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 Having read and mildly disliked the first of the Spice trilogy, I decided to go with this one next, given that I’d heard it was better and completed the Knight Miscellany.
Eden Farraday is sick and tired of living in the jungle with her botanist father. She desperately wants to return to London, but ever since her mother’s death, her father has been convinced that London is a deadly place and refuses to take her back. He doesn’t concede even when they lose funding, even though his assistant desperately wants Eden and she doesn’t want him back, or even when the opportunity arises with the arrival of Sir Jack Knight. Jack is heading back to London and could take the family, but Eden’s father refuses. So, no one should be particularly surprised when Eden is found as a stowaway on Jack’s ship. Jack agrees to take her with him for a scandalous price, but finds that instead he finds a family and a love while making Eden’s wildest dreams come true.
I liked this one much better. I could relate to the characters; Jack’s self-imposed exile made more sense once his history was completely revealed. As for Eden, on the other hand, what young girl doesn’t dream of glittering ballrooms and handsome men falling desperately in love with her? Isn’t that half of what these books capitalize on anyway? So, very believable, and I thought the romance was better too. This couple had the time to get to know each other. Occasionally Jack frustrated me by being one of those controlling males that some authors seem to think we like, but overall, I did enjoy this. Recommended for romance fans.
Check it out on Amazon .
 In diary form, legendary seducer Don Juan Tenorio tells us in his own words how he got his reputation, how he goes about seducing women, and more intriguingly, his own love stories. Who knew Don Juan could fall in love? We learn that he seduces because he loves women as a whole, not for particular reasons of his own, but that he’s finally stymied by one woman who is particularly hard to win over and in the end challenges Don Juan to consider his own philosophies as he’s confronted with the startling loss of his heart.
I thought it sounded interesting, particularly because I’ve read reviews all over the blogosphere and they were universally praising. Don Juan is one of those characters who exists in phrases and popular knowledge but without much substance behind him. Abrams has provided that substance and done so in a way that Don Juan could conceivably be a real person, albeit a rare one. I think I was a bit let down, though, as I expected a bit more from it. I wanted deeper characters and more to the story than a fight to win a particular woman and a trail of lovers. I didn’t feel attachment and I knew the ending as soon as Don Juan met Dona Ana. That’s not what I look for in regular historical fiction, but I suppose given the subject I shouldn’t have expected so much. It would have been much better if I’d gone into it without any expectations and was looking for something lighter at that particular time instead of taking a break from that lighter fiction. I did enjoy it, but I felt it was lacking in complexity for my particular mood. So, most likely my fault, not Abrams’!
To sum up: a good read, but don’t expect much more than a book about Don Juan and his various exploits! Many others have loved this novel and so might you, don’t take my word for it.
Buy The Lost Diary of Don Juan on Amazon.
 I’ve heard a lot about this author, mainly regarding her Wallflower quartet. I have one of those, but I’m waiting for the first one so I can read them in proper order. Meanwhile, I saw these new ones about the Hathaway family come out and decided to read them while I had the chance.
Amelia Hathaway’s family is a wreck. Her brother has inherited a title but is determined to throw it away by drinking himself to death, her sister Win is still weak from an illness, and there is no money to bring her younger sisters out in society. Their parents are both dead and Amelia takes upon herself the task of managing the family, with the help of Merripen, a gypsy taken in by the family after he was left for dead. Amelia has decided that she will always be a spinster and her family needs her, but that’s only until the addition of Cam Rohan into her life. He tempts her very much to let go and think about herself, while he for the first time contemplates putting down real roots.
As always with the romance novels, this one starts off the story of a very enchanting family, and I can’t wait for each character to have their own book. Amelia is determined and very stubborn, to the point where it annoyed me sometimes, but I still liked her. Cam, on the other hand, is your typical romantic hero; untamed to an extent, but in the end happy to let the woman “domesticate” him. They’re both appealing, but I couldn’t help but feel this book didn’t measure up to some of the recent reading I’ve done in the genre, simply because it is too focused on the physical. I could see Cam and Amelia grow to care for each other, but it irked me that sex seemed to replace this by the second half of the book and that he used their passion as a tool to occasionally keep her quiet; he explained afterwards and it’s not like she resisted but it still bugged me just a bit. In addition, their story was superceded in the end by other concerns, which I didn’t really appreciate. Amelia’s family took up more of the story than was warranted in some cases, and I normally prefer them to have their time in the spotlight in their own book. Perhaps this just underscores their position in her life; far too intrusive.
That said, I liked it well enough to go on to read the next book in the series, which I liked a lot more (and I mean a lot!), and I’m looking forward to the rest.
Check it out on Amazon
 Today’s Question: The LT Home Page feature. How are you liking it? Or not? Do you go here when you log into LT or do you use your profile page more?
I like the LT Home page. It provides everything at a glance. I particularly like the list of my recently added books; it’s just long enough that I often don’t have to go far to fill in reviews or ratings. It’s nice to see what my connections are doing and the most prominent topics on Talk. I also like looking at the most requested ER books and the most popular books added this month. Overall, I think it was a good addition to LT, although probably not as worthy as the much-anticipated collections feature will be, or so I hope!
I have been looking for some new, good fantasy for a while. I’ve started to feel like I’ve read all the greats that are out there, and while this may be wrong, it’s hard to find new stuff that is highly recommended. And since I’ve eschewed paying money for books right now, my only choices are in the library, and the selection isn’t too wide. So, I saw this omnibus of the first five Chronicles sitting there, and I’d heard the name Roger Zelazny before, so I decided to give them a shot.
Corwin wakes up in a hospital with no idea who he is, really, only knowing that he’s much healthier than he’s supposed to be and that he’s ready to leave. With nowhere to go, he finds the name of the sister who checked him in and goes to her house, vaguely remembering a place called Amber and a life where he reigned as a prince. At Flora’s house, he meets his brother Random again, and manages to convince both of them that he knows exactly what’s going on. Random helps him recover his memory once he knows the truth, and Corwin sets off to become king. This saga features a very confused and complicated family and a whole range of emotions, with war, romance, and drama aplenty.
It is exciting, but I can’t say that I was captivated by this work. For one thing, I didn’t really like Corwin. I did like his development over the five books and by the end I was enamored enough with him, but I didn’t feel that I could relate to him because he felt so detached. This is particularly so in the beginning when he is driven by one thing and his reasoning for it is foreign to me. These books are very plot-driven and while the events affect and change Corwin in noticeable and dramatic ways, I thought all the back-stabbing and confusion really detracted from getting to know the family in any meaningful way despite the fact that I spent 800 pages with them. Every 10 pages, something new would be revealed that changed who they were.
Beyond that, each book is short and while this is touted as one of its great features, I disliked it. I felt that there was less time to know everyone because so many events were crammed into each less than 200 page book. This would have been more effective, in my opinion, if it was actually longer. I did like the story and I did finish the book, but I have no intention of going out to get the rest of the chronicles. They have a clear ending point after these five and I’m content to leave it at that.
Only recommended if you like your stories full of plot, ever-changing characters, and short episodes rather than lengthy ones.
 In order to escape from a forced marriage of sorts, Lucy Carleton flees to Bath, her cousin and “intended” aiding her, until they reach the home of Miss Annis Wynchwood, a determined spinster who is really only 26 and quite beautiful. When Annis involves herself in Lucy’s affairs, she finds herself tied up with Sir Oliver Carleton, Lucy’s uncle, who is now responsible for her welfare, with unexpected results.
I think the best word to describe this book is delightful. I found the beginning somewhat confusing, but I think I just had to get used to the style, because I loved it afterwards. Heyer’s prose is sparkling, the battle of wits between the characters is engaging, and reading this book just left me wanting more. I’d say Annis’s struggle towards the end was most interesting; her choice between what she saw as her freedom and love. The comparison to Jane Austen is clear here with this an entirely character driven tale of relations and relationships. Very much worth a read for anyone interested in the period.
Buy it on Amazon.
 1. Do you get to read as much as you WANT to read?
(I’m guessing #1 is an easy question for everyone?)
2. If you had (magically) more time to read–what would you read? Something educational? Classic? Comfort Reading? Escapism? Magazines?
Well, I could always read more. So many books wait to be read that I’m sure I could spend my life reading if I didn’t need to do anything else. To be honest, though, I feel that I have enough time in my life for reading right now. It’s one of my few leisure activities so I don’t have much that gets in the way. And I’m one of those people who is really, really good with budgeting time, if that makes sense, so I make time if something’s interesting.
I think if I spent all my time reading, I’d probably go with more interesting non-fiction. Right now, it takes me a while to read it and I have to read so much for my degree that I struggle with justifying the time and the need to learn more when I’m already learning a lot. There are so many subjects I’d like to read a bit about though that I think I’d take the time if I didn’t have anything else to do. Right now, my personal reading is all about what makes me happy, rather than to learn. I’d probably read some more classics as well. I keep meaning to do that, but then new books call out to me, and they’re so hard to resist!
I think this is a great idea and I’m happy to have a new way to remember Dewey as I’m going about my reading. The rules:
There are two ways to join this challenge:
1. Pick one book from each of the 6 years that Dewey has archives of. You can access her archives by clicking on the archive link in the sidebar of her website. It’s a dropdown menu. For instance, you would read one book that she reviewed in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 for a total of six books.
2. The other option is to read 5 books that Dewey reviewed. These can be from any year and I’m guessing that each of us has at least 5 books on our TBR list because of Dewey!
And the rules:
1. Choose either option 1 or 2 from above.
2. Commit to read your books (either 5 or 6 depending on which option you choose) throughout 2009. The challenge will end on December 31, 2009 but we’ll go ahead and unofficially start it right away! We’ll officially start it on January 1st, 2009.
3. Check back to this page often as I’ll put up Mr. Linky’s for reviews and I’ll mention prize giveaways!
I am choosing to do option one; here’s what I’ve chosen with a link to Dewey’s review:
- 2003: The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen – Dewey’s review
- 2004: The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold – Dewey’s review
- 2005: Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood – Dewey’s review
- 2006: Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon – Dewey’s review – I intend to read the 2nd in the series
- 2007: Three Junes by Julia Glass – Dewey’s review
- 2008: People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks – Dewey’s review
I’m not doing very well with challenges, but I think I will be able to do this one.
 Viscount Anthony Bridgerton is convinced that he’s going to die at age 39. Why? Because that’s when his father died and Anthony just cannot imagine ever doing anything better than his father, who is his idol. And so he decides to marry a woman who he will not love but who will provide him with children, namely an heir to carry on the Bridgerton line, and companionship for the remaining short years of his life. He singles out Edwina Sheffield, who is pretty and biddable, but doesn’t count on Edwina’s older sister, Kate. Anthony quickly develops a strong dislike for Kate, not realizing immediately that it’s because he wants Kate for his own; and I think you can take the story from there.
Another charming romance from Julia Quinn here. I really enjoyed how the slow approach went with this couple; they’re attracted to each other, but they both mask it with firm dislike and hatred for some time, sort of protecting themselves from their own feelings, until they realize that they actually enjoy each other’s company. I didn’t realize that some men (and women) really do believe that they will die young just because one of their parents did, but apparently this is a documented psychological phenomenon. That’s one of the things I like about Quinn. These books could get very predictable, but she always has an edge to the story that is outside what you’d expect from a romance novel, whether it be the girl who is always second best, the mental barriers present here, or a different take on a common fairy tale as we’ll see in the next book. It’s very easy to get attached to these characters, especially when members of the family continue to turn up in each successive book. Very amusing and very recommended for the romantics among us.
Buy it on Amazon.
Today’s question from Marie at The Boston Bibliophile: Most of us book bloggers like to write book reviews- if we don’t love to write book reviews- but here’s today’s question. When it comes to LT (and your blog), do you review every book you read? Do you just review Early Reviewers or ARCs? Do you review only if you like a book, or only if you feel like you have to? How soon after reading do you post your review? Do you post them other places- other social networking sites, Amazon, etc.?
I try to review almost every book I read. Sometimes I skip books in a series because they are very similar and don’t need their own individual review. I read quite a bit faster than I review so I sometimes leave books out in the interest of catching up before I forget what I’ve read. I’m still reviewing the books I read at the end of November, so I have to work on that! I do review all ARCs and published books for review that I read, however, even if I hate them. I generally just try to review everything I read, it’s easier that way and the purpose of this blog was originally to keep track of how I felt about them myself. This is after I reread a book, only realizing partly through that I’d already read it – I’d like to not only remember that I read the book (I keep track of that now) but whether I liked it or not.
I always post all reviews on LibraryThing when I remember to, although I currently have a large backlog that needs to go over there. I usually post the whole review, but add a link to my blog in case people like it and want to leave a comment or read my other reviews. I do publish reviews on Amazon, but I don’t really like that people say I’m not helpful when I give a book a slightly negative rating. Not all books deserve five stars. So I’m not encouraged to do so by Amazon, but I do like to put reviews of less well known books over there, especially the ARCs that I receive.
What’s your reviewing policy?
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