Books Reviewed

Reviews of books, audiobooks, etc…

Review: THE SECRETS OF CASANOVA by Greg Michaels

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I was recently approached to read and review Greg Michaels’ new novel: THE SECRETS OF CASANOVA. It sounded fun and interesting (and to be honest, I know very little about the real Casanova – a great lover, right? And always makes me think of Greg Brady in the Brady Bunch?). This was a rollicking, fun, adventure story, with a little history and a lot of fiction thrown in.

Giacomo Casanova was a real person who lived in the mid to late 1700’s (see Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giacomo_Casanova). He was known for having many affairs with women and this reputation continues today when we call someone “a Casanova”. However, he was an interesting figure, intelligent and well-known, who wrote many works (best known is his autobiography), was imprisoned in Venice, lived in Paris, and knew many famous people of his era.
Michaels makes Casanova come alive as a flesh and blood man – part swindler, part earnest young man. He’s a bit of a lovable rogue who shows his more sensitive side in his relationships. He is on a quest for a holy relic, complete with “treasure map”, and his adventures take him and his companions across Europe with various close calls along the way.

As I read this book, I thought of what a fun movie it would make! I kept seeing Robert Downey Junior in the lead (call me a child of the 80’s). If you like swashbuckling adventure, you would probably like this book. There are some sexual scenes (not many, but they are there) or I would suggest it to the younger crowd as well.

I wasn’t sure by the ending if we might be hearing more from Mr. Michaels and Casanova. I would look forward to seeing his adventures continue!

Thanks for the opportunity to share your book, Greg!

YA Review: The Unseemly Education of Anne Merchant by Joanna Wiebe

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I chose this paranormal YA romance from Net Galley because, ever since middle school, I am a sucker for books that take place in boarding schools! THE UNSEEMLY EDUCATION OF ANNE MERCHANT is the first in a trilogy (wish I had known this going in to it as the ending disappointed me due to lack of resolution!). Undertaker’s daughter, Anne Merchant, is sent from her humble home in a very wealthy area of California to an island off Maine to the  elite Cania Christie boarding school. Right away she notices that everyone there is almost creepily perfect, and they all are bent on an almost ridiculous race to become valedictorian. Anne soon realizes that nothing is as it seems, that valedictorian means much more than grades, and that getting in to Cania Christie is so difficult and expensive, well let’s just say that people are dying to get in!

I can’t say too much more without giving it all away, but Anne works with new friends to explore and understand the mysteries of the school and the island (and villagers) where they live. The more she finds out, the more terrifying it all becomes. Add in some romance, teen angst, and conflict and you have fun (older – due to sexual content) YA fare. I can see this book as a movie – sort of Twilight meets Hunger Games.

Thanks, Net Galley and BenBella Books for my copy!

Quick Review: ELIZABETH OF YORK by Alison Weir

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Alison Weir is an amazing historian, having written non-fiction books on a variety of British history subjects, including Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. I’ve read most of her work and while it is dense, it is fascinating.

I received ELIZABETH OF YORK from Net Galley. To be honest, I had no idea who she was (except that with that name, she was British). The subtitle of this book is “A Tudor Queen and Her World”. Elizabeth was Henry VIII’s mother. Her brothers were the little princes in the Tower (who disappeared). Elizabeth lived in a somewhat chaotic and violent time in British history in the late 1400’s. After a variety of ups and downs, she became a beloved and reigning queen, and the grandmother of Elizabeth I.

While I love reading these type of books, it is dense reading! It was also quite long. I read a Kindle version, but Amazon says over 600 pages. It is filled with facts that I would have been better served to write down into a genealogy. (I also struggle with the fact that a LOT of British queens/ladies shared the same three names: Elizabeth, Anne, or Jane, with an occasional Margaret thrown in).

If you don’t know much about Elizabeth of York and enjoy historical biography of the Tudors, then this is one for you!

Thanks, Net Galley and Ballantine Books, for my copy!

Review: THE INVENTION OF WINGS by Sue Monk Kidd

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Oh my. This is a book I can hardly do justice to. It will truly be on my “Best of 2014” list this year!

I loved Sue Monk Kidd’s THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES (and I enjoyed her other two books as well), so I was very excited to get an ARC of her new publication THE INVENTION OF WINGS from Net Galley.

This historical novel tells the story of Sarah Grimké, a young girl of Charleston, SC. Starting in the 1830’s. Sarah receives a personal slave, a young girl named Handful (Hetty), as a gift for her eleventh birthday, and upsets her parents by trying to grant her her freedom. Young Sarah dreams of being a lawyer. Plain and intelligent, she doesn’t fit with the Southern belles of her peer group. She forms a friendship with Handful and almost immediately gets them both into serious trouble when she teaches Handful to read. The story follows Sarah, and Handful, as they grow up and become adults. Sarah evolves (along with her younger sister Angelina) into a passionate abolitionist and worker for women’s rights. Handful and her mother dream of one day being free.

While I loved this story, I was absolutely amazed to discover that Sarah Grimké and her sister Angelina were real people and that Sue Monk Kidd had based her novel on historical facts. How had I never heard of them?? This is a story that must be told. If you enjoy historical fiction, women’s studies, Civil War genre, and/or basically strong female protagonists who are based in reality, then you will enjoy this well-written and well-researched book.

Do yourself a favor and read this book!

Thanks, Net Galley and Viking, for my copy! Looks like it’s a pick for Oprah’s Book Club, too.

YA Review: Being Sloane Jacobs by Lauren Morrill

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Just out this week, I got this fun YA read from Net Galley.

BEING SLOANE JACOBS is the story of two girls – both named Sloane Jacobs – who switch places one summer at the respective summer camps. Sloane Emily is a wealthy senator’s daughter, bored with her life under the microscope and her power focused parents. She is an expert ice skater who has had some recent issues with confidence, and is headed to Canada for skating camp. Sloane Devon is a tough hockey player from Philly who is sent to camp as a community service due to her bad attitude. Both girls start off hating each other (sort of like Parent Trap!) when they meet at a hotel, but realize that they are similar enough in looks that they could pass for each other; then decide to take a break from their respective lives and “try on” the other’s existence.

I really enjoyed this story – it was light and funny and had a little romance built in. I would have loved this book when I was in middle school. At the end of the day the two themes ring true: “don’t judge a person until you walk a mile in the shoes” , and “East or West, home is best.” I look forward to more from Ms. Morrill!

Thanks for my ARC ecopy!

Quick Review: THE MINOR ADJUSTMENT BEAUTY SALON by Alexander McCall Smith

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I love the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency books, and number 14 came out this fall. I bought it for my husband for his birthday and just read it this weekend myself. It’s another “cozy” home run for this popular series.

This time, Grace and Phuti are expecting their first child. Will motherhood change Mma Makutsi, and will she want to stay at the agency now that she has a baby? Meanwhile, Precious is investigating two cases: an inheritance case where she needs to determine if the claimant is legitimate, and a beauty salon that is the victim of an anonymous slur campaign.

I really enjoy this series and look forward to more installments from Mr. Smith!


Review: CHRISTMAS IN APPLE RIDGE by Cindy Woodsmall

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Through Blogging for Books and Water Brook Press, a Christian publisher, I received the three-in-one volume of CHRISTMAS IN APPLE RIDGE by Cindy Woodsmall to review. Apparently, the first two books were previously published in recent years, and the third is a new novella. I had never read anything by Cindy Woodsmall before, and these books all take place in the Amish community of Apple Ridge, PA. Before I began blogging, I actually did not realize “Amish” was a genre, seemingly under the larger heading of “Christian Romance”. This was new to me, but I have to say that I find these stories rather compelling. It’s comforting to think that in today’s hectic, crazed world there is a community that lives honestly and simply, in tune with nature and committed to their faith.

Each of these stories is inter-related, with characters overlapping, and in each the two central characters need to overcome past demons and emotional hurdles in order to find their soul mate. “The Sound of Sleigh Bells”, “The Christmas Singing”, and “The Dawn of Christmas” are the three novellas. They all center around Christmastime and a happy ending is guaranteed.

Recommended to those who enjoy this genre.

Thanks, Water Brook Publishers and Blogging for Books, for my copy!

My Favorite Reads of 2013

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It’s that time of year! Everywhere you look, “best of” lists are coming out. Best Books, Best Movies, Best Songs, Best Moments in Sports, etc. etc. Personally, I won’t assume that I have the power to individually say what’s best (plus I’m a big believer of “to each his own”). Instead, I would like to share what my personal favorite reads were this year. There were lots of books that I read and enjoyed this year, but these books stayed with me either because I loved the characters, or I couldn’t put the book down, or I thought it was incredibly well-written, or a combination of these things.

So here I give you – my favorite reading experiences for 2013 (reviews of all can be found on this blog):

Cozies:

The Maggie Hope series by Susan Elia MacNeal

The Royal Spyness series by Rhys Bowen

The Flavia de Luce series by Alan Bradley

YA:

Twerp by Mark Goldblatt

Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein

Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer by Katie Alender

Historical Fiction:

The Light in the Ruins by Chris Bohjalian

The Aviator’s Wife by Melanie Benjamin

Call Me Zelda by Erika Robuck

The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress by Ariel Lawhon

I Shall be Near to You by Lindsay McCabe

Fiction:

Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight

Looking for Me by Beth Hoffman

The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg

Non-Fiction:

The Astronaut Wives Club by Lily Koppel

Review: THE DEAD IN THEIR VAULTED ARCHES by Alan Bradley

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If you read me, you know I LOVE the Flavia de Luce mysteries – focusing on the humorous exploits and detective work of a precocious eleven-year-old chemist in the 1950’s British countryside.  Book 5 is coming out in January and I was thrilled beyond belief to get it from Net Galley (adding to my thrill was a tweet from Flavia herself saying she hoped I liked it!).

THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS!

THE DEAD IN THEIR VAULTED ARCHES takes up where the last book left off: Flavia and her family are notified that her long-lost mother, Harriet, has been found and is heading home. However, when Flavia’s family arrives at the train station, it is Harriet’s body that is returning home, not Harriet herself. How exactly did Harriet die on her mountain hiking expedition? And who was with her? What was she hiding? Who is the mysterious young man who whispers to Flavia and then has an “accident” and falls under the oncoming train? And why is the great man, Churchill, himself speaking to Flavia in what appears to be code??Flavia sets about getting to the bottom of mystery of her mother’s death; but first she seeks to use her beloved chemistry in an attempt to bring her mother back to life.

Once again, I enjoyed Flavia’s exploits and especially her uniquely intellectual voice and dry witticisms that had me laughing out loud while reading! Flavia’s attempt to bring her mother back was so poignant – there is hardly anything so heart-wrenching as a young child who yearns for their deceased mother. This time the de Luce family is shown in more of their moral and emotional complexity, and you come to know them as a family torn asunder from the loss of Harriet. Along with this is a rollicking mystery of the family’s involvement with WWII, and a finale that makes the reader think that while we will hear more from Flavia, it won’t be same as when she is toodling around the family estate.

While the first book in this series remains my most favorite, I recommend this to readers of the series. I find the stories follow best if you read them in order.

Thank you, Net Galley and Delacorte Press, for my copy!!