A BETTER-LATE-THAN-NEVER REVIEW: CLOCKWORK PRINCE BY CASSANDRA CLARE

Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare
ARC

This book was sent to me an embarrassingly long time ago by Michelle over at Simon and Schuster Canada, and I first wanted to shriek THANK YOU!  To her and them, as they have been very good to me despite my lollygagging.

Clockwork Prince is the much awaited sequel to Clockwork Angel and, although extremely excited that this book was coming out, I have to admit to being a wee bit nervous that it was not going to live up to book one.  Which makes me want to poke sticks in my eyes when that happens.

But, alas, it did not happen this time!  Clockwork Prince picks up where we left off in the story and is just as delightfully written as the first one.

We are taken back to the underworld of Victorian London Steampunk style, where Tessa Gray is still living safely among the Shadowhunters.  But not for long as it is soon discovered that the Magistrate will stop at nothing to obtain Tessa and her powers to use for his own evil purposes.  With the help of the dark and handsomely disturbed Will, and silvery glittery Jem, Tessa discovers that the Magistrates war on the Shadowhunters is a deeply personal one that is fueled by revenge.

The beauty of this story is two-fold.  One, it is set in the enticing Victorian era with a twist.  There are mechanical machines that are used as the Magistrates minions, and Clare's use of them is terrifying and reads like a movie script.  There is magic and demons, and Clare has an extremely imaginative mind that creates the creepiest of visions in your head.  Like the Warlock that comes to dinner with the 4th knuckle on each of his 6 fingers.  Ick.   Or the striking "woman" in the red dress with a long slit up the back to reveal her snake-like tail underneath.  There are so any more visuals like that but done in such a believable way that it only adds to the setting and the story in general.

The second, and possible the best part, is the ongoing love triangle between Tessa, hot hot HOT Will, and sweet and nice Jem.  Will is tortured, to be sure, and he vacillates between being a total dick to clutching her to him in a mad fever.  Huh?  No wonder she is so confused!   And Jem is the quintessential "nice" guy who is always loyally by her side, and Will's and well pretty much the loyal guy that everyone can count on.  Plus he has the hots for Tessa, and he's dying, so this all makes him pretty interesting.

The thing that I love about Cassandra Clare's writing, with this series anyway as I have not read the other one, is that the reason for Will's behaviour is a completely plausible one and an actually very satisfying one within the realm of the world that she created.  You know how when you read a book, and often times a YA one, that the author seems to pull a completely obscure and ridiculous answer to a mystery or reason for a person's behaviour out of their ass and you are yanked out of the story and so utterly pissed off that you feel like heaving the book into the nearest fire pit?

Okay, maybe that's just me.

ANYway, I loved it.  And since it was left as a relatively nice cliff hanger I can't WAIT for the next one to come out!  The next book will be called Clockwork Princess and it will be released March 19, 2013!!

Thank you Cassandra Clare for creating this amazing world and the creatures in it!

For more on The Infernal Devices series you can click here.

And for information on her other series, The Mortal Instruments you can click here. 

RATING:  4.5 STARS

REVIEW: WATER FOR ELEPHANTS BY SARA GRUEN

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial Canada; 1st Trade edition (Mar 29 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0006391559

This book has been sitting on my shelf for a few years, and like I said before, I thought it was one of those books where the animals talk and that they are the main characters.  Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I have to be in a certain frame of mind to read a book like that and suffice it to say, it never happened.  Once I started to see trailers of the movie, though, I started to hear phrases like, "love story" and words like "romantic" and thought, "Huh?"  My husband read it a couple of years back and he liked it so I picked it up and am I ever glad I did!  

First of all Sara Gruen is Canadian (well, technically a dual US/Canadian) , WOOT!  Love it.  Secondly she is a mom that as dreamed of being a writer her whole life and her finally her husband said to her, "Let's take a year or two of you being at home and you write a book."  How awesome is that?    And apparently this book also had its start in the NanoWrimo competition, although I cannot find any other source that verifies that other than the Wrimo.  The NanoWrimo is a fun competition for no money where people attempt to write a novel in 30 days.  On their website they say that Sara's novel was one.  Pretty cool, if it's true!

Okay, so the first few pages sucked me in when I realized that it was not animals talking, but people and the beginning was a bit mysterious with the menagerie of animals going crazy and a window into the world of the circus circa 1920's.  I love historical fiction, and there were actual pictures from circus archives at the beginning of each chapter, what a nice touch!  I have to admit I did picture Robert Pattison as the young Jacob, which didn't bother me too much, and I couldn't remember who was playing the lead in the movie which is just as well as I'm not the biggest fan of Reese Witherspoon... you know, the chin that never stops growing.  ANYway.  

The book is anchored in present day with my favourite and most developed character, in my opinion, the "92 or 93" year old Jacob in a nursing home.  He was just the right amount of cranky, sad, melancholy and spitfire to make me fall in love with him.  I loved seeing the world through his eyes, and I am always blown away when authors can take opposite sex characters and completely nail them, not to mention characters that are about 60 years older than them!  I loved him, and there were several scenes in the book that were so beautifully heartbreaking, and took place just with him and his own reflection.  Makes me realize what getting old really means. 

Sara manages to seamlessly time travel between old Jacob in the seniors home and young Jacob trying to make sense of his life as he stumbles upon a circus with all of its animals, freaks, and tyrant of an owner Uncle Al, and his manager August who just happens to be crazy and also happens to be married to gorgeous Marlena who does the Spirit act with the horses in her sequenced little dresses.  

As per usual I do not want to give anything away, so I will not do a summary, it is easy to find that anywhere on the web.  But I will give you my thoughts in general about this book. 

It is fascinating, if you like history being fleshed out in a realistic way.  It is beautiful, you can imagine the clothing of the era, the decadence of the state car on the train.  It is gritty, with the roustabouts and their cramped quarters on the train.  It is swoony, when unrequited live rears its lovely head.  It is heart breaking, when we meet Rosie the elephant and fall in love with her as so many before her had.  There is adventure and tension. And pairing the narrative in the present day with old Jacob being agitated by another old gentleman at the home telling everyone he used to bring water for the elephants, we are drawn in by curiosity just as to why old Jacob is so completely fired up about this man and his claims. 

The only criticism I have of the book is that there are a couple of characters, one in particular, that developed in an odd fashion and it annoyed me throughout the novel.  Kinko/Walter is the dwarf who is forced to share his already cramped train car with Jacob and I loved his grumpy, bitter, vibe and how he just was so irritated with Jacob's very presence.  He had this adorable little dog named Queenie, who you could just see was his only true friend in the world.  Well, somehow as the story progressed, and rather quickly I might add, Walter become really really "nice".  Like freakishly nice, in a weird way that even most men today wouldn't be.  All of the sudden he was all nurturing and comforting to Jacob, and it just didnt' make any sense.  His character just disappeared, and that goes with Grady another worker who was just "nice" in a boring way, and except for the name they came across in an identical way with no real voice of their own.  Kinko was cool, at first, an unusual guy who had a very unique "voice", if you know what I mean.  I just don't understand what happened there.  

Otherwise a very fast lovely read, and once I see the movie I'll come back on there and do a bit of a Book to Movie post, I am dying to see how they do it!

Sara has a new book out called Ape House which I would love to read.  And as is my way, I purposefully avoid too much information about a book I want to read, but it's something about great apes communicating through sign language?  I think the story revolves around a researcher on the subject?  Not sure, but I have the sample downloaded on my Kindle and can't wait to read it.  

But back to Water?  

RATING:  4.5/5

For more on Sara and her works click here. 

REVIEW (SORT OF): FALL OF GIANTS BY KEN FOLLETT

• Hardcover: 985 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Adult (September 28, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9780525951650

(Kindle Edition)

Okay, so this is not going to be much a review. The thing is, I loved Piilars of the Earth, didn't so much like the prequel, World Without End, and had no real expectations for this one.  

The beginning was phenomenal, I loved following all of the characters, Billy, Fitz, Maud, Walter, Ethel, etc.  Even the way it started drew me in.  I thought it was going to be a story following these seemingly unrelated characters and delve into their lives in a captivating way.  

That was until the war started.  

YAWN!

If you have an interest in the first world war and all of the minutia of the politics of the day, you will probably like it.  After about 3/4 of the way through I skimmed until I found chunks that interested me.  You know, about the people.  

I don't know about you, but to me there is not much else that feels as disappointing as taking on a tome like this and have it fall flat.  I wanted to love it.  Especially since it is the first in a trilogy!  I found the lives of the coal miners very fascinating, and the interplay among family members.  This was solely lacking in the latter half of the book. 

I know other people I know loved it, and they sited the detail in the politics was why. 

So there it is.  

RATING:  2/5

REVIEW: THE SECRET ELEANOR BY CECELIA HOLLAND

The Secret Eleanor by Cecelia Holland

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Trade; 1 edition (August 3, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9780425234501

Firstly I want to send a HUGE THANK YOU to Berkley Publishing Group for sending me a copy of this book an embarrassingly long time ago.  Better late than never I always say. (cough)

Now, the first thing I will say about this book which should tell you my feelings about it is... I LITERALLY closed the cover about a minute and a half ago and RAN to my laptop because I COULD NOT WAIT to tell you HOW MUCH I FRIGGEN LOVED IT!!!!!!!!!!!  

You all know by now that I love historical fiction, I mean I love other genres too, but this is my favourite fo sho.  I happen to wish I lived in the medieval times.  Oh I know what your going to say, "Lisa, that time period stunk.  I mean LITERALLY stunk.  People didn't bathe, rarely had teeth, women were treated like property or dirt or both...blah blah blah."  I can't explain it, maybe it's a past life thing.  But I just can disappear in a book set in that time period like none other.  

That being said. Another reason I enjoy books about historical royal folks is that I really know diddley squat about them.  I mean nothing.  Not next to nothing, not a little bit.  D-I-D-D-L-E-Y.  The only thing I can tell you about anything about any royal family is that there is a wedding coming up in a few days that might get some air time.  So, when I read books like this it's all new and very exciting to me. 

But enough about me.  

If you liked The Other Boleyn Girl, or books like that one with lots of twists and turns and "OMG I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT HAPPENED, AND WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT..." kind of stuff, then this book is totally for you.  And even if you know the story of Eleanor, you will probably enjoy the way Cecelia Holland fleshes out the story. 

Here is the blurb for a summary, but not too much:

Eleanor of Aquitaine seized hold of life in the 12th century in a way any modern woman would envy!

1151: As Duchess of Aquitaine, Eleanor grew up knowing what it was to be regarded for herself and not for her husband's title. Now, as wife to Louis VII and Queen of France, she has found herself  unsatisfied  with reflected glory-and feeling constantly under threat, even though she outranks every woman in Paris.

Then, standing beside her much older husband in the course of a court ceremony, Eleanor locks eyes with a man -hardly more than a boy, really-  across the throne room, and knows that her world has changed irrevocably...

He is Henry D'Anjou, eldest son of the Duke of Anjou, and he is in line, somewhat tenuously, for the British throne. She meets him in secret. She has a gift for secrecy, for she is watched like a prisoner by spies even among her own women. She is determined that Louis must set her free. Employing deception and disguise, seduction and manipulation, Eleanor is determined to find her way to power-and make her mark on history.

Cecelia manages to pull you through the narrative and leaves you breathlessly turning pages as fast as humanly possible.  I read this book in 4 days.  Basically as soon as I finished the last one I reviewed (The Civilized World by Susi Wyss) I picked this one up and read while watching TV, read in the car waiting for my daughter at this or that activity whilst my 4 year old was in the back seat earphones on movie in front of her --- in short -- I could not put it down!!!!  And really, people, isn't that every book lover's dream anyway?  To pick up a book and have it grab you until the very last EXTREMELY satisfying page????  In fact, I really really really wish Cecelia would continue the story until Eleanor's death.  She lived a very long life, even in this day and age, she died at a very ripe old age of 82... EIGHTY TWO!  Imagine!

There is plenty of swoon-worthy moments, and loads of description of the food, clothing, castle stuff -- all of the things that make historical fiction so damn yummy.  But not in a real romance-novelly kind of way, which is perfectly fine for some people, but I like them straight up with a bit of the bodice ripping.. if you get my meaning. 

If I could give this book more than 5 stars I would.  It's that good. 

For more about Cecelia Holland and her works (all 23 of them!) you can visit her website by clicking here. 

RATING:  5/5

REVIEW: THE CIVILIZED WORLD BY SUSI WYSS

The Civilized World by Susi Wyss

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Holt Paperbacks (March 29, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9780805093629

First of all I want to send a HUGE THANK YOU to Christine over at Henry Holt & Co. for sending me a copy of this book.  I absolutely hands-down... LOVED.. IT.

When I was first sent the email inquiring if I would like to read this novel, I was immediately drawn in by the cover.  Isn't is gorgeous?  And then I was told it was set in Africa, which I think I have mentioned, I have always loved to read books that are set there.  But especially now that my 4 year old daughter was born in Ethiopia, I have a particular fondness for books about Africa in general. 

I read this book in 2 days.  It was extremely engaging and although the cover says, "A novel in stories" (which at first makes it sound like a collection of short stories -- it's not), it weaves several story lines together in the most gentle way, and leaves you feeling very satisfied at the end. 

The novel follows the story of several characters, Ajoa and her twin brother Kojo being the "face" of the book, in my opinion.  I fell in love with Ajoa and her dream of opening a salon back in Ghana while she was a practicing massage therapist for foreigners in the Ivory Coast.  Her character reminded me of Mmm Precious Ramostwe from the #1 Detective series by Alexander McCall Smith.  She is instantly likeable and her vision of her salon as a means of providing freedom for her and her brother pulls the story along beautifully.  Even when her brother becomes desperate to leave the Ivory Coast for their beloved Ghana, she holds onto her dream while turning a blind eye to his fledgling criminal career -- to disastrous conclusion that would change her life forever.  Janice is the flip side of the story, a single woman living in Africa for decades and adopting an Ethiopian baby.  Janice was once Ajoa's employer, and it is through Janice that Ajoa is finally able to have peace with what happened to her brother in the Ivory Coast.  

There are other characters as well in the story, but they seem to just provide a further backdrop for the main story lines of Janice and Ajoa. 

Wyss' account of Africa is palpable, you can smell, taste and see clearly the landscape and people before you.  The author lived there for many years, and this lends an air of realism to the narrative, and pulls you into the setting and allows you to escape into the world she has created. 

If you liked Alexander McCall Smith's Ladies Detective series, you will really enjoy this book!

For more about Susi Wyss and The Civilized World you can visit the author's website here.

RATING:  4/5 

REVIEW: REMARKABLE CREATURES

Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Dutton (Jan 5 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9780525951452

First of all I want to send a HUGE THANK YOU to Penguin Group (Canada) for sending me a copy of this book for review!  I am embarrassed to say that it arrived last November, and what with school and my Mom's stroke, it got forgotten until recently.  Better late than never, right?  RIGHT?!!!

Here's the thing, though, I started this book at 8am THIS MORNING and finished it at 6pm.  And I really read it, I am no skimmer, not with review books anyway.  I have been known to skim through sections of my personal reads (kind of like now with Fall of Giants, some of the war discussion/politics stuff.. SNORE!)  

Remarkable Creatures had me intrigued from the first page and kept me glued to the end.  A small novel, but not in story, you will be able to finish it in short order and it will leave you with thoughts to ponder and best of all curious about the historical characters in the book.  

Some of my all time favourite reads are of books that take real-life but long dead people and fill in the blanks of the history books.  I am a huge sucker for that.  Such as Cane River, which ranks in heavy in my top 10, and Hugh and Bess by Susan Higgenbotham, and my most recent historical fiction His Last Letter.  Oh how I envy those authors, spending years knee deep in research of letters, and journals and news clippings of the day.  Taking fascinating people throughout history and fleshing out swoony love lives and complicated mother/daughter relationships.  It's just pure awesomeness. 

Remarkable Creatures takes the lives of two women in the mid 1800's, one of whom ended up being quite famous as a fossil hunter.  Mary Anning is credited with uncovering the very first complete skeleton of the Ichthyosaurus, and also uncovered another bizarre creature called the Plesiosaurus.  Obviously a woman with a non-traditional job that she literally fell into as a child while playing on the beach with her father, it was soon realized that she had "the eye" and could spot a fossil from a great distance and long before anyone else could.  Searching the beach everyday to bring small fossils home to her family so they could eat. 

One day while on the beach she met a fellow fossil hunter, Elizabeth, and the two formed an odd friendship.  Mary was no more than a child and Elizabeth, 20 years her senior, an aging spinster, intelligent, driven, and lonely in her pursuit of her curiosities.  

Mary and her brother uncover what arguably was the most important fossil find of the 19th century, and indeed challenged the religious and scientific views of the day.  The questions were beginning to surface, could there have been creatures before us that are no longer?  Did God make a mistake?  If God created the world and all of the creatures in it, why would he kill off these ones?  What is extinction?  As you can imagine, this ruffled many a feathers, and the fact that this was discovered by a "woman" made it a particularly hard pill to swallow by many.   

As most of you know by now, I don't like to give big long synopsis' of books and give away the story.  In fact, whenever I read a review, I tend to skip much of a synopsis because I like to go in fresh.  So, mostly I like to give you my impression and if I liked it and why. 

I LOVED it.  It was a great read, fast and the story moved beautifully from one page to the next. There is an element of romance in the story, but not too much and not in a stereotypical way.  There is the complicated life of a woman in that day and age, and what it means to be in your 20's and have no marriage prospects.  It asks the question, who deserves credit?  How does fame change a persons view of themselves and those around them?  

What is most important in life?  

If you have any interest in archeology or dinosaurs, than you will appreciate this book on that level as well.  I live in Alberta, we have arguably one of the most famous and extensive dinosaur museums in the world filled with fossils discovered right here in our province.  Reading the description of the two creatures Mary uncovered was really cool, because in the Royal Tyrell Museum are two exact replicas of the creatures in all their amazing glory, so I could easily picture them in my head.  And not just a photo from widipedia, I have seen the sheer size of the fossils that Tracy writes about, and it really blows my mind every time I visit the museum.  

Remarkable Creatures is a story about friendship between two likely women, one destined for greatness from infancy after surviving a lightening strike that is believed to have given her her gift of "the eye" and the other a prickly spinster.. both fossil hunters who uncover two of the most important discoveries in the 19th centuries and all of the politics and drama surrounding them.  

For more about Tracy Chevalier and her novels and, in particular, THIS one.. click here. 

RATING:  5/5


Interview with Tracy below:

REVIEW: THE DISTANT HOURS BY KATE MORTON

The Distant Hours by Kate Morton

Release date: November 9, 2010

576 pages

Firstly I want to thank Anneliese of Simon and Schuster Canada for sending me an ARC of this book!  I was so thrilled to get one as I read and LOVED The Forgotten Garden.

Here is the blurb from the inside jacket:

A long lost letter arrives in the post and Edie Burchill finds herself on a journey to Milderhurst Castle, a great but moldering old house, where the Blythe spinsters live and where her mother was billeted 50 years before as a 13 year old child during WW II. The elder Blythe sisters are twins and have spent most of their lives looking after the third and youngest sister, Juniper, who hasn’t been the same since her fiance jilted her in 1941. Inside the decaying castle, Edie begins to unravel her mother’s past. But there are other secrets hidden in the stones of Milderhurst, and Edie is about to learn more than she expected. The truth of what happened in ‘the distant hours’ of the past has been waiting a long time for someone to find it. 

The Distant Hours is in the same vein as Morton's other books as in there is a mystery that is introduced and as the story unfolds each layer brings us closer and closer to the truth.  Kate Morton has a lovely way of leading us through a story.  Some reviewers have admitted to getting distracted by the length of time it takes her to get from point A to point B, and while I understand their point, it really doesn't bother me.  But what is interesting is that just like with Forgotten Garden I found I really didn't get totally hooked into the story until about 1/2 way through.  That's not saying I didn't enjoy it up till that point, but it just didn't GRAB me.  But once it did, well, I just couldn't turn the pages fast enough!

I love the way the author weaves various time periods together.  As with FG there is a modern day person trying to uncover the mystery of a person in the past.  In fact in that way the stories are very similar.  I won't be reading another Kate Morton book for awhile because I have a sneaky suspicion that that is her style of story telling, and while I'm not complaining you wouldn't want to read too many of her books back-to-back like I just did.

Much of the story revolves around a castle, and if you know me at all, you know that I'm totally bat crazy about castles.  And although this one isn't exactly medieval like I would dream about, it's still dank and stoney and musty and kewl.  

And I am SO GLAD that the author dropped the weird way of structuring sentences as in Forgotten.  I forgot to mention it in my review which you can read here.  But here's the thing, if you are going to write something, why on earth would you do this:

She saw him laughing in the corner, couldn't bear to watch.

                                       OR

She collapsed on the bed from sheer exhaustion, didn't dare to look up.

Do you see what I'm getting at here?  When I was reading the last book, every single time I would come across one of these crazy sentences I would just boil.  It drove me NUTS.  I finally had to just let it GO, or I could have never finished it.  And once I just ignored it, I loved the book immensely.  It was like her editor or her felt they had to cut out words to tighten it up.  Thank GOD there was literally only ONE sentence in all of The Distant Hours that was like this.  And because it had to do with on of the more unstable of the Blythe sisters, it somehow made sense.

I think if you are a fan of Kate's books you will love this one.  After I closed the cover I felt very very satisfied, and will recommend it to anyone looking for a great enveloping read.  Like her other books, it's not one you can just read a couple of pages and put it down for a few days, I've found that you have to stay on top of her books.  I get way more out of it if I read it in large chunks for more than 30 minutes at a time.  The stories are fairly complex with a lot of characters and several time periods so it could be easy to not necessarily get lost, but to get "distracted" as one reviewer commented.

The Distant Hours would be a lovely gift for the holidays, it has a gorgeous cover, and it is a perfect read for a blustery winter day all cozied up by a fire.  LOVELY!

One last thing:

Here is an EXTREMELY cool book trailer for it.. most book trailers are kind of cheesy, but this one is very unique and funky...

The Distant Hours by Kate Morton from Pan Macmillan on Vimeo.

RATING: 4.5/5

REVIEW: UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS BY PORTIA DEROSSI (And BLOG HOP!)

Unbearable Lightness by Portia De Rossi
Simon and Schuster Canada
Pages: 320
$25.99 CAD

Thank you so much to Anneliese from Simon and Schuster Canada for sending me a copy of this book!

Unbearable Lightness was a compelling read, in fact I read it in just 3 days.  Portia De Rossi has always been fascinating to me, she changed her name at 15 from Amanda Rogers to the more exotic Portia De Rossi on a whim, she is married to one of the most powerful lesbian celebrities out there, and she is a pretty good actress to boot.  I thought her book would be more about her coming out as a celebrity, but what it really is about is her horrific battle with anorexia and bulimia. 

This book is very painful and difficult to read at times.   Portia has said that she did not want to write the book from the perspective of a healthy person writing about their eating disorder in the past tense, instead she dove back into her life as it was and spoke in the insane justifying language that I can only imagine most women with this disorder use.  I had no idea that there was such obsession every second of everyday with counting calories and what food was digesting and what it was doing to the fat or lack thereof in her body.  Eating her food with only chopsticks and making sure that the size of food on her chopsticks was never higher than the width of the utensil.  Refusing to use toothpaste as she was terrified of ingesting any unnecessary calories.  In the end she was restricting her calorie intake to an unbelievable 300 calories per day! 

She claims that her disorder started quite innocently when she was twelve and blames it on modeling.  While I am not discounting that at all, as the modeling world was and is brutal to very young girls about their bodies, what I find interesting is that in her interviews and even in her book she seems to avoid putting any blame on her mother's obvious contribution to her illness.  At the age of 12 her mother would comment on her being slightly overweight and emphasize that she needed to be thinner to get jobs, and then would give her dieting "tips" on how to cut calories and exercise to lose weight.  She was TWELVE.  There seemed to be a sick connection between her mother and her when it came to weight loss, her mother would celebrate weight loss with her, and be quick to point out that she needed to lose weight and swoop in with suggestions.  Even though at one point in the book she does mention her mother's influence with some emotion, she never really says that this had a huge affect on her eating or in her case NOT eating. 

Her book at the end of it all is an extremely powerful message to any woman who struggles not to define herself by her beauty, weight, or looks in general.  This is a powerful read but not for the faint of heart.  My only worry in reading it is with so much detail in exactly what, when, and how much Portia ate every day to equal 300 calories and to subsequently reach a deadly 82 pounds, that she has unwittingly given women with eating disorders an exact plan to follow.  She describes how she would take one packet of oatmeal, a sprinkle of splenda, and a spray of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, or Jello with a spray of the butter for example.  I suppose for the number of women and girls she will undoubtedly help, it may be worth the risk, who knows?

Her writing style is very good and in her interview with Ellen yesterday both had said she wrote every single solitary word, and I have to say kudos to her as it was a very well written account of her struggle.

For more information about eating disorders and how you can help or begin your recovery visit:  http://www.nedic.ca/ in Canada or http://www.feast-ed.org/FEAST.aspx in the US, there are many organizations and support groups out there to help.

RATING: 4/5



If you are stopping by from The Hop.... WELCOME!!!! I just love Blog Hop, I have met some fantastic people and visited some terrific blogs as a result!

Here's this weeks question:

"What are your feelings on losing followers? Have you ever stopped following a blog?"


I have to say I have wondered briefly about this on occasion, but I try not to worry about it too much.  Like yesterday I lost one follower, and I figured it was maybe because I haven't been posting enough?  Or maybe they just were not into what i have been reading?  The blogs that I read the most are the ones in my blogroll, I scan thru them everyday and read which ones interest me at the time.  I comment usually only if I really have something to say, and I don't expect a reply unless I have asked a specific question.  I think in my google reader I have hundreds of blogs that I "follow", but admit to not checking it as often as I should.  The only time I have un-followed a blog is if they have not had a blog post for a few months (like more than 3 or 4), and even then I may not.  

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

REVIEW: THE FORGOTTEN GARDEN BY KATE MORTON

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
Paperback: 560 pages

Publisher: Washington Square Press; Reprint edition (Feb 16 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1416550550

First I would like to send a HUGE THANK YOU to Anneliese from Simon and Schuster Canada for sending me a copy of this georgous book!

This was my first Kate Morton novel and I will say that it will not be my last.  This book is a lush telling of a little girl who is abandoned on a ship headed for Australia in 1913.  All she has in her possession when she arrives is a small suitcase containing a few clothes and a book - a book of fairytales.  She is found by the kindly dockmaster and his wife and they raise her as their own daughter.  On her 21st birthday Nell is told about how she was found, and with only vague memories of her past she sets off on a quest to find her true identity.  Her journey leads her all the way to the Blackhurst manor in England, the lavish home of the Mountrachet family.  Each corner digs the mystery deeper, and not until her granddaughter takes up the task after Nell's death is the puzzle finally solved. 

This tale is so rich and beautifully woven together, there is no other way to describe it!  I personally happen to love historical fiction, and also stories that interweave the past with the present.  Along with Nell and Cassandra escavating Nell's past, are two other parts of the puzzle.  One is of the woman known as The Authoress, Eliza, when she was a child and how she fits into Nell's life story.  You will find yourself not predicting the outcome, but being gently led along the path to uncover the clues along with the characters.  The setting is fertile and breathtaking what with all of the ocean breezes, misty mornings and the seaside cliff cottage.

This book could easily have gotten waaaay to complicated with all of the jumping around in time and the perspective changing from one person to the next, but it didn't .  I don't know HOW Kate manages to keep it all straight and beautifully unfolding the narrative bit by bit without confusing us, but she DOES.  I was constantly astounded at her skill as a writer.  Every once and a while I would come across a passage and think, "And there it is."  a detail brought up that was important to the overall outcome but was afraid that it would have been forgotten or not brought up again.

BRAVA!  To Miss Morton!  I cannot WAIT to dive into my ARC of The Distant Hours, and will hopefully be doing a giveaway of it at the time of my review.  I believe it is being released on November 9th so watch for it then!

RATING:  5/5

REVIEW: BEHEMOTH BY SCOTT WESTERFELD

Firstly a HUGE THANK YOU to Michelle over at Simon and Schuster Canada for not sending me one but TWO ARC's of Behemoth!

As most of you know by now I friggen LOVED Leviathan.  LOVED.  My expectations were pretty high for this book, actually that's not totally true.  I picked it up just assuming I would love it and it would be of the same pace as the first book, but I have to admit that even though I am clearly an anomaly in the book blogging world, I really can't say it was all that great.  About half way thru I found myself bored, and not connecting well with what was going on.  Now that being said, the last week I have been extremely beyond ill with a lung infection, and really wanted to finish the book before the release date, so maybe that took away from it.. I don't know.  That being said, virtually every single review out there is raving about it, so clearly I am missing something.

Here's the blurb from the back cover:

The behemoth is the fiercest creature in the British navy. It can swallow enemy battleships with one bite. The Darwinists will need it, now that they are at war with the Clanker powers.Deryn is a girl posing as a boy in the British Air Service, and Alek is the heir to an empire posing as a commoner. Finally together aboard the airship Leviathan, they hope to bring the war to a halt. But when disaster strikes the Leviathan's peacekeeping mission, they find themselves alone and hunted in enemy territory.
Alek and Deryn will need great skill, new allies, and brave hearts to face what's ahead.


If you loved the first one there is a great chance you will love this one too, I wish I had, but for whatever reason it fell short for me.

I am still looking forward to the 3rd book in the trilogy and welcome any suggestions for other great Steampunk novels to fill the void while I am waiting.

RATING:  2/5

REVIEW: CLOCKWORK ANGEL AND GIVEAWAY!

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
Book one of The Infernal Devices trilogy
Hardcover 496 pages
Available now
Ages 14 and up

First of all I would like to send out a HUGE thank you to Simon and Schuster Canada for sending me an ARC of Clockwork Angel!  I feel very fortunate to have S and S in my life, and I am grateful for every book they send my way!

Clockwork Angel is the first in The Infernal Devices series and this thrills me to no end.  Cassandra Clare is the author of the extremely popular Mortal Instruments series, as well as a book I would love to read called "Geektastic, Stories from the Nerd Herd".  She is also a contributing author to two anthology type books "Vacations from Hell"  and "Zombies vs. Unicorns." 

The first sentence in this little gem had me at "hello"....."The demon exploded in a shower of ichor and guts."  Who doesn't love exploding showers of demon guts!  The story revolves around Tessa, Will and Jem.  Will is a super sexy mysterious bad boy (but not in the typical annoying sense) shadowhunter; Jem is the nice cute guy in the story; and Tessa Gray is a young woman who is being held against her will and discovering that she is not quite human.  Tessa's part of the story starts with her arriving in London searching for her brother but soon becomes  a prisoner of two extremely unattractive and uber creepy "women" called The Dark Sisters, and they are prepping her for her meeting with The Magister.  Meanwhile Tessa's beloved brother Nathanial is missing and Tessa is determined to find out what happened to him, even though the Dark Sisters insist he is very much alive... but won't continue to be if she does not do as they ask. 

Cassandra Clare's writing style is fantastic and she has created a very believable pseudo world of London in the 1800's, with very believable races of creatures and the laws by which they live.  I absolutely hands down LOVED... IT.  She even added a hint of the young love thing, but with a great amount of restraint that is very believable and easy to relate to.  Will is not so much the brooding bad boy as in many other YA novels, as he is a reckless, enthusiastic, loyal shadowhunter who is very misunderstood.  Jem, on the other hand, is very sweet and has Will's back no matter what.  I don't want to say too much more because I think that it might spoil the read for you all.  But trust me... it is AWESOME! 

Many in the blogosphere are asking the question TEAM WILL?  Or TEAM JEM?  I have to say Will all the way.  And what does that say about me??! 

HA!

If you would like a little more detail on the storyline you can click here for the blurb...

And here is the book trailer courtesy of Simon and Schuster Canada!




And now for the giveaway portion of the post!

Very simple... you click here and fill out the form, you must be a follower of my blog to enter, you can earn extra entries for tweets, posts on your blog and sidebar listings.  The contest is open worldwide as I am going to be ordering the book from Book Depository and paying for it myself and there will be no substitution.  If you win I will only order Clockwork Angel.  The contest ends October 15th.

GOOD LUCK!

REVIEW: LOSING IT BY VALERIE BERTINELLI

Losing It - And Gaining My Life Back One Pound

at a Time 

By Valerie Bertinelli

KINDLE Edition

I don't know about any of you, but I have always had the weirdest relationship with my own self image in relation to my weight.  You know, the same thing that millions and millions of women have, that stupid and annoying 10 or even 20 pounds that keeps making a reappearance in my life and on my butt.  Every single time I work on a movie I drop 10 pounds in a month or two, without any effort.  I hadn't worked for 3 years, and my body showed it.  For most of the 3 years I tried to replicate my work environment at home, but it's almost impossible to be literally on my feet walking around for 15 hours, and cut my calorie intake by half. Not to mention being outside freezing most of the time.   So this time when I dropped some weight at the end of my 4 week show, I was determined to not let it creep back.  

HELLO, FAT ASS. 

It's all back.  All of it.  Once again i realized that I need to take a good long look at myself from the inside out.  And then I picked up a copy of Prevention magazine with Valerie on the cover.  I like her.  She seems very down-to-earth and normal, eventhough she married a rock star.  It piqued my interest and I ordered her book on my Kindle.  (Hence why I am IN LOVE with this little device, eventhough my bank account and my husband aren't!)  I read it in four days. 

Her book is a very easy and short read, filled with anecdotal advice on how to live a more authentic life. She is extremely candid about her history, and has this uncanny and almost creepy way of remembering her exact weight and how much she has gained and lost throughout her entire life.  And I thought I was bad!  Her book is exactly what I needed to see that A)I'm not alone and B) a person CAN overcome their obsession with food and how they look, or at least manage said obsession.  

Not only is it a very good book about her self discovery, it's super titilating too!  Who wouldn't want to know what it would be like to be married to Eddie Van Halen?

Immediately after I finished I clicked-clicked and bought Finding It, the next book.  It is not as riveting, but still good.  It focuses on her maintenance and how her life AFTER losing the weight is actually WAY HARDER than initally losing it.  Huh.  A BIT depressing.  BUT that being said, it is super motivating... and just take a look at the evidence:

BEFORE Jenny Craig called and said, "Hey fatty!  Wanna be our spokesperson!" (I'm paraphrasing, but she said something along those lines when the phone rang)

To THIS:

ISN'T THAT AMAZING??!!!!  And YES she did Jenny, and she is very dedicated and loyal to Jenny, but she also worked her butt off to get that body, and I think this photo was taken when she was 48!  YOU GO, VAL!  Just looking at the green bikini shot makes me want to do a sweaty jig around the block. 

ANYway, I think for any woman who would like to peek inside Valerie Bertinelli's life for a time and perhaps even have an aha moment or two, this book is worth the click-click.

RATING:  4/5

MAILBOX MONDAY

Mailbox Monday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Marcia over at The Printed Page...

In the last week I did recieve a few goodies!

A fellow adoptive mom is married to a doctor who has written several books.  Their daughter, Molly, is amazing.  She is their bio child and her two younger brothers are adopted from Ethiopia.  She has set up an amazing Charity called H2O for Ethiopia and she sells products to raise money for a well that she is building there.... and she's TEN YEARS OLD.  You can find her on Facebook if you like at H2O for Ethiopia Group. 

The books that her mom sent me are by Kevin Patterson, who is the dad:

Outside the Wire
by Kevin Patterson and Jane Warren
The war in Afghanistan in the words of
its participants

Consumption by Kevin Patterson
A novel

From Canadian Literature:
Patterson’s Consumption revolves around a lung infected with tuberculosis, which functions as a metaphor for the Inuit body diseased by the Europeans who settle Canada. The virus that ravages one girl’s lung serves to represent the way in which diseases decimate whole communities and then finally reveals the damaging potential of affluence on our bodies; thus the infected lung ultimately raises larger medical and cultural issues about epidemiology. This novel opens with a dedication taken from a French alms box to which one often returns in contemplation: “For the sick, the poor, and the ashamed.” Throughout the novel, Patterson investigates the complex relation between these three qualities or situations.

The Water in Between
by Kevin Patterson

A broken heart leads Kevin Patterson to the dock of a sailboat brokerage on Vancouver Island, where he stands contemplating the romance of the sea and his heartfelt desire to get away.  By the end of the day, he finds himself the owner of a thirty-seven-foot ketch called Sea Mouse.  Although he's never really been on the ocean before (aside from the occasional ferry ride), he feels compelled to sail to Tahiti and back, to burn away his failings in hard miles at sea.

Short stories....

The next two books are from Penguin Group (USA) and I could NOT be MORE excited about them!!!!!  Seeeeeriously, just LOOK at the cover of this one!  And the premise is very good....

One of the greatest loves of all time-between Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley-comes to life in this vivid novel.

They were playmates as children, impetuous lovers as adults-and for thirty years were the center of each others' lives. Astute to the dangers of choosing any one man, the Virgin Queen could never give her "Sweet Robin" what he wanted most-marriage- yet she insisted he stay close by her side. Possessive and jealous, their love survived quarrels, his two disastrous marriages to other women, her constant flirtations, and political machinations with foreign princes.
His Last Letter tells the story of this great love... and especially of the last three years Elizabeth and Dudley spent together, the most dangerous of her rule, when their passion was tempered by a bittersweet recognition of all that they shared-and all that would remain unfulfilled.

Um..... swoon?

And then:  
The Secret Eleanor
by Cecelia Holland
 
Eleanor of Aquitaine seized hold of life in the 12th century in a way any modern woman would envy!



1151: As Duchess of Aquitaine, Eleanor grew up knowing what it was to be regarded for herself and not for her husband's title. Now, as wife to Louis VII and Queen of France, she has found herself unsatisfied with reflected glory-and feeling constantly under threat, even though she outranks every woman in Paris.

Then, standing beside her much older husband in the course of a court ceremony, Eleanor locks eyes with a man-hardly more than a boy, really- across the throne room, and knows that her world has changed irrevocably...

He is Henry D'Anjou, eldest son of the Duke of Anjou, and he is in line, somewhat tenuously, for the British throne. She meets him in secret. She has a gift for secrecy, for she is watched like a prisoner by spies even among her own women. She is determined that Louis must set her free. Employing deception and disguise, seduction and manipulation, Eleanor is determined to find her way to power-and make her mark on history.
 
I am still not actively taking any review copies at this time, these were all agreed to long before I put the kaibosh on accepting books.  And I am so excited that I said YES!
 
ANYway... what's in YOUR mailbox???