Quiksilver 456 pages
Memories of Magdalene 183 pages
Cocktails for Three 301 pages
Mr. Darcy’s Decision 206 pages
The Virgin’s Lover 438 pages
Nectar from a Stone 436 pages
The Deception of the Emerald Ring 430 pages
Founding Mothers 278 pages
Chosen 307 pages
Murder of Helen Jewett 409 pages
Untamed 338 pages
I do appologize to everyone. Life has been nipping at my heels and I am behind. I promise I shall soon have the winners drawn and contacted for the Night Gardener.
Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about mid-year reading…
Now that we’ve come to the middle of the year, what do you think of your 2009 reading so far? Read anything interesting that you’d like to share? Any outstanding favourites?
The year is 1845. Elizabeth Barrett is a published poet — and a virtual prisoner in her own home. Blind family loyalty ties her to a tyrannical father who forbids any of his children to marry. She has resigned herself to simply existing. That is, until the letter arrives… “I love your verses with all my heart,” writes Robert Browning, an admiring fellow poet. And as friendly correspondence gives way to something more, Elizabeth discovers that Robert’s love is not for her words alone. Could it be that God might grant her more than mere existence? And can she risk defying her father in pursuit of true happiness? Nancy Moser has crafted a romantic, emotion-charged novel based on the true story of beloved poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
Let me first say that I love Nancy Moser’s work, anyone who has been reading this blog knows this. I have reviewed three works by her on my blog, and all have gotten top marks. That said I wish I could give How Do I Love Thee? those top marks. But I cannot. Perhaps it is because I myself do not know much about the poet Elizabeth Browning, or perhaps it is the subject matter of a woman who spends most of her time inside due to illness at first (that is me right now) and than by fear of the outside world. I am fully able to admit that could be the reason I did not enjoy this one that much.
I am not saying the book is bad, it is not. But it was not my favorite. The pacing seemed a bit sluggish to me and at points I did struggle with it. However, other parts of it held me in rapt attention. I certainly found myself wanting to clock Ba’s tyrannical father over the head with a book, or his bible. And I did draw myself up to Ba and try to deal with many of her let downs and losses, like her dear brother Bro.
The story is an emotional one and it goes through many up’s and downs. It is accurate to the time that it is in, and I found myself learning a lot which I can always appreciate in a book. But the poet’s life was not a thrilling one like Lady Washington and it was not like that of Jane Austen from Just Jane. And perhaps these expectations as a reader are my own faults. When all is said and done I do feel that the book is worth reading. If you can handle the slightly slow pacing and look at the true deep emotions of the book you will enjoy it.
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Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of their human hosts while leaving their bodies intact, and most of humanity has succumbed.
Wanderer, the invading “soul” who has been given Melanie’s body, knew about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the too vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn’t expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.
Melanie fills Wanderer’s thoughts with visions of the man Melanie loves-Jared, a human who still lives in hiding. Unable to separate herself from her body’s desires, Wanderer yearns for a man she’s never met. As outside forces make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, they set off to search for the man they both love.
The Host is an amazing work of art where the main Character Melanie Stryder has been taken by an alien race set to take over the human race and annihilate it and make it a perfect sibilant planet, to stop all wrong, make everything peaceful, and run smooth. Medical care is far improved and so far out of human understanding that most anything can be fixed except Melanie Stryder who is a host for one of the life forms taking over the earth, but Melanie is not giving up her body without a fight and leads her host on an adventure that shows it that not everything they have found is bad in a world that does not seem to really need a lot of fixing. Swirled into the adventure is Jared, Melanie’s love who is one of the people managing to dodge becoming a carrier of a host himself as he helps lead a group of people living deep in the Arizona desert between Tucson and Phoenix. While Melanie pushes the creature inside her with her strong emotional draw and care of her little brother and Jared she learns to work with and help teach these hidden people and learns how to help them survive, in the meantime the question always looms through out the book…. What to do with the creature buried deep in her neural net, how to possibly separate it from Melanie and allow her to reunite fully with Jared.
It’s a page turning, PG novel that is certainly a good read for anyone wanting a good novel without the need for the sex sells industry. I picked it up by chance seeing it on a shelf at a bookstore and thinking I’dd give it a go since its by the same author that brought us the Twilight Sage, and if you check the publish date it was published in the middle of the Twilight Saga. Pick it up give it a read and pass it on to a friend.
And in our final blog tour installment post, we have an inteview with Jeffrey B Allen
JA: I always thought there could be nothing worse than growing up as a boy without a father. I knew many who had. Perhaps they lost there father to divorce or maybe to an unfortunate premature death. But when I really thought about it, an even worse scenario would be to have a father whose tyrannical abusive behavior trapped a family within a prison of fear and oppression. What went on behind the closed doors of a house that was filled with such fear and loathing was beyond all my comprehension. Most of the time the neighbors, teachers, even fellow church goers failed to recognize the subtle cries for help, because those signs were so well hidden by fear.
John is twelve year old boy who lives with the fear everyday of his life. He wonders why. He sometimes thinks it is his fault. John has feeling he cannot explain; feeling of emptiness and loss that grinds away at him and causes him to be a sort of recluse.
Although his mother seems strong she is not. John senses that and forms a protective bond with his mother. He asks her why his father hates them, but she will not tell him. When the violent explosion takes place it is the perfect stepping off point for John. The story is free to explore how a twelve year old boy would deal with his horrible situation if only he could take it into his own realm and steer the events.
The strange thing about GoneAway is that John is not steering the events quite as much as the reader believes he is in the beginning. The appearance of some of the strange characters and the revelations that take place in the story make that fact very clear. The last chapter also clears up any doubt the reader may have over the medium in which John is traveling.
AJ: What made you decide writing was for you?
JA: I tried to be a painter. I was good, but I knew no matter how much practice I forced upon the years ahead of me, I would never be great. I played music, and the same thing occurred to me; I could become good, but never great. I was always good at writing; therefore, I felt with enough practice I could become great. I am still practicing, but with every word, sentence and paragraph, I find myself in concert with art and music. Words paint pictures in reader’s minds, and words well placed end to end up[on a piece of paper are like a perfectly composed score when done correctly. I am striving to get it right, and I am having fun while trying. I may never be great, but if I keep practicing, I feel I have a bit of chance.
AJ: What did you have to go through, evolution wise, to create such a strong path that moves along in the growth and survival of the characters in GoneAway Into the Land?
JA: That is a very difficult question. To answer the question properly I would have to give away quite a bit of the story. In its basic form, the story is filled with several things John must overcome and find out about himself before he will be able to return to the Great Office of the Purveyor. Candy is but a symbol for something greater. The Purveyor is much more than the one to bequeath sweet things into the world. John’s quest to kill his father is much more than just a mission to end his father’s life. All of the main characters have a purpose. For instance Mellica. He is John’s alter ego, and Sara, well everyone who has read GoneAway knows who she is. When horrible things happen in our life we naturally search for answers. I believe there is a spiritual nature to our search, and I believe our answers may not come in this life, but they will come.
AJ: Where do you find your inspiration?
JA: Inspiration is as much a mystery of the human spirit as imagination and ingenuity. I believe one of the strongest driving forces behind the rapid evolution of mankind, and now our freefall into technological advancement is nothing less that our knowledge of our own mortality. If it were not for that uniquely human quality there would be no reason to be any more creative in our techniques of survival and territorial defense than was had by all previous generations.
The simple answer to your question is that I am aware I am going to die, and I know approximately, if all goes as planned, that my heart will stop beating between the ages of seventy five and one hundred – closer to seventy five statistically, but my grandmother lived to be one hundred and two, so I have decided to write until I am one hundred years old, and then I will take two years off — retired at last, but I will have left a legacy, a book or two on the shelves and that is enough for me.
AJ: What is your favorite writing environment?
JA: Late at night, or early in the morning. Somewhere between ten o’clock at night and three in the morning. I am in front of my computer and I am sipping a glass of red wine.
AJ: Any advice for Young writers out there?
JA: Read as much as you can get your hands on. Keep reading and eventually you will be able to write better than you thought. If you want to write as a writer, then you must learn the rules. Once you learn the rules, read more and see how the best writers who ever lived bent the rules, but notice how they seldom, if ever, broke them.
Thank you,
Jeffrey B. Allen
Colin Firth in clingy pants…that is the line I just heard from my TV. Made me laugh. I am watching a show I caught on PBS but wasn’t able to see all of it so I netflixed it. Lost in Austen. And so far this show is a positive riot. What woman has not felt like that? Screw real men and give me somebody like Mr. Darcy. I think in some way I have found my own Mr. Darcy with his way anyways. But, this show is rather funny.
Has anyone else seen it?
It is summer time. And summer time also means that it is time to do flea and tick control on your animals. As someone who has cats, and dogs myself I know how important this issue is. I have been lucky that I have never had fleas in my house. KNOCK ON WOOD! But I know people who have had fleas, and I know what a pain in the rear end they can be. So much sure you’re checking out some sites they have great tips. You want to be careful with the products you use and always fully research them. But mostly take care of the problem. Don’t just sit back and assume it won’t happen to you.
