Audiobook Review: Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon

Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon
Book 2 in the Outlander Series

Unabridged, 38 hr. 58 min.

Recorded Books

Davina Porter (Narrator)

October 26, 2006

★★★★ ½☆

Heat Rating:

Genre: Historical Fiction; Time-Slip; Romance

Source: Downloaded the audiobook from Audible

For twenty years Claire Randall has kept her secrets. But now she is returning with her grown daughter to Scotland's majestic mist-shrouded hills. Here Claire plans to reveal a truth as stunning as the events that gave it birth: about the mystery of an ancient circle of standing stones ...about a love that transcends the boundaries of time ...and about James Fraser, a Scottish warrior whose gallantry once drew a young Claire from the security of her century to the dangers of his...

Now a legacy of blood and desire will test her beautiful copper-haired daughter, Brianna, as Claire's spellbinding journey of self-discovery continues in the intrigue-ridden Paris court of Charles Stuart ...in a race to thwart a doomed Highlands uprising... and in a desperate fight to save both the child and the man she loves...

When I finished reading Outlander, I wanted to both immediately pick up Dragonfly in Amber as well as hold off for a while so that I could just absorb and enjoy my experience with it. In the end, I waited almost a year before having the chance to pick up book two, but not for a second had I forgotten the events of Outlander and felt totally ready to dive into what this next volume would bring. And then I was brought up short and taken aback. You see, Dragonfly in Amber does not pick back up where Outlander left off, it’s set back in modern time with Claire in her fifties and her daughter Brianna well grown. Wait, what? How did this happen? What did I miss? Where is Jamie? These questions and more streamed through my head as I panicked at the start of this novel. And for quite a bit of time we don’t have many answers. I struggled to push myself through these modern day chapters. While I was intrigued at how we got there, I didn’t enjoy them nearly enough for the amount of time that we are in the present with everyone just brooding and not telling each other the whole truth.

When we finally get back to Jamie and Claire, we are now in France, where they were absconding to at the end of Outlander. Here my interest picked up again because we were back in familiar territory and for the most part I enjoyed this part. In typical Gabaldon style, France came to life under her pen as she had previously treated Scotland. I enjoyed, as always, Murtaugh was a favorite comedic break and then there was the addition of a young boy, Fergus, whom Jamie takes under his wing who had some great moments too. Jamie and Claire love each other, betray each other, and hurt each other over and over, as seems to be their typical bent, but I longed for it over and over again.  Also typical Gabaldon style, the sex scenes are hot, hot, hot and plentiful.

Ultimately, the two very disparate parts seemed to come together and you are left with a cliffhanger into Voyager. Again, it left me wanting to pick it up right away, but choosing again to hold out for a bit. I did like this book very much, but not nearly as much as the first book overall.

★★★★★+

I've said it before, and I will say it again, Davina Porter does an excellent job narrating this book with its even wider array of accents, characters, and personalities. She is one of those narrators that I would enjoy listening to over and over again, which is excellent as she narrates much of the Outlander series. Her pacing was perfect and she puts real emotion behind her narration and truly contributed to the feel of this book and bringing the characters to vivid life. Seeing as she is narrating a nearly 40 hour long book it is beneficial that she is enjoyable to listen to.

You can listen to an audio sample below (play symbol) to get a taste of Porter's narration or read these two excerpts of the text for Gabaldon's style: Excerpt 1 | Excerpt 2.

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• Red Hot Books 
• The Hope Chest Reviews

Buy the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | RJ Julia

Also by Diana Gabaldon:

Virgins (Book 0.5)

Outlander (Book 1)
[My Review]

Voyager (Book 3)

Drums of Autumn (Book 4)

The Fiery Cross (Book 5)

A Breath of Snow and Ashes (Book 6)

An Echo in the Bone (Book 7)

The Space Between (Book 7.5)

Written in My Own Heart’s Blood (Book 8)

A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows (Book 8.5)

Diana Gabaldon has also written the Lord John Grey series which is a spinoff of the Outlander series and takes place during the events of Voyager.

Find Diana Gabaldon: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Find Davina Porter: AudioFile Magazine |

 

If you have read the book and are watching Season 2 of the Outlander TV series - how do you think they line up?  I've been hoarding my episodes so I can binge watch them.




Copyright © 2016 by The Maiden’s Court

Book Review: Indiana Belle by John A. Heldt

Indiana Belle by John A. Heldt

Book 3 in American Journey Series

ARC, e-book, 295 pages

John A. Heldt

April 14, 2016

★★★★☆

Genre: Historical Fiction/Time Travel

Source: Received from Author for Review at Romantic Historical Reviews

Providence, Rhode Island, 2017. When doctoral student Cameron Coelho, 28, opens a package from Indiana, he finds more than private papers that will help him with his dissertation. He finds a photograph of a beautiful society editor murdered in 1925 and clues to a century-old mystery. Within days, he meets Geoffrey Bell, the "time-travel professor," and begins an unlikely journey through the Roaring Twenties. Filled with history, romance, and intrigue, Indiana Belle follows a lonely soul on the adventure of a lifetime as he searches for love and answers in the age of Prohibition, flappers, and jazz.

**This Review was Previously Posted at Romantic Historical Reviews**

Indiana Belle has so many things going for it that it really defies a distinct categorization. It has a romance thread that runs throughout. It is packed with a little mystery, intrigue, and adventure from the earliest pages. There is the historical setting and some significant events. Oh, and let’s not forget the very critical element of time travel!

I have been a fan of Heldt’s works since I first read back-to-back The Mine and The Journey in 2013 (both are from his other book series, The Northwest Passage). All of his books include an element of time travel and that was one of the elements that originally drew me to them. In Indiana Belle the time travel element involves some tunnels, some gypsum crystals, and some scientific formulas. While time travel does require some level of suspension of reality, and maybe it’s presentation here isn’t what most would expect for a method time travel, I found it creative, possible, and achieved the point of bringing Cameron back to 1925. The novel also tackles the age old idea that if you travel back in time you must be careful to not change the past or it could affect the future. Cameron wrestles with this premise as he does not wish to let a historical murder happen on his watch. Seeing how he struggles with this and what decision he ultimately makes is one of the central concepts of this novel. Some of the best scenes of this book were with Cameron making continuity mistakes while back in 1925 – some were things that I would never have even thought of.

The romance element is a very light, but critical, part of the story. What happens if you fall in love with someone who isn’t from your time? It served as more of another obstacle to time travel and the completion of Cameron’s mission than anything else. The scenes were sweet and grew from a natural place.

Heldt does an excellent job here of bringing to life the Roaring Twenties; from the quiet mid-west town, to the speakeasy parties, to the big church revivals, it has it all. Cameron sees it as a simpler time initially, but it is full of its own problems, like the KKK and women’s struggle for rights. Some of these elements are obvious while others are atmospheric, but all contribute to a well-formed time. Heldt also tends to cover an event of significance in most of his novels and here we get a little bit of the Tri-State Tornado of 1925. Having survived a tornado myself, it felt very real.

There was only a small element that I questioned while reading, and I thought that it might resolve at some point in the novel, but ultimately wasn’t…Cameron comes from 2017. I wondered at the choice to set it in the near future at the time of publication instead of the current year. Additionally, how the difference in perception of that being a future date for us now, but come a couple years the entire novel will occur in the past. After reading, the resulting analysis: It didn’t seem to have an obvious purpose to me.

While Indiana Belle is the third book in the American Journey’s series, it certainly is successful as a standalone novel. I have not read the first two books yet (September Sky and Mercer Street) and did not feel like I was missing out on anything. I have a feeling Geoffrey Bell, the professor referenced in the book description, probably has connections to the first two books based on some allusions to other time travelers and maybe we learn more about him there, but you still come away with a full understanding and appreciation of Indiana Belle on its own.

There is a little something for everyone here and would appeal widely to both men and women!

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• Miki’s Hope
• The Reading Café

 
Buy the Book: Amazon

 
Also by John A. Heldt:

September Sky (American Journey #1)

Mercer Street (American Journey #2)

The Mine (Northwest Passage #1)
[My Review]

The Journey (Northwest Passage #2)
[My Review]

The Show (Northwest Passage #3)












The Fire (Northwest Passage #4)

The Mirror (Northwest Passage #5)


Find John A. Heldt: Blog | Facebook | Twitter

 



Copyright © 2016 by The Maiden’s Court

Book Review: The Lake House by Kate Morton

The Lake House by Kate Morton
ARC, E-book, 606 pages
Atria Books
October 20, 2015
★★★★ ½☆

Genre: Historical Fiction, Time Shift

Source: Received for review with HFVBT tour

From the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of The Secret Keeper and The Distant Hours, an intricately plotted, spellbinding new novel of heart-stopping suspense and uncovered secrets.

Living on her family’s idyllic lakeside estate in Cornwall, England, Alice Edevane is a bright, inquisitive, innocent, and precociously talented sixteen-year-old who loves to write stories. But the mysteries she pens are no match for the one her family is about to endure…

One midsummer’s eve, after a beautiful party drawing hundreds of guests to the estate has ended, the Edevanes discover that their youngest child, eleven-month-old Theo, has vanished without a trace. What follows is a tragedy that tears the family apart in ways they never imagined.

Decades later, Alice is living in London, having enjoyed a long successful career as an author. Theo’s case has never been solved, though Alice still harbors a suspicion as to the culprit. Miles away, Sadie Sparrow, a young detective in the London police force, is staying at her grandfather’s house in Cornwall. While out walking one day, she stumbles upon the old estate—now crumbling and covered with vines, clearly abandoned long ago. Her curiosity is sparked, setting off a series of events that will bring her and Alice together and reveal shocking truths about a past long gone…yet more present than ever.

A lush, atmospheric tale of intertwined destinies, this latest novel from a masterful storyteller is an enthralling, thoroughly satisfying read.

I have to tell you that I had never read one of Morton’s books before, even though I have had The Forgotten Garden AND The House at Riverton on my bookshelves for quite some time now. I had picked them up because their back matter sounded interesting at the store, but then forgot about them once putting them up on the shelf. Well, rest assured, I am going to have to dust them off sometime in the near future because The Lake House has whet my appetite for her writing!!!

I selected this book for review, again because the description sounded really intriguing. A mystery, a little time shifting between WWI/WWII era and the present, and family drama – always makes for great reading. Despite that, I did not jump into this one as soon as I received it – I sort of left it sitting around until I realized I needed to really get reading or a book of this length was never going to be finished in time for the review! Good thing Morton’s prose just flows and you never really want to let up from practically page one. I have found myself reading this book in all those weird in-between moments in the day – which is SO not me (I am more of a marathon style reader than a sprinter). And each time I put it down it leaves me wanting more, wanting to jump forward or back in time to put pieces together, to solve the puzzle! Just when I think I know what is going on, a tidbit is revealed that shows I wasn’t anywhere close! I love reading mysteries because I love the chase to solve the puzzle – but I often find that I figure out the reveal much too early. Not the case here at all. It is actually interesting that one of the characters, Alice, is a mystery writer who speaks on a couple occasions of the strengths of a good mystery novel – Morton hits all of those points here as well.

Besides being able to write a compelling mystery, Morton crafts wonderfully complete characters. At one time or another we pop into the thoughts of many of them giving you a distinct difference between how they are perceived by others and what they think of themselves. We even get part of a chapter from the perspective of an 11 month old baby. I wasn’t convinced that this construct would work while reading it, but ultimately I think that it served its purpose well in the long run. All the characters took a while to figure out – everyone was hiding something from someone. Don’t even get me started on the atmosphere that this author creates! I could feel each sensation that the characters experienced – I was in that forgotten, bucolic lake side garden with Sadie when she discovered the Edevane estate.

I loved the pacing and flow of this novel. Every chapter and section break compelled me forward. Not only did I want to know what happened next, it never felt completely resolved, thus propelling me into the next chapter. While it felt like it took me a while to get through the book, it wasn’t a bad thing because I was gulping down each and every little detail offered. The novel bounces back and forth between time periods that break down into roughly 3 sections – the present where Sadie has fallen into unofficially re-opening the Edevane case, the time surrounding WWI when Anthony and Eleanor Edevane where newly married and then in the time surrounding WWII and the days around the disappearance of their child Theo. It was easy to keep these sections separated in my head and each time we dipped into one of these sections it added little elements to the mystery – either revealing something or adding to the mystery.

Overall, I say pick up this book ASAP, you won’t regret it!! This has definitely pushed her other books up higher on my TBR.

If you would like to preview the story before reading it, why not try out this excerpt of the book? You can also hear the author talk about her inspiration behind the novel below.

 

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• We Love This Book
• Bring My Books
  

Buy the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound

 

Also by Kate Morton:

The House at Riverton

The Forgotten Garden

The Distant Hours

The Secret Keeper

 

Find Kate Morton: Website | Facebook | Instagram

Follow the Tour!

Follow the Tour on Twitter: #TheLakeHouseBlogTour    #HistoricalFiction    #KateMorton

or on the HFVBT page

 

 

 

Copyright © 2015 by The Maiden’s Court

Book Review: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Book 1 in the Outlander series
Unabridged, 33 hr. 8 min.
Recorded Books
Davina Porter (Narrator)
July 13, 2006
★★★★★+

Genre: Historical Fiction; Time-Slip

Source: Downloaded the audiobook from Audible
Heat Level: '''''

“The year is 1945. Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon--when she walks through a standing stone in one of the ancient stone circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach--an "outlander"--in a Scotland torn by war and raiding Highland clans in the year of Our Lord...1743.

Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire is catapulted into intrigues and dangers that may threaten her life...and shatter her heart. For here she meets James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, and becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire...and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.”

I put off reading this book for quite some time. I had the print version on my shelf for a couple years and didn’t get any closer to reading it the more time went on. I had heard from so many people, whose reading tastes are similar to mine, that the book was amazing and I need to read it, but for some reason I never picked it up. The impetus to finally deciding to read the book, and on audiobook instead of print, was the excitement within the historical fiction community leading up to the show. I just HAD to read the book before watching the show!

I haven’t read a book this good in a little while! It has everything you could want in a novel – no wonder it is hard to classify in terms of genre! There are battle scenes, blood, and brutality. There are sensual love scenes and scintillating sexual tension. And historical nature of the period just oozing from every page. Elements of this novel could certainly appeal to both genders.

There were moments that made me cry. There were two moments where I wanted to put the book down and not pick it back up because I just didn’t want to know what happened next (although my curiosity quickly got the best of me)! There were brutal scenes of pain and despair that you could feel deep in your bones. Your emotions are wrenched every way throughout this novel. I loved and hated characters in this book at different times. That all of these emotions were possible in one book goes to show how real these characters and how true their stories felt.

The audiobook ended with a preview of book two and it was extremely hard for me not to immediately pick up book two to figure out how exactly we are where the book begins [alas I had other reading commitments first]. This will be a series that I will eagerly return to time and again.

★★★★★+

In my relatively extensive audiobook listening experience I have only found 3 narrators who were truly perfect for their role and who I would come back and listen to again and again. Davina Porter is one of those narrators! She had the perfect voice for our Scottish and English characters; for me her accents were spot on. Her pacing was perfect – even if 33 hours is a long time to listen to one narrator! She put real emotion behind her narration and truly contributed to the feel of this book and bringing the characters to vivid life. I am thrilled to see that she is narrating all the novels in the Outlander series.

Buy the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | RJ Julia

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• Confessions of a Book Addict
• SFF Book Reviews

If you would like a sample of the audio narration of Davina Porter try this excerpt or for the print version, try one of these: Excerpt 1 | Excerpt 2 | Excerpt 3 | Excerpt 4

You can also watch the trailer below to get an idea of this book:

This video is a trailer for the STARZ TV show, but season 1 will be based on the first book in the series, Outlander.

Also by Diana Gabaldon:

Virgins (Book 0.5)

Dragonfly in Amber (Book 2)

Voyager (Book 3)

Drums of Autumn (Book 4)

The Fiery Cross (Book 5)

A Breath of Snow and Ashes (Book 6)

An Echo in the Bone (Book 7)

The Space Between (Book 7.5)

Written in My Own Heart’s Blood (Book 8)

A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows (Book 8.5)


Diana Gabaldon has also written the Lord John Grey series which is a spinoff of the Outlander series and takes place during the events of Voyager.

Find Diana Gabaldon: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads



Copyright © 2014 by The Maiden’s Court

Book Review: The Debt of Tamar by Nicole Dwyck

The Debt of Tamar by Nicole Dweck
Kindle eBook, 332 pages
Devon House Press
January 23, 2014
★★★½☆☆

Genre: Historical Fiction

Source: Received for review as part of Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tour

“During the second half of the 16th century, a wealthy widow by the name of Doña Antonia Nissim is arrested and charged with being a secret Jew. The punishment? Death by burning. Enter Suleiman the Magnificent, an Ottoman "Schindler," and the most celebrated sultan in all of Turkish history. With the help of the Sultan, the widow and her children manage their escape to Istanbul. Life is seemingly idyllic for the family in their new home, that is, until the Sultan's son meets and falls in love with Tamar, Doña Antonia's beautiful and free-spirited granddaughter. A quiet love affair ensues until one day, the girl vanishes.

Over four centuries later, thirty-two year old Selim Osman, a playboy prince with a thriving real estate empire, is suddenly diagnosed with a life-theatening condition. Abandoning the mother of his unborn child, he vanishes from Istanbul without an explanation. In a Manhattan hospital, he meets Hannah, a talented artist and the daughter of a French Holocaust survivor. As their story intertwines with that of their ancestors, readers are taken back to Nazi-occupied Paris, and to a seaside village in the Holy Land where a world of secrets is illuminated.

Theirs is a love that has been dormant for centuries, spanning continents, generations, oceans, and religions. Bound by a debt that has lingered through time, they must right the wrongs of the past if they're ever to break the shackles of their future.”

The Debt of Tamar is difficult for me to categorize. There are really three different stories being told within these pages and they are all connected in ways, but I struggled to enjoy them as a cohesive selection. The story that I was most committed to comes at the start of the novel – that of 16^th century Spain and Ottoman Empire. I thought the historical details here were interesting and presented well. I haven’t read much set in this place and time and I was hoping for so much more of it. I was interested in the characters presented here. As Tamar is the titular character I was hoping to actually know more about her, but she is really just a passing shadow here and I don’t really get what her “debt” was – I wasn’t convinced.

However it abruptly shifts gear when it moves into the 1940’s France and then into modern day Istanbul/United States. Each of these subsequent sections are supposed to build on the earlier 16^th century story ultimately bringing us back around to this titular debt. But it just didn’t work for me. I found it harder to connect to these new sets of characters and their stories. I didn’t get enough to really care about them.

The way it ended felt unresolved to me and I was hoping for a little more concrete connection to the “debt”. The 16^th century story and the modern day story needed more resolution. The Paris and modern stories also needed to be fleshed out more. The experience of reading it felt like it had been cut down for a page length and hoped it would resolve itself.

This was in no way a bad or boring book – I just didn’t quite love its presentation. It had the potential to be a great time shift/hist-fic but just missed the mark.

This is author Nicole Dweck’s debut novel. You can visit Nicole’s website for additional information about the book.

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• Miss Book Lovers
• Literary Inklings

Here are some choices for purchasing the book: Amazon, B&N, RJ Julia (my fav indie bookstore).

You can follow along with the rest of the blog tour by visiting the HFVBT website or on Twitter with the following hashtag: #DebtofTamarVirtualTour.

 

Copyright © 2014 by The Maiden’s Court