A Girl Walks Into a Bookstore...

Teaser Tuesdays asks you to: --Grab your current read --Let the book open to a random page. Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12. --You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from… that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given! “In this case matters went along differently. The enquiring journalist was not told of Ravenscliff’s death, either that day, or the day after. Why not?” --From Stone’s Fall , by Iain Pears

Darling Jim opens with a triple murder—a woman is found beaten in the head downstairs in her house in Dublin, while two younger women are found upstairs, starved to death. There are signs that a third person has been present. Later, a young postal employee finds one of the younger women’s diary in the dead-letter bin; reading it, he begins to piece together the shocking circumstances of the three women’s deaths, starting with an itinerant, seductive storyteller named Jim. The opening of this novel is written kind of like a newspaper article. It gets interesting when Niall finds the notebook, and even more so when Fiona, Aoife, and Riosin’s stories take over. I couldn’t ever figure out why Niall was so determined to discover what happened to the Walsh sisters, other than the discovery of the diary. It was a bit hard for me to really understand why Jim was such a beguiling character; he just wasn’t as well portrayed as the Walshes were, or even Niall. And the sisters were too disparate,...

The Book of Love is set in the early 16th century, in the world of the Borgias. Esther, a Jew who is nicknamed Violante, becomes a conversa so that she might become a lady-in-waiting to Lucrezia Borgia. Very soon, Violante finds herself thrust into a world of danger, romance, and intrigue, as she falls in love with Lucrezia’s brother Cesare. Bower recreates the world of the early 16th century unfailingly; the historical details of this novel are exquisite. She uses the theme of the “innocent abroad” to tell the story of the Borgias through an impartial viewpoint. One of the strengths of the novel are the characters: Cesare Borgia is easily the most compelling, though I didn’t like how Bower portrayed Lucrezia—I thought her character could have been more diabolical. The plot drags in the middle, and the sex scenes are a bit crude, but it’s what you might expect from a story about one of history’s most infamous families. But otherwise, this is an enjoyable novel.

The opposite of last week’s question: “What’s the best ‘worst’ book you’ve ever read — the one you like despite some negative reviews or features?” I really enjoyed Karen Maitland’s first novel, Company of Liars . I don’t normally read fantasy/supernatural-ish types novels like that, but I was just entranced by the setting and the plot. Yet there were a lot of people who didn’t like it. In any case, I’ve gone ahead and ordered Maitland’s second novel from Amazon UK. Another book I enjoyed that others didn’t was The House at Riverton , by Kate Morton… again, great setting and characters, but a lot of reviewers didn’t like it.

Teaser Tuesdays asks you to: --Grab your current read --Let the book open to a random page. Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12. --You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from… that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given! “After Christine’s departure, thinking she would be more amenable by herself, or so Penelope construed it, the sheep renewed their efforts to get her into the fold. They treated her like a stray lamb and baa’d urgently to join them at their bazaars, on their platforms, at their guilds and to accompany them on their visits to the poor.” --From The Priory , by Dorothy Whipple

Figures in Silk is set against the backdrop of the War of the Roses. The story revolves around Isabel Claver, who is married at age fourteen into a London house of silkweavers. Her sister, Jane, is married to Will Shore and becomes the mistress of Edward IV. When Isabel’s husband dies, she becomes an apprentice to his mother, eventually becoming a silk entrepreneur. I wasn’t a fan of Vanora Bennett’s first novel, Portrait of an Unknown Woman , but I thought her second might be better. I was disappointed. The novel was soporific, to say the least. I would read a bit, and then realize that I had no idea what just happened! Then I’d go back and re-read, and find out that I hadn’t missed much. The book is filled with coincidences, some of them so fantastical that you have to suspense your sense of disbelief. With regards to the characters and their thoughts and feelings, there’s a lot of telling, not showing. I also would have liked to seen more of the affair between Jane Shore and the ki...

It’s yet another quiet weekend here. In the past week, I’ve read: The Ivy Tree , by Mary Stewart The Princeling , by Cynthia Harrod Eagles The Last Days of the Romanovs , by Helen Rappaport I enjoyed all three of these books, so It’s been a good week, reading-wise. I've also been trying to write a review of Sarah Bower's The Book of Love , but I've gotten stuck with it (it dragged in the middle). I’m just about to start The Priory , by Dorothy Whipple, a Persephone classic that took about two weeks to get to me from Amazon.com. I’ve been wondering about something recently: ARCs. I know a lot of you get them and review them; so do I. My question for you is about your reviews: do you post them as soon as you read the book and write the review? Or do you wait until the day of publication to post? I’ve been seeing a lot of reviews of to-be-published books, ages before the book comes out, so that’s what prompted the question. Thoughts?