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The Regulators by Richard Bachman (a.k.a. Stephen King)

July 30, 2014 by

Source: Public Library
Hardcover, 466 pages
On Amazon and on Kobo

The Regulators by Richard Bachman, a.k.a. Stephen King, is like stepping onto the set of The Twilight Zone, from aliens and horrifying mutant animals to shootouts at the Ponderosa and/or O.K. Corral.  Something is not right with this idyllic town of Wentworth, Ohio, and its residents on Poplar Street.  With a cast of characters ranging from a cheating wife to an alcoholic husband and father, King packs in a wide-ranging cast that also includes a Vietnam veteran turned kid’s author and an ex-cop thrown off the force for allegedly being on the take.  There are the twin teen boys and their girlfriends and the local paper boy with big dreams for his baseball career, but there is something seedy underneath this neighborhood and things are about to go haywire.

King always sets the reader up with a typical neighborhood minding its own business and sometimes it’s in the height of summer when dreams are the biggest and relaxation is high on the priority list.  But with these settings, atmospheres, and scenes in place, readers know that things are about to take a turn for the worse, and when they start turning, they begin spiraling down a rabbit hole.

“Peter rose to his feet like an old clockwork toy with rust in its gears.  His eyeballs jiggled in the silver dreamlight from the TV.” (page 256)

What would the world look like through an autistic boy’s eyes, and how could that world be twisted in the hands of a being with no conscience?  Seth Garin is that autistic boy and his world has become even more like a prison than before when he merely had trouble communicating with his family, but soon he learns that the prison he finds himself in could also lead to his freedom.  King packs so many characters into this novel, illustrating depravity and hysteria on any number of levels, but what’s engaging are the scenes where Seth’s favorite characters come to life and take to the streets.  The devastation they bring with them, on the other hand, is harrowing and graphic.

King’s narration shifts point of view on many occasions, making it hard for the reader to hold onto the sequential story, but in many ways this may have been purposeful — to give the reader the same sense of timelessness that the characters endure.  The Regulators by Richard Bachman, a.k.a. Stephen King, is like a comic book and western sprung to life, but only if it were run by a madman director bent on killing everything and absorbing all of its energy.

About the Author/Pen Name (source: Wikipedia):

King states that adopting the nom de plume Bachman was also an attempt to make sense out of his career and try to answer the question of whether his success was due to talent or luck. He says he deliberately released the Bachman novels with as little marketing presence as possible and did his best to “load the dice against” Bachman. King concludes that he has yet to find an answer to the “talent versus luck” question, as he felt he was outed as Bachman too early to know.

Filed Under: borrowed copy, fiction, Penguin, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2014, reviews Tagged With: , ,

The House on Mermaid Point by Wendy Wax

July 9, 2014 by

Source: Berkley Books
Paperback, 416 pages
On Amazon and on Kobo

The House on Mermaid Point by Wendy Wax is like getting together with old friends — Nikki, Avery, Deidre, Kyra, and Maddie.  These renovation gurus are back shooting another season of their Lifetime television series, Do Over, but the next location is a surprise hidden in the Florida Keys.

(If you haven’t read the previous books in this series, this review could contain spoilers for previous books.)

Nikki and her man, Joe, seem to be on the right track, but she’s still got commitment issues after the brother she raised was sent to prison for his Ponzi scheme that took her money and those of her clients.  Meanwhile, Kyra and her son Dustin are adjusting to her mother’s new life as a 50+ single woman.  Maddie’s decided that its best to leave a sinking ship, and her ex-husband seems nonplussed about the break up.  Avery and Chase are still playing house and she’s still shutting out her mother, but the tensions are less on these pairings and more about Maddie and her search for a new life.  Like the name of their show implies, life is full of second chances, and many of these ladies have been given theirs in more ways than one.  Maddie is just the latest who needs to spread her wings.

“Close up, the house was far larger than they’d been able to discern from the water and in far worse shape.  The board-and-batten siding was not just devoid of paint but had been badly pummeled by the elements.  Like a boxer who’d gone one too many rounds, the house almost seemed to be standing upright from sheer force of will.  Of possibly from habit.” (page 51)

Mermaid Point, their next renovation project, is hidden on a private island, and private is how ex-rocker William Hightower would like to keep it.  Like the house, Hightower is a battered rocker who’s looking to redeem himself, just as some of these ladies have picked themselves out of the dumps and started new.  Hightower has a lot of repairing to do, from his relationship with his son to his ability to connect with people who want to get close to him.  There’s a lot of gentle nudging as they scrape the layers off the old wood to smooth it down, but as Hightower lets down his walls he’s struck by what’s been missing in his life — a sense of belonging and of family.  Like his home, he transforms little by little coming out from the jungle and the weathered walls to expose himself to scrutiny and relationships he never thought possible.

The House on Mermaid Point by Wendy Wax is a great summer beach read; these ladies will make you laugh, make you cry, but most of all want to hold all of your friends close.  Avery, Maddie, Deidre, Kyra, and Nikki all face their troubles head on, even if it is with a little push from their friends.  These ladies are ready to take on the next big challenge, and readers will be ready to go with them on their next adventure.

About the Author:

Award-winning author Wendy Wax has written eight novels, including Ocean Beach, Ten Beach Road, Magnolia Wednesdays, the Romance Writers of America RITA Award finalist The Accidental Bestseller, Leave It to Cleavage, Single in Suburbia and 7 Days and 7 Nights, which was honored with the Virginia Romance Writers Holt Medallion Award. Her work has sold to publishers in ten countries and to the Rhapsody Book Club, and her novel, Hostile Makeover, was excerpted in Cosmopolitan magazine.

A St. Pete Beach, Florida native, Wendy has lived in Atlanta for fifteen years. A voracious reader, her enjoyment of language and storytelling led her to study journalism at the University of Georgia. She also studied in Italy through Florida State University, is a graduate of the University of South Florida, and worked at WEDU-TV and WDAE-Radio in Tampa.

Also Reviewed:

Giveaway for 1 copy of The House on Mermaid Point by Wendy Wax for 1 U.S. resident.  Leave a comment below by July 16 by 11:59 PM EST.

Filed Under: chicklit, fiction, giveaway, Penguin, Publishers/Publicists, random house, Read in 2014, review copy, reviews Tagged With: ,

War Babies by Frederick Busch

July 2, 2014 by

Source: Public library
Paperback, 114 pages
I am an Amazon Affiliate

War Babies by Frederick Busch is a novel about two adult children whose lives connect long after their fathers have died in the Korean War and not by accident.  A thirty-plus year-old attorney decides he’s established enough in his career to seek out the answers he wants about his father’s role in the Korean War and how it landed him in jail.  Peter Santore has struggled with the loss of his father, who is said to be a traitor in a Korean War POW camp, and he decides it is time to travel to England to get some answers.  He discovers through his research in the United States that his father may have played a role in the death of Hilary Pennels’ father in the POW camp.  Traveling to Salisbury, he debates how he will find this woman and introduce himself, but clearly he decides that he will use her to get the information he wants if he has to.  Along the way, he also runs into Mr. Fox, a survivor of the Korean War POW camp.

“I had two canvas bags and a wrinkled blazer, and the sure sense, as I left London, that I didn’t know what I would do if I found Miss Hilary Pennels, or whatever her married name might be.  How do you do.  My father committed treason in Korea at about the same time your father, terribly wounded, was saving the lives of his men and distinguishing himself in the eyes of history forever.  I just wondered if my father might have done anything to, er, kill yours?”  (page 6-7)

Busch’s third person narrative, which also changes to first and second person randomly, distances the reader from these characters in a way that makes the instant connection between Hilary and Peter tough to believe.  Moreover, how they interact with one another is by turns sympathetic and hurtful, perhaps more so by Hilary who seems manipulative.  While Peter struggles with his feelings for this woman and the “relationship” they’ve started, he also wants to close a chapter in his life that has to do with the Korean War and his father.  How does he navigate this fragile relationship to get the information he needs?

Mr. Fox is a damaged war veteran, but the horrors of the Korean War are never far from his mind, and how he lurks in the corners of this “conversation” between Hilary and Peter is downright creepy.  His hatred of Peter’s father is evident and understandable, but the projection of that hatred by Mr. Fox demonstrates just how broken and lost the veteran is.  He’s brutal in describing the camps, but he’s also brutal in how he approaches the tale and other people he interacts with.  Busch even describes his rotting breath and fetid teeth and gums, which can only signify his moral depravity.  Fox’s issues go beyond the PTSD, and Busch relays his story of the camps in just the way a veteran who is bitter would, and these are the strongest parts of the story.  Some readers may find connecting with these characters difficult because their motivations are hidden and how they interact really has no context.

“Mind you, I don’t know how easy it might be.  But you should make the effort.  You should prosper in the wake of your past, not live a cripple.  England’s full of cripples.  It’s the country of cripples.  You see them all over the towns, in braces and wheelchairs and with no arms, wheezing and spitting blood and falling over in pubs.”  (page 62)

War Babies by Frederick Busch is complex and deals with the after effects of war on the children of veterans, POWs, and traitors.  It is ultimately about the choice that these families and their individual members must make for themselves — they need to learn to accept the past that cannot be changed and to move forward.  Connections can help strengthen the will to move on from the past, but those connections also must be bred in honesty and mutual respect.

About the Author:

Frederick Busch was an American writer. Busch was a master of the short story and one of America’s most prolific writers of fiction long and short.

Interested in the War Through the Generations discussion, see part 1 and part 2.

13th book for 2014 European Reading Challenge; (Set in England)

 

 

 

 

23rd book for 2014 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge.

 

 

 

 

 

16th book (Korean War) for the 2014 War Challenge With a Twist.

 

 

 

 

39th book for 2014 New Author Challenge.

Filed Under: 2014 European Reading Challenge, 2014 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge, 2014 War Challenge With a Twist, borrowed copy, challenges, historical fiction, New Authors Challenge, Penguin, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2014, reviews Tagged With: ,

Grand Central: Original Stories of Postwar Love and Reunion

July 1, 2014 by

Source: Penguin
Paperback, 368 pages
On Amazon and on Kobo

Grand Central: Original Stories of Postwar Love and Reunion is a collection of short stories by a number of great authors from Karen White to Sarah McCoy and Pam Jenoff in which the linchpin is Grand Central Station in New York City.  What makes this collection a solid five stars (a designation I never use in reviews) is the connections — small as they may be — between the stories and characters.  You’ll find one character from a story early on is in the background and evokes an emotion in a character in a story later on.  This collection is so strong and examines that various aspects of reunion and love after World War II — whether that is love between father and daughter or an instant connection between strangers in a train station.

From “Going Home” by Alyson Richman

“But no matter the style, the clocks all gave a sense that one had to keep moving, and Liesel liked this.  It enabled her to focus on her responsibilities.  When she wasn’t dancing, she was sewing.  And when she wasn’t sewing, she was dancing, either at her ballet studies or performing at the supper clubs that helped pay her bills.” (page 14)

In these talented ladies’ hands, Grand Central comes to life with the bustling passengers on their way to trains and coming from trains and the subway, the people earning a living with their art in the hallways, and those waiting for their soldiers to return from war.  World War II was a pivotal time in history, but it also was the last time that the country was truly united behind a cause — the cause against a pervasive evil that must be vanquished.  These stories are about what happens when that cause is complete and those who fought and those left behind have to pick up what’s left of their lives.  What does it mean to be lucky, especially when you are all that’s left of your family — like Peter in “The Lucky One” by Jenna Blum?  Or what does a mother do after the Lebensborn program ends when her children are gone and the Nazis are vanquished in Sarah McCoy’s “The Branch of Hazel.”

From “The Harvest Season” by Karen White:

I glanced down at my ruined hands, thinking of Johnny and all the boys in the county who would never be coming home.  I wanted desperately to hold on to this moment for Will, to allow him to believe that while he’s been away we’d held on to the life he remembered so he could slip back into it like a familiar bed.  But time could not be fenced no matter how hard we tried.”  (page 336)

Some of these men and women face pivotal moments in their lives in Grand Central Station, while others are merely passing through onto that moment that will change their lives forever, but all together these are tales of strong people living beyond the hurt of the past to seek out the hope of the future.  Grand Central: Original Stories of Postwar Love and Reunion is stunning, an emotional collection tied together by love, sadness, loss, and Grand Central Station. No matter who passes through their lives, there is an indelible impression left behind.

22nd book for 2014 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge.

 

 

 

 

15th book (WWII) for the 2014 War Challenge With a Twist.

Filed Under: 2014 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge, 2014 War Challenge With a Twist, challenges, historical fiction, Penguin, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2014, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson

June 26, 2014 by

Source: Public library
Hardcover, 391 pages
On Amazon and on Kobo

The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson is set five years or more after Hayley Kincaid’s father came back from two tours each in Afghanistan and Iraq.  They had been on the road as he drove semi-trucks and home-schooled her, but they return to his home town to set down some roots and for her to attend senior year in a regular school.  She barely reconnects with her childhood friend Gracie and she is plunged head first into peer-pressure drama as she tries to hide her own past and home life struggles.  She meets mega-hottie Finn, who has stopped being the star swimmer for the high school team, and they strike up an unconventional relationship of him doing her favors she never asks for in exchange for articles for the nearly defunct school newspaper.

“My earbuds were in, but I wasn’t playing music.  I needed to hear the world but didn’t want the world to know I was listening.” (page 5)

As much as this story is about Hayley and her ability to connect with people her own age, it is also a story about the wide-ranging effects of PTSD.  Anderson sprinkles in what look like memories from Hayley’s father, which provide enough background on his experiences to demonstrate how real his nightmares had become.  These nightmares are so real that she loses sleep herself, and like most children of addicted parents, she teeters on the edge of caring for him and allowing herself to live her own life without worrying about him.

“A few days after we moved in, Daddy got unstuck from time again, like the Pilgrim guy in Slaughterhouse.  The past took over.  All he heard were exploding IEDs and incoming mortar rounds; all he saw were body fragments, like an unattached leg still wearing its boot, and shards of shiny bones, sharp as spears.  All he tasted was blood.”  (page 9)

Trauma is tricky, and while many veterans never speak of their experiences, family can glean from their nightmares the events that continue to plague their living hours.  Anderson writes for young adults with a seriousness that ensures young readers will feel at home in the worlds she creates, but she never sugarcoats the realities of war or PTSD.  Hayley is strong, but still teeters on the edge when her father takes a wrong turn or stops coming out of his room.  The only thing keeping her in the present and connected are her relationships with Gracie and Finn.  The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson is highly emotional, could be considered a tearjerker, and will leave a lasting imprint on readers’ memories.

About the Author:

Laurie Halse Anderson is the New York Times-bestselling author who writes for kids of all ages. Known for tackling tough subjects with humor and sensitivity, her work has earned numerous American Library Association and state awards. Two of her books, Speak and Chains, were National Book Award finalists. Chains also made the Carnegie Medal Shortlist in the United Kingdom.

Laurie was the proud recipient of the 2009 Margaret A. Edwards Award given by YALSA division of the American Library Association for her “significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature…”. She was also honored with the ALAN Award from the National Council of Teachers of English and the St. Katharine Drexel Award from the Catholic Librarian Association.

Also Reviewed:

14th book (Gulf Wars — Operation Iraqi Freedom) for the 2014 War Challenge With a Twist.

Filed Under: 2014 War Challenge With a Twist, borrowed copy, challenges, Penguin, Read in 2014, reviews, young adult fiction Tagged With: , ,

A Long Time Gone by Karen White

June 10, 2014 by

Source: Penguin
Hardcover, 432 pages
On Amazon, on Kobo

A Long Time Gone by Karen White is the quintessential novel with a multigenerational family saga, southern  charm, and mystery wrapped up in one package.  Vivien Walker is the latest generation of Walker women to chase ghosts and leave the Mississippi Delta for parts unknown, but she’s also a lot more like her mother Carol Lynne than she thinks.  Love is boundless among these women who care for vegetables and family with the same careful hands, nurturing them until they are ready to take to their own journeys.  Vivien comes back to Mississippi after her marriage to a plastic surgeon fails miserably, but she’s hopeful that her grandmother, Bootsie, can help pick up the pieces.

“I was born in the same bed that my mama was born in, and her mama before her, and even further back than anybody alive could still remember.  It was as if the black wood of the bedposts were meant to root us Walker women to this place of flat fields and fertile soil carved from the Great Mississippi.  But like the levees built to control the mighty river, it never held us for long.”  (page 1)

Vivien’s childhood was peppered with short visits from her mother, as she left on another adventure in the 1960s.  She grew to resent her mother’s absences and when she left her childhood home for California, she didn’t look back for nine years.  Upon her return, Vivien is unsure how she feels about her mother’s presence and the loss of so much, including a beloved family member.  Vivien must learn to reach out of the fog that keeps her docile and deal not only with her past, but the future as well.  White’s characters are always complex, and while not without faults, nearly always easy to cheer for.  Vivien has lived too much in the past, and she must realize that she cannot go back and change things, but move forward with greater purpose and conviction.

“I wonder how far from Mississippi I have to get before I forget about the place I came from.  My memories of home are like a river, and I spend a lot of time fighting the current that’s always trying to take me back.”  (page 189)

Told in shifting point of views between the 2000s and the 1920s, plus the 1960s diary entries of Carol Lynne, White builds the past through the eyes that saw it happen, peppering it with parallels to the future in Vivien’s life path.  Weaving in elements of history from hidden genealogy of mixed race children, bootleggers, KKK, and the 1960s freedom rides and hippie days, White has created an engaging and informative novel about the trials each of us faces in our own families and how even outside forces can influence those lives in unforeseen and unexpected ways.  A Long Time Gone by Karen White is about the long road some of us can take to find our homes and feel our family connections deeply even when we’re away.  It’s about forgiveness and love, and how it can tether us together even miles from home.

About the Author:

Known for award-winning novels such as Learning to Breathe, the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance 2009 Book of the Year Award finalist The House on Tradd Street, the highly praised The Memory of Water, the four-week SIBA bestseller The Lost Hours, Pieces of the Heart, and her IndieBound national bestseller The Color of Light, Karen has shared her appreciation of the coastal Low country with readers in four of her last six novels.

Italian and French by ancestry, a southerner and a storyteller by birth, Karen has made her home in many different places.  Visit the author at her website, and become a fan on Facebook.

19th book for 2014 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge.

Filed Under: 2014 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge, fiction, historical fiction, Penguin, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2014, review copy, reviews Tagged With: ,

I Am Regina by Sally M. Keehn

May 14, 2014 by

Source: Public Library
Paperback, 240 pages
I am an Amazon Affiliate

I Am Regina by Sally M. Keehn (on Kobo) is a book for ages 10+ set during the French & Indian War that re-imagines the story of young Regina Leininger, who was captured by Indians and lived with them during this time.  The protagonist in Keehn’s story, 10-year-old Regina, is taken from her home after her mother leaves to mill the corn before the winter comes.  She’s traumatized by the ordeal that takes the life of her father and one of her brothers.  Her sister, Barbara, is taken as well, but they are soon parted as the tribes divvy up their spoils.

“It must be November now.  My eleventh birthday has passed and I have had no time to mark it.  The cries of geese no longer fill the sky.  Frost coats the ground and ice skims the wide and shallow stream we have been following southward through this wooded valley.” (page 59)

Until the tribes take her, from her German immigrant family, and she is forced to carry a young girl with her through treacherous terrain, Regina has little struggle in her life, except for the chores assigned to her by her parents.  Her mother always considered her a wanderer and a dreamer, but for the most part, she had a settled life in the frontier.  The trek to the village with Tiger Claw, a man who has seen battle with the White man and bears the scars to prove it, nearly exhausts her, but she is still ill-prepared for the life she will lead among the Indians.  Tribe life is hard and the women do most of the chores, and Regina is forced to struggle with her own identity, her faith, and fitting in with this new “family.”

Keehn does a great job balancing more adult themes with a middle grade audience, without sugar-coating or glossing over the dangerous possibilities Regina must face as a white squaw maturing into womanhood.  The author also is never heavy-handed with her treatment of Regina’s faith, but instead demonstrates how it is a source of strength for the protagonist as she acclimates herself and finds her place.

Unlike Indian Captive, which is about another woman captured by tribes, the prose here is more accessible, possibly because of the first-person point of view used.  While Regina does not leave the village, she is still touched by the French and Indian War, and she is subject to the loss of trade when the French are defeated.  She finds solace in the young girl she carried all those miles and in her new friendship with Nonschetto, but the strength of I Am Regina by Sally M. Keehn is in the protagonist and her struggles with identity and what it is to be who we are and who are families are and become.

Check out the discussions Anna and I had at War Through the Generations.

About the Author:

Sally Keehn can remember her childhood days in Annapolis, Maryland – days spent reading, horseback riding, swimming, and exploring the woods surrounding her grandfather’s farm. Though she would bid Annapolis good-bye at the age of nineteen to embark on an English degree at Hood College, Keehn’s days of “exploring” were just beginning.

11th book (French and Indian War) for the 2014 War Challenge With a Twist.

 

 

 

 

 

15th book for 2014 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge.

 

 

 

 

24th book for 2014 New Author Challenge.

Filed Under: 2014 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge, 2014 War Challenge With a Twist, borrowed copy, challenges, historical fiction, New Authors Challenge, Penguin, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2014, reviews Tagged With: ,

Persuasion by Jane Austen

May 7, 2014 by

Source: Purchased
Paperback, 236 pages
I am an Amazon Affiliate

Persuasion by Jane Austen (on Kobo) is her final, full manuscript, and it is one of the most mature of her works. Anne Elliot is the heroine of this novel, but often in the beginning of the novel she is in the background as an observer, as she is talked about or looked over by even her own father and older sister. She is 27, unmarried, and by all appearances, a wallflower, who loves to read. Through the influence of Lady Russell, a friend of her deceased mother, Anne broke off an engagement with Frederick Wentworth because the match was imprudent as he was not yet established in a career and was not of the same social standing as the Elliots. Lead by her friendship with Lady Russell and a sense of duty to her family, Anne broke the engagement and suffered for more than eight years, though she did have other prospects. Austen seems to remind us that when love is true and deep, it can cut us just as deeply when things end poorly, but it also can continue to live inside of us, even when all hope is lost.

“A few years before, Anne Elliot had been a very pretty girl, but her bloom had vanished early; and as even in its height, her father had found little to admire in her, (so totally different were her delicate features and mild dark eyes from his own); there could be nothing in them now that she was faded and thin, to excite his esteem.”  (page 7)

The contrasts set forth by Austen in this novel between the Musgroves and the Elliots is almost as wide as the Grand Canyon, and yet, Anne finds herself easily swept into either family — adaptable to any situation — but she seems to feel the most comfort when surrounded by the jubilant Musgroves.  Her adventures with her younger sister, Mary, and the Musgroves bring Anne a stroke of not only luck but happiness when she is reunited, if only in proximity, to Captain Wentworth.  Although she spends a great deal of time making excuses to be absent from gatherings where she knows he will be present, she eventually has little choice but to be in his company, finding that it is not as horrible as she imagined.

“Doubtless it was so; and she could take no revenge, for he was not altered, or not for the worse.  She had already acknowledged it to herself, and she could not think differently, let him think of her as he would.” (page 57)

Austen’s tale of a second chance at love is more about the anxiety that can plague new love and acquaintances, but also the reunited lovers who misunderstood one another’s motivations in their youth.  There are missteps to be sure, as Wentworth unwittingly finds himself engaged to another without explicitly making his intention to be so known and Anne is led to believe that Mr. Elliot has his eye set on her.  These characters are more mature in their motivations, while there are still some who are a bit ridiculous — from her father’s obsession with status and how handsome he still is to Mary’s constant complaining and hypocritical behavior — most of the characters are mature enough to know their own desires and to seize opportunities when they are presented.  Persuasion by Jane Austen is a fine novel, less about Anne’s initial persuasion away from Wentworth and more of her persuading herself that he still loves her and that hope lives.

About the Author:

Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature.

9th book for 2014 European Reading Challenge; (Set in England)

 

 

 

 

14th book for 2014 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge.

Filed Under: 2014 European Reading Challenge, 2014 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge, challenges, classic fiction, Penguin, Publishers/Publicists, purchased, Read in 2014, reviews Tagged With: ,

Persuasion, A Tearoom Chat Week 3

March 21, 2014 by

Anna and I are chatting about Persuasion by Jane Austen this month.  We hope that you’ll join us. 

Click the button below for our 3rd discussion post of Vol. 2, Ch. 1-6.

Filed Under: announcements, Penguin, Publishers/Publicists Tagged With: , ,

Persuasion, A Tearoom Chat Week 2

March 14, 2014 by

Anna and I are chatting about Persuasion by Jane Austen this month.  We hope that you’ll join us. 

Click the here for our first discussion post of Vol. 1, Ch. 1-6.

Please see below for part 2 of our discussion for Vol. 1, Ch. 7-12

Today, I’m sipping a Mint herbal tea blend tea, accompanied by 2 Samoa Girl Scout cookies.  Anna had some lemonade.

Serena: Anne assumes that Wentworth has been avoiding her as plans change between the Musgroves and him for where and when they meet.  Do you think that’s the guilt and shame she feels or do you suspect his avoiding her?

Anna: Maybe he was avoiding her, but I noticed more that she was avoiding him, being happy to take care of little Charles so his parents could go to dinner with Wentworth at the Great House. I did get a sense of her anxiety about their initial meeting, and at least when it happened, it was over fairly quickly for her.

Serena: I found it ironic that she thought that he was avoiding her, but in point of fact, it was really the other way around. She wanted to nurse Charles or feign a headache more than she wanted to meet with Wentworth among company. I wonder if she was afraid of her reaction or his?

Anna: I think Anne has a good grasp of holding in her feelings, having lived with Sir Walter, Elizabeth, and Mary for so long and being neglected and isolated. I wonder after their initial meeting and learning that Wentworth barely recognized her, her having lost the “bloom” of youth and all, that it was his reaction she feared. It’s not long before she’s lamenting that they used to mean so much to one another, and now nothing.

Those passages really tugged at me. And throughout this section, as Anne meets Wentworth’s Navy friends, for instance, she’s struck by all that she’s lost. Do you remember anywhere else in Austen being so moved, or do you think this is a sign of Persuasion being a more mature novel, as it was written toward the end of her life?

Serena: I agree that Anne’s avoidance of Wentworth seems to be borne of the fear that he will react in a way that will unease her, and in fact, she does. And meeting those friends and seeing how in love the Crofts are, I think that too weighs heavily on her. As if she didn’t feel bad enough about her decision. I can’t recall anything so blatantly depressing as this in Austen’s other novels. Those still seemed to have a bit of the youthful play in them; this novel is not only more mature in feeling, but also in dramatization.

Anne is still in the background of most everything that happens plot-wise here, but she is in the middle of it just the same. She the observer, but she doesn’t merely observe because everything that happens affects her in some way, particularly when Wentworth enters the picture.

What did you think of her when she says that she could take no revenge because he was the same?

Anna: I think the Musgrove sisters are the youthfulness in this novel. A more elegant and better behaved Kitty and Lydia, even if they do get a little excitable over Captain Wentworth.

I agree that she is an observer and deeply affected as well. Of course, while we see all the emotions and sadness going through her mind, everyone else is oblivious to her pain. Austen does let readers into Wentworth’s head, if only a moment, early on when he’s first introduced, and then there are a few actions here and there that make you see his opinion of her is slowly changing. It’s obvious to us because we know their past, but it’s very subtle when you think that their companions have no clue.

I loved Anne for saying she could take no revenge because I know that I personally, even if just internally, would not have been that nice. That really emphasizes her strength of character and her kindness toward others. After Louisa’s accident, when they’re deciding which of the women will stay at the Harville’s, there’s a passage that indicates that she would care for Louisa for his sake. Imagine watching the only man you ever loved, whom you could have married, seemingly falling in love with another woman, and you would do that for him. Of course, she’s pretty much part of the Musgrove family, so that plays into it as well, but still.

These are things that make it obvious why Wentworth has never found another woman better than Anne. What do you think about him showing attention to both Henrietta and Louisa, without even really caring for either of them? Part of it must surely be his desire to make Anne jealous to an extent, but in that day and age, he was playing a dangerous game.

Serena: I’m not really sure that he was paying attention to them consciously. I think he was baffled by Anne’s presence there and really didn’t want to be rude to the Musgroves. But his attentions never seem overtly in favor of either girl, except when it comes to the incident at the Cobb. There is that one intimate conversation that Anne overhears between Louisa and Wentworth, but I think that was more Louisa’s machinations than his.

While maybe he enjoyed having the attention of two young women and his intentions may be to find a wife, I feel like he was still sorting through his feelings for Anne and not intentionally partial or even aware that he was demonstrating affinity for either of the Musgroves — in some ways, the perception that he is in favor of one or the other or even interested in either seems to be the ideas put forth by Mary, Charles and the Crofts without any real indication on his part.

Speaking of the Cobb, what do you think motivated Louisa to jump from such a height? Was she trying to prove something or was that merely youthful folly on her part?

Anna: Having been so long at sea, he may also just enjoy the sisters’ attention. But he does spend an awful lot of time at Uppercross, so it’s not wrong of those around him to wonder what he’s about, even if he’s not completely conscious of it. There are some things in that conversation he has with Louisa — and he doesn’t know that Anne’s listening — that if I were Louisa, I would’ve thought he liked me.

As for Louisa’s jump, there are several places in the narrative where it shows Louisa being more determined about doing things since that conversation with Wentworth, where he talks about strength of character and not being easily persuaded. So I think that played into it somewhat, but mostly, I think she was being flirty and playful and thought it would be fun. Even when I shake my head at Louisa’s folly, I actually do admire her high spirits.

Now I’ve been dying to know, my dear poetess, what do you think of Captain Benwick’s fondness for melancholy poetry? And what do you think about Anne telling him he should read more prose?

Serena: I knew you would ask me that question.

I think that Captain Benwick is wallowing in his melancholy and poetry — certain kinds of it — can help you do that. Perpetuate a state that you either find yourself in, helping you to see that its a universal feeling, but it also could be perpetuating a mood that he feels obligated to remain in given that he lives with the Harville family. He feels that his mourning should be palpable to them and that while he may be over his “fiance’s” death, he does not want to hurt the feelings of those he is staying with.

Anne’s remedy of prose could be her way of telling him that it has been long enough and that it is ok not to mourn anymore and to think about moving on with life. Whether prose would produce that effect, is another questions. I suppose if he were determined, he could find prose that would help him wallow too.

I find it interesting that Anne thinks about continuing her acquaintance with Benwick even as she’s still feeling saddened by Wentworth’s dismissive attitude toward her. What do you make of that? Is she becoming resigned? What does that say about her character?

Anna: I noticed that his grief seems overplayed, and he was excited to talk with Anne about something I’m sure no one else cares to talk about with him. He seems to want to get out and about more with people, which I thought was evident when the group leaves the Harvilles behind before taking one last walk on the Cobb, and Benwick goes with them.

I didn’t think Anne’s thoughts about Benwick meant she was resigning herself to anything. I thought maybe it was the first time in a long time that someone merely wanted to talk to her in a real discussion. Her sister and the Musgroves want her to just agree with them or to vent their frustrations about one another. She also understands Benwick in a way; they’ve both suffered a deep loss. One might argue that losing one’s fiance to death is more serious than a broken engagement, but he has the chance to find happiness again, and her prospects are dim on that front.

What were your feelings at the end of this section about how things had changed between Anne and Frederick? Do you think Anne has any reason to hope at this point?

Serena: I think that Austen wants us to think that all is lost for Anne, but I think there are enough glimmers — which Anne can see given how well she knows him — that she can still hope for some form of reconciliation. Perhaps a romantic reunification is a bit far-fetched given all that’s transpired with Louisa, up to this point, but I think she should have reason to hope that they could be friends again.

He clearly esteems her, and she clearly still admires him. While I think there are still obstacles to be overcome, many of these — like in most of Austen’s novels — of their own making. His abrupt departure of at the end of volume one seems to be very telling — like he’s now got a lot more to think about with regard to his future and about Anne. I think he’s seeing a more mature woman than he remembers.

What are your final thoughts about his exit? Seems a little like the end of an act in a play, doesn’t it?

Anna: Well, if Louisa’s carelessness was good for something, it was for Wentworth to see Anne take charge and show some of that strength of character he thought she didn’t have way back when. Austen also shows two extremes — Anne being persuaded to break their engagement and Louisa being determined to do something foolish and refusing to be persuaded otherwise.

Yes, it does seem sort of like the end of act. The characters showed some alterations, then of course they’re going to be separated for a time with everything still uncertain, and then the curtain closes.

I must say that I’m loving this book even more the second time around!

Serena: I cannot wait to see what happens in the next section, though I have seen the movies. There is a bit of a flare of the dramatic in this one, that I think was not as prevalent in her other novels. I do like that the characters are changing slowly, and that they have time to think about all that has come to pass.

We hope you’ll help us continue the discussion in the comments!

And please join us next Friday, March 21st, at Anna’s blog, Diary of an Eccentric, to discuss Volume II, Chapters 1-6! Grab a cup of tea!

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The Rebel Pirate by Donna Thorland

March 13, 2014 by

Source: Berkley/NAL, Penguin Group USA
Paperback, 416 pages
I am an Amazon Affiliate

The Rebel Pirate by Donna Thorland, the second book in the Renegades of the Revolution series, set during the Revolutionary War uncovers the double-dealing spying that occurred on both sides of the war, as well as the privateering that local businessmen resorted to when the British cut the colonies off from trade and banned them from trading with other countries, while levying extraordinary taxes.  Sarah Ward finds her ship, the Sally, boarded by the British crew of the Wasp, and she has little recourse but to dress as a boy to protect her younger brother Ned from being pressed into military service.  Despite being loyalists, she takes the only action she can in expelling the threat and taking the Wasp’s Captain James Sparhawk prisoner.

“Boston’s North Shore had been the haunt of pirates for a hundred years, almost every inlet and harbor a supposed hiding place for their loot.  Blackbeard’s silver was rumored to be buried somewhere in the Isles of Shoals; the hoard of Quelch in a cave at Marblehead; that of Veal in the Lynn Woods.  The American Main was the stuff of pirate legend.” (page 201)

Readers will be captivated by the headstrong and stubborn Sarah Ward as she navigates the town of Salem, which considers her the jilted lover of Micah Wild, a savvy businessman looking out for himself, and her loyalties to her family.  Her father, a pardoned pirate, is captive in his own body, while Mr. Cheap is a loyal shipman who is protective of the family and its interests.  Enter Sparhawk and his reputation as a rake, who is charmed beyond reason by Sarah.  He cannot think straight around her, and against his better principles and naval code, agrees to follow along in her scheme to keep her safe from Wild’s wrath regarding the demolished Sally and the lost French gold.

Thorland’s series is detailed in its history, is trussed up in mystery and romance, and unfolds like a spy thriller as all of the characters become embroiled with one another’s affairs.  These are the kinds of Revolutionary War books readers will love because they are rich in history and imagination.  The Rebel Pirate by Donna Thorland is a captivating book that will have readers up late at night rushing through the pages to finish.  The midnight candles will be burning with this sexy read.

Thorland answered a few questions for the blog tour today:

Q: Sarah and James have such intense chemistry. Is that easy to write? How do you make two characters seem so attracted to each other?

A: I’m interested in love stories where two people meet who have the potential to become true partners in life, and who will challenge one another to become their best selves. That begins with the ability of the hero and heroine to see through the masks they’re both wearing. And I think that’s where chemistry comes from—the process of the hero and heroine stripping each other down to their essential selves. Seeing and accepting each other, as Rainer Maria Rilke put, “whole against the sky.”

Q: What is your favorite thing about writing historical romance?

A: There’s so much to love in this category. But let’s boil it down to its essentials: my favorite thing is going on an adventure with a heroine—a heroine who will be rewarded with love at the end of the story.

About the Author:

Graduating from Yale with a degree in Classics and Art History, Donna Thorland managed architecture and interpretation at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem for several years. She then earned an MFA in film production from the USC School of Cinematic Arts. She has been a Disney/ABC Television Writing Fellow and a WGA Writer’s Access Project Honoree, and has written for the TV shows Cupid and Tron: Uprising. The director of several award-winning short films, her most recent project aired on WNET Channel 13. Her fiction has appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. Donna is married with one cat and splits her time between Salem and Los Angeles.

Check out my other reviews for this series:

The Turncoat by Donna Thorland

7th book for 2014 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge.

 

 

 

 

ENTER TO WIN — The Rebel Pirate by Donna Thorland

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Filed Under: 2014 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge, challenges, giveaway, historical fiction, Interviews, Penguin, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2014, review copy, reviews Tagged With: ,

Return to Tradd Street by Karen White

January 28, 2014 by

Source: Penguin
Paperback, 336 pages
I am an Amazon Affiliate

***Beware that this review could contain spoilers as this is the 4th book in the series.***

Return to Tradd Street by Karen White brings Melanie Middleton face-to-face with everything she’s been avoiding — her feelings for Jack Trenholm, the future of 55 Tradd Street, and her pending parenthood — but Melanie still falls back on her trademark effort to avoid tough decisions even when decisions look as if they’ll be made for her.  Her gift has helped her hone her avoidance skills over the years, but as she continues to live and refurbish one of the oldest houses in Charleston — one she inherited from a man she met only once — her skills are put to the test when another body is found on the property.  The infant body bricked up in the foundation of the house raises a lot of questions about the Vanderhorst family tree.

“Pregnancy hormones coupled with a rejected declaration of love and a marriage proposal based on pity had wreaked havoc on my self-confidence and backbone.  I wasn’t sure whether I could ever recover.  Besides I’d lived my life on the premise that if you pretended something wasn’t there it would eventually go away.  At least, it usually worked where dead spirits were concerned.”  (page 5)

Pregnancy can play with anyone’s emotions and confidence, but Melanie is particularly thrown by the uncertainty of the baby’s father’s feelings toward her.  Between her mother, Jack, and Sophie pushing her to face the reality of her pregnancy, Melanie is feeling the pressure.  White brings readers back to the characters they love, and they will still cheer for Melanie to get over herself and accept her feelings for Jack.  This story is a little spookier than the others in the series, but perhaps that’s because it will hit closer to home for mothers and parents.

“I smoothed down the red maternity dress, noticing how it fit much more snugly than when my mother had purchased it for me only a few months before.  I’d resisted wearing it, but it was Nola’s Christmas play and I wanted to look festive.  I wore my mother’s diamond pendant earnings that, according to her, would draw the eye upward, away from my expanding girth.  As I stared at myself in the vestibule mirror, I knew it was like planting flowers in the window boxes of a burned-out house so nobody would notice it needed painting.” (page 220)

Return to Tradd Street by Karen White is engaging, endearing, and enthralling with its mysteries, its pent up tension, and its historical tidbits, and White’s characters are always ready to give you a warm embrace when you need one.  The novel is about letting go of past hurts, embracing our histories as part of who we are today, and moving forward by grabbing a hold of what we want most out of life.

About the Author:

Known for award-winning novels such as Learning to Breathe, the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance 2009 Book of the Year Award finalist The House on Tradd Street, the highly praised The Memory of Water, the four-week SIBA bestseller The Lost Hours, Pieces of the Heart, and her IndieBound national bestseller The Color of Light, Karen has shared her appreciation of the coastal Low country with readers in four of her last six novels.

Italian and French by ancestry, a southerner and a storyteller by birth, Karen has made her home in many different places.  Visit the author at her website, and become a fan on Facebook.

Filed Under: chicklit, fiction, Penguin, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2014, review copy, reviews Tagged With: ,