Book Review

Review: The Broken Hearts Book Club by Lynsey James

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This British rom-com is cute and young and fun… and naïve and a little bit silly for this Definitely Over 30 reader. 

I would have appreciated the wishy washy guy, the finicky girl, the mean older ladies, and the stressed out dad a LOT more if I read this when I was younger. 

While there’s plenty of responsibility going on – renovating a house, taking care of a child, starting a business, running a book club – it was all through the lenses of a 20-something who just really didn’t seem invested in life yet.  Nor does she need to – she’s still young! But I’m not, and I wasn’t the best audience for this story. 

If you’re still in your twenties — or you’re still living with your parents — this book is a good, light read about love, loss, and opening your heart again. 

-calliope

Buy THE BROKEN HEARTS BOOK CLUB

Review: The Fair Fight by Anna Freeman

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22430677Hip Hip Hooray!!! I am soooooooooooooo glad I picked this book to read out of the thousands I have on my TBR list….I’m not at all sure that I could have found any other book like it….what a delightful change!

I don’t even know where to begin….I mean, I’m very sure that many people would find a book that starts with a 10-year-old girl, born and raised in a whorehouse fighting her way into a boxing ring, against both men and women, completely horrible….I admit to finding myself cringe at bits of this tale! Especially once the reader finds out that the boxing is some of the more pleasant bits of the story!

No, the novel isn’t all about boxing. Yes, it’s a huge part….HOWEVER, the actually boxing takes up only a small portion of the novel…..

Not only do you have the one young girl who grows up right before your eyes, you have several other key characters…and Freeman ties them all together with ambition, lies, deceit, obsession, love, and hate. You have key players that would do anything for one another….and those that are nothing short of unfeeling opportunists..you see what lengths some will go to for loyalty and how others feel not an ounce of it and look out only for themselves….

Finally we find out that the old adage is true….beauty comes from within and has nothing really to do with how a person looks….

What I especially loved about this book is that we see the flaws in the characters we love…and at times, as much as it pains me to say, for the characters we absolutely hate, Freeman made us feel pity for them…

I should also point out that for a very long time now, I start out all excited about a book but my enthusiasm often wains after a short while….I can still enjoy the novel and the story and the characters, but I lose my feelings of excitement over the whole experience…..with this novel….I have to say…..it only built and built….that hardly EVER happens…..sometimes my enthusiasm doesn’t leave me….but I can’t ever recall a book that had me liking it from the very start and my love growing with each new chapter….near the end of the book I had to walk away for a bit because I was NOT willing to say goodbye to some of the characters that I was so enjoying….I was also fearful that it would not have a happy ending….I’m not a reader that has to have a happy ending for a book…but I really wanted it for some of these people….

I know this book isn’t for everyone….however, I don’t really care….I absolutely loved it and I encourage everyone to step outside their comfort zone and give it a try….I won’t hesitate to recommend this to any and everyone…and that isn’t something you’ll see me doing often…

Until next time….

Urania xx

Buy it now The Fair Fight by Anna Freeman

Review: A Blind Guide to Stinkville by Beth Vrabel

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  I’m not exactly a YA reader. I like realistic fiction with protagonists my own age – I can just relate better, you know? But A Blind Guide to Stinkville reeled me in. I was laughing in Chapter One. I was invested by Chapter Three. I was bawling my eyes out in Chapter Seventeen… but that’s for later in this review. 

Alice moves across the country and, like the rest of her family, is having a hard time adjusting. Besides the friend factor and the school factor, Alice has some physical challenges that were much easier to handle when everyone in her old town had known her since she was born. In Stinkville, Alice has to learn how to do things without the predictable help of those around her. 

I am SO IMPRESSED with Vrabel’s consistent pace and even-keeled writing. Alice could be barely holding it together, or the girl in the library could have just revealed something astonishing, or a new friend could be just as mean as the old friend just was… and Vrabel writes it all very matter-of-factly, like none of these things are the end of the world. No melodrama, here. No way. And that’s totally refreshing in a world of melodramatic teenagers and melodramatic teenage books. 

I know that when my children read Stinkville, they will accept the characters and their idiosyncrasies without batting an eyelash. They will understand that differences are No Big Deal. And maybe they’ll realize that all the things they’ve been practically fainting about in their real lives are also No Big Deal, because, hey, Alice got through much more challenging circumstances with far less indignity. 

I am also excited for my children to read Stinkville so they might be eager to be more independent, be inspired to find their way around their town (literally and figuratively), and be able to navigate new situations with grace and purpose. 

So, Chapter Seventeen. Well, I had just taken a break after reading the first sixteen chapters, and I was ready to settle in for two wonderful last chapters – my favorite chapters in any book. Beth Vrabel threw me for a loop and wrote something so funny and so heartbreaking that I choked out a laugh and then proceeded to cry my head off. I cried and laughed until I finished the book. I’m a mom, and I get emotional when I read about children struggling – or in this case, overcoming their struggles so well that my heart fills up. 

Everything in A Blind Guide to Stinkville seems so real that I want to say You Can’t Make Up This Stuff. But Vrabel did. She put her imagination together with her experiences to create something so wonderful that I need to read it again. 

Oh, and that Blind Guide that Alice wrote? Stories within a story are brilliant, Beth Vrabel. Add me to your fan club. 

-calliope

Buy A BLIND GUIDE TO STINKVILLE

Review: After You by Jojo Moyes

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Want to know what Louisa does after she loses Will in ME BEFORE YOU? I did too. I fell in love with Lou (CLARK!!!!) and I couldn’t let her go. 

AFTER YOU shows us Lou’s grief, her attempt at supporting the Traynors, her meandering spirit as she tries to find her way back in life, and her maternal side. 

I liked the meandering the best. I mean, when we lose someone, we don’t just jump back into reality. We look for supports and crutches and strongholds… And we are picky, because we don’t want to choose one that will cause more loss. 

Thanks Jojo Moyes for giving us more Louisa. It was enough that we lost Will. 

-calliope

Buy AFTER YOU

Review: Saturn Run by John Sandford

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24611668I can’t say I expected this to be the best Sandford book I’ve read…and trust me, I’ve read them all (even the art one he did way back when), but I certainly didn’t expect it to the worst. I was wrong. The thing I love most about Sandford (and he is the ONLY author I’ve read every single year for the last 20 plus years) is his dialogue between characters. I absolutely love the relationships he builds between people via dialogue….it doesn’t matter if they are life long friends, or complete strangers. He has a gift for dialogue that I’ve never seen matched.

This book had none of that. Sandford presented us with some characters that could have been phenomenal. There were there. However, the building up of their characters and the thrill of discovering what makes them tick just wasn’t. There actions made them seem flat and uncaring, simply because we weren’t allowed to have insight to them. Sandford simply dropped tantalizing bread crumbs, and we found ourselves excited to finally get to the tasty cake at the end….to reach the end of trail and be met with only an empty package.

The book was bogged down with endless details of things the reader didn’t need to know….yes, we needed to know how grave the situation was at times…and how smart the characters were to overcome any obstacles…but I think Sandford could have spent less time in those details and more with the details of the relationships of the main characters.

I will say that I can see this playing out 50 years from now. I will also say that this novel and how politics played into it gave me very little faith or hope for the human race. The value placed on human life was non existent. As was the care for the tax payers money and the lies and deceit that played into hiding this information from the general public. Yes, that might sound political. It probably is. However, this novel was chock-a-block of politics….

On a side note, and completely unrelated, Sandford has now done a couple of books outside his normal crime thriller genre. I sincerely hope he isn’t bored with it all. As a writer he is completely free to write whatever he chooses. However, I would be totally gutted if he gave up that genre. I can honestly say I find his Pey books better with each new release. He is the ONLY and I stress ONLY writer that has ever managed to keep me so engaged with a character for any amount of time….let alone 20 plus years….

Until next time…

Urania xx

ARC provided by Edelweiss for an honest review

Buy it now Saturn Run by John Sandford

Review: The Runaway Bridesmaid by Daisy James

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British rom com here… Rosie runs off to Aunt Bernice’s cottage in the English countryside after catching her New York City boss/boyfriend kissing her sister/spoiled brat. There, Rosie finds a run-down thatched roof home with an overgrown garden, a handsome attorney, a quirky and charming neighbor, an old friend, and late Aunt Bernice’s journals full of recipes and life lessons. 

I love the British-ness of this book, even though it was odd to see some of the American dialogue containing British vocabulary. And I REALLY loved Charlie. Great character, Ms. James. Charlie has brains, brawn, sincerity, and a puppy dog affection for Rosie. James wrote their interactions in such an authentic and fresh way that I would have enjoyed even more scenes with the two. 

On the other side of the coin: Rosie’s sister Freya was so annoying I could spit… it takes some great writing to create a character you can’t stand but you are still invested in! 

Of course you can expect a happily ever after … But you’ll have to read the book to find out where, and how, and with whom. 🙂 

-calliope

Buy THE RUNAWAY BRIDESMAID

Review: Marry Me at Christmas by Susan Mallery 

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This is another fantastic installation in Susan Mallery’s Fool’s Gold series. 

Madeleine Krug climbs outside her comfort zone to plan a wedding for the sister of famed Jonny Blaze. Jonny is happy to meet her – and spend time with someone who doesn’t glom onto him for his star status. 

As they work together, their relationship changes and deepens. Madeleine and Jonny together develop from platonic to romantic … in a nice, gradual, believable way.  

Besides the love story, Mallery shows us the overwhelming Christmas spirit Fool’s Gold offers. I celebrated right along with the sidewalk strollers and cocoa sippers, listening to carols and looking at the sparkling lights. 

From the sense of community and close friendships to the welcoming embrace given to newcomers, the people of Fool’s Gold are the perfect backdrop for Madeleine and Jonny to grow as individuals and a couple. And as usual, Mayor Marsha is the one to make things happen – for the good of the town, and for the good of romance! 

-calliope

Buy MARRY ME AT CHRISTMAS

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A Knights Bridge Christmas by Carla Neggers

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Like most of the Carla Neggers Swift River Valley novels, A Knights Bridge Christmas has beautiful descriptions of setting and a range of characters Neggers magically makes real. Even Daisy, now deceased, enamored me. Neggers hugs the reader with ice rinks and hot cocoa, mittens and hats, decorating a historical home for the holidays, and falling in love. 

A bit of unnatural dialogue and a too-trusting heroine took me out of the magic here and there. Some conversations were stilted and felt thrown in as an afterthought. And Clare just blindly agreeing to Logan’s suggestions seemed totally unrealistic. 

I’m always willing to overlook a few things for a holiday love story. This one includes a little mystery, a little adventure, and a happily ever after. 

-Calliope

Buy A KNIGHTS BRIDGE CHRISTMAS

Review: The Gilded Life of Matilda Duplaine by Alex Brunkhorst

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Unsophisticated journalist Thomas gets nudged into the world of Hollywood by a well-meaning acquaintance. When Thomas catches a glance at the sheltered, Bel-Air-raised Matilda, he’s compelled to get to know her… and then to take things further. He doesn’t realize that two different worlds colliding can cause something more dangerous than just a spark.  

This novel is definitely quirky! From Thomas’ newsroom friends to his social awkwardness at Hollywood parties, from Matilda’s refined upbringing to her life full of secrets,  from film producers’ power to the corrupt indebtedness in the industry, The Gilded Life offers the reader a panorama of the lifestyles of wealthy LA elite. 

The quieter yet more powerful backbone of The Gilded Life is an illustration of how our environment shapes us. We see how being overprotective only protects someone as long as we control their environment. The moment they step into real life, our overprotectiveness proves to be the real danger — they have no instincts, no judgement skills, no confidence of their own.  Thomas doesn’t get it until it’s too late. And Matilda doesn’t get it until reality has changed her irreversibly. 

This was a fun, unique read that was part literary fiction, part adventure, and part romance. Four solid stars!

-Calliope

Buy THE GILDED LIFE OF MATILDA DUPLAINE

Review: A Song of Shadows by John Connolly

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24565629I *really* like this Charlie Parker guy! Besides Parker, I also really enjoy the other characters in this series as well. In many ways, we get to know and love Charlie simply by watching how others act and respond around him. It’s not something I’ve thought about much before. Usually a character is revealed simply by how they act and respond to situations. By what they say and do. Here, Connolly does a superb job of showing Parker’s character by those that go out of his way to help him. To watch over him. We learn to love Parker by the love they show him.

The father/daughter relationships in this novel….just wow….I can’t give much away, but I will say —- the last line gave me chills and I almost cried aloud that it ended! I’ll be counting the days until I start the next in the series!

This novel starts with Charlie recuperating from an injure he obtained in the last novel. It also has him in the midst of a few murders….and nazis. We revisit some of the crimes from the Holocaust. I have to admit, I have not really gave much thought to those war criminals after the fact. It brings up some important moral issues as well. Can one ever commit a horrendous crime simply because of the circumstances they found themselves in? Furthermore, can you be removed from those circumstances and form that day forth do wonderful things and to help the human race? Should any of that good change how you should be dealt with in regards to the original crimes?

How often are criminals sought after only because of political pressure? Where does moral obligation come into play?

Finally, I encourage you to read this novel. Not just because Charlie Parker is so great. Not because of how much you love his friends. Not because of all of the inter-workings of some really complex and interesting relationships….

But because this book left me with a yearning to learn more about history. I found myself putting down this novel…not because I was bored. But because I wanted to run to the internet and look up more about war criminals and history. Because I wanted to better understand how some of the things discussed in this novel could have happened. I don’t think I found many clear answers. However, I did have discussions about it. And so very many questions! Sometimes in life, it’s really good to just ask the questions….even if you don’t get all the answers you seek….at least you’ve thought enough to ask them….

Confused? Read the book….you’ll understand then….

Until next time…

Urania xx

ARC provided by Edelweiss for an honest review

Buy it now A Song of Shadows by John Connolly