Who ya Gonna Call?

For Halloween I thought I’d read a cool ghost story. Who doesn’t like a nice gothic tale of ghosts a mystery and more ghosts? The Spirit has gotten great reviews on Amazon, and it was about a Victorian couple so I thought I’d give it a go, seeing how I love historical fiction and ghosts. Win/win. Right? Wrong.

First I need to stop reading teen historical fiction because it makes me want to bang my head up against a wall. Ok, that was harsh. Let me rephrase that. Historical fiction for teens set in the Victorian Era makes me want to bang my head against the wall. There. I said it.

Tess and Tobias Goodraven are seventeen and they are married. Oh and they are quite rich as well. Yes, of course they are..hmmm. Anyway, the first chapter is something I didn’t quite understand about a lake and a father and a daughter. Maybe I shouldn’t have been watching the nightly news and trying to read this at the same time. But anyway in the second chapter we meet the main characters. Who have had a tragic past, wrote lots of letters throughout the years because they were separated at a young age, and when they see each other after X amount of years they marry. I think the main reason for marriage is because Tess wanted to get away from her governess.

So we have a madly in love couple, who barely know each other. Check.
They are very rich. Check.
They live alone in a very expensive rich house. Check.
They are ghost hunters. Check.
The story was too absurd for me to continue. Check.

I couldn’t get past the checklist above and to be honest from what I read (3 chapters..or maybe it was 4) I wasn’t impressed by the writing. I wanted a neat gothic story, but all I found was this contrived story that couldn’t hold my interest. Maybe it’s just me. Maybe other readers will enjoy it more. If you did, please tell me why. I’d love an explanation.

A time for war...a time for peace....

There has been some controversy over Sunrise over Fallujah. Some say that this book is glorifying the war in Iraq and that there should be a book about the Iraqi view of the war. Okay, that’s fair. Maybe someone should write such a book, but they haven’t (as far as I know) and this book is about a young American man shipped overseas. As for glorifying the war, Mr. Meyers does none of that. Readers get a gritty realistic portrayal of war.

Robin aka “Birdy” as everyone calls him has been shipped overseas where confusion reigns supreme. Who are his enemies? What are they all doing there? How can they tell the enemy from a friend? As Jonesy one of the characters said, “Okay, let me straighten this mess out. If somebody who looks like an A-rab shoots you, the first thing you do is to pull out your Rules of Engagement card and see what the rules are for the day. Because it could be a Rodeney King day and we just all trying to get along and then you don’t shoot him.”

Mr. Myers gives the reader a realistic portrayal of this confusing war. Sprinkled throughout the book there is also humor, which lightens the mood. For instance Birdy said “Captain Miller, who curses better than anyone I had ever heard, said something wonderful about the lieutenant’s parents that I wish I had had the time to write down even though I don’t really believe that a human being could be conceived by sand crabs under a flack rock.

Sunrise over Fallujah is an excellent novel and I believed it approached the subject matter with dignity. The cast of characters are great and the reader is quickly drawn into this novel wondering what will happen next.

For students looking for a good war novel, and for those who want to see what life is like for our soldiers overseas I recommend this book.

And the winner is...

Lisette!

Congrats on winning a copy of Sunrise over Fallujah.

And thanks to everyone who entered. I'm sorry I couldn't give out more copies. Also, a special thanks to everyone who contiunes to read my blog. You guys rock! In the future I'll have more book giveaways.

My First Book Giveaway!

This is it! It is my first book giveaway. I'm excited (now watch no one wants the book!) I am giving away one copy of Sunrise over Fallujah. If you are interested in the book please send me an email at yabookmarks@gmail.com . The drawing will be held Sunday (Oct. 19th). In the future I hope to give away more books to my loyal readers. I think this is the perfect way of saying THANK YOU! Or, as I always say to my students GRAZIE!

This giveaway is for those within the United States. Maybe in the future I'll expand it.

Sing my Angel of Music

The Queen’s Soprano is based on the true story of Angelica Voglia and is set in 17th century Rome.

Pope Innocent XI has made a decree that women are not allowed to sing in public. But Angelica was born with a beautiful voice and she wishes to sing. In addition she wants to marry an artist and live a happily ever after. Her mother, on the other hand has other ideas for Angelica. She wants her daughter to move up the social latter and marry a rich man.

Unable to endure her mother’s plans for marriage Angelica runs off into a quarter of Rome that is ruled by Queen Christina. She is a Swedish queen who allows women to perform even though the pope is outraged. Angelica thinks her life will be better.

The story follows Angelica as a young, naive girl, longing for love to a young woman making difficult choices about her future and experiencing great pain.

This story was interesting because it’s something I had never known existed. I did enjoy it, but at times I felt if fell into the typical “mom wants to marry me off but I love another…” plotline that is getting a little tedious in historical fiction. For once I would just like to see the girl made to marry the man, though I'm sure readers wouldnt enjoy that.

For teens looking for a good historical fiction novel about a unique time period I'd say give this one a go. This is a chick book, so gentlemen beware.

I had a bad day AGAIN

Nuff Said

Down n' out with the flu

I'm just into my second month and once again I am sick. I was down n' out most of the weekend as I slept it away. I'm still not feeling very well. I hope to write another review sometime later in the week.