The King’s Rose

by Alisa M. Libby

Catherine Howard is a member of one of the most powerful families in England, but she spent most of her life far from the King’s court in London. At Lambeth Palace she enjoyed more freedom and romantic liaisons, but now that she is fifteen her family has decided that the time has come for Catherine to be useful. She is brought to court to join the Queen’s ladies-in-waiting, but when Henry VIII falls in desperate lust with young Catherine, his fourth wife is quickly brushed aside.  One royal wedding later, Catherine Howard is the Queen of England, but her position offers her little comfort or power. Her former acquaintances flock to her, threatening to reveal the indiscretions of the past if Catherine does not provide them with positions at court. Her family continues to control her actions, especially through Jane Rochford and the Duchess of Norfolk. Worst of all, Catherine has fallen in love with Thomas Culpepper, and their flirtation could bring the wrath of the king down on the entire court.

Henry VIII’s fifth queen, who was married to him for less than two years, is given a sympathetic portrayal in Alisa Libby’s novel. Catherine’s biggest fault is that she’s a teenager. She lacks the cleverness to navigate the complicated adult world of Henry’s court, and her inexperience in worldly affairs means that she cannot be a true political power. Her family makes it clear that if Catherine cannot hold the king’s attention, they’ll drop her like a stone…as they did with her cousin, Anne Boleyn.

This reminds me of something I liked about the book. When she is in moments of stress, Catherine is often haunted by the ghost of Anne Boleyn, although whether this phantom is the spirit of Anne or just a hallucination brought on by Catherine’s panic is never quite clear. I thought that Anne’s life would be something that Catherine would naturally fixate on, given the parallel lives the two women led, but this is the first novel about Catherine that really brought that into the narrative. It also highlights Catherine’s uneasiness with her position; while Anne was groomed for her role and motivated by her own vaulting ambitions, Catherine never particularly desired the throne.

Like Anne, Catherine also desperately needed to provide Henry VIII with an heir. Since she was young and healthy, there was no reason she shouldn’t bear a son, but as the months go by and Catherine still isn’t pregnant what little power she possesses begins to slip away. She’s clearly trapped, and even the extreme measures she takes to buy time only serve to condemn her to her ultimate fate. She’s a very tragic figure, this Catherine Howard; by all accounts she was utterly average and didn’t have the intellect, cunning, or ambition to survive the Tudor court. Yet at the end of her brief life, she was able to pull herself together enough to make a ‘good end’ on the scaffold, when more experienced courtiers descended into madness.

I think this is the third or fourth book about Catherine that I’ve read this year, and so far it is my favorite. I think it would appeal really well to a teen audience, since the readers would identify with Catherine’s struggles, but there’s enough drama and intrigue to delight adults too!

To read more about The King’s Rose, buy it or add it to your wishlist click here.

Hannah: Daughters of the Sea, Book One

by Kathryn Lasky

Plot Description from Amazon.com:

Daughters of the Sea tells the story of 3 mermaid sisters who are separated at birth by a storm and go on to lead three very different lives. Book 1 is about Hannah, who spent her early days in an orphanage and is now a scullery maid in the house of rich, powerful family. She is irresistibly drawn to the sea and through a series of accidents and encounters discovers her true identity. Hannah realizes that she must keep the truth a secret but she also knows that soon she will have to make the choice - to be a creature of the land or the sea.

Hannah is a fantastic re-imagining of mermaid mythology. Normally, one reads of a fish girl who chooses to go on land to pursue true love or adventure, but in Kathryn Lasky’s new book the situation is reversed, with a ‘normal’ girl feeling irresistibly pulled toward the sea. 

The story has the same mythic/magical rhythm as a classic fairy tale, and Lasky created beautiful imagery with her words. She also provided an extremely memorable villain in Lila, the daughter of the wealthy household in which Hannah works. Lila is unbalanced and cruel, and she has an unnatural, unhealthy attachment to her white cat Jade. Her bond with the feline mimics Hannah’s own relationship with the sea, but while Hannah draws strength from the ocean Lila seems to veer toward anger and madness. I finished this book in a single sitting. I’m many years out of the ‘tweener’ audience this book was written for, but I thought it was quite an enjoyable read. 

I did have a huge pet peeve with the book, though: see that description from Amazon.com I posted at the beginning? There is no indication in the plot of this book that Hannah is part of a mermaid family.  If the book cover didn’t tell mention that this was the beginning of a series, I think I’d be left unsatisfied at the end. Why was Hannah on land in the first place if she was a mermaid? How did that happen? Sure, we’re told in the plot summary that Hannah is one of three sisters separated at birth, but that isn’t actually in the narrative of this book! So even though I really liked Hannah I was also a bit irritated. The next book in the series better have some answers!

(Also, the cover is weird.  The story is set in the early 20th century, but the girl standing in the puddle looks waaaaaaay too modern.  But that's not the fault of the author.)

The Virgin’s Daughters: In the Court of Elizabeth I

by Jeane Westin

Queen Elizabeth, last of the Tudors, never married and gave birth to children. Her family became her ladies-in-waiting, whom she referred to as her “daughters” and often controlled their lives as a mother would. Without the Queen’s permission, they could not marry, and for two young ladies this became a terrible burden. 

Lady Katherine Grey is the unofficial heir presumptive to the English throne, of royal blood through her mother, who was a niece of Henry VIII. Plots to make her the official heir constantly form around her, but all Katherine wants is a quiet life in the country. After witnessing the brutal execution of her sister, Lady Jane Grey, the throne repels Katherine. As a youthful Queen Elizabeth flirts with Lord Dudley, Katherine falls in love with the handsome Earl of Hertford, but their love seems as doomed as Dudley’s aspirations to become King of England. Later, towards the end of Elizabeth’s reign, another lady-in-waiting¸ Mary Rogers, seeks to marry the man she loves, but the Queen’s lifelong spinsterhood has hardened her heart and it is unlikely she’ll grant permission for any of her ladies to wed.

While the narrative focuses on the thoughts of the two ladies-in-waiting, Katherine and Mary, it is Queen Elizabeth who ultimately stars in the narrative. The conflict between the desires of her heart and her desire to keep her power is a constant tension in the court. It’s horrible to see what this struggle does to the Queen as the years go by, as she grows bitter and isolated. It’s even worse to see how the lack of a husband influences her treatment of the women under her; one of the reasons Katherine cannot marry is that any children of hers would be potential threats to Elizabeth’s throne. But even though you are rooting for Katherine and Mary, you never quite lose your sympathy for Elizabeth.

If you like historical romances go out and grab this book! It’s a great read, and very engaging. Even though I’ve read novels about Elizabeth’s court before, Westin’s The Virgin’s Daughters was different enough that I felt exposed to a new side of the pomp and majesty of Tudor England. 

The White Queen

by Philippa Gregory

In The White Queen, historical fiction author Philippa Gregory moves away from the Tudor era, the setting of several previous novels, and further into English history to bring us the story of Elizabeth Woodville, Queen Consort of Edward IV. The novel begins with Elizabeth and Edward’s first meeting, and follows her rise to power. Where Elizabeth goes, her family follows, and the extensive Woodville network proves to be a hotbed for palace intrigue and treacherous plots. But when Edward is felled with a sudden illness, Elizabeth’s kingdom begins to crumble has her sons are locked away in the Tower and her brother-in-law, Richard III, takes control of the government. Elizabeth must tread very carefully to regain her position of power while protecting her daughters from harm.

Fans of The Other Boleyn Girl will be pleased to find all the emotion and splendor of the English court retained in this novel.  The first half of the book is swept up in the romance of the battlefield and the bed. Elizabeth and King Edward are two lusty souls thirsting for power and each other, so whenever Elizabeth isn’t pregnant and Edward isn’t fighting to protect his claim to the throne, they’re making love all over the place.  (Considering how many children Elizabeth mothered, this can only be historical accurate, right?)  But the battle scenes are a little stranger. You see, most of the book is told in the first person by Elizabeth, but being a woman she was naturally not amongst the soldiers during the war. For these scenes, the book switches to a third-person narrator, and the change is a bit confusing. Is it Elizabeth, experiencing a vision? Is it someone else, or merely the omniscient storyteller?

Elizabeth could be experiencing a vision. Her family claims to descend from Melusina, a mythical water goddess whose story is woven into the narrative, recalled in the ‘Once upon a time…’ fashion of a fairy tale, and this supernatural origin has left the women with an unusual effectiveness when casting spells. Folk magic and quaint rituals are practiced by Elizabeth and her mother Jacquetta, and I found the details of these spells to be some of the most interesting moments in the book.

The book is far more sympathetic to Elizabeth than the biographies I’ve read, but this is definitely a ‘warts-and-all’ character. Elizabeth Woodville is greedy and calculating; she wastes little time with forgiveness and is usually a sharp, harsh speaker.  She’s also incredibly stubborn, and her insistence on certain points throughout the book become extremely, extremely repetitive. But she’s also shown to be a loving mother to her children and devoted wife of her husband. Elizabeth has an extremely strong mother-daughter relationship with Jacquetta, and in her later years it’s almost heartbreaking to see her trying (and struggling) to create to a similar relationship with her own daughter.

The White Queen is definitely Philippa Gregory’s strongest novel in the past few years. I really enjoyed kicking my feet up and sinking into Elizabeth's world.  If you enjoyed her earlier books but fell off the wagon, this is a good chance to step back into her world. It is the first volume of a proposed trilogy, to be followed by The Red Queen (Margaret Beaufort) and The White Princess (Elizabeth of York, Woodville’s daughter).

Sacred Hearts

by Sarah Dunant

An absorbing story of convent life in the sixteenth century, Sacred Hearts takes us inside the walls of Santa Caterina and the private lives of its nuns. (Assuming you can call the life in a convent ‘private’, which Sarah Dunant quickly shows is a dubious proposition when the slightest gossip can ripple through its residents in a manner of hours.) In the first few pages we meet our main characters, the dispensary mistress Suora Zuana and newest resident, Serafina. Brought to Santa Caterina against her will, Serafina is desperate to escape and reunite with her lover, but her beautiful singing makes her an asset the nunnery is loathe to lose. Suora Zuana befriends the miserable girl and begins teaching her the knowledge of herbs, which Zuana learned from her father many years before his death forced her into her current home. But even as Serafina begins to adjust to life in the convent, she is constantly planning and keeping her eyes open for opportunities to escape.

The politics and intrigue in this book are intense. You have scheming women and power struggles within the convent, as a nun named Umiliana tries to wrest the convent in a more Spartan, disciplined direction. She butts heads again and again with the abbess, a noblewoman well-versed in the art of collusion. Madonna Chiara, as the abbess is called, negotiates between the small world of the convent and the conflicts of the squabbling Italian noble families and the all-powerful Church, but one can never be sure if she’s serving the convent’s needs or her own desires. 

In my imagination, a convent is a place where women sit around all day praying and meditating on the cross, surviving on the charity of church donations to eat and drink. But Dunant’s richly populated novel depicts a community that is vibrant and bustling. The nuns earn coin making medicine in the dispensary for the bishop, and performing plays and concerts for Ferrara’s wealthy elite. Since many of the women are of noble families, they come to the convent with the luxuries of their rank. Rich silks and velvet are used in their garments, lovely dyes are used for clothes and to color sugary marzipan sweets, and pampered little lapdogs are even kept by a few women. But the Counter-Reformation seeks to cut out these worldly ‘extras,’ adding tension to a story already full of passion and repression.

I found Sacred Hearts to be quite entertaining. It has a bit of a slow start, and I think this is largely due to the introduction of so many characters right away. It took me a little while to keep all the nuns and their duties straight. But by the halfway point I was completely absorbed in the world of Santa Caterina. The book was only released two weeks ago, and it is already on nearly one hundred wishlists at Paperbackswap.com, so I bet this will be quite a popular book this summer.

To read more about Sacred Hearts, buy it or add it to your wishlist click here.

Something Missing

by Matthew Dicks  

For some reason, I just love the cover of this book. It is so simple, with bright colors and a retro font. Plus, the fact that the thief is stealing one of the letters in the title cracks me up. If I were judging the book by the cover, it’d totally be a winner.

Martin’s on an interesting career path. He’s an obsessive-compulsive thief who steals food, toiletries, and other items (usually mundane) but with a catch: he never takes items his ‘clients’ will notice missing.  So a fancy stereo or stunning diamond necklace? Out. Slightly wilted celery, toilet paper, and bottles of bleach?   In. To maximize his success, he carefully cases his clients for weeks before adding them to his regular rotation, and at the first indication that they may be growing suspicious he ceases all visitations. To protect himself, he has a self-imposed list of rules and regulations that he refuses to break – but one day, he makes an error while working in the home of one of his best clients. Not wishing to terminate their ‘relationship’ just yet, Martin scrambles to repair the mistake, and in the process performs a good deed, which makes him feel pretty swell. Soon he is acting as a sort of guardian angel to his clients, and when he accidentally uncovers a horrible plot against one of his families, he may be the only one who can save his client’s life…

Martin has the potential to be unbearably creepy. After all, he’s a thief, living off of other peoples’ hard-earned money! But he’s not. Even as he steals from innocent people, one can’t help but warm up to Martin as he rummages through refrigerators and reads clients’ diaries. He’s genuinely fond of his clients. The absence of “real” friends in his life makes this affection all the more endearing. He is extremely methodical and obsessive-compulsive, and at times his dedication to his routines can be dry reading and irritating. But if you could make it through Mark Haddon’s A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, you should be able to handle Martin. 

I found the book to be very quirky and very funny. I breezed through it pretty quickly; it’s about average length, but a very fast, easy read. A good summer novel when you need a laugh by the poolside or amusement on an airplane.

            To read more about Something Missing,but it or add it to your wishlist, click here.

Johannes Cabal the Necromancer

by Jonathan L. Howard

We’ve all done things to advance our careers that we later regret, but Johannes Cabal has screwed himself royally. He sold his soul to Satan in order to further progress his studies in necromancy, but it turns out that the lack of a soul is seriously cramping his research. So Johannes crashes Hell and demands his soul back from the Infernal One, who agrees to give it up if Cabal acquires one hundred human souls to replace it. Oh, and since the Devil’s such a nice guy he’ll toss in a special carnival to help. After a quick stop in a musty graveyard to recruit the assistance of Horst Cabal, Johannes’ charming brother (and vampire!), the carnival begins trawling the countryside to damn the wicked and the gullible and save Johannes’ soul.

The peeks into the world of this carnival-from-Hell were fascinating.  Hideous freak shows, occult rides, a cursed midway…a dark carnival is a wonderful place to set to set a story, and author Jonathan Howard creates a creepy setting that I wish he'd spent more time exploring. We see how Cabal ensnares a few of his souls through the attractions of the Carnival, but it would have been great to see more of the different ways he catches his victims.

Something about the book felt unfinished. There were stories that should have been told, but weren't. For example, what motivated Cabal to get into necromancy in the first place? This is hinted at but never looked at in detail. How did Horst become a vampire? Again, never explained to my satisfaction. There were so many references to previous events that occurred before this novel began that the book reads just like the second volume of a series. In fact, as I read I became so convinced that there was another book I went to Google and spent a few minutes trying to find the title to the book I was certain preceded this one.
Likewise, the ending wraps up so quickly and on such a cliffhangin' note that I will be VERY surprised if a sequel doesn't come out in the next few years. (In fact, in an interview on Amazon Howard announces he just finished Johannes Cabal the Detective.)

Johannes Cabal is one sarcastic and calculating bastard. He's not quite a villain, but he's certainly no hero. Even anti-hero is a hat that doesn't quite fit him. But he's very determined, and his dialogue is quite snappy and sharp. His brother, Horst, is equally delightful and provides a perfect foil for Cabal. But while the characters' personalities are well-developed, their histories are not. I wish more time had been spent discussing their childhood or what Horst did while incarcerated underground.

But as much as I’m whining, I really did enjoy this book. It’s positively entertaining and fun.

            To read more about Johannes Cabal the Necromancer,but it or add it to your wishlist, click here.

An Edible History of Humanity

by Tom Standage

I want to say that this book is the history of civilization’s relationship with food. (Short summary: We need it, so we get it, or we die.)  But what Tom Standage writes is a little more complicated than that. It is more a story about food’s influence over societies, and how the quest to control its availability led humanity to form agricultural civilizations, explore the world, and transform societies again and again. 

Sometimes we transform food; sometimes it changes us. The cultivation and careful tending of maize in the Americas led to a plant that is unable to reproduce without human assistance. The Europeans’ taste for the exotic flavor of spices encouraged trade and eventually led to colonization in Asia and the Americas, which uprooted the lives of people around the world. The industrialization of food production helped fuel the massive population growth of the nineteenth and twentieth century.

It’s an interesting read for sure. Sometimes Standage would flesh out ideas I already had. For example, I knew that one of the reasons Napoleon failed to take Russia was that the Russians destroyed crops and food stores so that his armies had no supplies the deeper they got into the country. But the book provided several other examples of armies using food to win or lose battles, including Alexander the Great, the American Revolution and the World Wars.

One area the author didn’t really cover, which disappointed me, was the sustainability of industrialized food, and the effect industrialization has had on food quality. Maybe he felt he didn’t need to because that would be projecting into the future, rather than looking back into history. Maybe he felt there were already plenty of books on that topic, since it’s become quite a popular one in the last few years. He talked at length about the effect of chemical fertilizers on soil productivity, but not much about its effects the ecosystem and environment of the areas around the farm. The book seemed to end rather suddenly, and I think this was largely because he made very little speculation about the future of food’s influence. My questions about food didn’t feel fully answered.

I found An Edible History of Humanity to be entertaining and a perspective to history not often visited. Usually it takes me a while to read non-fiction books, but I got through this one in about a week. That’s fast for me, especially considering it was the week before finals and I had a lot of other school-related reading to do!

            To read more about An Edible History of Humanity,but it or add it to your wishlist, click here.

Nine Lives: Death and Life in New Orleans

by Dan Baum

Nine Lives: Death and Life in New Orleans reminds me quite a bit of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt. (New York reporter discovers foreign quirkiness of Southern city and moves there to soak in the regional atmosphere.) In fact, in a negative review of Midnight on Amazon.com I found a phrase meant to be critical, but summarized why I would recommend Nine Lives (and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, which I loved):

“Nothing of any interest happens in the entire first half of the book -- just Southerners caught in the act of being themselves. National Geographic stuff.”

 (I happen to think 'Southerns caught in the act of being themselves' IS interesting!)
 

            Dan Baum originally found himself in post-Katrina New Orleans reporting on recovery efforts for The New Yorker. But as restoration efforts dragged along, he became captivated by the city’s residents, so determined to rebuild their lives in a city infamous for corruption and scandal. As he interviewed and poked around, he found nine voices that he wove together into a comprehensive narrative of New Orleans, beginning in the 1960s during the raging of Hurricane Betsy and ending in December 2007 as a parade snakes its way through the Ninth Ward.

            The characters of Baum’s novel come from a variety of backgrounds. There’s Joyce Montana, wife of the founder of the Black Indian tradition that helps color Mardi Gras. Wilbert Rawlins Jr. struggles to connect to his band students and ends up sacrificing happiness in his personal life to help his musicians discover the redemptive power of music. The reader follows John Guidos on his transformation into JoAnn and Frank Minyard on duty as New Orleans’ Parish Coroner. The story rolls smoothly forward, transitioning seamlessly from one person’s tongue to the next. Some of the storytellers have met. Some are friends, some are lovers. All are bright colors bringing a special glow to the city.

            I was really pleased at how naturally the story of New Orleans unfolded. For the writer I imagine there may have been a temptation to include a ‘wrap-up’ party, some sort of clean ending that crossed the t’s and dotted the i's. If Dan Baum ever entertained such an idea, he was smart enough to shove it aside. If you want to see Southerners in their natural habitat, celebrating the unique attributes of New Orleans, a city perpetually out of sync with the rest of the United States, pick up Nine Lives and give it a read!

 Edited 4/10/09 to add: If you visit Dan Baum's website, you can see photos of the people he profiled, and short videos he's made about each person.  It provides a great visual for many of the places and faces he mentions in the book - a great supplement to his narrative!
http://www.danbaum.com/Nine_Lives/dbhome.com.html
 

           To read more about Nine Lives, but it or add it to your wishlist, click here.

Emily Post

by Laura Claridge

            There is a dynasty of etiquette experts all connected through the name of Post.   Peter Post writes about office etiquette for The Boston Globe.  His sister-in-law, Peggy Post, heads The Emily Post Institute and advises readers of Good Housekeeping.  Another relative, Anne Post is the go-to girl when it comes to bridal decorum at Brides.com.  Young Lizzie Post writes advice for the millennial generation while working a busy circuit of newspapers, TV shows and radio broadcasts.  These writers and arbitrators of proper behavior are only continuing a legacy founded by their legendary matriarch, Emily Post, the name synonymous with good breeding and proper etiquette in North America. 

            Born in the midst of America’s Gilded Age, Emily Post was a child of wealth and luxury.  Her father was the respected architect Bruce Price, whose skyscrapers can still be found gracing New York City’s skyline.   Emily’s adoration of her father bordered on worship, and the interest in architecture that he helped foster in her remained strong throughout her life.  Laura Claridge’s extremely comprehensive biography gets rather bogged down in details as she describes Emily’s youth; in addition to Emily’s life, the stories of many prominent New York families are shared.  The wealth of information is admirable, but by the time I was reading about Emily’s marriage to Edwin Post I was hopelessly confused about the many friends, acquaintances and business associates she interacted with in Society.

            It wasn’t until after Emily Post was divorced and writing to pay her bills that the biography starts to flow more quickly.  She became a popular author of fiction and travel books, but after authoring Etiquette in 1922, the topic of manners and ‘best society’ became Emily’s bread and butter.  She wrote an etiquette column that eventually appeared in over 200 newspapers and hosted her own radio show for years.  It seems amazing that a single divorced mother was able to become the respected authority on etiquette, when her life the antithesis to the mores of a ‘proper’ woman, but Emily Post not only achieved popularity, but sustained it; her work continued to occupy her well into her eighties. 

            I’d seen the name Emily Post over and over again, but I really knew nothing about her, so was quite curious about this biography. It literally took me a full academic quarter to finish it; I began reading this in January and finished it with just a few days left in March. The language wasn’t particularly difficult, and the chapters were pretty short, but at over five hundred pages, it is a LOT of reading.  It’s a bit intensive, but this biography tells more than just the story of Emily Post.  It really showcases the upheaval of the social classes in the United States at the turn of the century, and through the life of one observant woman the change in attitude as to what constituted good breeding and ‘best society.’

            To read more about Emily Post, but it or add it to your wishlist, click here.

Mistress Shakespeare

by Karen Harper

            Primary documents relating to William Shakespeare’s life are few and far between, so much of what we know about his life is more legendary than based in historical fact. However, church records have shown that in November of 1582, William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, a woman eight years his senior; only a few days before, a marriage license had been granted to Shakespeare to marry an Anne Whateley. Karen Harper’s novel Mistress Shakespeare proposes that this Anne Whateley was a real woman (not an alternative spelling of ‘Hathaway’ as some scholars have claimed) and Shakespeare’s muse, a secret first wife kept from his side by family politics and a pregnant Miss Hathaway. But true love can never be denied, and no matter how many times he disappoints her Anne Whateley eventually takes William back again. 

            Anne Whateley is fiercely independent, running her own business in London and constantly on the lookout for improving her business ventures. Yet she does not seem out of place in a world ruled by Queen Elizabeth, affectionately referred to as Glorianna by Mistress Whateley. That was a relief; too often historical fiction will feature women who are just too modern to mesh with their surroundings, and the narrative feels contrived and false. Not so in Mistress Shakespeare. 

            Throughout the books are scattered bits and pieces of Shakespeare lore, and references are made to his plays and contemporaries. While the story can certainly be read by a Shakespeare a novice, the more you know about the man and his work, the more you’ll get out of the reading. It’s a very detailed book, with a lot of attention to the tense political climate and intrigues carried out within the theatre. Mistress Shakespeare is entertaining and a fun ‘What-if?’ addition to tales of William Shakespeare.

            To read more about Mistress Shakespeare, but it or add it to your wishlist, click here.

When the Soul Mends (Sisters of the Quilt trilogy, Book 3)

by Cindy Woodsmall

To read my review for When the Heart Cries, the first book in the series, click here.
To read my review for When the Morning Comes, the second book in the series, click here.

Home is where the heart is, so your real home’s in your chest.
-          Captain Hammer

            I do realize that opening a review about an Amish romance with a quote from Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog is just a little odd.  But this quote best summarizes the major theme of When the Soul Mends, Cindy Woodsmall’s conclusion to her Sisters of the Quilt trilogy.

            After fleeing her childhood home in Owl’s Perch two and a half years ago, Hannah is returning to help her mentally disturbed sister, Sarah. When she arrives, however, it quickly becomes clear that Sarah needs professional help; although Hannah has been going to school to get a degree in nursing, she can’t heal Sarah’s pain alone. There is someone who can help, but that man is Hannah’s ex-fiancé Paul, the one who abandoned her after learning she’d been raped.   However, there is no one else her parents will trust to treat Sarah, so Hannah must put aside the bitterness of the years. As they spend time together, Hannah and Paul work through their tangled emotions and clear up old misunderstandings …and old flames begin to spark anew. But back in Ohio, in her life away from the Amish, Hannah’s in love with a man named Martin and raising his children with him. They are a happy family, full of love and joy. As she shuttles between the two towns, Hannah doesn’t feel comfortable in either place. Where is she meant to be? Where is her heart’s true home?

            (See? The quote applies. Captain Hammer’s a secret genius.) When the Soul Mends has several characters searching for their place in the world. Matthew, one of Hannah’s best friends, had his world destroyed at the end of the previous book. His business burned down and his brother was killed in the fire. An old girlfriend encourages him to give Baltimore a try, but Matthew has always been content in his Amish ways. Meanwhile, Paul wants to break free from his love for Hannah, but the girl who wants to replace her just doesn’t appeal.  

            There’s also a strong emphasis on integrating modern medicine to such a conservative group. Hannah’s sister needs psychiatric help, unheard of in Amish society, while her best friend Mary refuses to see an Englischer doctor because of how poorly she was treated in the past, but her troubled pregnancy demands attention. In the story, Amish recognize the need they have for a doctor; never once is it suggested they are too ignorant or backward to understand this. For them it is a matter of trust: trust that the doctor can understand the community and won’t take advantage of them.

            This is definitely a book series that you have to read in order; without knowing the history in the first two books you will hopelessly confused. But it’s definitely worth it. (So’s Dr. Horrible if you haven’t watched it yet.)

To read more about When the Soul Mends, buy it or add it to your wishlist, click here.

In the Footsteps of Paul

by Ken Duncan (foreward by John MacArthur)

I liked the pretty pictures.

I seriously considered letting that be my whole review, because ultimately, that's what I come away from this book with. Gorgeous images from the Holy Land.

But that's not very useful, is it? So here we go. In the Footsteps of Paul is basically a scrapbook for the travels of Ken Duncan as he wanders all over the Mediterranean. He begins in Tarsus, Paul's hometown, and traces his missionary journeys. He also visits the various Christian churches and shrines scattered throughout the Holy Land, taking photos of the monuments and images that have been created in Paul's memory. Accompanying the photographs are excerpts from the Bible (mostly from Acts, but a few excerpts from Paul's epistles are also included) and quotes from famous Christians.

What sells this book is the photographs. They're dramatic and vibrant, staged to get the maximum color in every shot. He mixes the modern with the ancient; a photo of Caesarea Harbor has the ancient buildings surrounded by modern tents and shopping centers. It also amazes me how the ruins just seem to pop up out of the earth most randomly; an ancient wall in Antioch was so deeply buried that it appears to be part of a mountain cliff, with goats wandering the green hills around it. It's perfect for an armchair traveler.

That said, the narrative itself? The quotes? Eh. Meh. They're just window dressing for the photographs. I mean, the quotes from Acts are fine – I mean, if Duncan is following the steps of St. Paul he should naturally include the document that lays out his travel plans – but the other quotes seem to be there to take up blank space. They aren't particularly relevant to the photos and are weakly linked to the New Testament passages. Some of the places Duncan photographs lack a direct connection to Paul. For example, Paul went to Athens, so Duncan goes to Athens and takes snapshots of the Parthenon. But given that the Bible doesn't outline Paul's path exactly (“Paul turned left at Straight street and walked three blocks, entered the house and had dinner, then returned outside, turned right, and walked up Downing Avenue to the corner of X and Y to spend the night at the hotel situated there.”) I think Duncan did a pretty respectable job of capturing the Roman-dominated world around Paul as he traveled preaching the Good News.

To read more about In the Footsteps of Paul, buy a copy or add it to your wishlist, click here.

When the Morning Comes (Sisters of the Quilt trilogy, Book 2)

by Cindy Woodsmall

To read my review for When the Heart Cries, the first book in the series, click here.

Hannah Lapp has run away from the tight-knit Amish community she grew up in, and is struggling to find her place in a foreign world. She’s underage. She hasn’t finished high school. She doesn’t carry a cell phone or even know how to use a computer. She hasn’t got a prayer – actually, a prayer is all she’s got. But it seems the good Lord is listening, because through the kindness of strangers she is able to locate her shunned aunt and slowly build a new life.

Unfortunately, things aren’t going so well back home. Her fiancé Paul is unable to move on. He believes that she will eventually return, but as the weeks become months his uncertainty grows. Hannah’s friends all have their own struggles, but the person most impacted by her disappearance is her younger sister.   Sarah is wracked with guilt because her rumor-mongering helped turn the community against Hannah, but unable to cope with this knowledge she’s becoming increasingly unstable and her grip on reality is slipping away…

The second installment of the Sisters of the Quilt trilogy continues to highlight the differences between the Amish and Englischers way of life without criticizing either. I was really cheering for Hannah during her “awakening” as she found a job, learned to drive, and began studying nursing at a local college. I mean, I have a hard enough time with college, and I grew up in the thick of modern America. I can only imagine what a struggle it is to re-boot your entire life and goals.   Starting over does seem to be the theme of this book, though. I think every major character’s life got waylaid from their plans at some point, and how they reacted really revealed their inner strength (or lack of it.) By the end of When the Morning Comes I just loved the characters, and couldn’t wait to read the last book and see how everything comes together.   

To read more about When the Morning Comes, buy it or add it to your wishlist, click here.

A Monk Jumped Over A Wall

by Jay Nussbaum

Product Description
J.J. Spencer is one of the many hungry young lawyers eager to climb the corporate ladder to the great future awaiting him. With his first annual review approaching, J.J. is confident his keen work for the top Manhattan law firm he is employed by will be praised all the way to the bank. Until, that is, he gives in to a sudden surge of compassion during a chance encounter at a diner.

J.J. discovers how swiftly no good deed goes unpunished: the consequences of his generous impulse snowball and before he knows it, J.J. Spencer has been beaten bloody, arrested for drunk driving, and fired from his job. His perfect life seemingly over, J.J. decides he must dedicate himself to helping the very people who unwittingly lost him everything. It is through that journey--and the surprising battles contained therein--that a new life is allowed to rise from the ashes of the old, and J.J. emerges as the man he always should have been.

            So I fell in love with J.J. in the first few chapters. It wasn’t necessarily for his good intentions that I found him so great; I just really like his style of narration. He’s witty and smart, yet humble. He talks like my friends, so reading this book was like heading to the bar after a day at work and complaining about jobs with my friends. Of course, busting hump for a top law firm in Manhattan isn’t quite the same as working as a clubhouse assistant, but still. He’s instantly relatable, which I appreciate in a character. It’s so vital to an enjoyable reading experience, and lately it seems to be getting rare in books.

            While in law school (a past J.J. flashes back to frequently), J.J.’s major way to relax was karate at a local dojo. He especially needed the class after a day in his Constructional Law class; his professor Josiah Steele is almost certainly Satan, setting verbal traps for his students and then ripping them to shreds when they show any sign of weakness.   (Think Dr. Cox on Scrubs. Awesome, but evil.) J.J. can’t believe his luck when he spots the teacher in the dojo, looking almost timid in his white beginner’s obi. Since Steele humiliated him in class earlier that day, J.J. threw himself into beating the crap out of him training him in the ways of karate. His vengeance plan backfired completely when Steele breaks J.J.’s foot in a freak accident. Yet from this painful beginning a deep friendship is formed.

The plot’s rather predictable, but that’s OK. The story is totally character-driven, and totally worth your time, especially if you’re in the mood for something funny.  . 

            To read more about A Monk Jumped Over A Wall, buy it or add it to your wishlist, click here.

Black Ships

by Jo Graham

Have you read Virgil’s Aeneid? I haven’t, but it’s on my to-do list along with most of the great classics of Greece and Rome. Thanks to pop cultures’ magical abilities to disseminate information, I am aware of the basics of the story. Aeneas, last prince of Troy, flees the burning city with a few members of his family and sails off to find a new home for the remaining Trojans. After trials and tribulations (and a romantic liaison with suicidal Dido) he ends up in Italy, where he eventually settles and founds the kingdom destined to become Rome. I may have some of the details wrong, but that’s what happens when a story’s been evolving for thousands of years. 

When I heard that Jo Graham had taken Virgil’s tale and re-spun it from the perspective of the Sybil, who led Aeneas on a journey through the Underworld, I just had to read it. Her Sybil is Gull, an orphan who at age seven becomes the apprentice of Pythia, Oracle of the Lady of the Dead. It soon becomes clear that Gull has the Lady’s touch – a special connection to the goddess she serves – and is quite respected amongst her people. When she encounters Prince Aeneas leaving to start fresh, she jumps at the chance to go with him.

Jo Graham makes some interesting changes to the original story, but the largest is her treatment of Dido. She explains in her notes that Carthage would not have existed during Aeneas’ life, and the only nation strong enough to have a woman like Dido was Egypt. Thus, instead of being Queen of Carthage, Graham changes Aenea’s dependent lover into an Egyptian princess, sister to the Pharaoh.   She retains Dido’s beauty and personality while giving the story a chance to soak up the glory of the Egyptian empire. Gull, impressed by the power and literature of the Egyptian civilization, notes that Egypt is eternal and favored by the gods, especially compared to the relatively short-lived civilizations that surround her.  I really like this observation of hers.  Egypt's civilization is so far in the past that it is rightly called "ancient" now, but it was an old civilization "back in the day" too.  I'd never really thought about it in quite that way before.

It’s a good story. Depending on your point of view it’s fantastic historical fiction or historical fantasy, but either way it’s so much fun. There’s plenty of action as men go to battle and wonderfully moody passages when the Sibyl consults the Lady of the Dead. I sped through the book, not wanting to put it down.

Jo Graham’s next book, Hand of Isis, is coming out this spring and I just can’t wait. More Egypt! In the meantime, I just may have to let Black Ships transport me back to the days of heroes and gods and sibyls.

            To read more about Black Ships, buy it or add it to your wishlist, click here.

The Wonder Singer

by George Rabasa

Description from Amazon.com
Mark Lockwood's life is a small one. He's made his living as a freelance writer, producing a series of little books for hire called How to Talk to Your Teen About... But for the past few months he's been at work on a ghostwriting assignment beyond his dreams. To prepare her autobiography, he has been interviewing the internationally renowned diva Merce Casals. When the Senora dies suddenly-floating sizable in her elegant scented bath-she is suddenly a hot property, and a celebrity biographer arrives to take over the writing of her book. But Lockwood realizes this is his one chance at greatness, and so he runs off with the interview tapes. Abetted by the beautiful but scrupulous Perla, the Senora's nurse, and by a female impersonator, who considers himself the diva's greatest fan, Lockwood locks himself into his study, endlessly plays the tapes, and begins to craft his greatest book. Once the three conspirators rescue the Senora s husband from the home she put him in, Lockwood's sense of his own heart begins to expand beyond his considerable imagination. Moving by turns through the diva's lyrical account of her life and the frantic pace of Lockwood's notes from underground, The Wonder Singer portrays for us just what it can mean to live a beautiful life to its fullest.

The Wonder Singer is told through the eyes of writer Mark Lockwood, which begs the question: do we ever hear the diva's true voice? Merce Casals story unfolds in two ways: in excerpts from The Wonder Singer, Lockwood's biography, and in the aftermath of her death, through Lockwood's memories. So I cannot help but wonder if the only woman we ever meet is one of Lockwood's imagination.

The thing about Mark Lockwood is that he loves words. He loves them a little too much. As his wife criticizes him at one point, when he talks it is as if he is listening to himself to see how the words sound rather than truly focusing on the conversation at hand. So when Lockwood remembers conversations he had with Merce, I wonder if she really spoke so eloquently or if his inner editor has gone back and “scrubbed up” her conversations to showcase an even more dazzling wit. The more Lockwood writes about Merce, the more he claims he has a special understanding of her, at time seeming like a man possessed by her spirit.

I'm not going to lie. I don't really like Mark Lockwood. He's a selfish man, with the world revolving around his shoulders. He's rude and horribly disrespectful to his wife, stayihg out late hours and cutting her off whenever she begins to question his approach to writing the book. Lockwood is also shamelessly/pathetically pursuing Merce's former nurse, who flirts with him but is generally quite uninterested. He is incredibly stubborn, nearly irrational with his obsession with Merce Casals. Maybe that's why she chose him to be her biographer after shooting down five others. She knew that to his personality type, she would be the sole star in his sky.

However unlikeable Lockwood may be, Merce Casals is amazing. Her story is one of constant movement and passion. One of the greatest opera singers in her time, she survived the Spanish Civil War, sang around the world, and was pursued by princes and celebrities. Whenever she spoke, I wanted to hear more. Describing Mark as an exterminator to flush the rats out of her, the Senora's story is one that truly needed to be shared. Every time the story reverted to excerpts from her life, I became fully absorbed and could not stop reading. It was beautiful, lyrical, sensuous, and utterly wonderful.

The modern-day adventures of Lockwood and team...not so much. I may be blinded by my dislike of Lockwood, but the paragraphs dedicated to his writing a novel could be quite tedious at times. Actually, the thing that really irritated me was the ending. Throughout the book there's this tension between Lockwood and his agent, who has turned the biography over to a “blockbuster” seller but Lockwood refuses to turn over the tapes. Yet this plot is never resolved. I dearly wanted to find out which book ended up selling better – if indeed Lockwood's book even went to press – and how the world reacted to it. Author George Rabasa never takes us that far.

In spite of my many complaints, I did enjoy the book and will probably read it again and again. The musical quality of the writing that captures the life of the Senora so well make for a work of true beauty.

To read more about The Wonder Singer, buy a copy or add it to your wishlist, click here.

When the Heart Cries

by Cindy Woodsmall

            Hannah Lapp was born and raised in a traditional Amish family, but she’s fallen in love with a Mennonite boy. (Mennonites dress like the Amish and have similar beliefs, but do not shun technology. There are probably deeper theological/sociological differences between the two groups, but that’s the shortest and most obvious explanation I can think of.) She’s on top of the world when he asks her to marry him, even though their engagement is sure to anger her father. But as Hannah is heading home, a stranger drags her into his car and rapes her. The horror of the event throws Hannah into a deep depression, made worse by the fact that save for her parents, no one knows what happened to her. Her siblings think she’s lazy, especially her sister, Sarah, who starts some nasty rumors that have repercussions throughout the community…

             I found this book fascinating. I don’t know much about the Amish (although I did watch the entire season of UPN’s short-lived Amish in the City) so I was surprised how much they do interact with the rest of the community. For example, they will not drive cars but several times throughout the book Hannah’s family and friends rent drivers to move them from one place to another. I had also always thought Mennonite was a synonym for Amish, but it turns out it’s an entirely separate sect of the Anabaptists. But at the same time, they are completely closed off. Hannah’s depression and post-rape trauma is magnified by the fact that she has no idea why she feels that way. All the counseling and social services available in her community were completely closed off to her. At times the fact that her father domineered her life so utterly would make me mad, and I would have to struggle to remember that their culture is completely different from mine, and the whole family structure is set up differently. Hannah’s father’s authority isn’t wrong, necessarily; one of the reasons the Amish identity is so strong and iconic is because they adhere so strictly to a code of conduct. Yet, Hannah’s suffering could have eased so much if the Amish rules weren’t so strict. The stifling nosiness of a small community and the practice of ostracizing those who don’t follow the rules also make life extremely difficult for Hannah…but it makes for good drama in the book! I really wanted to know what would happen to Hannah and her family, as well as her boyfriend Paul (he’s away at college much of the time, so theirs is a long-distance relationship) so it was hard to put the book down for even short breaks.

             This is the first book in the Sisters of the Quilt trilogy. Look for the next volume’s review – it’s coming soon!

           To read more about When the Heart Cries, buy it or add it to your wishlist, click here.

The Opposite of Life

by Narrelle M. Harris

So as you readers may be aware, the Twilight movie's coming out tomorrow night. I know some of you are very excited because you have been waiting for this for months, and the rest of you can't wait for Twilight to go away. No matter which camp you fall into, I have found a book for you. The Opposite of Life is the perfect antidote, no matter how this movie makes you feel.

Lissa Wilson, a librarian with gothic tastes, just wants to go out and have fun dancing at the local clubs in Melbourne. She's even met a wonderful new guy, Daniel, of the gorgeous face and emerald green eyes. However, every time she steps out, though, someone dies, and she always manages to find the body. No one knows who the killer is, but after her beautiful beau becomes the latest victim Lissa becomes determined to find the murderer and bring him to justice. To do so she teams up with vampire Gary, who seems to be the only one who knows anything about the situation, and throw herself into the world of Melbourne's vampires.

So why is this book so great? For one, Harris' vampires actually make sense. These vampires have superhuman strength and agility, yes, but that's as supernatural as they get. When they get 'turned' they do not morph into a Venus or Adonis; beauty isn't a magic vampire perk. If you were a pudgy, ugly human than unfortunately, you become a pudgy, ugly vampire. Harris' vampires are also realistic; over time, they lose their ability to think quickly and “keep up” with new trends and inventions. One of the best scenes, to me, was a scene in which Lissa watches Gary use his computer, and notices that he has instructions on how to turn it on and use his programs carefully written out on a paper he keeps by the computer, just like the senior citizens she teaches at the library. (For that matter, just like my grandfather.) So a sixty-year old vampire acts like a sixty-year old, even if his body is decades younger.

Her use of vampire mythology is also as grounded in reality as vampires can get. They can go out in daylight, but it weakens them. They claim that they can enter buildings without an invitation, but never do. (There's some interesting development of this idea toward the end of the novel.) Blood isn't food for them, but when they drink it something human wakes up inside them and they are able to feel emotions for a brief period. While not necessary for survival, it is like a drug to vampires because it allows them to experience outside their normal perceptions.

Also, Lissa is a fun narrator. She has an easy, chatty style that keeps the story moving and mixes humor into all situations. I love that she isn't a stereotypical vampire heroine, madly in love with a male vampire. In fact, she's royally pissed off at vampires because one of them killed the man she loved, yet she hasn't spun off the deep end to blind revenge. She's just trying to cope with loss and the mystery of death, and in the novel she shows a lot of emotional growth.

This is a quirky, fun vampire novel that isn't quite like any I've read before. The first in a trilogy, it currently only available in Australia, but the author was kind enough to send some links to places it can be purchased if you aren't fortunate enough to live in Oz.

Dymocks Online- in Australia, ship internationally

Booktopia – in Australia, ships internationally

Abe Books UK – Variety of sellers, with varying degrees of ship-ability
Abe Books US – Same sellers, but prices are in US dollars

Really, though, check this book out. It's worth it.

The Dracula Dossier

by James Reese

The book isn’t about vampires. Let’s get that out of the way right now.

In 2007 an editor at William Morrow & Company received a mysterious letter claiming that amongst a lot of Bram Stoker’s papers, auctioned in 1913, was a personal journal of Stoker’s from the year 1888. This and many other bits of ephemera have been gathered and organized by the anonymous “Le Comte de Ville” into this Dracula Dossier, named after Bram Stoker’s famous novel, and heavily annotated by de Ville for the modern reader. 

In the 1888 diary, Bram Stoker is utterly frustrated with his life. H is working for Henry Irving, one of the most prominent actors of his day, and trapped in a loveless marriage. (Indeed, Stoker spends the majority of the novel estranged from his son, whom he shows little affection, and his wife, whom he shows none at all.) His pen has been stilled in a creative drought. His good friend recommends a Mr. Francis Tumblety to Stoker, an acquaintance that quickly begins to sour for Stoker. It soon seems that Stoker cannot escape the man, who appears everywhere Stoker goes, a strange person selling snake oil potions and somehow charming his way into London’s literary and artistic circles. The more time he spends with Tumblety, the more Stoker suspects that there is something seriously wrong with the man, and that he is responsible for the grisly deaths of prostitutes in Whitechapel…

The absolutely brilliant aspect of this book is Reese’s writing. It also has the potential to the biggest turnoff. Reese does a wonderful job of mimicking Stoker’s gothic, verbose writing and he is truly evocative of Victorian England at the turn of the century. But I barely made it through Dracula, and a good many people are turned off that novel by Stoker’s overbearing prose. I’m not sure people will have the patience to put up with an imitation of that writing style.

I went back and forth on this. I was impressed that Reese nailed Stoker so absolutely. But the pacing of the novel is Just. So. Slow.   Blood drips on the first page and then nothing happens for until well into the Second Epoch. But this is also how I remember Dracula. So I think that if you were a fan of Bram Stoker’s original novel, you’ll enjoy this potential history that led to the genesis of this novel. Jack the Ripper aficionados won’t want to miss this one, either.

I did enjoy this more than Dracula (which I would recommend reading before checking this book out; it isn’t necessary for the plot but the footnotes assume that you’ve done so and I wouldn’t want you upset by spoilers) and it’s a great homage to the great vampire book. It’s a great Victorian novel. But a modern novel for modern readers?

I’m not so sure about that.

            To read more about The Dracula Dossier, buy it or add it to your wishlist, click here.