Review: Emma, Mr. Knightley, and Chili-Slaw Dogs by Mary Jane Hathaway

Emma, Mr. Knightley, and Chili-Slaw Dogs

Author: Mary Jane Hathaway

Series: Austen Takes the South #2

Goodreads

Summary

Caroline Ashley is a journalist on the rise at the Washington Post until the sudden death of her father brings her back to Thorny Hollow to care for her mentally fragile mother. The only respite from the eternal rotation of bridge club meetings and garden parties is her longtime friend, Brooks Elliott. A professor of journalism, Brooks is the voice of sanity and reason in the land of pink lemonade and triple layer coconut cakes. But when she meets a fascinating, charismatic young man on the cusp of a brand new industry, she ignores Brooks’ misgivings and throws herself into the project.

Brooks struggles to reconcile his parents’ very bitter marriage with his father’s devastating grief at the recent loss of his wife. Caroline is the only bright spot in the emotional wreckage of his family life. She’s a friend and he’s perfectly happy to keep her safely in that category. Marriage isn’t for men like Brooks and they both know it… until a handsome newcomer wins her heart. Brooks discovers Caroline is much more than a friend, and always has been, but is it too late to win her back?

Review

Anytime I open a book that has a Jane Austen character/title in the title, I immediately know that I want to read it. I also know that it is most likely going to follow the plot of the original Jane Austen novel or else they wouldn't have packed the references so heavy. With books like this, the writer is letting you know what is going to happen from page one. In this case, I liked it. Not having to worry about how the novel was going to end, I was able to focus on the way the author got the story to the end and I was thoroughly satisfied.

Caroline is the epitome of a Southern bell. As soon as her mother needed her, she gave up everything she was doing to come home and take care of her. She soon took over helping her mother host bridge parties, entertaining her mother's gossiping friends, and dealing with a life that just isn't turning out the way that she always thought it would. The one thing that makes her days better are her best friend Brooks, his golden retriever Absalom, and the chili-slaw dogs Brooks brings her when he knows she's had a bad day.Their relationship was my favorite part of the story. Every girl secretly or not so secretly wants that one guy friend who will be there for you no matter what.

There were some grammatical and formatting errors along with one other little error, but other than that, the book was well put together. I did feel, however, that it was a little rushed at the end. It felt like the author knew where she wanted it to end, so she pushed it too quickly to get to that point. The big reveal of the novel was more like a tiny puff of smoke - no major blow ups. To me, there should have been a bigger event. There was also a few unresolved issues that I thought needed some kind of ending.

Otherwise, it was a pretty good read. I would suggest it to any of my friends or readers who enjoy Jane Austen, the Old South, and romance.

Rating

Super Six Sunday – Super 6 Books that Scared The Bejeebus Out Of Me

Super Six Sunday is an original bookish meme hosted at Bewitched Bookworms and inspired by “Top Ten Tuesday” from The Broke and The Bookish. Check out the weekly schedule of themes here.

Super 6 Books that Scared The Bejeebus Out Of Me

The bad guy in this story just makes my blood run cold. Any person that abuses women (or anyone) the way he did is just a horrible human being. Points to the author, though, for making a convincing villain.

This book scared the life out of me when I was younger. I never read the first book, but I didn't feel like I needed to. It's like a mix of a bad chainletter and "I Know What You Did Last Summer." If someone doesn't do the horrible thing on their chainletter, they die.

Need I say more? King in the king of horror.

I read all the Fear Street books I could get my hands on growing up, but this portion (First-Third Horror) were some of the scariest ones.

I never got all the way through it, but creepy killer clowns freak me out.

A real life book about real-life serial killers, their M.O.s, their victims, and the authors real life experience accidentally crossing two serial killer's paths in his lifetime.

So those are MY top 6 books that Scared The Bejeebus Out Of Me. What about you?

Can you narrow it down to only 6???

What memories do they bring up??

Review: City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare

City of Lost Souls

Author: Cassandra Clare

Series: The Mortal Instruments Book #5

Goodreads

Summary

The New York Times bestselling Mortal Instruments continues—and so do the thrills and danger for Jace, Clary, and Simon.

What price is too high to pay, even for love? When Jace and Clary meet again, Clary is horrified to discover that the demon Lilith’s magic has bound her beloved Jace together with her evil brother Sebastian, and that Jace has become a servant of evil. The Clave is out to destroy Sebastian, but there is no way to harm one boy without destroying the other. As Alec, Magnus, Simon, and Isabelle wheedle and bargain with Seelies, demons, and the merciless Iron Sisters to try to save Jace, Clary plays a dangerous game of her own. The price of losing is not just her own life, but Jace’s soul. She’s willing to do anything for Jace, but can she still trust him? Or is he truly lost?

Love. Blood. Betrayal. Revenge. Darkness threatens to claim the Shadowhunters in the harrowing fifth book of the Mortal Instruments series.

Review

When I got to this book, my hopes for it were high because I had really enjoyed series. Cassandra Clare is a great author, so I had faith in her that she would deliver another stunning piece of literary magic. I had grown really attached to Clary, Jace, Isabelle, Alec, Magnus, and my favorite character of the franchise, Chairman Meow. While she did deliver a good book, it was not my favorite, and I felt that some parts fell a little flatter than she wanted them to.

This particular book was filled with so many major and minor plot lines that sometimes I got a little confused on what was going on, who was talking/meeting with who, and who the narration was focused on at the moment. The story seemed to jump around from character to character, giving us a lot of small glimpses of some characters and large moments with others. There definitely could have been more clarity on the narration part. It was very all over the place - in a good way and a bad play.

Clary seemed little more reckless in this novel than she had previously. When Clary finds out that Jace and Sebastian are connected, she immediately decides that she has to be the one to figure out how to separate them. Instead of working with her Shadowhunter friends on this, she takes matters into her own hands and makes her own plan to go with Jace in hopes of figuring out Sebastian's plans and saving Jace. Despite how Jace tries to play things, it's not all sunshine and rainbows. Clary is faced with some dangerous, frightening, and impossible situations. Something in her wants to believe that there is good in Sebastian, and her love for Jace seems to cloud her eyes for most of the story. She is so worried about him that she doesn't take time to worry about her own safety - which had me screaming at her more than once in this book.

Despite this, the book is actually action light. It's more planning, plotting, and trying to figure things out before rushing into the situation unprepared.

While it is my least favorite of the series, it is not an all-together bad book. I still advise readers to read it because the series is worth it, and anyone invested in these characters should want to see what happens to them in this book - no matter what. Opinions of this book seem to vary widely.

Rating

Cover Reveal: Love In All The Wrong Places by Audrey Harte

I'm helping Audrey Harte reveal the cover of her latest novel, Love In All The Wrong Places.

Love In All The Wrong Places

Author: Audrey Harte

Series: Book One of the Love in LA Series

Goodreads

Annie Chang is in her mid 20s and has lived in Los Angeles all her life. After a series of failed relationships, she's beginning to feel like she will never meet Mr. Right. But seeing one of her longtime BFFs find love on the internet, she decides to give online dating a try.

After finally finding an amazing guy who sweeps her off her feet, will he prove to be everything she could have wished for and more or is he too good to be true?

This weekend, to support the reformatting re-release of her book, Audrey Harte is dropping the price of Love In All The Wrong Places down to just $0.99 for this weekend. It's only for the weekend, so take advantage of that and scoop this book up for a low price!!

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Review: City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

City of Fallen Angels

Author: Cassandra Clare

Series: The Mortal Instruments Book #4

Goodreads

Summary

The Mortal War is over, and sixteen-year-old Clary Fray is back home in New York, excited about all the possibilities before her. She's training to become a Shadowhunter and to use her unique power. Her mother is getting married to the love of her life. Downworlders and Shadowhunters are at peace at last. And - most importantly of all - she can finally call Jace her boyfriend.

But nothing comes without a price.

Someone is murdering Shadowhunters who used to be in Valentine's Circle, provoking tensions between Downworlders and Shadowhunters that could lead to a second bloody war. Clary's best friend, Simon, can't help her. His mother just found out that he's a vampire and now he's homeless. Everywhere he turns, someone wants him on their side - along with the power of the curse that's wrecking his life. And they're willing to do anything to get what they want. At the same time he's dating two beautiful, dangerous girls - neither of whom knows about the other one.

When Jace begins to pull away from Clary without explaining why, she is forced to delve into the heart of a mystery whose solution reveals her worst nightmare: She herself has set in motion a terrible chain of events that could lead to her losing everything she loves. Even Jace.

Love. Blood. Betrayal. Revenge. The stakes are higher than ever in City of Fallen Angels.

Review

I was glad this series didn't stop at a trilogy when I got to this book. While City of Glass wrapped up most of the ends, there were still somethings sitting in the air that I though deserved a chance to be resolved, and I wanted answers myself. Like most Fangirls of this series, I wanted to know what was going on with the relationships within the books - mostly, Jace and Clary. I've been hoping for them to work out since the first book, so I wanted to see things go well with them.

I like that Clary is getting more integrated into the Shadowhunter world, but I think it's a little strange that after the while Valentine campaign is when Clary begins her first lessons as a Shadowhunter. She does need the training, and there wasn't a whole lot of down time in the first three books. However, someone could have given her a few quick lessons here and there to make her a little more valuable to the team fighting-wise.

This is book is definitely my favorite of the series thus far, though. I liked the addition of new characters - new villains, especially. I did wonder who was going to be the new bad guy after the way City of Glass ended. I think she definitely opened the series up a little more for a bigger, badder villain to come in and really shake things up like Valentine could never manage to do.

I also really liked Simon finally having his own story come out. Watching how he deals with being a vampire, his family, and dating was fun and a little sad at times - but I think he really found himself in this book and became a more interesting, well-rounded character.

The only thing I could have used more of was seeing how the Clave was recovering in the aftermath of the last book. Otherwise, though, it was great.

Rating

Feature & Follow Friday: October 11, 2013

Feature and Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read.

This Week's Question: Feature Your Own Favorite Blogger!

My feature: Kelly of Dandelion Dreams

I think it's fitting that my first Feature & Follow Friday gives us the opportunity to feature our own favorite blogger. Paying it forward, I wanted to feature the blog, friend, and amazing reviewer that helped me get my start as a book blogger. Hers is the first book blog I ever visited, and I knew upon looking at her blog and thoroughly loving it that I wanted to do it too.

She has great tastes in books and music. She reads mostly Young Adult novels. She is a blog tour hosts that participates in several memes. Not only is she a great friend, she is a great reviewer with good taste in books. After exploring her blog, I definitely have new books on my TBR list.

Click on the image to check out her wonderful blog!!

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I prefer:

Review: Me and Mr. Darcy by Alexandra Potter

Me and Mr. Darcy

Author: Alexandra Potter

Goodreads

Summary

Dreams come true in this hilarious, feel-good fairy tale about life, love, and dating literature’s most eligible bachelor!

After a string of disastrous dates, Emily Albright decides she’s had it with modern-day love and would much rather curl up with Pride and Prejudice and spend her time with Mr. Darcy, the dashing, honorable, and passionate hero of Jane Austen’s classic. So when her best friend suggests a wild week of margaritas and men in Mexico with the girls, Emily abruptly flees to England on a guided tour of Jane Austen country instead. Far from inspiring romance, the company aboard the bus consists of a gaggle of little old ladies and one single man, Spike Hargreaves, a foul-tempered journalist writing an article on why the fictional Mr. Darcy has earned the title of Man Most Women Would Love to Date.

The last thing Emily expects to find on her excursion is a broodingly handsome man striding across a field, his damp shirt clinging to his chest. But that’s exactly what happens when she comes face-to-face with none other than Mr. Darcy himself. Suddenly, every woman’s fantasy becomes one woman’s reality. . . .

Review

As an avid Austen and Mr. Darcy lover (as well as Pride and Prejudice, the book he came out of), I almost jumped for joy when I found this book at my local bookstore. It grabbed my attention immediately. Who could want a better male protagonist than Fitzwilliam Darcy? Not me.

Coming into the book finds Emily Albright on another date that is just not going the way she thought it would. Instead of focusing on finding a man, she focuses on her work as a book store manager and a book-lover. Emily, like a lot of women her age, loves reading Jane Austen books, her favorite of course being the amazing Pride and Prejudice. After reading it again, she decides that the only man in the world for her is Mr. Darcy - too bad he only isn't real, or is he?

When her best friend suggests spending the holidays in Cancun on a single's vacation, she is appalled (as she should be). She instead goes to England on a Pride & Prejudice tour - full of elder ladies who have the same shared love of Darcy.

Going into this book, I will admit that it took me a few pages to really get into it. I was having a hard time empathizing with the narrator and her bad date. She just didn't seem sympathetic enough. When the story followed her to work the next day, though, I found a renewed interest in the book. Secretly or not so secretly, all us book bloggers want to either write our own novels and/or own a giant book store filled to the brim with amazing books. Add in the friend prying into her love life, and I was sold.

Moving the story to the 'exotic' setting of England was a good move. It really helped me get into the Pride and Prejudice mindset she was going for. Honestly, as I read, I wanted to go on the tour too. Someone take me to all of the places they saw.

Then Darcy comes in, in all his brooding, sexy glory and Emily doesn't know what to do with herself. (But what woman would?)Her love life is suddenly flipped on it's head.

It is a good read, that's for sure. I would definitely suggest this to romance readers, Jane Austen lovers, and anyone who enjoys a good book.

Rating