Review: Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris

I discovered the Sookie Stackhouse series (Southern Vampire Mysteries) last fall and whizzed through 11 of the novels. They were pure fun to read and not my usual fare. I recall I was in "the curve" of the semester, where the newness had worn off, and I needed a mental snack break. The Sookie Stackhouse series was just the pick-me-up I needed.

Heretofore, the mystery in each story has held my attention. But in Deadlocked the mystery lagged a bit. The who-done-it was obvious and the suspense of watching the culprit outed wasn't as suspenseful as I'd liked. Sookie's relationship status didn't help much either. She's waiting for him to commit. He's waiting for her to commit. Lots of distrust. The novel is aptly named -- Deadlocked. Everyone is waiting for someone else to make the first move.

Several story lines fizzle out in this novel which makes for a downer read. Many of my favorite characters do put in appearances so that was nice. And Harris' writing style is fluid and makes for an easy, fun reading experience. There were answers in this novel but few conclusions...I guess that's why it's a series!

If you like Southern Vampire stories I recommend the series. Neither romance nor mystery are my usual reading choices but I have enjoyed Harris' characters and sense of humor and have picked up a few books  from her other mystery series (non-vampire related) to read.

Publisher: Ace, 2012     Pages: 336
Rating: 3 Stars     Source: public library

Review: North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

I recently re-watched BBC’s North and South miniseries (2004) and liked it so well I downloaded the book to my kindle and began reading. This is one of the few times I felt the film adaptation was better than the book.

North and South tells the story of the Margaret Hale whose father, because of his conscience, leaves the ministry and relocates his family to the northern manufacturing town of Milton. Margaret languishes in Milton’s smog, missing friends while caring for an ailing parent. The only society to be found is with Milton’s elite tradesmen of whom Margaret thinks little. Meanwhile, Milton’s workmen go on strike (relatively novel in the mid 1800s as factory work was fairly new), causing trouble and unrest for the entire town.

Where Gaskell lost me is with the general characterization of Margaret. She’s too perfect. For instance, she tells one lie (to ensure someone’s safety) and, because she was caught in her lie by the man she cares about, she hates herself. With 20/20 hindsight, Margaret feels her lie was unnecessary and totally wrong and can’t get over the fact that her love interest thinks ill of her because he knows she lied. The self-loathing went on for far too many pages (and months in the story). Margaret: Girl, an innocent life was at stake so you told a lie. So what if that guy knows you lied. If he doesn’t care to understand the whole story, and you can’t bare to tell him, then move on.

Margaret Hale: misunderstood angel. Blah.

Where the novel was interesting was in the class conflict. Interactions between Margaret’s (demoted) family, the elite tradesmen and the workmen fueled the plot. I enjoyed the fiery conversations between Mr. Thornton (factory owner/love interest) and Margaret. I liked her spunk in speaking her opinion about the treatment of workmen as well as Mr. Thornton’s personal story. I’m not sure if they ever agree completely but they do influence each other enough to consider the other’s point of view.

Despite my frequent frustration with Margaret, I enjoyed Gaskell’s writing and her ability to weave a multi-layered story. It has a recognizable pattern (romance) but creates enough tension between characters to keep one reading to see their reactions. Though a friend of Charlotte Bronte’s, Gaskell’s writing lacks the darker shades of her friend’s writing. North and South does not explore the power struggle between Margaret and Mr. Thornton as well as it could have and like we see between Bronte’s Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester. Yet, North and South was not a light book as it took the manufacturing strike seriously. There was really no humor at all (missing Jane Austen’s wit) and so this novel fizzled out for me.

Give me passion and action or at least some intelligent humor (shoot, any humor) but not  this “oh, no. He thinks me a fallen woman!” crap. The miniseries is excellent. The book is for die-hard Victorian novel lovers who, like myself, will find some level of enjoyment in the cultural aspect of the story as much or more than the supposed romance. It was a struggle to finish but I’m glad I did.

Have you seen the movie or read the book? Both? What do think?

Publisher: Kindle Edition, 2009 (First published: 1855)     Pages: 499
Rating: 3 Stars     Source: free on Amazon

Review: Scrambled Eggs at Midnight by Brad Barkley and Heather Hepler

The daughter of a gypsy mother and the son of a fame-seeking father appear to have nothing in common but the wackiness of their families. But what is family? Calliope and Eliot find each other at a cross-roads in their lives. Each is puzzled by their parents’ choices and struggles under their need for parental affection and care. Scrambled Eggs at Midnight is a quirky, funny and charming romance of two teenagers itching for adulthood but longing for family.

The characters were a lot fun. Cal is smart and Eliot is adventurous. Eliot’s mom is totally unpredictable and her actions made my eyebrow raise more than once. Cal’s mom and Eliot’s dad were not the most realistic characters. A Renaissance fair “wench” and a religious fat camp director are not the most normal jobs. But the sentiment of not understanding one’s parents is relatable. And fear of abandonment is a terrible burden which Cal deals with. I wish the parents were better developed. It’s too easy to read the story and assign everyone’s problems to these two people. And that’s hardly realistic. Cal and Eliot’s romance is cute and innocent. Quickly they realize that they have a friend, someone to count on and someone to love. If you’re in the mood for a fun, happily-ever-after story, Scrambled Eggs at Midnight may be for you.

Publisher: Speak, 2007     Pages: 272
Rating: 3 stars     Source: IC Public Library

Review: Enthusiasm by Polly Shulman

Attention Jane Austen fans: this is a book for you! Even if you haven’t read any Austen novels you can still enjoy this story. But if you have any experience with Austen’s novels you will see elements of then throughout Polly Shulman’s Enthusiasm. I had fun identifying plot elements from Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion (the three Austen novels I’ve read). But there are allusions to all of them. The characters, Ashleigh and Julie, reference Austen’s heroines and try, sometimes successfully and other times not successfully, to imitate them. I enjoyed this novel so I’m having a hard to telling what it was that was so great. You see, this book might be called a feel-good novel. It doesn’t push the envelope and is a sweet story with a happy ending. But I liked it! Yes, it was a tad predictable (at least for me). But that did not keep me from enjoying the story at all. Julie and Ashleigh’s relationship was my favorite part. They seemed like a couple average girls. They are having their first serious crushes and dealing with boys for the first time. They’re not sure how exactly to act. What do you do when a boy obviously likes you but you don’t like him? You don’t want to be mean. How do you show a boy that you do like him? Without feeling like an idiot? The girls are

Summary: Julie’s best friend, Ashleigh, is an enthusiast. Julie never knows what new obsession will catch Ashleigh’s fancy, but she does know she’s likely to be drawn into the madness. Ashleigh’s latest craze is Julie’s own passion, Pride and Prejudice. But Ashleigh can’t just appreciate it as a great read; she insists on emulating the novel’s heroines, in speech, dress, and the most important element of all—finding True Love. And so Julie finds herself with Ashleigh, dressed in vintage frocks, sneaking into a dance at the local all-boys prep school, where they discover some likely candidates. The problem with Ashleigh’s craze this time, however, is that there is only one Mr. Darcy. So when the girls get a part in the boys’ school musical, what follows is naturally equal parts comedy and romance, as a series of misinterpreted—and missed—signals, dating mishaps, and awkward incidents make Julie wonder if she has the heart for True Love.

at a tender and vulnerable age. They know it and try to be good to each other. Not all girls are “mean girls” who harbour jealousies and constantly criticize. Julie and Ashleigh are regular teens with regular issues - school, boys, parents. And I liked them for it. 

Publisher: Speak, 2006     Pages: 208
Rating: 4 Stars     Source: Amazon Storefront

Short Story Saturday: "Something Sweet"

The past two Short Story Saturdays have featured the writings of dead white guys. This week is going to be very different in that we will be reading a short story by a woman and an amateur writer. Reading amateur writing is a hit and miss experience for me (well, so is reading "professional writing!"). However, I really enjoyed this story when I found it. I hope you will, too!

"Autumn / Something Sweet / ...Oh, who knows?" was written by Linda Foster and posted May 28, 2010 on Scribophile which is a website that encourages people to write and critique each other's work. The story should take about 10 minutes to read. I don't personally know Linda. I found her story by chance.

--------------------- Spoiler Alert! ---------------------

This short story is exactly what I think of when I think "short story." It is very short, just over 1,000 words, and spends a great deal of time building up to a revelation. I don't know about you guys, but I did not see the end coming.

An important aspect of short stories is diction or word choice. "Something Sweet" requires very careful diction so as not to reveal the surprise until just the right moment. Linda creates action, suspense and setting by focusing on the man's emotions: "With concerted effort, I waited patiently for her to work her way to where I was stationed, near to the back of the store" (emphasis added). His reactions are almost stereotypically vulgar - the ogling and desire - and exactly the kind of attention we suspect this cougar wants.

But what do we know? This woman isn't on the prowl - she's just shopping. And this man isn't hitting on every skirt in the store - he's really just a Teddy Bear! What does this Teddy tell us about humanity? This story reveals how being single is just as normal as being in a hot-and-heavy relationship. Our culture bombards us with messages of romance - soap opera romances, the ideal marriage, the celebrity affairs, passion here, passion there, passion on every channel - but these passionate moments are brief and not the pinnacle of life, or are they?

Love is the greatest thing about life. But what about the rest of life? What about those less-passionate days. Aren't they just as important? What about single people? They lead interesting lives, too. What about the day you climbed that mountain, got that promotion, took that chance that turned out. Or what about that time you made someone's day, received a pat on the back or bought that great bargain? These are the small victories that make every day special.

Love takes many forms. Here we have a passionate woman, living her life passionately - just not the Hollywood version. Her apartment may be messy and maybe she's not a great cook. But she's not in an abusive relationship. She's not wallowing in loneliness. She does have a job and supports herself. And she seems happy.

I hope "Something Sweet" made you smile. Tell me what you thought and happy reading!

Review: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by J.K. Jemisin

Looking for a page turner? Look no further. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin is a fantasy novel that pulled me in to its strange world and had me returning as often as I could spare a minute to pick up the book.

Summary from Shelfari:
Yeine Darr is an outcast from the barbarian north. But when her mother dies under mysterious circumstances, she is summoned to the majestic city of Sky. There, to her shock, Yeine is named an heiress to the king. But the throne of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is not easily won, and Yeine is thrust into a vicious power struggle with a pair of cousins she never knew she had. As she fights for her life, she draws ever closer to the secrets of her mother's death and her family's bloody history. With the fate of the world hanging in the balance, Yeine will learn how perilous it can be when love and hate - and gods and mortals - are bound inseparably together.

The title of the book is somewhat misleading, in my opinion. I thought this story would be an epic, a story that traversed a vast kingdom. But the majority of the action takes place in the castle-city of Sky. So, I was disappointed in this respect.

The beginning was set up well. The politics and intrigues of the royal family are quickly reveled as are the gods trapped in mortal bodies who are at odds with the royalty. I thought that this conflict between the royalty and the gods was the main point to the story. While it is important, the plot actually turned into a romance between Yeine and the dark lord, Nahadoth. I don’t mind political intrigues with a little romance but this story was a romance with a little political intrigue. The romance between Yeine and Nahadoth was interesting with his split personality, but the romance was overdone for my taste, particularly because I wanted more of the original plot and kept waiting for the epic to begin.

The story is told in first person by Yeine and it is Yeine’s personality, strong and inquisitive, along with Jemisin’s writing ability, which kept me turning pages. I wanted to see Yeine solve the mystery about her family and was never sure how things were going to play out. I appreciated the humor which offered the right amount of comic relief.

The relationships between the gods were more than a little weird. Jemisin draws from many myths about gods to bring hers into creation. While most of the gods’ back story was interesting there are some parts about their sexuality that the reader is supposed to accept as normal for the immortals that was just disgusting. This is not a focus of the novel but I don’t understand what purpose mentioning these relationships served. I think mentioning the sexual relationships between family members could have been left out. It certainly didn’t make me want to see Yeine hook up with one of them.

While reading I kept making comparison to Stephanie Meyer’s sci-fi novel The Host. Both novels explore the idea of having two personalities within oneself or being inhabited by another entity or personality. They explore the ideas of one’s conscious and subconscious and what makes a person’s identity. They look at how we go about choosing what kind of person we want to be. I wasn’t a big fan of The Host and think Jemisin’s writing is way better but, if you liked The Host, you may appreciate The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms.

If you’re looking for a fast read, a romance or a new look at mythology this novel might be for you. I enjoyed the pacing that kept things escalating right up to the end. Some of the answers I saw coming, some I didn’t. While this is the first book of a trilogy I felt The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms stands well on its own. Overall, I liked this book but could have done with less romance and more action and adventure.
Publisher: Orbit, 2010     Pages: 228     Source: IC Public Library
Rating: 3 Stars     Recommended Age: adult

Anastasia's Secret by Susanne Dunlap and the Alexander Palace

This historical novel follows the teenage years of Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova, daughter of the last Tsar of Russia. Anastasia undergoes many changes physically and emotionally as she matures during World War I and the Russian Revolution in 1917 that ended her father’s reign and eventually led to the family’s captivity and death. But Dunlap, using her creative license, ends Anastasia’s story with a window of hope, albeit a small one, that Nastya (Anastasia’s nickname) may have survived.

The focus of Anastasia’s Secret is two-fold: historical accuracy and romance. Dunlap did extensive research and nearly every character is verifiable, the most notable exception being Sasha, a soldier who guards the Romanovs and falls in love with Nastya. The romance is the duchess’ great secret. However, being so young and just a girl, Anastasia is able to overhear much or witness things she wasn’t supposed to know about. This ease-dropping attribute allowed Dunlap to feed the reader historical information. I didn’t care for this method, personally, and wished the information could have been more seamlessly worked into the plot. We get a sense for important events taking place outside the palace, like the war and revolution, but only enough to whet the appetite. I wanted more details but I suspect that for young adult readers Dunlap offered enough information. The text did get a bit dry and I think that stems from the way, as I mentioned, that information is presented.

The romance was, I felt (and I don’t mean this to sound so negative) completely unrealistic. It’s possible and even likely the Romanov girls had crushes on soldiers (hey, I married one!). But I doubt any of them could carry off a romance like Sasha and Nastya do in the novel. The situation is so dangerous that for the couple to have clandestine meetings is sweet but not likely. So, a little suspension of beliefs is necessary but again I suspect that for young readers it’s not a problem.

I do wish we knew more about Sasha. Besides his romantic interest in Nastya it was hard to get to know him. I did like the family members, especially the sister Mashka. There were so many other characters I felt lost at times. I think this reflects Dunlap’s incredible research and it may have been hard for her to let go of some of that info. I think this text would have benefitted from a closer examination of a few characters rather than crowding the text with so many. That’s just my take.

Little Red Flags: The romance does get intense. Though the language is not terribly graphic about sex the novel is very sexually charged as the two lovers meet time and again. There’s only one violent scene that is brief and besides a few lewd comments by soldiers no foul language. 


You have to check this out. If you have any interest in the Romanovs, Russian history or royalty in general, check out the pictures at this website. It’s fantastic and I will be looking at it for some time.

The Alexander Palace

Mountain Hall: The indoor slide mentioned in the book

Anastasia Information 
Publisher: Bloomsbury, 2010      Pages: 320     Source: IC Public Library    

Rating: 3 Stars          If this was a movie: PG-13

Review of A Room with a View by E.M. Forster and Italy Photos from My Honeymoon

The Plot: Young girl grows up in sheltered home. Girl travels to Florence, Italy. Girl meets boy. Girl scared of boy. Girl returns to England confused. Girl gets engaged to a jerk. Previous boy turns up causing more unrest. But not to worry, things more or less sort themselves out. Left is a photo of Bobbio Pellice in the Alps.

The dialogue is witty and fun to read. I wish there had been more of it. There is a lot of (what I would call) received narration. Forster is a master at this but there was just too much. I wanted more straightforward dialogue. The third person point of view seemed to shift between several characters – Lucy the protagonist, Mr. Beebe the rector, Miss Bartlett the chaperon, the mother, the brother…and on and on. I felt I did not intimately know any of the characters as a result. It left me feeling distant from them all. 

Forster pokes fun at each character's short-comings giving some mild comic relief. Mostly, he reveals upper class snobbery and self-delusions about their “liberal” and “rebellious” natures. There are many touristy blunders committed as well. I felt for Lucy who desperately wanted to see the “real” Italy but was too afraid to plunge into unknown territories on her own. This is a picture from Florence.

What I liked in this novel was the idea that passion is not wrong, nor is it something to run away from, but it is to be acknowledged as a truth and dealt with accordingly. Lucy fears censure so much that she cloisters herself off and relies upon her elders for advice on her every little move or thought. Yet she wants to believe she is independent. It’s only when she is able to know her own mind that she can take control of her future (though she still receives a push to get to this point). The novel is set in the end of the Victorian and early Edwardian period and the stifling nature of the time is exposed. Forster was able to see the fear in his own culture. I’m speaking of a fear of passion in general. Hand holding, helping a female into a carriage, etc. was a big deal then and could potentially be turned against a girl to ruin her reputation.

And this is where Italy comes in. Having been to Rome, I must say I think it is the most romantic place in the world. You should go there with someone special. It’s not a town for friends but for lovers. No one minds hand holding there! The fountains, the ancient ruins, the lights, the cool evenings, the sculptures and paintings, the cobblestone streets and charming people all create a mood of intense feeling. It’s no wonder Forster was impressed by Italy during his journey there and felt, as many others have, that the Italians have it right.The Trevi Fountain (Rome) is gorgeous at night!

I said the end mostly worked out. I’ve read Howard’s End as well and it too has a near happy-ending. The right couple ends up together but there is a cost. It’s not a completely happily-ever-after kind of end. I find this sort of ending realistic without being a downer. If you like Howard’s End or early Modern literature you may like A Room with a View. This photo is of the Pantheon, ancient pagan temple turned Christian church, and an engineering feat. I hope you enjoyed the pictures from my Italian honeymoon!

Publisher: Barnes & Noble, 1993 (originally published in 1908)     Pages: 232

Rating: 3 Stars                        Source: Purchased at a used book sale