Favorites Friday: Romantic Couples, Revisited

On February 14, 2014February 5, 2014 By cherylmahoneyIn Favorites Friday7 Comments

I was planning to finish up my Wrath of Khan spoof this week…but then it occurred to me that Valentine’s Day fell on Friday, and it just didn’t seem appropriate. A couple years ago I did a post on Favorite Romantic Couples, and since I’ve read some wonderful romantic stories in recent years, I thought another list would be in order!

I don’t think any of these are big surprises within their books, but if you’re particular about spoilers, this post will give away everything about who ends up with whom. I warned you!

Clodagh and Cathal, Heir to Sevenwaters by Juliet Marillier

Marillier is one of my favorite authors for truly lovely romances. And this book features a romance between two of my favorite archetypes: the dark hero with a good heart, and the “ordinary” woman who has to find her strength. Besides being good characters individually, these two simply fit together so beautifully.

Eowyn and Faramir, Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien

It shocks me that Tolkien got a couple on this list. But I love these two characters–and to be honest, after the whole trilogy with barely a woman in sight, Tolkien had set the bar low. The fact that he spent any time on the romance was thrilling. And, well, the credit should really probably go to Peter Jackson, since the extended edition of the movie features the world’s most beautiful forty-eight second love story. It works because I’m assuming this isn’t their first conversation–and because both characters are so beautifully developed and complex that I can see why they belong together without needing to be told.

The Magicians and Mrs. Quent by Galen Beckett

This is the extraordinarily rare book (trilogy, for the full picture) with a love triangle where I actually managed to get enthusiastic about both romantic pairings. Details feel more spoilerific here than for the other books, so perhaps I’ll just leave it there…

Catherine Morland and Mr. Tilney, Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

I know everyone’s favorite is supposed to be Mr. Darcy–but Mr. Tilney actually smiles! And is witty and personable! And has a first name (Henry) that comes up more than once! And I suppose I just like a romance between two people who meet, like each other and go on liking each other. Sure, there’s a fight in there, but basically, they just like each other. It’s refreshing.

Joisan and Kerovan, The Crystal Gryphon Trilogy by Andre Norton

On the other hand, even though these two so clearly need each other and belong together, they still take an entire trilogy to quite sort things out. However, even if I find Catherine and Mr. Tilney refreshing, I suppose I also have a soft spot for romances between two people who both care about each other but need to do some growth as individuals and as a couple before getting to the happily-ever-after part.

Han and Leia, Star Wars

I don’t usually think of romance when I think of Star Wars, but I just read the Thrawn Trilogy and Han and Leia really are a wonderful couple. Typically, books seem to focus on the falling-in-love part. This trilogy, and other Star Wars Extended Universe novels, give us that rare story, a happily married couple! And there’s also the aspect of Leia being so amazing, and Han being so unthreatened by that. He remarks at one point in the book trilogy that some men might be uncomfortable with a wife who can think faster than they can, but he wouldn’t have it any other way. AWW!

Your turn–what romantic stories do you like? Any suggestions on ones I should read?

A Visit to the Night Circus

On February 12, 2014February 3, 2014 By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Reviews6 Comments

The cover doesn't do it justice — The cover doesn’t do it justice

Erin Morganstern wrote a letter for NaNoWriMo a year or two ago, about how her novel, The Night Circus, began. It started as a NaNo project, and when she got stuck, she sent the characters to a mysterious circus…which then took over the story. Having finally read the book, I can easily imagine why!

The novel centers around Le Cirque des Reves (Circus of Dreams), and a contest of magic. The two participants are Celia, the illusionist, and Marco, the founder’s assistant. Both were entered into the contest as children by powerful and unscrupulous men; neither fully understands the rules, or has any guess at the consequences. The circus becomes the venue, each one trying to outdo the other with more elaborate feats, more impressive tents—until the contest becomes more like a collaboration, and then finally a love story. Woven through their story is the story of Bailey, a young man drawn to the circus in a way he can’t explain, and to Poppet and Widget, twins born backstage the same night the circus opened.

By all logic, the circus should be the backdrop for the contest and the romance—but in many ways, I think the contest and the romance are really just a framework for the circus. This is a marvelously magical and surreal book, centered on a marvelously magical and surreal circus. In style it reminds me most of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, with its vague lines between dream and reality.

Grounded in circus traditions, like contortionists and acrobats, Le Cirque de Reves takes it all to a new and dizzyingly level. The circus is a maze of tents, with always something new to discover–an illusionist who changes books into birds, a climb through clouds or a walk through an ice garden, the Wishing Tree with its branches full of candles, or the tent full of bottles where every scent tells a story.

One thread of the story is the reveurs, an informal society made up of people who love the circus. They follow it from place to place, visiting favorite tents or discovering new ones, and sharing stories with each other about what they have found and what it means to them. In many ways, every reader is invited to be a reveur. We’re following the stories of Celia, Marco and Bailey, but for me at least, I was really following Le Cirque des Reves

Celia and Marco do fall in love eventually, but it’s a long way into the book before it happens, so don’t come into this expecting it to be primarily a romance. Mostly, this is a trip to a very special circus.

Author’s Site: http://erinmorgenstern.com/

Other reviews:
The Literary Bunny
Literary Traveler
Read Write Run Mom
Anyone else?

Buy it here:The Night Circus

Life in Austen’s England…sort of

On February 10, 2014February 3, 2014 By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews9 Comments

I first got interested in Austenland by Shannon Hale because I’ve enjoyed her fantasy novels so much. The movie’s release helped push me to finally pick up the book (though I still haven’t watched the movie…) One of my goals this year is to read sequels, so I recently read Midnight in Austenland too. Consider this a two-fer review!

Both books are set in Pembrook Park, which promises a true Austen experience to devoted fans. Women (it’s all women) come to the manor house for two weeks, where they dress up in period clothing, assume a character and interact with actors hired to entertain–and romance (in an Austen-appropriate way, of course).

Austenland centers on Jane, perennially unlucky in love and slightly too obsessed with the BBC’s Pride and Prejudice. She sees the trip to Pembrook Park as a kind of immersion therapy to finally kick the habit and move on. Once she arrives, though, she begins to wonder where the line between pretend-romance and real-romance actually lies (hint: not where she thinks it does!)

Midnight in Austenland takes a Northanger Abbey spin, bringing in a murder mystery to liven (deaden?) things up. The heroine this time around is Charlotte, trying to cope with her divorce (from her lying, cheating, remarried-to-his-mistress husband). She finds comfort in Austen’s novels, and hopes that a bit of pretend will help ready her for living real life again. But then Charlotte thinks she finds a real dead body–and the question becomes whether there could be a real murder behind a pretend-mystery. And there’s some romance too, of course!

I enjoyed both of these books quite a bit, but surprisingly enough I have to say I preferred the sequel! Of course, Northanger Abbey is my favorite Austen novel…

The first book focuses almost exclusively on Jane’s romances, which is entertaining but still a somewhat thin thread. There are also some themes around acting and reality. One of the biggest arcs is about letting go of unhealthy fantasies but the ending, well, up-ended that message completely, and left that all rather confusing. Leaving us pretty much with a light romance. Still, a fun if somewhat slight book.

And then we get to Midnight in Austenland. And there’s murder, and ghost stories, and a seriously brooding hero and a rather witty hero, and two truly unpleasant anti-heroes, and Charlotte’s struggle to find her confidence–which she does. Spectacularly, I might add. The romance was slightly out-of-left-field, but was sweet enough when it came that I’ll take it.

A few characters return from the first book, gaining more depth and becoming more sympathetic in the process. Pembrook Park itself got much more interesting too. Jane’s experience convinced me that I would be unutterably bored in Austen’s England (probably true). Guests during Jane’s visit primarily sit around, drink tea, and do needlepoint. Charlotte gets to play parlor games and go riding and take an excursion to a ruined castle. So much more fun!

I think you could probably pick up the sequel before the first one without too much trouble, though reading them in order will explain a few points in the second book. They’re really both worth reading anyway. I can’t figure out from Hale’s website if she’s planning a third book, but I hope so–maybe a send-up of Persuasion, with two former lovers meeting at Pembrook Park? I’d read it!

Author’s Site: http://www.squeetus.com/

Other reviews:
PG CWWN
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The Page Sage
Anyone else?

Buy them here: Austenland and Midnight in Austenland

Meeting a Ghost Girl Through a Twist in Time

On February 5, 2014January 26, 2014 By cherylmahoneyIn Juvenile, ReviewsLeave a comment

Between Narnia, Bloody Jack, Doctor Who and Agatha Christie, I seem to listen to a lot of audiobooks with British narrators. This is not a problem! The trend continued, more or less by accident, when I pulled A Twist in Time by Jean Ure off the shelf at the library.

Cosy (Cosima) has her life turn upside down when her emotionally fragile mother has to go into hospital, and Cosy is sent to a foster family. Quiet, introspective Cosy finds herself overwhelmed by the new house and new family, especially the boisterous girls Jade and Gemma. A new school and challenges with maths [sic] doesn’t help. Her one consolation is when she begins seeing a “ghost girl” in her room; Kathleen had the same room in the 1940s and, by reading her journal, Cosy realizes that Kathleen is seeing a “ghosty-person” too.

With lots of British slang or wording (like “maths” and “hospital” without “the” before it) this has a very strong British atmosphere that, for me, helped bring Cosy’s world to life. I expected the book to focus mostly on the ghost girl element, so I was surprised by how much it focused on Cosy’s present-day situation–but that was vivid and meaningful so even though it might not have drawn me to pick up the book to begin with, it ended up being a powerfully engaging story.

I always enjoy stories about shy heroines who have to find their courage, and Cosy is an excellent character of that type. She has particular nuances and complexities through her relationship with her mother, and her conflict between wanting to fit in with wild Jade and Gemma, and wanting to do well at school to keep her scholarship. Cosy struggles with her identity and her relationships, a story told in a very moving way. The situation with her mother is also delicately handled, revealing details slowly at the beginning of the book, and finally exploring more of that relationship through a fictional story Cosy writes.

The ghost girl has her own story, which we catch glimpses of. Even though she wasn’t as prominent an element as I expected, she added some interest to the story as well. There are also some subtle indications that seeing the ghost girl is doing more for Cosy than it appears on the surface. The obvious surface help the ghost girl provides is to help Cosy with her maths–which is sending Cosy into fits of crying and frustration.

I do remember how life-and-death homework could feel at eleven years old (especially since Cosy worries about losing her scholarship) but at the same time it occasionally feels overdramatic. However, I’m inclined to believe that maths is not really maths, and Cosy’s tears, while set off by algebra, are more about her larger situation. From that perspective, the whole thing makes more emotional sense, and the ghost girl’s role has far more meaning.

I was impressed especially by the audiobook reading as well, done by Kim Hicks. Though everyone sounds British, Hicks gives different accents to different characters. It’s not taken to an exaggerated extreme, but Cosy (who’s teased about talking posh) does sound different than her working-class foster parents. In fact, Auntie sounds remarkably like Jackie from Doctor Who, which makes a good deal of sense!

If you enjoy a bit of British flavor, a shy heroine and just a little magic (or is it science fiction?) then I definitely recommend this story.

Author’s Site: http://www.jeanure.com

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Buy it here: A Twist In Time

If Heaven Had a Telephone

On February 3, 2014February 3, 2014 By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews1 Comment

I don’t generally think of Mitch Albom when I think of authors I read–but when I do think about it, I’ve read and enjoyed a good bit of his writing. So when I heard he had a new book out, I got into the (long) library hold list for The First Phone Call from Heaven. I am happy to report that this is probably my favorite Albom book yet.

In a small Michigan town, several residents begin receiving phone calls from deceased loved ones. All are deeply moved, and one feels compelled to share with her church community. Soon word gets out around town, and then around the country, turning into a media frenzy. The town becomes a pilgrim destination for believers and skeptics alike. One town resident, Sully Harding, a widower with a young son, is convinced this must be a hoax, and sets out to investigate for the truth.

I love the plotline here, and how the story unfolds. It’s half inspirational and half mystery. One nice thing was knowing that Albom had written novels with fantasy/afterlife elements in them before, so it felt equally plausible that the phone calls could be real, or that they could be a hoax, so I was right along with Sully and the other characters in wondering. I won’t give it away, but I will say that I found the conclusion to be as satisfying and feel-good as I would have expected from Albom.

There are a lot of characters, and it took me a little while to get everyone sorted in my head (Is this the one getting the calls from her mother, or the one whose sister is calling…?) The premise was strong enough to keep me engaged until I got more of the characters fixed. It did smooth out by the second half of the book, as the ensemble cast developed more individuality, and clearer paths they were walking.

Most characters are individual portraits of grief, very moving while not being depressing. By the time you reach the end of the book, it becomes clear that each character has been on his/her own journey through the experience. If there’s one main character it’s Sully, but really this is an ensemble cast that ultimately has many messages about life, death and the people we love.

As seems to be usual for Albom, this is a seemingly simple book, not very long, that is ultimately quite heartwarming.

Author’s Site: http://mitchalbom.com/

Other reviews:
Pen and Paper
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Anyone else?

Buy it here: The First Phone Call from Heaven