Penderwicks, because it'll make you young again.

10) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for Literature?
I have no idea. I rarely read the sort of thing that wins the Noble Prize for Literature.

11) What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
The Blue Castle!! Or a Georgette Heyer book.

12) What book would you least like to see made into a movie?
Twilight.

13) Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character.
I hardly ever remember my dreams, but I definitely had a couple bad dreams last night about bat-malices (see question #32).

14) What is the most lowbrow book you've read as an adult?
LOL. So many to choose from. Though this one probably takes the cake.

15) What is the most difficult book you've ever read?
The Intellectual Foundation of Information Organization, by Elaine Svenonius. We read this book for my organization of information class and it gave me so many headaches.

16) What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you've seen?
I've been to a lot, but not any obscure ones. (And can any of Shakespeare's plays really be considered obscure?)

17) Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
Wha?

18) Roth or Updike?
Never read either! Oh dear.

19) David Sedaris or Dave Eggers?
Sedaris, I think.

20) Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?
I haven't read any of them since high school. I really should try them as an adult.

21) Austen or Eliot?
I don't think I've ever read Eliot, but there's no way she's going to beat Austen.

22) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
Umm, "real" literature, obviously.

23) What is your favorite novel?
This Rought Magic, by Mary Stewart.

24) Play?
I haven't read too many plays, though I've seen lots. I LOVE musicals. The old-school big ones with lots of cheesy singing and choreographed dancing. The Music Man, Guys & Dolls, South Pacific.

25) Poem?
No thanks.

26) Essay?
I'm not really sure it counts as an essay, but I've loved "Caring for Your Introvert" by Jonathan Rauch ever since I discovered it years ago.

27) Short story?
I'm not much of a short story reader.

28) Work of nonfiction?
I don't read much nonficiton either! But I'm sure I can come up with something. Hmmmm. Martin's Hundred, by Ivor Noel Hume. Web Design in a Nutshell, by Jennifer Robbins. How to Cook Everything, by Mark Bittman.

29) Who is your favorite writer?
One? No way. Mary Stewart, L.M. Montgomery, Jane Austen, Georgette Heyer, Eva Ibbotson, Jennifer Crusie, Sara Donati, Lois McMaster Bujold, Sharon Shinn

30) Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
Dan Brown

31) What is your desert island book?
Are you tired of hearing about The Blue Castle yet?

32) And... what are you reading right now?
The Sharing Knife: Horizon by Lois McMaster Bujold. It's fabulous!!!

Marrying the Captain, Carla Kelly

2009-02-15T23:10:00.003-05:00

Title: Marrying the Captain
Author: Carla Kelly
Published: 2008, Harlequin
Category: Historical Romance
Rating: 7.5/10

Hi everyone! My semester is going really well -- really interesting classes that are keeping me busy. I have had some time to read, though. So hopefully I'll get some more reviews up soon(ish). :)

A new Carla Kelly book! Yay!

Nana Massie is living with her grandmother in a run-down inn in Plymouth, struggling to make enough profit to get by. With a war on and money scarce, they're on the brink. This all changes when Captain Oliver Worthy shows up to stay in the inn while his ship is being repaired. Unknown to Nana, Oliver has arrived basically to spy on her; Nana's father (she's illegitimate) is a cowardly little man high up in the Royal Navy and he's asked Oliver to go check up on Nana. Apparently, some years earlier Nana's father had tried to pay off one of his debts by handing Nana off as a mistress. Nana refused and hasn't spoken to him since. Oliver thinks Nana's father is a slimeball, but he still agrees to go see Nana. Once there, he's so taken with her that he fobs off the father and spends his time getting to know Nana.

They, of course, fall in love, but a happy ever after seems impossible. He's promised himself that he wouldn't marry while he's a navy captain, because he doesn't want to leave some heartbroken widow behind. And she doesn't think she's good enough for him because she's illegitimate.

I have to say that I was just the tiniest bit impatient with the first half of this book. It's a very sweet love story, but the action is a bit slow. The second half is definitely not slow. It's got spies, a hostage situation on enemy soil, and other adventures for Nana and Oliver. Plus a fabulous ending. Loved it!

Classic Carla Kelly. Characters you'd want to get to know in real life because they just seem so nice. Kind, honest, hardworking hero and spirited, but also pragmatic, heroine. Sweet romance and interesting historical setting. Fans who were disappointed by the slight gruesomeness of her last book, Beau Crusoe, should definitely give this one a try. It's much more similar to her older books. And who doesn't love a naval hero?

Quickie reviews

2009-01-13T22:00:00.003-05:00

All my best intentions about long, meaty reviews over the holidays did not come to pass. So, here are quickies on the books I've reading the last couple of months:

Title: The Thief
Author: Megan Whalen Turner
Published: 2005, HarperCollins
Category: Young Adult/Fantasy
Rating: 8/10

A young thief named Gen is offered freedom from prison if he can accomplish the impossible: steal Hamiathes's Gift, a jewel made by the gods that will give the wearer the undeniable right to rule the country. I read this book months ago, but it really stuck with me because it's beautifully written and has a really ingenious plot. Fabulous ending. There are two more books in the series, which I hope to get to soon.

Title: The Runaway Duke
Author: Julie Anne Long
Published: 2004, Warner Forever
Category: Historical Romance
Rating: 7/10

This one is Long's debut book – I've read several of her books and always enjoyed them. Tomboy Rebecca Tremaine runs away from home rather than marry the dreadful man her parents have chosen for her. She is helped by Connor Riordan, who has been acting as Rebecca's family's groom, but is in fact a duke in hiding. I like Long's books because they are very traditional romance novels, but I think the quality of the writing is higher than many.

Title: Demon Bound
Author: Meljean Brook
Published: 2008, Berkley
Category: Fantasy Romance
Rating: 7/10

Next installment in one of my favorite series. (Backstory huge, see Brook's website if you're not familiar with the series.) Novice Guardian Jake assigns himself to help Alice, a Guardian who years ago made a bargain with a demon that she would kill Michael. Jake and Alice must figure out a way to break the bargain, or Alice is doomed. Enjoyable with some excellent scenes, but not my favorite of the series. I just couldn't warm up to Alice, who, though an interesting character, never quite managed to be much besides creepy. The best part of this book were the new twists we got in the series-long plot arc – I am intrigued.

Title: When the Duke Returns
Author: Eloisa James
Published: 2008, Avon
Category: Historical Romance
Rating: 7.5/10

Fourth in the Desperate Duchess series – I always love Eloisa James for a solid, smart romance. Isidore was married by proxy to the Duke of Cosway when she was 12. She's been waiting for years now to meet him, as he explores Africa. He finally comes home and doesn't know quite what to make of his feisty wife. Very good read.

Title: The Other Boleyn Girl
Author: Philippa Gregory
Published: 2002, Simon & Schuster
Category: Historical Fiction
Rating: 8/10

I've had this in my TBR for years. Twin read it a while ago and was enthralled, and I agree it is definitely one of those books that sucks you in and doesn't let you go until the end (even though you know pretty much what happens already). Mary Boleyn was sister to the famous Boleyn. She was a mistress of Henry VIII before Anne, and bore him two children. After she's set aside, she must help Anne insinuate herself into the king's affections and the English crown. Intensely readable, the book portrays Henry as the most spoiled man in all the world, and the English court as a ridiculous masquerade where everyone is focused on keeping this petulant man happy. Mary is a likable heroine, especially when compared to her bitchy sister.

Bookish Kitty

2008-12-18T13:59:00.004-05:00

One of the many distractions in my life that are keeping me from reading is the fact that my sister (and roommate) adopted two kittens a few weeks ago. They are completely lovable and adorable -- so cute and sweet, in fact, that we can't stay mad at them when they tear up our toilet paper or scratch our legs.

Last night, Max discovered that he can climb behind the books in my bookshelves -- he seems especially fond of my Julie Quinn collection.

Guthrie is our other kitty -- we've nicknamed him Gut-Gut because he loves to eat and is getting quite a little gut already. He also likes to nap.

Happy Thanksgiving! And tell me what to read!

2008-11-26T11:00:00.005-05:00

Hi everyone! So my semester is almost done and soon I will have four weeks off--and much of that time will be spent reading fun, light, delicious fiction! YAYY! No more textbooks or scholarly articles for me. My problem now is what to read first?!! Here's a list of books I'm hoping to get through--
Fortune and Fate, Sharon Shinn
Demon Bound, Meljean Brook
Living with the Dead, Kelley Armstrong
When the Duke Returns, Eloisa James

Anyone have opinions on these? Any other suggestions?

I'll hopefully blog a lot more over break. But for now I want to wish all my American friends Happy Thanksgiving!

And I was wandering the AAR boards today for the first time in months and found out that Carla Kelly's next book is out on 1/1/09! WOOT! Can't wait! (I have to say that I like her original title of Worthy better -- Marrying the Captain is just so Harlequin-ish. But who cares--the inside will be wonderful Kelly, not boring Harlequin editor.)

Beautiful reissues!

2008-10-06T15:27:00.005-04:00

I haven't been doing much book shopping lately, but I did run across these reissues on Amazon that made me squee heartily. I love it when publishers bring back old favorites and put pretty new covers on them. Even better is when they have popular current authors write forewords to them.

Celia Garth by Gwen Bristow -- Long-time favorite of mine. Set during the British occupation of Charleston in the Revolutionary War, Celia Garth is a seamstress who starts collecting information about the British to pass on to the patriots. Look at that pretty cover! And the introduction was written by Sara Donati, who writes the Into the Wilderness series (which I love--very impatient for the next book to come out).

Thornyhold by Mary Stewart -- So most of you probably know about my obsession with Mary Stewart. Thornyhold is one of her sweeter, quieter books, so it's not as thrilling as her earlier works, but it's still one of my favorites (and it's been out of print for a while now). Gilly Ramsey inherits her cousin's house, and with the house seems to come her mysterious cousin's reputation as a white witch. The foreword was written by Meg Cabot of Princess Diaries fame.

Devil's Cub by Georgette Heyer -- This one has been out of print for a long, long time, which I do not understand because I think it's one of Heyer's best. I don't know why HQN didn't reissue this book a few years ago when they put out all those mass-market editions. But now there's this pretty trade paperback available. The original rake hero and feisty heroine try to outsmart each other from London to Paris.

Wanty! Wanty!

What's my deal, you ask?

2008-09-26T09:21:00.005-04:00

Hi everyone! So it's been a while since I blogged, hasn't it? But I have a good reason! A very good reason. In August I started library school!

Some things I have discovered:
1. Most people don't realize you need a master's degree to be a librarian.
2. Most people don't have any idea what you'd learn in library school.
3. Being a librarian is way more complicated than it might seem.
4. Library school is a lot of work. At least my program is.

But I'm really loving it so far. I decided to do my MLS at UNC's School of Information and Library Science. It's a 2-year program, so I'm taking 4 classes each semester and working 20 hours a week. It doesn't leave a lot of time for fun reading. I'm not giving up on the blog, though. I am determined to limp along here - but I doubt I'll get posts up all that frequently.

This semester I'm taking Information Tools, which is basically technology for librarians. We're doing UNIX, XHTML & CSS, Java, and databases. It's actually my easiest class because I know a lot of it already. Though now I can say HELLO in ASCII (01001000 01000101 01001100 01001100 01001111). I'm such a dork. It's awesome.

I'm also taking Reference (helping people find the information they need), Collection Development (deciding what should go into a library collection), and Preservation (keeping a library's materials in usable shape for as long as possible). Collection Development might kill me, because the professor seems determined to fill my every waking hour with reading, writing papers, and doing group projects.

I haven't made the rounds through my blogroll in a while. Anything interesting happening in blogland? Any new books that everyone's talking about?

I did manage to read Megan Whalen Turner's The Thief and loved it. Will hopefully blog about it sometime soon. :)

Lightning Reviews

2008-08-13T16:57:00.003-04:00

My blog is so neglected! I have been reading some--not up to my usual rate, but still chugging along here. I've decided that there's no way I'm going to ever get around to writing full reviews for these, so here are a few quickies:

Title: The Lost Duke of Wyndham
Author: Julia Quinn
Published: 2008, Avon
Category: Historical Romance
Rating: 7/10
Jack Audley, a lesser gentleman turned highwayman, finds out that he is the long lost grandson (and heir) of the Duchess of Wyndham. He has no real desire for such a position, especially after he falls in love with Grace, the Duchess's companion who's not a suitable match for the new Duke. This is the first in a two-part series--the second book will be about Mr. Cavendish, the man Jack cut out of the succession.

Classic Quinn--funny and clever in parts. The first scene especially I thought was great--nice and light. Quick and fun read.

Title: Tribute
Author: Nora Roberts
Published: 2008, Putnam
Category: Romantic Suspense
Rating: 5.5/10
Cilla McGowan was a child actor who burned out by her teens. Now she's left show biz behind to renovate houses. She buys a grand old house that was owned by her very famous and glamorous grandmother, who died under suspicious circumstances. Soon Cilla is being terrorized by the past and she has to figure out what really happened to grandma.

I was disappointed by this. I felt it lacked the suspense that has made NR's other recent stand-alones good. I couldn't find it in me to care what happened to the grandmother. And the house talk went a little overboard sometimes--felt like I was stuck in a HGTV show.

Title: The Summoning
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Published: 2008, HarperCollins
Category: Young Adult / Fantasy
Rating: 7/10
First in a young adult trilogy set in the same world as Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series. Chloe Saunders begins to see dead people and is sent to a psychiatric home by misguided doctors. She soon finds out that she's not crazy--she's just a necromancer. The other kids in the home also shows signs of paranormal ability.

I enjoyed this--the premise was not exactly new, but it was well executed anyway. Slightly annoyed by the cliff-hanger at the end, but it will definitely get me to buy the next in the series. Which I guess was the point.

Title: The Wedding Officer
Author: Anthony Capella
Published: 2006, Bantam
Category: General Fiction
Rating: 8.5/10
This one has gotten some great reviews around the web, and I agree. During WWII, English captain James Gould is sent to Naples to be the "wedding officer." His job is basically to discourage Englishmen from taking Italian wives. He's doing a great job until he meets Livia Pertini, who introduces the stuffy Englishman to Italy's seductive food and relaxed lifestyle.

I loved this one. I loved the discussion of Italian culture, the WWII history was interesting, and the descriptions of food were sooo fantastic. This book will definitely make you hungry for good Italian food. Highly recommended! :)

Certain Girls, Jennifer Weiner

2008-07-19T14:21:00.004-04:00

Title: Certain Girls
Author: Jennifer Weiner
Published: 2008, Atria
Category: General Fiction
Rating: 7/10

Look! I'm blogging! Yay! How is everyone? I've missed you all. :)

This book is the sequel to Weiner's first book, Good in Bed. It's been a while since I read that book, but as I recall we saw our heroine, Cannie, a smart, funny, plus-size woman, deal with being dumped by her pothead boyfriend and finding out she's pregnant by him (as he runs away to Amsterdam). After much anguish, she finds happiness in her new daughter, Joy, and husband, Peter.

Certain Girls takes place when Joy is 13, a very precocious 13. Half the book is told from her perspective and half from Cannie's. Joy is dealing with normal teenage things: wanting to be a "cool" kid, getting away from the smothering attentions of a very involved mother. Her situation is complicated by the fact that Cannie wrote a semi-autobiographical novel about herself, in which she explains that Joy was an accident--this makes insecure Joy feel even worse about herself and very angry with her mother.

Cannie, while dealing with her out-of-control daughter, is also dealing with the fact that her husband wants them to have another child. Since Joy's birth was difficult, she cannot bear more children herself, so they are left looking for a surrogate mother.

I did enjoy this book--even though it's a sort of combination of ChickLit and MomLit, both of which I generally dislike. The self-absorption of ChickLit usually turns me off, and I'm just not able to relate that well to MomLit, not being a mother myself. But Weiner does have a great sense of humor and as always there were some very funny moments. Once when Cannie and Joy are shopping for dresses, Joy tells her mother that one dress "looks like God ate Mexican food, then threw up on you."

She also comes up with some real truisms, which while maybe a little cynical are probably quite realistic. My two favorites are: "It isn't politically correct to say so, but in the real world, good looks function as a get-out-of-everything-free card." and "This is motherhood for you ... going through life with your heart outside your body."

The way Joy treats her mom definitely took me back to my teen years, though I don't think I was ever as cruel to my mom as Joy is to hers. At least I hope not. It made me want to call and apologize for all my bratty years. :) Any moms out there with teenage girls will definitely relate to this book. And probably thank heavens their lives aren't as complicated.

A conversation between Jennie and her blog...

2008-06-20T09:26:00.002-04:00

Blog: Hello? Hellooo? Anybody there?
Jennie: Oh, hi blog. What's up?
Blog: Where have you been?!
Jennie: Whoa. It hasn't been that long since I was here.
Blog: Over two weeks!
Jennie: Oh. Hmmm. Sorry.
Blog: I mean, here I am, saving all your thoughts, sending them to people all around the world, and you just ... abandon me!
Jennie: Relax, bloggy.
Blog: Just talk to me. You've been reading, right? What about the new Loretta Chase--what did you think of it?
Jennie: Oh, I liked it.
*pause*
Blog: That's it? You liked it?
*pause*
Blog: Great characters, sparkling dialogue, cool setting?
Jennie: Yeah, all that.
Blog: *sigh*
Jennie: Blog, I'm just busy right now. I'll be back soon.
Blog: It's something I did, isn't it? You're mad at me. You don't like me anymore.
Jennie: No, no. But see, here in the real world we have this thing called summer. It's awesome. You are unfortunately stuck in cyberspace.
Blog: There's no reason to be ugly.
Jennie: Listen, bloggy--just relax. Take a little vacay. Go visit Second Life Bermuda. I hear it's great.
Blog: Second Life is lame.
Jennie: *smirk* Says the blog. Hee hee.
Blog: Hey, you created me, Miss Smartypants!
Jennie: I promise I'll be back soon. See ya.
Blog: No! Don't go!
*pause*
Blog: Jennie? ... Jennie?! ... *sniff*

The Charm School, Susan Wiggs

2008-06-09T22:06:00.003-04:00

Title: The Charm School
Author: Susan Wiggs
Published: 1999, Mira
Category: Historical Romance
Rating: 6.5/10

Okay, this might be my shortest review ever. The inclination to blog is patchy lately, that's for sure. I think it has to do with it being summer. (And sooo freaking hot! Yuck.) Anyway, I bought this one because I've been meaning to try Wiggs and Wendy mentioned that Mira was reissuing this older historical of hers.

From the publisher:

An awkward misfit in an accomplished Boston family, Isadora Peabody yearns to escape her social isolation and sneaks aboard the Silver Swan, bound for Rio, leaving it all behind.
Ryan Calhoun, too, had a good family name. But he'd purposely walked away from everything it afforded him. Driven by his quest to right an old wrong, the fiery, temperamental sea captain barely registers the meek young woman who comes aboard his ship.
To the Swan's motley crew, the tides of attraction clearly flow between the two. Teaching her the charms of a lady, they hope to build the confidence she needs to attract not only their lonely captain's attention, but his heart, as well. For everyone knows that the greatest charms are not those of the formal lady, but rather the possibilities of a new world build on love.

Liked it, but didn't love it. I usually like shy heroines, and this one was a good, well-developed one. It's an ugly duckling story--Isadora starts out extremely awkward and plain, and loosens up once she's away from her family and the confines of society. I didn't really buy the way the crew helped train her as a lady though; what sort of sailors know how to do hair and speak like an aristocrat?

Anyone have an opinion on the rest of this series? The next one appears to be The Horsemaster's Daughter, about Ryan's brother, Hunter.

The Alleluia Files, Sharon Shinn

2008-06-03T23:29:00.004-04:00

Title: The Alleluia Files
Author: Sharon Shinn
Published: 1998, Ace
Category: Science Fiction
Rating: 7.5/10

After reading Jovah's Angel and loving it, I had to move right on to this one, the next in the series. There are BIG SPOILERS here for the previous two books in the series (including a huge, really cool plot twist that shouldn't be missed), so don't read this review if you haven't read Archangel and Jovah's Angel yet. Trust me.

It's been a hundred years since Alleluia was Archangel and discovered that the god of Samaria is not actually a god at all but a spaceship housing a complex AI machine that answers the Samarians' prayers. Alleluia decided that the people of Samaria simply weren't ready to deal with this knowledge and kept the secret until her death, but rumors have leaked out. A band of people, calling themselves Jacobites, believe these rumors and have spent decades searching for documents that Alleluia might have left behind proving them. The angels in power have become more and more harsh in their efforts to subdue them, to the point that they are now being out and out persecuted for their beliefs. The story follows one Jacobite named Tamar, as she searches for the Alleluia Files. She is joined in her quest by an unlikely ally, the angel Jared.

This is a great end to the trilogy. I didn't love it quite as much as Jovah's Angel, just because I didn't feel like it packed quite the same punch (though it would be hard to top the proclamation that the god is a machine). The structure of the trilogy works really well--the world of Samaria is set up in Archangel, the basis of that world is questioned and overturned in Jovah's Angel, and the people of Samaria finally come to terms with it all in The Alleluia Files. The world just keeps getting more complex and interesting with each book.

One thing that struck me (and very much appreciated) about The Alleluia Files was that the religious fanatics on both sides of the issue are presented as less than praiseworthy. Obviously the evil, power-hungry Archangel Bael, who has been ordering the murder of Jacobites, is made the main villain. So it would have been easy to let the Jacobites be all saintly martyrs, who righteously go to their deaths for the betterment of mankind. But they are generally shown to be not particularly intelligent or cunning in their planning, and not particularly kind-hearted. Shinn really pokes fun at them--they are depicted as a cult, lemmings whose aimless plans are basically ineffectual and whose beliefs are just as fanatical and irrational as Bael. Their quest obsesses them completely, and though we know that what they believe is actually correct, they do not. Their beliefs are not based on scientific evidence any more than the angels' are. Both sides, Bael and the Jacobites, are blinded by their obsessive beliefs. Tamar and Jared are able to solve the puzzle (and engage this cynical reader) because they are able to take a step back from the problem and think rationally.

Shinn's written two more books set on Samaria--Angel-Seeker and Angelica, both of which are in the TBR. :)

New glasses

2008-06-02T22:14:00.006-04:00

What do you think? They're a bit bolder than my last pair.

I think my blogging mojo has returned. I've read some really good books the last few days. I started the new Julia Quinn last night and the first scene reminded me why I enjoy her books. So funny.

And I've converted Li. MWAHAHA! She now understands the greatness that is Mary Stewart. What are you waiting for?? :)

My will to blog

2008-05-29T22:27:00.002-04:00

is MIA.

Gah! I'm sure it will return soon. ;)

Jovah's Angel, Sharon Shinn

2008-05-22T21:04:00.003-04:00

Title: Jovah's Angel
Author: Sharon Shinn
Published: 1997, Ace
Category: Science Fiction
Rating: 8.5/10

Jovah's Angel is the second in Shinn's Samaria series. I read the first, Archangel, a while ago and enjoyed the writing but was completely annoyed by the heroine. But I've like Shinn's other books much better, so I had to give this series another try. And I'm so glad I did, because I loved this one.

The world of Samaria is ruled by a small group of angels, which are led by an Archangel. These angels sing to their god, praying for rain during drought, medicine for the sick, and seed when crops fail. The god has always provided what they pray for. But now the angel's prayers seem to be in vain. It's been storming for months and nothing the angels do makes any difference. During one of these storms, the Archangel, Delilah, is thrown to the ground and breaks her wing. The god surprises everyone by naming Alleluia as the next Archangel. Quiet and unassuming, she is considered by many as a bad choice who will be unable to deal with the politics of ruling.

Alleluia does not particularly want to be Archangel, but she'll do what she has to to help Samaria. In an effort to figure out why the angels' prayers are not being answered, she travels to the oracles and has them ask the god what to do. The god's answer is extremely cryptic. Trying to make sense of this, she studies the ancient texts and her discoveries make her question the very nature of the god itself. She is helped by a moral, Caleb Augustus, a scientist who has lost faith in the god.

I love Shinn's writing style--it's so solid, meaty but still fluid. The language is lovely; the way she describes the angels' singing is beautiful and just amazingly effective. And the romance is so well done. It never overpowers the rest of the plotline, but still manages to be integral to the story. And I was happy that I found it soooo much easier to relate to Alleluia than to Rachel (the heroine of Archangel). I loved her and Caleb both.

And the world-building is so interesting! The world of Samaria is very original, and there are some pretty shocking developments in this book. Before reading Jovah's Angel, I was sort of sad that each book in this series is each set a century apart, so we don't get to see any of the same characters in the sequels. But I changed my mind when I realized that this set-up allows us to see how the world of Samaria is evolving. Archangel is set in a completely pre-Industrial era. In Jovah's Angel, the Samarians are starting to make scientific discoveries, and we see how that is changing the way people think about religion.

The devoutly religious might find the book disturbing, but I thought the discussions of science vs. faith were fascinating. Highlight for BIG spoiler [read the book first!!]: I had already read somewhere that the god was actually a spaceship (I wish I hadn't known!), but I liked the way Shinn dropped clues throughout. And when Alleya's at the oracle and the god says to SEND HELP--well, I was enthralled. ;) I also thought that Alleya's reactions to finding out that her god was a machine were great. She's upset but not crushed--she deals with the fall-out rationally and with great intelligence. :)

I moved right on to the next in the series, The Alleluia Files. And I talked Twin into reading Shinn's Twelve Houses series, and she's loving it just like I said she would. (A few minutes ago she made a little squeal and said, "Tayse was captured!!" Oh no!) :p

Simply Perfect, Mary Balogh

2008-05-20T19:36:00.003-04:00

Title: Simply Perfect
Author: Mary Balogh
Published: 2008, Delacort
Category: Historical Romance
Rating: 6/10

This is fourth and last in Balogh's Simply series. Balogh is comfort reading for me--I know I'm going to get a very nice story filled with very nice characters and everything will turn out very nicely in the end. ;) So even though I haven't loved this series, I still enjoyed Simply Perfect.

Claudia Martin has run a school for girls in Bath for over a decade. She has been content there, ruling over the roost with a firm, yet kind, hand. So when Joseph, Marquess of Attingsborough, offers her a ride to London and makes himself charming and attentive, she tries very hard not to fall for him. At 33 she considers herself firmly on the shelf, and she appreciates the independence of her current life. But as the two become closer friends, they both realize that they're falling in love. But Joseph must do as society expects and marry within his own class, even as he discovers that his fiance, Miss Hunt, is one cold fish.

This story is definitely not new--really this is almost the exact same plot as at least two of the other Simply books. But it's told well. It may be too sugary sweet for some readers, but I liked it anyway. Balogh somehow manages to satisfy my need for sweet romance without making me want to puke--it's a fine line and she's always on the right side. :p

That said, Claudia definitely isn't my favorite Balogh heroine--she's supposed to be very no-nonsense and stern, but she seemed to act a bit out of character at times. I guess the point is that underneath her hard shell there beats a soft, soft heart, but I would have appreciated a bit more teeth to her. And I didn't think Joseph was a very good match for her--he's easygoing and jolly, and I was just never convinced that he would appreciate Claudia's good qualities enough to fall in love with her.

My favorite part by far was how Claudia helped Joseph with his big problem (I am being intentionally vague here because I don't want to give it away). Claudia's desire to help did seem very in character--she saw it as a challenge, and her kindness made it impossible for her not to do everything she could. It was just ... nice. ;)

The Sharing Knife: Passage, Lois McMaster Bujold

2008-05-17T23:47:00.004-04:00

Title: The Sharing Knife: Passage
Author: Lois McMaster Bujold
Published: 2008, Eos
Category: Fantasy
Rating: 8.5/10

This book is the third in Bujold's Sharing Knife series. I loved the first, Beguilement, and liked the second, Legacy, for the most part. So no question I had to read this one.

The Sharing Knife series is set in a world where there are two almost entirely separate races of people living side by side: Lakewalkers and Farmers. Lakewalkers have groundsense, which is basically a magical ability to sense ground, or life force. Their whole purpose in life is to use their groundsense to search out malices, which are sort of life-sucking monsters that crop up without warning. Farmers have no groundsense, and over the centuries great distrust and fear have grown up between the two races.

The series focuses on Dag, a Lakewalker patroller, and Fawn, a Farmer girl, who have fallen in love. This is extremely unusual, and they've found that neither of their societies are willing to accept their relationship. Since they can't live as Lakewalkers and they can't live as Farmers, they are left seeking a new kind of life. Dag has also come to the realization that the division between the two races has become a great danger to both--since Farmers are spreading out over more and more land, they are in increasing danger of malices, but since Lakewalkers are very secretive about what they do, Farmers do not have the knowledge to recognize malices or protect themselves.

Dag has decided that it's time to de-mystify the Lakewalker culture, so he sets about teaching Farmers what Lakewalkers do. He and Fawn secure passage on a boat with a vague plan of putting this into action. They are joined by a ragtag group: the boat boss, Berry, is searching for her lost father and fiance; Berry's little brother and drunkard uncle travel with her; two young Lakewalker boys are running from disgrace; and Dag saves a wretched little orphan who quickly becomes his biggest fan. This unusual group makes the long journey down the Grace River to the sea, encountering many trials along the way.

I loved this book almost as much as I loved Beguilement (i.e. a whole lot). Both Dag and Fawn are so completely lovable--Dag because he is so honorable and trying so hard to do what he knows to be right, and Fawn because she is so sweet and lively, and trying so hard to keep Dag from being crushed under the weight of his obligations. Legacy was a tad too gloomy for me because it seemed like the problems the couple faced were just insurmountable. Their problems in this book are still great, but they are facing them and making some progress. There are also several really funny scenes that make for great comic relief: Dag's fishing and the sheep un-stealing were great.

The first two books in the series are really romantic fantasy and focused primarily on Dag and Fawn's relationship. Passage has a more traditional fantasy plotline: it is more concerned with the political situation between Farmers and Lakewalkers, and Dag's quest to find out more about his Lakewalker abilities and how to share those with Farmers. I loved the romance in the first two, though I think this book is maybe the strongest of the three. It can stand alone, which the first two can not.

Passage is also much more of an ensemble piece--Dag and Fawn are still the center of the story, but the secondary characters are much more important. They are all interesting characters, each with their own little story arcs that neatly tie into the overarching one. The group starts out as a bunch of people trapped on a boat together with nothing in common and plenty reason to dislike each other, and they become a sort of family. It's lovely. ;)

So, yay! Super read. There is to be a fourth book in the series, which I can't wait for. Does anyone know the title or when it is due out? I thought I'd read somewhere that Bujold had already finished writing it.

Oh, and I have to say that I love the illustration on the book jacket. That is SO Dag and Fawn. Do you know how rare it is that those illustrations actually look the way I imagine the characters to be? But this one is just right, and so pretty.

False Colours, Georgette Heyer

2008-05-15T10:07:00.004-04:00

Title: False Colours
Author: Georgette Heyer
Published: Orig. 1963, Reissued 2008, Sourcebooks
Category: Historical Fiction
Rating: 8/10

Sourcebooks has been reissuing Heyers in very pretty trade paperback editions. I bought this one because I hadn't read it yet and it's about identical twins! (Like me.)

Kit Fancot has been working as a diplomat in Vienna but returns home to London because he has a feeling that his twin brother, Evelyn, is in trouble. He finds out that Evelyn is missing. Kit's not too worried about him because it's not that unusual for Evelyn to disappear on larks for a while, but the problem is that Evelyn has become engaged to a society lady and is due at her father's house for a formal dinner to meet the whole family. Kit's mother explains that Evelyn is making the match to alleviate some financial woes and tells Kit that he must go to the dinner and pretend to be Evelyn. Kit doesn't want to, but he has to help out his brother, so he goes and the ruse goes off without a hitch. The problem comes when the fiance decides that she needs to get to know Evelyn better (because all of a sudden she likes him (as Kit) a whole lot more) and comes with her grandmother to stay at Kit's country house with them. Kit was able to fool everyone for one night, but now he's faced with a week in the girl's company. And he has to figure out where Evelyn has got himself to.

Typical Heyer--I loved it. I find Heyer's books so funny--the situations are ridiculous and some of the characters are too, which makes for hilarious scenes. I laughed out loud when Kit's mother tells Evelyn (when he finally comes home) that now that everyone is used to Kit playing him he must pretend to be Kit pretending to be Evelyn.

Kit's mother is actually an unusual character for Heyer. She is silly and frivolous and her inability to keep her debts under control is giving her sons all sorts of trouble, and yet she's still a sympathetic character. Usually those sorts of characters are held up for ridicule. But the while the mother here may be silly, she has a warm heart and loves her sons more than anything else.

And I can say with experience that the twins did act like twins. Except for the part about them just "knowing" that the other is in trouble even when they are in different countries. Sorry to disappoint, but there is no mystical connection between twins. A couple weeks ago Twin went on a blind date and all of a sudden I just knew that he was an ax murderer, so I kept calling her on her cell phone. Of course she was fine (and really annoyed with me for bugging her). But I can see that it does make for very convenient plot lines, so I guess Heyer can be excused that. She did get it right otherwise. They can be apart for months and when they meet again it's like no time has passed. Better than best friends, with so much shared history that they know each other better than anyone else ever will. And they just know that the other will be there for them no matter what.

Not that they'd ever say so to each other. Heyer really hit it right with that last scene. I never tell Twin "thank you" or "I love you." I'm more likely to call her a fat cow, but she knows what I really mean. :) And now you all need some twin cuteness:

(I have no idea which is me. I can't tell when we're this little.)

In case anyone is wondering...

2008-05-13T15:45:00.002-04:00

I am not the Jennie who has started posting at Dear Author. I don't actually comment that much over there anymore (since they've gotten so big), but when I do I'll have to remember to comment as Jennie S.

I hope her last name doesn't begin with an S. Ahhh, it's so nice to have the most common name of my generation. ;P

Madam, Will You Talk, Mary Stewart

2008-05-09T21:54:00.003-04:00

Title: Madam, Will You Talk?
Author: Mary Stewart
Published: 1955, William Morrow
Category: Romantic Suspense
Rating: 9/10

Since I've been working so much lately on the Mary Stewart site, I've of course been put in the mood to re-read some of my favorites of hers. Madam, Will You Talk? was her first book, published in 1955, but in my opinion it's one of her best.

Charity Selborne is vacationing in the South of France with her friend Louise. Shortly after they arrive at their hotel in Avignon, Charity meets a fellow guest, a young boy named David. Charity is rather charmed by him, so she is sad to hear the gossip that's circulating about him: David's father, Richard Byron, was recently charged with murder. He was let off on grounds of insufficient evidence, but Charity soon finds out that David seems to believe that his father was guilty and fears seeing him again. David is traveling with his beautiful stepmother, and both she and David are hiding from Richard.

So when Charity meets Richard and he demands she tell him where David is, Charity is faced with a horrible dilemma: she can't give David up, but what will Richard do to her if she doesn't?

The book is one big fabulous chase scene--and such an exciting one! Charity and Richard run all over, from Nimes and Arles down to Marseilles. Stewart is known for her vivid descriptions of setting, and what better place to be immersed in than Provence? I put together this photo gallery on my other blog, which has photos of some of the settings and quotes from the book. As you can see, Charity visits some gorgeous places and Stewart's descriptions are lovely.

One of the things I like best about all Stewart's suspense novels is that her heroines are everyday women. They're all smart and sensible, and very likable. But unlike many suspense protagonists, they are ordinary people who get caught in extraordinary circumstances--and though they are frightened, they manage to do brave things. Charity is terrified of Richard, but she goes to amazing efforts to elude him because she can't stand the thought of putting David in danger.

Twin isn't really a fan of this book because she says the love story happens too abruptly. And I can see her point. I won't say who Charity's love interest is, because I don't want to give it away, but suffice it to say that she just wakes up one moment to the fact that he is perfect and they're professing their love for each other a second later. Maybe unbelievable, but the pace of the whole book is so fast (it takes place over only four days) that I think it works.

I've just posted a brief excerpt of this book on the Stewart site. It's only the first few paragraphs of the book, but it's so good. It shows the beautiful writing, the romantic feeling of the book, and the gripping suspense. ;)

Grimspace, Ann Aguirre

2008-05-06T23:17:00.006-04:00

Title: Grimspace
Author: Ann Aguire
Published: 2008, Ace
Category: Science Fiction
Rating: 5.5/10

This book has gotten a lot of buzz online since it came out. It seemed like everyone loved it (for example, an A review at DA), and then I read the AAR review, which gave it a D and tells readers to not read it, it's that bad. Of course that immediately made me dig it out of the TBR, to see how people could have such opposite reactions to the same book.

Sirantha Jax has a special gene that allows her to navigate grimspace, which is (I am science-challenged) some sort of other dimension that allows for faster-than-light travel. So she plugs in while on a ship, and the pilot is then able to jump to far reaches of the galaxy. It's a rare trait and gives her a sort of rock-star status among the corporation that has come to dominate interstellar travel. However, at the start of the novel, things aren't going well at all for Sirantha because on her last journey her ship crashed, killing everyone on board except her. She can't remember what happened, and the people she worked for are telling her it was all her fault. She thinks she's about to be sentenced for the crime when she is rescued by a team of rebels who we soon find out are working against the corporation, which they say is completely corrupt. They want to find a way to train a new independent corp of jumpers.

Okay, that's maybe the first 20 pages of plot. This book starts fast and you have to jump on quick because it doesn't slow down. I think this is the book's best trait--the action is nonstop and exciting. It's told in the first person present tense, which is unusual but works really well to make the story seem fast and immediate. The plot is intricate and the world-building, imo, really interesting.

But for all that, I struggled to get through the book. And the reason is maybe not a very good one, but it's just the way I felt: I couldn't really like any of the characters. I just didn't connect with them--I didn't care if they came to good ends or bad. Sirantha and March (the other main character and Sirantha's love interest) both are so damaged, mentally, emotionally and physically, that I couldn't really see how they'd ever get to a better place and I got really tired of hearing about their sad stories. They are both flawed, which can be a very good thing in a character, but I never felt like they properly redeemed themselves.

And some of the choices they made bothered me. They spend most of the book running around the galaxy in a disjointed effort to bring down the evil corporation, sacrificing the lives of several people in the process, and what do they accomplish? Almost nothing.

SPOILERS!!

My favorite character in the whole book was the bounty hunter who comes on the scene in the last 30 pages and fixes everything. He destroys the corporation simply by using his brain and the power of information--it made Sirantha and March's efforts seem idiotic and ruthlessly and needlessly violent. My other huge problem with the ending is the way March reacts when he thinks Sirantha has been killed. He turns into a terrorist? That's just great. He again shows how unstable he is--it's nice that he's learned to love someone, but I just can't admire a character who is, well, sort of insane.

I am glad I read Grimspace. I tend to stay away from grittier science fiction, just a personal preference that surely is a large part of the reason I didn't really enjoy this book. But I can see why the book appeals to some readers. Everyone is free to disagree with me. ;)

TBR update

2008-05-03T11:20:00.003-04:00

My TBR was sort of taking over my (very small) bedroom, so I did some pruning. I managed to weed out about 60 books that I decided I was never going to read. Then I was actually able to get everything that was left into the little bookshelf I have--instead of in piles on the floor all around. See the result:
The mass markets are double-stacked and those piles on top are getting a little precarious, but hey, they're in there.

I felt so good about it that what did I do? I went out and bought some books. (It's a sickness, I tell you.)

I bought:
Certain Girls, Jennifer Weiner (she cracks me up)
A Great and Terrible Beauty, Libba Bray (I've heard great things about this)
Moon Called, Patricia Briggs (it's urban fantasy, which I'm not so keen on, but I've heard it's good)
Passages, Lois McMaster Bujold (autobuy--and it's on sale at Amazon for $17!)
False Colours, Georgette Heyer (the new pretty Sourcebooks edition--and it's about twins!)

I needed all those books. I really did.

The Crystal Cave, Mary Stewart

2008-04-30T20:47:00.003-04:00

Title: The Crystal Cave
Author: Mary Stewart
Published: 1970, William Morrow
Category: Historical Fiction
Rating: 8/10

I've just posted a review of this one on the Mary Stewart blog.

With This Ring, Carla Kelly

2008-04-29T17:42:00.004-04:00

Title: With This Ring
Author: Carla Kelly
Published: 1997, Signet
Category: Regency Romance
Rating: 6/10

I am still working my way through Carla Kelly's backlist. :)

Lydia Perkins comes to London with her (horrible!) family so that her younger sister can have a Season and hopefully snag herself a rich husband. Her sister is the spoiled beauty, while Lydia is the sensible spinster who is a bit martyred as she deals with her overbearing mother, demanding sister, and weak father. One day she goes to help nurse wounded soldiers and meets Major Sam Reed. She earns everyone's gratitude and goodwill by being such a steady and caring nurse--Sam is especially smitten. Soon after, Lydia manages to disgrace herself in the eyes of polite society (by offending an amoral young lord), and her family practically kicks her out. Sam has the perfect solution: marry him, as he has great need of a wife anyway.

I have to say this one didn't work for me quite as well of most of Kelly's books. I liked the characters--the H/H are a standard Kelly couple: Sam is very honorable and a bit world-weary; Lydia is pragmatic and sensitive. My problem with the book is some of the incredibility (is that a word?) of the plot.

What I generally love about most Kelly books is that they are so real (by romance novel standards). The characters are normal, everyday people--not your lords and ladies of most Regencies. The problems that befall them are problems that normal people have, and they deal with those problems in realistic ways. But Sam and Lydia did the most incredible things! Sam has been lying to his mother for two years, making up stories about how he's been married and had a baby. He actually expects Lydia to play along with this story once they've returned to his home--lying to his mother forever about who she is. And she agrees to it! Then they just drop by an orphanage one day and pick up a child, like it's not one of the biggest decisions you could possibly make. Are these the actions of rational people?

So, yes, the plot annoyed me. In anyone else's hands the book would have been a total loss. But it was saved by the interesting historical detail and nice characters. I did enjoy it, just not as much as the other Kelly books I've read.

Finally! Hawaii pix.

2008-04-28T12:33:00.008-04:00

Julie (Twin) and I finally got our Hawaii pix on flickr. It took us long enough, didn't it? Julie is the photographer, so I can't take credit for them. I'll post some here, but if you want you can view the full set here.

One of our favorite places we went was The Garden of Eden, which is on the western coast of Maui. Amazing plants and beautiful views. Here's the whole fam (except Julie, who's taking the picture). From left to right is Mirth (my brother's girlfriend), Justin (my brother), Mom, Dad, and me.

Twins! (I think we look pretty different here. Julie's started wearing her contacts again, which helps.)

The town of Lahaina was near where we stayed and a really cool place. Mostly tourist shops and restaurants, but still neat. And there is a completely fabulous used bookstore called the Old Lahaina Book Emporium.

And here's me at my future place of employment (in my dreams).

We had this really nice condo that was right on the ocean, with a great deck that was literally a few yards from the beach. Here's me and my big brother doing a crossword there.

And chatting with my dad.

Beautiful sunsets!

And everyone who goes to Maui has to drive up Mt. Haleakala, the 10,000-foot, active volcano on the island. You're supposed to go at sunrise for the best views, but that just wasn't happening. :) Still amazing views, though.

Me pretending to fall into the ~~crater~~ erosional valley (the park rangers corrected us).

Hawaii really is an amazing place. It's also a reeeeaaaallly long way from the East Coast, but totally worth it.

The Tea Rose, Jennifer Donnelly

2008-04-21T21:59:00.003-04:00

Title: The Tea Rose
Author: Jennifer Donnelly
Published: 2002, St. Martin's Press
Category: Historical Fiction
Rating: 7.5/10

I almost always read series in order (I think most avid readers are careful about this), but this is an exception. I read The Winter Rose a couple months ago and loved it, so it was obvious I needed to read this book, which is the first in the trilogy.

Fiona Finnegan is a very young girl living in Whitechapel, one of the poorer areas of London, around the turn of the 20th century. Her life isn't easy, but her fortunes seem to be on the rise: she's in love with Joe Bristow, a bright and irresistible young man, they're saving up to get married and open a store, and they just know that happiness is right around the corner. Then a series of horrible events leaves her orphaned and penniless, abandoned by her lover and with no one to turn to. She jumps on a ship for New York and starts again there, determined to make her dreams come true.

This is one of those beefy historical novels that I love. It is epic at 557 pages, and it is a big story that spans over a decade. I found it intensely readable--jam-packed with lovable characters, as well as some truly hate-worthy villains.

At one point Fiona is likened to the tea rose, a rare kind of rose that smells of tea. I can't find the exact quote now (I flagged it, but my post-it fell off!) but it was something about how tea roses can seem delicate, but in fact are extremely tenacious and hard to kill. In the middle there when Fiona's life is falling apart, I was a little annoyed by the seemingly never-ending tragedies that happen to her. But they are not dwelled on too much, and Fiona's ability to pick herself up and move on with her life does make her a very admirable character. I think if all that happened to me I'd just whimper and expire. ;)

I did like The Winter Rose a bit better because I found India and Sid to be more interesting main characters than Fiona and Joe. Their motivations in life are more admirable (helping the poor vs. revenge and making a lot of money), and the impediment to their relationship is more exciting (Sid's gangsta past vs. Joe's big mistake).

I do wish that I had read this one before The Winter Rose -- one of the final scenes that should have been really surprising was not because I knew an important fact from the 2nd book. So I'd recommend reading these in order, though they do stand alone very well. I will definitely be reading the third in the trilogy when it comes out. Does anyone know the title, or when it will be published?

Personal Demon, Kelley Armstrong

2008-04-18T18:00:00.003-04:00

Title: Personal Demon
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Published: 2008, Bantam Spectra
Category: Paranormal Suspense
Rating: 7.5/10

New Kelley Armstrong! Yay. She's still an autobuy for me, even though she made the jump to hardcover.

This is the 8th in her Otherworld series, which is a set of books narrated alternately by characters with different paranormal powers. This one is told from the POV of Hope Adams, a half-demon who can sense chaos, and Lucas Cortez, a sorcerer. We start off with Hope getting a request from Benicio Cortez, the head of the Cortez cabal (think supernatural mob, sort of), to go undercover and join a gang of supernaturals who appear to be gearing up for some sort of attack on the cabal. Hope owes Benicio a favor, so she doesn't have much choice. Plus, she knows that it will help satisfy her secret need for chaos, which is sort of like a drug to her--she knows it's not really good for her, but she can't help herself. At first, the gang appears pretty harmless, until they start getting murdered one by one. Lucas arrives on the scene to help figure out exactly what's going on.

This book seems to be getting less enthusiastic reviews than some of Armstrong's others, and I agree that she hit a real high on her last one (No Humans Involved) that's hard to match, but I really enjoyed this book. I think Hope's fascinating -- she's a very conflicted person, from her struggle to keep her powers under control to her tumultuous relationship with werewolf jewel-thief Karl Marsten. It made her a refreshingly complex heroine. She's also my complete opposite -- I am risk-averse in the extreme, so it was great to find a character who was so different from myself who I still was able to relate to. Really, that must be a sign of a good author.

I'm thinking romance readers might be a bit less enthusiastic about this one, though I thought Hope and Karl's story was great. That scene were Karl explains why he dumped Hope? Adorable. Even if he was kind of an ass. But see? Interesting and realistic characters. :)

This is the first book in the series where the story has alternated between two narrators. And I didn't feel like it worked all that well. I love Lucas to death (he's one of my favorite characters of the whole series), but the sections narrated by him seemed to chop up the story a bit unnaturally. To me, it felt very much like Hope's book--she's the new character we're learning about, and I found it jarring to be jumping into Lucas's head, especially since Hope and Lucas didn't even know each other very well. But then, as I say, I love Lucas, so it didn't bother me overmuch.

The next installment of the series, Living with the Dead, is due out in November. Yippee.

TBR Day: My Lord Monleigh, Jan Cox Speas

2008-04-16T20:53:00.004-04:00

Title: My Lord Monleigh
Author: Jan Cox Speas
Published: 1956, Avon
Category: Historical Romance
Rating: 7.5/10

TBR Wednesday! See AvidReader to join the fun.

I've been meaning to read this book since I read Speas' Bride of the MacHugh and loved it. I needed a guaranteed good read for the longest plane ride ever (okay, not really, but the longest plane ride I've ever been on), so I finally got around to it.

My Lord Monleigh is set in Scotland during the mid-17th century. My English history is a bit shaky, but this is the time when Cromwell was in control of the government and radical puritanism was the order of the day. Anne Lindsey is a poor relation who is forced to live with Margaret Clennon and her brother Walter, a pair of withered and strait-laced religious zealots. Anne is in the unenviable position of being almost a servant, forced to cater to petulant Margaret's every demand. One day she escapes and wanders into the Scottish countryside and meets Simon, the earl of Monleigh. Simon is notoriously wicked--he's a royalist, he plays the lute, he (gasp!) knows how to have a good time. Anne has been forced by her hard life to take her security where she can get it, but now she's tempted to throw her lot in with this rebel.

This was lovely. Very good historical detail and a very mature love story. Anne and Simon have a lot of fantastic dialogue--really smart and at times very funny. Anne is no young miss, discovering that love solves all her problems. Realistically, it changes her outlook on life, but at the same time disrupts her precariously peaceful existence. She must make some tough decisions, and she makes them all on her own.

The ending is just great. The first chapter is Anne finding out that Monleigh has been sentenced to hang for treason, and the majority of the rest of the book is done in a flashback. So there's lots of star-crossed lovers, how-is-it-going-to-work-out tension throughout the book. I loved the way it all came out in the end.

I'm home!

2008-04-14T13:25:00.002-04:00

We had a fabulous time. I'll post lots of pictures soon. In the meantime, what on earth made me think that one weekend and 2 work days would be enough time to get over my jet lag, proofread a book, and do my taxes? Ugh. My time management skills need some work. I will resurface on Wednesday. :)

Gone to Hawaii!

2008-04-01T13:59:00.003-04:00

I'm on my way! Yippee!

Of course the hardest bit of packing was deciding what books to take. Plus, my mom (who if left to her own devices would read the same 10 books over and over for an eternity) asked me to bring some things she might like. And then my brother asked me to bring a Carl Hiaasen for him. It's like I'm their personal librarian or something. ;)

The Tea Rose, Jennifer Connelly
Shape of Water, Andrea Camilleri
The Thief, Megan Whalen Turner
My Lord Monleigh, Jan Cox Speas
Daughter of the Game, Tracy Grant
Sick Puppy, Carl Hiaasen

Of course that's way too many. I probably won't have all that much time for reading anyway. But you have to be prepared. And there is that 9-hour plane ride. ;)

Everyone have a good week! I'll post some pictures when I get home.

"Chaotic" Kelley Armstrong

2008-03-31T08:17:00.001-04:00

AAAIIIEEEE!! I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get ready for my trip. The trip to HAWAII! That I leave for in just over a day! (If you could see me right now, you'd know that I just ran a circle around my living room.)

I did manage to read "Chaotic" -- Kelley Armstrong's short story in the anthology Dates from Hell. The story is part of her Women of the Otherworld series. I really liked it. While Hope's power is maybe not very flashy (she senses chaos, so she has visions of bad stuff happening and can read people's minds when they're having chaotic thoughts), her struggle dealing with it, and resisting the urge to revel in it, is really interesting. Both she and Karl (her love interest and a werewolf jewel thief) are just ever so slightly morally ambiguous, which I find quite refreshing. I had to read this story before I started Personal Demon, which I've just bought and is narrated by Hope. That one's definitely going with me on the trip. :)

The Winter Sea, Susanna Kearsley

2008-03-25T23:55:00.004-04:00

Title: The Winter Sea
Author: Susanna Kearsley
Published: 2008, Allison & Busby
Category: Fiction
Rating: 9/10

I have been looking forward to this book for ages! It has sadly not been published in the US; I ordered my copy from Amazon UK and the American dollar being what it is right now I had to pay a pretty penny for it. But it was so completely worth it. And ask anybody, I'm a terrible pinchpenny. ;)

Carrie McClelland is a historical novelist struggling with a new book about the attempted Jacobite invasion of Scotland in 1708. She had originally intended to set the book in France (where James Stewart was living), but while in Scotland visiting her agent she sees Slains Castle, a stark and beautiful ruin on the western coast, and feels an immediate connection with the place. She knows that she has to set her story there and decides to name her heroine Sophia Paterson, after one of her own ancestors who lived in the same time period. In Carrie's book, we see Sophia as she arrives at Slains Castle, which becomes the center point for the invasion. Lots of political plotting going on, and lots of Scottish rebels coming and going -- including one who steals Sophia's heart. Carrie is amazed by how well the story flows. But as she turns to researching the historical facts of her book, she realizes that she's writing the story exactly as it really happened -- without knowing the history first. She begins to think she must have her ancestor's memories.

This is a gentle, quiet kind of book. Kearsley does a good job of drawing out the suspense (both of Sophia's seemingly doomed romance and Carrie's reaction to her discovery that she's apparently a conduit for her ancestor's story), but it's definitely not a nail-biting kind of story. Which suits me just wonderfully. The settings are so vivid and the characters so interesting that I was perfectly content to float along through the story.

The narrative alternates between Carrie in the present and Sophia in the past, with the two storylines faintly paralleling each other. Sometimes this set-up bothers me, as I generally care more about one story than the other. But like Rosario said in her review, as I was reading about Carrie I wanted to stay with her, but then when I was reading about Sophia I wanted more of her. I loved hearing both stories and they worked together really well.

And there is just some lovely, lovely writing.

On Tuesday night, the last night that I spent in France, I dreamt of Slains. I woke, still in my dream, to hear the roaring of the sea beneath my windows and the wind that raged against the walls until the air within the room bit cold against my skin. The fire was failing on the hearth, small licks of dying flame that cast half-hearted shadows on the floorboards and gave little light to see by.
'Let it be,' a man's voice mumbled, low, against my neck. 'We will have warmth enough.' And then his arm came round me, solid, safe, and drew me firmly back against the shelter of his chest, and I felt peace, and turned my face against the pillow, and slept.

I've enjoyed all of the Kearsley books I've read, but this one definitely stands out as a favorite. It's got the interesting historical aspects that I loved in Mariana and the wonderful setting from The Shadowy Horses. And it's a little heavier on the romance than some of hers (you all know how I adore a love story). Well, Sophia's love story is very romantic -- it made me do plenty of happy sighs. :)

**The Winter Sea is being released in Canada in May.

EDITED TO ADD: this nifty book trailer. It contains photos of Slains Castle, where the book is set.

Mary Stewart fan site!

2008-03-23T22:01:00.004-04:00

Exciting news! Twin and I have been working the last couple months to build a website -- a fan site (completely unauthorized, of course) for Mary Stewart, our favorite author. And it's finally ready for visitors! It's at MaryStewartNovels.com.

I first got the idea for the site from looking at the stats for this blog -- a lot of people seem to arrive here by googling "Mary Stewart summary" or something like. And I haven't even talked about her all that much. I did a little research and there was almost nothing on the web about Stewart. Horror! Because she's sooo wonderful! Even the synopses to be found on Amazon and B&N tell you almost nothing. We had a lot of fun putting our site together, and I hope that people find it useful.

Now I know that some of you are also Mary Stewart fans -- so do me a huge favor and go take a look at the site. I've never built a website before, so I would love some feedback. I'm open to any and all suggestions for improvement. I've also started a Mary Stewart Novels blog as a way of chatting with other fans.

And if anyone would like to link to the site from your blog, that would be AWESOME. Help me give the Googlebot a tickle. I would love for people to be able to find the site by googling.

Fire Study, Maria V. Snyder

2008-03-20T12:01:00.001-04:00

Title: Fire Study
Author: Maria V. Snyder
Published: 2008, Mira
Category: Fantasy
Rating: 7/10

I've done a buddy review of this one over at Breezing Through with my friend Nath. So head on over there. ;)

TBR Day: Stitches in Time, Barbara Michaels

2008-03-19T23:38:00.006-04:00

Title: Stitches in Time
Author: Barbara Michaels
Published: 1996, HarperCollins
Category: Suspense
Rating: 7/10

I am really late in posting this. I meant to post this review this morning as part of Keishon's TBR day (details here). Does this still count? It's not quite midnight yet. ;)

I had many reasons to read this book. I've been wanting to read more Michaels (everyone says good things about her); someone was reading it lately (Samantha?) and they said the hero was a cuddly bear (love it!); and the action centers around a quilt (I quilt).

Rachel is a graduate student working on her dissertation and working part-time in a high-end vintage clothing store. One day three gorgeous nineteenth-century quilts are left on the porch by a would-be theif. Rachel is strangely drawn to one of them, an album quilt, and strange things start to happen. Her boss's husband (who Rachel has a little crush on) makes a pass, then Rachel discovers that she's started to violently sabotage her boss, without having any conscious knowledge of it. They start to think that the quiltmaker had imbued the quilt with some sort of black magic, and they don't know how to stop it. Rachel and her friends must figure out how to rid her of this possession before history repeats itself with tragic results.

I freely admit that I'm a total weenie about ghost stories, I really am. In the light of day, I have no trouble dismissing any kind of paranormal occurrence as a bunch of hooey, but when I'm wrapped up in a book I can get scared. And possession by an evil spirit is something that I find especially creepy. To not have control over your own actions would be horrible. Poor Rachel blithely grinds up glass and puts it in these people's food, and she doesn't even know she's doing it. But the whole paranormal suspense here was done well; it gave me major shivers without ever going over the top. The main characters are all highly educated people who provide all kinds of anthropological evidence about folk magic done all over the world -- even my very rational mind began to think that maybe there is something to all this superstition.

Michaels's characters are so real. They're definitely not perfect -- they have petty arguments and get snappish with each other. But they still somehow manage to be really likable. And Rachel's love interest, Adam, is adorable. A sort of absent-minded professor type, constantly cheerful and helpful but also occasionally clueless.

This is the second Michaels book I've read, and I have to say that I'm not really feeling it. Maybe she is one of those authors I can appreciate as a good writer, but whose books just don't do much for me. I think I'll go back to her Amelia Peabody series (written under the name Elizabeth Peters). They are more my cuppa.

Meet Winky

2008-03-12T15:59:00.006-04:00

I've had almost no time for reading the last couple of weeks (so sad!); I'm actually completely caught up on my reviews, something that has not happened in a long time. So instead of talking about books, I'll tell you about my new sewing machine.

Isn't it beautiful? It's a Singer Featherweight, made in the 1950s. They're simple little machines (they don't even do zigzag), but they last forever and are really strong. Great for quilting, which is what I mostly use it for. I named mine Winky, because sometimes when you whiz along too fast his little light starts to flicker.

They were made to be portable machines, which is perfect for me because I have to lug it to the quilting classes I take at my local quilting shop. Although the machines are small, they come in these really heavy wooden boxes that weigh more than the machines do. So my mom found this great fabric case on the web and ordered me one. (Thanks, Mama!)

I've had even less time for quilting lately as I've had for reading (because as much as I like quilting, reading totally trumps it), but I will show you this one that my mom, Twin and I made together a couple weeks ago. It's from a book called Easy Pieces (though we didn't think it was all that easy). We really like how it came out.

How do you read blogs?

2008-03-11T14:00:00.006-04:00

I'm curious about how you all follow the blogs you read. Do you all use RSS feed readers? I used to use Bloglines, but switched over to GoogleReader a few months ago. Bloglines was fine, but I think GoogleReader makes it a little easier to manage your feeds (deleting, adding, filing). Plus I use so many other Google products (blogger, gmail, googledocs) that it's easier just to remember one password. Which I'm sure is all part of their evil plan to take over the world, but hey, I'm lazy.

Do you use a feed reader? Which one? And how many blogs do you follow? I'm currently subscribed to 55 blogs. As you can see from the picture, the unread list piles up fast. I've been completely away from the Internet for only 5 days, and I have 82 unread posts. Eek!

Me in books.

2008-03-06T08:12:00.001-05:00

I was playing with LibraryThing today and noticed that they have a link to the blog of this guy who used the book covers from his LibraryThing account to make photomosaics of himself.

I had to try for myself. It was really easy, though you do have to download this program called AndreaMosaic.

I had to shrink the images so much to get them on the web that you can't actually tell that the tiles are book covers. But they are, trust me. :) Here's me last fall in Prospect Park in Brooklyn:

And me at the beach in Corolla last year:

And Only to Deceive, Tasha Alexander

2008-03-04T13:48:00.004-05:00

Title: And Only to Deceive
Author: Tasha Alexander
Published: 2006, Harper
Category: Historical Fiction/Mystery
Rating: 7/10

I ordered this book after seeing Tasha Alexander's first sale story at Dear Author. She said that her book "included lots of [her] favorite things: Victorian England, art forgery, dashing gentlemen, gorgeous gowns, ancient Greece, and Paris." SOLD! Especially the part about ancient Greece--loves me some antiquities. :)

Lady Emily Ashton's brand-new husband has just died while on safari in Africa. She's not too cut up about it, though, as she never really got to know him during their short marriage and she only married him in the first place to get away from her overbearing mother. But now as she hears all the wonderful things people are saying about him and reads his fascinating journal (which includes romantic notes about how very much he loved her), she begins to regret losing him before she even knew what she had. She finds out that he was very interested in classical studies and begins studying Greek literature and art. But just as she comes to think he was the perfect man, she starts to suspect that he was involved with an art forgery ring. And the dangerous consequences of it are catching up with her.

I have to admit that the other reason I bought this book was this great quote from the back cover: "Had Jane Austen written The Da Vinci Code, she may well have come up with this elegant novel." Not that I usually pay much attention to quotes or that I was any great lover of The Da Vinci Code, but it certainly intrigued me. I liked the idea of combining the slightly snarky commentary on etiquette and smart romance of Jane Austen with a suspenseful, chase-across-Europe kind of story. And that's very much what the book is. I was not completely wowed by the suspense part (a bit tepid; don't expect a ton of danger or thrills), though Emily did make for a fun amateur sleuth.

What did work completely for me was the story as historical fiction, with a nice little subtle romance thrown in. Victorian England is portrayed very nicely, and Emily moves through the restricting society with a hint of rebellion that makes her a very engaging character. I've got the sequel, A Poisoned Season, on my to-buy list.

Countdown to Hawaii.

2008-03-03T08:00:00.003-05:00

Some of you might notice the new countdown widget on my sidebar that says, "30 days until Hawaii!!" That's right, I'm going to Hawaii. Eeeee!! This time next month I will be in paradise.

It's actually a family vacation. And we are not one of those families that normally jets off to tropical islands or goes skiing in Vail. Um, no. We've gotten around the country quite a lot on our many camping trips, but we've never gone nearly so exotic before. So this is a huge deal for us. We've all been looking forward to it for months and months.

But this post wasn't just to make you all jealous. ;) I've been collecting some books to read this month that are set in Hawaii, to make the wait a little less intolerable. So far, I've got:

Hawaii, James Michener (I'm not exactly sure I'm going to get to this one, actually, as it's about a million pages long, but who knows)
The Shadow and the Star, Laura Kinsale
Your Mouth Drives Me Crazy, HelenKay Dimon

Anyone have any other recommendations for books set in Hawaii? Or just advice about Hawaii would be good too. We'll be on Maui for 7 days. *sigh*

The Uncommon Reader, Alan Bennett

2008-02-27T20:57:00.003-05:00

Title: The Uncommon Reader
Author: Alan Bennett
Published: 2006, Faber and Faber
Category: General Fiction/Novella
Rating: 7/10

And now for something completely different. :D I borrowed this one from the library because it was one of Meghan's favorite reads from last year. I'm always interested in bibliophile-type books.

This is short little story about Queen Elizabeth (the current one) that starts one day when her Corgis take off running toward a bookmobile. The Queen follows along and then feels compelled to board the bookmobile and actually check out a book, just to be polite. She's never had much time for books in the past, but now all of a sudden she becomes consumed by reading. Her staff and everyone in the government don't understand at all and are greatly disturbed by it.

There are some really interesting insights about how discovering reading affects such an unusual person. Part of the allure seems to be her desire to forget her unique position: "The appeal of reading, she thought, lay in its indifference: there was something lofty about literature. Books did not care who was reading them and whether one read them are not. All readers were equal, herself included." And reading about the stories of average people is enlightening for someone who has always had such a rarified existence.

Besides the pithy statements about the importance of reading, this book is really quite funny. Understated British humor. At one point the Queen's security detail confiscates the book the Queen is reading because the sniffer dogs think it's a device of some kind. It gets "exploded." I'd be upset by that too. ;)

Fun read. And this isn't important at all, but I have to mention that the book has gorgeous endpapers that look like vintage wallpaper.

Doing Ireland! by Kate Hoffmann

2008-02-26T01:23:00.004-05:00

Title: Doing Ireland!
Author: Kate Hoffmann
Published: 2007, Harlequin Blaze
Category: Category Romance
Rating: 4/10

I am still trying to keep an open mind about Harlequin categories. There's been a lot of talk in blogland lately about how if you completely ignore the ridiculous titles and cheesy covers, you can find some good stories in them. I've only read a few and so far have not found much to convince me of this. But I still try. I won a whole bundle of Harlequins from Devon (thanks, Devon!) and I had to read this one first. Because look at that title! That's just funny. And it's from the "Lust in Translation" series. *snicker*

Claire O'Connor gets dumped and loses her job, so what does she do? She jumps on a plane and goes to the Isle of Trall in Ireland to get some water from this spring that (according to legend) will make people fall in love. She thinks she'll bring some water back and make her ex see the error of his ways. But once she arrives at the charming little inn and meets its owner, Will, she's not so excited about going back. Because he is HOT, you see. Then they give each other water from the spring and they just don't know if it's true love or magic. Or lust. Oh noooes!

Okay, I was seriously rolling my eyes through this. It was quite readable (I did finish it) and there was some funny dialogue. But it was all such standard, everyday, cliched romantic fantasy that it just wasn't very interesting. Oooh, you're pretty. Let's make out! Oooh, you're nice too! Let's have sex! The characters were beautiful, rich, funny, confident. I saw no weakness, no quirkiness, nothing unique to make them interesting, and they didn't change or grow in any way. It just all struck me as very vanilla (I don't mean mild as in no sex; there was LOTS of sex, it is a Blaze after all). I just mean that it was all really predictable.

That's my opinion. (I say this because I haven't given this low a grade in a while. I feel mean. Other people might think this is the greatest book evah. This amazon reviewer said it was "FABULOUS!")

And I'm not ready to give up on categories. Not yet, anyway.

New template!

2008-02-25T17:48:00.003-05:00

I know it doesn't look much different. I tried some of the other Blogger templates, but I just don't like them as well as this one. I am going to create a new banner (when I have time, so maybe . . . who knows). But otherwise, what do you think? I like the wider pane for the posts.

I finally updated to the new template feature on Blogger. I remember looking at it back when Blogger beta first happened and thinking it was awful. But it's actually pretty cool now. The tools for adding stuff to your sidebar is really nice and easy. If anyone is using Blogger and still hanging on to a classic template (where you have to edit the HTML to make any change), check it out.

Perils of Pleasure

2008-02-24T10:10:00.004-05:00

Title: The Perils of Pleasure
Author: Julie Anne Long
Published: 2008, Avon
Category: Historical Romance
Rating: 7/10

Colin Eversea is the devil-may-care youngest son of the infamous Eversea clan, a family celebrated for doing as they please and always getting out of scrapes. As the book opens, however, it looks like Colin may not be as lucky as the rest of his family. He's been charged with murder (the key witness who would have proved his innocence has disappeared) and sentenced to hang. Minutes before he's due to swing he's rescued in an explosive and daring manner by a woman, Madeleine Greenway. Madeleine was hired to rescue Colin, but before she can deliver him and collect her reward, someone tries to kill her. Madeleine and Colin make an uneasy alliance and decide to figure out who wanted Colin alive and Madeleine dead. Their journey takes them through some of the seediest parts of London, where they meet all sorts of characters.

I wasn't completely wowed by this book (AAR gave it DIK status), but I did really enjoy it. Colin especially I thought was a great character -- he's really funny and charming. He's kind of lived his life with the goal of just having a good time, so when he has to deal with these weighty things (um, like dying) he's kind of shocked into introspection for the first time. He finally figures out what he really wants. I wasn't so thrilled with Madeleine. She's a very mysterious character at first, but we finally find out that she has had quite a sad past. And this was my problem with her; she had this tragic past that I never felt was appropriately dealt with. Not that I wanted her to be all mopey and woe-is-me, I just thought she was a bit inconsistent.

But all the crazy things the two uncover during their investigation are a lot of fun. The final revelation was quite surprising, though it was maybe glossed over a bit quickly. I wonder whether we'll hear more about it in the later books in the series. (Book 2, The Dangers of Desire, is due in November.)

Only other thing I have to say about this book is that I think the proofreader was asleep. I don't mean it to reflect on the author, because it's not her fault and it didn't really affect my enjoyment. But come on, Avon.

Winners!

2008-02-21T23:11:00.002-05:00

Thanks to everyone who entered my meet cute contest! The big winner is:

Rachel!

She correctly identified 5 of the titles. Brava!

And the consolation prize (randomly drawn from everyone who entered) goes to:

Samantha!

Yay! I believe you are both print books people, so an Amazon gift certificate will arrive in your inboxes sometime tomorrow.

And here are the answers:
1. This Rough Magic by Mary Stewart. Lucy Waring thinks Max Gale is trying to shoot the dolphin she's been befriending.
2. Devil's Cub by Georgette Heyer. Dominic thinks he's stealing away to France with Sophie Challoner, only to discover that Sophie's sister Mary has taken her place.
3. Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers. Lord Peter Wimsey is determined to prove that Harriet didn't murder her lover.
4. Mr. Impossible by Loretta Chase. Daphne Pembroke gets Rupert Carsington out of an Egyptian prison to help her find her kidnapped brother.
5. Faking It by Jennifer Crusie. Tilda and Davy meet in the closet of the house from which they are both trying to steal something.
6. High Noon by Nora Roberts. The only one that nobody got right! And I thought it was an easier one. Phoebe and Duncan meet as she's trying to talk down a suicide jumper who no longer wants to live because Duncan just fired him.
7. Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand by Carla Kelly. Fletcher thinks the tenant of his house is an old widow with two grown daughters, when in fact it is the young and beautiful Roxanna.
8. The Ordinary Princess by M.M. Kaye. I really didn't think anyone would recognize this one because it's actually a children's book. But Kerry got it! Nice. The Ordinary Princess is given many gifts by fairies at her christening, but then the last one is that she will be ordinary. She runs away from home and has lots of adventures--including making friends with Mr. Pemberthy the squirrel and meeting Perry, the man-of-all-work. The sweetest book ever, with really gorgeous illustrations.

All such great books. :)
Congrats to the winners and thanks again to everyone!

Meme - 6 unimportant things about me.

2008-02-20T17:15:00.004-05:00

Jill tagged me for this meme.

Here are the rules:

1. Link back to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. Share six unimportant things about you
4. Tag six random people at the end of your blog entry
5. Let the tagged people know by leaving a comment on their blog.

1. I sometimes daydream about having a lady's maid. Someone who would keep my clothes nice and pick out what I would wear every day. Because I like to look nice, but I hate shopping and there are about a million things I'd rather do than fuss with clothes. As it is, I just can't be bothered and end up wearing jeans and a sweater every day.

2. I've started taking step aerobics classes and I love them. I'd never done it before and it always struck me as an odd, 1980s sort of thing. But it's actually really fun.

3. I have recently rediscovered pears. I decided as a child that I didn't like them (I don't know why), but now I think they're one of my favorite fruits. Even the canned kind is good.

4. I really need a haircut.

5. My brother and sister and I all have this habit (given to us by our father) of being reminded of show tune lyrics in the middle of conversations and proceeding to sing them. An example: Today I met Twin for lunch and I mentioned the Carolina basketball game tonight and how they were going to trounce NC State. She sang, "Pounce him! Trounce him! Pick him up and bounce him!" (From Oliver!) Don't worry, we don't do it in front of strangers.

6. My favorite TV show right now is Psych. It makes me laugh.

I can't remember who hasn't been tagged -- so whoever hasn't done this yet, you're it. :)

Meet Cute Contest -- BIG HINT

2008-02-19T11:14:00.002-05:00

Okay, I'm realizing that my contest is kind of hard. So here's a big hint for you:

These are all excerpts from books by my favorite authors. And psst -- I list my favorite authors on my sidebar. :)

Kerry and Samantha--If this changes your guesses, you can resend your answers.

Meet Cute Contest!

2008-02-18T21:29:00.004-05:00

Today is the 2nd anniversary of my blog! I can't believe it's been that long. I started blogging sort of on a whim and had no idea how much I would come to enjoy it. But I discovered such a wonderful community of readers here -- lots of really smart women who love books (especially romance) as much as I do. And the great recommendations! Ah! JMC gave me Carla Kelly. Rosario gave me Susanna Kearsley and Eva Ibbotson. Li gave me Sharon Shinn. Wendy gave me Lani Diane Rich. Kristie gave me J.D. Robb. Nath shares my love of Kelley Armstrong and is trying to sell me on manga. Cindy always makes me laugh (and she gave me LORD OF DANGER, too). :D I could go on and on, but I want to send blog hugs (Twin coined the term blugs) to all my fellow readers. Blugs to everyone!

Enough with the mushy stuff, now for the important part. A contest!

I'm giving away 2 gift certificates for Amazon (or whatever ebook retailer the winner wants) each for $25. I'm calling this my meet cute contest. I've listed below 8 excerpts from books. These are the moments in each book where the hero and heroine first meet, usually under unusual circumstances. I've taken out all proper names to make it a little harder. All you have to do is tell me what book each excerpt comes from, and who wrote it.

One gift certificate will go to the person who gets the most correct. And everyone who enters will be put into a drawing for the other. So even if you have no clue, take a stab. You can even just guess an author. Any guess will get you into the drawing for the 2nd gift certificate.

So, again, here are the RULES.

1) Email your answers to me. jenniesbooklog (at) gmail. Do NOT put your answers in the comments.
2) Answer should include each book's title and author.
3) Don't use google, people. Because that's just wrong. You'll go to hell, you will. :p
4) Contest closes at 10 pm (EST) on Thursday, Feb. 21.
5) Anyone and everyone is welcome to enter!

And here are the excerpts:

Number 1:

He said, not aggressively but not politely, "This is private ground, you know. Perhaps you'd be good enough to leave by the way you came? This only takes you up to the terrace, and then more or less through the house."
I got enough breath to speak, and wasted neither time nor words. "Why were you shooting at that dolphin?"
He looked as blank as if I had suddenly slapped his face. "Why was I what?"
"That was you just now, wasn't it, shooting at the dolphin down in the bay?"
"My dear g---" He checked himself, and said, like someone dealing with a lunatic, "Just what are you talking about?"

Number 2:

"Let it be on the instant," [the hero] said, "or I miss the tide."
"My lord, it shall be!" the landlord assured him, and bustled out.
[The heroine] heard the door shut, and turned. [The hero] had thrown down his whip and gloves, and was watching her in some amusement. "Well, Mistress Discretion?" he said. "Do you take off that mask, or must I?"
She put up her hands to the strings, and untied it. "I think it has served its turn," she said composedly, and put back her hood.
The smile was wiped from his face; he stood staring at her. "What the devil---?" he began.

Number 3:

[The hero] sat down and waited, a prey to curious sensations. Presently there was a noise of footsteps, and the prisoner was brought in, attended by a female wardess. She took the chair opposite to [the hero], the wardess withdrew and the door was shut. [The hero], who had risen, cleared his throat.
"Good afternoon," he said unimpressively.
The prisoner looked at him.
"Please sit down," she said, in the curious, deep voice which had attracted him in Court.

Number 4:

Chains clanked. A dark figure rose. A very tall, dark figure. [The heroine] could not make out his features in the gloom. Surrounded by protectors, she had no reason to be alarmed. All the same, her heart picked up speed, her skin prickled, and every nerve ending spring into quivering awareness.
"Mr. Beechey," she said, her voice not as steady as she could wish, "are you sure this is the man I want?"
An impossibly deep voice, most definitely not Mr. Beechey's, answered with a laugh, "That would depend, madam, on what it is you want me for."

Number 5:

She opened the first two doors and shoved the clothes apart to search the back of the closet.
A man stood there.
[The heroine] turned to run, and he slapped his hand over her mouth from behind and yanked her against him. She kicked back and connected with his shin, and he swore and lost his balance and dragged her to the carpet as he fell.
He weighed a ton.
"Okay," he said calmly in her ear, while she struggled under him, trying to pry his hand from her mouth before her lungs collapsed. "Let's not panic."
...
"Because I'm really not this kind of guy," he went on. "There's no criminal intent here. Well, not against you."

Number 6:

The redhead shot into the room like a sleek bullet. She shrugged out of a light jacket while she talked to the captain, then shrugged into a bulletproof vest. All her movements lightning quick.
[The hero] couldn't hear what they were saying. And he couldn't take his eyes off her.
Purpose was the first term that came to his mind. Then energy. Then sexy, though the third was mixed into the first two in equal portions. She shook her head, looked toward [the hero]---long, cool stare with cat-green eyes.
...
She studied the man currently making soothing noises over the subject's weeping. Former employer and landlord, she deduced.
Young for it, she mused. Very cute guy who looked as if he was trying hard not to panic.

Number 7:

He knocked on the door and waited. After a long moment, he heard light footsteps on the stairs.
"Who is it, please?" came a small voice behind the door. She sounded apprehensive, and he couldn't marvel at that, considering the lateness of the hour. The old widow probably didn't have much male company, especially with two spinster daughters.
"I am [hero's name], and I own this property," he said a little louder, in case she should be hard of hearing. "Could I come in? I think Tibbie Winslow was not expecting me so soon."
The key turned in the lock then, and the door opened upon the prettiest woman he had seen in years, perhaps ever. . .

Number 8:

On one of the tables the candles were still burning. And on the edge of the table, swinging his legs and licking strawberry ice cream out of a silver ladle, sat a young man who could only be one of the senior royal pages.
He was a nice-looking young man in a wine-colored velvet doublet with rather tousled hair. [The heroine] stopped just inside the door.
"Hello," said the nice young man.
"Hello," said [the heroine].
They looked at each other in the candlelight, and the nice young man smiled. It was a nice smile that made his eyes crinkle up at the corners, and [the heroine] smiled back. She had a rather nice smile herself, and it wrinkled her freckled nose.
"Were you looking for something?" inquired the young man.
"Nuts," said [the heroine]. "For Mr. Pemberthey," she explained.
The young man looked puzzled. "Mr. Pemberthey?"
"He's only a squirrel," said [the heroine], "but he's a particular friend of mine, and he is extremely fond of nuts."
"Oh, I see," said the nice young man, quite as if he did.

I voted!

2008-02-17T20:04:00.002-05:00

I finally voted in AAR's Annual Reader Poll. With a few hours to spare! Voting closes tonight at midnight.

I sat down with my 2007 reading grid and realized that I didn't actually read that many books that were published in 2007. It takes quite a while for most things to filter to the top of my TBR. Often over a year, apparently. I kept thinking of good things to vote for and then realizing that they were pub'd in 2006. I'm so slow.

Anyway, here's my ballot. I only voted in about half the categories.

Favorite funny - Agnes and the Hitman, Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer
Most-hanky read - Beau Crusoe, Carla Kelly
Most tortured hero - James Trevenen, Beau Crusoe
Strongest heroine - Lilith Milton, Demon Angel, Meljean Brook
Best romance hero - Dag Redwing, The Sharing Knife: Legacy, Lois McMaster Bujold
Best romance couple - Colin and Savi, Demon Moon, Meljean Brook
Best villain - Villiers, Desperate Duchesses, Eloisa James (Maybe I didn't get the point of this one, as Villiers is sort of likable. But he's so well drawn and interesting.)
Author most glommed - Eva Ibbotson (Was this supposed to be an author who published something in 2007? If so, this isn't going to count.)
Best European historical - Not Quite a Lady, Loretta Chase
Best romantic suspense - High Noon, Nora Roberts
Best SF, Fantasy - Demon Moon, Meljean Brook (Can I just say that the whole Fantasy/Paranormal distinction is SUPER confusing? I even read their little definition and still wasn't sure which category to put Demon Moon in. I hope I did it right.)
Best paranormal/time travel - No Humans Involved, Kelley Armstrong
Best chicklit/womens fiction - The Fortune Quilt, Lani Diane Rich
Least believable HEA - Sexiest Man Alive, Diane Holquist
Most disappointing romance - The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes, Crusie/Stuart/Dreyer

Demon Night, Meljean Brook

2008-02-13T08:49:00.000-05:00

Title: Demon Night
Author: Meljean Brook
Published: 2008, Berkley
Category: Urban Fantasy Romance (?)
Rating: 9/10

I actually got to read this book in proofs a few months ago (sometimes my job completely rocks). But as soon as it was released I had to buy it and read it again. I think it's the best Guardian book yet.

Charlie Newcombe was an opera singer until a self-destructive phase sent her spiraling into alcoholism. Then she ran her car into a restaurant, ruining her voice. Just when she's finally getting her life back on track, she's attacked by vampires (yeah, her life kind of sucks). But before they can really get to Charlie, they're run off by Guardian Ethan McCabe (also called Drifter). Charlie has to adjust to the idea that vampires and demons exist and that her neighbor, who she's been casually flirting with for weeks, has wings and has been assigned to protect her. Charlie is a target because her sister is a scientist doing research on the healing powers of vampire blood.

Now, I usually do not like paranormal books. I know I'm in the minority among romance readers on that one. It's mostly the violence that turns me off. But I also hate the way some of them seem to meander around, the fantastic elements of the world seeming completely ridiculous or inconsistent or unnecessary--magic stuck in just for the sake of having it rather than being integral to the plot. But this series is such a fully developed, intricate, and interesting world that I just love it. It's pretty complicated, and I recommend people do a quick read-through of the Guardian Primer on Meljean's site. It's a good way to get your head around the larger story arc before diving into this one. And as for violence, it's there (one scene especially was pretty hard to handle) but it's not too graphic, and the action is so exciting that it didn't bother me.

Imo, this book reads much more smoothly than the previous books in the series. There were a few times in Demon Angel and Demon Moon when I felt like the plot shot on ahead of me, leaving me behind, more than a little confused. That was never a problem as I was reading Demon Night. The action sequences were so tight and exciting. I loved hearing so much more about how the Guardians work. Because they're just cool and completely kick-ass.

Charlie and Ethan are such great characters. They both have big backstories -- Ethan, of course, because he's centuries old and we get to hear about how he gave up his life for another in order to become a Guardian. His good-guy, old West charm made me fall for him in a big way (the way he calls her "Miss Charlie"--Eee!). And Charlie's fascinating because she's sort of hit rock bottom and been able to pull herself up again, even when other people didn't think she'd be able to. She's quite different than the incredibly strong-willed Lilith or Savi -- she knows that she's been weak in the past and is therefore desperate not to depend on anyone else, even though circumstances force her to. She's constantly fighting just to get by, which makes her a really admirable character.

And the writing is just great. Beyond the story and characters, there's a real talent here in putting words together in a way that just makes me do a happy sigh. Here's an example I love. It's spoilerish, so I'm whiting it out. Charlie's inside a house watching as Ethan fights a demon outside. She's holding a gun, trying to get in a shot at the demon.

The glass in front of her shattered, and her ears rang painfully. Charlie blinked and staggered forward, stared at the cracks radiating from the neat hole in the center of the window. Blood beaded on the glass like scarlet dew on a spider's web.

Her chest hurt. She couldn't see breathe or see. Then the window collapsed, a shining waterfall of broken glass, and everything was clear again.

Did she shoot the demon?! Did the demon shoot her? You have to read the book to find out. ;)

Okay, this is already long and I feel like I still haven't properly explained why I liked it so much. Really good reviews are hard to write! Anyway, I think this will be a favorite for a long time.

Apparently Jake's story is next (he's another Guardian). Yay!

To Have and To Hold, Patricia Gaffney

2008-02-10T19:08:00.000-05:00

Title: To Have and To Hold
Author: Patricia Gaffney
Published: 1995, Topaz (NAL)
Category: Historical Romance
Rating: 8/10

I have completed book 1 of my Classic Romance Challenge! And I knew this was a good idea. These books are classics for good reason. To Have and To Hold is a beautifully written and really emotionally gripping book.

We start with a rake, Sebastian Verlaine, rich, cynical, and selfish. He's just inherited a property, and as part of his new position he must act as magistrate of this little village where his estate is. One of the first cases he hears is that of Rachel Wade, a young woman who is being charged with "indigence and no fixed abode" (sort of appalling that this was a crime back then). Rachel has just been released from prison, where she's been for 10 years since being found guilty of murdering her husband. As a convict, she has been unable to find any work. Something about Rachel intrigues Sebastian, so he surprises the whole court by offering her the position of housekeeper on his estate. Rachel is relieved beyond imagination that she won't have to go back to prison, even though she realizes that Sebastian expects her to also be his mistress. Which he absolutely does.

I have to admit that there were some parts of this book that made me pretty uncomfortable. Because Sebastian really is a bad man at the beginning (no fake rake here)--he hires Rachel because he's bored and intrigued by the idea of having complete power over this rather pathetic woman. And he exerts that power fully--and though it's a bit spoilerish I have to say that the first time they have sex, it is rape. She wants to keep her job; she just doesn't have any other option. Add to that Rachel's tons of emotional baggage from prison and an abusive marriage and you have to wonder how these two could ever move past this inequitable relationship to find mutual understanding and love.

But I totally bought it, and the romance was fantastic. Rachel must take a chance at life again, and Sebastian actually wakes up out of his cynical self-hatred to find that true affection can be a reality. Both characters were really complex and interesting. I think one of the reasons I'd been putting off this book was because these over-the-top dramatic and passionate stories can be too much for me. But this book (especially the second half) was just lovely. A bit sad and heartbreaking in places, but ultimately very warm and satisfying.

This is the second book in the Wyckerley trilogy. To Love and to Cherish is first and Forever and Ever is the last. I'll definitely be reading them at some point. :)

Faro's Daughter, Georgette Heyer

2008-02-06T22:01:00.000-05:00

Title: Faro's Daughter
Author: Georgette Heyer
Published: 1941, Dutton
Category: Historical Romance
Rating: 8/10

I'm still making my way through Heyer's Regencies. Because I love them so.

Max Ravenscar, a wealthy gentleman, is called upon by his frantic aunt to disengage her son, Lord Mablethorpe, from an infatuation with "a creature -- oh, a hussy! -- out of a gaming-house!" Miss Deborah Grantham lives with her aunt, whose reduced circumstances have forced them to open her house for card parties and gaming. Though Deb's money troubles are bad, she has no intention of actually marrying Lord Mablethorpe, because he is too young and silly. But when Max tries to buy her off from the supposed engagement, she's totally insulted and decides to teach him a lesson.

I think this is one of my favorite Heyers! It's not actually very romance-ish -- the hero and heroine spend most of the novel fighting with each other. Deb is one of Heyer's older, wiser heroines; she's really feisty, has a terrific temper, and wants more than anything to get the better of Max. "It was not long before a scheme, so dazzlingly diabolical as almost to take her breath away, was born in her mind." Both she and Max are horribly stubborn, and they go to some rather ridiculous extremes to best each other, which makes for some great hijinks.

So definitely not in any way a treacly romance. Deb says to Max, "You are rude, and stupid, and I was never so plagued by anyone in my life!" But their similarities of character do make it believable that they should fall in love. I loved the book for its snappy dialogue and funny situations.

Pardon me, while I talk about politics (gasp!)

2008-02-03T20:47:00.000-05:00

So you all know that I never talk about politics here, or anything really except books. But I do want to explain my "Crafters for Obama" button that's over there in the sidebar now. Twin and I both have always steered clear of political debate, though our family is full of political junkies. But she's recently become a very vocal supporter of Barack Obama. And she's certainly got me convinced. I, too, find his message inspiring -- and I had not thought it possible for my cynical self to be inspired by a politician. ;)

You can read Twin's very eloquent words here. Check it out. Crafters for Obama is the fundraising campaign she's started among her circle of crafting bloggers. I'm very proud of her for taking a stand and doing so much for a cause she believes in.

If you're in a state having elections on Tuesday, don't forget to get out and vote!

The Winter Rose, Jennifer Donnelly

2008-01-31T21:46:00.001-05:00

Title: The Winter Rose
Author: Jennifer Donnelly
Published: 2008, Hyperion
Category: Historical Fiction
Rating: 7.5/10

In the name of full disclosure, I feel like I have to tell you all that I got this book as a free review copy. It's probably silly. I doubt you care, but I'm compelled to tell you anyway. I usually refuse all offers of ARCs and review copies because my TBR anxiety is bad enough without adding a bunch of stuff that I'm not 100% sure I want to read but that I will feel obligated to review. I said yes to this book because I'd already heard great things about it (from Marg mostly). But I'll still be completely honest in my review, I promise. :)

India Selwyn Jones graduates from the London Medical School for Women in the year 1900 (btw, I couldn't believe that women were doctors this early, but they totally were--so cool). Full of rather naive ideas about how she can help the poor of London, she takes a job in a clinic in Whitechapel. Her interactions with her patients show her that the state of things among the poor are much worse than she had ever imagined, especially among women and children, and she begins to dream of founding a free clinic for women. Meanwhile, her aristocratic fiance, Freddie, is pushing her to set a date, though India is beginning to have doubts about her feelings and his reasons for marrying. One reason for these doubts is her meeting Sid Malone, a notorious gangster and the head of an organized crime ring. Though Sid is a criminal, he's also a bit of a Robin Hood, and his and India's shared efforts to help the destitute bring them together. But can a mobster and an aristocratic doctor find a way to be together?

Okay, that synopsis is my attempt to sum up an EPIC book without going on forever and ever. But this is one fat, looong, epic historical novel of a kind that is hard to find these days but which I have always loved. PW's review described it as "overstuffed," which I think is a very good adjective, though I don't mean that in a bad way. Huge cast of characters, long-ish time frame, great big family saga. And for those people who also like that kind of book, I highly recommend this one.

I was completely enthralled. Really. I'd come home from work and sit down with it "just for a few minutes" before I started on my evening to-do list. Seven hours later I'm still frantically reading, hating the fact that my life is getting in the way of finishing this book. The characters are lovable, the villain wonderfully hateful, the action very dramatic. I found both India and Sid really compelling characters and their forbidden, impossible, passionate love just fabulous (I could hear Tony and Maria crooning, "There's a place for us, somewhere a place for us" in my head--sniff, sniff). The historical details were so well done that I had a really vivid visual for everything. And the very progressive political elements (down with the nobs!! up with the worker!!) were heart-wrenchingly uplifting.

The reason this book doesn't get a higher grade is the last bit. I was completely loving it until page 500 or so, and then I started to get frustrated. When the action moved to Africa, the slew of incredibly unbelievable coincidences and endless trials and tribulations began to wear on me. In the same way that I couldn't read the later books in the Outlander series, I just thought, "What else could possibly happen to these poor people??" I sort of wish that the whole thing had wrapped up in London. But, the conclusion (when we finally got there) was very satisfying.

This is the second book in a trilogy. The first, The Tea Rose, centers around Fiona, Sid's sister (Fiona and her husband also appear throughout this book). I have already bought it. And we seem to be set up for the final book about Fiona and Sid's little brother, Seamie.

I will leave you with this quote from Mrs. Moscowitz, the hilarious, bossy mother of India's Jewish coworker and one of my favorite characters:
"God gives the nuts; He doesn't crack them."

Many books to buy in 2008.

2008-01-30T13:26:00.000-05:00

I've been fixing up my bookmarks on my new computer, so I'm more up-to-date on my favorite authors' publishing schedules than I usually am. ;) Here's what was news to me:

Kelley Armstrong is having a prolific year: I'm excited about the two Otherworld books being released in 2008: Personal Demon (due in April, narrated by Hope) and Living with the Dead (scheduled for December--anyone know who the narrator is on this one? I'm afraid it's going to be Cass). In August we'll get The Summoning, first in a YA trilogy set in the Otherworld universe but with different characters.

Jennifer Crusie's WIP page lists a solo Crusie book due sometime in 2009 titled Always Kiss Me Goodnight. Woohooo! I can't believe it! Sadly, no blurb or any information beyond the title. Another Crusie/Mayer also due in 2009. In 2008, her collaboration (titled Dogs and Goddesses) with Anne Stuart and Lani Diane Rich will be released. They have a blog about the book here. Apparently they've finished a first draft. I wasn't crazy about her last three-person collaboration (Unfortunate Miss Fortunes) but I'll take what I can get.

Very sad news from Jasper Fforde: he won't have a book out in 2008. Shades of Grey is the first book in a new series (not Thursday Next or Nursery Crime) and will be out summer 2009. Don't know what it's about but this is hilarious: "Fforde has bravely branched out into new territory: Books that are not metafiction. In a shocking statement to the world's media, British author and former teenager Jasper Fforde announced that he would be 'making up all his own characters' for a three-part saga..." He is contracted for another Thursday Next. Thank goodness, though it looks like it won't be out until 2010. (Can that be right? That date looks like something out of SciFi.)

Eloisa James: Duchess by Night due in July (third in Duchess series)

Susanna Kearsley's The Winter Sea (due out March 24 in the UK and Canada) has a cover. Very pretty!
SEP says she's working on a new book (not in the Stars series), but no other info. I have to say that the covers of her new mmpb reissues are awful. Especially It Had to Be You. I was going to post it here, but I just can't let it defile my blog. If you haven't seen it and don't know what I'm talking about, click here. What woman would want to carry that around??

Nora Roberts's summer hardcover release is titled Tribute. Anyone know anything about it? Books 2 and 3 of her Sign of the Seven trilogy are due in May and December. I have the first one, but I can't decide if I should read it now or wait until all three are out.

Sorcerers and Secretaries, Amy Kim Ganter

2008-01-29T20:05:00.000-05:00

Title: Sorcerers and Secretaries (2 vol.)
Author: Amy Kim Ganter
Published: 2006, Tokyopop
Category: Manga
Rating: 6/10

My first manga! I'm so hip (not). I chose this one because it was mentioned at Dear Author.

Nicole is a young woman living in New York, going to business school and working as a secretary. She's not that into school, though; she'd rather be writing and drawing her stories of a sorcerer named Ellon (we see snippets of this story too). She meets Josh, a young hottie who likes to make all the girls he meets fall in love with him. Nicole's not interested, and of course Josh is intrigued. They finally become friends and Josh encourages Nicole's writing.

Now, I tried really hard to appreciate these books. Graphic novels of any kind are quite a new experience for me; my first instinct is for my eyes to zoom to the bits of text and hardly notice the illustrations. So I made myself read slowly and actually let the pictures tell some of the story. But, yeah. Just not happening. The story just felt so shallow. Compared with the depth of characterization and plotting that I'm used to in regular novels, this just seemed like nothing at all. Obviously I have no frame of reference, as this is my first manga, so I don't know if I would feel this way about other manga books. Maybe manga's just not for me.

Question: I guess I am showing my ignorance here, but is all manga intended for a YA audience?

The story is very sweet, and I did like the drawings. So I was mildly amused, but I do sort of wish I hadn't shelled out $20 for the 2-volume set. That's really pricey for something I can read in a couple hours.

Sandalwood Princess and Knaves' Wager, Loretta Chase

2008-01-23T20:28:00.000-05:00

Title: The Sandalwood Princess and Knaves' Wager
Author: Loretta Chase
Published: 1990, Signet
Category: Regency Romance
Rating: 7/10 for Sandalwood, 8/10 for Knaves' Wager

I read these two books weeks and weeks ago, before Christmas. I meant to blog about them and just never got around to it. But I liked them so much I wanted to at least mention them. I'm definitely not feeling up to writing a plot summary, but here's the back cover copy:

The Sandalwood Princess
Determined to uncover who stole her sandalwood statue, Amanda Cavencourt is shocked to learn the culprit is a notorious rogue known as the Falcon. Why would a man renowned for his dangerous and delicate missions indulge in petty thievery? Intrigued by the mystery--and rumors of the Falcon's devilish charm and good looks--Amanda sets out on the trail of the brazen blackguard. But what she stumbles upon is a man who just may be her perfect match.

This book was a lot of fun--it starts out in India, then they're on a boat for months traveling to England. The Falcon steals the statue from Amanda, then she steals it back. Lots of trickery and running around. The couple is constantly lying to each other, but somehow they manage to actually get to know each other and fall in love.

Knaves' Wager
Lilith Davenant's sensibilities are appropriately offended. How dare Lord Julian Brandon kiss her when he knows full well the man she is to marry is in the very next room! She never imagines that his amorous pursuit is the result of a wager that will sully her flawless reputation--or that one day she will yearn for Julian's irresistible embrace...

I was actually shocked that I liked (really liked) this one--a wager plot and a reformed rake, meh. But I should have known that Chase could pull it off. The dialogue between the hero and heroine is just so snappy and delightful. Lilith is very "respectable" and is engaged to a boring old suitor, even though she's fallen in love with Julian. She thinks he'll just break her heart. I loved when Julian sends her a copy of Mansfield Park with a note that says, "May life with your 'Edmond Bertram' be, truly, happily ever after." Mansfield Park is by far my least favorite Austen--I always sort of wished Fanny weren't quite such a sanctimonious little twerp and ad lived it up a bit with Henry Crawford. I found the ending of Knaves' Wager much more satisfying. :)

BEHOLD!!

2008-01-22T20:40:00.000-05:00

Meet m3, my brand-new MacBook. Eeeee! m3 is short for minimegaMac, and to understand the name you have to know Twin's and my Mac history. Eons ago (like, 5 years) we had an iBook, which we called miniMac. Then we got a G5 that we called megaMac. And my new MacBook has great colossal power and is itty bitty. So he's minimegaMac. (Okay, he's not as itty bitty as the new MacBook Air, but I didn't feel like paying an extra $500 to not have an optical drive, you know?)

And I don't even have to feel guilty about buying it, because I have to have a laptop for grad school next fall. He's beautiful and I love him. We had some trouble installing our wireless router (20 min. on hold with Mac, 15 min. on hold with D-Link, and a visit from the cable provider=one good time). But he's working beautifully now. Yippee!! And now I am blogging from the comfort of my couch. Ahh.

Little Pinkie, my iPod mini, is in awe.

Here's m3 with some books I just bought. Just because.

Is it weird that I name my computer?

Classic Romance Challenge 2008

2008-01-16T18:54:00.000-05:00

In the last couple of years, since I really got to be a serious romance reader, I've been collecting books that are considered classics of the genre. And I always mean to read them, because everyone says they're good. And if people are still talking about them, in some cases decades after they were published (rare for a romance novel), then they must be good.

But then I love to buy and read new books too. Shiny! New! Must read now! And these older books get lost in my enormous TBR. To get myself motivated to finally read some of them, I am challenging myself: 12 classics. 12 months.

I can do it! Here are the titles I've chosen:

1. To Have and To Hold, Patricia Gaffney
2. The Shadow and the Star, Laura Kinsale
3. Thunder and Roses, Mary Jo Putney
4. A Rose at Midnight, Anne Stuart
5. Knight in Shining Armor, Jude Deveraux
6. The Flame and the Flower, Kathleen E. Woodiwiss
7. The Last Hellion, Loretta Chase
8. Bliss, Judy Cuevas
9. Morning Glory, LaVyrle Spencer
10. Annie's Song, Catherine Anderson
11. All Through the Night, Connie Brockway
12. The Bride, Julie Garwood

If anyone would like to join in, please do. Choose your own neglected classics. You don't have to do 12; do 4, or 30. I don't care. :)

Silent in the Grave, Deanna Raybourn

2008-01-15T22:40:00.001-05:00

Title: Silent in the Grave
Author: Deanna Raybourn
Published: 2007, Mira
Category: Mystery/Suspense
Rating: 7/10

Silent in the Grave opens with Julia March's husband dropping dead while hosting a party. Julia is bereaved, but the death is not unexpected, as his health has been poor all life. So she is surprised when Nicholas Brisbane comes to call and tells her that he suspects foul play. Apparently Mr. March had hired Brisbane, who is a private investigator, shortly before his death because he was receiving notes that amounted to death threats. Julia cannot believe it, gets snippy with Brisbane, and sends him on his way. A year later, when she is just starting to put off her widow's weeds, she finds one of the notes that Brisbane told her of while she is clearing out her husband's office; it contains a line from the Bible:

Let me not be ashamed, O Lord; for I have called upon Thee; let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave.

Julia contacts Brisbane and asks that he take up the case, even though now that a year has passed he has little hope of discovering anything. She's not content to let him do all the work, however, and she takes an active part in the investigation.

I started this book one day at work when I realized that I'd left the book I was in the middle of at home. I had no lunch plans and no book to read. Quelle nightmare! Good thing I work in a library. ;) I noticed this one among the new gifts and decided to give it a try. It's a bit of a tome in hardcover, but it was one of those books that once I'd started, the pages just flew by.

The Victorian setting was really well done. Julia is an aristocrat (her father is an Earl), so her life is very restricted by social conventions, but her family is also known for being quite liberal, and consequently a bit risqué. Julia struggles with what she feels is her inherent March "wildness" and her desire for a normal, traditional life. I loved the interaction of Julia with her family—there were some really funny parts.

The suspense was great--lots of surprising revelations that had Julia (and me) quite shocked. HIGHLIGHT FOR SPOILER! I was disappointed by who the murderer was, though. Simon had been so angelically good through the whole book, and then at the end he was just evil all of a sudden. No warning or clues to lead up to it. It was a little too abrupt for me.

I was not a huge fan of the brooding, mysterious Brisbane and the romantic elements of the story. (This is surprising, yes? I am nearly always a fan of the romantic bits.) Though he seems to be an interesting character, I definitely never felt like I got a grip on him (which was maybe intentional, as he is supposed to be mysterious). Anyway, I'm planning on getting the sequel, Silent in the Sanctuary, so maybe he will grow on me.

Go visit RtB

2008-01-14T01:40:00.000-05:00

1. I have a column up at Romancing the Blog.

2. Who saw the new Persuasion last night on Masterpiece Theater? I thought: lovely Captain Wentworth, otherwise not as good as the Amanda Root version. They really mangled the end (JMC--the letter scene, they destroyed it! Noooo!).

3. Why is it Monday? Ugh.

Madensky Square, Eva Ibbotson

2008-01-11T21:00:00.000-05:00

Title: Madensky Square
Author: Eva Ibbotson
Published: 1988, St. Martin's Press
Category: General Fiction
Rating: 7.5/10

I'm almost through all of Eva Ibbotson's books! (At least all those written for adults.) I am so sad.

Susanna Weber is the proprietor of a dressmaker's shop nestled in charming Madensky Square of Vienna. This book is a journal of her life from the year 1911, describing her day-to-day existence, as well as those of her clients and neighbors. And we meet quite an assortment of characters: Susanna's Anarchist employee Nini; a jolly pork-sausage magnate from Linz whose young, devout fiancé seems disconcertingly more interested in the saints than in her gorgeous trousseau (or the pork-sausage man); a tiny polish boy who's being pushed into becoming a piano virtuoso by his desperate uncle; and the family across the way with six daughters and a seventh child on the way whose father can not believe he could possibly be cursed with yet another girl. Along the way, we find out about Susanna as well – how her warm-hearted generosity, which draws all these people to her and her shop, overlays a troubled past.

I always try my best not to include spoilers in my reviews, but I have to give a little one here, just because I can't really talk about this book without it. (And it is revealed very early in the book.) Madensky Square is partly a romance, but not at all a typical one. Because Susanna is an Other Woman. She has been the mistress of Gernot von Linenberg for over a decade. I know this is a hot button for a lot of people, and I would usually agree. Only Ibbotson could make it not sordid. There is some justification for the relationship: the time period, the fact that Gernot is an aristocrat who married young for reasons of wealth and status. Susanna does feel guilty about it, no question about that; but she loves him and can't give him up.

It's a very sophisticated story, really, about the importance of taking your happiness where you can find it and making the most of it. Susanna has had a lot of heartache in her life, but she still manages to enjoy life; her spirit is never crushed. That's why the book gets a tear icon, because I usually like my HEAs completely unfettered by any bits of sad reality. And maybe this makes me horribly naïve, but it's hard for me to imagine making do with this sort of existence.

Despite the weighty subjects, the book still manages to be joyful and charming. Her descriptions are so wonderful. Here's an example--she's describing the dog who lives across the street and lords over the square. "He has the large, square-muzzled head of a schnauzer and the tail of a muskrat, but his dreams, like his little legs, are Napoleonic."

I think her characterizations are perfect and just hilarious. Ibbotson's ability to flesh out secondary characters amazes me. There's a huge cast of characters here, and I ended up caring about every single one.

Carla Kelly news!

2008-01-10T11:27:00.000-05:00

Carla Kelly popped up last week on AAR's message board to post this:

My next manuscript, Worthy, was given the OK by Harlequin Historicals and should be out in a year. It's set in Plymouth in 1808-1809, when the Channel Fleet's "wooden walls" were keeping Napoleon out.

Usually my favorite book is the one I'm currently working on, but Worthy is my favorite one since Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand.

And it's the first of a trilogy. More sea, more sailors to come, and not a royal in the bunch. Yarr!

Yippee!

2007 in Review

2008-01-09T21:42:00.000-05:00

I love doing these wrap-ups! I keep track of all my reads on a spreadsheet (built by Rosario) and I have great fun looking at the results at the end of the year and analyzing them.

The Numbers

I read a total of 111 books in 2007, which is up a bit from 2006. Now, this includes the 30 books that I proofread (holy crap, that makes me tired just thinking about it). I have a strict no-blogging rule on books I'm paid to read; unless I had 100% good things to say about them (very rare), then I'd be biting the hand that fed me. And I like to eat. So you'll see no details on them, but I still like to add them to my stats.

Anyway, that's an average of about 9 a month, with a high in August (13) when I was blissfully unemployed and a low in September (6) when I was (of course) happily re-employed. ;) Total page count over 40,000, or about 110 pages a day. Twin's comment: "Good lord. You're such a dork." She loves me, she really does.

The Ratings
My average rating went up a little this year, to 6.9. Maybe I'm getting better at choosing books. Or maybe I'm getting soft.

My Favorite Reads of 2007

**I'm not going to link to my reviews, because that's just too much work. But you can find them all in the archives.**

10/10 (Perfection)

Re-reads:
Harry Potter 3 & 4
The Blue Castle, L.M. Montgomery (This was the only book I gave a 10 last year.)
A Civil Campaign, Lois McMaster Bujold (I originally gave this a 9 last year, but bumped it up on re-read.)

Only one new-to-me book got a 10:
The Windflower, Laura London (IMO, the best of classic romance. Not for everyone, though, as evidenced by my mother who read it on my rec and was a bit WTF?)

9/10 (Fangirl-worthy)

Re-reads:
Harry Potter 1-2, 5-6
Thornyhold, Mary Stewart

New reads:
Harry Potter 7
Memory, Lois McMaster Bujold
Devil's Cub, Georgette Heyer
Summers at Castle Auburn, Sharon Shinn

8/10 (Highly recommended)

Demon Angel and Demon Moon, Meljean Brook. (And I will make everyone jealous and say that I already got to read Demon Night [out in Feb.] and it's my favorite yet. Will definitely get a 9 when I review it.)
Season of Storms and Mariana, Susanna Kearsley
Beguilement, Lois McMaster Bujold
Reforming Lord Ragsdale and Marian's Christmas Wish, Carla Kelly
Games of Command, Linnea Sinclair
Not Quite a Lady and Knaves' Wager, Loretta Chase
No Humans Involved, Kelley Armstrong
Simply Love, Mary Balogh
High Noon, Nora Roberts
Countess Below Stairs, Eva Ibbotson
Mystic and Rider and Dark Moon Defender, Sharon Shinn
Bride of the MacHugh, Jan Cox Speas
Agnes and the Hitman, Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer

Favorite new (or new-to-me) authors this year were Meljean Brook, Eloisa James, Eva Ibbotson, and Sharon Shinn.
A most excellent year. :)

The Spymaster's Lady, Joanna Bourne

2008-01-07T23:33:00.001-05:00

Title: The Spymaster's Lady
Author: Joanna Bourne
Published: 2008, Berkley
Category: Historical Romance
Rating: 8.5/10
My first read of 2008 – and it's a great one! Yippee. I hope this sets a trend for the whole year. ;) I had to run my little self out to the bookstore on Jan. 2 (the book's exact on-sale date), because I'd heard such phenomenal squeeing at SBTB and DA. Yes, when Sarah and Jane BOTH squee simultaneously, I run for the bookstore.

Annique Villiers has been spying for France about since she learned crawl. Her most recent assignment has landed her with a copy of the Albion plans, the detailed plans of Napoleon's proposed invasion of Britain. As the book opens, Annique is trapped in a French prison, being bullied into giving them up. Annique and two Englishmen also being held in the prison manage to escape and head for England. Annique is dismayed to discover that one of the men is Grey, the Head of Section of the British Service, i.e. the Spymaster for all England. Out of the griddle and into the fire. Grey also needs those Albion plans, but he has quite a time keeping Annique in his control.

That's the basic plot, but there's a ton more that I won't go into because I don't want to ruin anything for anyone. The story has several really clever twists – the kind of thing where you're reading along and go, "D'oh!!" and think back and see all the clues but you're still completely blindsided. Very exciting. Lots of fabulous historical detail, portraying the very complex political situation of post-Revolutionary, early Napoleonic France (but not BORING politics).

And as everyone else has mentioned, I too will go crazy over Bourne's use of dialog and accents. Annique's attitudes are very French, but she could be talking about doing the laundry and still sound French. Grey, on the other hand, sounds perfectly English. And when you have all this (very wonderful) dialog between these two characters, the effect is phenomenal. This is especially comment-worthy because it's something that is so often ignored (or done badly) in popular fiction, especially romance.

Definitely a book I will re-read a-plenty. I heard that the next book in the series is due out in July. I will be running to the bookstore again then. :)

But, I have to say, that cover? A crime!

North & South Crusade -- me too, me too!

2008-01-05T18:49:00.000-05:00

I think most everyone who visits here must be aware of Kristie's great North & South Crusade -- she seems to have infected most of us with her enthusiasm for this movie. ;) I was, of course, curious, so Twin and I rented it a few weeks ago. We watched it, loved it, watched it again the next day, and reluctantly returned it. One of us made the comment that we should buy it, but then we remembered that these mini-series things usually cost about a gazillion dollars. (But, psst, it's only $22 on Amazon!)

So a few days before Christmas, we were struggling through that last week of work and decided one night that we really ought to open one of our presents for each other. You know, to ramp up for the big day. So I open mine, and it's North & South!! Yippee!! And she opens hers, and it's North & South too!! Hee. Great minds. (We ended up giving the extra copy to our mom.)

I love a lot of mini-series, but this one is especially great. Fabulous story, pretty cinematography and costumes, love the theme song, and I was really impressed by the acting -- Richard Armitage, obviously (besides being completely gorgeous and DELICIOUS). But Mrs. Thornton and Nicholas Higgins were also great. I even liked Fanny Thornton, because she's so wonderfully silly. The woman who plays Margaret Hale is not quite as good (she ends up looking confused and a bit dense when I think she's going for sad), but she's okay.

It's hard to say what exactly makes me like the story so well. But I think it's the fact that you have this great romance (sort of P&P-ish in that she dislikes him at first because she doesn't understand him), and you also have this really interesting time period -- the very beginning of the Industrial Revolution, when so many things were changing in society. It makes for some fabulous conflict.

Twin also got me a copy of the book, which she then proceeded to read first (sheesh!). But she says that the movie is fairly faithful to the original story, and that it does a good job of condensing the book and updating it just a tad for modern audiences (you know that kiss at the end's not going to happen in the book, lovely as it is).

One of my favorite lines (which refers to the hard working conditions in the cotton mills):

"I believe I have seen hell. And it is white. It is snow white."

Thanks to Kristie for bringing N&S to our attention! :D

Happy holidays!!

2007-12-21T17:26:00.000-05:00

Twin and I are scrambling to get on the road -- we're headed to VA to spend Christmas with the family. YAY! But first I must post some pictures of the gingerbread village we made this year (it's becoming a tradition with us).

Town hall.

Shops. Grocer in the middle, barber shop on the end.

This is obviously some kind of posh shop. Dressmakers, maybe.

Townhouses opposite the shops.

Church in the corner of the square. Ice cream cone steeple was a bit tricky.

Beyond the square, there is a lake and my estate--hee hee. It looks sort of like a little farm house.

Minty little house.

Yes, we are a little crazy. But it was all good fun. :)

May you all have a very joyful holiday!

Sock and Glove by Miyako Kanamori

2007-12-18T23:04:00.000-05:00

Title: Sock and Glove
Author: Miyako Kanamori
Published: 2007, Penguin
Category: Crafting

Twin is a member of a crafting circle that meets once a month or so to work on various kinds of projects. We hosted one at our apartment last weekend and decided to have everyone make softies following the directions in this really adorable book. It's all about taking old socks and gloves and turning them into simple stuffed toys. The directions are really very easy and there are lots of ideas about what to do with different sorts of socks and gloves. It's a brilliant idea, because everyone has sad old gloves and socks that they're never going to wear again.

You can look at this review at simplesparrow to see some pictures of the inside of the book. Almost all of us made the simplest glove animal (like the guy on the cover), but there are some other projects in the book that I want to try, especially the elephant and zebra.

Here are our creations:

They come out in varying degrees of wonkiness, but somehow this just adds to their appeal. I did the little red pig with the striped belly. I realized after I was finished that he looks sort of like Piglet on a really, really angry day. ;)

And here's a close-up of the two Julie made--a striped kitty and a little white dog with a matching sweater.

These projects are great because they're quick and don't require any special sewing skills. And you can dress your animal up in all different ways and give him lots of personality. If anyone is scrambling to find a Christmas gift for someone who likes hand crafts, this book would be a good one.

Carla Kelly Christmas stories

2007-12-12T23:40:00.000-05:00

Title: Four Christmas short stories
Author: Carla Kelly
Published: See bottom of post
Category: Regency Romance
Rating: 7.5/10

I went mad ordering all the Christmas anthologies I could find that had Carla Kelly stories in them -- and then I only read the Kelly stories. I am usually very wary of romance short stories, because I can rarely find a good love story that can be told well in such a limited format. But these are just fabulous. They're remarkable because not only was I completely sold on the romance (no mean feat), but they also have lovely, meaningful plots and lots of character development. It's amazing how much Kelly was able to squeeze into these little tales.

"The Christmas Ornament" begins with two old friends visiting. One has a bluestocking of a daughter (Olivia) just coming of age and the other has an Oxford scholar of a son (James) who is nearing the age when he should be settling down and getting married. They plan to throw them together over Christmas and see what comes of it. For a while it seems like nothing will, as James is "mortally shy" and is constantly putting his foot in his mouth, and Olivia has another suitor in the dashing Lord D'Urst, a fact that robs James of all his self-confidence.

This is probably the lightest, most playful story of the lot. Lord D'Urst calls Olivia his "Christmas ornament," and we can only hope that James will get his act together enough to make her a better offer: a partnership of equals.

"No Room at the Inn" sees Mary McIntyre traveling with acquaintances just before Christmas. They are caught in a storm and are forced to stop and stay with Joseph Shepard, a tradesman who is also the son of Mary's aristocratic family's steward. We soon find out, however, that Mary has just been told that she was adopted at birth by her high-born parents, who have now decided to tell the world that she's actually the illegitimate daughter of a servant (or actress or something, I can't quite remember). Joe welcomes them all into his home with cheerful warmth, and he and Mary work together to make the holiday fun and cozy.

Besides the love story here, we get some very interesting class conflict – Mary's just gone way down the ladder, Joe's a tradesman who's made his own fortune.

"Let Nothing You Dismay" is about Lord Trevor Chase, a London solicitor called "the patron saint of lost causes." He's made it his life's work to represent children and keep the poor things from being transported to Australia. Lord Trevor's niece is accompanied home for the Christmas holiday by one of her schoolteachers, Cecilia Ambrose. As Cecilia and Trevor get to know each other, Cecilia discovers that something in Trevor's past is haunting him; he's carrying around feelings of guilt over something he did years ago and is losing hope of ever atoning for it. Cecilia must try to snap him out of it, and help him move forward with his life.

Lots of interesting stuff here – poor Trevor is so admirable, but the crushing guilt was maybe a little gloomy for me. Not the easiest story to read.

And I saved the best for last – "An Object of Charity" was my favorite story. Captain Michael Lynch's ship has been damaged in a fight with the French, so he's come home to England. There he meets Sally Partlow and her brother, who have come from Scotland to live with their uncle. Michael is forced to tell them that their uncle, his first mate, has just been killed in action. Not realizing that they have no money and no where else to go, he sends them on their way. Once he discovers his mistake he feels that it's his duty to help them, but doesn't know what to do with them except to take them home for the holiday. The trouble is that he's been estranged from his family for twenty years.

Captain Lynch reminded me a lot of Horatio Hornblower, which can only be a good thing. Very responsible and a bit too serious, he's sort of forgotten how to live a life on land and at peace. And I thought his reunion with his family was so well done and realistic.

And I must quote the final paragraph of this one, because it's so nice (and it's not like I'm giving away the ending – it is a romance).

"Happy Christmas, Sally," he whispered in her ear, as goodwill settled around him like a benediction, and peace became his second dearest companion.

And I just found one more anthology on PaperBackSwap with a Kelly story in it. I really hope it comes before Christmas.

Publication info:
"No Room at the Inn" in A Regency Christmas, Signet, 2002
"The Christmas Ornament" in A Regency Christmas, Signet, 1998
"An Object of Charity" in A Regency Christmas Present, Signet, 1999
"Let Nothing You Dismay" in Regency Christmas Wishes, Signet 2003

Have His Carcase, Dorothy L. Sayers

2007-12-10T23:39:00.001-05:00

Title: Have His Carcase
Author: Dorothy L. Sayers
Published: 1932 originally, 1995 HarperPaperbacks
Category: Mystery
Rating: 7/10

Has anyone noticed that this book's been hanging out on my sidebar under "Up Next" for a few weeks? Yeah, I've been working on this book since October. I love Lord Peter, but this one was a bit of a trial for me. (For those unfamiliar with Sayers, Lord Peter Wimsey is an English gentleman detective who appears in an entire series of books, sometimes joined by Harriet Vane.)

Mystery writer Harriet Vane is on holiday in the south of England. One day as she's hiking along the coast, she notices what appears to be a very freshly murdered man resting atop a boulder on the shore. Harriet fearlessly goes up to investigate; she examines and photographs the body, much in the way of the fictitious detective-hero she writes. It turns out that the evidence she's collected comes in very handy because while Harriet is fetching the police, the tide comes in and sweeps the body away. Lord Peter soon arrives on the scene and starts investigating. But with each new piece of evidence the case just gets more and more confusing. They have lots of suspects, some of whom have strong motives but perfect alibis, while others are obviously lying about the evidence but appear to have had nothing to do with the victim.

This is one of those books where I want to give two grades, one for technical merit and the other for how much I enjoyed it. Because who am I to find fault with the great Dorothy Sayers? She was a master of the mystery novel, and I love some of her books to death. But, dear God, this thing was loooong, and so involved with so many, many details that I lost interest about halfway in. I was siding with the provincial policemen when they wanted to proclaim it a suicide and forget the whole thing. I think this is mostly to do with my personal preferences; I can read and enjoy a whodunit, but figuring out who done it is hardly ever what keeps me reading. I read for the characters, and Lord Peter is the reason I managed to get through this at all. He comes across as such a charismatic man, which is something I would imagine would be very hard for an author to accomplish. He is just charming and intelligent and very funny.

We do see a little development in Harriet and Wimsey's relationship (of course, not as much as I might have liked). He keeps proposing and Harriet keeps saying no. My favorite proposal Wimsey sends in a telegram:

FOLLOWING RAZOR CLUE TO STAMFORD REFUSE RESEMBLE THRILLER HERO WHO HANGS ROUND HEROINE TO NEGLECT OF DUTY BUT WILL YOU MARRY ME---PETER

But Harriet is re-establishing herself as an independent woman, and Wimsey is trying not to step on her toes as she does this, no matter how much he may want to take care of her. I have to quote the very first paragraph, because it sums up their relationship, and is such an incredible beginning and so brilliantly written:

The best remedy for a bruised heart is not, as so many people seem to think, repose upon a manly bosom. Much more efficacious are honest work, physical activity, and the sudden acquisition of wealth. After being acquitted of murdering her lover, and indeed, in consequence of that acquittal, Harriet Vane found all three specifics abundantly at her disposal; and although Lord Peter Wimsey, with a touching faith in tradition, persisted day in and day out in presenting the bosom for her approval, she showed no inclination to recline upon it.

So it gets a 7 overall (averaging a 9 for technical merit and a 5 for personal entertainment value). But for those who like a really meaty, complex mystery, this one's for you.

Book Binge contest

2007-12-07T23:06:00.000-05:00

The ladies at Book Binge are being super generous with their holiday contest -- they're giving away an eBookwise e-Reader. Holy crap! And though they will have to tear my old-fashioned paper books from my cold, dead hands, I am starting to see the allure of e-books.

1. What is your favorite Christmas romance to re-read each year?
I haven't actually read much Christmas romance. But I recently read Marian's Christmas Wish by Carla Kelly, and it just might become a traditional re-read. I also read Dickens's A Christmas Carol every year.

2. What is your favorite Christmas movie/show?
Mickey's Christmas Carol. Really old half-hour Disney version that my brother and sister and I loved as kids. I still love it.

3. What is your favorite Christmas cookie?
Viennese Snowballs. They're walnut cookies rolled in powder sugar. I posted the recipe last year. YUMMY!

4. When do you start Christmas shopping?
Oh. I guess I should get on that soon, huh?

5. Do you re-gift?
Not really. I don't exchange gifts with that wide a group of people, so I usually don't end up getting much crap.

6. What is your favorite Christmas song?
"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"

7. When do you get your Christmas tree?
Usually the first weekend in December.

8. Wrapping presents: Love it or hate it?
Love it! Pretty paper and ribbon=lotsa fun.

9. Who is the hardest person to buy for?
My uber-non-consumerist father.

10. Christmas tree: Real or artificial?
Both. Twin and I get a little real tree for our apartment. But then we go to our parents' house for the actual holiday, and there we have a gorgeous artificial tree.

Marian's Christmas Wish, Carla Kelly

2007-12-06T00:17:00.000-05:00

Title: Marian's Christmas Wish
Author: Carla Kelly
Published: 1989, Signet
Category: Regency Romance
Rating: 8.5/10

I ordered this book because it was on JMC's AAR top romances list – and she's quite the Carla Kelly expert, so I figured it had to be good. And it's a full-length Christmas story, which is pretty hard to find. Yay!

Marian Wynswich is the youngest daughter of a family in trouble. Their father has died recently, leaving them with major financial problems due to his propensity for gambling (badly). Marian's brother Philip thinks that he may be able to save the family by marrying off the eldest Wynswich daughter, Ariadne (who is luckily beautiful and quite biddable), to someone wealthy. So Philip brings Sir William Clinghorn home for Christmas. Sir William turns out to be a silly, vulgar man, but he's rich and looking for a pretty, "proper" little wife. Ariadne is in love with the village's vicar, but she's apparently too weak to put up any protest. Marian, on the other hand, is not at all weak. She's used to saying what she thinks (and she thinks a lot), and what starts out as a passive-aggressive dislike of the toady little man soon turns into a scheme to get rid of him and save Ariadne. She's aided in her plans by her brother Alistair and Lord Gilbert, another friend of Philip's who came home with him for the holiday.

Marian and Gilbert quickly become very good friends. He's a serious man who's highly involved in very secret, very important, apparently dangerous diplomatic work. He was burned badly when a ship he was on caught fire, leaving him with an impressive scar on his cheek. He hasn't wanted to scare his family, which is why he didn't go to his own home for Christmas. Marian sets about trying to change his mind, even making it her wish on the Christmas pudding (an English tradition, apparently).

So that's not even all the plot; it is a lot more action-filled than I have found most of Carla Kelly's books to be. I do think the book has a slightly odd structure; it really felt like two novellas (starring the same characters) jammed together. The first half is your normal, nice Christmas story. The second half of the book is centered on a rather thrilling plot involving Gilbert's diplomatic work. I didn't mind the change, because both parts were really well done, but I still found it a little odd.

Anyway, besides that this book is completely brilliant. It is filled with the pragmatic, intelligent, kind characters that usually populate Kelly's books. Marian is very young (only 16!), so beware if that puts you off. But she is very wise for her age, and she is filled with a youthful enthusiasm that serves to startle Gilbert out of the gloomy oppression of his overactive sense of duty. The story is light and funny at times (Alistair especially is a riot), but it also has a certain gravity that keeps it from being fluffy.

The Christmas elements were lovely. I really have no idea whether they are historically accurate, but I'd bet they are. More importantly, the book has such a nice spirit to it -- the idea of Christmas as a time to appreciate your family, no matter how much they might drive you crazy through most of the year. It left me with fabulous warm fuzzies.