"Call Me Zelda" by Erika Robuck~ Brilliant!

SUMMARY :

Everything in the ward seemed different now, and I no longer felt its calming presence. The Fitzgeralds stirred something in me that had been dormant for a long time, and I was not prepared to face it....
From New York to Paris, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald reigned as king and queen of the Jazz Age, seeming to float on champagne bubbles above the mundane cares of the world. But to those who truly knew them, the endless parties were only a distraction from their inner turmoil, and from a love that united them with a scorching intensity.

When Zelda is committed to a Baltimore psychiatric clinic in 1932, vacillating between lucidity and madness in her struggle to forge an identity separate from her husband, the famous writer, she finds a sympathetic friend in her nurse, Anna Howard. Held captive by her own tragic past, Anna is increasingly drawn into the Fitzgeralds’ tumultuous relationship. As she becomes privy to Zelda’s most intimate confessions, written in a secret memoir meant only for her, Anna begins to wonder which Fitzgerald is the true genius. But in taking ever greater emotional risks to save Zelda, Anna may end up paying a far higher price than she intended....


PARTICULARS OF THE BOOK :

Published by:  New American Library/Penguin Group
Pages:  319 and Reader's Guide
Genre:  Fiction
Author:  Erika Robuck
Website:  http://www.erikarobuck.com


MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR :

 

Erika Robuck self-published her first novel, RECEIVE ME FALLING. Her novel, HEMINGWAY’S GIRL (NAL/Penguin), was a Target Emerging Author Pick, a Vero Beach Bestseller, and has been sold in two foreign markets to date. Her next novel, CALL ME ZELDA (NAL/Penguin), publishes on May 7, 2013, and begins in the years “after the party” for Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

 

 

Erika writes about and reviews historical fiction at her blog, Muse, and is a contributor to popular fiction blog, Writer Unboxed. She is also a member of the Historical Novel Society and the Hemingway Society.

 

 

 

 

 

THE BOOKISH DAME REVIEWS :

 

Absolutely brilliant novel!  I was completely spell-bound from the moment I opened the book.  It came to my doorstep at 4PM and I was up all night reading.  Just bowled me over...

This is a book I carried to the pool with me the next day and ignored all my friends for!  Telling...

 

I love Zelda in any size, shape or form, but Erika Robuck captured her in a most sympathetic way.  She was utterly breath-taking.  Gorgeous and tragic.  Her spirit lifted from the pages.  I felt as if Zelda was in the room with me as I read.  This is a powerful story that gives credence to the life and emotional struggles of a very gifted woman of a particular time in our American history.  Erika Robuck really did justice to her.

 

The use of Anna, the psychiatric nurse and companion to Zelda was genius in the telling of this story.  It added an avenue for spiritual and relationship depth that made the story rich.  The elements of loss and grief were dealt with from several different angles making this a singularly strong novel, and very moving.  Anna is a character who splits one's heart in two.  She's so driven by her sacrificing love for Zelda.

 

This book grips you and haunts long after the last pages are read.  Visual and visceral.  You will clearly see the ghostly figures of Zelda and Scott dancing away in the night as you read.  One of the best books I've read so far this year.

 

I soundly recommend you get a copy asap!!   A must read if you plan to see (or have just seen)  "The Great Gatsby."  It may give you a pause for thought....

 

 

 

5 Stars!                          Deborah/TheBookishDame

 

 

 

 



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"Blood Prophecy" by Alyxandra Harvey~The Drake Chronicles Continues!!

SUMMARY :

In the thrilling conclusion of the Drake Chronicles, love and loyalties will be tested ... and proven once and for all.
 
Solange Drake has been officially crowned Queen of the Vampires, fulfilling the centuries old prophecy that foretold the rise to power of a daughter born to an ancient vampire line. Except Solange's thoughts and actions are no longer her own—she's been slowly being possessed by the spirit of Viola, the first daughter born into the Drake line, since her bloodchange. And instead of uniting the vampire tribes under the rule of an ancient daughter as the prophecy predicted, Viola would rather destroy them all and enslave humans in a personal vendetta for the devastation both wrought to her life centuries ago. Can Solange break her hold in time to save everyone she loves from a vampire civil war, hunter attack, and each other? Not everyone will survive the prophecy . . . perhaps not even her.


PARTICULARS OF THE BOOK :

Published by:  Walker Children's
Pages:  496
Genre:  YA Fiction/Horror
Author:  Alyxandra Harvey
Purchase here:  Amazon



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

ALYXANDRA HARVEY is the author of The Drake Chronicles—Hearts at Stake, Blood Feud, Out for Blood, and Bleeding Hearts—as well as two stand-alone novels, Haunting Violet and Stolen Away.

Alyxandra Harvey lives in a stone Victorian house in Ontario, Canada with a few resident ghosts who are allowed to stay as long as they keep company manners. She loves medieval dresses, used to be able to recite all of The Lady of Shalott by Tennyson, and has been accused, more than once, of being born in the wrong century. She believes this to be mostly true except for the fact that she really likes running water, women’s rights, and ice cream.

Among her favourite books are ‘The Wood Wife’ by Terri Windling, ‘Jane Eyre’ by Charlotte Bronte, and of course, ‘Pride and Prejudice’ by Jane Austen. Elizabeth Bennet is her hero because she’s smart and sassy, and Mr. Darcy is, well, yum.

Aside from the ghosts, she also lives with husband and their dogs. She likes cinnamon lattes, tattoos and books.

You can find her easily here:

www.alyxandraharvey.com

www.thedrakechronicles.com



THE BOOKISH DAME REVIEWS :

I became an instant fan of Ms Harvey's books when I ran into "Stolen Away" a couple of years ago.  I've had to back track to read about the Drake Chronicles and have loved every single word and story about them since then.  "Blood Prophecy" is just a continuation of the story...and I was greedy about it, frankly.

There's nothing new to add about my addiction to the series.  I find Alyxandra Harvey a queen of vampire writing and one who crosses the lines between YA and adult fiction very well.  Although for the most part her characters are teens and young adults, there are enough adult vampires intervening in their lives to keep things very interesting...especially in this book.

Ms Harvey has a very compelling imagination.  I love her work and would read just about anything she writes. 

I highly recommend this series.  It's not rocket science...but that makes it easy, good reading as far as I'm concerned.  You won't be sorry you've discovered her once you read one of her books.  This one is well worth the read. 

5 stars for a great vampire series           Deborah/TheBookishDame


 

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"Summerset Abbey" by T. J. Brown~Great Read!

 

SUMMARY :
1913: In a sprawling manor on the outskirts of London, three young women seek to fulfill their destinies and desires amidst the unspoken rules of society in this stunning series starter that fans of Downton Abbey will love.

Rowena Buxton

Sir Philip Buxton raised three girls into beautiful and capable young women in a bohemian household that defied Edwardian tradition. Eldest sister Rowena was taught to value people, not wealth or status. But everything she believes will be tested when Sir Philip dies, and the girls must live under their uncle’s guardianship at the vast family estate, Summerset Abbey. Standing up for a beloved family member sequestered to the “underclass” in this privileged new world, and drawn into the Cunning Coterie, an exclusive social circle of aristocratic “rebels,” Rowena must decide where her true passions—and loyalties—lie.

Victoria Buxton

Frail in body but filled with an audacious spirit, Victoria secretly dreams of attending university to become a botanist like her father. But this most unladylike wish is not her only secret—Victoria has stumbled upon a family scandal that, if revealed, has the potential to change lives forever...

Prudence Tate

Prudence was lovingly brought up alongside Victoria and Rowena, and their bond is as strong as blood. But by birth she is a governess’s daughter, and to the lord of Summerset Abbey, that makes her a commoner who must take her true place in society—as lady’s maid to her beloved “sisters.” But Pru doesn’t belong in the downstairs world of the household staff any more than she belongs upstairs with the Buxton girls. And when a young lord catches her eye, she begins to wonder if she’ll ever truly carve out a place for herself at Summerset Abbey.

PARTICULARS OF THE BOOK :

Published by:  Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Pages:  292
Series:  Summerset Abbey #1
Author:  T.J. Brown
Website:  http://authors.simonandschuster.com/T-J-Brown/407358020/author_revealed
Purchase the book:  Amazon


MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Please visit this comprehensive website from Simon & Schuster where you can read an interview of Ms Brown!!  http://authors.simonandschuster.com/T-J-Brown/407358020/author_revealed

T.J. Brown begins a sweeping trilogy set in Edwardian England with Summerset Abbey, her historical fiction debut. She lives in Portland, Oregon. Visit the author at TJBrownBooks.com


You can see and/or order the others of her new series by clicking on this link:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/summerset-abbey-teri-brown/1110049205?ean=9781451698985



THE BOOKISH DAME REVIEWS :

Ordinarily, I don't read romance novels.  But, this wasn't a typical romance...it was more a historical fiction than the summary led me to believe.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Though it tripped the edge of light reading at times, it very much carried enough substance in the storytelling to hold me rapt.  T. J. Brown is a good author with much to say about women in general and the Edwardian Period where they struggled for their independence, in specific.

The three primary women in this novel are acutely developed.  I was sometimes frustrated with each of their plights, which showed me how caught up in their fictitious lives I really was!  Each of them was beautiful, individual and interesting, alive and calculating.  Each wanted to break out of the bonds that held them back from independence in a society firmly grasped by male dominance.  I could feel the restraints as I read.

I thought the storyline flowed well and was loath to put the book down every evening when my eyes became itchy with sleep. I was especially fond of Prudence, and felt for her situation coming down from a quasi-daughter of the house to a maid for the same girls she had become a sister to.  It was painful to read about her inner and public struggles. Her mysterious birth heritage drove the story for me.

T.J. Brown has a fabulous hand at writing.  She brings you right into the setting of her cast of characters.  You feel their angst and their love stories as they develop.  You are given a sense of and see their lush surroundings.  You come to understand their inner feelings and what motivates each of their passions.  Her characters are vivid.

I loved this book for all its aspects of historical fiction and women's history.  Highly recommended.  Can't wait to continue the story in Book 2.

5 stars          Deborah/TheBookishDame

Second book in the series available here:  Amazon

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"Blood Between Queens" by Barbara Kyle~Exceptional Historical Fiction

SUMMARY :

Following her perilous fall from a throne she'd scarcely owned to begin with, Mary, Queen of Scots, has fled to England, hoping her cousin, Queen Elizabeth, will grant her asylum. But now Mary has her sights on the English crown, and Elizabeth enlists her most trusted subjects to protect it.

Justine Thornleigh is delighting in the thrill of Queen Elizabeth's visit to her family's estate when the festivities are cut short by Mary's arrival. To Justine's surprise, the Thornleighs appoint her to serve as a spy in Mary's court. But bearing the guise of a lady-in-waiting is not Justine's only secret. The weight of her task is doubled by fears of revealing to her fiancé that she is in truth the daughter of his family's greatest rival. Duty-bound, Justine must sacrifice love as she navigates a deadly labyrinth of betrayal that could lead to the end of Elizabeth's fledgling reign. . .

Compelling and inventive, Blood Between Queens artfully blends history's most intriguing figures with unforgettable characters, bringing to dazzling life the fascinating Tudor era.

PARTICULARS OF THE BOOK :

Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corporation

Publication date: 4/30/2013

Pages: 448

ABOUT THE AUTHOR :

 Barbara Kyle  see all about her on her very interesting and thorough website!  Here's a summary of her exploits in writing!

"It felt like a natural extension of my acting to create characters for fiction. In 2008 Kensington Books published my first historical novel, The Queen’s Lady. Set in the court of King Henry VIII, "The Queen’s Lady" features Honor Larke, a (fictional) ward of (the real) Sir Thomas More. More was a brilliant scholar and a loving father, but as chancellor of England he banned books and burned men. My story turns on Honor’s passionate conflict with her once-beloved guardian as she tries to save More’s victims, enlisting rogue ship-captain Richard Thornleigh in her missions.

Readers found these characters so engaging, I wrote a sequel, The King’s Daughter, featuring Honor and Richard’s daughter, Isabel. When Henry VIII’s bitter daughter, Queen Mary, launches her reign with a vow to annihilate heretics, Isabel Thornleigh must act quickly to save her family. Determined to rescue her father from prison, she entrusts her mission, and herself, to a ruthless soldier of fortune, Carlos Valverde.

The Queen’s Captive came next. When Queen Mary releases her 20-year-old sister Princess Elizabeth from the Tower, hoping she'll make a false move and condemn herself, Honor Thornleigh returns from exile with Richard and their seafaring son, Adam, to help Elizabeth in the fight of her life. Playing a dangerous game as a double agent, aware that a false move of her own will expose her past as a condemned heretic, Honor finds her task made harder when Adam and Elizabeth fall in love. To save her family and Elizabeth, and herself, Honor must turn a headstrong princess into a queen before “Bloody Mary” destroys them all.

The fourth book in the “Thornleigh” series is The Queen's Gamble. Isabel, the Thornleighs’ daughter, returns to London from the New World with her Spanish husband Carlos Valverde and their young son, and is swept up in the first international crisis of the young Queen’s Elizabeth reign: the French, who control Scotland, have landed troops along England’s border, threatening an invasion. The Queen recruits Isabel to take money secretly to aid the Scottish rebel faction trying to drive out the French. But when Carlos is sent to Scotland as a Spanish military adviser to the French troops, he and Isabel find they are on opposite sides in this deadly war – and the Queen has made their little boy her hostage.

My newest "Thornleigh" novel is Blood Between Queens, which features two of history's most famous queens, Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots, cousins locked in a deadly rivalry for the English crown. The story introduces a new Thornleigh family member, Justine, who begins as a loyal spy for one queen only to fall under the spell of the other.

I love writing about the Tudor/Elizabethan period, whose "on the make" characters and life-and-death intrigues – to say nothing of the era's religious paranoia – speak deeply to our own time. I hope you'll agree, and will enjoy being caught up in the passions and setbacks, adventures and strivings of the Thornleigh family – Honor, Richard, Isabel, Adam, and Justine – as they befriend, and sometimes betray, their willful kings and queens.

And, for something rather different, I hope you'll enjoy my contemporary novel of suspense, Entrapped. The stakes are high: life and death, love, and oil. Set in Alberta, Canada, Entrapped is the story of Liv Gardner, an ambitious young oil executive intent on stopping farmer Tom Wainwright who is sabotaging her rigs after a spill of lethal “sour” gas poisoned his wife. Desperate to save the company she built, Liv plants evidence to frame Tom. But when the evidence is used to indict him for a murder, only Liv can save him."

 

 

Now a personal interview with Ms Kyle!!!

 

Thank you for taking time to stop by for this interview, Barbara.  I'm a huge fan of your work.  Allow me to ask some questions, if I may...

 

Thanks for this opportunity to reach out to your readers, Deborah. I enjoy your blog.

 

Tell us something about yourself, please.  How do most people describe you?

 

My readers in seven countries would describe me as the author of five historical novels set in Tudor England. My family, though, might describe me as someone who spends her days behind a closed door communing with imaginary people.

 

Where is your favorite place to write?  Any special gimmicks, writing tools or keepsakes that you keep near you when you write…I hear authors can be superstitious!

 

I write in a small office where distractions are minimal: no talk, no music, and a phone I ignore all day until 4:00 p.m. To write, all I need is silence, warmth, and plenty of tea. And yes, I do have a favorite keepsake: a pine cone that a reader sent me from the grounds of Hever Castle, the home of Anne Boleyn. It's a touchstone that spirits me back to the Tudor world. It was such a kind gift, and I cherish it.

 

Who first told you you could write well, and how did it affect you?

 

I began as most writers do: writing short stories. My first efforts were awful, full of high-flown language and no point. Worse, no drama. But I learn fast, and I finally wrote a story that won a contest - nothing grand, just a contest held by my county's library association, but it meant everything to me, that validation of being a writer. Bless all libraries and librarians.

 

Which contemporary authors do you most admire?

 

Fiction: Ian McEwan, Kate Atkinson, William Boyd, Robin Maxwell, Herman Wouk, James Clavell, C.S Forester. Non-fiction: Adam Hochschild, Charles Nicholl, Stephen Greenblatt, and I'm looking forward to reading Susan Jacoby's new book.

 

Which are your favorite classical authors?

 

E.M. Forster, Dickens, Austen, Shakespeare (on the stage; can't say I sit and read him)

 

Jump into any book - which character would you be?

 

Horatio Hornblower

 

If you could have 5 historical people to dinner, who would they be?  What would you have to eat?

 

Elizabeth I, Thomas Jefferson, Jane Austen, Rachel Carson, Captain Bligh (the most maligned person in history). I'm a vegetarian, so I'd serve plenty of fine wine to soothe my guests' anxiety about the lack of meat.

 

Ocean or Lake?

 

 Lake

 

Favorite two tv shows:

 

"Homeland" and "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart"

 

Favorite movie of all time:

 

It's a tie between "Howard's End" and "Shakespeare in Love"

 

Are you working on a new book?

 

Yes, I'm polishing the final draft of the sixth book in my "Thornleigh" series. The working title is The Queen's Exiles and it features Adam Thornleigh joining the Dutch rebels who called themselves the Sea Beggars in their fight against their Spanish occupiers. (I liken them to the Resistance in WW2 fighting the Nazis.) Once I've sent it to my publisher I'll start the research for the seventh book. I love writing about the Thornleigh family's passions and perils, their strivings and set-backs as they befriend and sometimes betray their will kings and queens.

 

Anything else I forgot to ask you?

 

I love to hear from readers! Email me at bkyle@BarbaraKyle.com and follow me on Twitter @BKyleAuthor

 

 

Thank you, Barbara, for this thoughtful and insightful interview.  I love your answers. Interesting choice of dinner partners, and so fascinating about your pine cone!

 

 

THE BOOKISH DAME REVIEWS :

 

I'm frightfully remiss in not having read all of the Thornleigh series.  After reading "Blood Between Queens," I can't wait to sink my teeth into the other books I've missed.  This was one of the best written historical novels I've yet to read.  Ms Kyle is a storyteller of first rate!

 

Not only are her characters believable and alive, but they are completely engaging.  I was swept up immediately in the love affair of her main protagonist in this novel, Justine, who is a young, would-be orphan taken in by a kindly nobleman and his wife.  The story is centered around Justine and her interactions with Mary Queen of Scots, her love interest and others.  A wonderful storyline told with aplomb!

 

Barbara Kyle knows her history!  And, at the same time, there's never a dry moment in her telling of it.  Every word is couched in a beautifully rendered story of the characters you well know in Tudor England and Scottish history.  Mary Queen of Scots (a favorite of mine) is sympathetic in many ways, which I appreciated.  I loved the way Ms Kyle did not deny her her beauty and misunderstood background. 

 

This is a novel of great storytelling and historical detail at the same time.  It's a book that was difficult from which to tear myself away.  I found myself smiling and applauding Barbara Kyle's presentation of her many characters.  A warm and heart-wrenching story, it's one you'll never be sorry you chose to read.  I, for one, cannot wait to hear more about Justine and Will, and all her Tudor era people.

 

5 stars               Deborah/TheBookishDame

 

 Please follow the tour of this book at:  http://www.hfvbooktours.com  

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Book Haul~A Doozie!

Not the greatest picture for a doozie of a haul, I think.  I was rockin' the books this past week.  Some of them were sent, but most of them were from my scavenging trip to my local bookish place.  Freebies~slightly used, but in wonderful shape.

This has been a great summer for reading, so far.  That's why it's easy to find the latest novels in favorite second-hand spots.  Why don't you check them out, too?

Here are some summaries of the books above:

 

SUMMARY:   Catherine Strayed is living a quiet, un-remarkable life in a secluded college town following the mysterious death of her husband, a promising writer whose death may have been an accident, a suicide, or perhaps even a murder. When her former mentor (and onetime lover)—a powerful critic who singlehandedly destroyed her late husband’s chance for success—takes a teaching job at the college, Catherine’s world threatens to collapse. For with him has come his latest protégé, an exotic young woman named Antonia Lively. Antonia’s debut novel has become a literary sensation—but it is, in fact, an almost factual retelling of a terrible crime that she relates without any concern for the impact its publication will have on the lives of those involved.

As Antonia insinuates herself into Catherine’s life, mysterious and frightening things start to happen, because unbeknownst to Catherine, the younger woman intends to plunder her own dark, regrettable past—and the unsolved death of her husband—for her next literary triumph.

Sent by Alongquin Books of Chapel Hill.  Many thanks!!

 

 

 

SUMMARY: 

A Curious Man is the marvelously compelling biography of Robert “Believe It or Not” Ripley, the enigmatic cartoonist turned globetrotting millionaire who won international fame by celebrating the world's strangest oddities, and whose outrageous showmanship taught us to believe in the unbelievable.

A big thanks to Crown Publishing for this strange and interesting book...

 SUMMARY:

She knew what he wrote . . .

One little word that made her feel both cheated and beloved.

One word that changed everything.

MINE.

On a chilly morning in the Northwest Iowa town of Blackhawk, Dr. Lucas Hudson is filling in for the vacationing coroner on a seemingly open-and-shut suicide case. His own life is crumbling around him, but when he unearths the body of a woman buried in the barn floor beneath the hanging corpse, he realizes this terrible discovery could change everything. . . .

Howard Books/Simon & Schuster sent along this one.  Thanks so much!!

SUMMARY:

Ash Rashid is a former homicide detective who can't stand the thought of handling another death investigation. In another year, he'll be out of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department completely. That's the plan, at least, until his niece's body is found in the guest home of one of his city's most wealthy citizens. The coroner calls it an overdose, but the case doesn't add up.

SUMMARY:

Ash Rashid stands alone. A twelve-year veteran of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department and one of the few Muslim-Americans on the force, he's unafraid of bending the rules in the pursuit of justice. But now Ash wants out. He's finished law school and is aiming to become a prosecutor. The last thing he wants is to become embroiled in a new homicide investigation.

That changes when he hears that the mother of one of his daughter's friends was murdered in front of her...

I appreciate both of these books by Chris Culver sent by Grand Central Publishing/Hachette Publishing Group.


Now here are the books I scavenged by myself from used libraries:

 

This is the only picture I could find of the newest paperback.  Sorry for the extra heading!  Here's a summary:

A sophisticated page-turner about a wealthy New York family embroiled in a financial scandal with cataclysmic consequences.

Now that he's married to Merrill Darling, daughter of billionaire financier Carter Darling, attorney Paul Ross has grown accustomed to New York society and all of its luxuries: a Park Avenue apartment, weekends in the Hamptons, bespoke suits. When Paul loses his job, Carter offers him the chance to head the legal team at his hedge fund. Thrilled with his good fortune in the midst of the worst financial downturn since the Great Depression, Paul accepts the position.

But Paul's luck is about to shift: a tragic event catapults the Darling family into the media spotlight, a regulatory investigation, and a red-hot scandal with enormous implications for everyone involved. Suddenly, Paul must decide where his loyalties lie-will he save himself while betraying his wife and in-laws or protect the family business at all costs?

Cristina Alger's glittering debut novel interweaves the narratives of the Darling family, two eager SEC attorneys, and a team of journalists all racing to uncover-or cover up-the truth. With echoes of a fictional Too Big to Fail and the novels of Dominick Dunne, The Darlings offers an irresistible glimpse into the highest echelons of New York society-a world seldom seen by outsiders-and a fast-paced thriller of epic proportions.

This one is published by Penguin.

 SUMMARY:

In the dark days of war, a mother makes the ultimate sacrifice

 

Lucy Takeda is just fourteen years old, living in Los Angeles, when the bombs rain down on Pearl Harbor. Within weeks, she and her mother, Miyako, are ripped from their home, rounded up—along with thousands of other innocent Japanese-Americans—and taken to the Manzanar prison camp.

Buffeted by blistering heat and choking dust, Lucy and Miyako must endure the harsh living conditions...

 

Published by Harlequin.

 

 

 

SUMMARY:

Taken from her native Iceland to Scotland in the early 1950s when her widower father drowns at sea, young Gemma Hardy comes to live with her kindly uncle and his family. But his death leaves Gemma under the care of her resentful aunt, and she suddenly finds herself an unwelcome guest. Surviving oppressive years at a strict private school, Gemma ultimately finds a job as an au pair to the eight-year-old niece of Mr. Sinclair on the Orkney Islands—and here, at the mysterious and remote Blackbird Hall...

(My note:  Supposed a new take on "Jane Eyre.")

Published by Harper.

SUMMARY:

"At the heart of this sweeping tale of adventure, discovery and exploration is one woman's extraordinary journey, inspired by her love for a man she had not seen in 20 years. In 1769, Isabel Grameson - an upper-class Peruvian woman who had lived all her life close to home - set out across the Andes, and down the length of the Amazon in order to rejoin her husband in French Guiana. Her 3,000-mile trek through untamed wilderness was one that no woman (and few men) had made before."

Published by Delta/Random House.


So that's my current Book Haul...   I think it's monumental for a week!  I think I'm going to read "Sleeping in Eden" first this week.

Stay tuned, and please let me know what you're reading...or have found.  :]


Deborah/TheBookishDame
 

 

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Knitting!! "More Last Minute Knitted Gifts" by Joelle Hoverson

SUMMARY :

When STC Craft published Joelle Hoverson’s Last-Minute Knitted Gifts in 2004, the response was over­whelming and today there are nearly 100,000 copies of this classic in print. Six years later, Hoverson is full of fresh, new ideas for beautiful gifts. So STC proudly presents More Last-Minute Knitted Gifts: an elegant collection of 30 projects organized according to the time it takes to complete them, from less than two hours to more than eight. Among the projects featured are sachets, bracelets, ornaments, mittens, gloves, hats, sweaters, baby blankets, and throws.

Understanding that knitters today love to personalize their projects but also need guidance along the way, Hoverson showcases many of the projects in several colors and yarn weights, and with optional embellishments and creative ideas for gift-wrapping.

PARTICULARS OF THIS BOOK:

Published by:  Abrams, Harry N., Inc.
Pages:  144
Genre:  Crafts/Home & Garden
Author:  Joelle Hoverson
Other books by author:  "Last Minute Knitted Gifts"
Purchase this book:  Amazon


THE BOOKISH DAME REVIEWS :

This is a fabulous book for first time or experienced knitters.  The pictures, color choices and instructions are wonderful.  I loved the clear and concise directions to these beautiful designs.  Darling items for quick knits, for gifts and fun things.  This is a great book for your stitching and knitting collection/library!   Go check it out at your local book store.  

5 stars     Deborah/TheBookishDame
 

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"The Killing Room" by Jeffrey Deaver~Top-Notch!

SUMMARY :

It was a "million-dollar bullet," a sniper shot delivered from over a mile away. Its victim was no ordinary mark: he was a United States citizen, targeted by the United States government, and assassinated in the Bahamas.

The nation's most renowned investigator and forensics expert, Lincoln Rhyme, is drafted to investigate. While his partner, Amelia Sachs, traces the victim's steps in Manhattan, Rhyme leaves the city to pursue the sniper himself. As details of the case start to emerge, the pair discovers that not all is what it seems.

When a deadly, knife-wielding assassin begins systematically eliminating all evidence-including the witnesses-Lincoln's investigation turns into a chilling battle of wits against a cold-blooded killer.


PARTICULARS OF THE BOOK :
Published by:  Grand Central Publishing/Hachette Publishing
Pages:  496
Genre:  Fiction/Suspense
Author:  Jeffrey Deaver
Purchase your copy:  Barnes & Noble   or  Amazon


ABOUT THE AUTHOR :

Jeffery Deaver is the #1 international bestselling author of more than thirty novels, two collections of short stories, and a nonfiction law book. His books are sold in 150 countries and translated into 25 languages. He's received or been shortlisted for a number of awards around the world. A former journalist, folksinger, and attorney, he was born outside of Chicago and has a bachelor of journalism degree from the University of Missouri and a law degree from Fordham University. You can visit his website at www.JefferyDeaver.com.

Born just outside Chicago in 1950 to an advertising copywriter father and stay-at-home mom, Jeffery Deaver was a writer from the start, penning his first book (a brief tome just two chapters in length) at age 11. He went on to edit his high school literary magazine and serve on the staff of the school newspaper, chasing the dream of becoming a crack reporter.

Upon earning his B.A. in journalism from the University of Missouri, Deaver realized that he lacked the necessary background to become a legal correspondent for the high-profile publications he aspired to, such as The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal, so he enrolled at Fordham Law School. Being a legal eagle soon grew on Deaver, and rather than continue on as a reporter, he took a job as a corporate lawyer at a top Wall Street firm. Deaver's detour from the writing life wasn't to last, however; ironically, it was his substantial commute to the law office that touched off his third -- and current -- career. He'd fill the long hours on the train scribbling his own renditions of the kind of fiction he enjoyed reading most: suspense.  

Voodoo, a supernatural thriller, and Always a Thief, an art-theft caper, were Deaver's first published novels. Produced by the now-defunct Paperjacks paperback original house, the books are no longer in print, but they remain hot items on the collector circuit. His first major outing was the Rune series, which followed the adventures of an aspiring female filmmaker in the power trilogy Manhattan Is My Beat (1988), Death of a Blue Movie Star (1990), and Hard News (1991).   Deaver's next series, this one featuring the adventures of ace movie location scout John Pellam, featured the thrillers Shallow Graves (1992), Bloody River Blues (1993), and Hell's Kitchen (2001). Written under the pen name William Jefferies, the series stands out in Deaver's body of work, primarily because it touched off his talent for focusing more on his vivid characters than on their perilous situations.  

In fact, it is his series featuring the intrepid and beloved team of Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs that showcases Deaver at the top of his game. Confronting enormous odds (and always under somewhat gruesome circumstances), the embittered detective and his feisty partner and love interest made their debut in 1991's grisly caper The Bone Collector, and hooked fans for four more books: The Coffin Dancer (1998), The Empty Chair (2000), The Stone Monkey (2002), and The Vanishing Man(2003). Of the series, Kirkus Reviews observed, "Deaver marries forensic work that would do Patricia Cornwell proud to turbocharged plots that put Benzedrine to shame." 

On the creation of Rhyme, who happens to be a paraplegic, Deaver explained to Shots magazine, "I wanted to create a Sherlock Holmes-ian kind of character that uses his mind rather than his body. He solves crimes by thinking about the crimes, rather than someone who can shoot straight, run faster, or walk into the bar and trick people into giving away the clues."  

As for his reputation for conjuring up some of the most unsavory scenes in pop crime fiction, Deaver admits on his web site, "In general, I think, less is more, and that if a reader stops reading because a book is too icky then I've failed in my obligation to the readers."

Good To Know

Deaver revises his manuscripts "at least 20 or 30 times" before his publishers get to even see a version.

Two of his books have been made into major feature films. The first was A Maiden's Grave (the film adaptation was called Dead Silence), which starred James Garner and Marlee Matlin. The Bone Collector came next, starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie.  

In addition to being a bestselling novelist, Deaver has also been a folksinger, songwriter, music researcher, and professional poet.  

In our interview with Deaver, he reveals, "My inspiration for writing is the reader. I want to give readers whatever will excite and please them. It's absolutely vital in this business for authors to know their audience and to write with them in mind."

 

The Bookish Dame Reviews :

Hot damn!  Jeffrey Deaver is back in town!!!   And, this newest novel from him is kickin'!  I was up until 3:45 AM finishing the read.  I still couldn't put all the pieces together and I was jumping in my skin trying to do it as fast as I read.  He is the master manipulator in this genre!  Awesome book...  All of  Deaver's fans will not be disappointed in "The Killing Room."

I found his "specialist" character as creepy as any I've ever encountered.  Only Deaver can create a monster like this one and make you eager to read more about him.  Sophisticated and clever, you want him to be caught, and; yet, you can't wait to read what he's going to do next.  It's the "going to the horror show and peeking at it from behind your fingers" syndrome!  This character is even a gourmet chef who has fabulous recipes...  Ugh, tasty and tasteless at the same time... perfection in suspense novels.

Lincon Rhyme and Amelia Sachs are in usual form as my favorite high end forensic duo.  Rhyme is sarcastic and cynical, but still sweet on Amelia underneath it all.  I love this tough and tender man.  Deaver has created the perfect foil for criminal minds in the Rhyme/Sachs crew, as well.  Each of the officers and FBI connections is an engaging and interesting character who adds dimension to the story. In fact all of Deaver's characters are stellar and vivid.  He is a master in this.

Frankly, I never know what to expect when I open a Jeffrey Deaver book.  Except I know in advance I'm going to be going on a roller coaster ride.  There will be high jinks, horrors, and twisters like nobody else can take me on; and, I know that I won't ever be able to fit all the pieces of the puzzle together by myself until he solves it in the end.  This is the fun of one of his novels.  It's the thing that catches me every time...  Just when you think the case/mystery is solved, another wrench is thrown in.  Assume nothing!

Of course, I highly recommend "The Killing Room" to everyone I know.  If you haven't read one of Mr. Deaver's books before, I have to wonder if you've been living under a rock!  Crawl out and get this one, fast!

5 stars               Deborah/TheBookishDame

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