My Lady of Cleves by Margaret Campbell Barnes

The Absorbing Story of Henry VIII's Fourth Queen, Her Secret Love, Her Power-Hungry Husband, and the Country That Ruled Them All
"At long last Anne of Cleves gets her day as a noble and highminded heroine in the lists of historical fiction!"
- CHICAGO TRIBUNE
My Lady of Cleves reveals the mesmerizing story of Anne of Cleves, Henry VIII's fourth wife, one of the rare women who matched wits successfully with the fiery king and lived to tell the tale.
Written by world-renowned historical novelist Margaret Campbell Barnes, My Lady of Cleves gives readers an intimate portrait of the warm, unpretentious princess who never expected to become Queen of England. Knowing the king's ravenous desire for a son, and aware of the disastrous consequences of not bearing an heir, Anne of Cleves bravely took on the duty of weathering the Tudor King's temper, whims, arrogance, and irresponsible passions - and won the hearts of his subjects in the process.
A treat for readers of Tudor fiction and those fascinated by the complex relationships of Henry VIII and his wives, My Lady of Cleves leads readers into a world of high drama and courtly elegance.
"Turns a brilliant light on one of the lustiest and one of the most dramatic periods of English history."
- PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

Having read Brief Gaudy Hour earlier this year, I was really pleased when I was offered an ARC copy of My Lady of Cleves. There is so much written about the various Tudors, but it was an added bonus that this book was about one of the lesser written about Tudor wives - Anne of Cleves.

I have to say that from the moment I read the inscription, I was hooked in this book. It was originally published in 1946 and the dedication reads:

To The courage and endurance of all women who lost the men they loved in the fight for freedom.

Now whilst this dedication isn't really about the book itself, it resonated with me as it reminded me that when this book was written the world was a different place. WWII had just ended, and for many around the world were dealing with the loss of loved ones (including the author herself). In the UK, there was heavy rationing, and I could almost imagine being a reader at that time who managed to forget about the hardships of real life and get lost, for a few hours at least, in Tudor times, at the court of Henry VIII, as he searched for a new wife.

The book opens with Henry VII trying to decide which of the princesses of Europe would be the lucky girl to marry him. And what a catch! By this time in his life he was, shall we say, larger than he had been, he had health issues, and he was shopping for his fourth wife, albeit for political purposes mainly. Yes, he was a king, but it is fair to say that there was a known risk in marrying Henry.

When he sends his messengers to the duchy of Cleves, accompanying them is court painter Hans Holbein. His role is to paint miniatures of the two eligible princesses, and send them back to England so that Henry can choose which of them is the more attractive. Henry chooses Anne based on the portrait painted by Holbein, a man who plays a big role in Anne's life for a number of reasons.

For Anne, this journey to her new life as Queen of England is very strange. She is unaccustomed to the ways of the brash English, and she is aware that her family is very much depending on her to do her duty. On the journey, she gets to see the sea for the first time, and is terrified that she has to cross in a storm. In some ways it is an easier storm to face than that she faces at the court, where there is very little in the way of introduction to the ways of the Court, and plenty of criticisms of the way that she dresses, she acts, her lack of dancing skills etc.

The initial meeting between the betrothed couple is a disaster. Anne is naive to the ways of the Court, the petty jealousies, the jockeying for positions, and soon it becomes clear that Henry is displeased with his choice of bride.

For Anne, where being divorced could very well be a source of shame and unhappiness, she must learn a way to make her own life, her own happiness, and she shows her true strengths. We also get an insider's view at court as Anne witnesses the heady and tumultuous times as Katherine Howard rose to be Henry's wife, albeit for a very short time, and gradually coming to her own kind of special relationship with the ailing king.

Reading through the pages of this book, Anne is bought to life, and is portrayed as a capable woman, who loves strongly, who takes a bad situation and turns it in such a way as to emerge from the disaster that was her marriage to Henry with both her head and body intact, and a happy and fulfilled life.

The writing by this author stands the test of time, and did not feel aged in any way. There were nuances of humour and depth throughout the text. I liked the Hans Holbein storyline very much. It gave some reasons as to why the main players in the drama acted in some of the ways that they did, and gives this book a point of difference from some other books that, however briefly, told some of Anne of Cleves life story.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and look forward to reading more from this author.

Special thanks to Sourcebooks for the ARC.


BTW, over at Historical Fiction Online we have a giveaway of this book, and also of Brief Gaudy Hour. You will need to register, but I promise that everyone is very friendly!


Other Blogger's Thoughts:

Linus's Blanket
Passages to the Past
Becky's Book Reviews

Weekly Geeks #20

This week's Weekly Geeks task is as follows:

This week, let’s see if we can get our readers to help us come up with our one big top books of 2008 list. The more contributors we have, the more accurately our final list will reflect the book blogosphere’s opinions.

How to:

1. Please post about the project in your blog, asking your readers to make their own lists. Please refer them to Weekly Geeks #19 for the details.

2. You can tell your readers that next week I’ll be giving away another box of 11 books from Hachette. ONLY bloggers who have made a top books of 2008 list will be eligible to enter. That means you, too, of course! By the way, I also have two other giveaways going on right now, one that’s open until the 6th and one that’s open until the 8th. Just in case you want to enter those.

3. Your readers who make lists should go back to Weekly Geeks #19 to leave their urls in the Mr Linky by October 11th. I’m not even going to put a Mr Linky in today’s post just because I don’t want the urls left in more than one place. That might confuse me and my wonderful helpers, Renay and Jackie. The url in the WG #19 post counts as an entry for the Hachette box of books, so if you already left your url there, you’re all set.

4. Every time one of your readers leaves a comment on the Weekly Geeks #19 post saying they heard about the top books of 2008 project from you, you get a bonus entry in the drawing.

My Weekly Geeks #19 is here

Springing Forward

It seems very early, but our time zone springs forward tonight. I really should think about going and doing all the clocks, but I have been out for a bike ride this afternoon, and then out again tonight, and I have just opened a bottle of chardy so perhaps I will leave it until the morning. As long as they are done before Monday when the boy goes back to school we will be fine.

I should really have caught up on my sleep when we went to the drive-in tonight. The movie was definitely boring enough for me to have slept for an hour without missing too much!

Little Gordon

I don't remember where I first saw these, but I wish I could so I could thank the person! I find them very funny, and I don't even watch any of Gordon Ramsey's shows!


Little Gordon 1



Little Gordon 2



Little Gordon 3




And just because it made me laugh this morning when I saw it:


more animals

Blogging

Like a lot of other people there are times when I do wonder about blogging and whether I am talking to myself or not. In fact, today over at Despair.com I saw a new poster that could almost sum things up for me in the mood that I was in for the last few days. **Going off on a tangent here, but have you all visited Despair.com. They have some very funny demotivator posters over there!**


Don't get me wrong. I love blogging, I love visiting everyone's blogs, but sometimes I watch groups form of people who are obviously becoming close friends and I wonder if and why I sit on the peripheral of all that - a question that I often ask myself in real life as well! A sign of where my head is at I am sure!

But then, just as I am about to engage in a full on pity party, along came three blog awards to show me that I am may well be wrong! Michele from A Reader's Respite gave me the I Love Your Blog award. She also awarded it to Historical Tapestry which is awesome! And then I got that same award from Books and Other Stuff and Teddy at So Many Precious Books, So Little Time too. Thanks so much to all of you! I would love to give the award back to each of you, because I do love all of your blogs, but instead I am going to try and give them to a few different people!

The rules for this award are that you need to:

1) Add the logo of the award to your blog
2) Add a link to the person who awarded it to you
3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs
4) Add links to those blogs on your blog
5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs!

Carolyn Jean from The Thrillionth Page - Always a lot of fun!

Zeek from The Way I See It - A mix of movies, life and reading. I always enjoy reading her posts.

Kerry from Saving my Sanity... One Stitch, One Scrap, One Page at a Time. Very talented with a needle (something that I am not, nor will ever be) and she reads as well!

Amy from Passages to the Past - another HF fan, and she has a really great template as well. Looks great Amy!

Bobbi from Bobbi's Book Nook - Recently she has been reviewing one of my first mystery series, which included my first literary crush. Jim Frayne, you rocked my world!

Kailana from The Written World - It was a bit quiet for a while over there, but appears to be back now. Besides, it's her birthday, so here's your present Kailana!

Raidergirl3 from AnAdventure in Reading - every Tuesday she asks 'Where are you now' - such a great question! I love hearing what books other bloggers are reading and where those books are set!



One final thing for this post, Bethany from B&b Ex Libris is starting a movement to Kill Word Verification. I must confess that mine is turned on, just because I assumed that I would get spammed without it, but I am willing to turn it off and see what happens. If I do start getting spammed, then I will turn it back on.

Author Interview at Historical Tapestry

We have a special event over at Historical Tapestry - an interview with author Barbara Quick, full of interesting info. Come over and visit to see what Barbara had to say.

RIP Rob Guest

We awoke to the news this morning that legend of Australian and New Zealand stage musicals has passed away at the very young age of 57. He had suffered an enormous stroke on Tuesday and died last night.

Rob Guest is most famous for being the longest running actor to play the Phantom in the Phantom of the Opera in the world.

I last saw him on stage performing just a couple of weeks ago, performing as the Wizard in Wicked and he was really awesome and had previously seen him in Phantom as well. It is a great loss for the musical theatre industry here and obviously for his family, friends and cast members.




RIP Rob Guest

It's either ...

Very quiet in blogland or Bloglines is down. I haven't had any new feeds come through in more than 18 hours. Very unusual!

Weekly Geeks #19 - Best books published in 2008...so far!

Even though I didn't do so well on last week's WG task, I think I can do this one, although it does feel a little early to be starting doing best-of posts!

I’m not asking for any specific number of favorite books, because some people don’t read many brand new books. If you’ve only read two 2008 books this year and hated one of them, then just mention the one you liked. Please limit your list to 10 books, though, if you read a lot of new books. You don’t have to put them in any certain order, either.


1. Compile your list of favorites. Please be sure that books you choose actually were published in 2008, or at the very earliest in the winter holiday season of 2007. Sometimes books that come out then are left out.

2. Come back and sign Mr Linky with the url to your top books of 2008 post.

3. If you happen to see any non-WG bloggers making similar lists, please grab the url and come put it in Mr Linky for them. Let them know you’re doing that, please, in case they have some sort of objection; if they do, they can ask me to remove their link. I’ve already seen a couple favorites of 2008 posts, which is another reason I wanted to get started early.

4. Feel free to make changes to your list if you read something new in the next few weeks. After about October 25, I can’t guarantee your changes will be reflected in the master list. We’ll probably start compiling lists around then.

5. Please consider whether you’d like to help me compile lists.

So far this year I have read 29 books that have been published this year. There are six stand out books so far, and then quite a few honourable mentions. It will be hard to limit those honourable mentions but we will see how we go!

The six standout books are:

The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
The Host by Stephenie Meyer
The Heretic Queen by Michelle Moran
Delicious by Sherry Thomas
Let Sleeping Rogues Lie by Sabrina Jeffries
The Lost Duke of Wyndham by Julia Quinn


The honourable mentions are:

Mistress of the Revolution by Catherine Delors
Blue-Eyed Devil by Lisa Kleypas
The Romanov Bride by Robert Alexander
Personal Demon by Kelley Armstrong


I am surprised that there were that many reviews to link to. Whilst I am not in a reading slump, I am definitely in a reviewing slump. I've lost my reviewing mojo! Oh no.

What was I thinking?

The High School Musical Singstar seemed like a good idea at the time. Now... I am not quite so sure! There are some very strange noises being amplified through the house at this point. Oh wait...that's singing!

It was 10 years ago today...kind of!

If we want to get technical then it was actually 10 years ago tomorrow, but that's only because my boy was born at 4.58pm on Friday 25 September in Sheffield, England. Here in Australia that would have been 1.58am on Saturday 26 September!





Happy birthday baby boy. Of course, he's not really a baby anymore. He is going to be taller than me within another couple of years...and I am not really that short! It's not my fault that everyone else in the family are giants!

What's on Your Nightstand and some blog pimping!

Something moved off of the nightstand since the last time I did this meme. Actually two things moved!

Still on the nightstand are:

The Traitor's Wife by Susan Higginbotham
Archangel by Sharon Shinn
Mistletoe Kisses anthology
The Smoke Thief by Shana Abe
Dagger-Star by Elizabeth Vaughan
Visions of Heat by Nalini Singh
Just One of the Guys by Kristin Higgins

So the books that moved were Rises the Night by Colleen Gleason and Personal Demon by Kelley Armstrong.

There would also be Fear the Darkness by Sherrilyn Kenyon except I was just reading it, so it's not there!


Now for some pimpage.

Stuff I Read is a new blog that features a lot of historical fiction and some non fiction as well. If you are looking for more bloke-ish historical fiction then this could be a good resource (not that girls can't read these types of books too - I am reading a Flashman book at the moment - but you know what I mean I am sure!)

Another new blogger is Heather who has just started her blog at The Readers Word. Drop by and say Hi!

My final act of pimpage for today at least, is to mention a new challenge. Kerrie from Mysteries in Paradise is hosting her first challenge called the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge. The idea is to read all of the works by the great mystery author! For full details check out Kerrie's blog here.

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!

This week my teaser comes from page 171 of Flashman and the Dragon by George Macdonald Fraser

The others turned in early, except for Parkes, who had invited one of the lesser mandarins over for a chat, so I retired to the verandah to rehearse my anxieties for the umpteenth time, able to curse and sweat in private at last.

Weekly Geeks #18 - Catching Up

I haven't done a Weekly Geeks for a while, but this week's encompasses something that I really need to do anyway, so I am joining in again!

This week’s theme is: catch up on… something.

Weekly Geeks #6 was catch up on reviews week, but so many of you organized bloggers were caught up with reviews that you chose to catch up on other things. So I kept in mind that a catch-up week every now and then will probably be welcome. At this point, I’m very behind on several blog tasks, so I thought maybe you might be, too!

Some suggestions:

Catch up on….

…challenges
…organizing your sidebar
…updating lists of some sort (I need to deal with my giveaways list!)
…making links wherever (challenge lists, monthly reading summaries, etc.)
…bloghopping
…your TBR pile
…your library books
…updating your blogroll
…updating your reader
…???

How to:

1. Decide what you need to catch up on.

2. Write a post if you feel like it, telling your readers what you intend to catch up on. If you do that, you can sign Mr Linky right away with the link to that specific post.

3. Catch up!

4. Write a post near the end of the week (Thursday or Friday) summarizing how your catch-up week went. If you didn’t sign Mr Linky with your intentions post, sign it with your summary post.

5. Don’t forget to visit other Weekly Geeks and encourage them in their catching up!

Whilst there are numerous things that I could catch up on, what I have decided to work on is reviews for challenges. I have a number of challenges that I am very near to completing. I just need to write the reviews.

I am not sure how many I will get written because I still have visitors (a fact that I am reminded of as I sit here and listen to my brother snore like a freight train!), and lots happening this week, but we will give it a go.

Ahoy there me hearties!

So Friday was international Talk Like A Pirate day! Before you can be a pirate though, you need to get your pirate name:

My pirate name is:

Mad Dog Bonney

Part crazy, part mangy, all rabid, you're the pirate all the others fear might just snap soon. You can be a little bit unpredictable, but a pirate's life is far from full of certainties, so that fits in pretty well. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

Thanks to Bookwyrm for
the link!

Of course, talking about pirates I could link up to pictures of Johnny Depp or Orlando Bloom, but if you have had small kids any time in the last 10 or so years, and you have had any exposure to any of the songs by the Wiggles, then you may be just as familiar with this pirate ... Captain Feathersword!



My favourite line in this song? Watch him dance in his pirate pants!

New Oprah Bookclub Pick

A while ago I used to read along with the Oprah Book Club, and used to have some amazing discussions on her boards! These days, I am not as involved but I do keep an eye out to see what book it is that she is promoting. Yesterday she announced a new pick - The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski. I did really enjoy it when she was picking classics, books that I would never necessarily pick up and read myself, but this is the debut book from this author, and was only originally published a couple of months ago.

I have heard of it before, but not much. Anyone read it? Anyone going to read it?

Wicked was great!

Wicked was GREAT! Now I just have to make it through the work day!

New author blog!

I know that there are likely hundreds of new blogs every day that if I just knew about I would be happy to read, but today there is just one that I wanted to share!

One of my favourite authors, Paullina Simons, has just started a blog! Wooo-hooo!

Now I have no idea how often she is going to blog, or about what or anything like that. I just know that there is an opening post, and there is a now a place where we can hear from Paullina herself about what she is working on etc.

The opening post already has some news in it about future books! It is probably a bit early to start anticipating, but I can't help it!

Edited to add: I suppose a link would help!

Paullina's Corner

Edited again to say the link works now!

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!

This week's teaser is from page 210 of Michelle Moran's The Heretic Queen:

Ramesses glanced away. But when I pushed back the long linen curtains of the balcony and saw the tribute the women had left for Iset, I brought my hand to my mouth. The heavy bronze bars were twined with flowers, and lilies, the symbol of rebirth, stretched as far as the eye could see beyond the gates.

Speaking of Michelle Moran, her week over at Historical Tapestry is well and truly under way. So far we have there has been an interview, a review of The Heretic Queen by Kailana and today Michelle has guest posted about history's surprises. Be sure to head over and check out all the great posts, and if you leave a comment you go into the draw to win one of two signed copies of the new book!

I hope everyone is having fun with Book Blogger Appreciation Week. It is proving really difficult to keep up with everything that is going on because I have visitors from interstate. Everyone started to go home again on Sunday but until then it is busy, busy, busy!

You may have noticed not many reviews lately here on the blog. I am still reading loads, but that final step of sitting down and writing the review is just not happening at the moment. I have at least two that I really have to write and soon, but I don't think it is going to happen tonight, and certainly isn't going to happen tomorrow night because I am going to go and see Wicked! Can not wait! I will try to tell you about it over the weekend at some point!

It's going to be a huge week in book blogland....

With all the great giveaways and events planned, the Book Blogger Appreciation Week gets underway soon, and excitement does seem to be building!

For the four of us that post at Historical Tapestry, it is a big week ahead too. Not only do we get to see who wins the Best History/Historical Fiction category in the BBAW Awards 2008, we also have Michelle Moran Week on the blog. There are going to be reviews, an interview, a guest blog and a giveaway of two signed copies of Michelle's new book, The Heretic Queen, which is officially released this Tuesday.

I hope that you come buy and visit us during this exciting week!

Sick...again

It has been a really bad season for illnesses in our house this winter. From infected ears, fingers, skin and colds, I have had a lot of time off work. One of the pitfalls of being a single parent is that if your child is sick, you are the one who has to look after them. And if you are sick yourself, there's not a whole lot that you can do about that either. For the first time since I was 18 I have run out of sick leave. The first year out of school I ran out (I may have chucked one or two sickies!) but since then never ran out.

This time last month I posted about my ills then. Now, I have tonsilitis. The irony is that I haven't ever really suffered from this. When they were teenagers my sister and brother both used to suffer from it a lot, but not me.

I am supposed to go back to work tomorrow but we'll see. At the moment it still hurts to swallow, but not as badly as it did a couple of days ago.

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!

This week's book is from page 105 of Diamond Dove by Adrian Hyland

The dogs played their part beautifully, huddlind in the distance like a flock of new-mown sheep. All except for old Leather, the attack dog, who couldn't help himself and was curling an upper lip in a manner most un-sheeplike.

BBAW Contest for Book Blog Readers

Are you one of those people who read book blogs, but who doesn't have your own blog (yet?). Then as part of Book Blogger Appreciation Week, there is a special contest just for you, and it's pretty easy to do, with some great prizes too.

In order to win, you just need to send an email to say why you read book blogs. Sounds easy? Well it is.

You can get full details, including details of where to email, and what the prizes are going to be over at Literate Housewife's blog.

Click here to go there now!

Season over

September in my part of Australia means just one thing - footy finals. Unfortunately, just like last year, our boys fell at the first hurdle, which means that for the rest of September we get to watch some of the other teams go round instead.

I attempted to take advantage of the good weather that we had here over the weekend, particularly yesterday, by mowing the lawn. It would have been great, except that I couldn't get the darned lawn mower to start, so I still have a jungle out there. Instead I went for a walk yesterday morning, and then today I went for a bike ride with my son and his friend, and then sat and watched the lake while they messed around.

I have to say though, exercise cannot possibly be good for you. If it was, it wouldn't hurt so much now.

Voting is open for BBAW

Voting is open over at My Friend Amy's blog for the Book Blogger Appreciation Week. Amy has put so much work into this so far. The best thing about the voting list is that there are quite a few blogs on there that I haven't heard of before - yay to new blogs to discover!

The other best thing (if that is possible!) is that Historical Tapestry got a nomination in the Best History/Historical Fiction category!

You can check out the list of all the nominated blogs and vote by clicking on the link below:

BBAW Voting Booth

Personal Demon by Kelley Armstrong

Hope Adams, tabloid journalist and half-demon, inherited her Bollywood-princess looks from her mother. From her demon father, she inherited a hunger for chaos, and a talent for finding it. Like full demons, she gets an almost sexual rush from danger - in fact, she thrives on it. But she is determined to use her gifts for good.

When the head of the powerful Cortez Cabal asks her to infiltrate a gang of bored, rich, troublemaking supernaturals in Miami, Hope can't resist the excitement. But trouble for Hope is intoxicating, and soon she's in way too deep.

With a killer stalking the supernatural hot spots of Miami, Hope finds herself dangerously entangled, and has no choice but to turn to her crooked werewolf ex-boyfriend for help. What started as a simple investigation has spiralled into chaos. And Hope finds chaos irresistible....

For a woman who didn't know what she was getting into, there's only one way out: it's time for Hope to unleash her most potent primal instincts and open herself, mind and body, to everything she most fears - and desires.

After starting out reading this series two years ago, I now have a problem. I am all caught up and that means that now I have to wait for each successive full length book to come out! Fortunately at this time it is only a couple of months, but it is going to get worse as the wait between each book gets longer. I did however discover that I have missed a couple of short stories so that should tide me over for a little while.

We first met Hope Adams in a short story in the Dates from Hell anthology. She is a half demon whose special talent is the sensing of chaos. If she walks into a room where something bad has happened, or is going to happen she feeds off of the chaos vibes. Given that she was raised away from other supernaturals she is still trying to understand her nature.

As a result of the events that occurred during the previously mentioned anthology, Hope and werewolf Karl Marsten owe cabal leader Benicio Cortez. When he decides that it is time to call in that debt, Hope finds herself adopting a new identity, and trying to infiltrate a young gang of non-cabal supernaturals who are giving the established cabals (think mafia families with supernatural powers) some trouble. When Hope's friends Lucas Cortez and his wife Paige Winterbourne find out what is going on, they too become involved. Lucas is Benicio's semi-estranged son, despite the fact that he has long been named the heir of the Cortez cabal, much to his older brothers' distaste.

Disguised as society girl Faith Edmonds, Hope finds herself involved in some petty criminal acts with her fellow gang members, and also finds herself drawn to Jaz, a charismatic man whose initial supernatural skills seem relatively tame. It is only when Jaz and his friend Sonny appear to have been kidnapped by the cabal that things start to really heat up.

By this time, werewolf Karl Marsten has turned up, determined to protect Hope from herself and from any other events that might cause her to be placed in danger. Karl is somewhat conflicted when it comes to Hope. Whilst he is extremely protective of her as well as possessive, he doesn't really appear to have known what he wants in relation to her in the past as he had disappeared from Hope's life leaving their relationship somewhat unresolved. When he sees Hope canoodling with Jaz he is determined to get her out of the situation she is in for a number of reasons, but Hope is equally determined to see things through to the end, albeit with additional levels of protection.

The chaos gene/skill/talent is quite interesting. It can help Hope to identify if something has happened, or is going to happen, but it also can drive Hope over the edge to the point where she can't necessarily control her thoughts and, perhaps, her actions as she is feeding on the chaos around her.

As Hope must learn to understand her nature, Hope and Karl and Lucas and Paige must do everything they can to stop the killings, and to learn exactly who it is that is targetting the cabals in Florida, and why.

I must confess that I have a soft spot for Karl, despite the fact that he was in effect one of the bad guys in one of the earlier books. In my mind I kind of imagine him as a Sean Connery as Bond kind of figure - suave and debonnair - and yet he is a thief. I loved the explanation that he gave for why he hunts his prey as he tries to help Hope to understand how to use her skills without having them overwhelm her.

There was a pretty major change in this book compared to the other Otherworld books in that there were two narrators throughout the novel. Now that might not necessarily be that different from other books, but the fact that Lucas (i.e. a man) is one of those narrators is unique to this book in the series so far. Hope is the other narrator, and for the most part this dual narrative works, especially as it enables us to be in two places at the one time throughout the story. The fact that Lucas did narrate this book, opens the doorway for the Men of the Otherworld book which will be out next year.

I did like the ending of this novel, especially as it appears to add in some new elements for future books in terms of who the bad guys can be. The conflicts between Lucas and the cabals will no doubt still be a part of the future books but the options are expanded to include at least one more possibility.

Whilst this wasn't my favourite Otherworld book, it was once again a very entertaining entry in one of my favourite series.

This book is my first completed book in the RIP III Reading Challenge.


Other Blogger's Thoughts:

Romance Rookie

Super Commenter Award

Teddy Rose from So Many Precious Books, So Little Time was very gracious and awarded me a new award - the Super Commenter Award!

Now, I want to pass it onto to some super commenters msyelf! I love checking my blog every day to see who stopped by and left a comment. Gives me a thrill every time...especially lately given that my blog has been a little light on content for the last couple of weeks! I have been spending lots of time getting Historical Fiction Online up and running, but I think we are getting there now, so I should be able to start posting more regularly here!

Anyway, on to my seven nominations (which is the one rule that goes along with this award - pass it on to at least seven people):

Kerrie from Mysteries in Paradise - not only is she a super commenter, she was also fun to meet up with in real life last week during the Melbourne Writer's Festival.

Stacy from Stacy's Place on Earth

Stephanie from Stephanie's Confessions of a Book-a-holic

Rhinoa from Rhinoa's Ramblings

Iliana from Bookgirl's Nightstand

Wendy from Musings of a Bookish Kitty

Bybee from Naked Without Books

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!

My teaser this week is from Lauren Willig's The Seduction of the Crimson Rose:

She might even, Mary thought, her head spinning with possibilities, be able to do away with the indifferent chaperonage of Aunt Imogen. At Vauxhall, hooded, masked who was there to recognize her and go tattling back to society.

RIP III Challenge

It's time for another one of Carl V's fabulous challenges - this time it is the RIP Challenge:

From Carl's site

Mystery.
Suspense.
Thriller.
Dark Fantasy.
Gothic.
Horror.
Supernatural.

There is just something about this time of year, when the ghosts of past Autumns and the Autumn to come chase away the dog days of summer, that entices one to read books that fit into the above categories.

It was a desire share the love of eerie, creepy, things-that-go-bump-in-the-night literature that brought me into the online reading challenge game for the first time back in September of 2006. My goals today, in this its third iteration, are no different than the inaugural R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril Challenge:

1. Have fun reading.
2. Share that fun with others.

There are three different options availabe and I am choosing Peril the Second which is to read two books of any length, from any subgenre of scary stories that you choose.

I will be choosing from the following list:

Rises the Night by Colleen Gleason
Personal Demon by Kelley Armstrong
Before They are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie
The Blackstone Key by Rose Melikan

There's a chance I might substitute some other books as well but we will start with that list as a base.

Blast from the Past

One of the bloggers that I read posted about some of her favourite 80's music on her blog today. One of the songs that she posted was Howard Jones Like to Get to Know You Well which is a cool song, but my favourite Howard Jones song ever is No One is to Blame:




Of course when you start messing around on Youtube before you know it you are following one link to the next and then also thinking of other things to search for and so that brings up to Uncanny X-Men and 50 Years. Did I hear you say WHO? I don't know that their name has lasted twenty years in terms of people remembering them as one of the great Aussie 80's music bands, but I did love this song and I still do!

What's on Your Nightstand? and Teaser Tuesday (on Wednesday)

It's hard to believe but it is time for the monthly What's on Your Nightstand? post! The year is just flying by!

Unfortunately the pile by the side of my bed isn't descending, but rather it is nearly at cruising height! (I know....enough with the flying related terminology!). So here is the list of what I now have on my nightstand starting with the books that were there last month:

The Traitor's Wife by Susan Higginbotham
Archangel by Sharon Shinn
Rises the Night by Colleen Gleason
Mistletoe Kisses anthology
The Smoke Thief by Shana Abe
Dagger-Star by Elizabeth Vaughan
Visions of Heat by Nalini Singh

The new additions are:

Just One of the Guys by Kristan Higgins - It got rave reviews over at Dear Author so I thought I would give it a go even though I don't read a lot of contemporary romance.

Personal Demon by Kelley Armstrong - I really enjoy all the Women of the Otherworld books.

***********************

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!

I completely forgot to do Teaser Tuesday last week, and it is now Wednesday, but I am going to do this anyway! Part of the problem is that by the time everyone starts posting their Tuesday Teaser posts it is already Wednesday here! We'll see how we go next week. My teaser is from Personal Demon by Kelley Armstrong:

From the thrill of the break-in, I presumed, but when he pulled back, there was trepidation in his eyes, lifting only when I leaned in for another kiss.

I am only in the very early stages of the book, but I have to say that I am eager to know exactly who HE is and what break-in. Damn! Looks like a teased myself!

New site!

Are you pining for HistoricalFiction.org? I have been I can tell you!

We are very excited to announce a new site which will feature the same friendly members and some of the same features, but at an all new site, and most importantly one where the moderators will be able to make changes when and where we need it!

If you haven't been part of the forum before, and you love to read Historical Fiction come check us out. The members are friendly and very knowledgeable and there are plenty of authors who hang out as well!

Come visit us at

Historical Fiction Online

Life...or something like it!

It's been a bit quiet here on my blog, but it's not because there's nothing happening. The Olympics are over and so tonight for the first time in a couple of weeks I had to actually think about what I wanted to watch on TV - and the choices weren't that inspiring!

Speaking of Olympics, I knew when I signed up for Annie's Olympic Reading Challenge I wasn't going to do all that well, because I only had one book by an Aussie author coming up to be read soon. I did end up reading the book (Sir Thursday by Garth Nix) but on the couple of occasions that I sat down to write the review the words just didn't come! They will eventually but for now, I have a few too many other things on my mind! If I was to look at the nationalities of authors that I read during the Olympics, then the US would dominate - 10 Americans, 1 Aussie and 1 Brit.

I got home from work on Friday night to find lots of messages about what is happening at HistoricalFiction.org. More on that in the next couple of days. I promise you all that there is something happening!

The Melbourne Writers Festival started in Melbourne last weekend and I was very much looking forward to spending time at the Festival on Saturday, but it didn't end up being such a great day in the end. That's not because of anything at the Festival itself, but just that we had a bit of drama. You may remember that a couple of months ago I mentioned that my son had been diagnosed with a nut allergy and therefore we had to start carrying an epipen around with us just in case he had a severe allergic reaction. Saturday morning we got ready to go into the city, packed some lunch, a couple of books and his allergy medication into a backpack and caught a train into the city. Only problem is when we got off the train in the city, the backpack did not. By the time we realised it was too late and the train had left.

I took my son to the activity that he was participating in and explained what had happened and left him there, saying that I would be back with food a bit later and all seemed well. I then spent an hour at Flinders St train station waiting for the train to return to the city to see if the bag was still there, but it turned out not to be which was very disappointing. Not long after that I got a phone call from the program saying that my son couldn't stay there for the day unless someone stayed with him because he did not have his medication. I don't know why it took them an hour to decide this but it did. By this time I was very emotional and upset. It wasn't really the people at the program's problem or fault but it was just so frustrating, especially when it would have cost a fortune to buy a new one.

In the end I had to get a family member to come in to the city to stay with him so that I could go to the one session that I was already booked in for, which was to listen to Jennifer Kloesters talk about the life and times and Georgette Heyer, which was very interesting. I am definitely hoping to attend at least one more event, if not more, this weekend.

I was meant to be going to a flamenco club on Saturday night but that didn't happen either. Needless to say I didn't really enjoy my Saturday all that much.

Fortunately I got a phone call today to say that the bag had been found, and handed in and everything was still there, so we were very lucky! I guess part of the drama was that this was the first real impact we have felt in relation to the difficulties of living with allergies. Hopefully we won't have to go through this again.

Just because this is a very rambly post with not much point, I thought I would post the video that the session that I did get to go to on Saturday started with. I had seen it before but it is lots of fun. Enjoy!!

HistoricalFiction.org is down

For those people who read my blog and participate at HistoricalFiction.org, you may have noticed that the site is currently down.

We are currently trying to contact the owners to find out what is going on, and as soon as we know, then we will let you all know!

Thanks

My week

It's been a little quiet here this week because I have been a little busy. Today was the third of four days training in a new system that they are going to be installing at work soon. I have another four days of training again next week.

Today I don't feel too bad but every other day this week my eyes have been killing me and I have ended up having a shocking headache by the time I got home. This happens a lot when I attend training because I need glasses for looking at the screen in front of me and the books, but not to look up to the front and of course you spend all day doing both.

It is a bit strange that I don't have a headache tonight though, although I am sure the fact that I was in bed at 9pm last night and slept for a solid 8 hours or more probably helped a great deal. Another early night probably wouldn't hurt but I am off to watch the first episode of Cranford. I have no idea what time it finishes, but hopefully not so late that I will not get enough sleep tonight and therefore might avoid a headache again tomorrow!

In other news, Melbourne has been named the second City of Literature by UNESCO. Sounds as though there are some exciting things happening for both readers and writers.

Read more here.

Thanks to Kerrie for blogging about this!

The Drowning Tree by Carol Goodman

Augustus Penrose created the stained glass 'Lady Window' to adorn the chapel of the university he founded for the daughters of the women who worked in his factory, the Rose Glass Works. Depicting his wife, Eugenie, as the Lady of Shalott, it's a mesmerising portrait that has come to embody the spirit of the school itself.

But now, eighty years after it was created, the Lady Window is due for restoration. The task falls to former alumna Juno McKay. She's restoring it with the help of her friend, Christine Webb, an art historian who is researching the window for her thesis. Christine seems to have discovered some new evidence that suggests that Clare, not her sister Eugenie, was the subject for the Lady Window. But before Christine can discuss her findings with Juno, she's found dead in a boating accident that eerily echoes the fate of the Lady of Shalott. but did she drown or was it something more sinister?

As Juno starts to make her own investigations into just how Christine died, she learns more about Augustus Penrose and his family. The Lady Window was not the only thing the Penroses bequeathed to the world. Madness and deception also form part of their legacy...

Christine Webb is a glassmaker who specialises in restoring stained glass windows. Her company is currently working on a really big project - the restoration of The Lady Window from Penrose College. Christine had attended the college until she left because she was pregnant, and now as a single mum she is watching her teenage daughter become more independant meaning that she has more time to devote to herself. She had married but her husband, who was a successful artist, has been institutionalised in the local asylum after he tried to kill both her and their child years before in a moment of madness.

Christine's best friend Juno also studied at the College and was working on a thesis about the window, and about the founders of the college, Augustus Penrose and his wife Eugenie. After giving a speech at the college about her ideas about the origins and subject matter of the window, Juno goes missing, and is found drowned in the grounds of the Penrose's now deserted home, in an eerie echo of the fate of the Lady of Shallot, who is one of the many classical mythical figures that were used in the Penrose's art and decorations.

For me, this book was flat from beginning to end. The characters never really engaged me, in particular Juno who I never really cared too much for. If there was one thing I did like, it was the treatment that Goodman gave to Neil, Iris's ex husband, although the climactic events of the book that involved him felt extremely contrived and very handy so that we could have the ending that occurred.

Once again Goodman tried to show how clever she was by trying to fit as many classical mythical figures into the narrative as well as lots information about the making and restoration of glass. I do normally like it when an author tries to incorporate new things into the narrative, but when the narrative was already ponderously slow, this just tended to slow the action down even further.

When I first started reading this book I was pleasantly surprised to discover that there was a link to the previous book that I had read, which I posted about here. It was basically the only pleasant surprise I had. After having declared how much I enjoyed the last Goodman book that I read, this one was a real disappointment for me. I have requested The Sonnet Lover from the library so I guess we will see where that book fits for me in the enjoyment scale.

Golden Girls

So the Olympic swimming program is over. The story is of course Michael Phelp's extraordinary achievement, but from an Australian perspective, one of the major things to come out of this meet is the form of the Australian Women's Swimming team. The Aussies won 6 gold medals at the pool, and all of them were won by women, either individually or as part of relay teams.

So all hail the golden girls of Australian swimming!




Liesel Jones - Gold 100m Breaststroke, Gold 4x100m Relay, Silver 200m Breastroke,







Stephanie Rice - Gold 4x200m Freestyle, Gold 200m Individual Medley, Gold Individual 400m








Libby Trickett - Gold 100m Butterfly, 4x100m Medley Relay, Silver 100m Freestyle









4x100m Medley Relay team












4x200m Freestyle Relay team

Book Blogger Appreciation Week

Amy from My Friend Amy has come up with an awesome idea!



Book Bloggers: You work hard. You read books, you write reviews, you maintain relationships with your readers, publicists, and authors. You are constantly running to the post office to mail your giveaways and participating in carnivals to help boost traffic. You sometimes want to faint when you see the size of your TBR pile, but faithfully you read. And you do it because you love it. Book blogging is for most a hobby. But it's a hobby that takes a lot of work and time. It's a labor of love.


I've been blogging for three years but only really got into book blogging in the last year. I have found, without a doubt, that book bloggers are the kindest, most open minded, and supportive group of bloggers on the internet. With book blogging, it's about community and a love for the written word.

The Readers: We love you! You don't have a blog, but you read our reviews and share your thoughts with us. You enter our giveaways and click on our Amazon associates link. We do this for you and appreciate your readership. We hope you'll join in the fun and festivities of BBAW! (we'll have a special contest just for you!)

Book Blogger Appreciation Week: Acknowledging the hard work of book bloggers and their growing impact on book marketing and their essential contribution to book buzz in general, I am excited to announce the first Book Blogger Appreciation Week. Think of it as a retreat for book bloggers and a chance for us to totally nerd out over books together. And of course, shower each other with love and appreciation.

Register: In order to experience the maximum impact of the week, I invite you to register your participation (just like a retreat)!
To register, just send an email to bookbloggerappreciationweekATgmailDOTcom with your blog url and what you consider your niche...i.e, general book blog, classics blog, personal blog with a healthy dose of books, YA books blog, etc. Then, add one of the two buttons at the bottom of this post to your sidebar. If you are a reader (no blog) just send an email announcing your plans to follow along.
Why bother? If you register, you will be added to a book blog directory which will exist long after this week is over. Additionally, you will receive one raffle entry into the daily giveaways during BBAW here at My Friend Amy.

Awards: Oh yes, there will be awards. The Oscars of Book Blogging. :) Nominations start next week.

Spread the Word: If you are excited about this idea like I am and the other book bloggers who are helping, please consider writing a post on your blog announcing this event and inviting other book bloggers and readers to join.

Help Wanted: If you have a talent for designing buttons (like those below) and would like to donate some of your time and skill to me, please email me personally at mypalamyATgmailDOTcom

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

It's 1946, and as Juliet Ashton sits at her desk in her Chelsea flat, she is stumped. A writer of witty newspaper columns during the war, she can't think of what to write next. Out of the blue, she receives a letter from one Dawsey Adams of Guernsey - by chance he's acquired a book Juliet once owned - and, emboldened by their mutual love of books, they begin a correspondence. Dawsey is a member of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, and it's not long before the rest of the members write to Juliet - including the gawky Isola, who makes home-made potions, Eben, the fisherman who loves Shakespeare, and Will Thisbee, rag-and-bone man and chef of the famous potato peel pie. As letters fly back and forth, Juliet comes to know the extraordinary personalities of the Society and their lives under the German occupation of the island. Entranced by their stories, Juliet decides to visit the island to meet them properly - and unwittingly turns her life upside down.

A moving tale of post-war friendship, love and books, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is gloriously honest, sweet and funny - a book to fall in love with.

This little book is the subject of quite a lot of attention at the moment, and I am going to join the chorus and say that it definitely deserves it!

I must confess that the first few times I saw this mentioned on blogs I completely skipped over it simply because, to me, the title suggested something very different from what it is actually is.

Julia Lambert has spent most of WWII writing witty newspaper columns under the name Izzy Bickerstaff, doing her part in keeping the spirits of Londoners up during the dark days of the Blitz. Now that the war is over, Julia wants to do something different. She doesn't want to be Izzy anymore but she doesn't know what she does want to write.

One day she receives a letter from one Dawsey Adams, who lives in Guernsey. He has found a book by Charles Lamb that used to be owned by Julia and he has written to her in the hope that she may be able to assist him in finding more books by that author. In his letter, Dawsey mentions that he is a member of the Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society, and Julia's interest is captured. What is the Society? Where did the name come from and how did it start?

What starts as a simple correspondence about an author grows into a series of letters between not only Dawsey and Julia, but also several of the other islanders (some are members of the Society but others are not) and Julia, and soon she begins to feel as though these people are her friends. They also begin to tell her of how life was on the island during the German occupation which no other part of the British Isles experienced.

Soon Julia finds herself wanting to go to Guernsey to meet the people she has come to know. It doesn't take long before she is caught up in island life, and her life is further woven into the lives of her friends than she could ever have imagined she would be at the beginning of the book.

The characters are fun with lots of quirkiness, but there is a depth that is captured as well - the losses that they suffered, the separation from the children that were sent to the UK for their on safety, the hunger, the fear left from living under oppression.

The whole book is told in the format of letters, telegrams and notes between the characters.
when I started I really wasn't sure if that format would work for me, or if it would become a bit annoying by the end of the book, but the author(s) really did well at making the story flow within the limitations that this format necessarily gives to the structure of the novel .

I have been trying to think of a book to compare to this one, but I am really struggling. It is funny and charming, poignant, informative and there are probably numerous other descriptions I could use, but at its heart it is a really lovely story. The fact that I too wanted to go to Guernsey after finishing the book means that the characters not only captured Julia's heart, but also mine as a reader!

Just a couple of other thoughts on the cover and author. The covers for the Australian book is just so plain that if I had not heard of this book already I would never have even picked it up. It is interesting that in other places around the world, the author is given is Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, but here it is just Mary Ann Shaffer. There is a note in the back that explains that after submitting the original manuscript, Mary Ann Shaffer became ill, and so her niece Annie Barrows completed the book. Unfortunately Mary Ann Shaffer died before seeing her book published, which is both a shame for her, and for us as readers because her book is a lovely read and it would have been interesting to see if she could have followed it up with another great read.

I totally recommend this book to anyone, and ending up giving it the highest possible grade - 5/5 for this one!



Cross posted at Historical Tapestry.

If you have reviewed this book, leave a comment and I will add a link to your review.

A Garden Carried in the Pocket
Thoughts of Joy
B&B Ex Libris
Fresh Ink
Hey Lady! Watcha Reading?
Sincerely Stacie
Word Lily

Well that was a little embarrasing!

I was feeling very pleased with myself this morning because we had what was going to be a great day planned. My son and I got up and going relatively early and caught the train into the city so that we would be there by 10am, and then wandered off to the event site...only to find that the event wasn't today but it is actually next week! Whoops!

I am blaming my brain not working on the fact that I am still recovering from when I was sick last week!

So instead of what I thought we were going to be doing we hung around in the city. We spent some time at the National Gallery of Victoria where they had two new to us exhibits that were really great. My nine year old boy likes going to the Art Gallery, but usually only likes to do one room before he starts getting a bit bored, but we actually went through one of the exhibits twice.

The one that we went through twice was called Klippel/Klippel: Opus 2008. What you can't tell from the link is how the exhibit space was set out. The first two rooms were these tiny, intricate little sculptures, but the first room was very dark with display boxes scattered throughout with just lighting within the boxes so that you could see the contents. The next room was completely white with the only thing breaking the whiteness/brightness the display boxes that were scattered around the room at different levels and more tiny and intricate modern sculptures. The third room was just a single piece, but it was 3 metres tall. The whole exhibit was very cool!

The second exhibit was called Look! New Perspectives on the Contemporary Collection and there were some great pieces there as well. One of my favourites was the second picture on the above link, but there were lots of others good pieces as well.

After all that culture we wandered around the city for a while and then went and watched our beloved Adelaide Crows play Aussie Rules Football. The only problem was that because I hadn't actually planned to go to the footy we weren't exactly dressed for sitting around in the cold, but it was a good win by the Crows, so we managed.

All in all, it was still a great day, just a different great day than I had planned!

Note to self: Melbourne Writer's Festival begins next week!