Random Book Muses

Review: The Dressmaker by Rosalie Ham

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Alrighty then. I didn’t expect that! Here’s a small Australian town with an outcast woman living uphill from a burning garbage heap, and the outcast’s daughter coming back after twenty years. For what? I think she misses her mom. Tilly does the good daughter thing, cleans up her incoherent and dysfunctional mother as well as the house she subsists in, and tries to find her place in a town that never wanted her. 

And then Tilly starts making beautiful dresses for the townspeople – because she’s a talented pro with haute couture training.  And they don’t pay her. And then we find out why Tilly left and why they all hate her so much. Personally I think they hate themselves and take it out on Tilly. 

A new dressmaker arrives on Tilly’s heels and seems to turn the town upside down. Maybe her flawed dresses symbolize the townspeople’s real characters: uneven, backwards, trying to be something they’re not. 

And from there on the story is a whirlwind of crazy. Affairs, financial ruin, secrets, deaths. I’m not sure how it all happened… I certainly didn’t expect any of it! 

It’s dark and grim and clever and funny. And if it’s a mirror of life, it’s downright scary. A smart – and bizarre – read. 

-calliope

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Musing: Wanting to Love a Book, and ‘Tisn’t Cooperating

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So I’m reading an advance copy of The Dressmaker, and the premise is terrific. The characters crack me up with their sly humor, and my heart breaks for Tilly as she has been excluded and harassed for all of her life. I love the setting, too, and the eccentricities and quirks of small-town living. 

But the formatting. Argh. Take a look at the photo above. The first few pages of each chapter have formatting issues so bad that I can barely read the sentences. I’m sure I’m missing something important to the story. 

And the plot development is killing me. Get to the point already! It seems like the several subplots are going somewhere… But WHERE?! 

Do you know what I’m talking about? Have you ever started a book and it starts to disappoint you, but you hold out and keep reading? 

I’m already in 50%, so I’m going to finish it. But I so hope it improves, because so far it’s just a book I Want To Love. 

-calliope

Review: Rome in Love by Anita Hughes 

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I loved Lake Como by Anita Hughes and was so excited for another great summer read set in Italy. 

Rome in Love is the story of Amelia Tate, movie star on location in Rome. She meets a handsome man, and then needs to resolve a couple of challenges: one, she told him she was a maid; two, she has a fiancé; three, she keeps drinking too much champagne and passing out in the handsome man’s presence. 

Hughes includes flashbacks to Audrey Hepburn via letters from Hepburn to a friend, and she also writes a subplot involving a princess who falls in love with someone other than the pre-arranged Prince-to-be. 

I loved the on-location descriptions and “seeing” the sights with Amelia, Philip, Sophie, Theo, Veronique, and Greg. Traveling in Italy was wonderful — and no jet lag for me! 

While I enjoyed all the threads of Rome in Love, it could have used some editing. It seemed every chapter began with a description of someone’s attire, with lots of brand-name-dropping… and most chapters ended with Amelia falling asleep. Too repetitive for me. Also, how many times does a young woman get drunk, pass out, and find herself in the same strange man’s apartment before she decides to stop? She was in a foreign country! I had to suspend my disbelief just a little too much.  

Nonetheless, I was so enamored with the romantic gazes over espresso and the delicious food descriptions that I’ll be reading the next Anita Hughes novel, for sure!

-calliope

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Review: Thrill Me by Susan Mallery

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Susan Mallery is a genius! She wrote Thrill Me as part of her long-running Fool’s Gold series, but it’s also part of a mini-series trio.  I love that! If you’re new to Fool’s Gold, or you don’t keep up with series, you can read the Hold Me, Kiss Me, Thrill Me trio and be totally satisfied. (You can read any of the Fool’s Gold books as standalones, but they’re much more fun together.)

In Thrill Me, Maya and Del separately return to their hometown to work on a project for Mayor Marsha. Maya works in video editing, and Del is a charmer on camera. Their work chemistry is easy and natural, and even though they had decade-old romantic history together, Del and Maya renew their relationship in the form of friendship. 

Mallery impresses me by coming up with new and exciting professions for her characters. I LOVE the video production descriptions in this book.  Plus, it’s a good backdrop for Del and Maya getting close in the editing room.  😉

Maya and Del are loveable and fun characters, perfect for each other, and perfect for Fool’s Gold. Their romance was mostly in their own minds until they finally admitted feelings for each other and decided on Happily Ever After.  Another Susan Mallery winner! 
-calliope

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Review: The Death of Santini by Pat Conroy

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Only Pat Conroy can write such terrible things so beautifully. Only he can turn a phrase in such a way that he makes his point succinctly and eloquently at the same time. Conroy’s inner conflicts imbue this autobiographical work with the love and hate he has for his father, and to a lesser degree, his mother and siblings. 

I think Conroy is a master wordsmith. I appreciate the beauty and flow of his writing in all the Pat Conroy books I’ve read. But I struggle with The Death of Santini because it’s almost like hearing a child whine. I can read a spectacular passage, and then be disrupted by Conroy’s complaints and persuasion, trying to convince me that his childhood really did happen the way he says it did, that it was as bad as can be, that he is indeed telling the truth.  

I believe him. I don’t need to be convinced. I think his father needed to be convinced. I think his siblings and his extended family need to be convinced. I think Conroy is whining to the wrong crowd. 

Unless. Unless this book isn’t meant for me or you or anyone EXCEPT his family… and Conroy himself. And I think it is. 

That doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate it. I just don’t feel like in the intended audience. I do think that if Santini admitted his transgressions while Conroy was a child, the psychological damage would have been minimized, and The Death of Santini would not have had to be written. 

The Death of Santini offers a window into the moments of Conroy’s early life that inspired his best-selling novels, and moments of Santini’s later life that inspired Conroy’s love and forgiveness for his father. 

-calliope

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Review: The Beautiful Daughters by Nicole Baart

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Like my blogmate Thalia who reviewed The Beautiful Daughters a few months ago, I had read and loved some of Baart’s earlier novels, and so decided to pick up this one recently. 

Well. It had my heart racing. I was angry, scared, and shaking in my boots. The subtle and sick mental anguish that Adri and Harper are put through — by themselves and by others — was disturbing and heart-wrenching. 

The Beautiful Daughters is ostensibly a story of friendships and family, castles and kings. Really, though, it’s a commentary on the things we do for love, or the illusion of love. 

Despite me being a total fraidy-cat and shuddering at some parts of this novel, I stayed up past 2 a.m. more than once because I couldn’t put it down. Excellent read. 

-calliope

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Review: The Summer of Good Intentions by Wendy Francis

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Here we go! Another summertime novel set on Cape Cod. I AM LOVING these beach reads. 

In The Summer of Good Intentions, the three Herington sisters and their families spend a few weeks at their beach house on the Cape. They don’t anticipate that the gradual changes that have been happening in the past year will all come to a head right there at the beach. 

I liked these women and their families – but surprisingly I liked their spouses even more. Francis wrote sympathetic but realistic male characters, which is refreshing in a world of literary men that are either too perfect, too cynical, brutish, or just plain silly. 

There are some sad parts of this book. There’s a hint at Alzheimer’s, a house fire, the diagnosis of a chronic and incurable disease, and a death. But there’s also beautiful reconciliation of a marriage, a promising new romance, and a children’s unrivaled gift to their mother. 

-calliope

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Review: Kiss Me by Susan Mallery

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Zane is a rancher with a closed heart. He protects his family and property with stern love, but leaves no room for any other relationships. 

Phoebe is a softie on the outside but protects her heart fiercely. When she heads to Zane’s ranch on the recommendation of her best friend (and Zane’s sister) Maya, she doesn’t expect to fall into lust. Or love. 

This installment of Fool’s Gold romance included the requisite – and hilarious – antics of Gladys and Eddie. Mallery has a few other Fool’s Gold regulars make an appearance as well. But for the most part, you could read Kiss Me as a stand alone. 

You’ve got a cattle drive, campfires, sleeping under the stars, a drowned-out tent, a couple of rescues, and Pheobe talking to Zane’s steer-in-charge to get him to cross a raging river. 

That makes for many damsel-in-distress scenarios, and a few damsel-saves-the-day ones, too! 

I enjoyed Kiss Me like I enjoy all the Fool’s Gold novels. I liked reading a strong, silent hero, and I REALLY appreciated the sibling and friend relationships. I sort of rushed reading this one because I wanted to hurry and get to the HEA (I must have needed one!) … and now I’m eagerly anticipating Thrill Me!

-calliope

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Review: Second Chance Summer by Jill Shalvis

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Aidan and Lily are risk-takers – with anything except their hearts. So when Lily returns to Cedar Ridge for a job and heart-healing, she finds herself more likely to climb rock faces than to kiss Aiden. In the spirit of sexy, contemporary romance, Aiden gives Lily her space while he falls in love with her. And of course she can read it all over his face … and starts to fall hard. 

I love these Kincaid brothers! They pull some pretty dumb moves, but they work hard and love hard. Watching brothers and friends look out for each other in matters of life, death, and love really touched me. Shalvis writes a realistic but exciting adventure that left me breathless. Or maybe I was left breathless from the sizzle between Aiden and Lily… 

Check it out! Release date: June 30. 

-calliope

Buy SECOND CHANCE SUMMER