"Duty and Desire" by Pamela Aiden

Four Stars

Pamela Aiden continues her assessment into the untold story of Darcy …

Yeah, sorry. I can’t even think about this book with a straight face, let alone write seriously about it. We’ve all wondered what Darcy was up to during the middle of Pride and Prejudice when he and Elizabeth are apart.

I’ve always pictured him spending that time chasing a revenge-obsessed, half-Irish, fairy-witch through the dungeon corridors of an ancient castle, trying to rescue a kidnapped child and prevent human sacrifices from being offered at Stonehenge.

Apparently I’m not the only one. You think I’m joking.

And absurd as it all is, you can’t help but love it. Who knew Darcy harbors a Scooby-Doo streak? I might have given this book only three stars but it earns the fourth in the first half when Darcy is celebrating Christmas at Pemberley with his family, including the loveable Col. Fitzwilliam. It also has more of Darcy’s old school friend, Dy, who is fabulous.

These parts of the story continue to fit right in with who Darcy is and make me look forward to Darcy and Elizabeth’s reunion in book three.

"Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins

Four Stars

Oh how long I have waited for this book. I have been addicted to this series since the first one came out two years ago. Book one is awesome and book two sets everything up perfectly for the finale.

And then comes book three. I was so excited for this book, everything promised that it would be fantastic, and it pretty much delivered. I was disappointed at times, not with what was in the book, but what wasn’t. There were some amazing moments, and even a few twists that I thought were awesome. However, the end has a few problems. It’s not how it ends, but the almost abruptness of the ending that I have some trouble with. Then events in the last few chapters just need more description, rather than the simple mentions they receive. These storylines and characters deserved more completion and closure.

But it is still an awesome ride and I love it all. Mockingjay gets four stars but the series as a whole scores an absolute FIVE.

“If I Am Missing or Dead: A Sister’s Story of Love, Murder, and Liberation” by Janine Latus

Three Stars

This book is not what I thought it was going to be, but still turned out to be a very compelling read.

Janine Latus writes a blatantly honest memoir of both her and her younger sister, Amy’s, lifelong struggle with relationships and abusive men. It begins with their father who is verbally and emotionally abusive, in addition to his habit of sexualizing his daughters, and ends with Amy’s murder and Janine finding the courage to leave her own destructive relationship.

Latus gives an honest account of the verbal, emotional, and occasionally physical abuse that she and her husband throw at each other. She doesn’t try to villanize her husband or gloss over her own behavior and actions, she simply tells the story as it was. They did love each other which is what kept pulling them back into the relationship just to resume the cycle of abuse again.

At the same time she tells Amy’s story of leaving an abusive marriage only to fall back into another abusive relationship which ended with her murder.

From the description of this book I thought it was going to be Janine telling Amy’s life story. I was disappointed at first when I realized that it was not the story I had originally anticipated, but I continued to read. While I hated the story and people in it at times, something kept me reading. It is very real story and the honesty of it is the appeal.

When I finished this book I didn’t think I liked it. But as I look back on it I realize that what makes this book good is the honest account of the lives of real people. I don’t necessarily like the people in the book any better, but I do appreciate their stories and Latus’ honesty in telling her own.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

Three Stars

Brian Selznick won the 2008 Caldecott Medal, the highest honor awarded to American picture books each year, for The Invention of Hugo Cabret, and he absolutely deserved it, it is an amazing style of storytelling.

This book does not fall into any standard book category. It is told through text and pictures so intertwined that you cannot understand the story without both. A basic picture book starts with the text, then is illustrated to enhance the story. Selznick tells half of his story in novel form and the other half as story board. It is amazing how seamlessly his story flows between text and picture, never missing a beat and always making perfect sense. It is a remarkable reading experience.

That said, the story itself wasn’t fabulous. It starts off interesting, slows down and begins to drag in the middle, then becomes a bit odd at the end.

I do recommend everyone read this book, not for the story, but for the experience of reading this noteworthy writing style.

The Physic Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

Three Stars

I have always had a little fascination with the Salem Witch Trials ever since I did my History Day project on them in 8th grade. I can still spout off some pretty random facts about it all if you’re ever curious.

Interesting fact about this book, the author is a descendant of two accused witches; one survived the trials, the other did not.

This is another multi-generational, dual-time period story. I have found in the past that I usually don’t like the present-time narrator in these stories and would much rather just read the past story. This time around I didn’t mind Connie, the current-time narrator, so much. She wasn’t exactly my favorite, and she did bug me at times, but what Katherine Howe got right is that she didn’t add in any unnecessary extras about her life. Connie’s story was mostly her search for Deliverance’s story.

And research she does. Katherine Howe is an American History academic, thus, so is Connie. There is a lot of specifics on how Connie conducts her research which could become tiresome and drag the story down. But I actually found it quite interesting. I’ve always loved history (it’s really just more stories, right?) and even research has been entertaining for me , so learning about different ways to track someone down through history was pretty fascinating for me.

I believe this book came about first as research, then a storyline was worked in to make it a novel and not another history book. Parts of the plot feel really forced, like Connie’s love interest. It starts off well then gets a little weird when it ties in to a historical storyline, ending in such a way that I was left thinking “Wait, that’s not how it goes …”

I also really, really did not like the climax. I really thought it was stupid and what she considered to be her ‘only option’ was unrealistic and dumb. I still think it was dumb, but am less angry at it now.

That said, I actually did enjoy the book. It’s a very nice mix of fiction and fact into a story that flows well and moves quickly. Dumb moment aside, I do recommend this as a fun interesting read.

Dead in the Family (Sookie Stackhouse, #10)

Three Stars

I started reading the Sookie Stackhouse books, otherwise known as the Southern Vampire Mystery Series, by Charlaine Harris about a year and a half ago. I have been a fan ever since and I would like for it to stay that way, but man, Charlaine is starting to make it difficult.

Around book 7, the storyline becomes so crowded that almost nothing happens because there’s too many different topics to talk about. I have begun to feel lost in the nothingness of it all. I also felt that the first few books each had a strong individual storyline while the overall story arc developed nicely. Now it seems like stuff is happening, but nothing is really progressing. Overall everyone is still pretty much in the same place.

Not to mention that two of my favorite characters exited at the end of #9 and the beginning of #10.

Dead in the Family did have a few good times. Like the introduction of one Alexi Romanov and Sookie getting high to help the Weres. I am also happy that Sookie and Jason have patched things up. And I am just putting this out there, I would like to see more of Pam and I think I’m ready for Sookie and Sam to hook up. We all enjoy Eric but right now I’m voting for Team Sam.

And no, I don’t watch True Blood, mostly because I don’t get HBO. I’ve seen some clips online and I like some of their changes but just do not get others.

PS - I've got six more book reviews I will be posting in the next few days. Time to catch up!

An Assembly Such as This: A Novel of Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman

Four Stars

Quite the title.

I heart Jane Austen novels, and I’m pretty sure all girls agree. There have been many ‘sequels’ to her works, “Pride and Prejudice” in particular. Most of these are crap. Especially the one Cori read. That was dirty crap. Because of this I generally ignore the whole fake sequel genre.

Then Carla recommended the Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman series. Carla is a librarian and knows her stuff and it’s written by a lady from Idaho, so I picked it up.

This is the story of Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy told from his perspective. And I have to say, Pamela Aidan did an impressive job of getting into Darcy’s head and telling his story. She does a nice job of sticking to the true story while weaving in new scenes and characters to fill in the gaps. There is a lot of added history from the time period which slow the story down in places, but she presents them as Darcy keeping up on current events which fits his character so it makes sense, even if it does drag a little.

But here’s the kicker. It’s a TRILOGY! She took one novel and rewrote it as a TRILOGY! I want to believe it was done as an artistic choice, she simply could not do justice to the original in only one book, but part of me feels like it’s a ripoff way of making you buy more books. I am still on the library waiting list for numbers two and three. We’ll see if they’re worth it.

I guess I can say that 33% of the way in to this story, I am enjoying it. Ms. Aidan does capture a certain sense of Darcy and seems to have a solid grasp of his original motives as intended by Jane. Unless something really strange happens in the next two, I would recommend this series as an entertaining read and a fun way to revisit the P&P crowd.