Howard Beecham Beecham itibaren Sainte-Madeleine-de-la-Rivière-Madeleine
Book #61 of 2011 I think I love Fox. And I think I love Fox's parents. And I didn't even notice the Fox and Layla connection this time! Book #42 of 2009 4/16/2009 So... once upon a time, we adopted a dog. And her name was Foxy. But I had a dog named Foxy when I was little, so we changed her name to Layla. And... yeah. It makes me chuckle that the main characters' names are Fox and Layla. This book wasn't as spooky as the first one, in my opinion. Maybe its just because the "Big Evil Bastard", as the characters call it, is just up to the same old same old, albeit a little stronger. I'm looking forward to the third book and figuring out how they beat it. The book itself... I found it interesting that it was told mostly from Fox's perspective. Most of the romance's I've read this year (okay, pretty much all) are told from the female perspective with little peeks here and there into the male point of view. But this was reversed, which made it interesting. I think Gage is going to be a difficult character in the third book. So far I haven't been too enamored with him. He sorta just broods, which gets on my nerves a bit. But Roberts starts to flush him out towards the end, a little bit, so I'm looking forward to seeing how he turns out. He's probably got some pretty surprising stuff going on internally once the spotlight shines on him. What am I talking about anyway? In the April Reading Challenge I'm counting this towards fulfilling #10 - Reader's choice. If only there was someplace on the list for The Pagan Stone to count, because there's no way I'm not reading that one next.
Please to be gifting me this book someone! I so dearly want to read it...
Andrea always knew she was different from her sisters. Unlike the other princesses who were content studying to be a lady with her mother, the queen, Andrea longed to become a squire and serve in the army. When she turns fourteen (17 in Earth years), her father ends her dream and sentences her to lady lessons with her mother. As Andrea struggles with her new life, her longing to be more overwhelms her. One night after fleeing her father's palace Andrea stumbles upon a gateway to another world (Earth) and learns how different life could be. When she returns to her world, however, everything begins to crumble as her kingdom readies for a war she may have inadvertently caused. I can't say how much I enjoyed this book. I usually don't read a lot of books with a time travel (or in this case world traveling) element. I can say I was honestly surprised by how smoothly this story flowed between the two worlds and how intricate the history was. Andrea's character is really what drives you through this novel. You have a smart, strong willed young woman who wants more from life than what her parents seek for her. Her story draws you in, and you find yourself eagerly flipping pages to find out what will happen next in the story. Her sadness will tug at your heartstrings and her happiness will leave you with a big smile on your face. While the other characters aren't as well fleshed out as Andrea, this isn't a problem as you spend so much of your time in Andrea's head seeing things as a young woman who is absorbed in her own life will see them. The details and background stories gradually come forward as Andrea herself learns the truth. The transitions from one world to the other was smoothly done. I love how the author explained how Andrea was able to grasp the English so quickly and was pleasantly surprised when she addressed directly rather than leaving the reader to come up with their own explanations. Overall this book is a gem. A likable heroine, a riveting story, and a lot of emotion. I want more like this! I loved it! Cautions for sensitive readers: Some violence, but otherwise a clean read.
This is a book I would not normally read. I had read one of his detective agency books several years ago and did find it an enjoyable read so decided, as I was recovering from an illness, this would be the perfect light read -- and it was. I liked the way he strung his characters together and I enjoyed the characters too. But, there seemed to be some long conversations between characters which could have been much shorter and I'm not sure what they added to the story. Kept thinking there would be a nice completion of the circle of people at the end -- the party didn't include all characters in the book and left you wondering "and?" Some conversations were strange: ways to kill a son/nephew????? Nothing was ever tied up regarding this character. Wouldn't recommend it.
Another fantastic, funny Lodge book, this one about two old friends' attempt to take revenge on a journalist who wrote a nasty piece about the more famous of the two. This is based on Lodge's own play, and possibly the only criticism I could level at it is that it on occasion seems too play-y, with scene breaks and patches of prose that read like stage directions. Still, it's incredibly enjoyable; I'm loving Lodge a lot of late.