Coming Soon: May 28

If you are interested in historical romances there is a book coming out next week called A Night Like This that might be of interest to you. This is Julia Quinn's second book to follow the romances of the Smythe-Smith musicians. The first book Just Like Heaven has received great reviews.  This time a beautiful pianist catches the eye of a haunted, hunted man who is in desperate need of redemption. The Smythe-Smith musicians have musical fame. yet are bad musicians. Quinn's books are full of Wit and humour, and have page turning story lines with engaging characters that are easy to love.

 

Popular author Philippa Gregory has written many historical fiction books based on European history. Her books may be fiction but are full of real people, real facts and real events. Her most popular, The Other Boleyn Girl was turned into a movie, but she has many other great books including The Red Queen, The White Queen, The Queen's Fool and The Lady of the Rivers. This time she is making a slight change and writing a series for young adults. Changeling is the first book in the Order of Darkness series. Set in Italy in 1453 Luca Vero has been cast away by his family and religion for using science to question their beliefs and superstitions. On his own 17 year old Luca is recruited by a secret sect called The Order of the Dragon, commissioned by Pope Nicholas V to investigate evil and strange occurrences across Europe.

Luca is sent to a nunnery investage Isolde, a young woman who was sent to the nunnery so she can not inherit her father's fortune. The nuns have been walking in their sleep and seeing strange visions and Isolde is accused of witchcraft. Luca finds himself in the position to plot her escape. Luca and Isolde travel across England with their two companions.  On their travels towards a real life historical figure, the four young people encounter werewolves, alchemists, witches, and death-dancers, and the relationship between Luca and Isolde begins to grow.

Before I go to Sleep by S.J Watson

I just started this book on Monday and I am done already. I took the train to visit my parents so had lots of time to read uninterrupted.

I really liked this book! It started off a little slow. The main ccharacter Christine wakes up every morning with no memory of the past. Each day she has be told her past, and relive all the pain of what had happened to her. (similar like the movie Memento) The book starts in the present day when Christine gets a phone call from a doctor, who tells her that she has a diary hidden in the house that will explain everything to her. From that point on we read Christine's diary starting a few weeks in the past. The book had me hooked because each day Christine learns more and more about the past she has forgotten. As she starts to learn more and is able to retain it through the use of the diary, new questions keep arising. A mystery begins to unfold, and like Christine I was unsure who she could trust in her life. Lies are being told and truths are kept hidden from her, knowing she will forget it all the next morning. In the third part of the book you finish reading the diary and are back in the present day, with all the knowledge she had collected over the past few weeks. Its at this point she must use all the collected information and finally discover what is going on.

The last part of this book was great. Everything she learns all comes together in a surprising and exciting conclusion. Unfortunately the ending really disappointed me. When I finish a book I expect everything to be tied up nicely. The mystery was resolved but the fate of the characters was left open. It reminded me of the end of inception. Were they in a dream the whole time or not? This book would make a great movie. I checked IMDB and it looks like they are thinking of making one but nothing has been decided yet.

The Fifty Shades Series by E.L James

I am going to combine my reviews for Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed into one post. I read the three books back to back, so where one ended and the next began is a blur to me.

My review of these two book are similar to what I said for the first. What was different in Darker, was that we learn more about Christians past, which helps a lot in understanding the way he acts. In Freed we get to see them build a life together, and how Ana deals with Christians moods and how Christian learns to take part in a real relationship.

I can say for sure that the third one was my favourite. It went beyond the romance genre and added some action to the story. I stayed up past my bedtime a few times because I couldn't put the book down until I knew everything was going to be okay. A lot of people who liked the first two books didn't like the third as much, but I thought it was good.

Instead of reviewing I would like to address some of the negative complaints the books have generated. I know not everyone is going to like it, and that is okay. I just don't like when people go all out and bash something. It has faults of course, I am not going to deny that. I agree that is was not the best written book I've read, but I choose my favourite books based on the story more then the writing style. I also agree that Ana can be very immature at times, but that is her character, if you changed that she wouldn't be the same person. Also her inner goddess could be really annoying.

In one guy's review I read, he was very disturbed about the contract in the first book. Now this I can see both sides. If any normal guy was to ask for this I would have been very creeped out as well. But considering the extreme things he wanted to do I think I was a good idea to address what was and was not acceptable. So in case any lines were crossed you can go back and prove what you agreed too. As he said it was for her protection as well. Also in the case of being sticking rich I would like to have some guarantee my business is not going to be leaked all over the papers when the girl gets dumped.

I was also very offended when this same person claimed the reason the books were so popular was because Christian is very good looking, and if he was ugly they books wouldn't be as well received.. I would like to remind him that this is a book, and in fact we can not actually see Christian at all, if it was a movie I might agree more. And for his information I picture all main characters in books as very good looking, this book was no exception. I do not read or enjoy books more based on how the physical appearance of the characters is described, that is just stupid.

The next time I hear a guy complain about this book I might be tempted to point out that the really reason he hates them is because he doesn't understand women, and what they want. Loving these books does not mean you secretly want to be spanked, beaten, and controlled. It means you want a man who loves you unconditionally, wants the best for you, puts your happiness first (in and out of bed ), will do anything to protect you, and will change for you. The control freak aspect is disappointing, but everyone has faults and she handles it well.

Please leave me comments and let me know if you love or hate this series.

Live Chat on Goodreads with Ann Patchett

I blogged about the upcoming book by Ann Patchett on the weekend named State of Wonder. You can read the description of the book here.

Next week on May 16, 5PM E.T, Goodreads is having a live chat with her to discuss her new book. If you are interested to learn more about the author here is a link to the website, with the live video stream.

Coming Soon: May 7

The second book in the Clifton Chronicles series, The Sins of the Father, is coming out next week. The first book Only Time will Tell was released at the end of last year. I blogged about that release here. This one received mixed reviews.

This book follows the story of Harry Clifton. Harry realizes that he will never be able to marry his love Emma, so to escape a family of secrets he joins the Navy days before Britain declares war on Germany. When his ship is sunk by a u-boat and most of the crew dies, Harry sees an opportunity. An American cruise ship rescues him along with Tom Bradshaw and when Bradshaw dies in the night, Harry takes the mans identify in order to escape his past.

The idea which seemed great at the time turns out to be a big mistake, when Harry arrives
in New York and finds out that Tom Bradshaw had a past just as bad, or
even worse, then Harry. Now Harry is chained to a past that isn't his without any
way to prove who he really is.





 

Dr. Marina Singh is sent into the Amazon to find her old mentor, who disappeared while researching a new drug. The last person sent never returned, Marina leaves a little scared and unsure about the journey is about to take.

Dr. Swanson has taken charge of her team and a group of natives. In her seventies she is still as threatening as ever, and Marina is finding she still cant live up to her mentors hopes. Dr. Swanson is asking Marina, and her self to sacrifice a lot for her mission. State of Wonder, is a book that is full of adventure.