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After spending years as a corporate lawyer in a big law firm in NYC, I'm looking into starting my own practice. I have time to explore NYC, learn to cook and eat healthier, exercise, garden (on my Brooklyn balcony), and read more. My interests are very broad from cooking and gardening to real estate, estate planning, tax law, investing and law to escapist fiction of all types to nonfiction and memoirs.
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By: Gaby317,
on 4/25/2013
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The blurb:
Once upon a time...there was an old woman who lived in the Bronx. Ninety-one-year-old Mina Yetner lives in the Bronx neighborhood of Higgs Point where small shotgun houses perch on waterfront with a view of marsh grass, birds, and in the distance, the Manhattan skyline.
Mina doesn't like to get into her neighbor's business but when Sandra Ferrante, a troubled woman with a drinking problem, is pulled from her home and taken by ambulance to the local hospital, Mina tries to find Sandra's daughter to convey her mother's message: "Don't let him in until I'm gone."
Review:Arguably, There Was an Old Woman is a New York sort of mystery. There's very little violence or gore. Instead, we are drawn in by Ephron's descriptions of Higgs Point as a neighborhood, the period finishings in Mina Yetner's home, the description of the young curator's job and her upcoming exhibit of the history of the Empire State Building.
Through the story of Mina Yetner, Ephron takes us to the Depression and what it was like for a young woman working her first job in New York City and in the iconic Empire State Building. Mina's choice to work came at a time of freedom and employment for women and as we read Mina's story, we're drawn in, imagining this unique time.
It struck me that in There Was an Old Woman, the main, pivotal characters, those that carry the action forward are women from the young art historian and curator to Mina, who in her youth moved to New York City to build a life and worked at the Empire State Building.
Not that the book lacks mystery. There is psychological suspense as we wonder whether the events that Mina describes are actually happening or if she's slowly deteriorating. There is drama as well - families divided by alcoholism, greed, and disappointment. There's romance with the dashing lawyer who has stopped practicing law and has opted to run his family business, the corner store.
Ephron's writing is clear, I focused completely on the characters and story, drawn into the build up and development without noticing anything else. I kept wondering what would happen next. If you're looking for a fun read set in New York City, check out There Was an Old Woman by Hallie Ephron.
ISBN-10: 0062117602 - Hardcover $26Publisher: William Morrow (April 2, 2013), 304 pages.Review copy courtesy of the publisher.
About the Author:Hallie Ephron made a splash writing suspense with Never Tell a Lie published by HarperCollins in 2009. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly called it “stunning” and a “deliciously creepy tale of obsession.” USA Today: “You can imagine Hitchcock curling up with this one.” It was nominated for multiple awards, including the Mary Higgins Clark Award, and was adapted for film as And Baby Will Fallfor the Lifetime Movie Network.
Hallie’s new book is There Was an Old Woman (4/2013 from Wm Morrow). Set in the Bronx, it’s a story of trust and betrayal, deception and madness. In it, a young woman and a very old woman connect across generations in spite of, or perhaps because, they are not related.
By: Gaby317,
on 4/25/2013
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Today, April 25 is ANZAC Day. Having just spent over two weeks in Australia, I do want to take a moment to recognize the sacrifices and heroism of the soldiers and citizens of Australia and New Zealand. While ANZAC Day marks the landing at Gallipoli in 1915, it's the Australian and New Zealand version of Memorial Day and recognizes the sacrifices, bravery and achievements of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.
My knowledge of Gallipoli is limited and strongly influenced by the movie starring Mel Gibson. If you'd like to find out more about ANZAC day and the courage of Australian and New Zealand soldiers, head to any of these sites:
New Zealand History Online - http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/war/anzac-day/introduction
Australian War Memorial - http://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/anzac/anzac_tradition.asp
A Guide to ANZAC Day for New Zealanders - http://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/anzac/anzac_tradition.asp
By: Gaby317,
on 4/24/2013
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The blurb:
The Secretary is the first book of its kind: a foreign correspondent and author with both an insider and a global perspective. Ghattas had unparalleled access to Hillary Clinton and her entourage for four years. She draws on extensive interviews with Clinton, administration officials, and other players around Washington and overseas to paint an intimate portrait of one of the most powerful global politicians in the world.
Populated by a cast of real-life characters, The Secretary tells the story of Hillary Clinton as America's envoy to the world in compelling detail: from the first days of the Obama administration to the drama of WikiLeaks and the "Arab Spring" uprisings. Through Ghatta's eyes, we see Clinton under the intense professional spotlight of high-stakes diplomacy but also in the softer lighting of the more personal nuances of foreign relations -- cheerfully boarding her plane at 3 am after no sleep, or cajoling foreign ministers to keep the coalition together during the war in Libya, all the while trying to restore American leadership.
Viewed through Ghattas's vantage point as a half-Dutch, half-Lebanese citizen who grew up in the crossfire of the Lebanese civil war, the book offers a close-up of diplomacy at the highest level while seeking to answer pivotal questions about the United States. Is America still the global superpower? If not, who or what will replace it, and what will it mean for America and the rest of the world?
Review:
I admit that I deeply admire Hillary Clinton, so I was eager to read about her especially from the point of view of international journalist, Kim Ghattas. The author, Kim Ghattas, grew up in Lebanon and her own experience with the US allows for what seems to be a more worldly, impartial, perspective towards the US and US foreign policy. I should say that while some American readers might not find her to be fully impartial, having grown up overseas with a complicated view of the US, I could fully understand the perspective that she presented.
I found the author's insights to be particularly enlightening and well grounded. Further, I found the subject of the book - Hillary Clinton and US foreign policy, statesmanship, deeply fascinating as well. Ghattas discusses US foreign policy in a general way and throws in small details of what it is like to travel with the Secretary of State. She also gives us a chance to learn what was going on behind the scenes as various foreign policy crises were occurring. While the book might not be a deeply serious thesis on foreign policy, it certainly proves to be a fascinating and informative read. I didn't think it was possible, but having read the book, I have even more respect and admiration for Hillary Clinton. The Secretary gives us a unique perspective on both Hillary Clinton as a person and Hillary Clinton as a diplomat/politician/stateswoman.
ISBN-10: 080509511 - Hardcover $27.00
Publisher: Times Books; First Edition edition (March 5, 2013), 368 pages.
Review copy courtesy of the Amazon Vine Reviewers program and the publisher.
About the Author:
Kim Ghattas has been the BBC's State Department Radio and TV correspondent since 2008 and travels regularly with the secretary of state. She was previously a Middle East correspondent for the BBC and the Financial Times, based in Beirut. Ghattas was part of an Emmy Award-winning BBC team covering the Lebanon-Israel conflict of 2006. Her work has also appeared in Time magazine, the Boston Globe, the Washington Post, and on NPR radio. She lives in Washington, D.C.
By: Gaby317,
on 4/24/2013
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We celebrated the second World Book Night USA yesterday, April 23. It was my second time to participate as a book giver. The first year I gave away 20 copies of The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak and this year it was City of Thieves by David Benioff.
Both books are amazing and I recommend them highly. Since I've written about The Book Thief in previous posts, I'd like to focus entirely on World Book Night. I'll write a separate post for City of Thieves.
First, if you haven't heard of World Book Night, it's always celebrated on April 23. April 23 is Shakespeare's birthday as well as Cervantes's birthday. It's a chance to celebrate reading and all the pleasures that it brings as well as a chance to promote literacy. On World Book Night, volunteers give out 1 million copies of books to "light" or non-readers to encourage a love of reading. With all the different types of entertainment available nowadays, folks are less and less likely to grab a book to occupy themselves. It's such a pity because it's almost impossible to express the calm and escape that a wonderful book can bring. I think that there's nothing like it.
By: Gaby317,
on 4/22/2013
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By: Gaby317,
on 4/19/2013
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Welcome to this week's Friday 56 - this Friday 56 comes from The Mystery of a Hansom Cab by Fergus Hume, a book that I purchased in Sydney, Australia last week. I went into several bookstores looking for an author that might be less widely available in the US. I was excited to find out about Fergus Hume and his 1886 detective novel that predated Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. It turns out that these books are available on Amazon (Surprise! Surprise!) and that there are free kindle versions of The Mystery of a Hansom Cab.
Curious? Learn more about Fergus Hume and his writings on Inside Story - http://inside.org.au/fergus-hume-startling-story/
Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56 or 56% on your e-reader/
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of this blog.
*Post a link along with your post back to this blog and to Freda's Voice at http://fredasvoice.blogspot.com
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST. 
Here's my Friday 56 from The Mystery of a Hansom Cab - but the sentences are so long, page 56 only held 3 sentences. This comes from page 57:
If he goes into speculation, it turns out well; if he marries a wife, she is sure to be everything that can be desired; if he aspires to a position, social or political, he attains it with ease -- worldly wealth, domestic happiness, and good position, all these belong to the men who have luck.
The blurb:
The Mystery of a Hansom Cab is the original blockbuster crime novel. Set in marvelous Melbourne of the late 19th century, it tells a devilishly tricky tale.
ISBN-10: 1921922222 - Paperback $14.99Publisher: Text Classics (June 18, 2013), pages 432.
About the Author:
Fergus Hume was born in England in 1859. His family soon emigrated to New Zealand, where Hume qualified as a lawyer. He was admitted to the bar in 1885 and moved to Melbourne the same year.
Desperate to become a playwright but having no success, Hume decided to write a murder novel instead. When he couldn't find a publisher for The Mystery of a Hansom Cab, he published it himself. It was a sensation and sold over twenty thousand copies in Melbourne.
With a hit on his hands, Hume sold his copyright to Hansom Cab Publishing Company in London for fifty pounds. The book was a phenomenal success but Hume never saw another penny from his bestseller. It may have influenced Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's A Study in Scarlet, the first Sherlock Holmes adventure.
Hume moved back to England in 1888 after the publication of his second novel, Madame Midas. He embarked on a career that produced over 130 novels. He never became a famous playwright but he did co-write the theatrical adaptation of The Mystery of a Hansom Cab, which played in London for 500 nights. THe story was also filmed three times in the silent era.
By: Gaby317,
on 4/12/2013
Blog:
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Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56 or 56% on your e-reader/
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of this blog.
*Post a link along with your post back to this blog and to Freda's Voice at http://fredasvoice.blogspot.com
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST. Here's my Friday 56 from The Secretary:
Hezbollah strived to liberate the swath of occupied land until Israel withdrew in 2000. An ally of Iran and Syria, the Party of God was also working tis way into Lebanese national politics while holding on to its arsenal.
The blurb:The Secretary is the first book of its kind: a foreign correspondent and author with both an insider and a global perspective. Ghattas had unparalleled access to Hillary Clinton and her entourage for four years. She draws on extensive interviews with Clinton, administrative officials, and other players around Washington and overseas to paint an intimate portrait of one of the most powerful global politicians in the world.
Populated by a cast of real-life characters, The Secretary tells the story of Hillary Clinton as America's envoy to the world in compelling details: from the first days of the Obama administration to the drama of WikiLeaks and the "Arab Spring" uprisings. Through Ghatta's eyes, we see Clinton under the intense professional spotlight of high stakes diplomacy but also in the softer lighting of the more personal nuances of foreign relations - cheerfully boarding her plane at 3 am after no sleep, or cajoling foreign ministers to keep the coalition together during the war in Libya, all the while trying to restore American leadership.
Viewed through Ghatta's vantage point as a half-Dutch, half-Lebanese citizen who grew up in the crossfire of the Lebanese civil war, the book offers a close-up of diplomacy at the highest level while seeking to answer pivotal questions about the United States. Is America still the global superpower? If not, who or what will replace it, and what will it mean for America and the world?
About the Author:Kim Ghattas has been BBC's State Department Radio and TV correspondent since 2008 and travels regularly with the secretary of state. She was previously a Middle East correspondent for the BBC and the Financial Times, based in Beirut. Ghattas was part of an Emmy Award-winning BBC team covering the Lebanon-Israel conflict of 2006. Her work has also appeared in Time magazine, the Boston Globe, the Washington Post, and on NPR radio. She lives in Washington, D.C.
By: Gaby317,
on 4/5/2013
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Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56 or 56% on your e-reader/
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of this blog.
*Post a link along with your post back to this blog and to Freda's Voice at http://fredasvoice.blogspot.com
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST. Here's my Friday 56 from The Guilty One:
The blurb:An eight-year-old boy is found dead on a playground. . . and his eleven-year-old neighbor is accused of the crime. Leading the defense is London solicitor Daniel Hunter, a champion of lost causes. A damaged boy from a troubled home, Daniel's young client, Sebastian, reminds Daniel of his own turbulent childhood - and of Minnie, the devoted woman whose love saved him. But one terrible act of betrayal irrevocably shattered their bond.
As past and present collide, Daniel is faced with disturbing questions. Will his sympathy for Sebastian and his own memories blind him to the truth? What happened in the park - and who, ultimately, is to blame for a little boy's death? Rethinking everything he's ever believed, Daniel begins to understand what it means to be wrong. . . and to be the guilty one.
About the Author:
Lisa Ballantyne lives in Glasgow, Scotland. This is her first novel.
By: Gaby317,
on 4/1/2013
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The blurb:
1662: Jakob Kuisl, the hangman of a village in the Alps, receives a letter from his sister calling him to the imperial city of Regensburg, where a gruesome sight awaits him: her throat has been slit. Arrested and framed for the murder, Kuisl will face firsthand the torture he's administered himself for years unless he can prevail on a fellow executioner for mercy.
When his steely daughter, Magdelena, and a young doctor, Simon, follow him to Regensburg, they enlist an underground network of beggars, a beer-brewing monk, and an Italian playboy - navigating the labyrinthine city to learn there is much more behind the false accusation than a personal vendetta: there is a plan that will endanger the entire German Empire.
Review:Oliver Potzsch's The Beggar King takes us to Germany in 1662, a period that I wasn't very familiar with. The 1600s are a time of upheaval in the German Empire and in Europe. With the Thirty Years Wars, mercenaries had overrun many of the villages and we encounter the effects of this war throughout the novel. It becomes clear early on that the class system is deeply entrenched and that the Kuisls, as a family of hangmen, are very low on the social ladder. This means that it is nearly impossible for the hangman's daughter Magdelena to marry the young doctor Simon, her sweetheart, in their hometown. It also means that our hero, Jakob Kuisl, is careful not to disclose his identity when he travels to Regensburg to visit his ailing sister.
Magdalena and Simon leave their town with the hope of starting anew in Regensburg. When they discover that Jakob has been arrested and is accused of murder, the young couple decide to look for who might have been behind the killings in order to free Jakob. Their sleuthing is limited to their social network in the imperial city. As Magdalena and Simon travel with the beggars, the boat masters, and a Venetian ambassador, the novel takes us to unpredictable plot twists and unusual places. Oliver Potzsch delivers an engrossing mystery set in a unique setting. I found the historical and cultural details particularly fascinating - they added another level of complexity to The Beggar King.
ISBN-10: 054799219X - Paperback $18.00Publisher: Mariner Books; Reprint edition (January 8, 2013), 512 pages.Review copy courtesy of the publisher and the Amazon Prime Reviewers program.
About the Author:Oliver Potzsch, born in 1970, was for years a radio personality for Bavarian radio and a screenwriter for Bavarian public television. He is himself a descendant of the Kuisls, a well-known line of Bavarian executioners that inspired the novel.
By: Gaby317,
on 3/30/2013
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The blurb:
Fia was born with flawless instincts. Her first impulse, her gut feeling, is always exactly right. Her sister, Annie, is blind to the world around her—except when her mind is gripped by strange visions of the future.
Trapped in a school that uses girls with extraordinary powers as tools for corporate espionage, Annie and Fia are forced to choose over and over between using their abilities in twisted, unthinkable ways…or risking each other’s lives by refusing to obey.
In a stunning departure from her New York Times bestselling Paranormalcy trilogy, Kiersten White delivers a slick, edgy, heartstoppingly intense psychological thriller about two sisters determined to protect each other—no matter the cost.
Review:
Two sisters, two years apart in age with vastly different skills. The elder sister, Annie, is a seer at a time when the world is unaware that seers exist. Annie can predict the future and the first event that she successfully predicted was the death of their parents in a car crash when they were children. Although in recent years, her "handlers" have been focusing her attention on predicting what her sister will do. Annie has been blind since birth and while she thinks that she's taking care of younger Fia, for years, Fia's life has been focused on taking care of Annie.
Fia is the beautiful younger sister whose skill was not immediately apparent and far more rare than that of seer Annie. Fia will invariably make the best decision resulting in the optimum outcome every single time. Her gift when put in the hands of a greedy, unscrupulous, power hungry person, can result in all sorts of bad - stock market manipulation, assassinations, blackmail, anything and everything. Unfortunately, that's what has happened and Fia is unable to say no to these assignments that leave her feeling desperate and horrible. When Annie's life is threatened, Fia will fulfill any assignment. Until she doesn't.
It happens in the most unexpected way. Fia's sent to kill nineteen year old Adam and is undone by Adam's kindness to a puppy. She's unable to see how he could be a threat and puts her life on the line to save him. With this act of rebellion, her world quickly begins to unravel.
I loved Mind Games. It's fast paced with complex characters set in an unusual world facing impossible choices. Fia is particularly sympathetic - so beautiful, so skilled, so wild and still so protective of her sister. The book is a great read on its own but I'm looking forward to the next 2 in the trilogy.
ISBN-10: 0062135317 - Hardcover $17.99
Publisher: HarperTeen (February 19, 2013), 259 pages.
Review copy courtesy of the publisher and the Amazon Prime Reviewers Program.
About the Author:
Kiersten White is the author of NYT bestsellers PARANORMALCY and SUPERNATURALLY. She has one tall husband and two small children and lives near the ocean, where her days are perfectly normal. Visit her at www.kierstenwhite.com.
Curious? If you can't wait to read Mind Games, head over to Harper Teen's site for a sneak peek into the first chapters.
http://browseinside.harperteen.com/index.aspx?isbn13=9780062135315
By: Gaby317,
on 3/22/2013
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Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56 or 56% on your e-reader/
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of this blog.
*Post a link along with your post back to this blog and to Freda's Voice at http://fredasvoice.blogspot.com
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST. Here's my Friday 56 from The Last Telegram:"Name's a bit ironic on a day like today, don't you think? I'm Leo Samuels. They call me duty manager, though that's just a posh title for chief muggins." The blurb:Decades ago, as Nazi planes dominated the sky, the eighteen-year-old Lily Verner made a terrible mistake. She's tried for years to forget, but now an unexpected event pulls her back to the 1940s British countryside. She finds herself remembering the brilliant colors of the silk she helped weave at her family's mill, the relentless pressure of the worsening war, and the kind of heartbreaking loss that stops time.
In this evocative novel of love and consequences, Lily finally confronts the disastrous decision that has haunted her for all these years. The Last Telegram uncovers the surprising truth about how the stories we weave about our lives are threaded with truth, guilt, and forgiveness. About the Author:Liz Trenow's family have been silk weavers for nearly 300 years and she grew up next to the mill in Sudbury, Suffolk, which is the oldest family-owned silk company in Britain and one of a handful still operating today. Liz worked in the mill for a few months but decided instead to become a journalist and spent fifteen years with regional and national newspapers and on BBC radio and television news. The Last Telegram is her first novel. Visit her online at www.liztrenow.com
By: Gaby317,
on 3/20/2013
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The blurb:
In the dark days of war, a mother makes the ultimate sacrifice
Lucy Takeda is just fourteen years old, living in Los Angeles, when the bombs rain down on Pearl Harbor. Within weeks, she and her mother, Miyako, are ripped from their home, rounded up—along with thousands of other innocent Japanese-Americans—and taken to the Manzanar prison camp.
Buffeted by blistering heat and choking dust, Lucy and Miyako must endure the harsh living conditions of the camp. Corruption and abuse creep into every corner of Manzanar, eventually ensnaring beautiful, vulnerable Miyako. Ruined and unwilling to surrender her daughter to the same fate, Miyako soon breaks. Her final act of desperation will stay with Lucy forever…and spur her to sins of her own.
Review:
I hadn't expected to be so engrossed in Garden of Stones but Sophie Littlefield masterfully combines mystery with historical details and takes us back to California, Washington State and the Manzanar prison camp during the time of Japanese American interment. We get to know Lucy as a young girl and her learn of her mysterious and glamorous mother, and are soon caught up in the tragedies that seem to follow Miyako. Carefully plotted, well crafted, and told with sympathy, the story of Lucy, Miyako and their fellow Japanese Americans will move you deeply.
ISBN-10: 0778313522 - Paperback $14.95
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA; Original edition (February 26, 2013), 320 pages.
Review copy courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley.
About the Author:
Sophie Littlefield grew up in rural Missouri and attended college in Indiana. She worked in technology before having children, and was lucky enough to stay home with them while they were growing up. She writes novels for kids and adults, and lives in Northern California. Visit her online at www.SophieLittlefield.com.
By: Gaby317,
on 3/18/2013
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John Flanagan begins The Invaders soon after Hal, Thorn, Stig, and the rest of the Heron Brotherband have left their home in search of the Raven and the pirates that made off with Skandia’s most valuable treasure of amber, the Aubermal. Hal, Stig and the Heron Brotherband had won been the Brotherband champions for the year but they failed Skandia in allowing the treasure to be stolen while they were standing guard. Not only was the Heron Brotherband stripped of its championship title, it was struck from the rolls and all the honors, weapons, and signs of their triumph were taken back. The boys knew that in their town, they would always be looked down upon and despised for their failure - there was no life left for them in their old home - so they undertook to make things right and to find the pirates and return the treasure.
But seven boys and the older one handed Thorn had the odds stacked against them, even if Thorn had been the Magtik, the greatest warrior of Skandia, a record three times and Hal is a sailor, inventor, and leader of heroic proportions.
This time, Hal, Thorn, Stig and the Brotherband rescue a beautiful young girl Lydia. Not your usual love interest, Lydia is an impressive tracker and warrior in her own right and she can take the Heron Brotherband to the pirates that they seek.
Fortunately, Erak has sent his right hand man and a crew find the Heron Brotherband, not to bring them back in disgrace as Hal fears but to aid them in their quest to return the Aubermal to Skandia.
While our heroes face overwhelming odds and crafty pirates, they bring their own unique strengths of innovation, hard work, creative thinking, and unswerving loyalty. In this next book in the series, The Invaders, John Flanagan delivers an engrossing and unforgettable read. The Brotherband Chronicles are sure to be as beloved and popular as the worldwide phenomenon The Ranger’s Apprentice series.
ISBN-10: 0399256202 - Hardcover $18.00 (Paperback release April 9. 2013)Publisher: Philomel; First Edition edition (May 1, 2012), 432 pages.Ages 12 and up.
About the Author:
John Flanagan grew up in Sydney, Australia, hoping to be a writer. John began writing Ranger’s Apprentice for his son, Michael, ten years ago, and is still hard at work on the series and its spinoff, Brotherband Chronicles. He currently lives in the suburb of Manly, Australia, with his wife. In addition to their son, they have two grown daughters and four grandsons.
By: Gaby317,
on 3/15/2013
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Welcome to this week's Friday 56 - this Friday 56 comes from Georgette Heyer's Black Sheep, a book I found on my mother's shelf!
Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56 or 56% on your e-reader/
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of this blog.
*Post a link along with your post back to this blog and to Freda's Voice at http://fredasvoice.blogspot.com
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.
Here's my Friday 56 from one of my mother's favorite historical romance writers, Georgette Heyer. From Black Sheep by Georgette Heyer:
"Do enlighten me! Who are these people?"
She blinked. 'Who - ? Oh, I beg your pardon! I have been running on in the stupidest way! - talking to myself! Selima is my eldest sister: we live together, in Sydney Place; Mary is my next sister: next in age, I mean; and George Brede is her husband. Never mind that! When did you run off with Celia?'
The blurb:
Abigail Wendover, on the shelf at 28...is determined to prevent Fanny, her pretty and high-spirited niece, from becoming attached to Stacy Calverleigh, a good-looking town-beau and an acknowledged fortune-hunter of shocking reputation.
Miles Calverleigh, the black sheep of his family...is enormously rich from a long sojourn in India, has a scandalous past, and is not at all inclined towards good manners. Could he be Abby's most important ally in keeping her niece from a most unfortunate match? But Miles turns out to be the most provoking creature Abigail has ever met - with a disconcerting ability to throw her into giggles at quite the wrong moment...
About the Author:
Georgette Heyer wrote over 50 novels, including Regency romances, mysteries, and historical fiction. She was known as the Queen of Regency romance, and was legendary for her research, historical accuracy, and her extraordinary plots and characterizations.
By: Gaby317,
on 3/12/2013
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Last March, we'd celebrated Maisie Dobbs month and it's that same time of the year again. While I'd reviewed The Mapping of Love and Death - this time I'd like to spend time on A Lesson in Secrets.
Set in 1932, A Lesson in Secrets opens with Maisie Dobbs having undergone some significant changes in her life. She's much better situated as her mentor Maurice Blanche passed away and named her as his the main beneficiary of his estate. She is now a woman of means. Her financial independence has brought her greater confidence, freedom and a deeper sense of guilt/responsibility to Blanche's memory. I couldn't help notice that Maisie's guilt in her good fortune led her to intervene in the lives of the people around her with generous and large, sometimes life changing gestures.
In this adventure, Maisie is asked to aid Scotland Yard's Special Branch and the Secret Service in an undercover operation in Cambridge. Maisie takes the post of lecturer at a small private college to monitor behavior that is "against the interests of His Majesty's Government and the Crown." The college's founder, Greville Liddicotte, is committed to the development of international peace and to pacifism. Liddicotte is famous for writing a children's book that encouraged children to bring their fathers home from the war. The book was restricted, pulled off the shelves. Maisie later learns that the book was so effective that there are whispers of its having led men to mutiny, to refuse to fight during World War I.
When Liddicotte is found murdered in his office, Maisie finds herself trying to find the killer while continuing to track dangerous behavior at the college. This is the time of the rise of National Socialism in Germany and Adolf Hitler's message seems to resonate with some of Maisie's students. Maisie sorts through clues about Liddicotte's death and the mysterious behavior of her fellow professors while balancing the ups and downs of her love affair with Viscount James Compton.
I particularly enjoyed A Lesson in Secrets - it's now my favorite Maisie Dobbs novel because Maisie's more comfortable with herself and her place in society. While there is some uncertainty regarding her future with James Compton, she is willing to trust in the relationship, to take things a day at a time. This time her job involves more than the usual mystery. By having Maisie Dobbs work for the Secret Service In Lesson in Secrets, Jacqueline Winspear and Maisie Dobbs tackled the treatment of conscientious objectors during World War I, and of returning veterans as well as the lack of awareness of the dangers of Adolf Hitler and the growing power of Germany's National Socialist movement.
ISBN-10: 0061727717 - Paperback $14.99Publisher: Harper Perennial; Reprint edition (March 6, 2012), 352 pages.Review copy courtesy of the publisher and TLC Book Tours.
About the Author:
Jacqueline Winspear is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Among the Mad and An Incomplete Revenge, as well as four other Maisie Dobbs novels. She has won numerous awards for her work, including the Agatha, Alex, and Macavity awards for the first book in the series, Maisie Dobbs. Originally from the United Kingdom, she now lives in California. Learn more at Jacqueline Winspear's website at http://jacquelinewinspear.com/
If you'd like to read about the other Maisie Dobbs novels covered in the TLC Book Tour, head over to these participating sites:
Monday, March 4th: The House of the Seven Tails – Maisie Dobbs
Monday, March 4th: BookNAround – Birds of a Feather
Wednesday, March 6th: Peppermint PhD – Pardonable Lies
Thursday, March 7th: Melody & Words – Birds of a Feather
Thursday, March 7th: The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader – Messenger of Truth
Thursday, March 7th: Anglers Rest – Messenger of Truth
Thursday, March 7th: Lavish Bookshelf – An Incomplete Revenge
Friday, March 8th: Olduvai Reads – Maisie Dobbs
Friday, March 8th: 5 Minutes For Books – Pardonable Lies
Friday, March 8th: In the Next Room – An Incomplete Revenge
Friday, March 8th: Anglers Rest – Among the Mad
Friday, March 8th: The Road to Here – Among the Mad
Friday, March 8th: A Bookish Way of Life – The Mapping of Love and Death
Friday, March 8th: The Book Garden – The Mapping of Love and Death
Monday, March 11th: The House of the Seven Tails – A Lesson in Secrets
Tuesday, March 12th: Starting Fresh – A Lesson in Secrets
Wednesday, March 13th: A Book Geek – A Lesson in Secrets
Thursday, March 14th: Lit and Life – A Lesson in Secrets
Friday, March 15th: Nonsuch Book – A Lesson in Secrets
Monday, March 18th: Short and Sweet Reviews – Elegy for Eddie
Tuesday, March 19th: Veronica M.D. – Elegy for Eddie
Tuesday, March 19th: Helen’s Book Blog – Elegy for Eddie
Wednesday, March 20th: guiltless reading – Elegy for Eddie
Thursday, March 21st: Booktalk & More – Elegy for Eddie
Friday, March 22nd: Library Queue – Elegy for Eddie
Monday, March 25th: A Bookworm’s World – Leaving Everything Most Loved
Monday, March 25th: cakes, tea and dreams – Leaving Everything Most Loved
Tuesday, March 26th: Oh! Paper Pages – Leaving Everything Most Loved
Wednesday, March 27th: The Written World – Leaving Everything Most Loved
Thursday, March 28th: Quirky Bookworm – Leaving Everything Most Loved
Friday, March 29th: nomadreader – Leaving Everything Most Loved
By: Gaby317,
on 3/11/2013
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The blurb:
He calls himself Columbus. His real name never meant much to him anyway. He never knew his father, an earnest young congressman and rising star in the Democratic Party named Abe Mann, or his mother, a prostitute whose involvement with Mann would prove dangerous.
All Columbus cares about is his next target. A hit man who quickly made a name for himself as one of the best in his profession, you can be sure he'll fulfill whatever contract's been given him. Even if those who put out the hit have other plans in mind.
Review:
While The Assassin Trilogy is composed of The Silver Bear, Columbus, and Dark Men, it's best to think of them as just one book. You'll want to read all three parts continuously. I ended up reading them over a day and a night.
Columbus, our hero, has a distinctive voice and an interesting point of view. As far as assassins go, he's sympathetic and likable. Reading his back story, it's easy to understand how he ended up in his profession. His status as a "Silver Bear" becomes admirable in its own way. A Silver Bear is an assassin that accepts all assignments, delivers on all assignments, and never gives up. They're rare and highly prized commodities. I'm not sure what this says about me, aside from the fact that I overindulge in escapist fiction, but I've been reading quite a few novels with assassins as sympathetic heroes.
In The Assassin Trilogy, Derek Haas gives us action, unexpected plot twists, unusual characters, and strong writing. It's escapist fiction at its most fun - light, witty and exciting!
ASIN: B005PRBB2Y - Kindle book $2.99
Publisher: Mulholland Books (June 12, 2012), 249 pages.
Review copy courtesy of Netgalley and the publisher.
About the Author:
In THE COLUMBUS TRILOGY, the first three novels by Barry Award-nominated author Derek Haas, Columbus squares off against the shadow of his father, Czech crime lords, drug dealers, a prostitution ring, and more, in three acclaimed suspense novels by a rising master of the genre.
In addition to his novels THE SILVER BEAR, COLUMBUS, and DARK MEN, Derek Haas also co-wrote the screenplays for 3:10 TO YUMA, starring Russel Crowe and Christian Bale, and WANTED, starring James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman, and Angelina Jolie. His newest film, The Double, stars Richard Gere and Topher Grace, and is directed by his screenwriting partner Michael Brandt. Derek lives in Los Angeles.
By: Gaby317,
on 3/4/2013
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Murder Below Montparnasse by Cara Black
I had been curious about Cara Black’s detective Aimee Leduc after encountering one of the earlier novels at Center for Fiction right before I was scheduled to travel to Paris. Cara Black’s series is set in Paris as is clear from the titles: Murder in Clichy, Murder in Montmartre, Murder on the Ile Saint-Louis, Murder in the Rue de Paradis, Murder in the Latin Quarter, Murder in the Palais Royal, etc. At the time, I had a huge stack of books to review and hadn’t had a chance select which of the novels to read or even to read more. So, Murder Below Montparnasse is my first Aimee Leduc novel.
Murder Below Montparnasse is set in modern day Paris, February 1998, at the time that cell phones and the internet were part of everyday life but before we could access information everywhere and at anytime. Our heroine, private investigator Aimee Leduc is a young, svelte, fashionable woman with her own sense of vintage style. Her father and grandfather were both Parisian police and she grew up learning how to investigate crime scenes and analyze information. Leduc has a talent for disguise as well but her disguises are tres chic. In fact, Leduc has an impressive collection of couture that she’s amassed over the years. Quite a lot of it seems to be second hand or vintage but of the finest quality, well maintained, and well put together. Leduc is glamorous and fashionable in the way we imagine a beautiful Parisian woman steeped in knowledge of fashion can be - Cara Black paints a picture that I wish I could see on screen or to be even more ambitious, that I could be for a day.
In this particular novel, Leduc has successfully aided her godfather Morbier in a sting operation. She’s had a grueling day, physically and emotionally, as her partner and best friend, Rene has opted to leave their partnership for a lucrative and exciting career in a growing tech start up in Silicon Valley. As Leduc checks in to her office at the end of the day, she finds a missive with a retainer of 5,000 francs and a plea to help protect a valuable painting. The missive comes with an unusual reference to her mother - an internationally sought character who disappeared from Leduc’s life when she was a young girl. Leduc is drawn in but as she heads to meet the new client, Leduc and her colleague are thrown into a fatal accident.
When she does meet the client, he is cagey and then upset to learn that the valuable painting had just disappeared. He asks Leduc to hunt down the missing art as he owes a debt to “the Fixer”, Leduc’s mother. Leduc is intrigued but leaves with little background information and without knowing anything about the painting.
As Leduc searches for information on her client, the painting, and its unusual significance, we enter the world of Paris during the time of Picasso, Modigliani, Braque, etc. living in the cramped and poorly heated apartments of Montparnase. As Leduc tracks down the history behind the painting, Black takes us to a fascinating period in French and Russian history and introduces us to a complication that could alter history forever.
Aimee Leduc stands out among detective heroes as her femininity and fashionability are a large part of who she is and how she behaves. Cara Black gives us a clear sense of who she is from the Chanel No. 5 that she carries in her second hand Louis Vuitton purse to the clothes that she puts together with an incomparable style. The brands, the clothes, the attitude are all part of this unique character that I couldn’t help but become fascinated by. It seems that in Aimee Leduc, Cara Black gives us a female detective that women readers can follow both for her detective adventures and for her sense of style and romance.
ISBN-10: 1616952156 - Hardcover $25.96Publisher: Soho Crime; First Edition edition (March 5, 2013), 326 pages.Review copy courtesy of Netgalley and the publisher.
About the Author:Cara Black lives in Noe Valley with her bookseller husband, Jun, owner of Foto-Graphix Books, and her son, Tate. She's a San Francisco Library Laureate, Macavity and three time Anthony award-nominee for her series, Aimée Leduc Investigations, set in Paris.
By: Gaby317,
on 3/2/2013
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The blurb:
How can you prove you're not an alcoholic?
You can’t.
It's like trying to prove you're not a witch.
Hildy Good is a townie. A lifelong resident of an historic community on the rocky coast of Boston’s North Shore, she knows pretty much everything about everyone. Hildy is a descendant of one of the witches hung in nearby Salem, and is believed, by some, to have inherited psychic gifts. Not true, of course; she’s just good at reading people. Hildy is good at lots of things. A successful real-estate broker, mother and grandmother, her days are full. But her nights have become lonely ever since her daughters, convinced their mother was drinking too much, staged an intervention and sent her off to rehab. Now she’s in recovery—more or less.
Alone and feeling unjustly persecuted, Hildy needs a friend. She finds one in Rebecca McCallister, a beautiful young mother and one of the town’s wealthy newcomers. Rebecca feels out-of-step in her new surroundings and is grateful for the friendship. And Hildy feels like a person of the world again, as she and Rebecca escape their worries with some harmless gossip, and a bottle of wine by the fire—just one of their secrets.
But not everyone takes to Rebecca, who is herself the subject of town gossip. When Frank Getchell, an eccentric local who shares a complicated history with Hildy, tries to warn her away from Rebecca, Hildy attempts to protect her friend from a potential scandal. Soon, however, Hildy is busy trying to cover her own tracks and protect her reputation. When a cluster of secrets become dangerously entwined, the reckless behavior of one threatens to expose the other, and this darkly comic novel takes a chilling turn.
The Good House by Ann Leary is funny, poignant, and terrifying. A classic New England tale that lays bare the secrets of one little town, this spirited novel will stay with you long after the story has ended.
Review:
Once I read that The Good House was a novel partly about real estate and Boston's North Shore, I knew that I wanted to read it. I'm often in Gloucester, MA visiting my uncle and love the quiet, unassuming town. It was fascinating to read about a small New England town from the perspective of Hildy Good, a woman whose family's roots date back to the Salem Witch trials, over 300 years.
Leary so authentically captures the voices and points of view of locals and the new residents. We learn about the families that have owned and held the land and still continue to do so with typical New England thrift and discretion. Frank Getchell who has some of the most valuable real estate works the town hauling/garbage concession and acts as handyman for nearly every household and gets very little respect. But his ties to Hildy go way back and this complicated relationship is one of the more interesting parts of the book.
Hildy's alcohol problem is dealt with sensitively and with humor. So are the other dark secrets that are slowly unveiled.
If you're looking for an entertaining read set in New England and if you have an interest in real estate, I think you'll find The Good House an excellent escape.
ISBN-10: 1250015545 - Hardcover $24.99
Publisher: St. Martin's Press; First Edition edition (January 15, 2013), 304 pages.
Review copy provided by the publisher.
About the Author:
Ann Leary’s latest book is the New York Times and national bestselling novel, The Good House. She is the also the author of the memoir An Innocent, A Broad and the novel Outtakes From a Marriage. and The Good House. She has written fiction and nonfiction for various magazines and is a co-host of the NPR weekly radio show Hash Hags.
Ann tries to compete in equestrian sports and is a volunteer EMT.
She lives on a small farm in Connecticut with her husband, Denis Leary and their two children and numerous pets. Learn more about her on her website http://annleary.com/
By: Gaby317,
on 2/28/2013
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Welcome to this week's Friday 56! I'm currently reading Lionel Davidson's The Rose of Tibet. It's an older adventure novel that was recommended to me by my uncle Eddy, who I often mention here. Tito Eddy was instrumental in expanding my taste in books - he used to carefully select a stack of books for me every Sunday and would spend some time discussing the authors, their styles and the stories. I was 10 when he had me read Pearl S. Buck's The Good Earth. When I was younger he'd given me gorgeous copies of Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden and The Little Princess. : ) So, I listen to his book recommendations carefully! Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56 or 56% on your e-reader/
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of this blog.
*Post a link along with your post back to this blog and to Freda's Voice at http://fredasvoice.blogspot.com
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST. 
Here's my Friday 56 from Lionel Davidson's The Rose of Tibet: Yes, he was quite sure it was December. There was no possibility of him confusing it with an earlier trip. Why was this? Why, because the trip before it had been in September - there had been no caravan in October or November - and in September they had gone to a different route, to Norgku.
The blurb:
In the forbidding mountains of a remote, hidden land, a goddess cries a new river of emeralds, an enemy army is missing on the border, and Charles Houston is fighting for his life in an avalanche of danger.
Searching for his missing brother, he comes upon an innocent people and is plunged into a bizarre religious ritual. With a mysterious woman by his side, he faces the most daunting task of all: to escape paradise with an extraordinary treasure.
About the Author:
Lionel Davidson, one of the world's greatest storytellers, takes us into a towering realm of mysticism, violence, and love, where one misstep can kill a man, or make him immortal.
By: Gaby317,
on 2/27/2013
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The blurb:
After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king's council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom. Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilirating. But she's bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.
Review:
Throne of Glass was being marketed as a book for fans of Game of Thrones but I found the description misleading. It's less about this strange world and more about the ultimate assassin Celaena Sardothien and the feel of the book is more reminiscent of Kristen Cashore's Graceling. Having said that, I much prefer Throne of Glass to what it had been described as!
Celaena Sardothien is a fascinating, sympathetic, and deadly heroine. She looks like a scrawny young girl and is continually underestimated. As I read how others perceive her and treat her, I eagerly awaited the moment when she'd show her true abilities. Throne of Glass delivers unstinting adventure, strong and likable characters, and a story of friendship and loyalty. I thoroughly enjoyed it and can't wait for the next book in the series.
Ages 14 and up.
ISBN-10: 1599906953 -Hardcover $17.99 (Paperback to be released in May 2013)
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens; 1 edition (August 7, 2012), 416 pages.
Review copy courtesy of the publisher and Netgalley.
About the Author:
Sarah J. Maas was born and raised in New York City, but after graduating from Hamilton College in 2008, she moved to Southern California. She's always been just a tad obsessed with fairy-tales and folklore, though she'd MUCH rather be the one slaying the dragon (instead of the damsel in distress). When she's not busy writing, she can be found geeking out over things like Han Solo, gaudy nail polish, and ballet.
By: Gaby317,
on 2/25/2013
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I've learned that I've been chosen to participate in the 2013 World Book Night. I'd been a World Book Night giver last year and it was exciting if a bit intimidating to go up to strangers and offer them copies of The Book Thief.
I hadn't expected to find it so difficult to gauge whether a stranger was a light reader or a nonreader. I had initially planned to give away the books in New York City, mainly in Brooklyn and Manhattan. But an unexpected visit from family overseas brought me to Boston's North Shore and the South End on April 23, 2012 so I handed out my 20 copies in Boston and its suburbs.
I approached strangers at the Magnolia diner in Gloucester and a donut shop by the Gloucester's train station. I had hoped to give one to the train conductor but wasn't able to catch her when we stopped at North Station. I did give away books at North Station and some nearby stores and hotels. Then I walked around the South End, stopping at stores to talk about the book, spread the word, and hopefully, spread a love of reading.
By: Gaby317,
on 2/21/2013
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The blurb:
In 2083, chocolate and caffeine are illegal, water is carefully rationed, books are scarce, and New York City is rife with poverty and crime.
And yet, for Anya Balanchine, the sixteen-year-old daughter of the city's most notorious (and dead) crime boss, life is fairly routine. But when she finds herself falling for the son of the new assistant district attorney, and her ex-boyfriend is poisoned by the chocolate her family manufactures, Anya is unwillingly thrust into the spotlight - in the news, and more importantly, within her mafiya family.
Review:
All These Things I've Done is brilliant and hilarious and I couldn't put it down. In the NYC of 2083 that Zevin has created, anyone can purchase alcohol and cigarettes as long as they have the "vouchers" but paper (and paper books), chocolate and caffeine have been outlawed. Teens go to illegal speakeasies for a taste of coffee and chocolate. The Egyptian Wing of Metropolitan Museum has been turned into a disco.
The heroine of the novel is Anya Balanchine. An orphan who is under the guardianship of her bedridden and occasionally delusional grandmother, Anya takes care of everyone in her family from her brilliant younger sister to her older, impaired brother. Fortunately, Anya doesn't do this alone. She has the help of her family lawyer, her oldest and best friend, and a gorgeous and fascinating newcomer named Win. Win is the son of the new assistant district attorney, so Anya is wary of revealing family secrets (contraband, illegal speakeasies, mafiya secrets). But when Anya is thrown in a juvenile detention center, it's Win who intervenes.
All These Things I've Done is written in a fresh, engaging voice and introduces us to some of the most sympathetic and interesting characters that I've come across in a long time. Not only are Anya and her friends witty but they find themseles in unusual predicaments. The plot twists, characters and dialogue make All These Things I've Done a fantastic read!
ISBN-10: 1250010284 - Paperback $9.99
Publisher: Square Fish; Reprint edition (May 8, 2012), 384 pages.
Review copy courtesy of the publisher.
About the Author:
Gabrielle Zevin is an American author and screenwriter. She graduated from Harvard in 2000 with a degree in English & American Literature and still lives in New York. Zevin's first writing job was as a teen music critic for her local newspaper. Her first novel Elsewhere was published in 2005. It was nominated for a 2006 Quill award, won the Borders Original Voices Award, and was a selection of the Barnes & Noble Book Club. It also made the Carnegie long list. The book has been translated into seventeen languages. In 2007 Zevin was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay for Conversations with Other Women which starred Helena Bonham Carter and Aaron Eckhart and was also directed by Hans Canosa.the author of the national bestseller Elsewhere and Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac, as well as two novels for adults, Margarettown and The Hole We're In.
By: Gaby317,
on 2/19/2013
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The blurb: Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.
Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.
Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha…and the secrets of her heart.
Review:Chosen as one of Amazon's top YA books for 2012, Shadow and Bone is the sort of adventure story that I love. The heroine, Alina Starkov, was raised as an orphan with her best friend Malyen Oretsev in the house of their benefactor Duke Keramsov. As the children grew up, they were trained to serve in the army: Alina as a cartographer and Mal as a tracker.
For as long as they could remember, their country had been battling a growing "Shadow Fold" of darkness with flesh eating monsters called volka. While on reconnaissance, Mal was attacked by one of the mythic volka and when Anika tried to save him, they discovered her unusual magical powers. Anika is whisked to the capital to be protected, trained, and to fight to dispel the Shadow Fold. But she discovers that her enemies are not limited to the flesh eating volka, that enemies and allies at court can be far more dangerous than monsters.
Anika learns to navigate dangers and intrigues of court and seems to come into her own. But betrayal comes when she least expects it. Help comes from an unexpected source and Anika must find a way to save herself, her oldest friend, and the nation that she loves from an overpowering force. Shadow and Bone is a story about loyalty and friendship and an unimaginable challenge. It's beautifully written and deeply engrossing. I am eagerly awaiting the next two books in the series.
Ages 12 and up.ISBN-10: 0805094598 - Hardcover $17.99Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR); First Edition edition (June 5, 2012), 368 pages.Review copy courtesy of Netgalley and the publisher.
About the Author:Leigh Bardugo was born in Jerusalem, raised in Los Angeles, and graduated from Yale University. She indulges her fondness for glamour, ghouls, and costuming in her other life as a makeup artist in Hollywood, and she can occasionally be heard singing with her band.
By: Gaby317,
on 2/18/2013
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The blurb:
Nisha was abandoned at the gates of the City of a Thousand Dolls when she was just a child. Now sixteen, she makes her way as Matron's assistant on the grounds of the remote estate, where orphan girls apprentice as musicians, healers, courtesans. . . and assassins. Only when Nisha begins a forbidden flirtation with a handsome young courtier does she let herself imagine a life outside the city's walls. Until, one by one, girls around her start to die.
Review:
City of a Thousand Dolls is set in a fantasy world governed by an Emperor, nobles and a caste system. Individuals have few personal freedoms and membership in a tribe, group or powerful family is essential.
Families are only allowed to have two children. To support this strict requirement, the kingdom supports the City of a Thousand Dolls which accepts, trains, and places young girls. Once accepted into the City, the girls lose their previous caste and they are all supposedly treated equally. The City has several different Houses, each with their own area of specialization: House of Music, House of Pleasure, House of Discipline, House of Shadows, House of Combat, and House of Flowers. Every year, the City holds a Redeeming. During the Redeeming ceremony, the City has an elaborate masquerade and a grand party to show off the novices in the best possible light. Those 16 years old will be presented to nobles, healers, merchants, and the general public for pairing. Each girl waits and hopes for a formal announcement that she's spoken for - and to discover the life that she'll soon live.
Our heroine, Nisha, was left at the City of a Thousand Dolls when she was 6 years old and too old to be placed in one of the Houses. Instead, the Matron raised her to serve as her personal assistant and her eyes and ears in the City. Nisha is not comfortable with her role as spy, but she acknowledges that the information she relays has occasionally been used to move a girl from an unhappy position to a more suitable one. Nisha is not particularly popular. Her plain clothes and lack of connections occasionally leave her open to the taunts of the beautiful and popular girls. Though her best friend Tanaya helps make up the worst days. They first met when girls from the Flower House were taunting Nisha and Tanaya swooped down to tell them off. Tanaya is noble, beautiful, and will soon be the most famous and highborn of all the girls to have ever lived in the City of a Thousand Dolls as has been matched with the Prince.
When we meet Nisha, she's sixteen and hoping to escape her life in the City. She's fallen in love with a young noble and risks the punishment of death to regularly meet with him. She dreams that he'll speak up for her during the Redeeming. Though, like a good adventure/mystery, there are other factors in play. A young girl is found dead, possibly murdered. The loss of the income from the girl's "redeeming" and the new head of the Council have decided that Nisha can be withdrawn from the roster for the Redeeming and will instead be sold as a bond slave to cover the cost of her ten years of training in the City. This could mean a life as a slave if Nisha is unable to repay her purchase price. Nisha may lose everything unless she can come up with a plan acceptable to the Council.
Nisha faces dark opponents and hidden enemies. But she has her own secret allies. She has the unique ability to speak to the many cats in the City - they comfort her and help her during these turbulent times. While she does not know much about her parents, their legacy lingers and resurfaces when she needs them most.
In City of a Thousand Dolls, Forster gives us a new and entertaining young adult fantasy novel that is very much a story of friendship, intrigue, and loyalty.
ISBN-10: 0062121308 - Hardcover $17.99
Publisher: HarperTeen (February 5, 2013), 368 pages.
Review copy courtesy of the Amazon Prime program and the publisher.
About the Author:
Miriam Forster lives in Idaho with her husband. City of a Thousand Dolls is her debut novel. You can visit Miriam online at www.msforster.blogspot.com and follow her on twitter @miriamforster
By: Gaby317,
on 2/15/2013
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As promised, I'm back with a review of The Amazing Adventures of Dietgirl by Shauna Reid. I'd begun the book during that 30+ hour journey from JFK to Manila and the book helped keep me entertained and on track throughout the unending trip.
The blurb:
At just twenty-three years old, Shauna Reid weighed 351 pounds. Spurred into action by the sight of her enormous white knickers billowing on the clothesline, she created the hugely successful blog “The Amazing Adventures of Dietgirl.” Hiding behind her Lycra-clad, roly-poly alter-ego, her transformation from couch potato to svelte goddess began.
Today, eight thousand miles, seven years, and 175 pounds later, the gloriously gorgeous Shauna is literally half the woman she used to be. Hysterically funny and heart-wrenchingly honest, The Amazing Adventures of Dietgirl includes travel tales from Australia to Paris to Red Square, plus romance when she meets the man of her dreams in a Scottish pub. This is the uplifting true story of a young woman who defeated her demons and conquered her cravings to become a real-life superhero to inspire us all.
Review:
The Amazing Adventures of Dietgirl is part memoir and part chicklit and heavily weighted towards the ups and downs of dieting. It's not a book for everyone, but I think it'll speak to any woman whose had to struggle to lose weight. It's not a diet book really but as Dietgirl shares her experiences, you feel like you're living through it with her. As I'm balancing Weight Watchers and the Cohen diet, I felt the book could have been written for me.
Dietgirl holds little back. We meet her when she's 351 lbs, stocking her snack drawer at work with bags of chocolates, having to buy larger and larger sizes, avoiding most social engagements, rotating the fast food joints so that folks don't comment on how often or how much she eats. Rock bottom? Shauna's mother was a Weight Watchers leaders, so she'd grown up knowing about the system though it takes one of those awful moments to get her to the point where she's ready to sign up.
It's pretty tough. She's the biggest one there - so much so that they can't weigh her on their regular scale. She'd signed up with her sister and the two of them together dive into the world of Weight Watcher point counting, recipes, and new habits. It's wonderful to read how her body slowly adjusts - to portions, to tastes, to healthier choices - and how even Dietgirl's path to weightloss doesn't run smooth.
Most of us have gone through the ups and downs of successful dieting. The Amazing Adventures of Dietgirl holds little back and yet remains entertaining. Somehow the tedious details that come with dieting aren't boring when shared in Dietgirl's voice and the experiences do come across as adventures to savor - at least as a narrative to read (not to live!).
When Shauna and her sister take the plunge of leaving Australia for the 2 year work experience in Scotland, they to cobble together another system with less resources (lower paying job, more expensive cost of living and costlier healthy food). But it's also a chance for Shauna start over completely with people who never knew her at her heaviest. Dieting, dating, and falling in love - Shauna lives a regular life with her past as a small secret. The Amazing Adventures of Dietgirl is such a fun and inspiring read that I plan to mention it at my next Weight Watcher's meeting and to share it with my women friends. I'm a bit sad to hear that Shauna's stopped blogging at Dietgirl, but it's also great to learn that she's moved on to host a Health and Wellness site called Up and Running.
ISBN-10: 0061657700 - Paperback $13.99
Publisher: Avon (December 30, 2008), 407 pages.
Review copy courtesy of the New York Public Library.
About the Author:
Shauna Reid began her Dietgirl blog in Canberra in January 2001 when she weighed in at 351 pounds (almost 160 kilos). Six years later, on the other side of the planet, she’d lost exactly half her body weight, fell in love, and crossed off most of the items on her "Things to Do When I'm Skinny" list. Her enormously popular blog and articles led to the publication of Shauna's first book - The Amazing Adventures of Dietgirl.
While she's recently moved on from her Dietgirl blog, but the archives are remaining for anyone who’d like to have a stickybeak at twelve years of ups and downs, ins and outs and adventures. Shauna can be found at www.upandrunningonline.org - Up and Running
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I liked this book.