The Moment, ed. by Larry Smith

File The Moment under "Worst Covers Ever, Ever". Personal opinion. Now that we've gotten that out of the way . . .

I had trouble putting this book down and read it in a single afternoon -- which is, in fact, a bit unusual for me. The Moment: Wild, Poignant, Life-Changing Stories from 125 Writers and Artists Famous and Obscure is a book of short (not 6-word, but never more than a handful of pages), biographical stories about life-changing, ephiphany-type moments. Some of them are a little obscured by flowery language or even a little baffling. Meaning: "In what way did this change your life?" -- I didn't always "get it". However, most of these little autobiographical vignettes are clearly, even beautifully, written and meaningful, many to the point of tear-jerker depth.

A handful of the stories are written in graphic/illustration form. I loved most of the illustrated moments for the change of pace, although I do wish the final illustrated tale had been left out completely. It's entitled, "I Couldn't Get it Up". That pretty much tells you all you need to know. So much for leaving The Moment out where youngsters can pick it up to find inspiration. On the basis of the final story, then, the book gets a family warning. Disappointing, because I do think inspiring stories can be encouraging to youngsters.

Recommended with family warning due to a single illustrated story -- which, I suppose, one can simply remove. Apart from that one itty-bitty problem, I think kids as young as 10 could get something out of The Moment. Well-written, diverse stories -- some humorous, others inspiring, a few moved me to tears.

©2012 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

After the Quake by Haruki Murakami

After the Quake by Haruki Murakami

Copyright 2002

Vintage - Fiction/Short stories

132 pages

From the cover (again - a really well-written cover blurb I must defer to):

The economy was booming. People had more money than they knew what to do with. And then the earthquake struck. For the characters in After the Quake, the Kobe earthquake is an echo from a past they buried long ago. Satsuki has spent thirty years hating one man: a lover who destroyed her chances of having children. Did her desire for revenge cause the earthquake? Junpei's estranged parents live in Kobe. Should he contact them? Miyake left his family in Kobe to make midnight bonfires on a beach hundreds of miles away. Four-year-old Sala has nightmares that the Earthquake Man is trying to stuff her inside a little box. Katagiri returns home to find a giant frog in his apartment, on a mission to save Tokyo from a massive burrowing worm. 'When he gets angry, he causes earthquakes,' says Frog. 'And right now he is very, very angry.'

This [...] collection of stories, from one of the world's greatest living writers, dissects the violence beneath the surface of modern Japan.

I've only read part of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, prior to purchasing After the Quake (which, I should add, I am capitalizing in spite of the lack of capitalization of the title in that cover blurb, above). I didn't finish the book for reasons I don't recall, but I was very, very impressed with his writing and I've pretty much been collecting Murikami's books, ever since. After the Quake and Underground are two that I haven't been able to find easily, so when I saw them in a little store I like in London, I snapped them up. Husband just rolled his eyes.

I read the stories in After the Quake after finishing My Dear I Wanted to Tell You (I promise I'll review My Dear, soon - it is yet another story that really swept me away). There is something tremendously quirky yet real about Haruki Murikami's stories. He has a tendency to make you wonder, "Where the heck is he taking me?" and then he suddenly has his characters do something so bizarre, just as you think you may possibly have it figured out, that you just have to keep reading. That's one reason I'm a little perplexed that I didn't actually finish reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle . . . which, by the way, my eldest has since carried away.

I had a couple favorite stories in After the Quake, of course, although I enjoyed the experience of all of them, in general. "Landscape with Flatiron" is probably my absolute favorite. Junko has been living a dead-end life with her boyfriend, Keisuke. Her friend Miyake calls her up to ask if she and Keisuke would like to come join him on the beach as he builds a bonfire. Miyake has a thing for bonfires; he has learned how to tell when the tide will bring in lots of driftwood and with the driftwood he collects, he uses the special technique he's developed to keep the fire going a long time without burning out.

Keisuke is a jerk. He makes a lot of wisecracks about sex and picks on Miyake's refusal to share his history, which Junko eventually draws out of him after Keisuke leaves. Keisuke's departure leaves Junko and Miyake to share their deepest, darkest secrets. Miyake tells about his real home and his recurring nightmare. Junko talks about her emptiness and her favorite short story.

If you know your Jack London -- and most people have probably read the story that's referred to (but not by name) -- then you'll recognize the parallel when you read it, but I don't want to give any details away. Suffice it to say, "Landscape with Flatiron" is a very touching, skillfully rendered parallel to a Jack London short story. It is sad but beautiful.

I don't think I'll rattle on about the other stories, but After the Quake is a slender book at 132 pages containing 6 stories that are all unique in a way that makes your brain curdle just a bit. What an imagination he has! "Super-Frog Saves Tokyo" is particularly mind-bending.

The bottom line:

A unique set of short stories by one of the world's most imaginative, possibly somewhat twisted, minds. Definitely recommended, but I'd say it's about a PG-13 because of all the sexual references. Can't remember if there's anything graphic, although one fellow ends up in bed with a virtual stranger. I'm definitely looking forward to reading more by Murikami.

I don't know how many books I plan to read, but this was the first book I've completed for Bellezza's Japanese Literature Challenge 5. I'll definitely be reading more. I just don't know what and when. Fortunately, this challenge is a long one, from June of 2011 to January of 2012.

©2011 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

If I Stay and Where She Went by Gayle Forman

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Copyright 2009

Dutton Books - Young Adult

199 pages

I got a copy of the sequel to If I Stay from Dutton Books, so I rushed out to my public library to check out If I Stay and read the two books back-to-back. I feel very fortunate for having the opportunity to read them that way, since my library's Young Adult section, while growing, is still pretty thin and I doubt Where She Went will show up for quite a while after its release.

If I Stay is a tragic story and I'd actually avoided it because I kept hearing what a tough read it is, but I've read some difficult books. I told myself I'm tougher than I look. I look like a jelly roll. We won't go there, though.

17-year-old Mia has a lovely, funny family that she adores and a boyfriend she loves. But, she is a brilliant musician and she must choose whether or not to leave her family and boyfriend when she's offered a spectacular opportunity to continue her musical education far from home.

Then, suddenly, tragedy strikes and Mia has a completely different choice to make. I love this part of the blurb on the cover flap: "If I Stay is a heartachingly beautiful book about the power of love, the true meaning of family, and the choices we all make."

Here's where I put up a spoiler warning. If you haven't read If I Stay, skip down to The Bottom Line!!! I'm not going to give away the ending (unless you move on to read about Where She Went, which will spoil the ending of If I Stay) but there might be some spoilery bits and I'd prefer not to ruin this read for anyone. ***SPOILER ALERT!!! You have been warned.***

Mia and her family go for a drive on a snowy day. One minute, Mia is enjoying the music, the scenery and the company of her family. The next minute, she's on the ground. She walks around and discovers the mangled bodies of her parents, then sees her own body and watches as paramedics take her away. She can hear her rescuers and follow along. She knows she's alive but she doesn't have any idea how she can see what's happening or what it means. She's afraid to find out whether or not her beloved little brother Teddy has perished along with her parents.

As Mia lies in a coma, she reflects on her romance with her rock guitar-playing boyfriend Adam, her family life, and how she came to play the cello and grow in skill. Meanwhile, she's also able to walk around the hospital, look down on herself during surgery, see people coming and going and hear what they say. I won't spoil how she comes to make her decision to live or die or even what the decision is, but the book ends on a surprisingly hopeful note.

***End Spoiler Warning***

The Bottom Line - I thought there were times If I Stay was just a little slow and it is a roller-coaster, emotional read, but I loved the story. I was crazy about Mia's family -- her father, in particular, reminded me of my own light-hearted father (whom I was constantly told was "such a cool dad") and I found the dilemma so compelling that I couldn't bear to put the book down till I finished. I liked the writing and was impressed by the musical detail. And, I loved the relationship between Mia and Adam. While the book has been referred to as "tragic," I think it's also uplifting and thought-provoking. I definitely recommend it but I recall thinking it deserved a PG-13 warning for some sexuality.

Please don't read the following review unless you have read If I Stay!!! Again, skip to The Bottom Line for my thoughts. There WILL be spoilers in the text of this review!!!

Where She Went by Gayle Forman

Copyright 2011

Dutton Books - Young Adult

272 pages

Release Date: April 5, 2011

If you read If I Stay and enjoyed it, you will definitely want to read on. Where She Went is even better. Three years have gone by since the tragic accident that changed Mia's life forever.

When I saw there was a sequel to If I Stay, I wondered if Mia had chosen to live or die. It could have gone either way. A sequel could easily have taken her to a spiritual world or she could have become a ghost who helped Adam find new love, hence the bold spoiler warnings. I think it's best not to know in advance how If I Stay ends.

But since you've read it, you know she chose to live. Now, we find out that Mia walked out of Adam's life; eventually, the author reveals her reasons, but you're kept in suspense for the majority of the book.

Adam has gone on to become a rock star with a celebrity girlfriend. Mia is a rising star at Juilliard and is getting set to go on her first tour. While Adam is in New York, he sees a poster about Mia's debut and quietly shows up to see her perform. But, Adam is too well-known to sneak out unnoticed and Mia finds him. Thrown together for the first time in three years, Mia and Adam spend all evening and the next day together, exploring Mia's favorite sites in her new home, revisiting their mutual grief and rekindling their romance. But, both of them are scheduled to tour the world and they're going in opposite directions. Now that Mia and Adam have found each other, can they work out a relationship? Or is this goodbye for good?

The Bottom Line - Where She Went is told from Adam's viewpoint and the differing perspective gives the story told in the two books a fullness that would likely have been missing, had the sequel continued in Mia's voice. Like If I Stay, I found Where She Went utterly impossible to put down. Because Adam loved Mia's family and shared in her grief but had to grieve in silence, he's really kind of a wreck and you can't help but hope they'll at least resolve whatever caused the rift between them so that Adam will be able to move on. But the story is better than that, so much better. It is equally emotional and stunningly satisfying. For those who have read If I Stay, Where She Went is not to be missed. Again, the book contains sexuality and language, so I'd say it's a PG-13. I'm anxious to find out what else Gayle Forman has written.

In other news:

I mentioned that I'll have less time for blogging. We've got not one but two family weddings coming up, this summer. I mentioned needing to get in shape for the weddings to a friend, L. L told me she attends a local gym with dance aerobics classes, including Zumba, and my ears perked up. She invited me to go as her guest and I had such fun I immediately signed up for a 6-month membership.

The anecdote that goes with this tale:

At Bible study, last night, I asked one of the women who routinely goes on mission trips about the upcoming mission. The timing is all wrong, so I can't go but she mentioned the meetings and said feel free to come if you want to plan ahead for next year. L said, "Oh, we can't come that day. We have to dance," and I laughed and said it's true, we've got to groove. That perked up another woman's ears and there may soon be three of us grooving together. What fun!

So, the blogging thing:

Well, I'll just get to it when I can. There may be times that I'll need to write a week's worth of mini reviews. If so, I think I'll attempt to write them as separate posts unless I'm so pressed for time that I need to combine a few for the sake of catching up. I haven't had much reading time, lately, so that's kept me from falling too far behind on reviews. And, I'm just not going to kill myself trying to keep up, for now. If I have time to read and review, great. If not, I'll get to it when I get to it.

A Cat Tale:

Isabel jumped into the tub and chased her tail, one day (fortunately, when there was no water in the tub) and that night I dreamed that she jumped in the tub and it was filled with blue water, so as she chased her tail she turned her white fur blue. It took me a while to figure out where the blue bit came from. Husband had painted a second coat on the office walls, that day, and I'd been slightly worried that the cats, who watched in utter fascination as the paint roller went up and down, would end up rubbing against the wall and come away covered in blue paint. They didn't; both girls were actually very well behaved and didn't get in the way or into the paint.

I have a Kiddo anecdote to share, but this post is getting a bit long, so I'll save it for another day. Happy Reading!

©2011 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

Copyright 2010

Harper - Young Adult Fiction

470 pages

The cover grabbed me; the story held on. I picked up a copy of Before I Fall and flipped through it at Borders but passed up buying, one day. I did, however, promptly add it to my wish list because the storyline sounded interesting. And, then I found a copy at my library. Excitement!! It's not easy finding fairly new releases at my library -- especially Young Adult novels --and I only had to wait . . . um, maybe 8 months from the release date? Not bad.

Samantha has died in an automobile accident. She remembers it well -- the fear, the pain, the sensation of dying. But, each morning she wakes up alive, only to relive the day of her death.

Sam is pretty, popular and planning to lose her virginity to her boyfriend at a former friend's party (mostly to "get it over with") on her final day. As she and her friends go about their day, the things that stand out are their rudeness to the unpopular crowd and how the entire day they're careening toward the alcohol-fueled party that will lead to Sam's death . . . and that of another girl. But they have no real understanding of how much the little things they do impact other people. When she is forced to relive the day, Samantha slowly begins to understand how she needs to change things to make them right. She sees her boyfriend and the boy who is hosting the party in a totally new light and gradually changes how she interacts with them.

As in the movie Groundhog Day, Sam experiments with making changes to her last day. Some days she tries to be perfect and save her own life; one day she just lets herself go completely wild. She relives her last day 7 times.

In the end, Samantha realizes that the only way she can possibly escape living the same day forever is to make things right. And, how she goes about doing so is not something I can go into because you'll want to enjoy the surprises. The two descriptive words that I think of when I reflect back on the reading of Before I Fall are "consistently surprising". I truly never knew what Sam was going to do, next. It's not wholly unexpected that she redeems herself in the end, but there are questions that really make the book a page turner. For one thing, you have to wonder if Sam will ever be able to save herself. Will she, by learning about her fate and how to prevent it, cease to be dead?

Well . . . I'm not telling. What you need to know is that Lauren Oliver is an amazing writer and Before I Fall is a stellar book in many ways. The author keeps you guessing, allows Samantha to learn slowly enough that the wild premise remains strikingly believable, and even makes a few people who seem truly horrendous reveal their good sides. Oh, and there's a bit of refreshing romance.

The bottom line:

I absolutely loved Before I Fall. I began reading it at home, rechecked it for my trip to Oklahoma and finished the reading of Before I Fall in Tulsa. A week later, it's still rolling around in my head and I am absolutely dying to see what Lauren Oliver comes up with next. Capricious Heather has read Oliver's next title, Delirium, which doesn't come out till February of 2011 and I am sooo envious.

Warnings: Sexual content, drug & alcohol use and . . . I think there's some bad language, but I can't remember. I personally think the author did a good job of using the sex, drugs and alcohol (drunken students falling all over each other and then driving off the road, basically) as object lessons, although she could have gone a bit farther about the dangers of drinking and driving. But, on the other hand . . . Samantha's dead thanks to her drunken friend's driving. That kind of gets the point across.

Tomorrow, I have a book tour and then I hope to return to cranking out reviews like crazy on Friday.

©2010 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

A Cottage by the Sea by Ciji Ware

A Cottage by the Sea by Ciji Ware
Copyright 2010
Sourcebooks Landmark
Orig. Publ'd 1997
529 pages

Blythe Barton Stowe has heard tales of her Cornish ancestry all her life. When her divorce is finalized on the same day her ex-husband, Christopher Stowe, announces that his new lover -- Blythe's sister, Ellie -- is pregnant, her lawyer's suggestion that she leave the country to avoid the paparazzi makes total sense.

Whisked off to a remote cottage on the Cornish coast, Blythe finds comfort in the tiny Painters Cottage on a crumbling estate and finds herself falling for Lucas Teague, the landed gentleman who is trying to save the Barton Hall estate despite pressure from the Inland Revenue.

When Blythe touches a carefully scripted family tree and utters a name, she finds herself transported in time, able to view scenes from the tragic history of Barton Hall. Is she relieving the centuries-old tragedy? Or, is it possible for Blythe to find new love and purpose in the home of her ancestral past? Each time Blythe is transported in time, she finds out new details of her family's shocking history and each day brings her closer to true love. But, handsome Lucas Teague, a widower, is distant and cold with his own child and there is nothing Blythe wants more than a family. Can they reconcile their differences and deal with their own difficult pasts in order to make things work, or is Blythe destined to relive the tragedy her ancestral namesake suffered?

A Cottage by the Sea is a book I've found myself struggling to describe, hence the lengthy description, above. It's a little paranormal, a little historical, but mostly a contemporary romance. Blythe grew up on a ranch and has been told about her Cornish ancestry all her life, but she's not actually certain that it's factual. Maybe her beloved grandmother made the whole story up. Regardless, it's important for her to get away from the public eye because her ex-husband is a famous film director and the paparazzi is going nuts over their love triangle story.

Blythe is not only wrestling with her husband and sister's betrayal and her own frustration at no longer having the chance to have a baby, but also is still dealing with the grief from the loss of the grandmother who reared her. I don't want to go into anything that will spoil the storyline, so let's just say she makes herself right at home in Cornwall and quickly finds a purpose in helping Lucas Teague save his estate.

The most interesting parts of this book, to me, were the references to Daphne Du Maurier's books and the location. I believe the paranormal aspect is patterned after the time travel in Du Maurier's The House on the Strand. Du Maurier lived 1/2 mile from where the real cottage fictionalized in the novel exists and the rest of the setting was based on actual buildings and a National Trust path. The author did an excellent job of describing time and place, both in the present and the past.

I disliked the details of the business Blythe and Lucas created in order to save the estate because they bored me just a bit -- always a funny thing to find myself bored by business details, given the fact that I have a business degree. Maybe I went into the wrong field. At any rate, I liked the book but I didn't love it. I liked being transported in time, expected and enjoyed the romance and found the conflict a bit overwrought. Toward the end of the book, I thought it became a bit repetitious and predictable but the conclusion was satisfying. Still, the whole "Is Blythe reliving the tragedy of her ancestors?" bit was practically mined to death. I think fully 100 pages could have been chopped from this chunkster without harming the storyline one bit.

Bottom line:

An enjoyable escapist romantic read that is a bit too long and repetitious but nowhere near the point of abandonment. Ciji Ware is an excellent writer. I can't say this book compares to the first of her works that I read, the historical Island of the Swans. At times, I even visualized myself happily scratching out certain sentences with a red pen. But, it was a good vacation read and I definitely recommend it, particularly to those who like an unusual blend of romance with paranormal and historical facets. Slight family warning: Some sex scenes run from PG-13 to R. I don't believe anything would warp a youngster for life, though.

The mail has arrived!

And, holy moly . . . the book pile was a doozy. This is what happens when you go away for a week, I guess. I received:

Vanishing and other stories by Deborah Willis - short story collection from HarperCollins
The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May and June by Robin Benway -YA from Razorbill received via Shelf Awareness
The Case of the Crooked Carnival by Torrey & Johansen Newman - surprise from Sterling Kids
The Outer Banks House by Diann Ducharme and
The King's Mistress by Emma Campion - from Random House, both via Shelf Awareness
The Tower, The Zoo and The Tortoise by Julia Stuart - from Doubleday via Shelf Awareness
A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron - from the author (just started reading this one)
In a Heartbeat by Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy - for FirstWild tour
Someone Like Me by John W. Quinn - unsolicited, from History Publishing Company -- love this publisher and will definitely read it
Of Bees and Mist by Erick Setiawan - from Simon & Schuster, and
31 Hours by Masha Hamilton - surprise from Unbridled Books

I have, in fact, already read 31 Hours by Masha Hamilton. You know how some books that you gush about when you close them disappear from your mind right away and others that you don't particularly love or maybe even like end up rolling around in your head and really stick with you? Well, 31 Hours is one that I initially wasn't thrilled with, at the time I closed it, but it has totally stuck with me and the more I think about that ending I disliked, the more perfect it has become in my mind. So, if you look up my review, bear that in mind . . . it's better now than it was when I closed it. I assume I was sent a promotional copy because it's coming out in paperback, but that's just a guess.

Speaking of looking up reviews . . . my search feature appears to be totally malfunctioning, so that I have to guess when I read a book or look it up in my "books read" lists in the sidebar and then page back to find reviews and create links to them. I wonder what's up with that? Maybe my first experience as an empty nester should involve taking a class so that I can learn how to create my own self-hosted website. There are times Blogger doesn't seem worth the angst and a messed-up search feature is a very, very bad thing, in my opinion.

Just snapped a pic of Fiona, so I should have a Fiona Friday image up by this evening. Happy, happy Friday!

The Making of a Duchess by Shana Galen - or "Really, you should ignore that cover and grab this one for the adventure"

The Making of a Duchess by Shana Galen
Copyright 2010
Sourcebooks Casablanca - Historical Romance
368 pages

Wait just a minute there, partner. The cover is turning you off, right? You hate those so-called "bodice rippers," don't you? So, which do you hate worse, snap judgments based on irrational assumptions and ignorance or a cover that honestly doesn't fit the content of a book? Because I have to say, that cover is pretty, but it doesn't describe the content ---->

He awoke to fire. Peasants shouted and chased him with pitchforks and swords. That terrifying night will stay with Julien Harcourt, duc de Valere for the rest of his life. Unable to save his brothers from the rioting peasants, he escaped to England. But, Julien still doesn't believe his brothers are dead. When he receives a message from a former servant telling him his brother Armand is still alive, Julien is willing to do anything to find his way back to France to save his brother. He will keep searching until he finds the truth.

Sarah Smith is a governess. She's happy in her latest position, teaching and caring for Sir Northrup's young children, Anne and Edmund. Then Sir Northrup calls her into his office and tells her she has a new assignment. She is to spy on the on the duc de Valere, who is thought to be a traitor. There are no agents available and she is expected within three days. Sarah will pose as a houseguest, the daughter of French aristocrats who escaped to Italy during the early days of the Revolution.

Sarah is flabbergasted and tries to turn down her boss, but Sir Northrup threatens to turn her out into the street if she doesn't do the job. She's an orphan, trained to be a governess in the Academy at which she was left as a child. Turned into the street, she would have nowhere to go, nobody to protect her. Sarah has no choice but to pose as a spy. But, neither the duc or the governess know what is in store for them when intrigue meets attraction.

She narrowed her eyes at him, obviously annoyed. "A gentleman would not have mentioned that incident again," she said, tone frosty.

He shrugged, not feeling the least compunction to act the gentleman when she was the one who had invaded his library. He took another drink from his glass and studied her. "You don't have any accent," he said, finally.

"What?" She frowned at him, probably thinking he was foxed.

"Your English." He sat forward now. "You have no French accent, not even a trace." He was always keenly aware of his own accent, knew no matter how perfect his English it would always mark him as a foreigner.

She put a hand to her throat. "Well, I was so young when I left France that--"

"For Italy."

"Yes. My parents live in Italy."

"And yet you have no Italian accent."

She opened her mouth then closed it again.

"Say again?"

"We speak English."

"Your parents are French. You live in Italy, but you speak English."

She shrugged, a dainty gesture that caused one ribbon of hair to fall over her shoulder and caress his desk. He stared at it.

"We're eccentric." She looked him full in the face, daring him to question her.

He raised his glass in a mock salute. "That must explain why you're wandering about in my home in the middle of the night, creeping into my library."

Seriously, just ignore the cover. The Making of a Duchess is the kind of book that led me to once write an essay about my former prejudice against the romance genre, in general, and how and why I'd learned my lesson. There are many, many forms of romantic writing and a stunning number of subgenres. The Making of a Duchess contains all the elements of a typical romance (the meeting, unexpected attraction, dark moment and happily-ever-after) but there is a great deal more action and fun than gushy love and . . . sigh . . . cupping of breasts and all that crap. I do detest the same old wording from one book to another in romance, but this author was, I thought, surprisingly inventive -- even during those worthless sex scenes (which don't occur till later in the book), although there's a bit of the standard wording.

Note that Sarah, posing as Serafina in the above passage, appears to have been caught sniffing about in Julien's library nearly at the beginning of her time as a spy. That is actually one of the things I adored about the book. Rather than carry a poor bumbling character through repetitive conversations and motions, stretching out believability till you're certain you can hear it snapping in two, the author allows her characters to screw up, get caught and find a new way of going about the job until things work out. Wonderful!! Well done, Shana Galen!

For those who think sex doesn't forward a plot, there is less than average in this particular novel, although I'm sure it's enough to satisfy those who crave romance. Even better, the couple remains chaste until married. I don't think that's a spoiler because even when they do marry, there's some question whether or not it's merely temporary. At that point, it becomes PG-13 to R for short stretches, most of which are bookended by action.

Bottom line:

I loved this book. It's witty, romantic and adventurous without veering into "trite" territory. Sarah is likable and just a little goofy but she quickly discovers her hidden strength. Julien is a man who is fixated on duty but full of heart. The author's particular flair is in knowing her timing, not only in dialogue but in plot. Beautifully paced, full of action, charming dialogue and pure fun. Many thanks to Danielle at Sourcebooks for the review copy!

In other news:

I finished The Passage by Justin Cronin on Monday -- or maybe Tuesday -- and I've since been toying with when to post. Yesterday was impossible; I was sidelined by a migraine and that gave me a bit more time to ponder the fact that I've been "behind" on book reviews for quite some time. The Passage is getting a tremendous amount of press and the other books have been waiting around in the hallway, muttering about the fact that I keep putting them off. So . . . I'll review The Passage after I've reviewed the other ARCs I've received. I originally planned to review it on its release day, but then it occurred to me that there's no hurry. People will still be twiddling their thumbs, saying, "To buy or not to buy?" in a week, right? Are you a twiddler? If so, feel free to ask my opinion before I actually take the time to write about it.

Next up, then, will be two books about Secret Lives: The Secret Lives of People in Love and The Secret Lives of Princesses. Then, I'll try to say something, anything positive about Winging It and move on to A Place for Delta, which won't require scrounging for kudos. Since I've barely read a word, this week, that should get me all caught up on review books and then I can move on to those I read for other reasons (like the fact that they've been sitting on a shelf for eons or just screamed, "Read me! Read me!").

Recent arrivals:

Liar by Justine Larbalestier - from PBS

I'm Fine with God . . . It's Christians I Can't Stand by Bickel & Jantz - from PBS

Mr. Darcy's Obsession by Abigail Reynolds - from Sourcebooks

The Stress Effect by Henry L. Thompson - from Jossey-Bass

Detectives Don't Wear Seat Belts by Cici McNair - from the author

In the Shadow of Lions by Ginger Garrett - from a friend

Off to do something exciting. Yes, laundry. It thrills me, I promise. Happy reading!

Fireworks Over Toccoa by Jeffrey Stepakoff

Fireworks Over Toccoa by Jeffrey Stepakoff
Copyright 2010
Thomas Dunne Books - Fiction/Historical
260 pages

I just finished Fireworks Over Toccoa and, since I'm still well and truly "behind" on my reviewing, I figure I should go ahead and knock this review out while the story is fresh in my mind.

In Toccoa, Georgia, Colleen is preparing to marry. But, she feels that something is missing. How can she not feel excited about marrying Drew? He's practically perfect and he has just bought the two of them a stunning dream house that fits her desires for a home so completely it's almost creepy.

Across town, Colleen's grandmother Lily has just seen something shocking in the newspaper -- a remnant from her past. She asks Colleen to take her to see the new display in the museum at the old railroad station. There, Lily surprises the curator and Colleen by describing the meaning of two artifacts behind glass. Lily tells Colleen and the curator the story of how she came to own a crumpled piece of paper, now framed, in the first place . . . about the two days of stolen love while she waited for her husband to come home from WWII and how the crumpled paper was lost.

I won't spoil the ending by telling what happened and why, but I will say the book reminded me of The Bridges of Madison County, just a bit. And, in that way, I must say I wasn't thrilled; the whole "passion while the husband is away" thing kind of makes my skin crawl. An affair is not something I can swallow as beautiful and heart-tugging, no matter how pretty you paint it. I find the whole idea more sad than moving. And, yet, I enjoyed the book, simply because I was in the mood for an easily digestible read and Fireworks Over Toccoa fit the bill.

In general, the writing is nothing outstanding. No Post-its were used to mark lovely passages and there was nothing overly special or memorable about the story but I liked it and I don't regret reading the book, although I would not ever read it again.

3/5 - An average but palatable story of a brief love affair at the end of WWII, with a nice theme of following your heart. Unremarkable but pleasantly light reading. I would rate it PG-13 to R for some sex scenes that are only mildly graphic.

I'm going to attempt to crank out a few more reviews, while it's quiet in the house. Then, since most of the blogging world seems to have vamoosed to New York City for Book Expo America, I'm hoping that I'll find the time to visit with those who were left behind, this week. Happy Sunday!