Welcome to guest dare! For those new to the feature, our Guest Dare is a monthly endeavor in which we invite an unsuspecting victim to read a book totally outside of their comfort zone. You can read all previous Dare posts HERE.

This month’s victim is Jeff – one of the minds behind the awesomeness that is Alert Nerd and the dude who talks about geeky things at Jefferson Stolarship. When we invited Jeff for the dare, we just knew he would be reading a Romance Novel. So please, ladies and gents, give it up for Jeff!

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Title:The Duke of Shadows

Author: Meredith Duran

Genre: Historical Romance

Publisher: Pocket
Publication Date: March 2008
Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages

Stand alone or series: Stand alone

Sick of tragedy, done with rebellion, Emmaline Martin has no interest in courting trouble. But when violence seizes the British colonies, she must turn for help to the one man whom she should not trust, but cannot resist: Julian Sinclair, the dangerous and dazzling heir to the Duke of Auburn. In London, they toast Sinclair with champagne. In India, they call him a traitor. When Emma’s life falls into his hands, Julian cannot imagine the lengths he will go to keep her safe — or how love itself will become their greatest danger. A lifetime later, in a cold London spring, Emma and Julian will finally confront the truth: no matter how hard one tries to deny it, some pasts cannot be disowned . . . and some passions may never die.

Why did we recommend this book: : This is one of Ana’s favorite Romance novels by one of Ana’s favorite romance novel writers.

Jeff’s Review:

When I was younger and more inclined to be glib and cynical, I opined that I could write a historical romance novel pretty easily. I was in college, and I’d just found a bodice-ripper half-hidden under a friend’s bed; of course, wrapped up in my haughty, self-important English major-dom, I mocked her terribly. Romance novels were nothing but insubstantial and overly florid frivolity, I said, and even I could just churn one out if so inclined. My outline involved a chaste yet listless Spanish noblewoman abducted by fierce privateers whose harsh and demanding captain taught her about love and adventure…not in that order. I didn’t dissuade Anna from reading her book, and I ignored the hypocrisy carefully when I cracked open a Star Wars novel later that day. And though I talk a good game, I never did get around to writing that book. Go figure.

It was that incident that I had in mind when Ana and Thea dared me to tackle Meredith Duran’s The Duke of Shadows. Though I’d broadened my horizons since my all-genre-fiction-all-the-time period, I wasn’t sure that my forays into ‘chick lit’ had really prepared me for what I was about to read. I’m not one to back down from a dare, but I kind of dreaded the promise of purple prose and quivering members. I forgot for a moment that I’m an unabashed consumer of melodrama.

I couldn’t put The Duke of Shadows down. I devoured it greedily and in large, uncouth bites. Like its heroine, it seems unassuming at first blush, but has something incredibly compelling hidden underneath its exterior. So compelling that I found myself talking to the book in the way that some people shout at the victims in slasher flicks. You know, “Don’t run UP THE STAIRS!” It hit me when heroine Emma was reunited with the titular shadowy duke after a four year absence and they both overreacted in the exact wrong way. I sat bolt upright in my comfy reading chair and informed Emma and Julian both that Marcus – the evil Viscount – had deceived them both.

Does The Duke of Shadows adhere to the conceits of the genre? Well, of course it does. The romance between the headstrong, artistic Emma and brooding, conflicted Julian is so unrealistic that it might as well be supernatural. Julian is practically perfect in every way – breathtakingly beautiful, absurdly wealthy, erudite, compassionate and a master marksman. Emma is a rich, headstrong tragic heiress who is herself unconventionally beautiful and a superbly talented artist. I realize that that’s like complaining that water is wet; we’re dealing with romantic melodrama, so I accept that it’s par for the course. Despite that, their mutual attraction seems real, and their banter organic. The romantic in me roots for them almost immediately, especially in contrast to Marcus, Emma’s racist womanizing bastard of a fiance.

Would I have enjoyed this book if it weren’t for Meredith Duran? I’m not sure. She makes the book move quickly, makes the dialogue not only pop but sound real, and despite being inside her characters’ heads frequently, the voice of the book is efficient and not overburdened with filler adverbs the way this post is. The inside-back-cover bio of Duke describes Duran as a lifelong history buff, and that’s something that definitely shows in the life she’s able to breathe into the setting of the book – colonial India.

The British Raj is the perfect backdrop for exotic romance, especially set as it is against the backdrop of Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. I know the tendency can be to correlate India with outsourced call center reps and their longtime feud with Pakistan and move along, but it is a breathtakingly beautiful country with an exotic mix of old and new, even at the time when The Duke of Shadows takes place; in fact, the division between and admixture of tradition and modernity is a bit sharper because it’s fresher. As a result, the book also has some things to say about nationalism and cultural identity that gave it added depth. Emma, steeped in British court society but too independent to let it govern her thinking, is the perfect point of view character for the story.

I thought that The Duke of Shadows was a great read, and I’m glad that Ana and Thea urged me to step outside my comfort zone and try something new. Am I going to have to clear out room for a ‘Harlequin Shelf’ in my library? I doubt it, honestly, but I’m certainly not going to steer away from a great book that just happens to be a romance again.

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Yay, Jeff! We are most delighted that you enjoyed your dare!

Next on the Guest Dare: Peter from Bitterly Books reads Scalped Volume 1

Until next month!

“Inspirations and Influences” is a new series of articles in which we invite authors to write guest posts talking about their…well, Inspirations and Influences. The cool thing is that the writers are given free reign so they can go wild and write about anything they want. It can be about their new book, series or about their career as a whole.

Today’s guest is debut author Rose Lerner, whose Historical Romance novel In For A Penny is about to be released next week. The book, about a marriage of convenience based on companioship and mutual respect between a ruined lordling and a rich Cit, shook Ana’s world and brought back her love for the genre with a vengeance. And we are delighted to have the author here today to talk about her Inspirations and Influences behind the book:

Please give it up for Rose Lerner:

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There are plenty of things that show up in In for a Penny that I love wholeheartedly: making lists, men who speak foreign languages, and ballads about girls who run away to sea, for example. But the influences at the heart of the book are all things that make me angry, and matter to me a lot.

1. A Civil Contract, by Georgette Heyer.

I adore Georgette Heyer. I envy her prose style to the soles of my shoes. And A Civil Contract makes me want to throw it at the wall every time I read it.

It’s about a penniless lord who marries the daughter of a self-made man for her money. Jenny is “too commonplace and matter-of-fact to inspire…passionate adoration,” unlike the woman Adam loves, a high-strung aristocratic girl with beautiful eyes. So far, so good. Except at the end of the book, Jenny’s in love with Adam and he is still not in love with her. Instead, they discover that a marriage of quiet content can be more enduring than passion.

I’m not opposed to that sentiment, and I know a lot of readers love the book for that very reason. But why Jenny? Why is Jenny denied what every other Heyer heroine gets: the passionate adoration of her hero? What if , I thought, I wrote a marriage of convenience between a penniless lord and the daughter of a self-made man where he’s the one who feels inadequate, and she’s the one with the ex-boyfriend?

Until his father’s death, my hero Nev has never had to deal with either responsibility or business management. And my heroine, Penelope, grew up helping with the books in her father’s brewery. Nev is impressed and a little turned on by her accounting skills, but he can’t shake the lingering fear that she’d be better off with sensible, ultra-competent Edward…

2. Jane Austen, especially Sense and Sensibility.

Jane Austen is another writer who remains a huge influence not just on me, but on the entire romance genre. She writes the best comedy of manners ever. She does amazing banter. She writes strong female characters (mostly) and charming heroes (mostly).

And yet, Sense and Sensibility makes me angry. Jane Austen sets up her world so that a girl can be an Elinor, and be sensible and level-headed and live up to her responsibilities, or be a Marianne and be enthusiastic and talkative and willing to take emotional risks. By dividing those traits up into two characters and then making Marianne silly and kind of obnoxious, Austen says that you can’t be both.

I don’t want to choose between being a girl worthy of respect and being a girl who says out loud how she feels. In order to become an Elinor, I’d have to lop off entire parts of myself, lock them away and be ashamed of them and never look at them again. Which is, I think, a thing that people do to themselves. It’s something my heroine Penelope, who wants desperately to be an Elinor, has done to herself. (Luckily, Nev comes along to help her find those bits of herself again…) This brings me to Influence #3:

3. Trying to be taken seriously.

I think we’ve all had the experience of not being taken seriously, of being treated like someone whose thoughts don’t actually count for whatever reason. It’s an awful feeling.

Penelope’s whole life has been shaped by that feeling. Her nouveau-riche parents started out as working-class Londoners, but they sent their daughter to a finishing school for young ladies. The other girls all made fun of her–for the way she ate, the way she talked, the way she dressed. So she watched everything she did, trying to prove that she wasn’t vulgar, that a working-class girl could be just as good as the daughters of lords. That’s something I haven’t experienced personally, of course. But I drew on personal experiences and family history to help me figure out how to write about it.

As a teenager I struggled to present my opinions in a level-headed manner, so that my dad would take me seriously. (Alas, I frequently ended up crying in the bathroom and/or yelling…) As a girl majoring in math in college, I tried to seem confident and smart, and always wore my most serious clothes to seminar. There were whole years of my life when I wouldn’t wear pink. And I love pink!

My grandmother (whose parents came to the U.S. from Poland) made the transition from being very poor as a child to being middle-class as an adult. She remembered showing up to her first day of school speaking only Yiddish, so she didn’t teach her children Yiddish at all. She was very proud of her education. She tried not to speak with a Brooklyn accent. She wanted my mother to be a doctor even though my mother was one of the most squeamish people I’ve ever met.

Don’t get me wrong, my grandmother loved her family and was proud of where she came from. And she really did like opera, it wasn’t just an affectation. But she also censored herself and her kids, and had some bizarre blind spots. For example, she believed that she had a more classy taste in clothes than her own mother, and was always complaining that my mother looked schleppy and giving her fashion advice. Let’s look at some family photos.

My great-grandmother (in the middle):

My grandmother with her mother, and one of my grandparents together (making a joke with their Old-Timey Married People pose):

My mother. On the left she’s in a dress my grandmother bought for her (with her two brothers), and in the right she’s in a dress she bought for herself (with her youngest brother):

To find out if the trend continues into my generation, all you have to do is look at my author photo:

Clearly bright, busy patterns run in the family. Is that because we’re peasants at heart? Maybe, maybe not–but who cares? Of course, I can say that. I can really not care, because I don’t have to prove anything to anyone. My grandmother did.

I tried to show that with Penelope. I tried to show that she’s playing a losing game, but at the same time I didn’t want to criticize her for playing. Because in her situation, I think it’s impossible not to want approval, and not to feel like you should be a credit to where you came from.

So there you have it, three of my inspirations and influences! Thanks Book Smugglers for having me!

About the author: I discovered Georgette Heyer when I was thirteen, and wrote my first historical romance a few years later. My writing has improved since then, but my fascination with all things Regency hasn’t changed. When not reading, writing, or researching, I enjoy cooking and marathoning old TV shows. I live in Seattle with two roommates, four cats, and too many books and DVDs to count. You can learn more about the author on her website, where you can find an awesome excerpt of the book, cool characters’ interviews and a contest to win not only her book but also a package of 10 of her favorite Regency-themed books.

Thank you, Rose!!!

GIVEAWAY DETAILS

IN FOR A PENNY

No more drinking. No more gambling. And definitely no more mistress. Now that he’s inherited a mountain of debts and responsibility, Lord Nevinstoke has no choice but to start acting respectable. Especially if he wants to find a wife-better yet, a rich wife. Penelope Brown, a manufacturing heiress, seems the perfect choice. She’s pretty, rational, ladylike, and looking for a marriage based on companionship and mutual esteem.

IN FOR A POUND

But when they actually get to Nev’s family estate, all the respectability and reason in the world won’t be enough to deal with tenants on the edge of revolt, a menacing neighbor, and Nev’s family’s propensity for scandal. Overwhelmed but determined to set things right, Nev and Penelope have no one to turn to but each other. And to their surprise, that just might be enough.

We have one signed copy of In For A Penny to giveaway. In order to enter, leave a comment on this post. Contest is open for residents of US and Canada ONLY and will run till Saturday February 20th 11:59pm (PST). We will announce the winner next Sunday in our weekly stash! Good luck!

Title In For A Penny

Author: Rose Lerner

Genre: Romance / Historical

Publisher: Leisure Books
Publication Date: February 23, 2010
Mass Market Paperback: 336 pages

Stand alone or series: Stand alone

IN FOR A PENNY

No more drinking. No more gambling. And definitely no more mistress. Now that he’s inherited a mountain of debts and responsibility, Lord Nevinstoke has no choice but to start acting respectable. Especially if he wants to find a wife-better yet, a rich wife. Penelope Brown, a manufacturing heiress, seems the perfect choice. She’s pretty, rational, ladylike, and looking for a marriage based on companionship and mutual esteem.

IN FOR A POUND

But when they actually get to Nev’s family estate, all the respectability and reason in the world won’t be enough to deal with tenants on the edge of revolt, a menacing neighbor, and Nev’s family’s propensity for scandal. Overwhelmed but determined to set things right, Nev and Penelope have no one to turn to but each other. And to their surprise, that just might be enough.

How did I get this book: Review Copy from the publisher.

Why did I read this book: I was offered a copy of the book and I thought it sounded good. I never, in a million years, would have thought it would be SO good, it basically restored my faith in Historical Romance.

Review:

If you follow this blog closely you know that I love me some romance. You will also know then that I haven’t read one that I absolutely LOVED in months. Until I read In For a Penny. As soon as I sat down to write this review I realised I was going to do something different. This is going to be long, so brace yourselves.

Come closer. I will tell you why I loved this book so much I have been gushing about it to everybody I know.

The beginning is delightful. Many a romance novel starts with a rakish hero either being bored with his rakish life or with us being told how much of a scoundrel the hero is. We hardly ever see it. However, in this book, the first few pages show me that the hero, Nev is well and truly a scoundrel – but not a cad. He is young and restless and how could he not be? He is 23, living in London, enjoying life with his friends. He will inherit one day but has no responsibilities yet so he can just go to parties, gamble and keep a mistress, Amy whom he genuinely likes. He enjoys music and reading – what strikes me the most when I read these first pages is how happy and how joyous he is and how young he sounds. He attends a formal party with his two rascal best friends where he meets the heroine Penelope (who is a Cit – ie.not an aristocrat but someone who makes money). He thinks she is pretty and invites her to dance and because she is rather straight forward, he thinks he can get away with other things:

“Would you like to step out on the terrace?” he asked hopefully.

She laughed outright. “I hope I’m not such a green girl as that. But I will allow you to select some hors d’oeuvres for me.”

“A task! My lady has set me a task! But first I beg a token of your favor.”

“I’m afraid my red sleeve embroidered with great pearls is pinned to my other evening gown, my lord,” she said with ironic courtesy.
His eyes lit up. “You like Malory!”

She flushed, as if it were something to be ashamed of. “I’ve always been fond of the Morte d’Arthur. I hope my taste in modern literature is rather more elevated.”

Nev grinned. “Says you! I’ll wager a pony you’re hiding The Mysteries of Udolpho in your reticule even as we speak!”

He teases Penelope but he is the one who loves Gothic novels, she is the one who looks down on them. By then I am already half way in love and it’s still the first chapter. Before much else happens, he learns his mother is at the party and he is terrified of her because he should have dined with her and guess what – he runs away in terror of his mother through the streets of London. How novel.

A couple of weeks later and his father is dead. Nev inherits the title, responsibilities that he is not at all prepared to handle, he needs to take care of his mother and sister and worst of all, debts he has no way of settling. He does he best to – he sells property, jewels, his horses. He talks to his solicitor. Never once it crosses his mind to sell his sister in marriage – instead he sells himself. He remembers the girl he met at the party, Penelope. She is rich. He thinks they would do well together. He goes to her, he explains the situation and asks for her help and hand in marriage.

Penelope, whose family comes from nothing and became rich with her father’s acumen for business, decides to say yes. Even though she has harbored the hope of marrying her friend Edward, she and her family always hoped she would be a lady and then there is something about Nev. But mind you, Nev is not one of those impossibly handsome, hot, rich dudes from romance. Oh no. He is poor and common.

There was to be sure, nothing out of the common way about him. A perfectly ordinary-looking young man, Penelope insisted to herself. He was of middling height, his shoulders neither slim nor broad. His hands were not aristocratically slender – there was nothing to set them apart from the hands of any other gentleman of her acquaintance.

His hair was a little too long, and she thought its tousled appearance more the result of inattention than any attempt at fashion; it was neither dark nor fair, but merely brown – utterly nondescript save for a hint of cinnamon. His face too would have been unmemorable if it were not for a slight crookedness in his nose, suggesting it had been broken. His eyes were an ordinary blue, of an ordinary shape and size.
So why could she picture him so clearly, and why did the memory of his smile still make her feel – hot, and strange inside?

What makes it for Penelope is his cinnamon hair, his smile and then there was his voice. His voice. And the fact that he is so earnest. And that is what leaps from the page of this book:

This couple’s earnestness to make this marriage work. When Penelope says yes, she makes a list of things she expects from him, amongst them: respect, that he doesn’t keep a mistress and that he doesn’t resent her for the money she brings to the marriage. Nev is prepared to say yes to all of these things and yet they are not easy: and of course they are not. He even breaks apart from his two best friends – he is so determined to shift his life around he thinks he can’t do it with his friends around.

And then there is Amy – at one point in the novel he thinks about her and he misses her and their camaraderie. Although this is usually a big no-no to me (I mean, come on, a hero thinking about a former mistress? How dares he?) it actually made Nev a much better man to my eyes. It means he wasn’t an user – and better yet. When he thought of Amy and their camaraderie he realized that he didn’t know her and he didn’t care to know – and that realization made him see how much he wanted to get to know Penelope . This is not the only novelty, Amy comes back into the scene and she is not the bitch ex-mistress that comes as the Big Misunderstanding – she is actually a rather nice young lady whose presence move the two of them to talk to each other.

Another novelty? Nev decides to get to know Penelope better before they have sex. And the first time they fool around for real and he pleasures her and brings her to climax, the next day she is all smiles and all dressed up for him. And this is what he thinks:

She was radiant and happy because she never experienced the peak of pleasure before. When Nev had discovered he could do it to himself the summer he turned twelve, he had spent nearly three days in his room with the door locked. But poor, innocent Penelope didn’t realize that’s all it was. She thought there was something special about him.

Nev knew perfectly well that there wasn’t. If she had married Edward, she would be looking at him right now as if he had hung the moon. The thought made him queasy. He had taken everything from her and given her only this one thing she could get from any man who took her fancy, and she was smiling gratefully at him and doing her hair up pretty.

I don’t think I ever saw a hero thinking around these lines. There is usually pride and jealousy or lust.

But enough about Nev. Because Penelope is a great heroine – strong and capable. A little bit cold to begin with, thinking that’s what it took to be a lady: to be in control. She never jumps to conclusions about Nev and she is prepared to help him becoming a man. They are so young the two of them – I hardly ever get this sense of a couple growing together, working together. This is what they have to do – to get their marriage on the tracks, their lives too.

And Nev’s estate – let’s not forget that. Dealing with poachers, tenants and riots- they have real problems to deal with. And it is interesting – all the more when I learnt about the author’s research about hardships of the English working class in the era and agrarian riots in East Anglia in 1816. To the Historian in me, it is like Christmas in July.

This book is so good, I can almost forgive the unnecessary villain and his subsequent villainous, melodramatic act towards the end. The bane of my existence when it comes to Romance Novels – why this when so much awesome secondary and primary internal and external conflicts already exist?

I already said too much, and didn’t even mention Nev’s family, the cute secondary romance, the few and very good sex scenes. But I shall leave you with one last quote, my favorite in the whole book:

“Nev?” she asked, and he would have given her anything.” Will you read to me?”

He blinked. “You want me to read to you?”

She nodded.”You – you’re good at it.”

She had only heard him read aloud once – Byron, at her parent’s house. She didn’t even like Byron. He had supposed she was thinking him the most frivolous fellow alive, and instead she had liked it. For the first time in days, Nev felt that life was full of pleasant surprises. He grinned at her. “Let me dig up our copy of Malory.”

When he had found it, he returned to the window seat. He glanced at her to see where she wanted to sit; to his surprise she crawled between his legs again and settled there. So he rested the book on her lap and his chin on her shoulder and began to read. She was soft and warm and laughed in all the right places, and when he bent and kissed her hair she made a contented humming sound in the back of her throat.

This is the sort of quiet affection that makes me sigh in contentment and finally, finally I found myself hugging a book after months of drought. That, fellow romance readers is why I love Romance.

Notable Quotes/ Parts: You need another? I will give you another one:

She sighed and tilted up her face. He felt a flash of something – Penelope seemed haloed for an instant in perfect beauty, and he felt a sharp, unsettling pang as if someone had plucked one of his heartstrings, hard, and found it out of tune. It wasn’t like affection or lust – those he knew; it was something entirely unfamiliar.

“Is something wrong?”

He realized he had stopped moving, his thumb at the corner of her mouth.”Not at all”. He tried to smile. The feeling was gone now, but it had left something in its wake – a sort of lifting up, a yearning toward something undefined. He had sometimes felt like this when he had heard the opening chords of a favorite piece of music. He had read a poem, once, that almost described it: a shaping and a sense of thing beyond us .

That was how he felt when he looked at Penelope just now. As if something were happening to the two of them, just beyond the reach of his understanding.

Additional Thoughts : Stick around as the author will be here later talking about her inspirations and influences for writing the book. Plus, we will be giving away a signed copy of the book.

Verdict: I loved this novel so much and can’t wait to read more from Rose Lerner -I welcome the author to the genre with open arms. More please!

Rating: 8 – Excellent leaning towards a 9

Reading Next: Something About You by Julie James

Hey, hey, hey folks! It’s time for another, really spiffy Flash Giveaway! This time, it’s the luuuuuuuuurve edition.

Today, we have a few prize packages up for grabs – three basic prize packages, and then ONE truly awesome Grand Prize!

In Batch 1: Historical Romance

This batch includes:
- Revenge Wears Rubies by Renee Bernard
- In Bed With the Duke by Christina Dodd
- Ladies Prefer Rogues anthology
- Promise Me Tonight by Sara Lindsey
- Most Eagerly Yours by Allison Chase
- The Irish Duke by Virginia Henley

In Batch 2: Contemporary Romance

This batch includes:
- Knock Me for a Loop by Heidi Betts
- Some Like it Kilted by Allie Mackay
- Mad, Bad and Blonde by Cathie Linz
- Divorced, Desperate and Decieved by Christie Craig
- Blonde with a Wand by Vicki Lewis Thompson
- Chick with a Charm by Vicki Lewis Thompson
- Johnny Be Good by Paige Toon

In Batch 3: Paranormal Romance

This batch includes:
- Warrior Ascended by Addison Fox
- Succubi Like it Hot by Jill Myles
- Naked Dragon by Annette Blair
- Dark Desires After Dusk by Kresley Cole
- Atlantis Redeemed by Alyssa Day
- Time for Eternity by Susan Squires

AND THE GRAND PRIZE:

As part of the marketing push behind the thirtieth book in J.D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts)’s “In Death” series, the good folks at Penguin have put together a truly AWESOME promotional package for the release of Fantasy In Death.

Bart Minnock, founder of the computer-gaming giant U-Play, enters his private playroom, and eagerly can’t wait to lose himself in an imaginary world, to play the role of a sword-wielding warrior king, in his company’s latest top-secret project, Fantastical.

The next morning, he is found in the same locked room, in a pool of blood, his head separated from his body. It is the most puzzling case Eve Dallas has ever faced, and it is not a game. . . .

NYPSD Lieutenant Eve Dallas is having as much trouble figuring out how Bart Minnock was murdered as who did the murdering. The victim’s girlfriend seems sincerely grief-stricken, and his quirky-but-brilliant partners at U-Play appear equally shocked. No one seemed to have a prob lem with the enthusiastic, high-spirited millionaire. Of course, success can attract jealousy, and gaming, like any business, has its fierce rivalries and dirty tricks-as Eve’s husband, Roarke, one of U- Play’s competitors, knows well. But Minnock was not naive, and quite capable of fighting back in the real world as well as the virtual one.

Eve and her team are about to enter the next level of police work, in a world where fantasy is the ultimate seduction-and the price of defeat is death. . . .

You may or may not have seen others (such as KB of Babbling About Books, and More! and the folks over at Dear Author) that have been posting about these wicked cool packages – and, with full permission from the publicity group at Penguin, we’ve decided to give put our own package up for grabs.

As the Grand Prize in our Valentine’s Day Giveaway, we are offering up a copy of Fantasy In Death and the wicked cool Evidence Bag that contains Vengeance in Death, a departmental memo from Eve, and a little token of evidence from the Vengeance in Death case.

You can find more about Fantasy In Death and all of the great evidence bags put together by the publisher at the official In Death website, HERE.

THE RULES:

In order to enter the contest, we have a few simple rules.

To enter the competition, you must leave a comment after this post, letting us know in order of preference which of the three prize packages you want (for example: 1. Historical Romance; 2. Paranormal Romance; 3. Contemporary Romance).

If you want to enter yourself in the GRAND PRIZE drawing (for Fantasy in Death and the Evidence Bag containing goodies and Vengeance in Death), in your comment make sure to tell us which In Death book is your favorite! (If you do not wish to be considered in the giveaway for the other prize packages, make sure to state that in your comment too) If you do not say which In Death book is your favorite, you will NOT be eligible to win the Grand Prize.

And this is an important one! ONLY ONE COMMENT PER PERSON. Any duplicate comments, clarification comments, multiple comments will be automatically disqualified.

The competition is open to residents of the United States and Canada ONLY.

Those are the rules! Make sure you adhere to them, or you might lose your chance at a truly awesome giveaway. The contest will run until Saturday February 13th at 11:59PM. Good luck!

And Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

Title: The Bride and the Buccaneer

Author: Darlene Marshall

Genre: Romance, Historical

Publisher: Amber Quill Press
Publication Date: December 2009
Paperback : 254 pages

‘Lucky Jack’ Burrell’s quest for revenge against Sophia Deford will have to wait until he discharges a debt. He has to help her find the fabled pirate treasure Garvey’s Gold, then he can wring her dainty neck. Sophia has no intention of sharing anything with anyone. She will have all of Garvey’s Gold, no matter how much Jack’s lean-muscled body makes her want to get to know him just a little bit better before she gets rid of him. As the two adversaries squabble their way across Territorial Florida following the clues on their treasure map, they know that before they’re through they’re either going to kiss each other, kill each other, or both…

Stand alone or series: Stand alone novel

How did I get this book: Review Copy from the author

Why did I read this book: When the author offered me a copy of the book, I read an excerpt and I liked what I read so I said yes. Plus, I like High Seas adventures.

Review:

It’s been quite a while since I read a Historical Romance ( a few months actually) and The Bride and the Buccaneer was a good reminder of the things I love about the genre -the emotional punches and the character-driven stories- whilst at the same time cementing in my mind, in a very broad, sweeping generalisation, what I see as its weaknesses: the less than careful attention to some details and the reliance on contrivances and coincidences to further the plot.

It begins a few years in the past when Jack Burrell after losing some money to a Lord Whitfield decides to recuperate his losses by robbing his carriage and stealing his gold. He also happens to kidnap the man’s ward, Sophie Deford as a means to prevent being followed, a girl he thinks is a timid young lady. What he did not know is that Sophie is anything from timid and finds this is the perfect opportunity to get away from her lecherous guardian. She proceeds to dupe Jack, rob him of his gold and his clothes, leaving him tied and naked in a cave, fleeing with the money to open her own business.

Cue to five years later. A Captain friend of hers is about to leave on a journey and before he does, he leaves a letter on her hands to be delivered to, you guessed right, Jack (whom at that point, Sophie did not know was her highwayman) in Florida along with instructions to find a long lost pirate’s treasure in case something happens to him in this journey. Before I even have time to blink, the man is dead, Sophie cries for about one paragraph, then embarks to Florida. Just like that. Then, her ship is stopped by a privateer’s ship, captained by the …very same Jack Burrell, the man she met so many years ago, and the man she is actually looking for! Oh my, what are the odds? (One in a trillion?).

The overwhelming rapidity in which this all happens is mind-blowing. It felt as though the author wanted to get the pesky business of setting the plot in motion out of the way quickly, in order to get going. And for that it didn’t matter how it was done. In all honesty, I had to make myself to keep reading at this point but I am glad I did because once thing did get going, it cannot be denied that there was much fun to be had with the romance between Jack and Sophie.

Working together to find the treasure, disliking each other to begin with (well, given their past, given Sophie’s need not to be attached to anyone) and then falling in love, bickering all the way through.

Regardless of how things were engendered, the characterisation was pretty strong. Jack was a genuinely nice man, who loves his life a privateer and the one who falls in love first (one of my favorites tropes, by the way). Sophie, meanwhile is the hardened one who needs to be convinced to open up for an emotional connection. She is no silly girl, she is sexually aware and an overall strong female character and I liked her very much.

With regards to the setting: I don’t think I ever read a book set in early 19th century Florida and that was pretty interesting. Although, it called for some serious suspicion of disbelief when they went traipsing into the wild countryside and did not meet any really dangerous situation. I am no expert but really? Nothing? Fauna, flora, or Human? Nada? Instead, they happen to meet a friend who happened to be hiding in the same side of the woods. Okay.

Overall I did enjoy the book, and I finished it with a silly smile after the decidedly wonderful last lines of dialogue.

Notable Quotes/Parts: From the excerpt:

Off the coast of Spanish Florida–1817

He held her gaze a moment longer, then his lips curled up. The smile made Sophia want to take a step back – all the way back to England – but she held her ground and donned the face that saw her through many a late-night game of cards.

“John Burrell, I presume? I have a letter for you.”

“What?”

“If you are John Burrell of St. Augustine, East Florida, I have a letter for you from England,” she repeated, speaking slowly and distinctly. “It is with my belongings, and I will fetch it.”

He stared at her, and she could see a host of expression in his green-tinged eye, none of it boding well for her.

“A letter,” he said softly. “You have a letter for me you have brought all the way from England. Do you know, Miss Deford, in all the many daydreams I had over what I would do to you if we ever met again, your acting as postmistress did not enter into a single scenario? But that is neither here nor there. Right now, I have a ship to plunder.”

“When you see the contents of your letter, you may feel more pleased about seeing me again,” Sophia brazened out.

“I doubt that. I doubt that very much, Miss Deford.”

“Crawford!” He called to a passing pirate. “Keep this woman under guard until I can deal with her. Do not let her out of your sight.”

The sailor looked startled by these orders, but only said, “Aye, sir,” and took up a stance next to Sophia as Burrell stalked off. When she started slipping closer to the passageway, Crawford said, “Please don’t do that, miss. I don’t want to hurt you, but I have my orders.” He looked regretful, but he also looked as if he was willing to do whatever he was ordered to, and Sophia stood still. The sun beat down on her, exposed on the deck, as she watched the busy activity of the ship’s cargo being stolen.

“May I at least go stand in the shade while your captain decides my fate? ”

Crawford nodded, and took her arm to lead her over to a coiled cable shaded by an awning where she sat down to watch the activity unfolding around her.

The privateers attached bumpers to their ship and brought the Jade alongside the Primrose, and Burrell and his crew removed boxes, crates, and parcels with the efficiency of men who had done this task many times in the past. The last item to be brought above was a strongbox from Captain Starke’s quarters, but when Starke protested, Jack Burrell only looked at him and said, “You have some of your cargo, Starke, and a ship. Do not push your luck.”

Starke’s protests subsided, but he still looked unhappy.

“There is one more piece of unfinished business I have to deal with, Captain Starke,” Burrell said. He walked over to Sophia and leaning down, took her by the arm, pulling her to her feet. “Let us fetch this mysterious letter, Miss Deford.”

“Here now,” Starke protested. “Unhand that lady, Burrell!”

“This lady is an old acquaintance of mine, Captain Starke,” Jack said, not taking his eye off of Sophia while he spoke.

Captain Starke started to protest again, but Sophia put her hand out.

“Let me go with him, Captain Starke. Burrell. . .”

“Captain. Burrell.”

Sophia looked at the pirate and then back at Captain Starke.

“Captain Burrell and I do know each other, Captain Starke. And as he says, we have unfinished business.”

Burrell manacled his hand around her upper arm and pulled her alongside him, but preceded her down the ladder to the lower decks.

Sophia wished her ankles weren’t on display before the pirate as she climbed down herself, but there was nothing for it. He waited at the bottom of the ladder, watching her.

And there was no patch over what appeared to be a perfectly fine eye.

“What happened to your eye?”

“My eye is none of your concern. Which cabin is yours?”

Sophia led him to her cabin and he followed her in, ducking his head beneath a deck that gave her plenty of clearance, but left him close to stooping.

“Where is this letter, Miss Deford?”

Sophia thought of stalling, but did not think it would accomplish much. She went to her small trunk, the one with her personal items, and under his watchful eye pulled out a document sealed with red wax. On its face was the same bold, black handwriting that covered her letter from Erasmus Tanner.

Burrell broke the seal, read the letter, ground out a string of words that would have earned him a clap on both ears from Annie Johnson, and then looked at Sophia.

“Give me the document Captain Tanner gave you, and I will let you go unharmed.”

Sophia took a deep breath. Now was the point where she leapt into the unknown.

“I cannot do that. You can meet with me in Florida and we will talk there.”

In a move so fast Sophia barely saw the gleam of metal, a knife whizzed past her ear and thudded into the bulkhead behind her. She locked her knees and hoped he was not carrying another knife.

Verdict: Despite some flaws, plot-wise, the romance is genuine and warm and the characters are interesting.

Rating: 6 – Good

Reading Next: My Soul To Save by Rachel Vincent

Title: Mr. Shivers

Author: Robert Jackson Bennett

Genre: Horror, Historical Fiction

Publisher: Orbit
Publication Date: January 2010
Hardcover: 336 pages

Stand alone or series: Stand alone novel

How did I get this book: Review Copy from the publisher

Why did I read this book: Ever since I saw the mockup of the haunting cover and read the synopsis from Orbit, I was instantly hooked. Billed as an apocalyptic-style horror novel set during the American Great Depression (one of my favorite periods of study as a history major), I could not resist.

Summary: (from Amazon.com)
It is the time of the Great Depression. The dustbowl has turned the western skies red and thousands leave their homes seeking a better life. Marcus Connelly seeks not a new life, but a death – a death for the mysterious scarred man who murdered his daughter. And soon he learns that he is not alone. Countless others have lost someone to the scarred man. They band together to track him, but as they get closer, Connelly begins to suspect that the man they are hunting is more than human. As the pursuit becomes increasingly desperate, Connelly must decide just how much he is willing to sacrifice to get his revenge.

Review:

Mr. Shivers was easily one of the most highly anticipated novels of early 2010 for me – the blend of horror, gritty realism, and the bleakness of the Great Depression setting instantly appealed to me, and I was ecstatic when I received an ARC for the title. Add to that the overwhelmingly positive reviews from the heavy-hitters like Publisher’s Weekly, the Guardian, and Library Journal, and I was one very excited girl.

Unfortunately, Mr. Shivers simply could not deliver. All sound and fury, but ultimately with little to say, I found myself hollowly disengaged and sadly disappointed with this debut novel from Mr. Robert Jackson Bennett.

Marcus Connelly (simply referred to throughout the book as Connelly) is a man that has lost everything. His young daughter has been killed by a mysterious, legend of a man whose face is marred by three long scars. Unable to move on with his life, Connelly’s marriage deteriorates, and he decides to leave to find – and exact revenge – on the gray man that murdered his daughter, the man that the hobos riding the rails call “the Shiver Man.” All Connelly knows is that he must travel west and he makes his way across an arid, devastated American landscape, from Tennessee to Oklahoma, hitching rides and stowing away on trains with other men in search of a better future. Along the way, Connelly learns that he is not alone in his quest as he comes across another trio of men out for blood, payment for the wake of death and destruction left in the scarred man’s path. As the group closes in their pursuit, hot on the Shiver Man’s trail, they gradually begin to realize he may not be any mere man – and Connelly learns, all but too late, that all revenge comes at an unimaginable cost.

Mr. Shivers is the debut novel from Robert Jackson Bennett, and it has a wicked good premise – at its onset, Mr. Shivers is a strong, attention-grabbing novel. The initial descriptions of the Depression-ravaged landscape, complete with Hoovervilles, dust storms, and the constant presence of the railroad are evocative and well-painted, as is the desolate, gray mood of the novel. Indeed, Mr. Shivers begins with a bang, banking on the strength of its morose setting. The historical perspective feels a little shaky at times (with regard to slang/colloquialisms and geography), but Mr. Bennett’s atmosphere in the novel is undeniably compelling. However, as the story unfolds, it’s very easy to see where it is going to end up. There’s a good deal of predictability here, which is unfortunate for so strong a start and premise (barely within the book’s first act, the old adage about those seeking monsters becoming them immediately comes to mind). This isn’t a particularly bad thing, provided that the characters and level of writing are strong. Unfortunately, they weren’t.

As a protagonist, Connelly is simply drawn. He’s a very tall & broad, intimidating, bearded man that does not like to speak. In many ways, he’s empty; a husk following the death of his daughter. This characterization is actually quite effective, at least in the beginning, but Connelly never manifests any semblance of a personality or tone as a character, nor do any of the other secondary cast members in the book (who read like flat stereotypes: an ex-priest, a Jew, a brash young man). There’s absolutely nothing in the way of character development here, which, unfortunately is another point against Mr. Shivers. This, however, would have been forgivable had the writing been impeccable…but once again, I found myself disappointed.

Mr. Bennett’s writing style, unfortunately, comes across as self-indulgent. Every conversation Connelly has in this book (or rather, that he listens to, as he does not speak much), every extended section of descriptive prose feels so melodramatically self-important as to seem…well, silly and derivative. For example,

He looked up at the stars again and considered this spot on the land, this tree he sat under. These empty square feet of land had always been here, would always be here. To this place he was no more than a dream. And he wondered about those who had come before, wandering over the plains, treading this spot. People that came before nature. Animals that came before sunlight. Perhaps it had been so. He touched the coarse earth. Once something had died here. It was a fact of chance. Some animal had dragged itself to this spot or many had fallen, limbs askew, its lifeblood leaking onto the earth. And then perhaps it had lifted its thoughtless eyes to the infinity above, looked at the endless, bejeweled dark, just as Connelly was now, and made some sound, some mewling cry. Asking a question. Begging for a few seconds more. And then expired, maybe leaving its questions behind.

This is perhaps a matter of personal taste, but the constant presence of these sorts of passages throughout the book were grating and felt amateur, the work of an author trying very hard to sound poetic and significant but failing, at least to me as a reader. I also found myself uncomfortable with some of the more religious and patriotic undertones to the novel, but this is, again, a matter of personal taste.

Mr. Shivers is also distinctly reminiscent of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods (Connelly is a character very similar to Shadow, and the traveling story and American backdrop is also very familiar), as it is of early Stephen King (in particular, The Gunslinger with Roland’s ages-old pursuit of The Man in Black versus Conelly’s Man in Gray). Unfortunately, Mr. Shivers lacks the resonance or skill of these two master storytellers, and the end result is something more derivative and bland. There are good ideas in this book, but Mr. Bennett stumbles, lacking in the execution of these ideas. The plot is cumbersome and the writing overwrought. I finished Mr. Shivers with an overall feeling of disappointment.

All these criticisms said, Mr. Bennett clearly does have promise as an author. This is only his debut novel (which probably accounts for the feeling that he’s trying too hard in this book), and there is potential here. Ultimately, Mr. Shivers isn’t a great book, but it’s not a terrible one either.

Notable Quotes/Parts: From Chapter 1:

By the time the number nineteen crossed the Missouri state line the sun had crawled low in the sky and afternoon was fading into evening. The train had built up a wild head of steam over the last few miles. As Tennessee fell behind it began picking up speed, the wheels chanting and chuckling, the ?elds blurring into jaundice- yellow streaks by the track. A fresh gout of black smoke unfurled from the train’s crown and folded back to clutch the cars like a great black cloak.

Connelly shut his eyes as the wave of smoke ?ew toward him and held on tighter to the side of the cattle car. He wasn’t sure how long he had been hanging there. Maybe a half hour. Maybe more. The crook of his arm was curled around one splintered slat of wood and he had wedged his boots into the cracks below. Every joint in his body ached.

You can read the full excerpt online HERE.

Additional Thoughts: Mr. Shivers has a pretty cool interactive website, which is definitely worth checking out. Also worth taking a look at is the haunting book trailer:

Verdict: Though I was eagerly anticipating this novel, Mr. Shivers failed to live up to the hype. Not without its merits, this is the type of book that may sing to some readers, but, unfortunately, I am not one of them. A plodding, predictable plot, flat characters, and overly-dramatic writing made this a forgettable read for me – though I will give Mr. Bennett’s future endeavors a try.

Rating: 5 – Meh

Reading Next: Need by Carrie Jones

Title: The Road Home

Author: Ellen Emerson White

Genre: Young Adult, Fiction, Historical

Publisher: Scholastic
Publication Date: 1995
Paperback: 469 pages

Stand alone or series: Can be read as stand alone but is the 5th book in a series about the Vietnam War (read the Additional Thoughts for more information)

How did we get this book: Bought

Why did we read this book: A month back, we had the lovely Angie of Angieville over here for a Guest Dare – and wouldn’t you know it, she Dared us right back! The Road Home is one of Angie’s all time favorite novels from one of her favorite authors, so naturally, we were very excited to give The Road Home a read. It took us a shameful amount of time to actually read the book (we’re blushing right now), but better late than never, right?

Summary: (from Amazon.com)
Rebecca, a young nurse stationed in Vietnam during the war, must come to grips with her wartime experiences once she returns home to the United States.

REVIEW:

First Impressions:

Ana: When Angie dared us to read this book, I admit that I trembled inside. The idea behind the “Dares” is to make people read outside their comfort zones – little did she know that this book fit the idea to a “t” . I HATE war stories. Hate reading them with the force of a thousand hurricanes because every time I read a war story, every time I watch a war movie, I am reminded of the worst, the most stupid thing civilization ever created. Bearing that in mind, it is rather shocking that I LOVED The Road Home. It is a dark, gritty, almost unbearably sad book; it is also a beautiful character-driven book, with a wonderful protagonist and a heart-warming love story.

Thea: I have to agree with Ana – I was a little nervous going into this read. This isn’t the type of book that I’d normally pick up of my own volition (though I have read and loved war novels before – The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien especially comes to mind). In many ways, The Road Home reminds me of my middle/high school required reading – I’d begin the assignments with low expectations, but once I got into the rhythm, I inevitably ended up really enjoying these novels. Regardless of my fears and prejudices going into The Road Home, I knew Angie loved it – and her taste has rarely steered me wrong before! And, of course, I ended up loving The Road Home. It’s a beautiful insight to the Vietnam War and its aftermath through the eyes of a brilliant, layered protagonist.

On the Plot:

Rebecca Philips is close to the end of her Vietnam tour – as a lieutenant nurse she has witnessed the worst of the war: deaths, injuries, the very waste of life. She has done unspeakable things, seen friends die, suffered wounds and is on the brink of collapsing of exhaustion. Only painkillers, beer and Michael’s – the soldier whom she recently met – letters keep her going. Surely when she goes home, things will get better, won’t they?

Ana: The plot of The Road Home is quite straight forward and very, very simple – it is about this nurse Rebecca who is suffering of PTSD which starts during the war itself. It opens:

On Christmas morning, Rebecca lost her moral virginity, her sense of humour – and her two best friends. But, other than that, it was a hell of a holiday.

Rebecca’s struggle to cope with the horrors of war, with what happened to her and her friends and ultimately with The World is what moves the novel making it an essentially character-driven novel. In other words: nothing really HAPPENS in the way of plot.

Divided in two sections, The War and The World, the book is an insight into the life of this one person who went to Vietnam and lived to tell the tale. The first part concentrates in Rebecca’s day to day life at the hospital and it is absolutely, tremendously sad and gritty. It shows the horrible decisions doctors and nurses have to make in a hurry as injured soldier after injured soldier is brought in. It shows the stress and the tiredness of impossibly long shifts under extreme circumstances; the horrible food they have to eat which they invariably ingest with either cold, strong coffee or beer. The amount of alcohol and drugs ingested in an attempt to stay awake/sleep/deal is unbelievable and on top of everything all of the doctors, nurses, soldiers are dealing with some level or another of alcoholism or substance abuse. It is horrible and it made me extremely depressed to read about it – especially when kids were brought in, dying.

In the second part, when Rebecca is released to the World, when you would expect things would be a bit better? It almost broke my heart to see that actually no, getting back to the world, is nowhere near the end of all problems. The PTSD, the injuries, the nightmares, the dependence on alcohol, all is there and no one can really understand. To make things even worse, it is disheartening to see the anti-war sentiments and protests against the SOLDIERS when they come back.

These people have lost friends, have lost limbs, almost lost their mind and they still have to face this when they come back? It is ugly and it is again, unbearably sad because the soldiers, the nurses, etc do what they are told to – it’s the politics and the politicians behind the war that should be the one target. Having said that, the book is not an anti-war plantlet and it never falls into dreaded preachy territory. The story SHOWS , the reader reacts. And this is really, what it is down me, as a reader, reading, experiencing this book: I can’t remember the last time when I read something I did not pay attention to POV, writing, the mechanics of a book. I only felt.

The whole book is absolutely brutal and yet, still hopeful. I wouldn’t have loved if darkness and sadness was all there was to it. The love story between Rebecca and Michael, the small moments of lightness where we could see the shadow of a light hearted Rebecca who loved to sing and tell jokes, the friendships that were possible in the middle of it, it all contributed to making this a fabulous read to me. It helps that I love character-driven books, of course.

I had a most guttural, emotional reaction to this book. I had to read it really slowly, often stopping so that I could examine my reactions and to think about what I was reading. When the ending came, and it was a happy ending, I cried. I will paraphrase Angie here: Michael and Rebecca deserve every scrap of happiness they can get and I am glad I was able to witness that.

Thea: As Ana says, the plot is pretty straightforward. A girl goes to war as a nurse, and she returns home to deal with the trauma of her experiences. As far as reading goes, I finished this book in a day without any problems. It’s a quick read, though it does tackle some heavy issues – the usual horrors of war; the chaos and senselessness of it all; a touch on drug abuse and a passing glance at sexism and gender relations during war. This is pretty standard fare in the war literature canon, and while Ms. White does a solid job of portraying the cruelties of Vietnam, it’s nothing really new or particularly resonating (at times it did feel like The Short-Timers or Paco’s Story – the Lite version). What impressed me much more was the way Ms. White examines the other side of the anti-war sentiments of the 1960s and ’70s. Upon Rebecca’s return home, she is avoided and sneered at by her old friends and sneered at by random people (the scene on the airplane as she flies home to Massachusetts next to a businessman that treats her as though she has the plague because of her uniform). It’s a timely and important message – regardless of politics, regardless of how someone personally feels about a war, it’s not the fault of the young men and women who are dying in the fields or deserts. The anti-war sentiment bleeding into hate and animosity towards veterans is something that continues to happen today, and Ms. Emerson’s portrayal of this misdirected anger is incredibly thought-provoking and resonated with me far more than the familiar, less-inspired themes of the senselessness of war.

At the end of the day, I was moved by the story, and particularly by Rebecca as a character (but more on that later). There wasn’t much that physically happened in terms of plot which is a little disappointing, but as this is more of an introspective, quieter novel, it simply works. Though I do wish there was a larger scope for the story, for its contained nature, it is pretty damn good.

On the Characters:

Ana: Now, this is where this book really and truly, shines. I had a field day with Rebecca as a protagonist. She is complex and oh boy so freaking effed-up. When in Vietnam Rebecca moves about almost like an automaton performing tasks and trying not to think about the Christmas day when she lost friends, and nearly lost her own life. The happenings of that day are only alluded to until it becomes clear that there is something ELSE that happened there, when she was out in the jungle, alone for more than one day before being rescued. It is also pointed out by another character how much she changed after the incident: she used to be the person that lifted everybody’s spirits but she just lost the will to make jokes and to laugh. The memories, the survivor’s guilt are almost too much for Rebecca, nearly as much as the thought that she is down there out of her own accord, based on a stupid decision she made when her childhood sweetheart was killed in the war and her brother disappeared to Canada to avoid going.

For the duration of the book she just….keeps going and it is hard to say what it is exactly that fuels her: there is all sorts of guilt here and also hope. There is so much that is happening to her. There is her own family situation that needs to be addressed: her father who hates that she wanted to be a doctor, her brother who just ….went away. When she goes back to the real world who can possibly understand her? For the second part of the book, Rebecca does little more than to sleep and drink and it is heartbreaking to see someone so strong, so interesting that lost.

And then there is Michael. Even though the only point of view we get is Rebecca’s, I absolutely LOVED Michael. She keeps getting letters from him and they are amazing, I loved waiting to read them as much as Rebecca did.

“Everyone’s talking guy talk, and someone says, okay, Meat, you got the Lieutenant (yeah, that’s you), the Playmate of the Year, and Raquel Welch, and they’re all standing here, smiling at you – which one do you pick? So, of course, I said you. And you know what, I mean it. Because – I don’t know if anyone’s ever told you – but, you are really built, Rebbeca.

Love(!),
Mike

P.S. Are you laughing, or sitting there all pissed off?”

It is interesting how at first, she just keeps herself in check because he is out there, and the possibility that he will end up killed is huge and she needs to protect her heart. But he is so insistent she really can’t help falling in love with him. And every time someone was brought in , I held my breath along with her, until he did eventually come. When he was sent home, and gave her the picture of his beloved dog as a goodbye gift, it was all I could do stop from sobbing.

Another point is how both characters are extremely young – and
Michael is even younger : she is 21 , he is 19. That they are both so fucked-up is so freaking sad. But again, I just loved how Rebecca went after him to see if what they had was real or not. I have no idea if they will ever really work. He is not only younger and injured but also from a different background which in real life may prove their doom but he is also quite possibly the only one who will be there and UNDERSTAND when she wakes up screaming from her nightmares. And then, there is one scene when he gives her flowers – and it is fuelled with meaning and with the sense of humor they both shared and I think: yeah, they will be alright.

Plus, they have Otis, the dog.

Thea: Again, I have to agree with Ana – this is a character-heavy book, and it is in Rebecca’s characterizations that this novel really shines. Frankly, if it wasn’t for Rebecca’s heartfealt, painful narration, The Road Home would not have been half as good because of how skimpy it is in terms of plot – but because Rebecca is such a compelling, strong-yet-broken character, the novel just works. Rebecca is tough, physically pushing herself to the edge of sanity and exhaustion as she dedicates herself to her job, triaging as the never-ending stream of injured men following the Tet flood the base’s hospital. In an attempt to keep herself from thinking too much about any one thing, Rebecca dedicates herself to work. One of my favorite passages from this book is from Rebecca, trying to explain why one particular death at her hands affected her so much more than any of the other atrocities she’s seen – she focuses on the one death, because the others are too overwhelming. As Rebecca tries to cope with her own demons, drinking heavily to take the edge off, she also relies on her friendships with her superior officer, Major Doyle, and a romantic friendship with a drafted grunt named Michael.

I too loved Michael’s letters to Rebecca, and his character (though an aside: I fear I will never understand why Ana creates these emotional bonds to such a minor character in the overall scope of the novel! He’s barely in the book, and this is Rebecca’s story, not really Michael’s! But again, that’s a difference in our reading habits. I digress). The strained romance between these two very damaged characters is a touching one, though in the big picture, the appeal for me is not so much the romantic love between the two as it is about both Rebecca and Michael trying to become whole people again, and supporting each other to find whatever strength and happiness they can.

More interesting to me than Michael and the romance, however, was the character of Major Doyle and the odd friendship she and Rebecca form. Unlike the usual butch or hardass army woman stereotype, Major Doyle is a tough, no-nonsense career nurse, but she’s also a physically beautiful woman. She feels a responsibility for Rebecca much in the way an older sister would, and as Major Doyle’s story is gradually revealed, her friendship with Becky is one of the highest points in this novel. When Rebecca returns to “the World” and meets with her old friends, other well-to-do 22 year olds who are married happily with children and working dutifully as secretaries and wives, the contrast between Rebecca’s old friendships and the tough, soul-searching talks she and Major Doyle had are all the more glaring.

Other characters that bode mentioning are Rebecca’s family – Rebecca’s strained relationship with her father, her worried mother, and her draft-dodging brother. Things are tough all around, and Ms. White tackles these different relationships with gritty realism. Rebecca’s relationships are forever changed just as Rebecca is changed by the war, and Ms. White does not try to talk-down or sugar-coat any of it. There is a lot of darkness and grit to this book – but there’s also hope and the promise of future happiness and healing.

Final Thoughts, Observations & Rating:

Ana: This is such a hard book, made so easy to be read; with no easy answers, loads of truly flawed characters, and problems with no simple solution. I LOVED this book. Oh man. I loved this book so much I feel like reading it again. Rebecca and Michael are awesome. Yes, I have resorted to “love” and “awesome” because I am reduced to a puddle of blubbering nonsense. Well done Miss Angie and Thanks.

Thea: The Road Home is a gritty read, full of horror and hope. As a heroine, Rebecca is one of the finest characters I have read in a long time. Though it is a bit light on plot and content in terms of the war itself, the strength of its characters and its dedicated, respectful message to veterans more than compensates for any thematic skimp. Powerful, raw, and emotional, The Road Home is a book that deserves to be read by all.

Notable Quotes/Parts:

The War

“Bodies – some alive, some not – were literally stacked up all over the place, a scene so grisly that even one of her nightmares couldn’t have created it.
By the third day, they were being given amphetamines to stay awake, pausing only long enough to slug them down with cold strong coffee before moving on to the next patient. Rebecca worked on complete medical auto-pilot, starting IVs, stopping bleeding, and cutting off limbs that were only hanging by tendons to save the surgeons time. “

Additional Thoughts: The Road Home is actually a fifth book to complement a series of books about the Vietnam War but the only one with Rebecca as the main character. The first four books were written by the author under the name of Zach Emerson and are known as the Echo Company series. The books follow Michael Jennings – Rebecca’s romantic interest – from the moment he is drafted to go to War until the night before the Tet Offensive. It is in these books that we actually see how they met and how he fell in love with Rebecca.

* Echo Company #1: Welcome to Vietnam (1991)
* Echo Company #2: Hill 568 (1991)
* Echo Company #3: ‘Tis The Season (1991)
* Echo Company #4: Stand Down (1992)

I had a hard time trying to find covers for these and they all seem to be out of print!

Rating:

Ana: 9 – Damn Near Perfection

Thea: 8 – Excellent

Reading Next: The Magicians by Lev Grossman

Title: A Northern Light (UK Title: A Gathering Light)

Author: Jennifer Donnelly

Genre: Historical Fiction, Young Adult

Publisher: Hartcourt Paperback (US) / Bloomsbury (UK)
Publication Date: April 2003 (US) / June 2003 (UK)
Paperback: 408 pages (US)

Stand alone or series: Stand alone novel.

Why did I read this book: I’ve had my eye on A Northern Light for a while now and meant to read it over the course of our Young Adult Appreciation Month. Due to time constraints, I couldn’t make it – but hey, better late than never, right?

Summary: (from amazon.com)
Mattie Gokey has a word for everything. She collects words, stores them up as a way of fending off the hard truths of her life, the truths that she can’t write down in stories.
The fresh pain of her mother’s death. The burden of raising her sisters while her father struggles over his brokeback farm. The mad welter of feelings Mattie has for handsome but dull Royal Loomis, who says he wants to marry her. And the secret dreams that keep her going–visions of finishing high school, going to college in New York City, becoming a writer.

Set in 1906 against the backdrop of the murder that inspired Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy, this coming-of-age novel effortlessly weaves romance, history, and a murder mystery into something moving, and real, and wholly original.

Review:

A Northern Light is actually two parallel stories, following sixteen year old Mattie Gokey as she struggles to follow her dreams, beyond her harsh, bleak reality. In 1906, Mattie works as a maid at the Glenmore, an upscale hotel on the banks of Big Moose Lake outside New York City. One of the guests, a young woman named Grace Brown (who is not much older than Mattie herself) is found drowned in the lake and is bought to the Glenmore while her family is notified. The man she was with at the hotel and on the lake, however, is nowhere to be found. Mattie knows that something is not right with Grace’s death, as shortly before she disappeared, the tearful young woman asked Mattie to perform a favor for her – to burn a pile of letters. Letters, which may hold a hint to the woman’s tragic fate; letters that Mattie has not yet destroyed.

Simultaneously, A Northern Light also tells the story of Mattie a year prior to her employment at the hotel, a retrospective storyline that catches up to the discovery of Grace’s body. This earlier thread follows Mattie as she works at home on her farm in the North Woods. After her mother’s death and her brother runs away following an argument with their father, Mattie has had to work even harder to keep her family fed and chores completed. Without her older brother to do work around the farm, Mattie’s father demands that she stay home and give up her useless pursuit of schooling and writing, much less her dreams of heading to New York City for university the following year. And every day Mattie’s dreams for the future, to become a writer free from the responsibilities of the farm and demands of her family, shrink – especially when the handsome neighboring farmer Royal takes an interest in her.

As these two storylines collide, Mattie confronts the truth of the dead guest at the hotel and searches her soul for the strength to follow her dreams, or to accept the reality of her life as it is.

A Northern Light is one of those rare works of fiction that works on every level – as a historical fiction novel and as a young adult novel, even though it is set in the early 1900s, Mattie is a heroine that modern young readers can appreciate and identify with. It is written impeccably, alternating storylines seamlessly with the interesting use of Mattie’s “word of the day” broken down by syllable as a header for the past storyline, which is inevitably worked into the chapter somehow (a very cool writing technique on Ms. Donnelly’s part). The history is detailed and feels completely genuine – it’s clear that Ms. Donnelly did a lot of research to understand how a farm worked in the early 1900s, the types of chores a household faced, the realities of school being a luxury that many could not afford (not because of cost, but because of the time required to take classes), and the limited options that faced a young woman in the time period. In some ways, Mattie’s story reminded me of Anne Shirley’s in Anne of Green Gables – like Anne, Mattie (and her best friend, the highly intelligent and driven Weaver) dreams of taking the Regent’s exams and earning a scholarship to a school for her creative writing, fueled onward by a bold female teacher that sees her potential to be more than a farmer’s wife. But while Mattie’s dreams and ambitions may be similar to L.M. Montgomery’s firey Anne, the two characters are decidedly different.

Mattie, as a heroine, comes across as heartbreakingly real in her doubts, her fears, and her limited choices. Much more pragmatic than Anne ever could be, Mattie weighs her options carefully and is at times afraid to take a stand on her own – but that’s again all testament to Ms. Donnelly’s skill as a writer, creating a strong young female character that is a product of her time period. Yes, there are times in A Northern Light that I felt like smacking some sense into Mattie, but these feelings of frustration are a product of a more modern feminist minded, 21st century woman reading about someone who grew up in completely different, alien circumstances. And for all that, I couldn’t help but love Mattie and root for her as a character, hoping that she would take chances and open her eyes – especially as the story of poor Grace Brown unfolds as Mattie reads her letters. Grace Brown’s tragic tale may sound familiar, because it is the true story told in Theodore Drieser’s An American Tragedy, which later became the film A Place in the Sun. The skill with which Ms. Donnelly parallels Grace and Mattie’s stories is exquisite – though the two women are of different circumstances, the traps they find themselves in resonate tragically.

Beyond Mattie and the beautifully detailed historical background, A Northern Light also has standout secondary characters, particularly in the form of Mattie’s best friend Weaver. The first free born of his family, Weaver and his mother moved to the North Woods years earlier, and he and Mattie become quick friends. Determined and ambitious, Weaver is an intelligent and driven foil to Mattie’s indecision – unlike Mattie, Weaver knows what he wants and pursues it relentlessly. And, for all that, he’s also brash and quick to fight, especially when those traveling through the town hit him with racial slurs or disrespect him or his mother. But for all that, Weaver came across as undeniably real, passionate character in Mattie’s narrative – someone she longed to emulate, and someone she admires dearly. And finally, I would be remiss if I did not mention Mattie’s teacher, Miss Wilcox. Miss Wilcox is a mentor to Mattie and Weaver, a Modern Woman who has her own money, an automobile, and lives by herself in the small town. She also fosters Mattie’s passion for reading and writing and urges her to follow her dreams, no matter how difficult and distant they may seem. In contrast to Mattie and the ill-fated Grace, Miss Wilcox seems worldly and wise, someone who has been able to rise beyond the expectations of class and gender – but later it is revealed that even Miss Wilcox is constrained, if in a slightly larger and more luxurious cage. These three womens’ stories (Mattie’s, Grace’s, and Miss Wilcox’s), as well as Mattie’s friendship with Weaver are beautifully written, sweet high notes in a novel full of both harshness and wonder.

A Northern Light won the Carnegie Medal, as well as the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Michael L. Printz Award Honor – and all these accolades are well deserved. I loved A Northern Light, and wholeheartedly recommend it to readers of all ages and of all genres. This is a beautifully told story about a young woman’s journey of self discovery amidst racism, sexism, and poverty, and a book not to be missed.

Notable Quotes/Parts: From Chapter 1:

When summer comes to the North Woods, time slows down. And some days it stops altogether. The sky, gray and lowering for much of the year, becomes an ocean of blue, so vast and brilliant you can’t help but stop what you’re doing-pinning wet sheets to the line maybe, or shucking a bushel of corn on the back steps-to stare up at it. Locusts whir in the birches, coaxing you out of the sun and under the boughs, and the heat stills the air, heavy and sweet with the scent of balsam.

As I stand here on the porch of the Glenmore, the finest hotel on all of Big Moose Lake, I tell myself that today-Thursday, July 12, 1906-is such a day. Time has stopped, and the beauty and calm of this perfect afternoon will never end. The guests up from New York, all in their summer whites, will play croquet on the lawn forever. Old Mrs. Ellis will stay on the porch until the end of time, rapping her cane on the railing for more lemonade. The children of doctors and lawyers from Utica, Rome, and Syracuse will always run through the woods, laughing and shrieking, giddy from too much ice cream.

I believe these things. With all my heart. For I am good at telling myself lies.

Until Ada Bouchard comes out of the doorway and slips her hand into mine. And Mrs. Morrison, the manager’s wife, walks right by us, pausing at the top of the steps. At any other time, she’d scorch our ears for standing idle; now she doesn’t seem to even know we’re here. Her arms cross over her chest. Her eyes, gray and troubled, fasten on the dock. And the steamer tied alongside it.

“That’s the Zilpha, ain’t it, Mattie?” Ada whispers. “They’ve been dragging the lake, ain’t they?”

I squeeze her hand. “I don’t think so. I think they were just looking along the shoreline. Cook says they probably got lost, that couple. Couldn’t find their way back in the dark and spent the night under some pines, that’s all.”

“I’m scared, Mattie. Ain’t you?”

I don’t answer her. I’m not scared, not exactly, but I can’t explain how I feel. Words fail me sometimes. I have read most every one in the Webster’s International Dictionary of the English Language, but I still have trouble making them come when I want them to.

Right now I want a word that describes the feeling you get-a cold, sick feeling deep down inside-when you know something is happening that will change you, and you don’t want it to, but you can’t stop it. And you know, for the first time, for the very first time, that there will now be a before and an after, a was and a will be. And that you will never again be quite the same person you were.

I imagine it’s the feeling Eve had as she bit into the apple. Or Hamlet when he saw his father’s ghost. Or Jesus as a boy, right after someone sat him down and told him his pa wasn’t a carpenter after all.

What is the word for that feeling? For knowledge and fear and loss all mixed together? Frisdom? Dreadnaciousness? Malbominance?

Standing on that porch, under that flawless sky, with bees buzzing lazily in the roses and a cardinal calling from the pines so sweet and clear, I tell myself that Ada is a nervous little hen, always worrying when there’s no cause. Nothing bad can happen at the Glenmore, not on such a day as this.

And then I see Cook running up from the dock, ashen and breathless, her skirts in her hands, and I know that I am wrong.

You can read the full excerpt online HERE.

Additional Thoughts: As I mentioned briefly above, Ms. Donnelly wrote some of her story and was in part inspired by the real life case of Grace Brown’s mysterious death, and her missing fiancee Chester Gillette – Gillette was later convicted by Grace’s letters, discovered after her death. This story was originally told in the classic novel An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser. The novel (published in 1925) was later adapted into a play and then film starring Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift, and Shelley Winters.

For A Northern Light, Jennifer Donnelly says that she was inspired by the classic novel and couldn’t shake the haunting words of Grace Brown’s letters:

Gillette was apprehended and convicted for the murder, and instrumental to that conviction were letters Grace Brown herself had written to him. In them, Grace pleads with Chester to come and take her away before her condition becomes apparent. The letters are full of fear and desperation, but they also show this young woman’s intelligence, humor, and wit.

Grace’s words were the tingle. I couldn’t stop hearing her voice, couldn’t stop grieving for such a young, lovely life so callously snuffed out. Mattie Gokey, the heroine of A Northern Light, was born, in part, because I wanted to change the past. I wanted to know that someone had been kind to Grace on her last day. That someone had smiled at her, and exchanged a few pleasant words.

Falling in love – with a person, or a place, or a story – changes your life. And Mattie and Grace have changed mine. I finished the book last summer, and I felt sad when they let me go. And lonely and pointless. It was like a good friend moving far away.

But just the other day, I was cleaning out some files to make room for all the xeroxes and old postcards and photos I’ve accumulated while researching A Northern Light, and I came across an old, yellowed newspaper clipping that I stuffed in there while ago. It was just a small article from the depths of Section A of The New York Times, a few lines on people and events of a long time ago. But I felt something funny as I read it. Something that made my ears prick up and my hands tremble and my heart beat a little faster.

I think it was a tingle.

You can read more about Ms. Donnelly and A Northern Light online HERE.

Verdict: I loved A Northern Light – it is powerful, raw, and emotional, about a young woman finding her way in a world that seems against set against her. Absolutely recommended, and another notable read of 2009. I’ll be on the lookout for more from Ms. Donnelly – with her adult historical fiction on the book radar!

Rating: 9 – Damn Near Perfection

Reading Next: Ariel by Steven Boyett

Title: Tempt Me At Twilight

Author: Lisa Kleypas

Genre: Historical Romance

Publisher: St Martin’s/Piatkus Books
Publishing Date: September 22 (US) / October 1 (Uk)
Paperback: 384 pages

Stand alone or series: Book 3 in the Hathaway series, but can be read as stand alone

Summary:Engaged to the very sensible Michael Bayning, Poppy Hathaway is content with her lot – having longed for a life of normality. That is, until she meets a mysterious hotel owner, Harry Rutledge – the most complicated and dangerous man she has ever met. Harry is wealthy and powerful, a collector of secrets, with hobbies more dangerous than Poppy could imagine. What Harry wants, Harry gets – and Harry wants Poppy, like he has never wanted a woman in his life. So when Michael breaks off their engagement and Harry makes his move, Poppy quickly learns that her life is destined to be anything but normal – filled with wild, passionate days and steamy nights …

Why did I read the book: I love Lisa Kleypas’ books and I love this series in particular. All the books have been keepers.

Review:

I am MOST relieved to report that Tempt me at Twilight is a good Kleypas. She is one of my favourite romance novelists and after her previous effort (Smooth Talking Stranger) disappointed me, I was a tad worried. But if there is one thing that this woman can write is Historical Romance and I am oh, so glad that we are back on track with another great instalment in the Hathaway’s series.

Ok, so the basic plot is one that we all have read a thousand times over. The hero, Harry Rutledge, is a ruthless, manipulative entrepreneur who as soon as the heroine crosses his path, decides he wants her, at any cost. The heroine, Poppy Hathaway is in love with someone else – someone she thinks will be the perfect husband in her pursuit for normalcy after growing up in a family of eccentrics. He manages to manipulate events so that the guy is eliminated from the race, proceeds to compromise the heroine and they need to get married. Trust issues ensue, until they both realise they have fallen in love. The end.

But the gist of it is this: Lisa Kleypas can write characters. It doesn’t matter that the plot is not the most original, it does not matter that things evolved way too fast. The fact is that the characters are lovable, both of them. This is a different Lisa Kleypas as there is less sensual tension, less foreplay than usual and I think that this is a good thing. I actually thought this book was a very mature story which dealt more with Harry and Poppy’s insecurities and need to be loved and cherished than anything else. Poppy hails from a family that is so different, all eccentrics, from two older sisters who are married to gypsies to a younger sister who adopts every single lost animal in the vicinity. Poppy is intelligent and can talk about anything and that is one of the things that have put her in the shelf after three London seasons. Plus, Poppy needs and wants some degree of independence from her family in order to create her own family unit. She thinks she found that with Michael, her secret fiancée but soon enough she discovers that he does not love her enough to go against his father who thinks the Hathaways are two low in the social scale.

Harry, on the other hand is someone who does not know the meaning of family: his mother left him with a father who left his well-being at the hands of the employees of the hotel he owned. Harry grew up to be a most lonely man who never thought he would or could be loved. He thrives in his work, in keeping his hotel and being apart and above people, is just who he is. As soon as he sees Poppy he realises that this is a woman worth having and if Michael doesn’t have the balls to fight for her, it’s his loss.

Although, even though we are told that Harry is ruthless, bold etc…really, whenever he is around Poppy, from the first time they met, he is nothing but a giant teddy bear who needs affection. Harry’s inner monologue was a delight to read and I just about melted oh, say, a thousand times.

Poppy got major heroine’s brownie points in my book for being able to recognise Harry’s shortcomings pretty soon, for dealing with the fact that he did something Really Bad in a very adult way and for being able to let go: if she is married to the guy, she needs to be able to make the most out of it. Yes, there is some drama of the “I shall never love you” kind but it is soon forgotten when Poppy, very reasonably, decides to be happy.

I also find that usually in Lisa Kleypas’ books there is ONE seminal scene that makes the hero stand out, that firmly moves him from being either stupid or unlovable, or a villain or a dumbass to the role of Hero That We Must Love. In Dreaming of You is the scene where we find out that Derek Craven has been carrying Sarah’s glasses in his pocket. In Devil in Winter is when Sebastian throws himself in front of a bullet and then we learn that he carries Evie’s wedding ring around his neck. In A Wallflower Christmas is that most poignant scene with the tin soldier (one, two, three, awwww). In Tempt Me At Twilight is the scene where Harry talks about Watch Mechanisms. I shall not spoil but trust me: it is a gooder.

On the low side, there is some info dump about previous books in the series, one Contrived Surprise (meh) and a very Unnecessary Suspense Subplot towards the end where someone gets kidnapped. This boggles and bothers me to no end. It is not the first time I find this towards the end of a book. I can almost picture the book’s editor going …’hummm…we need a random kidnapping just about “here” ‘ pointing to the final chapter. The one in this book is truly, totally random. The couple had ALREADY exchanged their “I love yous”, they had NOTHING to find out about each other, it had already being established that they could not live without the other. So why then? Why? This scene was completely unnecessary.

But never mind that: Harry and Poppy’s relationship resonated well with me. And let’s not forget that this is a Hathaway book and all of them have important roles to play. To see them is like visiting old friends and I love all the meddling that Amelia, Bea, Merripen and Cam did. AND, if you have been reading this series, chances are you are looking forward to Leo’s book, right? Well, let me tell you this: there are some VERY interesting developments in his relationship with his heroine and the last line of the novel is a total shocker. I need his book presto. Please Ms Kleypas!

The bottom line is that Poppy needs to work with (warranted ) trust issues, Harry needs to open up. They do and, that’s the beauty of the romance novels, I am there to see it happen and enjoy and sigh when their HEA is cemented. If you are not a Romance reader this book will not change your mind. If you are, and if you are a fan of Lisa Kleypas, you want this book, pronto.

Notable Quotes/ Parts: There is this one sequence when Poppy slips in the bathroom and Harry nearly goes insane with worry sending the entire hotel in errands to get her stuff he thought she would need, sends for not only one but two doctors and is unable to leave her side. Because of a sprained ankle.

Verdict: a good Lisa Kleypas, and a great addition to the Hathaway series.

Rating: 7 – very good

Reading Next: Demon Forged by Meljean Brook (yay!)

Title: Perfume (Das Parfum)

Author: Patrick Suskind, Translated by John E. Woods

Genre: Fiction, Historical, Thriller

Publisher: Diogenes-Verlag (Germany) / Alfred A. Knopf (US)
Publication Date: 1985 (Germany) / February 2001 (US)
Paperback: 272 pages

Stand alone or series: Stand alone novel.

Why did I read this book: Ana and I decided that we had gone too long without a Dare, so we cracked down. Ana picked Perfume: The Story of a Murderer for me, a literary fiction novel about a man born with a superhuman sense of smell. I read the blurb, and though I was a little scared (“realistic” literary fiction can do that to me!), I was also very excited to give Mr. Suskind’s international bestseller a try…

Summary: (from amazon.com)
An acclaimed bestseller and international sensation, Patrick Suskind’s classic novel provokes a terrifying examination of what happens when one man’s indulgence in his greatest passion—his sense of smell—leads to murder.

In the slums of eighteenth-century France, the infant Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is born with one sublime gift-an absolute sense of smell. As a boy, he lives to decipher the odors of Paris, and apprentices himself to a prominent perfumer who teaches him the ancient art of mixing precious oils and herbs. But Grenouille’s genius is such that he is not satisfied to stop there, and he becomes obsessed with capturing the smells of objects such as brass doorknobs and frest-cut wood. Then one day he catches a hint of a scent that will drive him on an ever-more-terrifying quest to create the “ultimate perfume”—the scent of a beautiful young virgin. Told with dazzling narrative brillance, Perfume is a hauntingly powerful tale of murder and sensual depravity.

Review:

July 17, 1738. Paris.

It is the dawning of the Age of Enlightenment in France, of coffeehouses and of reason struggling triumphant over religion. It also is a time when the streets ran rank with the odors of sewage, unwashed people, spoiling food and decaying corpses. In the most odiferous of Paris’s slums, in the heat and stench of the poorest fish market, a woman gives birth and tries to leave her child for dead beneath her spoiling wares. But, determined to live even as a babe, the newborn emits a shriek that alerts others to his existence. His mother is killed for her attempted infanticide, and the young boy is passed from wet nurse to priest to orphanage, and he discovers his true purpose and calling – scent.

Perfume is the story of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, a proclaimed monster, a savant of the olfactory, and a murderer. It is not so much a story about his murders (as the full title, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, suggests), but about Grenouille’s life. From Grenouille’s hasty birth to his ultimate demise, this is the story of a growing monster, who knows the unparalleled power of scent. From orphan to tanning apprentice to perfumer, Grenouille realizes that scent can influence and change perceptions, and that every odor has its purpose. And, when he realizes that he himself has absolutely no smell at all, he begins his careful work to craft the ultimate scent – the scent of love.

I didn’t know what really to expect with Perfume – though I suppose I thought I was in store for more of a grisly murder tale. In actuality, Perfume is a character’s journey, and a scathing commentary on human nature. Yes, Grenouille’s murderous acts are portrayed in the book, but they are not gratuitous or gory – rather, this is an atmospheric, macabre tale. Far more terrifying than the corpses Grenouille leaves behind are his perceptions, his desires and ambitions. As a character, we know from the first sentence that Grenouille is a monster:

In eighteenth-century France there lived a man who was one of the most gifted and abominable personages in an era that knew no lack of gifted and abominable personages. His name was Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, and if his name — in contrast to the names of other gifted abominations, de Sade’s, for instance, or Saint-Just’s, Fouche’s, Bonaparte’s, etc — has been forgotten today, it is certainly not because Grenouille fell short of those more famous blackguards when it came to arrogance, misanthropy, immorality, or, more succinctly, to wickedness…

Just as from his birth, as a child without any scent at all, Grenouille never really had a chance for redemption with readers either. He’s a magician, an outcast, a recluse. But even more terrifying than Grenouille, in my opinion, were the malleable, ignorant humans around him, reacting to the scents he ultimately concocts. Mr. Suskind’s debut novel carefully constructs self-absorbed characters, all flawed monsters in their own way. And perhaps that’s the most terrifying thing of all – for as driven as Grenouille is to concoct his masterpiece, each other character he interacts with from the Orphange mam Madame Gaillard to the bereaved father Monsieur Richis are revealed for the selfish creatures they truly are.

Beyond the characters and insight to the selfish cruelty of the human disposition, however, Perfume simply is a beautiful book. The detailed background of French history that Mr. Suskind paints his novel against is incredible. The plotting, though slow at times and ultimately not a grand or sweeping epic, is strong in its own right. And the prose…ah, the prose! It is simple, sparing, and luscious. Mr. Woods, the translator, did a phenomenal job of interpreting the German to English, as this is one of the finest translations I can remember reading (comparable to Lucia Graves’ The Shadow of the Wind). I would never have picked up this novel had I not been dared by Ana – but I absolutely loved it. Perfume is an unforgettable bouquet indeed.

Notable Quotes/Parts: From the second chapter:

“Ah, I understand,” said Terrier, almost relieved. “I catch your drift. Once again, it’s a matter of money.”

“No!” said the wet nurse.

“Of course it is! It’s always a matter of money. When there’s a knock at this gate, it’s a matter of money. Just once I’d like to open it and find someone standing there for whom it was a matter of something else. Someone, for instance, with some little show of thoughtfulness. Fruit, perhaps, or a few nuts. After all, in autumn there are lots of things someone could come by with. Flowers maybe. Or if only someone would simply come and say a friendly word. ‘God bless you, Father Terrier, I wish you a good day!’ But I’ll probably never live to see it happen. If it isn’t a beggar, it’s a merchant, and if it isn’t a merchant, it’s a tradesman, and if it isn’t alms he wants, then he presents me with a bill. I can’t even go out into the street anymore. When I go out on the street, I can’t take three steps before I’m hedged in by folks wanting money!”

“Not me,” said the wet nurse.

“But I’ll tell you this: you aren’t the only wet nurse in the parish. There are hundreds of excellent foster mothers who would scramble for the chance of putting this charming babe to their breast for three francs a week, or to supply him with pap or juices or whatever nourishment . . .”

“Then give him to one of them!”

“. . . On the other hand, it’s not good to pass a child around like that. Who knows if he would flourish as well on someone else’s milk as on yours. He’s used to the smell of your breast, as you surely know, and to the beat of your heart.”

And once again he inhaled deeply of the warm vapors streaming from the wet nurse.

But then, noticing that his words had made no impression on her, he said, “Now take the child home with you! I’ll speak to the prior about all this. I shall suggest to him that in the future you be given four francs a week.”

“No,” said the wet nurse.

“All right-five!”

“No.”

“How much more do you want, then?” Terrier shouted at her. “Five francs is a pile of money for the menial task of feeding a baby.”

I don’t want any money, period,” said the wet nurse. “I want this bastard out of my house.”

“But why, my good woman?” said Terrier, poking his finger in the basket again. “He really is an adorable child. He’s rosy pink, he doesn’t cry, and he’s been baptized.”

“He’s possessed by the devil.”

You can read the full excerpt of the first two chapters HERE.

Additional Thoughts: This book, which went on to become an international bestseller, was recently made into a motion picture:

Starring Ben Whishaw as Grenouille, Dustin Hoffman as Baldini, Rachel Hurd-Wood as Laure (changed to “Laura” for the film), and Alan Rickman as her father Richis. I haven’t yet seen the film, though I will certainly be renting it very soon! I am kind of wary though – the book’s strengths are in the internal descriptions and interpretations of Grenouille and his scents, and I’m not sure how well that will translate to the big screen…

Also in random, very creative and somewhat disturbing news, in conjunction with the film, perfumer Thierry Mugler has interpreted the scents from the book and movie Perfume. The collection, which costs $700 total, contains scents such as Jasmine and Sea, but also contains “Virgin No. 1,” “Baby,” and “Human Existence” among others with explanations. For example:

Paris 1738

INSPIRATION
“It was a mixture of human and animal smells, of water and stone and ashes and leather, of soap and fresh-baked bread (…). Thousands upon thousands of odors formed as invisible gruel that filled the street ravines, only seldom evaporating above the rooftops and never from the ground below. ”
~ From Part I, Chapter 7

INTERPRETATION
“So real!  As if you were there! With ‘Human Existence’, it corresponds to the horror movie of perfumery.  It requires as many skills and special effects. Controversial ingredients were specifically used to come up with this one-of-a-kind olfactory conglomerate. The ambivalence of the cassis note, cleverly used, for example, makes a definite impression. Blackcurrants in fruity compositions have a slight odor of urine, however, when they are added to a dark scent, their fruity accord clearly dominates. The challenge was to hide the fruity aspect and to place the emphasis on the sordid effect.”

I’m simultaneously curious and repulsed.

Verdict: Almost against my will, I loved Perfume. This is a delectable novel, beautifully written and devastatingly dark. Absolutely recommended to anyone that loves a well-written novel.

Rating: 8 Excellent

Reading Next: Ark by Stephen Baxter