Women's Fiction Archives - Page 3 of 6

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith: Book Review

Cassandra Mortmain lives in a castle. Don't let that fool you--the castle is crumbling around her family's ears. Her father had the (mis)fortune to publish an incredible book early in his career and he hasn't been able to write another word since. In other words, the family is practically destitute. But then the owner of the castle dies and his American relatives inherit the property. Two young, handsome, and available relatives. Will one of them fall in love with Cassandra's older sister Rose and turn the family's fortunes around? I think that if I had found this book when I was about 15 I would have fallen in love with it. At 30, I really, really liked it. The story is told through Cassandra's journal, and she is brutally honest and funny. She's one of those characters that you wish you knew in real life. Really, I felt something for every character, whether I was amused by Cassandra's spacey stepmother, Topaz, or frustrated by Mr. Mortmain, they all got a response out of me. The story was enjoyable--funny, sad, reflective, and everything in between--and kept me guessing all the way through. I had no idea how everything was going to turn out. Primarily though, this is a story about Cassandra's coming of age. We watch her go from an innocent child swimming in the castle moat, to a young woman learning about herself and what she's looking for in love. Those parts were timeless and perfect. There can't be many women out there who don't relate to what Cassandra goes through in the course of the story. For that reason, I would recommend this to anyone who wants to relive a little bit of those years, as well as those who are going through that stage of life right now.…

From Notting Hill With Love…Actually by Ali McNamara: Book Review

Scarlett O'Brien dreams that her life will one day become just like a romantic comedy. Her friends and family worry about her because she seems to be dissatisfied with the life she has because of her obsession with the movies. She's engaged to be married in a couple of months but she just doesn't seem to be very excited at the prospect. When the opportunity to house-sit in Notting Hill comes along, everybody, including Scarlett, thinks it's a great idea. Those who care about her think it will give her time away from her fiance to think about what's really important to her. Scarlett is excited because it's the setting of her favorite movie. And what better place to live scenes from a movie and prove to her loved ones that life really can be like the movies? This was cute but the underlying premise felt weak. I would be rocking right along, enjoying all Scarlett's misadventures and then something like, "Yet another movie moment for my collection! I knew I'd show everyone!" would come up. It was unnecessary and because of that, it kept pulling me out of the story. I think this could have been slightly re-worked to change that foundation and made into a stronger book. That aside, I really did enjoy it. I liked Scarlett a lot when she wasn't trying to orchestrate a scene from Pretty Woman or Sleepless in Seattle. She is an insecure dreamer who feels like she's missed out on something by never knowing her mom. She has a great group of friends and she actually knows it. And I mostly like her taste in movies. Luckily, there was an index at the end that listed them all. I'm in the mood to watch a lot of them again after reading this.…

The Orchid Affair by Lauren Willig: Book Review

Laura Grey is tired of her life as a governess, so she joins forces with The Pink Carnation. After the requisite training, she is sent to work as a governess for Andre Jaouen, a high-ranking official in the French Ministry of Police. She's also tasked with finding out any information that might be of use to the Pink Carnation and her league of British spies. I consistently love this series and rate them around 4 stars but this is one of my favorites. But maybe I say that about all of them--I wouldn't be surprised. They are full of intelligent women who don't need men to protect them but they like to keep the guys around anyway. I grin like an idiot at the witty dialog as I read and I hate to turn the last page. What more can you ask for? I love the chemistry between Laura and Andre and I love that it is impossible to guess exactly what he's up to. He's a good father who genuinely cares for his children and grieves for his dead wife. He's doing his best to navigate the tumultuous politics of Napoleonic France while staying true to his ideals and protecting his children. Laura is beautifully flawed and full of contradictions that work. She's the archetype of a strait-laced governess but it's easy to see that there's much more to her than that. She's learned to tame any desires and wishes that she has and just be glad that she's able to support herself and keep a roof over her head. She's scared when she finds herself in dangerous situations but she handles them beautifully and ingeniously. She's probably one of my favorite heroines in the Pink Carnation series. But I probably say that after I read every book too.…

Prayers for Sale by Sandra Dallas: Book Review

Eighty-six-year-old Hennie Comfort meets 17-year-old Nit Spindle when she sees the young woman standing outside one day, contemplating an old sign hanging on her fence advertising "Prayers for Sale." Hennie takes the newly-arrived woman under her wing, showing her how to survive in a Colorado mining town in the '30s and passing on her vast collection of stories. At heart, this was a sweet story about the friendship between women, friendship between generations, forgiveness, aging, and a life well-lived. There were some very dark stories, but I finished with a smile on my face. Hennie was a great character and someone I would like to know in real life, but a few things bothered me. This was written with a bit of a dialect and it didn't ring true to me. Maybe it's because I'm used to reading a Southern dialect. Maybe because it's about two Southern women who live in Colorado, so their speech patterns have changed. But really I just think it got close enough to being right to really stand out as being wrong. There's a mystery running throughout the book, and I have to say that I was surprised when I found out what was going on. But we read Hennie's thoughts throughout the entire book, and whenever she got close to the big mystery it all of a sudden got vague. An example--NOT a quote: "Hennie thought she would put some some chili on the stove. She thought about how much Jake used to like chili. She thought she'd soon have to do something about that one last thing that was bothering her." What?!? I've seen that far into her thoughts, so it feels like a cheap trick to hide one thing to build some suspense throughout. Hennie thinks that she has a few problems…

Coldwater by Mardi McConnochie: Book Review

Author Mardi McConnochie imagines what the lives of the Brontë sisters would have been like if they had grown up on a remote island/penal colony off the coast of Australia. In this fictional tale, their father is the warden of the colony, paranoid to the point of madness and with a giant God-complex. He makes life hard for everyone on the island, including his daughters. Charlotte is the sensible one, Emily is overly sensitive with a large streak of the fey in her, and Anne is caught somewhere between them. The girls realize after their father is shot (it happens on the first page) that they need to try to take control of their own lives, and so they set about trying to earn money the only way they can--by writing. They know it's not a very practical plan when they live in Australia and all the publishers are in England, half a world a way, but what other hope do they have? Their father won't be around forever. I really don't know why this is rated so poorly on Goodreads because I thoroughly enjoyed it. Maybe people are upset that the lives of these classic authors are so very fictionalized? I haven't read reviews yet to see what's going on. I love Jane Eyre and I tend to love Gothic stories. Seeing Charlotte Brontë in her own Gothic story was a treat for me. Emily irritated the heck out of me, but Wuthering Heights irritated the heck out of me too, so I thought she was well-represented. I haven't read any of Anne's work although I intend to. The island is so gloomy and atmospheric that it becomes a character in its own right. I felt so very bad for these sisters. Growing up alone like they have, they…

Letters From Home by Kristina McMorris: Book Review

Morgan McClain and his brother are shipping out to Europe in the last year of WWII. They spend their last night in the States at a USO dance where they meet Liz Stephens. Liz and Morgan immediately feel a connection, despite the fact that Liz is practically engaged to someone else. Complicated circumstances arise, as they do, and Morgan unwittingly finds himself dancing with Liz's friend, Betty, although he doesn't know the two women are friends. Betty promises to write him overseas. Flighty Betty asks Liz to help her write to Morgan. She intends to write one letter and be done with him. But when Morgan writes back, Liz receives the letter and can't get the author out of her head. She continues to write him as Betty throughout the war. It sounds more complicated than it is. It's a Cyrano story set in WWII. 3.5 stars. I liked it. The writing could be more polished, but I liked the characters and cared what happened to them. The snooty non-romance reader inside me would occasionally scoff at the likelihood of some of these events ever happening, but mostly I was able to shove that voice down and enjoy a charming story. We all need a dose of romance now and then, whether we admit it or not. And who am I to say this would never happen? We all agree that truth is stranger than fiction, right? I really liked Morgan. He has no pretensions of being anything other than he is--a farm boy, albeit one with above-average intelligence. His ambitions are small and homey, and his interactions with others are honest and sincere. Liz was a good match for him, but the tone of her letters was overblown. I found myself rolling my eyes at her prose sometimes. Betty…

The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley: Book Review

Carrie McClelland is an author struggling with writer's block. She heads for Scotland for some alone time to try to work through it. When she arrives, she is immediately attracted to Slains Castle and decides to use it in her book. In 1708, Sophia Paterson finds herself at Slains Castle as well. She finds herself mixed up in a Jacobite rebellion and falls in love with one of the soldiers. I know, that's pathetic, but it's been ***coughcoughalmostayearcoughcough*** since I read this. I loved it so much that I did want to get some sort of review down. I love Scotland. I haven't been, but I think that will be our next European vacation. I'm just dying to go. I don't actually read all that many stories set there, I think because I don't want to get sick of it. It just seems so beautiful, so different, yet so familiar. There's a reason so many Scots settled in the Southern Appalachians--they were reminded of home. It works both ways now. Anyway, I read this on our cruise last year, and even though I was bathed in sunlight on the Caribbean, my mind was totally lost to the coolness and mist of Scotland. I liked both stories equally, which is pretty rare. I usually read through one story just waiting to get back to the one that I'm really interested in, but I was happy just going back and forth between Carrie and Sophia. I liked Graham and John Moray. They are both handsome, solid, dependable men. With Scottish accents. What's not to love? The ending has a twist that I did see coming from pretty far away. My mom read this around the same time I did and it caught her completely off guard. We were both happy with it…

Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie: Book Review

Minerva Dobbs is a sensible girl. She's an actuary, the man she's dating is a sensible choice, and her clothes are sensible and "slimming." But then there are her shoes. Her shoes hint at the real Min. Her shoes are fun, frivolous concoctions. One night, Min meets Calvin Morrissey in a bar. As she's heading over to introduce herself to him, she hears her just-minutes-ago-turned-ex-boyfriend make a bet with him that Cal can't get her into bed within a month. Ouch. >_< That one stings a little. But Min isn't going to take this lying down, so to speak. She decides that she can play this game as well. She'll go out with Cal, string him along and make him and the barely-ex look like fools. At least that's the plan. Cal's charm is almost impossible to resist, as are his amazing good looks. I did love this, but worst thing first. I listened to this book, and while I loved Deanna Hurst's narration, I picked up on a serious fault in the writing that I probably would have overlooked in print. I swear, every other sentence, and sometimes every sentence, ended with said. I obviously don't have anything in front of me to give a real example but it was literally this bad: "Those are great shoes," Cal said. "They're my favorites," Min said. "They might be mine too," Cal said. "Watch it, charm boy," Min said. "I'm being honest. They're great shoes," Cal said. Again, NOT a direct quote, but it might as well be. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to continue for a while there. It was driving me crazy! But it didn't take me long to get caught up enough in Cal and Min's almost-romance that I was able to overlook it.…

The Sweet Potato Queens’ First Big-Ass Novel by Jill Conner Browne: Book Review

Jill Conner Browne writes a fictional account of how the Sweet Potato Queens came into being and how they truly became queens through some terrible decisions and heartbreak. I absolutely loved the first section of this book. It was sheer perfection I tell you. It starts when the queens are in high school and haven't really figured out that they're queens yet. They are always being looked down upon by the high school beauty queen, a bitch if ever there was one. I was shrieking with laughter and doing a corny little fist pump all alone in my car by the time this section ended. "You tell her, Queens!" I was repeating the last few sentences of that chapter to anyone who would listen for days, complete with my best Southern drawl. That was by far my favorite part. The Queens seem determined to make every mistake it is possible to make when it comes to love. There were still definitely some funny parts, but I had gotten so attached to these characters in that first chapter that I just wanted everything to go right for them. But I think Browne's ultimate message is that we are all Queens, no matter what horrendously bad decision we have made in our lives. We just need to pick ourselves back up, dust off our crowns, and start singing "Tiny Bubbles" again. I am torn between recommending the print or audio versions. I listened to the audio, read by Browne herself, and had a blast listening to her. I am definitely a Southern girl, but up here in the Southern Appalachians, we have more of a twang, and Browne definitely has a drawl. I could listen to her talk all day, I swear. No matter the slight differences in accents, I think that…

Second Hand Heart by Catherine Ryan Hyde: Book Review

Vida is 19 years old and dying. She's been dying her entire life. Not in the vague way that we are all destined to die, but in a way that has led her through multiple heart surgeries in her short life. This time, it's for real. Her doctors are talking weeks if she's lucky. She's been bumped to the top of the waiting list for heart transplants. And then she gets a new heart and she's able to start living. On the flip side, Richard has everything. A job and a wife that he loves. Until he loses Lorrie in a tragic car accident. He chooses to donate her organs and Vida gets her heart. Vida's and Richard's lives are forever entwined after that. The first time Richard walks into her hospital room after the transplant, Vida tells him that she loves him. She's never met him before, but she feels a deep, romantic love for him. At my old job, I was the tiniest of tiny cogs in the transplant process. I did electrocardiograms on the donors so that doctors could make sure the heart was in good working order from an "electrical" standpoint. I was glad that the families had chosen to donate their loved ones' organs, but I hated that part of the job. I never saw the recipients (the actual transplant happened in larger hospitals), so I only saw the donors, and I knew that this beautiful child, wife, father, loved one would not be going home to his or her family. They were all beautiful and they were all young. I didn't do it often, but I was never able to detach myself from the sadness on that end. It was hard for me, to say the least. It was nice to read a book…