Review "Pride/Prejudice: a novel of mr. Darcy, Elizabeth Bennett, and their forbidden lovers"

Some information

Title: Pride/Prejudice: a novel of mr. Darcy, Elizabeth Bennett, and their forbidden lovers

Author: Ann Herendeen

Pages: 432

Published: January 2010

Publisher: Haper Paperbacks

My source: Boekenfestijn

My score on Goodreads: 3 stars

Blurb

For readers who've loved Jane Austen's most popular novel—the inestimable Pride and Prejudice—questions have always remained. What is the real nature of Darcy's intense friendship with Charles Bingley, to explain why he would prevent Bingley's marriage to Elizabeth's beautiful and virtuous sister Jane? How can Darcy reconcile his own desire for Elizabeth with his determination to save his friend from a similar entanglement? What is the disturbing history behind Darcy's tortured relationship with his foster brother, George Wickham? And what other intimacies, besides their cherished friendship, are exchanged between Elizabeth and Charlotte Lucas?

Ann Herendeen, acclaimed author of Phyllida and the Brotherhood of Philander, reimagines this classic love story, focusing on the untold aspects of Jane Austen's timeless novel. Pride/Prejudice brings to light all the buried secrets, potential scandals, and unspoken, forbidden loves of Austen's story, weaving a tale of intertwined passions, pride humbled, and ultimately, freedom from prejudice.

My review

Ok... this book was... strange... ?!... 

I hope it won't affect the way I see Pride and Prejudice, mr. Darcy and all the others. In Pride/Prejudice Ann Herendeen shows us a totally different interpretation of Austens book. She finds something more than friendship between Darcy and Bingley. The two men love each other in a totally different way and in the beginning I had the feeling they just wanted to marry a woman because society wanted/ expected them to. After reading a while though, I discovered I was wrong. I also discovered Ann Herendeen did a good job in describing the scenes we "miss" in Pride and Prejudice. Her descriptions weren't always my cup of tea, but she at least sought a declaration for some events in the real work. She tried to read between the lines and ended up with a story that made sense completely. I doubt I would read the same story between the lines of Pride and Prejudice, but I'm sure I wouldn't be able to fit my ideas that good in the real story. Sometimes I really thought "Oh my God, what if she's right? What if she interpreted this correct and I was wrong all the time?" It was scary... I don't want another idea of the original story. I don't want to see Darcy and Bingley in another way than I did before. 

I gave this book 3 stars because I think Ann Herendeen did a very good job, but I couldn't find myself in her version of the story. I had mixed feelings all the time, but I'm glad I read the book.

Review "The Fault In Our Stars"

Some information

Title: The fault in our stars

Author: John Green

Pages: 313

Published: January 2012

Publisher: Dutton Books

My Source: Standaard Book Shop

My score on Goodreads: 3 stars

Blurb

Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.

My review

I don't like cancer stories. 

Maybe that's all there is to say... I've had a real cancer story in my life and that was more than enough.

Why did I read this book in spite of my aversion? Because EVERYBODY praised the book and almost gave me the feeling I HAD to like it. Everywhere on the Internet I saw people showing this book, saying "this is my favorite book". Everybody said you would need some Kleenex while reading this book because it's so beautiful. Of course I need Kleenex when people have cancer and die too soon. 

Though I didn't like the book in the way I hoped I would like it, it's not bad either. Of course not :). I want to praise John Green for writing in such a beautiful way. He's able to describe everything in a way you have the feeling you're there with the characters. You feel like you know Hazel and Augustus. I loved the characters! Party because they feel so real, but also because they just don't care what people think or say. They want to enjoy life (although they also have their bad moments) because they know their version of life is and will be a little different from other versions. 

What I also liked about this book is the fact I really couldn't predict how it would all go. We're dealing with two main characters who describe themselves as ticking time bombs. They're living on the edge all the time and this made me reading a little faster. I wanted to know how it would all end (hoping everything would be solved in a miraculous way).

Something about the story... The main characters, Hazel and Augustus, meet each other at Cancer Kidd Support Group. Hazel hates to go there, but when she sees the handsome Augustus Waters appear, she starts to like it a little more. When this boy also seems to be funny and smart, she falls for him little by little. Augustus shows Hazel a totally new way of living your life and he makes her time on this planet more worthwhile. Hazel in her turn seems to calm Augustus down somewhat and shows him what real love is.

In short I liked this book but not as much as I hoped. Maybe my expectations where set too high because of all the good comments I heard about it. I'm very happy I've read the book but I don't think I'm going to recommend it to somebody. I hope the movie will be good because I'm planning on giving it a try...

Review "Dawn at Last"

Some information

Title: Dawn at Last

Author: Lawrence Grodecki

Pages: 251 (e-book)

Published: September 2013

Publisher: Lawrence Grodecki

My Source: author (thank you!)

My Score on Goodreads: 3 stars

Covertext

A smart and sexy romance, perhaps the kind your mother doesn't want you to know? Chances are she will love it too, even though this is definitely not old school shenanigans!

Secrets deeper than the Seven Seas . . . 

Modern day Victoria, BC sets the stage for Donna Belauche, a professional intimacy counselor who keeps her client list short and her list of friends shorter. Life is far from fun and games for Donna. In her quiet time, it is not her work that brings her to the brink of madness. It’s the weight of her past – so many deep secrets – almost crushing her. Holding love at arm’s length, she pushes men away, even one who especially adores her.

"That's when she wrote in her journal, 'genuinely kind and charming,' but next to that she added 'perhaps a little dangerous…be very careful.'"

Making Dali Blush 

As she pushes love away, Donna devotes her free time to the pursuit of a different kind of passion - a hobby involving tulips, a creative exploration of women – an exploration of what some call sinful, and yet others divine. She is not alone in this project. She and her partners do it all in the name of art . . . but have they taken it all too far?

"As wonderful as it seemed, still is it even okay, or was it all just decadence? Yet such a sweet decadence, as fresh as the first drop of honey."

It's funny how it works when love's at play. 

Some say this book is controversial because of its characters - interracial relationships, unconventional pasts, and affairs between lady friends who are oblivious to the label, "lesbian romance". They see nothing unusual in any of it. For them it is just how they live. There is Ben, the house painter who will paint most anything, and a server named Sunni, with a thing for buns. Along with three others, they manage to help Donna find her way, almost in spite of themselves. They don't realize how important each is to the other, especially to Donna, as she scratches away at the ties that bind her.

Untwisting the Night Away 

The lives of these misfits twist together like vines - never knowing exactly where they will wind up. Through all the intertwining, love offers up one amusing surprise after another. Then, on one final night - three men and three ladies - everything finally comes together. Lives are changed forever . . . but for the better? How does one ever really know? At last, is it ever just about love?

My review

Hmmm difficult one... The author of this book, Lawrence Grodecki, is a great and kind person and I wish I could say that this book was great too, but it wasn't completely my kind of thing. 

The story itself was pretty good. I liked the idea and the plot development was worked out very well. In "Dawn at Last" we meet a lot of people who are connected to each other in one way or another. The thing is most of them don't know they are connected to so many people around them. The main thing that brings them all together is a secret art project hosted by Charles Lartimer. He and his two companions, Pierre and Donna, have created something like an art heaven on earth (this is how they see it). They'd like to keep it a secret because it needs to be exclusive and they sometimes do things that aren't respected by "normal" people.

It's impossible for me to give you the whole plot without giving away spoilers.

Why wasn't the story my kind of thing? I don't know. Maybe I didn't believe the characters. Sometimes they all seemed so unreal to me I couldn't see them as actual "people". Maybe all the long dialogues and descriptions started to get on my nerves. You can sense the author wants to learn us a lot of lessons. He wants to share a lot of wisdom with us, but all these things don't come across (for me that is) as he would like it. Maybe it all seemed too far-fetched at times. I just don't know. 

Some people would blame the story, but I liked the story itself. I can't blame a thing. It's just that generally the book didn't seem to please me. Did I have expectations that were too high? It's possible. 

The strange thing is that, if I can ever read the sequel, I will do it with pleasure. Though it wasn't completely my genre, I would like to know how these characters develop. Maybe they get more real once you really get to know them and once you see them grow. 

The fact I didn't like this book as much as I wanted to, shouldn't keep you from reading it. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for this kind of book. I really don't know.

Review "The Great Gatsby" - short

Some information

Title: The Great Gatsby

Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald

Pages: 122

Genre: Classics, historical fiction

Published: 1993

Publisher: Wordsworth Editions ltd.

My Scource: Boekenfestijn Gent

My score on Goodreads: 3 stars

Covertext

Generally considered to be F. Scott Fitzgerald's finest novel, The Great Gatsby is a consummate summary of the 'roaring twenties' and a devastating exposé of the shallowness of the 'Jazz Age'. Through the narration of Nick Carraway, the reader is taken into the superficially glittering world of the mansions which lined the Long Island shore in the 1920's, to encounter Nick's cousin Daisy, her brash but wealthy husband Tom Buchanan, Jay Gatsby and the dark mystery which surrounds him.

The Great Gatsby is an undisputed classic of American literature from the period following the First World War, and is one of the great novels of the twentieth century.

My (short) review

Well, I'm glad I read this book! Still, because I want to write honest reviews, I have to say I didn't like it that much... I don't know why it wasn't my thing. Everybody else seems to believe this is a great book, well written, a good story,... I thought it was well written, but the story just wasn't for me. Those hollow characters and their hollow deeds probably have some depth, but I couldn't find it. I think that if I would have read this book at uni for some classes, I would have appreciated it more. I like it when there are different levels in a book, when you can link a lot of items to each other. This time I just wanted a book to relax, so I didn't jump into this book. Nevertheless I'm curious about the movie and still want to see it!

Review "Through a glass, darkly"

Some information

Title: Through a glass, darkly

Author: Jostein Gaarder

Pages: 161

Genre: philosophy

Published: 1993

Publisher: Dolphin Paperback (1999)

My Scource: Boekenfestijn (Gent)

My score on Goodreads: 3 stars

Covertext

It's almost Christmas. Cecilia lies sick in bed as her family bustle around her to make her last Christmas as special as possible. Cecilia has cancer. An angel steps through her window. So begins a spirited and engaging series of conversations between Cecelia and her angel. As the sick girl thinks about her life and prepares for her death, she changes subtly, in herself and in her relationships with her family. Jostein Gaarder is a profoundly optimistic writer, who writes about death with wisdom, compassion and an enquiring mind. 'Through a Glass, Darkly' will not only bring comfort to the bereaved. It will move and amaze everyone who reads it.

My review

Before I started reading this book, I knew I could expect lots and lots of philosophic thoughts in a book by Jostein Gaarder. I knew it would make me think about things I will never understand and maybe even don't want to understand. Nevertheless I started reading this little book "Through a glass, darkly".

Though the story is a little dark and sad, there are some deep thoughts in it. Most of these thought are really Christian ideas about heaven and God. I believe that non-Christian people won't like this book at all because God is omnipresent in it. 

I'm not sure I liked the book. It certainly made me think about some things but the "big" problem is I don't know what to think about afterlife and heaven and that's what the book keeps talking about.

In this story we meet Cecelia, a girl who's terminally ill. She can only lay in her bed and is too sick to celebrate Christmas, her favorite time of the year. While Cecelia is in bed and dreams about trees, presents and Christmasfood, she meets the angel Ariel. Ariel is a funny angel whose presence is appreciated a lot by Cecelia. She likes talking to him about heaven and he likes to learn new things about people. Cecelia wants to know how it is to be an angel, to float, to know God,... and Ariel can't wait to hear how it feels when you're made of flesh and blood, dream, feel pain,...Towards the end of Cecelia's life, Ariel visits her more and more so when Cecelia leaves the world her family and friends live in, she's already used to some things in heaven and isn't afraid of it anymore...

Not bad, but not entirely my thing too...

Review "Keeping Score ~ A guide to love and relationships"

Some information

Title: Keeping Score ~ A guide to love and relationships

Author: Marc Brackett

Pages: 128

Genre: Non Fiction, Self Help

Published: july 2012

Publisher: Treinta y Tres Publishing

My scource: the author (thank you!)

My score on Goodreads: 2.5 (3 on GR)

Covertext

It's a relationship book even a man will read.

Keeping Score provides a relationship evaluation quiz followed by a common sense guide for relationship improvement, all with a humorous twist. You can determine if your relationship has the qualities it takes for a successful marriage and lasting love affair. 

If you're single- read this book to see how well your potential life partner measures up. If you're married- read this book to reduce conflict and increase your happiness.

Take control and shape your union into a relationship that will stand the trials of life and go the distance.

My review

At first I wanted to give this book 2.5 stars, but since that's not possible on Goodreads I doubted wether I would give it a 2 or a 3. A 2 was not enough and a 3 was a little too much. Than I thought: well, maybe I didn't like this book so much because I couldn't really "use" it at this point in my life. That's why I gave 3 stars to "Keeping Score - A guide to love and relationships". 

Although I didn't like the book so much, I have to admit there were some parts I found interesting. Other parts didn't give much new information and just recapitulated things I already knew. Sometimes it seemed like the author wanted to share a totally new insight with his readers and I had the "ooow, exciting!"-feeling. After reading those parts in the book I always had the "ooow, is that it?"-feeling and I felt a little disappointed.

Writing this review was so difficult and it's still a lot shorter than I wanted it to be! Reviewing a guide is totally different from reviewing a book with characters, a plot,... It took me a while to think about the book but here is my opinion: "Keeping Score" is a good read but I really don't know wether it would help a relationship or not. I don't think it would really help me...

Review "A beautiful mess"

Some information

Title: A beautiful mess

Author: Ali Berlinski

Pages: 211

Genre: chick lit, autobiography

Published: May 2013

Publisher: Pubslush Press

My source: won it from Chick Lit Club (thank you!!!)

My score on Goodreads: 3 stars

Covertext

Biracial and bicoastal, Berlinski spent her childhood flying between the families of her divorced parents, without ever feeling like she fit in anywhere. Fortunately, she never lost her sense of humor, which is apparent on every page of her first book, a riotous and revealing look at the consequences of divorce, too much air travel, cultural diversity and conflicting and conflicted parents. With an open heart and an honest soul, she recounts her somewhat misspent youth and a wildly exciting (though equally torturous) love affair with the guy of her dreams. She loves, she loses and she packs it in, leaving behind the guy, two dysfunctional families, and a comfortable life to move to a foreign country and start all over again. 

She’s Carrie Bradshaw reimagined as a third grade teacher in Brooklyn with zero interest in Manolo Blahniks. She’s a tough New Yorker with a tender twist of California sunshine in her blood that knows when to fight and when to surrender. Her journey will be oddly familiar and utterly unique to anyone who’s ever believed that love would save them—if not with this guy, then maybe with the next.

As her grandfather once said, “Well, it may not be the party you hoped for, but since we’re here, we might as well dance.” So now she lives in Spain and, despite everything, Berlinski keeps on dancing.

My review

Funny, witty, well written,... I loved to read this book, but I have to admit it wasn't what I expected it to be. Author Ali Berlinski tells us the story about a part of her life, but sometimes it seemed a little chaotic. There were storylines from different periods in her life put together, whereby I wasn't always able to make a clear timeline in my head. I know I'm a reader who needs structure. A book may be chaotic, but for me there needs to be structure in the chaos. I have to believe this chaos is leading me towards something. In "A beautiful mess" I found the chaos, but I didn't always see the structure. This gave me the feeling I was just reading something without it would lead to something bigger or something special. This is not really criticism, it's just something I liked a little less.

"A beautiful mess" is written and told by Ali Berlinski. She's our writer and main character at the same time. This makes this book other than the chick lit books I'm used to, but I liked this style. Ali tells us about her difficulties finding her real "me", her real identity. She struggles when people ask her "who are you?", "where do you come from?", "what nationality do you have?",... Every single time she needs to do a lot of explanation. As you can see on the drawing on the cover, she's child of a polish father and a filipino mother. After they're divorced, both of them found a new partner. To make it really difficult, Ali's father marries her former nanny, Julie. A woman Ali always considered as a second mother. 

Because of the seperation, Ali sometimes lives on the east coast, sometimes on the west coast. On top of that her father has some older sons from a marriage before he married Ali's mother. In this family, Ali is the youngest child. Her mother on the other hand, has two children from her new marriage after her divorce from Ali's father. In this part of the family Ali is the oldest child. When you put the two families togheter, she's a middle child. Along with all the advantages of a divorce (two birthday parties, getting presents for each occasion twice,...) Ali finds there are a lot of negative aspects too. 

As you can see, Ali tells us everything. She doesn't back out when it becomes difficult or hard or maybe even shameful. We get to know her and her family just like we would live with them too. This is an aspect about this book I really liked. You can understand Ali very good, even though you don't always have to agree with her (at least I didn't agree all the time). A thing I didn't like, is the fact the end is a little abrupt. I expected she would give us more of a closing to her story or the expectation of a second book. But she did neither of those things. Some people like open endings, I just don't. That's a matter of personal taste. And as Ali lets us know throughout the book, it's good to have a personal taste!

Review "Crossroads"

Some information

Title: Crossroads

Author: Chandler McGrew

Pages: 306

Genre: Paranormal

Published: September 2012

Publisher: CreateSpace

My Source: Author (thank you!)

My Score on Goodreads: 3 stars

Covertext

Sheila Bright talks to the dead including the ghost of her mother who wants to move to California. Kira Graves produces money out of thin air and can transform people into monsters. The two of them, along with Shape Shifters, Pookas, Lost Boys and more all inhabit the Crossroads, where good and evil collide. When Kira’s family and everyone else in their carnival are murdered by unearthly creatures called Grigs, Kira and her constant companion, Jen, flee toward a half-mythical place of safety called Graves Island, but they fail to reach it when Kira is drawn through the looking glass into another world. The planet of the Creators is deteriorating from a land of dreamscapes into one of nightmares, and the only way to stop the Empty-Eyed Man from turning the entire universe into chaos is for Kira to destroy the tool he most desires. But what she must sacrifice to do so may be worth more to her than the prize.

My Review

I have to admit I don't normally read this kind of books with all kinds of supernatural elements. After reading this book, I discovered again why I don't. It's just not my genre. I like stories that could really happen. Nonetheless I liked this book and this story. It's very well written and author Chandler McGrew doesn't waste time on unnecessary scenes. That's a thing I highly appreciate. Something that did bother me from time to time were all the comparisons the author made. The words "it was a lot like..." appeared one too many times.

In "Crossroads" McGrew tells us the story of Kira Graves, a young girl that grows up with her parents in a carnival. Kira has a pretty normal life (at least that's what she thinks) untill one night everything changes for her. When her parents and all the other carneys are killed by a horrible "thing" one night, Kira doesn't know what to do and is left all alone in the world. The only "person" she has by her side isn't real and can't be seen by everybody... The last thing her mother told her was that Kira would be punished for something she didn't do and that she had to go without looking back. Not understanding Kira begins a life changing journey with her "pooka" or protecter Jen (the one that can't be seen by everybody). On this journey Kira discovers a lot about herself. She seems to be able to create things out of nothing and doesn't really know why she's got this "gift" or how she must use it. She meets Sheila Bright on her journey who also seems to be a little "odd". Indeed Sheila also has a strange gift, though she rather thinks of it as a curse. She's able to talk to the dead and just like Kira she doesn't know what to do with this ability. 

Together Kira and Sheila discover a lot of things they didn't want to discover at all. They visit worlds they'd rather avoid and meet creatures that shouldn't have been created. 

I have to admit I came more into the story when it reached its climax. I wanted to know what would happen next and that's a good thing when you read a book... Duh... A thing that bothered me (aaargh) was that my version of this book didn't have a page numbering. It almost drove me crazy (only exaggerating a little :p )! The lay-out still needs some work, but we all know the story is the most important part of a book so I won't say something more about this. 

All in all it's a good story but I think you have to be a fan of this genre. You can see the author has put a lot of effort in this book, so we can only be positive on that part... What I liked were the philosophical ideas that appeared from time to time in "Crossroads". I don't know wether the author did this on purpose or it's just a coincidence, but it gave a little more to this book. Though I "only" gave 3 stars to this work, I can recommand it to (some) readers. I'm sure lots of people will really like this book a lot!

Review "Latitudes - A Story of Coming Home"

Some information

Title: Latitudes - A Story of Coming Home

Author: Anthony Caplan

Pages: 222

Genre: Bildung

Published: June 2012

Publisher: Hope Mountain Press

My Source: Author (thank you!)

My Score on Goodreads: 3 stars

Covertext

A coming of age novel about a boy overcoming divorce and cultural dislocation. When Father and Mother, a highflying young American lawyer and his party-hard bride, fall prey to the self-destructive lure of alcohol and sexual liberation, Will and his sisters pay the price in divorce and kidnappings that take them back and forth between the rain forest hideaways of coastal Latin America and the placid suburbs of Long Island. Will identifies with the oppressed workers laboring in his father's fast food restaurant and longs for American freedom. Father remarries the daughter of a local aristocrat, and Will is sent off to the hothouse world of a New England boarding school. Swimming in a sea of Fair Isle sweaters and LL Bean boots, Will discovers a core of resilience in himself that allows him to survive, thrive, and ultimately embrace the flawed and varied worlds he inhabits. Will reconnects with Mother, sinking into a New York City world of Irish bars and one night stands he cannot save her from. With a little help from friends, and a high school Shakespeare class taught by the school's closeted gay athletic trainer, Will begins to see the possibility of finding his true path. Latitudes charts the birth pangs of a quest for self and soul - from a tropical childhood to a coming of age on the road.

Review

Wow... difficult book to review. I liked it, I really did, but I also found it somewhat strange. "Latitudes - A Story of Coming Home" tells us the story of Will Kogan and his road to adulthood. I think we can see this book as a kind of Bildungsroman because we see the long road Will travels from a child with little knowledge of the world to a teenager who wishes he never had to learn the world as good as he did. It's a difficult road with many obstacles and Will has to take them all. He can't ignore them and go around them... he can't and he doesn't want to. 

I liked the story because I could connect with Will. I understood him (not always, but most of the times I did) and had the same feelings as he did. I also appreciated the writing style of author Anthony Caplan. At the start I thought it was incoherent in a way but the more I read of the book, the more I understood this incoherent writing reflected the incoherent life Will knew when he was growing up. In the beginning of the book I didn't always understand the situations, but that's the idea (I believe) because Will also didn't understand most of the situations in his life. He didn't understand why his father hit his mother, why they divorced in an ugly way, why he and his sisters didn't get the love of a normal family,... In the beginning we only seem to get some tatters like they are the only thing Will remembers from being an innocent child.

Later on we get longer memories and more coherent ones... They reflect the growth of Will emotionally.

One thing I had difficulties with, is the fact the beginning of the book doesn't seem to have much connections with the rest of it. There are connections, but to me they didn't matter. Don't know what to think of it... The story also doesn't seem to lead somewhere. Ok, in the end we see a different Will (and that's the point of a Bildungsroman) but still... It's a totally uncompleted story and that's just not my thing ;)

All in all I can say: good book, but maybe not really my genre after all.

Review "Tangled Up In You"

Some information

Title: Tangled Up In You

Author: Rachel Gibson

Pages: 260 (Dutch version)

Genre: Chick Lit

Published: july 2007

Publisher: Avon

My source: ECI

My score on Goodreads: 3 stars (because of the predictability)

Covertext

Maddie Dupree isn't in Truly, Idaho, looking for a husband, a boyfriend, or anything in between.

Maddie is determined to uncover the untold story about the town's sordid past--her past. As a child, Maddie lost everything, and now she's back at the scene of the scandal--a local establishment that's always belonged to the Hennessys--determined to uncover the truth, and nothing is going to stand in her way. Especially not a black-haired, blue-eyed Hennessy.

Everyone in Truly knows that the Hennessy men are irresistible, and the current owner, Mick, is no exception. His late father was a skirt-chasing heartbreaker who ended up causing disaster for two families. So far, Mick's managed to keep the ladies in line, but when he claps eyes on Maddie, with her luscious curves and tempting lips, he can't resist getting tangled up with her.

But Maddie is keeping secrets, not the least of which is her true reason for being in town. And when Mick discovers what`s really going on, there is going to be a whole lot of trouble in Truly.

Review

Some people give me a strange look when I say I like chick lit... Is that because I'm a teacher who teaches quite serious courses? I don't know... and I don't know why I'm not "allowed" to like chick lit! :p Maybe I need some predictable romantic stories from time to time...

I can't go without saying all of Rachel Gibsons books follow the same plot. I've only read the three first books of the writer series, but they all tell us the same story with different characters. Because I needed a light harted book, I just didn't care about that and enjoyed the book despite it.

Have to say I liked "Tangled Up In You" by Rachel Gibson. I'm starting to become a fan of her books. The story is somewhat predictable, but Rachel writes it in such a way you keep on reading and you start loving the lovely characters. It's a good read to clear your head in times of work and stress!

"Tangled Up In You" tells us the story about Maddie (Madeline) Dupree/Jones. She's one of the four writer friends Rachel wrote about in four books. Maddie's the one who writes about serial killers and the people behind big crimes. This time everything is different. Maddies next book doesn't tell her readers the story about a big crime or people she doesn't know. This time she wants to write a book about the day her mother was murdered by the wife of her big love. It's hard for Maddie to be back in the town and bar where her mother lived her last days, where she herself started her life as a lonely kid without a real family. It's even harder for her to meet the children of the woman who killed her own husband, Maddies mother and commited suiced after that. These children, Meg and Mick, are nice people and Maddie likes them (especially Mick) even though she didn't believe that was going to be possible.

Although Maddie really wants to write her book and meet some people who knew her mother, it's not so easy as thought. Mick isn't just a useful source for her book...he's the man she didn't expect him to be: the one she loves! That's the reason why Maddie doesn't want to tell him who she is. He knows she writes a book about his family and the tragidy that ruined his life, but he doesn't know she's the daughter of the girl his father loved instead of his own wife. The daughter of the reason why his mother took a gun and destroyed three lives...

To everybody who loves predictable and romantic chick lit: read this book (and the other ones in the writer series by Rachel Gibson). To all the others: .... ;)

Review "On Top of Everything"

Some information

Title: On Top of Everything

Author: Sarah-Kate Lynch

Pages: 316 (Dutch version)

Genre: Chicklit

Published: 2008

Publisher: Uitgeverij De Kern

My Source: I bought this book at "Fnac" bookshop

My score on goodreads: 3 stars (but it deserves 3.5)

Covertext

Rotten things happen in threes in Florence’s family so when she’s fired by her best friend and left by her husband in the space of a single afternoon, she knows there is yet more trouble brewing. And when her son Monty returns from his gap year Down Under it’s only too clear what, or who, that trouble is.

Then the plan to turn her crumbling home into a tea room hits a snag, the macramé at her sister’s house starts to seriously unravel, and why is her doctor leaving so many messages?

Enter Will, a mysterious handyman with a secret stash of chocolate truffles, and soon life – with all its hiccups – is just her cup of tea.
A bittersweet story about life, living and the importance of afternoon tea.

Review
Although I only gave three stars to "On Top of Everything" I must admit I really liked this book. I don't understand why it doesn't get more credit or is more known (in Belgium for instance). Maybe I can think of one reason :p In Dutch the title sounds less "cake-like". It's translated as "Sweet Desire" and holds a lot of people from buying the book. I can see it in lots of eyes when they see the title of the book I'm reading ;).

Sarah-Kate Lynch tells us the story about Florence, a beautiful, happy, married, hardworking mum of 39. She's quite happy with the life she leads working in an antique shop just across the street, married to her childhood sweetheart and mother of a great son, Monty, who lives a year in Australia. Too bad all those good things get smashed rather quickly. Florence doesn't know what happens when she loses her job and husband on one day. Superstitious as she is, she thinks she'll be hit by a third "bad thing". And indeed... A few days later her son returns from Australia, a thing that supposed to be comforting now her beloved man turned out to be different than she thought.However Florences light on the dark sky goes quickly. Monty has something to tell her and it's quite a big deal...If you want to know if Florence is able to get her life back on track and find happiness again, I think you should definitely read the book yourself. I kind of recommend it to chicklitlovers ;)

What I really like about the book is the fact we get Florences version of the whole story, but at the end of each chapter there's presented a short intervention by another character. These other characters are the important people in Florences live. They give us another perspective on things and reveal some more details about Florences character she doesn't want to show us herself. Another reaaaaally lovely thing about the book is the recipe you find in it to make a chocolate-banana pie. The recipe alone can make your mouth water. I'll definitely try it someday!

A little point of disappointment for me is the fact the end of the story got handled too quickly. I didn't like the ending too, but that's just my opinion. Still I think Sarah-Kate could give us some more pages describing the new Florece at the end of the story. On the other hand she provides us some free space to give the ending our own twist.