TheSpiritualist — A Novel

Three Rivers Press sent me a proof of a new book by Megan Chance, The Spiritualist.  I was quite excited to get a book from a publisher and felt like I really arrived into the world of book blogging!

 

This book is about a woman, Evie, in 1850’s NYC society whose husband is murdered after attending “a circle.”  Evie becomes the prime suspect as her in-laws accuse her of killing her husband to get all of his wealth.  Evie has her suspicions about who really killed her husband and she launches her own investigation.  Her investigation leads her into the world of mediums and spiritualists. 

I was intrigued by this book from the beginning.  I have always been fascinated by the “spiritualist” world and used to spend a lot of time watching John Edward on TV and reading his book.  This book also added something else I enjoy, historical fiction. 

Megan Chase did a great job getting the reader hooked on the story.  The main character, Evie, is an interesting character who is not one-dimensional, like so many women seemed to be from that time period.  I enjoyed reading about a strong woman who was still flawed like the rest of us.  It made her very believable. 

The mystery in this book was good.  I did guess the twist quite early, but the way the mystery unfolded still kept me unsure of my guess.  There were some twists I didn’t see coming which also also added to the entertainment of the book. 

As for the ending — it was fitting and somewhat surprising.  After watching Evie’s struggle throughout the novel, I was surprised how she decided to proceed after the mystery was solved.  I liked her chutzpah, but was a little disappointed in her personally.  That’s all I’ll say, I don’t want to spoil it. 

Anyway, I really enjoyed Megan Chase’s writing and I think I will check out some of her other books, The Inconvenient Wife and Susannah Morrow.

 

Boudoir Books

My friend and I sometimes exchange books the few times of year that we meet.  One time, she brought me Nora Robert’s Circle Triology.  She loved it.  Plus, she said, it had the added bonus of helping to put her “in the mood.”  She had a young baby and any woman with newborns knows that a little help in the boudoir is always welcome.  Well, I had to check it out for myself.  And, my friend was right.  It sure did help. 

Now, I was wondering if this post was a little tasteless.  But, I figure guys have their “helpers” for getting in the mood (if they even need them), so why shouldn’t we ladies share ours.

In addition to Nora Robert’s vampire triology, Stephenie Meyer’s books make me feel tingly.  Do I have something for vampires?  I don’t know, but after I read that chapter in the third book when Bella and Edward were alone for the first time overnight at his house, I felt all mushy inside.  Let’s hear it for sexual tension!

My book club met last week and we talked about the racy scences in The Secret History of the Pink Carnation.  Some of us were shocked that this period piece had such racy scences.  Although, a new member (I won’t name names) commented she read those a couple of times! 

So, lady book bloggers, do you have any secret books that you use for some mood setting?

A Powerful, poignant novel….

 

On the cover of The Book of Bright Ideas by Sandra Kring, the book is described as “a powerful, poignant novel of family, friendship and a summer that will change lives forever.”  For once, something lived up to all the hype.

I saw a review of this book on a blog (sorry, I don’t remember which) and I immediately put it on my bookmooch wishlist.  It came a week or so ago.  The first time I picked up the book, I must have been in a mood because it didn’t grab me right away.  But, by the third chapter or so, I was hooked.  This is the book of a nine-year-old girl, Button, who meets Winalee and her sister as they pass through her little Wisconsin town.  Winalee and her sister, Freeda, are the catalyst for change in Button and her family’s lives. 

This book was beautifully written from Button’s perspective.  I could feel her confusion, her sadness and her hapiness with her new friend.  Winalee comes to town carrying around an urn with her mother’s ashes and a book.  In this book, Winalee keeps her ideas about life and she enlists Button’s help in getting to 100 bright ideas.  The girls’ ideas are so innocent and, yet, so provacative, that they really touched me.  The author did a great job portraying a nine-year’s thoughts as they try to figure out the world. 

There are some twists that I didn’t see coming.  I knew something was up, but I wasn’t quite prepared for what it was.  While the ending made sense, personally, I was a little disappointed.  You know, when you want a book to end one way, but it ends the other.  I’m not saying it was a bad ending, just one I didn’t want.  Although, I think it does it leave it open for another one (which I would love to read).

 If you’re looking for an emotional read, here it is!

 

Sophie Kinsella — The Undomestic Goddess

After thoroghly enjoying Can You Keep a Secret? (reviewed earlier), I decided to try another of Kinsella’s books.  (It helped that my friend brought her copy over for me to read).

This story is about a young lawyer in London who makes a 50-million pound mistake (or so she thinks).  She panics and runs away to the London countryside.  She somehow falls into a housekeeping job even though she knows nothing about domestic chores.  There are some funny descriptions of her attempts at using a washing machine and cooking.  Although, I have to say, Can You Keep a Secret?, was funnier.  I thought the humor in Undomestic was a little more forced than in Secret?  It just didn’t seem to ring as true. 

Of course, there is a romance.  I was relieved to see that there was no resistance to the beginning of the romance.  I’m kind of tired of that formula.  It was a sweet relationship.

Overall, I enjoyed this book.  However, something about it didn’t feel quite right to me.  The whole story seemed a little contrived.  I know, Can You Keep a Secret?  is rather contrived, too, but it seemed to work better, at least for me. 

I have to say that I enjoyed the message of this book.  Just because women want to be equal to men in the workplace doesn’t mean we all have to abandon “domesticity” either.  It’s okay to make different choices without letting down your gender.

Shannon Hale’s Fairytales

Once again, on the recommendation of my friend Stephanie, I read Shannon Hale’s retelling of the Grimm’s fairytale, The Goose Girl.  Just like she and several other bloggers, I really liked this one. 

It is the story of a princess who was sent off to a distant land to marry a prince she never met and who is betrayed by her lady-in-waiting.  The lady-in-waiting arrives in this foreign land disguised as the princess.  The true princess is forced to disguise herself and work as a goose girl for the foreign king’s geese.  During that time, she finds strength, friendship, courage and the ability to talk to the wind.  I won’t tell you how it ends, but I was very content with the ending. 

This story was beautifully told.  It held my interest throughout.  I was not familiar with this Grimm’s tale, but I know the Grimms’ tales sometimes have a bad ending.  I kept waiting for that bad ending and Hale did a fabulous job maintaining the tension.  I enjoyed this book so much, I was very interested in reading the companion book, Enna Burning.              

Enna Burning is Hale’s own creation and tells the story of a Forest girl who has the “gift” of fire-talking. As she struggles with her gift, she must decide how to use it — for her country or the enemy.  Again, Hale does a beautiful job telling this tale.  I became so engrossed it the story, I stayed up way past my bedtime (which I never do) to finish it. 

 I will say that it did help that I read The Goose Girl  first.  The characters were the same and it helped to have the background from the first story. 

To escape the “everyday” and get some inspiration from two strong women, I would recommend reading The Goose Girl followed by Enna Burning.

A Bend in the Road — Nicholas Sparks

I received my copy of A Bend in the Road from bookmooch not too long ago.  When I was in the mood for a sappy romance, I sat right down with this one.  Nicholas Sparks never disappoints me when it comes to romance.  Of course, I always have to deal with the depressing overtones of death, but every once in awhile these books are for me.

This story is about a young widower who falls for his 7-year-old son’s teacher, a young divorcee new to town.  Sparks describes how this new romance finally starts to pull the widower out of his mourning until someone tells the widower who really killed his wife.  Of course, there’s a twist there that I won’t spoil here and the twist comes between the widower and his new love interest, of course.

I enjoyed this book.  The descriptions of the widower trying to ask the teacher out were cute.  I could almost visualize the scence and I chuckled.  The romance was heartwarming, if not believable.  I remember thinking that romances don’t happen like this.  But, it was an escape from reality.  And, for once, Sparks provides a happy ending.  I was getting worried near the end that it wouldn’t happen, but it does. 

Overall, not the best book ever, but enjoyable.

 

Back to Jane Austen….

I’ve reviewed some Jane Austen-like books from my Jane Austen phase.  I recently found my copy of Mr. Darcy’s Daughters by Elizabeth Aston that I read during that phase and didn’t review.  So, here it is…

This is the story of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet’s five daughters.  Darcy and Elizabeth are in Constantinople and they send their daughters to stay with friends in London for the season.  The older daughter is neurotic, the youngest one is only interested in her music.  The twins are flirtasous and looking for a good time.  And, it seems, Camilla, the second-oldest is the most like Elizabeth.  This books tells of the scandels, romances and daily life of well-to-do young women during the London season.

I really enjoyed this book.  It reminded me of Jane Austen’s books, written in a similar manner, but a little bit easier to read.  It was like the author modernized Jane Austen for the contemporary reader.  And, it didn’t detract from the story.  I was a little disappointed, at first, that Darcy and Elizabeth did not make an appearance in the novel.  I would have liked to see how they were together after twenty years of marriage.  But, I got so immersed in the girls’ lives that I soon forgot about Darcy and Elizabeth.  There was enough of a story without them. 

This is one of the better Jane Austen-like books I’ve read.  I would definitely recommend it to those interested in this “genre.”

Are These Written by the Same Author??

I just finished reading two more of Linda Howard’s books, The Perfect Man and Cover of Night.  I had reviewed another of Howard’s books.  Check that out, too.

 

Anyway, I thought both books were entertaining reads.  But, Cover of Night was most definitely the better book.  This was the story of a young widow with 4-year-old twins.  She moves to Idaho after her husband dies and opens a b&b in a small town.  One of her customers is on the run from some bad guy and after he disappears from her inn, his enemy takes siege of her little town.  There was actually a story here that did not depend totally on a romance.  There was a romance, of course, and it did lend some sexual tension.  However, there was a good story involved.

Then, there was Mr. Perfect.  This was a story about four woman who made a a list about what Mr. Perfect should look like.  It somehow got picked up by the media and they earned there 15-minutes of fame which lasted longer because a killer started picking off the four women one at a time.  This story was more far-fetched than most of these romance/mystery books.  And, the book seemed to revolve the love interest’s erections than it did around the main story line.  I’m not too prudish, but there seemed to be descriptions of erections on every other page.  Maybe I was more surprised since my mother loaned this book to me!

Overall, I was entertained by both.  But for a better read, I’d go with Cover of Night. 

 

A Fun Little Mystery

I recently read Blind Submission by Debra Ginsberg.  Again, my friend over at The Written Word recommended it after reading it for a publisher.  She has also reviewed this book.  Can you tell that my friend is like my own personal library??

 

 

Blind Submission is the tale of a literary agency run by an eccentric woman, Lucy.  Angel, a book lover, gets a job as Lucy’s assistant and starts her life in the book publishing world.  Lucy is an unreasonable boss, but Angel learns a lot from her and really thinks she has found a career in publishing.  As part of Angel’s job, she reads manuscripts and decides which ones to put through to her boss.  One manuscript comes in by an anonymous writer which eerily parallels Angel’s life.  It starts to freak Angel out and it starts affecting her decisions in her personal life. 

 

This is a fun read.  The descriptions of Lucy really are amusing, but also told in a way that makes me feel the tension she must cause in people’s lives.  The book is interspersed with some of the chapters of the mystery manuscript.  While this does push the plot along, I thing the author does leave out some of the manuscript that may have added some more interest. 

 

The beginning of the book does start slowly.  I think the author spends a little too much time on the workings of the agency at the start of the novel.  I found myself wondering when the story would actually start.  But, once it did, it was fun.  As for the mystery of who wrote the anonymous manuscript, the author tried.  She presented several options, but I think it was pretty obvious long before the end when it was finally revealed. 

 

All in all, if you’re looking for a light read with some chuckles, this may be for you.  Just don’t expect too much. 

Book Blog Recommendation

I have really enjoyed my book blogging.  It has given me many new ideas about books I’d like to read.  I can’t keep up (and my bookmooch wishlist is ever-expanding.)

Anyway, I recently read a Sophia Kinsella book, Can You Keep a Secret?.  Katherine, from A Girl Walks Into a Bookstore, suggested Kinsella as an author for a light, funny read when I asked for a vacation read recommendation.  Well, she pointed me in the right direction.

This book was the story of a woman working in marketing for a soda company.  She gets her first chance to travel to a meeting.  Although she’s afraid to fly, she’s excited for her big break to prove herself to the boss.  Well, the meeting was a disaster and she has several drinks before getting back on the plane to go home.  A flight attendant takes mercy on her and upgrades her to business class.  The flight has lots of turbulence and the main character (I forgot her name, as I usually do.  I’m terrible with names, real and fictional!) truly believes she’ll die.  She starts telling all her secrets to the man sitting next to her; all kinds of embarrassing secrets.  Well, it turns out that the man sitting next to her is the founder of the company she works for who is on his way to her office. 

This book was hilarious.  I laughed out loud lots of times.  The secrets she tells are numerous and funny.  And, they seem similar to secrets we may all have that we wouldn’t tell anyone, even our husbands.  The main character’s reaction to “meeting” the founder of the company later is also amusing.  She is quite dysfunctional and her thoughts throughout the week that she must interact with him are great. 

Of course, there’s a romance involved with the typical ups and downs.  The resistance to the relationship, the acceptance of it, and, of course, the problems that ensue.  Nothing too creative there, but Kinsella does it with humor, which I enjoyed.

I do plan on checking out more of Kinsella’s books.  They do seem like good vacation reads for the summer.