Historical Romance Archives - Page 2 of 3

A couple of books I “Did Not Finish”

I will usually finish any book I start, but I am slowly learning that sometimes it's better to cut my losses and move on. Here are two that I've given up on recently. The Phantom of Pemberley by Regina Jeffers Synopsis from GoodReads: Newlyweds Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet knew their first year of married life at Pemberley would present challenges, but who could have guessed they would need to solve a mysterious case and nab the murderer before he got to them. Written in the language of the era and including Austen's romantic intrigue and sardonic humor, this suspense-packed sequel to Pride and Prejudice recasts Darcy and Elizabeth as a husband and wife detective team - the Nick and Nora of England's Regency era. When inexplicable encounters and deadly accidents begin occurring at Pemberley, the locals blame the strange happenings on the Shadow Man - a spirit haunting the manor. But Darcy believes the truth is much more menacing - someone is targeting them, someone who seeks revenge on the Darcy family. The author tries a little too hard to copy Austen's "voice" and it fell very flat for me. "'Must we?' Elizabeth Darcy gave her husband an expectant look. 'I so enjoy being alone with you--away from the responsibilities of Pemberly.'" Flat yet nauseatingly sappy. Not a good combination for me. The phrases from Austen's original work that were inserted actually distracted me rather than adding to the book. It was quickly turning into a game of Spot the Original Phrasing. "Darcy took in her countenance. Hers was a face he had once described as being one of the handsomest of his acquaintance, but now he considered that compliment a slight to the woman. Her auburn hair, her fine sea-green eyes, her pale skin, her delicate features, and…

Wild Orchid by Cameron Dokey: Book Review

3 Stars. This was a decent book, but I have a couple of complaints. I was excited to read a non-Western fairy tale re-telling. While I did enjoy the story, and I really liked Mulan herself, this book stayed a little too faithful to what I know of the legend from the Disney movie. I enjoy re-tellings that add an unusual twist to [...]

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen: Book Review

Twenty-three-year-old Jacob Jankowski has just lost his parents in a car crash. They had already lost everything in the Great Depression. In a devastating bout of grief, Jacob, a vet school student, walks out of his final exams at Cornell University. He ends up working for a circus as the vet. His boss, August, is an unstable man who treats the animals and his employees cruelly. Jacob feels helpless to assist those in his care in the face of August's unpredictable wrath. Despite all this, Jacob at the age of 93 (or is it 90?) looks back frequently to his time with the circus and the people and animals he met there. First of all, let me just say here that I love Rosie the elephant. She has more personality than most of the other characters combined. What a charming rogue! I'm ready to give her a home in my backyard! Okay, with that out of the way, I'll say that I was hooked from the first page of this book. I read it in one very nice 12-hour shift at work. I was pulling for Jacob and his friends and I just had to make sure that they came through okay. I got so engrossed that at one point I gasped and cried, "Oh no!" Then looked around to make sure no one had heard me. I lose myself in books frequently. I don't talk out loud to books much, if ever. Sara Gruen had caught me in her spell all right. Without getting into spoilers, I'll just say that there were a few things that I didn't quite buy that kept me from giving this five stars. But I did honestly enjoy it and I'm glad that I read it. In fact, I wish I hadn't fought so…

Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernières: Book Review

Pelagia is a beautiful 17-year-old girl living on the Greek island of Cephallonia when World War II breaks out. The Italians eventually occupy the island and that's when she meets Captain Antonio Corelli, a man who joined the Army because he thought it would give him plenty of time to practice his mandolin. There were about 100 pages when I was enchanted by this book, from about page 250-350. Everything else was just okay. The author is a beautiful writer. He's very poetic and his images just leapt to life for me. He's also a very intelligent, multi-lingual writer and my vocabulary, which I think is probably better than average, was not up to the task. Aside from obscure English words, there were bits of Greek, Italian, French, and a smattering of German thrown in for good luck. Wow. I could generally figure out what was going on, but reading this was a little too much like work in some parts. The book is told from many, many, points of view and each voice is very distinct. That's very hard to pull off, so he did get huge points for that. He also has a little bit of the whole Catch-22 thing going on. He shows you the absurdity of this whole war--well, this part of it, anyway--very plainly. But where Joseph Heller chose to show the horrible side of war in a very graphic injury that you've read about for a while before you find out what it is, de Bernières horrifies you and then breaks your heart in a couple of scenes that are ultimately tearfully, achingly beautiful. I'm not a crier, but even I welled up a little. He shows that while war can be absurd, it's also ugly, but our more-human moments shine all the more…

The Mischief of the Mistletoe by Lauren Willig: Book Review

Arabella Dempsey has just seen all her hopes dashed. She's been a companion to her aunt since she was a child and fully expected to inherit from her. She realizes that isn't going to happen when her aunt marries a much younger man--the very man that Arabella has been fantasizing about. Does it get any crueler? But Arabella is nothing if not determined and she determines to make her own way in the world and goes to work as a teacher in an all-girls school. Her first day there she literally bumps into everyone's favorite bumbling idiot, Reginald Fitzhugh. You might know him as Turnip. Turnip because he has the brains of one. But Turnip has a big heart and a younger sister and a secret message in a Christmas pudding, and it all adds up to one very fun book. I confess that I haven't paid a whole lot of attention to Turnip in the other books, but I did love the big doof in this book. He's handsome, and not the brightest crayon, but he has a gigantic heart. He's wrapped around his younger sister's finger, he's rich but doesn't even think about class as a general rule. Everything he's thinking moves across his face, and he's not afraid to defend a lady's honor. Heck, he's willing to play an even bigger idiot and thus put his life on the line for his country! A gentleman indeed! The action in this book takes place in between The Seduction of the Crimson Rose and The Temptation of the Night Jasmine. Well, it actually overlaps with Night Jasmine. It was interesting to see some of those events from a different perspective. Oh, and another thing. Jane Austen as a character. Need I say more? I always read Lauren Willig's books…

Changeless by Gail Carriger: Book Review

Alexia Maccon, née Tarrabotti, is awakened one morning by her husband bellowing out orders and questions. He doesn't take time to answer her questions, but of course she finds out what's going on later. Something or someone has found a way to completely negate whatever magic makes supernatural beings, well--supernatural. This has London in an uproar. When the phenomenon seems to be traveling north to Scotland, Lord Maccon sets out in that direction too. He wants to investigate further, plus he needs to check in with his old pack. Alexia just can't be left behind, so one dirigible ride later, she joins him up there to find the pack in disarray. Another fun entry into The Parasol Protectorate! I swear I smiled and giggled the whole way through. Alexia is just as hardheaded and Lord Maccon is just as Alpha. Yum-mmmeeeee. *Waggling eyebrows lasciviously* Alexia is settling into her role as the Woolsey pack's Alpha female with ease. It's a role she was practically made for. There's one confrontation with a member of the pack who has just returned from India that left me laughing. She handled him as only Alexia can. She manages to get herself into even more trouble this time around, believe it or not. A strange French inventor, Madame Lefoux, makes an appearance too. We're never quite sure what her role is in everything, but she had me hopelessly intrigued. She is to Alexia as Q is to Bond. Talk about a tricked-out parasol! She hooks Alexia up! MacGyver would be jealous of this thing! She's wonderfully eccentric and I couldn't help but love her even as I wondered about her loyalties. Ivy Hisselpenny and Alexia's sister Felicity have a much-larger role in this book, and all I have to say about that is, "Poor Tunstell.…

The Jewel of St. Petersburg by Kate Furnivall: Book Review

Taking place before The Russian Concubine, The Jewel of St. Petersburg tells the story of Valentina Ivanova and Jens Friis as they meet during the fall of the Russian monarchy. Valentina is the privileged daughter of a wealthy Russian minister and Jens is a Danish engineer, working to improve the overall water quality in St. Petersburg. The two are immediately drawn to each other, even as their world is falling into chaos around them. Well, first things first. At least I know where this title came from--The Russian Concubine still doesn't make sense to me! I found this to be a page-turner. It took me a couple of days, but really I read it in just a couple of sittings. Even though I knew how this was going to end up--an irritation of prequels--I still wanted to know how they got where they did. Jens was wonderful. The big, gentle, Viking-looking type is right up my alley. You know he could get all bad-ass if he wanted to, but it doesn't cross his mind until someone he loves is threatened. He loves Russia but still sees that there are great flaws in the system and in the tsar. He understands where the revolutionaries are coming from but he believes their methods are completely wrong. He believes in working within the system rather than causing a national bloodbath. In his own small way, he's trying to improve the lives of the Russian poor. They keep getting sick because they don't have clean water to drink, and those forced to live in basements frequently get flooded out. By improving the water delivery system and the sewage system, he's making everyone's lives better. When injuries happen on his job sites, and they often do due to lack of funding for proper safety procedures,…

Fireworks over Toccoa by Jeffrey Stepakoff: Book Review

Lily Davis was only 17 when she married a boy she had known for a short time. He was shipping out to WWII soon as a supply man for Coca-Cola and it seemed like the thing to do before he went away. Three years later, her hometown of Toccoa, Georgia has scheduled a big homecoming party for all the returning soldiers, including parades and fireworks. Lily stumbles into Jake Russo, the fireworks man, as he's setting up his show and he opens up a world of possibilities for her. This just isn't my kind of book. I love the cover, I love that it's set at the end of World War II in a town that isn't that far from my own. I was a little afraid that it would have more in common with a Nicholas Sparks novel than I would like, but I took a chance on it anyway. As far as I'm concerned, it could have been written by Nicholas Sparks. Not that there's anything wrong with this book or anything that Sparks has written, it's just not my taste. Tell me that a book was "so good you cried for the last 50 pages," and I will avoid that book like the plague. Not for me. And that's the kind of book this is. I did like Lily. She's a headstrong woman living in a time and place where her opinions and actions are frowned upon. Her mother is trying to mold her into the perfect Southern matron, but Lily is chafing against that lifestyle. It's probably telling of my taste in books and Lily's character when I say that my favorite scene involved Lily assisting a black soldier passing through town. I liked Jake too. What a hottie with surprising depths! There's so much to him…

Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters: Book Review

Miss Amelia Peabody is a confirmed spinster. Her father died and left her a comfortable inheritance and she has decided to start traveling to those ancient sites they both loved. She acquires the lovely yet troubled Evelyn as a companion in Rome and she sets off to visit Egypt. There, she meets the Emerson brothers. Younger brother Walter is a nice lad, but the older Emerson? Has a towering temper. The group accidentally fall in together and begin investigating some mysterious appearances around the Emersons' archaeological dig. I loved Amelia! In real life, I would probably chafe against her decisiveness and take-charge attitude, but safely on the page, she was great! She just ignores facts, people or attitudes that don't fit with what she's trying to do and goes about her business of leading everyone around. Fortunately, she's an intelligent woman, so her plans generally do work out for the best. Of course, she has a good heart under her tough exterior, and I was glad to see her friendship with Evelyn softening her up a little bit. I do love how she writes about Emerson. She calls him a big, hard-headed, stubborn bully every chance she gets, but when she gets close to him, she physically melts a little every time. She admits to it in her writing in moments of softness, then she goes on her merry way, arguing with him again. Emerson was great too. I didn't feel like I got to know him quite as well as I would have liked in this first book of a series, but he's a good match for Amelia. He's just as stubborn, but he's also passionate about archaeology and quietly yet fiercely loyal. Amelia exasperates him to no end, but he acknowledges her as an equal companion. The mystery…

Everlasting by Angie Frazier: Book Review

Camille Rowen is engaged to Randall Jackson, the most eligible bachelor in San Francisco. So why doesn't she feel anything when he kisses her? And why is she so excited to go on one last voyage with her sea captain father? Could it have anything to do with handsome, inappropriate Oscar Kildare? And why does her father announce that they'll be sailing into a different port halfway through their trip? I enjoyed myself so much reading this fun YA novel! Camille is a feisty, likable heroine; Oscar is a handsome, thoughtful hero; their companion is a lovable rogue; and the action doesn't really let up. It's just one thing after another. Two small things I'll mention. I think this might have worked a little better as a straight adventure story without the fantasy element. That would have changed the ending quite a bit though, so I won't swear that I'm right. It just felt more like an adventure story and the fantasy thing was just added in there. Also, I would have liked to have seen more of the Australian setting. It's a country I'd love to visit, so I'll take all the description I can get! Those are small, but really this was just a fun sort of Indiana Jones story with some young love thrown in. Recommended for a light read for young adults and the young at heart.