Book Review: The Apothecary’s Daughter by Julie Klassen


Lillian Haswell, brilliant daughter of the local apothecary, yearns for more adventure and experience than life in her father’s shop and their small village provides. She also longs to know the truth behind her mother’s disappearance, which villagers whisper about but her father refuses to discuss. Opportunity comes when a distant aunt offers to educate her as a lady in London. Exposed to fashionable society and romance–as well as clues about her mother–Lilly is torn when she is summoned back to her ailing father’s bedside. Women are forbidden to work as apothecaries, so to save the family legacy, Lilly will have to make it appear as if her father is still making all the diagnoses and decisions. But the suspicious eyes of a scholarly physician and a competing apothecary are upon her. As they vie for village prominence, three men also vie for Lilly’s heart.

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of this book is wow. The imagery set forth is beautiful and the prose is profound. Julie Klassen weaves a story of emotion, and beauty. Of a young woman just trying to find her way in the world. When we first come upon Lillian Haswell (Lilly) she is a daughter who wishes to do what most daughters do at some time in their life, flee home. But as the daughter of an Apothecary she isn’t sure how she will be able to do so. Enter the brother of her long missing mother Rosamond.

Lilly is given the chance to go to London and experience a season by her aunt and uncle. They will sponsor her and dress her, and al of the other wonderful things of a fine lady in London. The offer she was waiting for! Lilly takes it and spends two happy years in London, she is flirted with, courted and almost makes several matches. Until that is of course the men find out what her father does. At the end of two years however Lilly is called home to tend to her ill father.

We find a great many up’s and downs in the story of Lillian and her family. Her father Charles is a kind hearted man with some secrets in his passed, who is ailing and desperately trying to be well enough so he can continue the business. Her brother Charlie is such a loveable character, he is a bit simple, but loving and he tries hard. He finds his love in gardening.

While the story has many tender moments that will make you cry I also enjoy some of the funnier. Lily has so many suitors she doesn’t know what to do with them. Roger Bromley from London, the next baronet of her town, Roderick Marlow, Mr. Shuttelsworth, Dr.Graves and her father’s old apprentice Francis Baylor OH MY! You will not be left bored when reading this book. If you’re a woman you will feel Lilly’s plight, living in a world where she knows the knowledge, enjoys the work and is good at it. But because she is a woman she is not allowed to practice openly. Because she is a woman she is supposed to rely on men, but they are all leaning on her!

The Apothecary’s daughter is a coming of age story. You will follow the stories of everyone in the book, but mostly you stay with Lillian. She has heart ache, and confusion and happy moments too. This is a real story, and it sucks you in. You care about the characters, you love them. You begin to wish Lilly could go back to London, or should she stay home? You never know which would be better, not until the very end.


Booking Through Thursday: Graphic

Suggested by Vega:

Last Saturday (May 2nd) is Free Comic Book Day! In celebration of comics and graphic novels, some suggestions:

– Do you read graphic novels/comics? Why do/don’t you enjoy them?
– How would you describe the difference between “graphic novel” and “comic”? Is there a difference at all?
– Say you have a friend who’s never encountered graphic novels. Recommend some titles you consider landmark/”canonical”.

Sadly, I don’t have much to say to this weeks BTT. I don’t read graphic novels. I did used to read comics but that was a very long time ago. I mostly read the X-men comics. But once it branched into so many diffrent kinds of X-men I gave up trying to follow.

Wicked Wednesday #4


Wicked Wednesday a place to be wicked to other book readers and make them get those TBR piles growing. The concept is simple. Pick a book or two and tell s about them. If its one you read tell us what you liked. If its one you found tell us about that to. Than leave a comment to let us know where to find your Wicked Wednesday titles. Make sure to link back in your posts for other people to follow Wicked Wednesday.

My selection for this week is a book I wouldn’t have picked up myself. But it was suggested to me, and I will be reading it at some point. I hope you might as well.

He had drawn the curtains tightly around his soul…
could he trust that glimmer of hope quietly beckoning to him?

Ben Buckley has never gotten over the loss of his wife. More bewildering than the mystery surrounding her death is the radical change that occurred in her shortly beforehand–a “conversion,” she had called it. Baffled, angry, and still feeling guilty for the way he’d withdrawn from her during those final weeks, Ben now lives behind the protective walls of severed relationships and rigid routines.

An unlikely young woman knocks on the door of his narrow world. Her simple honesty and childlike faith are incomprehensible to him, but in spite of his misgivings Ben finds himself on a journey he never would have begun on his own.

May Madness Book Giveaway #1: Made in the U.S.A by Billie Letts

Alright reader’s I am getting started with Hatchette and I am *hope* I am doing their giveaway Guidelines correctly. They are VERY generous with giveaway’s and thanks to them I will be able to bring you some wonderful titles. So first up..

The bestselling author of WHERE THE HEART IS returns with a heartrending tale of two children in search of a place to call home.

Lutie McFee’s history has taught her to avoid attachments…to people, to places, and to almost everything. With her mother long dead and her father long gone to find his fortune in Las Vegas, 15-year-old Lutie lives in the god-forsaken town of Spearfish, South Dakota with her twelve-year-old brother, Fate, and Floy Satterfield, the 300-pound ex-girlfriend of her father.

While Lutie shoplifts for kicks, Fate spends most of his time reading, watching weird TV shows and worrying about global warming and the endangerment of pandas. As if their life is not dismal enough, one day, while shopping in their local Wal-Mart, Floy keels over and the two motherless kids are suddenly faced with the choice of becoming wards of the state or hightailing it out of town in Floy’s old Pontiac. Choosing the latter, they head off to Las Vegas in search of a father who has no known address, no phone number and, clearly, no interest in the kids he left behind.

MADE IN THE U.S.A. is the alternately heartbreaking and life-affirming story of two gutsy children who must discover how cruel, unfair and frightening the world is before they come to a place they can finally call home.

* Includes a Reading Group Guide

Thanks to Hatchette book Group we have 5, yes 5 copies to giveaway. So we will have 5 winners for this great book! Do not miss out on this one!

*US and CANADA ENTRIES ONLY please*

So here is how to Win this book. The first thing you need to do. And this is required to particpate.Is Comment! This give away will be open til the 15th of May.

And some other ways to get entries:
Follow this blog (1 entry)
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Join the feeder service (1 entry)
Follow me on facebook (1 entry follow the FB link on the sidebar)
Follow me on Twitter (1 entry Follow twitter link on sidebar)

Create a post on your blog advertising the contest and linking back to us here at Fire & Ice for the contest. make sure you post the link to your post in the comments. (1 entry)

Teaser Tuesday #11

TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to: Grab your current read.Let the book fall 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!Please avoid spoilers!

Dipping her head politely, she walked across the green, passed the coal merchant, and rounded the butchers shop. Behind it, she turned down narrow Milk Lane, which housed the old haberdashery-and stopped midstride. ~ pg 151 The Apothecary’s Daughter by Julie Klassen

Musing Monday #10 – TBR Pile

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about your tbr pile…

How many books (roughly) are in your tbr pile? Is this in increasing number or does it stay stable? Do you ever experience tbr anxiety in the face of this pile? (question courtesy of Wendy)

Stable? Stable? Nope no way no how. The number always increases. Just when I think I am decreasing it, I order more books. I have roughly, 608 currently in the pile. And it does grow weekly, I would say daily but that’s not accurate it does depend on the week. Sometimes it is daily, sometimes a few a week. I very often do experience anxiety when I look at my pile. I wonder if I will ever read them all. But than I remind myself about the time when I was a child, and I had my worst day ever. That was the day I realized I would never be able to read all the books in the world. I came to terms with that. So maybe I won’t ever read all of my TBR (cause it keeps growing) but it sure will be fun to try.

I feel flushed with Awards. Thank you.

Alright, I have been a bit behind because I was sick. But I was blessed to be given two more awards recently.

Sara @ Subjective Beauty gave me the Queen of all things Awww-sum Award. Thank you Sara. And the rules of acceptance are as follows.





To accept and pass this award on I must list 7 awesome things about myself and then list 7 awesome people I’d like to pass this award on to.

1.I am good with history.

2.I am fairly organized when it comes to my challenges.

3.I am an animal lover.

4. I can cook a mean pot of sketti sauce.

5.I look good in a bodice and hoop skirt.

6.I listen.

7.I feel I can write fairly well.

And I was also given The lovely Blog award by the wonderful Bookish mom. THANK YOU so much.



Here is what goes with the Award:

1) Accept the award, post it on your

blog together with the name of the person

who has granted the award and his or her blog link.

2) Pass the award to 15 other blogs

that you’ve newly discovered.

3) Remember to contact the bloggers to let them

know they have been chosen for this award.

In light of I am a bit delayed on this. And I love all of my readers so much I pass Both of these awards on to ALL of you!

Book Review: The Masque of the Black Tulip by Lauren Willig


The Pink Carnation, history’s most elusive spy and England’s only hope for preventing a Napoleonic invasion, returns in Lauren Willig’s dazzling imaginative new historical romance. The Masque of the Black Tulip opens with the murder of a courier from the London War Office, his confidential dispatch for the Pink Carnation stolen. Meanwhile, the Black Tulip, France’s deadliest spy, is in England with instructions to track down and kill the Pink Carnation. Only Henrietta Uppington and Miles Dorrington know where the Pink Carnation is stationed. Using a secret code book, Henrietta has deciphered a message detailing the threat of the Black Tulip. Meanwhile, the War Office has enlisted Miles to track down the notorious French spy before he (or she) can finish the deadly mission. But what Henrietta and Miles don’t know is that while they are trying to find the Black Tulip (and possibly falling in love), the Black Tulip is watching them.


Let me start this review by saying I am sorry for the delay I have been ill. Now…to the good part. *Completed April 30th*

The Masque of the Black Tulip brings us once again into the modern day life of Eloise the grad student and Colin the Selwick descendent. And of course the past lives of Richard, Jane, Miles, Amy and Henrietta. Slipping into the pages of this book was like putting on a comfortable pair of shoes. You knew where you were, picking up precisely where you left off. But oh the places you will go.

We see more flirtations between Eloise and Colin, as you might in any good chic lit. But it remains mostly light, sarcastic and fun. They have a witty commentary all the while Eloise is flipping through Colin’s family papers. And oh what we learn in those family papers this time.

Miles is tired of being the side kick, its not that he doesn’t love his fried Richard (The Purple Gentian), he does of course. But now that Richard has been unmasked Miles would like to find his own way to help the kingdom. The problem for Miles is he happens to be very big, very broad, and very blonde. He doesn’t move with the same graceful ease as a general spy, rather he looms. And once in a place is somewhat like a bull in a china shop. But never mind he has charm! I positively love Miles; he is witty, charming and just hilarious. I found myself laughing out loud (and getting some looks) on more pages than I can count.

Miles is eventually given the job by the War Office of finding the Black Tulip, a very dangerous French spy. You really will enjoy following Miles and Henrietta as they see about catching the Black Tulip. Because Henrietta doesn’t see why Richard should have all the fun. Why should her brother be the only spy in the family? Along the way somehow the pair (separately) realise…they are in love. But the key is…will they tell one another? If you enjoy history, and a bit of fun you will love the Mask of the Black Tulip. This is one you can’t miss.

Quotable Sunday #7

Welcome to Quotable Sunday! I can’t wait to get around and read your quotes today. The rules of course are never changing but in case this is your first time joining in, I would like to welcome you and let you know the basics:~Post one or more of your favorite quotes on your blog in a post.~Come back here and link your post in the mister linky below(on http://www.juststopscreaming.com/ ).~Check back throughout the day and go read some awesome comments and leave some luv!

This Week I have chosen 2 quote’s from The Masque of the Black Tulip. I am so behind on replies, and everything this week I could only ferret out two. But I think they are funny!

“Sir Percy Blakeny was running the most daring intelligence effort since Odysseus asked Agamemnon whether he thought the Trojans might like a large wooden horse.”

“They were dressed all in green – to blend in with the scenery Penelope had explained with relish – and resembled nothing so much as a troupe of lost leprechauns, or a bunch of frogs who had misplaced their lily pad.”

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