The Seduction of Water by Carol Goodman

Iris Greenfeder, ABD (All But Dissertation), feels the “buts” are taking over her life: all but published, all but a professor, all but married. Yet the sudden impulse to write a story about her mother, Katherine Morrissey, leads to a shot at literary success. The piece recounts an eerie Irish fairy tale her mother used to tell her at bedtime—and nestled inside it is the sad story of her death. It captures the attention of her mother’s former literary agent, who is convinced that Katherine wrote one final manuscript before her strange, untimely end in a fire thirty years ago. So Iris goes back to the remote Hotel Equinox in the Catskills, the place where she grew up, to write her mother’s biography and search for the missing manuscript—and there she unravels a haunting mystery, one that holds more secrets than she ever expected. . . .

Of the three Carol Goodman books I have read, this is my favourite! Iris Greenfeder is a writer. The reality is that she is more a writing teacher who is constantly looking for the story that is going to give her success so that she can step out from the shadows of her mother. Her mother, Kay Morrissey, wrote two hugely successful fantasy novels, and is rumoured to have written the third and final book in the trilogy but she was killed in a terrible hotel fire, and no one knows exactly where that third book may be hidden.

When she is writes a story about her mother she achieves a degree of success, and she is contacted by her mother's former agent and asked to write a book about her mother. The best place to do this is at her childhood home, the Equinox Hotel in the Catskills. Where the hotel used to be a family vacation destination, nowadays the hotel is struggling and is in danger of being closed for good. Fortunately, a new owner has been found, and so Iris is employed to manage the hotel when it reopens, which should allow her to save her home but also the time she needs to write, and access to documents about her mother and memories from the few guests who do continue to return year after year.

What follows is a story that is laced through with myths and legends - Celtic myths of selkies and fairies, but when she sets her students a writing project to write about myths we are also introduced to the myths of other countries, most memorably from Japan. As part of her teaching at a community college, we meet several other diverse characters who play minor but key roles in the book. Iris also teaches at a prison, and it is here that she meets Aidan Barry who is just about to be released on parole.

With her new role as manager, she offers Aidan a job at the hotel - a chance for the ex-con to start again. The question is can you ever truly leave the past behind? Is the new owner of the hotel only interested in the hotel as a business or is there more too it than that? Who exactly was her mother and was Kay Morrissey's death an accident, and why are all these questions arising after all these years? As Iris learns more, the evidence takes her in completely unexpected directions and threatens to reveal the truth about a lot of people who don't necessarily want the truth revealed after all these years.

As the book heads towards its climax, the body count grows, the plot twists and turns, and Iris is forced to evaluate her relationship with her artist boyfriend and fight for what it is that she really wants out of life. If there is one criticism it may be that the characters had to go through one too many trials at the end of the book, but it's a small thing.

I loved the mythology and the imagery that permeated this book. Of the three books by this author I have read so far, this is the one book that I would be happy to reread. If Goodman's future novels are like this one then I will be a very happy reader indeed.


Have you reviewed this books? Leave a comment and I will link to your review.

Aussiecon 4

Just saw over at Matilda that Melbourne will be hosting the World Science Fiction Conference from September 2-6 in 2010 and that the event will be known as Aussiecon 4.

Obviously there aren't many details available yet, but one of the guests has already been named - Shaun Tan. I just love his books so I will definitely be trying to go along to at least some events!

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Should be Reading:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
• Please avoid spoilers!

He and Mrs Maugery went with me to the Commandant's Office, and we all swore that I was Lord Tobias Penn-Piers

From The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer

Desperate Duchesses by Eloisa James

Welcome to a world of reckless sensuality and glittering sophistication . . . of dangerously handsome gentlemen and young ladies longing to gain a title . . . of games played for high stakes, including—on occasion—a lady's virtue. A marquess's sheltered only daughter, Lady Roberta St. Giles falls in love with a man she glimpses across a crowded ballroom: a duke, a game player of consummate skill, a notorious rakehell who shows no interest in marriage—until he lays eyes on Roberta. Yet the Earl of Gryffyn knows too well that the price required to gain a coronet is often too high. Damon Reeve, the earl, is determined to protect the exquisite Roberta from chasing after the wrong destiny. Can Damon entice her into a high-stakes game of his own, even if his heart is likely to be lost in the venture?

I struggle with Eloisa James. I know that I should love her books but a lot of the time I just don't. I have commented on this before so I guess the question that needs to be asked is just why do I keep reading her books. The short answer is that there are lots of things I do like about her writing, but then there are times that she just overcomplicates matters and loses me. As a result I hadn't read one of her books for nearly 18 months, but then I was sitting here the other day I was thinking why haven't I read any of the Desperate Duchesses books. Now I remember why!

In this book, the main couple are almost bit players as opposed to the main focus. There seems to be more focus on Jemma, Duchess of Beaumont. She has just returned from a self-imposed exile in France, much to the apprehension of her husband - a hard working politician who cannot afford a whif of scandal. He knows that Jemma lives a life filled with scandal. Also problematic is the fact that Jemma's brother has come to stay, bringing with him his illegitimate child.

With a house filling up rapidly with all sorts of barely acceptable characters, when Roberta turns up to stay uninvited because she wants to come out into society, the Duke warns his wife that there must be no more scandal. Roberta is a cousin to the Duchess and her brother (although somewhat distant! If my cousin five times removed (or seven...whichever it was) turned up and wanted to stay for a while I am not sure that I would be quite so pleased as Jemma appeared to be.

Roberta has decided that she wants to marry, and luckily she already know exactly who she wants to marry - the notorious Duke of Villiers. Much is made about the Duke's detachment so it is likely that Roberta may have chosen a very difficult target indeed. Jemma is though, a master at manipulating, so with her help perhaps it is not unattainable.

What gives this book a point of difference is the use of parlour games like chess and dominoes to help heighten the tension (sexual and otherwise) between our characters. It seems surprising today but in the Georgian era, playing chess was one of few ways for males and females to be together in an intimate setting without causing a scandal. Jemma loves chess and soon finds herself playing games with both her husband and Villiers.

It is obvious that the story of Jemma and her husband is going to be a story that arcs throughout the series in the same way as the story of Sebastian and Esme did in the Duchess Quartet. In that series, Sebastian and Esme's story was the one that I wanted most and the main couples in the books were there, but not as compelling, and so I do wonder though if James will manage to manage the balance between the individual romances in each book and the overarcing storyline.

I guess that part of the reason that this book didn't work as well as I would have liked for me was in the fact that I never felt like I understood exactly when Roberta fell in love with Damon. His attraction was more obvious than hers, but even whilst she is fooling around with Damon, she is still determined that she is in love with Villiers - goodness only knows why, but she had declared this on having spied the man across a crowded room once!

There are definitely some good things about this book - it is funny and there are some great individual scenes, but once again I put down the book thinking that I am not clever enough to GET this author.

Urn Burial by Kerry Greenwood

Super-sleuth Phryne Fisher is sojourning at Cave House, a Gothic mansion in the heart of Gippsland mountain country. But she soon discovers that her host is receiving death threats, someone is setting lethal traps and the parlourmaid has been strangled to death. It seems Phryne is up to her neck in danger.

How does this connect with a pair of young lovers, an extremely eccentric swagman and an angry outcast heir? Just who is responsible for the mysterious funerary urns which keep appearing around the house? And how can she make time for the luscious Lin Chung?

Phryne's search draws her deep into the darkest dungeons of the house and of the limestone Buchan cavers. Who knows what she will unearth this time.

When Phryne is invited to a house party at Cave House in the Gippsland area outside of Melbourne, she takes along her current beau, Lin Chung, and their servants, the ever faithful Dot and the ever resourceful Li Pen who is Lin Chung's bodyguard. The fact that Lin is Chinese is something of a shock to the guests who are all from the upper echelon's of Melbourne society, and Phryne and Lin have to deal with the not so hidden racism of the time.

Even before the Fisher party arrive at the gothic Cave House there is drama when Phryne hears a gun shot and then they see a young woman emerge from the bush screaming. What Phryne doesn't realise is that she has been invited for a specific reason. The host is being threatened with letters, and it isn't long before Phryne finds that matters are escalating with a number of more lethal traps being set within the grounds. Like Phryne, many of the guests are at the house for a reason, and it is only as the book progresses that everyones agendas are unveiled piece by piece and layer by layer. The group dynamics are affected by a couple of major events. The first is that the river that is near the property is on the rise, and the house guests are all trapped together until the rains cease and the river goes down. There are also the small matters of the mysterious urns that keep on being moved from one place to another, the people who seem to want to get into Phryne's room at night, and the housemaid who has gone missing. Of the guests, Phryne is the only one who knows that the girl is already dead because she saw the body, but when she went to get the hosts the body had been moved and there is no sign of where it might be.

This book felt like a tribute to classic Agatha Christie. There is the house party, the guests who all have hidden links to other guests, the body that Phryne knows is there but that goes missing and it has to be said that Kerry Greenwood really manages to make these really classic mystery ideas feel fresh. The unveiling of the culprits is really very creepy and takes place in a very interesting place.

If there was one thing that did bother me it relates to Phryne's relationship with Lin Chung. She has always been a lover of beautiful young men, but in this book she also has relations with one of the other characters. Lin Chung obviously isn't pleased but it happens anyway. I suspect that the relationship is growing, but I don't really want to see this kind of thing continue. It is probably worth mentioning that the sex is a bit more obvious in this book than I remember it being in the earlier books. Not explicit by any stretch of the imagination just more there.

After being just a little disappointed in the last Phryne Fisher book this was a welcome return to form and I am totally looking forward to getting to the next book. As an added bonus, my interest has been piqued about the Gippsland area in which the book was set, including the Buchan Caves. I can't remember the last time I went into a cave - must be more than 20 years.

Once again, this isn't the cover that I had on the library book I read, but I do so love this new series of covers, and they do fit the series so well that I am just going to go ahead and post with this cover instead of looking for the one I have!

Legacy by Jeanette Baker

When a distant relative bequeaths a Scottish castle to Christina Murray, the beautiful college professor is off to a distant land to claim her inheritance. It is there that she meets Ian Douglas, a breathtakingly handsome man who may hold the key to the secrets of Traquair House...and to her heart. As Christina enters the elusive passageway to love, her all-too-lifelike dreams reveal that she is tied to three ghostly ancestors: Katrine, a spirited Jacobite in love with an Englishman...Jeanne, a Renaissance wife accused of witchcraft...and Mairi, the medieval maid who shares a forbidden passion with England's king.

Destined to become the curse's next victim, Christina travels through time to unveil the mystery of her family. But she soon discovers that her assumptions about Ian and their newly found love, as well as her own life, may have put her in grave danger...

I would never have chosen to pick up this book but when Jeanette Baker was chosen as Author of the Month over at Historical Romance Chat for May. When I say I would have have chosen to pick it up, it is not for any other reason than I had never ever heard of her before. When I checked the library catalogue under either name that she wrote under (Jeanette Baker and Jeanette Ramirez) this was the only one they had, so this is the book I chose to read.

The book opens with Christina Murray arriving at Traquair House in Scotland. She has no idea why she is there, and so she is totally surprised when it turns out that the historic house has been bequeathed to her by a complete stranger. Christina has just gone through a divorce from her husband of 15 years where one of the bigger issues is that she doesn't seem to be able to have children. So when the handsome neighbour, Ian Douglas, starts paying attention she is somewhat surprised, and very flattered by the attention.

Not long after arriving at Traquair, Christina starts to suffer strange headaches, and very strange dream where she finds herself in the past. At first she thinks that it might be something to do with her diabetes, but gradually it becomes that there is something more to it than that. Where first it feels like they are dreams gradually the intensity of the experiences increases until Christina is actually there feeling what the other three women who are her ancestors are feeling, seeing what they are seeing and hearing what they are hearing and with whom she shares several characteristics, including their looks and the fact that they all suffer from diabetes.

The first story to be told is that of Katrine Murray who lives in the mid 1700's. She is a spirited young lass (as are all of the ancestors). When she meets a handsome English soldier and fall in love it is impossible for her to know what the consequences will be. With the Jacobite rebellion gaining momentum, Katrine finds herself on the wrong side of the conflict. She is a Scottish woman living in England but when she returns to Scotland her heart is with her husband who is fighting for the English.

The second story is of Jeanne, who despite a rocky start, falls desperately in love with John Douglas. John has spent time in the English court, but he has now returned to the court of King James, known to his friend as Jamie. With a confrontation looming against the English, Jeanne has a vision of what is to come and tries to stop it with tragic consequences for her and her family.

The third story, and the one where the curse against the Douglas women started, goes back to the late 1200s when Mairi of Shields falls passionately in love with a man who turns up asking for hospitality at her home, and who she ends up nursing back to health. The man does not reveal his true identity, but when she goes to the English court, the truth is revealed. Her love is none other than King Edward I. As yet another conflict looms with the English, Mairi does what needs to be done and removes the Stone of Scone, used for centuries in the coronation ceremonies of Scottish kings and queens. When she marries against his wishes, their feelings change to hostility, once again with tragic consequences.

In effect there are four different love stories in this book. The fact three of them are doomed adds a level of poignancy. This is a really clever book in many ways. The only problem I had was with the contemporary sections. For the most part it is good, but just at the end, the resolution didn't quite work for me, both in terms of how Christina was going to get a happily ever after and break the curse, and also in how that HEA came about. Having said that, this is one of the more unusual books that I have read and I really did enjoy it.

I can't remember the last time I read a time travel book. It's been a while, but this one certainly has renewed my interest in the subgenre.

Coincidentally this morning I stumbled over a link to the Traquair House website over at Classical Bookworm, where you can read the history of the house, and see some pictures. It was really interesting to look at since I only finished this book in the early hours of this morning.

Woe is me!

I am so sick of being sick. In addition to still feeling the effects of the virus that I had last week, I now also have an infected finger, and inner ear infections in not one but both ears.

I haven't managed to read a lot whilst I have been sick, but I have managed to write quite a few reviews, so that is an added bonus.

I have a doctors certificate for Monday, so assuming that I go back to work on Tuesday I will have been off for more than a week. I am going to need instructions on how to find my desk!

Lady Macbeth by Susan Fraser King

I am granddaughter to a king and daughter to a prince, a wife twice over, a queen as well. I have fought with sword and bow, and
struggled fierce to bear my babes into this world.
I have loved deeply and hated deeply, too.


Lady Gruadh, called Rue, is the last female descendent of Scotland’s most royal line. Married to a powerful northern lord, she is widowed while still carrying his child and forced to marry her husband’s murderer: a rising war-lord named Macbeth. Encountering danger from Vikings, Saxons, and treacherous Scottish lords, Rue begins to respect the man she once despised–and then realizes that Macbeth’s complex ambitions extend beyond the borders of the vast northern region. Among the powerful warlords and their steel-games, only Macbeth can unite Scotland–and his wife’s royal blood is the key to his ultimate success.

Determined to protect her small son and a proud legacy of warrior kings and strong women, Rue invokes the ancient wisdom and secret practices of her female ancestors as she strives to hold her own in a warrior society. Finally, side by side as the last Celtic king and queen of Scotland, she and Macbeth must face the gathering storm brought on by their combined destiny.

From towering crags to misted moors and formidable fortresses, Lady Macbeth transports readers to the heart of eleventh-century Scotland, painting a bold, vivid portrait of a woman much maligned by history.

For most people, the main thing that would be associated with the name Lady Macbeth are the following words from Shakespeare:

Out, damn'd spot! out, I say!—One; two: why, then'tis time to do't.—Hell is

murky.—Fie, my lord, fie, a soldier, andafeard? What need we fear who knows it,
when none can call ourpow'r to accompt?—Yet who would have thought the old man
tohave had so much blood in him?

If you pick up this book expecting to see anything like this, you are bound to be disappointed, but if you are interested in finding out some of the historical background to this particular character then this could be the book for you.

Lady Gruad is born into the Royal family of Scotland making her a very desirable marriage match due to her pure bloodlines. After being kidnapped twice, once when she is very nearly of marriagable age, her father decides that it is time to marry her off, and she is married to Gilcomgan of Moray against her wishes. A relatively short time after, Rue is heavily pregnant when she is widowed. Her husband has been killed by Macbeth in one of the many power struggles that dominated the Scottish political scene in the late 11th century, and particularly in revenge for the murder of Macbeth's father by Gilcomgan. Macbeth himself is descended from King Duncan, and so when he forces Rue to marry him immediately following her first husband's death (all spoils to the victor!) he bolsters his own claim to the throne of Scotland even though his grandfather the King has named another as his successor in a break from the traditional way that the kings of Scotland have been chosen.

By marrying Rue, Macbeth becomes Mormaer of Moray, a powerful and rich lord, but it is through his efforts to be a fair and generous ruler to his people that he gains their loyalty. For a long time he is prepared to not make any challenges to the throne, but when his life and those of his young family are threatened things change, and Macbeth becomes King of Scotland and Rue his queen.

There are many details of life in Scotland in 11th century within the book: the struggle for peace with both the Vikings and the English, the struggle between the Church in Rome and the Celtic church as well as weaving in many superstitions, omens and spells.

It was interesting to read the life of a Queen who involved herself in her husband's life to such an extent as Rue did, including in policy making, and it is inferred within the novel that the two came to value and respect each other, and yes perhaps love each other. There were however still plenty of examples where she was left behind and it is in those times that we begin to see how much Rue is affected by the portents and omens that she can see, and how it effects the decisions that she makes for the future, and in particular how determined she becomes to protect the old ways of life.

Whilst I enjoyed this book, it didn't quite make it to the status of a great read for me. I never felt truly immersed in the book. Part of the reason for this may be the first person narrative, but I don't think that it was the only factor. For much of the time I was outside of the book. In my favourite HF novels, I would be there with the characters, wrapped in furs trying to keep warm in the middle of a harsh Scottish winter, but with this book I was still firmly in the 21st century looking back through a window of time.

Cross posted at Historical Tapestry

The Lake of Dead Languages by Carol Goodman

Jane Hudson never thought she would return to Heart Lake. Her years there as a scholarship girl ended in a double tragedy: the drowning of her two roommates.

Now she is back, adjusting to her new life teaching Latin and as a single mother. But the events that haunted her memories for so many years begin to recur in front of her eyes. It seems she alone can see what is happening, and only she will be able to prevent a second catastrophe...

Surrounded by the lake that gives the school its name, steeped in history and overflowing with the emotions of teenage girls, Heart Lake guards its past - but cannot keep it hidden.

When Jane Hudson returns to her school after many years away, it is a chance to return to a place that feels like home, as long as she doesn't think about the tragic events of her final year. Jane has just separated from her husband, and is returning to the workforce as a single mum teaching Latin. Unfortunately, as much as Jane doesn't want to think about the events that claimed the lives of her friends in very strange circumstances, there is someone else who wants Jane to remember. Somehow, someone has got hold of Jane's old diary that went missing in her final year of school and is leaving pages around for her to find. More scarily, events are being manipulated so that there are a new group of girls who seem to be reenacting the events from 20 years before.

Having subsequently read a couple of other Carol Goodman books (reviews still to come), I have come to the conclusion that one of her aims it to try and show as much as she can of what she knows. Maybe it is to try and give her books some kind of point of difference to other mystery/suspense type books by finding something and sharing it. In this case a lot of the emphasis was around Latin, and in other books it has been Celtic and Classical myths, and glass making. That in itself isn't a bad thing but there are times when it feels just a bit too clever. I think that part of the reason why it worked for me in this book was because it was the first time that I had read one of her books, but there is at least one other of her books where it just didn't work for me at all.

There are a lot of topics covered in this novel particularly around issues that many young girls face - sex, self harm, suicide, abuse, and to be honest it isn't a particularly cheerful novel. It has an almost mystical/gothic feel to many of the events in the book, and that feeling isn't redeemed by the solution.

Whilst I liked this book when I first finished it, the more I think about it, the more holes I find in it. Even when I first finished the book, the biggest problem that I had is with the ending, which whilst not coming completely out of the blue, wasn't far off of it, but I guess I was sufficiently interested in Goodman's writing to keep reading her books. So far I have read three, and have another on the TBR pile. For a debut this was a pretty good read - it remains to be seen and whether Goodman can maintain a consistent quality to her writing. At this stage I personally am not convinced that she has.


Other Blogger's Thoughts:

Lous Pages

Ruddy Gore by Kerry Greenwood

Running late to a gala performance of Gilbert and Sullivan's Ruddigore, Phryne Fisher meets some thugs in dark alley and handles them convincingly before they can ruin her silver dress. She then finds that she has rescued the handsome Lin Chung, and his grandmother, who briefly mistake her for a deity.

Denying divinity but accepting cognac, she later continues safely to the theatre where her night is again interrupted by a bizarre death onstage.

What links can Phryne find between the ridiculously entertaining plot of Ruddigore, the Chinese community of Little Bourke St., or the actors treading the boards of His Majesty's Theatre?

Drawn backstage and onstage Phryne must solve an old murder and find a new murderer - and, of course, banish the theatre's ghost who seems likely to kill again.

Where the previous book in the series took place in the carnival and circus, this time Phryne is involved in a mystery in the theatre and in particular in a production of Ruddigore by Gilbert and Sullivan.

The book opens when Phryne and her friend Bunji are on their way to a night at the theatre and they interupt a mugging of an old Chinese woman and her handsome grandson, Lin Chung.

They continue onto the theatre, but to say that it is not an ordinary night is an understatement, because the main character dies on stage. In the grand tradition of the stage, the show must goes on, but when the understudy to the main character also feels ill, it is obvious that there are major problems at the production. With more deaths to follow, and the appearance of a ghost in the theatre there is plenty to keep Phryne busy. What unravels next is

I must confess that this one didn't work for me as well as a lot of the other Phryne Fisher novels did. I don't know if it was all the references to Gilbert and Sullivan that I didn't get, or something else, but it didn't hold my attention as well as normal. It probably is just about me, because when I check the Amazon reviews most other people love it.

The introduction of Lin Chung heralds what appears to be a pretty major change in Phryne's life. At first, it seems as though he is another of the parade of beautiful young men that Phryne fills her life with, but just reading through the author website and back cover copy for the next books in the series, it is obvious that Lin becomes a pretty major and regular character. I am looking forward to seeing what happens in relation to this aspect of the mysteries.

Olympic Reading Challenge

Annie from Reading, Writing and Ranting has come up with an awesome idea for a short term challenge:

For the entire period of the Olympic Games (08 August 08 till 24 August 08) I'll be hosting a unique mini-challenge. It's country against country in the battle to prove your reading patriatism. The ultimate prize will be awarded to the individual who earns the most gold medals - a US $20 Amazon.com Gift Voucher. The runner up will receive a $5 Amazon.com Gift Voucher. Both 1st and 2nd place will also receive a special 'winner' badge to place on their blog.
How it Works...

1) You are to read as many books possible written by authors from your own country during the period the Olympics are on. The genre and length of the books will be up to you.
2) Each time you finish a book, post your name, country, blog address, book title and author as a comment on the bottom of this post. That will earn yourself and your country a silver medal. If you do all the above plus post a link to your review of the book you earn yourself and your country a gold medal.
3) A running country medal tally will be kept down the right hand side of this blog as well as the individual currently topping the leader board.
4) To win the Amazon Gift Voucher, you must be a gold medal winner (ie you must have submitted a review).
5) I don't mind if you've read the books before or were half-way through when the challenge started either.

Now at this point of time I only have one book by an Aussie author lined up for the next couple of weeks, but it is just such a good idea that I couldn't resist joining in! Click here for all the details and to sign up.

I just need to practice my skills of reading and watching Olympics coverage at the same time so I can fit everything in.

Weekly Geeks #13 - Author Photos Revealed!

This week's Weekly Geeks challenge was to post photos of your favourite authors and have your visitors guess who was shown. I have to say that I was terrible at guessing who everyone elses favourites were! My original Weekly Geeks post is here.

1. Photos of my favourite authors.





The three authors that I chose to spotlight as my favourites were Diana Gabaldon (good pick up to Kerry who noticed that I unintentionally made it nice and easy by choosing a photo that actually told you who it was!), Elizabeth Chadwick and Kelley Armstrong.

2. Photo(s) of the author(s) of the book(s) you’re currently reading.




At the time when I posted this I was reading Let Sleeping Rogues Lie by Sabrina Jeffries and Luncheon of the Boating Party by Susan Vreeland. I have now finished the first book, but I am still going on the second one.


3. Photo(s) of any author(s) you’ve met in person (even very briefly).


4. A youtube of (an) author(s) you’ve heard speak.

5. Any photo(s) you may have of yourself with an author.


The answer for questions 3, 4 and 5 is all the same - Paullina Simons. You can read more about my experiences of meeting the lovely Paullina here.

6. A photo of the author of the book you’ve most recently finished.


At the time of posting, the last book I had finished was Angelique by Sergeanne Golon. You can read my review of that excellent book here.

The wait is over...kind of!

With the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics due to happen in Beijing tomorrow night, you might well think I am jumping the gun a little, but the Olympic competition has begun in at least two sports. The women's soccer (football) started last night, and tonight the Olyroos (the Australian men's soccer team) take to the park against Serbia. And so begins just over two weeks of sport. As an armchair sports fan from way back, I love it when the Olympics, or any other major sports event for that matter, is on!

There's just one thing left to say at this point in time and that is....


Come on Aussies!

Blood and Circuses by Kerry Greenwood

Phryne Fisher is bored. So when she is asked to investigate some strange goings-on in Farrell's Circus and Wild Beast Show, her curiosity gets the better of her. Stripped of her identity, wealth and privileges, Phryne takes a job as a trick horse-rider, wearing hand-me-downs and a new name.

But what connects the circus with the particularly nasty murder in Miss Witherspoon's house for paying gentlefolk? Or with the warfare between rival gangs on Brunswick Street? Piecing together the fragments from the seedy underworld of twenties Fitzroy and the eccentric life under the big top, Phryne proves her mettle yet again aided only by her wits, an oddly attractive clown, and a stout and helpful bear.

The Honorable Phryne Fisher is feeling somewhat bored with her life. Yes, she is wealthy with a steady stream of beautiful young men to keep her company, and lives a very glamourous life during the Roaring '20s but it doesn't seem to be enough.

When she is approached by 3 members of Farrell's Circus and Wild Beast Show to investigate the mysterious goings on at the circus, including the death of one of the circus freaks in a Brunswick boarding house, Phryne leaps at the chance to go undercover at the circus. She becomes one of the trick riders, the young women who stand on the back of the horses and perform tricks. Phryne has long been somewhat impulsive, and this decision is certainly an example of this, because for Phryne to fully investigate exactly what is going on at Farrell's she needs to go deep undercover, and that means that for the first time in many years Phyrne is going to be by herself. No servants, no friends to help her out if she gets in trouble, and it is inevitable that she is going to do so.

This book was a little different than the usual Phryne Fisher mystery. This book is more about the life of the circus performer and about Phryne being by herself than the mystery itself. For example, Phryne doesn't get directly involved in the murder investigation. She is more focusing on the circus and why a string of things have gone wrong. There is quite a lot of emphasis on the different social levels within the circus with the performers not meant to fraternise with the 'carnie' workers.

I did enjoy seeing Phryne show a more vulnerable side to herself, and found the ending to be a very interesting finish to another fun Phryne Fisher mystery.

When I look back at the grades that I have given to all of the books I have read in the series so far, the consistency of the writing and the stories told is very clear.

The above cover image is not the cover that I have (although I do love this whole series of covers for the rereleases!), which I can't find a picture of anywhere! It seems to be quite a common problem for me with this series because there are a couple of others that I haven't been able to find anywhere as well. Oh well. I do think these ones are much prettier than the versions I have so I won't go the bother of scanning the covers or anything like that.

998...999...1000!

Did you ask 1000 what?

It could be 1000 tissues used on my poor nose, seeing that my lovely child has decided to share his germs with me.

It could be 1000 times that I have thought about how bad I feel today.

It could 1000 degrees centigrade, which is probably how hot it is in my house today. The heaters are going full bore, but my hands and feet are still freezing and I am still shivering.

Or it could be that this is the 1000th post published on my blog since I started back in November 2005 (not counting the posts that are either scheduled or in draft). Of course, if that was the case, then I would have organised some kind of blog celebration wouldn't I, but instead I am moaning about how crook I feel!

So that this post has some kind of actual interest, there is a new meme going around that is being hosted by ShouldbeReading.com. The rules are pretty simple:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
• Please avoid spoilers!

So my book is Luncheon of the Boating Party by Susan Vreeland and the two lines are:

His hand flew from the canvas to the little tin of linseed oile, to his palette, then to the canvas, back to the oil, canvas, palette. There was soemthing wild about it, like a swallow darting to catch insects.

One bonus of being home today was that I was able to log in for the online launch of the fourth book of the Gardella Vampires Chronicles. Author Colleen Gleason took questions from the people who were 'attending', gave out some prizes and managed to fill nearly an hour with plenty of interesting facts about her books. If I had of gone to work I wouldn't have been able to watch!

A couple of posts ago, I talked about how I have 27 library books to read by 2 September. By the time I finished watching the event I was all excited about the prospect of reading the next book in the series that I have here to read...which isn't one of those books! Whoops!

Angelique by Sergeanne Golon

I am not quite sure how I managed it, but some how I have managed to spend the last twenty five years of my reading life in complete ignorance about the Angelique series, and yet having just finished reading the first book (well actually first two books) in the series, I am confident in saying that this book has everything that I love in a book.

The first I remember hearing about the series is when Ana did an Author Spotlight about Serge and Anne Golon at Historical Tapestry.

Somewhat unusually this book doesn't have any kind of synopsis at all on either the inside or back cover so I hope that I can do justice to the plot without giving too much away.

Young Angelique is born into a noble but impoverished family in the mid 1600's. One of several children, Angelique is high spirited, and lives her life amongst the villagers and in the marshlands around her home. Her best features are her green eyes and her beautiful hair and is growing into quite the beauty, quite in danger of falling prey to young men. After becoming involved in a dangerous situation that enables her father to have a little more money, it becomes apparent to her family that she is in danger of becoming out of control so she is packed off to the convent for her education, and even the nuns have trouble controlling her.

Angelique is forced to return from the convent to be married to a man she has never met, Comte Joffrey de Peyrac de Morens, Lord of Toulouse. He is a man with a fearsome reputation. He is scarred and lame, but richer than the king (allegedly) and reputed to be a wizard. Angelique is determined that she will not give herself to Joffrey and he is patient. What she did not know about her new husband is that he is devoted to the art of love, and has the voice of an angel. He is also devoted to his young wife and once he manages to convince Angelique of his love, the couple have a period of happiness. But this is the middle ages and with lots of intrigue and jealousy between the Church and the Royal Court, a man who apparently has the skills of witchcraft that enable him to cause many women to fall in love with him despite his physical infirmities as well as to be able to magically conjure gold out of rocks where there is no gold present is always going to be in danger.

With Joffrey capturing the attention of the King (Louis XIV) for all the wrong reason, a new time starts in Angelique's life, where she must do whatever it takes to save her husband on very limited resources and knowing that she herself has become person non grata in the Royal social scene. And yet for Angelique this is just the start of her downward slide, but being the head strong and resourceful young lady that she is she most assuredly find a way to climb out from the depths of her experiences and back up the social chain.

At nearly 800 pages long, this book is action packed and filled with details such as the excesses of life in Louis XIV court and the squalor and danger for life of the normal Parisian. There are many real life historical figures populating the book. From the comparative poverty of her childhood, to her beautiful home in Toulouse as Joffrey's bride, to the depths of the Paris underworld in her place as the queen of the Court of Miracles, to the kitchen of the restaurant where she starts to rebuild her life, to the role of business woman as she introduces chocolate to the masses, Angelique undergoes a tremendous journey. In some ways, she reminded me of Amber from Kathleen Winsor's historical fiction classic Forever Amber, but Angelique is less cunning and manipulative and more concerned with just doing what she has to do to survive, even if some times that means that she makes decisions which may have been seen as immoral by some. She doesn't necessarily always make smart decisions, but she has her own code of behaviour which she adheres too. And yet there are times within the novel where she does seem to lose her sense of who she is, but if that happens she is always strong enough to draw herself out of the situation that she is in.

As for the men of the book, well the standout has to be Joffrey. He is a man who has been maimed and scarred, and yet lived life to the fullest, undertaking journeys to strange lands and learning everything he could, and then applying those lessons to his own life. He is a student of the principles of courtly love and shares those with the few chosen to spend time at home, and he is apparently a wonderful lover. Yet when fate delivers him into the hands of the prosecutors who have decided he must be done away with he is eloquent in his defence, courageous in the face of his own death, and we know without being told that he is totally in love with his beautiful wife and family. What a really great hero!

There are others too that are interesting in that they are not really one dimensional characters. Angelique's childhood friend Nicholas who plays such a key role in Angelique's life, to her cousin Philippe whose coldness and cruelty just leaps from the page, and to the lawyer Desgrez whose fate seems destined to be intertwined with that of Angelique and her family, some are men that Angelique loves and others are protectors and friends, but all of them are part of the excellent experience of reading this book.

There is no doubt in my mind that I am going to be reading as much of this series as I possibly can. Or maybe reading is too gentle a word. I am going to be devouring the rest of this series and am very much looking forward to going on my next adventure with Angelique.

I should say that this hardcover version of the book that I read includes two books that were issued separately in paperback - Angelique, The Marquise of the Angels and Angelique: The Road to Versailles. The other books in the series that have been translated into English are:

Angelique and the King
Angelique and the Sultan
Angelique in Revolt
Angelique in Love
The Countess Angelique
The Temptation of Angelique
Angelique and the Demon
Angelique and the Ghosts

There are a couple of other books in the series that have not yet been translated. Given that the first book in the series came out in 1956, it is remarkable to think that Anne Golon is still working on this series, with a view to finishing off the series.

With the book currently being out of print, I would definitely suggest that it is worth the effort to try and track down as many of these books as you possibly can and then make the effort to enjoy this truly remarkable adventure.

Cross posted at Historical Tapestry

To Catch an Heiress by Julia Quinn

When Caroline Trent is kidnapped by Blake Ravenscroft, she doesn't even try to elude this dangerously handsome agent of the crown. After all, she's been running from unwanted marriage proposals. Yes, Blake believes she's a notorious spy named Carlotta De Leon, but for six weeks until her twenty-first birthday, when she'll gain control of her fortune, hiding out in the titillating company of a mysterious captor is awfully convenient -- and maybe just a little romantic, too.

Blake Ravenscroft's mission is to bring "Carlotta" to justice, not to fall in love. His heart has been hardened by years of intrigue, but this little temptress proves oddly disarming and thoroughly kissable. And suddenly the unthinkable becomes possible -- that this mismatched Couple might be destined for love.

Caroline Trent has been passed from one horrid guardian to the next over her lifetime. Most of them were determined to get hold of her fortune, but by far her current guardian was the worse. When he gives his odious son instructions to rape her if that is the only way he can get her to marry him, she knows that it is time to get out. All she needs to do is to keep out of their grasping hands for the next six weeks and her fortune will belong to herself.

It is pure coincidence that she escapes from her uncle's house on the same night that agent-of-the-crown Blake Ravenscroft is watching his house, waiting for the appearance of the notorious spy Carlotta de Leon. Blake can't believe his luck when he captures the spy so easily, but of course, he isn't to know that the woman that he has kidnapped and taken back to his nearby house was actually Caroline.

What follows is supposed to be mad cap comedy as Blake deals with the incredibly stubborn Caroline who is scheming to have a way to stay with him for the six weeks she needs to be hidden away, and soon finds herself caught up in the work that Blake and his friend James do for the government, and thus involved in trying to catch her uncle in whatever it is that he is involved in.

Blake's friend James had to keep on leaving Blake and Caroline alone because they were irritating and I have to say that at times I agreed. Whilst sometimes the interactions were fun and cute, there were other times where the dialogue changed from fun and cute to irritating and over the top.

This is one of Julia Quinn's earliest books, and it is easy to see some of the elements here that make her one of the more popular historical romance authors going around. For me personally though, the storyline was good but the execution wasn't great. One interesting thing at the end of this novel is the relatively high body count, something that you don't normally see, but I am not going to say who dies or how!

I love my library...I really do

Except for when they renew all the books that I have out that didn't need renewing. What does that mean? Well it means that instead of having 10 books due back by 2 September I now have 27 due back!

She was chatting away to me and then said, oh I have renewed all of your books and I gasped and said Oh no! Unfortunately there was no way to cancel it once it was done!

There is no way known that I am going to get through all of those, especially given that I have intentions of watching lots and lots of Olympics action.

Gaiman Giveaway

I am a very new Neil Gaiman reader, having only read Stardust and now having American Gods on my TBR pile, but a great way to get to know more Neil Gaiman books would be to win some!

Luckily Fashionista Piranha is having a Gaiman giveaway. Here are the prizes so far:

THE PRIZES

- an ARC copy of Gaiman's newest book, The Graveyard Book, due to be released September 30th, 2008.
- Coraline, one of Gaiman's newest graphic novels
- Gaiman's Bath Surprise: one Stardust bath bomb and one Comforter bubble bath, which Gaiman has written about in his blog
- $25 to the charity of your choice!


Did you notice that I said so far? The reason for that is that the more people who enter the more prizes there will be!

Let Sleeping Rogues Lie by Sabrina Jeffries

"Don't let yourself be fooled, Madeline: once a rake, always a rake." -- Mrs. Charlotte Harris, headmistress

When Madeline Prescott took a teaching position at Mrs. Harris's School for Young Ladies, it was to help restore her father's reputation. Instead, she's in danger of ruining her own. The devilishly handsome Anthony Dalton, Viscount Norcourt, has agreed to provide "rake lessons" to Mrs. Harris's pupils so they can learn how to avoid unscrupulous gentlemen, and Madeline is to oversee his classes. She has always believed that attraction is a scientific matter, easily classified and controlled -- until she's swept into the passionate desire that fiercely burns between her and Anthony. Nothing could be more illogical than risking everything for a dalliance with a rake -- even one who's trying to behave himself. Yet nothing could be more tempting....

Sabrina Jeffries is one of those authors that I thought I should love and I just could never quite figure out why I hadn't really connected with her writing style and I was beginning to think that I never would really connect. (Eloisa James is another author I think this about). Then I read Beware of a Scot's Revenge and I was really surprised by how much I liked it, but then I didn't want to get that excited in case it was a once-off, but I am glad to say that it was not because this one was great!

Having an experienced rake give a virginal young lady lessons in how to catch a husband is one of the standard story lines of historical romance, along with secret babies and marriages of convenience. What Sabrina Jeffries has done with this book is to take that standard and give it a twist. Anthony Dalton, Lord Norcourt, is a well known rakehell with a penchant for widows. When he needs to try and save his niece Tessa from his very scary aunt and uncle who currently have guardianship of her, he arrives at Mrs Harris' school looking for a place for her there. There he meets Miss Madeline Prescott who is something of a blue stocking and naturalist. Given that the school is currently not taking new students, and especially not at the request of one of those pesky rakes that headmistress Mrs Harris detests so much, Madeline comes up with an idea to have a new teacher at the school - a rake who can teach their students what to look out for when they go out into society - Lord Norcourt.

What isn't clear to either Mrs Harris or Lord Norcourt is that Madeline has her own reasons for wanting to spend time with him. He thinks he can give her a few lessons in pleasure but she has decided that he can arrange things so that she can meet one of his scientist friends who she believes can help save her doctor father from a scandal surrounding his use of nitrous oxide (laughing gas) on a young woman who subsequently died.

With both Anthony and Madeline having their own agendas the opportunities to spend time together are quickly mounting up as is the attraction between the two of them. With Madeline determined to attend one of the notorious nitrous oxide gas parties to try and meet up with Sir Humphrey and Anthony having decided that Madeline must not be a virgin because of the whiff of scandal that he suspects already surrounds her, the opportunities for half truths to be told and for misunderstandings leads to a night of passion that neither party will forget any time soon.

I really enjoyed this whole story, but there are two things that stopped me from giving this book a perfect score. One is that with the ending, there had been so much build up around the scandal that Madeline's father had been involved in that the way that it was resolved seemed to be an easy way out. The other thing was the hero's tendency to call his penis 'bad boy' and not in a fun way. It did make sense in terms of the way he thought of himself but it did get a bit old after a while.

I am looking forward to reading more in this series, but if I have to be honest, the one that I am waiting for is when we get Charlotte Harris' story and we get to find out exactly who the mysterious Cousin Michael really is and get to see the sparks fly when they meet in real life and not just through their correspondence!

Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie

Turn left at small town secrets...

Sophie Dempsey is content living a quiet life filming wedding videos until an assignment brings her to Temptation, Ohio. From the moment she drive into town, she gets a bad feeling; Sophie is from the wrong side of the tracks and everything in Temptation is a little too right. And when she has a run-in with the town's unnervingly sexy mayor, Phineas Tucker, making a little movie turns out to be more than a little dangerous.

Yield to oncoming desire...

All Sophie wants to do is film the video and head home. All Phin wants to do is play pool with the police chief and keep things peaceful. They both get more than they bargained for when Sophie's video causes an uproar and the proper citizens of Temptation set out to shut them down.

Welcome to temptation...

As event spiral out of control, Sophie and Phin find themselves caught in a web of gossip, blackmail, adultery, murder, and really excellent sex. All hell breaks loose in Temptation as Sophie and Phin fall deeper and deeper in trouble...and in love.

If you have read my blog for a fair while one thing you might notice is that I don't normally do rereads. Having said that, I was browsing through the online catalogue for the library not so long ago to see if Jennifer Crusie's next book had been added to the catalogue yet when I noticed that they had this book on audiobook. You know how sometimes you just NEED a certain type of book. Well, as soon as I saw it, my immediate reaction was I need to listen to a great romance with lots of humour, and so I borrowed it.

As I mentioned previously, I had read this book before, but I had forgotten many of the details. When I think of Jennifer Crusie's books I think of smart and funny, but I don't often think of how sexy her love scenes are, or of the swearing that is in the book. I am not sure if it is because I was listening to the book instead of reading it but it really jumped out at me this time around. Now, that doesn't bother me, but when I thought about my work colleague listening to it, I did wonder how she would react. By the way, I went into work the next day after making that post and mentioned to her that I wasn't sure how she would react to it, and to be honest her initial reaction was to be a bit hurt - she asked me if I thought she was a prude. I am however glad that I did say something to her. I am not sure if she is going to give it a go but if she does at least she will be forewarned.

I loved the way that this book is never exactly what you think it is. For example, when Sophie and Phin meet it could be a straight romance novel, but then there is the body and it turns more into a mystery, but then the victim appears to be the man who died a thousand deaths, so is it really mystery. Regardless of all those things, the one thing this book is, is a really good reads.

There are laugh out loud moments, there are sexy moments, and there are the poignant moments. The narrator did a pretty good job at getting all the different tones and moods. A couple of the character's voices were a little bit weak, but other than that I have no complaints. Some of the scenes, for example at the town council meetings about the water tower and the pool game between Phin and Sophie, are comedy gold!

Now I just wish my library had more JC books on audiobooks that I could listen to again. I especially wish that they had Bet Me and Faking It, but I guess if worse comes to worse I could actually try reading a reread instead of listening to it!

What's on Your Nightstand?

I saw this over at Page After Page and thought that a once a month post like this might be fun! So the question being asked over at 5 Minutes for Book is What's on Your Nightstand? The only danger with posting this is that you will see that some books seem to languish there and never move and other's come and go quickly. I do tend to read a lot more romance at night as well, so I would expect to see more of them on the nightstand than other types of books. I should mention that this is not the books that I would expect to be reading over the next month as those books are in a separate bookcase.

So what is there now?

Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas
Let Sleeping Dogs Lie by Sabrina Jeffries
Luncheon of the Boating Party by Susan Vreeland
Visions of Heat by Nalini Singh
Dagger-Star by Elizabeth Vaughan
The Smoke Thief by Shana Abe
Mistletoe Kisses (anthology featuring Elizabeth Rolls, Deborah Hale and Diane Gaston)
Rises the Night by Colleen Gleason
Archangel by Sharon Shinn
The Traitor's Wife by Susan Higginbotham

How about you? What do you have on your nightstand?

Weekly Geeks #13 - Author Photos

I haven't done the last couple of Weekly Geeks. Last week it was because I was too scared to reveal exactly how many half written posts I really have sitting in draft! This week's looks like fun although I really don't like having to narrow my choices down to just one or two authors because I have lots and lots of favourites!

This week’s theme is a sort of meme. (Hey, I rhymed!) Your basic challenge is to post author photos.

Using the meme-like list below, post photos of authors in response. Please feel free to skip any you don’t like. You’re also free (encouraged!) to add your own, but if you do that, please be sure to indicate which are yours, so that people can credit you if they use yours.

But don’t put words/names with your photos. Ask your readers to guess your answers! If you have a book to give away, you may want to offer a prize, maybe draw a name from those readers who guess correctly.

1. Photos of your favorite author(s).
2. Photo(s) of the author(s) of the book(s) you’re currently reading.
3. Photo(s) of any author(s) you’ve met in person (even very briefly).
4. A youtube of (an) author(s) you’ve heard speak.
5. Any photo(s) you may have of yourself with an author.
6. A photo of the author of the book you’ve most recently finished.
7. Photos of the hottest author(s)!

First things first....how do you say meme? I always say it as mem, just like men but with an m at the end instead.

Leave your guesses in the comments! I think that there is probably only one tricky ones in this lot of photos.

1. Photos of my favourite authors. I decided to limit it to just three but there are loads more that I could have added in here.



2. Photo(s) of the author(s) of the book(s) you’re currently reading. (Just to make it a little more challenging I haven't updated my Currently Reading section!)




3. Photo(s) of any author(s) you’ve met in person (even very briefly). This author really should have been under the first question but there is a danger of her being the answer to just about every question!


4. A youtube of (an) author(s) you’ve heard speak.

It's not on Youtube but here is a link to an interview on Australian television from last year. The interviewer obviously hasn't read the book or the interview notes, but never mind!

5. Any photo(s) you may have of yourself with an author. Have I told you lately how much I HATE having my photo taken? I am putting this up but only because I have to! Nice red face...it was a hot night and we had had some wine as well.



6. A photo of the author of the book you’ve most recently finished.


7. Photos of the hottest author(s)!

Errmm. Gonna pass on this one!

Bang Bang Book Challenge

So in the last post I tidied up for one challenge that I have finished, and so in this post I am of course going to sign up for another challenge!

The Bang Bang Book Challenge

This is a book challenge where the readers read a selection of fiction books set during one or more wars. The term ‘war’ is loosely defined here. It’s not strictly confined to the Civil War, Vietnam War, WWII…but can also extend to the recent conflicts in Africa and South America. The point of this challenge is not to constrain one’s reading, but to widen it, to raise awareness, to open one’s eyes.

Rules:
- To participate you must choose 5 fiction books and sign up using the Mr. Linky link at the above link.
- The challenge lasts from Sept. 1 2008 through Feb. 28, 2009.
- There will be monthly Mr. Linkys for your reviews.
- You may overlap with other challenges.
- When you sign up (at the link above), please leave a comment as well!
- Also, when you comment after signing up, please include a list of the books you intend to read. The list can change along the way, of course, but it’s always nice to see what’s in your heads.

Now I love books that are set against a war. It's just a case of limiting my list to five, and making sure they were already on my list. Let's see what we have here:

Victory of Eagles by Naomi Novik
Winston's War by Michael Dobbs
Flashman and the Dragon by George Macdonald Fraser
Seduction of the Crimson Rose by Lauren Willig
The Birth House by Ami McKay

July Book Blowout wrap up

July is over and that means that the July Book Blowout is over too. So how did I do?

The short answer is not all that well, but there are excuses, no wait...reasons for that! Originally I set my target at 18 books because that would have been one more book that I had read in any other month of the year but I only managed to finish 15. As soon as I posted that target I realised, and subsequently mentioned in the comments of the post, that I had forgotten to factor in that I wasn't going to be catching the train to work every day during July like I normally do which chops out 3 hours of reading time every day. My other main excuse is that I read quite a few big books this month, including the two that I am still reading (one of which is nearly 800 pages long). I didn't organise that very well did I. I still have quite a few reviews to write, and I might get to them eventually

So the books that I did finish during July are:

Beware a Scot's Revenge by Sabrina Jeffries
Jack Maggs by Peter Carey
Devil Takes a Bride by Gaelen Foley
Master of Verona by David Blixt
From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris
The Drowning Tree by Carol Goodman
The Cupid Effect by Dorothy Koomson
Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
Private Arrangements by Sherry Thomas
To Catch an Heiress by Julia Quinn
Lady Macbeth by Susan Fraser King
The Wild Hunt by Elizabeth Chadwick
Susannah's Garden by Debbie Macomber
The Last Concubine by Lesley Downer
Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie (reread)

The best book of the month for me was Master of Verona by David Blixt that I absolutely loved. I just got so swept up in the pageantry and the battles. I am really pleased to here that is another book on the way from this author featuring the same characters.

Mrs S has given us some specific questions for the wrap up:

1. Did you discover a new author? 6 of the authors were new to me - Peter Carey, David Blixt, Lloyd Jones, Sherry Thomas, Susan Fraser King and Lesley Downer.

2. Where was the most unusual place you found yourself reading? I can't think of anywhere that I read that was out of the ordinary. I always read either in bed, on the couch or on the train.

3. Did you read more than usual? It turns out I read less than usual - see excuses reasons.

4. Did you give up anything in order to read more? Not really.

5. If you won the Amazon voucher what would you spend it on? I am not 100% sure at this time, but I am sure I can come up with something!

6. Would you like to see a 2009 Book Blowout? For sure, it was a lot of fun.

Special thanks to Mrs S from Blue Archipelago for hosting this challenge.

Book Giveaway!

Those lovely ladies at Book Binge are giving away two of the most anticipated books of this year. You can choose whether you would like to win either Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer or Acheron by Sherrilyn Kenyon.

I am nowhere near being up to Acheron's book yet, but I am very much looking forward to reading it!

I'm sorry

Apparently I am a spammer, and we all know how popular they are! At least according to Blogger I am a potential spammer as they so graciously informed me yesterday by locking me out of my blog and threatening to delete my blog within 20 days if I didn't request a review from them. Of course they apologised nicely for the inconvenience if wasn't really a spammer! Grrrr.

I don't know if there was some kind of problem with the automated system at Blogger that they used to detect this kind of thing because I know of at least two other book bloggers that this happened to yesterday as well.

At least Blogger has let me back in for now but in the meantime I apologise for all my alleged spamming activities!


Edited to add: There is now a Blogger Buzz post talking about this issue. Click here to read it.