Month: October 2016

Review: The Confectioner’s Tale by Laura Madeleine

Posted by

0

What a lovely story! I keep saying I don’t like flashbacks in a story but I think I do like it if done well. Laura Madeleine does it well! I adored the story of the poor country boy falling in love with pastry and Mme Clermont. Author Madeleine painted 1910 patisserie life with just the right amount of romance and beauty, and juxtaposed it perfectly with the grit of railroads, brothels, and street thugs. 

Flash forward to 1988 where phD student Petra gets sidetracked trying to clear her grandfather’s name and unravel the great Clermont mystery… I just as much enjoyed Petra’s phone calls and literal legwork trying to figure out clues about her grandfather. I was psyched for Petra’s ride on the back of Alex’s motorbike, and glad to see that the romance of 1910 carried over to modern times. 

I think I would have been able to get more lost in the story if Madeleine had stuck with the 1910 matters, but it was gratifying to see how it all played out in the end – a type of closure I wouldn’t have been able to experience unless the 1988 story existed as well. 

Brava! 

-calliope

Buy THE CONFECTIONER’S TALE

Review: Dissolution (Matthew Shardlake #1) by CJ Sansom

Posted by

1

138685I don’t know if it’s because I now live in England (American) but I absolutely love these period novels. I’m in the middle of a couple different historical series that take place in England, so I figured I might as well add one more. I’m very glad I did! This was so interesting to me. In one of my other series I am learning about King Alfred and his devotion and obsession with religion. In this novel we have a very different setting. It’s only a half a century (Ha! ONLY) but Henry XIII is very much against religion. I found (and always have) the ways religion is used by men to further their own desires extremely fascinating. Even more so because there are so many people who honestly believe in religion and only have the best intentions…

This is one such story…The main character is a hunchbacked lawyer named Matthew Shardlake. He is a devout man and has, I believe, honourable intentions. He is sent by Thomas Cromwell and the King to investigate a murder at a monastery. Shardlake has believed he was fighting on the side of good. However, the more time he spends investigating the murder the more he starts to wrestle with his own moral dilemmas. There are so many things he starts to question about the way things are being handled by Cromwell, a man he has always admired.

As Shardlake sees the men and women of the monastery as individual people, he questions the side he is on. He starts to see the politics behind the religion and isn’t at all sure where he stands any more..

Shardlake has never had an easy life..he has be a social outcast, if only by his physical deformity..now he must face being an outcast, and perhaps worse, but questioning in his mind the activities of those above him..

It will interesting to see what happens next to Matthew…he is a hero that I find strongly drawn to…I really look forward to continuing on with this series…

Until next time…
Urania xx

Buy your copy now Dissolution by CJ Sansom

Review: The Sheriffs of Savage Wells by Sarah M. Eden

Posted by

0

01 aa What a fun book! This is not your usual damsel in distress story. Quite the opposite. This story is about a girl who believes a girl can do anything a man can do, and she’s out to prove it.

Cade O’Brien is done with the loud and crazy towns. He wants peace and quiet and a new start. So he sets off to Savage Wells in hopes of becoming their new sheriff. But what he doesn’t expect is a woman already doing the job, and quite well, if he must admit. This spit fire of a woman gets his blood boiling in more ways than one, so he needs to keep a clear head whenever she’s around.

Paisley Bell has been acting sheriff for quite some time now and she’s not happy that the town is determined to fill the position with a man, instead of her. But when Cade comes into town, she knows that her work is cut out for her. He knows what he’s doing, but he doesn’t know this town better than her. But she’s not giving up. She knows she can do this job just as good as anyone else.

I must admit, I fell in love with this town and all it’s quirky, but lovable characters. I wish I lived there. They care a great deal about each other. Watching Cade and Paisley both interact with them, made me smile. They knew how to help everyone in very unconventional ways. It made my heart squeeze.

Watching Cade and Paisley banter made me smile. He’s not used to a woman in this position, so he’s a little slow in accepting. They go at each other quite often and I found myself giggling. As with many relationships, once the bantering starts, it’s over. They’re sunk. They learn to help each other out and in the midst of that, they start to grow closer and soon find themselves completely smitten. When he calls her love, I swoon. Let me tell you, butterflies were fluttering in my belly. Such a sweet romance.

This story is another in the The Proper Romance family and I know you’ll love it just as much as I did.

~Melpomene

Buy The Sheriffs of Savage Wells HERE

Review: Something in Between by Melissa de la Cruz

Posted by

0

28688476

Sometimes it’s hard, as we watch the evening news, to imagine the people behind the headlines.  We live in an era of such media overload that we often forget to stop and think.  So when a story comes along that personifies such a hotbed topic of debate such as illegal immigrants, it’s a must-read for me.

Jasmine was just a young girl when her family came to America.  She’s worked hard all her life to be the very best at everything she does.  Cheerleading, academics, she’s put her heart and soul into it all.  And when she receives a national scholar award, that’s just icing on the cake.  All her hard work is paying off.  Until she finds out that her family is in the U.S. illegally.  All these years she thought they had work visas, but it turns out they expired long ago.  Now, not only is she in danger of not being able to go to college, there’s a very real chance that her family could be deported.  Sure she feels like an American, but other people see it differently.

What’s the right answer on this controversial topic?  It’s different for each person, and my answer may not be yours. But regardless, it’s hard to not feel for Jasmine and her family.  This is an important book coming at a very important time!

~Thalia

Buy It Now:  Something in Between