Tuesday, February 3, 2009

A Fatal Waltz

A Fatal Waltz A Fatal Waltz by Tasha Alexander

Book 7 of 25 for the Support Your Local Library Challenge
Book 15 of 100 for the 100+ Reading Challenge

rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

I just found out this book has been nominated for the Bruce Alexander Memorial Mystery Award given for historical mysteries set before 1950.  I think it definitely deserves it.  A Fatal Waltz is the third book in the Lady Ashton series, and even though I've loved them all, each one gets better and better. 

Lady Ashton is invited to spend the weekend at the home of politically prominent Lord Fortescue.  While there, a murder takes place and her best friend's husband becomes the prime suspect.  In solving the murder, Emily must travel to Vienna where she becomes embroiled in both the art and political scenes of the early 1890s.  

The mystery and romance were well-balanced in this book.  I'm only sorry that I will have to wait until September for the next installment in this series--Tears of Pearl.  

To read the first chapter of A Fatal Waltz, click here.

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Monday, February 2, 2009

Very Valentine

Very Valentine Very Valentine by Adriana Trigiani

Book 6 of 25 for the Support Your Local Library Challenge
Book 14 of 100 for the 100+ Reading Challenge


rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'm a big fan of Adriana Trigiani.  I've liked everything she's written apart from Rococo.  So, I was excited when I noticed this on the new book shelf at my library this weekend.  I was especially excited when I realized it isn't even due to be released until Feb. 3rd, so I was getting a sneak peek!  

Valentine Roncalli lives with her grandmother in the West Village of Manhattan where she designs and makes custom wedding shoes.  She has a wonderfully crazy Italian family and a handsome chef vying for her heart.  Valentine is stunned when she realizes that the shoe business isn't doing well, and her brother is pressuring her grandmother to sell the building and close down the legacy shoe shop that has been in her family since 1903.

This is the start of a new trilogy, but it read more like a second book in a series rather than a first to me.  While there was a lot of character development and detail, not enough actually happened.  I loved Trigiani's superb details of food, Italy, and life as a cobbler, but sometimes the writing was a little formulaic for my taste.  As a side note, I thought the blatant self-promotion of her book Lucia, Lucia as a movie within this novel was tacky.  

I do think Trigiani has created a fun group of characters though, so I will certainly be looking forward to the next book.  In the meantime, I was excited to find out the author will be releasing her first YA novel, Viola in Reel Life, in fall 2009.

You can read the first chapter of Very Valentine here.

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Saturday, January 31, 2009

A Poisoned Season

A Poisoned Season A Poisoned Season by Tasha Alexander

Book 13 of 100 for the 100+ Reading Challenge

rating: 4 of 5 stars

I had a brainwave tonight.  I decided I like these books the same way I like the Maisie Dobbs books.  Maisie is set post-WW1 and this is late-Victorian.  But they are both plucky heroines, not afraid to use their talents and ingenuity regardless of societal influences.  

A Poisoned Season picks up a few months after And Only to Deceive finishes.  Lady Ashton becomes involved in the disappearance of Marie Antoinette's belongings and a double murder. I thought the mystery component was even better in this one, although the romance was a little flatter. Still, I loved it and I can't wait to get the next one!

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Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Dear Exile

Dear Exile : The True Story of Two Friends Separated (for a Year) by an Ocean Dear Exile : The True Story of Two Friends Separated (for a Year) by an Ocean by Hilary Liftin and Kate Montgomery

Book 12 of 100 for the 100+ Reading Challenge

rating: 2 of 5 stars

This book contains real-life letters between best friends. Hilary is single in NYC and Kate is a newly-married Peace Corp volunteer in Kenya.  

I have a hard time trashing the characters here, because they are real people with real feelings. But, if you are going to publish your private correspondence for all the world to see, I guess you open yourself up to a lot of scrutiny.  So, let's just say that Hilary and I would never be friends.

Kate is so genuine and heartfelt in her letters.  You can feel her inner struggles to do the right thing and her desire to change the world.  Her letters are long and meaningful, rich in detail of her life in Kenya.  But Hilary's letters were mostly about her sexual exploits, her lousy luck in love, a job she hates and her apartment woes.  I will give Hilary humor points though.  She had me laughing out loud a couple of times.

Pick it up if you have a penchant for Africa or travel memoirs.  It was a quick read, but really just OK for me in the end.
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Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Garden Spells

Garden Spells Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

Book 4 of 25 for the Support Your Local Library Challenge
Book 11 of 100 for the 100+ Reading Challenge

rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have seen lots of rave reviews about this book and I decided I was in the mood for a little magical realism.  Garden Spells is an inviting fairy tale about two sisters struggling with their past set in Bascom, North Carolina.  Claire Waverley is a genius with food.  She has a magical garden that she uses to evoke emotions in those she caters for.  Everyone important in her life has left her--her mom, grandmother, and sister.  So she only values things that she knows are permanent, and she's afraid to let the unexpected in. Sydney Waverley is the younger sister.  She left town right after high school and disappeared for 10 years.  As the prodigal daughter, she returns with a five year old daughter and not a lot of answers about where she has been.

I really became enchanted by this book.  I let myself suspend belief as I immersed myself in a world where flowers make beautiful food, lovers give off purple auras, and the wind carries scents of the past.  I loved Evanelle, the old relative who runs around town giving everyone little trinkets they will need in the future--like mango slicers, sheets, and quarters.  It was a book full of delectable details.

I can't recommend this book wholesale because there are some rated R moments that made me uncomfortable. There is some brief strong language, some sexual themes, and an instance of sexual violence. But overall, this is a really unique book by a promising author.  I look forward to checking out her next book, The Sugar Queen. 

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Sunday, January 25, 2009

And Only to Deceive

And Only to Deceive And Only to Deceive by Tasha Alexander

Book 10 of 100 for the 100+ Reading Challenge

rating: 4 of 5 stars

I wish I could remember how this book ended up on my to-read list.  But, to whomever or however it happened, I am truly grateful.  I loved this book! 

This book is first in a series starring Lady Ashton, a young widower who married only to escape her domineering mother set in Victorian England.  She wasn't truly in mourning for her husband, whom she had only known for a short time, but her rank ensured she acted the part.

Emily Ashton has a rebellious edge to her.  She values education and art, mythology and poetry. In short, all things a lady of her rank should disregard.  She struggles with wanting more freedom than social customs allow, but at the same time she uses those social customs to her advantage.  She knows that prior to her marriage, she was more shallow than she should have been.  But the death of her husband forces her to become introspective about who she is and what she wants from her life.   

This book has a lot of great elements:  a little intrigue, art history, beautiful settings with far-flung locales, some romance, Greek artifacts and mythology, and a struggling heroine.  I'm looking forward to watching Emily's increasingly complex character grow in the next books.  I'll definitely be heading out to get the next in the series.  

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A Bride Most Begrudging

A Bride Most Begrudging A Bride Most Begrudging by Deeanne Gist

Book 9 of 100 for the 100+ Reading Challenge
Book 10 of 10 for the Book Awards Reading Challenge

Award: 2006 Christy Award
rating: 3 of 5 stars

Christian author Deeanne Gist's enjoyable novel is about an young girl from an aristocratic family in England who is kidnapped aboard a bride ship headed for America. Set in Virginia in the late 1600's, this book details a rugged life on a tobacco plantation where the Whites have a very tenuous relationship with Native Americans. Once Constance arrives, she is forced to marry handsome Drew O'Connor against her will. But, Constance hopes she can ultimately return to England to edit the mathematical journal for ladies her uncle had started.

I was slightly annoyed that Gist used another Bible than the King James Version since that would have been historically accurate. But, that's just a minor complaint. The book is really just a nice clean historical fiction romance. It's great if you are in the mood for a relaxing escapist read. Personally, I preferred The Measure of a Lady, but if you find you enjoy this genre, I recommend this as well.

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Wednesday, January 21, 2009

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

Book 3 of 3 for the Well-Seasoned Reader Challenge
Book 1 of 12 for the 2009 YA Challenge
Book 8 of 100 for the 100+ Reading Challenge

rating: 4 of 5 stars

I had never read this classic American novel before so I was excited my in-person book club chose it as our January read.  

Francie Nolan is a young girl, coming of age in poverty-stricken Brooklyn during the 1910s with an alcoholic father, a determined mother, and a brother who is truly her best friend.  Francie's mother has taught her that the key to escaping from the cycle of poverty is education.  So Francie sets out to do all she can to support her mother's wishes.  But deep down Francie and her father share a stronger bond that makes her life richer and more meaningful. 

There isn't really a strong plot, so I didn't think it was exactly a page-turner.  But it's told so beautifully that there were passages I actually pored over.  It's a story of love, grief and survival that I certainly recommend.  

I don't think I'll look at a penny the same ever again.  

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Saturday, January 17, 2009

Wife in the North

Wife in the North Wife in the North by Judith O'Reilly

Book 2 of 3 for the Well-Seasoned Reader Challenge
Book 7 of 100 for the 100+ Reading Challenge

rating: 4 of 5 stars

I knew I was going to like this memoir.  There was just so much I could relate to.  I've been there--moving far from home whilst pregnant because my husband asked me to and hanging out with little kids all day long with its ensuing insanity while said husband is MIA and I am left wondering what happened to that great career I was going to have.  But Judith O'Reilly puts all of her thoughts and feelings into words with such raw grace and honesty, I could never express myself as she does.  Plus, Judith lives in England, so you get the advantage of reading a book with decidedly British words like 'whinge' and 'bap' and 'blimey'.

Judith is a journalist who had a great career living in London.  In her mid-30s she married and started having children.  Her husband always loved Northumberland (a county near Scotland) and they had a small cottage home there.  But, Judith's husband wanted to move there on a trial basis for two years to see if they could make it work.  And Judith agreed to give it a go.

The first 113 pages of the book are from Judith's diary.  But in late 2006, Judith decided to start a blog to express her feelings, and her blog entries comprise the last 222 pages.  This book also includes a reading group guide and a discussion with Judith at the end.  I loved it when Judith says:
I have my doubts though whether we will ever really belong.  You decide whether you can live with being on the outside of things.  I have decided we can.
I can see where people might think Judith complains a lot.  But, everyone blogs for different reasons--creative interest, to connect, share, keep memories, or let off steam.  I think Judith's book will strike a chord with a lot of women who change their life course for their husband and children.  Check out her blog here.  (One disclaimer: Judith does use some strong language from time to time.)

Thanks to Julie at FSB Associates for the opportunity to review this book!

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Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Belong to Me

Belong to Me: A Novel Belong to Me: A Novel by Marisa de los Santos

rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book picks up a couple of years after Love Walked In left off.  I can't give much in the way of a plot synopsis without ruining Love Walked In.  But, there's Cornelia in the suburbs, a "perfect" neighbor named Piper (who is the society queen bee), and an extraordinarily bright 13-year old named Dev.  The Cornelia chapters are in first person, and the Piper and Dev chapters are in third person.  As can be expected, their stories collide in dramatic, intense and heartbreaking ways.

Belong to Me is a lot more involved than Maria de los Santos' first novel. It's a book about secrets and lies, and letting go and trusting, and loyalty and forgiveness.  I wasn't quite expecting that, but you definitely bite off quite a bit when you pick this book up.  I struggled a little through the Dev chapters and the serious drama in this book was a little overdone for me. 

I liked it, but I just liked Love Walked In more.

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