Tag: romantic

Review: The Mark of the Midnight Manzanilla

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Mark of the Midnight Manzanilla, TheLauren Willig, The Mark of the Midnight Manzanilla

In the autumn of 1806, a popular novel called The Convent of Orsino (written by none other than Miss Gwen!) has sparked a vampire craze in fashionable society. Rumors swirl around one man in particular — Lucien, Duke of Belliston — whose long absence from society is seen as evidence that he is a creature of the night. Practical, outspoken Sally Fitzhugh is determined to prove this rumor false, so she seeks out an acquaintance with the duke. For Lucien, the rumor escalates from inconvenient to dangerous when a young woman is murdered at a society ball, with what appear to be fang marks on her throat. Lucien and Sally quickly realize that someone is framing Lucien for the murder, so together they decide to find the real killer. Is it someone with a personal grudge against Lucien, or could the nefarious French spy known as the Black Tulip be at work again? The more time Lucien and Sally spend together, the more they are drawn to each other; but before they can be together, they must defeat a cunning killer.

This 11th novel in the Pink Carnation series once again combines romance, historical fiction, and a touch of intrigue for a very enjoyable read. I wasn’t totally enthused about the plot of this installment beforehand, since vampires aren’t really my thing, but fortunately they’re not a big part of the story. I also didn’t completely warm up to Lucien or Sally, both of whom seem like types rather than characters…Sally in particular just seems like a younger version of Miss Gwen. But there’s still an awful lot to enjoy in this book! I was pleasantly surprised by the resolution of the mystery, which is quite clever and hangs together well. And as always, I adore the light, tongue-in-cheek tone of the series; it doesn’t take itself too seriously and aims to be entertaining above all else. I should mention that the contemporary story takes some significant steps forward in this installment, with Eloise facing important decisions both personally and professionally. So I’m really looking forward to the next (and last!) Pink Carnation novel, which will finally tell the story of the Carnation herself!

Review: The Shadow of the Wind

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Shadow of the Wind, TheCarlos Ruiz Zafón, The Shadow of the Wind (trans. Lucia Graves)

When Daniel Sempere is ten years old, his father takes him to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books for the first time. There he must choose one book that calls to him, and it will be his job to protect it forever. Daniel chooses a novel called The Shadow of the Wind by Julián Carax, unaware that this simple decision will alter the entire course of his life. Daniel reads the book and loves it, so he tries to find other novels by Carax, only to discover that there are none. Someone is systematically destroying every copy of every book Julián Carax ever wrote, and he is calling himself Laín Coubert, one of Carax’s names for the devil. As Daniel comes of age in mid-20th-century Barcelona, he makes it his mission to discover who is destroying Carax’s books and why. His quest leads him to a long-buried secret involving friendship, passion, madness, and true love. But the more deeply Daniel digs into Carax’s mysterious background, the more he discovers parallels to his own life, and the more danger he finds himself in.

This is one of those books that just didn’t grab me, for some reason. I found myself able to put it down for days at a time, and when I finally did power through it, my mind kept wandering. But I don’t quite understand why, becasue I honestly liked a lot of things about this book! First of all, I’m now dying to visit Barcelona because of the vivid descriptions of its streets, neighborhoods, and restaurants. I also enjoyed the almost Dickensian depictions of the secondary characters, like this one:

His mouth was glued to a half-smoked cigar that seemed to grow out of his mustache. It was hard to tell whether he was asleep or awake, because he breathed like most people snore.

The plot is fairly melodramatic, but it’s undeniably interesting and full of event. Maybe I was a bit put off by the staggering number of coincidences connecting Daniel’s story to Carax’s, or maybe I didn’t like the portrayal of the female characters (who are basically nothing more than male fantasies). Ultimately, I just didn’t connect that much to the story or characters, so it was an effort for me to finish the book.

Review: A Little Something Different

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Little Something Different, ASandy Hall, A Little Something Different

When Gabe and Lea meet in a creative writing class at their university, sparks begin to fly instantly. Everyone can see it, from the creative writing professor to their fellow students to the baristas at Starbucks — everyone, that is, except Gabe and Lea themselves. They’re both shy and a little awkward, and Gabe is dealing with some trauma from his past, so it’s unsurprising that they have a hard time interpreting each other’s mixed signals. Still, everyone else can see that they’re crazy about each other, and that’s why this novel is told from everyone else’s point of view. Parts of the story are variously told by Gabe’s brother, Lea’s roommate, the aforementioned baristas, a waitress at the local diner, and even a squirrel who lives on campus; in fact, the only characters who don’t address the reader directly are Lea and Gabe. Despite their mutual crush, will they ever be able to get together? And if not, how will their friends, acquaintances, and random observers cope with the disappointment?

This book is a sugary confection that I devoured in one sitting. At bottom it’s a classic boy-meets-girl story, but the various narrators provide an interesting twist on the tale. Overall, I was impressed with the author’s ability to switch between voices so skillfully. A couple characters were difficult for me to distinguish (particularly Gabe’s group of friends), but it was generally easy to keep everyone straight. (It doesn’t hurt that each new perspective is clearly marked with the character’s name and function, such as “Inga, Creative Writing Professor.”) I didn’t love every single perspective — the narratives from “squirrel” and “bench,” in particular, seemed unnecessary — but the author interview at the back of the book revealed that she had about twice as many narrators in the initial draft! So at least she cut back a little. 🙂 I also found it interesting to tell a love story in this way, giving everyone a voice except the two main characters; it seems to reflect a voyeuristic element in our culture (reality TV, social media, etc.). Ultimately, this is an adorable little romance with a cute gimmick attached, and I really enjoyed it!

Review: Somewhere in France

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Somewhere in FranceJennifer Robson, Somewhere in France

Lady Elizabeth Neville-Ashford, known to friends and family as Lilly, has always felt stifled by her privileged upbringing. Though she’d like to go to university and embark on a career, it seems her only task in life will be to snare a rich, titled husband. Unfortunately, the only man to catch her eye is Robbie Frasier, a promising young surgeon whom her parents consider quite unsuitable. But with the outbreak of World War I, Lilly suddenly has access to a variety of new opportunities. Hoping to help with the war effort, she learns how to drive and eventually applies to the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, where she becomes an ambulance driver. Meanwhile, she carries on a clandestine correspondence with Robbie, who is working in a field hospital in France. When she and her colleagues are offered a chance to transport injured soldiers from the front lines, Lilly jumps at the chance to be reunited with Robbie. But will the tragic violence of this war ultimately separate them forever?

I picked up this book because I wanted to read something set in World War I for the centennial, but I wasn’t in the mood for something incredibly dark or depressing. Unfortunately, this book goes too far in the other direction; it’s a light, pleasant romance, but the World War I setting is a mere backdrop. I don’t need to read about the horrors of war in graphic detail, but I do want to feel that the characters are in real danger, that they must struggle against real obstacles, and that the war has left some kind of mark on them. Instead, even the descriptions of what Robbie sees on his makeshift operating table are bland, evoking no emotional response whatsoever. Part of the problem is that Lilly and Robbie are both such clichés: she is the naive and enthusiastic upper-class heroine, while he is the overprotective self-made hero. I just didn’t really care about either character, so I wasn’t invested in their romance at all. I was more interested in the secondary characters, Lilly’s brother Edward and her friend Charlotte — I’d love to read the story of their romance! Overall, this book isn’t a bad read, but it is completely and utterly forgettable.

Review: Isla and the Happily Ever After

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Isla and the Happily Ever AfterStephanie Perkins, Isla and the Happily Ever After

Isla Martin has had a crush on Josh Wasserstein since their first year together at the School of the Americas in Paris. But because of his relationship with another girl and her own shyness, nothing has ever happened between them, and Isla is convinced nothing ever will. But then, the summer before their senior year, she bumps into Josh in a Manhattan cafe and actually finds the courage to talk to him. It soon becomes obvious that her crush isn’t as unrequited as she thought, and the two embark on a giddy, passionate relationship. But even the intensity of first love can’t blind Isla to the pitfalls ahead of them: Josh is an artistic slacker who might get kicked out of school despite his talent, while Isla is a bright girl who works hard but doesn’t know what to do after graduation. Can Isla and Josh stay together when everything, from geography to family issues to their own future paths, seems determined to keep them apart?

I’ve been waiting for this novel, the companion to Anna and the French Kiss and Lola and the Boy Next Door, for YEARS, and I was definitely not disappointed! This book really captures the feeling of being young and in love, with its dizzying highs, despairing lows, and all the accompanying drama. Isla is a sweet but spunky heroine, and I personally found her more relatable than Anna or Lola: she’s shy and has a rich interior life, but she has a little more trouble turning her dreams into reality. I like that this book highlights the differences between a crush and a real relationship; even though Isla gets to date the boy of her dreams, their relationship is far from perfect! This book is full of all the swoonworthy romantic moments you’d expect in a Perkins novel, though it’s certainly more explicit than Anna and Lola. The book is definitely geared to a teenage audience (unsurprisingly, since it’s YA), so I did occasionally feel like I was a bit too old for the story. But I still really enjoyed the book and would recommend it to anyone who wants a dramatic, romantic read!

Review: Water for Elephants

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Water for ElephantsSara Gruen, Water for Elephants

Jacob Jankowski is an old man in his 90s living out the remainder of his days in a nursing home. His children rarely come to visit, and he’s both lonely and frustrated by nursing home life. But when the circus comes to town one day, it triggers Jacob’s memories of his youth and the years he spent with the Benzini Brothers Greatest Show on Earth. In the 1930s, Jacob was a promising veterinary student who was about to join his father’s practice; but after his parents’ tragic death, the practice had to be sold to pay the family debts. Bereft and with nowhere to go, Jacob hopped a train that turned out to belong to a traveling circus; and because of his veterinary skills, the ruthless circus owner decided to keep him around. At the circus Jacob met a variety of new people, including a sarcastic dwarf, a mercurial animal trainer, and the trainer’s beautiful but trapped wife. Eventually his involvement with the circus would trigger a series of shocking and catastrophic events.

I remember that when this book first came out, a lot of my friends were raving about it, convinced that I’d absolutely love it. Unfortunately, I didn’t have that experience…maybe I’m missing something, but this book just didn’t resonate with me. I really enjoyed the setting; circus life in Depression-era America was fascinating, and I liked the photos of real historical circuses that preceded each chapter. It’s truly amazing to think about the amount of work (and food!) it took to keep the circus going! But I wasn’t that nuts about the plot or characters in this book. The main story is the romance between Jacob and Marlena, a performer who is trapped in an unhappy marriage. But while her menacing husband is an interesting (albeit repulsive), larger-than-life character, Marlena herself seems very bland, with no defining qualities other than her beauty and her misery. I also didn’t find Jacob particularly interesting; he acts like a stock character rather than an individual. Overall, the book is worth reading if you’re interested in the setting, but in my opinion it doesn’t live up to the hype.

Review: The Young Clementina

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Young Clementina, TheD.E. Stevenson, The Young Clementina

Charlotte Dean can’t remember a time when she wasn’t in love with Garth Wisdon, her childhood playmate and next-door neighbor. Although Charlotte is merely the daughter of the local vicar, while Garth is the heir to a large estate, she grows up confident that they will marry someday. As they reach adulthood, Garth seems to reciprocate her feelings, but their love is arrested by the outbreak of World War I. Garth goes off to fight in the war, and when he returns, Charlotte no longer recognizes the man she once knew. The new Garth is angry and cynical and seems to hold her in contempt. Nevertheless, she is still overwhelmed with shock when he quickly becomes engaged to her younger sister, Kitty. Now Charlotte is living in a shabby flat in London, where she has little contact with Garth and Kitty. But a tragic turn of events brings them both back into her life — along with their strange, shy daughter, Clementina — and Charlotte must make a decision that could alter the entire course of her life.

I’m so glad Sourcebooks is reprinting the novels of D.E. Stevenson, because I’ve really enjoyed all the ones I’ve read so far! This book is a bit more somber than her Miss Buncle series, but it’s still a nice, leisurely, and ultimately sweet read. I was expecting the central storyline to be a romance, but really the book is much more about Charlotte’s growth as she is forced out of her comfort zone. In the beginning, it’s a bit difficult to feel much sympathy for her because she accepts her sister’s betrayal so passively. But as she emerges from her solitary cocoon and starts to cultivate friendships, she becomes a much stronger person who is capable of standing on her own two feet. On the other hand, I never felt much sympathy for Garth, even after he explained his actions; in my opinion, everything he suffered throughout the novel was his own stupid fault! But overall, I’d definitely recommend this book to people who like slower-paced, old-fashioned books with a contemplative feel.

Review: Exclusively Yours

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Exclusively YoursShannon Stacey, Exclusively Yours

Keri Daniels is a career-focused tabloid reporter who is determined to become an editor, but her latest assignment fills her with nothing but dread. She’s been commanded to get a hard-hitting (and preferably scandalous) interview with Joseph Kowalski, a reclusive bestselling author who also happens to be Keri’s high school sweetheart — a fact her editor wants her to exploit when she approaches him. To Keri’s surprise, Joe agrees to be interviewed, but he has conditions: Keri must accompany him on his family’s annual two-week camping trip in rural New Hampshire. For every day Keri can stick it out, Joe will answer one question. With no other choice, Keri agrees to the scheme, but her high-powered life in the city doesn’t translate well to living in a cabin, dousing herself with bug repellent, or riding an ATV through the mud. But the more time Keri spends with Joe’s big, loud, loving family — and with Joe himself — the more she enjoys herself. Can she and Joe rekindle their romance without encountering the same obstacles that originally tore them apart?

I’d heard good things about Shannon Stacey’s Kowalski series, so I decided to pick up this first installment. Overall, I liked but didn’t love it. My favorite part of the book by far was Joe’s rambunctious family, from his mother with her deadly wooden spoon to his noisy, irrepressible nephews. While the Kowalskis certainly have their share of dysfunction, ultimately it’s obvious that they love and care about each other. That said, I wasn’t particularly invested in the romance between Joe and Keri. I didn’t really buy their reasons for breaking up after high school, nor did I understand what was keeping them apart in the present. Keri wanted to focus on her career, but she certainly doesn’t seem to have a lot of pride in her current job as a tabloid reporter. And Joe didn’t want to follow Keri to the big city because he loved his family, but surely a bestsellng author could afford frequent trips back home to see them. So basically, I thought they were both acting stupidly, and I found myself dismissing their supposed obstacles. All in all, I’m not sold on this series, but I may pick up the next book sometime.

Review: Landline

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LandlineRainbow Rowell, Landline

TV writer Georgie McCool is at a turning point in her life. For several years, she and her best friend Seth have been working on a dumb but popular sitcom, but now they’ve been given a chance to create their very own show. Georgie is thrilled, but her husband Neal is less so: Georgie now has to spend Christmas in L.A. and wants to cancel the family trip to Neal’s mother’s house in Omaha. But instead of deferring to Georgie like he usually does, Neal takes their two daughters to Omaha without her. At first Georgie assumes this is just one of the many small fights they’ve been having lately…but then Neal stops answering his cell, and she can’t seem to get ahold of him. Stunned and grieving, Georgie goes to her own mother’s house for comfort, where she finds an old rotary phone in her closet. She soon discovers that the phone has magic powers: when she uses it to call Neal, present-day Georgie is able to talk to 22-year-old Neal the week before he proposed to her in 1998. Can Georgie use the phone to solve the problems in her marriage? Or will she learn that she was never supposed to marry Neal in the first place?

I’m a huge fan of Rainbow Rowell’s previous books, so it’s no surprised that I devoured this one in two days, albeit with a couple of quibbles. But first things first: I love that Georgie and Neal are already married when the book starts, and I love that they’re having such a common problem. Georgie wants her husband to support her career dreams, while Neal feels taken for granted as the stay-at-home parent, and I could really sympathize with both points of view. I also love the flashbacks to the beginning of Georgie and Neal’s relationship. They really lent a lot of weight to the story, because we know exactly what Georgie will be losing if she can’t find a way to reconnect with Neal. That said, I wasn’t a fan of Seth; he seemed to exist as “the other man” who comes between Georgie and Neal, yet he’s never really presented as a viable option for Georgie, so I just didn’t see the point. I also didn’t like the way that Georgie’s career ambitions seemed to be the sole cause of her marital problems. To me, the message was that she should be willing to give up those ambitions to make her husband happy. But aside from these grumbles, I really loved the book and would definitely recommend it, especially to fans of Rowell’s other books!

Review: The Haunted Bookshop

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Haunted Bookshop, TheChristopher Morley, The Haunted Bookshop

In this sequel to Parnassus on Wheels, bibliophile Roger Mifflin has temporarily abandoned his traveling bookstore for a more permanent location on Gissing Street in Brooklyn. He calls his store the Haunted Bookshop, claiming that it is “haunted” by the ghosts of great literature. One day a young salesman named Aubrey Gilbert enters the store, hoping to persuade Roger to advertise with his firm; instead, the two men have an intense discussion that leaves Aubrey with a newfound appreciation for literature. When Aubrey returns to the shop a few days later, he is immediately smitten with Titania Chapman, the beguiling new shopgirl. But as he starts to visit the store more regularly, he notices something strange: an old and rather obscure volume keeps disappearing from the Haunted Bookshop and then re-appearing without warning. Is there a literary-minded thief frequenting the bookstore, or is something more sinister at work?

This is one of those cozy little books that take you back to a simpler time, and I found it absolutely charming! Roger Mifflin’s enthusiasm for books is infectious, and the novel is full of his musings on literature, both in general and about specific books. Unfortunately, I didn’t recognize most of the titles he mentioned, presumably because they’ve gone out of fashion (and print!) since the book was published in 1919. But this is definitely the type of book that reminds me of the huge number of books in the world that I still haven’t read! The mystery plot is clever, though very slight and easy to guess (and very much a product of its time). I also liked the central characters, especially Aubrey, who makes a lot of endearing mistakes in his quest to solve the mystery and win Titania’s heart. All in all, I finished this book wishing that I could stop by the Haunted Bookshop for dinner and a literary discussion with these characters.