Review: Forbidden

I am working my way down my list on Evernote of medieval romances (and regular fiction) and this one has been on my list for a while. For a medieval romance, the plot is relatively different.

The hero, Ranald, was discarded by his father to a monastery and became a monk, only to be told that he must leave the order to marry his twin brother’s betrothed after the brother dies. He is also a warrior as he was the monastery's protector. Different right?

The heroine, Catalin, is an English lady who was to marry future Scottish laird, Murdoch, and when he dies, Ranald. Imagine being told you are marrying a former monk who was just dragged from the monastery  and is deformed by scarring. How would you react?

This book grabs you as Ranald adapts to life on the outside, learns more about the woman he married and changes. Catalin has also had troubles adapting because she had a secret and did not know what to make out of the scarred twin.

Raik, Ranald’s cousin, is a great character and added some humor to the story,  which is great because the next book, Seduced, is his story.

I recommend this for being different and complex but yet a true love story.

Review: Instruments of Darkness

Part of what drew me to this book was the cover. Like wine, I do read some books by the cover, or at least the blurb on the cover.

Goodreads describes this book as:

In the year 1780, Harriet Westerman, the willful mistress of a country manor in Sussex, finds a dead man on her grounds with a ring bearing the crest of Thornleigh Hall in his pocket. Not one to be bound by convention or to shy away from adventure, she recruits a reclusive local anatomist named Gabriel Crowther to help her find the murderer, and historical suspense's newest investigative duo is born.

For years, Mrs. Westerman has sensed the menace of neighboring Thornleigh Hall, seat of the Earl of Sussex. It is the home of a once- great family that has been reduced to an ailing invalid, his whorish wife, and his alcoholic second son, a man haunted by his years spent as a redcoat in the Revolutionary War.

The same day, Alexander Adams is slain by an unknown killer in his London music shop, leaving his children orphaned. His death will lead back to Sussex, and to an explosive secret that has already destroyed one family and threatens many others.

Instruments of Darkness combines the brooding atmosphere of Anne Perry with the complex, compelling detail of Tess Gerritsen, moving from drawing room to dissecting room, from coffee house to country inn. Mrs. Westerman and Mr. Crowther are both razor-sharp minds and their personalities breathe spirit into this gripping historical mystery.

This story takes place in Sussex and London, England in the 1780s and has flashbacks to Boston during the Revolutionary War. Mrs. Harriet Westerman, a naval commander’s wife, finds a body of a man on her Sussex estate. She enlists the aid of anatomist Gabriel Crowther, who lives alone hiding his own secrets, to solve the murder. At the same time, the author tells the story of Alexander Adams, a music printer in London.

I like the rolls the townspeople played rolls in the story and you got to know the family dynamics of the local gentry.Imogene Robertson weaves the three stories together in a way that sucked me in and grabbed me. She had me turning the page and wanting more.

My only disappointment was by the last few chapters I had guessed who done it. Though, I was not disappointed enough not to want to read the subsequent book in the series, The Anatomy of Murder.

Review: Deathless

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Koschei the Deathless is to Russian folklore what devils or wicked witches are to European culture: a menacing, evil figure; the villain of countless stories which have been passed on through story and text for generations. But Koschei has never before been seen through the eyes of Catherynne Valente, whose modernized and transformed take on the legend brings the action to modern times, spanning many of the great developments of Russian history in the twentieth century.

Deathless, however, is no dry, historical tome: it lights up like fire as the young Marya Morevna transforms from a clever child of the revolution, to Koschei’s beautiful bride, to his eventual undoing. Along the way there are Stalinist house elves, magical quests, secrecy and bureaucracy, and games of lust and power. All told, Deathless is a collision of magical history and actual history, of revolution and mythology, of love and death, which will bring Russian myth back to life in a stunning new incarnation.

I loved this retelling of Russian folklore set around the time of Stalin and World War II. I knew nothing of Koschei and house elves prior to reading this book. Now I want to know more.

The heroine of the story, Marya Morevna, watched birds become men who came to claim her sisters as wives. She waited for the day a bird would come to claim her. Marya was able to communicate with the house elves, who like the outside world of Soviet Russia, has organized in committees.

Koschei, in the form of a bird, eventually comes for Marya  and thus begins her journey through the folklore of Russia intertwined with 20th Century Soviet history.

This book does not gloss over that history but it made me want to learn more about it it with Valente’s prose. I recommend this rewriting of a fairy tale.

Review: The Iron Daughter

I am 38 years old. Yes, I really liked The Iron Daughter, the 2nd book in The Iron Fey Series.

Meghan Chase, the half human and half faery teenager, is still in NeverNever with Puck, Grimalkin, the icy Prince Ash and my personal favorite, Ironhorse.

The book starts off with Meghan in the Unseelie Court and sort of abandoned and treated horribly by the icy Ash. Instead of getting mad at Ash, she gets weepy. Ash does come back to rescue Meghan after she witnesses a theft.

After she get away, they meet up with Puck and the charming Grimalkin, the cat. What saved this book from wallowing in Meghan’s Ash problem, was Ironhorse. This brash Iron Fey is the fey!

With Ironhorse back, I was sucked in. The team fights their way through battles. Meghan has internal Ash battles. The problem might be solved but might not be either.

I am ready to read the third book, The Iron Queen.

Review: A Man of Value

 

A Man of Value is book 2 of Anna Markland’s Montbryce Legacy and revolves around the hero of Book 1, Ram Montbryce’s illegitimate son, Caedmon Woolgar (I love these names, so different). Caedmon is a Saxon knight living in exile in Scotland and is injured in battle, where he is brought to a convent to be treated.

At the convent, he is nursed by Agneta Kirkthwaite, a novice and one thing leads to another and they fall for each other. Unfortunately, Caedmon was part of a raid that killed Agneta’s family. This puts a strain on things and continues as they try to be successful together.

As a follow up to the first book, this was a good second book. I connected with the characters who had faults, like all of us. It can be read as a stand alone book but book 1 gives some of the back story.

I have already bought book 3 of the series and I get further drawn into the world of medieval romances. 

Review: Conquering Passion

I have an admission to make. I have a slight addiction to medieval romances. How this came about, I don’t know but there it is.

From Goodreads:

What if William the Conqueror had appointed four Marcher Lords to control the Welsh border with England instead of three? What if the fourth was a man of honour and diplomacy, as well as a great warrior, a man who abhorred the cruelty and brutality that became the hallmark of the Conqueror’s reign? The marriage arranged for a hero of the Battle of Hastings, a man who prizes obedience in a wife, brings to his bed a willful, independent refugee with a huge dowry and an indomitable spirit to match. Can Ram de Montbryce and Mabelle de Valtesse find love as they lay the foundation of a powerful dynasty amid the turbulence and uncertainty of the Norman Conquest?

Mabelle, who spent six years moving around with her father from castle to castle after being banished from her home and Ram, the a future baron and earl, had an arranged marriage. Neither was especially keen on it but as was common, they made it work.

The author did research and I liked the history of the time of William the Conqueror that is explored in this book. As much as I can emphasize with people from 1,000 years ago, I liked the characters and I felt the problems the characters face seem realistic. The romance between the two felt right.

This was a good inexpensive Kindle download. I have already downloaded the next book in the series. 

I love history and romance and this one fit the bill.

 

Review: Among Others

Morwenna, a 15 year old in 1979, has been through the death of her twin and a mother who claims to be a witch. She is sent to live with her father and his sisters and she is promptly sent to a boarding school in England. She doesn’t fit in and loses herself in a world of science fiction books.

I was a child of the 70s and 80s.

While, I was younger then the heroine of the book, Morwenna, I still enjoyed the references in the book. I was also book obsessed as a teen ager, while not into science fiction and fantasy at the time, I was still eager to get into any book I could.

This book is full of references to books of Roger Zelazny, Ursula Le Guin and the Lord of the Rings books. I have not read any of them.

This coming of age story drew me in. Maybe it was my penchant to thinking of the past but I enjoyed it. It would definitely draw in the kid of today who is into science fiction and maybe a little bit nerdy.

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I am still trying to figure out the best way to review books. With descriptions? Without? Some sort of rating system? Hmmm….

Review: The Iron King

I am 38 years old and I like this book.

The synopsis from Goodreads:

Meghan Chase has a secret destiny; one she could never have imagined.

Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan's life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school or at home.

When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she's known is about to change.
But she could never have guessed the truth - that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she'll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil no faery creature dare face; and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.

This story drew me in. Meghan is a likeable teenager and sort of an outside, much like I was. Her good friend, Robbie,  is very protective but who doesn’t want a protective good friend?

The story picks up when strange things start to happen around the house and at school. Meghan soon discovers that she is the daughter of the king of the Seelie Court of faeries.

The journey begins and I have been sucked in for the ride. The friends of Meghan include some great characters, who are taken from stories like The Midsummer’s Night Dream and Alice in Wonderland.

My favorite has to be Grimilkin, a cait sidthe. Puck, Meghan’s friend and Ash, the wickedly handsome Ice Prince round out the group.

This book will take you to Neverneverland when you read it. You will want to continue with the next book, The Iron Daughter, after you finish.

I have already requested The Iron Daughter from the library.

This gets my approval.

Library Adventures: New Years

 

I love my public library. I can not stress how much I rely on it.  I take full advantage of the interlibrary loan from the Old Colony Library Network, which my library is a member of. I can request books in my pajamas using their website. I love it.

This week I am reading:

I have been reading this today and I am about half way through.

My great grandfather was in a Massachusetts state hospital in the mud 1950s and I was fascinated by this movie and the history involving my grandfather. I am looking forward to this.

Besides having one of my favorite covers in a while, I am about half way through this tale set in England and Wales in the 1970s.

I loved Dai Sijie’s other book, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress and I am hoping to this this as well.

I can’t resist a good World War II true story.

I also can’t resist folklore and this is of the Russian kind.

I will have a lot of happy reading this week!

Favorites of 2011

I will read almost anything you put in front of me but if I don't like it, I may not continue to read it.

Here are my favorite books I read in 2011.

1.. A Storm of Swords by George M. Martin

I flew through all of the books in the Song of Ice and Fire series. This is the 3rd book in the series and my favorite. I flew through the first 3 books wanting to devour them at once. This book was has lots of action, sometimes grim, and the story telling was great. I also read the last two books so far and they are not as good as the 3rd book. I started reading these before I knew about the TV show but I got HBO just to watch the show once I found out about it.

2. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

I am a huge fan of the Mental Floss blog. Ransom used to post unusual photographs of interesting looking people and I loved his posts so I had to read the book. This is a book about an American boy who goes to an island off of Wales after a tragedy and finds the home for peculiar children. It is a quick fun read with weird photos as well.

3. Bright's Passage by Josh Ritter

This book grew on me after I had finished it. I am still not quiet sure what to make of it but I love books that cause me to think. This was one of them. This was on my list to read because of my love of Josh Ritter's music. It is about a World War I army vet and his baby and a talking horse. I will let you read it and see what you think about it before I give my verdict.

4. Shadows and Strongholds by Elizabeth Chadwick

This was the first Elizabeth Chadwick book I read and I have read almost of the books she has written, out of all of them, it is my favorite. It is the story of Brunin FitzWarin and Hawise di Dinan during the reign of King Stephen. I loved the descriptions of life she writes about and the romance between Brunin and Hawise is sweet. It helps that the last name of the heroine is very similar to my own last name. 

5. The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simmons

Another book I could not put down. Alexander is one of my favorite leading men in books. The story takes place mostly in Leningrad during the siege by the Germans. The love story between Tatiana and Alexander wooed me. Of the three books in the series, this was by far my favorite.

6. Scribbling the Cat by Alexandra Fuller

This was a tough read. It is about a soldier of the war in then Rhodesia returning to the scene of the fighting years later. The author went with him on this voyage. I have read her other book, Don't Let's Go To The Dogs Tonight, which I liked and Africa, which I like to read about.

Welcome!

In the effort of keeping Losing the Shadow from being overwhelmed with all of the book talk I want to talk about, I have decided to start a whole new avenue for me to talk about one of my passions, reading.

Over the weekend, I will be fixing and working on the blog to get it up to speed.

Welcome to my world of reading!