Killers of the King: The Men Who Dared to Execute Charles I by Charles Spencer

Killers of the King: The Men Who Dared to Execute Charles I.  Charles Spencer. Bloomsbury Press.  January 2015. 352 pp.  ISBN#: 9781620409121.

King Charles I of England has become a tyrant; but this is not the same England that tolerated such mistreatment or such financial extravagance that would pauperize the government coffers.  This is the story of how Parliament plans and carries out demise of Charles I.  What is fascinating about the pre-trial and trial is that Spencer presents a King who seems innocent (Not!) while Parliament is portrayed as those who willingly or through coercion participate in the accusations of the King who dares to live in conditions beyond his financial allowance and then dares to declare actual, physical war against the “will of the common people” who are represented by members of Parliament. The power of the mob impressed itself upon this reader as all I kept thinking as I was reading was “Why was the King not allowed a team of defense lawyers or supporters at his own trial?”  This is not just 21^st Century revisionist history thinking here.  Yet Spencer reveals through Charles’ speech during the trial that he believed he needed no defense since he ruled by God’s divine right and therefore was only accountable to that God.  Spencer as a true historian leaves the reader to reflect and comment on such idiocy, travesty or impressive faith!

King Charles I is beheaded in a riveting scene which Spencer excels at describing throughout the book.  Charles in this version of history elicits mostly support and sympathy.  That same sympathy will also be revealed in the following pages in which Charles’ son, Charles, returns to power after Parliament pursues and destroys other Royalists.  Another interesting facet of this presentation is the role of Oliver Cromwell which never receives the focused attention he deserved in this history; he is always mentioned as influencing other anti-Royalists, Puritans, Parliament members, and soldiers.  Later on his excessive pride and grandiosity when in control are all we learn about this man’s brief exercise of power. One can only surmise that this focus was not the purpose of Spencer’s central thesis.

The rest of the story recounts the demise of almost every single person who was involved in the original Committee planning the prosecution of Charles, including those who actually never participated in the trial or execution of the King, those who did participate in all of the above, all signatures of the death sentence, and even those who were key commanders of the military involved in moving Charles I toward his trial and death.

Spencer manages to add a very human interest side to each Parliamentary or military person targeted for revenge which is all that saves the last three-quarters of this text from being repetitively tedious!

For those interested in this historical period, Spencer offers a very readable, carefully researched and fascinating account of the end of royal abuse and the rise of popular sovereignty in 17^th Century England.

New Uses for Old Boyfriends: A Novel by Beth Kendrick

New Uses for Old Boyfriends: A Novel.  Beth Kendrick. Penguin Publishing Group (USA). February 2015. 336 pp.  ISBN#: 9780451465863.

Lila and her mother Daphne know everything worth knowing about fashion design and style.  It’s a world filled with beauty and glamour but a world fraught with uncertainty. Lila painfully discovers how fleeting wealth and success can be.  A TV star of a home shopping cable affiliate in Philadelphia and married to a successful man, Lila hears her husband announce he is leaving her for another woman and she also loses her job.  Boom!  What else can she do but return home to Black Dog Bay and begin anew! 

At first Lila is humiliated as she must confess her demise to all of her past friends, including some guys she dated years earlier.  Then her life is overcome by the discovery that her father death left her mother penniless and that Daphne has charged her way into immense debt.  There are some many funny moments in the exchanges between mother and daughter as Daphne fluctuates between despair about the loss of her fashionable collections, which she never wears by the way, and her new joie de vivant attitude.  Eat those deliciously fattening chocolates and toss back that mood-lifting zesty wine!

Lila, however, comes up with a brilliant plan that grows into a larger vision.  Should she sell Daphne’s home and all of her charged goodies on EBay?  Necessity rules this decision.  The remainder of the story is delightful as Lila and Daphne begin to plan and discover that there’s a huge demand for selling vintage clothing and jewelry.  Thus the rest of the novel awaits the pleasure of readers as the road to running a successful boutique, with the assistance of certain males, continues.

In the process, Lila begins to realize that the men who are pursuing her have different motives.  All in all, the disasters that have molded Lila into the strong woman she is today enable her to perceive what is romantically possible, what should be deemed as friendship and nothing more, and what is truly a romantic connection that is also friendship and delight in sharing “all” of her in mind and spirit as well as body. 

New Uses… is a delightfully clever read that is pure entertainment, with a few eye-openers to add to its punch!  Nicely crafted, Beth Kendrick!

Secrets of a Charmed Life: A Novel by Susan Meissner

Secrets of a Charmed Life: A Novel.  Susan Meissner. Penguin Publishing Group (USA). February 2015. 416 pp.  ISBN#: 9780451419927.

“You said wishing something doesn’t make it come true. Doing it does. Someday I hope you will be proud of me.”  These words were penned by Isabel MacFarland many years ago and which she is now sharing in an interview with American scholar Kendra Van Zant.  While Kendra pictures a perfect world where everything works out for the better, what she hears from Isabel is anything but perfect.  This is the story of choices made out of a determination to shape one’s own destiny, choices that call for desperate decisions affecting more than one’s own future.

Emma dreams of creating bridal dresses.  Her persistence leads to her first job as a seamstress for the owner of a bridal shop.  When Emma shows her own designs to the owner of the shop, Mrs. Crofton hires her immediately and says she may have a connection to help Emma meet with a designer who might be interested in these gorgeous bridal designs.  WWII, however, interferes and Emma and her sister Isabelle are forced as children to be evacuated to the British countryside for safety from the German bombs falling on London and other British cities on a daily basis.  At least that’s what they are told even though the bombings are as yet infrequent.  Emma has no support from her mother; in fact her mother acts as if she resents Emma because giving birth to her meant the end of her mother’s own dreams of a promising future. 

So begins a harrowing story in which Emma returns to London to explore an opportunity.  An act of sisterly betrayal followed by the most intense bombing imaginable causes Emma and Julia to be separated for years.  During those years, Emma will discover the secret behind her real father’s identity, will fall in love and lose it just as quickly.  Years later Emma will receive a letter from her sister that makes Emma realize the stark reality of that choice made so long ago.  In that time Emma has fashioned a completely new identity as well as a very successful business.

Secrets of A Charmed Life: A Novel is title that belies the mystery, danger, and passion behind the quest for a career creating beauty for that one special day in a woman’s life, her wedding!  The catastrophic events of the London Blitz combined with a dysfunctional family reeling from previous mistakes make for riveting reading!  Highly recommended historical fiction!

Crash and Burn: A Novel by Lisa Gardner

Crash and Burn: A Novel. Lisa Gardner. Penguin Group USA.  February 2015. 400 pp. hardback and e-book. ISBN #:9780525954569.

“Where is Vero?” repeats Nicole Frank immediately after a devastatingly brutal car crash in which her SUV landed upright with the front of the car vertically dug in the dirt at the bottom of a deep hill off a main road.  Despite phenomenal injuries, she manages to crawl out of the back of the SUV and up the hill to look for her daughter and get help.  She then blacks out and doesn’t wake up until she’s in the hospital.  Her quiet husband, Thomas, is sitting next to her bed, looking as he’s been through a tornado.  Later Nicole hears him telling the doctor that this is her third concussion in the last year and that she was very sick even before the setback of this horrific accident.  For some reason, that statement makes Nicole furious!

The cause of her TBI or traumatic brain injury is never initially explained except to say she kept blacking out and falling.  Meanwhile, she keeps calling for Vero, so much so that the local police set up teams, including tracking canines, to find a girl who they estimate must be between nine and thirteen years old.  It’s a search that’s in the wrong place for the wrong reasons but no one realizes that until much, much later in the story. Some have doubts about Nicole who had been found reeking of very expensive whiskey, in spite of the fact that her blood alcohol level wasn’t in the criminal zone.  However, she is guilty of driving when she was medically advised not to do so and so may be charged with criminal charges related to DWI.

The story begins to spin faster and faster as a team composed of Sgt. Wyatt Foster and his girlfriend/patrol woman Tessa Leoni, begin to put the broken pieces together of this strange occurrence.  At first they suspect Nicole’s husband, Thomas, of perhaps abusing her but then other characters enter the picture, in the guise of supportive, loving care for Nicole.  The bottom line is someone wants Nicole dead but who and why?

Crash and Burn: A Novel is a great thriller and the reader will never in a million years be able to put the pieces together before Nicole, Thomas, Wyatt and Tessa.  It’s a psychological novel as well as we get to read about Nicole’s thoughts and feelings as her memories very, very slowly return, eventually one significant memory that holds the key to her obsession with “Vero.”  Traumatic brain injury, indeed, has more than one meaning and a potent one at that! Crash and Burn… is a story of passionate, unconditional love that can endure the worst that can happen.  That love teaches Wyatt and Tessa something deep about what really matters and how they can handle their future together.  Nicole and Tom as well must learn to trust again, despite having seen something so, so terrible it could scar her forever!  Grand job, Lisa Gardner – love your novels!!!!

Touch: The Science of Hand, heart and Mind by David J. Linden

Touch: The Science of Hand, Heart and Mind. David J. Linden.  Viking Adult.  January 2015. 272 pp. Hardback and e-book. ISBN #: 978067001487.

Touch quite clearly is associated with almost every experience of a human being.  This book begins by correlating the times a person says “I feel” followed by an emotional adjective to indicate that the tactile sense is wired neurologically to not only our brain but also our emotions.  The author then explores the difference between what an affectionate or friendly touch can mean to an encounter and how the recipient of such a touch interprets the future of such a relationship, whether it be in business, education, or elsewhere.

The author then moves into a series of complex experiments that have to do with tactile sense of different experiences, even moving into the field of DNA related to touch, how pain receptors operate to connect with the emotions, and an actual sharing of the connection with the euphorically experienced orgasm which is obviously related to touch.  In all of this, however, it is even more phenomenal how few individuals actually realize that most of their experiences are related to the tactile sense.  When asked if a person had to lose one sense, which one would the individual choose, none even referred to touch in their processing the question!

There is much more in this text which deserves attention.  Each situation is presented with scientifically based testing and validation. It offers the reader time to consider the implications of a handshake, a warm hug, a touch on the shoulder, patting the back or hand of a child, offering someone a warm drink, and many other examples of making a new awareness of touch a tool for better communication and relationships with other human beings in need of this tactile experience. The book is highly readable and laced with stories that are fascinating, funny and surprising! Very nicely done, David J. Linden!

Well in Time: A Novel by Suzan Still

Well in Time: A Novel.  Suzan Still. The Story Plant.  January 2015. 400 pp. paperback and e-book. ISBN #: 9781611881844.

Javier Cartena and Calypso Searcy have returned in this sequel to Feast of Smoke and are again deliberately and inadvertently spun into a cycle of violence and divine intervention that keeps spinning and spinning and spinning.  Javier and Calypso, as well as their good friend Hill who is an investigative journalist, are as deeply in love as ever.  But they are not to have any piece due to the prevailing drug cartels thriving in Mexico, one of whom will attack Javier’s ranch.  Javier will stay behind to defend his home and Calypso is about to begin a journey that involves crawling through tube-like caves barely fitting any human being.

In the process of this fantastic journey, stories within stories will be told, like a Russian Matryoshka nesting doll, revealing layers and layers of mystery, myth, legend, all emanating the sacred.  The tales involve communities worshiping the Great Mother, Isis, also known as Mary in Christian circles.  They involve the marriage of Egyptian gods and goddesses and the enmity arising in their children, the efforts of some to squelch the worship of these divine beings in medieval Europe, and so much more. The journey also involves Calypso being saved and threatened by a group known as “The Ghosts,” criminals who are reformed but who use a dangerous drug to get information from those who would eliminate them. All of these stories and events will culminate with a gift to Calypso that is approximately 4,000 years old, a gift bequeathed by the descendant of the Great Mother herself, a piece of jewelry that only a woman can wear and which gifts the wearer with dreams of the future or occurrences in the present in different places.

Well in Time reminded this reviewer of the magical realism novels of great writers like Gabriela Garcia Marquez, Mario Vargas Llosa and Isabella Allende, weaving the sacred and the profane; past, present and future; love and hate, the beauty and the ugly within and without nature and so much more.  Suzan Still is more than a novelist; she’s a literary giant with a gift for beautiful prose, brilliant plotting and revealing characterization that enhances every page of this phenomenally constructed novel.  Kudos to you, Suzan Still – and please, please, please keep writing!

Fiesta of Smoke by Suzan Still

Fiesta of Smoke.  Suzan Still. The Story Plant.  September 2013. 511 pp. paperback and e-book. ISBN #: 9781611881127.

Javier Cartena and Calypso Searcy – two loves that fuel passion for life and revolution in Mexico!  As they describe it, “We hold one another as if arms were a bond that can never be broken.  Until we are only a swirl of ash in this fiesta of smoke, still dancing.”  But this love has a deeper, richer story that makes the reader he or she has entered a magical world covering a span of 50 years. It concerns the above-named two characters and an investigative journalist, Hill, who becomes enamored of Calypso in Paris, France earlier in the 20^th century.  After two brief but mesmerizing meetings, Hill knows he is in love but also senses that Calypso, a teacher and writer, is in very deep trouble.  After he finds her home ransacked and destroyed by an unknown marauder, he sets out to find her and his journey takes him to Mexico.

Hill, although a seasoned journalist who can sniff out the most secretive elements of a great journalistic story, finds himself totally unprepared for the scenarios he is about to undergo.  He takes us through stories within stories, one about a wealthy financier who suffers, to the point of insanity, over what his very wealthy family has done to the indigenous people of Mexico.  It is only now that he is dying that he decides to repent beyond the actual physical self-flagellation he practices for his crime.  He wills a huge portion of his fortune to a servant, whose only job will be to see it goes to save the native Mexicans from the repression, oppression and terrible suffering they are experiencing from politicians, administrators, the local police and now the Mexican Army.  This is the story of native men, women and children who have fled murder, rape, and other travesties to unite under Javier and his guerilla troops.  They are starving physically but now are reviving mentally and emotionally under Javier’s guidance.  Javier is no ignorant revolutionary; he has used his education to spend years uniting agricultural workers, truckers, and more community-minded natives, inspiring them to believe that hope is again possible for their deplorable situations.

The magic of this story includes the tales of a Mexican female shaman and others who are all part of this struggle.  The language is beautiful beyond description. Calypso is the life-giving woman whose love enables Javier to continue when plans go awry; her amulet she wears around her neck enables her to sense danger and know things no human could ordinarily no, clearly an object connecting her and therefore the Mexican people to God and the Virgin of Guadalupe who are always present.

Fiesta of Smoke defies words in its intensely gorgeous prose, riveting conflicts, illusive and yet mesmerizing visions and descriptions, passionate scenes of hate and love, misunderstandings, inspiration and so much more.  This is a story that rather than being based on real life was based on a life that inspired a later Mexican revolutionary.  STUNNING, MUST, MUST READ!!!