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 As the eldest daughter of Edward IV and wife of Henry VII, Elizabeth of York presents a link of continuity between the extravagant Yorkist rule and the more conservative Tudor dynasty. At one time, two would-be kings competed for England’s crown, and with it Elizabeth’s hand in marriage. The Battle of Bosworth Field changed the course of history and Elizabeth’s role was in the very center of English politics. Margaret Campbell Barnes imagines how Elizabeth may have felt and reacted to her pivotal position, giving this occasionally neglected queen a voice of her own in one of the most recently popular periods in English history.
I’ve mentioned before that the Wars of the Roses are the latest popular trend in historical fiction. I’m fairly pleased with this as it’s my own area of special interest and I like to see how different fiction writers have portrayed all of these characters with whom I am so familiar. Sourcebooks’ release of The Tudor Rose comes at a perfect time and despite the fact that it was written years ago, it isn’t very dated. Interestingly, Barnes interprets history in ways that stray wildly from today’s popular positions. For example, Henry VII’s mother Margaret Beaufort, often portrayed as a tyrant who controlled her son and stifled his wife, is here a friend to Elizabeth, and Elizabeth happily allows Margaret to tend to those nasty administrative tasks that she would rather miss out on. Elizabeth herself is a charming character. She is fairly quiet and submissive but she loves deeply and she has a great deal of courage and strength. As readers, we want her to find love and happiness, because she is clearly so deserving of it.
In terms of plot, The Tudor Rose follows the life of Elizabeth of York from her childhood engagement to the French dauphin to a point within a year of her death. As such, there isn’t really any sort of tension; many readers will know how the story ends. It could feel slow, but it’s a very pleasant journey, and a lovely imagining of the late fifteenth century. The book feels rich with detail, fine gowns and palaces, and will surely appeal to those of us who love to read about royalty. And it’s always worth finding out what another author has done with the Princes in the Tower, particularly given that this book has a long enough timeline to include the revolt against Henry VII by Perkin Warbeck.
In short, The Tudor Rose is a wonderful historical read and well worth curling up with for immersion into another world, if not for those who crave excitement in their books.
Would you like to win a copy of your own? Sourcebooks is sponsoring a giveaway of one copy to a US or Canadian address. No P.O. boxes please! Just leave a comment to enter. This contest will run until midnight on October 20th. The winner of this contest is Stephanie.
 When a little boy’s family is murdered in a horrible raid, an Otori lord saves his life and gives him a new name, Takeo. For Takeo’s family was of the Hidden, a tribe which has been persecuted throughout their country, and Shigeru knows that Takeo’s identity will get him killed. As the story unfolds, Takeo realizes that he has somewhat extraordinary skills; he can hear unnaturally well, be in two places at once, and even draw better than a normal person. He is a born assassin and he is determined to wreak revenge on the man who killed his family. Meanwhile, Kaede is a helpless prisoner, forced into a marriage agreement with Shigeru after years of deprivation and unhappiness. Her marriage offers hope until Kaede realizes just what she’s getting into.
This YA fantasy was a total change of pace. It’s set in a fictional feudal Japan, a beautiful setting that evokes a much different feel than most fantasy set in fiction medieval Europe. It helps that the writing is beautiful; I would quote but unfortunately I had to return the book to the library, so you’ll have to take my word for it. The words of love spoken between the characters, especially Shigeru and his love, were heartbreaking and touching. Even the title, Across the Nightingale Floor, refers to a floor that most of us would refer to as just creaky, designed to alert the occupant to intruders. This is the real name for these floors, but it is still far more beautiful than using just plain English. The book has not only ninjas and samurais and swords, but a feel of history and scope that I loved. Since Kaede and Takeo are from different locations and both travel, we get a feel for this world that is quite breathtaking.
As far as characters are concerned, I liked these, although I do feel we could have gotten to know them a little better. They all have a massive sense of honor and it was fascinating to see how their personal thoughts played out against their real world actions. This is such a polite world even as many of the characters sneak behind each other’s backs and murder one another. If one’s honor is impugned, he or she decides to die. It’s a foreign world view but extremely well played; it doesn’t feel melodramatic, it fits. The special magical skills that Takeo had fit, too, especially given that he’s a scion of a special tribe with many of these skills themselves.
Across the Nightingale Floor was a wonderful read. It’s a different kind of fantasy than I normally prefer but I loved it. I could have done with feeling a bit more emotion towards the characters, but I’m hoping that will come as I continue the series.
 Rachel Morgan lives in a world populated by vampires, witches, werewolves, pixies, demons, and fairies. Forty years ago the supernatural creatures were exposed after a genetically engineered virus, hiding in an innocent tomato, killed half the world’s population of humans. Now they exist in an often uneasy truce. Rachel, a witch, is a runner with the Inderland Runner Services, policing supernatural crime throughout Cincinnati. Unfortunately, the calibre of Rachel’s assignments has vastly decreased recently, and she is fed up. She decides to break her contract with the I.S. and start her own runner agency, scoffing at the rumors of consequences. That’s until she discovers that she has been marked for death and she must find a way to save herself before it’s too late.
In case you haven’t noticed by the reviews which are popping up around here, the end of my dissertation was accompanied by some serious light reading. Urban fantasy is an awesome variant, and this book in particular was a pleasant surprise.
First of all, it’s fairly long and it has an excellent plot, at least I thought so. Once Rachel quits the I.S., it gets going and I really wanted to find out what would happen next. Since she’s in constant danger of her life, she’s often on the run and dealing with difficult situations. She only makes things worse for herself later on by entangling herself in another dangerous plot. It’s a little zany, but it works!
Rachel herself is a character I liked almost immediately. She’s stubborn and doesn’t back down, even when she should, but I felt her reasoning was good and her fears were very human. The secondary characters were also fairly well-rounded. Ivy is a dangerous vampire but with a strangely compassionate side. We never really figure out why she’s so interested in Rachel and determined to back her up, but that must be a story for one of the next installments. Jenks the pixie is a hilarious sidekick and adds just that much more to the book. The third character, who pops up around the middle, is also a welcome addition to this series.
It was also refreshing to find that there isn’t much romance in this installment. I can feel it coming, but I’m getting a little tired of romance at the moment and I’m looking for something else in my fantasy. This book fit the bill perfectly.
If you like urban fantasy, Dead Witch Walking would be a great addition to your library. I’m looking forward to the rest of the series.
 This is book two in The Hunger Games trilogy.
I’m going to follow everyone else’s lead and totally skip plot summary for Catching Fire. This is a thoughts post more than a review. I don’t want to give anything away, so we’ll just say that Katniss is back home but her troubles are greater than ever. She has a lot more riding on this than just her own survival. I had no idea where this book was going and I was thrilled about that. It’s another heartstopping, breathtaking ride. And no, the prose isn’t great, and to be honest the beginning is a little slow, but when I hit the middle nothing else really mattered. I had to know what happened. The book went in a direction I hadn’t even imagined, which makes it all a much better experience. Of course, the cliffhanger is just as intense as I’d expected. I normally hate cliffhangers, but there was no way I was missing out on this. I was sure I was going to be spoiled and I wasn’t, so I’m grateful for that. At least I knew the cliffhanger was coming and I’m glad that Suzanne Collins is hard at work on number three. I must know what happens!
While I’m here, I’ll go ahead and declare I’m on
I’m not sure I’d have even realized there was a Team Gale if not for twitter! I can see the case for him, but I’ve always had a thing for adoring beta males.
I’d totally recommend this series. It isn’t great literature but it is an incredible, suspenseful story. Well worth reading.
 After the Civil War is over, John Bell Hood, defeated Confederate general, moves to New Orleans seeking a future. The war has irreparably scarred him, changing not only his view on life but his very body; he’s missing a leg and the use of one arm. In New Orleans he meets a woman to love, Anna Marie Hennen, has almost a dozen children, and finds himself enmeshed in a society and a history that is not his own, which he finds he must pull apart in order to properly understand, until the yellow fever takes everything.
Civil war fiction is always a tough sell with me and I have no idea why. Fleetingly, I hoped Robert Hicks could buck the trend, as a few notable authors had done before, but unfortunately this book did not strike a chord with me. Strange, because it focuses on a fascinating historical figure and his transformation from an arrogant man into a humanitarian one. New Orleans itself is fascinating and I found myself looking up its history as I went along (only on wikipedia, but still!). I really enjoyed the characters’ forays into the forests and the conflicts between the Creoles and the Americans, not to mention the depiction of changing attitudes towards race. A Separate Country has plenty of interesting hot button topics to consider, even more as the novel moves towards a conclusion.
The book is told through a trio of important characters. The first is Eli Griffin, an iceman, who would never have been in New Orleans or anywhere near General Hood if not for his family’s fate in the war. Eli has been entrusted with Hood’s book, a memoir, ensuring that it makes publication. Fulfilling Hood’s dying requests makes up his part of the book; other sections are told from Hood’s perspective from the war to his death and the rest of the chapters are from Anna Marie’s viewpoint, written to her daughter Lydia as she is on her deathbed. These are not spoilers, we gather this information in the first few pages of the novel.
I think overall the problem for me with the book is that none of these characters were particularly compelling. I find it difficult to sympathize with this Confederate general. His arrogance and blindness at times is overwhelming and even his moves towards a more likeable personality didn’t quite pull off redeeming him in my eyes. The worst, though, was Anna Marie, who admits that she is shallow, finds her children a burden after the first one, and inadvertently causes misery for almost all of her friends. Normally I like when characters are made more human due to their flaws, but to be honest, these had me driven up the wall.
I do think there is a good book here. It just is not a book for me.
 I read this lovely little book for Heather’s read-a-long at Age 30+ … A Lifetime in Books.
Cranford is a story that is hard to describe. The little town of Cranford is populated mainly by older women, mostly single or widowed. There are a few men about, but they are largely of a lower class, whereas many of the women consider themselves of gentle birth and do their best to act accordingly, especially Mrs. Jamieson, the town’s matriarch. The book revolves around Mary Smith, a frequent visitor to Cranford who often stays with the Jenkyns sisters, two unmarried older women who enjoy some status as children of the late rector. Most of the chapters, however, center in on Miss Matty, the younger of the sisters, whose gentle heart endears her to the entire town.
This was not at all what I’d expected from it, and not in a bad way at all. My previous experiences with Gaskell consisted of North and South and Mary Barton, which are both very concerned with the rise of industrialism in the north. Cranford is much more a picture of genteel life as it might have been during Gaskell’s lifetime, in a small town where women rule all. Each of the women is made distinct by her own actions as they socialize, like Mrs. Jamieson who is a complete snob, the elder Miss Jenkyns whose sternness overrides any other aspects of her personality, and Miss Matty, a sweet woman who is too easily led by everyone around her.
There is no real plot here. The chapters can almost be seen as a series of little stories regarding the inhabitants of Cranford, tied together by Miss Matty’s presence. There is a general movement towards what happens at the end but it isn’t compelling reading; this is a book to live in, to get to know the characters, to begin to care about what happens to them. It’s short, but it accomplishes these goals with ease and opens a window into life as it was. I was reminded mainly of a more sedate Jane Austen, less concerned with irony and overall plot but still depicting a genuine picture of an upper class society and its ills. She does still use humor to depict the ridiculousness of their situations; my favorite is when one of characters is complimented on her lace and launches into a story of how it had a little trip through her cat’s digestive system! I liked the book and I was completely charmed by it, but this isn’t a book for the impatient among us.
Cranford reminded me of how much I adore nineteenth century literature. There is something so inherently appealing in Gaskell’s style, in the modest but earnest ways of her characters, and in the quiet community life that they all share. I can’t say this is a world I’d ever want to live in, but I definitely loved visiting.
(Cover note: I have an old hardcover edition in a set of classics without ISBNs, so I chose a more recent cover for this post)
 David Martin is an aspiring writer of suspenseful stories in early twentieth century Barcelona. When opportunities to write professionally present themselves, he quickly seizes them, the desire to be published overriding everything, including his common sense. With his earnings, Martin moves into a tower house, abandoned for decades, but with the sentimental value of a place he’s passed every day on his way to success. But when Martin receives an unusual offer and begins to learn more about his strange abode, he realizes that he is playing a far deeper game than he’d ever imagined.
My favorite aspect of Zafon’s writing is the atmosphere he evokes with his works. This was amazingly well done in The Shadow of the Wind, which I read before I began blogging, and I had high hopes here as well. Zafon did not let me down. Almost immediately, he draws us into a world of half-truths in the depths of Barcelona. Impending tragedy always seems to hang over Martin, right from the beginning, and it’s as though the book is clogged with dark, rainy nights and suspenseful midnight meetings. It’s hard to describe, but it’s easy to live in this world. Even Martin’s apartment is compelling and virtually a living part of the mystery.
When not writing, Martin is also obsessed with his love, Cristina, even though it takes years before she recognizes him. This love story goes in a very peculiar direction but adds to the eerie feel of the work. Throughout, we’re uncertain as to whether Martin’s experiences are real or imaginary, particularly as the story gets crazy. By the halfway point, I was surprised by how tense the story was getting; I found myself reading a thriller! The literary touch and the atmosphere, plus the added uncertainty about Martin’s mental state, are really what make this book something special. Towards the end of the book, the plot starts to unravel to some extent, but I was still curious about it.
The Shadow of the Wind was a book for readers. The Angel’s Game is less so; I think it’s much closer to a book for writers, but since I’m not really one, it didn’t draw me in quite the same way. So I can’t say I really liked it more but I definitely enjoyed reading it. I wanted to know what happened next. The ending didn’t answer all of my questions, but that rarely happens. I would recommend this, especially if you enjoyed The Shadow of the Wind.
 Kate Robinson’s life is in tatters. Her long-term boyfriend has dumped her, her fashion career is failing thanks to an incompetent advisor, and her mother has died. Determined to renew herself, Kate departs on a long trip to Ireland, where she and her mother had planned to go before the cancer took away all plans. Inadvertently, she stumbles upon Glenmara and a group of five women who have carried on the hereditary tradition of making lace while their own lives are uncertain and unhappy. Together, Kate and the lace makers of Glenmara strive to not only rediscover their own lives, but to give their fading town a fresh start on the world stage.
I think the key word when it comes to this book is simply “not enough”. The Lace Makers of Glenmara is meant to be inspiring and heart-warming with a simple story about the friendships between women, with one in particular as a focal point. As always, Ireland itself is enchanting, and Glenmara and its generally aging residents are a product of a society long gone. There is a mystical touch on Kate’s journey to Glenmara with William the Traveller. Kate’s need for a new outlook on life is completely understandable. Yet so much of this book rang false for me. It seemed incredibly unlikely that Bernie would offer to let a stranger live with her when they had only met five minutes ago, against the advice of her best friend. The romance was incredibly quick and not at all fleshed out. Kate and Sullivan basically fall into bed together and are immediately serious after that with no real development of the initial relationship, so his panic shortly afterwards just seems strange. This is especially so given that we’re told he sleeps around quite frequently and is never serious about anyone. Kate seems different just because she reminds him of someone else, but that’s an incredibly shaky base for a relationship. Lace making itself is undoubtedly fascinating, but again, few details are really given in the book. The events within could also have been incredibly moving, and the book tries hard to accomplish that, but we haven’t spent enough time with the characters to feel grief on their behalf.
At its core, the story is still a good one. I love how the lace could renew a community by giving it new strength and new visitors. Its effect on the women’s lives is itself slightly magical, which adds to the overall mystical feel of the book. It isn’t that I disliked the book, it is just that I put it down wishing for more story, more detail, more characters, more everything. The Lace Makers of Glenmara is well conceived but poorly executed.
 Courtney Stone is a certified Jane Austen addict. She owns all the books and sinks into them every time she needs comfort, entertainment, or love. When she wakes up in Regency England one morning, with the Austen-like name of Jane Mansfield, she is at first in shock, especially when she is threatened with a mental institution and bled to the point of weakness. Courtney/Jane recovers and begins to settle into Regency life with the addition of the extremely handsome and polite Mr. Edgeworth and his sister. She thinks she recognizes Mr. Edgeworth for what he is, a womanizer just like her ex-fiance who broke her heart by cheating on her. To get back home, Courtney realizes that she needs to unravel the secrets of Jane’s past, including her relationship with Edgeworth, and confront her own insecurities and problems with the men in her life.
I think I expected a little more out of this than I got. The beginning was a little disappointing. First of all, Courtney spends far too long in bed denying that she is actually Jane and fretting about how to get back into her old life, much less fit into this one. When she gets up she is perfectly capable of speaking English with a perfect English accent as well as sewing, dancing, and knowing which fork to use while eating. While this makes her transition easier, it made it harder for me to accept her complaining. Given that the premise of the book was her new life in the England of Jane Austen, Courtney spent far too much time being shocked. She can’t just settle in but I was impatient for the story to get going.
Luckily, I liked the book much better once Courtney got out of bed and assumed Jane’s life. Once that happened, I finally got pulled into the story. The mysteries surrounding the past of Jane and Edgeworth were interesting and I wanted to see why they’d fallen out. I liked Jane’s friend Miss Edgeworth and I enjoyed the development of her character over the course of the book. I also thought that the way Courtney’s memories were interspersed with her Regency life were well done; she reflected on her past at appropriate points and I was curious as to the resolution.
This was a fun, relaxing read. Courtney’s problems are never too threatening, and while we feel sorry for her, we’re pretty sure she’s getting her Happily Ever After. I enjoyed the romance between Courtney and Edgeworth and I wanted to know what had happened in the past so they could settle down for the future. Despite that, I thought the ending was, honestly, a bit of a cop-out, and let me down after what otherwise was a very entertaining story. I enjoyed the book enough, though, to be interested in checking out Ms. Rigler’s next book, Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict, which takes Jane Mansfield into Courtney Stone’s life. I have a feeling that with both stories resolved, my qualms about the first book will fade away, and I will have the ending that I really, really want.
Recommended for a light, fun read, especially for lovers of Jane Austen or historical fiction.
Available from IndieBound, Powell’s, Amazon, and Amazon UK.
 From the inside cover of The Wilderness:
It’s Jake’s birthday. He is sitting in a small plane, being flown over the landscape that has been the backdrop to his life – his childhood, his marriage, his work, his passions. Now he is in his early sixties, and he isn’t quite the man he used to be. He has lost his wife, his son is in prison, and he is about to lose his past. Jake has Alzheimer’s.
This unusual novel, narrated by a man who is steadily losing his grip on reality, is a remarkable journey through the human mind and memory. I’ve never known anyone with Alzheimer’s, as it thankfully doesn’t run in my family (or they die too young), but if I had to guess what it would be like, this novel is it. Jake’s reality comes and goes; he finds his mind a total blank at times but usually he is just confused. He can’t remember if his daughter is alive or dead, why he is visiting this man in jail (his son), or who the woman sleeping next to him is, except in brief moments of clarity. He remembers his younger life the best and often has flashbacks to himself as a newlywed, in love with his wife, a successful architect, a new father. He can’t decide what is real and what he has imagined, or why some memories have significance and others don’t. In short, he is confused.
I’m not sure how I feel about this book. I wanted to love it more than I did, but I think it was too scary for me. I felt sorry for Jake and I just felt that the inevitability of his fate outweighed the beauty of the life that he had lived. It is powerful and it is moving and I suspect it has changed the way I will think about elderly people forever, but it’s also scary and depressing. This is the undeniable truth about what will happen to many of us if we live to be Jake’s age. He has lived a successful, mostly happy life, which he can piece together and remember gladly, but now he is losing that ability before he has even died. He boils the coffeepot dry, he can’t remember if he is supposed to eat eggshells, he forgets that he’s completed some part of therapy five minutes after it’s happened, and he doesn’t even know if his daughter is alive because he’s just remembered her older, and laughing, but at the same time he remembers her dead.
I do think that this is one of those important books that can open our minds to the suffering of others, one of those books that we should all read and think about. It reveals the wilderness that our brains can become as they lose so much in old age. I’m not going to lie though because it is heartbreaking and it is tough to read. It’s a worthy, worthy book, but it will make you cry.
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