Red Bird's Song. Beth Trissel. The Wild Rose Press. August 2010. 334 pp. paperback. ISBN #: 9781601548122.Charity Edmonson is furious that her mother is insisting she marry someone she considers dull and boring. She would marry for love, but in Revolutionary America such is rarely the custom. However, this beautiful woman's life is about to dramatically change when a Shawnee war party attacks Charity's village, murdering her father and brother. Charity doesn't have much time to mourn her losses, as a Shawnee native named Wicomechee, or Meechee as she comes to call him, falls in love with Charity's beauty and spunky nature immediately. Another native, Chaka, would have Charity for a wife, but his methods are cruel because he believes he can possess her by force and brutality. He is in for some very strong rebuffs in some very undignified scenes that increases the reader's empathy and support for Charity and Meechee's future together. Charity is not an easy catch however, and her humor and rebellious nature are amusing and anxiety-producing depending on the scene. She's one very modern woman!But the romance is slow to spark, although the physical attraction between the two is immediate, for Charity observes over time the merciless nature of these warriors whose anger is fueled by the death and injustice they have repeatedly endured at the hands of the white men. So scalping and brutal attacks are a reality that strikes Charity as bestial and beyond the pale. For now, Charity is helping her friend, Emily, who was also kidnapped and is pregnant. Even that part of the plot is complex, when Emily meets a former lover, Colin, who escaped from a perilous situation to become a Shawnee warrior.The story escalates when George III's red coats catch up with the natives, and all are forced to face their prejudice and hatred. Beth Trissel knows how to craft a simple but engaging story that produces mixed emotions and thoughts in the reader, with a surprising ending that the reader never suspects is coming. Very nicely done, Beth Trissel!
Becoming Marie Antoinette. Juliet Grey. Random House Publishing Group. August 2011. 480 pp. paperback. ISBN #: 9780345523860.
Marie Antoinette's life began as the youngest archduchess of Austria, her mother, Maria Teresa, the Empress of the Holy Roman Empire and Austria. Madam Antonia, as she is known until her marriage, is expected to excel in all academic subjects as well as social skills. For her mother is planning to unite the fortunes of Austria and France by wedding her daughter to the Dauphin, the son of King Louis XV. But Madame Antonia is just beginning her teen years when she discovers how she is to be remade in her mother's image of what a French Queen should be! Juliet Grey does a fine, fine job of conveying the stark and boring quality of this life by combining it with Marie's vivacious and humorous nature. If she keeps her spunk, a fine Queen she will be!
The novel proceeds with the reader receiving descriptions of wondrous clothing, meals, and landscapes in Marie's childhood world, broken by the devastating death of one sibling and departure of another to be Queen in another land. Slowly but surely, Marie realizes her role in life is to obey her mother and satisfy every demand for the sake of Austria. It's a heavy burden and one that prevents rebellion, given the alternative destiny of a break with France and more wars that accomplish nothing but death and destruction.
An amazing ceremony occurs when Marie is finally wed by proxy and travels through Austria into France. There she discovers a dauphin who is phenomenally shy and totally uninterested in touching Marie, let alone consummating their marriage. In the light of the King's flagrant flaunting of his mistress and other "loose" behavior occurring in the King's court, this quandary is irksome but then soon changes to sympathy and actual liking of the Dauphin. For he is a "man of the people" in his heart and mind and totally uninterested in the boring, garish world of the elite, a fascinating characterization given what was the norm of royal behavior at the time, completely and elaborately described in these pages. Lovers of fashion and style can immerse themselves in pages of haute French couture and cuisine of the 18th Century French court.
Marie and her husband evolve into sympathetic characters but not without their detractors, as Marie begins to spurn court etiquette, threatening a way of luxury and splendor for the entire French court but endearing the young couple to the reader and common people.
The novel ends on a hopeful note, where the Dauphin becomes King Louis XVI and Marie becomes the Queen of France. Each has a vision full of charity and benefit for the French people, the fulfillment of which will be presented in two forthcoming novels about their life. Juliet Grey's initial novel about the cursed Queen is quite innocent yet revealing. A young girl is forced to grow up fast and become the perfect "Queen," a sacrifice to politics as her mother would admit frequently. Her training is her childhood, one that terrorizes her more with fearful anticipation of failure than actual events that will someday be her nemesis. Etiquette is all and impression is everything! The machinations of a French court full of fawning and deception creates an atmosphere of distrust that is the norm rather than the exception, one that Marie herself sometimes exacerbates.
Congratulations, Ms. Grey, on your fine fictional account of this very real, audacious world and the transformation of a naive, unsure girl into a formidable worldly leader! Superbly done!
Lamb. Bonnie Nadzam. Other Press, LLC. September 2011. 288 pp. paperback. ISBN #: 9781590514375.David Lamb is a middle-aged man disappointed in life, having recently been asked to take a long break from his job, suffered the death of his father, and having failed in a romantic relationship. So he's got a lot of pent-up hurt and anger inside; at least that's how it feels to the reader. It's not too long before the reader realizes he or she is not breathing often with fear and puzzlement. For David Lamb initially decides to teach 11 year-old Tommie a lesson when she, while her friends are watching, sashays up to him and asks for a cigarette. How he does it is shocking and mind-numbing, eliciting from the reader frantically passing questions about his sanity and her audacity. This is the pace and tone that unremittingly flows in the following pages.Nadzam has presented what would be a character study of an innocent man trying to simply respond to life as it appears, to find some sense of normalcy in life. Giving something of that nature to Tommie is how David sees something valuable he has to offer. However, kidnapping an 11 year-old girl and rationalizing his way into her life as providing some love and stability, given the lack of some in her own background and present family life, is debatable and never quite convincing as the reader's mind keeps thinking this is all wrong and rather perverse, albeit not overtly so sexually.Off they travel to the West where David seeks to introduce Tommie to the wild and free wilderness or camp life that turns out to be quite different from what both expect! His girlfriend even manages to show up and become a temporary part of this "family." David says it best, "There is a small person inside of him wishing to tell Tommie all about it and then another person inside of him crushing the wishes like empty beer cans against a cinder-block wall." But still he tries, knowing he will return Tommie to her mother. As their journey proceeds, other memories keep interfering with his plan and make him say things wise, foolish and confusing to Tommie's young ears. At the same time, this is more attention and care than Tammy's parents have given her in her entire life. Perhaps a glimpse inside this complex man or would-be Daddy (and more?) will touch this young girl's life in a positive way forever? Will she ultimately love or hate David long after she returns home? Read and decide!Lamb is not a novel to like or dislike. It is a thriller that is more about inner thoughts and feelings, about communicating same to another hungry to hear and feel worthy of attention. It makes the reader begin to fully ponder the depth of character in humanity, not easily definable and yet more worthy because of the effort to understand and let the complexity lie as it is without judgment. Lamb is a risky but gripping read for sure!
Lady of the English. Elizabeth Chadwick. Sourcebooks, Incorporated. September 2011. 544 pp. paperback. ISBN #: 9781402250927.
Two women desire to be the Queen of 12th Century England. One, Adeliza, wife of Henry I, sees her role as an actual Queen to be that of peacemaker in a realm where loyalties are based on ambition and the acquisition of power through land and riches. Such loyalties are bound to fluctuate as the tides of power fluctuate over the years.
Another woman, Matilda, the daughter of Henry I, has been promised she will be Queen upon the King's passing. Henry believes he has guaranteed this in having his counselors and liege lords pledge their loyalty on bended knee to Matilda. This is Matilda's story, a journey of yearning and suffering as Stephen of Blois usurps the throne after Henry's death. Matilda is married to Geoffrey of Anjou, a brutal man who almost destroys his wife. Scathingly sarcastic, Geoffrey, however, is a superb military strategist and supports Matilda's quest for the crown only because he believes it will benefit his own dreams of power.
The plot is not as simple as described so far. There are moments of temporary victory, moments of intense sorrow, and ultimately moments when the realization strikes that the timing is all wrong for Matilda's ascension to Queen of England. Thus a brutal civil war begins that tears apart a country undeserving of the shifting spheres of loyalty and success that follow.
Adeliza, believing Matilda should rightly fulfill her queenly destiny, and the men who surround Matilda are complex characters as portrayed in this engaging novel. Matilda is remarkably unable to truly control her strategy and even disregards the advise of those more knowledgeable about how to win over the lords who begin to see Stephen's weaknesses. Adeliza risks much in her loyalty to Matilda, shown in some heartrending scenes that remain potent long after they are read. Indeed, Adeliza is frequently the more sympathetic character than Matilda, a tough woman who hides her heart because she fears it may be deemed weakness.
The Lady of the English is an interesting story about this little-known slice of history and the woman who spent so much of her life in truth preparing another and those around her for the role of ruling the formidable Kingdom of England. Fascinating Middle Ages historical fiction!
Anything. Michael Baron. The Story Plant. October 2011. 290 pp. paperback. ISBN #: 9781611880212.
Ken and Melissa are two lawyers who have discovered each other and are about to be married. Melissa has dramatically changed Ken’s life without trying to, and Ken knows his life is fulfilled in a way it could never have been with all the stereotypical women he previously dated. One evening, however, when they are visiting her parents, a few days before their wedding, Ken realizes there is something from her past that has taken the joy out of her life, a loss clearly evident in the way she avoids looking at pictures from her teenage years. Up to now, Ken has been buying her gifts from a strange man who runs a unique jewelry shop. Everything from there is always different and always delights Melissa.
Ken returns to the shop and makes an agreement with Stephon, the owner. Ken is warned he may not like the outcome or consequences of the action he is about to take but refuses to heed the warning. During the magical trip he takes after that visit, he discovers the joyful childhood of his future bride until one fateful evening. He is devastated and on returning to the present, Melissa is appalled at his discovery as well. Ken, however, refuses to let go and returns to Stephon for one more trip to the past. To say more would be a definite spoiler but the story is far from over as Ken tries to change the past, which changes the present as well. Nothing, for sure, is solely as it appears.
The remainder of the story is a quest for recovery, one Ken will not release even though an old acquaintance advises him of its futility. The power of enduring love moves beyond our wildest dreams as the novel ends with a most unlikely ending, one that is not just a happily ever after story, but one that touches the heart with its true essence, a miracle indeed.
Michael Baron knows how to pull every string of a reader’s heart. The plot may seem implausible but there is enough mystery, magic, and deep abiding love to make this novel a pleasing story that would make a lovely movie as well. Charming and well-plotted for sure, Anything is a beautiful romance novel that will engage every reader who loves this genre!
To Wed a Wild Lord. Sabrina Jeffries. Pocket Star Publishing. November 2011. 384 pages paperback. ISBN #: 9781451642407.
Lord Gabriel Sharpe’s heart has been broken twice already in his very young life. The first time came with the mysterious death of his parents and then with the untimely death of his friend, Roger Waverly. In between all of this mind-numbing grief comes a challenge from Roger’s sister to race “the needle’s thread,” a hair-raising course which turns into a single lane between boulders. Why would Gabe want to woo her but refuse her challenge? And what does his grandmother’s meddling ultimatum have to do with her anger over who he chooses to marry?
Gabe tells his grandmother he can’t die, in a race or otherwise, because he is “the Angel of Death.” She, of course, doesn’t have a clue what that means and only ascribes it to his impetuous nature. He truly believes he was the one who should have died in place of his parents, something to do with a mysterious stranger who arrived at his home and took one of the family horses out the same day his parents died. He believes that insults and a coincidence of events led to his losses and that he is cheating death over and over and over.
It is Virginia Waverly who throws all of Gabe’s rational explanations to the wind little by little, that is until she hears a rumor that he is wooing her only for purposes of an inheritance he can only have upon being married. Another character, General Waverly, calls him out on his guilt about Roger’s death. The provocative banter, wildly sexy scenes, and funny moments increase in various stages until one can feel the tension in more ways than one with every turned page!
By now the passion between Gabe and Virginia is searing in intensity, attracting these two volatile characters to the point where Gabe realizes he must abandon all the machinations and woo for real! He must enter a race to win a great, passionate love beyond what words can convey! As always, Sabrina Jeffries titillates and thrills the reader with both a mystery about to be solved and hot, steamy, sexy connection that must be fulfilled in order to finally cheat death for one last time! This fourth story is even better than Ms. Jeffries’ previous novels in the Hellions of Halstead Hall series.
So Near: A Novel. Liza Gyllenhaal. New American Library. September 2011. 336 pp. paperback. ISBN #: 9780451234575.One minute, a father is worry about his father’s business turning sour in a changing economy. Then the same father is enjoying a baseball game, having a few beers, and thinking how great life is, while his wife is preparing for a large barbecue party. Half an hour later, their lives are turned upside down with a terrible, terrible loss, and the horrific future seems to be an impossible reality to get through. Everyone tries to ensure that there is no guilt to be carried but each parent believes he or she is to blame for this nightmare they are now living second by second, minute by minute…How does one cope with the most devastating death one would not want to imagine? Cal’s brother says a lawsuit is the answer, yet Cal suspects his brother Edwin’s motives are questionable. They are and the further shock that eventually is disclosed is expected because of certain moments when the reader is expecting something financially crushing is about to happen, so aptly does the author foreshadow each phase of this world-shaking event. Little by little, Cal and Jenny Horigan mourn in different ways and learn not to speak in order not to expose blame or self-recrimination. It reaches a point where each turns elsewhere for desperate communication. Before the Horigan marriage totally sinks into a hole beyond redemption, a stranger comes into their world in a way that could put the finishing touches on a doomed relationship or perhaps provide something else of a more miraculous nature. So Near is a heart-rending, honest, pragmatic, searing look at love that is called to endure far more than any person should ever have to bear but a love that is so deep that a spark remains to be kindled by a series of miraculous mistakes and interactions. Read it and weep! Read it, smile, and celebrate the gift of life! Tender, compelling novel, Liza Gyllenhaal – you so obviously know of what you write!!!
Red Bird's Song. Beth Trissel. The Wild Rose Press. August 2010. 334 pp. paperback. ISBN #: 9781601548122.
