Book Review: ALL THE SINGLE LADIES BY JANE COSTELLO

Genre:  Romance/Contemporary Fiction

Published:  Simon & Schuster  (2 Feb 2012)

Pages:  496  (Hardcover)

Source:  From the Publisher

My Rating:  9.5/10

About the Book:


Samantha Brooks' boyfriend Jamie has announced he is leaving, out of the blue. He is loving, intelligent and, while he isn't perfect, he's perfect for her - in every way except one: he's a free spirit. And after six years in one place, doing a job he despises, he is compelled to do something that will tear apart his relationship with Sam: book a one-way flight to South America. 
But Sam isn't giving up without a fight. With Jamie still totally in love with her, and torn about whether to stay or go, she has three months to persuade him to do the right thing. With the help of her friends Ellie and Jen, she hatches a plan to make him realise what he's giving up. A plan that involves dirty tricks, plotting and a single aim: to win him back. But by the time the tortured Jamie finally wakes up to what he's lost, a gorgeous new pretender has entered Sam's life. Which begs the question ...does she still want him back?

I know it's only January but if I read another book this year that I enjoy as much as this then I will be very happy!

I loved the writing, the story, the characters and the pace of the book - it was so much fun to read with some laugh out loud situations.

We first meet Sam, narrator and main protagonist when her car breaks down, she is the sort of girl who is normally unflappable in a crisis, but on this occasion, having just been told by Jamie that he is leaving her to live in South America, she breaks down in front of the bemused AA man.

While Sam tries to play it cool around Jamie pretending that she's doing great without him and even going out on dates trying to make him jealous, he just can't make his mind up - should he stay or should he go?  Should Sam let him go and move on or should she fight tooth and nail to win him back?  This is the main crux of the story, though there are plenty of other characters who weave in and out and who all have problems of their own, including her adopted sister who doesn't know whether to meet her real father, her friend, Jen, who can never keep hold of her boyfriends for long and doesn't know what she's doing wrong.

It's very easy to get involved with Jane Costello's characters, they are all so likeable and her easy writing style and short chapters make you want to keep turning the pages, hoping that it will all turn out right in the end because you want everyone to be happy.

Overall, I highly recommend this book!

According to Cosmopolitan 'If you like Sophie Kinsella, you'll love Jane Costello'.

A Special Thank You to the publishers for sending me this book to review.

Check out the lovely ladies over at Books and the City where they have chosen All the Single Ladies as their Book of the Month for February, which is exciting in itself but, even more exciting for me, is that they have picked my review as their Review of the Month!  How fabulous is that?  A huge thank you to everyone there.

Book Review: Knight's Angel by Ronda Melendez

Genre: Historical Fiction: Fantasy/Romance
Publisher: Outskirts Press (2009)
Pages: Paperback 126
ISBN-10: 1432738815
ISBN-13: 978-1432738815







First Sentence:

The wind howled outside Angel's classroom window.

Angel is the Professor of Medieval History at the University of Texas. Recently she has been haunted by dreams of Medieval England where she meets Llewellyn the Sorcerer, and she sees the handsome Lord D'Arcy.
She is then invited to England on an archeological dig where she has another dream and this time she is swept back in time to meet the people from her dreams.................

This is Ronda Melendez's debut novel and is the first in the 'Fated to Love' series.

I'll get my main criticism out of the way first! It was very difficult to form a comprehensive picture of any of the characters, I didn't know their height, build, facial features, traits, likes, dislikes, strengths, weaknesses, what they were feeling or thinking most of the time. The only description was of their hair and I was informed several times that the Lady Angel was 'very beautiful' but how and why was she beautiful?
In order to empathise with them I really need to get to know them, of how their mind works, in order that I can care about what happens to them. I felt that this information was sketchy at best in this book.

Also, there is a timeline very near the end that I found confusing, it just didn't make sense.

Now to the positives! Overall though, I did enjoy reading this medieval fantasy, at only 126 pages long it was a quick, light and easy read, with likeable characters. I was particuarly impressed with Angel's toughness in dealing with her adversaries which both surprised and amused the men! I had a sense of the lives of people in those olden times. Whilst reading I was reminded of Barbara Erskine's Lady of Hay.

This is a paragraph (page 33) where Angel is adjusting to her new life

It was certainly beautiful here, Angel mused to herself silently. She would have no qualms about staying here in this time and place. There was a sense of being and belonging that she had never felt before. Not even back in her own time. It was like finding the perfect pair of jeans that fit you just right.

This is a book that would appeal to anyone interested in medieval times/romance and who doesn't want a complicated storyline.

About the Author:

You can read about Ronda Melendez here

Her sequel to Knight's Angel will be available soon and is called Angel's Heart.

Book Review: The Conjuror's Bird by Martin Davies

Genre: Historical FictionPublished by: Hodder & Stoughton (2005)Pages: 306







Synopsis: It seems a long time ago that Fitz and Gabby were together, with his work on extinct species about to make him world-famous. Now, it's his career that is almost extinct. Suddenly, though, the beautiful Gabby reappears in his life. She wants his help in tracing the history of The Mysterious Bird of Ulieta, a creature once owned by the great 18th Century naturalist Joseph Banks. It soon becomes clear that Fitz is getting involved in something more complicated - and dangerous - than the search for a stuffed bird. To solve the puzzle, he must uncover the identity of the amazing woman Banks loved - a woman who has disappeared from history as effectively as the specimen he is hunting.

The book has two parallel stories, separated by almost 300 years. The 1700's story gave you a real feel of how difficult and different life was for a young woman with no prospects at that time, and how dependent they were on men looking after them. This contrasts sharply with both Katya and Gabby, the two very independent women in the present time who face no such problems.

Alternate chapters effortlessly blended into each time line with ease so you didn't feel as if you were getting confused.

Combined with an usual mystery about a stuffed bird this is a lovely mix of history (Captain Cook's voyages) with a little romance........who was the mysterious woman in the woods that Joseph Banks becomes captivated by? And how is she connected to the missing bird?

Martin Davies slowly and tantalisingly reveals the connection between the different eras without giving too much away too soon.

This is an enjoyable mystery with a difference - not just for ornithologists!

First Line: "That Thursday evening I was working late, removing the skull of a dead owl"

Favourite Line: "The cage-reared bird will always partly fear the sky"

What I Liked about this book: How Martin Davies skilfully ended each chapter on a cliff-hanger

What I didn't Like: It was a little slow in the middle

8/10

Book Review: The Kissing Gates by Mackenzie Ford

Genre: Historical Fiction
Pages: 433
Publisher: Sphere

Synopsis:

'Set against the panorama of the First World War, The Kissing Gates is a poignant love story, a finely woven tapestry of choice, consequence and redemption. Mackenzie Ford explores the ambiguities of the human heart with an unwavering hand, and in so doing creates a haunting and moving tale that will resonate with the reader long after he or she has finished the last page." Pam Jenoff, bestselling author of Kommandant's Girl 'This book is a joy to read. Wonderful period detail, and the atmosphere so convincing it had me looking out the window for Zeppelins. The First World War ? with its no-man's land and valiant nurses ? is disturbingly contrasted to the peaceful idyll of rural England. Even the touching love story, with a secret ticking away like a time-bomb at its heart, has us on a knife-edge of uncertainty. And Ford provides fascinating details of the thrills of the wartime intelligence world. I was swept up in this intimate and captivating story of conflicting loyalties. It's the kind of read that lingers in the mind'

This is, in essence, a love story but with a huge secret at the heart of it.

Hal, the protagonist, is fighting in the trenches in World War 1, when a Christmas ceasefire happens. He, hesitantly, climbs into No Mans Land and meets Wilhelm his counterpart in the German Army. They exchange gifts and Wilhelm gives Hal a picture of himself and asks him to give it to his English girlfriend, Sam, who he met and fell in love with in England before the War started. Hal agrees to do this for him.

Shortly after, Hal is badly injured and goes home to recuperate - for him the fighting is over.

Hal, after recovery, then decides to try and find Wilhelm's love, Sam, and when he sees her he is instantly smitten. They meet accidentally (or so Sam thinks) and, the more Hal gets to know her, the more he falls deeply in love with her and, consequently, he doesn't tell her about Wilhelm, even though he knows that Sam is still in love with him and, indeed, has a son by him (though Wilhelm is unaware of this).

As the War rages, Hal and Sam go to live in London together but there is always Wilhelm's memory in the background. Is he still alive? Is Sam still in love with him? Can Sam ever love Hal and forget him?

As I said this is basically a love story but there is much more to it than that...it's the story of secrecy, guilt, hatred for the Germans, and how the War affected families in so many ways, how it tore them apart.

I have to say that I was disappointed with the last 10 pages or so, I felt that the author rushed it and didn't know how to end it properly. But if I try and put that to one side I thoroughly enjoyed the whole engrossing story, in particular the part Hal played in the Intelligence and also his sister's letters from the Front (she was a nurse) were very interesting.

Overall, an absorbing novel set during the First World War.

8/10

Book Review: The Memory Garden by Rachel Hore

Genre: Fiction
Pages: 400
Publisher: Pocket Books

Synopsis:
Lamorna Cove, in Cornwall's far west, is a tiny bay set at the mouth of a secluded wooded valley of wild beauty, the haunt, a hundred years ago, of a close-knit colony of artists. Here, to a rented cottage in the overgrown gardens of Merryn Hall, Melanie Pentreath retreats from her busy London life as a lecturer in art history to research a book about the painters, and to seek solace following the death of her mother and a broken love affair. In this magical place, full of echoes of the past, Mel helps her landlord, Patrick Winterton, restore the garden and starts to pull together the shreds of her life. Patrick finds some old paintings in a glory hole in one of the attics, and as they uncover the identity of the artist they are drawn into an extraordinary story of illicit passion and thwarted ambition from the Edwardian past which proves resonant in Mel's own life. Merryn is an idyll, and Mel and Patrick, himself here to escape a romantic disappointment, find themselves drawing closer to one another - until the reality of the outside world once more intervenes and everything is threatened.


The book started well, with Mel moving to the Gardeners Cottage of Merryn Hall while she writes her book, and then starts to renovate the very overgrown huge garden that had been neglected for nearly 100 years. Then she meets the young and handsome Patrick, who has recently inherited Merryn Hall from his deceased uncle.

The story goes back into the past occasionally where we meet Pearl, the new maid, who loves painting. I really enjoyed this part of the book and wish that the author could give us more of Pearl's story. But I guess that wasn't the idea.

I loved the descriptions of the garden - I could easily imagine the weeds, overgrown flowers, the greenhouse, the laurel maze, the secret grotto, among others. What an amazing garden it sounded.

But somehow I felt it lost its way about half way through and I must admit I did lose interest a little bit, but only a little, before it picked up and swept me along again.

I thoroughly enjoyed it overall.

8/10

(Please feel free to make a comment or email me at purplecards@googlemail.com. I'd love to hear from you.)