Book Review: Two Women: A novel of friendship by Marianne Fredriksson

With her acclaimed novels Hanna’s Daughters and Simon’s Family, international bestselling author Marianne Fredriksson captivated readers with the extraordinary power of her emotional landscapes. Now Fredriksson gives us Two Women, the unforgettable story of a remarkable friendship–and the secrets that threaten to tear it apart.They meet on a spring day in the local garden center: Inge, a native Swede, lovely and refined, a woman ruled by reason and her own deeply held moral beliefs; and Mira, a Chilean immigrant who still feels out of place in the cold Scandinavian north. Through many shared afternoons in Inge’s garden, Mira slowly reveals the horrors of a shadowed past and the heartbreak involving her beloved daughter. As Mira and her family begin a wrenching journey of discovery, Inge unwittingly uncovers secrets in her own life that make her question the very order of her world. An elegant novel of time and memory, love and distance, and the wounds they create and conceal, Two Women is Marianne Fredriksson’s most affecting work of fiction to date.

For me the writing style of this book was a little bit hard to read. But the content was good. This is a good story about the love and friendship between two women. It really does show that no matter how different your lives are you can always find common ground. There is always a way to move around differences, and find friendship.

Book Review: Testimony of an Irish Slave Girl by Kate McCafferty

Kidnapped from Galway, Ireland, as a young girl, shipped to Barbados, and forced to work the land alongside African slaves, Cot Daley’s life has been shaped by injustice. In this stunning debut novel, Kate McCafferty re-creates, through Cot’s story, the history of the more than fifty thousand Irish who were sold as indentured servants to Caribbean plantation owners during the seventeenth century. As Cot tells her story-the brutal journey to Barbados, the harrowing years of fieldwork on the sugarcane plantations, her marriage to an African slave and rebel leader, and the fate of her children–her testimony reveals an exceptional woman’s astonishing life.

A very touching book. A heart felt story about a woman who was taken as a child and turned into a slave.An Irish slave. I enjoyed this book. It flowed a little different than most books I read but over all I did enjoy it very much. It is a good story, touching, and it will surely make you feel for the conditions and the situation that All Slaves have been in.

Book Review: Six Reasons to Stay a Virgin by Louise Harwood

Emily, London’s famous twenty-four-year-old virgin, has to wonder if it’s really so crazy to wait for Mr. Right. To enjoy the anticipation. To make sure she’s totally, truly, no-turning-back in love. Especially when her friends fall in and out of lust on a daily basis. But Emily gets the surprise of her life when Oliver Mills comes back to town after a year in America. When they were sixteen, she and Oliver made out behind some sand dunes at the beach, and deep down, he’s the one she’s been waiting for all this time. Already, Emily can feel her defenses crumbling. She’s got six good reasons to stay a virgin. But six might not be enough.

Not really a great book to me. I didnt think it was that funny, and over all the main character was just a bit to odd. Her friends were all a bit overwhelming with the either, deep need to take care of her. Or completely not careing about her. Overall I wouldnt reccomend this one unless you have nothing else to read.

Book Review: Virgin: Prelude to the Throne by Robin Maxwell

…a riveting portrait of Elizabeth I as a romantic andvulnerable teenager, dangerously awakening to a perilousliaison with the wrong man.
England, 1547: King Henry is dead. Elizabeth’s half-brother, nine-year-old Edward, is king in name only. Thomas Seymour, brother to the ambitious duke who has seized power in this time of crisis, calculatingly works his way into Elizabeth’s home in genteel Chelsea House. He marries Henry’s widow, Catherine Parr, and uses his venerable charms and sexual magnetism to indulge his infatuation for young Elizabeth. Caught hopelessly under Thomas Seymour’s spell, surrounded by kind friends and hidden enemies, Elizabeth can only follow her heart to ensure survival.

Wonderful book! Great writing. And wonderful story telling. It wasn’t until I was almost done with this one that I found out it had two books before it.But that was still okay. This book stands alone perfect well for a Tudor fan.A wonderful story of the turmoil of young Elizabeth’s life. I highly recommend this one.

Book Review: Serpent Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt

Lucy Craddock-Hayes thought the man lying in the ditch was dead, but he survived the assault. With the help of her servant, Lucy brings the gentleman home, and learns that he is Viscount Simon Iddesleigh. As Simon slowly recuperates, he finds himself falling in love with sharp-witted and surprisingly sharp-tongued Lucy, but he also knows that the longer he stays, the more likely it is that his quest for vengeance will endanger Lucy and her family.

This was the final book in the “Prince” series. By Hoyt. And it certainly was the steamiest! Wow. This book is very hot. Simon, and Lucy a very mismatched couple who take deep desire in each others company and touches. But Simon has a dark side as well. Its a very good story, about a mans flaws, and his love of a woman. And the woman’s love of him. A story that asks, can True love really conquer all?

Book Review: The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif ShaFak

From one of Turkey’s most acclaimed and outspoken writers, a novel about the tangled histories of two families In her second novel written in English, Elif Shafak confronts her country’s violent past in a vivid and colorful tale set in both Turkey and the United States. At its center is the “bastard” of the title, Asya, a nineteen-year-old woman who loves Johnny Cash and the French Existentialists, and the four sisters of the Kazanci family who all live together in an extended household in Istanbul: Zehila, the zestful, headstrong youngest sister who runs a tattoo parlor and is Asya’s mother; Banu, who has newly discovered herself as a clairvoyant; Cevriye, a widowed high school teacher; and Feride, a hypochondriac obsessed with impending disaster. Their one estranged brother lives in Arizona with his wife and her Armenian daughter, Armanoush. When Armanoush secretly flies to Istanbul in search of her identity, she finds the Kazanci sisters and becomes fast friends with Asya. A secret is uncovered that links the two families and ties them to the 1915 Armenian deportations and massacres. Full of vigorous, unforgettable female characters, The Bastard of Istanbul is a bold, powerful tale that will confirm Shafak as a rising star of international fiction.
This book wasnt really my cup of tea. It was not a bad book. I just didn’t connect with it much like I thought I would. I did honestly almost give up on the book, but I didn’t and I am glad that I read it. Although, I really cant say much more than that. The characters, are human, you follow their struggles, and their life.

Book Review: Shoot the Moon by Billie Letts

From the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Where the Heart Is comes this eagerly anticipated tale of a small Oklahoma town and the mystery that has haunted its residents for years. In 1972, the tiny windswept town of DeClare, Oklahoma, was consumed by the terrifying disappearance of Nicky Jack Harjo. When he was no more than a baby, his pajama bottoms were found on the banks of Willow Creek. Nearly 30 years later, Nicky mysteriously returns in this intriguing and delightfully hypnotic tale, full of the authentic heartland characters that Billie Letts writes about so beautifully. Billie Letts first novel, Where the Heart Is (Warner, 1996), was a #1 New York Times bestseller, a selection of Oprah Winfreys Book Club, and was made into a motion picture starring Ashley Judd and Natalie Portman. It has sold more than 3.2 million hardcover and mass market copies combined. The Honk and Holler Opening Soon (Warner, 1998) has more than 397,000 hardcover and paperback copies in print. Trade paperback sales remain strong, with an 85% sell-through. Billie Letts won the Walker Percy Award at the 1994 New Orleans Writers Conference and the Oklahoma Book Award for Where the Heart Is. It was also named one of the best books of the year by the American Library Association. Until recently, she worked as a professor at Southeastern Oklahoma State University

This book has to be the best book I have read all year.The writing is positively breath taking. Following the the journey of Dr Mark Albright to discover his past. This story has a little bit of everything and it will pull at your heart strings. Mystery, Romance, and most of all a coming to terms with who you are. I highly recommend this one. Don’t miss it!

Book Review: Harry Potter : Goblet of Fire by J.K Rowling

Harry Potter is midway through his training as a wizard and his coming of age. Harry wants to get away from the pernicious Dursleys and go to the International Quidditch Cup. He wants to find out about the mysterious event that’s supposed to take place at Hogwarts this year, an event involving two other rival schools of magic, and a competition that hasn’t happened for a hundred years. He wants to be a normal, fourteen-year-old wizard. But unfortunately for Harry Potter, he’s not normal – even by wizarding standards. And in his case, different can be deadly.

I started reading the Harry Potter Series because a friend of mine said I should. So far I have found it enjoyable. Goblet of Fire was not my favorite. I didn’t like the start, but overall I did like the book and it did get better. This one does get darker, and has its moments of deep sadness. But over all its another year at Hogwars. And now that I have read the book I can watch the movie. I do look forward to reading the next one.

February Book List

Jan Page Total: 4206



3rd-7th-Goblet of Fire 734 Pages




8th-11th- Shoot The Moon 356 Pages



11th-12th- Bastard of Istanbul WL 357 Pages

13th-16th-Serpent Prince 367 Pages WL



17th-18th-Virgin:Prelude to the Throne 243 Pages



19th-20th-Six reasons to Stay a Virgin 293 Pages



20th-Testimony of an Irish Slave Girl
206 Pages



21st- Two women
195 Pages



21st-22nd-Mount Vernon Love Story
223 Pages



23rd-Chocolate Therapy
173 Pages

23rd- The Handmaidens Necklace 407 Pages


Book Review: Babyville By Jane Green

Meet Julia, a wildly successful television producer who appears to have the picture-perfect life. But beneath the surface, things are not as perfect as they seem. Stuck in a loveless relationship with her boyfriend, Mark, Julia thinks a baby is the answer . . . but she may want a baby more than she wants her boyfriend. Maeve, on the other hand, is allergic to commitment. A feisty, red-haired, high-power career girl, she breaks out in a rash every time she passes a stroller. But when her no-strings-attached nightlife leads to an unexpected pregnancy, her reaction may be just as unexpected . . . And then there’s Samantha-happily married and eager to be the perfect June Cleaver mother. But baby George brings only exhaustion, extra pounds, and marital strife to her once tidy life. Is having an affair with a friend’s incredibly sexy husband the answer? With Babyville, bestselling author Jane Green applies her golden touch to the next phase of a girl’s life. By turns witty, rollicking, and tender, this sparkling, sexy tale about the complexities of modern motherly love isn’t really a story about babies-it’s about three friends whose lives are suddenly turned upside down by that life-changing event that hangs over the head of every single girl: motherhood.

A wonderful story about life. Sometimes what you think you need, you don’t. What you think you don’t need you do! Life throws things at you and your left to deal with them. This story mingles with several women, their lives all intersect, and yet are separate. Babies, Husbands, and New York Oh my! I had fun with this one,though it did take me a little bit to get into it. But if you sit down, by chapter three you do really want to know what’s going to happen. The characters are likeable and engaging.
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