Tuesday, September 28, 2010

In the Arms of Mr. Darcy

In the Arms of Mr. Darcy

This book is based on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.  Lizzy and Darcy are happily married and have a son.  This book continues their story but also focuses on some of the more secondary characters of Austen's book--namely Darcy's cousin Richard Fitzwilliam, his sister Georgiana and Lizzy's sister Kitty.  These characters finally get a storyline of their own and become further developed and begin romantic relationships.  I always enjoy seeing how Lizzy and Darcy's "happily ever after" looks to an author different than Austen.  This book stays true to Austen's writing style and her vision of these characters.  It is interesting to see how many books in today's market use Austen's works as a basis of their plot.  Guess there is a reason that her books are still being read and used as a foundation today. 

I received this book from SourceBooks to review.

Mr. Darcy's Obsession

Mr. Darcy's Obsession

This book picks up the story of Pride and Prejudice but changes things a bit in that Darcy and Elizabeth did not end up together.  Neither did Bingley and Jane.  Lizzy has been sent to live with her aunt and uncle and helps take care of their children.  Jane has married a shopkeeper.  Their lives are definitely not the happy ones that readers will surmise theirs to be after reading Austen's novel.  But Mr. Darcy decides to woo Lizzy and ends up being a stand up sort of guy.  Bingley is pining away for Jane and tries to find his way back to her.  Through trials and tribulations, this romantic story reunites the hero and heroine, as all should be.  Excellent writing, this book keeps to Austen's style.  I enjoyed it a lot.  I am constantly amazed by how many books based on, continuing, or changing Austen's books that there are on the market--but I like this genre.

I received this book from SourceBooks to review.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

The Cat, The Professor and the Poison

The Cat, The Professor and the Poison

Second book in a great cozy mystery series, this book was just as good as the first.  In this book, Jillian discovers a farm with a bunch of cats being used for research purposes.  Jillian goes to free the cats and finds the professor dead from poison.  Her cop friend Candace begins to investigate and of course Jillian must get involved as well.  In this book we meet Kara, Jillian's step daughter.  I love the cats in these books.  I love this series and cannot wait for #3 to come out in the spring.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Demon Princess: Reign or Shine (YA)

Demon Princess: Reign or Shine (YA)

First book in a cute paranormal YA series.  Nikki has just turned 16 and finds out she is a "darkling"--half demon, half human.  This explains why her father mysteriously left her mother all those years ago.  Michael, a Shadow/servant, comes to bring Nikki to the Shadowlands where her father is a demon king.  Nikki is prepared to hate him but realizes he is not that bad of a person, ummm demon.  A cute, fun story, I will read #2 which is on my Kindle.

I borrowed this book from the public library.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

House Rules

House Rules

Emma's son Jacob is autistic.  He is obsessed with forensic science.  When Jacob's tutor is killed, Jacob becomes a suspect.  Emma hires a newbie lawyer, Oliver, to defend Jacob.  Oliver feels that the only defense is insanity due to his Jacob's autism.  But there are many twists and turns to this story and as this book is told from multiple narration, readers will be kept guessing until the very end.  This book was a good read.
Max is enjoying time in his hammock.

Monday, September 13, 2010

The Hunted of 2060

This book reminded me a bit of "The Host", only without taking 200 pages for me to get into it, which is a good thing.  April is a shifter and the militia has declared war against all shifters.  April meets a twin sister that she never knew that she had and with her, a band of shifters.  They begin to fight back against  the militia.  But April is unable to totally disregard her human side, mostly due to her love of Robert.  This book had good characters and good action.

The author sent me a copy of this book for review.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Maggie wants to review books

Maggie is a F5 Savannah.  She is long and lean and apparently has decided it is time for me to stop typing and pay attention to her!
 

Sunday, September 5, 2010

The Lady in the Attic

The Lady in the Attic

This is the first book in a cozy mystery series.  Annie's grandmother has died and left Annie her house in Maine.  Annie heads there from Texas to check out the estate.  Upon arrival, Annie finds a needlework piece that her grandmother had in the attic; the piece features a woman unknown to Annie.  As Annie settles in the house, she meets a group of knitters, friends of her grandmother, and they begin to try to solve the mystery of who the woman in the piece is and why this piece was hidden away.  Good characters makes this book a good read.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Come Back, Como

Come Back, Como

The author's daughter has always wanted a dog.  The author and his wife promise on her 12th birthday that she can get one.  She chooses Como, a terrier mix shelter dog.  Como has issues--he does not like to be caged in, he has trust issues with men, including the author, and he has teeth of steel when it comes to destructive chewing.  But slowly, Como becomes part of their family and  this is a great book for dog lovers.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

What Alice Knew

What Alice Knew

William James, his brother author Henry James and their invalid sister Alice James are working to figure out who is Jack the Ripper.  Each sibling brings a specific skills set to the investigation, making them an effective team.  I have always found the Jack the Ripper murders interesting and I enjoyed this book and its detailing of an investigation.  This book has a great writing style and is an excellent literary mystery.  It had good twists and turns and good action.  I would recommend this book.

This book comes out on September 7th; I received an ARC from the publisher to review.

Wolf Hall

Wolf Hall

A good book of historical fiction, this book focuses on Thomas Cromwell, Henry's secretary.  Cromwell was an interesting part of the TV series "The Tudors", so this book interested me.  That whole lifestyle is interesting to me--I would not have lasted long during those days!  The chess game of matchmaking and power getting is amazing to read about to me.  Good writing style, it was similar to that of Phillipa Gregory, which is a good thing to me.  This was the first book I bought for my Kindle :-)