Calliope

Review: A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williams

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Oh. My. Goodness. A Hundred Summers was so good and so substantial that I had to stop every few chapters to reflect on and digest what I just read. I consumed this novel, and it consumed me. I was smiling as I read. Grinning from ear to ear. I’m happy even thinking about it now. A Hundred Summers is a conventional love story with unconventional twists and characters who made my eyes bug out of my head. There were several mouth-agape, palm-over-mouth gasping moments as well as full chapters that got my shoulders a-tense.

It’s the writing that makes this book a winner. Williams’ cleverness impressed me. She used metaphor and symbolism expertly: a football game, a snowstorm, a hurricane. What you see isn’t what you get; you get something even better.

Reading A Hundred Summers, I was surprised at every turn. I could not predict a thing (well, until the end, and even then I was afraid I was wrong). The characters surprised me, their circumstances shocked me. Their behavior — for the 1930s, especially! — entertained me.

Nick and Lily were an item six years ago. They had even planned on getting married. But family issues, misunderstandings, and Lily’s friend Budgie interfered. Budgie ended up with Nick. Budgie’s old flame Graham wanted Lily. No one’s intentions were pure … Jealousy, ego, anger, hurt and vengeance all played a part.

The plot explains how Nick and Lily untangle themselves from the scandal that was built around each of their families, but it isn’t a straight and narrow road. The twists and turns will pull you in, and drag you around the beach for a hundred glorious summers.

A Hundred Summers is going into my Favorites collection, along with Hosseini’s And The Mountains Echoed and Conroy’s The Prince of Tides.

-Calliope

Buy it now A Hundred Summers

Review: The Truth is in the Wine by Curtis Bunn

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This novel has a good premise but many flaws. The story is about a husband and wife with a rocky marriage. Since they both enjoy fine wine, Ginger and Paul decide to take the vacation they’ve always wanted – to Napa Valley.

The book could be great, but the writing is amateurish and long-winded.

  1. Instead of dialogue, Bunn uses stream of consciousness much of the time. While this is okay in theory, it’s difficult to read a whole novel written in this way. In addition, the thoughts are repetitive and circular. While this may mimic a person’s thoughts in real life, it doesn’t work In a novel.
  2. The writing is uneven. A well written page might be abruptly punctuated with an amateur “it didn’t feel good.” If the description is precise, the reader doesn’t need to be told that something didn’t feel good.
  3. The sex scenes are abrupt and vulgar. Perhaps college boys would appreciate them, but a (mumblemumble)-ty year old muse…. Not so much. Perhaps I am not the intended audience. But then, who IS the audience for a book about marriage with unappealing and unromantic sex scenes?
  4. The author uses so much real estate to describe and explain things instead of showing the reader something succinctly. Describing four people’s meals in detail — when the menu isn’t relevant — doesn’t move the plot forward.
  5. Implausible subplots: The 40-yr old wife who couldn’t get pregnant for 20 years gets pregnant, has an abortion without telling anyone, then 2 months later gets pregnant again. The two pregnancies are a result of having sex three times over the course of four months. Really?
    Another far fetched subplot was a double date 3000 miles away where one woman and the other woman’s date are long lost lovers from 40 years ago.

There’s more if you can stand it.

Curtis Bunn uses incorrect vocabulary and confusing descriptions. Examples:
-One passage states “to determine if they had stuffed contraband up the cracks of their anuses”. Anuses don’t have cracks.
– Putting lips to a wineglass is described as akin to putting lips on the wife’s breast. How exactly is a wineglass like a breast?
-God and His blessings are mentioned frequently… And even more frequently, the use of “Goddamn.”
-The author includes in the double date conversation a joke-y allusion to jerry Sandusky “who molested all those boys” – and “the ladies laughed.” Not funny.

The book was all over the place. Curtis Bunn employs frat boy humor, pretentious mentions of numerous specific wines, wannabe-marriage-counseling through a thin veil of fiction, and totally unbelievable subplots to create a confusing, uneven novel that I struggled to finish.

One star for unique ideas. The book needs heavy editing.

-Calliope

I don’t recommend The Truth is in the Wine. But I DO recommend this wonderful, witty, clever, well-written book about a marriage on the rocks:

The Last Original Wife by Dorothea Benton Frank

Price drops!

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I just looked on my amazon wish list, and though my list is a mite outdated, I did see some price drops. So I’m sharing. 🙂 Just click on the title to get to the amazon purchase page.

Enjoy!
-Calliope

Fortunately, the Milk – by Neil Gaiman

Night Film – by Marcia Pessl

Home to Whiskey Creek – by Brenda Novak

A Time to Kill – by John Grisham

The Newcomer – by Robyn Carr (The Hero is also just $3.99)

Review: By Proxy by Katy Regnery

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This charming romance novel revolves around Jenny, a small town Montana girl from a close-knit family, and Sam, a work-hard-play-hard corporate guy who lives in Chicago but has Montana family ties.

Jenny and Sam agree to help their loved ones get married from afar by standing in for them by proxy. While they wait for their courtroom appointment, they have a few days to get to know each other. I’ll let you read for yourself how THAT goes. There’s quite a bit of personal growth, family loyalty, snowy fun, and new love in there … and a happily ever after, too.

The first few chapters were a little awkward to read. But the awkward writing mimicked the discomfort of Sam and Jenny as they felt each other out and determined how their feelings were going to play out. The writing became smoother and more natural as Jenny and Sam became more comfortable with each other.

I indeed sighed at Sam’s romantic moments, clenched my fists with Jenny when she was frustrated, and felt my shoulders tense when another guy tried to make a move on Jenny. Katy Regnery sparked more interest with snippets of Swedish… little phrases that I am going to practice so I can use them when the right moment presents itself. And I had fun strolling with the loving couple, talking Glogg and enjoying the Christmassy atmosphere.

I totally loved that By Proxy didn’t try to be flashy or dramatic, but it still made me laugh and cry. Real tears, people! I felt for these characters. And I’m all in for the next book in this Heart of Montana series.

–Calliope

Buy it Now By Proxy

Review: Christmas on 4th Street by Susan Mallery

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20130919-205920.jpg You know what happens four days from today? Christmas on 4th Street is released, and all you Susan Mallery fans (and Christmas romance fans) become happy campers!

You know what will make you even happier? Diving in to Noelle and Gabriel’s story. (Nice Christmassy character names, Ms. Mallery.)

Noelle’s three best friends are planning a triple wedding during the Fool’s Gold Christmas festival. One best friend’s fiancé has a cute doctor brother that comes to town for the wedding. I’m sure you can see where this is going… Kissing, dinners, getting caught in a remote cabin during a snowstorm … the usual.

A few things struck me as unique in this romantic tale. First, Noelle was the most optimistic person I’ve ever met in a book. I wasn’t annoyed, I was reflective. If Noelle could traverse tragedy and come out of it smiling, I should be able to do the same in my pretty smooth-going life. Second, Gabriel’s relationship with his dad was explored nicely. Mallery didn’t gloss over it; she showed me how Gabriel’s dad had so much influence over his emotional development that he totally needed his dad to nudge him into going and growing that extra step. And third, the dialogue was fresh and bold. These characters tell it like it is, with tact, but directly. I like that in real-life people, and I appreciate it in book characters.

I got my coffee and shopping fix on 4th Street in Fool’s Gold … and let my tears of joy fall at the big wedding. Mallery wrote just the right balance of Christmas, friends and family, wedding planning, and new love.

Don’t miss it.

–Calliope

Buy it Now Christmas on 4th Street

Review: So Tough to Tame by Victoria Dahl

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So Tough to Tame will be published September 24.
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Here’s a peek at what you’re in for:

So Tough to Tame might be the steamiest romance novel I’ve ever read.

Charlie (Charlotte) and Walker always had a little classroom crush on each other. And now as adults they can do something about it. They flirt like crazy, tease a little here and there, build a friendship, and then jump in to a sizzling physical relationship.

They each have secrets that scare them away from an emotional relationship. But Charlie and Walker lean on each other, find solace in each other, and make each other laugh.

They respect each other as equals, even though Walker is a hot cowboy with a swagger that takes a woman’s breath away, and Charlie has always been known as the straight-laced studious type. Charlie and Walker don’t even realize that despite all the talk about sex being the only thing they have in common, they’re falling in love. After some ups and downs there’s a satisfying happily ever after.

Besides enjoying the romantic element of this novel, the great writing, fun characters, and suspenseful plot had me on the edge of my seat!

–Calliope

Buy it now So Tough to Tame

Review: I Only Have Eyes For You by Bella Andre

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20130914-222021.jpg 4 stars

*Dreamy sigh*

Where do I begin? Let me just say that Bella Andre created a very swoon-worthy character in Jake McCann. He’s rough and tough and domineering and crude and powerful. And he only shows his softer side to Sullivan family members, namely Sophie, with whom he’s been in love since childhood. Who doesn’t love a bad boy with a sensitive side?

Sophie is the bookish sister of six brothers and a twin. They think she’s fragile and want to protect her from struggles and hurt. They want to protect her from Jake McCann. I love that despite her siblings’ opinion of her, Sophie is a strong, brave, vocal woman who knows what she wants. Sophie is the best kind of heroine – she advocates for her own best interests, even when there’s a risk involved.

When circumstances put Jake and Sophie together for a week, sparks fly — good and bad. They find out each other’s weaknesses, faults, and truths. They decide whether being in love will lead to anything more. That’s the best part of being in love: knowing where you both stand, and then determining whether the truth will make you or break you.

Bella Andre’s characters are unique in the world of romance novels. Sophie and Jake stay true to themselves, living the lives everyone knows them to have, and being brave enough to show what’s under the surface.

I want to meet every one of the Sullivans in this series… So I will sign off here and get to the next book.

-Calliope

Buy It Now I Only Have Eyes For You

Review: The Reunion by Amy Silver

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20130912-165921.jpg4.5 stars

The Reunion is so much more than a story of old friends — Conor, Jen and Dan, Andrew and Lilah and Nat — coming together.

It’s about all the ways we think we love one another – freely, unconditionally, conditionally, out of guilt, with pity. It’s about memories that scar us, change us, move us forward, and hold us back. It’s about guilt, sorrow, forgiveness, and asking for forgiveness.

The Reunion shows how people find their way out of the past and into a new future while remaining part of the old group. Jen holds on to old love and loneliness. Andrew punishes himself for the past. Natalie represses anger. Dan burrows into his own little world. Lilah lives in denial. They all feel guilty and feel the haunt of Conor in the French house.

Death knocks several times on the door in this novel. But that’s what makes it so realistic- life demands death at some point or another. So the friends come to terms with the deaths within their group, and then they are able to allow the death of their guilt.

I was impressed with this novel despite the fact that it isn’t my usual cup of tea. The Reunion isn’t written chronologically. It throws the reader back and forth in time across the chapters and in excerpts of letters written between friends. The novel isn’t upbeat or light. Any romance is bittersweet at best. There’s even a sliver tainting the happily-ever-after.

And I loved it. I cried with real pain at the loss of life and love. I laughed with Lilah at her crazy antics. I sympathized with Jen — who I thought got the short end of the stick in every instance. I wanted to rescue Dan, and shoot Cupid’s arrow toward Nat and Andrew.

The Reunion is well-written, thoughtful and thought-provoking. It’s substantial enough for book club discussions and literary analysis. Its authenticity takes a crack at your emotions. It asks what we internally live with that needs riddance. It asks you to face your own truth. Most importantly, The Reunion asks you to love yourself and others without condition.

-Calliope

Buy It Now The Reunion (U.S.)
Buy It Now The Reunion (UK)

Review: Delectable by Adrianne Lee

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20130909-091341.jpg I found Delectable so refreshing! Instead of boy meets girl until happily ever after, Adrianne Lee gives us a romance about a newlywed couple who almost didn’t make it past their first two years of marriage.

With intervention from friends and family, Quint and Callee are thrown together in the kitchen of Big Sky Pie Cafe. They think about rekindling their relationship and decide against it several times. Eventually, all roads do lead to a happily ever after.

I liked how Callee made Quint work for the relationship. She refused to be a doormat even though she still loved him. I loved Quint’s efforts to save his marriage, especially his attempts to be romantic while still being his authentic self.

The ending was abrupt and could have used another chapter about Callee to bring the reader along on her mind trip, but I made the leap and enjoyed the book as a whole.

True love and homemade pies made this novella totally delectable!

-Calliope

Buy It Now Delectable