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 Despite an assumed match between herself and her cousin Sir James Martin, Miss Susan Martin chose to marry Sir Frederick Vernon, and was very happy for her choice. Though she was courted by Sir Frederick’s younger brother, Mr. Charles Vernon, Lady Vernon disregarded this as soon as she was married. Her union was blessed with a daughter, Frederica, and all three lived happily until a hunting accident laid Sir Frederick low with a life-threatening illness. Frederica had seen her uncle very near her father at the time of his accident, Mr. Vernon seemingly inactive until he spotted her. Worse, her father died in the understanding that his brother would provide for his wife and daughter as he’d stipulated, but Mr. Vernon had no such scruples, and Lady Vernon and her daughter are left to make their own way in society.
I have never read the Jane Austen novella on which this novel was based and I think that helped me enjoy it more. I did in fact very much like it. It deals in very typical Austen themes but it doesn’t quite match the feel of her work. Since I hadn’t read the original novella to compare it against, my expectations weren’t very high, and I ended up genuinely liking the characters and looking forward to seeing what happened and how it all wound up.
My favorite part of the novel was all the misunderstandings that arose based on gossip. At first the gossip was harmful, and I wasn’t fond of that, but soon enough I realized in what direction the story was going and it became very funny. It’s easy to see how such things could arise when the only communication long distance was letters, and anyone could say anything they liked in a letter with no other contact for contradiction in the country. There is also the gap of time, and anything could happen between receipt of a letter and the next. In any case, I thought this was all demonstrated very well, and I got quite a kick out of it.
I also felt that the novel kept very much to a Austen-like propriety. In modern sequels, there is often an over-emphasis on romance, which I like in modern novels, but which I don’t really feel is appropriate for anyone imitating Austen. I enjoy the way Austen’s characters express their feelings for one another, and I think these authors pull off a very credible, discrete imitation, which gives the impression of full feelings with nothing beyond words.
So, when not compared to Jane Austen herself, Lady Vernon and Her Daughter is a wonderful diversion. It was short and pleasant and I enjoyed my time with it. I would definitely recommend it to fans of historical fiction.
I am an Amazon Associate. I received this book from the Amazon Vine program for review.
 For once, Percy has endured a relatively uneventful year at a school, although he’s been stuck with an awkward friend, Tyson. That’s until a game of dodgeball goes wrong and Percy gets blamed. When he heads to his summer refuge, the camp for half-bloods, he finds that Thalia’s tree is dying and the camp’s borders are failing. It’s no longer safe. Even though Percy and his friends are told not to, they head off to save one of their friends and their camp from destruction.
Since I knew The Sea of Monsters was more of a MG book going in, I found myself enjoying it a lot more than The Lightning Thief. When I kept the audience in mind, I found this a very engaging read. The characters are all still endearing. I loved the addition of Tyson and I felt that he really helped Percy to grow and develop as a character, which if you’re reading this blog, you know I really appreciate. He also brought up an interesting issue that Percy needed to explore – that being the son of a god is not necessarily a wonderful thing that will get you out of every scrape you land in. It makes the story more interesting and more relevant for real kids, even if obviously no modern child is going to get on a ship to rescue their satyr friend.
This is a fast-paced, enjoyable book. Percy and his friends don’t rest from the first page onwards. This book does, however, stand alone a bit less than the first did. A reader new to the series would probably pick up on what was happening thanks to Percy’s explanations, but the story ends on an intriguing twist that will have readers looking for the next book in the series. There are also references to a prophecy that will probably apply when Percy is sixteen – if he makes it that far – which makes it clear that we’ll have to read the entire series to know what happens. I’m looking forward to continuing when I need a light, humorous, fast-paced read.
I am an Amazon Associate. I purchased this book.
 This is the third book in a series. If you haven’t read The Thief and The Queen of Attolia, don’t read this review yet!
Eugenides, the Queen’s Thief of Eddis, is now the King of Attolia. Through the eyes of a young guard, Costis, Eugenides is an incapable ruler deserving only his disrespect. When he punches Eugenides in the face, Costis expects dismissal, if not execution, but instead finds himself promoted and near the king at all times. As his derision for Eugenides slowly turns into respect, the rest of the court also realizes that this King of Attolia is far more capable than he wants to let on.
I have really, really enjoyed this series and I’m glad there is another one coming. There is just so much to like about this book. Having read the first two, I knew Eugenides was capable even without one of his hands and I was certain he was playing a game. While it’s frustrating to watch everyone mock him, given how fond I became of him, it’s incredibly gratifying to watch the tide change and his careful plan unveil itself. This is a well-plotted book and it unfolds in a way that made me want to keep reading to figure out what was actually going on. It’s subtle but fascinating and complex. Eugenides in particular has developed a ton over the course of the series, but he’s so well written that it’s obvious he’s still the clever boy turned into a man with a great amount of struggle behind him.
There is also the love story here between the King and Queen of Attolia. We never see things from their viewpoint, just from outsiders, which is a refreshing approach to a romance. We know they feel for each other, but their romance still changes and grows, and the fact that we’re never in their heads makes us curious as to what is going on. This is also great because Turner trusts her readers to figure things out for themselves. She doesn’t always spell out the fact that they’re in love, she just shows it.
I’m going to keep this review short because otherwise I’d just continue gushing about The King of Attolia. If you appreciate YA fantasy, I really recommend this series. You won’t be sorry.
I’m an Amazon Associate. I purchased this book.
 This is a collection of humorous essays drawn from the author’s life, covering fun topics from his elementary school speech counselor to the time a Frenchman thought he was a thief and went happily on in English about it to his girlfriend, not realizing that Sedaris was an American and understood every word he said. Through his high drug years, his failed stint as a teacher, and even the time he almost saw a girl get killed, David Sedaris makes his readers laugh even as sometimes we know we really shouldn’t.
I had such a strange experience with this book. It was my last choice for the read-a-thon and even though I wasn’t that tired, at first I didn’t find it all that funny. I read the first few essays a little perplexed. When I tried imagining someone reading the book out loud to me, I thought it was more entertaining, but still, sort of “eh.” This mirrored the experience my husband had had with it a few weeks ago when he was looking for a humorous read. Then, all of a sudden, it became hilarious. I’m not sure whether I got used to Sedaris’s writing or whether the later stories were just funnier than the earlier ones, but I began laughing out loud more and more often. And now that I’ve finished, I want to read more of his work. I think for once an audiobook might be better; a lot of people have remarked that Sedaris is funnier in person.
I’ve lost most of the grasp of this book as it’s been a while and I’d read so much during the read-a-thon, so I’m just going to leave it at that. Me Talk Pretty One Day is definitely a funny read; if it starts off not so much, keep reading, and hopefully you will also suddenly realize that this man is hilarious.
I am an Amazon Associate. I purchased this book.
 Caitrin arrives at Whistling Tor having fled her entire life. After her father’s death, she was abused by her distant cousins to the point where she runs away with only her writing box, for she is a scribe by trade. Whistling Tor is not the average Irish town. The lord is reclusive, bound to the hilltop, and the villagers are frightened to go away and fear he does not care for them. Throwing caution to the wind, Caitrin travels up the hill when she hears that the lord is in need of a capable scribe that can read Latin and Irish.
I adore Juliet Marillier’s work. I won this book in a giveaway before its release and I can’t express how excited I was to read it. I have huge expectations for this author and the best part is that she hasn’t let me down yet. Her fantasy world, with strong characters and often a large romantic sideplot, simply appeal to me in every way. Heart’s Blood was no exception and I loved it. This book is all about moving beyond the past and forging a new future.
Caitrin is interesting because she is a very damaged heroine. She’s been abused and lied to by people who claim they are her family. Her sister married and left her, not realizing what would happen. She flinches every time a man gestures in her presence. At the same time, she has a core of steel that hasn’t been beaten down, and a very large part of this book is her recovering her strength, her ambition, and her determination to live her life. I loved Caitrin’s character development. I felt like her struggle was very realistic; even when she knows, realistically, a man isn’t going to strike her, she’s been beaten into submission and it takes a long time for her to stop reacting in fear. Her struggles and her move towards becoming a courageous new woman makes her a character to cheer for. Besides this, she is a scribe and she’s often busy researching, an activity close to my heart.
Anluan, the lord of Whistling Tor, has been convinced of his own inferiority for a long time. He’s disabled from an illness, and moreover is bound to the hilltop because of his ancestor’s dark sorcery. That is due to the host – a hoard of ghostly figures brought back from the dead by accident who are only kept in control by the lord’s presence. They need to prove themselves, too. Every character, except for ultimately the villain, has something to grow beyond.
I loved both the story with the host, which has several members we get to know, and Nechtan’s sorcery, and the romance between Anluan and Caitrin. It takes true courage and strength for them to get past their individual handicaps and grow into loving one another, not to mention believing that they love each other. It’s beautifully done and this book is amazing. I grew to realize the ending of the host story before Caitrin did, but that didn’t make her revelations any less fascinating and compelling. Besides that, I love Marillier’s writing. I was doing nanowrimo while reading this and realized that I was actually imitating her writing, which is embarrassing, because I just love it so much.
Had it been Anluan whose presence I had sensed before, standing in the doorway watching me without a word? He was seated on the bench now … White face, red hair; snow and fire, like something from an old tale … I found it difficult to take my eyes from him. There was an odd beauty in his isolation and his sadness, like that of a forlorn prince ensorcelled by a wicked enchantress, or a traveller lost forever in a world far from home.
I loved Heart’s Blood. This is quite simply a perfect book for someone who enjoys fantasy and romance, and perhaps a little poking about in old books.
I am an Amazon Associate. I won this book in a giveaway.
 With a careful touch of humor and her own personal subjectivity, author Isabel Allende takes her readers on a tour of the Chile of her childhood, the Chile that she knew for the earliest years of her life. This memoir reads as a meandering journey throughout the history of Allende’s family and her own girlhood, when she became a feminist before she even knew what a feminist was. Overall, the book reads like an enchanting conversation about a foreign country and a family that never ceases to be interesting and informative.
Isabel Allende has been one of my favorite authors since I read Daughter of Fortune in high school, an instant favorite with me. I have since read a number of her works, most recently The Sum of Our Days, her latest memoir. I was really looking forward to this book and I wasn’t at all disappointed. An account of her earlier life mixed with a history of Chile from her perspective, it’s both interesting from a historical and a human interest point of view. I knew very little about Chile, and I was fascinated by her accounts of the people she knew and the character of the nation. She does say that everything she writes is completely subjective, but this is a memoir, so it’s perfectly acceptable. She also has some interesting reflections on memoirs; everyone remembers everything differently, and she writes that she cannot help but inject her own nostalgia and feelings into her recollections of the past.
Allende as a girl is charming and fascinating. I loved that she said she was a feminist before she knew what one was. Her desire to be independent, and not subservient to a man, outlasted the period when she was indeed like that. Her account of her own adolescence is hilarious. She gives her own family a magic touch, writing about ghosts and spirits, and while part of me rejects that because it doesn’t match my own beliefs about the world, the other part of me was enchanted by her stories. The House of the Spirits is one of her books that I haven’t yet read and this immediately made me want to read it, as it’s based on her family.
Her history of Chile includes a small measure of politics and some observations about the fate of nations, particularly during her period as an exile. She contrasts her own Chilean attitudes with those of the people in the places she’s lived throughout exile, as well as those of modern Chileans. While her censure of the American government for uprooting her cousin Salvador Allende is clear, it’s also clear that she still manages to love her adopted country. This is an interesting juxtaposition of attitudes and makes something that could have been offensive into an interesting section of the text that makes her readers think.
I really enjoyed My Invented Country. I would recommend it for anyone who enjoys memoirs.
This is my first read for the Women Unbound challenge.
I am an Amazon Associate. I borrowed this book from my local library.
 Other than the fact that he is brilliant and never grew out of a series of children’s fantasy novels, Quentin Coldwater is a fairly ordinary teenager in his last year of high school. When his interview to Princeton goes horribly wrong, Quentin finds himself in what seems like another world, where magic is real and he’s going to learn to be a magician. At his new magical college, Quentin meets extraordinary friends and learns that some of his favorite myths are more of a reality than he had ever dreamed.
I’m torn in writing this review. I think the concept behind this book is very clever. It’s billed as an adult Harry Potter, but it also draws on lots of children’s fantasy, most of which I recognized. The biggest sources are Harry Potter and the Chronicles of Narnia, and as I was reading, I could easily appreciate the slight mockery and satire that Lev Grossman uses to show how improbable such stories would be in “real life” and how adults would react to them. I loved these books as a child, so I did pick up on his cleverness. As I started it, I genuinely was enjoying it, especially during the early school years. I love boarding school stories, so I was immediately absorbed, but that regrettably didn’t last.
This is because I had a real problem with the main character, Quentin, and the behavior of some characters in general. I’m sure some people my age do behave the way these characters did, drinking and doing drugs on a daily basis and essentially throwing away their potential, but I’m not friends with them, and haven’t been, for a reason. Even in college, my friends and I largely avoided the drinking culture, so I had a serious problem relating to any of these characters except Alice, easily my favorite. The way Quentin then treats her appalled me and set me even further against the book. These characters do not live in my real world, and thus the book’s concept essentially failed for me. Not only is their behavior unfamiliar, Quentin is distinctly not a hero and is constantly determined to be unhappy with everything he has. He screws up over and over again, and neither his dissolute lifestyle nor his incredible achievements satisfy him. It frustrated him and it frustrated me, which is not something I want to feel while I’m reading. Maybe this was the point, but if so, no thanks.
I read this for an online book club and most of the members felt similarly about it. It’s a shame because I really wanted to love it. I adore Harry Potter and putting that on there was an instant attraction. I feel that it would have been better marketed as a satire on children’s fantasy. I can’t really recommend The Magicians. It’s interesting, but not enjoyable.
I am an Amazon Associate. I purchased this book.
 This short story collection contains “five stories of music and nightfall”, revolving around some similar characters and locations.
“Crooner”
This story features a Hungarian musician in Venice who sees his mother’s favorite singer, Tony Gardner, at a cafe where he is playing. When he rushes over to greet Mr. Gardner, he is surprisingly invited to accompany the famous man in a serenade for his wife. As their barge circles Mrs. Gardner’s window, the musician learns that the married couple is not what he originally thought.
“Come Rain or Come Shine”
The narrator, Ray, goes to visit two of his college friends, Emily and Charlie, whose marriage is breaking up. Charlie asks Ray to help him save it, but Emily has hated Ray for years, only appreciating his taste in music. When Emily leaves, Ray finds himself accidentally peeking in her diary, tearing out a page. In an attempt to save the day, Charlie tells Ray to pretend the neighbors with the dog have come by and ruined everything.
“Malvern Hills”
A young man goes to visit his sister and her husband for the summer after a number of failed attempts to join a band. While there, he meets a European couple who have performed all over the world. The man, an eternal optimist, and his wife, a much more negative person, have a few lessons to teach the narrator about his music.
“Nocturne”
Both Steve’s marriage and his music career are failing. His wife’s new lover offers to give him a facelift, which according to his manager will re-launch his career, as he’s quite an ugly man. When Steve takes the offer, he discovers that he is next door to Lindy Gardner, Tony Gardner’s ex-wife, and together they have a series of adventures at night in the recovery hotel.
“Cellists”
The only story to be told mostly in third person returns to Venice, where cellist Tibor meets an older American woman who considers herself a virtuoso on his instrument. Through a series of lessons, Eloise teaches Tibor that he is a great cellist and that he deserves more than a place in a restaurant band. Eloise, however, is holding something back.
For the most part, these stories were a little disappointing. While they are still beautifully written, they just didn’t have the impact that Ishiguro’s novels do. There isn’t enough time for that slow emotional build-up, nor to even get to know the characters. I felt a few of them were almost insufferably arrogant when it came to their musical talent, which didn’t help. While these stories did make me think, particularly about relationships and identity, and had some smaller revelations, overall Nocturnes was just not up to my expectations.
I am an Amazon Associate. I borrowed this collection from the library.
 Aisling’s grief at her mother’s death was strong, but nothing compared to how she felt when her father also fell ill, shortly after taking a new wife. Ash, connected deeply with the forest, was forced to move to the city for her father’s care. When he died, her stepmother declared that Ash’s fathers debts had been so numerous that Ash would have to work as a servant for the rest of her life to pay them off. Ash’s unhappiness leads her to the forest, where she meets the fairy Sidhean and begins to hope that he’ll steal her away from her mortal life. But then she meets Kaisa, the king’s huntress, and Ash’s wishes begin to change.
My expectations for this book were severely lowered thanks to Nymeth’s review. She also adores fairy tale retellings, and in case you couldn’t tell, this is a version of Cinderella. So when she didn’t like it, I thought there wasn’t all that much hope for me to like it, and I started the book thinking that. Imagine my complete surprise when I sat down and read the entire book in one sitting, staying up late just to finish it. I enjoyed it that much. Maybe it was the fact that it was a Cinderella story, a fairy tale I have always loved*, or the fact that I was craving fantasy at the time, but this book worked out beautifully for me.
Ash has been publicized as the book where Cinderella falls in love with a woman, but it’s more than that. It’s also not nearly as big a deal in the book as it has been in the publicity. Same sex relationships are normal in Ash’s world, which was a refreshing viewpoint. It surprised me how completely normal it felt and made me wish that I lived in a world where the same was true.
Malinda Lo creates a whole world and a mythology here, and I felt that frame was absolutely perfect for the story that unfolded. While the introduction of all the lore at the beginning was fairly slow, it did help as the book went along. The depiction of Ash’s grief at the loss of her parents felt real, and, though not the best I’ve read, really was moving. I thought at first that the part of the story with Sidhean was going to take away from her relationship with Kaisa, which only begins in the second half of the book, but I enjoyed the way it was developed and wrapped up in the end. I really loved Ash’s romance with Kaisa. I felt that it was so organically written and so natural; they really became friends and then realized what they had. The whole storyline left me breathless, and for me that’s unusual but cherished.
I also really liked Ash as a character. As time passed, she grew as a person and as a woman, and her love led her to take a step back into having a life, not just wishing the fairies could whisk her away. She likes to read, which automatically endeared her to me. So I wanted her to escape her life of servitude and I relished every step on the way. If someone was brave enough to be her friend, I liked them too. I was not fond of the evil stepmother and her daughters, but I still appreciated the fact that Lo built credible family dynamics into their relationships. They’re all human beings, even if they are very selfish.
I know how the Cinderella story goes, but I was still captivated by Ash, still reading until the very end. To me, that’s the mark of a good retelling.
*Some useless knowledge about me: I watched the movie Ever After at the perfect age and I have basically adored Cinderella stories since. I don’t know what it is about that movie, but I still love it.
Also, I received this book from review from the Amazon Vine program and I am an Amazon Associate.
 Portugal’s first reigning female monarch, Queen Maria I, was plagued with a poor family history that led to extreme mental instability and unhappiness in her later life. In this new biography, Jenifer Roberts explores the queen’s youth, dominated by a powerful member of the aristocracy, her reign, and her unhappy death in exile in Brazil. The author gives voice to Maria’s struggles and provides an illuminating picture of an absolute monarchy on the brink of destruction as discontent reached a fever pitch throughout Europe.
Queen Maria is a surprisingly interesting figure. It’s always refreshing to find a woman in history who is not controlled by men. While Maria’s childhood was dominated by her grandfather, father, and prime minister Pombal, when she came to the throne she genuinely took control. Though she was advised by men, she embarked on her own journey to restore religion, undo the wrongs she believed her forebears had done, and appointed her own advisors with the help of her mother. Before she lost her senses due to hereditary mental illness, seemingly brought on by six deaths in her family in a very short period of time, Maria actually seemed a good queen and one that her people liked.
Many of the quotes in this book are from the perspective of British ambassadors at the time, which made the book that much more interesting for me. I have a generally good grasp of British history at this period and it was very illuminating to see the comparisons made. The same physician who successfully (for the time) treated George III was called in to treat Maria’s madness but failed. Maria is a part of the world stage, so we also hear about the monarchies of France and Spain as well as the revolution in France and how it affects the political situation in Portugal. As a result the book, while short, is a complete picture of this period in history, so volatile and prone to change as we with hindsight can see and consider.
The back cover copy says that the book reads like a novel and I would certainly agree with that. It’s very readable and unfolds as a story should, particularly before Maria’s madness strikes. From the prologue, we know how that happens, and the rest of the book reveals the history of her life. The shortest period covers Maria’s madness, but given that she was in a convent for much of this time, there probably was not much to say. Endnotes are used throughout the text for references, which appears to be the trend in popular history. The author has also included an extremely useful introduction and several appendices, including the original account of the royal family’s visit to Marinha Grande, the home of an Englishman in charge of the glass factory, which inspired this work. There is also a list of all the personalities mentioned, an explanation of the Portuguese words and other unfamiliar terms, and more. There is no point at which any reader could be confused and it was easy to find that I was learning quite a bit more about Portugal than just on the queen herself.
Overall, this is a very well done, comprehensive account of a fascinating queen. I very much enjoyed reading it and felt that I learned a lot, particularly given how ignorant I am about Portugal. I highly recommend The Madness of Queen Maria.
This book was sent to me by the author for review. I am an Amazon Associate.
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