The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn

 

Title:  The Diamond Eye

Author:  Kate Quinn

Narrated by:  Saskia Maarleveld

Publisher: HarperAudio

Length: Approximately 12 hours and 51 minutes

Source: Purchased from Audible.com

How many languages can you read in?  I can only fluently read English, but I still remember enough high school Spanish to translate it in books.

Mila Pavlichenko is a young single mother and history student. When WWII reaches Russia, she uses her hobby of sharpshooting to become a renown sniper.  She finds love and horror while fighting for her country, but she may find her most wily enemy yet when she goes on a propaganda tour of the United States and is in the path of a potential presidential assassin.  Will she be able to thwart him?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       This was the November selection for the Rogue Book Club.  Sadly, I was the only member who read it, so we didn’t have a good discussion.  One of my other book clubs will be reading it soon so I’ll get to finally discuss it.

·       Author Kate Quinn is one of my favorite historical fiction authors.  I love all of her books.

·       It is amazing that Russia had women sharp shooters in WWII.  It’s especially amazing at a time when women in the military are being demeaned in our own country.

·       The novel is told through three point-of-views.  One is Mila in the past as she becomes a sniper. Another is an unknown assassin in 1942 trying to assassinate President Roosevelt.  The third is Eleanor Roosevelt in 1942 in her notes on hosting Mila and the Russian contingent.

·       The audiobook had a great narrator with voices and accents for all the characters.

·       Over halfway through the book, the two timelines caught up with each other.

·       I loved Eleanor.  She was an independent woman with a mind of her own that also helped Mila.

·       I enjoyed the train trip from Ann Arbor to Albion to Kalamazoo.  I was born in Kalamazoo!

·       The Golden Age of Hollywood Easter eggs were a lot of fun.

·       Mila is Ukrainian but considers herself Russian.

·       I was surprised to find out at the end that Mila and most of the characters in this story were real people and that most of the story was true.  I was amazed.  There is a great author’s note at the end describing all of this.

·       The book had a bit of a slow start, but there was much suspense at certain parts of the book especially at the end.

Overall, The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn was a fascinating novel about a famous Russian sharpshooter in WWII.    

Animal Farm by George Orwell

 

What classic have you always meant to read, but you haven’t quite gotten to it yet?

My son Daniel and I read most of Animal Farm by George Orwell together years ago (he was in middle school at the time. He is now a senior in high school.)  For some reason, we never read the last chapter.  I finally finished it up last month.  I had never read this book in my time in K-12 or in college, but I have always heard about it.  Unfortunately, it seems very relevant to the times we live in.

In this classic novella, animals on a farm in England rise up against their cruel master, Mr. Jones, and take over the farm to run it for themselves.  Things seem to go well until a pig named Napoleon and other pigs take over.  They change rules to help themselves and a pig named Squealer has the job to convince the other animals that their memory is faulty, “Comrade Napoleon is always right.”  Will the animals ever find the equality that they seek?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       This is a quick read and short book.

·       This story is written in the style of fable.

·       It is a dystopian story. 

·       We read the illustrated classic and liked the drawings in this version.

·       This book is on the banned book list.

·       I loathed Napoleon.

·       The different animals are supposed to represent different people in the history of the USSR.  For example, a pig called Snowball represent Leon Trotsky and is driven off the farm.

·       As the food rations smaller, pigs say that its is better than life under Farmer Jones.  Rules change slowly and no one is sure what is true. 

·       The story shows how a pure idea of freedom that is supposed to benefit all is corrupted by powerful people who take advantage of the uneducated masses to go along with things that do not benefit them.  The eventual dictator/leader turns to capitalism.

·       It seems like this book would be a better high school read rather than a middle school read where you could really dig into the history of the USSR and also current topics.

·       This book seemed heavy handed at times but did get the point across.  I got a lot more out of 1984 by George Orwell. 

Favorite Quote: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”

Book Source:  Purchased from Amazon.

A Song in the Dark by Kimberley Woodhouse

 

Title:  A Song in the Dark

Author:  Kimberley Woodhouse

Narrated by:  Liz Pearce

Publisher: Recorded Books

Length: Approximately 11 hours and 53 minutes

Source: Thank-you to @kimberleywoodhouse @bethanyhousefiction @austenprose

for the hard copy of this book as a part of the Austenprose PR Book Tour. Audiobook was purchased from Audible.com

Do you have a favorite Christmas song?  I love so many Christmas songs.  One favorite is “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.”

Chaisley Frappier is a prodigy and a blind concert pianist.  In 1938, she travels through Europe.  While becoming Hitler’s favorite pianist, she also helps as many people as she can.  She travels with her best friend Melanie and driver Rick Zimmerman.  Rick is a spy for the British government.  As Rick and Chaisley fall in love, will their secrets drive them apart?

My thoughts on this book:

·       The book has a riveting prologue that explains Chaisley’s blindness and the loss of her parents in WWI.

·       I loved the buildup of Chaisley and Rick’s romance. It was a good slow burn romance.

·       I enjoyed the great friendship between Melanie and Chaisley.

·       This novel is a clean read and is inspirational. 

·       There are many moments of suspense throughout the novel.

·       This book was a good look into Hitler’s atrocities to the handicapped, including the blind.  He forcibly sterilized blind and disabled people to “protect” the “perfect” race.  It was horrifying to event think about. 

·       The cover of this book is beautiful.

·       I loved that Chaisley, and crew were a light during a very dark time in history.

·       There are great discussion questions at the end of the book to use for a book club.

·       Liz Pearce was a good narrator of the audiobook.

·       I read this book back in October.

Overall, A Song in the Dark by Kimberley Woodhouse is a very engaging and inspirational WWII historical fiction novel. 

At Morning’s Light by Lauraine Snelling (Austenprose PR Book Tour)

 

Are you a morning person or a night person?  I am more of a night person.  Although now that I’m older, I’m definitely not staying up as long.

Einar and Maya Bredesen plan to immigrate to the United States from Norway.  Einar goes on one last fishing trip before they leave and is lost at sea.  Maya travels on to America with her brother to stay with her cousin Amalia in Green Creek, Iowa in 1890.  Amalia runs a boardinghouse and has recently married.  Will Maya be able to find a new life and potentially love in America?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       Maya had a hard time adapting to America. She doesn’t speak much English and feels like a fish out of water. It was a good reminder of what most Americans (besides indigenous) ancestor’s felt when they first arrived.

·       This is the second book in the Home to Green Creek series.  I read this as a standalone, but I wish I would have read the first book, so I had more of Maya’s background and story.  It took me a bit to get used to characters.

·       This novel had great characters.  I really liked Amalia who is always trying to help everyone and Maya who goes through so much.

·       This was a clean read and a Christian read. There are references to their Lutheran faith throughout.

·       This was a second chance romance novel.

·       The new love interest for Maya, Eber, starts as a friend and enters about halfway through the story. Therefore, this is also a friends to lovers’ story.

·       There are good book club discussion questions included at the end of the book.

Overall, At Morning’s Light by Lauraine Snelling was a beautiful story of second chances and friendship.

Book Source:  Thank-you to @laurainesnellingauthor @bethanyhousefiction @austenprose for a review copy of this novel as part of the Austenprose PR Book Tour. 

Murder at Cottonwood Creek by Clara McKenna

 

Do you prefer standalones or series?  I enjoy both, but always love when I find a new series to enjoy like the Stella and Lyndy Mystery series.

British Lyndy, Viscount Lyndhurst, and his American wife Stella, Lady Lyndhurst, have traveled to Montana to visit Lyndy’s father, Lord Atherly, who is working on a paleontology dig on the horse ranch of Stella’s mother and stepfather.  Soon after their arrival, a death amongst the dig team occurs and things spiral after that.  Will Stella and Lyndy be able to solve this mystery?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       This is the seventh book in the series.  It can be read as a standalone, but I recommend reading this delightful series.

·       This is a cozy mystery.

·       I’ve always found paleontology fascinating, and I loved the setting of this story in 1906 Montana during the search for fossils.

·       Stella and Lyndy are a great couple.  It was fun with this new setting in America to have Lyndy out of his element in this book rather than Stella in England.

·       There were a lot of red herrings in this mystery, and I was surprised by the ending.

·       I enjoyed that Stella got to enjoy time with her mother and getting to know her.  Stella was raised by her father and didn’t really know her mother.

·       It was also nice that Lyndy’s abrasive mom was not in America, but she still put the pressure on to have a child from afar.

·       This was a fun read.

·       Interesting author’s note on the end with tidbits and sources on the real history during this time period.

Overall, Murder at Cottonwood Creek by Clara McKenna was a fun cozy historical mystery with great characters.

Book Source:  Thank-you to author Clara McKenna for a review copy of this novel. 

 

Murder at Donwell Abbey by Vanessa Kelly (Austenprose PR Book Tour)

 

What is a book that you couldn’t put down?  I couldn’t put down Murder at Donwell Abbey by Vanessa Kelly!

Emma Knightley is surprised to discover that her reclusive father is engaged . . . to the always talkative Miss Bates!  While hosting an engagement party for the couple, a person is discovered dead.  Did they fall out of an upper story window or were they pushed?   Emma is on the case to solve this crime.

My thoughts on the novel:

·       This is the second novel in the Emma Knightley mystery series.  You can read this novel as a standalone, but I think it adds to the story to read both books.

·       This was a delightful mystery that was very readable.  I read it quickly and didn’t want it down.

·       I loved that the characters from Jane Austen’s Emma have their stories continued in this novel.

·       The characters are true to Austen’s creations.

·       Emma is a good sleuth with her eye for detail and for knowing everyone’s business.  She doesn’t leave things alone until she gets an answer.

·       I liked that Miss Bates becomes Emma’s mystery solving assistant.  This character was fleshed out more in this novel while remaining true to the original.

·       Emma and Mr. Knightley (George) make such a cute couple.  I enjoyed their interactions.

·       There were plenty of red herrings in this mystery to keep one guessing.  It had a great climax and conclusion.

·       It was a witty and fun book.  I enjoyed the reference for “excellent boiled potatoes’ that I felt was an Easter egg for Austen fans (in particular fans of the 2005 Pride and Prejudice adaptation).

·       This is a historical cozy mystery set during the Regency period.

·       It is a clean read.

·       This story is set during the Christmas season.

Overall, Murder at Donwell Abbey by Vanessa Kelly was a very entertaining cozy historical mystery novel and a great continuation of Emma by Jane Austen.

Book Source:  Thank-you to @vanessakellyauthor @kensingtonbooks @austenprose for a review copy of this novel as part of the Austenprose PR Book Tour. 

Mr. Rochester by Sarah Shoemaker

 

Title:  Mr. Rochester

Author:  Sarah Shoemaker

Narrated by:  Simon Shepherd

Publisher: Hachette Audio

Length: Approximately 16 hours and 43 minutes

Source: Purchased from Audible.com

Who is your favorite literary hero? 

Edward Fairfax Rochester is a second son.  His mother dies when he is young, and his absentee father sends him off to school at the age of eight.  He has to make his way in the world and learn what he can.  Will he ever return to his beloved Thornfield Hall?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       I read Mr. Rochester by Sarah Shoemaker for the October JASNA Book Club meeting. All of book club seemed to enjoy this well written novel and it provided good discussion comparing it to our other read, the original Jane Eyre.  Mr. Mason’s characterization seemed to be the main difference between the two books.

·       This novel was the story of Mr. Rochester’s life from childhood through adulthood.  It reminded me of Jane Eyre or a Dickens novel.

·       I kept wondering would a father really send a very young son away and not see him for a decade?  I know Victorian times were different, but it seemed odd.  Rochester was an unloved child just like Jane Eyre.

·       I thought his work at the mill had shades of Bronte’s novel, Shirley.

·       He had a lonely life when so many people died young in the Victorian age.

·       Mr. Rochester is astonished by slavery, but still used it to make a profit.

·       I liked that this wasn’t just a retelling of Jane Eyre through Mr. Rochester’s POV.  Most of the novel is his life before he meets Jane and then events of the novel through Mr. Rochester’s time.

·       I didn’t like that the mind games he played with Jane.

·       I did enjoy that a new character, Gerald, who was not in the original novel, was seamlessly added to the story in a way that adds to the drama and furthered the action.

·       Rochester was a good guy in this novel and his actions for locking Bertha away are explained.

 

Overall, Mr. Rochester by Sarah Shoemaker was an excellent retelling and a must read for any fans of Jane Eyre.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

 

Title:  Jane Eyre

Author:  Charlotte Bronte

Narrated by:  Thandiwe Newton

Publisher: Audible Studios

Length: Approximately 19 hours and 10 minutes

Source: Purchased from Audible.com

What classic have you read more than once?

Jane Eyre is the story of a young woman in Victorian times; from her unloved childhood, time in a boarding school and first job outside the school as a governess at the mysterious Thornfield Hall.  Will she find herself and love?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       I read this book in October for the JASNA Northwoods Book Club.  We had a great discussion on this book.

·       I first read this as a teen and have read it multiple times since then.  It is a classic book.  I will continue to reread and love it throughout my life.

·       This was a great audiobook version.  Thandiwe Newton had good characterization for all the characters.

·       Poor Jane.  Her childhood and the complete lack at love make me so sad.  Her parents died when she was an infant.  Her uncle took her in and loved her, but he died when she was one.  His widow could not love Jane and treated her terribly.

·       I did not like the way Mr. Rochester treated Jane and played games with her.

·       I do like how independent Jane is and how by the time she returns to Mr. Rocester, she has her own independent means.

·       I’ll admit, I always forget how much of the book is set with the Rivers family.  I like that she split her inheritance fairly.

·       Why is St. John pronounced Sin-Gin?  I have wandered this through many adaptations and this audiobook.

·       I love Gothic romance and all the mysterious happenings at Thornfield Hall. 

·       Mr. Rochester for all his faults, does treat Jane like an equal and usually talks honestly to her.

·       It is horrible when St. John proposes to her with absolutely no love for Jane, but the want for a useful partner for his missionary trip.  I’m glad Jane said no!

·       What is your favorite adaptation? One of my favorites is the 2006 miniseries starring Toby Stephens.  Why is Rochester always hot in adaptations even though he is described as not good looking in the novel?

Favorite Quotes:

“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.”

“Reader, I married him.”

“Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong! - I have as much soul as you, - and full as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some beauty and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you!”

Overall, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte is a masterfully written classic with one of the best heroines in literature.

 

Influence by Ruth Mitchell

 

What classic novel would you like to be retold in a modern-day setting?

April Rain was a superstar singer when she fell in love with a surfer boy one summer.  Her father and agent persuaded her to break things off with Freddy.  Five years later, Freddy is a superstar while April is a “has been” that has focused on college rather than her career. Freddy has moved next door for the summer.  Freddy and April are assigned to write a duet for the marriage of April’s sister and Freddy’s best friend.  Will these two find a second chance at romance?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       This was a great modern-day retelling of Persuasion by Jane Austen. It was true to the original characters with a good contemporary story that made sense.

·       The story is a romantic comedy.

·       It is told through a dual point of view and is a second chance romance.  I liked that Freddy and April narrated the book and I enjoyed getting Freddy’s point of view, which you do not get in the original novel.

·       I read this delightful book back in September.

·       This is the first in a series of modern-day retellings of Jane Austen’s novels and I can’t wait to read the rest.

·       The story was clever, funny, and romantic.  I enjoyed the witty banter.

·       I loved April’s Dad.  He was a washed-up actor who is very into himself.  It was so true to the original character!  The author did a great job of modernizing all the characters. 

·       I loved the romance between Freddy and April.

·       I also enjoyed that April was the inspiration for many of Freddy’s songs.

·       This book is set in California.

·       The story was very engaging, and I read it quickly.

·       This would make a great movie!

·       It was a clean read.

Overall, Influence by Ruth Mitchell is a very engaging, witty, and romantic retelling of Persuasion by Jane Austen.

Book Source:  Thank-you to @literally.ruth.mitchell @austenprose for a review copy of this novel as part of the Austenprose PR Book Tour. 

 

Venetia by Georgette Heyer

 

Title:  Venetia

Author:  Georgette Heyer

Narrated by:  Gemma Whelan

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Length: Approximately 11 hours and 46 minutes

Source: Checked out through Amazon Music with physical book purchased years ago at Walmart.

What author do you think deserves more adaptations of their work?  I feel like Georgette Heyer’s works are ripe for development into movies or miniseries.  With the love of Regency shows such as Bridgerton and all the Jane Austen adaptations, why are Heyer’s works not being adapted?

Venetia is twenty-five years old, beautiful, smart, and independent.  At her father’s death, she cares for the estate and her younger brother as she waits for her older brother to return from Europe.  Venetia wants to marry for love but starts to believe she will be a spinster.  Her neighbor, Lord Jasper Damerel, returns to the neighborhood after a long absence and sparks fly between the two.  Damerel is a known rake.  Can a rake and a respectable woman find love?

My thoughts on this book:

·       Venetia by Georgette Heyer was the What the Dickens July Book Club pick.  I read most of it in July but finished it up in September.  There was a good discussion on Facebook on the novel, but sadly, the book club is on hold right now.

·       The audiobook was a delight to listen too.  Gemma Whelan was a good narrator.

·       All the characters were wonderfully written.  I like how Damerel and Venetia both defied expectations.

·       Damerel isn’t just a rake, but a well-educated man who’s respects Venetia for her mind and truly enjoys spending time with her disabled, but intelligent brother, Aubrey.

·       Venetia doesn’t fall for Damerel’s seduction, but instead has witty discussions with him and truly befriends him.  I love how she cares for Aubrey.

·       I loved Aubrey – he cracked me up!  He had a dry humor, was intelligent, and just said things bluntly they way that they were.

·       Venetia’s older brother, Conrad, sends home his new young bride, Charlotte, but she brings her mother, Mrs. Scorrier.  What a villain!  She makes life a terrible trial for Venetia and Aubrey.

·       Venetia bluntly talks about orgies at the end – I was confused.  Did they have a different meaning in Regency times?  I looked I up and it meant a wild and drunken party.

·       Wow – what a surprise at the end.  I didn’t see it coming.  It did allow the two main characters to get together.

  Overall, Venetia by Georgette Heyer is a delightful Regency romance with great characters.