First Blogoversary and Giveaway!

I can’t believe how the time has flown, but the first blogoversary of The Crowded Leaf is upon us! Here’s some fun statistics for the last year:

Date of first post: July 29, 2009

Number of books reviewed: 60 (woo!)

Total number of posts: 292

How exciting! The Crowded Leaf started as an experimental website and spun off into Rozlyn Press. I thank you all for being a part of my insanity. Keep reading my reviews, and then buy the books I publish (please!).

Over the last year I’ve aquired a pretty large amount of ARCs from various sources. But those ARCs are piling up, and I think it’s time I part with some and spread the love in the name of Blogoversary cheer! Check the list below with my reviews, and if you’re interested in any of the books listed, leave a comment. On Monday, August 2, 2010 I’ll do a drawing for the winners. Cheers!

The Palace of Strange Girls by Sallie Day (fiction, women writers)

Fireworks Over Toccoa by Jeffrey Stepakoff (historical fiction, love story)

The Life O’Reilly by Brian Cohen (fiction, life, love story)

Keeping the Feast by Paula Butturini (memoir, family, life, depression)

Keeper by Kathi Appelt (young adult, fiction, mermaids)

Still Missing by Chevy Stevens (fiction, suspense, abduction)

Shadow of the Swords by Kamran Pasha (historical fiction, religion, love story)

WWW/Waiting On/Wishful Wednesday: What Alice Knew

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted at Breaking The Spine and Wishful Wednesday is hosted at The Bluestocking Guide. Today’s pick sounds like a fun literary mystery…

What Alice Knew: A Most Curious Tale of Henry James and Jack the Ripper by Paula Marantz Cohen

A fun and clever literary reinterpretation, with Henry James hot on the trail of Jack the Ripper

Henry James is suffering through boring drunken dinner parties in London, but when his brother William-renowned for his groundbreaking work in the new science of psychology-is summoned from America by Scotland Yard to help investigate an East End serial killer who calls himself Jack the Ripper, things are suddenly much more interesting.

Their bedridden sister Alice James takes on the role of lead detective, as the three precocious siblings attempt to unravel the true identity of the killer. Searching London high and low, encountering characters both suspicious and ridiculous, they inch closer to a killer neither they, nor readers, would suspect.

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions:  

What are you currently reading? City of Veils by Zoe Ferraris (synopsis)

What did you recently finish reading? The Exile of Sara Stevenson by Darci Hannah (review)

What do you think you’ll read next? A break from the norm of literary fiction: Dracula in Love by Karen Essex

Review: The Exile of Sara Stevenson by Darci Hannah

Set in 1814, The Exile of Sara Stevenson is a richly woven historical fiction novel told from the viewpoint of the title’s namesake, Sara Stevenson.

Banished to the Cape Wrath lighthouse on the blustery northern point of Scotland, Sara is punished for falling in love with a sailor, and ending up pregnant with his child. Miserable, forced to make company with the other unhappy residents of the lighthouse, Sara believes her lover, Thomas Chrichton, will rescue her. The days drift by until a mysterious letter with a special gift she had given to Thomas arrives. Further correspondence with the author of the letter results in Sara’s confusion to his identity, and to the health of her child’s father. Searching for answers, Sara continues to write to her new friend, but wonders if perhaps his identity is that of William Campbell, the tormented keeper of the light on Cape Wrath. As friends become enemies and vice versa, Sara must hold out hope for the sake of her child amid the intrepid storms and dangerous coast of Northern Scotland.

The first half of this novel was lovely; a true historical the likes of which I haven’t read in quite sometime. This is mostly due to Hannah’s writing which was remarkably authentic. A current historical fiction novel is usually written with a contemporary voice, but Hannah’s is more true to the time period, making Sara’s story that much more sympathetic.

The beautiful writing continues through the second half of the book, but there’s a sudden shift in Hannah’s narrative tools. I refer to a mysterious boat which appears and disappears into the fog every time it delivers a letter to Sara. This is the mystical aspect of the synopsis which is used for promotional panache, however it doesn’t make itself known until two-thirds of the way through the novel, marking an unsettling breach in the realistic narrative. Had Hannah introduced a bit of the mysterious earlier in the novel, I would have believed in the boat’s ethereal qualities. As it was, I knew where Hannah was going with the boat, but it left me a bit cynical.

The end of the book delves further into the unworldly theme, but it doesn’t have much time to do so, which reinforces my opinion that had there been even a hint of magic in the beginning of the novel, it would have brought the plot full circle. Unfortunately I felt as though the end was meant for a different novel with the same set of characters.

Regardless, I still enjoyed The Exile of Sara Stevenson, and I think most readers who are interested in this type of story will. Darci Hannah is definitely a skillful writer and I’ll be interested to see what she releases in the future.

4 stars

(I received this book from LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers)

Teaser Tuesdays: The Exile of Sara Stevenson, City of Veils

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. I’ve got another double dose today since I just finished The Exile of Sara Stevenson by Darci Hannah last night, and picked up City of Veils by Zoe Ferraris. I should have Exile reviewed sometime today or tomorrow, so check back. Until then…

My hand holding the letter was squeezing so hard that my knuckles had turned white. A wave of nausea washed over me and settled in the pit of my stomach, causing my whole being to sicken and shake with renewed hurt and anger. – The Exile of Sara Stevenson (249)

The woman’s body was lying on the beach. “Eve’s tomb,” he would later come to think of it, not the actual tomb in Jeddah that was flattened in 1928, to squash out any cults attached to her name, nor the same one that was bulldozed again in 1975, to confirm the point. This more fanciful tomb was a plain, narrow strip of beach north of Jeddah. – City of Veils (3)

In My Mailbox Monday: The Thieves of Darkness, B&N Part I

In My Mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren, and Mailbox Monday is hosted by The Printed Page.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster’s amazing Atria Division and their Galley Alley, I received…

The Thieves of Darkness by Richard Doetsch. This looks to be a series, but one that I can pick up from here. There’s no official synopsis yet, but the author shared this one his website:

While Darkness arrives August 25th, I thought it time to start giving you hints.

It starts with a prison break from Chiron Prison located on a plateau in the middle of an eastern desert.

Michael will face off against an adversary like he has never faced before: Another thief but this one is as dark and ruthless and violent as history has ever known.

Without revealing any of the plot, know that The Thieves of Darkness will carry you from arid deserts, to London’s underworld, from the canals of Amsterdam to the ancient palaces of Istanbul, from Byram Hills, New York to the highest mountain reaches of India.

More to be revealed soon.

Doesn’t that sound intriguing? 

I also received my purchases from Barnes & Noble when they had their recent blowout sale. Time to reshuffle the unread shelves, since there’s no way any of these will fit at the moment. Here’s Part I of the B&N box…

The Girls by Lori Lansens. Synopsis from Booklist:

Lansens’ remarkable second novel is told from two viewpoints: that of Rose and that of Ruby Darlen, 29-year-old conjoined twins. Rose and Ruby are about to go down in history as the oldest surviving twins to be joined at the head. A recent medical diagnosis has spurred Rose to write her autobiography, and she encourages Ruby to do the same. Between the two sections, the story of their lives is revealed, beginning with their birth to an unwed teen mother and their adoption by Lovey Darlen, the nurse who was with their mother when she was in labor, and her strong, silent husband, Stash. The girls grow up on the Darlens’ farm in rural Ontario, where Lovey refuses to accept the word of skeptical doctors who doubt the girls will ever be able to walk on their own. There is a great deal of subtlety in Lansens’ narrative, and how the twins reveal the details of their lives–often one will refer to something she is sure the other has already mentioned in her section. But her biggest achievement in the novel is bringing to life these two truly extraordinary characters to such a degree that readers may forget they are reading fiction.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. From B&N:

Emily Brontë’s only novel, Wuthering Heights remains one of literature’s most disturbing explorations into the dark side of romantic passion. Heathcliff and Cathy believe they’re destined to love each other forever, but when cruelty and snobbery separate them, their untamed emotions literally consume them.

Set amid the wild and stormy Yorkshire moors, Wuthering Heights, an unpolished and devastating epic of childhood playmates who grow into soul mates, is widely regarded as the most original tale of thwarted desire and heartbreak in the English language.

Skylight Confessions by Alice Hoffman.

Writing at the height of her powers, Alice Hoffman conjures three generations of a family haunted by love.

Cool, practical, and deliberate, John is dreamy Arlyn’s polar opposite. Yet the two are drawn powerfully together even when it is clear they are bound to bring each other grief. Their difficult marriage leads them and their children to a house made of glass in the Connecticut countryside, to the avenues of Manhattan, and to the blue waters of Long Island Sound. Glass breaks, love hurts, and families make their own rules. Ultimately, it falls to their grandson, Will, to solve the emotional puzzle of his family and of his own identity.

Friday Finds: My, Myself, and Why?

Friday Finds is hosted at Should Be Reading. Found this funny little morsel on Shelf Awareness today. Not something I would normally read, but it sounds amusing. The online description doesn’t tell you that Cadence’s three “sisters” are really her other personalities. Haha!

Me, Myself, and Why? by MaryJanice Davidson

Sweet and innocent with a twist of girl-next-door, Cadence Jones is not your typical girl and certainly not your typical FBI agent.  Just ask her sisters, Shiro and Adrienne.  (Wait. . .best if you don’t ask Adrienne anything.)  But it’s her special “talent” which makes Cadence so valuable to the FBI and it never comes in more handy than when she and her partner, George, get tagged to bring down the Threefer Killer.  A serial killer who inexplicably likes to kill in threes, leave behind inexplicable newspaper clippings, and not one shred of decent forensic evidence, soon starts leaving messages that seem to be just for Cadence and her sisters.  Could it be that this killer knows all about Cadence’s special “talent”?  In the meantime, love blooms in the most unexpected place when Cadence meets her best friend’s gorgeous brother who is in town visiting—and she discovers that he knows her secret too!  When attraction burns hot between them her best friend isn’t thrilled with the romantic development and this time Cadence just might agree!

WWW/Waiting On/Wishful Wednesday: The Vanishing of Katharina Linden

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted at Breaking The Spine and Wishful Wednesday is hosted at The Bluestocking Guide. It took me a long time to find a worthy pick this week!

The Vanishing of Katharina Linden by Helen Grant

On the day Katharina Linden disappears, Pia is the last person to see her alive. Terror is spreading through the town. How could a ten-year-old girl vanish in a place where everybody knows everybody else?

Pia is determined to find out what happened to Katharina.

But then the next girl disappears…

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions:  

What are you currently reading? The Exile of Sara Stevenson by Darci Hannah (synopsis)

What did you recently finish reading? Such A Pretty Face by Cathy Lamb (was so, so good – review)

What do you think you’ll read next? Umm, I think City of Veils by Zoe Ferraris

Teaser Tuesdays: The Exile of Sara Stevenson

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. Good times are had by all on Tuesdays. This week’s teaser is from The Exile of Sara Stevenson, a debut historical fiction novel by Darci Hannah. Look at the cover over yonder, isn’t it marvelous?

Glancing at the white tower on the cliff, sound in design, perfectly cylindrical and topped with a black domed cap, I felt a wave of foreboding shoot through me.

Perhaps some places one earth were not meant to be touched by man. (9)

(Insert melodramatic music here)

Review: Such a Pretty Face by Cathy Lamb

My name is Stevie Barrett.

This is a story of why I was the way I was and how I am now me.

Such a Pretty Face – Cathy Lamb

Stevie Barrett once weighed over 300 pounds. She ate food to smother the grief she felt over the loss of her baby sister, schizophrenic mother, and loving grandparents all within a short time period. She ate to lose herself. She ate to hide. And then she had a heart attack, and eating was no longer the solution if she wanted to survive. Several surgeries and 170 pounds later, Stevie has lost the weight but hasn’t managed to find herself in the process. Such a Pretty Face is the beautiful story of one woman’s search for herself amongst the burden of this thing we call Life.

At times both literary and whimsical, Such a Pretty Face fulfilled my need for a meaty, meaningful story, while also lightening my soul with love and sunshine. It made my heart ache with sadness for Stevie’s childhood and the oppressing reality of schizophrenia, but the flashbacks to her earlier years are followed with laughter as she struggles to keep an outraged divorcee from tearing her ex-husband to shreds.

Lamb’s writing is skillful and exploratory, drifting from inner dialogue to prose and back again. We really get to know Stevie, staying inside her head throughout the full novel, feeling the tide of emotions she is drifting on. With an oppresive uncle, a bulldozing best friend, a mound of medical debt, and a hopeless crush on her neighbor, Stevie is lost in the world and the narrative explores her natural sense of fear, followed by her internal strength and courage to stand up for herself and what she wants.

Overall, Such a Pretty Face is a culmination of fabulous traits from some of my favorite books: a story of family pain and love (Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson), mixed with a woman’s courage and strength (The Wife’s Tale by Lori Lansens), with a dash of Sarah Addison Allen’s fanciful language thrown in the mix. But most of all, it simply is what it is: a beautifully literary and touching novel by a wonderful writer. I will definitely be reading more of Cathy Lamb in the future.

5 stars

(I received an advance copy for review)

Rozlyn Press: The Bloggers

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