Archive for June, 2012

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Lord John & the Scottish Prisoner by Diana Gabaldon

Posted June 29, 2012 By dorolerium

Title: Lord John & The Scottish Prisoner
Author: Diana Gabaldon
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Genre: Historical Fiction
Pages: 560
How I Read It: Hard copy purchased by me.

Synopsis: London, 1760.

For Jamie Fraser, paroled prisoner-of-war in the remote Lake District, life could be worse: He’s not cutting sugar cane in the West Indies, and he’s close enough to the son he cannot claim as his own.  But Jamie Fraser’s quiet existence is coming apart at the seams, interrupted first by dreams of his lost wife, then by the appearance of Tobias Quinn, an erstwhile comrade from the Rising.

Like many of the Jacobites who aren’t dead or in prison, Quinn still lives and breathes for the Cause.  His latest plan involves an ancient relic that will rally the Irish.  Jamie is having none of it – he’s sworn off politics, fighting, and war.  Until Lord John Grey shows up with a summons that will take him away from everything he loves – again.

Lord John Grey – aristocrat, soldier, and occasional spy – finds himself in possession of a packet of explosive documents that exposes a damning case of corruption against a British officer.  But they also hint at a more insidious danger.  Time is of the essence as the investigation leads to Ireland, with a baffling message left in “Erse,” the tongue favored by Scottish Highlanders.  Lord John, who oversaw Jacobite prisoners when he was governor of Ardsmuir Prison, thinks Jamie may be able to translate – but will he agree to do it?

Soon Lord John and Jamie are unwilling companions on the road to Ireland, a country whose dark castles hold dreadful secrets, and whose bogs hide the bones of the dead.

*Synopsis taken from the book

My Review: I have yet to find a Diana Gabaldon novel I haven’t liked, though I will admit I haven’t read them all.  This one takes a look at a time we knew existed, the time Jamie spends in service to Lord Dunsany, and fills in some of those gaps.  Although this is a Lord John book, both he and Jamie could probably be considered main characters in this novel, splitting time between the two of them almost evenly.  I liked this approach, and I was able to keep the POV straight in my head for the most part.

The previous books in the Lord John series have really stood primarily independently from each other and the Outlander series, taking the characters we knew and not presuming we know their back story.  This one is a bit different – there are references to events in the Outlander series that take place two or three books in, so I wouldn’t necessarily recommend picking this up without reading those.  Not to say that the material is indecipherable, but more like you’re going to spoil some items for yourself if you do it.

Lord John and Jamie had a bit of a dust up the last time they communicated with each other, so the aftermath of that is felt throughout the book.  The presence of Toby Quinn adds so much tension that it nearly brings things to a boiling point at a few times, putting Jamie in an awkward position more than once.  It’s bad enough to be a convicted Jacobite traveling around the country with your parole officer, it’s quite another to have a companion trying to get you to defect back to the cause!

I loved seeing more of what Jamie was doing while paroled, this is a time I’ve always wondered about, knowing he couldn’t have just been sitting around doing nothing.  I also think this book did a great job of getting us from the point of discord between Lord John and Jamie, all the way up to where they are reconciled and friends again.  Fans of the series have an idea about what is to come between the two of them and where Jamie heads next, so this was a nice segue we hadn’t seen before.

I love that this sets a great precedent of more books sharing these two characters – I know this is Lord John’s series, but any fan of Gabaldon won’t mind seeing more Jamie Fraser!  I’m keeping my fingers crossed that there’s more of this to come.

Read this book if: Any fan of Gabaldon will enjoy this one.  If you haven’t read any of her books, don’t start here, but pick something of hers up soon!

My Rating: 4.5/5 – Borderline amazing!

Filed in 2012, Diana Gabaldon, Royal Reviews | Tagged: ,

Song of the Week – David Guetta

Posted June 28, 2012 By dorolerium

Have I mentioned my love for David Guetta?  Have you forgotten it?  Cuz I’m gonna remind you today.  This song is featuring Jennifer Hudson and it is full of awesome!

Doesn’t that song just make you want to have a dance party in your living room?

Filed in Music | Tagged: ,

Gilt by Katherine Longshore

Posted June 27, 2012 By dorolerium

Title: Gilt
Author: Katherine Longshore
Publisher: Viking
Genre: YA Historical Fiction
Pages: 398
How I Read It: ARC received from the publisher – The views expressed in my review are mine alone and I have received no compensation for these opinions.

Synopsis: In the court of King Henry VIII, nothing is free — and love comes at the highest price of all.

When Kitty Tylney’s best friend, Catherine Howard, worms her way into King Henry VIII’s heart and brings Kitty to court, she’s thrust into a world filled with fabulous gowns, sparkling jewels, and elegant parties. No longer stuck in Cat’s shadow, Kitty’s now caught between two men—the object of her affection and the object of her desire.

But court is also full of secrets, lies, and sordid affairs, and as Kitty witnesses Cat’s meteoric rise and fall as queen, she must figure out how to keep being a good friend when the price of telling the truth could literally be her head.

My Review: The new trend in historical fiction seems to be telling the story of Catherine Howard through the perspective of Katherine Tylney, allegedly one of her best friends.  For those who aren’t familiar with this story, Kitty Tylney is a historical figure, but not much is known about her.  She lived with the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk during the same time that Catherine Howard was there, the two were around the same age, so it’s a fair assumption that they had a friendship on some level.

Although this book is about Kitty, and is told from her perspective, the tale intertwines her story very heavily with Cat’s, which means that the story essentially revolves around Cat.  Kitty is basically with Cat from the start, witnessing Cat’s escapades while they are girls and eventually going to court to serve under her as queen.  As the story progresses, Kitty realizes she is simply living a life in Cat’s shadow, wanting things because Cat wants them, and not doing anything for herself.

The frustrating thing was seeing her know this, and not really doing anything about it.  While Cat was definitely stuck in the situation she found herself in, Kitty has plenty of opportunities to get out and chooses to stay with Cat.  Her rationalization is that without Cat, she would be nothing.  However, I don’t know if being grateful to someone means you owe them the potential to lose your head on the block, which is essentially what Kitty is risking in this story.

That being said, her misplaced loyalty in Cat is admirable, and it was sweet to see her stay despite her best interests.  Kitty does try to stand up to Cat in a few situations, but it becomes obvious that it’s a bit futile to do that.  Even before she was queen, Cat was always getting her way, usually at someone else’s cost.

My heart went out to Kitty in this story because I don’t think I would have stayed in the same situation.  The fate of Anne Boleyn is ever present in this story, being mentioned regularly as Cat becomes more and more involved with Thomas Culpeper, and I don’t think I would have remained that loyal of a friend if I had been in Kitty’s situation.

I also think this portrays a more realistic point of view of what would have really happened to someone in Kitty’s position.  In other novels, she really just gets away with no risk, which has always confused me.  In this one, you truly do not know what her fate will be given her involvement in Cat’s life.  That’s one of the fun parts of a relatively unknown historical figure – you can do what you want with their fate!  We all know what really happened to Catherine Howard, but who really knows what happened to Katherine Tylney.

Read this book if: I would think most fans of historical fiction will enjoy this one.  Catherine Howard is one of my least favorite of Henry VIII’s wives, and this story does nothing to redeem her for me, but Kitty’s story kept me going.

My Rating: 3.5/5 – Two thumbs up, fine holiday fun!

Filed in 2012, ARC, Katherine Longshore | Tagged: ,

Teaser Tuesday! June 26, 2012

Posted June 26, 2012 By dorolerium

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser:

In their eyes, I saw that they hated us.

I understood better when I saw the sun-bleached skeleton of the Abbey of St. Mary.  The abbot’s house had been renovated and richly furnished for our arrival.  But the abbey itself looked beyond repair.  Destroyed by the king’s reformation.

~ “Gilt” by Katherine Longshore, p. 260

Filed in Books | Tagged:

Click: An Online Love Story by Lisa Becker

Posted June 22, 2012 By dorolerium

Title: Click: An Online Love Story
Author: Lisa Becker
Publisher: CreateSpace
Genre: Chick Lit
Pages: 347
How I Read It: ARC received from the author – The views expressed in my review are mine alone and I have received no compensation for these opinions.

Synopsis: Fast approaching her 30th birthday and finding herself not married, not dating, and without even a prospect or a house full of cats, Renee Greene, the heroine of Click: An Online Love Story, reluctantly joins her best guy pal on a journey to find love online in Los Angeles.

The story unfolds through a series of emails between Renee and her best friends (anal-compulsive Mark, the overly-judgmental Ashley, and the over-sexed Shelley) as well as the gentlemen suitors she meets online.

From the guy who starts every story with “My buddies and I were out drinking one night,” to the egotistical “B” celebrity looking for someone to stroke his ego, Renee endures her share of hilarious and heinous cyber dates.

Fraught with BCC’s, FWD’s and inadvertent Reply to All’s, readers will root for Renee to “click” with the right man.

*Synopsis taken from Goodreads

My Review: Ever wanted to experience the world of online dating without the actual “dating” part?  Click does a great job of bringing that world to you.  I read this book in a handful of hours, and the kinds of men Renee finds herself interacting with are, to a large extent, exactly what you would expect.  After reading the book, I discovered that the author herself used actual life experiences to write this one, which makes it feel all the more authentic.

The premise of this story really interested me – in a world where online dating is something almost everyone has done at this point, it’s something we can all laugh at and share in the misery and amusement together.  Who doesn’t want to hear that someone else has experienced the same horror that we did?!

I really enjoyed most of the characters, with the exception of Ashley, who reminded me too much of a couple of people in my life and that wasn’t my favorite thing.  Shelley was by far my favorite, she was a lot of fun and reading about her reminded me of reading something by Chelsea Handler.

The format, however, is going to be something you’ll either like or you won’t, plain and simple.  The entire book is told through the story of emails – to Renee, her friends, dudes she is dating, etc.  I realized about three emails in that I get bored with my own email conversations with people I actually know, so it doesn’t bode well for a book when I have that problem with my own personal life.  I think I would have liked this a lot better if it were some emails and some more traditional book format.  Like, some stuff we get to see in real time, so to speak, and other things we could see through email.  So I take this as a lesson for myself – probably don’t read something in non-traditional format in the future!

As for the plot, I liked it overall, until the end anyway.  I had a little inkling as to what may end up happening, and I was a little disappointed that I got it right.  Which is also amusing – I can’t ever figure out a mystery, but something like this just calls to me!  I guess I just felt like the major problem Renee encountered was so not a big deal, and I probably would have burst out laughing if I had found myself in her situation.  The resolution to that was alright, but also felt a little rushed.  Given what we, and Renee, had invested in this online dating adventure, I would have liked to see a little bit more to the book.  While Renee was the main character, there were a few stories that I would have liked to see the end to, so maybe another twenty or so pages would have satisfied me.

The book is really relevant for life as we know it, which makes it fun and I think this could turn into an interesting movie if it were ever an option.  It was a good first try, I’ll be curious to see what the author comes up with next…hopefully in a format that is more to my liking.

Read this book if: This was entertaining and I think it would be a good pool/beach read for the summer.  Definitely something that takes your mind off your life for a few hours!

My Rating: 2.5/5 – Did I fall asleep?

Filed in 2012, ARC, Lisa Becker | Tagged: ,

Song of the Week – Maroon 5

Posted June 21, 2012 By dorolerium

Okay, so this song is a tiny bit over played at the moment.  But the truth is that I adore Adam Levine so much that I’m still enjoying hearing it on the radio all the time.  Plus this video really amuses me.

The only sad part is that it does not have a shirtless Adam Levine. Guess sometimes we have to make sacrifices :/

Filed in Music | Tagged: ,

Teaser Tuesday! June 19, 2012

Posted June 19, 2012 By dorolerium

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser:

“Okay.  Now to the subject of this email.  I know you will think I’m a major loser and a dork – not that you already don’t ;) – but my New Year’s resolution is to try an online dating service and I don’t want to do it alone.”

~ “Click: An Online Love Story” by Lisa Becker, Kindle 1%

Filed in Books | Tagged:

TV Roundup – June 18, 2012

Posted June 18, 2012 By dorolerium

Once again, I didn’t have much time for catching up on TV, so I really just watched one show.  I’m hoping to do better next week.

True Blood 5.2
Truth be told, this episode was rather dull and I’m pretty sure it came close to putting me to sleep.  The basic points are:

  • Bill, Eric, and Nora are all being held by The Authority, who are having some philosophical discussion with them about the interpretation of the Vampire Bible and their position on mainstreaming.
  • Alcide is supposed to be the new pack master and doesn’t want to be.
  • Sam gets in a big fight with Luna over how to handle the state of the pack.  Oh, and Emma does turn into a werewolf.  Which will undoubtedly cause further problems.
  • Pam is super upset about what’s happening between her and Eric, so we see shots of their first meeting.
  • Tara isn’t adjusting to being a vampire very well, wants to kill Suckie and Lafeyette, but Pam tells her not to.  She says she’ll never forgive Suckie and Lala.
  • Bill and Eric manage to save their lives, for now, by informing The Authority that Russell Edgington is still alive and on the loose.

I’ll be curious to see more of the history between Pam and Eric, he’s just as charming in the flashbacks and I adored him.  And despite how boring the episode was, I am curious as to how the stuff with Russell is going to play out.

Filed in TV | Tagged: ,

It’s Monday! What are you reading? June 18, 2012

Posted June 17, 2012 By dorolerium

This is a weekly meme run by Book Journey!

Post the books completed last week, the books you are currently reading, and the books you hope to finish this week.

Mailbox Monday is a weekly meme that was created by Marcia at The Printed Page, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring meme (details here).  It is hosted at Alternative Read for the month of June.

*****

Busy busy busy!  This weekend was Denver Pride, which always makes things fun but hectic!

Books completed last week:
Lord John & the Scottish Prisoner – Diana Gabaldon: I knew I’d adore this one, and I totally did.  Gabaldon remains one of my favorite authors!
Click: An Online Love Story – Lisa Becker: I received this as a review copy awhile back, and made time for it this week.  My review will be up on Friday

Books I’m reading this week:
Gilt – Katherine Longshore ~ Page 28: I received this from LibraryThing about a month ago, it sounds fun!

Books ongoing:
Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte ~ Page 220: I read a bit in Jane Eyre this week, although it looks like no progress was made because I switched editions.  I decided my big hard copy was more difficult to read, so I changed to the one that I downloaded for my Kindle.

Books I acquired this week:
No new books this week!

What I watched this week:

  • Fashion Police, The Soup, Chelsea Lately,  The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, 1 girl 5 gays, The Ellen Degeneres Show, The Graham Norton Show
  • Keeping Up With The Kardashians
  • The Big Bang Theory
  • SavageU
  • The Big C
  • Men In Black III
  • True Blood

 

Filed in Books | Tagged:

Week in Review – June 16, 2012

Posted June 16, 2012 By dorolerium

RajahOnce again, I got too busy and totally forgot to even keep track of what I had been doing for awhile, let alone posting about it.  I guess that’s what summer is for!  So anyway, the last weeks I:

  • Attended a really fun live band karaoke competition.  One friend was in the band, another was actually competing/performing.  It was really interesting – I’ve never seen karaoke with an actual band before!
  • Worked with my landlord to get the water heater replaced.  My uncle suggested I boil water on the stove like they did in the olden days.  No thanks!
  • Took my older dog, who I affectionately refer to as Grumbledore most of the time, to the vet to get on some happy pills.  If he’s in a better mood, do I have to come up with a better nickname for him?
  • Celebrated another friends birthday, and almost got a marriage proposal!
  • Had an awesome brunch, followed by a fabulous shopping trip.  I got my shoes for my sisters wedding!
  • Saw MIB III
  • Took a few dog walks, hence the picture for this post
Filed in Life | Tagged:
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