strange and random happenstance

I have never met someone of the female persuasion who doesn't hold a strong opinion on which is their favorite adaptation of Little Women. My friend Marie favors the 1949 version because she's a huge fan of Margaret O'Brien of Meet Me in St. Louis fame. And I totally admire Marie's bravery in embracing being entirely wrong because the best adaptation is obviously the 1994 version with Winona Ryder. Accept no substitutes! Especially if they're trying to foist that horrible 2019 Greta Gerwig version on you. Beth isn't a framing device and Florence Pugh is incapable of passing for twelve! Why did that have to be the last film I saw in theaters before the pandemic!?! It has wormed its way into my brain and is sadly never to be forgotten because of it's proximity to pandemonium. This miniseries was the latest adaptation save the Greta Gerwig version and I had literally no desire to see it. The main reason I didn't want to watch this was because it was filmed in Ireland. I know, that seems a really weird reason to not watch a show, but everyone knows what the March's house and environs look like because you can literally still go there. I've been there, and while this adaptation might have had some accuracy with regard to the interior layout what the hell was that color the house was painted!?! Those trees, what is up with those trees around "Walden Pond!?!" Oh, and the fact that the newspaper where Jo sells her story in "Concord" is in Eliza Scarlet's office, I'm even more exasperated by the Ireland choice. But then again three of the most important roles, including Marmee, are played by Brits. And I want to make it clear, I'm not against casting Brits in American roles or vice versa, it's just that this is perhaps one of the most famous American books of all time, which wasn't even published in the form we know in England, to have such a British presence behind the scenes is odd. I mean, it made me not watch it for eight years. And now that I have watched it, there's still a disconnect. It feels off. And not just because Laurie is played by Ruby Sunday's horrid boyfriend from the last season of Doctor Who. There are views that feel more Heidi Thomas's than Louisa May Alcott's. The character I have always related to most is Beth, and not just because of the name thing, because anyone who knows me knows I hate the diminutive Beth. She's a homebody, someone fine with staying put but not being left behind and here she's an agoraphobe. This didn't sit right with me. It's complicating and belittling her character at the same time. As for the changes to the other sisters? Oddly enough I think Maya Hawke was a great Jo and it was nice to see Willa Fitzgerald not being pursued by Ghostface. And yes, I am still bitter about the lack of an ending on the Scream television show, why do you ask? Also we will not be discussing season three because who knows what that even was supposed to be. But the changes to Amy? Oh my. I didn't think it was possibly to hate her all the more but they made her destruction of Jo's book far more premeditated and pathological. Though, again, one actress playing Amy just doesn't work because a woman can not play twelve. It doesn't matter how immature she acts or the cut of her clothes or the braiding of her hair, she comes across as someone playacting as a child and it's creepy and off-putting. So in the final anlysis, yes, it's a fine adaptation, not without it's flaws, but it's not the 1994 version with Winona so why settle for less? 

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: American, British, Concord, Fifty-Five Years a Masterpiece, Ghostface, Greta Gerwig, Heidi Thomas, Ireland, Little Women, Louisa May Alcott, Maya Hawke, Miss Scarlet, Orchard House, Walden Pond, Willa Fitzgerald, Winona Ryder

Tomb of the Queen by Joss Walker
Published by: Two Tales Press
Publication Date: June 8th, 2021
Format: Kindle, 468 Pages
Rating: ★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

Jayne Thorne has spent a life on the run. She didn't know that's why her sister Sofia moved them at least three times a year until Jayne was in high school. She never understood the reason for the depths of Sofia's paranoia until recently. This was just a part of her everyday life. So when your surroundings are liable to change you hold onto the constants in your life. And for Jayne, books have always been a constant. As well as pie. Which is why she's a librarian who loves to eat pie. What's the point of dinner without dessert is a mantra she lives by. A month ago she started a dream job at Vanderbilt Library's Public Services and Reference Department where she works with everything from rare books about the history of Vanderbilt itself to fascinating Afro-Cuban manuscripts. She loves Nashville. Sure, it's not Dublin. And she's not in charge of the Book of Leinster at Trinity College which Jayne wrote her thesis on, but Vandy is a close second. Perhaps settling for a dream job versus the dream job is enough for now. Plus Sofia probably couldn't handle Jayne going overseas. As it is their not living together for the first time in their entire lives seems to have Sofia on edge. As do the news reports of people combusting into flame. Which is why Jayne doesn't tell her about a weird experience. She thinks it's just another ocular migraine but the green stars were a bit out of the ordinary. She could sure use that drink with her sister. But that wasn't any ocular migraine. That was magic. When Jayne touched a book that just happened to be a spell book she sent a shock wave through the magical community. Luckily the CIA gets to her first. The Torrent Control Organization, TCO for short, is a small, quiet, and little-known branch of that monster organization. And they want to recruit Jayne in their fight against the terrorist organization known as the Kingdom. The Kingdom wants to return the world to the way it was, with magic flowing freely and no technology. Anyone not adept in magic would basically be a serf. As for those who rely on technology to survive? Well, of course, in any great upheaval there will be casualties. To do this the Kingdom needs necromantic grimoires and the TCO is pretty sure that the Book of Leinster is one of them. The way the torrent reacted to Jayne combined with her thesis indicates that not only is she the only person for this job, but that she might be the first Master in a very long time. So she's off to Dublin. Sofia has no idea. But Jayne's about to find out what they've been running from their entire lives.

I have rarely read a book where I couldn't care less what happened. The characters were flat and the story felt lifeless. Yes, I was glad that for once an author in creating a bookish heroine had said character like books other than Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings. But that doesn't mean Jayne doesn't like Harry Potter and all the Harry Potter references for a book released in 2021 was too unfeeling. The only thing I really appreciated is that I honestly thought they were setting up the Kingdom to be a cult like group that had decent goals and could legitimately divide Jayne's loyalties. Oh no. They were a cult. An evil cult. They were evil as fuck and I applaud that. There was no ambiguity in this book that could be seen as slightly Copaganda adjacent. They killed people. They stole. They cut Jayne open and told her to heal herself. You go evil Kingdom, you take down the island! And that's where all my problems in this book stem from, the way the Kingdom's goals are presented shows a weird lack of sensitivity to Ireland, Irish Car Bomb cocktail aside. There was all this cool Irish history that could be explored with the Book of Leinster being Queen Medb's and yet, I'm not sure that Joss Walker understands how important Ireland's national identity is. Back to the "island" comment. So, the Kingdom's plan to return the world to the way it was is to destroy the power grid. By blowing up a substation near Medb's tomb in Knocknarea, Ireland, it dominoes to take out Northern Ireland and then England. Yet aside from two places in the book when referencing this plan they include Ireland as part of the UK. As someone who is proudly of Irish heritage while also being an Anglophile, and yes, I know, that can be complicated, I say what da fuk!?! Ireland is not part of the United Kingdom! Northern Ireland is, Ireland isn't. Dublin is in Ireland. Got that? NOT Northern Ireland. Knocknarea? Again, NOT Northern Ireland. IRELAND IS IT'S OWN COUNTRY! It has been since the partition in the nineteen twenties. I mean, you think setting a book in Ireland you'd know a bit about the history of the country when the protagonist is a self-described history nerd! Likewise, it could be just a lack of clarity and Joss Walker does know the difference. Or knew the difference for those two times it was stated correctly. But this glaring and offensive an error put me off the entire book. I almost want to read the next book to see if she insults the French. Almost.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: An Urban Development, Books, CIA, Dublin, Harry Potter, Ireland, Jayne Thorne, Jayne Thorne CIA Librarian, Joss Walker, Magic, Pie, Queen Medb, TCO, The Book of Leinster, The Kingdom, Tomb of the Queen, Trinity College, United Kingdom

Dubliners by James Joyce
Published by: Wisehouse Classics
Publication Date: 1914
Format: Kindle, 142 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

In Dublin, as in any town, people's lives are interconnected. They form friendships and relationships and create families. The young learn from the old but sometimes the old have their own epiphanies. A young boy experiences death for the first time when his friend, Father Flynn, dies, and as he listens to the stories surrounding him he realizes that the Father Flynn he knew wasn't the one they knew. But death is just one thing children learn, they also learn about rules and how to break them and then, worst of all, what happens when you break your heart. But as you age, sometimes you learn that love isn't everything, as Eveline chooses her family and her home over love overseas. Though what can you get overseas that you can't get at home? You can wine and dine with the best of them. Drinking, dancing, cards, games, just be wary of your wallet. Of course, if your wallet does end up a little empty, who's to say you can't con your way to being flush again? You just need to find the right people to swindle, like housemaids in wealthy homes. And for every young person contemplating marriage there's another contemplating the road not taken. The carefree life of the intellectual with no ties to bind. Though it's the saddest of cases when you lash out at those who love you who you view as chains around your neck. No child should ever be hurt. Because family and those who you care for should be held precious. Sweets and cake and joy in each other's presence is the greatest of gifts, even if you accidentally forget the cake. One never knows when your chance at happiness might pass you by. Love those who love you, marvel in their presence in your life. You don't want to only be a memory. Though if a memory, raising a glass and reciting a poem wouldn't go amiss. And that is all life is. Love and loss. We never know the pain of others. We never know what the person in bed beside us might have suffered. We only know that we need each other and have to be kind and true and hopefully our better angels will triumph.

The Irish are one of the most stereotyped cultures; everyone can hold their pint and tell a story and is a little light-fingered. But is this stereotype true? Is the belief that Ireland is full of drunk thieving storytellers based on truth or based on tropes that writers such as James Joyce disseminate and have therefore ingrained in society? This was my constant struggle while reading this book. Was he picturing the world he knew or the world that would be an accepted truth? And I can't come to a conclusion. I've tried to discuss this before and all I ever get out of people is that "James Joyce is classic." Well, what about these issues I have? Being classic doesn't mean you can't be wrong! And I know, I'm a neophyte when it comes to Joyce, I haven't read any of his other works, just these fifteen short stories about drunks and creepy priests with abrupt endings. So I don't get the larger context, I don't have the intertextuality. He obviously loved his country and this book brims with national pride so I would assume he wouldn't want to be a contributing factor to the stereotyping of his countrymen and women. But I can't get around that this is exactly what it feels like. When I was younger I always went to Irish Fest in Milwaukee. I went for the culture and the music, most everyone else went to get blind drunk. Not helped once they stopped selling funnel cake. And all these midwesterners thought that this is what it is to be Irish. To just get plastered. I mean, the same can be said for every Saint Patrick's Day everywhere. But Ireland and Irish culture are more than this. So maybe what I'm saying is that James Joyce is limiting. He's limiting his country to the cultural stereotypes of the day. Because there is progress. Look to a television show like The Irish R.M. based on books from the turn of the last century where it was all about the British being exasperated by those wiley drunks to the late nineties show Ballykissangel where, yes, there were still cons and drunks, but they talked about their problems and actually helped one of their own get sober. And yes, I might have been on a weird nostalgia trip recently and rewatched these shows. But there was progress. There was something more. And that's what I expected of this classic writer. Something more.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Ballykissangel, Classic, Community, Drunk, Dublin, Dubliners, Epiphany, Family, For the Love of Book Clubs, Ireland, Irish Fest, James Joyce, Milwaukee, Short Stories, Stereotype, Storytelling, The Irish R.M., Thieves

Holding is Ireland's answer to a procedural show that is Broadchurch meets Ballykissangel. It's nice and pastoral with crimes that are comfortably in the past even if their shadows are now finally being felt in the present. Everyone is on a spectrum of "hot mess" from secretly binge eating in their car to drunkenly heckling bad karaoke singers to shagging in an abandoned ambulance. Yet somehow everyone is OK with just plodding along. The show is based on Graham Norton's first fiction book and while the show does keep you engaged over it's four episodes you could tell by the very structure that he is a first time author. How you might ask? Well, the ending is just too convenient. When you set up a decades old crime and then in the present have one of the characters dying of Cancer, well, to make the killer the Cancer patient, that's too pat isn't it? Life isn't that simple. Life can't be tied up in a nice little bow that quickly heals the community. Nature being the bringer of justice not to mention the whole "maybe guilt brought on the Cancer" is just lazy. Just because you have quirky characters and a pastoral setting doesn't make this charming. In fact, there's one aspect that skeeved me out so bad that it tainted the entire show. Evelyn Ross is in her thirties and has never gotten over her true loving abandoning her after he beat her to a pulp and she miscarried on the night of his wedding to another woman. Of course his is the body that was discovered. Evelyn, to numb herself, is having an affair with Stephen Chen. Stephen is seventeen and the son of Evelyn's sister's partner. At least they kind of call out the "incest" but they never really call out the whole pedophile aspect of this relationship. So yes, he's technically of the age of consent. But that's a technicality that doesn't get ride of the whole creepiness of it. Plus they are having sex in an abandoned ambulance. How is this sanitary!?! I mean, I just can't on so many levels. And here's the thing, consent is more important than ever and how we talk about power dynamics in a relationship, and if there's anywhere in the world more associated with pedophiles than Ireland, strictly because of the Catholic Church, I don't know where that would be. Therefore to be telling this story in Ireland at this time, I think it needed to be done more sensitively. Just by having the woman being the older of the two doesn't make this OK, just look to Mary Kay Letourneau, may she be singed for an entirety. But what adds insult to injury is when Evelyn apologizes at her sister's wake to Stephen saying that what she did was wrong and him then saying to basically forget about it because he loved every minute of it... Excuse me? He's a child, he might think this way now, but what about when he gets older and realizes that their relationship was actually abuse? It's not cool or sexy or anything to be in this kind of relationship and Holding didn't real emphatically say otherwise. Therefore I can do nothing but look back on this series with a kind of creepy regret. It could have been something, but it was out of touch and unoriginal.        

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Abuse, And the Emmy Goes To, Ballykissangel, Broadchurch, Cancer, Catholic Church, Evelyn Ross, Graham Norton, Holding, Hot Mess, Incest, Ireland, Mary Kay Letourneau, Miscarriage, Murder, Pedophile, Stephen Chen

The Deception of the Emerald Ring by Lauren Willig
Published by: NAL
Publication Date: November 16th, 2006
Format: Paperback, 464 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Letty and Mary Alsworthy are as different as two sisters can be. At a frizzy haired five foot, Letty will never be like her statuesque sister. And she would NEVER run off in the middle of the night for a midnight elopement with Geoffry Pinchingdale-Snipe. She might try to stop the elopement with all good intentions, but never elope herself. Until fate intervenes and she's the one being spirited away in the night to a rendezvous with a certain member of the peerage. Geoff, being Geoff, marries the sister whose reputation he inadvertently ruined. He might see her as a conniving and manipulative upstart who took her chance when the opportunity afforded itself, but at least his obligations to the Pink Carnation mean that he can hare off to Ireland and put some space between his broken heart and his unwanted bride. Practical Letty for once doesn't know what to do. She's been the one who has always taken care of her family and has never had a spot of bother. Now she's married to a man who has vanished and he hasn't let her explain what really happened. A little drunk, she gets the first packet out of London to follow Geoff to Ireland thanks to Miles and Henrietta spilling the beans as to where Goeff went. But an unwanted wife in England is a completely different situation to an unwanted wife in Ireland interfering with his mission to thwart a French and Irish alliance. Begrudgingly taking Letty into his confidences with one Pink Carnation, Jane Wolliston, and one parasol wielding pyromaniac in the making, Miss Gwen, they all try to muddle through for the good of England. But add a dangerous cousin on the prowl for Geoff's title, Lord Vaughn, who's every word has double and triple entendres, and evidence that the Black Tulip is at it again, things might be trickier than anyone thought. Can this all be untangled and England saved? Because maybe fate intervened for a reason and Letty is the sister Geoff should have been wooing all along. But back in the present Eloise has an even more pressing problem. Can she get a certain Colin Selwick to call her and set up a date?

The Deception of the Emerald Ring is itself very deceptive. Whenever I think of the Pink Carnation series as a whole it never makes the cut as a favorite, and then I re-read it and realize how much I love it. I start to question my entire ranking of the series and as of this moment while I write this review it might even make my top ten books of 2021 because I adored re-reading it so much. This book tricks me every time into thinking that it's not as good as it is. I should have learned by now having read this book as many times as I have. Also, I seriously have no idea how many times I've read it. Because of other reading commitments during the year long Pink Carnation Read Along and the fact that I was once again underestimating it and not really looking forward to picking it up The Deception of the Emerald Ring didn't make it off my bookshelf until the day before the Zoom meeting. And while I had intended to shotgun the whole book in day, I found myself so drawn into the book I wanted it to last for days. So the Zoom meeting came and went and I was still reading. And now I think I'm going to read all the books AFTER the meeting. Because I've read all these stories before it's not like a book club meeting where you're feverishly trying to finish before time so you can discuss it. No, the meeting gave me further insights into the story so that when I was reading it I picked up on these new nuggets of information. I got to thinking about the implications of donning trousers, the practicalities versus the amorous. I got to enjoy Lord Vaughn showing up and just taking over every scene he was in. And I finally got to see the Black Tulip plot line form into a more logical garden plan. To not have just one sadistic spy, but sadists working for a criminal mastermind makes more sense that the Marquise ever did. She mistook Turnip for the Pink Carnation! I'm sorry, but anyone who could think that doesn't deserve to be a criminal mastermind. A pawn though... Totally suited for a pawn.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Book Club, France, Geoffry Pinchingdale-Snipe, Ireland, Lauren Willig, Letty Alsworthy, Pink Carnation Read Along, Regency Romp, The Black Tulip, The Deception of the Emerald Ring, The Pink Carnation, Zoom

The Deception of the Emerald Ring by Lauren Willig
Published by: NAL
Publication Date: November 16th, 2006
Format: Paperback, 464 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Letty and Mary Alsworthy are as different as two sisters can be. At a frizzy haired five foot, Letty will never be like her statuesque sister. And she would NEVER run off in the middle of the night for a midnight elopement with Geoffry Pinchingdale-Snipe. She might try to stop the elopement with all good intentions, but never elope herself. Until fate intervenes and she's the one being spirited away in the night to a rendezvous with a certain member of the peerage. Geoff, being Geoff, marries the sister whose reputation he inadvertently ruined. He might see her as a conniving and manipulative upstart who took her chance when the opportunity afforded itself, but at least his obligations to the Pink Carnation mean that he can hare off to Ireland and put some space between his broken heart and his unwanted bride. Practical Letty for once doesn't know what to do. She's been the one who has always taken care of her family and has never had a spot of bother. Now she's married to a man who has vanished and he hasn't let her explain what really happened. A little drunk, she gets the first packet out of London to follow Geoff to Ireland thanks to Miles and Henrietta spilling the beans as to where Goeff went. But an unwanted wife in England is a completely different situation to an unwanted wife in Ireland interfering with his mission to thwart a French and Irish alliance. Begrudgingly taking Letty into his confidences with one Pink Carnation, Jane Wolliston, and one parasol wielding pyromaniac in the making, Miss Gwen, they all try to muddle through for the good of England. But add a dangerous cousin on the prowl for Geoff's title, Lord Vaughn, who's every word has double and triple entendres, and evidence that the Black Tulip is at it again, things might be trickier than anyone thought. Can this all be untangled and England saved? Because maybe fate intervened for a reason and Letty is the sister Geoff should have been wooing all along. But back in the present Eloise has an even more pressing problem. Can she get a certain Colin Selwick to call her and set up a date?

The Deception of the Emerald Ring is itself very deceptive. Whenever I think of the Pink Carnation series as a whole it never makes the cut as a favorite, and then I re-read it and realize how much I love it. I start to question my entire ranking of the series and as of this moment while I write this review it might even make my top ten books of 2021 because I adored re-reading it so much. This book tricks me every time into thinking that it's not as good as it is. I should have learned by now having read this book as many times as I have. Also, I seriously have no idea how many times I've read it. Because of other reading commitments during the year long Pink Carnation Read Along and the fact that I was once again underestimating it and not really looking forward to picking it up The Deception of the Emerald Ring didn't make it off my bookshelf until the day before the Zoom meeting. And while I had intended to shotgun the whole book in day, I found myself so drawn into the book I wanted it to last for days. So the Zoom meeting came and went and I was still reading. And now I think I'm going to read all the books AFTER the meeting. Because I've read all these stories before it's not like a book club meeting where you're feverishly trying to finish before time so you can discuss it. No, the meeting gave me further insights into the story so that when I was reading it I picked up on these new nuggets of information. I got to thinking about the implications of donning trousers, the practicalities versus the amorous. I got to enjoy Lord Vaughn showing up and just taking over every scene he was in. And I finally got to see the Black Tulip plot line form into a more logical garden plan. To not have just one sadistic spy, but sadists working for a criminal mastermind makes more sense that the Marquise ever did. She mistook Turnip for the Pink Carnation! I'm sorry, but anyone who could think that doesn't deserve to be a criminal mastermind. A pawn though... Totally suited for a pawn.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Book Club, France, Geoffry Pinchingdale-Snipe, Ireland, Lauren Willig, Letty Alsworthy, Pink Carnation Read Along, Regency, The Black Tulip, The Deception of the Emerald Ring, The Pink Carnation, Zoom

Betraying Season (Leland Sisters Book 2) by Marissa Doyle
Published by: Henry Holt and Co
Publication Date: September 29th, 2009
Format: Hardcover, 330 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

Penelope feels that she not only let her twin sister down but her heroine Queen Victoria as well. Sure, she was there when Victoria was saved, but the special commendation belongs to her twin Persy and Persy alone. Pen feels like a fraud. And that is why she's in Ireland. It wasn't just that she felt like a third wheel at home with her sister in a constant state of connubial bliss with her new husband. It's that Pen has neglected her magical studies and now is the time to fix this shortfall. If she had tried harder before perhaps she could have actually helped Persy when she needed her help and deserved the commendation bestowed on her by Victoria. So Pen has followed her governess Ally to Ireland and Ally's new home in Cork with her husband. Only Ally is experiencing a common result of getting married and her horrific morning sickness, which seems to last all day, has led to Ally's father-in-law, Doctor Carrighar, taking over Pen's education. Despite how much she wants to better herself, being locked up all day studying, at times with four male students of Doctor Carrighar's who don't appreciate the presence of a female, can be tiring.

But Cork isn't London and Pen convinces Ally to let her run errands. Alone. When she's out one day she fatefully and almost fatally runs into Lady Keating. Lady Keating takes Pen under her wing and soon becomes the female role model Pen is so desperately missing with Ally being laid up and Persy a country away. It doesn't hurt that Lady Keating's son, Niall, isn't hard on the eyes. But then again, Niall is rumored to be the illegitimate son of Queen Victoria's uncle, the Duke of Cumberland. The Duke might not be liked, but he does have the looks, the looks of Niall. The Duke is also at the heart of a plan being concocted by Lady Keating, who just happens to be a sorceress. Due to unforeseen circumstances Lady Keating's plan to get ride of Queen Victoria and install the Duke on the throne has a hitch. She needs a third witch, preferably family, to help invoke the power of the Triple Goddess to get her spell to work. To this end Lady Keating orders Niall to court Pen, whose magical abilities she has recognized. But when does duty to his mother become true love for Penelope? With secrets upon secrets and broken allegiances can anyone get a happy ending? And more importantly, can Pen earn the commendation Queen Victoria gave her?

In Marissa Doyle's first book in this series, Bewitching Season, I felt such a strong connection to Persy and her bookish ways that I quite honestly didn't think I would be able to connect to Pen. Through the filter of Persy's story Pen seemed the epitome of the girly girl of the time, more concerned with couture and a debutante's lifestyle than education and books. Cutting Pen off from her delightful family, and in particular her little brother Charles, seemed a sure way to get me to tune out. Of course I was totally wrong. Pen didn't so much change throughout her sister's adventure as had her eyes opened and Betraying Season is the result of this new knowledge. Yes, I could say that it's because the sisters did a "Parent Trap" and switched situations, with Pen becoming the bookish one, but that isn't it at all. What it is is that we get to see Pen's struggle as she tries to change, as she tries to do better, to be better, and this is a struggle which we can all relate to. And her change isn't overnight, while she does buckle down and commit to studying, she still longs for and misses society and the season she gave up to improve herself. This is what works so well, we constantly see Pen struggling to balance this new life of the mind with her old life of leisure that Lady Keating seems to initially represent; and it's in this struggle that we finally relate to Pen.

The love story is also of a different ilk. Persy quite literally fell for the boy next door in Lochinvar. Their romance was sweet and destined and full of misunderstandings, but was always a given. We, as the readers, weren't there on this journey from the beginning, we came in once it was already set in stone. Bewitching Season was more about the consummation than the journey. Which is where Pen and Niall come in. We get to follow their budding romance every step of the way, from initial attraction to happily ever after. There's a different kind of magic finding someone when you least expect it and connecting and building a bond and overcoming obstacles. By seeing their entire romance unfold we can never be certain that the HEA is guaranteed. There's more fluidity to the outcome by not having it so fated as Persy and Lochinvar were. Plus, there's wonderful misunderstandings that crop up because these two people haven't known each other their whole life. I think this is best exemplified by Niall's hair-brained scheme to "save" Pen from his mother's machinations. The entire time you're thinking, why didn't Niall just tell Pen what was going on? But that's the fun of this book. They're new to each other so they will misstep, and sometimes those missteps are hilarious in their absurdity.

As for Lady Keating being the big bad... I kind of seriously adored her. Persy was facing a foe who was all about his power hungry machinations, whereas Lady Keating is actually far more complex. She's not just evil, but she's definitely not good. She seriously wants what is best for her son, but doesn't bother to ask him. She assumes that her desires for power and fame are aligned with her sons. But Niall isn't that way inclined. In this way I view her as a very Norma Bates character, because she's trying to do what's best for her son but in the only way she knows how. And of course that way is entirely the wrong way to do it. But underneath this veneer she has created she's far more complex than you'd think. She is obviously a woman who is looking for someone to connect to. She doesn't care about her husband or her daughter, because one was a convenience, the other wasn't skilled enough in magic to provide any interest. She "loves" Niall because he is a link to the one person she did connect with, the Duke of Cumberland. But it is in her relationship with Pen that we see all her different layers. She obviously has longed for someone magical to connect with and one wonders, if she had had this in her life earlier, would she be the villain? I honestly don't think she would be, and that human side is what makes her so deliciously complicated.

What I really sunk my teeth into here was the expansion of the magical system that Marissa Doyle had previously set up. Ireland has an entirely different feel, magically speaking, and this contrast helps Pen become as adept as her sister, but in a unique way. There are many methods of teaching these varying magics, and I think it really shows how people, even twins, learn differently and connect to subjects in distinctive ways. This "Other" magic very much ties into the very fiber of what it is to be Irish and their myths and legends. The Fairy realm, the Triple Goddess, all of it ties into what makes Ireland so distinctive. I can't help but think of the Irish Fest I used to attend every summer in Milwaukee. Even though it was many many miles away from the homeland, there was a magic to the storytelling and the music and the community. There's just something inherent to the culture of Ireland that encourages this belief in the possibility of magic and Marissa Doyle has tapped into it in this volume. She has made magic even more believable and that's why I, and perhaps even Pen, were able to make this connection that we didn't think was possible.

The magic just doesn't stop at enchantments, but goes further into the bestiary, the "creatures" of Ireland and the magical world. Adding magical creatures into a series that previously had no mention of them is a tricky thing. The main problem that us readers face is the suspension of disbelief. This suspension is often hampered by making the creatures too comical. A funny creature doesn't lend itself to credulity, most of the time. Yet once again Marissa Doyle comes out on top. She introduces the creatures, in particular Corkwobble the clurichaun, which for some reason my spell check actually recognizes as a form of leprechaun, in a very matter of fact way. And this is what makes it work. My paternal grandmother was 100% Irish, though not born there, and she talked about ghosts and creatures, in particular Pookas, as totally existing. I grew up believing in these creatures and nothing will ever shake my belief because when a little old lady sits you down and says it's just the way of the world and sure, you'll see ghosts, there's something so matter of fact that you just accept it. And that is what this book does, it's the way of the world for Pen and Pen just goes with it. And what better way to have an adventure then to be at Pen's side?

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Betraying Season, Bewitching Season, Duke of Cumberland, Ghosts, HEA, Ireland, Leland Sisters, Leprechaun, Magic, Marissa Doyle, Norma Bates, Pookas, Queen Victoria, Regency Magic, The Parent Trap

The Serpent of Venice by Christopher Moore
Published by: William Morrow
Publication Date: April 22nd, 2014
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Venice, a long time ago. Three prominent Venetians await their most loathsome and foul dinner guest, the erstwhile envoy from the Queen of Britain: the rascal-Fool Pocket.

This trio of cunning plotters—the merchant, Antonio; the senator, Montressor Brabantio; and the naval officer, Iago—have lured Pocket to a dark dungeon, promising an evening of sprits and debauchery with a rare Amontillado sherry and Brabantio's beautiful daughter, Portia.

But their invitation is, of course, bogus. The wine is drugged. The girl isn't even in the city limits. Desperate to rid themselves once and for all of the man who has consistently foiled their grand quest for power and wealth, they have lured him to his death. (How can such a small man, be such a huge obstacle?). But this Fool is no fool . . . and he's got more than a few tricks (and hand gestures) up his sleeve.

Greed, revenge, deception, lust, and a giant (but lovable) sea monster combine to create another hilarious and bawdy tale from modern comic genius, Christopher Moore."

Um, I'm a sucker for anything Venetian... 

Deception's Princess by Esther Friesner
Published by: Random House Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: April 22nd, 2014
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Some lies lead to true adventure. . . .

Maeve, princess of Connacht, was born with her fists clenched. And it's her spirit and courage that make Maeve her father's favorite daughter. But once he becomes the High King, powerful men begin to circle--it's easy to love the girl who brings her husband a kingdom.

Yet Maeve is more than a prize to be won, and she's determined to win the right to decide her own fate. In the court's deadly game of intrigue, she uses her wits to keep her father's friends and enemies close--but not too close. When she strikes up an unlikely friendship with the son of a visiting druid, Maeve faces a brutal decision between her loyalty to her family and to her own heart.

Award-winning author Esther Friesner has a remarkable gift for combining exciting myth and richly researched history. This fiery heroine's fight for independence in first-century Ireland is truly worthy of a bard's tale. Hand Deception's Princess to fans of Tamora Pierce, Shannon Hale, and Malinda Lo."

I've always been interested in Friesner's books, but one in Ireland? Totally 100% sold!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 2 comments  

Labels: Christopher Moore, Deception's Princess, Esther Friesner, Ireland, The Serpent of Venice

Love Letters by Katie Fforde
Published by: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: January 18th, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 388 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy
Laura Horsley (yes, the heroine's name is the least romantic most equine name there could be) is being made redundant at the bookstore she loves. Not because the bookstore is logically closing due to the harsh realities of publishing, just because the store's owner Henry wants to retire. This book loving introvert starts throwing caution to the wind and saying things she'd never have said if her life wasn't being uprooted. She's not rude, she just speaks her mind, which brings her to the attention of a literary agent at the store, Eleanora. Eleanora likes to scheme. And she has just the scheme for this little bookworm. How would Laura like to run a literary festival? She'd just have to convince the most recluse author on the planet, Dermot Flynn, to leave his secluded village in the west of Ireland and come to England. Sure, no problem, seeing as he won't even do an event 5 miles from his house... With her new bff Monica, lead singer of a swing and nostalgia band in tow, off they go to Ireland. After much alcohol, Laura decides that it's a great idea to loose her virginity to the author she has worshiped since college in order to secure his appearing at her festival. Problem is, the next day she doesn't remember what happened. This shy little girl now has to get up the courage to ask this literary lion if they slept together.

Even if they didn't, Laura still wishes to, because she realizes, after now meeting the man, she's in love. She tries to deny her feelings by throwing herself into her work on the festival and subsequently her work in a writing course she's helping Dermot with, but all her work having the ring of Dermot doesn't help to distract her much. But while she may be ignoring her feelings for a certain man, she is embracing her dream of becoming an editor. Laura has finally broken into the rarefied book world and she has a bright future ahead, despite how gloomy her parents are about it. Now if she can just ignore Dermot forevermore and mend her broken heart, then life could be peachy.

Part of me wants to know if this was all some big joke. A book about a character aspiring to be an editor should have logically had an editor itself. The grammatical errors, typos and sentences that just plain didn't make sense, ran rampant through this book. Several times I thought, I should put this down, and then didn't. It really doesn't matter that I finished, it feels like a book I've read a hundred times before, only less original. It's riddled with cliches of the genre and peopled by unlikable characters in stupid situations. There's the wallflower, who obviously is virginal, her bff, the extrovert rocker chick and her other bff, the gay boy. Then add in the dollop of Darcy sex appeal with Dermot and wait to get them together. Once together, break them up for a stupid reason and in the climax get them back together with all problems surmounted. Ug. And ironically, I was in the mood for some really good chick lit. This my friends, is not good chick lit. Laura becomes an extrovert through the heavy and liberal application of alcohol. So girls, remember, to get the guy, start drinking whisky by the tumbler full! The two writers Veronica and Anne who show up to the literary festival are the only reason this is two stars. They are star one and star two, the rest of the book is a zero. Plus, I was once more lured in by a cover. There is NOTHING in the book that that cover relates too! Skip it, that's my advice of the day, seeing as it's going straight into my sell pile. I can only be grateful I picked this up used... and now I know why such a new release was at Half Price Books...

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 2 comments  

Labels: Dermot Flynn, Eleanora, Ireland, Katie Fforde, Laura Horsley, Literary Festival, Love Letters, Whiskey

I love how Wikipedia states: "For a comparatively small island, Ireland has made a disproportionately large contribution to world literature in all its branches." My way of saying it? Ireland is awesome and that's why it has it's own special place on the calender when everyone who isn't Irish gets to pretend they are because we're so freaking awesome and cool with our disproportionally amazing writing ability. It's the storyteller gene. It's in us, it's a part of us. Time to sing, dance, talk, cry, and please, avoid the green beer.... So who are some of the people I think have given helped give Ireland it's place in the echelon of great literature? Well, for me there's everyone from Jonathan Swift, Oliver Goldsmith, James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, Bram Stoker to Roddy Doyle, Frank McCourt, Malachy McCourt, Graham Linehan, Pauline McLynn, Ardal O'Hanlon, Dylan Moran, Maeve Binchy, yeah I know some of those are comedians... but that doesn't discount them as writers, seeing as many have actually written books! But, there is one Irish Man who will always be the top, the best, the exemplar... I think you can guess, not that I'll make you. But no one comes close to Oscar Wilde. I'm sorry, don't try, you'll fail and be sad.

A favorite quote: "The public is wonderfully tolerant. It forgives everything except genius."

But then best quote about Ireland ever was in The Onion, where they were listing what Northern Ireland wants from the English as reparations, one of them was "Eddie Izzard Back." I was on the floor laughing at that one, because Eddie did live there for some time before moving to England but after he was born in Yemen. So sit back and enjoy some of the best literature on this most holy of days. If you feel more in a passive mood, pop in an episode of Father Ted, watch The Matchmaker, sing along with The Commitments, heck, Eddie's even Irish! Enjoy!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 3 comments  

Labels: Ardal O'Hanlon, Bram Stoker, Dylan Moran, Graham Linehan, Ireland, Maeve Binchy, McCourt, Oliver Goldsmith, Oscar Wilde, Roddy Doyle, Samuel Beckett, St. Patrick's Day, The Commitments, Wikipedia