Fiction

Review: Fast Track by Julie Garwood

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When you’re already laughing and crying in the first quarter of a book, you know it’s a good one. Once I got through my tears, Garwood had me on the edge of my seat. Fast Track was fast-moving through to the end, I’ll tell ya.

The complex plot included terrific friendships, happy couples, an impending romance, secret agents (well, two special agents and one guy who couldn’t be pigeonholed) and a family driven so deeply by greed that it colored black the relationships with their own blood! I loved every minute of the suspense.

The friendship among the women was good – they were real with each other. The guys related to each other pretty realistically, too. I didn’t love the hero… he had some personality quirks that just weren’t for me… but in the end his redeeming qualities shone through. The heroine was a strong woman who became a bit submissive when interacting with the love of her life – an annoying but understandable part of the story.

I struggled a bit with a few rambly parts … wordy pages here and there and some lengthy descriptions that I glossed over. I also noticed quite a bit of telling instead of showing. Besides that, the beautifully thought-out plot overwhelmed any shortcomings in the writing.

-calliope

buy FAST TRACK

Review: Return to Homecoming Ranch (Pine River #2) by Julia London

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Sigh. I wanted to love this book. I liked some of it, like the romance, the realistic struggles of Libby and Sam, and the changes happening at the ranch.

But Libby’s relationship with her mom and sisters needed more development. I would have preferred more of that subplot than about Libby’s ex-boyfriend and her stalker-ish behavior. Reading about Libby’s obsession and Ryan’s pathological lies was just depressing. I wanted to skip the downhearted ramblings. I know depression is real, as is alcoholism and PTSD… I just didn’t expect them all to be subplots in a romance novel!

If you loved Pine River #1, and you’re okay with real life struggles making up a big part of a romance novel, you really will enjoy Return to Homecoming Ranch. As for me, I like my happily ever afters preceded by predictable solutions to the small problems in life. 🙂

-Calliope

BUY Return to Homecoming Ranch (Pine River Book 2)

Review: Summer of Love by Sophie Pembroke

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The nice thing about most romance novels is there’s a happily-ever-after…predictable, but appreciation-worthy.

The nice thing about Summer of Love is the unpredictable happily-ever after. Lily and her boyfriend have ups and downs, believable and authentic. And by the second to the last chapter I still wasn’t sure what was to become of Lily’s love life. And even though it was unexpected, it was happy and quite satisfying.

Sophie Pembroke wrote a terrific friendship sub-plot between Lily and Cora. They interacted like true best friends: with exasperation and candor, assertiveness and love. I really enjoyed seeing them support each others’ dreams, and encourage each other to be honest with themselves.

The guys in the story were loveable and handsome Everymen. They treated women with respect as far as they knew how, and they were honest about their feelings without being far-fetched.

Summer of Love is a great beach read or relax-after-a-long-day read. I love my British chick lit, especially when it ends with true love and a big smooch.

-Calliope

buy SUMMER OF LOVE

Review: The Bookshop on the Corner by Rebecca Raisin

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20140714-202708-73628623.jpg Rebecca Raisin infused this book with total cliched cuteness. From the bookshop owner who wanted to read all day to the loud hairdresser in a nearby shop to the roving reporter who falls in love with a small town and considers staying… It’s all been done before. But it hasn’t been done like this: with complete honesty about the fact that the bookshop owner wanted her life to be like the lives of her romance heroines. Sarah wanted the perfect boyfriend, the perfect falling in love story, the happily ever after. So Rebecca Raisin has Sarah openly admit what some of us in real life won’t!

It’s all very meta… The whole time I was thinking YES/EXACTLY, followed by THAT’S SO TRITE, followed by BECAUSE IT’S SO TRUE. I felt like I WAS Sarah because I’m a book lover too. And aren’t we all pretty much reading characters we identify with in one way or another?

So yeah, it’s clichéd. But it’s also literary and layered and symbolic and entertaining and relatable. If you like books, that is. 😉

-Calliope

buy THE BOOKSHOP ON THE CORNER

Review: Half a King by Joe Abercrombie

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Half a kingI’ve been meaning to read Joe Abercrombie for ages…I’ve heard so many great things about this writer. So when NetGalley had his first YA available as an ARC I thought I would apply. I am so glad I did! What a fantastic novel!

I have somehow convinced myself that I am not a fan of the fantasy genre. However, every time I talk myself into trying one I often find myself with a novel that I love. I am flummoxed trying to express just how much I loved it. This is one of those novels.

Here we have a young man with a deformed hand. He is passed over to be the next King and instead is to become a minister. Circumstances come about that change everything and the young man is indeed, offered up as the next King. This is a position that he has never wanted. He is just a young boy that lacks the strength and confidence to be a leader of men.

As often happens with kingdoms and politics, the young man finds himself betrayed and left to fend for himself. Armed only with only his wit he must now try to reclaim his rightful inheritance. He finds his champions among the lowest of men and they set out upon a quest to set the kingdom to right.

This is classified as a YA novel and I can understand that. I would caution that it needs to be mature YA. There is some violence within these pages. I think any novel such as this might appeal “out of the box” to young males. There are kingdoms, high seas and sword fights abound. However, I must give major props to Abercrombie here….even though the “hero” of the story is a young man, some of the strongest characters within these pages belong to not men, but to women and young girls. Abercrombie does a fantastic job of erasing all gender bias lines. The strong women in this novel are not “out of the norm”. No one even takes notice of them as females. They just *are*. There are enough of these strong females that there is little doubt that in Abercrombie’s fantasy world they are not a rare occurrence. No one looks twice at them or questions their power just because they are females. The men just follow them as they would any leader….it’s a nice thing that you don’t often find in popular novels. Strong independent women should not be a thing that one should even feel the need to comment on or point out….but sadly, I do feel that need…..and I find it refreshing to find these leaders of men in YA novel. Bravo, Abercrombie.

I am hard pressed to pick a favourite character out of this novel. There are just too many great ones to try to pick from. Abercrombie places this young man in just the right circumstances to not only build a weak boy into a strong man….but he does so with such finesse that lessons learned build up his character as well. He also places just the right mix of good and bad people in the young mans path to enable this wonderful transformation to occur. These lessons and the transformation are not without heavy personal and physical price. If you’re looking for a feel good happy story full of kitten whiskers and puppy tail wags, you are best to go elsewhere….

I can’t wait to read the next installment in this series. There are so many ways that this story can twist and turn….it will be a grand adventure for sure…..

And I can say that I have moved Abercrombie’s other books up my TBR list as well…..

Bravo! Bravo! Job well done, Mr Abercrombie!

Until next time…

Urania xx

ARC provided by NetGalley for an honest review

Buy it now Half a King by Joe Abercrombie

Review: Decadent (Big Sky Pie #4) by Adrianne Lee

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I so enjoy these fun, yummy romances set in a Montana pie shop. Adrianne Lee does a terrific job writing food – it’s totally natural and easily fits in with the storyline. Not to mention Lee’s sensory descriptions are top-notch and make me want pie. Lots of pie.

The romance in Decadent is a little different from books 1-3. Very lusty. More flirting. Roxy is a sensual woman who knows what she wants, so the flirting is overt and you know a physical relationship is on deck.

Wade endeared himself to me. Shy, hesitant, afraid to make a mistake, he has a hard time making his actions match his feelings. Roxy makes some moves, though, and solves that problem!

The end was a little abrupt for me. Roxy leaves and comes back just a bit too quickly and without a lot of explanation. Apart from that one bump, Decadent smoothly sailed the happily ever ship. I was glad to be aboard.

By the way, I started Decadent before bed and was enjoying it so much that I forced my eyes to stay open until I finished it. I closed the kindle waaaay past my bedtime, but I fell asleep happy… thinking about love and pies and Montana skies.

-Calliope

June 2014 release. Only $2.99! And fine to read as a standalone.
buy DECADENT

Review: Under the Jeweled Sky by Alison McQueen

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underOh dear…where to start? When I first started this book I feel in love on the first page. I was so intrigued. It was a mystery that I wanted to solve page by page. I wasn’t in a rush, it was one of those warm glows that feels oh so very lovely that you just want to savor it bit by delightful bit! I still felt this way at 30%. If anything, I was even more smitten with this novel. I loved Sophie, the main character, despite her naivety. I loved Jag. I loved India and all of the settings….The Palace. The romance. The women’s quarters. I even loved the mother’s cruelness. Not that I liked her personally, I just liked the elements she brought into this story. The layers she brought forth were yet another mystery for me to be intrigued by and a mystery to solve….

At about 40%…..well…..I realised that all of my love was based on appearances. Oh come on now….don’t act like that….you know we’ve all done this…..don’t lie! Who hasn’t fallen in love from the first moment and imagined it to be all of these wonderful things….and you dig and you dig…and then you realise….well, hell’s bells….this isn’t as mysterious as I had hoped. This isn’t as complex as I had hoped…..sigh….

Now don’t get me wrong….this isn’t a short novel….It’s a nice 400 pages….you should be able to fit a lot into 400 pages! Right? Yet, I felt that this was just a rough draft. It was missing bits I needed. There just was too much missing. Why didn’t Sophie fight? How did she end up where she was? Why did she leave India when she didn’t really have to?

I still loved this book. I am just a bit disappointed in Alison McQueen. I mean, she had everything here before me. She dangled this beautiful setting….these star crossed lovers….this wonderful story right in front of me face! She had me salivating! I mean, I had to wipe the drool off of my face. I had to try to control me glee. I bragged to everyone I could once I reached 30%…….and then….alas…..she broke my heart. It’s like being promised a homemade cheesecake after having a sunday roast……Looking forward to it all week with promises of how lush it will be…then the weekend comes….things get hectic…..and on Sunday you’re handed an instant turkey roast meal with special offer cheesecake flavoured biscuits! Yes, it has enough flavour for you to appreciate it. Yes, you are thankful for it…..yes, it did fill you up…..however….all you can think of is just how much more wonderful it could have been…..

so yea, I’m mad at you Alison McQueen. I KNOW you can do better than this….this was a 800 page novel that you chopped down to 400…..and yes, the shell is there….and yes it’s beautiful….but damnit….I want me meaty bits…..I not only want your words to feed my body…I wanted them to feed my soul as well….

Don’t get me wrong, I loved it from the start…..and I didn’t mind the ending…..I just missed the middle….

Sigh……Maybe next time…..

Until next time….

Urania xx

Review Copy provided by NetGalley for an honest review

Buy it now Under the Jeweled Sky by Alison McQueen

Review: Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands by Chris Bohjalian

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20140426-172618.jpgPredictability in an author is a good thing, but so is the unknown. I enjoy knowing what I’m in for when I read a new selection by a favorite writer. But it’s so much better when an author delivers something different yet equally amazing with each new novel. Chris Bohjalian is just such an author. With this latest work, he once again has gone off course in a delightful way for me.

Emily Shepard doesn’t have a picture perfect life. Her parents drink and argue too much and are miserable with their lives in Vermont. Emily “fails to live up to her potential” according to counselors at her school. She’s always right on the edge of things, flirting around with major trouble. Still, she lives in a nice home, loves writing in her journals, and adores her dog Maggie. Then it all begins to fall apart in a matter of hours. The nuclear power plant where both of her parents work has a meltdown, killing her parents and scores of other people. Her town is declared radioactive, and to make matters worse everyone blames her father for the devastating accident. So Emily does the only thing she knows to do. She flees her small town and heads to Burlington where she joins the ranks of homeless teenagers trying to survive. Hooking, stealing, using drugs, cutting…Emily experiences it all during the few short months she’s on the streets. If not for the love of a lost little boy she might have stayed there. But one tragic event leads to another and she eventually finds herself back on the road to home, to confront her emotional demons as well as whatever physical ones might remain.

This book started off well, pulling me in very early on. It proceeded nicely if somewhat uneventfully for about the first half. Then the story built to a crescendo, ending on a high note. Especially memorable for me is the moment when the reader finds out the meaning behind the title. If anything was missing for me, it would be that I was left with a few questions about some of the major characters. But still, sometimes it’s better to be left wondering than to be given an ending that you don’t like.

~Thalia

Buy it Now: Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands: A Novel

Review: The Girls of August by Anne Rivers Siddons

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This would be a fantastic book to listen to in the car on the way to the beach for a week. Or while basking in the sun on your back deck. It’s a beach read… about the beach and its freedom and isolation and peace.

I admit I went into this book expecting something heavy. Instead I found an easygoing story about four women who get together for two weeks at the beach. The catch is, one woman is the new girl. The other three don’t let her forget it, and make her life miserable until personal tragedies bring them all together.

The Girls of August leaves many loose ends: we don’t know what happens with the health of two of the women, or the marriages of the other two. We never find out what happens to the island natives, or to the land that was supposedly left to one of the husbands. We don’t know if there’s a next vacation planned or a wedding.

I’m uncomfortable finishing a book without closure. I felt like I read a short story that was supposed to share a moral or a theme, but left the plot hanging.

However, The Girls of August has the wonderful redemptive quality of authentic friendships and introversion. These ladies were real with each other. They were snarky and sarcastic and bitter and loving and comforting and witty. They used the quiet of the beach to peel away their layers and discover themselves – not the women other people *expected * them to be, but who they really were. These women didn’t necessarily change, they just figured out who they were and who they were going to be from now on.

–Calliope

buy THE GIRLS OF AUGUST

Review – Shatter, by Michael Robotham.

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2314605This week’s read was from an author that a friend of mine recommended. Shatter explores what happens when a seemingly deranged person sets out to torture his victims, not through physical pain, but through the power of suggestion. Through this power of suggestion, he gets his victims to commit suicide. Along with the investigating officers, Psychologist Joe O’Loughlin, sets out to try and catch the “killer”.
Now, I’ve read hundreds of these procedural cop-looks-for-killer type books before, so I wasn’t expecting anything too original. However, I must say, I was pleasantly surprised! To begin with, the characters were fleshed out a lot more than they usually are in thrillers; O’loughlin is academically very smart, but he severely lacks in the street savvy department. He also has Parkinsons Disease which makes his self doubt and paranoia, ever more present. The secondary characters are also quite well written and you actually believe that they exist and have a purpose.
The tone in the writing is quick and sharp, like any good thriller should be, however, you also get a sense of it being slow and that actually matches up to the agonizingly slow hunt for the killer and indeed, his slow method of killing. My only complaint, and a small complaint at that, would be that in some places the dialogue seemed a little… umm… stretched? I don’t know. Some of it didn’t flow very well for me, but that’s a personal thing I suppose.
This read was a welcome relief for me due to my last book being a load of rubbish that I couldn’t even muster up a review for. If you want a quick, intelligent, thriller that will surprise you, then I definitely recommend giving Shatter a try.

Have a wonderful Independence Day *Plots to get my country back…* (-:

Pegasus.

Shatter (Joseph O’Loughlin)