Dreaming of Mr. Darcy Book Review

Dreaming of Mr. Darcy
Victoria Connelly

Rating (out of 5): 3.5

Genre: Romance

Release Date: January 1, 2012

Series: Austen Addicts

Series Number:2

Profanity: mild

Violence: none

Sexual Content: Very Mild  

Age Recommendation: 16+

Author Website: http://victoriaconnelly.com/





Summary:

Fledging illustrator and Darcy fanatic Kay Ashton settles in the seaside town of Lyme to finish her book, The Illustrated Darcy, when a film company arrives to make a new adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion. Kay is soon falling for the handsome bad boy actor playing Captain Wentworth, but it's the quiet screenwriter Adam Craig who has more in common with her beloved Mr. Darcy. Though still healing from a broken heart, Adam finds himself unexpectedly in love with Kay. But it will take more than good intentions to convince her that her real happy ending is with him.


Review:

 Dreaming of Mr. Darcy is a sweet story set in the beautiful backdrop of Jane Austin's Lyme. It focuses on Kay and Adam  but also delves into the lives of the other characters, mainly Gemma and her love interest. I enjoyed reading this book and liked it's sweetness.

I loved the idea of a film being shot in Lyme, it made way for lots of good story to happen. And the fact that the writer, Adam was from the area helped as well because readers were introduced to his wonderful Gran. The setting, and how it affected the characters was one of my favorite parts about the book. I also loved Kay's bed and breakfast. I've always liked the idea of them and it was a great part of the story. The romance however felt a little strained. It felt like Victoria Connelly was trying to do too much with each character romantically and the only place she really hit the mark for me was with Oli's romantic line. It felt like the other two romantic focuses, Kay and Gemma took too long to develop and ended up being love at first sight leaving me shocked out of the story. 

I liked the entire cast of characters and really found myself drawn to Gemma and Adam. Their shy personalities resonate with the way I often feel and I liked seeing them change through the book. Oli was another character that caught my interest with his carefree attitude that hid more than he was willing to say. I really liked Kay in the stories opening, she made for an interesting character but after she moved and fell head over heels for Oli she began to loose her charm. It almost felt like the author wrote two different characters with the same name, the Kay from before Oli shows up and the Kay after he does. All her spunk and spontaneity fell away to be replaced by a pile of romantic mush. 

 Overall I give Dreaming of Mr. Darcy a 3.5 rating, it was sweet but that's about all it was. I recommend it as a good beach read or something to take with you on a long flight. Anyone who wants a snugly romance should take a look at this book. 

~Dawn  

The Shell Game Short Story Review

The Shell Game

Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg

Rating (out of 5):5

Genre: General Fiction/Heist Fiction

Release Date: October 7, 2014

Series: Fox and O'Hare

Series Number: 0.5

Profanity: none

Violence: none

Sexual Content: none  

Age Recommendation: 16+

Author Website: http://www.evanovich.com/ and http://www.leegoldberg.com/


Summary:

It was love at first con. Find out how FBI Special Agent Kate O’Hare and con artist Nicolas Fox first met in this exclusive eBook original short story!

Con man Nick Fox is after Garson Klepper’s golden Peruvian relics. For Fox, convincing Klepper to hire him as security for the relocation of the relics to the Getty museum in L.A. was easy. Problem is, Fox wasn’t planning on Klepper also enlisting the help of the FBI. Fox also wasn’t planning on being paired up with rookie special agent Kate O’Hare. She’s smart, she’s tenacious, and when she’s conned, she holds a grudge. Life for Fox and O’Hare will never be the same again.

The Shell Game is a prequel to the riveting series from Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg, which continues with The Job on November 18.
   

Review:

The Shell Game is a short prequel to The Heist by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg intended to give readers a look at Kate and Nick's first meeting while simultaneously making fans of the series desperate to read the next full book, The Job.

It does it's job splendidly.

The Shell Game has the same witty tone as the other books, if it's a little light on the heist side of things (which as anyone who's read my reviews of heist books would know is my favorite part). That's not to say there isn't a heist running through the whole story, there just isn't enough time in this short story to fully flesh it out like it's done in the full novels. The aim of The Shell Game is to give readers something we never knew we needed before now, the story behind how Kate and Nick met.

I loved getting to see more of Kate and Nick, this story provided good incite into why they are so drawn to each other and the drive behind each one. The ending was particularly good for many reasons, leaving me with a giddy smile plastered on my face.

As a side note, I hope that a few of the characters who were introduced in this short story make an appearance in The Job, they were interesting and I'd love to see more of them.

Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg kept me laughing through the story and by the end the only thing I regretted was that it wasn't longer. The Shell Game is a great piece to introduce new readers to the Fox and O'Hare series and a must read for fans who are already in love with it.

~Dawn 

My reviews for other books in this series:

The first book in this series The Heist can be found here
The third book in this series The Job can be found here

The Book of Ivy Announcment and Giveaway!

The Book of Ivy by Amy Engel 

Releasing November 11, 2014

This post is to make you all aware of a really interesting book that will be coming out in November of this year (yep just a few weeks away guys). It's called The Book of Ivy by Amy Engel and I can't tell you how excited I am for this book to come out.

I've had my eye on it a while and am planning on putting up a review as soon as I get my hands on a copy, but until then I wanted to make sure as many people knew about it as possible before it comes out. So without further ado here is all the information you need to know about The Book of Ivy, and if you haven't already scroll back up and watch the awesome book trailer.



Book synopsis:


After a brutal nuclear war, the United States was left decimated. A small group of survivors eventually banded together, but only after more conflict over which family would govern the new nation. The Westfalls lost. Fifty years later, peace and control are maintained by marrying the daughters of the losing side to the sons of the winning group in a yearly ritual.


This year, it is my turn.


My name is Ivy Westfall, and my mission is simple: to kill the president’s son—my soon-to-be husband—and return the Westfall family to power.


But Bishop Lattimer is either a very skilled actor or he’s not the cruel, heartless boy my family warned me to expect. He might even be the one person in this world who truly understands me. But there is no escape from my fate. I am the only one who can restore the Westfall legacy.


Because Bishop must die. And I must be the one to kill him…


You can purchase a copy of the book here:

• Amazon: http://amzn.to/1mj5PXZ
• B&N: http://bit.ly/BoIBN
•  iTunes: http://bit.ly/BoIiTunes
• Kobo: http://bit.ly/BoIKobo 

And read some great reviews here:

Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20640755-the-book-of-ivy?ac=1


About Amy Engel:


Amy Engel was born in Kansas and after a childhood spent bouncing between countries (Iran, Taiwan) and states (Kansas, California, Missouri, Washington, D.C.), she settled in Kansas City, Missouri where she lives with her husband and two kids. Before devoting herself full time to motherhood and writing, she was a criminal defense attorney, which is not quite as exciting as it looks on TV. When she has a free moment, she can usually be found reading, running, or shoe shopping.


Find Amy online:

• Website: http://amyengel.net 
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/aengelwrites

And that's all! I hope by now you guys are as excited for this book as I am! It comes out on November 11, but if you want a free copy before then follow this link to enter to win a free copy of the book:

   

    Goodreads Book Giveaway  

           

     

          The Book of Ivy      

          by Amy Engel      

         
            Giveaway ends November 04, 2014.          
         
            See the giveaway details             at Goodreads.          
     

Enter to win

~Dawn

Virtual Arcana Part 0: The Fool Book Review

Virtual Arcana Part 0: The Fool

Karen Amanda Hooper 

Rating (out of 5):5

Genre: Fantasy

Release Date: November 8, 2014

Series: Virtual Arcana

Series Number: 0

Profanity: none

Violence: none

Sexual Content: none  

Age Recommendation: 12+

Author Website: http://www.karenamandahooper.com/

Summary:

The Matrix meets The Notebook with a sprinkle of The Giver.

In a faraway future, Kelsey Zellar is starting her senior year at yet another school thanks to her twin sister’s troublesome obsession with outlawed virtual reality games.

Every school they’ve ever attended is pretty much the same: lunchroom drama, rich kids binging on enhancement candies, and classmates rallying for or against the government’s strict control over everything from entertainment privileges to caffeine consumption.

Unlike her sister, Kelsey follows the rules and keeps her nose out of trouble and politics while sniffing out her next flavored latte and favorite novel. But when Kelsey meets a charming book connoisseur, and accepts his offering of a tarot card, she takes the first step toward two new addictions: the guy of her dreams, and his illegal dealing of virtual escapes into her beloved storybooks.

Kelsey straddles the worlds of fiction and reality, but is she a fool for believing in her own happy ending? 

SEASON 1 EPISODE LIST:

The Fool ~ Virtual Arcana #0
The Magician ~ Virtual Arcana #1
The High Priestess~ Virtual Arcana #2
The Empress ~ Virtual Arcana #3
The Emperor ~ Virtual Arcana #4
The Hierophant ~ Virtual Arcana #5
The Lovers ~ Virtual Arcana #6

Review: 

The first thing you need to know about this book is that it's written serial style so this review will be covering only one part out of 7 (the numbering goes from 0-6) of the Virtual Arcana book. The book as a whole will be published by the author after the entire story is released in series.

 Karen Amanda Hooper's first installment of The Arcana caught my attention quickly and held it the entire story leaving me desperate for more by the end. There was so much packed into this short amount of text and I loved it! 

The Fool opens with 3 of my favorite things, coffee and books, and excellent writing. Karen Amanda Hooper doesn't waste anytime trying to explain away all the rules of her brilliantly crafted world, instead she drops readers straight into the story providing details as needed. Kelsey's word is a complicated one filled with rules and regulations and she and her twin sister are desperate to get out. They are just starting at a new town and school because her sister was caught playing illegal video games when Kelsy run's into the mysterious and alluring Xander. 
  
Xander is by far one of the most interesting male leads I've read recently.  He's genuine and not over done. I love Kelsy as well! Finally there is a lead female who is self aware! I loved her comments about 'if this were a book I'd be doing ect' It was great. Her personality really shines, and I love the way she stay's true to her character when faced with Xander's proposal. I can't wait to see more of these two in further installments, and see how they grow and change. Kelsy's sister, Keekee, is an interesting character as well even though we get to see little of her in this first installment. 
  
The world building so far in The Fool is wonderful. Karen paints a world that is controlling but plausible. She points out a lot of interesting issues in the society without sounding preachy or whiny and I really enjoyed that. I also love the idea of virtual reality and people who still cherish books that are real and printed.

This was a wonderful start to what I hope to be an amazing story. I cannot wait to see what happens next and what Kelsy ends up deciding. I am eager to see some of the mysteries set up in this first installment answered and filled out as the story goes on. I'd recommend this to anyone interested in a good scifi who loves to read and doesn't mind a dash of romance.

Note: I received an electronic copy of this book from Netgalley for my fair and honest review which I have stated above.

~Dawn

Suspicion Book Review

Suspicion

Alexandra Monir

Rating (out of 5): 4.5

Genre: Young Adult Romance/Mystery

Release Date: December 9, 2014

Series: n/a

Profanity: Mild

Violence: None

Sexual Content: None 

Age Recommendation: 14 +

Author Website: http://www.alexandramonir.com/




Summary:

“There’s something hidden in the maze.”

Seventeen-year-old Imogen Rockford has never forgotten the last words her father said to her, before the blazing fire that consumed him, her mother, and the gardens of her family’s English country manor.

For seven years, images of her parents’ death have haunted Imogen’s dreams. In an effort to escape the past, she leaves Rockford Manor and moves to New York City with her new guardians. But some attachments prove impossible to shake—including her love for her handsome neighbor Sebastian Stanhope.

Then a life-altering letter arrives that forces Imogen to return to the manor in England, where she quickly learns that dark secrets lurk behind Rockford’s aristocratic exterior. At their center is Imogen herself—and Sebastian, the boy she never stopped loving.

Combining spine-tingling mystery, romance, and unforgettable characters, Suspicion is an action-packed thrill ride.

Review:

Just the title, Suspicion makes you begin to wonder about this book. It manages to mix mystery, romance, and magic into a delightful, fascinating, and sometimes chilling young adult novel. I found myself drawn into the mystery of this book from the first page, and subsequent pages only served in increase my interest until I found myself at the end of the book delighted with what I had just read.

Imogen Rockford is the heir to something almost every young girl dreams of at some point, a dukedom, or in Imogen's case the title of Duchess. But with that appointment everything changes for Imogen, she's suddenly the only one left of her family facing not only the responsibility of being a duchess, but she's also thrown headlong into a mystery who's truth can only be reviled as she delves deeper into her families history.

As I read this book I found myself distrusting almost every character. I, like Imogen, wasn't sure who could be trusted and who was hiding something deeper. Alexandra Monir does a great job of building suspense through the story, filling the pages with ghostly apparitions and more questions than answers. I really felt like I was taking this journey with Imogen as she struggled to find her way to the bottom of things.

The mystery was probably my favorite part about this book, who was Imogen's late relative Lady Beatrice? What really happened to Lucia? What was with Sebastian and what did all of this have to do with Imogen's strange powers? I found myself questioning everything, eagerly reading through the book in order to find out the truth behind it all.

As things began to play out in the book I was shocked and surprised often to my delight. Characters that I had pegged as obviously untrustworthy were suddenly thrust into new light and secrets that I hadn't even begun to think of were reveled. The story reached a feverish pace when we returned to where the story had stopped at the beginning (due to a flashback) and I couldn't stop myself from reading to the end.

While I was pleased with how things turned out I was also a little disappointed, by the end of the book my questions had been answered, I was just left feeling a little flat. I had really been hoping that the truth behind Imogen's ancestor along with Imogen's powers herself would have been given more focus than it received. I was very intrigued by it all, and it seemed to be an important part of the overall story that I had been expecting there to be a bigger picture with it.

The only other thing that really bothered me about this book was the overwhelming amounts of description that were done. It felt like everything that could be described was described. I can understand the desire to paint elaborate pictures of beautiful English manors and gardens but there comes a point when the reader doesn't want to read anymore description and just wants to move on to the story. I came to this point numerous times while reading this book. This is not to say that I didn't like some of the descriptions, they just felt overwhelming. Nothing throws me out of a book like too much description, it makes me stop and have to re-adjust my mind's eye to fit the exact image that I have been given instead of allowing me to fill in the blanks where the author has generously left them.

Overall this book was a wonderful read and I'd love to see a sequel, the book wrapped up cleanly enough but I'd still like to see more. Imogen was an interesting character and I can see a lot more being done with her and her friends and family. I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes a good mystery, romance, or even a story with a little magic to it.

Note: I received an electronic copy of this book from Netgalley for my fair and honest review which I have stated above.

~Dawn 

My first book

Everyone! 

I am excited to announce to you all that I will shortly be self publishing a book of my own! It's a collection of short stories that I've been working on over the years. I've finally got enough to compile into something that I can share with others and that is what I have decided to do!

The short stories are all fairy tale retellings and continuations of classic favorites including Snow White, The Little Mermaid, The Wild Swans, and last but certainly not least The Goose Girl. I am excited about this and I hope you all are as well.

As things get closer to completion I will keep you all updated with things like book covers, titles, and a sure to be exciting summary. In anticipation of all of that I wanted to share a short excerpt from my Little Mermaid continuation entitled A Mermaid's Tale:

Wonder and Perception

Image found here

Family vacations are the source of new experiences, fond memories, and often enlightening moments. They also often deal with fights between siblings from too much time spent together and crazy hospital trips -the last statement holds true at least to my family. However, I’m not writing today to tell you about the fond times or even the crazy but one almost mundane experience that made me think and keep thinking. 

It was summer time and my family and I were taking a stroll down whatever street in whatever town and state we were visiting that year. I’ve since forgotten where this happened, but the location isn’t what’s important, what happened there is. 

We were trying to figure out which little shop to go into next and that’s when I spied it, the pawn shop. I’d never been to a pawn shop before so I was naturally curious about what actually being in one would be like. Would it be like a treasure hunt or a step into the past? I insisted we go in and after some badgering on my part my family finally agreed to head in.

All of my imaginings and fantasies vanished the moment I stepped into the pawn shop. It was like walking into a graveyard, cold and distant. Objects lined the walls staring down at me accusingly, and my skin took on a chill that wasn’t due to the air conditioner.

I wanted to bolt out of the building, and every second I was in there felt like an eternity. My head swam with the thought of so much history in one place. Where had it all come from? What stories came attached to each item in the shop? Were they good stories or sad ones? 

I had a feeling that most of them would be sad.

Shades of Milk and Honey Book Review

Shades of Milk and Honey

Mary Robinette Kowal

Rating (out of 5): 5

Genre: Fantasy

Release Date: August 3, 2010

Series: Glamourist Histories
Series Number: 1

Profanity: None

Violence: None

Sexual Content: None 

Age Recommendation: 14 +

Author Website: http://maryrobinettekowal.com/





Summary:

The fantasy novel you’ve always wished Jane Austen had written

Shades of Milk and Honey is exactly what we could expect from Jane Austen if she had been a fantasy writer: Pride and Prejudice meets Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. It is an intimate portrait of a woman, Jane, and her quest for love in a world where the manipulation of glamour is considered an essential skill for a lady of quality.

Jane and her sister Melody vie for the attentions of eligible men, and while Jane’s skill with glamour is remarkable, it is her sister who is fair of face. When Jane realizes that one of Melody’s suitors is set on taking advantage of her sister for the sake of her dowry, she pushes her skills to the limit of what her body can withstand in order to set things right—and, in the process, accidentally wanders into a love story of her own.

Review:

Initially Shades of Milk and Honey caught my attention with it's beautiful cover and curious blurb, 'The fantasy novel you've always wished Jane Austen had written'? As a Jane Austen fan I knew I had to read it. And after starting the book it didn't take me very long to realize how true that statement had been. 

Shades of Milk and Honey reads, feels, and is every inch something I could see Jane Austen herself penning if she'd ever had the inkling to write a fantasy. Mary Robert Kowal does a great job of capturing the time period and language of of the late 18th and early 19th century. Her writing is beautiful and the story flows in the general shape of an Austen novel. One of the things that the author does in this book is keep it very clean there is little to no profanity and absolutely no explicit content of any kind. This makes it a safe read for the young, old, and anyone in between.

The story itself was very well written. I tend to really enjoy books written in this time period so it's no wonder that I loved each of the little secrets that were revealed and I enjoyed getting to see each of the characters grow and change through the story as well. Mary Robert Kowal's pacing kept me interested even in places where the story could have stalled or at least grown stale. And by the end it had picked up to such a pace that I felt like I was reading as fast as Jane was riding to catch up to her family.

All of Kowal's characters shine in their own way and for different reasons. She does an excellent job of really making each character feel fleshed out even if they have very little time in the story. Jane and her sister Melody stood out to me in the way their relationship played out. It wasn't the perfect relationship I sometimes come across in books, and it wasn't a constantly stormy one like I encounter in others. It had it's ups and it's downs like any sisters would. Jane herself stood out to me because she had flaws and readily stated that she did, she also often acted out of jealously and love. Her character felt the truest to me of all of the wonderful characters populating Shades of Milk and Honey. Vincent however came off a little odd to me, he just didn't pull my attention like many male leads do. That's not to say I didn't enjoy his character, I did. I just felt like he could have been a little more in the story, but I believe that will be rectified in later books. 

Kowal's incorporation of glamour into the story is done in such a way that I felt like I'd always lived life with people around me able to manipulate glamour. She didn't waste time explaining it or trying to get readers to understand exactly how it worked she simply wove it into the story naturally.  While glamour played a large part in the story I don't think it did it in such a way that would alienate readers who are either not familiar with fantasy or don't care for it.

Shades of Milk and Honey turned out to be a wonderful find for me, and I am eager to read the rest of this sure to be astounding series. I'd recommended it to Jane Austen fans and fantasy fans alike. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did.

~Dawn  

Blackout Poetry

I’ve heard of turning books into clocks and using them to make lamps, but I’ve never seen them recycled in such a creative way as I’ve recently discovered. I was scrolling through my Instagram feed late one night and ran across an image that made me pause. Three words stood out surrounded by black marker: You. Are. Loved. 

What about this simple sentence stopped me? Well first it was the marker, and then I noticed that the words weren’t lined up as they should be, they were scattered across the image as if they’d been picked off a page at random. 

 

It turns out that’s exactly what happened. I had stumbled upon a quickly growing art from known as Blackout Poetry. This art form takes recycling a book to the next level by using a previously written piece of text and turning it into a poem all its own. Blackout poetry is being popularized by two individuals, Austin Kleon and John Carroll. These two artists have really made blackout poetry popular and their websites are worth a look, I’ll post links at the end of this post if you’d like to see what they are up to.

What I love about blackout poetry is the message that these two individuals are trying to share through it, messages of hope and of creativity. That’s not to say you can’t use it to create something funny or serious. I wholeheartedly recommend you do whatever you want with it, just have fun. 

Another thing I love about it is that it is simple for anyone to do, all you need is an old book, newspaper, or magazine and a sharpie. Once you’ve got your supplies all you have to do is open up the book (newspaper, ect.) and scan it for words or lines of text that pop out to you on the page. All that’s left to do is outline those words and black out the rest of the text. What you’re left with is a poem done in one of the most creative ways I’ve seen. 

Now I know that there are people out there who don’t like to write poetry, maybe it’s difficult for you to write or you can never think of a good idea, I know for me it’s both of those. Blackout poetry makes creating poetry fun. I say creating because you’re not really writing it, you are creating it based on words that have already been written. 

 

I had my writing group do this as an in group activity the other day and even the few that were steadfastly against poetry had a blast with this project. One even ended up creating more blackout poems than the rest of us. So just because poetry ‘isn’t your thing’ don’t discount the fun of making blackout poetry. Give it a try and tell me what you thought of it.

~ Dawn

Austin Kleon’s website: http://austinkleon.com/

 

John Carroll’s website: http://www.makeblackoutpoetry.com/