Book Review: Éire’s Captive Moon by Sandi Layne

- Ambrosia 2 Comments

Release Date January 10th 2013

Éire’s Captive Moon, the first book of Sandi Layne’s Éire’s Viking Trilogy, brings you to the unsettled era of the early Viking raids along the coast of Éire – today’s Ireland. Red-striped sails make their first appearance on the shores near the village of Ragor and the peaceful life of the villagers is obliterated in one deadly raid. Agnarr Halvardson and his overlord, Tuirgeis, have come to Éire for treasure, honor, and slaves. After slaying her husbands, Agnarr claims Charis, the healer of the village, as his personal medicine woman – and sex slave. Cowan, a local prince, is captured by Tuirgeis to serve as translator for trading journeys. Leaving the smoking ruins of Ragor and Bangor Monastery behind them – as well as the children Charis had carefully hidden from the Northmen – the invaders sail away. Cowan, a Christian, is captivated by the pale, widowed herbalist, and finds himself in love with her by the time they reach Nordweg, where they will spend the winter. He is compelled to leave her, however, to serve his master. The winter brings many trials. An invasion from another village’s warriors throws Cowan and Charis together more intimately than she is prepared to handle equitably. Her own feelings are growing uncertain, though she reminds herself that she has to return to Éire and the children she left there. As winter passes in Nordweg, Charis plans vengeance upon Agnarr even as she learns to see him differently. Beset by accusations of witchcraft, hounded by Agnarr’s betrothed and her slave – a refugee Charis herself healed more than a year before – and having to adapt to the strange language and customs among the people around her, Charis still makes her plans. Will she be able to put aside her feelings and escape when spring returns.

Éire’s Captive Moon by Sandi Layne is a gripping story that throws you into the middle of conflict almost as soon as you start reading it. We get to be present for the birth of the main character Charis who’s Mother is a mysterious pale woman who gives birth in a wolf den and dies as soon as her Daughter is in the world. Charis is however saved by an Irish healer and raised with his people to also be a healer. Charis had a perfect life as she got older. According to her ways she could have two husbands and she did two proud warrior husbands. Until the “invaders” or the Vikings showed up and attack her village.

I loved the writing in this book I really did. There were times that I hated the Vikings for what they did to the Irish and there were other times where they made me smile because they did something honorable. You learn a good amount about the different cultures of the time. Between the Irish who had been turned to Catholics those like Charis who still believed mostly in the old ways and the Vikings.

Occasionally I was left conflicted over how to feel about Charis’s actions towards her captor Agnarr but when I put myself in her shoes I could understand. You may have to learn to like someone when they seem to be your only friend in a land that is far from home. I can say this is a very readable book and I would recommend it to those who enjoy an adventure but do not mind a bit of violence in the writing. I am looking forward to the next part of this trilogy.

My Gemstone Rating:

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Book Review: The Vital Needs of the Dead by Igor Sakhnovsky

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What needs might the dead have? Our loved ones stay with us after they’ve gone. Love, death and memory breathe in unison in the novel by Igor Sakhnovsky.

The Vital Needs of the Dead is a tender coming-of-age story set in the provinces of the Soviet Union in the second half of the 20th century. At the center of this story, praised by Russian critics for its blend of realism and lyrical sensibility, lies the relationship of young Gosha Sidelnikov with his alluring and mysterious grandmother Rosa, who becomes his caregiver when he is virtually abandoned by his busy and distant parents. This relationship colors Sidelnikov’s subsequent forays into first love and sexual awakening. Even after her death, memories of Rosa accompany him into his adventures as a provincial student. Then, one miserably cold winter night, her voice commands him to immediately depart for a place he’s never been before, precipitating a mysterious chain of events.

My first thought with Vital Needs of the dead when I started reading it was that not everyone is going to understand this book. As I continued reading I continued to feel that way. For those born in a privileged western world that have not had to deal with the experiences of something like Soviet run Russia they cannot always identify with what is going on.

Now I am one of those who was born in the Western world but I have done a lot of reading of this era and like to think I can connect with what is being told. Igor Sakhnovsky writes a very detailed story that is full of images that seemed to speak of me. Gosha is a character that I could really connect with and so I was interested in his story and what was happening to him throughout.

Some of the translation could be a little bit rough but for me that did not really take away from the book. A lot of times I think you have to read a book in its mother tongue to get all of the subtle nuances of what is being told. I would recommend this book to someone who is willing to take the time to understand what the story is telling you.

My Gemstone Rating:

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Teaser Tuesday 12/18/12

- Ambrosia 10 Comments

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!

 

“Yes .The Ostmen have taken us. You have apparently been claimed by Agnarr.”  ~ 24% of Kindle version of Eire’s Captive Moon

 

Musing Monday 12/17/12

- Ambrosia 4 Comments

Musing Monday is hosted over at Should Be Reading.

 

This week’s musing – courtesy of http://www.kwizgiver.com – asks…

Is there a particular book that is your nemesis–the book you’re determined to one day finish?

 

I am probably going to get laughed at for this one. However it is War & Peace. I have worked on it on and off for a long time. It is not that the book is not good I actually find it very good but it is so heavy and big that I can only get through so much of it before I set it aside for something else.

 

Book Review: The Demon Lover by Juliet Dark

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Since accepting a teaching position at remote Fairwick College in upstate New York, Callie McFay has experienced the same disturbingly erotic dream every night: A mist enters her bedroom, then takes the shape of a virile, seductive stranger who proceeds to ravish her in the most toe-curling, wholly satisfying ways possible. Perhaps these dreams are the result of her having written the bestselling book The Sex Lives of Demon Lovers. Callie’s lifelong passion is the intersection of lurid fairy tales and Gothic literature—which is why she’s found herself at Fairwick’s renowned folklore department, living in a once-stately Victorian house that, at first sight, seemed to call her name.

But Callie soon realizes that her dreams are alarmingly real. She has a demon lover—an incubus—and he will seduce her, pleasure her, and eventually suck the very life from her. Then Callie makes another startling discovery: Her incubus is not the only mythical creature in Fairwick. As the tenured witches of the college and the resident fairies in the surrounding woods prepare to cast out the demon, Callie must accomplish something infinitely more difficult—banishing this supernatural lover from her heart.

I was granted this book to read through Net Gallery and I was very excited to read it. I know you should not judge a book by its cover but the cover art and then the summary drew me in. So I was set up to really like and enjoy this book. Sadly I really just did not.

So why didn’t I like this book? For me there were a lot of plot holes in it things that clearly did not seem to have the background to make sense. How did Callie know she was the descendent of a curse creating witch? Or why love the incubus when he is a shadow but not when he is a real man? This was perplexing to me and of course the lack of a happy ever after makes this to me not a paranormal romance at all.

The story was also too cluttered with background characters. There were so many side characters that had partially or very little explained stories so you cannot really grasp on to anyone and decide you like them or dislike them. When I read a book I want at least one character I can feel truly drawn to with their story. There was just too many buzzing around in this one to be useful.

Now someone who does not mind a bit of clutter in characters and the lack of a happy ever after might enjoy this book. However for me there were just too many short comings to really center myself with the book and enjoy it. I might give the second book a read when I am given the chance to see if I can warm to the characters anymore but I am not sure.

My Gemstone Rating:

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Book Review: Queen by Right by Anne Easter Smith

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From the award-winning author of A Rose for the Crown, Daughter of York, and The King’s Grace comes another masterful historical novel—the story of Cecily of York, mother of two kings and the heroine of one of history’s greatest love stories. Anne Easter Smith’s novels are beloved by readers for their ability “to grab you, sweep you along with the story, and make you fall in love with the characters.” * In Cecily Neville, duchess of York and ancestor of every English monarch to the present day, she has found her most engrossing character yet.

History remembers Cecily of York standing on the steps of the Market Cross at Ludlow, facing an attacking army while holding the hands of her two young sons. Queen by Right reveals how she came to step into her destiny, beginning with her marriage to Richard, duke of York, whom she meets when she is nine and he is thirteen. Raised together in her father’s household, they become a true love match and together face personal tragedies, pivotal events of history, and deadly political intrigue. All of England knows that Richard has a clear claim to the throne, and when King Henry VI becomes unfit to rule, Cecily must put aside her hopes and fears and help her husband decide what is right for their family and their country. Queen by Right marks Anne Easter Smith’s greatest achievement, a book that every fan of sweeping, exquisitely detailed historical fiction will devour.

I have long been fascinated with the War of the Roses. So after reading the King’s Grace I leapt head first into reading Queen by Right written by Anne Easter Smith and what a journey it was. We follow the story from the very beginning with Cecily Neville and her husband Richard Duke of York. Arguably the War of the Roses started when Edward the Black Prince of Wales died before taking the crown his Father died but a year after leaving Young Richard II as King with his Uncle John of Gaunt as regent but I digress.

Anne Easter Smith takes us on a journey from the time that the young couple meets when Richard Duke of York becomes the ward of Cecily’s Father. While the couple is told they will marry as was the custom at the time they fell deeply in love with one another and their love story is one of the ages. I positively loved following along on each turn in their life that we are guided through by Anne Easter Smith’s masterful writing. From a surprising time in France where Cecily is to come in contact with Joan of Arc before she is burned at the stake to their time in Ireland.

If you know your history you know their love ends in a tragic way but it leads to somewhat more positive things. This time period is when the War of the Roses truly did reach its height even when there was a strong King on the throne nothing was guaranteed. Any fan of historical fiction will enjoy this book immensely. It is packed full of facts so that you do not feel as if you are reading a fiction so much as living events that happened. Queen by right is simply a masterful piece of work by Anne Easter Smith.

My Gemstone Rating:

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WWW Wednesday 12/12/12

- Ambrosia 3 Comments



First I have to say this will be the last of the repetitive dates we will ever see. Kinda sad but that’s alright. So onto the Meme.

• What are you currently reading? I am currently reading Queen by Right by Anne Easter Smith. I am really enjoying it so far and love all the references to one of my favorite historical families.

• What did you recently finish reading? I recently finished The King’s Grace by Anne Easter Smith. These were library borrows so I had to read them back to back but I really liked King’s Grace too.

• What do you think you’ll read next? I am not 100% sure what I will read next but it will be one of my books on Kindle. I am thinking perhaps The Demon lover by Juliet Dark

Posted in WWW

Book Review: Christened with Crosses by Eduard Kochergin

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While the mothers in Siberia wait for their soldier sons to return from the war in the west in 1945, the eight year old Eduard secretly jumps on board the trains heading in the opposite direction, heading west, towards Leningrad. Placed in a Siberian orphanage as a child because his parents were arrested as public enemies there is only one thing he wants: to go back home to Leningrad and to find his mother again. It is not only his desperate courage and his youthful agility that ensure his survival, it is also his artistic talent. With his agile fingers the boy is able to bend wire in the shape of profiles of Lenin and Stalin, as if in silhouette. He uses them to cheer up the invalid war veterans on the train stations returning from the front, who then give him a piece of bread, a bowl of soup and who, in a spirit of comradeship, warn him of the railway police and the secret service henchmen wanting to send the runaway back to the orphanage.

Eduard spends more than six years on the run, experiencing close encounters with post-war Russia where life and fate have become synonyms. He encounters other stowaways, professional beggars, soldiers returning from the war and wartime profiteers, the mothers of soldiers and war invalids, Chinese from the Ural, Cossacks dealing in hashish, Bashkir Estonians, Russian penal colony escapees and, time and again, orphanage directors. In order to survive the winter he often registered himself voluntarily in the next orphanage, each one always a little closer to the West, running away again before the servants of the Stalinist state are able to send him back to Siberia.

The memoirs of an old man who, as a boy, learned to find his way between extortionate state control and marauding banditry, the two poles that characterize Russia to this day. A story about the awakening of artistic talent under highly unusual Russian circumstances.

I was given the opportunity to read Christened with Crosses by Eduard Kochergin for a blog tour and I must say I feel honored to have been selected to read this book. This story is so gripping and emotional you cannot help but to be drawn into it. There were times I swore I could feel the nip of the Siberian Winter at my feet.


One of the main reasons you feel such a connection to this story is that it is Eduard Kochergin’s story told how he lived it. Spending part of his life in an orphanage in Siberia you can imagine that he had some rough times. Once he escapes from the orphanage he flees to St. Petersburg in hopes to find his Mother.


I have always enjoyed reading about Russian History and this time of upheaval is one that I have studied. However despite my knowledge of things I was left somewhat unprepared for this story of someone who actually lived the hardness that war torn times in Russia offered. I don’t want to give to many secrets away from Christened with Crosses because you really need to read it yourself to appreciate the story. I found it made me look back and rethink some of the things in my life that I complain about and realize perhaps they really are not that bad.


I would recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in history and living.

 

My Gemstone Rating:

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All Caught up

- Ambrosia Leave a comment

Alright after the manic posting of reviews because I did not keep up at all this year. I am all caught up and the reviews will come at a more leisurely as I read them pace. Thank you for your patience while I got all the reviews done! I am very much looking forward to the new year. I hope everyone else is as well.

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