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Longbourn’s Songbird by Beau North

November 19, 2015 by

Source: Meryton Press
ebook, 300 pgs.
I am an Amazon Affiliate

Longbourn’s Songbird by Beau North, set in post-WWII America, touches upon the Deep South’s continued segregation, and the desire to maintain the old ways where women are concerned even though they stepped up in may cases to fill men’s jobs when they were away at war.  North has created a complex novel through which Will Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet have very different lives and expectations.  Lizzie has locked her heart away after her time away at school in Charleston, while Darcy has struggled to keep his own passions in check as he builds his textile empire.  North has focused less on the class expectations and differences, and more on the societal changes and the implications of those changes on the Deep South.

Lizzie is as strong-willed and teasing as ever, and Darcy is as mysterious and aloof, bumbling around in society. However, dark secrets lay beneath Mr. Collins piousness, Charlotte’s practical nature, and Bingley’s ever-sunny disposition.  North goes deeper into these characters motivations, pulling out the truth behind the facade.

While there were things that seemed a little out of place — maybe just by a few years — they did not detract from the story.  Lizzie is a songstress with a captivating voice, and Darcy is at a disadvantage and is captured in her nest before either realizes how things have changed between them.  But North knows how to keep readers interested by blowing up the Austen world, rearranging it satisfactorily, and making it her own.  Longbourn’s Songbird by Beau North is a wonderful addition to the Austen world, but it’s also much more than that.  It delves into the issues of segregation, women’s place in society, the rights of minorities, and post-traumatic stress disorder that accompanies so many soldiers home from war.

About the Author:

Beau North is a native southerner who now calls Portland, Oregon home with her husband and two cats. She attended the University of South Carolina where she began a lifelong obsession with English Literature. In her spare time, Beau is the brains behind Rhymes With Nerdy, an internet collective focused on pop culture. This is her first novel.  You can connect with Beau on Twitter, Facebook, or via http://beaunorth.merytonpress.com. If you’ve enjoyed this book, we welcome your fair and honest review on Goodreads and Amazon.

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Filed Under: 2015 War Through the Generations - Read Any War, challenges, fiction, historical fiction, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2015, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , , ,

Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances by Neil Gaiman

November 18, 2015 by

tlc tour host

Source: TLC Book Tours
Paperback, 368 pgs.
I am an Amazon Affiliate

Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances by Neil Gaiman is a fanciful collection of short stories in a variety of forms, including those that use letters, poetry, and stories within stories. In the introduction, Gaiman explains what he means by trigger warnings and subsequently explains the seeds that began the stories and the thought processes behind them.  Readers who like surprises may want to skip the explanations and head right into the stories, because on their own, you can see how trigger warnings might be necessary for some readers.

“I’m thinking rather about those images or words or ideas that drop like trapdoors beneath us, throwing us out of our safe, sane world into a place much more dark and less welcoming. … And what we learn about ourselves in those moments, where the trigger has been squeezed, is this: the past is not dead.” (pg. XV)

Stories in the collection are twisted, have dark shadows that play at the edges, and will have readers contemplating what on earth they’ve just read.  “A Calendar of Tales” was a fun experiment conducted with the help of Twitter in which statements from strangers spawned ideas for stories, and these tales are spontaneous and captivating with images that references the months of the tales.  Readers will love the tone used by Gaiman, who builds little mysteries one word at a time.  Gaiman has chosen his formats and language very carefully — sucking readers in quickly and astonishing them by the end.  However, one story — The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains, previously reviewed here — that makes an appearance in this collection may be better read in its illustrated format — it’s so much richer.  But one of the creepiest and unsettling stories in the collection is “Click-Clack Rattlebag” in which a young boy asks for a scary, but not too scary story before bed from his babysitter.  The story that’s told is not what the babysitter or the reader expects, and it will have readers looking very closely about the shadows at the edges of the room.

Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances by Neil Gaiman was a satisfactory collection and while the theme seems to be the inescapable past, many of these fanciful stories also seek answers to what happens when you begin forgetting or when the future you expected does not come to pass.

Other Reviews:

The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains

About the Author:

Neil Gaiman is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty books, and is the recipient of numerous literary honors. Originally from England, he now lives in America.

Find out more about Neil at his website, find all his books at his online bookstore, and follow him on Facebook, tumblr, and his blog.

Filed Under: fiction, Harper Collins, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2015, review copy, reviews, short stories, tlc book tours Tagged With: , ,

Linger by Maggie Stiefvater (audio)

November 17, 2015 by

Source: Public Library
Audiobook, 9 CDs
I am an Amazon Affiliate

Linger by Maggie Stiefvater, narrated by Jenna Lamia and David Ledoux, is the second book in the Wolves of Mercy Falls series.  Grace and Sam have courted disaster in the previous volume and have been reunited here, but Isabelle continues to seek out danger — the danger that comes with the new wolf, Cole, who is a very troubled young man trying to escape his past.  Even as Sam achieves a reprieve from the curse, it has its claws in others.

Grace finds that she’s not feeling well, but she fears telling anyone for her own fears will become reality.  As she struggles to hold onto herself, her health, and Sam, her parents are putting their foot down finally, grounding her and forbidding her from seeing Sam.  Sam is struggling with his new lease on life, and he still has to reconcile who he has become and what that means for the rest of his life.  Cole, the newest of the wolves, is happy to escape his past life, and while he’s enjoying his anonymity, his secrets threaten to expose all of the wolves hiding in the woods.

Jenna Lamia is a fantastic narrator for the female characters, and David Ledoux provides just the right amount of calm for Sam and the angst of Cole.  He also has to sing some lines, and does well. Linger by Maggie Stiefvater, narrated by Jenna Lamia and David Ledoux, is a solid second book in this series, and while there are moments where the teenage love drama is a bit over the top, the story is well drawn and the characters face some life-changing decisions.

Other Reviews:

Shiver

About the Author:

New York Times bestselling author of The Shiver Trilogy, The Raven Cycle, and The Scorpio Races. Artist. Driver of things with wheels. Avid reader.  All of Maggie Stiefvater’s life decisions have been based around her inability to be gainfully employed. Talking to yourself, staring into space, and coming to work in your pajamas are frowned upon when you’re a waitress, calligraphy instructor, or technical editor (all of which she’s tried), but are highly prized traits in novelists and artists. She’s made her living as one or the other since she was 22. She now lives an eccentric life in the middle of nowhere, Virginia with her charmingly straight-laced husband, two kids, two neurotic dogs, and a 1973 Camaro named Loki.

Filed Under: audiobooks, borrowed copy, fiction, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2015, reviews, Scholastic, young adult fiction Tagged With: , , , ,

Mailbox Monday #349

November 16, 2015 by

Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia at To Be Continued, formerly The Printed Page, has a permanent home at its own blog.

To check out what everyone has received over the last week, visit the blog and check out the links.  Leave yours too.

Also, each week, Leslie, Vicki, and I will share the Books that Caught Our Eye from everyone’s weekly links.

Here’s what I received:

Longbourn’s Songbird by Beau North for review from Meryton Press.

In the autumn of 1948, young millionaire Will Darcy comes to the sleepy, backwater town of Meryton, South Carolina to visit his best friend, Charles Bingley. When Darcy becomes enchanted by a local beauty with a heavenly voice, his business dealings with Longbourn Farms may close the door to his romantic hopes before they are given a chance to thrive.

Still healing from heartbreak, Elizabeth Bennet takes solace in her family, home, and the tight-knit community of Meryton. That foundation is shaken when Will Darcy makes a successful offer to buy the family farm. Blinded by hurt, will Elizabeth miss the chance to find in him the peace and comfort her heart truly needs?

Confronting the racial, economic, and social inequalities of the times, Longbourn’s Songbird is an imaginative romance inspired by Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice and told through the lens of postwar America, a story layered with betrayal and loss, love, and letting go.

Happy Birthday, Cupcake by Terry Border from Vicki at I’d Rather Be at the Beach for my daughter.  Thank you!

What’s a cupcake to do when she needs to plan her birthday party? In this hilarious, kid-friendly homage to food and birthdays, Cupcake runs through tons of ideas while her best friend, Blueberry Muffin, finds reasons why they won’t work: Soup gets seasick; Donut melts in the sun; someone might get squashed during musical chairs; and Cupcake is not very good at limbo (her icing might get sliced off!). Just as Cupcake is ready to crumble, Blueberry Muffin has one last idea that just might save the day.

With laugh-out-loud visual gags (like a band made up of beans–the musical fruit, of course), this book is sure to put a birthday smile on any kid’s face (and on adult faces as well).

A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding by Jackie Copleton for review from Penguin.

When Amaterasu Takahashi opens the door of her Philadelphia home to a badly scarred man claiming to be her grandson, she doesn’t believe him. Her grandson and her daughter, Yuko, perished nearly forty years ago during the bombing of Nagasaki. But the man carries with him a collection of sealed private letters that open a Pandora’s Box of family secrets Ama had sworn to leave behind when she fled Japan. She is forced to confront her memories of the years before the war: of the daughter she tried too hard to protect and the love affair that would drive them apart, and even further back, to the long, sake-pouring nights at a hostess bar where Ama first learned that a soft heart was a dangerous thing.

What did you receive?

Filed Under: mailbox monday, meme Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

331st Virtual Poetry Circle

November 14, 2015 by

Welcome to the 331st Virtual Poetry Circle!

Remember, this is just for fun and is not meant to be stressful.

Keep in mind what Molly Peacock’s book suggested.

Look at a line, a stanza, sentences, and images; describe what you like or don’t like; and offer an opinion. If you missed my review of her book, check it out here.

This poem is from T.S. Eliot:

Silence

Along the city streets,
It is still high tide,
Yet the garrulous waves of life
Shrink and divide
With a thousand incidents
Vexed and debated:—
This is the hour for which we waited—

This is the ultimate hour
When life is justified.
The seas of experience
That were so broad and deep,
So immediate and steep,
Are suddenly still.
You may say what you will,
At such peace I am terrified.
There is nothing else beside.

What do you think?

Filed Under: virtual poetry circle Tagged With:

Over the River & Through the Wood by Linda Ashman, illustrated by Kim Smith

November 13, 2015 by

Source: Sterling Children’s Books
Hardcover, 32 pgs.
I am an Amazon Affiliate

Over the River & Through the Wood by Linda Ashman, illustrated by Kim Smith, is a modern story of the Thanksgiving trip to grandmother’s house over the river and through the woods.  Rather than merely travel by sleigh, these family members take cars that run out of gas, trains to cities to find rental cars are all gone, and other modes of transportation when grandmother invites them over for dinner.

The way is paved with snow and these families are eagerly picked up by a horse and sleigh. Even the families are updated from the traditional mother and father with two kids to include not only mixed race families, but also a gay couple with children.  It was a lovely, inclusive touch.  What was a little disappointing was the text, as it didn’t rhyme as well as younger readers would expect.  They are unaware of slant rhyme and for little readers it could be hard to modify a word to make the rhyme work.

Over the River & Through the Wood by Linda Ashman, illustrated by Kim Smith, is a cute book about what it means to spend time together as a family, even with your extended family.  It’s especially wonderful when you not only have memories to share over the holidays, but when you come from different places and backgrounds.

Filed Under: challenges, children's fiction, New Authors Challenge, poetry, Read in 2015, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , , ,

Locke & Key: Crown of Shadows Vol. 3 by Joe Hill, illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez

November 12, 2015 by

Source: Public Library
Paperback, 152 pgs.
I am an Amazon Affiliate

Locke & Key: Crown of Shadows Vol. 3 by Joe Hill, illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez, introduces more keys and more trouble for the Locke family.  As their mother spirals further into her depression and strives to fix things while still drinking herself into oblivion, the kids continue to rebel against her.  Even as they strive to be more like adults where she is concerned, they are still mixed up teenagers, failing to deal with their grief about the loss of their father in volume 1.  As Kinsey continues to operate without her fears and sadness, Tyler continues to feel his guilt, which only gets stronger.  Bode is still the curious boy who finds the keys accidentally, but in this case, one key saves them from certain death, while another nearly pushes their mother over the edge when it fails to fix the one thing that cannot be fixed — the death of her husband.

There are more than just magical keys in this house, as the kids soon find that a crown of shadows can be used to move dark forces in the house.  They are still unaware of the wellhouse woman’s true identity, but she makes a reappearance in this volume to terrify even the youngest Locke, Bode.  Light is their only weapon until the breakers in the house are shut off and the house is plunged into darkness — a darkness that comes alive with the crown of shadows.

Locke & Key: Crown of Shadows Vol. 3 by Joe Hill, illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez, is a strong third volume in the series and definitely reveals a lot more about the mysteries behind the keys, the wellhouse woman, and the Locke children’s father.  The illustrations are as engaging as ever, and readers will look forward to each horrifying installment.

Other Reviews:

About the Author:

Joseph Hillstrom King is an American writer of fiction, writing under the pen name of Joe Hill.  Hill is the the second child of authors Stephen King and Tabitha King. His younger brother Owen King is also a writer. He has three children.

Hill’s first book, the limited edition collection 20th Century Ghosts published in 2005 by PS Publishing, showcases fourteen of his short stories and won the Bram Stoker Award for Best Fiction Collection, together with the British Fantasy Award for Best Collection and Best Short Story for “Best New Horror”. In October 2007, Hill’s mainstream US and UK publishers reprinted 20th Century Ghosts, without the extras published in the 2005 slipcased versions, but including one new story.

About the Illustrator:

Architect, artist and illustrator. He started his career with myth based illustrations for card games, and then jumped into the world of professional comics working with IDW Publishing. In addition to his current work in Locke & Key, his collaborations with IDW include Clive Barker’s The Great and Secret Show, Beowulf, George Romero’s Land Of The Dead, as well as several CSI comics and some covers for Angel and Transformers.

Filed Under: borrowed copy, fiction, graphic novel, Read in 2015, reviews Tagged With: , , ,

Locke & Key: Head Games Vol. 2 by Joe Hill, illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez

November 11, 2015 by

Source: Public Library
Paperback, 144 pgs.
I am an Amazon Affiliate

Locke & Key: Head Games Vol. 2 by Joe Hill, illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez, continues the story and reveals even more of the house’s secrets.  There are more keys, even ones that can crack open your head — what’s inside some of these kids’ brains will unsettle you.  Memory and imagination meld together in their minds to create even more gruesome threats.  Tyler, Bode, and Kinsey are excited to find the key that opens their minds, and like many teens, they abuse the magical key.

Without fear Kinsey becomes less emotional and eager to face danger, but will that lead to her death? Tyler is happily using the magic to get ahead with girls and schools, while Bode is left on the sidelines.  But sharing these secrets of the house and its keys could be the most detrimental of all.  The illustrations are fantastic, realistic, and engaging.  There is so much to take in visually, as well as through the text.

Locke & Key: Head Games Vol. 2 by Joe Hill, illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez, is a solid series with many secrets yet to be revealed.  The dark forces are still making their way out of the depths of the well and the house, but these kids are blissfully unaware that the keys they find can be used for evil.  While they believe the danger has subsided, readers will soon realize that this is only the beginning and that these kids may be left on their own in the battle of their lives.

Other Reviews:

About the Author:

Joseph Hillstrom King is an American writer of fiction, writing under the pen name of Joe Hill.  Hill is the the second child of authors Stephen King and Tabitha King. His younger brother Owen King is also a writer. He has three children.

Hill’s first book, the limited edition collection 20th Century Ghosts published in 2005 by PS Publishing, showcases fourteen of his short stories and won the Bram Stoker Award for Best Fiction Collection, together with the British Fantasy Award for Best Collection and Best Short Story for “Best New Horror”. In October 2007, Hill’s mainstream US and UK publishers reprinted 20th Century Ghosts, without the extras published in the 2005 slipcased versions, but including one new story.

About the Illustrator:

Architect, artist and illustrator. He started his career with myth based illustrations for card games, and then jumped into the world of professional comics working with IDW Publishing. In addition to his current work in Locke & Key, his collaborations with IDW include Clive Barker’s The Great and Secret Show, Beowulf, George Romero’s Land Of The Dead, as well as several CSI comics and some covers for Angel and Transformers.

Filed Under: borrowed copy, fiction, graphic novel, Read in 2015, reviews Tagged With: , , ,

Water on the Moon by Jean P. Moore

November 10, 2015 by

tlc tour host

Source: TLC Book Tours
Paperback, 244 pgs.
I am an Amazon Affiliate

Water on the Moon by Jean P. Moore is a spiral of mystery in which Lidia Raven, the mother of teenage twin girls, has her life upended by a pane that crashes into her family home.  Raven’s life already had jolted off track when her husband left her for another man, and she chose to parent her children on her own, leaving a prosperous career for the suburbs.  Behind the home, the apple orchards stand guard, watching over the new generations as the previous generations’ secrets remain hidden in passages beneath the house and among the surviving generations.  With nods to Byron’s poetry and to the bravery and passion of Amelia Earhart, Moore’s prose is winding, meandering through Lidia’s concerns about her daughters, her obsessions with the flyer who crashed into her home, and her difficulty in letting go of her past life with her husband.  Her neighbor, Polly, takes the Raven family in as the house is restored and the FBI investigation wraps up, and this woman is a sage, offering sound advice to those willing to listen.

Since the breakup of her ideal family, Lidia has spent a lot of hours worrying about when the next shoe would drop and upend her world again.  She’s been in protectionist mode for far too long, and with help from Polly, she learns to be more open and more flexible, but she also has to face some of the ghosts in her family’s past.  While the intricacies of the family mystery are interesting and the pilot’s obsession with Earhart are engaging, the main story often gets lost in the references to Byron and to Earhart.  The story would have felt less distant if the reader could have connected closer with Lidia and her heartbreak.

Water on the Moon by Jean P. Moore offers tidbits of conflict that are resolved either too quickly or barely resolved.  Lidia is a character that seems underdeveloped emotionally, and while the daughters are on the periphery, they have greater depth.  Lidia’s character falls in love too quickly, is easily spooked, and has a stubborn streak when her heart is broken.  Without Polly, Lidia would have plugged along in her life without making any real changes, and in this way, she redeems the novel for this reader.  Polly’s life is fascinating, and her sage advice will remind readers of those grandmothers who carefully steer loved ones in the right direction.

About the Author:

Jean P. Moore began her professional life as an English teacher, later becoming a telecommunications executive. She and her husband, Steve, and Sly, their black Lab, divide their time between Greenwich, Connecticut and the Berkshires in Massachusetts, where Jean teaches yoga in the summers.

Her work has appeared in newspapers, magazines, and literary journals such as upstreet, SN Review, Adanna, Distillery, Skirt, Long Island Woman, the Hartford Courant, Greenwich Time, and the Philadelphia Inquirer. Water on the Moon was published in June of 2014 and won the 2015 Independent Publishers Book Award for Contemporary Fiction. Visit her on her website, on her blog, and Twitter.

Filed Under: challenges, fiction, New Authors Challenge, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2015, review copy, reviews, tlc book tours Tagged With: , ,

Mailbox Monday #348

November 9, 2015 by

Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia at To Be Continued, formerly The Printed Page, has a permanent home at its own blog.

To check out what everyone has received over the last week, visit the blog and check out the links.  Leave yours too.

Also, each week, Leslie, Vicki, and I will share the Books that Caught Our Eye from everyone’s weekly links.

Here’s what I received:

Dickey Chapelle Under Fire: Photographs by the First American Female War Correspondent Killed in Action by John Garofolo, which I won from LibraryThing Early Reviewers.

In 1965, Wisconsin native Georgette “Dickey” Chapelle became the first female American war correspondent to be killed in action. Now, “Dickey Chapelle Under Fire” shares her remarkable story and offers readers the chance to experience Dickey’s wide-ranging photography, including several photographs taken during her final patrol in Vietnam.

Dickey Chapelle fought to be taken seriously as a war correspondent and broke down gender barriers for future generations of female journalists. She embedded herself with military units on front lines around the globe, including Iwo Jima and Okinawa, the Dominican Republic, and Vietnam. Dickey sometimes risked her life to tell the story–after smuggling aid to refugees fleeing Hungary, she spent almost two months in a Hungarian prison. For twenty-five years, Dickey’s photographs graced the pages of “National Geographic,” the “National Observer,” “Life,” and others. Her tenacity, courage, and compassion shine through in her work, highlighting the human impact of war while telling the bigger story beyond the battlefield.

What did you receive?

Filed Under: mailbox monday, meme Tagged With: , ,