Excuse the Interruption!

Bookshelf Fantasies’ regularly scheduled features — Thursday Quotables and Flashback Friday — are taking a teeny break this week thanks to a deluge of real life craziness. How dare real life intrude on my reading and blogging???

Thursday Quotables and Flashback Friday will return next week. Meanwhile, please find comfort in kitties and rainbows!

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Wishing & Waiting on Wednesday: The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry

There’s nothing like a Wednesday for thinking about the books we want to read! My Wishing & Waiting on Wednesday post is linking up with two fabulous book memes, Wishlist Wednesday (hosted by Pen to Paper) and Waiting on Wednesday (hosted by Breaking the Spine).

My most wished-for book this week is:

AJFikry

The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
(Release date: April 1, 2014)

Synopsis via Goodreads:

In the spirit of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Gabrielle Zevin’s enchanting novel is a love letter to the world of books-and booksellers-that changes our lives by giving us the stories that open our hearts and enlighten our minds.

On the faded Island Books sign hanging over the porch of the Victorian cottage is the motto “No Man Is an Island; Every Book Is a World.” A. J. Fikry, the irascible owner, is about to discover just what that truly means.

A. J. Fikry’s life is not at all what he expected it to be. His wife has died, his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history, and now his prized possession, a rare collection of Poe poems, has been stolen. Slowly but surely, he is isolating himself from all the people of Alice Island-from Lambiase, the well-intentioned police officer who’s always felt kindly toward Fikry; from Ismay, his sister-in-law who is hell-bent on saving him from his dreary self; from Amelia, the lovely and idealistic (if eccentric) Knightley Press sales rep who keeps on taking the ferry over to Alice Island, refusing to be deterred by A.J.’s bad attitude. Even the books in his store have stopped holding pleasure for him. These days, A.J. can only see them as a sign of a world that is changing too rapidly.

And then a mysterious package appears at the bookstore. It’s a small package, but large in weight. It’s that unexpected arrival that gives A. J. Fikry the opportunity to make his life over, the ability to see everything anew. It doesn’t take long for the locals to notice the change overcoming A.J.; or for that determined sales rep, Amelia, to see her curmudgeonly client in a new light; or for the wisdom of all those books to become again the lifeblood of A.J.’s world; or for everything to twist again into a version of his life that he didn’t see coming. As surprising as it is moving, The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry is an unforgettable tale of transformation and second chances, an irresistible affirmation of why we read, and why we love.

Okay, this book sounds like it’s totally full of win. Because a) Gabrielle Zevin and b) bookstore. Sold! Seriously, I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve read by this author so far, and what could be better than a book about books, book lovers, and book sellers?

What are you wishing for this Wednesday?

Looking for some bookish fun on Thursdays and Fridays? Come join me for my regular weekly features, Thursday Quotables and Flashback Friday! You can find out more here — come share the book love!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Do you host a book blog meme? Do you participate in a meme that you really, really love? I’m building a Book Blog Meme Directory, and need your help! If you know of a great meme to include — or if you host one yourself — please drop me a note on my Contact page and I’ll be sure to add your info!

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Popular Authors I’ve Never Read

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Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, featuring a different top 10 theme each week.

Here is my list of authors whose works I’d really like to read… but for whatever reason, it hasn’t happened yet:

Patrick Rothfuss: I’m really looking forward to reading his Kingkiller Chronicles series — but in keeping with my reading resolutions, I’m not going to start these books until I know that book #3 has a release date scheduled.

Kristin Cashore: I have all of the Graceling Realm books on my shelf… but just haven’t gotten around to them yet.

Agatha Christie: I always thought I should give her books a try.

Alexander McCall Smith: I’d like to try his books — either the #1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series or his 44 Scotland Street books.

Ned Vizzini: I’ve been wanting to read It’s Kind of A Funny Story, although I think I’ve hesitated lately just because it’s so sad to read a book by a talented writer, knowing his life was cut short.

John Corey Whaley: Still haven’t read Where Things Come Back, winner of the 2012 Printz Award.

Paolo Bacigalupi: I’m under the impression that I’ll love this writer, based on all the great things I’ve heard about Ship Breaker and The Windup Girl.

China Mieville: I have a friend who keeps insisting that I’ll love China Mieville if I give him a try… but frankly, I feel intimidated every time I think about starting one of his books. Sigh.

And here’s where I’m interrupting my top 10 list… because in my first draft, the rest of this post ended up sounding super negative and cranky, all about authors whose books I didn’ want to read… and frankly, it sounded kind of obnoxious. And who needs that?

So instead, I’ll use the rest of my TTT energy for going to a happy place… oh, like this, for example:

(And if that video doesn’t work, you can also see it here: http://popwatch.ew.com/2014/03/02/pharrell-happy-oscars-performance/)

Which popular authors have you not read yet… but really, really want to? Let’s keep it upbeat, folks — I’m in my happy place right now!

Share your links, and I’ll come check out your top 10!

If you enjoyed this post, please consider following Bookshelf Fantasies! And don’t forget to check out our regular weekly features, Thursday Quotables and Flashback Friday. Happy reading!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Do you host a book blog meme? Do you participate in a meme that you really, really love? I’m building a Book Blog Meme Directory, and need your help! If you know of a great meme to include — or if you host one yourself — please drop me a note on my Contact page and I’ll be sure to add your info!

 

The Monday Agenda 3/3/2014

MondayAgendaNot a lofty, ambitious to-be-read list consisting of 100+ book titles. Just a simple plan for the upcoming week — what I’m reading now, what I plan to read next, and what I’m hoping to squeeze in among the nooks and crannies.

How did I do with last week’s agenda?

City of JasmineThe Husband's Secret16 Things I Thought Were True

City of Jasmine by Deanna Raybourn: Done! My review is here.

The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty. Done! My review is here.

16 Things I Thought Were True by Janet Gurtler: Done! Watch for my blog tour feature later this week…

Fresh Catch:

Just a few new books on my Kindle, one bought, two received as ARCs:

Somewhere in France: A Novel of the Great WarThe Here and NowThe Daring Ladies of Lowell

What’s on my reading agenda for the coming week?

House of GlassThe Opposite of MaybeThe Mapmaker's Daughter

It looks like this will be an adult fiction week, starting with:

House of Glass by Sophie Littlefield: I meant to read this one last week, but somehow I ran out of time. (Ummm, too much TV, perhaps?)

After that:

The Opposite of Maybe by Maddie Dawson

The Mapmaker’s Daughter by Laurel Corona

And also in the works:

D'Aulaires' Book of Greek MythsMy kiddo and I are still reading D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths each night before bed, and it’s loads of fun. I feel like I’m reliving my childhood, and kiddo is really enjoying the crazy shenanigans of the gods. Finally, a win in the book arena for mom!

And my ongoing project:

echoThe Outlander Book Club’s re-read of An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon continues! Coming up this week: Chapters 34 – 38. Want to join in? Contact me and I’ll provide all the details!

So many book, so little time…

That’s my agenda. What’s yours? Add your comments to share your bookish agenda for the week.

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Stuff I Love: TV Time!

I’m a reader, but I do love me a good TV show.

Am I excited when my favorite shows are on? Yeah, you could say that.

Am I excited when my favorite shows are on? Yeah, you could say that.

“Good” is, of course, subject to interpretation, but for me, the best TV shows are the ones that give me some of what I get from the best books:

Character must-haves:

  • Characters who are interesting, smart, and with a purpose.
  • Development: The best shows, for me, are the ones that show their characters learning, changing, and progressing over time.
  • Consistency: Nothing worse than a show that suddenly has a character acting completely “out-of-character” for the sake of plot. Ugh. Way to alienate your viewers, show.
  • Something in their lives besides a love interest. Shows that are only about love triangles are so boring.

Plot must-haves:

  • Consistency: You can’t ignore events from season 1 or retcon them just because they’re no longer convenient.
  • Mythology: For shows with mythologies — stick to them! I hate when a show suddenly changes the rules just because they need a new twist.
  • Stakes: I don’t mean the wooden kind. If we’re supposed to care about the show or its characters, then there has to be something on the line.
  • Forward motion: I cannot stand shows where, at the end of the season, all of the characters are more or less at the same place or in the same situation that they were at the start.

Other essentials:

  • Clever dialogue. Quirky is good. Smart is good. Quotability is golden.
  • Choreography: If there’s action, it should be fun to watch.
  • Set design, costumes, props: Visually engaging, please.

I’m much more of a drama fan, although I do watch a few comedies here and there. Still, it’s the on-going dramas that catch me, hold me, and bring me back week after week. As with my book preferences, I enjoy shows that keep my brain engaged, that challenge and surprise me, that have an internal logic, and that build each episode on what’s gone before.

I don’t watch crime shows or police procedurals… but then again, I don’t generally read crime novels or read mysteries. (I make more exceptions in my reading life than in my TV life.)

I tend not to read soapy books, and mostly avoid soapy shows as well. (Eye of the beholder, though — my definitions and  yours may be nothing alike.)

This past week was a heavy TV-viewing week, as a lot of  “my” shows came back after their Olympics hiatus and a few other returned for a new season. I think I had about 8 hours worth of episodes that I *had* to watch last week or risk seeing serious spoilers, and a couple more will be added this coming week. So maybe it’s no wonder that I’m always whining about not having enough time or staying up too late reading every night?

Still, at the end of a busy day of work, family, and getting the kid to do his homework, I like my hour or so of decompression in front of the screen. It soothes me and gives me downtime, gives me a chance to unwind (and eat a bowl of popcorn), and is a good de-stresser before curling up to read.

Sure, if I absolutely had to choose, I’d pick books any time. But why can’t I have both? And while I’m completely justified in telling my kid, who never reads without arm-twisting, “turn off the TV and go read a book!”, nobody around my house can claim that I don’t read enough… even if I am glued to the TV like a total fanatic when my shows are on.

From time to time, you may see me writing about my favorite TV shows… when I’m in the mood for a non-bookish moment or two. So stay tuned… later this week, I’ll tell you about one of my newer favorites and why I love it so much!

Book Review: The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty

Book Review: The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty

The Husband's SecretThe Husband’s Secret is one tricky book. It lulls you into thinking that it’s some sort of chick-lit look at married life and motherhood, with its opening chapter introducing a powerhouse of a woman, Cecilia Fitzpatrick, who is perfect at just about everything: She’s president of the PTA of her kids’ Sydney private school, a Tupperware saleswoman par excellence (her not-always-the-swiftest husband doesn’t realize that she actually out-earns him at this point), has her daily routine down to a science, bakes, cleans, and is always just 100% on time, appropriate, and slightly better than everyone else — but never enough so that you’d hate her for it.

Then there’s Tess O’Leary, whose Melbourne-based life is about to implode after her husband and her first cousin/best friend/business partner confide to her — in oh-so-supportive tones — that they’ve fallen in love, but they’re sure the three of them can make it all work out for the best.

And poor, sad Rachel Crowley, the school secretary, harbors secret hatreds and sorrows stemming back 28 years — back to the day that her teen-age daughter Janie was murdered by an unknown assailant in a crime that remains unsolved.

These three women’s lives intersect and collide with unexpected and life-changing results in The Husband’s Secret  — which I stopped thinking of as chick-lit and realized was just a terrifically well-written contemporary novel by the time I’d read 20 pages or so.

The ball really starts rolling when Cecilia stumbles across a letter from her husband, John-Paul, to be read after his death. The issue, though, is that John-Paul is still very much alive. Cecilia might have just left it alone, tucked away in the file with their wills, until she sees his extreme reaction to her mentioning that she found the letter. Knowing that he’s hiding something potentially explosive (is he gay? is he a child predator? does he have a mistress or second wife somewhere?), Cecilia rushes to open the letter… and what she reads is beyond anything she might have expected, a secret so shocking that their lives will never be the same. And then, of course, Cecilia must not only deal with new truths about the man she thought she knew, but must also decide what to do with this information — which impacts her family’s future, her daughters’ well-being, and the lives of others as well.

The secrets in this novel weigh heavily on the secret-keepers. Knowledge can be a burden, and the characters are in constant struggles to decide what’s right and what’s wrong. But what if what’s right for yourself might be completely wrong for your children? What if you share what you know, and even more lives are ruined? What good is the truth, if it doesn’t ease suffering but only leads to new and different suffering?

There are no easy answers. It seems simple, at first, to judge Cecilia and make assumptions about what she should do. I can’t say that I think she’s correct — but the author skillfully guides us through Cecilia’s thoughts and emotions, so we readers truly understand why her actions unfold as they do, whether we agree or disagree.

Tess’s story was a little less compelling for me, as it relates only tangentially to the other main storylines, and yet her dilemmas are real and potentially life-changing as well. Is it worse that her husband and cousin didn’t actually have an affair? They say they’re in love, but out of respect for Tess, haven’t allowed themselves to sleep together, and it’s the purity of it all that really drives Tess mad — if it had just been a sleazy little affair, perhaps it would be easier to get past. But what does it mean for Tess, all this silent longing and noble sacrifice, and can she reclaim her marriage, if not for herself, then for the sake of the family she and her husband have starting building with their son?

Throughout it all, the writing simply sparkles — and it’s the humor and wit of the writing, which shines through in a myriad of small but telling moments, that lulls you into thinking that this is a light, almost comedic domestic tale before the shocks, deep emotions, and tragic outcomes take over.

A few prime examples — one for each of the three main women:
(and for more, see this week’s Thursday Quotables post, where I share a few other favorite lines from this book):

Tess:

Tess thought about how Will had once told her that he hated walking behind a woman late at night, in case she heard his footsteps and thought he was an ax murderer. “I always want to call out, ‘Its all right, I’m not an ax murderer!'” he said. “I’d run for my life if someone called that out to me,” Tess had told him. “See we can’t win,” said Will.

Cecilia:

All these years there had been a Tupperware container of bad language sitting off to the side in her head, and now she’d opened it and all those crisp, crunchy words were lovely and fresh, ready to be used.

Rachel:

Lauren was the perfect daughter-in-law. Rachel was the perfect mother-in-law. All that perfection hiding all that dislike.

Reading The Husband’s Secret was one of those random odd reading experiences for me, where I went in with one set of expectations, only to realize I had it completely wrong. For whatever reason, I seemed to have remembered reading something about this book comparing it to Gone Girl, and never realized that I must have confused this with another book I’d picked up at about the same time. So, I started The Husband’s Secret expecting a dark, twisted novel full of psychological warfare and endless mindgames… and then, after reading about Tupperware, school projects, and Easter bonnets, started feeling like I was reading something suspiciously like “chick lit” — only to be startled as I went along by the depth of the characters, the seriousness and sadness underlying all the brisk, shiny writing, and the ultimate tragedy of the lives forever changed, for better or worse, by secrets kept and shared.

Australian author Liane Moriarty has crafted a real and honest look into the souls of three women with three very different lives. It’s impossible to read The Husband’s Secret without coming to care deeply about the characters. Agree or disagree with their decisions and actions, you’ll still wish these women well and feel both hope and sorrow for their experiences. I ended the book very satisfied with how the story wraps up, and yet wishing I could know more about the rest of these women’s lives. That, to me, is the sign of a successful novel: A plot that satisfies and engages throughout, wraps up without cliffhangers or loose ends, and leaves you wanting to stay in the characters’ company for just a bit longer.

I definitely recommend The Husband’s Secret… and look forward to reading more by this author.

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The details:

Title: The Husband’s Secret
Author: Liane Moriarty
Publisher: Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam
Publication date: 2013
Length: 394 pages
Genre: Adult contemporary fiction
Source: Purchased

Flashback Friday: The Stolen Child

ffbutton2Flashback Friday is a weekly tradition started here at Bookshelf Fantasies, focusing on showing some love for the older books in our lives and on our shelves. If you’d like to join in, just pick a book published at least five years ago, post your Flashback Friday pick on your blog, and let us all know about that special book from your reading past and why it matters to you. Don’t forget to link up!

My Flashback Friday pick this week:

The Stolen Child

The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue
(published 2006)

Synopsis (Goodreads):

“I am a changeling-a word that describes within its own name what we are bound and intended to do. We kidnap a human child and replace him or her with one of our own. . . .”

The double story of Henry Day begins in 1949, when he is kidnapped at age seven by a band of wild childlike beings who live in an ancient, secret community in the forest. The changelings rename their captive Aniday and he becomes, like them, unaging and stuck in time. They leave one of their own to take his place, an imposter who must try — with varying success — to hide his true identity from the Day family. As the changeling Henry grows up, he is haunted by glimpses of his lost double and by vague memories of his own childhood a century earlier. Narrated in turns by Henry and Aniday, The Stolen Child follows them as their lives converge, driven by their obsessive search for who they were before they changed places in the world. Moving from a realistic setting in small-town America deep into the forest of humankind’s most basic desires and fears, this remarkable novel is a haunting fable about identity and the illusory innocence of childhood.

This beautiful, haunting book is both fairy tale and a story of disillusioned adulthood, drawing on the myth of the changeling to follow two characters who feel isolated and alienated in their lives. It’s a sad look back at the lost days of youth, with a fantastical twist serving to explain why a man might feel so strange in his own life, always feeling like there’s a part of himself missing.

The Stolen Child is really quite lovely to read. I’ve seen it described as a fairy story for adults, which sounds just about right to me. I’d put it on my shelf right next to Graham Joyce’s Some Kind of Fairy Tale, which also conveys the sense of unfulfilled purpose and a lost life while dwelling in realms both mortal and magical.

I’ve yet to read Keith Donohue’s two subsequent novels, but both (Angels of Destruction and Centuries of June) sound like books that are right up my alley.

What flashback book is on your mind this week?

Note from your friendly Bookshelf Fantasies host: To join in the Flashback Friday fun:

  • Grab the Flashback Friday button
  • Post your own Flashback Friday entry on your blog (and mention Bookshelf Fantasies as the host of the meme, if you please!)
  • Leave your link in the comments below
  • Check out other FF posts… and discover some terrific hidden gems to add to your TBR piles!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Do you host a book blog meme? Do you participate in a meme that you really, really love? I’m building a Book Blog Meme Directory, and need your help! If you know of a great meme to include — or if you host one yourself — please drop me a note on my Contact page and I’ll be sure to add your info!

Thursday Quotables: The Husband’s Secret

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Welcome back to Thursday Quotables! This weekly feature is the place to highlight a great quote, line, or passage discovered during your reading each week.  Whether it’s something funny, startling, gut-wrenching, or just really beautifully written, Thursday Quotables is where my favorite lines of the week will be, and you’re invited to join in!

The Husband's Secret

The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty
(published 2013)

I’m right in the middle of reading this one, and mixed in with all of the really moving family moments, there are quite a few funny bits too:

One of the mums from school, who had three sons almost exactly the same ages as Cecilia’s three daughters, had said that some remark Cecilia had made was a “teeny weeny bit sexist,” just before they started the Fete Committee meeting last week. Cecilia couldn’t remember what she’d said, but she’d only been joking. Anyway, weren’t women allowed to be sexist for the next two thousand years or so, until they’d evened up the score?

And another:

Actually, what she remembered most about that trip to Berlin was kissing a handsome, brown-haired German boy in a nightclub. He kept taking ice cubes from his drink and running them across her collarbone, which at the time had seemed incredibly sexy, but now seemed unhygienic and sticky.

Can’t resist:

Cecilia had noticed that beautiful women held themselves differently; they swayed like palm trees in the breeze of all that attention. Cecilia wanted her daughters to run and stride and stomp. She didn’t want Polly to bloody sway.

Last one! Short but sweet:

She was a far better mother when she had an audience.

I’m really not all that far into the book yet — but based on how many lines are making me laugh or kind of shake my head in recognition, I’m betting that I’ll keep on enjoying it.

What lines made you laugh, cry, or gasp this week? Do tell!

If you’d like to participate in Thursday Quotables, it’s really simple:

  • Write a Thursday Quotables post on your blog. Try to pick something from whatever you’re reading now. And please be sure to include a link back to Bookshelf Fantasies in your post (http://www.bookshelffantasies.com), if you’d be so kind!
  • Leave your link in the comments — or, if you have a quote to share but not a blog post, you can leave your quote in the comments too!
  • Visit other linked blogs to view their Thursday Quotables, and have fun!

Book Review: City of Jasmine by Deanna Raybourn

Book Review: City of Jasmine by Deanna Raybourn

City of JasmineLove, intrigue, and adventure are set against a backdrop of gorgeous desert vistas and an ancient Middle Eastern city in this new novel from Deanna Raybourn, author of A Spear of Summer Grass and the Lady Julia Grey series.

In City of Jasmine, lovely but broke Evie Merriweather Starke is gaining lots of attention as an aviatrix setting out to fly over the seven seas of antiquity — hoping to keep sponsorships coming in just a little while longer before her cash and stamina run out. Evie has spunk and daring, but she’s also still nursing the heartbreak of her failed marriage. Evie eloped with Gabriel Starke on the day she met him, ringing in the new year of 1915 together. But their marriage quickly soured, and when Gabriel was lost at sea with the sinking of the Lusitania, no one but Evie knew that she’d been about to divorce him.

Now, five years later, Evie is trying her best to move on with her life, with her eccentric Aunt Dove for companionship, when she receives an anonymous piece of mail containing a picture of Gabriel, dated 1920 and captioned “Damascus”. What does it mean, and why would someone send it to Evie? Seeing how she’s in the area anyway, Evie sets off for the ancient city to either find her presumed dead husband or to lay his memory to rest for good.

Adventure awaits. Damascus is dusty, confusing, and full of old-world glamor and mystery. Evie finds herself in the company of a group of archaeologists, who have apparently made a startling discovery way out in the desert at their dig site. Meanwhile, the Middle East is simmering with post-War political tensions, as the European powers attempt to carve up the former Ottoman Empire — which doesn’t necessarily sit very well with the Arab locals and the desert-dwelling Bedouin tribes.

City of Jasmine is at heart a romance, and that shines through despite occasional dives into historical politics that get a bit too dry at times. The love story is really what this book is all about, and it’s at its best when the mystery of Evie and Gabriel’s marriage and estrangement is explored. Why did the lovely man Evie married turn into a cold-eyed stranger so quickly? Why did he fake his own death? What is he doing in Damascus, disguised as an antiquities expert in dusty robes and a nasty beard? And why, even now, must he treat Evie with such aloofness and mockery?

There’s quite a bit of action in City of Jasmine, and at times it has a frantic, almost Indiana Jones-ish feel to it. There are double-crosses and triple-crosses, chases through the desert, gunfire, escapes via camel, truck and airplane, hostile tribes and friendly tribes, and all sorts of talk of relics, artifacts, and priceless treasures. This being a romance, though, there are also quite luxurious descriptions of Turkish baths and spa treatments, flowing robes, absolutely scrumptious-sounding food, and desert tents filled with lovely carpets and cushions.

The history feels somewhat shoe-horned in. There’s a lot of talk about the politics of the time and their implications, but this mostly just scratches the surface of the complicated issues involved. I suppose the political atmosphere of the day is necessary for the events and setting to make sense, but between that and the archaelogy and the action sequences, the romantic elements are often in danger of being buried by plot.

I did enjoy City of Jasmine, but felt that the relationship between Evie and Gabriel needed to be explored further. Interestingly, the publisher released a prequel novella entitled Whisper of Jasmine in early February, several weeks before City of Jasmine‘s release. Whisper of Jasmine tells the story of Evie and Gabriel’s first meeting at a New Year’s Eve party, their intense and immediate attraction, and their elopement. It’s all quiet breathless and passionate and very, very romantic. I have to wonder, though, if the overarching story might have been better served by including this prequel as a prologue within City of Jasmine itself. Without having read the prequel, it’s hard to see the marriage as anything but an impulsive decision that ended in failure, and we don’t see enough of Evie and Gabriel together to get a sense of the feelings between them. Of course, I can’t really judge since I did read the prequel first — but I wonder what impressions a reader might have who hadn’t read Whisper of Jasmine ahead of time.

If you’ve read A Spear of Summer Grass by Deanna Raybourn, then you’ll be happy to recognize a few familiar characters popping up here in City of Jasmine, kind of like encountering old friends unexpectedly. If you haven’t read A Spear, no worries. It’s nice to have the connection to the previous novel, but not essential to understanding the characters and events of City of Jasmine.

I enjoyed the flapper-esque sensibility and dialogue of Evie and her aunt, who is the quintessential elderly relative with a notorious, scandalous past:

“We’re travel-fatigued,” Aunt Dove pronounced. “It happens when one passes too quickly from one culture into another. I’ve always said trains were uncivilized. One ought only ever to travel by steamship or camel.”

Likewise, there are moments of prime bantering between Evie and Gabriel that are quite charming:

When I reached his side, he paused and gave me a penetrating look. “How much did you enjoy pulling that trigger at me?”

I thought a moment. “Less than I expected but more than I should have.”

He nodded. “That sounds about right.”

Overall, I found City of Jasmine — while overly hectic in places — an engaging, romantic tale of adventure and love. If you enjoy a light taste of history mixed in with your exotic locations and passionate pairings, give City of Jasmine a try!

And if you’ve read City of Jasmine, I’d also recommend:

  • A Spear of Summer Grass by Deanna Raybourn: A terrific historical romance set in colonial Africa in the 1920s, with a remarkable, memorable heroine.
  • Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell: For those wanting a deeper dive into the history and politics of the Middle East in the years following World War I, you really can’t do better than this brilliant historical novel.

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The details:

Title: City of Jasmine
Author: Deanna Raybourn
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Publication date: February 25, 2014
Length: 354 pages
Genre: Romance/historical fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of Harlequin MIRA via NetGalley

Wishing & Waiting on Wednesday: The Paying Guests

There’s nothing like a Wednesday for thinking about the books we want to read! My Wishing & Waiting on Wednesday post is linking up with two fabulous book memes, Wishlist Wednesday (hosted by Pen to Paper) and Waiting on Wednesday (hosted by Breaking the Spine).

My most wished-for book this week is:

The Paying Guests

The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters
(expected publication date: August 28, 2014)

Synopsis via Goodreads:

It is 1922, and London is tense. Ex-servicemen are disillusioned, the out-of-work and the hungry are demanding change. And in South London, in a genteel Camberwell villa, a large silent house now bereft of brothers, husband and even servants, life is about to be transformed, as impoverished widow Mrs Wray and her spinster daughter, Frances, are obliged to take in lodgers.

For with the arrival of Lilian and Leonard Barber, a modern young couple of the ‘clerk class’, the routines of the house will be shaken up in unexpected ways. And as passions mount and frustration gathers, no one can foresee just how far-reaching, and how devastating, the disturbances will be.

This is vintage Sarah Waters: beautifully described with excruciating tension, real tenderness, believable characters, and surprises. It is above all a wonderful, compelling story.

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters is one of my all-time favorite, most recommended, you’ve-absolutely-got-to-read-this books… so I’m pretty much willing to read whatever new book she comes up with. Granted, it seems like there are a ton of books out right now set in 1920s London — but no matter. I’m sure, in the hands of Sarah Waters, it will be genius! And meanwhile, maybe between now and the end of summer I can catch up on the two of her previous novels I’ve yet to read.

What are you wishing for this Wednesday?

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