Wednesday, June 29, 2011

The Book of Earth--Volume One of The Dragon Quartet by: Marjorie B. Kellogg

I have been fascinated by Dragons since I was a very young girl. I guess because my Mom peeked my interest in reading with so many Fairy Tales.
I finished this book last night and am waiting for Volume 2 to arrive in the mail.
This has all the elements of those long ago loved fairy tales I mentioned.
A destiny realized, a quest begun, new friends made, enemies to escape from, I could go on and on, but don't want to spoil the story for you.
If you have a love of good fantasy stories like I do, this is a series you don't want to skip.
I'll be back when I've finished reading Volume 2.

Happy reading,
Beverly G ♥

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

The Ninth Daughter by: Barbara Hamilton

Barbara Hambly is writing as Barbara Hamilton a new series with Abigail Adams as the main character. Yes, that is the wife of John Adams who was the second President of the United States.
I have to say that this is a well thought out story and Ms. Hamilton always does wonderful research to bring you into the time and flavor of the era. She also surrounds Abigail with all the rich characters of the time that she and her husband were friends with. Yes, you guessed it, here comes the but.
I couldn't seem to get the impression of Abigail and John that I already have in my mind of them separated from this story.
If you don't have preconceived notions of some of the characters and how they would have behaved in the time they lived you will probably like this book.
You get a good feel for the atmosphere of early Boston. If you are a mystery reader the clues are here for you to guess who the murderer is. I would have enjoyed the book more if the author had picked some characters that were just regular Bostonians of the time and kept the famous characters more to the background.

Happy Reading,
Beverly G ♥

Friday, June 17, 2011

The Secret History of the Pink Carnation Series by: Lauren Willig

I have sorely neglected my book blog for quite some time. There's that pesky thing called general living and in my life I have no little elves that come in the night to do those mundane chores that pile up if not tended to on a regular basis.
I have been reading and the latest books that are well worth passing along some good words about are:

The Secret History of the Pink Carnation
The Masque of the Black Tulip
The Deception of the Emerald Ring
The Seduction of the Crimson Rose

These are the first four books in this series. The French Revolution is the backdrop for these stories. One of my favorite movies is The Scarlet Pimpernel with Leslie Howard and Ms. Willig has taken the Pimpernel as her spring board and built some wonderful characters and stories to go with them.
Eloise is the modern heroine trying to get her dissertation written for her Ph.D. Eloise is like a lot of us modern women who have a hard time finding a man whose interested in more than himself. Who knew that the man she would be most interested in would have some of the valuable papers she needs to finish her project.

The historical heroines are just the right mix of femininity and strong mindedness to keep you turning the pages to see what kind of fix they are going to get themselves into next and don't forget we always want to see if they get their man.
This time in history is ripe with spies, murder, and mayhem and Ms. Willig has brought it all together with some delicious twists and turns.
I have just ordered the next 4 books in the series because I must keep following the story along as Ms. Willig unmasks spies, and brings all her characters to a happy ending.

I highly recommend this series for a fun romp through 19th century England and France and 21st century England.

Happy Reading,
Beverly G ♥