Book Review: The Beauty Shop by Suzy Henderson

The Beauty Shop by Suzy Henderson
e-Book, 313 pages
Avis Press
November 28, 2016
★★★★ ½☆

 Genre: Historical Fiction

Source: Personal purchase

England, 1942. After three years of WWII, Britain is showing the scars. But in this darkest of days, three lives intertwine, changing their destinies and those of many more.

Dr Archibald McIndoe, a New Zealand plastic surgeon with unorthodox methods, is on a mission to treat and rehabilitate badly burned airmen – their bodies and souls. With the camaraderie and support of the Guinea Pig Club, his boys battle to overcome disfigurement, pain, and prejudice to learn to live again.

John ‘Mac’ Mackenzie of the US Air Force is aware of the odds. He has one chance in five of surviving the war. Flying bombing missions through hell and back, he’s fighting more than the Luftwaffe. Fear and doubt stalk him on the ground and in the air, and he’s torn between his duty and his conscience.

Shy, decent and sensible Stella Charlton’s future seems certain until war breaks out. As a new recruit to the WAAF, she meets an American pilot on New Year’s Eve. After just one dance, she falls head over heels for the handsome airman. But when he survives a crash, she realises her own battle has only just begun.

Based on a true story, "The Beauty Shop" is a moving tale of love, compassion, and determination against a backdrop of wartime tragedy.

The first place that you start with any book is the experience a reader has with the cover of the book, and the cover of this one is gorgeous…but deceiving. As is the title. And I think these items are extremely important to discuss upfront as it might change your mind about deciding to read the book. The book cover and the title appears to allude to this being a typical women’s fiction novel, possibly set in a gossipy beauty shop. But that couldn’t be further from the truth! The Beauty Shop is a war novel that focuses of three main points-of-view: Mac, an American Air Force pilot; Stella, a member of the WAAF; and Dr. McIndoe, a renowned plastic surgeon. And the titular Beauty Shop isn’t a place ladies go to get their hair done, it is actually a surgical ward where those who have endured the worst of burn and crush injuries in the war effort go to be put back together. A VERY different concept given the context!

This novel has a little bit of everything. It is part a romance novel, as Stella is pulled between two men and faces the trials and tribulations of love during wartime. I loved getting to see the relationship with Stella and Mac grow, but could also understand her continued relationship with Alex. It was complex and fulfilling. It is also part war novel set on the home front. Stella and her friend work in the WAAF and we get a glimpse of their lives. We also see how men would let off steam and how they lived on the base in between missions. We experience what it was like for men who were terribly injured and disfigured during crash landings and the hope that Dr. McIndoe was able to bring to them with the ministrations he provided in his “beauty shop”. It is also a novel of the battlefield – in the air! There are some mean dogfights and bombing missions that are featured here and these were some of the scenes that I couldn’t wait for. They were full of tension, and fear, and drama. I was thrilled with how the author was able to juggle these three elements and create a cohesive story that feels like a full wartime experience.

I didn’t want to put this book down! I awaited the bombing mission scenes because they were full of tension, but I was always unsure of if they would be coming back home. This was extremely appropriate because I’m sure that is how many of those men felt while actually on those missions. The scenes set in the hospital ward were also fascinating because of all the innovative medicine that Dr. McIndoe was practicing (we get an in-depth look at how a nose was re-crafted and the many hardships that could come along with it). While it isn’t grossly detailed, it is enough for you to get the picture. I felt for the men who were experiencing these hardships and thought the things that Dr. McIndoe was doing at that time with regard to the social experience of those who were disfigured was fascinating and ahead of its time. If any of the characters grated at me it would have to be Stella. While I enjoyed her for the most part, some of her decision-making process made me frustrated, even if I can understand her reasons.

Overall, this was a stellar read and I am so glad that I was encouraged to read it by a friend. My main goal here is to make sure this book doesn’t get overlooked because of a title that while technically perfect, upon initial glance provides a very different expected experience than that which it truly offers.

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• Flashlight Commentary

Buy the Book: Amazon

Find Suzy Henderson: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Blog

 

 

Copyright © 2017 by The Maiden’s Court

Interview with J.B. Rivard

Hi Everyone!! I want to take the opportunity to welcome J.B. Rivard, author of Illusions of Magic, to The Maiden’s Court today.  I was intrigued by this book from the first time I saw the blurb, I mean, magic, an attempted assassination on a president, and a murder that turned a major city upside down! 

Heather: Welcome to The Maiden’s Court! I’m glad you could drop by. Your novel, Illusions of Magic, introduces the reader to a character who was a vaudeville performer, which is not a common profession in novels.  Why choose this for your character’s identity?

J.B. Rivard: In my early teens, I was fascinated by conjuring. I read everything I could find about the great magicians, including Houdini and the Blackstones, as well as manuals describing card tricks, sleight-of-hand, and stage illusions. I purchased some magic paraphernalia, practiced endlessly, and actually performed a few times before local audiences.

In 2010, I abandoned the initial version of my Chicago novel, titled variously The Heedless Spring, or Chicago Story. Revisiting the manuscript in 2014, I realized a change of focus and a revised protagonist were required if the novel were to be improved and rewritten. Casting Nick Zetner as “The Amazing Mr. Z” appealed. It seemed both appropriate and interesting, plus it allowed me to use my earlier-acquired knowledge of magic and magicians in reworking the book.

H: I’m always fascinated by stories about the Presidents and I had never heard about an assassination attempt on Franklin D. Roosevelt.  Was this something you came across early on and knew you would build a novel around or was it an element that developed later on?

JBR: Sometime around the turn of the 21^st century, I happened upon a description of the attempted assassination of Franklin D. Roosevelt by Giuseppe Zangara in early 1933. (Roosevelt had been elected president in November of 1932, but was not inaugurated until March 4, 1933.) This little-known attempt is seldom reported in histories of the 1930s, perhaps because Zangara missed his target with all five of his shots at Roosevelt.

One of the bullets, however, struck Chicago’s mayor, Anton Cermak. I realized that in Cermak’s life and death 19 days later lay a terrific real-life struggle that could provide a dramatic backdrop for a Chicago novel. I didn’t actually begin to write the novel, however, until 2006. It was then that I discovered another amazing and equally dramatic fact: that Chicago’s City Council faced a crisis caused by a lack of legal means for replacing the city’s mayor in the event of his death.

H: I can certainly see how that could cause a significant crisis and a drama for a novel! You include hand-drawn illustrations in your novel – why make the decision to include these in Illusions of Magic?

JBR: We would be surprised, I think, by an edition of The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland that didn’t include the fabulous illustrations of John Tenniel. The 1940 Limited Edition Club edition of The Grapes of Wrath—a text noted for Steinbeck’s descriptive excellence—proves that its illustrations, lithographs by Thomas Hart Benton, enlarge and enhance our comprehension of the Joad family saga.

Rather than competing with literary expression, well-conceived artwork alongside texts complements authors’ written effects. In addition, illustration, as historical evidence shows, can make novels more attractive and inviting to an audience well-versed in visual images.

As you may know, my earlier career as an artist resulted in many exhibitions and numerous awards. So it was only natural, when Anya suggested illustrating Illusions of Magic, that I agreed to draw them, even though it was my first experience in book illustration.

H: I think that is a cool element and for it to include your personal talents! Have you had any struggles in the writing/publishing process?  How have you worked through these?  Any words of wisdom for aspiring authors?

JBR: My experience includes stints as a newspaper reporter and stringer for a national magazine. Also, as a staff member at a U.S. National Laboratory, I wrote or co-wrote many technical reports, papers, and monographs—some still listed on Google Scholar.

Since beginning writing novels in 1990, I estimate I’ve generated more than a million words of fiction. Although the published output is modest, and every new venture presents challenges, there are fewer struggles as long as I remember to write, revise and re-write. And then to repeat.

Struggles with publishing issues, however, are a continuing, and different matter.

Following the completion of the draft of the current novel, we sought to interest traditional publishers. In the current era of decline for agents and traditional publishers, they are forced at every turn to seek potential bestsellers. By and large, this means manuscripts that are ready-made to meet reader expectations. Because Illusions of Magic did not meet that requirement, the attempt came to naught.

Upon considering self-publishing, the plethora of options seemed endless. Each merited consideration, but much research was needed to achieve an adequate understanding. Thus we found the learning curve to be very, very steep.

By early 2016, however, we had decided that an inexpensive eBook was the mode best suited for this book. Then came issues of providing a fast-loading, professional-appearing website, producing an ARC to draw pre-publication reviews, producing a Collectors Print Edition for promotional efforts, writing description, author page and introduction, selecting categories, keywords, etc., pricing and uploading to KDP, planning and executing a marketing campaign, and on and on.

Although we didn’t initially recognize it, being one’s own publisher is more than a full-time endeavor. Aspiring authors should carefully consider this before deciding to go it alone.

H: I have heard many people who have had a similar experience. Navigating this self-publishing world comes with so many hidden elements you never would imagine! When you are not reading for research, what type of books or what authors do you enjoy reading?

JBR: When not writing or tending to publishing matters, I read extensively. However, I read so widely, it’s difficult to characterize. Recently, for example, I read William Randolph Hearst: Final Edition, 1911-1951 by Ben Procter; The Man Who…, by Richard Oulahan; “The Trip to Bountiful” screenplay by Horton Foote; and Sleepless in Hollywood by Lyda Obst.

H: That Hearst book sounds like it might be fascinating! I have to go look it up! Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions today, I am so excited to be able to introduce you and your novel to my readers.

Almost everyone is familiar with the illustrations in “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”. However, the number of illustrated novels published–for adult readers–declined steadily from the beginning to the middle of the 20th century, although not for lack of popularity. “Illusions of Magic” dares a return to the edgy, swirling arts of the illustrated story, with pen and ink illustrations by the novel’s author, Joseph B. “J. B.” Rivard, supplementing this exciting story.

As a young child, Rivard began drawing by copying newspaper comics. In his teens, he drew illustrations for his high school’s award-winning yearbook. He attended the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and his artworks have appeared in more than fifty juried exhibitions, earning many prizes and awards. He’s an artist-member of the Salmagundi Club of New York City.

Rivard’s writing draws on wide experience–he served in the U.S. Navy, graduated from the University of Florida, worked as a newspaper reporter, a magazine writer, and on the engineering staff of a U.S. National Laboratory where he wrote and co-authored many technical papers listed on Google Scholar. His broad background supports a wide array of significant publications, from short stories to song lyrics, from essays to novels. He calls Spokane, Washington home.

Find J.B. Rivard: Website

Book Blurb:

The withering of vaudeville was bad enough in 1933. Because of the Great Depression, bookings for stage magician Nick Zetner disappeared. With his marriage cracking under the strain, Nick reluctantly accepts a devious banker’s deal: He earns a generous reward if he retrieves photos stolen during a break-in at the bank. Along the way, a love he thought he’d forever lost reappears. Despite his skill in the arts of magic, penetrating the realm of the thieves grows increasingly perilous, especially when it endangers his newfound romance.

Illusions of Magic seamlessly merges this tale with the true-life assassination attempt on President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt resulting in Chicago’s mayor, Anton Cermak, being shot. His lingering death and a lack of legal means for his replacement causes great civic and social upheaval in the city.

In modern style, this novel propels the reader through emotional highs and subterranean lows with knife-edged dialogue, easy humor, page-turning action and authentic history.

Read an Excerpt of Illusions of Magic

Buy the Book: Amazon

Tour Wide Giveaway!

To win a paperback copy of Illusions of Magic by J.B. Rivard, please enter via the Gleam form below. Three copies are up for grabs!  Please note that this giveaway is being hosted by the tour coordinator and any questions should be addressed to Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours as I have no control over this giveaway.  Good luck!

Rules

• Giveaway ends at 11:59pm EST on January 27th. You must be 18 or older to enter.
• Giveaway is open to residents in the US only.
• Only one entry per household.
• All giveaway entrants agree to be honest and not cheat the systems; any suspect of fraud is decided upon by blog/site owner and the sponsor, and entrants may be disqualified at our discretion.
• Winner has 48 hours to claim prize or new winner is chosen.

Illusions of Magic

 

Follow the Tour!

On HFVBT Website

On Twitter: #IllusionsofMagicBlogTour #HistoricalFiction #HistFic #Giveaway

Monday, January 9
Blog Tour Kick Off at Passages to the Past

Tuesday, January 10
Review at Books, Dreams, Life

Wednesday, January 11
Review at Book Nerd

Thursday, January 12
Review at 100 Pages a Day

Friday, January 13
Spotlight at Let Them Read Books

Monday, January 16
Review at Jorie Loves a Story

Tuesday, January 17
Interview at The Maiden’s Court – That’s Me!
Spotlight at A Literary Vacation

Wednesday, January 18
Review at Creating Herstory

Thursday, January 19
Review at Laura’s Interests

Friday, January 20
Review at Broken Teepee

Monday, January 23
Review at Beth’s Book Nook Blog

Tuesday, January 24
Spotlight at Susan Heim on Writing

Wednesday, January 25
Review at Svetlana’s Reads and Views

Thursday, January 26
Spotlight at CelticLady’s Reviews
Spotlight at What Is That Book About

Friday, January 27
Review & Interview at Quitterstrip

 

Copyright © 2017 by The Maiden’s Court

Audiobook Discussions: What Do You Listen To?

I have been doing a lot of audiobook listening lately and I attended a recent blogger webinar about audiobook reviewing which got me thinking more and more about audiobooks.  So I wanted to know more of what you think about them!  From there, Audiobook Discussions has been born!

So this should be a simple question – what do you listen to?  Do you have a certain genre that you listen to exclusively on audio? 

For the most part i find that I listen to a lot more non-fiction, contemporary fiction, and romance titles on audiobook.  These are genres that I enjoy reading but don’t often review and because of that I can’t fit them into my schedule for print books – it’s all just too full!!  While I review some audiobooks, my schedule is much more open and I can enjoy books that I might not otherwise have time for.  I have been listening to the Outlander series mostly because those books are so long it would take me forever to get through a print version (I mean, the shortest audio is like 39 hours long!) 

I would love to hear what you listen to!  Or check out my other posts on Why and How you listen!

 

 

Copyright © 2017 by The Maiden’s Court

Cover Crush: The Wardrobe Mistress #2

We can all say that you should never judge a book by its cover, but I guarantee that we all have done so at least once! Cover Crush is designed to feature some of those covers that have caught the eye as a standout on the bookshelf.

You might be thinking, “Didn’t she feature a cover crush last week about The Wardrobe Mistress?”  Why, yes I did!  But this is a different book, by a different author, about a very different subject – just the same name.  And, they are both being published this year!  While I am indeed tired of the headless woman on book covers, I like how the emphasis is on the stunning dress – which makes sense if the main character is actually a mistress of the wardrobe of Marie Antoinette, which she appears to be in this novel.  I LOVE the color of the dress – one of my favorites so it calls out to me naturally.   And I like how the color is carried through to the titled and author lines. 

What are your thoughts on this cover?

I wonder what my friends are crushing on this week? Let’s check it out: A Literary Vacation, A Bookaholic Swede, Flashlight Commentary, Layered Pages, 2 Kids and Tired Books.  

 

Copyright © 2017 by The Maiden’s Court

Book Pairings: The Beauty Shop by Suzy Henderson

If you are anything like me, sometimes you get hooked on a subject while reading your current book and you can’t let it go upon closing the cover.  Sometimes you want to know more about the real subject involved, while other times you might just want to pick up another novel about the same thing.  Maybe you are even looking for other categories like film or music that might pick up on elements of something you read.  Here is where Book Pairings comes in.  Each installment of Book Pairings will have a theme that pairs up several books with something else that would compliment them beautifully (most often this will be other books).  I’m excited to explore where this will take me!

---

I am currently reading The Beauty Shop by Suzy Henderson (which I will likely be reviewing next week, so stay tuned) which is set during WWII in England.  The “beauty shop” in the title is really a ward that cares for those who are burned and disfigured during warfare, many of these are airmen from the various air forces.  The doctor in charge of this ward is Dr. Archibald McIndoe who can work some magical wonders with plastic surgery.  Additionally, the female main character is a part of the WAAF.  All of these things I wanted to know more about.  Below are 5 non-fiction books that would perfectly expand on the subjects in this novel.

Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany by Donald L. Miller

Book Blurb: Masters of the Air is the deeply personal story of the American bomber boys in World War II who brought the war to Hitler's doorstep. With the narrative power of fiction, Donald Miller takes readers on a harrowing ride through the fire-filled skies over Berlin, Hanover, and Dresden and describes the terrible cost of bombing for the German people.

Fighting at 25,000 feet in thin, freezing air that no warriors had ever encountered before, bomber crews battled new kinds of assaults on body and mind. Air combat was deadly but intermittent: periods of inactivity and anxiety were followed by short bursts of fire and fear. Unlike infantrymen, bomber boys slept on clean sheets, drank beer in local pubs, and danced to the swing music of Glenn Miller's Air Force band, which toured U.S. air bases in England. But they had a much greater chance of dying than ground soldiers. In 1943, an American bomber crewman stood only a one-in-five chance of surviving his tour of duty, twenty-five missions. The Eighth Air Force lost more men in the war than the U.S. Marine Corps.

The bomber crews were an elite group of warriors who were a microcosm of America -- white America, anyway. (African-Americans could not serve in the Eighth Air Force except in a support capacity.) The actor Jimmy Stewart was a bomber boy, and so was the "King of Hollywood," Clark Gable. And the air war was filmed by Oscar-winning director William Wyler and covered by reporters like Andy Rooney and Walter Cronkite, all of whom flew combat missions with the men. The Anglo-American bombing campaign against Nazi Germany was the longest military campaign of World War II, a war within a war. Until Allied soldiers crossed into Germany in the final months of the war, it was the only battle fought inside the German homeland.

Strategic bombing did not win the war, but the war could not have been won without it. American airpower destroyed the rail facilities and oil refineries that supplied the German war machine. The bombing campaign was a shared enterprise: the British flew under the cover of night while American bombers attacked by day, a technique that British commanders thought was suicidal.

Masters of the Air is a story, as well, of life in wartime England and in the German prison camps, where tens of thousands of airmen spent part of the war. It ends with a vivid description of the grisly hunger marches captured airmen were forced to make near the end of the war through the country their bombs destroyed.

Drawn from recent interviews, oral histories, and American, British, German, and other archives, Masters of the Air is an authoritative, deeply moving account of the world's first and only bomber war.

We All Wore Blue: Experiences in the WAAF by Muriel Gane Pushman

Book Blurb: Muriel Gane was just eighteen when war was declared on. 3 September 1939: Keen to enlist and help the war effort, she was nonetheless young, nervous and leaving home for the first time. "We All Wore Blue" is the story of Muriel's subsequent experiences with the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, her personal journey from the new recruit whose primary obsession was how well the blue of the uniform suited her, to a resolute and hard-working young woman with a wide social life and successful air-force career. Illustrated with family photographs, this book gives the reader a unique glimpse into the changing role of women and their experiences throughout the troubled years of the Second World War. It is the sequel to the moving "One Family's War", which relates the experiences of the Gane family during wartime.

The WAAF by Beryl E. Escott

Book Blurb:  The story of the Women s Auxiliary Air Force is a journey of exploration. This intriguing history tells the story of the wartime WAAF at work and play. They were no decorative adjunct to the RAF, but an integral working force that eventually saved the RAF 150,000 men, whose places they admirably filled. Debarred from flying, they nevertheless could be found in posts ranging from cooks to aircraft fitters. In secrecy they worked as codebreakers at Bletchley Park, in the Y Listening Service, as code and cypher officers in Churchill s War Cabinet, as air interpreters, and as SOE agents in occupied France. Many others were posted abroad to work. This book provides a fascinating view of their many roles.

The Reconstruction of Warriors: Archibald McIndoe, the Royal Air Force, and the Guinea Pig Club by E.R. Mayhew

Book Blurb: The history of the Guinea Pig Club, the band of airmen who were seriously burned in airplane fires, is a truly inspiring, spine-tingling tale. Before World War II, plastic surgery was in its infancy. The most rudimentary techniques were only known to a few surgeons worldwide. The Allies were tremendously fortunate in having the maverick surgeon Archibald McIndoe - nicknamed 'the Boss' or 'the Maestro' - operating at a small hospital in East Grinstead in the south of England. McIndoe constructed a medical infrastructure from scratch. After arguing with his superiors, he set up a revolutionary new treatment regime. Uniquely concerned with the social environment, or 'holistic care', McIndoe also enlisted the help of the local civilian population. He rightly secured his group of patients - dubbed the Guinea Pig Club - an honored place in society as heroes of Britain's war. For the first time official records have been used to explain fully how and why this remarkable relationship developed between the Guinea Pig Club, the RAF and the Home Front. First-person recollections bring to life the heroism of the airmen with incredible clarity.

McIndoe’s Army: The Story of the Guinea Pig Club and Its Indomitable Members by Edward Bishop

Book Blurb: A totally rewritten version of The Guinea Pig Club, published by Macmillan in 1963!In the Guinea Pig's Club's 60th Anniversary year, Edward Bishop revises and expands his perceptive account of these unique aviation heroes, who were under the care of acclaimed plastic surgeon, Sir Archibald McIndoe.

Author Bishop tells the stories of these fighting men, from McIndoe's earliest wartime patients, and marvels at the way their courage and heroism gave them the hope to carry on with their lives, while displaying a delicate balance between candor, sympathy, horror and humor.

Are there any titles that you know of that would fit with these recommendations?  I would love to hear them!

A couple of my friends are celebrating this book in January, and to make sure you don’t miss the wonderful content, I’m linking them here:

• Layered Pages has a book highlight
• Flashlight Commentary has an interview with the author and a review of the book
• A Bookaholic Swede has a book spotlight
• A Literary Vacation has a guest post with the author
• I also have a review of the book

 

Copyright © 2017 by The Maiden’s Court

Book Review: Christmas Bells by Jennifer Chiaverini

Christmas Bells by Jennifer Chiaverini
ARC, e-book, 320 pages
Dutton
October 27, 2015
★★★★☆

Genre: Historical fiction, Christmas

Source: Received from the publisher for review via Netgalley

In 1860, the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow family celebrated Christmas at Craigie House, their home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The publication of Longfellow’s classic Revolutionary War poem, “Paul Revere’s Ride,” was less than a month hence, and the country’s grave political unrest weighed heavily on his mind. Yet with his beloved wife, Fanny, and their five adored children at his side, the delights of the season prevailed.

In present-day Boston, a dedicated teacher in the Watertown public school system is stunned by somber holiday tidings. Sophia’s music program has been sacrificed to budget cuts, and she worries not only about her impending unemployment but also about the consequences to her underprivileged students. At the church where she volunteers as music director, Sophia tries to forget her cares as she leads the children’s choir in rehearsal for a Christmas Eve concert. Inspired to honor a local artist, Sophia has chosen a carol set to a poem by Longfellow, moved by the glorious words he penned one Christmas Day long ago, even as he suffered great loss.

Christmas Bells chronicles the events of 1863, when the peace and contentment of Longfellow’s family circle was suddenly, tragically broken, cutting even deeper than the privations of wartime. Through the pain of profound loss and hardship, Longfellow’s patriotism never failed, nor did the power of his language. “Christmas Bells,” the poem he wrote that holiday, lives on, spoken as verse and sung as a hymn.

Jennifer Chiaverini’s resonant and heartfelt novel for the season reminds us why we must continue to hear glad tidings, even as we are tested by strife. Reading Christmas Bells evokes the resplendent joy of a chorus of voices raised in reverent song.

Despite the name, Christmas Bells is a novel that while it fits more with the holiday/winter season, it can certainly be enjoyed throughout the rest of the year. The title relates directly to the poem, and later the Christmas carol, written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and the novel by Jennifer Chiaverini takes that poem at its heart and builds around it both a modern story as well as a historical story. Let’s explore that more.

The historical story is set during the years of the Civil War in the United States and follows the Longfellow family (yes, the Longfellow that wrote the titular poem) through all the trials and tribulations that led to the composition of said poem. I had not known anything about Longfellow, I’m not a huge fan of poetry, but I found his life fascinating, but so tragic. There was a lot of sadness during this time for him. While we learn a lot about the man himself we also see what some aspects of the War would have been like for those living in the North as well as on the battlefield as that touched close to home for Longfellow as well.

The modern story line ties in because it is based around a church children’s choir that is practicing to perform Christmas Bells for their Christmas service. While the historical narrative follows one man/one family, the modern narrative looks at several different people’s stories each filled with a lot of hardship and sadness around the holiday, just like Longfellow.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I liked both the historical and the modern for different reasons. The historical narrative evoked the time period very well and looked at the effects of the War on the people at home and how they dealt with their family member being at war. The modern story was one that kept you on the edge of your seat wondering how each person’s plight would resolve and if it would be happy or not. Both stories pulled at my heart strings and made me truly care about the characters. However, there were a couple issues as well.

My major issue was with the structure of the novel. The historical narrative is told from the limited perspective of Henry Longfellow whereas in the modern narrative each chapter is told by a different character – from children in the choir, to the choir directors, parents, and church people. It was weird for me to bounce around between characters in one narrative, but remain with one character in the other. However, this wasn’t my most significant issue with the structure. In the modern narrative there were some instances of repetition in storytelling between characters. This was particularly obvious with the chapters from the brother/sister and their mother. There were entire passages that I skimmed right past because I had already read that exact thing not a chapter before, which was a little frustrating. It felt almost like a copy/paste job. You can still have overlapping segments, but being from 2 perspectives there should be differences there. They were wasted words on me.

At its heart, Christmas Bells is the story of survival, moving on, and embracing what life throws at you, which can be appreciated at all times of the year.

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• The Calico Critic
• Always With A Book

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

 

Also by Jennifer Chiaverini:

Jennifer Chiaverini has written many books in the Elm Creek Quilt series, that I am not going to list here for brevity. You can find the complete list on her website.

Mrs. Grant and Madame Jule

The Spymistress

Fates and Traitors

Mrs. Lincoln’s Rival

Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker

Find Jennifer Chiaverini: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

 

Copyright © 2017 by The Maiden’s Court

Cover Crush: The Wardrobe Mistress

We can all say that you should never judge a book by its cover, but I guarantee that we all have done so at least once! Cover Crush is designed to feature some of those covers that have caught the eye as a standout on the bookshelf.

“This cover intrigues me.  When I first looked at it I though that she was looking out a very large window, such as in a palace, and she is supposed to be the titular character, a Mistress of the Wardrobe.  However, after reading the description, I am pretty sure that she might be looking out from the wings of a stage (since this is set in a theatre that makes more sense).  But can you see my confusion?  Regardless of its appropriateness, I still think the cover is striking.  I always think that red is a bold color choice and will draw the eye in.  I like that she appears as more of a shadow against the bright backdrop.  And I don’t even mind the words of the title obscuring the central figure. 

What are your thoughts on this cover?

I wonder what my friends are crushing on this week? Let’s check it out: Flashlight Commentary, 2 Kids and Tired Books, A Bookaholic Swede, Layered Pages. 

 

Copyright © 2017 by The Maiden’s Court

Audiobook Review: Amy Snow by Tracy Rees

Amy Snow by Tracy Rees
Unabridged, 15 hr. 48 min.
Simon & Schuster Audio
Melody Grove (Narrator)
June 7, 2016
★★★☆☆

Genre: Historical Fiction

Source: Received audio download from publisher for review

Left to perish on a bank of snow as a baby, Amy has never known love, never known family.

Reluctantly given shelter at nearby Hatville Court, she is despised by the masters and servants alike.

The beautiful Hatville heiress, Aurelia Vennaway, is Amy's only advocate - she becomes the light of Amy's life, and the centre of her existence.

So when Aurelia dies young, Amy's world collapses. But Aurelia leaves Amy with one last gift.

A bundle of letters with a coded key. A treasure hunt that only Amy can unlock.

A life-changing secret awaits... if only she can reach it.

Amy Snow and I have had a difficult relationship. I was excited about the description of the book when I requested it from the publisher. I mean, it describes it as a treasure hunt to reveal major secrets of Amy’s life that could only be told to her through letters from a recently deceased friend. A cool concept – and one that was done well, but more on that later. Then apparently I promptly forgot what the book was about and my excitement for it as it lingered on my playlist for a good 6 months before someone on my Facebook reminded me of my excitement for the book.

Picking it up, I struggled to get through it from the very beginning – it’s saving grace was the audio production which was better than the actual story. The first third of the book was SLOW and boring. Amy is telling us about her past and it just wasn’t pulling me into the story at all. It was all tell and no show. But I stuck with it and once we got on the actual trail of the letters to find out the mystery her deceased friend had left her, it indeed picked up – for a little while. I got into the quest and how was she going to figure out the coded messages. She meets people that were important to her friend and she begins to have a sense of her own life, not that of a servant downstairs. You could watch her grow and evolve.

But then, when the story progresses from the town of Twickenham to the town of Bath it ground to a halt. No more growth for the character, she became mired down in this love triangle that didn’t interest me at all. One guy is supposed to be the good guy and the other the trickster, but that didn’t come through as clearly as I would have liked. I ended up feeling sorry for the trickster character, which I don’t think was the angle she was going for. Amy has a crisis of conscience as to whether she should continue the quest or move on with her own life, which really felt like a child throwing a tantrum and just not appealing. To make matters worse, Amy spent so much less time in Bath than Twickenham, but it felt so much longer (I’m not sure if that was just because I was bored or if it was actually longer).

And that whole mystery – it’s no surprise that I wasn’t surprised about it because neither was the main character! She had guessed it about halfway through, so I found her reaction to the news so contrived.

However, my biggest gripe is with the epilogue. The entire story is told from Amy’s perspective, or through the voice of her friend Aurelia in the letter’s Amy reads, but still from Amy’s perspective. However, the epilogue, that was 16 minutes of recording long, was told from the perspective of an entirely new narrator! This felt way out of place even if I understand why that character was used to reveal what she knew. It certainly could have still been conveyed differently. As soon as the epilogue came from a new character and this had never happened before, I was turned off.

Were there good parts of this story? Yes. I felt that a good portion of her quest was well structured to keep you wanting to find out more with Amy and watch her grow. But there should have been a greater payout for that time. It got bogged down with some ancillary storylines that had no real purpose from my perspective. I wanted a lot more from this novel.

★★★☆☆

The audio production was fairly good in Amy Snow. At first, I didn’t really care for the sound of this narrator’s voice. I actually turned it off after a short listen the first go around. The second time it didn’t bother me as much, so maybe it was just a me-in-that-moment sort of thing. The production did help make the story more bearable for me as I might have put it down in print and not picked it back up. It was well paced reading. While there weren’t markedly different voices for each character you did get a different feel for each character so that you knew who you were listening to, which I appreciated.

Check out this short excerpt for a sample of the narration!

 

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• On My Bookshelf
• Wild Thistle

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

Also by Tracy Rees:

Florence Grace

Find Tracy Rees: Twitter

 

Copyright © 2017 by The Maiden’s Court

A Look Back at 2016

Happy New Year everyone!  Hope you had a safe and happy celebration.  My husband and I were asleep before 9:30 and didn’t turn on the tv coverage once!  It’s a weird feeling when both of our parents stayed up til midnight and we didn’t.

Before we get started with a whole new year of bookish things, I want to take a few minutes to look back at what 2016 gave us.  It helps me to see what sort of reading trends I had and it is fun to look at why I might have read the way I did. 

So first, here are some book stats for 2016.

BOOKS READ: 62

This was a good reading year. Not only did I finish my Goodreads goal of 50, but I read more than last year (51). This year felt more consistent in reading habits and now that I’m 100% done with school I should have more reading time to devote to books I want to read.

BOOKS REVIEWED: 54

The majority of the books I read this year resulted in reviews. Those that did not were genres that I don’t review but still enjoy reading, as well as 2 books that I still owe reviews of that will be coming up in January.

PAGES READ: 13,528

That’s about 500 pages more than last year, which makes sense because I read more books.  It’s nice that there is some consistency.

HOURS LISTENED: 182.15

Surprisingly this number went down again for a second year in a row. Yes, my commute has been shorter, but I have done a lot of listening while at work. Just surprising.

FORMAT: (some may overlap)

• Hardcover: 2 (my beautiful hardcover of The Vatican Princess by C.W. Gortner and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling)
• Paperback: 1
• ARC: 47
• Audio: 16
• E-Book: 43
• From My Personal Collection: 14 (most of these were school books but the rare few were from my own shelf)

Holy cow did I read very few physical print copies! I was sure that it was more than 3! Although my husband is thrilled with this statistic because it means that the physical amount of books in the house isn’t much increasing.

GENRE: (may overlap)

• Historical Fiction: 51
• Young Adult: 1
• Contemporary Fiction: 5
• Romance: 30
• Non-fiction: 4
• Fantasy: 1
• Western: 14

Well the number of romance reads skyrocketed this year because of my participating in the group blog, Romantic Historical Reviews – which will continue this year. There were I think only 2 of those 30 that were modern romances. My non-fiction went down this year, which is something that makes me sad since I really enjoy reading them. I must work on that in 2017.

SETTING: (may overlap)

• England: 21
• France: 4
• Ancient Worlds: 1
• Scotland: 1
• America: 31
• Fantasy: 1
• Germany: 3
• Asia (Ceylon): 1
• Russia: 2
• Cuba: 1
• Australia: 3
• Belgium: 1
• Antarctica: 1
• Spain: 1
• Italy: 2

Well there was certainly more diversity in places this year, but the bulk was still America (specifically the American West) and England for sure.

MALE/FEMALE AUTHOR RATIO: 9/42

FIRST LADY READS/PRESIDENT READS:  0/0

What happened to my quest to read about Presidents and First Ladies!?! This must change. Over the last 2 years I have read exactly 1 book.

AUTHORS MOST READ:

• Vivi Holt (7)
• Debra Holland (3)
• Stephanie Laurens (3)
• Kasey Michaels (3)
• Kathleen Kimmel (2)

All of these are romance authors and I typically notice that they tend to release books quicker so I end up with more from them to review. Plus, most of these were on the 200-ish page length.

FAVORITE BOOKS READ IN 2016: (in no particular order, not all released in 2016):

• The Time Between by Karen White
• Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
• My Last Continent by Midge Raymond
• The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
• The German Girl by Armando Lucas Correa

A little eclectic this year – a couple historicals, a thriller, and a couple contemporary fiction works are all in my top novels.

MOST ANTICIPATED OF 2017: (in no particular order)

• Becoming Bonnie by Jenni L. Walsh
• For the Most Beautiful by Emily Hauser
• The Enemies of Versailles by Sally Christie
• The Bridge Across the Ocean by Susan Meissner
• The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
• The Diplomat’s Daughter by Karin Tanabe

2016 was certainly a wider net of people and settings than in prior years, which was something I was hoping to accomplish. It also was a year of a lot of sequel reading or series continuations. I think that will be a little less in 2017 based on what I have for review and what I know of to be coming out and what I am interested in reading, but who knows! Some of the titles I am most excited about being released are from debut authors who are writing on fascinating subjects. While I see a trend of early 20^th century novels coming out (and some released this past year), these don’t hold my attention quite as much and as such they will probably not be as frequently reviewed (I do make exceptions for some of my favorite authors who are releasing novels set in some of these time periods).

You can check out a really cool visual of my reading year on Goodreads here.

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I enjoyed the survey questions from The Perpetual Page Turner that I used in my year-end review the last couple years, so I wanted to continue this for 2016.

Book you read in 2016 that you recommended to people most in 2016?

There are really 3 here that I recommended over and over: Song of War by Kate Quinn, Christian Cameron, Libbie Hawker, Vicky Alvear Shecter, Russell Whitfield, Stephanie Thornton, and S.J.A. Turney; My Last Continent by Midge Raymond; and The Time Between by Karen White.

I think all of the short story collections that have been released by the H Team have been among my top recommendations each year they have come out and Song of War is no different. I have always loved The Odyssey and The Illiad by Homer and loved how each of the authors took a character or group of characters to tell the story from their perspectives. It was so well done. Even if you haven’t read or enjoyed Homer’s works, but you enjoy reading novels set in the ancient world this one will work for you.

My Last Continent by Midge Raymond is not a historical novel, but was one that I made exception for and reviewed on the blog. I loved how vividly she brought the completely foreign world of Antarctica to life for me. Tie that together with the hardships of living there and a romance thread (which isn’t romancey at all like you might expect and certainly isn’t a romance novel by far) and there is enough drama to keep it moving along.

The Time Between by Karen White I did not review because it is a contemporary novel for the most part, but it is one that I really enjoyed. The way she told the story from three different perspectives and unveiled the flight from Hungary of the elderly aunt was beautifully put together and I couldn’t put this one down.

Best series you discovered in 2016? 

It seems like the only new series that I discovered this year were all romances. Regular historicals that I read were second installments in a series or further – so they don’t count for this question. Additionally, many of these series have only 1 book released so far, so it’s hard to say. But, if I were to pick it would be The Little Season series by Kasey Michaels. I like that there is an overarching story that envelopes all the novels but that each one focuses on a specific couple. And it is quite comical too!

Favorite new-to-me author discovered in 2016?

Karen White – I so enjoyed The Time Between because of how she crafted her characters. Elements of them were revealed over time and it was nice to learn about them as other characters did. There was so much hidden behind facades and bravado.

Favorite cover of a book you read in 2016?

Fall of Poppies – I love the simplicity of the cover but how much it represents the tone and theme of the stories.

Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2016 to finally read? 

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein. I had heard about this novel in passing before, but WWII was never a huge theme for me. I picked it up on a whim for my next audio book and was so enraptured with the characters and the non-linear storytelling and unreliable narrator that I just couldn’t put it down. After I finished I realized how much talk about the book there had been.

Favorite book you read in 2016 from an author you’ve read previously?

I read so many new-to-me authors this year that there are only a few whom I have read previously. I would say that it is Rivals of Versailles by Sally Christie, which isn’t that surprising because I listed Christe’s The Sisters of Versailles as my favorite debut in 2015.

Best 2016 debut you read? 

My Last Continent by Midge Raymond – for all the reasons I stated above.

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Beyond reading, this year has brought a lot of new energy to The Maiden’s Court. I reinstated some old post series that I loved, I worked on doing more than just reviews and keeping relatively consistent with my content, and I worked on sharing this content with you all in more ways. I have built greater bonds of friendship with several wonderful ladies in the book reviewing community who I look forward to talking with everyday about things both bookish and not. I hope you all enjoy the materials that I am sharing with you and that you stick around throughout the year! Happy New Year!! 

What have you learned about your reading habits in 2016? Did anything surprise you?  What were your favorite reads?

Connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Pinterest, and Litsy (@dolleygurl)!

 

Copyright © 2017 by The Maiden’s Court