King Arthur Movie Tristan

title: Bath Tangle

author: Georgette Heyer



genre: Regency Romance/Classic

pages: 362

published: 1955

source: sent for review from Sourcebooks



rated: 4 out of 5 stars











About:

The red-haired, fiery beauty Lady Serena Carlow has just lost her father to pneumonia. Her mother died when she was just twelve years old and she is an only child.

Serena's fifty-something year old father left behind a widow, the young Lady Fanny, who is twenty three years old, which makes her a few years younger than Serena. Milverly house, Serena's home, is left to her male cousin.



To Serena's horror, at the reading of her fathers will, Ivo Barrasford who is the marquis of Rotherham, is named trustee of Serena's wealth.


Rotherham, who is not even a blood relative, is also Serena's ex-beau, whom she broke it off with years ago because he was 'unendurable'. Serena's father however, trusted and liked Rotherham.




Added to all of this, Serena was once in love with a soldier named Hector Kirkby. This was six years ago and Serena's father made her break off the match since Hector was not wealthy.


Serena and the fair and dainty Fanny get along very well and they decide to temporarily move to Bath. Once at Bath, the two ladies make new acquaintances and find some entertainment with this new change of scenery. Serena even runs into her old flame, Major Hector Kirkby and sparks reignite.





My thoughts:

If I had to describe Bath Tangle with just one word, it would be charming.







Oh, what a tangled web Miss Georgette Heyer weaves in this novel.

This book had me laughing from the start with all the goings on within the storyline and sighing at the sweet romance throughout.




The reading of the will was a favorite scene and I laughed out loud at Serena's reaction to her fate. I thought she was going to claw Rotherham's eyes out since he had the nerve to laugh out loud after the Will was read.

"Fanny, don't touch me! I am not safe!"

-(Serena to Fanny)







I liked Rotherham and thought he made a good hero.
He and Serena had great chemistry, and although the two always found one reason or other to argue, I could always see that he still held feelings for her.
Some of the things he would say to Serena had me laughing. He is very much the 'no nonsense' type of guy.



Serena was likeable. She's got a mind of her own, is a self-confessed flirt and is always ready to argue with Rotherham when the opportunity arises.

She was raised as part of the upper class, used to meeting royalty, with mannerisms of someone who is used to having only the best. She also has a bit of a reputation due to her feisty temper and because she broke off her engagement with Rotherham.




Poor Fanny, she was made a widow in her early twenties, with a step-daughter near her same age to boot. She and Serena are more like sisters than anything. Fanny is happy with the simple life.




I liked when Hector Kirkby made his entrance into the story. He makes it known that he has never forgotten Serena and hates Rotherham. I did feel that Hector was too head over heels in love with Serena, and was blind to her faults. I would laugh out loud when Serena would put him in his place, as he had no control over her.
Another funny scene was when he took Serena to meet his mother. Hector is a bit of a flake.




I always enjoy visiting Regency England through Heyer's stories. She describes the time, place and customs so well that I feel as though I am really there.



This was a fun romance and I found myself being unable to put this one down. Heyer made me laugh until the very end.


The author has a knack for putting her characters into place, then letting the story take twists and turns until the final page.

This was also a story about class and social standings. Heyer weaves this aspect of class into the storyline very well.





With Georgette Heyer's signature witty dialogue, sweet romance, interesting characters and a fun storyline, I thoroughly enjoyed Bath Tangle.



This book has also been reviewed by:


Blodeuedd.







I'll close my review with a few favorite tidbits:

"Don't shoot daggerlooks at me! I'm impervious to 'em."

p.13

He had few graces, his manners being blunt to a fault, made as many enemies as friends, and, had he not been endowed with birth, rank, and fortune, would possibly
have been ostracized from polite circles. But these magical attributes were his, and they acted like a talisman upon his world. His Belcher neckties and his unconventional manners might be deplored but must be accepted: he was Rotherham.

p.13

"It is nearly seven years since I first saw her, and from that day those feelings have remained unchanged! She appeared to me then like some heavenly creature descended to earth to make every other woman seem commonplace! Her beauty, her grace, the very music of her voice, I could never forget! They have remained with me, haunted all of my dreams..."

p.127

About the author:







Georgette Heyer (16 August 1902 – 4 July 1974) was an English historical romance and detective fiction novelist. Her writing career began in 1921, when she turned a story for her younger brother into the novel The Black Moth. In 1925 Heyer married George Ronald Rougier, a mining engineer. The couple spent several years living in Tanganyika and Macedonia before returning to England in 1929. After her novel These Old Shades became popular despite its release during the General Strike, Heyer determined that publicity was not necessary for good sales. For the rest of her life, she refused to grant interviews, telling a friend: "My private life concerns no one but myself and my family."


quoted from wiki

title: Tout Sweet: Hanging Up My High Heels for a New Life in France

author: Karen Wheeler

genre: memoir

published: August 2011

pages: 311

source: ARC from Sourcebooks



first line: Oh Dear God, what have I done?

rated: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

In her mid-thirties, fashion editor Karen has it all: a handsome boyfriend, a fab flat in west London, and an array of gorgeous shoes. But when her boyfriend, Eric, leaves she makes an unexpected decision: to hang up her Manolos and wave good-bye to her glamorous city lifestyle to go it alone in a run-down house in rural Poitou-Charentes, central western France.


Tout Sweet is the perfect read for anyone who dreams of chucking away their BlackBerry in favor of real blackberrying and downshifting to a romantic, alluring locale where new friendships–and new loves–are just some of the treasures to be found amongst life's simple pleasures.

About the book:

Tout Sweet: Hanging Up My High Heels for a New Life in France is a fun, light, and interesting memoir where Karen Wheeler shares her experiences after she leaves her hectic London life behind and moves to rural France.



After a bad breakup, the thirty five year old successful fashion editor decides she needs to leave it all behind her. Karen lived a glamorous lifestyle, complete with her nice London flat, invites to fancy cocktail parties, jet setting off to fashion shoots and a closet full of designer handbags and shoes.
When Karen takes time out to open her eyes and look around, she doesn't like what she sees.

She packs up and moves to France to start a new life for herself.






My thoughts:

This memoir reads smoothly, it's the type of book you don't want to put down. It's also one of those memoirs that reads almost like fiction, this one could be chick-lit if it wasn't a true story.

I enjoyed the descriptions of France and felt like I was there as she described the sights and sounds.

I looked out of the open window at a vivid yellow and blue landscape, at the fields bursting with sunflowers and blond haystacks against the vibrant turquoise evening sky. As I felt the warm evening breeze on my arm, resting on an open window, and watched the long-armed irrigators send arcs of water soaring over the fields, I felt a surge of excitement for the first time in ages.

p.21 Tout Sweet: Hanging Up My High Heels for a New Life in France

Karen takes us through her moving and renovating her new French home which she names 'Maison Coquelicot', which means 'house of the wild poppy'. She also describes her breakup with her boyfriend Eric, whom she thought was 'the one'. Even though she moves to France to start anew, Karen finds herself missing him often.



Her close friends and neighbors are also mentioned throughout and I found their antics entertaining. Karen had me laughing at times and cheering for her as I read. One scene in particular as Karen is giving a certain someone a ride home, and he professes his undying love to her, while at the same time offering her an 'open relationship', had me in stitches.


I liked Karen's voice and the way she told her story openly and honestly. I was hoping she would find her Mr. Right. What she does find in France is happiness and contentment.

I think it takes incredible bravery to pack up and start a new life in a foreign country no less. Go Karen!




I enjoy reading memoirs that aren't depressing and found Tout Sweet to be a fun summer read.





About the author:





Karen Wheeler is a former fashion editor for the Mail on Sunday and currently writes for the Financial Times How to Spend It magazine and London’s Daily Mail. Her work has appeared in the Evening Standard and You magazines, Sunday Times Style, and numerous international publications. A three-time winner of the prestigious Jasmine Literary Award for writing about perfume, she specializes in fashion, beauty and luxury goods trends. Karen also has a great blog at www.toutsweet.net and Twitters @mimipompom1.

Tomorrow would have been Georgette Heyer's 109th birthday. To celebrate, Sourcebooks is having a sale on her e-books.



Click here for the titles.

Tuesday, August 16 would have been Georgette Heyer’s 109th birthday. In honor of this most beloved author, who many call the Queen of Regency Romance, Sourcebooks is discounting EVERY SINGLE one of the eBooks we currently have available to $1.99 for one week, getting Heyer’s Birthday Party started a day early on August 15!


That’s 46 books by Georgette Heyer, plus the fabulous reader companion, Georgette Heyer’s Regency World by Jennifer Kloester, available for $1.99 from August 15-August 21.

Click here to view the 46 e-books by Georgette Heyer.





If you haven't read any of Heyer's work yet, this may be the perfect opportunity.
I recommend Frederica :)

Then came Frederica, upsetting his cool calculations, thrusting responsibilities upon him, intruding more and more into the ordered pattern of his life, and casting him into a state of unwelcome doubt. And, try as he would, he could discover no reason for this uncomfortable change in himself. She had more countenance than beauty; she employed no arts to attract him; she was heedless of convention; she was matter-of-fact, and managing, and not at all the sort of female whom he had ever wished to encourage.

title: The Quiet Gentleman

author: Georgette Heyer

pages: 360

genre: regency mystery/romance

published: 1951

source: sent for review from Sourcebooks

first line: In the guide-books it figured as Stanyon Castle; on the tongues of the villagers, it was the Castle; the Polite World spoke of it as Stanyon, as it spoke of Woburn, and of Cheveley.

rated: 4 out of 5 stars









Before I start my review, I just wanted to mention that I believe Georgette Heyer to be the Queen Bee of Regency Mystery/Romance novels and I'm a big fan of her work. I'd also like to give many thanks to the publicists over @ Sourcebooks for providing me with several great Heyer titles over the past couple of years. They are the reason I discovered this wonderful author.





Now onto my review....I think you might already be able to tell how it will go.





About:


Gervase Frant returns home after surviving the Napoleanic Wars. Gervase is now the Earl of St. Erth and is home to claim himself as master of the estate known as Stanyon Manor. His step-mother Lady St.Erth, and step-brother Martin, are both openly unhappy about this. Also staying at Stanyon Castle are Gervase's cousin Theo and Miss Morville who is a guest.


One day while out riding, Gervase stumbles upon a maiden in distress. Miss Marianne Bolderwood has fallen off her horse.

Gervase notices right away how lovely Marianne is and begins, like so many others, to give her his attentions. This makes Martin furious, he thinks that Marianne is his personal property and plans to marry her someday, fueling his hatred of Gervase even more.





With Gervase waking in the middle of the night swearing someone was just in his room, to his being setup to purposely take a tumble off his horse, the new Earl has the distinct feeling that the jealous Martin is behind it all. Miss Morville actually tries to help Gervase figure out who is trying to do him harm and she becomes a good friend to the new Earl.









My thoughts:


Since I first read Heyer's work she has reminded me of Jane Austen.

Heyer brings Regency England to life in her stories, and as I read, I am instantly transported there. She set a Gothic mood in this novel from the start with her description of Stanyon Manor and I really enjoyed that.


Heyer had a knack for creating fun characters and storylines. There was a sweet and unexpected romance in the plot.



Gervase Frant himself is a well thought out character and he is definitely The Quiet Gentleman, never losing his composure and finding clever ways to get through difficult situations. He makes for a great hero.

There's a swordfight, people wandering the castle at night, a ball, men fighting over a female, witty dialogue and murder attempts. What more could you want in a book?




I giggled as I read, was swept into the storyline and sighed as I turned the last page. Heyer had me guessing until the end and the person behind trying to harm Gervase wasn't who I thought it would be.



I enjoyed reading The Quiet Gentleman so much that I was up past 1:00 AM to finish reading it, even though I had to be at work early the following day.


With interesting characters, a Gothic like mansion, a dash of humor and some romance, you have a fun mystery the likes of which only Georgette Heyer can weave.

"Good God! The fellow's nothing but a curst dandy!"
p.13

Check out Blodeuedd's review of The Quiet Gentleman.







About the author:





Georgette Heyer (16 August 1902 – 4 July 1974) was an English historical romance and detective fiction novelist. Her writing career began in 1921, when she turned a story for her younger brother into the novel The Black Moth. In 1925 Heyer married George Ronald Rougier, a mining engineer. The couple spent several years living in Tanganyika and Macedonia before returning to England in 1929. After her novel These Old Shades became popular despite its release during the General Strike, Heyer determined that publicity was not necessary for good sales. For the rest of her life, she refused to grant interviews, telling a friend: "My private life concerns no one but myself and my family."

quoted from wiki

It's Monday again, but the good thing is new books in the mail right?

Here's my Mailbox Monday's post for today. This month Bluestocking is hosting MM.



Sourcebooks sent me two Heyer books for review this past week. *yay* Aren't these covers nice?





Bath Tangle









The Quiet Gentleman




Enjoy your day :)

title: The Undertakers: Rise of the Corpses

author: Ty Drago

genre: fantasy/science fiction/independent reader

source: sent for review by Sourcebooks

published: April, 2011

pages: 465

first line: On a sunny Wednesday morning in October, a day that would mark the end of one life and the beginning of another, I found out my grouchy next door neighbor was the walking dead.

rated: 4 out of 5 stars









About:




When twelve year old Will Ritter is wakes up one morning just like any other day, and starts to get ready for school, he notices that his neighbor is one of the undead. Unable to believe his eyes, Will takes the school bus and once he arrives in his Math class, he realizes his teacher is also a walking, talking corpse.
Will thinks he's just going crazy when he starts seeing several more undead adults at school, all of whom look like they want to attack him.


A fellow classmate named Helene, Will's crush, starts squirting the corpses with a water gun and runs out of the school with Will, promising to explain everything to him later. She takes him to a special, secret hideout where there are several other kids. These kids call themselves the 'Undertakers'.


Will soon finds out he is a 'Seer', a person who can see these walking corpses for what they really are. These are not zombies, they are corpses who are smarter and quicker than zombies. These corpses have been possessed by aliens and live among us wearing 'masks' that only Seers can detect. For the most part, only kids can 'See' them. Their sight usually takes place around puberty, which is why Will started to see them now.



Since Will is a Seer, his life is in danger. He can no longer go back home, since the corpses will harm his family to get to him.

Will learns some things about his father, a cop who passed away a few years ago, and who was connected with this band of kids. As the story flows, Will meets the rest of the Undertakers, gets lessons in combat and makes strong friendships.


With the threat of the Corpses ever present, Will and the Undertakers need to
decide if they are going to take a stand against the undead or if they should continue hiding out, while their own army continues to grow.




My thoughts:


When I first saw the cover on The Undertakers: Rise of the Corpses, I thought this book was about zombies. It's not. It's about corpses that have been possessed by aliens, and are living and walking among us. They seem like your average, every day citizens, and only kids with a special sight can see them for what they really are.




This book was FUN from page one. It was a great read, with likeable characters that you root for. At 465 pages, it's a fast paced book and I finished it just a few sittings. Will's a great hero, you like him from page one. Throughout the story he misses his mom and often thinks about her. The supporting characters within the book seemed believable, and the author captures the children's voices very well. The kids are all resourceful and smart, working together as a team. There were a few funny parts here and there and some very cool fight scenes.

The story takes twists and turns that keep the reader interested, I didn't find any dry spells. There's a surprise in the ending that I didn't see coming. Author Ty Drago keeps the ending open for the next book in the series, which I want to read.



I can see this one being made into an animated film. It's geared towards independent readers ages 10 and up. This is a fun read for independent readers as well as adults.

about the author:

Ty Drago is an author, husband, father, and a born Quaker who has lived in New Jersey almost his entire life. He is the editor/publisher of Allegory, an online magazine of science fiction, fantasy and horror. He has also had short fiction published in Space and Time Magazine and Fortress Publishing's YESTERDAY I WILL anthology. Many years ago, Ty attended a book signing by Isaac Asimov. When Dr. Asimov learned that Drago was a struggling young SF writer, he penned the following: “To Ty: Please keep trying. Isaac Asimov.” And he did.

The Undertakers have their own website.




Special thanks to Beena over @ Sourcebooks.

title: Alice in Zombieland

authors: Lewis Carroll and Nickolas Cook


genre: fiction/humor/zombie spoof/parody

pages: 240

published: February 2011

source: ARC sent for review from Sourcebooks

first line: Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do.

rated: deliciously twisted

3 1/2 out of 5 stars

Esteemed author Nickolas Cook gives new life, or rather takes it away, in his version of Alice in Alice in Zombieland. When Alice follows the Black Rat down an open grave, she falls and falls into a world full of the undead, rotting flesh, and characters beyond her imagination. But there’s something troubling Alice. Her skin is rotting and her hair is falling out, and she has the haunting feeling that is she remains in Zombieland any longer, she might never leave. Can Alice escape Zombieland, and stay out of the Dead Red Queen’s clutches along the way?

I've actually never read Alice In Wonderland, but I have seen the film version so I know the basic storyline.

In this zombified version, Alice is playing in a graveyard near her home with her sister when she spots a Black Rat nearby and follows it down an open grave.
Alice ends up in Zombieland where the Red Queen rules over the living and the dead.


She ends up meeting strange characters, most of whom seem to not be alive, yet not wholly dead. Some of these strange characters are the Conqueror Wurm and the Corpse Turtle.

Alice herself is starving and has a strange craving for live meat, and finds it hard to focus on anything but her hunger and how yummy some of the characters she stumbles across look. Her hair is also falling out and her skin has a blue tint to it.



As she goes through Zombieland, Alice tries to find her way back home. She finally comes across the Red Queen herself and her small army of zombies.



This was a fun read, I enjoyed the Cheshire Cat scene and the Tea Party scene the most.

"In that direction," the Cat said, waving its right paw round, "lives a Hatter: and in that direction," waving the other paw, "lives a Dead Hare. Visit either you like: they're both zombies."

"But I don't want to go among dead people," Alice remarked.

"Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat: "We're all dead here. I'm dead. You're dead."


p.108

I found Alice in Zombieland to be very twisted, plenty of scenes were gruesome and not for the faint of heart. The illustrations within the book were entertaining and I finished this one in one sitting.








If you're a fan of spoofs and zombies, you might enjoy this one.


As for myself, I'd like to read the original soon. I do wonder how close to Carroll's original story this parody is.

She stretched herself up on tiptoe, and peeped over the edge of the pale, smelly mushroom, and her eyes immediately met those of a large black wurm, that was sitting on the top with its arms folded, quietly supping on a freshly dismembered human ear which it had stolen from the nearby graveyard and taking not the smallest notice of her or of anything else.

p. 69

Special thanks to Sourcebooks.

title: The Liberation of Alice Love

author: Abby McDonald

genre: fiction/humor/chic-lit/romance


published: March 2011


pages: 417

source: ARC from Sourcebooks

first line: It began with a vibrator.

rated: 4 out of 5 stars








The first line in The Liberation of Alice Love made me laugh out loud.

The story centers around a single, thirty something year old lawyer named Alice Love working in an agency in London.

When Alice tries using her debit card, she is declined. After calling the bank, she realizes she is a victim of fraud. Things only get worse when Alice goes to the bank to try and get a loan for a flat and she finds out she is thousands of pounds in debt due to fraudulent purchases and withdrawals.

Alice is trying to figure out who could have possibly stolen her identity and taken off with her life savings.



After finding out who the culprit is, feeling foolish and betrayed, Alice falls into a depression. The debt collectors are calling, she is unsure whether the bank will refund her money, and she feels like an idiot.
Soon enough Alice hires a man named Nathan to help her track down the thief who stole her identity. She first met the handsome Nathan at her sisters party and was instantly taken by him. He is a financial investigator and is eager to help her.


Alice decides to stop feeling at fault for what happened to her, and to somehow track down the thief and get her life back on track.



She begins tracking the thief's purchases and places they frequented and learns how her money was spent. Along the way, Alice finds herself trying out a gym membership that was taken out in her name and stopping to purchase clothes on a whim at a store where the thief shopped. Alice becomes liberated by doing things that are out of the norm for her in the process of trying to understand the thief's motives.




I really enjoyed The Liberation of Alice Love. It's a fun, sweet and interesting read.
I liked Alice, she made me laugh throughout the book. The supporting characters were well written and the story was taking twists and turns that had me wondering what would happen next.





The identity theft aspect of the story was right on point. When Alice questions the bank manager, she asks in great detail how someone could have wiped her accounts clean. She asked him questions like how could the culprit have known the answers to her personal questions, such as what is the name of her first pet and how the transfer could have gotten through so quickly when in reality a basic check deposit takes days to clear. Being in banking myself, I know the ins and outs of this type of thing and I can appreciate that the author did her research here, in order to make the fraud aspect of the story believable.
Abby McDonald is an author to look out for. What most impressed me is that she is just twenty five years old.

She didnt' waste time pining over men; she'd learned that lesson years ago. If they were interested, they would do something about it, and if they didn't-well, then they clearly didn't care enough to waste her time wondering over them. It was simple, far simpler tham any books or magazines or even her friends would admit.

Believing otherwise, she knew, would only leave her feeling an ache every night, absence like a physical form in the empty bed beside her.
p. 27

About the author:

Abby McDonald grew up in Sussex, England and studied Politics, Philosophy & Economics at Oxford University. She began writing at college, and graduated to work as a music journalist and entertainment critic; drawing on her loves of pop culture, film and feminism, and interviewing acts as diverse as LeAnn Rimes, The Kings of Leon, and Marilyn Manson. She is now a full-time novelist and screen-writer.

Special thanks to April over @ Sourcebooks.