tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5946460353039345782024-03-14T00:26:27.242-05:00Books, Belles, and BeauxJoannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07716758796036142540noreply@blogger.comBlogger382125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-594646035303934578.post-81897142302651755672013-12-21T11:34:00.002-06:002014-01-06T08:14:04.964-06:00Plans for 2014 - New DirectionsI've been thinking.......I've been planning......I've been changing.<br />
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I'm wondering if my book blog has run its course....<br />
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I've actually read many similar thoughts from bloggers I have followed for a long time.<br />
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When I first began blogging (strictly as an experiment just to see how a blog really worked), an amazing thing happened. I was having fun. I was meeting like-minded readers and creating a pile of wonderful new-to-me books to read. I expanded my horizons beyond the Outlander series (which was pretty much my staple when I had time to read) and discovered historical mysteries, fabulous historical fiction, and Regency and Highland romances. I have so many books on my shelf that I only hope to live long enough to put a dent in them! But the truth of the matter is that lately life has been pretty busy and blogging takes time -- I still love to read and browse through other bloggers' sites, but I'm not inspired at all to post my thoughts on the books I read.<br />
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<b>Goodreads </b>has been a good place for me lately. It's quick, it's easy, and if I don't want to say anything about a book, I can still rate it and shelve it. Done. Many bloggers are also on these sites, so I still feel like I'm in touch with blogging friends.<br />
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So......this is a long way of saying that in 2014, this blog will be quiet. I'm keeping it as a reference for all my reviews, but anyone who would like to still follow and discuss books can find me at <b>Goodreads.</b><br />
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What are your thoughts? Do you have any plans for blogging/not blogging in 2014? I'd love to hear your plans because I really DO care about staying in touch with the people who have made having this blog so worthwhile.<br />
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In the meantime, I wish you all peace and joy!<br />
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Joannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07716758796036142540noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-594646035303934578.post-62004636114630569092013-11-05T09:43:00.004-06:002013-11-05T09:43:54.896-06:00Return to Tradd Street by Karen White<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DLIPfvFM1Vo/UnkPHVn7UZI/AAAAAAAAFcI/Qvsv_Q43Yvk/s1600/return+to+tradd+street.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DLIPfvFM1Vo/UnkPHVn7UZI/AAAAAAAAFcI/Qvsv_Q43Yvk/s400/return+to+tradd+street.jpg" width="265" /></a></div>
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<b>About the Book:</b></div>
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<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666984558105px; line-height: 22.39583396911621px; text-align: start;">Facing her future as a single mother, psychic Realtor Melanie Middleton is determined to be strong and leave her past with writer Jack Trenholm behind her. But history has a tendency of catching up with Melanie, whether she likes it or not.…</b><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666984558105px; line-height: 22.39583396911621px; text-align: start;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666984558105px; line-height: 22.39583396911621px; text-align: start;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666984558105px; line-height: 22.39583396911621px; text-align: start;">Melanie is only going through the motions of living since refusing Jack’s marriage proposal. She misses him desperately, but her broken heart is the least of her problems. Despite an insistence that she can raise their child alone, Melanie is completely unprepared for motherhood, and she struggles to complete renovations on her house on Tradd Street before the baby arrives.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666984558105px; line-height: 22.39583396911621px; text-align: start;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666984558105px; line-height: 22.39583396911621px; text-align: start;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666984558105px; line-height: 22.39583396911621px; text-align: start;">When Melanie is roused one night by the sound of a ghostly infant crying, she chooses to ignore it. She simply does not have the energy to deal with one more crisis. That is, until the remains of a newborn buried in an old christening gown are found hidden in the foundation of her house.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666984558105px; line-height: 22.39583396911621px; text-align: start;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666984558105px; line-height: 22.39583396911621px; text-align: start;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666984558105px; line-height: 22.39583396911621px; text-align: start;">As the hauntings on Tradd Street slowly become more violent, Melanie decides to find out what caused the baby’s untimely death, uncovering the love, loss, and betrayal that color the house’s history—and threaten her claim of ownership. But can she seek Jack’s help without risking her heart? For in revealing the secrets of the past, Melanie also awakens the malevolent presence that has tried to keep the truth hidden for decades.…</span></div>
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I was very excited to receive a package a few days ago from Karen White! (She's the author I recently met at a dinner when she was here in New Orleans.) It was an ARC of <i style="font-weight: bold;">Return to Tradd Street, </i>the fourth installment of the Tradd Street mystery series which will be available in January 2014. If you enjoy a mix of mystery, ghostly pasts, and a spunky heroine, you'll love Karen White's books set in the gorgeous, sultry Charleston. Her writing is very charming and witty and lyrical --- perfect for a quiet autumn evening. </div>
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<a href="http://www.karen-white.com/books.shtml">Books in the series:</a></div>
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<i>The House on Tradd Street</i></div>
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<i>The Girl on Legare Street</i></div>
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<i>The Strangers on Montagu Street</i></div>
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<br />Joannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07716758796036142540noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-594646035303934578.post-1721129589465946712013-11-01T09:31:00.000-05:002013-11-01T09:35:04.462-05:00Release day for Deanna Raybourn!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2iGcC8RvUUY/UnO5drZFjzI/AAAAAAAAFbo/oVx3npaM9is/s1600/midsummer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2iGcC8RvUUY/UnO5drZFjzI/AAAAAAAAFbo/oVx3npaM9is/s320/midsummer.jpg" width="202" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">Readers everywhere have fallen for New York Times bestselling author Deanna Raybourn's intrepid amateur sleuth and socialite, Lady Julia Grey. Not to mention her devastatingly handsome partner in crime, Nicholas Brisbane. Midsummer Night is the long awaited novella of their wedding, a dashing—and potentially deadly—affair not to be missed…</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">Midsummer in Victorian England—an auspicious time for a wedding. Brisbane has taken charge of the music. Julia has, perhaps mistakenly, allowed her sisters to choose the dress. And Belmont Abbey is overflowing with guests awaiting the blessed day. What could go wrong?</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">Combine the close-knit chaos of village life, pagan traditions bursting through staid Victorian conventions, and the congenial madness that tends to swirl around Lady Julia's family and you get an unforgettable wedding. But add in a dangerous past nemesis who has come to wish them not-so-well, and their day to remember just might take a fatal turn...(from Goodreads)</span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.44444465637207px; line-height: 18.99305534362793px;">I'm very much looking forward to this latest installment of Lady Julia Grey's story!</span></span></div>
Joannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07716758796036142540noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-594646035303934578.post-86093005994684955472013-10-24T06:00:00.000-05:002013-10-24T06:00:13.264-05:00Guest Post by Mary Sharratt: Reconciling Faith and Science<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Today, I am pleased to welcome Mary Sharratt to Books, Belles, and Beaux. She is currently touring with Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours with her wonderful novel, <i style="font-weight: bold;">Illuminations: A novel of Hildegard Von Bingen. </i></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Hildegard
von Bingen: Reconciling Faith and Science by Mary Sharratt<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The
Western world’s first known description of the female orgasm was written by the
12<sup>th</sup> century abbess and Doctor of the Church, Saint Hildegard of
Bingen (1098-1179):<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">When a woman is making
love with a man, a sense of heat in her brain, which brings forth with it
sensual delight, communicates the taste of that delight during the act and
summons forth the emission of the man’s seed. And when the seed has fallen into
its place, that vehement heat descending from her brain draws the seed to
itself and holds it, and soon the woman’s sexual organs contract and all parts
that are ready to open up during the time of menstruation now close, in the
same way as a strong man can hold something enclosed in his fist.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Hildegard
von Bingen, <i>Causae et Curae</i> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">How
could a celibate Benedictine nun write such a convincing description of the
female sexual experience? Unlike some people in our own age, Hildegard saw no
contradiction between science and religion, between being a religious woman and
addressing every aspect of human experience, including sexuality. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">Born in the lush green Rhineland in present day
Germany, Hildegard was a true polymath, a Renaissance woman long before the
Renaissance. She founded two monasteries, went on four preaching tours, and composed
an entire corpus of sacred music. Her prophecies earned her the title Sybil of
the Rhine. She was indeed a visionary in every sense of the word.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Hildegard
wrote nine books on subjects as diverse as cosmology, botany, linguistics, and
medical science, as well as theology. Even though she believed consecrated celibacy
to be the highest calling, her medical text, <i>Causae et Curae, </i>discusses female (and male) sexuality frankly and
without moral judgment. There is not a trace of prudishness or
anti-intellectualism in her work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">In
general, medieval thinkers, including monastics, were far more plain-spoken in
addressing sexual matters than many of us might expect. But Hildegard’s writing
on sexuality was unique in its inclusion of female experience, unlike that of
her male confreres, such as Constantine the African, the 11<sup>th</sup>
century monk whose book <i>De Coitu </i>manages
to discuss every conceivable carnal pleasure without once mentioning women. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">As
the woman who coined the word <i>Viriditas</i>,
or “sacred greening power and vitality,” Hildegard felt a profound connection
to the natural world, which she regarded as the visible face of the invisible Creator
who permeates every living thing. Her book <i>Physica</i>
was devoted to natural science and is an encyclopedic study of plants, trees, mammals,
reptiles, birds, marine life, stones, metals, and elements, describing their physical
and medicinal properties. She lists in extraordinary detail the 37 varieties of
fish to be found in the Nahe, Glan, and Rhine Rivers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Her
vision of the cosmos changed to reflect the science of her age. In <i>Scivias</i>, her first work of visionary
theology, the universe appeared as a mandorla—shaped like an egg or almond. But
by the time she wrote <i>De Operationae Dei</i>,
the third and final book in her visionary trilogy, her visions reflected the
cosmos as a sphere. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span lang="EN">Over eight centuries after her death, Hildegard
was finally canonized in May, 2012. On October 7, 2012, she was </span><span lang="EN-GB">elevated to Doctor of the Church, a rare and solemn title reserved for
theologians who have made a significant impact. Presently there are only
thirty-four Doctors of the Church, and only three besides Hildegard are women
(Catherine of Siena, Teresa of Ávila, and Thérèse of Lisieux). <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-t0FzM9CEMoo/UlCl-cu8bfI/AAAAAAAAFZA/jkrNKmscFXI/s1600/Mary+Sharratt.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-t0FzM9CEMoo/UlCl-cu8bfI/AAAAAAAAFZA/jkrNKmscFXI/s320/Mary+Sharratt.JPG" width="238" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span lang="EN-GB"> </span><b style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">About the Author</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">The author of four critically acclaimed historical novels, Mary Sharratt is an American who lives in the Pendle region of Lancashire, England, the setting for her acclaimed Daughters of the Witching Hill, which recasts the Pendle Witches of 1612 in their historical context as cunning folk and healers. She also lived for twelve years in Germany, which, along with her interest in sacred music and herbal medicine, inspired her to write Illuminations: A Novel of Hildegard von Bingen. Illuminations won the Nautilus Gold Award for Better Books for a Better World and was selected as a Kirkus Book of the Year. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">For more information please visit Mary's </span><a href="https://webmail.east.cox.net/do/redirect?url=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.marysharratt.com" style="background-color: white; color: black; line-height: 17.98611068725586px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">website</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;"> and </span><a href="https://webmail.east.cox.net/do/redirect?url=http%253A%252F%252Fmarysharratt.blogspot.co.uk%252F" style="background-color: white; color: black; line-height: 17.98611068725586px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">blog</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">. You can also find her on </span><a href="https://webmail.east.cox.net/do/redirect?url=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.facebook.com%252Fmary.sharratt.1" style="background-color: white; color: black; line-height: 17.98611068725586px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Facebook</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;"> and </span><a href="https://webmail.east.cox.net/do/redirect?url=https%253A%252F%252Ftwitter.com%252FMarySharratt" style="background-color: white; color: black; line-height: 17.98611068725586px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Twitter</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">.</span></span><br />
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Joannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07716758796036142540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-594646035303934578.post-12700159322457639352013-10-23T06:33:00.000-05:002013-10-23T06:33:00.982-05:00Illuminations by Mary Sharratt<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1gyOv110jHs/UlCnU6ErjLI/AAAAAAAAFZU/69A7qkYMCQU/s1600/Illuminations+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1gyOv110jHs/UlCnU6ErjLI/AAAAAAAAFZU/69A7qkYMCQU/s320/Illuminations+(1).jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<b>About the Book:</b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">Skillfully weaving historical fact with psychological insight and vivid imagination, Illuminations brings to life one of the most extraordinary women of the Middle Ages: Hildegard von Bingen, Benedictine abbess, visionary, and polymath.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">Offered to the Church at the age of eight, Hildegard was expected to live in silent submission as the handmaiden of a renowned, disturbed young nun, Jutta von Sponheim. But Hildegard rejected Jutta's masochistic piety, rejoicing in her own secret visions of the divine. When Jutta died, Hildegard broke out of her prison, answering the heavenly call to speak and write about her visions and to liberate her sisters. Riveting and utterly unforgettable, Illuminations is a deeply moving portrayal of a woman willing to risk everything for what she believed.</span></i></span><br />
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<span style="color: #252525; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 17.98611068725586px;"><b>My thoughts:</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #252525; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 17.98611068725586px;"><b><br /></b></span></span><span style="color: #252525; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">I thought Mary Sharratt's <i>Illuminations </i>was a beautiful and imaginative account of 12th century abbess, Hildegard von Bingen. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #252525; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">Given to the church as a "tithe" at the age of eight, the young Hildegard was forced to live in an anchorage of a monastery -- literally walled in as if living in a tomb -- to spend her days in self-sacrifice and prayer. Her only companion was the wealthy and beautiful Jutta von Sponheim who harbored deep secrets and embraced a life of self-torture and constant prayer as a form of holiness. Incredibly, despite this "living death," Hildegard possessed a deep and powerful spiritual core which helped her to rise above her horrific conditions. Forced into silence and obedience for most of her life, it is truly a testament of her courage and faith that she was able to emerge from the depths of deprivation and obedience to become a powerful spiritual force in her world.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #252525; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 17.98611068725586px;"> Hildegard's life and accomplishments are fascinating, and I recommend this deeply moving tale to anyone who enjoys medieval historical figures and empowered women.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">About the Author</b><br style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">The author of four critically acclaimed historical novels, Mary Sharratt is an American who lives in the Pendle region of Lancashire, England, the setting for her acclaimed Daughters of the Witching Hill, which recasts the Pendle Witches of 1612 in their historical context as cunning folk and healers. She also lived for twelve years in Germany, which, along with her interest in sacred music and herbal medicine, inspired her to write Illuminations: A Novel of Hildegard von Bingen. Illuminations won the Nautilus Gold Award for Better Books for a Better World and was selected as a Kirkus Book of the Year. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">For more information please visit Mary's </span><a href="http://www.marysharratt.com/books.html"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">website</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;"> and </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">blog</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">. </span></a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">Publication Date: October 15, 2013</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">Mariner Books</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">Paperback; 288p</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">ISBN-10: 0544106539</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;"><i>Disclaimer: I received a copy of the novel, Illuminations, from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review. </i></span></span>Joannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07716758796036142540noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-594646035303934578.post-69192639392984833732013-09-22T12:29:00.005-05:002013-09-22T13:03:34.052-05:00Author Dinner in New OrleansThis weekend I had the pleasure of going to dinner in the French Quarter with some friends and two fabulous authors, <a href="http://www.karen-white.com/">Karen White</a> and <a href="http://susancrandall.net/books/whistling-past-the-graveyard/">Susan Crandall.</a><br />
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Welllll, truth be told, I crashed the party.<br />
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Let me explain.<br />
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A dear friend of mine belongs to a book club that was formed yeeeaaarrs ago, and she's mentioned it on occasion. (I'm still waiting <cough cough=""> for an invitation into this club, but that hasn't happened!) Anyway, about a year ago, Tish happened to mention to me that one of her book club members was a long time friend of author Karen White; in fact, they were college roommates. When the club chose to read a Karen White novel, they arranged for the author to come to Tish's house for a book club get-together. Now, <i style="font-weight: bold;">my dear friend </i>knows I will go all over the country to meet my favorite authors (I've been to Phoenix, AZ and NYC to meet Diana Gabaldon, Lauren Willig, Susanna Kearsley, Deanna Raybourn, etc...) and I was floored that she had Karen White at her house. <i style="font-weight: bold;">At her house!!! </i>And I am finding out about this after the fact!</cough><br />
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So, I told my dear friend that if they EVER had another get together with an author that I admire, could I pretty please tag along? Duly chastised, she agreed to let me know. Fast forward to now, the club chose <i><b>The Time Between</b></i> and arranged another get together with Karen while she was in New Orleans attending a book convention. And this time, I coerced -- I mean, I was invited! So thank you to the club for letting me join in the fun!<br />
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The dinner was actually a two-for-one club meeting. Besides the beautiful Karen White, we were treated to the company of Susan Crandall, author of the acclaimed novel <i><b>Whistling Past the Graveyard.</b></i><br />
<i>The Time Between</i> and <i>Whistling Past the Graveyard</i> go well together; they are both charming and poignant novels with rich southern settings and stories that will tug at your heartstrings. Highly recommended!<br />
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Here's a bit about each book:<br />
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<strong style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">From an award-winning author comes a wise and tender coming-of-age story about a nine-year-old girl who runs away from her Mississippi home in 1963, befriends a lonely woman suffering loss and abuse, and embarks on a life-changing roadtrip. (from Goodreads)</strong><br />
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<strong style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">A stunning new novel of betrayal and forgiveness from the New York Times bestselling author.</strong><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Thirty-four-year-old Eleanor Murray is consumed with guilt for causing the accident that paralyzed her sister—and for falling in love with her sister’s husband. But when her boss offers her a part-time job caring for his elderly aunt, Helena, Eleanor accepts, hoping this good deed will help atone for her mistakes.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">On the barrier island of Edisto, Eleanor bonds with Helena over their mutual love of music. Drawing the older woman out of her depression, Eleanor learns of her life in Hungary, with her sister, before and during World War II. She hears tales of passion and heartache, defiance and dangerous deception. And when the truth of Helena and her sister’s actions comes to light, Eleanor may finally allow herself to move past guilt and to embrace the song that lies deep in her heart… (from Goodreads)</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> The lovely and funny Karen White opening a gift bag of goodies.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> And passing around books and inscribing them.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> Lovely and gracious Susan Crandall signing her books (as the waiters in the background were bringing in platters loaded with delicious southern cuisine).</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> With Karen White........</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> and Susan Crandall</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">I'd like to mention that if you are a fan of Karen White, she said she has <b>several books </b>coming out in 2014 and that some of her long out-of-print first novels are getting an update and a fresh new look! Many good things to come from Karen, including a new Tradd Street mystery!</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">P.S. If you are ever in New Orleans, stop by the La Petit Theatre in the French Quarter and have dinner and cocktails at The Tableau....the peach margarita with mint was to die for!</span>Joannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07716758796036142540noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-594646035303934578.post-42827435835173407872013-08-27T06:00:00.000-05:002013-08-27T06:00:09.252-05:00Guest Post - Jennie Fields, Author of The Age of Desire<br />
Today, I am very pleased to welcome Jennie Fields to my book blog, the author of <i>The Age of Desire. </i>In this fascinating guest post, she reveals how an incredible discovery during the writing of her book about the great author, Edith Wharton, impacted the depth of her book. Enjoy!<br />
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By: Jennie Fields<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Writing
a biographical novel is not just about telling a life story, but about creating
a world around the main character. In
the case of Edith Wharton, whose mid-life love affair with a younger man was
the basis for my novel “The Age of Desire,” it was soon apparent to me that I
needed to tell this tale not just through Edith’s eyes but also through a
character who could view her from the outside.
I discovered there was a woman who was with Edith for more than thirty
years, first as her childhood governess, then as her literary secretary and
first reader. Her name was Anna Bahlmann
and Edith Wharton’s biographers all but ignored her. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">But
because they were together so long, I thought Edith and Anna must have been
close. With some research, I discovered
Anna was rather remarkable: orphaned at the age of two, she nevertheless became
a cultured, educated and self-supporting woman in an era where there were few
options for what was considered the weaker sex.
After discovering all I could about her, I began to write. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Then
about two months in, a miracle occurred. One night, I couldn’t sleep, so I got
up and typed Anna Bahlmann’s name into a search engine as I had a thousand
times before. But that night, a new
listing appeared. Christies, that very
week, was auctioning off 135 letters from Edith Wharton to Anna Bahlmann that
had been stashed away for over a hundred years!
<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">I
called Christies as soon as they opened the next day and asked if they’d allow
me to view the letters, as I was in the middle of writing a novel about these
two women. Much to my surprise, they
said, “Of course. Come in. We’ll set you up at a table.” For two days, I poured these wonderful
letters, hands shaking. This pile of
sweet missives revealed an almost mother/daughter relationship. Starting when Edith was a bright eyed,
unbelievably articulate child, writing to governess Anna about books and
writing and ideas, missing her when she went off to teach other children,
begging her to visit them at their country house, to later letters when Edith
counted on Anna to help run her affairs, admonished her for worrying too much
over her, and laughed with her about things only they could share; their
friendship was warm, touching and intimate. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In
the end, “The Age of Desire” is not just about a mid-life love affair, but
about an abiding friendship between two remarkable women. And to my mind, that makes it a richer, more
universal book. How lucky I was that
Anna Bahlmann came into Edith Wharton’s life, and into mine.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR<a href="http://hfvirtualbooktours.com/theageofdesiretour/jennie-fields/" rel="attachment wp-att-1894" style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0d4a49; font-size: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Jennie Fields" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-1894" height="150" src="http://hfvirtualbooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Jennie-Fields-150x150.jpeg" style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; float: right; font-size: 19px; margin: 2px 0px 4px 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="150" /></a></h3>
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Born in the heart of the heart of the country – Chicago — Jennie Fields decided to become a writer at the age of six and produced her first (365 page!) novel when she was eleven. She received her MFA at the Iowa Writers Workshop and published her first short stories while spending a postgraduate year at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. But needing to feed her family in the era just post-Mad Men, she became an early female copywriter at an advertising agency, soon rising to creative director and moving to New York. In her 32-year advertising career, she wrote and produced many well-known and award-winning commercials. People even now can embarrass her by telling her they grew up dancing to one of her McDonalds’ jingles.</div>
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Still, fiction was her great love. Writing during her lunch hour and after her daughter’s bedtime she penned her first novel, Lily Beach, which was published by Atheneum in 1993 to much acclaim. Since then, she’s written three more novels including Crossing Brooklyn Ferry and The Middle Ages. Her latest, The Age of Desire, is a biographical novel based on the life of the author dearest to her heart, Edith Wharton. An Editor’s Choice of the New York Times Book Review, it describes Wharton’s mid-life love affair with a younger, manipulative man. Why the affinity to Wharton? Because she wrote about people attempting to break society’s expectations for them – which is something Fields has been yearning to do all her life.</div>
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For more information, please visit Jennie’s <a href="http://jenniefields.com/"><span style="color: #0d4a49; font-size: x-small;">website</span>. </a></div>
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Joannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07716758796036142540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-594646035303934578.post-39441377782394353792013-08-26T06:00:00.000-05:002013-08-26T06:00:00.126-05:00The Age of Desire by Jennie Fields<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>About the Book:</b><br />
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<i><b>A sparkling glimpse into the life of Edith Wharton and the scandalous love affair that threatened her closest friendship.</b></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.35em;"><i>They say that behind every great man is a great woman. Behind Edith Wharton, there was Anna Bahlmann—her governess turned literary secretary and confidante. At the age of forty-five, despite her growing fame, Edith remains unfulfilled in a lonely, sexless marriage. Against all the rules of Gilded Age society, she falls in love with Morton Fullerton, a dashing young journalist. But their scandalous affair threatens everything in Edith’s life—especially her abiding ties to Anna.</i></span></div>
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<i>At a moment of regained popularity for Wharton, Jennie Fields brilliantly interweaves Wharton’s real letters and diary entries with her fascinating, untold love story. Told through the points of view of both Edith and Anna, The Age of Desire transports readers to the golden days of Wharton’s turn-of-the century world and—like the recent bestseller The Chaperone—effortlessly re-creates the life of an unforgettable woman.</i></div>
<b>My thoughts:</b><br />
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I love it when I read a book that inspires me to search for more information...that makes me want to know more about an historical figure or sheds new light on a topic. That is exactly what reading <i>The Age of Desire</i> did for me, and I want to thank author Jennie Fields for sparking a new interest in the writings of Edith Wharton. <i>Ethan Frome </i>is the only Wharton novel that I have read (required college reading), but I am now very interested in reading <i>The House of Mirth </i>and her other novels<i> </i>with a much deeper understanding of the author's feelings and motivations.<br />
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I knew going into this book that when I would encounter Edith Wharton in the novel, it would be necessary to put aside modern sensibilities and twenty-first century attitudes to fully embrace her journey and awakening . It is challenging to look back at the repressive, restrictive attitudes and behavior of society in the early 1900's and not feel frustrated. However, that was the reality of the time period. Edith, trapped in an unhappy and unfulfulling marriage, turned to her writing for solace and her faithful friend and assistant, Anna Bahlmann, for companionship.<br />
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I thoroughy enjoyed Edith's evolution and discovery of her passions -- her visits to Parisian salons populated by artists, writers, and intellectuals opened her eyes to new ways of thinking and challenged her conventional attitudes. It also introduced her to a sensual world which she thought was forever closed to her -- her secret relationship with journalist Morton Fullerton would bring her both pleasure and great pain. Fields uses excerpts from Wharton's letters and diaries to enhance the story of an extraordinary and complex writer's exploration of relationships, her sexuality, and self-discovery. A very interesting read!<br />
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<b>Title: </b>The Age of Desire<br />
<b>Author:</b> Jennie Fields<br />
<b>Publisher:</b> Penguin Books<br />
352 pages<br />
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<b>For more information, reviews, and guest posts, please visit <a href="http://hfvirtualbooktours.com/theageofdesiretour/">Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours.</a></b><br />
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<i>Disclosure: I received a copy of The Age of Desire by Jennie Fields from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review. </i>Joannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07716758796036142540noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-594646035303934578.post-39354496871670686982013-07-15T13:43:00.000-05:002013-07-15T13:45:55.318-05:00The River of No Return by Bee Ridgway<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>About the Book:</b><br />
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<i><strong style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">In Bee Ridgway’s wonderfully imaginative debut novel, a man and a woman travel through time in a quest to bring down a secret society that controls the past and, thus, the future. </strong><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">“You are now a member of the Guild . There is no return.” Two hundred years after he was about to die on a Napoleonic battlefield, Nick Falcott, soldier and aristocrat, wakes up in a hospital bed in modern London. The Guild, an entity that controls time travel, showers him with life's advantages. But Nick yearns for home and for one brown-eyed girl, lost now down the centuries. Then the Guild asks him to break its own rule. It needs Nick to go back to 1815 to fight the Guild’s enemies and to find something called the Talisman.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">In 1815, Julia Percy mourns the death of her beloved grandfather, an earl who could play with time. On his deathbed he whispers in her ear: “Pretend!” Pretend what? When Nick returns home as if from the dead, older than he should be and battle scarred, Julia begins to suspect that her very life depends upon the secrets Grandfather never told her. Soon enough Julia and Nick are caught up in an adventure that stretches up and down the river of time. As their knowledge of the Guild and their feelings for each other grow, the fate of the future itself is hanging in the balance.</span></i><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">I'll be honest......I don't know what I think about this book.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">Did I like it? Did I get lost and bored with the meandering storyline? Was I intrigued with the unique time travel? Was I not amused at witty attempts? Was I invested in the love story of Julia and Nick? Did I hate the ending? </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">Yes, to all of the above! So I'm left scratching my head on this one.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">I loved Ridgway's original and imaginative concept of time travel -- I'm always drawn to stories of characters traveling through time (either forward or backward) and their adventures as they attempt to conform to the social rules and mores of their time period. Imagine the jar to the senses for a nineteenth century marquess to be hurdled 200 years forward from a battlefield to the 21st century! This could be quite interesting! Especially since he is told he can never return to his own time, and he yearns for a special young lady and her beautiful eyes from his past.....</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">And then there is Julia Percy, back in the 19th century, raised by a grandfather who possessed special powers that could play with time. When her grandfather dies, she is left to suffer at the hands of her cruel cousin Eamon who is determined to find out all he can about the secret powers the man took to his grave, even if it means destroying Julia in the process. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">Part time travel, part mystery, part romance, part spy novel.....so far so good!</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">From here, I began to drown in the story. It meandered like the Mississippi River. I got lost. I skipped pages. It went on forever. The Guild. The Ofans. The future in peril. Who can you trust? Who is really who they say they are? Secrets are slooooowly being revealed. It picked up and I got interested again. I thought it had me as the love story developed, and then......it just ended! I actually thought my kindle edition was missing the last few pages. What?! </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">I don't know........there are many, many 5 star ratings on different sites and terrific reviews, so this genre mash up appealed to a majority. Just didn't end up being my cup of tea.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">3/5 stars</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">**This book (kindle edition) was purchased by me and is part of my personal library.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 21.111112594604492px;"><br /></span></span>Joannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07716758796036142540noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-594646035303934578.post-72212909334610794632013-07-09T16:24:00.001-05:002013-07-09T16:31:18.050-05:00Got Jamie?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">IT’S OFFICIAL!</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">SAM HEUGHAN CAST AS JAMIE FRASER IN STARZ & SONY PICTURES TV’S “OUTLANDER”</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">New Original Series Based on Diana Gabaldon’s International Best-Selling Novels </span><br />
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<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">From “Battlestar Galactica” Executive Producer Ronald D. Moore<br /><br />Beverly Hills, Calif., July 9, 2013 – Starz in association with Sony Pictures Television has announced today that Sam Heughan will play the role of Jamie Fraser in the original series “Outlander,” adapted from Diana Gabaldon’s international best-selling books, which will premiere on STARZ in 2014. The chivalrous young Scottish warrior, Jamie Fraser, has been adored worldwide by fans of the seven-book series that has sold more than 20 million copies and has graced the New York Times best-sellers list six times.<br /><br />Diana Gabaldon said, “Oh. My. God. That man is a Scot to the bone and Jamie Fraser to the heart. Having seen Sam Heughan not just act, but be Jamie, I feel immensely grateful to the production team for their painstaking attention to the soul of the story and characters."<br /><br />"From the very beginning, I knew the part of Jamie Fraser would be difficult to cast,” said Executive Producer Ronald D. Moore. “I had no one in mind for the part. I knew that someone would just come into the audition and be Jamie Fraser. And that's what Sam did."<br /><br />In “Outlander,” Jamie Fraser strikes up a passionate affair with Claire Randall, a married combat nurse from 1945 who is mysteriously swept back in time to 1743. Armed with sheer grit and enduring strength, he is a strapping young Scottish clan lord with a complicated past and a disarming sense of humor. He is intelligent, principled, and, by 18th century standards, educated and worldly, with a tenderness and compassion that stands out in contrast to his contemporaries. A natural leader of men, he has no political ambitions or desire for battlefield glories. Instead, he wishes to remove the price on his head and return to his family’s ancestral farm.<br /><br />Sam Heughan is a graduate of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, he was a 2003 nominee for the Laurence Olivier Award for Most Promising Performance for his work in the program. Last year, he originated the role of Batman in the DC/Warner Brothers and Waterlane production of "Batman Live," an international tour which opened at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles and went on to tour in South America and throughout Europe. In 2010, he was nominated for a British Soap Award for “Villain of the Year” for his role as Scott Neilson in the BBC soap opera "Doctors." He has also had roles in a range of television series including, "River City," "Island at War," "The Wild West," "Midsomer Murders," and, most recently, "Any Human Heart" as Lieutenant McStay. His TV movie credits include, "Breaking the Mould" for BBC Television, "A Very British Sex Scandal" for Channel 4 and "First Light" for BBC2. He was nominated for a "Grace award" for his performance as Prince Ashton, the son of Sir Roger Moore, in “A Princess for Christmas” for Hallmark Channel. His film credits include the short film Small Moments, and the feature films Alexander the Great from Macedonia and Emulsion. He will also be seen in the upcoming film Heart of Lightness. On stage, Heughan has performed at a variety of theatres in such productions as “King John,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “The Vortex,” “Hamlet,” “Macbeth,” “The Talented Mr. Ripley” and more. At the Royal Scottish Academy, Heughan starred in productions including “Crime & Punishment,” “The Seagull,” and “Prometheus Bound.” He is repped by United Talent Agency in the US and United Agents in the UK.<br /><br />The series adaptation for “Outlander” will be written by Ronald D. Moore (“Battlestar Galactica,” “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” “Star Trek: The Next Generation”). Ronald D. Moore and Jim Kohlberg are executive producers of “Outlander,” which is produced by Tall Ship Productions, Story Mining & Supply Company and Left Bank Pictures in association with Sony Pictures Television.<br /><br />The series will begin filming in Scotland this fall. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 17.97109603881836px;">Just doing my part to spread the word and share in the excitement of the STARZ production of<i><b> Outlander!!!</b></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 17.97109603881836px;">I wanted to wait patiently for the official announcement, and Diana Gabaldon herself has posted this with her blessings!! The actor is gorgeous, tall, and Scottish -- and Diana approves!</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 17.97109603881836px;">Can't wait to see more as they cast more characters -- brilliant casting of Jamie.....now on to Claire!</span></span></div>
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Joannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07716758796036142540noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-594646035303934578.post-1079906881639101532013-06-25T17:52:00.000-05:002013-06-26T09:59:38.428-05:00The Bookman's Tale by Charlie Lovett<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>About the Book:</b></div>
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<strong style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;"><i>A mysterious portrait ignites an antiquarian bookseller’s search through time and the works of Shakespeare for his lost love.</i></strong><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">Guaranteed to capture the hearts of everyone who truly loves books,</span><em style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">The Bookman’s Tale</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;"> is a former bookseller’s sparkling novel and a delightful exploration of one of literature’s most tantalizing mysteries with echoes of </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">Shadow of the Wind</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;"> and A.S. Byatt's </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">Possession</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">Hay-on-Wye, 1995. Peter Byerly isn’t sure what drew him into this particular bookshop. Nine months earlier, the death of his beloved wife, Amanda, had left him shattered. The young antiquarian bookseller relocated from North Carolina to the English countryside, hoping to rediscover the joy he once took in collecting and restoring rare books. But upon opening an eighteenth-century study of Shakespeare forgeries, Peter is shocked when a portrait of Amanda tumbles out of its pages. Of course, it isn’t really her. The watercolor is clearly Victorian. Yet the resemblance is uncanny, and Peter becomes obsessed with learning the picture’s origins.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">As he follows the trail back first to the Victorian era and then to Shakespeare’s time, Peter communes with Amanda’s spirit, learns the truth about his own past, and discovers a book that might definitively prove Shakespeare was, indeed, the author of all his plays.</span><br />
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<b>Why I chose this book:</b><br />
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I was intrigued by the premise of an antiquarian bookseller discovering a hauntingly similar portrait of his dead wife in an antique book shop! I am also drawn to "books about books," so this looked like a must read for me.<br />
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<b>What I enjoyed about the book:</b><br />
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<i>The Bookman's Tale </i>was a delight for the bibliophile in me......Peter is someone who was easy for me to relate to -- he was more comfortable in the company of books than with people, and was passionate in both his love for books and his beautiful Amanda. This mystery novel with a hauntingly touching love story had multiple plots that took the reader to Shakespeare's world, the Victorian era, and the present day. While a little confusing at times with so many characters, I kept chugging along and was rewarded with a most enjoyable reading experience.<br />
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<b>Do I recommend?</b><br />
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Yes, for those who enjoy mysteries and consider themselves bibliophiles. Does your heart leap at the thought of visiting a rare books collection or an antique bookstore in Hay-on-Wye? Then this will be a satisfying reading experience for you.<br />
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4/5 stars<br />
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***I purchased this book and it is part of my personal library.Joannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07716758796036142540noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-594646035303934578.post-70025296082920958722013-06-24T21:38:00.000-05:002013-06-24T21:46:49.793-05:00The Julian Kestrel series by Kate Ross<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Book #4</div>
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Woo hoo! The fourth and (unfortunately) the last of the excellent <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cut-Quick-Julian-Kestrel-1/dp/1934609498/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_z">Julian Kestrel mystery</a> series, <i><b>The Devil in Music,</b></i> will be released in August by Felony and Mayhem Publishers!<br />
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The four books that comprise the series feature Regency dandy and detective, Julian Kestrel, and his sidekick, Dipper, as they become involved in solving crimes from country house murders to the underworld of London. The writing is sharp and intelligent,the attention to period detail is impeccable, and the plots have many twists and turns that keep me flying through the pages! I love, love, love this Regency mystery series and am so glad the books are getting a fresh new look and a reprint. (My used copies purchased at various online sites are battered and falling apart.)<br />
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<b>About the book:</b><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;"><i>Traveling on the Continent with his ex-pickpocket valet, Kestrel finds himself caught up in the mysterious and murderous world of the opera. Four years ago, the Italian marquis Ludovico Malvezzi was murdered, and Orfeo, the young English tenor he had been training for a career on the glittering operatic stage, disappeared. As Kestral is irresistibly drawn into the baffling case, he encounters suspects at every turn: a runaway wife and her male soprano lover; a liberal nobleman at odds with Italy's Austrian overlords; a mocking Frenchman with perfect pitch; a beautiful, clever widow who haunts Kestrel's dreams; and the missing Orfeo, the penniless protege who just might be a political agent. And when the killer strikes again, Kestrel's quest for answers spirals into a crescendo of passion, danger, and music as he risks becoming a ruthless murderer's next victim</i></span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 21.09140396118164px;">Do you have a favorite historical mystery series?</span></span><br />
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Joannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07716758796036142540noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-594646035303934578.post-73899983797361031992013-06-23T09:02:00.000-05:002013-06-26T08:45:55.529-05:00Summer ReadingGood morning! It's been a long time since I've dropped in to chat, and I hope everyone has been well and reading some good books!<br />
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Life has been incredibly hectic lately, all in a good way. My lovely daughter graduated from high school recently, so to celebrate her accomplishments we took along a few of her friends and spent a week in Disney World. Prior to that, I spent a few days with some dear friends at the beach for a girls' getaway, and that time was filled with laughter and gossip and quite a bit of snacking! We are also in the process of building a vacation home (a log cabin) in the country which is an exciting venture but an extremely slow process since it is in the middle of nowhere -- clearing trees and laying down roads to get to the site, getting the power company to set up lines for electricity, digging a well for water--these all took forever to accomplish and now the fun is beginning. Each week when we visit the site, we can begin to see things taking shape and the house is actually going up now.<br />
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I mention all of these activities so you can see that my reading time has been limited. I have a few books that I am very much looking forward to reading this summer, and the beautiful covers just put me in the mood for a glass of iced tea and some sunshine:<br />
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<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">In Depression-era Key West, Mariella Bennet, the daughter of an American fisherman and a Cuban woman, knows hunger. Her struggle to support her family following her father’s death leads her to a bar and bordello, where she bets on a risky boxing match...and attracts the interest of two men: world-famous writer, Ernest Hemingway, and Gavin Murray, one of the WWI veterans who are laboring to build the Overseas Highway.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">When Mariella is hired as a maid by Hemingway’s second wife, Pauline, she enters a rarified world of lavish, celebrity-filled dinner parties and elaborate off-island excursions. As she becomes caught up in the tensions and excesses of the Hemingway household, the attentions of the larger-than-life writer become a dangerous temptation...even as the reliable Gavin Murray draws her back to what matters most. Will she cross an invisible line with the volatile Hemingway, or find a way to claim her own dreams? As a massive hurricane bears down on Key West, Mariella faces some harsh truths...and the possibility of losing everything she loves. (from Goodreads)</span></i><br />
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<i><strong style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">A sweeping World War II saga of thwarted love, murder, and a long-lost painting. </strong><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">In the summer of 1942, twenty-one-year-old Anne Calloway, newly engaged, sets off to serve in the Army Nurse Corps on the Pacific island of Bora-Bora. More exhilarated by the adventure of a lifetime than she ever was by her predictable fiancé, she is drawn to a mysterious soldier named Westry, and their friendship soon blossoms into hues as deep as the hibiscus flowers native to the island. Under the thatched roof of an abandoned beach bungalow, the two share a private world-until they witness a gruesome crime, Westry is suddenly redeployed, and the idyll vanishes into the winds of war.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">A timeless story of enduring passion from the author of </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">Blackberry Winter</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;"> and </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">The Violets of March</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">The Bungalow</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;"> chronicles Anne's determination to discover the truth about the twin losses-of life, and of love-that have haunted her for seventy years. (from Goodreads)</span></i><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 21.10416603088379px;">And now for a quick summary of some books that were on my " highly anticipated for 2013" list. Perhaps life may be too busy for me lately to fully enjoy all of these novels -- I jumped on them as soon as they became available as the list is comprised of some of my favorite authors. They were all, of course, enjoyable and satisfying, but none of them wowed me.</span></span><br />
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<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">Memorial Day, 1938: New York socialite Lily Dane has just returned with her family to the idyllic oceanfront community of Seaview, Rhode Island, expecting another placid summer season among the familiar traditions and friendships that sustained her after heartbreak. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">That is, until Greenwalds decide to take up residence in Seaview.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">Nick and Budgie Greenwald are an unwelcome specter from Lily’s past: her former best friend and her former fiancé, now recently married—an event that set off a wildfire of gossip among the elite of Seaview, who have summered together for generations. Budgie’s arrival to restore her family’s old house puts her once more in the center of the community’s social scene, and she insinuates herself back into Lily's friendship with an overpowering talent for seduction...and an alluring acquaintance from their college days, Yankees pitcher Graham Pendleton. But the ties that bind Lily to Nick are too strong and intricate to ignore, and the two are drawn back into long-buried dreams, despite their uneasy secrets and many emotional obligations. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">Under the scorching summer sun, the unexpected truth of Budgie and Nick’s marriage bubbles to the surface, and as a cataclysmic hurricane barrels unseen up the Atlantic and into New England, Lily and Nick must confront an emotional cyclone of their own, which will change their worlds forever. (from Goodreads)</span></i><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 21.10416603088379px;">If you're looking for light summer reading,<i> A Hundred Summers</i> will fit the bill. The plot is fairly transparent and it's not too difficult to figure out the puzzle pieces well before they snap into place. I much preferred Beatriz Williams' previous book, Overseas. (2.5/5 stars)</span></span><br />
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<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">Paris, 1923 </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">The daughter of a scandalous mother, Delilah Drummond is already notorious, even amongst Paris society. But her latest scandal is big enough to make even her oft-married mother blanch. Delilah is exiled to Kenya and her favorite stepfather's savannah manor house until gossip subsides. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">Fairlight is the crumbling, sun-bleached skeleton of a faded African dream, a world where dissolute expats are bolstered by gin and jazz records, cigarettes and safaris. As mistress of this wasted estate, Delilah falls into the decadent pleasures of society. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">Against the frivolity of her peers, Ryder White stands in sharp contrast. As foreign to Delilah as Africa, Ryder becomes her guide to the complex beauty of this unknown world. Giraffes, buffalo, lions and elephants roam the shores of Lake Wanyama amid swirls of red dust. Here, life is lush and teeming-yet fleeting and often cheap. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">Amidst the wonders-and dangers-of Africa, Delilah awakes to a land out of all proportion: extremes of heat, darkness, beauty and joy that cut to her very heart. Only when this sacred place is profaned by bloodshed does Delilah discover what is truly worth fighting for-and what she can no longer live without. (from Goodreads)</span></i><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 21.10416603088379px;">Deanna Raybourn is always wickedly fun and exciting to read, and there were times when <i>A Spear of Summer Grass </i> just sparkled. Raybourn is at her best when she's capturing the style, glamour, and atmosphere of the roaring twenties and the wilds of Kenya, and Delilah Drummond was a delightfully decadent character with a colorful southern belle upbringing. However, I just didn't connect with the romance between Delilah and Ryder. I wanted the same explosive chemistry that I've come to expect from the Lady Julia series between Brisbane and Lady Julia, and I was left very underwhelmed with Delilah and Ryder's relationship. (3/5 stars)</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XxzxlJwqYnk/Ucb5KfyGYvI/AAAAAAAAFQ8/U15KPaToG9Y/s1600/ashford+affair.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XxzxlJwqYnk/Ucb5KfyGYvI/AAAAAAAAFQ8/U15KPaToG9Y/s1600/ashford+affair.jpg" /></a></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;"><i>As a lawyer in a large Manhattan firm, just shy of making partner, Clementine Evans has finally achieved almost everything she’s been working towards—but now she’s not sure it’s enough. Her long hours have led to a broken engagement and, suddenly single at thirty-four, she feels her messy life crumbling around her. But when the family gathers for her grandmother Addie’s ninety-ninth birthday, a relative lets slip hints about a long-buried family secret, leading Clemmie on a journey into the past that could change everything. . . .</i></span><br />
<i><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">What follows is a potent story that spans generations and continents, bringing an </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">Out of Africa</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;"> feel to a </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">Downton Abbey</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;"> cast of unforgettable characters. From the inner circles of WWI-era British society to the skyscrapers of Manhattan and the red-dirt hills of Kenya, the never-told secrets of a woman and a family unfurl. (from Goodreads)</span></i><br />
<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;"><br /></span></i>
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 21.10416603088379px;">Both Deanna Raybourn and Lauren Willig were inspired to create their Kenya-based novels after reading <i>The Bolter,</i> the fascinating account of the notorious Jazz Age socialite, Idina Sackville. I enjoyed Willig's dual-time story, and found myself deeply immersed in the novel to uncover the secrets of Clemmie's grandmother's past. Willig creates suspense and interest by alternating the past and present stories as the secrets unfold. If you enjoy books such as Kate Morton's layered mysteries, you will enjoy the family saga of <i>The Ashford Affair</i>. (4/5 stars)</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 21.10416603088379px;">Thanks for stopping by........stay cool, and let me know if you have any "hot reads" that I must add to my summer reading list!</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 21.10416603088379px;">***All of the books noted above were purchased by me and are part of my personal library.</span></span>Joannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07716758796036142540noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-594646035303934578.post-45146761766882441222013-06-12T13:12:00.000-05:002013-08-17T10:13:09.620-05:00Guest Post: Susanna Kearsley Discusses the Paranormal<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Hqb788wC-LA/Ubi1ZJ0x8HI/AAAAAAAAFPU/d-4G1YZdWsg/s1600/9781402276637-300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Hqb788wC-LA/Ubi1ZJ0x8HI/AAAAAAAAFPU/d-4G1YZdWsg/s320/9781402276637-300.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>
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I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am to be a part of Susanna Kearsley's celebration of the Sourcebook's US release of her latest, <b style="font-style: italic;">The Firebird.</b><br />
<b style="font-style: italic;"><br /></b>
<b style="font-style: italic;"> </b>I had the opportunity to ask Susanna about any topic of my choice, so I immediately wanted to know if she would write about a part of her novels that I find so intriguing: that touch of the paranormal that seamlessly blends her stories from the past to the present. Each of her novels has a unique paranormal element, so I hope you enjoy the following guest post written by Susanna Kearsley for <b>Books, Belles, and Beaux!</b><br />
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<b><br /></b>
<b>By Susanna Kearsley:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
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<div class="yiv1913652428msonormal">
<span lang="EN-CA">People who have read my books
before will know I often like to link the past and present with a touch of
something paranormal. In <b>Mariana, </b>for example, my heroine was the reincarnation
of a woman who’d lived a few centuries earlier; <b>The Shadowy Horses</b> featured the
ghost of a Roman legionary soldier; <b>Named of the Dragon</b> relied upon dreams, and
<b>The Winter Sea</b>’s two storylines were tied together by genetic memory (which is
properly more science than pure paranormal, I suppose). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="yiv1913652428msonormal">
<span lang="EN-CA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="yiv1913652428msonormal">
<span lang="EN-CA"><b>The Firebird</b>, true to form,
has as its modern-day hero and heroine two people who both have psychic
abilities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="yiv1913652428msonormal">
<span lang="EN-CA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="yiv1913652428msonormal">
<span lang="EN-CA">Why do I do this? I’m not
really sure, but I think my own interest in things paranormal goes back to the
two books of fairytales that I loved best in my childhood (and which are both
still on my shelves). One was shorter but larger with rich illustrations that
drew me right in to the stories. The other was thicker with no illustrations at
all, but with so many fairytales I’d never heard before, all of them having one
thing to connect them—they took place in worlds where the strange and the
magical lived side by side with the everyday. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="yiv1913652428msonormal">
<span lang="EN-CA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="yiv1913652428msonormal">
<span lang="EN-CA">In fairytales, the hero might
be walking in an ordinary woods and meet an ordinary-looking man or woman who
turned out to be not what they seemed to be at all. The laws of time and
distance could be bent and altered. Nearly anything could happen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="yiv1913652428msonormal">
<span lang="EN-CA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="yiv1913652428msonormal">
<span lang="EN-CA">As a child, I loved that
world. And as I’ve grown, I’ve found myself intrigued by concepts like the
Celtic view of time as something that’s not linear, but sideways—past and
present moving side by side, with fleeting points of intersection. I like
knowing there are some things that our current state of science can’t explain. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="yiv1913652428msonormal">
<span lang="EN-CA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="yiv1913652428msonormal">
<span lang="EN-CA">And I am fascinated by the
scientific research going on today involving some of those same things: the
research being done at the University of Wisconsin’s School of Medicine into whether
genetic memory might explain the talents of autistic savants, for example, or the
research into reincarnation and near-death experiences being conducted by the
University of Virginia’s School of Medicine, whose Division of Perceptual
Sciences holds as its guiding words a quote by Thomas Jefferson from 1812:
"I was bold in the pursuit of knowledge, never fearing to follow truth and
reason to whatever results they led."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="yiv1913652428msonormal">
<span lang="EN-CA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="yiv1913652428msonormal">
<span lang="EN-CA">Usually, when I am making my
heroine come face to face with fantastical things in a novel, I like to make
her the most sceptical character. Because, let’s face it—if I started to have
visions of a past life, or to time travel, my first reaction would probably not
be, “Oh, goody!” I’d probably think just the opposite, be convinced something
was medically wrong, and rush off to my doctor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="yiv1913652428msonormal">
<span lang="EN-CA">In most of my books, then, the
heroine doesn’t believe, to begin with. I have to convince her by stages, with
evidence, and in so doing I hope that the reader is also convinced in the end.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="yiv1913652428msonormal">
<span lang="EN-CA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="yiv1913652428msonormal">
<span lang="EN-CA">But with <b>The Firebird</b>, I
couldn’t use this method, because Nicola—the heroine—is psychic to begin with,
so she doesn’t need convincing. Which is new for me, and nervewracking, because
it means that readers have to trust her from the first page, the first
sentence, and believe such things are possible—that certain people truly can
communicate from mind to mind, and do the things that scientific research seems
to show they can, but that our science cannot yet explain or fully understand.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="yiv1913652428msonormal">
<span lang="EN-CA">It’s a lot to ask of readers,
and I realize that not all of them will want to make that leap, including those
who for religious reasons don’t believe in psychics (though I hope they’ll
still read and enjoy the historical storyline).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="yiv1913652428msonormal">
<span lang="EN-CA"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="yiv1913652428msonormal">
<span lang="EN-CA">But for those prepared to
follow Rob and Nicola from that first line: “He sent his mind in search of me
that morning”, I hope you find <b>The Firebird</b>—a book that takes its title from a
fairytale—a journey through that world that I so loved in my own childhood,
when the unexplained was interwoven with the everyday, and nearly anything
could happen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<b><br /></b>
******************<br />
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<i>I would like to thank Beth Pehlke of Sourcebooks for including me in The Firebird promotion, and the author, Susanna Kearsley, for taking the time to write a personal guest post for Books, Belles, and Beaux. </i>Joannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07716758796036142540noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-594646035303934578.post-30094082037019496582013-05-29T09:51:00.003-05:002013-05-29T09:56:56.972-05:00Spotlight on: Pirates and Prejudice by Kara Louise<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NYHyn7sinaU/UaYS3Jgpu2I/AAAAAAAAFO0/7LqZo7fLteM/s1600/piratesandprejujdice+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NYHyn7sinaU/UaYS3Jgpu2I/AAAAAAAAFO0/7LqZo7fLteM/s320/piratesandprejujdice+cover.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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<br />
<b>About the Book:</b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white;">After Elizabeth Bennet refuses Mr. Darcy's offer of marriage, it takes a heavy toll on him. He withdraws to London and disappears near the docks, away from family, friends, and acquaintances. When he is mistaken for an escaped pirate, he is thrust into an adventure he would never have imagined. Will this be what he needs to forget the one woman he had come to love? </span><br style="background-color: white;" /><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;">When her aunt and uncle have to cancel their plans to tour the Lake District, Elizabeth Bennet has the opportunity to sail to the Isles of Scilly with her father. After a pleasant visit, the voyage home brings storms, a shipwreck, and pirates! When she is rescued by gallant Captain Smith, she finds herself inexplicably drawn to him. What will she do when she discovers he is the very man whose offer of marriage she refused just a few months earlier?</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Doesn't this look like a fun summer read? I know I'll be adding this one to my beach bag!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> I was very impressed with the author's previous two Austenesque books, <a href="http://joanne-sliceoflife3.blogspot.com/2011/01/darcys-voyage-by-kara-louise.html"><i>Darcy's Voyage</i></a> and<i> <a href="http://joanne-sliceoflife3.blogspot.com/2011/06/only-mr-darcy-will-do-by-kara-louise.html">Only Mr. Darcy Will Do</a>,</i> and I'm looking forward to another P&P adventure and variation. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Kara Louise is doing a blog tour for this book, so you can visit her <a href="http://www.karalouise.net/">website</a> for more info. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><b>What are you looking forward to tucking into your beach bag this summer?</b></i></span>Joannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07716758796036142540noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-594646035303934578.post-34186285258263106522013-05-19T21:13:00.002-05:002013-06-26T08:46:16.195-05:00The Bolter by Frances Osborne<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wUYBsLkDqXU/UZmFaBG8oVI/AAAAAAAAFOk/E3Xt9mQM1vs/s1600/bolter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wUYBsLkDqXU/UZmFaBG8oVI/AAAAAAAAFOk/E3Xt9mQM1vs/s400/bolter.jpg" width="257" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>About the Book:</b><br />
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<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">In an age of bolters—women who broke the rules and fled their marriages—Idina Sackville was the most celebrated of them all. Her relentless affairs, wild sex parties, and brazen flaunting of convention shocked high society and inspired countless writers and artists, from Nancy Mitford to Greta Garbo. But Idina’s compelling charm masked the pain of betrayal and heartbreak. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;"> </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">Now Frances Osborne explores the life of Idina, her enigmatic great-grandmother, using letters, diaries, and family legend, following her from Edwardian London to the hills of Kenya, where she reigned over the scandalous antics of the “Happy Valley Set.” Dazzlingly chic yet warmly intimate, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">The Bolter </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">is a fascinating look at a woman whose energy still burns bright almost a century later. (from goodreads)</span></i><br />
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<br />
<b>My Thoughts:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><br /></b>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">Fascinating account of the author's great grandmother, the notorious "bolter" and queen of Africa's Happy Valley set in the 1920's. Idina and her friends were beautiful, fabulously wealthy, and in search of excitement and adventure. Living in Edwardian England with its strict societal codes was not their style. In the wilds of Kenya, there was the thrill of the danger of the land and opportunities to live the kind of hedonistic lifestyle they craved. They were pleasure seekers who constantly partied and routinely swapped spouses and lovers. A typical Happy Valley party included dancing all night to the gramophone, drinking and drugging, and playing sex games. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">As you would expect from this type of lifestyle, tragedy and heartache was inescapable. Marriages crumbled, children were left to be raised by others, and jealous passions pushed some to the brink of suicide and even murder. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">A very engaging book about a glamorized group of socialites, but I was left never truly understanding their choices, nor did I feel much sympathy for their pain and woes.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">4/5 stars</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">Title: The Bolter</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">Author: Frances Osbourn</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">Vintage</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">2008</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">genre: nonfiction; biography</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">* This book is from my personal library.</span></span>Joannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07716758796036142540noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-594646035303934578.post-91692744384168480182013-04-29T07:58:00.001-05:002013-06-04T20:11:57.214-05:00Lighthouse Bay by Kimberley Freeman<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ul8dUKzSnvs/UX5nzrCcMLI/AAAAAAAAFMw/hcGZEG6Erhw/s1600/lighthouse+bay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ul8dUKzSnvs/UX5nzrCcMLI/AAAAAAAAFMw/hcGZEG6Erhw/s320/lighthouse+bay.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>
<br />
<b>About the Book:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">From the author of Wildflower Hill, this breathtaking novel travels more than a century between two love stories set in the Australian seaside town of Lighthouse Bay.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">In 1901, a ship sinks off the coast of Queensland, Australia. The only survivor is Isabella Winterbourne, who clutches a priceless gift meant for the Australian Parliament. This gift could be her ticket to a new life, free from the bonds of her husband and his overbearing family. But whom can she trust in Lighthouse Bay?</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">Fast-forward to 2011: after losing her lover, Libby Slater leaves her life in Paris to return to her hometown of Lighthouse Bay, hoping to gain some perspective and grieve her recent loss. Libby also attempts to reconcile with her sister, Juliet, to whom she hasn’t spoken in twenty years. Libby did something so unforgivable, Juliet is unsure if she can ever trust her sister again.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">In these two adventurous love stories, both Isabella and Libby must learn that letting go of the past is the only way to move into the future. The answers they seek lie in Lighthouse Bay.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;">(from Goodreads)</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;"><b>My thoughts:</b></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.111112594604492px;"><i><a href="http://joanne-sliceoflife3.blogspot.com/2011/11/wildflower-hill-by-kimberley-freeman.html">Wildflower Hill </a></i>was one of my top favorite reads in 2011, so Kimberley Freeman's new release was a highly anticipated read for me this year. I'm happy to say she did not disappoint -- another 5 star read!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Two stories......two women one hundred years apart.......both have had their lives affected in different ways by the rich and powerful Winterbourne family.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Set on the beautiful Australian coast,<b> <i>Lighthouse Bay</i> </b>is a story of survival from heartbreak, with mystery, secrets, and adventure. Loved every minute of this time slip novel!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">5/5 stars</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">*This book is from my personal library.</span><br />
<br />Joannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07716758796036142540noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-594646035303934578.post-57559632813822364402013-04-23T06:00:00.000-05:002013-04-23T07:00:16.773-05:00Winner of Susanna Kearsley Books!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Thank you to everyone who entered to win a fabulous package of 4 Susanna Kearsley books from Sourcebooks. Today, I am happy to announce the winner........<br />
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<b> Congratulations, Ruth!</b><br />
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You will be receiving an e-mail from me soon for details. Again, thanks to all who visited and enjoyed the excerpt from <i>The Firebird</i>.Joannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07716758796036142540noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-594646035303934578.post-86159120553865054672013-04-16T06:00:00.000-05:002013-04-23T07:02:08.596-05:00The Firebird by Susanna Kearsley & Giveaway!<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">It's no secret here on this blog that <b><a href="http://www.susannakearsley.com/">Susanna Kearsley</a></b> is one of my very favorite authors!</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Her writing is so rich and her characters are always memorable....her stories touch my heart. She combines history, romance, suspense, and time travel to perfection. My collection of Susanna Kearsley books are "keepers" and I look forward to reading them over and over again. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Today I am honored to be a part of Sourcebooks celebration of the upcoming release of <b style="font-style: italic;">The Firebird. </b>I have an excerpt from <b style="font-style: italic;">The Firebird </b>as well as a fantastic package of <u> Susanna Kearsley books for a GIVEAWAY! (THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED -- THANK YOU.)</u></span><br />
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<div class="pCxSpFirst" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<b>THE FIREBIRD By Susanna Kearsley</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="pCxSpLast" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<b>EXCERPT #6 (CHAPTER 9)</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="pCxSpLast" style="text-indent: 0in;">
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<div class="paft">
Slains was not her home, and yet she knew its corners well, from
trailing after her Aunt Kirsty while she did her work. The earl had always
treated her with kindness, and she’d always found a comfort in this corner of
the library, her hiding place, tucked safely out of sight behind the tallest,
broadest armchair that sat angled to the fireplace. There was no fire now, it
being summer, yet the corner kept its warmth and sheltering appeal, and Anna curled
herself within it, arms wrapped tightly round her knees.</div>
<div class="pCxSpFirst">
She heard the voices rise and fall downstairs, her mother’s
voice among them. <span class="i">No</span>. She caught the thought and changed
it. Not her mother. Donald’s mother, but not hers. Not anymore.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="pCxSpMiddle">
Her breath snagged painfully within her chest, and then
she held it altogether as she heard firm steps approach along the corridor. A
handle turned, the door began to open, and she pressed her face with eyes
tight-closed against the leather chair back, crouched as quiet as a beetle in
her corner.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="pCxSpMiddle">
The door swung shut. She couldn’t see the person who’d
come in, but she could tell it was a man because his boots made a distinctly
heavy sound against the floorboards. He walked straight toward her chair and
she shrank smaller still, and when the chair back moved she squeezed her eyes
more tightly shut as though that might somehow prevent her being seen, but no
discovery came, and no recriminations, and she realized he was merely sitting
down.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="pCxSpMiddle">
The armchair shifted as he settled in it. Anna braved a
peek beneath the chair and saw his booted feet stretched out toward the unlit
hearth. And then she heard a scraping as he pulled the little table closer to
him, singing lightly to himself. It was a pleasant tune, although she didn’t
understand the words as they were in some foreign language, like the strange
words of the fishermen from France who sometimes called upon her father in the
night.</div>
<div class="pCxSpMiddle">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="pCxSpMiddle">
No, not her father, she corrected herself. She was not a
Logan. She was—<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="pCxSpMiddle">
“Curse this blasted palsy,” said the man all of a sudden,
as the sound of something falling interrupted Anna’s thoughts.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="pCxSpMiddle">
Peering underneath the chair again, she saw that several
painted wooden pieces from the chessboard on the table had been tumbled to the
floor to lie there scattered in disorder, and the black-haired king had fallen
to his side upon the carpet and was gazing at her mournfully with darkly
painted eyes.</div>
<div class="pCxSpMiddle">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="pCxSpMiddle">
“I apologize, my lads,” the man said gently to the
chessmen as he bent to pick them up, “my hands do shake these days, and show my
age.” He leaned and moved his foot a fraction and his boot heel caught the
black-haired king by what seemed sheerest accident and kicked it farther
underneath the chair, much closer now to Anna’s hiding place.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="pCxSpMiddle">
The man continued picking up the other scattered pieces,
and she heard the clicks as each was set again upon the board. “Where is your
king, lads? For of all of you, he is the one I should not like to lose. Where
is he?” Shifting in his chair again, the man seemed to be searching. “Gone,” he
said at last, “and lost. Ah well, that is unfortunate.”</div>
<div class="pCxSpMiddle">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="pCxSpMiddle">
From underneath the chair, the painted wooden king looked
up at Anna and she looked at him uncertainly.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="pCxSpMiddle">
The man went on, “’Tis likely that the Earl of Erroll will
not let me use his hospitality again, if I do so misplace his treasures.” And
he gave a sigh so sorrowful that Anna could not help but feel an answering
regret in her own heart, and reaching out she closed her hand around the errant
king and crept out of her corner to return him to the playing-board in silence.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="pCxSpMiddle">
She could see the stranger now. He was a man much older
than her father or her Uncle Rory, older even than the earl who kept this
castle, and his hair had grayed to match the whiteness of the close-trimmed
beard that edged his lean and kindly looking face. His smile cut crinkles round
his eyes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="pCxSpMiddle">
“I thank ye, lass. ’Tis a great kindness ye have done me.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="pCxSpMiddle">
When she gazed at him, not answering, he gave a nod toward
the armchair facing him and asked her, “Will ye sit and keep me company awhile,
or will your mother be expecting ye?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="pCxSpMiddle">
She felt the swell of tears begin to burn again and pushed
them back and said, “I have no mother.” Bravely sitting in the chair, she
watched him set the painted pieces in their places on the board.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="pCxSpMiddle">
He asked her, “Do ye play the chess?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="pCxSpMiddle">
She shook her head.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="pCxSpMiddle">
“It is the grandest game,” he said, “for those who have
the patience and the wit to learn it.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="pCxSpMiddle">
Anna saw him set a small piece on a square and frowned as
something deep within her memory turned and tugged. “What’s that?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="pCxSpMiddle">
“The pawn? Well, he’s the smallest soldier, yet the game
would be for naught without his efforts.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="pCxSpMiddle">
In behind the lines of pawns the taller rows of varied
chessmen stood—the kings and queens and horses’ heads and castle towers, but it
was the little pawns who most caught Anna’s fancy, and she heard a woman’s
voice repeating in her memory, “That one is my favorite, too,” and felt a sense
of sadness that she did not understand, although it mingled with her own and
made her ask, “What does he do?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="pCxSpMiddle">
The man was watching her. He smiled again and said, “Well
now, I’ll show ye.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="pCxSpMiddle">
She had always had an easy time of learning things, and
this game had a structure to it that she found appealing, and a challenge that
was made more real by how the stranger chose to introduce the players and their
parts, as though they were real men upon a battlefield.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="pCxSpMiddle">
“But fit wye can the…” she began, to be corrected by the
man.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="pCxSpMiddle">
“Say ‘why.’”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="pCxSpMiddle">
“Fit wye should I say ‘why’?” she asked.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="pCxSpMiddle">
“Because it is more ladylike.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="pCxSpMiddle">
She frowned. “Why can the pawn not kill a man who’s
standing right in front of him?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="pCxSpMiddle">
“His shield gets in the way,” the man explained. “He has
to lunge his sword arm to the front and side, like this.” He demonstrated, and
his skillful motion had a strength that deepened Anna’s frown until he asked
her, “What?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="pCxSpLast">
She answered with the full directness of her seven years,
replying, “You were telling tales, afore. You do not have the palsy.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> “Have I not?”
The crinkles formed around his eyes again. “Well, neither are ye motherless.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. THANK YOU.</div>
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<span style="color: #3f4b57; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 19.66666603088379px;"><b>Giveaway!! (Open to the U.S. and Canada)</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #3f4b57; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.66666603088379px;">Sourcebooks is offering a prize package of the following four books -- shipping to the U.S. and Canada only. These four happen to be my absolute favorite Susanna Kearsley books! I know many of my followers already love these books and have them in their personal library. That's okay -- take a chance to win and share them with your friends! Simply leave a comment with contact information and one lucky winner will be randomly chosen and announced on April 23, 2013. Good Luck!</span></span><br />
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Joannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07716758796036142540noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-594646035303934578.post-68056709961224248222013-04-08T11:11:00.001-05:002013-04-08T11:11:22.357-05:00Winner! - Like Chaff in the Wind by Anna Belfrage<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Today is the day to announce the winner of one copy of Like Chaff in the Wind by Anna Belfrage.......<br />
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<u><b>And the winner is...........Carol L.!</b></u> Congratulations!<br />
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Carol L., you will be receiving an email from me soon! Thanks so much to all the lovely people who visited and left comments for a chance to win.Joannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07716758796036142540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-594646035303934578.post-71841647510264048272013-04-05T09:48:00.002-05:002013-04-05T09:48:30.540-05:00In Which We Have A Cover! - Written in My Own Heart's Blood<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Diana Gabaldon has revealed the cover today for her next installment of the Outlander series, <i style="font-weight: bold;">Written in My Own Heart's Blood. </i>Go to <a href="http://shelf-life.ew.com/2013/04/05/diana-gabaldon-written-in-my-own-hearts-blood-outlander-cover/#more-20073">EW,com (Entertainment Weekly</a>) for an article with Diana Gabaldon where she discusses the symbolism on the cover.Joannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07716758796036142540noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-594646035303934578.post-52122019569429307852013-04-04T08:06:00.000-05:002013-04-04T09:18:55.349-05:00Spotlight on: The Ashford Affair by Lauren Willig<br />
The wait is almost over.......April 9th is the release date for Lauren Willig's highly anticipated newest novel, <b style="font-style: italic;">The Ashford Affair! </b>Those of us who are fans of her Pink Carnation series are excited to experience a completely new cast of characters and settings as Lauren weaves a story of mystery, romance, and family secrets........<br />
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<strong><em>From the NYT bestselling Pink Carnation author comes a new novel that is by turns epic and intimate, transporting and page-turning – spanning from WWI England to present day New York….</em></strong></div>
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About the Book:</div>
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As a lawyer in a large Manhattan firm, just shy of making partner, Clementine Evans has finally achieved almost everything she’s been working towards – but now she’s not sure it’s enough. Her long hours have led to a broken engagement and, suddenly single at thirty-four, she feels her messy life crumbling around her. But when the family gathers for her grandmother Addie’s ninety-ninth birthday, a relative lets slip hints about a long-buried family secret, leading Clemmie on a journey into the past that could change everything…</div>
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Growing up at Ashford Park in the heyday of Edwardian society, Addie has never quite belonged. When her parents passed away, she was taken into the grand English house by her aristocratic aunt and uncle, and raised side-by-side with her beautiful and outgoing cousin, Bea. Though they are as different as night and day, Addie and Bea are closer than sisters, through relationships and challenges, and a war that changes the face of Europe irrevocably. But what happens when something finally comes along that can’t be shared? When the love of sisterhood is tested by a bond that’s even stronger?</div>
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From the inner circles of British society to the skyscrapers of Manhattan and the red-dirt hills of Kenya, the never-told secrets of a woman and a family unfurl…</div>
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Lauren Willig is the New York Times bestselling author of eleven works of historical fiction. Her books have been translated into over a dozen languages, awarded the RITA, Booksellers Best and Golden Leaf awards, and chosen for the American Library Association's annual list of the best genre fiction. After graduating from Yale University, she embarked on a PhD in English History at Harvard before leaving academia to acquire a JD at Harvard Law while authoring her "Pink Carnation" series of Napoleonic-set novels. She lives in New York City, where she now writes full time.<br />
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For more information about Lauren Willig and her novels, visit<br />
her at www.laurenwillig.com.<br />
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Are you excited about <b style="font-style: italic;">The Ashford Affair? </b>Spread the word!<br />
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Joannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07716758796036142540noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-594646035303934578.post-22503242451978628532013-04-03T00:30:00.000-05:002013-04-08T11:27:00.577-05:00Guest Post & International Giveaway! Anna Belfarge, Author of Like Chaff in the Wind<br />
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Today I would like to extend a warm welcome to Anna Belfrage at my book blog! She is the author of the recently released historical fiction novel,<b style="font-style: italic;"> Like Chaff in the Wind</b> and<b style="font-style: italic;"> </b> is currently touring with <a href="http://hfvirtualbooktours.com/likechaffinthewindvirtualtour/">Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours</a>. After reading her guest post here at Books, Belles and Beaux, please enter for a chance to win a copy of <i>Like Chaff in the Wind</i>. (I<u>nternational giveaway</u>!)</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 17.33333396911621px;"> THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED -- THANK YOU.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Let me start by addressing a heartfelt ‘thank you’ to Joanne
for being part of my blog tour and giving me the opportunity to post on her
excellent and varied blog. This is the last of my guest posts on this tour, and
should you be interested in reading my previous contributions why not visit </span><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.bippityboppitybook.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Bippity Boppity Book</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> , </span><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.hookofabook.wordpress.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Oh, for the Hook of a Book!</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> , </span><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://flashlightcommentary.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Flashlight Commentary</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> and </span><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.hf-connection.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";">Historical Fiction Connection</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> .</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This post is mainly going to be about food. (I think. My
posts tend to live a life of their own at times. ) I am a food person. Don’t
get me wrong, I’m a whole lot of other things person as well (mainly books
& tea ) but food is definitely a top priority for me, which is probably why
I find it so interesting to discover what people ate back then – you know,
before the advent of basic joys such as ice cream and Feta cheese. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-GB">Still life by Willem Claeszoon Heda, depicting a feast most
seventeenth people could but dream about.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">As
a child growing up in Latin America, I always found it strange when my parents
sighed and spoke of food they were missing. <br />
"Herring," my father would say. My mother would sigh and nod. Inevitably,
this would lead to a long list of all the foodstuffs they missed, now that they
were so far from home.<br />
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It's strange, how much of "home" is defined by food, isn’t it? Milk
abroad never tastes like it does at home, neither does the bread or the cheese
or the… The point I’m trying to make is that should you be yanked out of
context, away from home, you'd definitely miss food! Ask Alex(andra) Graham, my
rather reluctant (if by now reconciled) time traveller; she has a list as long
as her arm of all the edible stuff she longs for.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">And
there you are, happy landing on a chocolate bar</span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> ...
sang Shirley Temple, her face dimpling into a glittering smile. Except that if
you're transported back to the seventeenth century (like Alex) you can forget
about chocolate. Ha, says the well informed reader, chocolate originates from
Mexico and had therefore already been "discovered" by the Europeans.
Dear reader; I'd like to see you drink a mug or two of this chocolate drink
without having your mouth shrivel into a desiccated raisin. Chocolate in the
seventeenth century was very rare - even in Spain. And where it was used, it was
prepared as a drink so bitter it would make modern day chocolate freaks weep.
In general, anything with sugar in it was rare; sugar was a luxury commodity,
so whatever comfort food the people of the seventeenth century resorted to in
periods of angst it was probably far healthier than what we binge on today.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">For
the coffee and tea addicts among us, I have bad news. Coffee was a futuristic
dream outside the larger cities and tea had only recently begun to make its way
to Europe, this thanks to the Portuguese. Not until the Restoration would tea
become a common beverage in England. </span><br />
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<i><span lang="EN-GB">Coffee,
tea and chocolate side by side, represented as exotic and new-fangled drinks.
(Philippe Sylvestre Dufour)<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">But
hey; most of us can live without chocolate, or coffee or tea. Absolutely
(however depressing the thought) but how about a life without potatoes? Pasta?
Pizza? Tomatoes? Oranges and bananas? Avocados - can anyone live without
avocados? Once again, the well informed reader might protest; the Spaniards
came upon both the tomato and the potato in South America back in the fifteenth
century. Yes, they did, but for some strange reason these plants were often
considered poisonous (to be fair, some members of the <i>solanum </i>family are poisonous) and not until the late eighteenth century
was the potato to become a staple crop in Northern Europe. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">So
what did they eat then, these people that were deprived of so much of what we
enjoy and like today? Was it all porridge and pea soup? The quick answer to
that is ... YES. For the majority of the population, porridge was the
cornerstone of their diet. And what was left over at one meal was reused in the
next - or the day after. Yummy, yummy; cold, solidified porridge is just the
thing to set your saliva flowing, right? This rather dull diet was complemented
by bread, beer, the odd piece of smoked and salted meat or fish, eggs while the
hens were laying, vegetables such as onions and carrots, turnips, cabbage and
kale - and even more beer. But
mostly it was porridge. Very much porridge. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Alex has days when she daydreams about chocolate
cake, about crisp French fries and juicy hamburgers. She closes her eyes and is
whisked back into a reality containing salads and baguettes, antipasto from
Italy and steaming Thai curries. She opens her eyes, and it’s back to porridge
and rye bread, to an existence where cooking is a long, tedious process with
not a tomato in sight. Does she mind? Of course she does, but given the choice
between going back to her time or staying with Matthew, she would choose her
man any time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Dead easy,” she says when I ask her.
“I can live without tomatoes and bagels. I’d die without him.” Her eyes drift
over to where her husband is busy with his horse. She laughs. “God; did I just
say that? Makes me sound like quite the clinging little wife, doesn’t it?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Yupp.” I grin at her and she sticks
her tongue out. Out in the yard Matthew laughs, and Alex whips round to look at
him. Her entire body softens, the slightest of smiles tugging at her mouth. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“I guess I am,” she says in a voice so
low I have to strain my ears to catch it. “He’s all I need, all I want, however
hackneyed that might sound.” For some seconds she is sunk in contemplation,
studying her man. His tall frame dips and turns as he unsaddles the horse, the
low winter sun throwing elongated shadows that dance round man and beast. She
calls his name and he turns, breaking out in a smile. Their eyes meet. He
straightens up, places his hand over his heart and mouths her name. Blood
rushes like wildfire up her neck, her cheeks. She throws me a look. “I’ve never
thanked you, have I?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Not as such.” Mostly Alex has
harangued me about my temerity in having her torn from her comfy modern day
life to the far more primitive and dangerous existence in the seventeenth
century. I clasp her hand – well, try to; the woman doesn’t exist except in my
head. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“But you know, right? That not a day
goes by without me giving thanks for him.” She leans against the doorpost, eyes
stuck on her husband. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I just nod. “Now, back to this food
thing…”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Alex laughs, a loud bubbly sound that
has Matthew raising his head in our direction. “Not comfortable with the mushy
stuff?” she teases.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Not unless it’s mushy peas,” I mumble.
“This post is supposed to be about food, okay?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In
<i>Like Chaff in the Wind</i>, Matthew
Graham suffers the iniquities of being sold as a slave, which has anything but
a positive impact on his diet. Porridge becomes gruel, meat a rare food group
that mostly appears in the guise of salted pork, bread and other baked goods rarely
grace the table, and fresh fruit … forget it! In combination with exacting days
on a tobacco field, it quickly reduces him to a walking wreck, a shadow of his
former self.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Alex,
of course, has no choice but to go after him. She needs her man like fishes
need water, like we all need air. He is the pillar of her existence, the rock
of her life, and without him by her side she fears she will shrivel up and die,
wafting away like an ephemeral dust cloud. And during her perilous journey to
find her man, let me tell you there are plenty of days when she would have
murdered for a Snickers bar – or a Big Mac. Instead, all she got was biscuits
with weevils and – yupp, you’ve guessed it – porridge. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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GIVEAWAY!! THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. THANK YOU.<br />
<br />
The publisher has one paperback copy of <i><b>Like Chaff in the Wind</b></i> for my giveaway -- open internationally! For a chance to win,<b style="text-decoration: underline;"> simply leave a comment with contact information. </b> (No contact information = no entry). One entry per person, please. Winner will be randomly selected and announced April 8, 2013.<br />
Good Luck!<br />
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THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. THANK YOU.</div>
Joannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07716758796036142540noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-594646035303934578.post-33131785718432557742013-04-02T06:00:00.000-05:002013-06-04T20:12:59.594-05:00Like Chaff in the Wind by Anna Belfrage<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NjNZwfjG49o/UUfRIxJRzGI/AAAAAAAAFHY/mzSGHFxLjlw/s1600/Like+Chaff+in+the+Wind.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NjNZwfjG49o/UUfRIxJRzGI/AAAAAAAAFHY/mzSGHFxLjlw/s1600/Like+Chaff+in+the+Wind.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<b>About the Book:</b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i>Matthew Graham committed the mistake of his life when he cut off his brother’s nose. In revenge, Luke Graham has Matthew abducted and transported to the Colony of Virginia, there to be sold as indentured labour – a death sentence more or less.</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white;">Matthew arrives in Virginia in May of 1661, and any hope he had of finding someone willing to listen to his tale of unlawful abduction is quickly extinguished. If anything Matthew’s insistence that he is an innocent man leads to him being singled out for the heaviest tasks.</span><br style="background-color: white;" /><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;">Insufficient food, grueling days and the humid heat combine to wear Matthew down. With a sinking feeling he realises no one has ever survived the seven years of service – not on the plantation Suffolk Rose, not under the tender care of the overseer Dominic Jones.</span><br style="background-color: white;" /><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;">Fortunately for Matthew, he has a remarkable wife, a God’s gift who has no intention of letting her husband suffer and die, and so Alex Graham sets off on a perilous journey to bring her husband home.</span><br style="background-color: white;" /><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;">Alex is plagued by nightmares in which her Matthew is reduced to a wheezing wreck by his tormentors. She sits in the prow of the ship and prays for a miracle to carry her swiftly to his side, to let her hold him and heal him before it’s too late. God, however, has other things to do and what should have been a two month crossing becomes a yearlong adventure from one side of the Atlantic to the other.</span><br style="background-color: white;" /><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;">Will she find him in time? And if she does, will she be capable of paying the price required to buy him free?</span></i></span><br />
(back cover)<br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>My Thoughts:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><b><a href="http://www.annabelfrage.com/My-Books-The-Graham-Saga/A-Rip-in-the-Veil/">A Rip in the Veil</a></b> </i> and <i><b><a href="http://www.annabelfrage.com/My-Books-The-Graham-Saga/Like-Chaff-in-the-Wind/">Like Chaff in the Wind</a></b></i> are part of The Graham Saga by Anna Belfrage<b><i>.</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">It's not usually a good idea to begin reading a series with the second book, but as I began reading<i> Like Chaff in the Wind </i>which centers on the story of Alex and Matthew , I found the author did a good job of getting the reader up to speed on most back stories which kept the story moving right along.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Alex and Matthew are a unique couple -- a couple who wouldn't be together except for a very strange phenomenon. Alex is a 21st century woman who disappeared on a Scottish moor during a terrifying thunderstorm....and was transported back to the seventeenth century. Their relationship is an unusual one -- she is a modern day woman (with a father and young son back in the 21st century), and is married to Matthew, a seventeenth century Scotsman. The two are torn apart as his brother commits a terrible act of revenge against Matthew and transports him to the colonies as an indentured servant. The lengths each will go to, the struggles and sacrifices, and the depth of their commitment to each other, is at the heart of this novel. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">There are many different elements in this novel that are intriguing but all the puzzle pieces don't quite fit yet, so I guess I will be reading <i>A Rip in the Veil </i>to see how everything connects. There is time travel , history, romance, and a bit of fantasy (her mother is a witch and paints pictures with time portals). Apparently, Alex isn't the only one who can time travel, but I'm not giving that information away! There's a little bit of everything here for those who enjoy adventure, romance, and time travel.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">3/5 stars</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Title: Like Chaff in the Wind</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Author: Anna Belfrage</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Publisher: Troubador Publishing, Ltd.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">2013</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">381 pages</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>About the Author:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">I was raised abroad, on a pungent mix of Latin American culture, English history and Swedish traditions. As a result I’m multilingual and most of my reading is historical - both non-fiction and fiction.</span><br style="background-color: white;" /><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;">I was always going to be a writer - or a historian, preferably both. Instead I ended up with a degree in Business and Finance, with very little time to spare for my most favourite pursuit. Still, one does as one must, and in between juggling a challenging career I raised my four children on a potent combination of invented stories, historical debates and masses of good food and homemade cakes. They seem to thrive … Nowadays I spend most of my spare time at my writing desk. The children are half grown, the house is at times eerily silent and I slip away into my imaginary world, with my imaginary characters. Every now and then the one and only man in my life pops his head in to ensure I’m still there. I like that – just as I like how he makes me laugh so often I’ll probably live to well over a hundred.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;">I was always going to be a writer. Now I am - I have achieved my dream.</span><br style="background-color: white;" /><br style="background-color: white;" /><a href="https://webmail.east.cox.net/do/redirect?url=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.annabelfrage.com" style="background-color: white; color: black; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">www.annabelfrage.com</a></span><br />
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For more information about the virtual book tour for <i>Like Chaff in the Wind</i>, <a href="http://hfvirtualbooktours.com/likechaffinthewindvirtualtour/like-chaff-in-the-wind-2/">click here.</a><br />
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Note: I received a copy of the novel from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.<br />
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<br />Joannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07716758796036142540noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-594646035303934578.post-45194249646736531342013-03-22T19:10:00.001-05:002013-08-13T06:49:14.346-05:00Behind the Shattered Glass by Tasha Alexander<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Well, well, well.....look what I found!<br />
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It seems that I won't have to wait too long to pick up where <i><b><a href="http://joanne-sliceoflife3.blogspot.com/search/label/Death%20in%20the%20Floating%20City">Death in a Floating City</a></b></i> left off. Tasha Alexander's latest installment in the Lady Emily historical mystery series, <b><i>Behind the Shattered Glass</i>,</b> has this lovely cover....so the book shouldn't be too long to hit the shelves, right?<br />
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<br />Joannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07716758796036142540noreply@blogger.com9