Basket of Hope - Book Review

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This is a unique and captivating love story

*****

This was a fabulous read! I was easily caught up in this paranormal historical romance. Each page drew me closer and closer to Kara and Machias, and held me captivated to the end.

Although I’ve read other romances containing a distressed girl pining for a man she can’t have, Basket of Hope isn’t your run-of-the-mill story. It is loaded with interesting twists, and fabulous imagery that draws you in and keeps you invested. A story that can do that is truly unique. (Unique is what paranormal is supposed to be, right? LOL) I love this tale and its vivid characters.

Kara is a beautiful and innocent scullery maid who secretly pines for Machias, heir to the kingdom. She feels lowly and wonders why she even entertains the thought of being with such a man of status, but a small hope still lingers within her heart.

The All Hallows Eve Ball approaches and Machias is to chose a mate from a variety of prominent ladies.  Kara’s hopes wane. Her dreams for love will be gone forever… unless something magical happens.


Basket of Hope
by J.M. Powers

~Nic

Book Review: ARC Swim The Fly

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Templar Publishing (1 Jun 2011)
• ISBN-10: 1848774532
• ISBN-13: 978-1848774537

Fifteen-year-old Matt Gratton and his two best friends, Coop and Sean, always set themselves a summertime goal. This year's? To see a real-live naked girl for the first time. But this mission impossible starts to look easy in comparison to Matt's other challenge: to swim the 100-yard butterfly and impress the gorgeous Kelly West.

I was recently given the opportunity to receive an advanced review copy of Swim the Fly by Don Calame. The blurb spoke of a YA novel for boys, full of laughs and surprising heart. I found a lot more in this book; a complex message hidden beneath glib dialogue and teenage drama.

This book is a must for any lover of the genre. It is a sure hit for boys, with characters they will no doubt be able to relate to and situations familiar. For the female persuasion, the book is a unique chance to peer into the inner workings of the teenage boy. And ladies, this is an invaluable opportunity.

The character of Matt is a sweet one, sincere if not a little misguided. With friends, Coop and Sean, Matt goes through a summer of firsts. The first girl he gets seriously interested in, the first strains of a previously unstrained friendship, the realisations that sometimes the truth is the better way, and of course, the determination to spot their first naked girl.

This book was reminiscent of American Pie. Horn-dog teenage boys and a sure-to-be catastrophic pact makes the story comic gold. I laughed out loud numerous times during this read, caught myself wrinkling my nose in disgust and inching closer to the pages as the male psyche had me intrigued.

It answered a lot of the age-old questions about boys: do they really think about sex THAT much? Are they really THAT disgusting? Do they really think THAT’S what it takes to get a girl? The answers are endless, but heed this warning well, not all the answers are ones we want!

What surprised me about this book was the big, beating heart at its centre.  I was warned about the softer side, but being primarily a book about three teenagers determined to get their first glimpse of a naked girl, I figured, hot soft could it be? Turns out, pretty soft. There was no mush, but a softer side nonetheless. It isn’t shoved in your face, more like lies underneath the surface, gently whispering what you realise you actually knew all along.

No matter your age or sex, you will go on a journey of discovery with Matt as he figures out not everyone will react the way you expect them to, and how to look beyond what was in front of you all along.

The hair-brained and disastrous schemes will have you rolling around in your seat, the cringe-worthy moments making you feel so mortified it was as if it was happening to you. But the happy moments will light a little warm fire in your belly that not even a thug like Tony Grillo can put out.  


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Any Witch Way - YA Book Review

Any Witch Way, by Annastaysia Savage, is a charming YA story infused with humor, magik, and battles between good and evil.

Young Sadie wishes she had a normal life. Her classmates tease, taunt and bully her, giving her the nickname “Crazy Sadie” because she still thinks her mother is alive after a tragic car crash three years earlier. Her foster parents think she’s nuts too.

I just wish I were a normal kid. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. ~Sadie

Her grandmotherly neighbor, Mrs. Felis (who puts catnip in her tea among other strange things) seems to be her only friend. She listens to Sadie without judging her, shares her tea and gives the warmest hugs. When Mrs. Felis gives Sadie a gift for her thirteenth birthday, things begin to change. She enters a magikal world that guarantees she will be anything but normal.

Stifling a nervous giggle, Sadie took in the reality of her situation. She was about to have a conversation with a troll before beginning her magikal lessons and, probably the craziest thing of all, she was a witch. ~excerpt

  

I enjoyed this magikal, lighthearted yet sensitive story of a young girl’s coming of age. If you can’t take pleasure in a tale riddled with gnomes, elves, a knitting circle of ghosts, and wood nymphs drunk on pumpkin wine—well…then you’re not normal. ;)

*The spelling of magik is intentional, as it is spelled this way in the book. ;)

Beach Trees--ARC Review

Blurb: From the time she was twelve, Julie Holt knew what a random tragedy can do to a family. At that tender age, her little sister disappeared-never to be found. It was a loss that slowly eroded the family bonds she once relied on. As an adult with a prestigious job in the arts, Julie meets a struggling artist who reminds her so much of her sister, she can't help feeling protective. It is a friendship that begins a long and painful process of healing for Julie, leading her to a house on the Gulf Coast, ravaged by hurricane Katrina, and to stories of family that take her deep into the past.

The Beach Trees, by Karen White

The Beach Trees is written with emotion, polished with amazing descriptive scenes, and takes the reader into a world of survival. Julie struggles with her guilt over her sister's disappearance, but continues her search while starting a new life as guardian of, Beau, a child belonging to her dead best friend, Monica. Julie packs up her life, straps little Beau into his car seat and moves to Monica's hometown of New Orleans.  The descriptive landscape of life after hurricane Katrina is so vivid, I could nearly smell the earthy smell of the town. The characters throughout the story are well developed. I love the way this story carries the reader onward, always rooting for Julie to discover her inner demons, and finally settle down.

The way the author delves into two different people's past-- Beau's newly discovered great-grandmother, Aimee Guidry and the main character Julie--the transitions are seamless.  Though the story goes from present day to the past several times, I was able to travel with the characters. This talented author tied all the lives together in imaginative ways. Secrets unfold throughout the story, but only enough to peak my interest and pull me deeper into the plot.  I was a bit sad at the last page. I found myself missing the characters when I closed the book.  I highly recommend The Beach Trees. If I could rate it with ten stars, I would.  
~*~Summer Wench

Wednesday Wonderings - Book Review: Room

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Picador (23 Dec 2010)
• ISBN-10: 0330519026
• ISBN-13: 978-0330519021
• Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 13 x 2.8 cm
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (297 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 3 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
• #2 in Books > Fiction > Contemporary Fiction

Jack is five. He lives in a single, locked room with his Ma.

I have written a lot of book reviews, and never before have I been more stumped on what to say. If anyone has read The Other Hand (recently re-released as Little Bee) by Chris Cleave, they will know from the jacket that there is no blurb for the book. All they say is it is a remarkable read, but they don’t want to say too much or it will spoil things for the reader.

This is the same case for Room.

Room is the most unique book I have read in a long time. It took my breath away. In a lot of ways, it reminded me of The Boy In The Stripped Pyjamas, with a young boy leading us through the story.

The character of five-year-old Jack was moving and sweet, head-strong and stubborn. A bit like any child, really. Except Jack isn’t like other children his age.

We get to see the world through Jack’s eyes – how simplistic things really are, and how complicated Outside can be.

The use of language in the novel is truly perfect – every word, every sentence, constructed as though by Jack himself. It pulls the reader into his world, and before you know it, you feel like you’re seeing Outside with brand new eyes, too.

I cannot recommend this book enough. But like the jacket for The Other Hand, I won’t say too much. I will say that Room will take you on a wild journey of emotions and can guarantee it will keep you up at night. You’ll see the best and worst of humanity, the scary parts of the world. And I dare anyone not to agree with Jack that a lot of the world is just a repeat. A truly haunting read. 

Sunday PicNic ~ Dreaming in English (Book Review)

Dreaming in English

by Laura Fitzgerald

Tamila (Tami) Soroush leaves a repressed life in Iran to find opportunity and freedom in the United States. Her plans to find a husband on a visitor’s visa change drastically when she desperately escapes an arranged marriage and rushes into a Las Vegas wedding with Ike Hanson; an American man she truly loves.

Uncertainties build as life in America becomes weighed down with stress and fear. She longs for her parents, who are dominated by fear and won’t leave Iran, worries about her sister’s high-risk pregnancy, is discomforted by her husband’s frustrations, and angered by her mother-in-law’s refusal to accept their marriage as one of love. To top it off, an ominous immigration interview is approaching with a mountain of evidence against her.

Through her struggles, Tami continues to appreciate the freedoms that are hers to grab, liberties never afforded her by Iran’s regime. Yet her dreams of starting a business and a family with Ike turn into a nightmare. She questions if she has the strength it takes to live out her dreams when she discovers living in the land of the free comes with a price and never without a fight.

PROS:  As an American, this book illuminates the things I too often take for granted. Walking in Tami’s shoes clarifies the dreams and struggles of those who weren’t born here. Being born into freedom is a gift we should cherish. Not only does this story demonstrate the struggles for freedom, but entices us to search within ourselves for our strengths, our passions, and our dreams… before it’s too late.

CONS: The story is good, but I found the dialogue tags very distracting.

SumShine Saturday ~*~Jane Goes Batty

Jane Goes Batty

ARC (advance reader copy) review 

The premise of Jane Austen, a two-hundred year undead author among the modern world is intriguing, but adding the fact she is a vampire, quite inept with her powers, is hilarious. Her former lover, Lord Byron, tries to teach her the ways of a vampire, but Jane is a bumbling and reluctant student. Their dialogue and interaction made me laugh out loud.

Using the name Jane Fairfax, she runs a bookstore and writes romance novels. In love with a mortal, Walter, Jane struggles with the choice of divulging her undead status. Jane's world turns even crazier when Walter announces his mother is coming to meet her. Adding to the insanity, Jane is abandoned by her editor, stalked by a camera crew, a vampire hunter, and someone from her past who wants to end her life forever. The romance convention in her town, in period costume no less, brings everything to a head—proving to be a very batty situation indeed.

I highly recommend this book. Michael Thomas Ford proves the vampire romance genre is not dead.  

~*~Summer Wench