King Arthur Movie Tristan

title: To Die For: A Novel of Anne Boleyn (Ladies in Waiting, Book One)

author: Sandra Byrd

genre: historical fiction

published: ARC/ August 2011

pages: 332

source: Historical Fiction Book Tours

first line: There are many ways to arrive at the Tower of London, though there are a few ways out.

rated: 4 1/2 out of 5 stars









blurb:

Meg Wyatt has been Anne Boleyn's closest friend ever since they grew up together on neighboring manors in Kent. So when twenty-five-year-old Anne's star begins to ascend, of course she takes Meg along for the ride.


Life in the court of Henry VIII is thrilling...at first. Meg is made mistress of Anne's wardrobe, and she enjoys the spoils of this privileged orbit and uses her influence for good. She is young and beautiful and in favor; everyone at court assumes that being close to her is being close to Anne.


But favor is fickle and envy is often laced with venom. As Anne falls, so does Meg, and it becomes nearly impossible for her to discern ally from enemy. Suddenly life's unwelcome surprises rub against court's sheen to reveal the tarnished brass of false affections and the bona fide gold of those are true. Both Anne and Meg may lose everything. When your best friend is married to fearsome Henry VIII, you may soon find yourself not only friendless but headless as well.


A rich alchemy of fact and fiction, To Die For chronicles the glittering court life, the sweeping romance, and the heartbreaking fall from grace of a forsaken queen and Meg, her closest companion, who was forgotten by the ages but who is destined to live on in our hearts forever.

About:

Best friends Meg Wyatt and Anne Boleyn grew up together in Kent. When Anne is sent to live at King Henry VIII's Court, Meg follows soon after.




Meg herself lived a difficult life at home, her father having been a harsh man and often beating her. She falls in love with Will Ogilvy, but when he is sent off to become a priest, her heart is shattered.


Not before long, Meg's father arranges a marriage for her, to a man who is decades older and whom she could never possibly love.


Life at court is tantalizing as well as dangerous, and when Anne gets herself into trouble, Meg follows her best friend in her downward spiral.






My thoughts:


The Tudor period is my favorite era. What historical fiction I've read concerning the Tudors has been by Philippa Gregory. I am so glad to have had the chance to read Sandra Byrd. She is a fantastic storyteller and superb writer and I enjoyed reading To Die For from start to finish. I was instantly transported to England in the 1500's and could easily envision King Henry VIII's court, with its luxury, scandal and drama. We all know how the story of Anne Boleyn plays out, but here we get to see her best friend alongside Anne. Meg's story takes a life of its own and I was really interested in what would become of her.


Meg and Anne were very close, and I could imagine the two of them living life in the King's court.

The first young man trained his eyes on me and smiled flirtatiously. I was unused to courtly manners. Did he intend to pay me such intense attention? Or was this a part and parcel of the illusory world of the court, where nothing was as it seemed?

p.56, To Die For: A Novel of Anne Boleyn

Meg is truly heartbroken over Will. You can feel her pain as you read. Her heart breaks when Will tells her his plans to join the priesthood.

"I loved him to the point of anguish."





I liked seeing some well known people in this story; George and Mary Boleyn, Jane Parker and King Henry himself.


I recommend this one to fans of historicals and Tudor fiction, or to anyone looking to get swept up in a great story with plenty of drama, glitz and heartache.
Actually, I think To Die For: A Novel of Anne Boleyn is a must read for Tudor fans.





On a final note, I really like the cover on this book. It suits it perfectly.
To Die For: A Novel of Anne Boleyn (Ladies in Waiting, Book One) will be on my top reads for 2011.











Special thanks to Historical Fiction Book Tours for making this possible.




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title: To Be Sung Underwater

author: Tom McNeal

source: sent for review from Blue Dot Literary

pages: 436

published: 2011

first line: The man sits hidden among pines on a bluff overlooking the grid farms and country roads lying north.

rated: 5 out of 5 stars












What a great find To Be Sung Underwater has turned out to be.

With it's wonderful writing, moving storyline and dynamic characters, this was one of those books that I lost myself in for a few days.




One summer, while living in Nebraska with her father, Judith Toomey met and fell in love with a carpenter named Willy Blunt.

When she left for college, she promised him she would return and marry him.
Instead, Judith wound up meeting and marrying a banker named Malcom and has a daughter named Camille. She never returned to her lost love in Nebraska.



Now twenty seven years later, Judith has never forgotten Willy. Memories of him intertwine with her everyday life. For a while, she'd call his house then hang up when his mother answered. She still keeps his photo in her wallet.


The story flashes back from the summer when Judith was in love with Willy and living in Nebraska, to her current day life as a film editor.

In her current life, Judith has good reason to believe that her husband Malcom is cheating on her. She wonders if she herself has fallen out of love with him.





Judith came from a broken home, her parents having divorced when she was a teen. I liked reading the flashbacks of Judith and her father. He would read her Pride & Prejudice and Judith would ask him if she would ever be like Elizabeth Bennett. Judith decided to stay with her father permanently as the two had a close bond.



Reading about Judith and Willy made me think those two were meant to be together.
Their love story just drew me in. Their first date is the simple and romantic kind that just makes the reader sigh. The Nebraska setting for their summer love was perfect and I could easily envision the sights and sounds during their private rendezvous in the Adirondack-like mountains.

She closed her eyes. He said nothing. Neither did she. She just lay feeling the sun touching her and listening to the slow, strangely vivid creak of the dock, the watery rocking of the kayak, the occasional cry of a bird, and she wondered what it meant that stripping her life down to as little as this could afford more contentment than anything more complicated ever would.

p.384

I found Judith's current life to be a sad one. She rents out a storage unit for her childhood furniture and recreates her teenage bedroom in Nebraska. Judith hires a private detective to find Willy. I did wonder why would Judith remain in this unhappy marriage, but she was one of the complex characters within this story and as I read I hoped for her happy ending.

These, then, were the beginnings of what Judith later thought of as the Summer of Willy Blunt. All at once her life of latency and quiescence had turned metaphoric.

p.239

I loved this novel. To Be Sung Underwater will be on my top reads for 2011. This is the kind of story that begs to be discussed and one that you reflect on long after the last page is turned.



I think this book would make for a great movie as well. There is romance, heartache and drama weaved within the story and I found it hard to put down.


Another thing I like about this book is the cover. Isn't it serene looking? It fits the story perfectly.

To Be Sung Underwater was a wonderful read from cover to cover and I highly recommend it if you are looking for a good book to get lost in.

The days slid by, Judith and Willy fell into the lazy rhythm of their secret life, carried along by the presumption that all the foreseeable tomorrows would be more or less like the day before them.

p.273

Special thanks to Blue Dot Literary for sending me a copy.
















ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tom McNeal is a critically-acclaimed author of many short stories and the novel, Goodnight, Nebraska; for which he won the 1999 James A. Michener Memorial Prize. McNeal was born in Santa Ana, California, where his father and grandfather raised oranges. He spent part of every summer at the Nebraska farm where his mother was born and raised, and after earning a BA in English at UC Berkeley and an MFA in Creative Writing at UC Irvine, he taught school in the town that was the inspiration for Goodnight, Nebraska. Tom has been a Wallace Stegner Fellow and a Jones Lecturer at Stanford University, and his short stories have been widely anthologized.

title: Netsuke

author: Rikki Ducornet


genre: fiction

published: 2011

pages: 127

source: ARC from librarything

first line: Although it is still very early, the wealth of the day is upon him.



rated: 5 out of 5 stars









Netsuke is the story about a married psychiatrist who sleeps with his patients. The narrative is lyrical and at times blunt and this novella was an unexpected gem.


Author Rikki Ducornet does an excellent job at getting inside
the doctor's mind and at expressing his thoughts. This psychiatrist is unwilling to stop cheating on his wife and has been living this secret life for many years.



He seems to want his wife to find out about his infidelities, he drops clues often, but she turns a blind eye.
The wife, Akiko, is a successful artist, often away due to her work. This is the doctor's third marriage and the couple live well off because of their professions.
The doctors lovers all have issues and he seems to enjoy playing with fire this way. One of his partners is a young woman who cuts herself, another is a cross-dresser. He has no shame in his sexual encounters, whether they occur in his office or in his home. He even schedules his affairs into his week on a regular basis, i.e. Fridays afternoons are kept open for sex with patients.



The doctor himself is despicable, not only is he unfaithful, but he is taking advantage of his patients. I couldn't help but be sucked into this story and was curious as to whether he would get caught. He was unstable and impulsive, and
his actions kept shocking me until the final page. When he wants to impress a patient, he goes out and buys new clothes, bringing his wife along for her opinion.

I felt he both loved and hated his wife. He resents her for his own unfaithful ways, blaming her for his behavior. His complex character is what made the story. I found it ironic that the doctor was the one that needed the therapy.




This is the type of book that you read slowly. Some of the passages were poetic, and I found myself re-reading them. Due to the subject matter, I found this to be very impressive. I also found it impressive that for being just 127 pages long, this was heavy reading. This is not the type of book you read in a single sitting.

But always the clock strikes. The knife falls. In love I am only blind. There is no knowledge there. No purifying fire. A moment's bliss and then: the mule brays.

p.37

I should mention that there is graphic language used in this story, I know some readers would veer away from that. Sex is a main theme in this book. I didn't mind the explicit language, I felt that it added to the straightforwardness and darkness of the story.


Rikki Ducornet is an interesting writer and a poet, and I would definitely read her work again.




The word Netsuke actually means 'miniature sculptures that were invented in 17th-century Japan to serve a practical function'. Check out the wiki page for photos and info on Netsuke. In this story, the doctor collects these sculptures and displays them in his office.



About the author:

Rikki Ducornet is the author of two short-story collections, five books of poetry, and seven novels, including The Fan-Maker’s Inquisition and The Jade Cabinet. She is also a painter whose work has been exhibited widely.

title: When No One is Watching

author: Joseph Hayes

genre: political thriller

source: sent by publisher for review

pages: 317

published: 2010

first line: "I love this ride, Dano!"

rated: 5 out of 5 stars

I think that, in the end, we mostly live the kind of life we deserve.

About:

When No One is Watching is a story about family, friendship, betrayal and redemption that had me hooked from the start.




Lawyer Danny Moran is a recovering alcoholic. His supposed best friend and colleague Blair Van Howe, is driving Danny home one night after a work related dinner. Despite being sober for a few months, Danny decided to have a few drinks and is in an alcohol induced stupor completely passed out in the passengers seat of his sports car. Blair is driving Danny's Porsche at full speed when he causes a horrible accident involving a father of two.

Instead of taking the blame himself, Blair gets out of the car, drags a passed out Danny over to the driver's seat and leaves the accident scene. Blair is running for Congress and cannot afford a scandal that will ruin his political career.
At this point, he doesn't know whether the innocent victim survived the crash or not, but Blair frames Danny for the accident.





When Danny awakens he finds himself in the midst of a horrible car crash and is being arrested for drunk driving and possible manslaughter. Danny cannot remember how he got into the drivers seat, since he never drove drunk before. Meanwhile Blair is home trying to cover up his tracks. He involves his wife and his father in law, who is a well known and politician, as dirty as he is.


Detective Vic Slazak arrives at the gruesome scene. He is assigned to the case, that seems like a regular DWI, yet he can't shake the nagging feeling that something is not right. He begins to investigate even further in search of the truth. Plenty of obstacles are curiously put in the way of his investigation, and Slazak realizes there are some powerful people who do not want him to uncover what really happened.




Riddled with guilt and humiliation, Danny spirals downward and continues to drink heavily, losing his wife and breaking his own family apart in the process. Never giving up hope, Danny tries to beat his alcoholism and redeem himself. He doesn't even blame Blair or hold grudges, although Blair dissappeared from Danny's life shortly after the crash.



A decade passes and Blair is now running for President of the United States, but there is always that small chance that his past lies will be uncovered.










My thoughts:

While reading When No One is Watching I really got swept into the story as author Joseph Hayes took me for a emotional and thrilling ride.



Blair Van Howe frames his best friend for a crime he committed himself then tries to console Danny after the fact. He seems like your everyday average Joe, yet he has it in him to do this horrible thing. After everything is said and done, Blair feels remorse for his actions, yet he lets Danny take the rap, almost ruining his life.



I rooted for Danny Moran from page one. His addiction makes him vulnerable and he is really a good guy battling his personal demons, even visiting the victims family to apologize for his supposed drunk driving. The supporting characters in this book were well written and the relationship between Danny and his 17 year old daughter seemed real to me, tugging at my heartstrings. I chocked up during one scene where Danny was home alone and drunk watching Blair on the television. He was cheering Blair on loudly.



Detective Slazak was a great character as well. I was sure that he would uncover the truth and set Danny free from his guilt and shame. He was on a mission to set things right, even a decade later.



If you're in the mood for a political thriller dealing with issues of morality, betrayal and family, I recommend When No One is Watching. The author creates multi-faceted characters with an interesting storyline, which in turn make for a thought provoking and emotional read.


You often hear the advice that writers should 'write what they know'. Which is what author and lawyer Joseph Hayes does here. And it really works well. This will be on my top reads for 2011.

















about the author:

Since obtaining his law degree from Berkeley, Joseph Hayes has practiced law in Chicago, San Diego and Houston. He currently serves the chief ethics officer for a Fortune 1000 company. Hayes resides in The Woodlands, Texas, with his wife, Susan, and their three children.

title: The Awakening


author: Kate Chopin

published: 1899

genre: classics/fiction/novella

pages: 155

source: personal copy

first line: A green and yellow parrot, which hung in a cage outside the door, kept repeating over and over: "Allez vous-en! Allez vous-en! Sapristi! That's all right!"


rated: 5 out of 5 stars

Edna began to feel like one who awakens gradually out of a dream, a delicious, grotesque, impossible dream, to feel again the realities pressing into her soul.

About:

Kate Chopin's The Awakening is one of my favorite pieces of literature and I thought it was finally time to re-read it.

The New Orleans coastal setting during the nineteenth century is at the heart of this novella. Chopin sets the mood just right and as I read, I felt like I was in Louisiana by the coast. I could almost smell and hear the ocean.



The story is about a woman named Edna Pontellier who is in her late twenties. Edna is a married mother of two small boys. Her husband Leonce gives her a seemingly satisfying lifestyle. Yet Edna is unhappy, often feeling restless and unfulfilled.


As the story unfolds, Edna falls in love with a man named Robert Lebrun while on summer vacation at the Grand Isle resort in the Gulf of Mexico.



She begins to awaken to feelings and thoughts within herself she never knew existed. In an attempt to resist temptation and heartache from an affair that can lead nowhere, Robert leaves abruptly for Mexico.




When the summer is over, Edna and her family return to New Orleans.
While Robert is gone, Edna misses him and finds herself beginning to feel even more dissatisfied. She begins to paint, considering herself an artist.



Edna's husband leaves on a business trip and while he is away, she ends up moving out of their home and renting an apartment by herself.
Edna meets a man named Alcée Arobin, who is known for his womanizing. She enjoys flirting with him and the two eventually have an affair.



When Robert returns to New Orleans, he and Edna both confess their feelings for one another. At this point, Edna knows she no longer loves her husband and wants to be 'free'.



My thoughts:

I like how Kate Chopin broke convention and wrote stories that challenged the norm. Her stories dealt with issues that weren't openly accepted or spoken about when she was alive.



In this story, a married woman decides she no longer wants to be tied down by her husband and even by her own children. She takes a lover and moves into her own apartment, all with no remorse. Although I didn't agree with Edna's behavior, I found myself almost mesmerized while reading Chopin's beautiful prose.

The voice of the sea is seductive; never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abysses of solitude; to lose itself in mazes of inward contemplation.



The voice of the sea speaks to the soul. The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace.

I admire how Chopin pushed the envelope. The ending is harsh and poignant and not something I would think the reader is expecting.


The story that caused so much uproar in Chopin's day, is now considered a classic of feminist fiction. That counts for something.

The past was nothing to her; offered no lesson which she was willing to heed. The future was a mystery which she never attempted to penetrate. The present alone was significant; was hers, to torture her as it was doing then with the biting conviction that she had lost that which she had held, that she had been denied that which her impassioned, newly awakened being demanded.

If you're looking to read a classic, with an unconventional protagonist and lyrical prose, you might enjoy The Awakening.


Read it free online

here.

Kate Chopin (1850–1904) was born in St. Louis and, upon marriage, settled in New Orleans. The mother of six, Chopin did not begin writing until her husband’s death left her in debt. The Awakening (1899), Chopin’s best known work, was so far ahead of its time in its portrayal of a dissatisfied wife, that it was overlooked. Today Chopin is considered the forerunner of twentieth-century feminist authors.

title: Wuthering Heights


author: Emily Brontë


published: 1847


pages: 415


genre: gothic romance/classic


first line: I have just returned from a visit to my landlord - the solitary neighbour that I shall be troubled with.


source: personal copy/re-read


rated: 5 out of 5 stars







"It is hard to forgive, and to look at those eyes, and feel those wasted hands..."




Ahhhhh.....Wuthering Heights. I really enjoyed re-visiting this old favorite cuddled up on my couch during these past cold winter evenings. It was a perfect time for me to re-read this book.





This book has always been a favorite classic of mine and I am glad I re-read it. The ironic thing about it is that I don't particularly like any of these characters except for Heathcliff. I like his passion, he is a great anti-hero. Selfish, brooding, manipulative, vengeful, spiteful; yet despite all these character flaws his fierce love for Cathy lasts a lifetime.



Actually, I do like Linton. His love for Cathy is pure and he doesn't have ulterior motives like most of the other characters in the story.




It's the depth of love that I really like in the book, that timeless love that Heathcliff and Catherine possess. The woman is dead for God's sake, and Heathcliff continues to love her and she haunts the Heights unwilling to leave her soulmate behind. That's what I call true, enduring love.
Catherine and Heathcliff's love affair affects everyone they come in contact with. There's no escaping it.




About the story:

The book is mainly narrated by Mr. Lockwood and Ellen Dean.



Mr. Lockwood is renting Thrushcross Grange near Wuthering Heights. A man named Heathcliff is his mysterious and rude landlord. Lockwood asks the housekeeper, Ellen Dean, to tell him the story of Wuthering Heights and its inhabitants.


She goes on to tell him the story of Heathcliff and Catherine and Wuthering Heights.
The first part of her story is of how Heathcliff came to live at the Heights, the seond half of the story is about how Heathcliff takes his revenge as an adult.




Heathcliff was brought to Wuthering Heights as a child by Mr. Earnshaw. He was raised by the family and Earnshaw treated him as a son.
There is an air of mystery to Heathcliff since no one really knows where he came from.


Catherine Earnshaw is the spoiled daughter of the house, yet she and Heathcliff become inseparable from a young age, eventually falling in love.
Hindley Earnshaw is Catherine's older brother. Hindley has a deep hatred and resentment for Healthcliff as soon as he meets him.
Years pass and when Mr. Earnshaw dies, Hindley is left as head of household and he has even more power to humiliate Heathcliff as he pleases.



The Linton's live at nearby Thrushgrove Range and the wealthy Edgar Linton proposes to Catherine. When Heathcliff overhears Cathy talking to the housekeeper Ellen about Edgars proposal and her intention of accepting, he disappears that very night. Catherine is heartbroken. She marries Edgar Linton and three years pass when one day a completely transformed Heathcliff appears at her doorstep.



Heathcliff's hell bent on revenge and he doesn't care what he has to do or who he has to hurt in order to get it. His cold heartedness affects all he comes in contact with, including his own son.









Heathcliff loves Catherine from the start, the two are bound to each other. He is jealous of Edgar's wealth and class, and his hatred and anger drive him to go away and come back a rich man himself. His quest for revenge is what fuels him.
After Catherine's death, he begins to manipulate those around him for his own gain and vengeance.

And lets not forget the paranormal elements to the story. Catherine haunting the moors. The mystery surrounding Heathcliff's death. His admitting to digging up her grave to see her once more.






Heathcliff becomes nasty and cold hearted with age, it is hard to believe he could love anyone at at all, but he does, until the day he dies.

Here's one of his meaner moments:

"Put your trash away, and find something to do. You shall pay me for the plague of having you eternally in my sight - do you hear, damnable jade?"
-Heathcliff to Catherine's daughter





He has a lot of anger inside him, and there is no hope of his ever letting that go. Heathcliff begins to use his son, Cathy's daughter and Hindley's son like pawns in a chess game. You would think he would love Cathy's daughter, since she is her flesh and blood, but he hates her.








I'll finish my review off with a few favorite scenes:


When Heathcliff comes back to Thrushcross Grange and appears at Cathy's front steps, a different man than when he left three years ago. It's so dramatic.

Now, fully revealed by the fire and candlelight, I was amazed, more than ever, to behold the transformation of Heathcliff. He had grown a tall, athletic, well-formed man; beside whom my master seemed quite slender and youth-like. His upright carriage suggested the idea of his having been in the army. His countenance was much older in expression and decision of feature than Mr. Linton's; it looked intelligent, and retained no marks of former degradation. A half- civilised ferocity lurked yet in the depressed brows and eyes full of black fire, but it was subdued; and his manner was even dignified: quite divested of roughness, though stern for grace.






When Catherine dies and Heathcliff dares her spirit to haunt him for the rest of his life.

'May she wake in torment!' he cried, with frightful vehemence, stamping his foot, and groaning in a sudden paroxysm of ungovernable passion. 'Why, she's a liar to the end! Where is she? Not THERE - not in heaven - not perished - where? Oh! you said you cared nothing for my sufferings! And I pray one prayer - I repeat it till my tongue stiffens - Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living; you said I killed you - haunt me, then! The murdered DO haunt their murderers, I believe. I know that ghosts HAVE wandered on earth. Be with me always - take any form - drive me mad! only DO not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! it is unutterable! I CANNOT live without my life! I CANNOT live without my soul!'




Catherine speaking about Heathcliff and Linton:


My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods: time will change it, I'm well aware, as winter changes the trees. My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary.



Brontë creates these imperfect and passionate characters, some of whom are borderline evil. I love the drama within the story, the setting of the dark and stormy Yorkshire moors sets the mood just right. This is a story about love, revenge, family and grief. It's a classic gothic love story that is not soon forgotten. Thank you Emily Brontë for creating one of my favorite anti-heroes in literature.






You can read Wuthering Heights free online here.