Julie's Review: Recipe for a Happy Life

Summary: Hannah Goodman isn't like everyone else. Her mother, Gray, is an award-winning photojournalist with little time for the banalities of caring for a child, so she's mostly raised by her grandmother—a glamorous widow known for her charm, as well as the fact that shes been married nearly as many times as Elizabeth Taylor. Despite her mother's great wealth, Gray is determined that Hannah resist the siren song of the trust fund set, and make her own way in the world.  And Hannah did just that becoming a lawyer in New York City. Hannah has it all, or so it seems, until one hot June day when the carefully constructed pieces of her life break apart. That's when she seeks solace at her grandmother's Hamptons estate. And that's when she learns that there's more than one recipe for perfection.Fast-paced, charming, and full of heart, Recipe for a Happy Life sweeps you into a world in which fabulous beach-front cocktail parties are a regular occurrence, and the cure for social awkwardness is a perfectly-placed quip, but the boy in the mansion next door might just turn out to be the one thing that keeps you grounded when reality sets in. A memorable story about one memorable summer.A grand dame rules over three generations of women from her Hamptons estate, and her granddaughter realizes that the recipe for a happy life may be very different from her family's expectations. ~powells.com

Review: Immediately upon starting the book I liked Hannah. I thought she was witty, sincere and emotionally handicapped. What a better heroine for a novel. Then you meet her grandmother, Vivienne, who is elegant, classy and worldly but also the complete opposite of Hannah. They are extremely close since Hannah's mom, Gray, was always off chasing a story as a world renowned photojournalist.

Hannah is escaping her life in NYC for life in the Hamptons since hers imploded. She's looking for some carefree time at the beach while trying to figure out her life. This means that she has to deal with her grandmother setting her up on horrible dates and dressing the part. Before she knows it she's enjoying the life the Hamptons has to offer and is amazed by her Grandmother's social calendar.

I read Recipe for a Happy Life in one sitting. I laughed and I cried. I was amazed by each of these women who was strong in their own way. Each of them have had their own trials and triumphs. Each of them has to learn how to appreciate the others. Sometimes it takes a tragedy in life to bring this out in people.

Are there things that are predictable in the novel? Yes but there are definitely a few twists as well. Also, who can't help but falling a little in love with Hunter Kensington IV. He's an absolute trip. I loved the setting of the Hamptons and one day would like to visit to see these grand estates.

Ms. Janowitz has written a gem of a novel here. If you are looking for a quick, touching and funny read; look no further than Recipe for a Happy Life.

Final Take: 4.25/5


 Thank you to Ms. Janowitz for a copy of the novel.


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Jenn's Review: The Last Dragonslayer

Blurb:  In the good old days, magic was indispensable—it could both save a kingdom and clear a clogged drain. But now magic is fading: drain cleaner is cheaper than a spell, and magic carpets are used for pizza delivery. Fifteen-year-old foundling Jennifer Strange runs Kazam, an employment agency for magicians—but it’s hard to stay in business when magic is drying up. And then the visions start, predicting the death of the world’s last dragon at the hands of an unnamed Dragonslayer. If the visions are true, everything will change for Kazam—and for Jennifer. Because something is coming. Something known as . . . Big Magic.

Review:  It's been over 5 years since I read my last Jasper Fforde book, and it's been too long.   I saw this on the shelf of my local indie and knew this was the book to bring me back.  I adore the cover; it leaves so much scope for the imagination.

Once again, Fforde uses his brilliant wit to create a magical world.  In a parallel universe where magic and dragons are starting to die out lives Jennifer Strange the most extraordinary un-ordinary foundling the unUnited Kingdom will ever know.  Jennifer was abandoned at the Blessed Ladies of the Lobster orphanage in her orange Volkswagen, an apparent orphan of the Troll Wars.  Now in servitude of The Great Zambini, Jennifer finds herself in charge of the Kazam Mystical Arts Management due to Mr. Zambini's recent disappearance.  Herding sorcerers seems to be harder than herding cats.  They're moody and temperamental and can stick you on the ceiling for hours.  With the prediction of the death of the last dragon, Jennifer gets shoved into the spotlight.  Everyone is working an angle so the question is who do you trust?

Jasper Fforde always walks the fine line of making his characters hard to connect with due to the fact that his  quick witted dialogue can sometimes come off as flippant and snide.  This is not the case here.  Jennifer is intelligent but guarded.  I adore her Quarkbeast (who reminds me a little of Gru's 'dog' Kyle, from Despicable Me).  The wizards of Kazam are a hoot and Fforde does an excellent job of keeping them from becoming too cartoonish with depth of character.

Although I may have had one plot point worked out, I was mostly too busy enjoying the story, so it was purely happenstance and it didn't lesson my experience at all.  I loved the twists and turns the story-line took.  Jasper Fforde does a lovely job of wrapping things up neatly, while leaving enough loose ends with which to continue the series.  Reading this takes me back to some of my first Dianna Wynne Jones novels.

Jasper Fforde isn't for everyone.  His writing is dense and full of references, but his work is smart and funny, and really worth a try.  The Song of the Quarkbeast, book two of the Kazam Chronicles, just released this past week, and you can bet it's on the top of my reading list!

Final Take:  4.5/5


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Julie's Review: Songs of Willow Frost

Summary: From Jamie Ford, the New York Times bestselling author of the beloved Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, comes a much-anticipated second novel. Set against the backdrop of Depression-era Seattle, Songs of Willow Frost is a powerful tale of two souls—a boy with dreams for his future and a woman escaping her haunted past—both seeking love, hope, and forgiveness. Twelve-year-old William Eng, a Chinese American boy, has lived at Seattle’s Sacred Heart Orphanage ever since his mother’s listless body was carried away from their small apartment five years ago. On his birthday—or rather, the day the nuns designate as his birthday—William and the other orphans are taken to the historical Moore Theatre, where William glimpses an actress on the silver screen who goes by the name of Willow Frost. Struck by her features, William is convinced that the movie star is his mother, Liu Song. Determined to find Willow and prove that his mother is still alive, William escapes from Sacred Heart with his friend Charlotte. The pair navigate the streets of Seattle, where they must not only survive but confront the mysteries of William’s past and his connection to the exotic film star. The story of Willow Frost, however, is far more complicated than the Hollywood fantasy William sees onscreen. Shifting between the Great Depression and the 1920s, Songs of Willow Frost takes readers on an emotional journey of discovery. Jamie Ford’s sweeping novel will resonate with anyone who has ever longed for the comforts of family and a place to call home. ~powells.com  

Review:  I've been waiting and waiting for Jamie Ford to come out with another novel. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is one of my favorite books ever. I had high hopes for Songs of Willow Frost and I wasn't disappointed. Mr. Ford has a way of simply and beautifully telling a story.

Songs of Willow Frost is a story of loss, love and hope. It is heart-wrenching to have William find his way back to his ah-ma only to be taken back to the orphanage. We learn about Liu Song through her telling William his family's story. Liu didn't have an easy life and experienced heartbreak may times in her life. It is when she meets Colin Kwan that her life changes. He introduces her to performing on stage and on the screen. She doesn't know a way out of the life of poverty that her and William are living. Liu is an interesting character because in the beginning I felt like she was selfish and self-absorbed but after hearing her story I realized that she had no other option than the one she chose.

While Sister Briganti might have seemed harsh at times, she was really trying to protect William from getting his heartbroken all over again. She was looking out for his best interest even if he didn't think she knew what was best for him. William's friend Charlotte was his emotions when he was her eyes. There's was a friendship that perhaps was destined for more.

Mr. Ford also gives us background on the flourishing motion picture business in Seattle before everything was centralized in Hollywood. It is also through this subplot that we are smacked in the face with the bigotry/racism towards Chinese-Americans. How even when filming a Chinese movie or performing a play they had white actors play those parts. I am again reminded how racism isn't just towards black but of anyone who looks different than the majority. Our history, at times, isn't pleasant.

Mr. Ford excels at storytelling and how he reveals the back story. I loved the dual time periods because they weren't decades apart and were the beginning and middle of the same story. They didn't need intersecting because they were continuous.

Final Take: 4.75/5

Songs of Willow Frost will be released on 9/10/2013 by Ballantine Books.

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Book to Movie: Mortal Instruments City of Bones

Having seen the movie twice now, I finally feel ready to write my feelings down. I don't mind saying that I expected quite a lot from this movie, perhaps too much. This is my favorite series right now, so perhaps I'm a harsh critic.

The casting wasn't what I expected aside from Clary and Simon. When I pictured the breathtakingly handsome Jace, I don't picture Jamie Campbell Bower.  Considering, I think he pulls it off pretty well. Luke is not what I pictured either.  The Luke that Cassandra Clare wrote was burly and warm and funny and that just wasn't the vibe I got from Aidan Turner.   Hodge was not as I pictured either... a little more put together and not nearly as reclusive as he is in the book, but here we're starting to get into the way the script is written. 

Alec's love for Jace wasn't evident for me at all and had it not been brought up in the dialogue, I think it would have been missed completely.  Jonathon Rhys Meyers makes an awesome villain, but he was written more like a psychopath than an evil genius on a power trip. He is supposed to be intimidating and suave and instead he came off as manic. My biggest disappointment, though, was Magnus Bane. At first I thought it was just because there was too little of him, but after my second viewing I realized it was more than that.  Godfrey Gao definitely looks the part, but he isn't remotely charismatic and he talks way too fast for someone who is an 800 year old warlock. Again it may be the writing as his character has been reduced to plot exposition.  

I know it sounds like I hated it, but I didn't.  I can appreciate the cuts and changes made to the storyline to fit the time constraints.  I think some of them even make things more visually dramatic (Simon's trip to Hotel Dumort, for example).  I liked that they chose to let the audience in on the fact that Clary and Jace are not related, though I wasn't fond of the way it came about (Hodge?!?).  The witty repartee from Jace is severely cut down, especially the barbs between he and Simon, but there is enough to make him Jace.  I loved the Institute - it was a perfect recreation... with some additions.  The runes were as I imagined them, as were the steles and seraphs.  However, what makes Cassandra Clare's novels so magical are the worlds she creates and the personal interactions and I felt like much of that was lost due to time constraints.  The only relationship that remains intact in the film is the Simon-Clary-Jace love triangle.   And that is the film's saving grace. Robert Sheehan is a wonderful unrequited Simon.  And Lilly Collin and Jamie Campbell Bower are lovely together --the scene in the greenhouse,  the scene in front of Clary's bedroom door, rescuing Simon, the motorcycle ride-- I will watch it again and again for those moments. I adore them. 

In the end, no movie could ever live up to the sensational worlds Cassandra Clare created.  I think they did a good job though of making it stand on it's own.  (I took my husband with me for my second viewing and he seemed to enjoy it enough without having read the books... with a few questions.)  I hope they complete the second film.  I will be interested to see where the story goes, since they changed a significant plot point. The books get better and better and I'm hoping the movies will too.

Final Take:  3.75/5

Julie's Review: The Book of Someday

Summary: Three women. One stranger in a shimmering silver dress. Whatever binds them together has already destroyed one life. It just might consume them all. Someday, Livvi Gray will break free from her past. Someday, she will escape her recurring nightmare about that stranger in a shimmering silver dress. Someday, she will have a family of her own. Now she's found Andrew, and someday seems to be right around the corner. But there's so much Livvi doesn't know. Shortly before her thirtieth birthday, she will come face-to-face with the stranger from her dream-an encounter that will alter Livvi's future and crack open everything she knew about her past. Livvi is swiftly moving toward the ultimate turning point in her life-and she's not the only one. Linked by an unforgettable mystery, photographer Micah and young mother AnnaLee are also being rapidly drawn into a web of devastating secrets about the unexpected ways in which we choose to protect-and betray-the people we love. ~amazon.com  

Review:  The Book of Someday is an exquisite novel that looks at how our past haunts us and then releases us. We are introduced to three women in the novel: Livvi, Micah and AnnaLee. Livvi opens the book as a young girl in fear of her father and yearning to be somewhere, anywhere else. Micah is a famous photographer who is going to have a bomb thrown in her lap that causes her to revisit her unpleasant past. AnnaLee is a young mother living in the house that she grew up in with the possessions that her parents collected and the fact that she's ashamed of husband.

Their stories will break your heart. They will make you want to release your past and embrace the present. They will make you wonder what happened and what will happen. Will Livvie face her dark past? Will Micah make peace with hers? Will AnnaLee accept her husband for who he is and isn't?

Ms. Dixon doesn't an excellent job of being ambiguous throughout the novel. She gives you enough of a path of crumbs to follow them to the connection but leaves out enough that you question your own theories. You wonder if the lady in the shimmering silver dress and pearl button shoes is mystical. What is her connection to all three of them? I loved the way that it was discovered.

My only complaint is the ending! I closed the book wanting more! What happened to them?! Did they find peace and happiness? I'm all about not having a neatly tied bow but wow! This book will have me thinking for weeks, maybe months.

If you are a fan of mysteries with a mystical bent, then The Book of Someday is for you. It is a book that makes you think, get a little misty-eyed and go WTH?!

Final Take:  4.75/5

Thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark for my copy of the novel for review.




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Julie's Review: The Lavender Garden

Summary: The internationally bestselling author of The Orchid House takes readers from Nazi-occupied Paris to the contemporary glamour of the Cote D’Azur in an emotionally gripping novel of love, duty, and desire.
With her dazzling novels The Orchid House and The Girl on the Cliff, Lucinda Riley effortlessly transported readers between distant times and locations and earned accolades from reviewers and readers around the world. In The Lavender Garden, her most powerful novel so far, she tells the mesmerizing tale of heroism and betrayal inside an aristocratic French family across half a century.
Le Cote d’Azur, 1998: In the south of France, Emilie de la Martinieres finds herself the sole inheritor of her childhood home, a magnificent chateau and vineyard. With the house comes a mountain of debt — and almost as many questions: What was the purpose of the secret room she finds hidden beneath the wine cellars? Why did her beloved father never speak of his decorated service in Word War II? Why has Emilie always felt at odds with her own family background? Paris, 1944: A British office clerk, Constance Carruthers, is sent to Paris to be part of Churchill’s Special Operations Executive during the climax of the Nazi occupation. Separated from the Resistance, she stumbles into a socially prominent family who entertains members of the German elite even as they plot to liberate France. In a city rife with collaborators and Resistance members, Constance’s most difficult decision may be determining whom to trust with her heart. As Emilie discovers what really happened to her family during the war and finds a connection to Constance much closer than she suspects, the chateau itself may provide clues that can unlock the mysteries of her past, present, and future. ~powells.com

Review: If you read a lot you know that sometimes books get pushed off and pushed off into the TBR pile. That's what happened with The Lavender Garden for me. I'm only happy to say that I'm so glad that I finally read it. It is an engrossing novel about the secrets families keep that end up coming to the surface eventually.

Emilie de la Martinieres is the last in the line of her family since her mother died. She is alone and lonely when she meets Sebastian Carrauthers who sweeps her off her f eet. Instead of selling the family chateau, she decides to restore it. After all it has been in her family for over 200 years and she finds herself being pulled back into the lure of it. As she begins to find out more about her family, specifically her father, she is beginning to see how extraordinary her family truly.

It is through the eyes of Constance that we truly learn what a hero Eduard was during the Resistance. It is also Constance who is the hero as well. She risked her life and her soul to help the de la Martinieres towards the end of the war.

I really don't think I'm doing this book justice because Ms. Riley does such a superb job of a nuanced story that is strung together very well. She even lets you believe your thoughts are true until the end when she twists is all around. The characters are intriguing and some of them mysterious. I knew Sebastian wasn't on the up and up. While I thought Emilie was weak, I understood why she might be the way she was based on her childhood. I was also thrilled when she grew a backbone.

I loved reading about how active the British were in the French Resistance because I don't think I knew that or if I did I had forgotten.

It is easy to get swept up in this novel about sorrow, love, hope, betrayal and happiness. If you are looking for a WWII novel, then look no further than The Lavender Garden.

Final Take:  4.5/5



Thanks to Diana Franco at Atria for my copy of the novel.


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