Becoming Marie Antoinette by Juliet Grey Review and GIVEAWAY!

Becoming Marie Antoinette is the first in a planned trilogy about the tragic French Queen, Marie Antoinette. This novel covers Antoinette (or Maria Antonia as she is known in her native Austria) from her girlhood and the planning of her marriage to the Dauphin of France to her marriage and ends when her and Louis become King and Queen of France.

Maria Antonia is the youngest daughter of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria’s sixteen children. Maria Theresa is a powerful figure and has determined to use her numerous children to make advantageous marriages to maintain peace in Austria. Due to her age, Antonia is chosen to marry the Dauphin of France. It takes awhile to totally convince the King of France of this idea and Antonia is forced to go through a total make over, including braces on her teeth (painful!), and changes to her hair, clothes, and education. Finally Antonia is formally engaged, married by proxy, and then married in France. Unfortunately, her new husband is more interested in hunting, eating, and making locks then he is in consummating the marriage. Now known as Marie Antoinette, she is forced to make her way through the treachery of the politics at Versailles and slowly finds herself falling in love with her husband.
Becoming Marie Antoinette is a straightforward look at Marie Antoinette’s rise to power. It’s a little sad at how optimistic both her and Louis are as they become the King and Queen of France knowing how it will all end. I’m very interested though on how this trilogy will continue in the future!

I like how this novel was a look at the early years of Marie Antoinette. So much is focused on the scandal and tragedy of her later years that it is almost forgotten that she was the daughter of such a powerful monarch. I would love to read a book on Empress Maria Theresa! She also had an interesting story about when a young Herr Mozart came to play at court when she was a child.

I was disturbed that she was forced to wear braces. I didn’t even know they had them at that point in time. It must have been so painful! I also thought it was strange with such a powerful mother that she neglected her daughters’ education so much. It makes one wonder if Marie Antoinette would have received a better education if it would have helped her out later in life.

I must say I was disturbed by one thing the most . . . that people were allowed freely go to the bathroom all over Versailles not in chamber pots. I can’t imagine how that must have smelled. That is terrible!!

Overall, I enjoyed Becoming Marie Antoinette and it left me wanting to read more about Marie Antoinette and her family!

I read this book as part of TLC Book Tours. The rest of the stops are at listed here.

Becoming Marie Antoinette is my seventeenth book in the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2011.

Book Source: Advance Review Copy from Random House. Thank-you!

Giveaway Details
Random House is going to send one lucky winner a copy of Becoming Marie Antoinette by Juliet Grey.

If you would like to win a copy of Becoming Marie Antoinette please leave a comment about what intrigues you about the novel.

As part of your comment, you must include an email address. If I can't find a way to contact you I will draw another winner.

For an additional entry, blog about this giveaway or post it on your sidebar. Provide a link to this post in your comment.

I will be using random.org (or a monte carlo simulation in excel) to pick the winners from the comments.

This contest is only open to US and Canadian residents (Sorry!).

No P.O. Boxes.

The deadline for entry is midnight, Friday September 2nd.

Good luck!

The Sense and Sensibility Screenplay & Diaries by Emma Thompson

Sense and Sensibility is one of my all-time favorite movies. I think it is the most perfect Austen adaptation that has been put to film. It was therefore with much interest that I read The Sense and Sensibility Screenplay and Diaries.

The introduction is written by Lindsay Doran, the producer of the film. The introduction was very interesting and told a great story of how Ms. Doran came to love Jane Austen and Sense and Sensibility in particular. She really wanted to put it to film and had the genius idea of having Emma Thompson write the screenplay. While Emma Thompson thought other Austen novels such as Emma and Persuasion would perhaps make better movies, Lindsay Doran was set on Sense and Sensibility.

It took many years, but Thompson wrote a great script that perfectly captured Austen’s wit in a screenplay format. The screenplay reads just like the film with no surprises. Great pictures are shown throughout.

Thompson’s diary has the day-to-day adventure of putting together the film. The most surprising fact was that the studio wanted to put out a novelization of the movie . . . which seems ludicrous when you have Jane Austen’s original masterpiece. Emma Thompson agreed and luckily that travesty never happened. It’s also amusing reading about how the movie was put together. It’s always funny to me that movie scenes are filmed completely out of sequence. So much depended on the weather and although it looked romantic, sounded horrible for Kate Winslet.

The Appendix also included a prize-winning letter written by Imogen Stubbs in the character of Lucy (Steele) Ferrars to Elinor some years after Sense and Sensibility. It was quite hilarious. I wish she would write a S&S spin-off about the later-day adventures of Lucy.

Overall, The Sense and Sensibility Screenplay and Diaries is a wonderful read for a lover of the movie and film.

This is my fifth item item in the Sense and Sensibility Bicentenary Challenge.

Book Source: The Kewaunee Public Library (although I think I need to buy a copy for myself!)

Winner of A Wife for Mr. Darcy by Mary Lydon Simonsen

The lucky winner of A Wife for Mr. Darcy by Mary Lydon Simonsen is Deb of Shady Lady. Deb was chosen using random.org and has been notified via email. She has one week to send me her mailing address. If I don't hear from her within that time frame, a new winner will be drawn!

Thank-you to Mary Lydon Simonsen for the great guest blog, Sourcebooks for providing the book for this giveaway, and everyone who left great comments!

I still have one current giveaway for Remember Me by Cheryl Robinson posted on the right sidebar. . . and stay tuned for a new giveaway that will be posted tomorrow!

Remember Me by Cheryl Robinson Review and GIVEAWAY

Remember Me is a poignant tale of two woman, best friends as girls and young women, and then estranged as adults. After a tragic accident, the two women unexpectedly meet up again and have to face the past before they can continue into the future.

Mia is a teenage African American girl in 1970’s Detroit. She has a difficult relationship with her father, and her parents decide to send her to a private Catholic all-girls school after she gets in trouble for holding hands with a boy on the school bus. As part of a small group of African American girls at her new school, Mia is taunted by her peers as well as a teacher who has a problem accepting black students and treating them as equals. A white loner student, Danielle, stands up for Mia and helps her to prove her case against the teacher. Danielle has recently lost her mother and is having difficulty at home with her racist father and his new wife and children. Mia and Danielle soon become fast friends.

In 2010, Mia is a wealthy cancer survivor living in a plush Detroit suburb. Her daughter, Alex, is her high school valedictorian and has been accepted on a full academic scholarship to the University of Michigan. Life suddenly comes crashing down upon Mia when she discovers her husband’s infidelity and financial misdeeds at his brokerage firm. Mia finds herself starting over as a teacher at fifty.

Danielle is a very successful author living in Florida with her ex-actor husband and her daughter Tiffany. Danielle has no close friends and indeed the closest relationship she has is with her dog. She seems to push away her husband and has difficulties having a relationship with her daughter as she seems focused on her daughter’s weight problems.

A tragic accident soon brings the two ex-friends back together. What caused their estrangement as young women? Will they be able to resolve their differences and move on together as friends?

I loved this novel’s format. It flashed back and forth from the present to the past to tell the story of the two women and their friendship. Mia and Danielle were both interesting characters in their different ways, but I must admit that I enjoyed reading about Mia the most. I loved her vibrant personality and how she was able to take life by the horns and move through difficult situations. As Danielle was more of a loner, it was hard at times to identify with her, but I also enjoyed her growth through the novel to really understand what is important in life. I found myself really caring about these two characters and wondering how the tragedy was going to play out. I couldn’t put the book down and I read it quickly.

I think I identified with the story as I think everyone has friends that vary through life. Some friends are your best friends as children or teens, but then through different circumstances, you grow apart as you get older. Robinson was able to perfectly capture the essence of the changing nature of friendship.

I also really enjoyed the novel’s setting. Truthfully, I am getting tired of most women’s fiction (or at least the novels I read) being set in New York City or London. Detroit was a unique setting and interesting to read about. I grew up in southwestern Michigan and my experiences were far different then two girls growing up in the Detroit area. It is almost like a different state – but probably more different from the urban versus rural setting. Cheryl Robinson vividly brings Detroit alive and makes me want to visit and see if any of the restaurants she describes are real! As my baby sister is moving from Texas to Ann Arbor, I’ll be visiting the area soon.

I also enjoyed how up to date the book is with Facebook and texting featured in the story line. One of my favorite lines in the novel is when Mia tells her mother she should be on Facebook and her mother replies something along the lines of, “Why would I want to be on Spacebook?”

As a book club member, I loved reading about Mia’s book club, “The Sophisticated Readers of Oakland County.” It was a large book club of fifty ladies that were very selective of the books they chose and had authors to visit quite often. I wish my small book clubs could have authors that would like to visit Kewaunee, Wisconsin!

Overall, Remember Me is a wonderful story of friendship throughout the course of a lifetime. It is also a story of racism, betrayal, and other weighty topics. This book has the two women examine their current lives and determine what really matters. I think we could all stand back and do this to our own lives.

I read this book as a part of the TLC Book Tours. The full tour schedule is located here.

Book Source: Advance Review Copy from Penguin Group Inc. Thank-you!

For more information about this book, check out these links:

Remember Me on Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Remember-Me-Cheryl-Robinson/dp/0451233387


Cheryl's website: www.cherylrobinson.com


Cheryl on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RememberMebyCherylRobinson


ALSO! A set of 10 copies of Remember Me will be the prize in our TLC Book Club of the Month contest in September. However, the link won't be 'live' until Sept 1st. But you could certainly mention it in your reviews if you like! The winning book club will also win a Skype or phone chat with Cheryl, plus a gorgeous red velvet cake from Daisy Cakes (www.ilovedaisycakes.com), because a red velvet cake plays a role in the story! I'll include a picture of the cake for you to drool over :-)


not a live link until Sept. 1st----> http://tlcbooktours.com/2011/09/book-club-of-the-month-contest-for-september-2011/

Giveaway Details
Penguin Group, Inc. is going to send one lucky winner a copy of Remember Me by Cheryl Robinson.

If you would like to win a copy of Remember Me by Cheryl Robinson please leave a comment about what intrigues you about the novel.

As part of your comment, you must include an email address. If I can't find a way to contact you I will draw another winner.

For an additional entry, blog about this giveaway or post it on your sidebar. Provide a link to this post in your comment.

I will be using random.org (or a monte carlo simulation in excel) to pick the winners from the comments.

This contest is only open to US and Canadian residents (Sorry!).

No P.O. Boxes.

The deadline for entry is midnight, Friday August 19th.

Good luck!

Winner of Before Versailles by Karleen Koen

The lucky winner of Before Versailles by Karleen Koen is Allison of Musings of a Book Junkie. Allison was chosen using random.org and has been notified by email. She has one week to respond with her mailing address. If I don't hear from her by then, I will chose a new winner.

Thank-you to Karleen Koen for the great interview and wonderful book. Thank-you to Random House for allowing me to host the giveaway and to TLC Book Tours for including me on the tour.

I still have one giveaway currently going . . . and a new one will be posted shortly so stay tuned!

Winner of Sea Witch by Helen Hollick

I'm trying to catch up on giveaways quickly here! I'm sorry I'm running a bit behind. Work has been hectic and we have been traveling to visit family.

The winner of Sea Witch by Helen Hollick is Joanne of Books, Belles, and Beauxs. Joanne was chosen using random.org. I hope she loves this novel as much as I did - we have very similar tastes in books so I think she will! If you enjoy my blog, I highly recommend you check out hers as well.

I have emailed Joanne to let her know that she won. She has one week to send me your mailing address or I will draw a new winner.

Thank-you to all who entered this giveaway. A special thank-you to Helen Hollick for including me on her tour and for sending out a bookplate and book to the winner of this giveaway. Thank-you again!

A Gentleman Never Tells by Amelia Grey

A Gentleman Never Tells is a delightful regency romance novel. I have a great love for regency romance, and I found this novel to be one of the best I’ve read in the genre.

Viscount Brentwood is walking his mother’s small dog in the park one morning when he is met by a beautiful woman walking a very large dog. She is beautiful and suddenly in his arms in a compromising manner. He enjoys the moment only too briefly before he is set upon by Lady Gabrielle’s father, fiancée’s father, and their men.

Now forced to wed, Brent tries to determine why Gabrielle wanted to break her first engagement, and the mystery of where his mother’s dog disappeared to during the moment of passion. Meanwhile, Gabrielle tries to show Brent that she would not make a suitable bride as she is determined to not to be forced into marriage.

I really enjoyed this regency romance novel. The characters were first rate. I loved Brent and Gabrielle and the secondary characters were also very delightful. I enjoyed how the romance developed in the novel, and I really enjoyed the mystery. I’m an animal lover and I enjoyed how the two characters bonded over their dogs and the mystery of what happened to Brent’s mother’s dog.

Book Source: Advance Review Copy from Sourcebooks. Thank-you!

A Wife for Mr. Darcy by Mary Lydon Simonsen

Mary Lydon Simonsen treats Jane Austen’s characters from Pride and Prejudice with respect and spins wonderful variations with them. In a Wife for Mr. Darcy, the variation is that Mr. Darcy realizes that he insulted Elizabeth Bennet at the Meryton Assembly and apologizes to her the next day. They realize their mutual attraction, but have to find a way to be together. Mr. Darcy has already started to court Letitia Montford and does not know how to honorably get out of his commitments to pursue Elizabeth. Will true love prevail?

While I loved her previous novel The Perfect Bride for Mr. Darcy, I have a so-so relationship with A Wife for Mr. Darcy. While I loved the characters and reading more about the P&P world, I didn’t find the story that interesting. Truthfully the variation makes the story not at all as interesting as the original story. There is not very much conflict. Letitia Montford is insipid and is no match for Elizabeth Bennet. Other major plot points of P&P are easily resolved.

Check out the great guest blog by Mary Lydon Simonsen for a chance to win a copy of this novel.

Book Source: Advance Review Copy from Sourcebooks – Thank-you!

Just One Season in London by Leigh Michaels

Viscount Rycroft has a title, but no money to maintain his family estate or to launch his beautiful sister Sophia into society. His mother, Lady Ryecroft contacts an old love from her youth seeking help to launch Sophie, but is rebuffed. Luckily Rye is able to rent the estate and take his family to London to see how the season treats them.

This story was told from many points of view revolving around the three main characters, Rye, Sophia, and Miranda. It was interesting having so many main characters and seeing events from all of their points of views. I enjoyed the romance, and especially loved that the “old” mother (almost forty) is the one who has the steamiest scenes.

Just One Season in London is a very enjoyable regency romance novel, with Michael’s great ability to weave many threads together for one fantastic story.

Book Source: Advance Review Copy from Sourcebooks. Thank-you!

Were is Laura?

I've gotten a bit behind on posting! I have a large stack of books that I've read that I need to post reviews for and a giveaway that I need to draw a winner for. I'm going to be spending a long weekend in Michigan visiting my family and will not be around the computer. I'm going to try to post a few reviews right now so please forgive the rush of posts . . . I just don't want to get TOO far behind . . .