Review: The Rose Labyrinth by Titania Hardie

I don’t even know where to begin with this one. A woman named Lucy needs a heart transplant, which she gets. She then becomes involved with her doctor, Alex. Somewhere along the way they’re pulled into a mystery that involves Alex’s brother, Will,  John Dee (circa the original Queen Elizabeth’s time), riddles, roses, labyrinths in churches, angels, Shakespeare, and the Rapture. If you can make sense of the plot and it’s circumnavigations, then by all means, have at it, my friends. For me, it was way too much. The riddles on the papers that Lucy and Alex find have much potential, but are SO numerous the reader is inundated trying to figure them out. Eventually they become so overwhelming you start skipping over the details to just get to the meat of it all. With all the clues and mystery there should be a grand finale at the end, but it’s over so quickly it’s as though it was all a dream and the reader just woke up to a hollow sensation that none of it is real.

A wonderful effort, brilliant idea, but for me, The Rose Labyrinth was completed mired down in it’s own mystery.

3 stars

Review: The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen

Sarah Addison Allen’s 2011 novel, The Peach Keeper, takes place in the town Walls of Water in North Carolina. Set near mountains and mystery, shrouded in fog, Allen disembarks from her usual light and delicate magical realism to attempt a darker novel, one with a murder mystery. Unfortunately, while I deeply appreciate her attempt at suspense, The Peach Keeper comes across as forced and piecemeal.

Willa Jackson and Paxton Osgood are unlikely friends living down their high-school memories as adult women. During the renovation of the Blue Ridge Madam, a beautiful old antebellum mansion that used to belong to Willa’s ancestors, a body is discovered. The discovery and investigation of the body bring Willa and Paxton together on the trail of their grandmother’s secrets. While this is the plot described on the cover of the book, the body isn’t discovered until half-way through the novel, meaning there’s a lot of unnecessary set-up that doesn’t quite fit.

Allen sticks to her usual magical realism at times, but it seems disjointed in the context of the mystery. At one point a group of women start spontaneously revealing their innermost secrets to each other, but there’ s no explanation as to why this occurs, and it never resurfaces for conflict resolution. Throughout the novel there are forced mentions of fantastical things; a bell over a door ringing but no one entering, the scent of peaches floating on the air. We get that they’re supposed to be manifestations of a ghost, but they’re too obvious.

In her prior novels, Allen’s character’s inner-dialogues were realistic and true to life if not a little fluffy; in The Peach Keeper they are grasping and cliché. Paxton’s crush on her best friend is described in several different ways, when we get it loud and clear. There’s far too much telling, and not enough showing.

If I could compare The Peach Keeper to The Sugar Queen, I would say The Sugar Queen is a wispy, airy, bakery-made cupcake with whipped frosting that feels light as air in your mouth, while The Peach Keeper tastes like a mass-produced Little Debbie snack–sweet, but not the home-made baked good you were craving.

Reading on her Facebook page, I know that Sarah has just undergone surgery, chemo, and radiation for breast cancer. I’m sad I have to give The Peach Keeper a negative review as I really loved The Sugar Queen and Garden Spells. I know I, like all her fans and readers, are wishing her a speedy recovery as we anticipate her next book.

3 stars

(I received an advance copy from LibraryThing)

Review: The Girl in the Garden by Kamala Nair

For most of her life Rakhee has locked away a summer of her childhood spent in the hot, dry climate of India. Having harbored this secret from her fiance, The Girl in the Garden is Rakhee’s letter to him as she leaves to confront her past and the lives that intertwine with her own back in India. Deep in the forest behind her ancestral home, a garden with a dark mystery lies shrouded under a canopy of foliage. We are transported to Rakhee’s childhood and the summer she discovered the garden in Kamala Nair’s debut novel.

For a debut, The Girl in the Garden is fairly accomplished, but that is mostly due to the last quarter of the novel. Everything leading up to the end is averagely lukewarm, predictable and uninspired, until Rakhee makes the decision to follow her head and heart instead of her relative’s orders. Her actions deeply affect the lives of her relatives and the novel becomes the dark and  mysteriously lush tale it claims to be.

The Girl in the Garden is a swift read, but it leaves me perplexed as to how I truly feel about it. It’s enjoyable, but doesn’t leave me in awe. With one exception, I could see the plot twists coming from a mile away. The writing is fine, but again, nothing notably unique. I didn’t hate it, but I would be hard-pressed to recommend it to other readers.

3 stars

(I received this novel from the Amazon Vine program.)

Review: The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

If you looked at the bicycles one way, they looked very solid, like sculpture, with afternoon light glinting cleanly off the chrome handlebars–one, two, three, all in a row. If you looked at them another way, you could see just how thin each kickstand was under the weight of the heavy frame, and how they were poised to fall like dominos or the skeletons of elephants or like love itself.
The Paris Wife, Paula McLain

I didn’t know much about Ernest Hemingway or his wives before I started The Paris Wife by Paula McLain. This is the story of his first wife, Hadley; of how they met, the depth of their love, and how it came to wither away. Set mainly in Paris during prohibition, McLain paints us a picture of two newlyweds on the cusp of greatness. Perched to seize the world by storm, Hadley and Ernest rock on the edge of several lives: that of the happily married couple, that of the poor writer trying to make a living, and that of disaster brought on by depression and angst.

The positive aspect of Paula McLain’s writing is that I forgot this book was about Hemingway’s first wife. Meaning I was able to sink into Hadley’s mind and Ernest’s love and then feel emotional heartbreak as their marriage fell apart. The dialogue for the time period is authentic; quick, sharp, witty and sassy. We are very much inside Hadley’s mind and our emotional connection with her is strong, we feel her passions and pains, her desires and needs. We support her entirely. But I also grew sick of her simpering passiveness, waiting for something to happen as she struggles to find her role in Ernest’s life. Upon discovering this annoyance half-way through the novel, I was pulled out of it entirely. It made me question how much of what I was reading was  actually fact. Was this really how Hem’s first wife felt? Was he really this big of an ass?

Beneath my questions of the authenticity of Hadley is Ernest himself, and his pain and waywardness is what drives the story, as it drove their life together. As much as I grew to dislike him, and even Hadley at times, their story is tragically beautiful; so even though there were moments when I felt a lackluster performance from McLain’s writing, the story of these two lovers carried me through to the end, like a good love story should.

Fans of historical fiction will enjoy Hadley’s story, but Hemingway fans will bypass The Paris Wife in favor of his memoir, which I plan to read now that I know a bit more about the tragedy and triumph of this man, and his wife.

3 stars

(I received an advance copy for review)

Review: The Titan’s Curse (Percy Jackson & The Olympians, Book 3) by Rick Riordan

**WARNING** May contain spoilers if you haven’t read The Lightning Thief (review) and The Sea of Monsters (review).

Once again Percy Jackson and his friends must save all of humanity (and the Gods) in the third entry of Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson & The Olympians series. With some new characters in tow, Percy, Grover, Annabeth, and newly restored Thalia face new monsters and new challenges as they track down a mysterious monster that has the possibility to destroy the Gods, and rescue Artemis, the Goddess of the Hunt.

I chose The Titan’s Curse as a quick, refreshing palate cleanser and that’s exactly what it was. I wasn’t as drawn into it as much as I was with the previous books, but it got me excited toward the end when I became invested in the story and it’s outcome. Is this series as good as Harry Potter? No. But is it a nice read and a good reminder of why fantasy is fun and richly entertaining? Yes. Do I wish I had the fourth book in the series handy at my fingertips right now? You bet I do.

Overall I’m still enjoying the Percy Jackson series as a nice change of pace and tone from more literary fare. I’d highly recommend it to readers of a younger age.

3 1/2 stars

Review: The Sherlockian by Graham Moore

But if you think you can manage to sleep tonight, then sleep on this: Is the mystery sometimes more pleasurable than the solution?
The Sherlockian – Graham Moore

Graham Moore’s debut novel has all the ingredients to be a delicious mystery. it opens with Arthur Conan Doyle and his dear friend Bram Stoker as Arthur debates the pros and cons of killing off his famed character, Sherlock Holmes. Filled with a bitter hatred for his character because all of London believes Holmes to be real, and Arthur to be his literary agent, he sets about to destroy Sherlock and falls into a real life Holmes mystery along the way when murdered young women start appearing across his path.

In the present, newly inducted Sherlockian Harold White celebrates his membership into the exclusive Holmes fan club, the Baker Street Irregulars. On the morning of the most important Irregular meeting in history, the presentation of the missing diary of Arthur Conan Doyle, Harold is pulled into his own Sherlock novel when the man who found the diary is murdered and the diary goes missing.

Alternating between these two mysteries, The Sherlockian flows along quite nicely in the beginning. The plots are intriguing and, like a good mystery, keep you turning the page. But about a third of the way in a shift in the writing can be felt, a twist in the flow. No longer was I reading a mystery whose words carried the story. Suddenly I could feel the presence of the author, his hand in the way things were turning out, his decisions in making a clue appear here or there. It caused me to step back from the book and view it as a piece of the author’s work, not a natural thing of its own.

I know a good book because the writing works for itself, the characters carry me along, not the author. When I can sense an author at work, I am removed and the book feels clumsy and even contrived. Sadly, The Sherlockian became that for me. The writing was still decent, but Harold became an annoying, weak character instead of a charming Holmes enthusiast, and Arthur Conan Doyle became a silly, bumbling detective instead of the writer of great mysteries.

Overall I became underwhelmed by The Sherlockian about half-way through. I persisted out of curiosity to see how Moore would solve the mystery of the diary, but in hindsight, I’ve already forgotten what kept me turning the page, and I only finished reading last night.

3 stars

(I received an advance copy from the publisher for review)

Review: The Paris Vendetta by Steve Berry

I’m sad to say it, folks, Mr. Berry has let me down. Something about The Paris Vendetta, the fifth book in the Cotton Malone series, did not catch me as his previous books have. I wasn’t hooked, I wasn’t excited or thrilled or anticipating the next turn of events.

The Paris Vendetta follows former agent Cotton Malone as he’s rudely awoken in the middle of the night by a stranger who says his good friend Henrik sent him. So begins a European cat-and-mouse game between Cotton, Henrik, and a dangerous group of wealthy semi-terrorists called The Paris Club who are searching for the lost riches of the Emperor Napoleon who hid the location in riddles in books before he died. Intriguing? Most definitely. A classic Steve Berry idea? For sure. Executed with his usual swagger and panache? Not this time.

Too many twists and turns and a convoluted plot map made the novel meander at times, tripping over its own ideas and details. A regular series character was not present, and several references were made to some trip or project Cotton had been working on over the last two weeks, but we’re never told what that project was, nor what resulted from it and why it effected Cotton the way it did. If they were making veiled references to the previous book in the series, they were strange and a little less opacity would have been nice. Likewise, Cotton’s son is mentioned but completely abandoned later in the book.

I’m really disappointed in the way The Paris Vendetta fell flat for me. The pulse and energy I’ve come to associate with his books was lacking. I usually adore Berry’s books and I can’t say the same about this one. Hard to know what to expect from his next, The Emperor’s Tomb.

3 stars

Review: Safe from the Sea by Peter Geye

When Noah and his sister were young children their lives were forever changed when their father’s ore ship burned and sunk in the tormented waters of Lake Superior. Though their father survived, much of him was left behind when the ship went down, and Noah’s relationship with his father would never be the same. Decades later, when Noah is grown man with a wife living in Boston, his father becomes ill and Noah faces a tough choice: should he go to his father’s side? The man who shut him out and all but left him so many years ago? Journeying to the northern Minnesota town of his youth, Noah faces more than just his father when he arrives. History comes back as Noah confronts the man who changed so many years ago.

Safe from the Sea is heartbreaking and sad, but also cathartic. Noah must deal with many issues by choosing to face his father again: guilt, blame, and a deeply rooted anger. The bond of family, for better or worse, makes us who we are, and Noah is the man he is today because of his relationship with his father. This is the story of a man facing his past, for both Noah and his father.

It’s hard for me to review this novel because I’m torn in two directions. First is my loyalty to my own past, which also came from Minnesota. Geye’s writing of the north and the harsh winters carries true emotional weight. Likewise, my whole family is also in Minnesota, while I am also in Boston, much like Noah and his family are parted. Though I didn’t leave under the same circumstances and return often, the bond Noah has to Minnesota touched my heart.

The other direction I am pulled in is that of a reviewer analyzing a novel. It’s not because this is Geye’s first novel that I feel why I do, because I read many first novels, but the writing of Safe from the Sea didn’t grab me the way I wish it had. The topics did, the scenes and places, but the dialogue felt forced, and parts of Noah’s relationship with his father and wife seemed contrived. Here is a situation where a man is facing the person who destroyed him and tore him apart. I see the word “anger” but I do not feel it. I see a scene of “longing” and “regret” but do not feel those sensations. There was more true emotion in the description of snow and ice than in the setup of Noah and his relationships, and that’s the one fallback of the book.

3 1/2 stars

(I received an advance copy from the publisher)

Review: Secret Keepers by Mindy Friddle

He’d been quite mad, her grandfather McCann. For some reason, Emma hadn’t realized that until now.
Secret Keepers – Mindy Friddle

I had high hopes for Secret Keepers. I’m not ashamed to admit I judge books by their covers and this one is fabulous. The synopsis uses words like “wayward past,” and “old flame,” and “mysterious, potent botanicals and resurgent memories.” Sounds good right? Unfortunately Secret Keepers didn’t really find its true potential until the last third of the book, at which point it was nearly over.

Secret Keepers circles around Emma Hanley and her children. Told in alternating past/present snippets, we learn that Emma’s ancestor had a penchant for gardening with foreign plants; her oldest son died in a war; her other son hears voices and sees people who aren’t there; her daughter Dora was once wayward and lost until she became found by a religious zealot; and Dora’s teenage son Kyle is trying to balance his father’s religious demands with dreams of his own. Then Dora’s old flame comes back to town, stirs stuff up, and all hell breaks loose. So much potential, just not a stellar execution.

Secret Keepers plods along until the end when things get fanciful and dramatic and one whiff of a flower sends people reeling in memory to their favorite places and times. It seems like it was trying to be magical realism, but took to long to figure that out. In general, I am left feeling underwhelmed and slightly disappointed that it didn’t peak until the end.

3 stars

(I received this from LibraryThing Early Reviewers)

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.

3 stars

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