The Convenient Marriage by Georgette Heyer

Ah, those hazy summer days. Sitting on my porch rocking chair with my bare foot dangling lazily over the arm rest whilst I rest peacefully over the other one. So relaxed my eyelids hover within centimeters of each other..

*snort*

If only that were true. More likely scenario, I'm grabbing a few pages here and there while stuffing my face with Doritos and rubbing the skin off my sunburned nose while absentmindedly sort of watching my kids play/pretend not to drown in the neighborhood pool.

But alas, sigh, it's still the perfect time to read me some Heyer. The funniest one I've read of her's so far, this one did not disappoint. Taking place when England was at war with the soon to be United States, all the classic Heyer is included - kidnapping, mistaken identity, more kissing than usual, her favorite word, odious, among others - she has the knack for entering just the right word at just the right time. My heart swooned as always at her dashing, unaffected hero, and I laughed out loud more than once at a group of bumbling goofballs who in the end are at least as funny as Bottom and his acting troupe from A Midsummer Night's Dream, and that's saying something..

Yet again, I can't help but wonder: why aren't any of her books made into movies??

I'd be first in line if they were.
Sigh..
A great romantic comedy to read while on those cement beach sides. Just make sure a lifeguard is present lest you get distracted by those throbbing loins...

4 stars

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Dead to the World and Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris

Yes, that is Sookie riding piggy-back on Eric's back all black spaceshuttle-like, and yes his feet look like little white flames shooting out the bottom of his pants.

That's just one of the many positions the two of them take in this book.

*cough*
(Sorry, I have the swine flu..)

First things first. Bill's in Peru.
(Feel free to celebrate here.)

Second, witches finally make a long over due appearance in this series, and they're mad at the local vampire sheriff, Eric. They've taken his memory and now he's on the run, shirtless....



Ah, sorry, ah, were was I, oh, he's on the run straight to Sookie's house, soon to be the house of love.

Woo. Woo.

An amnesic Eric is an irresistibly hot Eric. And Sookie isn't exactly known for resisting. Anybody. In grand Harris style expect an epic battle between witches, werewolves, and vampires in the last chapter. Sookie will be in danger and may or may not get beaten up. Again. Even so, I liked this one. It's my favorite in the series so far, for ah, obvious reasons, and I don't feel the least bit guilty about it!
4 stars

Dead as a Doornail? Hmm, it was okay, because everything after this last one would pale in comparison. Someone is using shape-shifters as target practice and it's up to Sookie to get to the bottom of it, before her own bottom is shot off that is. Her brother Jason is suspected in the shootings. What? Jason is a suspect? That hardly ever happens.

Want to know about the politics of werewolf land? A lot is thrown into the big pile of hairy debris here, and many new characters are introduced. Why do I like these books (I keep asking myself this over and over, and over)? Sookie's character just gets more interesting with each novel. Having grown up in a semi small town myself, I enjoy the small towny sort of feel of this series. So far, it hasn't taken itself too seriously, but we'll see what happens in the future. Until then, I'll enjoy my guilty pleasures. Albeit, a little guiltily.
3 stars

Helluva Halloween Challenge and the Sookie Stackhouse Reading Challenge

The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James

What? A memoir written by our dearly departed Jane Austen has been found? Whew, now all our questions will be answered, like: What was up with Tom Lefroy anyway, was he maybe batting for another team? Who inspired that droll Mr. Collins Endless Summer sort of sex appeal? Did her home fires ever burn wildly for a special someone named Fitzwilliam? We're saved!

Alas, no..not exactly.

But for the most part, this was an okay attempt. Not very original, but isn't it a pretty cover? This is not the first to tackle the long lost correspondence of the famous author, Jane Austen Ruined My Life is one I've read recently, and I'm certain it won't be the last. I find the concept very interesting. The letters that still exist are amazing! Loved the book by Penelope Hughes-Hallett. Imagine what we could gain from such a find? Besides glory, wealth beyond your wildest dreams, unfound fame, etc.

Written more in novel than diary form, in Lost Memoirs we learn what happened to Jane during the lost years while she lived in Bath with her family, and an occasional memory from earlier on. A time when she supposedly was reworking what was to become Sense and Sensibility.

And there's a man in her life, a Mr. Ashford, who instead of, according to historians, being the poor curate from Lyme and dying like he's supposed to, we'll...he made a miraculous recovery. And guess what, not only are he and Edward Ferris almost identical twins, but he's the one that encouraged her to start writing again! The parallels between what James has made of Austen's life and that particular novel are almost one in the same. Not very original, right down to people's names, incidents, phrases from her novels, etc. Which I can understand her borrowing, with the - did Jane Austen write what she knew kind of questions, but it was a little much for me by the end.

The writing is good though, and I'll still admit, birthday cakey fun. Did I mention the pretty cover? I love Jane Austen's story. Reading this did not hurt my infatuation with the woman's life. I want to know more about her, and Syrie James obviously knows her stuff, and like her book on Charlotte Bronte, included some Austen extras in the back. My problem is I'm now not sure what is fact or what is fiction. I want the mashed potatoes and gravy, I want the filling peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat bread, because sometimes too much birthday cake just makes me break out, and hungry again in an hour.

But you know what, I still almost always inevitably eat it.

Always.

3 stars

Everything Austen Reading Challenge

These is My Words - The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine by Nancy Turner

A nice girl should never go anywhere without a loaded gun and a big knife.

Inspired by her own family's memoirs, Nancy Turner has brought to life one of the strongest female characters since Scarlet O'hara in Gone with the Wind. In Sarah Prine, a woman born and raised in the Arizona Territories in the late 1800's, we have an unlikely heroine of the ages, as we follow her teenage years on the harsh pioneer trails, her dedication to improving herself by learning to read and write, her ability to take on extreme challenges, death even, straight on in the face, and eventually while she raises her own family during a time when being on your own really meant just that. A time when you did what you had to to survive, or you died. It was as simple as that.

If the center of this story is Sarah Prine, then the biggest star that revolves around her is Captain Jack Elliott, probably the best male lead character I've ever had the pleasure of reading about. And not because he's perfect. Because he isn't, in fact he's far from it. He loves Sarah, yet remains ever more who he is, and I liked him better for it. Their relationship was engrossing to the point of distraction, it was heart felt, overwhelming, tender beyond words. I shudder even now as my mind returns to it again. It's so good, it lingers long after it's gone, like the hovering scent of a really mouthwatering chocolate chip cookie that you'd eaten hours before.

Turner has said she pictured a younger Sam Elliott as the Captain. Is it really hard to see why? This guy is the quintessential cowboy. And that mustache? Oh my!

This is a really good book. I liked it for a multitude of reasons. I come from pioneer stock on both sides of my family so I could appreciate the honest telling of the sacrifice and hardship that went into the making of the early American West. Turner doesn't sugar coat these experiences in the least here. The diary format took some getting used to, but it was faithful to the time period, and remained that way until the end of the book. No dialogue in quotes here, and for me it made the writing more effective, like a real diary. Like I really was perusing a dusty and yellowed slice of history. Maybe something I'd found hidden in my attic in an old rust-covered trunk.

When asked if she had further reading suggestions, Nancy Turner has said:
The best book is one that ends with an almost audible gasp, an immediate twinge, that "oh, no, it's really over," combined with the hollowness of letting go, and a slightly bitter, envious voice from somewhere that murmurs, "I wish I'd written that!"

Here here, Ms. Turner.
Mission accomplished.
4.5 stars
(Thanks for the quotes Suzette!)

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Mr Darcy's Diary by Amanda Grange

Oh, know. Oh, know. Oh, know.

After reading this book, I've discovered a little known fact that I never wanted to know, gasp: Mr. Darcy was one boring dude.

Kill me now.

Unfortunately, this harsh reality makes perfect sense, I mean, look how Austen portrays him in Pride and Prejudice? He rarely speaks unless spoken too, he's horribly shy amongst strangers, and nobody interesting, except Bingley of course, can stand to be around him he's so haughty and full of himself.

I thought the concept of Mr. Darcy having a diary had great potential. What little tidbits would we find out about, I wondered. Like, what was he doing before he met Elizabeth, how exactly did he fall in love with her, what were his experiences with his sister and Bingley, etc. Exciting stuff, right? Well, no. In truth, I found him completely uninteresting and dull for about the first half of the book, and then when he drove Bingley from Jane Bennet, I thought him just plain mean. When he does begin to see Elizabeth in a different light I of course, liked it better. A few more details here and there helped it become interesting enough by the end, but by then I was almost mad.

Is that the author's fault? Is it even possible to make the true Mr. Darcy of Austen's novel the dashing romantic hero of almost every females dreams? Do we have the mini-series to thank for our obsession? Many,many years ago, long before 1995, I did my senior thesis on Jane Austen, and more specifically, Pride and Prejudice and Emma. I read both books and remember thinking them okay, not my favorite novels at the time - I was very young, but I don't remember thinking one way or the other about Darcy. In fact, I probably thought very little about him at all. Because that's how he's written. Elizabeth is the hero of Pride and Prejudice. It is she we come to love and admire first and foremost.

And then along came the mini-series and Colin Firth. Ah....sigh. That changed everything didn't it. Now we've come to expect more from the man than what was really there. We invent truth were none exists. We invent, feelings and emotion expressed. We invent the feelings we saw on Colin Firth's face when he looked at Elizabeth, the dimple in her chin, the curve of her shape. In essence, we brought the book to life perfectly. But real life is never perfect. Expectations are never met, there is always let down. Rarely are men capable of jumping on the same romantic plane as women, because seriously we as a sex always expect too much, don't we?

That was my main problem with this book. Like all my relationships I probably expected too much. I'm afraid Mr. Darcy I might have to break up with you after all these years.

Sigh...
Just kidding.
3 stars.

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

Sookie Stackhouse, cleavage-showing and nicely-tanned ,waitress extraordinaire, lives a boring life...for the most part. Aside from her unique gift of being able to read minds, her life borders on the uninteresting and bland, until a sexy vampire named Bill wanders into the bar looking for some bottled synthetic blood.

You see in Louisiana, vampires are "out of the coffin" so to speak. She's intrigued. Who wouldn't be by a walking cold corpse I say. But she likes him instantly because his mind is as quiet as...well, death.

Upon his arrival, bad things start to happen. Big, ugly, bloody murders. People seem to be dying left and right. Could it be Bill? Sookie wonders, or the new trio of vampire nesters that have deposited themselves in the town, much to the locals dismay. Or maybe it's someone else entirely like her mysterious boss who currently has the hots for her as well. When her wayward brother is suspected, Sookie means to solve these murders on her own, with or without her dead-slash-suspect boyfriend.

I hoped she hadn't dropped her health insurance in these harsh economic times.

I thought the plot would be simple enough. Big strong male rescues female. Again. But it turned out slightly different than I thought it would. Overall I guess, this book was entertaining enough to fall into my quick-read category. I like stories that take place in the South. Stories with an atmosphere so thick I can hear that Southern twanginess in my mind when I read the dialogue.

While I would say, "Sookie" (think cookie), vampire Bill would say, "Soo-kay," with long drawn out, silky syllables that come out so smoothly, you're not sure if he said sex or Sookie.

I found this cover interesting, I might even call it cute. Innocent. Almost cartoonish, perhaps for a younger audience, but the only thing innocent about this book is.....hmm, I can't think of anything. Whole lots of blood oozing, blood sucking, death, burned-up stinky bodies, and sexiness all rolled into a big pot of shrimp gumbo. So if you like ah, shrimp gumbo then by all means, eat. 3 stars

Flowers from the Storm by Laura Kinsale

I know what you’re thinking –
Pec-tabulously perfect nipples!
Oh Fabio, if only you’d never uttered the word butter. That ruined you for me.
Do they still make shirts without buttons? How inconvenient on a cold day.

I thought of all these things and more when I saw this cover. I laughed and laughed. You’ve got to be kidding! And laughed some more. But I wasn’t supposed to laugh. This is a serious historical romance, not a comedy. Luckily, it didn’t take much to remove this hot-buttered Fabio from my thoughts as I imagined the tortured hero from this novel, and while only tentatively dipping my toe in at first I quickly jumped in whole-heartedly. This book consumed me.

Christian Langland, the Duke of Jervaulx (pronounced Shervoh) is London’s most notorious rake. An extremely intelligent and rich rake, but a rake none the less. Of course he is. Aren’t they always – sigh... When challenged to a duel by the husband of one of his ah, dalliances, he suffers a stroke that’s been coming on for weeks. All but his immediate family believes him dead, when in reality he’s been ensconced in a mental asylum under the presumption that he’s gone insane. Enter Maddy, a Quaker of the strictest kind and the daughter of the mathematician who’d been working with Jervaulx before he’d disappeared. Quite by accident she discovers him there, and over a period of months she strives to relieve him of his madness. Because he isn’t mad at all of course, just seriously ill. But don’t worry, all his parts are in working order soon enough. Or are they? Hmm...

What happens next is so stinking good I just don’t have the heart to spill the beans, sorry, but kudos to Kinsale for giving us a hero who can’t talk. She takes him to his barest self, almost stripped of everything; a naked spirit - See! I’m obsessed with skin after reading this book. I got a great sense of his frustration, his all out fury with his illness, and then Maddy as she wrestles with her growing feelings for him and her strict religion. It was well written. It was engaging. At times, it held me by the throat.

If you like a heady romance, this is as good as they come. You’ll be singing hallelujah before you reach the last page, no doubt, Fabio or no. You can take that to the bank. 4 stars

The Grand Sophy and Devil's Cub by Georgette Heyer

If I was a doctor (other than a Doctor of Love that is), I’d be one of those self-help know-it-all types like Dr. Oz, ugh, and when someone came to me with a problem, like an in-grown toenail, or a eye twitch that began when those economy birds flew South, I’d recommend this for the pain: Take two Georgette Heyer pills and call me in the morning.

As I continue up her ladder of Regency romance novels, I swear this woman is the magic tonic that cures all ills. Sorry if I’m gushing all over the computer screen here (and yes my tears of joy squirt outward instead of downward), but I love these books! They’re like discovering a newer version of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett, Capt. Wentworth and Anne, or Emma and Mr. Knightley, all over again. Right down to the food, the dress, the society, and even the arched eyebrow!


In the Devil’s Cub and The Grand Sophy, Heyer has once again nailed down the perfect hero and heroine. The story’s themselves are unrelated, not even taking place in the same time period, but the plots are so well-written I didn’t even care that it once again remained the same: a strong, witty female enters the picture, she unknowingly attracts the unwilling alpha male - in one case shooting him, he of course falls in love with her because of it, an entanglement occurs, then somehow they end up together on the last few pages and you are left sighing and turning over the air to find out what happens. I’m discovering that Heyer was a master of the cliff-hanger. It must’ve been her own private joke, leaving you salivating for more at the end of every book.

So, if you’re feeling a bit down, these books are the perfect fix. I can’t wait to devour another one. Take that Dr. Oz! My cure was so much cheaper than yours! And speaking of him, what exactly is up with his Erik Estrada hair anyway? 4.5 stars

The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory

Constant: 1. not changing or varying. 2. regularly recurrent. 3. steadfast or resolute. 4. something that does not change or vary. 5. Queen Katherine of Aragon, daughter of Spain and 1st wife of King Henry of England, even though he dumps her in a far away castle, takes away her title, tries to divorce her, disinherits their daughter, and then marries in secret that scheming tease Anne Boleyn.

Ah, but that’s only how the story ends. You’ll have to read The Other Boleyn Girl to learn of that version. To learn how that song goes, “Every new beginning starts with some other beginnings end,” in this case the end of Queen Katherine of Aragon’s beginning.

So The Constant Princess tells her story, and it starts with Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain and their war against the Moors. A child of the battle field and by the age of three, the future Princess of Wales and daughter of these two great monarchs, Catalina, is already betrothed to King Henry the Seventh’s (and newly self-anointed King of England) firstborn son Arthur as part of a peace treaty with Spain.

We all know what happens, that Arthur dies right after their teenage marriage, and that she waits seven long years in England to marry his younger brother, Henry, when he is seventeen and she is twenty-three. But what is not generally known is what happens in between these years. Was her marriage to Arthur really not consummated? How was she able to cope with his loss, and seven long years alone in a foreign country, friendless, and unable to speak the language? Can you imagine what it must’ve been like for her? Philippa Gregory does a pretty good job of filling in the blanks with the believable details that we, who are interested in English history, are often wondering about.

For the most part, I liked this book. To write about one of history’s most inspiring women was a daunting task, and I feel Gregory did her homework here. I enjoyed learning more of early Spain and its Arab influences. This is one thing she does well as an author; she makes history readable and interesting, and most of all personal. My only complaint would be the sizable gap she leaves at the end between when Katherine’s first son dies and the Papal Legat hearing twenty years later. It felt too rushed to me, like she was in a hurry to finish the book.

I’ve always wondered why Henry the Eighth was how he was with women, and where his great desire for power and vindication came from. Gregory explores it very little here, but I guess the story wasn’t really about him; it was about his long-suffering first wife. But still, now I have more questions than ever about how a man, who knew and loved this woman almost his entire life, from the age of eleven on, and for twenty years they ruled England together, yet at the drop of a crown-shaped hat he leaves her stranded for another woman, all because she wouldn’t give him a son? Was King Henry really that shallow? Perhaps he was. Men, ugh…3.5 stars

Black Sheep by Georgette Heyer

I have an embarrassing confession. I’m so excited I’m giddy like a school girl, and I’m also apparently dumb like one. Until recently, I’d never heard of Georgette Heyer. See, told you – dumb. I had no idea of how many books she’d written on Regency England, about 60 I think, and I, who claim to love an excellent classic historical romance, have never read even one of her books. Not – one.

Have I been living in a hole these last 3 decades, stuck in an Austen, Bronte rut the size and scope of my pan-handled state? And so I would still be if not for my occasional scanning of the reading bloggernacle where I recently found a lone review of this book, Black Sheep. Be still my beating heart. This is an excellent book. And I almost took it back to the library unread, shameful, wicked girl!

Miss Abigail Wendover is our 28-year-old heroine who lives in Bath with her much older, often thinks herself ill sister, Selina and their 18-year-old ward and niece Fanny. Abby is quite settled in her life, where she is both nurse and confidant to her immediate family. Romance is the last thing on her mind. All remains unchanged until young Fanny thinks herself in love with a scandalous fortune hunter, a much older Mr. Stacy Calverleigh, and it falls to Abby to make Fanny see the light of this man’s true nature.

When Fanny and Selina remain unmoved in their undying devotion to this man, Abby, who fears there might be an elopement at any moment, enlists the help of an unlikely ally, Mr. Miles Calverleigh, the black sheep of the family and uncle of Stacy who has just returned from banishment in India. He, however has not the temperament or desire to become involved in the situation, but instead turns his attentions toward Abby, who secretly knows she’s met her match, but outright refuses to admit it all costs.

In case I haven't mentioned it enough, I really liked this book. It was written in the style of Jane Austen, but was much easier to read. Heyer has borrowed much from that great writer but in the end I couldn't have cared a wit. While the main characters were clever and sharp as a tack, it was the secondary characters as well, the nosy elderly neighbors, the friends of the family that gave this book real depth.

As I said I’ve not read any of Heyer’s other books so I’ve nothing to compare it to, but for a few days, I was able to escape back in time. No detail was left undone. I felt I was in Bath in the 1800’s. Miles Calverleigh now ranks very high on my list of outstanding male leads, and the ending – well, perfection, sigh... Truly, I can’t get back to the library fast enough. 5 stars***

Garden Spells

By Sarah Addison Allen

Plants and dirt and the stories they tell.

I love plants. I love tending them. I love getting the back of my neck sunburned from being on my knees all day. I love getting dirt under my fingernails, and smelling its musty aroma as the brown stuff washes from my hands down the drain. A day spent in the sun, working the soil is a day seized in my book.

Claire Waverly loves plants too. A few steps from the back door of the large Victorian her family has always owned in Bascom, North Carolina is the garden she tends; the garden she loves; the source of her successful catering business. For her, plants equal magic. They’re her second language. Want to keep a secret? Add nasturtiums to your salads. Keep children thoughtful? Sugared pansies on the cake. Get rid of an unwanted neighbor? A snapdragon soufflé. She has a gift. All of the Waverly’s do. Claire likes to keep hers quietly to herself, living alone in her family’s old house, ignoring the children who occasionally try to get a peek over her tall picketed fence at that mysterious enchanted apple tree in the center of her garden.

But suddenly her plants begin to change, and so does her life. A new, interested neighbor moves in next door. Her fly-by-night sister returns with a daughter unexpectedly, and her elderly cousin keeps leaving unwanted gifts. What’s a girl who wants her heart locked up tight to do? Give in, of course. A good heroine always gives in, a little anyway.

If you’ve read or seen the movie Practical Magic, this all probably sounds vaguely familiar. Both are stories that revolve around the lives of two sisters, one mature beyond her years and one escaping from an abusive relationship, polar opposites in almost every way but for their magical gifts; a small, quirky town whom both loves and hates them; an elderly relative with all the answers, and, of course, an enchanted garden.

I guess the question is, did I mind the similarities? Not really. Practical Magic is darker and more serious, while Garden Spells is lighter and more fun. Like The Sugar Queen, I enjoyed the mixture of food and magical realism. Addison made the story her own by the end. Reading this made me want to hang out at a garden store all afternoon. Or better yet, plant some peas and spinach. I hear they increase patience for unruly children. Better plant them quick. 4 stars

Jane Austen Ruined My Life

By Beth Pattillo

Back before computers, emails, twittering and facebook, people did that ancient and almost long-forgot practice of letter writing. Jane Austen scholars estimate she probably wrote close to three thousand letters during her lifetime, with almost all but the most carefully chosen supposedly destroyed by her sister Cassandra after her death. What was she trying to hide?

Emma Douglas is determined to find out. Though her husband has just left her for his much younger graduate student and her career in academia all but destroyed because of it, Emma, an authority on all things Austen, heads to England to find these missing letters and rescue her self respect in the process. A mysterious widow has contacted her, claiming to have some of this as yet undiscovered correspondence in her possession, and will allow her access to them if she completes a series of tasks to prove herself worthy. So off across the country she sets, Jane Austen’s country – from Stevenson to Bath to Lyme Regis, in search of the author’s true identity, as well as her own.

Jane Austen Ruined my Life is for fans of Austen herself, as Austenland was for the mini-series maniacs. I found the correspondence angle interesting since I’ve just finished a book detailing her letters that weren’t destroyed, My Dear Cassandra - The Letters of Jane Austen.

This one was a quick read for me, a tasty treat for Austenite’s everywhere, and a plot twist at the end kept it from being, like one of Austen’s stories, entirely predictable. There are a few gems included; her description of Mrs. Parrot, the wealthy, mysterious widow was one:

“Her hair was a vivid orange, as if Andy Warhol had been her hairdresser. A pair of glasses dotted with rhinestones hung from a chain around her neck, but she could just as easily have carried them on the ample shelf of her bosom. The fabric of her flowered house-dress would have looked at home on a sofa, and her feet were encased in sturdy black oxfords that had seen better days.”

The ample shelf of her bosom? Who doesn't have a grandma who fits into that category. Classic stuff. 3.5 stars

Mistress Shakespeare

By Karen Harper

It is almost universally agreed upon that there are three big mysteries pertaining to William Shakespeare: Did he really write all those plays and sonnets, what happened to him during the lost years between grammar school and acting on the stage in London, and lastly whom did he marry?

It is generally thought he married (very quickly because she was with child) Anne Hathaway of Stratford, but in the same official record where this marriage is recorded there is another made just days before with the name William Shakespeare and a woman named Anne Whateley of Temple Grafton. A marriage bond or license was issued, or so it is recorded as thus. Who was this Anne Whateley? Could she be the “dark lady” of The Bard’s sonnets? Could he have had more than one wife?

And so we have the tale of William Shakespeare as told through the eyes of the dark-haired Anne Whateley, the daughter of an Italian street dancer and English shop merchant. Her story, separated into the five acts of a play, describes growing up as close friends in Stratford; their secret betrothal just days before he was forced to wed the pregnant Anne Hathaway; and later their life together in London as Will struggles with his writing and acting career and Elizabeth the I’s fight against hidden Catholics. Together they deal with hunger and the plague, persecutions and executions, love lost and found again, all while Shakespeare becomes the greatest writer of the Elizabethan Age.

Could this be the real story of Shakespeare in Love, a movie I adore and had to watch again after reading this book? I haven’t read any of her other novels, but Karen Harper has done her homework here. She knows much about the Elizabethan period and it shows. The rich detail of London in the late 1500’s - early 1600's, and of the known character’s in Shakespeare’s life made for a very fun read for a Bard-loving nerd like myself. And like the movie, I enjoyed the word-play, the guesses on how he came up with these stories. Did they often mirror occurrences in his own life? I found that all fascinating, and the cover of the novel I loved. It was the reason I picked up the book in the first place.

As for the story itself, it flowed for me well enough. Anne Whateley was strong when she needed to be and weak when Shakespeare – who was of course always in and out of her life – would inevitably return to her. More than once I wanted her to just tell him off, but this was supposed to be written during a time when women had few rights whatsoever, let alone the ability to think on their own without a man telling them what to do. The story plays into that general concept whether it was true of the time or not.

One day I swear I’ll read a book where the heroine shrugs off the dead weight of the man in her life and rides off into the sunset all by herself in unbridled glory…sigh, but until another author is brave enough to attempt such a feat I must be content with fine enough stories such as this secretly knowing I probably wouldn’t have read it if it hadn’t have ended the way it did. Pathetic I know. 3.5 stars

The Other Boleyn Girl

by Philippa Gregory

"I heard say the executioner was very good, and I have a little neck," and then put her hands about it, laughing heartily.

Such were some of the famous last words of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry the Eighth. I, like most people, am fascinated by English history, and I've always found the story of Anne very compelling. She was a quick, cunning woman. Her seductive wit and political prowess held no bounds; her obvious intelligence was legendary. Prince Charles should be thanking her for paving the way for divorce in the monarchy, but not even she could prevent herself from being pushed aside when like Queen Catherine, she could not give the king a son. We all know the hard lesson she learned from it.

But The Other Boleyn Girl isn’t told through her eyes, it’s told through the eyes of her sister, Mary Boleyn, a woman I’d never heard of; in reality, a woman of little consequence, who around the age of fourteen, returned to England from the French court and caught the eye of the King of England. At the urging of her family, she became his mistress and bore the king two children.

The next fifteen years follow the three Boleyn siblings: Mary, Anne, and George, and their trading of affections with each other, and between the two sisters, with King Henry himself. Anne and Mary’s relationship is depicted more as a one of intense rivalry and duty than of sisterly affection, and in the end I thought the story became more Anne’s than Mary’s, in that the author tried so hard to paint Anne in a bad light, finding cause in every accusation the king used as a justification in executing her.

No one really believes she did all the things he accused her of, yet these became the driving forces of the story, with Mary’s voice becoming very weak for me in the end. Almost invisible. What purpose did she serve exactly, I wondered. Had she learned anything from it all? Was she really secretly happy her sister had died the way she did? Was I as the reader? I wasn’t sure by the end, other than maybe King Henry wasn’t all to blame.

With that aside, I still found the book interesting and readable. The author’s words guided me through the historical narrative effortlessly until I’d read multiple pages without even realizing it. Only for a brief time did I feel some parts a bit too long and tedious, like the seven years King Henry waits to marry Anne. That felt like an eternity – as I’m sure it did for the sexually tormented Henry and his supposed virgin mistress, but other than that the book moved very swiftly for me. Smooth as creamy butter sometimes, and I loved it.

Reading this made me want to watch The Wives of Henry the Eighth on PBS again and learn more about these women and the man who proclaimed himself the God of this Earth, the head of his own church. What a time it must’ve been to live; a time when middle age was thirty years old; a time when death lurked around every corner, if not by the plague or the sweats, then the chopping block. I wonder if Anne really did laugh as she pondered her demise. Knowing what history really says about her, I would say yes. She was that kind of woman. 4 stars

The Sugar Queen

By Sarah Addison Allen

Let’s see…a story about a young single woman who hoards sweets and trashy romance novels in a cache hidden in her closet. Hmm...I’m on board! I’ll take chocolate and passion on the page over my problems any time. And so we have Josey Cirrini, the twenty-seven-year-old heroine of The Sugar Queen. She’s an almost over-the-hill Southern belle without a life or a date, no privacy from a domineering mother, and now has the town harlot camping out and black-mailing her in her bedroom closet. What’s a girl to do?

Eat, of course. “Packaged snacks, rows of sweets, towers of colas.” And continue to pine over the tall blond mailman who delivers her mail faithfully to her door every day.

Her life was supposed to be simple and uneventful, and she was happy that way, with her chocolate, with her creme-filled cookies, or so she thought. This mysterious woman in her closet, this Della Lee, turns Josey’s “simple” life upside-down, by making her step out of her comfort zone and discover who she really is, whether she wants to or not.

If you’re looking for a fluffy, light read this book’s for you. The author injected a wit and magical realism that set it apart from a typical romance, and the ending though somewhat unrealistic, even in romance terms, was still satisfying.

So, as far as this type of novel goes, this one is in league with many, many others, in that, we suspect love will conquer all. But isn’t that the point? I devoured this story as easily as a warm chocolate chip cookie (I totally craved one while reading this book!), and with almost as much satisfaction, not feeling too full but still hungry for more in the end. Overall, an enjoyable read. 3 Stars