The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this classic book! I wanted to read a classic and I wasn't sure which one to choose. After reading reviews of "The Woman in White" where it was described as a mystery comparable to contemporary mysteries, I decided to try it. Even at over 500 pages, it never dragged. There were twists and turns, mistaken identity and downright nastiness. Yes, it was written a long time ago and it takes place in Victorian England, but it plays with your head and makes you question each character's loyalty to the other characters. My favorite characters? Walter Hartright of course, and Laura. Laura was so innocent in all of this and Marian was so clever and strong. Wilkie Collins knew how to write a mystery!!!

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The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a short little book - a novella. It was quite entertaining to think of the Queen of England sneaking around to get an opportunity to read and how obsessed she was. Aren't all of us booklovers obsessed with reading? I carry a book everywhere with me in case I get a moment to read a chapter while I'm waiting for an appointment or something. The objections of her ministers to her reading irritated me especially when they got rid of Norman. Even though he benefitted by getting a college education, it bothered me that they removed her fellow booklover and her friend. She didn't seem to have many friends. I'm afraid I didn't really understand the ending - I guess it brought back the fact that it was a work of fiction. I could imagine the Queen actually doing some of the things that happened in the book and then the ending smacked me on the forehead reminding me that it was a work of fiction - none of it was true. How disappointing. Anyway, I did enjoy the book just didn't like the end.

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The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty

The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read this book because I loved the cover and Louise Brooks intrigued me. I first heard of Louise Brooks when I was doing costumes for our local high school's production of "Thoroughly Modern Millie". She was an interesting character in this book, but the bulk of the story is about Cora, her chaperone. Her story has several quirks and turns.. Various issues were dealt with and shown in the perspective of the times when they were happening. There is a lot of depth to the story - many layers - but I don't want to ruin it for you. Cora was a little girl in an orphanage in New York City who was sent on an orphan train to the Midwest. She was adopted by a kindly couple and, when they died in a freak accident, a young lawyer from Wichita helped her settle their affairs. Later Cora and the young lawyer married, but nobody ever knew about her childhood. Many years later - 20 or so - Cora accompanied Louise Brooks, then 15, to New York City so she could attend the Denishawn Dance Academy where her career began. Cora looked for records of her birth parents and along the way she had some experiences that followed her back to Wichita and affected the rest of her life.

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Irish Crystal by Andrew M. Greeley

Irish Crystal: A Nuala Anne McGrail Novel by Andrew M. Greeley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read this book for the April (crystal) selection in the Rainbow Reading Challenge. It was a cute book, but it dragged a bit. I liked Nuala. She is Irish and typically spunky and her brogue came through really well. She and her husband, Dermot, are amateur - well, according to Dermot Nuala is never wrong - detectives. I couldn't really follow their method of discovering information, but they did solve the crime in the end. There was a lot of sexual references - albeit they were between Nuala and Dermot who were married, but still it was a little excessive for me. I guess anyone would be lucky to have a spouse who was so enraptured with him/her. Anyway, the book was okay, but I'm not going to run out and find another book in this series. Oh well.

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Revealing Eden by Victoria Foyt

Revealing Eden by Victoria Foyt
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was given this book to review by the author in January and I am just getting to it. I apologize to Ms. Foyt, but it was really worth the wait! Yes, this book is about a post-apocalyptic society, but it's very different from other post-apocalyptic society books I've read. Light-skinned people, Pearls, are at the bottom of the pecking order and dark-skinned people, Coals, are the ruling class. Eden, a Pearl, undergoes getting a coating periodically so that she will appear dark-skinned and not upset the Coals. Her father, a Pearl, is also a scientist and the man who owns the Combs where they live sets him up with a laboratory so he can conduct research experiments. He is looking for a way to adapt the human race using characteristics from various animals so that humans can survive the outside world. At the time, everyone lived in tunnels underground called The Combs. On the night of the big trial, things happen and Bramford, the owner, ends up volunteering to be the test subject for this experiment, then kidnaps Eden and her father and takes them to a jungle far away. This story is about Eden's experiences with survival and how she learns what is truly important. A really good read!

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Rae of Hope by W. J. May

Rae of Hope by W.J. May
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I received this book from the author to review. I loved it! It is a coming-of-age story, but it certainly is not typical. Rae spent her first years in England. One day, when Rae was 6, her mother told her to go play in her treehouse until she came to get her. Then there was a fire in the house that killed both her mother and father. Rae was taken in by her Uncle Argyle and his wife and led a typical life in New York until she was 15. Then her Uncle sent her back to England to a boarding school. She soon found out it was a "special" school for uniquely talented teenagers. This book just flew for me. I didn't want to put it down. It had the perfect balance of twists and Rae's developing emotions and friendships. I hightly recommend it and can't wait to see if there is a sequel.

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City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare

City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have enjoyed all of the Mortal Instruments books that Cassandra Clare has written; however, the story seems to be being dragged out. This book was good, don't get me wrong, but sometimes it felt as though it was in the wrong place. There were spots where it seemed that not enough time had passed from the first book to this book. I didn't think Clary should have been unused to being in battle - certainly she had been fighting demons since book 1. I mean, the story didn't drag for me -it moved along well. I liked the way Simon's character is developing - love Simon. Sebastian was deliciously evil, Jace (the fake Jace, not the real one) was romantic but wimpy, and I liked Alec and Isabelle. I noticed there were several references to the Infernal Devices characters which I really liked. I love discovering how the two series are intertwined. I heard an interesting theory about Brother Zechariah that I won't share here, but I can't wait to see if it is true. I would like to see Cassandra Clare write a new and different series of books, although I will read any and all books in the Mortal Instruments and Infernal Devices series because I think she is a wonderful writer. I would just like to see her do something else. I'm sure she has several characters just waiting for an amazing venue to come alive.

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Upsetting the Tides by David Englund

Upsetting the Tides by David Englund
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I was asked to review this book by the author. It reminds me of Madeleine L'Engle's "A Wrinkle in Time" except that the traveler was an adult. It was full of foreign planets and strange creatures. The writing style suggested to me that it was written for a young audience except that, as I said before, the main character was an adult with a job and a house and a potential girlfriend, etc. which may not appeal to a younger audience. There were fights with aliens and technological devices that did cool things like enable the user to fly and translate alien speech, quests and all kinds of aliens. Maybe that would make up for the relatively elementary writing.

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The Turquoise by Anya Seton

The Turquoise by Anya Seton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read this book as the March selection of the Rainbow Reading Challenge. "The Turquoise" is the story of a girl whose parents were Mexican and Scottish. She was named for the city of her birth, Santa Fe, but her father called her Fey. Her mother died in childbirth so she lived the first years of her life with her father who was a Scottish doctor. They discovered that Fey had the gift of "sight". Later, when Fey was about 7, her father was killed when he went to help a fellow doctor with a surgery. Fey went to stay with the family of the woman who had helped her father when Fey was a baby. There are so many things that Fey went through in her life. One significant thing is that she met a wise Indian who realized her gift and gave her a turquoise necklace and told her to wear it always and to let the Spirit lead her on her path. He said she would encounter two paths and the Spirit would help her choose the right one - unfortunately, Fey didn't listen. She struggled across the country with a man who ran a medicine show, fell in love with him, and was convinced they were married by an old scout who ran an inn. When Fey and her "husband" got to New York City, they stayed together a week, then he left for greener pastures in Chicago. Meanwhile, Fey discovered she was pregnant and she had to figure out how to support herself and eventually her child. I'm not going to tell the whole story here, but I want to say that I love the way Anya Seton writes and I love the way she blends in religion to her stories. Fey considered having an abortion, but as she was standing on the steps of the place where it could happen, she looked around and noticed the construction of St. Patrick's Cathedral nearby. She turned and went in to the Cathedral and prayed. She ended up not having an abortion and found an Infirmary that cared for women and children and was run by female doctors. Here she made a wonderful, lifelong friend in one of the doctors and she helped out at the Infirmary and learned a lot about caring for the sick. Fey was a very honest character - and direct in her approach when she decided what she wanted. She got everything she worked for, but she ended up making atonement for the times that she didn't listen to the Spirit. I really liked this book. Previously, I had read "Katherine" by Anya Seton and that is why I picked this one up. They were both great reads and what I liked most were the religious tendencies and the fact that, even though sex was obviously part of the story, Ms. Seton didn't describe it in graphic detail, only in a romantic suggestive kind of way. I look forward to reading more of Anya Seton's works.

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Sleepers by Megg Jensen

Sleepers by Megg Jensen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read this book in two days! It's amazing to me how different two books with similar themes can be. The last two books I've read - this one and the last one - have been about young women who were warriors and on a journey to return to their homes. Of course they both had love to deal with - should she love this one or that one? But this book, Sleepers, handled the story so much better. The action sped along with twists and turns everywhere. The setting seemed to be medieval, which I love, and the characters - Lianne, Bryden and Kellan - seemed to have the coloring of the Irish, which I also love. I know it's a fantasy, but I seemed to connect with the story and it seemed "believable". And there was love and physical attraction, but no explicit sex. I liked the way Bryden could calm the fires inside Lianne. She was a true heroine and always wanted to do the right thing. It may seem strange to some people, but I liked the way the entire story took place in what seemed to me to be a relatively small space - the castle, the river, the surrounding land - one area. No crossing mountains and forging rivers to a distant land. There are things I wonder about concerning the Dalagans and the Fithians that hopefully will be explained in the books to come. Good job, Megg Jensen! I loved your book!

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