Look What Just Arrived! (#10)

Yes, I admit it: I have a problem with buying books!

So obviously by the title of this entry (and the melodramatic hook), I bought more books and want to share them with you.  Some of these I bought and others I received via mail from authors looking for a review.  Here they are:

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  • Cathedral of the Sea by Ildefonso Falcones
  • The Wicked Day by Mary Stewart
  • Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles by Margaret George
  • A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin
  • Firelight by Sophie Jordan
  • Starlet’s Run by Carla J. Hanna
  • Fun to be Russian by Theodor Rasputin
  • Black Crow White Lie by Candi Sary

The first three books were bought used either because a) I read and liked the author or b) the owner of the bookstore was really, really trying to free up space because he’s getting so many used books.  Only Cathedral of the Sea is really the latter, but The Wicked Day and Mary are by authors I know and/or have enjoyed.

Of course A Feast for Crows is the fourth book in A Song of Ice and Fire and I really just had to get my hands on it after the third book.  I’ve already started it and so far, it’s amazing.  Firelight is one I picked out because there was quite a bit of hype about it a couple of years ago and the blurb sounded intriguing.  I had a passing interest in it when it came out in 2010, but by now my curiosity has gotten the better of me and I bought it.

The last three books I was sent by authors.  Starlet’s Run was part of the giveaway prize pack that Carla J. Hanna awarded to everyone who participated in my giveaway (which included myself for hosting it).  The other book she sent me, Starlet’s Light is not pictured because I left it at work where I was last reading it.  Fun to be Russian sounds like it could be ridiculously funny, so I’m actually quite anxious to read it.  White Crow Black Lie also arrived from Candi Sary and it’s one of those books that I’ve had my eye on for a bit, but never got around to buying.  That’s why it’s awesome that the author contacted me first.

But it’s not only books that arrived this week!  Yesterday evening I got something in the mail that made me tear up just a bit:

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It’s kind of hard to tell from the admittedly terrible picture, but that is a ‘Get Better’ card sent to me by my blogger-friend Savindi of The Streetlight Reader.  How she got my mailing address, I really don’t care, but what I do care about is that she went through the trouble to obtain it, write out a really thoughtful message and send a physical card, not just an email!  So yes, I did tear up just a bit when I received it and read the message.  That’s why it now sits in a place of honour next to my late grandmother’s portrait on my desk.

So thank you for caring, Savindi.  And thanks to everyone else who has offered their sympathies and get better wishes.  It really does mean a lot to me.

Discussion: Favourite Books

Yep, the title pretty much says it all.  You guys all know about my favourite books, but I know essentially nothing about yours.  So what are your favourite books?  Do you have just one favourite or many favourites?  What makes this book your favourite?

For me personally I can’t pick just one favourite; I’ve read too many books.  Usually I pick a favourite of the moment, which right now is Sandra Gulland’s Josephine B. trilogy about the life of the infamous Empress of France.  I love Gulland’s take on Josephine and you really get the feeling that she was utterly ruined by history when in truth, she should be celebrated.

Remember the rules for Discussion posts?  Well, there aren’t many.  My commenting policy still applies of course, but you can engage either with me or any other commenter on the thread.  So go on and have fun!

Cleopatra’s Moon by Vicky Alvear Shecter

Cleopatra's Moon by Vicky Alvear Shecter(Cover picture courtesy of The Book Girl Recommends.)

Princess of Egypt

Cleopatra Selene is the only daughter of the brilliant Queen Cleopatra of Egypt and General Marcus Antonius of Rome.  She’s grown up with jewels on her arms and servants at her feet, and she longs to follow her mother in becoming a great and powerful queen.

Prisoner of Rome

Then the Roman ruler, Octavianus, launches a war that destroys all Selene has ever known.  Taken to live in his palace in Rome, she vows to defeat him and reclaim her kingdom at all costs.  Yet Selene soon finds herself torn between two young men and two paths to power.  Will love distract her from her goal—or help her achieve her true destiny?

Epic in scope and ravishing in detail, this novel reveals the remarkable true story of a girl long hidden in history: the extraordinary Cleopatra Selene.

I know you won’t believe it, but I found something in this book that is generally an oxymoron: a believable love triangle.  Yes, I found the rarest kind of YA book out there!  It’s believable and it resolves itself in the end where the main character makes a powerful decision rather than angsting over who she should choose.

After reading Michelle Moran’s Cleopatra’s Daughter, I thought that Cleopatra’s Moon wouldn’t be much different.  But I am so glad I decided to buy Vicky Alvear Shecter’s book!  It had a completely different perspective from Moran’s and the sort of antagonist of the novel came completely out of nowhere.  Hint: it’s definitely not who you think it is but it makes sense when you look back in the story.  Cleopatra Selene comes off as a strong character who comes by her feminism honestly in a world dominated by men, rather than being your stereotypical girl with 21st century perspectives in historical fiction.  You can really feel her anguish at her mother’s and father’s deaths as well as the growing distance between herself and her twin, Alexander Helios.

Not only that, the men in her life are quite believable as well.  Juba comes off as aloof and thoroughly Romanized in the beginning, but we start to see his strength of character later on.  Of course Marcellus is incredibly charming but intelligent as well and a potential path to power for Selene.  I like how Selene doesn’t just stand by as boys drool over her; she actively pursues them once she realizes their feelings and tries to reconcile her own.  She also has incredible determination when it comes to reclaiming her birthright and that makes her both believable as a daughter of Cleopatra and a character everyone will cheer for.

As for the historical accuracy, I can’t nitpick.  Some of the mystery surrounding events at the time allows for a little creative license and Vicky Alvear Shecter doesn’t take it over the top.  She fills in gaps with plausible explanations and where there are historical records, sticks to them very well.  Her portrayals of historical figures are realistic and you kind of get the feeling that hey, this is what they could have really been like.  That, my friends, is great writing combined with great research.  What more can you ask for in historical fiction, really?

I give this book 5/5 stars.

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Torment by Lauren Kate

Today I’m guest posting over at The Streetlight Reader and am reviewing the second book in the Fallen series, Torment.  I thought Fallen, the first book, was pretty good, considering.  But my thoughts about the second book are less than flattering, believe me.  Click here to go on over and see my review/rant.

While you’re over there, check out the rest of Savindi’s reviews as well as her attempts at cooking and her thought-provoking articles about diversity, new adult literature and so much more!  I guarantee you’ll find some new books to add to your TBR pile.

Kushiel’s Scion by Jacqueline Carey

Kushiel's Scion by Jacqueline Carey(Cover picture courtesy of Wikipedia.)

Imriel de la Courcel’s birth parents are history’s most reviled traitors, but his adoptive parents, the Comtesse Phedre and the warrior-priest Joscelin, are Terre d’Ange’s greatest champions.

Stolen, tortured and enslaved as a young boy, Imriel is now a Prince of the Blood; third in line for the throne in a land that revels in art, beauty and desire. It is a court steeped in deeply laid conspiracies—and there are many who would see the young prince dead. Some despise him out of hatred for his mother, Melisande, who nearly destroyed the entire realm in her quest for power. Others because they fear he has inherited his mother’s irresistible allure—and her dangerous gifts.

As he comes of age, plagued by unwanted desires, Imriel shares their fears. When a simple act of friendship traps Imriel in a besieged city where the infamous Melisande is worshiped as a goddess and where a dead man leads an army, the Prince must face his greatest test: to find his true self.

I was skeptical about the spin-off Imriel Trilogy after the Kushiel’s Legacy trilogy was so good.  But what I like about hearing Imriel’s story is that it’s a coming-of-age story in which the protagonist truly struggles with a terrible past in order to find out who he is.  He has very real trust issues, he’s scared of his mother’s reputation following him everywhere and most of all, he still has the emotional scars he gained in Darsanga.

You can’t help but cheer for Imriel the whole way as he tries to overcome his past and discover what his future will be like.  From his escapades in Tiberium to his burgeoning love life back home, he’s quite a likeable character.  Imriel really does go on a physical, but also spiritual and emotional journey to find healing and make peace with his past.  He does both great and not-so-great things along the way, but in the end he comes out as a better person.  Yet still, because of his past, he has trouble reconciling the fact that he is of Kushiel’s line just as his mother is.  But with friends like Eammon and Lucius, you have the feeling that he’s in good hands.

The complicated politics of Jacqueline Carey’s world are still at play here, which includes the fallout of Melisande’s treachery.  There’s also the movement in Tiberium to return to a republic rather than having a princeps who is more of an emperor than anything.  Not only that, part of the fallout of Melisande’s treachery is that although Imriel is third in line, there are those that would quite willingly murder Ysandre’s daughters to help him gain the throne.  It makes me happy that Jacqueline Carey’s books are not just shamelessly sex-filled, but that she actually developed a world and populates it with three dimensional characters that have realistic motivations.  Not many authors can do that, believe me.

I give this book 5/5 stars.

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