Christine Trent's Upcoming Sophomore Release - A Royal Likeness

Last year, I was fortunate enough to receive a galley copy of Christine Trent's debut effort The Queen's Dollmaker. I loved The Queen's Dollmaker for its originality and cleverness; the story of Claudette Laurent, an entrepreneurial and strong willed frenchwoman who grows her business of dollmaking in England and comes to the notice of Marie Antoinette. If you have have not read the novel yet and have interest in the French Revolution I highly recommend it. There's much more to the story than the brief explanation above, so check out my review.

Christine Trent's next release is A Royal Likeness (a much more beguiling title than the original working title of The Wax Apprentice). I'm not that much of a fan of covers where the lady's head is cut off (can someone tell me why the industry favours this?) but this cover is gorgeous and if similar to The Queen's Dollmaker, will show the lady's face on the spine. A Royal Likeness is a sequel of sorts to The Queen's Dollmaker - this is Marguerite Ashby's story. Marguerite apprenticed to Claudette Laurent and eventually took over the management of the dollmaking shop.

As heiress to the famous Laurent Fashion Dolls business, Marguerite Ashby’s future seems secure. But France still seethes with violence in the wake of the Revolution. And when Marguerite’s husband Nicholas is killed during a riot at their shop, she leaves home vowing never to return. Instead, the young widow travels to Edinburgh and joins her old friend, Marie Tussaud, who has established a touring wax exhibition.

Under the great Tussaud’s patient instruction, Marguerite learns to mold wax into stunningly lifelike creations. When Prime Minister William Pitt commissions a wax figure of military hero Admiral Nelson, Marguerite becomes immersed in a dangerous adventure—and earns the admiration of two very different men. And as Britain battles to overthrow Napoleon and flush out spies against the Crown, Marguerite will find her own loyalties, and her heart, under fire from all sides.

With wit, flair, and a masterful eye for telling details, Christine Trent brings one of history’s most fascinating eras to vibrant life in an unforgettable story of desire, ambition, treachery, and courage.

Release Date: December 28, 2010
Format: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Kensington
Pages: 384
ISBN: 0758238584
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The Queen's Dollmaker by Christine Trent

Upcoming Releases On My Auto Buy List

The fifth installment in the Lady Emily Ashton-Hargreaves series by Tasha Alexander, Dangerous to Know, to be released in hardcover October 26, 2010. I have read the first two novels in the series, And Only to Deceive (my review here) and A Poisoned Season and enjoyed them very much, but have yet to read A Fatal Waltz or Tears of Pearl, though they stuffed somewhere in my bookshelf.

After escaping from the hands of a ruthless murderer while honeymooning in Constantinople (Tears of Pearl), Lady Emily Hargreaves reluctantly agrees to recover from her wounds at her mother-in-law’s estate in Normandy. The calm permeating the lush countryside is destroyed when Emily, out for a ride, discovers the body of a young woman who has been brutally murdered. Begrudgingly accepting the investigation is firmly in the hands of the police, she focuses her attention on the reappearance of an old friend—Sebastian Capet, a thief of impeccable taste whom Buckingham Palace has taken a new interest in—until a series of clues draw her back into the fray. Haunting cries, the ghost of a small child, and two families afflicted with degenerative madness lead her into a terrifying game of wits against a cold and brilliant killer.

Pages: 320
Publisher: Minotaur Books
ISBN-10: 0312383797
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The Salt Road by Jane Johnson to be released in hardcover January 4, 2011. Jane Johnson's previous effort was The Tenth Gift (my review here), a wonderful timeslip novel I highly recommend to anyone. I think the cover is exotic and mysterious, don't you?

When Isabelle’s estranged father dies he leaves her the house she grew up in, in the attic of which lies a mysterious box with her name on it. Inside the box are three items: an archaeological paper about an ancient Saharan queen, a faded piece of paper written in what appears to be in Arabic, and a curious piece of antique silver: an amulet. 

In another place and time, Mariata belongs to a desert tribe which traces its roots back to Tin Hinan, founding queen of the Tuareg, the legendary Blue Men of the Sahara. She meets and falls in love with Amastan, a charismatic and damaged young warrior. But when her father takes a new wife who has no wish to live the nomad life he takes Mariata to settle in a town in south Morocco. Mariata hates her new existence; and when her stepmother plots to marry her off to a detested suitor, she decides to follow in the steps of her ancestress and make an epic solo journey a thousand miles into the desert in search of her lost love. 

Separated by different times and cultures, the lives of Izzy and Mariata are about to become fatally entwined. Izzy discovers that her amulet is a Tuareg artefact containing an inscription in Tifinagh, a language of the ancient world used for poetry and magic, understood now only by nomads in the deep desert. The desert routes once travelled by caravans of camels bearing ivory, gold and salt are now more perilous than ever but Isobel must follow them if she is ever to lay her ghosts to rest. 

Out in the magnificent wastes of the Sahara she will find more than she ever dreamed: not only the answer to her mysterious inheritance, but a romance as grand and sweeping as the desert itself…

Pages: 464 
Publisher: Doubleday Canada
ISBN-10: 0385669976

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Happy Reading!!

Blogger or Wordpress?

So I'm going to have some free time in about a month or so and I have these "day(s) for" planned. A day to spend watching movies, a day to spend reading, a day to get my recipes organized, a day to play PS3...and a day to update my website. So I need your input!  Blogger is what I have been using but I really want to spruce the layout up visually.  So do I stick with Blogger or move to Wordpress?  Anything I should know if I decide to move to Wordpress?  Thanks All!

   OR

  

Angelology by Danielle Trussoni

Sister Evangeline was just a young girl when her father left her at St. Rose Convent under the care of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. Now a young woman, she has unexpectedly discovered a collection of letters dating back sixty years - letters that bring her deep into a closely guarded secret, to an ancient conflict between the millennium-old Society of Angelologists and the monstrously beautiful Nephilim, the descendants of angels and humans. Rich and mesmerizing, Angelology blends biblical lore, mythology and the fall of the Rebel Angels, creating a luminous, riveting tale of one young woman caught in a battle that will determine the fate of the world.

The summary above from the publisher makes Angelology by Danielle Trussoni sound so promising and I had great hope that this would be a fantastic read, but unfortunately the novel did not live up to expectations. Albeit, maybe my expectations were too high. I won a a signed hardcover copy from Booklounge.ca and I had read S. Krisha's glowing review, so you can imagine I was quite excited to see its startling cover when it showed up in my mailbox.  I thought Angelology would be something like The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, as S. Krishna described, and in a couple ways it was. Evangaline is a young nun of St. Rose's who is suddenly confronted by an almost unbelievable past through a series of letters and she must delve deeper into the clues left for her by her grandmother to determine her history and her destiny. Superficially similar to The Historian no doubt.  Beyond the summary Angelology falls very short of the amazing work of fiction The Historian is.

I do give kudos to Ms. Trussoni for the interesting ideas involving Angelology and its intriguing historical content, as well as Angelologists and their eternal battle with the Nephilim. My mind was often left whirling from trying to absorb the unfamiliar but compelling concepts.

The novel is in three parts and changes focus from present day to historic day and back.  I found the language staccato in places, mostly at the beginning, which made immersing in the story difficult at first. A portion of the book was about an Angelologist by the name of Celestine Clochette, set years before Evangaline's time, and included some historical writings by a Bishop on an Angelology mission.  This section of the novel was truly interesting and engaging, I only wish the whole story was written this way.  There were an abundance of characters in the novel, each with their own act, which detracted from the story because point of view switched between characters too often and left me unable to become engaged with any one character more than the other.  This disconnect left me dissatisfied and feeling kind of left empty.

I am left with a couple of conclusions.  The "heart" of the story seemed missing.  Although the length of the novel at 464p (as compared to The Historian's 642p) seems average for most fiction novels, the switching from scene to scene to scene left me wanting more. There should have been much more description to enhance the erratic plot.  "Scene to scene to scene" is the operative qualifier...Angelology reads more like a movie script rather than the novel it is, depleted of all the promise of what could have been a truly great story.

My Rating: 3.0

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Gothic Fiction - Historical and Timeslip Favourites

Lucky To Live in Such a Great Country

Even if our Prime Minister is a dork!  Happy Canada Day!!!

Top 10 Hawaiian Experiences

Here's my top ten list of favourite Hawaiian experiences.  We spent two weeks in Hawai'i and ended up visiting four of the islands.  I would recommend Hawai'i to anyone and look forward to traveling there again.

10. The afternoon and evening we spent in Lahaina, Maui, where we shopped on Front Street, had dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse and watched the evening show, 'Ulalena, presented by Cirque du Soleil. Great steak and great entertainment.

9. Fred's Mexican Cafe, Kihei, Maui.  Watch out you don't fill up on the basket of freshly made taco chips and the margaritas because the entrees are super-sized.  I had mouthwatering shrimp, fish and calamari tacos, and at a great value too.

8. The shopping at Ala Moana Center, Honoloulu, Oahu.  J Crew on the Islands, Banana Republic flagship store, Coach, the awesome and huge Victoria Secret store, shoe stores aplenty.  What more could a girl ask for!


7. Makawao and area.  In Makawao proper you can see glass blowing at Hot Island Glass and there are numerous small little trendy shops like Pink, where you can shop for clothes, antiques, jewelry, spices, etc.  We lunched at the classy and contemporary Haili'imaile General Store, Maui...I had the blackened Ahi Tune Wrap with refreshing and zesty coleslaw, accompanied with glass of Conundrum and finished with a generous slice of chocolate truffle layer cake. Yum yum.


6. The Road to Hana.  Although I was not a fan of being in a tour bus and having to sit at the back of the van...we were able to go completely around Haleakala, instead of turning back at Hana from whence we came.  Highlights were the pineapple winery, the black sand beaches, and the Sacred Pools at Oleo Gulch. 

5. Watching the body board surfers at Sandy Beach on Oahu.  They were too cool for school...or just plain crazy.

4. The scenic views and snorkeling at Hananuma Bay on Oahu.  You have to pay a fee to enter the park but the setting is amazing and the snorkeling is pretty good too...and so is the beach!

3. The sunrise at Haleakala on Maui.  The drive was slow and twisty up the volcano in the pitch dark early morning (3:00 AM) to to watch the sunrise at 5:45 AM. Beautiful scenic views at the top and through the drive down.

2. The changeable landscape at Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island .  We also experienced a 25 degree change in weather from the top of the Chain of Craters Road to the bottom...refreshing at the top and baking hot at the bottom.

1. The Trilogy catamaran sail from Lahaina, Maui to Hulope Bay, Lana'i and back. A full day trip.  We saw hundreds of spinner dolphins on the way to Lana'i, snorkeled in the Hulope Bay Nature Preserve, were provided breakfast, lunch, snacks and a late afternoon barbecue.  Great people, great sailing, beautiful sunset. A perfect day.

The Doomsday Key by James Rollins

At Princeton University, a famed geneticist dies inside a biohazard lab. In Rome, a Vatican archaeologist is found dead in St. Peter's Basilica. In Africa, a U.S. senator's son is slain outside a Red Cross camp. Three murder victims on three continents, linked by a pagan Druidic cross burned into their flesh.

Commander Gray Pierce and Sigma Force have only days to solve an apocalyptic puzzle dating back centuries. Aided by two women from his past-one his ex-lover, the other his new partner-Gray must uncover a horrifying secret that threatens America and the world, even if it means sacrificing the life of one of the women at his side. The race is on-from the Roman Coliseum to the icy peaks of Norway to the lost tombs of Celtic kings-and the future hangs in the balance. For humankind's ultimate nightmare is locked within a talisman buried by a dead saint-an ancient artifact known as . . . The Doomsday Key.

James Rollins action/adventure thriller novels are always far fetched, though the scientific details always have a basis in fact. This time, in The Doomsday Key, the scientific storyline delves into the areas of genetically modified foods, fungal viruses and super enzymes. The regular cast of characters are there, Gray, Monk, Painter, etc. with the addition of Rachel and Seichan in a new twist.  I'm always very keen on the scientific elements and arcane bits of knowledge, and in this, the novel does not disappoint. But The Doomsday Key does have too much of an overemphasis of the scientific problem at hand and I missed the emotional intensivness of the past two novels in the series, The Last Oracle and The Judas Strain.

I found this storyline less balanced and fluid in the doling out of details and the switching between description and character interaction. Consequently the pace of the story gets bogged down.  But the storyline is redeemed with the emotional wrenching and poignant events at the end that wrap up all the loose ends. James Rollins certainly thrills me and he will you too! Next up is The Devil Colony to be released in hardcover August 3, 2010.

Just want to reiterate that I detest the tall paperback format, as it makes my Rollins collection off kilter in height.  I saw this new "wide paperback" format of The Judas Strain in Indigo Spirit the other day. Wacky!  Hope it doesn't become mainstream.

My Rating: 4.0

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Related Posts:
The Last Oracle by James Rollins
Ice Hunt by James Rollins
Deep Fathom by James Rollins
Subterranean by James Rollins

Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

The summer of 1950 hasn't offered up anything out of the ordinary for eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce: bicycle explorations around the village, keeping tabs on her neighbours, relentless battles with her older sisters, Ophelia and Daphne, and brewing up poisonous concoctions while plotting revenge in their home's abandoned Victorian chemistry lab, which Flavia has claimed for her own.

But then a series of mysterious events gets Flavia's attention: A dead bird is found on the doormat, a postage stamp bizarrely pinned to its beak. A mysterious late-night visitor argues with her aloof father, Colonel de Luce, behind closed doors. And in the early morning Flavia finds a red-headed stranger lying in the cucumber patch and watches him take his dying breath. For Flavia, the summer begins in earnest when murder comes to Buckshaw: "I wish I could say I was afraid, but I wasn't. Quite the contrary. This was by far the most interesting thing that had ever happened to me in my entire life."

Did the stranger die of poisoning? There was a piece missing from Mrs. Mullet's custard pie, and none of the de Luces would have dared to eat the awful thing. Or could he have been killed by the family's loyal handyman, Dogger… or by the Colonel himself! At that moment, Flavia commits herself to solving the crime - even if it means keeping information from the village police, in order to protect her family. But then her father confesses to the crime, for the same reason, and it's up to Flavia to free him of suspicion. Only she has the ingenuity to follow the clues that reveal the victim's identity, and a conspiracy that reaches back into the de Luces' murky past.

Flavia de Luce, a little smartass curmudgeon, with a lightning quick mind, is like no other 11 year old girl. Her prestigious family lives in Buckshaw, the rambling ancestral estate of the de Luces. Her father either bolts himself in his study to pursue his philetist interests or in his aging Rolls Royce to grieve the long past death of his wife Harriet; her sister Daphne always has her head buried in Dickens or some other esoteric author; and her sister Ophelia spends her hours staring at her reflection and primping or absorbed in playing her piano. Flavia is left to her own devices, which would be to indulge in her obsessive interest in Chemistry in the laboratory she has claimed as her own at Buckshaw.

When Flavia stumbles upon a man dying in the early hours of the morning in Buckshaw's cucumber patch and with his last odorous exhale states “Vale”, she determinedly sets out to investigate the manner of his death.  Flavia is delicious in her pleasure of things of a gruesome nature. I often found myself chuckling at her over the top rudeness, diabolical thoughts and ornery nature. Flavia tries to be this strong, indomitable force, yet we are shown that at her heart she is still an 11 year old girl with a clutch of insecurities.

The novel is a complex formula in itself;  layers and sidesteps and sequences all combined together to form a brilliant deduction. The quality of the writing is first rate, with vivid descriptions of a bygone era. The abundance of details in this unique series debut are a sheer delight.  So many interesting topics are described in myopic detail that keep you enthralled with the story - philetology, chemistry, the art of conjuring, forensic science and investigations, and literature. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie is a brilliant effort that shines bright and true. Highly recommend.

Winner of the 2007 CWA Debut Dagger Award.

Next up in the series: The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag released in hardcover March 9, 2010.

My Rating: 5.0

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Going On Vacation - Need Your Input On Books to Bring

So we are leaving for Hawaii this coming Friday morning for two weeks and I cannot choose which books to bring.  I have a very tall stack and I need your help.

Which four should I bring???  Or do you have any others suggestions for the perfect beach read?

Note the Obsessed With Books blog will be on hiatus for a couple weeks starting May 21.

The Mist by Carla Neggers

Things looked bad when Lizzie Rush finally found hard evidence that her boss, thrill-seeking billionaire Norman Estabrook, heads an international criminal network. But when he escapes police custody after a deadly Boston bombing, the worst is yet to come. 

From nowhere arrives the mysterious Brit, Will Davenport. Lizzie isn't sure which side he's on, but his mercenary talents may help end the violence. Now, emerging from a year of secrets and lies as a double agent straddling two worlds, Lizzie has little choice but to trust a man answering to no one. When the mist clears-and the frightening truth is revealed-who knows which side she herself will end up on.

Ok I think I'm done with Neggers for awhile.  I'm just not a fan of the FBI series she is currently developing. There is divided focus in each installment between past characters and current characters and neither set are provided any growth or dimension, as there are just too many characters floating around. Relationships are short-changed and less developed, if developed at all, so you feel no connection to their resolutions, or HEA as the case may be. There is too much going on in too many different locations and there is too much word count focusing on explaining the back story. I do not get a real sense for who the characters truly are. The relationships between characters intending to be romantic are rushed, as is the timeline...yes this is fiction but two strong-minded, intelligent, talented people realistically do not fall in love and realize they want to spend their lives together in a 24 hour period where they only spend a handful of hours together.

The title 'The Mist' only relates slightly to a couple minor scenes that do not represent the bulk of the story...the lighthouse on the cover is not mentioned at all...but hey, it certainly imparts a moody and mysterious undertone that will get you to buy the book. There are fleeting events that suggest supernatural forces - destiny, fate, full circle - I find these the most interesting elements of The Mist and it would have made the novel more compelling if these aspects had been explored in more depth.  If you are a Neggers fan I suggest getting loaning The Mist from your local library and saving your money for the next Susanna Kearsley or J.D. Robb.

My Rating: 3.0 

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A Rare Chance by Carla Neggers
Cold River by Carla Neggers
Cold Pursuit by Carla Neggers
The Angel by Carla Neggers