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02:49 pm
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The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen
This is not a sequel to Garden Spells nor does it take place in the same town. It's sort of in the same world because some people have "talents."
For example, Josey always knows when her true love is near.
Chloe, and I love this, always has the perfect book show up for her. She doesn't pay for them. They just appear in her life. Sometimes it can be a pain for her. For example: her boyfriend cheats on her. The book that shows up is something about learning to trust again. She doesn't want to. However the book sort of follows her around. It just keeps appearing where she is. It's actually quite funny.
Josey is secretly in love with the mailman. Meanwhile, Della Lee shows up in Josey's closet. (Josey still lives at home even though she's 27.) In this closet Josey hides her stash of romance novels and candy and junk food.
This book is about Josey mostly, but it's also about Chloe and Della Lee, their lives and loves. It wasn't as good as Garden Spells, but I did enjoy it lots.
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04:51 pm
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The Lost Art of Gratitude by Alexander McCall Smith
This is the 6th Isabel Dalhousie novel. In it, Isabel sees Minty again and is convinced to help her with a little problem. Minty's son is not her husband's son. He's her ex-paramour's. And that man wants visitation rights. Isabel is to convince him otherwise.
But nothing is as it seems with Minty and the things that involve her.
Meanwhile, we see a lot of Charlie, Isabel and Jamie's son. Will those two ever get married? And how will Cat (Isabel's niece and ex-girlfriend of Jamie) feel about it?
Professor Dove writes Isabel a disquieting letter. What will come of it?
This was a good novel in this series. I recommend it, but an acquaintance with the characters is best in order to understand everything that's going on.
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08:48 pm
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According to Jane by Marilyn Brant
If it weren't for the sex, this would be a young adult novel. (Snort.)
The reason for this is the narrator's voice. She also never seems to get out of the teen angst stage.
The book starts out when Ellie is in high school. Her English class starts reading Pride and Prejudice and Ellie starts hearing Jane Austen's voice in her head. They have conversations.
Then while the novel mostly moves on in time, there are still flashbacks to high school. So I felt like Ellie never got away from high school in the novel.
We get to read all about Ellie's sexual conduct and Jane's comments on the character of the men.
The big question of the book is supposed to be who Ellie will end up with. It's pretty obvious.
This book was an ok read. I read the whole thing which means I didn't fed up with it at any point. I feel like something must have been engaging about the book, but I honestly can't remember what it was.
Jane's comments started out pithy and cute. Then she kept saying much the same thing and it got old. Jane never learned anything in the course of the book. The main character did but it was beat over the reader's head.
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08:31 pm
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The Wedding Girl by Madeleine Wickham
This chick lit book is by Sophie Kinsella (of Shopaholic fame) under a pseudonym.
It starts out with Milly meeting a gay couple in Oxford. Allan is American and wants to stay in England but doesn't have a proper visa. So he asks her to marry him. She does and now he can stay in England and he can stay with Rupert.
Just after the wedding, they stand outside the courthouse (or whatever) and take pictures of each other and tourists are taking pictures of them. Milly's veil flies off and lands in the hands of a teen.
End first chapter.
It's 10 years later and Milly is getting married. Yup, of course, she forgot the divorce. Sort of. She signed a paper, but nothing ever came of it afterward.
Can she keep the first marriage a secret? What kind of shenanigans will ensue?
In some ways this book was disappointing. It seemed so predictable. And Milly's part in it was. But what about her sister and her big secret? And mom and dad's marriage seems doomed.
Did I like this book? I liked the first chapter. After that for a while it fell along too typical lines and I was bored. Then it picked up and I was reading quite avidly by the end. So it ran the gamut of like and dislike.
If you like chick lit - good. If you're looking for light reading - good. And like that.
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01:51 pm
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The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
This isn't a review of the book. It's a review of the first season of the TV show on HBO.
I read the book a while ago and was a little disappointed. So I expected to watch the pilot and that would be it. I just wanted to know what everyone was watching, and the DVDs were available at the library.
I loved the show. I loved it so much I watched all the episodes AND the features. I never watch features. One of the best things they have is the author's diary. Alexander McCall Smith says something about each episode. And you learn something about Botswana in each one. In the features they also mention how the series shows a good side of Africa, but then they also talk about the issues introduced in the TV episode.
I'm not sure why I liked the TV show so much better than the book, but I've determined to give the books another chance.
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04:30 am
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Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett
In this book, we see how the game of foot-the-ball is played in Ankh-Morpork. It's quite deadly. Unseen University discovers it must play the game or give up a large bequest.
Happily, someone stumbles upon an urn with the ancient rules on it. The powers that be, starting with Vetinari make up the new old rules.
So the book is about soccer.
But there's a love story with Juliet and her Trev.
But there's also an orc in the story. I found the book the most engaging when the orc was front and center.
At the beginning of the book, I just didn't find a lot to be laughing about. But that was just me lacking a sense of humor. Chaz was laughing out loud all through the novel. I did finally start laughing about 1/2 the way through.
I would recommend this book but not wholeheartedly, the way I would so many of Pratchett's other books.
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10:59 am
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There Goes the Bride by M.C. Beaton
I'm catching up on my reviews - can you tell?
So this is an Agatha Raisin mystery. James Lacey, Agatha's ex is getting married to a very young woman. Agatha is invited to the wedding and attends it.
But before the wedding can take place, the bride is killed.
M.C. Beaton is my favorite author. Agatha Raisin is my favorite of her series. I read the book too darn fast. I felt I didn't get enough out of it and that I missed stuff.
So I just have to re-read it. Poor me. :)
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10:52 am
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Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman
And illustrated by Brett Helquist.
This is a children's novel. Odd's father is a Viking who falls in love with a Scottish woman and he brings her back home. He treats her well and doesn't force her to do anything she doesn't want to do. They do marry and Odd is their son.
Odd has some bad luck. His father dies on a Viking expedition. A tree falls on Odd's leg and it is crushed. Winter comes to the village and never leaves. Meanwhile, Mom has remarried and the step dad isn't fond of Odd.
So Odd goes off. He meets a bear, a fox and an eagle with one eye. Soon, we get to know these creatures and who they really are. Odd ends up going to Asgard to save the gods from the Frost Giants.
This is a short novel - 117 pages. I would also highly recommend reading the about the author page.
Loved the book.
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10:47 am
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Sheer Folly by Carola Dunn
This is the newest Daisy Dalrymple mystery. It takes place is the 1920s in England.
Daisy goes with her friend Lucy to a country house famous for its folly. Daisy is writing a story on follies and Lucy is taking the pictures of them.
Daisy's husband is a policeman. He and Lucy's husband come to join the women at the home. Then there's an explosion at the folly and someone dies. Is it murder? (Of course it is!)
This is a country house murder.
I liked this book. There were a lot of people to try to keep straight though.
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10:41 am
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Liar by Justine Larbelestier
I really enjoyed this YA psychological thriller. It wasn't too scary is why.
Micah is at a new school. The teacher thinks she is a boy and Micah lets everybody think she is. Micah is a habitual liar, as you may be able to tell from the title. Eventually someone figures out she's a girl.
It turns out a classmate has been killed. How and who and why, we don't know. The rest of the book is Micah's story in relation to this boy. I can't say too much or I give away great whopping chunks of the story and perhaps poison your view of Micah's story.
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12:32 am
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Kissed a Sad Goodbye by Deborah Crombie
Loved it.
Crombie is quick becoming one of my favorite authors. She writes police procedurals set in England, but they often have quite a cozy mystery feel to them.
In this book, a woman's body is found in a park in the Docklands. Duncan and Gemma have to find out who she was, and who of her family or acquaintances would want to kill her.
There is a back story, as there always is in these mysteries. As you find out what happened in the past (in this case during the Blitz), you get closer to the who and why of the murder.
Meanwhile, Duncan is struggling with his relationship with his new found son. Gemma is struggling with her relationship with Duncan.
There's lots here to keep you involved in the story.
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12:25 am
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The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
This adult novel was 549 pages long. This is much longer than I am used to reading and it did take me a while to finish.
I thought for sure I would find lots of places where it could have been edited down. But in reality I only felt that way about 10 of the last pages.
A 4 year old girl in 1913 is abandoned on a ship to Australia. How did this come about and why did it happen are the questions this book tries to answer. It does this by examining her mother's story, her story in 1913 and 1975, and by the story of her granddaughter in 2005.
I thought going from viewpoint to viewpoint was going to be difficult and I'd get confused, as I so easily do. But the author handled it so well, as long as I remembered to look at the date at the beginning of each chapter, I was strongly oriented in what was going on.
Great book. Good plot, good characterization, the characters grow, there's a mystery or three, good sense of place.
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06:07 pm
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The Year of Secret Assignments by Jaclyn Moriarty
This was a book on cd read by various narrators.
Three girl Ashbury Academy students are forced into a pen pal relationship with three boy students from Brookfield High. Ashbury is a private school - very snobby and Brookfield High is public and supposedly filled with criminals and low lives.
Two of the girls exchange letters with perfectly decent guys. The third pair, Cassie and Matthew, have a strange exchange. Matthew starts by threatening Cassie and then comes to seem to like her. Cassie, it turns out, has also lost her father to leukemia a year ago.
The letters are fabulous. The different personalities come through in the narratives. I really enjoyed this book on cd.
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11:05 am
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Magic Lessons by Justine Larbalestier
This is the sequel to Magic or Madness. As with most sequels, it isn't quite as good. However, I really liked the beginning and the middle. The end was left open for the next book.
In this novel, Reason is pulled against her will into New York City. It looks like the magic door is swallowing her up and pushing her through. Everybody expects the culprit to be her grandfather. But a new evil being is introduced in this book.
You really need to read Magic or Madness in order to get this sequel. If I don't want to give away what happens in either book (and it would ruin the books if I did) I can't really say much about the plots.
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08:22 am
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Royal Flush by Rhys Bowen
This is the third in a mystery series which takes place in 1930s England. Lady Georgiana (Georgie) is 34th in line to the throne. Her family is poor and can't support her, so she needs to have a job. Unfortunately she's not qualified for anything and this gets her in trouble. Also, people who are so close to the throne are not supposed to need jobs.
One night Georgie is out on the town with her best buddy, Belinda. She has the idea that many rich men need "escorts" to keep them company throughout an evening, but not in a call girl kind of way.
She puts an ad in the newspaper and gets in trouble. Darcy, her on again, off again beau saves her from a most indelicate scene.
She's then sent up to Scotland to her brother's castle near Balmoral where the royals are staying. She's to find out who's trying to kill the royals.
There are a number of sub-plots in this book which keeps the story moving. The ending is strange but works.
I had fun reading this book. I enjoyed all the previous books in this series. This is perhaps the weakest in some ways though.
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08:14 am
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Summer of the Big Bachi by Naomi Hirahara
I have now read all the fiction by Naomi Hirahara and will read the next installment of this series as soon as it comes out.
This was the first in the Mas Arai mystery series. I read the 3rd first, then the 2nd book, and now the first. Crazy, but it proves that you don't have to read them in order.
Mas Arai is a Japanese American gardener in Southern California. He was born in the US, moved to Japan as a small child and survived Hiroshima. Hi wife is dead of cancer. His daughter doesn't talk to him.
Meanwhile, the story. I found this one a bit confusing. When Mas was in Hiroshima something happened that causes him great pain. We don't find out what it was til late in the book. But something even more awful happened there which has repercussions in present day California. Murder happens. Etc.
I read this book too fast for my own good, I think. It was really good but deserves either a slower more careful reading or someone who catches on faster than I did. I had to wait until the very end before I could understand who did the murder and the circumstances leading up to it.
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08:06 am
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The Women of Nell Gwynne's by Kage Baker
This is a steampunk novella. It's about a woman who joins a group of prostitutes/agents (best way to describe it) and the adventure that happens.
Lady Beatrice was a proper lady until she was group raped overseas. She escaped but was forced into prostitution by her circumstances. She was soon recruited by Nell Gwynne's group. It's a group of women who are agents for a thing called The Society.
They are sent on assignment to a country house. They must find out what's going on in there; the man who lives there has been ordering some interesting chemicals etc.
Adventure happens.
This was a very good book,, but there is some strong sexual language (for me it was strong). Even though this book stands alone very well, I think it's a great jumping off place for more books.
My only complaint is that the women are pretty much stereotypical whores with a heart of gold. None seem to feel shame or any kind of negative emotion.
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06:36 pm
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Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella
Great book! I would mean to read for an hour and I would find myself going on for two. It was so hard for me to put down.
Ok Lara is in her 20s and is being forced to go to her Great Aunt Sadie's funeral. Sadie was 105 when she died. She was a flapper in the 1920s in England. She begins to haunt Lara. She wants Lara to find her necklace.
So Lara undertakes, slowly, to find the necklace. Meanwhile Sadie doesn't like the way Lara is running her life. Lara is basically stalking her ex-boyfriend. Not exactly, but she is obsessed. And Sadie urges her to get over Josh.
Anyway, this book is about their adventures together, their burgeoning friendship. It's also a ghost story (obviously) and a bit of a mystery and romance. Also chick lit. Can't leave that out.
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10:35 am
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Magic or Madness by Justine Larbalestier
This was a young adult fantasy to sink your teeth into.
Reason's mother doesn't believe in magic even though she says Reason's grandmother is a witch of the most hateful kind. She eats little babies.
Reason has spent all or most of her 15 or so years wandering around Australia, including in the bush. When her mother goes crazy and is put in an institution, Reason is sent to her grandmother's house. She is terrified.
She makes a friend in the next door neighbor boy. She finds a key to the backdoor and goes through it to New york City in the winter.
I found this book riveting and have plans to read the rest of the trilogy.
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10:29 am
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Prada and Prejudice by Mandy Hubbard
Hubbard's debut novel is a pretty whiny PnP type young adult book.
Callie is not one of the popular girls in town. She convinces her mother to send her on a school trip to London and buys a pair of Prada shoes. These are strictly not in the budget. She trips and goes back in time to the year 1815.
She becomes welcome in the manor house of a duke entertaining some relatives. She is mistaken for the expected friend of his niece. She has to find a way to get back to her own time before the real one shows up.
Meanwhile she hates the duke for being snobbish and sinister. It turns into a sort of hate/love thing that I've come to despise.
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