The Queen's Vow: A Novel of Isabella of Castile by C. W. Gortner

The Queen's Vow: A Novel of Isabella of Castile. C. W. Gortner. Random House Publishing Group.  June 2012.  400 pp. ISBN #: 978034552396.

Isabella's initial exposure to politics comes just before the demise of her father, a man who will die from grief after his closest adviser is murdered.  At least that is what Isabella's furious mother believes.  Standing by her father's deathbed, Isabella is startled to recognize the look of greed on her half-brother Enrique's face, a look that clearly presages the kind of King he will become.  For The Queens's Vow is about Isabella's newly found fortitude which will be sorely tested first by her brother, advised by the evil Marquis of Villena, and then as the novel progresses by numerous other so-called "advisers."  Sometimes readers may forget that Kings and Queens are human beings with strengths and fragile aspects of personality that shape history for years, if not centuries.  We are reminded in this fiction account that women were not expected to be successful rulers, being deemed less possessed of intelligence, capabilities, and skills necessary to accomplish such a daunting task.  Isabella is presented as a woman ready to rule wisely and fairly, a woman who learns from her own mistakes.

Before that comes to pass, however, King Enrique seems incapable of fathering an heir while his wife manages to conceive a beautiful girl, much to the delight of court and public gossipers. That wouldn't matter much to Isabella except that the Queen insists her daughter is the heir to the throne and does everything in her power to guarantee that neither Alfonso (Isabella's other brother) nor Isabella will ever rule Castile.   Queen Juana's road to perdition makes for tense and riveting reading, supplemented by the increasing notorious influence of the King's own lover. 

Isabella's world dramatically alters after she meets Prince Ferdinand of Aragon; they are magnetically connected immediately with a tenderness and passion totally unexpected in the swirls of Court dissension and machinations.  Their brief meeting marks the beginning of an eventual marriage of mind and heart that will have its highs and lows but more notably will be marked by the manner in which they treat each other, with respect and equality hardly seen in that particular country or century.  Their union continues with the rise of military conflicts and the Church's insistence that an Inquisition be conducted to root out Jewish conversos heretics (and more as Isabella suspects) that is earning Spain divine disfavor.  These are just a few of the contentious problems that the couple must deal with as they begin to raise a family and gird Spain for prosperity in years to come!

The Queen's Vow is finely researched and even more finely written!  We come to know Isabella intimately in mind, heart, and body as she lives through a tumultuous time, her intense longing to be the determiner of her own unique destiny!  Many have been Queens but few manifest the regal qualities that truly define female leaders like this magnificent "Majestad."  Phenomenal accomplishment, C. W. Gortner - this novel deserves the highest acclaim!

On the Outside Looking Indian: How My Second Childhood Changed My Life by Rupinder Gill

On the Outside Looking Indian: How My Second Childhood Changed My Life. Rupinder Gill.  Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated. 2012. 288 pp. pbk. ISBN #: 9781594485770.

Welcome to the world of an Indian-American family whose values center on hard work, housekeeping at home and in one's career job after childhood.  It's a world where parents are selfless and totally dedicated to children but it's a very narrow world.  Rupinder humorously describes her world which sounds like a litany of "what i want" followed by multiple negative responses.  So no movies, no sleep-overs, no mall trips, no long empty telephone conversations, etc., etc.  But Rupinder has a novel point of view!  She lies when she has to and she sets her heart on making a list of what she will do when she finally gets the chance!

What follows is a funny description of all the things she finally gets to do in her early thirties.  Tennis and swimming are disastrous at first attempts but on she forges.  No, she doesn't wind up in the Olympic USA team for either sport, but she keeps at it until she reaches a level of success that she's content with.  How about having a dog; seeing the "bleep storm" from her friend's dog makes her realize that it's not all roses in achieving one's desires.  The same goes for her dream of going to New York, a risk she takes by quitting her job in Canada.  Dancing, Disney World and so many more dreams come true - finally!

Without being moralistic, Rupinder realizes many things during her new "play" and "make your dream come true" times.  Does she reject them?  Not at all!  What she does realize is that they aren't 100% joy, there's something one learns in each, and they all evoke memories of her own childhood that take on a new element of preciousness now that those years are far from her present.

On the Outside Looking Indian is a simple yet potent story about coming of age from a different cultural point of view.  It's funny and frustrating earlier as the memories flow but there's a breakthrough where everything achieves an amazing perspective. Rupinder has become what she wants and is better at it because she knows who she is!  Uniquely written!

How Angels Die by David-Michael Harding

How Angels Die. David-Michael Harding. Q&CY Books. 2011. 420 pages. ISBN #: 9780615503325.

Monique and Claire, as well as her parents Sean and Estelle, are living in France during the Nazi occupancy of WWII.  They appear to be a very divided family at the beginning of this story that depicts a side of the Resistance Movement that is almost never fully explained.  Monique cares for the abandoned orphans of the war and meets German soldiers in the evening to dine and dance and more, the more enabling her to gather secret information unavailable by any other means, a job drawing extreme criticism from her sister and father.  Claire, however, has her own job to do, one that shows her to be as brave as any soldier, one which she embraces with so much fervor that the reader wonders from where this ferocity arises.

Another family gives a different point of view of countless thousands who loved and died at the hands of the Nazi rapers and killers, but the question is who died and who lived?  Anyone associated with Nazi targets is doomed.  The risk or stakes are enormous beyond one's comprehension, yet the hatred of those blighting France with their presence takes on many forms of expression, some out of fear, some from revenge, and some out of tragedy-induced realization of one's undying patriotism!

To say more would ruin a phenomenal story very much on par with a Ken Follett, Frederick Forsythe, and other masters of espionage fiction.  The tension hypes up to a fever pitch when Monique falls in love with one of her German "friends" and discovers details twice about pivotal German movements and shipment of arms.  However, Pieter suspects her awareness and resistance role; these realizations build the plot to a crescendo with devastating but eventually healing consequences.  Many more amazing secrets are yet to be revealed!

How Angels Die is not just another WWII story; it's about how individuals and united groups will give all they are to a common cause out of pure love.  It isn't a fantasy tale or contrived story at all; it's a well-research realistic viewpoint celebrating the cost of ensuring evil will NOT prevail in history's unfortunately too frequent travesties of justice and fair treatment!  Awesome, amazing, and deserving of best-seller status!!!

Sea Change by Karen White

1. Sea Change. Karen White. Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated. 2012. 416 pp. paperback, ISBN #: 9780451236760.

Ava Whalen has been looking for something for a very long time.  What she wants and needs is far beyond her understanding. After a very quick meeting and romance, she marries Matthew Frazier.  Off they go to a happy life forevermore in St. Simon's Island in Georgia, U.S.A., right?  Wrong!  There's a haunting, palpable tension present from the moment Ava sets foot in Matthew's home.   Soon she discovers that Matthew was married before and that his wife died in a car accident that not everyone thinks was accidental!

The island is also strange for Ava as she is deathly afraid of water and doesn't know why.  She's determined to conquer her fears, however, and begins to settle in her new home.  Her relationship with Matthew is fraught with tension as his late wife Adrienne's paintings and items fill their home, creating a haunted atmosphere.  When Ava meets Adrienne's brother John, he tells her he believes that Matthew caused her death.  Although there is no factual evidence, things Adrienne did and said before she died indicated to John that Matthew knows more than he is admitting!  The finding of a ring, the absence of a briefcase, and other odd occurrences spoil what should have been a very special time for the newlyweds.

After Ava becomes pregnant and falls, an x-ray reveals a horrific finding for which Ava has no explanation.  Finally agreeing to Matthew's suggestion of hypnosis, as he's a psychologist, they discover bits of a truth that seems to relate to Ava's past, far before she could ever have a memory.  The plot becomes even more riveting and tense with the addition of a parallel plot occurring between two couples in the 1800s and culminating in the War with the British.  What does it have to do with Ava and the Frazier family?  Is Ava losing her mind and why do her mother and grandmother show up at this specific time to visit?

Karen White's writing is improving with dramatic leaps and bounds in this latest novel.  She's created a multilevel mystery that glues the reader to the book, with just enough clues to tantalize but so carefully crafted that no one can guess what will eventually enfold. Sea Change is a wonderful, must read for the summer or anytime written by a master of suspense and intrigue!  A best seller for sure!

Deborah Harkness - Shadow of Night Contest and Giveaways!!!

SHADOW OF NIGHT BY DEBORAH HARKNESS.  Penguin Group (USA) Inc. July 2012. $28.95. hb. 592 pp. ISBN #: 9780670023486.

My review of this amazing book is forthcoming on the web pages of the Historical Novel Society.  loved both books (first was called A Discovery of Witches).

On July 10th, Viking will publish this novel.  Diana Bishop and Matthew Clairmont, witch historian and vampire geneticist respectively, have time-walked to the 1590s Elizabethan England on their hunt for the magical alchemical manuscript Ashmole 782 - its sudden appearance and disappearance has upended the delicately ordered world of magical creatures (witches, vampires and daemons), threatening to unleash unprecedented metaphysical chaos.  SHADOW OF NIGHT has been called "a must-buy by Library Journal and critics everywhere are making it mandatory summer reading.

The publisher of this unique tale is offering a specially designed "Ashmole 782" temporary tattoo and a set of 6 buttons for giveaway along with a finished copy of SHADOW OF NIGHT.  The buttons each display a different alchemical symbol which you will come to understand as you read the novel. To get to this giveaway, click here and here.

On Deborah’s Facebook page, you will find a contest leading up to the book’s publication. Every Friday from June 1^st to July 6^th, four winners will be selected to receive an advance copy of SHADOW OF NIGHT signed by Deborah and sample bottles of two perfumes specially selected to represent the scents of Matthew and Diana. To enter,  click on this link to the contest page starting today. 


Some exciting news for readers who haven't gotten around to A Discovery of Witches: Amazon is offering the e-book as their "Deal of the Day" on June 10th, where readers will be able to buy it for just $2.99 on that day only.  Then you will be ready to read SHADOW OF NIGHT when it hits stores!

DON'T MISS THESE OPPORTUNITIES - ALL LEAD TO HOURS OF PLEASURE WITH A WONDERFUL STORY!!!

Betty's Little Basement Garden by Laurel Dewey

Betty's Little Basement Garden. Laurel Dewey. Publisher: The Story Plant. June 2012. 450 Pages. ISBN #: 9781611880380.

Betty is a very unhappy lady.  Losing her son three years ago and her husband more recently, she's overwhelmed with grief and financial debt. Little by little, she is selling off parts of her home furniture and other items. But the picture she presents to her ultra-conservative, opinionated friends is one of strength, agreement, and perfection.  Something is rotten in Denmark, indeed as a famous bard once wrote.

Her marriage was actually a disaster and her son died of an overdose of drugs, providing memories and nightmares that she attempts to evade by several strong, daily nightcaps! But Betty's world is about to turn upside down, all beginning with a friend's campaign to stop the selling of legal marijuana and the production of medicinal marijuana plants in the neighborhood.  Betty can't stand the carping and rigid, stereotypical stuff she hears, especially since it nudges her memories of her son's initial start with drugs.  However, never one to be the rebel, she reluctantly and incorrectly signs her name to a petition to stop the spread of marijuana in any legal shape, size, or form.

Soon however, after finally going to the doctor for some severe neck pain, she meets a man named Peyton who actually works at a local health food store and is licensed as a medical caregiver who gives patients marijuana or "herb" as he insists on calling it to patients who are sick or dying.  When she sees the results on a dying woman in person, a part of her more truthful side has to admit there is a better way.  

So begins this long tale of Betty's foray into dosing home-made chocolates with the "herb" and then beginning to produce her own plants, forms of this new "medication," and obtaining her own license as a medical caregiver.  Some funny moments follow with a date her old friends talk her into taking and her reactions to both the date and them after the date, as well as little by little letting go of restricted and uptight exterior she's been living.  Readers can decide how much is educational, how much is a bit much, and how much of this information is real.  It certainly appears to be well-researched and one about which the general public knows little.  The experiments in producing the products are sometimes funny, sometimes more anti-cause than even the author expects, but the end of the story, as well a a growing romance with another character is quite pleasing and unique.  Interestingly done, Ms. Dewey!

An Unquenchable Thirst by Mary Johnson

An Unquenchable Thirst: Following Mother Teresa in Search of Love, Service, and An Authentic Life. Mary Johnson. Bond Street Books: Random House Publishing Group. September 2011.  544 pp. hb. ISBN #: 9780385666978.

Mary Johnson, the 17 year-old daughter of religious Catholic parents, begins her story by describing a turning point in her life when her parents were announcing what they were planning for their lives after school.  As much as those ideas of study, work, and marriage attracted her, she knew that she had a call from God to live her life in service to Him and only Him!  Soon after, she saw a picture of Mother Teresa on the cover of Time magazine and read the article about the Missionary of Charity nuns.  She decided the message in that article was a precise answer to her divine call!

The remainder of this memoir about Mary or Sister Donata's twenty years life as a Missionary of Charity is a mind-boggling read.  As Mary lives the course of her preparation for final vows, the reader is exposed to a painstaking battle of the soul interspersed with some moments of deep peace, understanding, and union with God.  What is most evident, however, is the harshness and downright meanness of those in authority who are supposed to be bringing these novices and so on closer to God and service.  In fact, this segment is torture to read at times, defying logic, compassion, and every other positive Christian virtue one can contemplate.  Later it turns out when Sister Donata actually reads the Constitution of the Order that Mother Teresa wanted more kindness toward the Sisters but felt powerless to change the abuse she knew was occurring.  

Years pass and Sister Donata is sent to many places in America, Italy, and Canada.  Temptations appear after some mental satisfaction in doing academic work and some work important as the assistant of Mother Teresa.  The temptation toward a fellow nun and a priest yields a world of conflict, guilt, and so on, followed by a scandal at one of the schools with ramifications going all the way to Cardinal Ratzinger, the present Pope of the Catholic Church.

Finally, Mary describes how she makes her decision to change her life's call and how she spends years resolving the residual effects of all those years.  This is a moving, comprehensive, scathingly honest memoir about the heights and depths, heaven and hell, of the spiritual life of a notable community of nuns modeled after the saint-like figure, Mother Teresa!  Read it, not to judge, but to know honesty and truth prevail, divine and otherwise!  Astonishing book!