by Marian Keyes
480 pages, Viking
Review by Kwana Jackson
In The Brightest Star in the Sky, Marian Keyes steps into the world of mystical realism with a spirit that flows through the apartment-dwelling at 66 Star Street. It travels through walls and floorboards and hovers around spying on folks like a cosmic peeping Tom while giving narrative in a countdown to something we don’t know.
You are not quite sure why this spirit is there but it’s a good way to see into the lives of the tenants of 66 Star Street, where nothing is quite as it seems on the surface.
Marian is a huge Chick Lit writing star and in this book, she breaks away from (though I would say she always has) the Chick Lit formula (If there really is one. We can argue about that later, folks.) This is a slightly dark and offbeat tale though told with Keyes’ always-charming wit.
There are a multitude of characters that are sometimes difficult to keep straight, but I enjoyed the way they played off each other in surprising interactions. In the beginning, you are not quite sure if they were all needed, but by the end you see how everyone is connected.
Like Matt and Maeve, the seemingly-perfect married couple whose perfection hides a dark secret that you can’t place but you know is there. Could even the perfect couple be broken?
Then there is Katie, the 40-year-old publicist, and her workaholic boyfriend Conell, who has trouble committing to her as much as he does to his career. I totally enjoyed how Katie was portrayed in the book as a real woman. Which you don’t see much. She was my favorite character because to me she wasn’t a character—just real.
Next is the chip on her shoulder, 20-something taxi driver Lydia, who is constantly at war with her Polish flatmates over the upkeep of the apartment. She has secrets of her own, which when revealed show so much about her drive and spirit.
Then there is Jemima, an 88-year-old psychic, and her foster son Fionn, who comes to stay with her while filming a pilot for a TV show. Now, too-pretty Fionn causes all sorts of heart vibrations with the ladies of the building.
So the spirit travels around going from person to person checking heart currents and vibrations which would seem a little pie in the sky and dull if the currents weren’t so off and fizzled out. There is so much to learn like: why do Matt and Maeve get all dressed up in sweatsuits to go to bed? What’s up with that?
And what’s the deal with Connell getting that picture hung for Katie’s birthday? How about Lydia? Does the girl know how to wash a dish? And as for Fionn what is the deal with all the herbs in his pocket?
There is a beautiful connection to karma and spirituality that I enjoyed here. Though it was not an easy read in the beginning, I found myself turning pages quickly at the end and being pleasantly surprised, which is not something that happens often.
If you are in the mood for a good Chick Lit read that is not like any Chick Lit you ever read befor. I say give The Brightest Star in the Sky a try.
Showing posts with label Kwana Jackson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kwana Jackson. Show all posts
May 27, 2010
January 29, 2010
COUNTESS OF SCANDAL
by Laurel McKee
368 pages, Grand Central Publishing--Historical Romance
Review by Kwana Jackson
I was thrilled when the mailman dropped off a surprise package of ARC’s from Hatchette Books and not just a pile of bills during a recent mail drop. And I was even more thrilled when in that batch was an ARC of Countess of Scandal by Laurel McKee. Full disclosure here: I had been looking forward to reading Countess of Scandal, since I’m a friend and fan of Laurel’s alter ego, author Amanda McCabe.
Here is the blurb for Countess of Scandal, which is book 1 in the Daughters of Erin Trilogy:
As children, Eliza Blacknall and William Denton ran wild over the fields of southern Ireland and swore they would be friends forever. Then fate took Will away to England, while Eliza stayed behind to become a proper Irish countess.
Years later, Will finally makes his way home-as an English soldier sent to crush the Irish uprising. When he spies the lovely Eliza, he is captivated by the passionate woman she has become. But Eliza's passions have led her to join the Irish rebel cause, and Will and Eliza now find themselves on opposite sides of a dangerous conflict.
When Ireland explodes in bloody rebellion, Will's regiment is ordered to the front lines, and he is forced to choose between his duty to the English king and his love for Eliza and their Irish homeland.
Now Ireland during a bloody rebellion may not seem like the most romantic setting for a book, but Ms. McKee did a wonderful job weaving romance and heartbreak with tenderness and beauty in this sweeping story.
Eliza is a strong-willed heroine brought up in privilege, but with a heart softened by patriotism and an intense compassion for her poor Irish countrymen. She also has a love for Will, the second son of an aristocrat who is bound by duty to his family and to England. He’s called to fight against the Irish rebels even though it means going against Eliza’s wishes and losing her love.
The story picks up when Will and Eliza meet again five years after Will bought a commission in the army despite Eliza’s feelings against it. Eliza is now grown and a widow, working in secret for the rebels, and Will is a major in the army representing everything that Eliza is fighting against. The trouble is, she can’t fully hate Will even as she tries so hard to.
Will is torn. He knows caring for Eliza is dangerous but he can’t help himself. He never stopped loving her and seeing her again only fuels the fire. Besides she needs him to keep her safe. Things are becoming more dangerous than ever and it’s no longer a secret what Eliza is up to as Will discovers she’s being watched by more than just him. He feels he has to get her to listen to reason and stop what she’s doing; all the while, Eliza is campaigning to get Will to see her way of things.
It seems the two can only agree on one thing, how passionately they love each other, both in the bedroom and out. They are a well matched pair. Will, the dashing solder, strong and determined, and Eliza, the beautiful Countess, but equally as strong and determined.
There are tense moments of intrigue and scary scenes of war, when the lovers and their families are running for their lives--a twist you don’t normally see in romances, but which I enjoyed, as it brought grounding and realism to the story.
There was also a very nice set-up for the next two books in the series, as there are many more battles to fight and Eliza has two other sisters, Anna and Caroline, to round out the trilogy.
I look forward to the next book in the series Duchess of Sin.
You can read more about The Daughters of Erin and Countess of Scandal here at: http://ammandamccabe.com/mckee/index.htm
All the best,
Kwana
368 pages, Grand Central Publishing--Historical Romance
Review by Kwana Jackson
I was thrilled when the mailman dropped off a surprise package of ARC’s from Hatchette Books and not just a pile of bills during a recent mail drop. And I was even more thrilled when in that batch was an ARC of Countess of Scandal by Laurel McKee. Full disclosure here: I had been looking forward to reading Countess of Scandal, since I’m a friend and fan of Laurel’s alter ego, author Amanda McCabe.
Here is the blurb for Countess of Scandal, which is book 1 in the Daughters of Erin Trilogy:
As children, Eliza Blacknall and William Denton ran wild over the fields of southern Ireland and swore they would be friends forever. Then fate took Will away to England, while Eliza stayed behind to become a proper Irish countess.
Years later, Will finally makes his way home-as an English soldier sent to crush the Irish uprising. When he spies the lovely Eliza, he is captivated by the passionate woman she has become. But Eliza's passions have led her to join the Irish rebel cause, and Will and Eliza now find themselves on opposite sides of a dangerous conflict.
When Ireland explodes in bloody rebellion, Will's regiment is ordered to the front lines, and he is forced to choose between his duty to the English king and his love for Eliza and their Irish homeland.
Now Ireland during a bloody rebellion may not seem like the most romantic setting for a book, but Ms. McKee did a wonderful job weaving romance and heartbreak with tenderness and beauty in this sweeping story.
Eliza is a strong-willed heroine brought up in privilege, but with a heart softened by patriotism and an intense compassion for her poor Irish countrymen. She also has a love for Will, the second son of an aristocrat who is bound by duty to his family and to England. He’s called to fight against the Irish rebels even though it means going against Eliza’s wishes and losing her love.
The story picks up when Will and Eliza meet again five years after Will bought a commission in the army despite Eliza’s feelings against it. Eliza is now grown and a widow, working in secret for the rebels, and Will is a major in the army representing everything that Eliza is fighting against. The trouble is, she can’t fully hate Will even as she tries so hard to.
Will is torn. He knows caring for Eliza is dangerous but he can’t help himself. He never stopped loving her and seeing her again only fuels the fire. Besides she needs him to keep her safe. Things are becoming more dangerous than ever and it’s no longer a secret what Eliza is up to as Will discovers she’s being watched by more than just him. He feels he has to get her to listen to reason and stop what she’s doing; all the while, Eliza is campaigning to get Will to see her way of things.
It seems the two can only agree on one thing, how passionately they love each other, both in the bedroom and out. They are a well matched pair. Will, the dashing solder, strong and determined, and Eliza, the beautiful Countess, but equally as strong and determined.
There are tense moments of intrigue and scary scenes of war, when the lovers and their families are running for their lives--a twist you don’t normally see in romances, but which I enjoyed, as it brought grounding and realism to the story.
There was also a very nice set-up for the next two books in the series, as there are many more battles to fight and Eliza has two other sisters, Anna and Caroline, to round out the trilogy.
I look forward to the next book in the series Duchess of Sin.
You can read more about The Daughters of Erin and Countess of Scandal here at: http://ammandamccabe.com/mckee/index.htm
All the best,
Kwana
January 8, 2010
THE WHITE QUEEN
The Cousins’ War Book I
by Philippa Gregory
432 pages, Touchstone
Review by Kwana Jackson
Like many others, I have long been a fan of Philippa Gregory, since The Other Boleyn Girl, in fact. In The White Queen, Ms. Gregory explores the family before the Tudors, The Plantagenets and The War of the Roses. Of course, in Gregory style it’s done through the eyes of the women who are supposedly in the background.
In The White Queen, the woman is Elizabeth Woodville of the House of Lancaster, who is newly widowed with two young sons. She’s a woman now, stripped of her wealth and lands since her now-dead husband was killed while on the wrong side of the war serving King Henry. Elizabeth has to do what she can and use what she has, her cunning and wiles, to get the land and wealth she needs in order to survive. She goes out to where she knows the new young conquering king will be passing with his army one day to plead her case. So starts their love affair, and with the help of her mother, Jacquetta, a subsequent secret marriage. This brings rise to the Lancaster family and the hatred of Warwick, the king’s most trusted advisor, and the man who has been controlling the king as ‘the kingmaker’ all these years.
The novel weaves in the story of Melisina, the water goddess, and it is legend that Elisabeth and her mother Jacquetta are decedents of this goddess and are also witches. The book does little to squelch these rumors, but instead encourages them and uses the magic as a sweet style device. I, knowing nothing much about the history, didn’t have a problem with it. Though it was never out-and-out said, and only thought of as legend, you did wonder by the end if they had some sort of mystical power.
With too many claimants to the throne, Edward, King Henry in capture, disloyal brothers, scheming cousins and waiting nephews, Elizabeth has to be cunning and sharp about everything she says and does. She truly does love her husband, the king, and has from the start. But though her mother taught her about love, she also taught her the realities of their life when she says early on in the book, “Death is our close companion.” Elizabeth knows she can trust almost no one, as each person is out for their own benefit and place in line for the throne. It’s constant turbulent times for her and even when she does finally give birth to sons to secure the royal line nothing is secure, as there are still those scheming against their safety and place of power.
It was nice to see the play of power that the women showed in this novel. Elizabeth, though she showed plenty of emotion and real depth of feeling, proved herself to be a strong heroine as did her mother Jacquetta. They would do anything for their children and their survival. They showed great love of their men but seemed to show greater love of their children and I enjoyed that aspect of the book.
It was refreshing to see the three generations of women interplay: Elizabeth Woodville, her mother Jacquetta and Elizabeth’s daughter, who grows up during the course of the story, and another player by the end. The women of this book prove themselves to be fighters though they could not pick up swords. Instead they used the only weapons they could, their minds and their words, and in those they proved themselves to be formidable adversaries of the men.
The book is only part one and ends rather abruptly to me. It still leaves many unanswered questions as to what will happen—with Elizabeth and her daughter Elizabeth, now nearly grown and a beauty, her secret son and her missing heir son—and what of the usurper King on the thrown now?
Yeah, Ms. Gregory has pulled me in, so I’m sure I’ll be picking up Book 2. Good job there.
Best,
Kwana
by Philippa Gregory
432 pages, Touchstone
Review by Kwana Jackson
Like many others, I have long been a fan of Philippa Gregory, since The Other Boleyn Girl, in fact. In The White Queen, Ms. Gregory explores the family before the Tudors, The Plantagenets and The War of the Roses. Of course, in Gregory style it’s done through the eyes of the women who are supposedly in the background.
In The White Queen, the woman is Elizabeth Woodville of the House of Lancaster, who is newly widowed with two young sons. She’s a woman now, stripped of her wealth and lands since her now-dead husband was killed while on the wrong side of the war serving King Henry. Elizabeth has to do what she can and use what she has, her cunning and wiles, to get the land and wealth she needs in order to survive. She goes out to where she knows the new young conquering king will be passing with his army one day to plead her case. So starts their love affair, and with the help of her mother, Jacquetta, a subsequent secret marriage. This brings rise to the Lancaster family and the hatred of Warwick, the king’s most trusted advisor, and the man who has been controlling the king as ‘the kingmaker’ all these years.
The novel weaves in the story of Melisina, the water goddess, and it is legend that Elisabeth and her mother Jacquetta are decedents of this goddess and are also witches. The book does little to squelch these rumors, but instead encourages them and uses the magic as a sweet style device. I, knowing nothing much about the history, didn’t have a problem with it. Though it was never out-and-out said, and only thought of as legend, you did wonder by the end if they had some sort of mystical power.
With too many claimants to the throne, Edward, King Henry in capture, disloyal brothers, scheming cousins and waiting nephews, Elizabeth has to be cunning and sharp about everything she says and does. She truly does love her husband, the king, and has from the start. But though her mother taught her about love, she also taught her the realities of their life when she says early on in the book, “Death is our close companion.” Elizabeth knows she can trust almost no one, as each person is out for their own benefit and place in line for the throne. It’s constant turbulent times for her and even when she does finally give birth to sons to secure the royal line nothing is secure, as there are still those scheming against their safety and place of power.
It was nice to see the play of power that the women showed in this novel. Elizabeth, though she showed plenty of emotion and real depth of feeling, proved herself to be a strong heroine as did her mother Jacquetta. They would do anything for their children and their survival. They showed great love of their men but seemed to show greater love of their children and I enjoyed that aspect of the book.
It was refreshing to see the three generations of women interplay: Elizabeth Woodville, her mother Jacquetta and Elizabeth’s daughter, who grows up during the course of the story, and another player by the end. The women of this book prove themselves to be fighters though they could not pick up swords. Instead they used the only weapons they could, their minds and their words, and in those they proved themselves to be formidable adversaries of the men.
The book is only part one and ends rather abruptly to me. It still leaves many unanswered questions as to what will happen—with Elizabeth and her daughter Elizabeth, now nearly grown and a beauty, her secret son and her missing heir son—and what of the usurper King on the thrown now?
Yeah, Ms. Gregory has pulled me in, so I’m sure I’ll be picking up Book 2. Good job there.
Best,
Kwana
December 25, 2009
FINGER LICKIN’ FIFTEEN
by Janet Evanovich
308 pages, St. Martin’s Press
Review by Kwana Jackson
Once again reluctant bounty hunter Stephanie Plum is back, in Janet Evanovich’s newest novel Finger Lickin’ Fifteen. I’ve been a fan of the Stephanie Plum series since her first: One for the Money, but I will admit to being Tardy for the Party with jumping on the Stephanie Plum bandwagon, having only come on the scene a few years ago.
I found Stephanie through a want of some fun “reading” material that I could walk to. See I was tired of the music on my iPod and my TBR (to be read) pile was out of control, so I thought I’d give audio books a try. Well, I was hooked on Stephanie from when I first hit play. These are just the types of books a person could lose themselves in while doing a not so fun chore like cleaning or exercising, since they’re so laugh-out-loud funny.
Here is the blurb for Finger Lickin’ Fifteen:
UNBUCKLE YOUR BELT AND PULL UP A CHAIR. IT'S THE SPICIEST, SAUCIEST, MOST RIB-STICKING PLUM YET.
Recipe for disaster:
Celebrity chef Stanley Chipotle comes to Trenton to participate in a barbecue cook-off and loses his head --literally.
Throw in some spice:
Bail bonds office worker Lula is witness to the crime, and the only one she’ll talk to is Trenton cop, Joe Morelli.
Pump up the heat:
Chipotle’s sponsor is offering a million dollar reward to anyone who can provide information leading to the capture of the killers.
Stir the pot:
Lula recruits bounty hunter Stephanie Plum to help her find the killers and collect the moolah.
Add a secret ingredient:
Stephanie Plum’s Grandma Mazur. Enough said.
Bring to a boil:
Stephanie Plum is working overtime tracking felons for the bonds office at night and snooping for security expert Carlos Manoso, A.K.A. Ranger, during the day. Can Stephanie hunt down two killers, a traitor, five skips, keep her grandmother out of the sauce, solve Ranger’s problems and not jump his bones?
Warning:
Habanero hot. So good you’ll want seconds.
I have to say, it must be hard for Ms. Evanovich to come up with a new plot for yet another Plum novel (we are up to 15), but once again she did. I was pleasantly surprised to see Lula, her ex-prostitute sidekick, get a starring role in this one. She gives it a funny and fresh new twist. Stephanie and Lula together are the Lucy and Ethel of hapless bounty hunters. If there’s a mishap to be found, they’ll find it. I also really enjoyed seeing how their friendship has grown over the series, and in this installment it’s clear.
It was the scenes with Lula that had me laughing out loud on my walks with the dog and while driving in my car (remember this is the audio book). In this book Lula clearly stole the show from the first moment she bursts into the bail bond’s office yelling for food to calm her nerves after witnessing a guy getting his head cut off. Literally cut off. Yes, Lula runs for food even before calling the cops.
Add to that mix the never-aging Grandma Mazur, some hilarious scenes with the neighborhood flasher and lots of bad barbeque, and you’ve got a real good time.
Then there is the ongoing love triangle between Stephanie, her on-again off-again cop boyfriend, Joe Morelli and the bad boy in black, Ranger. There are some steamy scenes which are full of frustration with Ranger and Stephanie that I would have loved to see go further. I would have also loved to see more confrontation between Stephanie, Joe and Ranger. Of course Stephanie can’t make an ultimate choice because I fear the series will go the way of Moonlighting if a final decision is made but I’d still like to see some more tension there.
But what it didn’t have in tension, it did have in fun. No one can turn a phrase like Evanovich, or blow up a car or set fire to something and make it all seem like just another day, but she does. No one gets whacked that doesn’t really deserve it and in the end you’re left with a satisfying read that feels like time spent visiting old friends or better yet, wacky dysfunctional relatives.
308 pages, St. Martin’s Press
Review by Kwana Jackson
Once again reluctant bounty hunter Stephanie Plum is back, in Janet Evanovich’s newest novel Finger Lickin’ Fifteen. I’ve been a fan of the Stephanie Plum series since her first: One for the Money, but I will admit to being Tardy for the Party with jumping on the Stephanie Plum bandwagon, having only come on the scene a few years ago.
I found Stephanie through a want of some fun “reading” material that I could walk to. See I was tired of the music on my iPod and my TBR (to be read) pile was out of control, so I thought I’d give audio books a try. Well, I was hooked on Stephanie from when I first hit play. These are just the types of books a person could lose themselves in while doing a not so fun chore like cleaning or exercising, since they’re so laugh-out-loud funny.
Here is the blurb for Finger Lickin’ Fifteen:
UNBUCKLE YOUR BELT AND PULL UP A CHAIR. IT'S THE SPICIEST, SAUCIEST, MOST RIB-STICKING PLUM YET.
Recipe for disaster:
Celebrity chef Stanley Chipotle comes to Trenton to participate in a barbecue cook-off and loses his head --literally.
Throw in some spice:
Bail bonds office worker Lula is witness to the crime, and the only one she’ll talk to is Trenton cop, Joe Morelli.
Pump up the heat:
Chipotle’s sponsor is offering a million dollar reward to anyone who can provide information leading to the capture of the killers.
Stir the pot:
Lula recruits bounty hunter Stephanie Plum to help her find the killers and collect the moolah.
Add a secret ingredient:
Stephanie Plum’s Grandma Mazur. Enough said.
Bring to a boil:
Stephanie Plum is working overtime tracking felons for the bonds office at night and snooping for security expert Carlos Manoso, A.K.A. Ranger, during the day. Can Stephanie hunt down two killers, a traitor, five skips, keep her grandmother out of the sauce, solve Ranger’s problems and not jump his bones?
Warning:
Habanero hot. So good you’ll want seconds.
I have to say, it must be hard for Ms. Evanovich to come up with a new plot for yet another Plum novel (we are up to 15), but once again she did. I was pleasantly surprised to see Lula, her ex-prostitute sidekick, get a starring role in this one. She gives it a funny and fresh new twist. Stephanie and Lula together are the Lucy and Ethel of hapless bounty hunters. If there’s a mishap to be found, they’ll find it. I also really enjoyed seeing how their friendship has grown over the series, and in this installment it’s clear.
It was the scenes with Lula that had me laughing out loud on my walks with the dog and while driving in my car (remember this is the audio book). In this book Lula clearly stole the show from the first moment she bursts into the bail bond’s office yelling for food to calm her nerves after witnessing a guy getting his head cut off. Literally cut off. Yes, Lula runs for food even before calling the cops.
Add to that mix the never-aging Grandma Mazur, some hilarious scenes with the neighborhood flasher and lots of bad barbeque, and you’ve got a real good time.
Then there is the ongoing love triangle between Stephanie, her on-again off-again cop boyfriend, Joe Morelli and the bad boy in black, Ranger. There are some steamy scenes which are full of frustration with Ranger and Stephanie that I would have loved to see go further. I would have also loved to see more confrontation between Stephanie, Joe and Ranger. Of course Stephanie can’t make an ultimate choice because I fear the series will go the way of Moonlighting if a final decision is made but I’d still like to see some more tension there.
But what it didn’t have in tension, it did have in fun. No one can turn a phrase like Evanovich, or blow up a car or set fire to something and make it all seem like just another day, but she does. No one gets whacked that doesn’t really deserve it and in the end you’re left with a satisfying read that feels like time spent visiting old friends or better yet, wacky dysfunctional relatives.
December 18, 2009
THE FLAME AND THE FLOWER
by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss
484 pages, Avon Historical Romance
This year my local New York Romance Writers of America chapter gave their Lifetime Achievement Award to the late Kathleen Woodiwiss and all the talk that night was about The Flame and The Flower, which is considered the genre’s first historical romance novel. Well, wasn’t my face flaming, being a huge historical romance lover and having to admit that I had never read The Flame and The Flower or any Kathleen Woodiwiss novels. I made a vow to do something about it.
So time goes by and finally I picked it up. Now I had been warned by a friend who had not read it that I may have an issue with a rapist hero and that I may not like the book for that reason, but I was determined to read it anyway. Hey, it’s a classic and I couldn’t have all this Flaming and Flowering talk going on around me and me not know what all the fuss was about.
Let’s start with the blurb from Amazon:
The Flower
Doomed to a life of unending toil, Heather Simmons fears for her innocence--until a shocking, desperate act forces her to flee. . . and to seek refuge in the arms of a virile and dangerous stranger.
The Flame
A lusty adventurer married to the sea, Captain Brandon Birmingham courts scorn and peril when he abducts the beautiful fugitive from the tumultuous London dockside. But no power on Earth can compel him to relinquish his exquisite prize. For he is determined to make the sapphire-eyed lovely his woman...and to carry her off to far, uncharted realms of sensuous, passionate love.
Well now. There is a sweeping story for you. A big fat story the likes of which you don’t see much of lately. It was first published in 1972, so I tried to take myself out of my 2009 ‘I’m Every Woman’ mind set and put myself in the head of a 1972 housewife or maybe a hip Charlie girl as I read this story. It was not easy.
The story opens with Heather, a beautiful, gentle girl who was once high and is now low. She is an orphan living with her brutal aunt and hapless uncle. Heather is like a sad Cinderella until she is taken away, supposedly to a better life, by her aunt’s brother. Of course not. Life can’t be that good for Heather. But that doesn’t stop her from hoping or being naive.
When she’s attacked (sure, we all saw that one coming) she’s forced to flee for her life and ends up on the docks where she is mistaken for a prostitute and taken back to Captain Brandon Birmingham, our hero.
Now here is where things get dicey. The Captain is slightly drunk, and thinking she’s his evening delight, and Heather is, well, Heather, and thinking he’s the law out to arrest her. On a ship? I know, she doesn’t get out much. Long story short, Brandon mistakenly rapes Heather (um, how’d that happen?) and now has to hold her captive.
I mean, I like my heroes to be alpha, but Brandon went over the top. Once the hero rapes the heroine, it brings the teeth-gnashing term “bodice ripper” to another level. But this is what the book was, a bodice ripper through and through. (All I could think of was the amount of money wasted on fabric. Yeesh.) And Brandon ripped and ripped and was not all that ashamed of it. But Brandon has an excuse in his own mind for each rip. Made me want to throw the book, or better yet him across the room, but I didn’t, I kept reading.
Then there was Heather. Long-suffering Heather. So many times I wanted to shake her or follow her around yelling in her ear like at a bad horror movie actress from the 70’s. “Don’t go there!” “He’s in the closet!” “Stay away from the light!”
Heather had the ability to make me a little bit crazy, but still I ending up rooting for her. And I was thrilled when she would show a glimmer of gumption. Small rebellions and standing up when it counted. I kept turning the pages to see how she would triumph over all her adversities. I also knew I had to get past my own want for her to stand up and fight in certain ways that she could not for that time (both the story time and the time the book was written), and hope it would all work out in the end.
And how did I really want it to work out? Did I really want Heather with Brandon, this ultra alpha who seemed to not have any remorse and was only hell-bent on making her his? I kind of did. Somehow Ms. Woodiwiss wrote a story in such a well-crafted way that I was hooked from the beginning. Flipping the pages faster and faster to try and see how she would get these two together in the end.
How could she redeem Brandon enough to make me want anyone with him, let alone poor Heather? And how could I even like Heather when she did all the things that I or any woman I’ve ever known would never do? Well, she did pull it off.
Somehow, from England to South Carolina, one baby, two years, a few murders and some wild accents later, it all worked out for me and I was left with a story that really touched me. A real classic Bodice Ripper.
Best,
Kwana
http://www.kwanawrites.blogspot.com/
Sidebar: Just because the term Bodice Ripper was used here. Please don’t feel free to banter it around with any newer romances that don’t apply. Really folks. That’s plain lazy. Just my opinion.
484 pages, Avon Historical Romance
This year my local New York Romance Writers of America chapter gave their Lifetime Achievement Award to the late Kathleen Woodiwiss and all the talk that night was about The Flame and The Flower, which is considered the genre’s first historical romance novel. Well, wasn’t my face flaming, being a huge historical romance lover and having to admit that I had never read The Flame and The Flower or any Kathleen Woodiwiss novels. I made a vow to do something about it.
So time goes by and finally I picked it up. Now I had been warned by a friend who had not read it that I may have an issue with a rapist hero and that I may not like the book for that reason, but I was determined to read it anyway. Hey, it’s a classic and I couldn’t have all this Flaming and Flowering talk going on around me and me not know what all the fuss was about.
Let’s start with the blurb from Amazon:
The Flower
Doomed to a life of unending toil, Heather Simmons fears for her innocence--until a shocking, desperate act forces her to flee. . . and to seek refuge in the arms of a virile and dangerous stranger.
The Flame
A lusty adventurer married to the sea, Captain Brandon Birmingham courts scorn and peril when he abducts the beautiful fugitive from the tumultuous London dockside. But no power on Earth can compel him to relinquish his exquisite prize. For he is determined to make the sapphire-eyed lovely his woman...and to carry her off to far, uncharted realms of sensuous, passionate love.
Well now. There is a sweeping story for you. A big fat story the likes of which you don’t see much of lately. It was first published in 1972, so I tried to take myself out of my 2009 ‘I’m Every Woman’ mind set and put myself in the head of a 1972 housewife or maybe a hip Charlie girl as I read this story. It was not easy.
The story opens with Heather, a beautiful, gentle girl who was once high and is now low. She is an orphan living with her brutal aunt and hapless uncle. Heather is like a sad Cinderella until she is taken away, supposedly to a better life, by her aunt’s brother. Of course not. Life can’t be that good for Heather. But that doesn’t stop her from hoping or being naive.
When she’s attacked (sure, we all saw that one coming) she’s forced to flee for her life and ends up on the docks where she is mistaken for a prostitute and taken back to Captain Brandon Birmingham, our hero.
Now here is where things get dicey. The Captain is slightly drunk, and thinking she’s his evening delight, and Heather is, well, Heather, and thinking he’s the law out to arrest her. On a ship? I know, she doesn’t get out much. Long story short, Brandon mistakenly rapes Heather (um, how’d that happen?) and now has to hold her captive.
I mean, I like my heroes to be alpha, but Brandon went over the top. Once the hero rapes the heroine, it brings the teeth-gnashing term “bodice ripper” to another level. But this is what the book was, a bodice ripper through and through. (All I could think of was the amount of money wasted on fabric. Yeesh.) And Brandon ripped and ripped and was not all that ashamed of it. But Brandon has an excuse in his own mind for each rip. Made me want to throw the book, or better yet him across the room, but I didn’t, I kept reading.
Then there was Heather. Long-suffering Heather. So many times I wanted to shake her or follow her around yelling in her ear like at a bad horror movie actress from the 70’s. “Don’t go there!” “He’s in the closet!” “Stay away from the light!”
Heather had the ability to make me a little bit crazy, but still I ending up rooting for her. And I was thrilled when she would show a glimmer of gumption. Small rebellions and standing up when it counted. I kept turning the pages to see how she would triumph over all her adversities. I also knew I had to get past my own want for her to stand up and fight in certain ways that she could not for that time (both the story time and the time the book was written), and hope it would all work out in the end.
And how did I really want it to work out? Did I really want Heather with Brandon, this ultra alpha who seemed to not have any remorse and was only hell-bent on making her his? I kind of did. Somehow Ms. Woodiwiss wrote a story in such a well-crafted way that I was hooked from the beginning. Flipping the pages faster and faster to try and see how she would get these two together in the end.
How could she redeem Brandon enough to make me want anyone with him, let alone poor Heather? And how could I even like Heather when she did all the things that I or any woman I’ve ever known would never do? Well, she did pull it off.
Somehow, from England to South Carolina, one baby, two years, a few murders and some wild accents later, it all worked out for me and I was left with a story that really touched me. A real classic Bodice Ripper.
Best,
Kwana
http://www.kwanawrites.blogspot.com/
Sidebar: Just because the term Bodice Ripper was used here. Please don’t feel free to banter it around with any newer romances that don’t apply. Really folks. That’s plain lazy. Just my opinion.
December 4, 2009
THE BELIEVERS
by Zoe Heller
352 pages, Harper
Review by Kwana Jackson
In THE BELIEVERS, author Zoe Heller of WHAT WAS SHE THINKING?: NOTES ON A SCANDAL successfully blends family saga with political commentary.
I chose THE BELIEVERS to read because it was a Twitter Book Club pick and seemed interesting for my own book group. I was all ready to get it from the library when I made a twitter comment and won a copy of the book. Lucky me, and loving the Twitter Book Club at The Book Studio http://www.thebookstudio.com/twitterbookclub .
The novel opens with 18-year-old Audrey, a typist at a cocktail party in 1962. Glimpses of her character are instantly shown as she caustically assesses the party-goers from a distance. A young American lawyer named Joel Litvinoff catches her eye as he brags about doing legal work for Dr. Martin Luther King. And Audrey catches him right back, showing that she’s not a girl to be hidden in the background.
Fast forward forty years and the couple are living in their Greenwich Village Brownstone and are now the parents of three grown children.
Joel, 72, is now a famous civil rights attorney and big defender of leftists. He’s about to embark on a case where he’s defending a suspected terrorist when he suffers a stroke. As he lies in a coma Audrey, the family matriarch with a quick temper and a foul mouth to match, has to now deal with everyday life without Joel, when he was the center of her life for so many years. As Joel clings to life, Audrey has to come to terms with the dysfunction in her family and Joel’s past infidelities.
So much has been said about THE BELIEVERS being a book with unlikeable characters, but I found it just the opposite. The fact that the characters are so flawed made me like them even more. Heller didn’t go for the “make your character sympathetic” in order to give the readers something to relate to. At least not in any obvious way. But there was something to sympathize about with each main character.
There is Audrey, who has been called one of the most unlikeable characters in recent history, and she was, but in the most delicious and likable way. I couldn’t wait to turn the next page to see what zinger she’d ding out next. It was as if she had no PC filter and you were cringing in the best of the worst kinds of ways. Everything Audrey says she states as fact because she believes that she is somehow smarter than the rest of the world. Her and Joel’s entire existence has been to the betterment of the less fortunate i.e. less educated. It’s all about the enlightenment y’all.
Next is Rosa, the oldest daughter who was brought up an atheist, but longs to learn about her Jewish heritage—or is she just rebelling against everything she was taught by her parents? She and her mother seem the most alike and can’t share two sentences without it turning into an argument. She works with underprivileged girls that she can help but judge more than she cares for them.
Then there’s Karla, the downtrodden middle child. An overweight social worker, she’s married to a controlling union organizer who treats her with little respect, pretty much the same way everyone in her family always has. But Karla is the peacemaker, and instead of lashing out she eats her feelings away. That is until she meets Khaled, an Egyptian immigrant who runs the newsstand in the hospitals when she works, and once he lavishes her with the attention that she gets nowhere else Karla sees her chance at happiness.
The last child is Lenny. He’s the most frustrating character. The adopted son of Audrey and Joel and clearly the most loved by Audrey, Lenny is a do-nothing, drug addicted free-loader who is the only one able to find a way into the cold heart of Audrey. It’s interesting the way Heller proposes it. In Lenny, it’s like Audrey has no real responsibility for his faults because she didn’t birth him. Something to give pause. Maybe that’s why it is so easy for her to always forgive Lenny and keep taking him back, and why she constantly finds fault with her own birth children. In them she finds fault with herself.
The book follows Audrey, Rosa, Karla and Lenny as they deal with Joel’s coma and deteriorating health. Audrey also has to deal with the possibility of life without Joel and the realization that he may have been unfaithful. Rosa has to answer her questions of faith. Karla has to figure out her ailing marriage while trying to be the peacemaker in the family. And Lenny is dealing with his drug addiction and the idea of staying with what’s easy and comfortable or growing up and striking out on his own.
Through all this Heller takes a sharp look at religion, politics, the class struggle and the idea of elitism while mixing it with passion and family drama. THE BELIEVERS is one of the top books I’ve read this year. Will you be a Believer?
Best,
Kwana
http://www.kwanawrites.blogspot.com/
352 pages, Harper
Review by Kwana Jackson
In THE BELIEVERS, author Zoe Heller of WHAT WAS SHE THINKING?: NOTES ON A SCANDAL successfully blends family saga with political commentary.
I chose THE BELIEVERS to read because it was a Twitter Book Club pick and seemed interesting for my own book group. I was all ready to get it from the library when I made a twitter comment and won a copy of the book. Lucky me, and loving the Twitter Book Club at The Book Studio http://www.thebookstudio.com/twitterbookclub .
The novel opens with 18-year-old Audrey, a typist at a cocktail party in 1962. Glimpses of her character are instantly shown as she caustically assesses the party-goers from a distance. A young American lawyer named Joel Litvinoff catches her eye as he brags about doing legal work for Dr. Martin Luther King. And Audrey catches him right back, showing that she’s not a girl to be hidden in the background.
Fast forward forty years and the couple are living in their Greenwich Village Brownstone and are now the parents of three grown children.
Joel, 72, is now a famous civil rights attorney and big defender of leftists. He’s about to embark on a case where he’s defending a suspected terrorist when he suffers a stroke. As he lies in a coma Audrey, the family matriarch with a quick temper and a foul mouth to match, has to now deal with everyday life without Joel, when he was the center of her life for so many years. As Joel clings to life, Audrey has to come to terms with the dysfunction in her family and Joel’s past infidelities.
So much has been said about THE BELIEVERS being a book with unlikeable characters, but I found it just the opposite. The fact that the characters are so flawed made me like them even more. Heller didn’t go for the “make your character sympathetic” in order to give the readers something to relate to. At least not in any obvious way. But there was something to sympathize about with each main character.
There is Audrey, who has been called one of the most unlikeable characters in recent history, and she was, but in the most delicious and likable way. I couldn’t wait to turn the next page to see what zinger she’d ding out next. It was as if she had no PC filter and you were cringing in the best of the worst kinds of ways. Everything Audrey says she states as fact because she believes that she is somehow smarter than the rest of the world. Her and Joel’s entire existence has been to the betterment of the less fortunate i.e. less educated. It’s all about the enlightenment y’all.
Next is Rosa, the oldest daughter who was brought up an atheist, but longs to learn about her Jewish heritage—or is she just rebelling against everything she was taught by her parents? She and her mother seem the most alike and can’t share two sentences without it turning into an argument. She works with underprivileged girls that she can help but judge more than she cares for them.
Then there’s Karla, the downtrodden middle child. An overweight social worker, she’s married to a controlling union organizer who treats her with little respect, pretty much the same way everyone in her family always has. But Karla is the peacemaker, and instead of lashing out she eats her feelings away. That is until she meets Khaled, an Egyptian immigrant who runs the newsstand in the hospitals when she works, and once he lavishes her with the attention that she gets nowhere else Karla sees her chance at happiness.
The last child is Lenny. He’s the most frustrating character. The adopted son of Audrey and Joel and clearly the most loved by Audrey, Lenny is a do-nothing, drug addicted free-loader who is the only one able to find a way into the cold heart of Audrey. It’s interesting the way Heller proposes it. In Lenny, it’s like Audrey has no real responsibility for his faults because she didn’t birth him. Something to give pause. Maybe that’s why it is so easy for her to always forgive Lenny and keep taking him back, and why she constantly finds fault with her own birth children. In them she finds fault with herself.
The book follows Audrey, Rosa, Karla and Lenny as they deal with Joel’s coma and deteriorating health. Audrey also has to deal with the possibility of life without Joel and the realization that he may have been unfaithful. Rosa has to answer her questions of faith. Karla has to figure out her ailing marriage while trying to be the peacemaker in the family. And Lenny is dealing with his drug addiction and the idea of staying with what’s easy and comfortable or growing up and striking out on his own.
Through all this Heller takes a sharp look at religion, politics, the class struggle and the idea of elitism while mixing it with passion and family drama. THE BELIEVERS is one of the top books I’ve read this year. Will you be a Believer?
Best,
Kwana
http://www.kwanawrites.blogspot.com/
November 20, 2009
TO DESIRE A DEVIL
by Elizabeth Hoyt
Vision (pubisher)
Review by Kwana Jackson
Haters beware. I adore romance. I read it, I watch it at the movies and I even attempt to write it. So have you read any romance? How about historical romance? Okay, if you’re a friend of mine or coming over from my blog maybe you have. But we here at Booksquawk review all different genres and that is what makes us so exciting. So if you’re, say, a thriller lover, this type of review may be new to you. Hang in there, you’ll make it through and hopefully pick up a great new read.
I’ve long been a ridonkulous Elizabeth Hoyt fan, since a friend handed me her well-read copy of THE LEOPARD PRINCE from her Princess Trilogy back in 2007. The love story between Georgiana and Harry touched me like no other that year and it was a hella sexy book. But more than anything it was the smooth, lyrical and slightly spell-weaving style to Ms. Hoyt’s writing that really pulled me in. Though it was the second book in the series, I had to quickly grab book 1. After that I couldn’t wait to get my hands on book 3. Ms. Hoyt did not disappoint.
So I was thrilled when her Legend of the Four Soldiers Series started with TO TASTE TEMPTATION in May of 2008. This historical romance series follows soldiers as they return to England from a war in the colonies after facing a horrific betrayal by what they think is one of their own and many in their company are massacred.
Now finally book 4, the final one in the series, has come out and fans are either rejoicing or terribly sad the world over. Me, I’m quite happy because: 1. I was surprised to get an advance copy in the mail so yay to that and 2. I love a happy ending and can’t wait to see what Ms. Hoyt comes up with for her next idea.
TO DESIRE A DEVIL (Don’t you love that title? Don’t you wish you thought of it?) Book 4 is the story of the long-thought-dead Reynaud St. Aubyn “Viscount Hope” and Beatrice Corning, a relation distant enough that it’s of no consequence to their intense attraction. Either way, it’s 1765 and she’s not a blood relative, so no matter. But really, she’s the niece of the present earl that living in his house and holding what he considers his stolen title.
Poor Beatrice’s life is ever so dull, political teas by day, and nights spent wandering the halls of her great house mooning over a dead relative’s handsome portraits, but when the supposedly dead Reynaud charges into the latest tea looking very much like a wild savage with a dangling earring, spouting in French and then he literally collapses at her feet, life takes an interesting turn.
Turns out it’s no simple, “yay the Viscount is home, long live the Viscount!” type of thing. The problem is he looks very different from the young man that went off to war and the only person who recognizes or wants to recognize the man beneath the hair and (gasp) face tattoos is Beatrice. How could she not recognize those dark eyes that she stared at for so long from the portrait?
But then there’s the question of Reynaud’s sanity, which is sketchy at best. He’s a man who’s been traumatized. Held captive by Indians all these years, he’s had to fight for survival and he’s brought that survival instinct back home with him to England in the form of poorly-timed flashbacks. But it’s a good thing he’s ready to fight, since his arrival home draws out the traitor, and now Reynaud finds his life, as well as Beatrice’s, is in danger. He’s back under attack.
Dang it.
I enjoyed the chemistry between Beatrice and Jeremy. There was a nice reverse Taming of the Shrew/Beauty and the Beast thing going on here. Beatrice, an unmarried woman of four and twenty, had to show her metal plenty of times as she tangled with Reynaud and he snarled and was generally intimidating, keeping a knife by his side at all times. Luckily, he’s darned sexy, otherwise why stay around and put up with all that crap? Oh yeah, she and her uncle need a home and he’s so tormented. So she hangs in there to see if she can get to the heart of the man inside.
Reynaud’s captivity and torment make this book and hero different. He’s really seen some things and been through a lot. Torture, forced slavery—all not easy stuff to get over—so you can forgive him his erratic outbursts and subsequent tight hold on his emotions. I could have even seen a bit more of this.
The love scenes are lovely indeed and quite sexy. They also help to bring the growing romance forward as Beatrice convinces Reynaud to trust her with his emotions and with sharing his past.
Ms. Hoyt brings back the old favorites in this book, as the chase is on to finally bring the traitor down. All in all, TO DESIRE A DEVIL was a satisfying ending to a lovely series and I’m looking forward to what’s next from Ms. Hoyt.
Best,
Kwana
http://www.kwanawrites.blogspot.com/
Vision (pubisher)
Review by Kwana Jackson
Haters beware. I adore romance. I read it, I watch it at the movies and I even attempt to write it. So have you read any romance? How about historical romance? Okay, if you’re a friend of mine or coming over from my blog maybe you have. But we here at Booksquawk review all different genres and that is what makes us so exciting. So if you’re, say, a thriller lover, this type of review may be new to you. Hang in there, you’ll make it through and hopefully pick up a great new read.
I’ve long been a ridonkulous Elizabeth Hoyt fan, since a friend handed me her well-read copy of THE LEOPARD PRINCE from her Princess Trilogy back in 2007. The love story between Georgiana and Harry touched me like no other that year and it was a hella sexy book. But more than anything it was the smooth, lyrical and slightly spell-weaving style to Ms. Hoyt’s writing that really pulled me in. Though it was the second book in the series, I had to quickly grab book 1. After that I couldn’t wait to get my hands on book 3. Ms. Hoyt did not disappoint.
So I was thrilled when her Legend of the Four Soldiers Series started with TO TASTE TEMPTATION in May of 2008. This historical romance series follows soldiers as they return to England from a war in the colonies after facing a horrific betrayal by what they think is one of their own and many in their company are massacred.
Now finally book 4, the final one in the series, has come out and fans are either rejoicing or terribly sad the world over. Me, I’m quite happy because: 1. I was surprised to get an advance copy in the mail so yay to that and 2. I love a happy ending and can’t wait to see what Ms. Hoyt comes up with for her next idea.
TO DESIRE A DEVIL (Don’t you love that title? Don’t you wish you thought of it?) Book 4 is the story of the long-thought-dead Reynaud St. Aubyn “Viscount Hope” and Beatrice Corning, a relation distant enough that it’s of no consequence to their intense attraction. Either way, it’s 1765 and she’s not a blood relative, so no matter. But really, she’s the niece of the present earl that living in his house and holding what he considers his stolen title.
Poor Beatrice’s life is ever so dull, political teas by day, and nights spent wandering the halls of her great house mooning over a dead relative’s handsome portraits, but when the supposedly dead Reynaud charges into the latest tea looking very much like a wild savage with a dangling earring, spouting in French and then he literally collapses at her feet, life takes an interesting turn.
Turns out it’s no simple, “yay the Viscount is home, long live the Viscount!” type of thing. The problem is he looks very different from the young man that went off to war and the only person who recognizes or wants to recognize the man beneath the hair and (gasp) face tattoos is Beatrice. How could she not recognize those dark eyes that she stared at for so long from the portrait?
But then there’s the question of Reynaud’s sanity, which is sketchy at best. He’s a man who’s been traumatized. Held captive by Indians all these years, he’s had to fight for survival and he’s brought that survival instinct back home with him to England in the form of poorly-timed flashbacks. But it’s a good thing he’s ready to fight, since his arrival home draws out the traitor, and now Reynaud finds his life, as well as Beatrice’s, is in danger. He’s back under attack.
Dang it.
I enjoyed the chemistry between Beatrice and Jeremy. There was a nice reverse Taming of the Shrew/Beauty and the Beast thing going on here. Beatrice, an unmarried woman of four and twenty, had to show her metal plenty of times as she tangled with Reynaud and he snarled and was generally intimidating, keeping a knife by his side at all times. Luckily, he’s darned sexy, otherwise why stay around and put up with all that crap? Oh yeah, she and her uncle need a home and he’s so tormented. So she hangs in there to see if she can get to the heart of the man inside.
Reynaud’s captivity and torment make this book and hero different. He’s really seen some things and been through a lot. Torture, forced slavery—all not easy stuff to get over—so you can forgive him his erratic outbursts and subsequent tight hold on his emotions. I could have even seen a bit more of this.
The love scenes are lovely indeed and quite sexy. They also help to bring the growing romance forward as Beatrice convinces Reynaud to trust her with his emotions and with sharing his past.
Ms. Hoyt brings back the old favorites in this book, as the chase is on to finally bring the traitor down. All in all, TO DESIRE A DEVIL was a satisfying ending to a lovely series and I’m looking forward to what’s next from Ms. Hoyt.
Best,
Kwana
http://www.kwanawrites.blogspot.com/
November 6, 2009
ACCORDING TO JANE
by Marilyn Brant
Kensington Books
Review by Kwana Jackson
WWJD? No, I’m not talking about Him here (no bumper stickers), I’m talking about Jane. Jane Austen to be exact. In the debut novel by Marilyn Brant, the author attempts to answer the question: ‘What Would Jane Do?’ for one Mid-Western woman who’s been looking for love in all the wrong places.
Ok, full disclosure here for the FTC and just to get myself into practice for December. I won this book from Marilyn on her blog along with a free sample of Starbucks new instant coffee (yes, I can taste the difference). Whew. I feel cleansed. Now back to the review.
ACCORDING TO JANE felt like a delightful mix of part Pride and Prejudice, part Ally McBeal with a little bit of High Fidelity thrown in. Discuss… as the main characters Jane and Ellie would say.
Just when you think you’ve had Austen up the wazoo and up to here with fan fiction out comes something different, refreshing and, well, charming.
It all starts in Ellie Barnett’s high school English Lit class when she opens an assigned copy of Pride and Prejudice while being flirted with by her secret crush and constant nemesis, Sam, and she suddenly hears the ‘tsk’ of Jane Austen giving her an ominous Mr. Wickham warning in her head. Is Ellie going batty? Maybe. But there starts a twenty year relationship between Ellie, Jane and all the men in her life. And thankfully there are quite a few.
Brant tells an endearing story that takes you back to the heart wrenching days of adolescence, through the coming of age of college and beyond, and she gives you the soundtrack to boot. She smoothly takes you from the past to the present on a ride that you are happy to be on.
You see, Ellie is living with Jane in her head: her own angel on her shoulder who she welcomes but at times would maybe like to give a little swat. Jane freely gives dating, family and even fashion advice all in a highly elevated Regency tone that was fun to read against Ellie’s modern style.
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” -Pride and Prejudice
Riiight. I found myself smiling and laughing while reading this book and my heart breaking at times for dear Ellie, who is endearing and vulnerable without being overly sappy. She is a heroine you can root for because you see a lot of yourself in her. She goes at life with her eyes wide open but still it somehow knocks her around. Who hasn’t played that song and had it on repeat a few times?
Ultimately, this is a story of growth, friendship and love. You might wonder just how far a person can be friends with the spirit in their head, but, hey, by the end of the book (well, long before), the spirit of Jane was a well formed character for me. The conversations between Jane and Ellie felt natural, and I found myself wanting to join in. Beethoven versus The Beastie Boys? How fun. It was also great to see Brant exploring a certain amount of vulnerability in the almost unflappable Jane character and sprinkling in a bit of history without being overbearing.
I say, Austen fan or not, give this sweet and at times wickedly sexy book a try.
Best,
Kwana
http://www.kwanawrites.blogspot.com/
Kensington Books
Review by Kwana Jackson
WWJD? No, I’m not talking about Him here (no bumper stickers), I’m talking about Jane. Jane Austen to be exact. In the debut novel by Marilyn Brant, the author attempts to answer the question: ‘What Would Jane Do?’ for one Mid-Western woman who’s been looking for love in all the wrong places.
Ok, full disclosure here for the FTC and just to get myself into practice for December. I won this book from Marilyn on her blog along with a free sample of Starbucks new instant coffee (yes, I can taste the difference). Whew. I feel cleansed. Now back to the review.
ACCORDING TO JANE felt like a delightful mix of part Pride and Prejudice, part Ally McBeal with a little bit of High Fidelity thrown in. Discuss… as the main characters Jane and Ellie would say.
Just when you think you’ve had Austen up the wazoo and up to here with fan fiction out comes something different, refreshing and, well, charming.
It all starts in Ellie Barnett’s high school English Lit class when she opens an assigned copy of Pride and Prejudice while being flirted with by her secret crush and constant nemesis, Sam, and she suddenly hears the ‘tsk’ of Jane Austen giving her an ominous Mr. Wickham warning in her head. Is Ellie going batty? Maybe. But there starts a twenty year relationship between Ellie, Jane and all the men in her life. And thankfully there are quite a few.
Brant tells an endearing story that takes you back to the heart wrenching days of adolescence, through the coming of age of college and beyond, and she gives you the soundtrack to boot. She smoothly takes you from the past to the present on a ride that you are happy to be on.
You see, Ellie is living with Jane in her head: her own angel on her shoulder who she welcomes but at times would maybe like to give a little swat. Jane freely gives dating, family and even fashion advice all in a highly elevated Regency tone that was fun to read against Ellie’s modern style.
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” -Pride and Prejudice
Riiight. I found myself smiling and laughing while reading this book and my heart breaking at times for dear Ellie, who is endearing and vulnerable without being overly sappy. She is a heroine you can root for because you see a lot of yourself in her. She goes at life with her eyes wide open but still it somehow knocks her around. Who hasn’t played that song and had it on repeat a few times?
Ultimately, this is a story of growth, friendship and love. You might wonder just how far a person can be friends with the spirit in their head, but, hey, by the end of the book (well, long before), the spirit of Jane was a well formed character for me. The conversations between Jane and Ellie felt natural, and I found myself wanting to join in. Beethoven versus The Beastie Boys? How fun. It was also great to see Brant exploring a certain amount of vulnerability in the almost unflappable Jane character and sprinkling in a bit of history without being overbearing.
I say, Austen fan or not, give this sweet and at times wickedly sexy book a try.
Best,
Kwana
http://www.kwanawrites.blogspot.com/
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