The Lace Makers of Glenmara (5/5)
Kate travels to Ireland to get over a failed relationship and ends up finding a place to call home. She bonds with a group of local women who are lace makers and they begin a business venture. Good character development in this book. I hard a hard time putting this one down.
Black Box (YA) (5/5)
Dora is a junior in high school and is suffering from clinical depression. This book primarily focuses on the effects of this condition on her younger sister, Elena. Elena feels it is her duty to save her older sister. Her neighbor Jimmy has experience with this condition and tries to help her.
Ways to Live Forever (YA) (5/5)
Sam has leukemia and decides to write a book about dying. This was a touching piece of realistic fiction. In the end, this book turned out to be more about life than death. Good, quick read.
Julie and Julia (3.5/5)
Cute book about a young woman living in NYC who decides to cook every recipe in Julia Child's cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. This book was sort of a foody, chick lit book. Not as good as I expected it to be but overall a good read.
Dead is so Last Year (YA) (5/5)
Third in a ya paranormal series. The town is full of people with paranormal powers and in this book, Daisy and her sisters are trying to find out who is behind the creation of doppelgangers. They are also searching for their Dad, whom they have not seen in years. A fun series that is quick to read.
Waiting for Normal (YA) (4.5/5)
Addie just wants to have a normal home life but her mom's issues keep that from happening. Addie is a resilient girl who tries to make the best of things. This book was set locally to where I live so I liked that aspect as well. A good read.
A Slice of Murder (4.5/5)
First in a cozy mystery series, Ellie, a pizza parlor owner, finds a dead body when she is out making a delivery. She becomes a suspect and begins an investigation into the murder to try to clear her name. Good twists and turns in this one--I wasn't sure who the murderer was until the very end.
The Summer I Turned Pretty (YA) (4.5/5)
Belly always spends the summer with her mother, brother, her mother's best friend and her two sons at a beach house. But the summer right before she turns 16 feels different--she's growing up and is no longer the little sister tagalong.
Young Bess
This book tells the story of Queen Elizabeth, detailing her childhoold and heading into Mary taking over the throne. Elizabeth's mother, Anne Boleyn, had been put to death and Elizabeth was declared a bastard. She was sent off to live with her stepmother, Catherine Parr, I always feel sorry for Elizabeth when I read books about her childhood--what a way to grow up.
I enjoyed Irwin's writing style and it is obvious that she did her research. She makes these historical figures come alive on the pages. I did not realize at first that this was published so long ago but it reads just as well in 2010. Irwin's style is similar to P. Gregory's style, which is a good thing to me.
The Tudors seem to be a hot topic to write books about and I enjoy reading about this period. This book was no exception. It was my first book by Irwin but I would read more of her works; I enjoyed her writing. This book was sent to me by SourceBooks to review.
