11/22/63: A Novel by Stephen King (audio)

Book Description:
ON NOVEMBER 22, 1963, THREE SHOTS RANG OUT IN DALLAS, PRESIDENT KENNEDY DIED, AND THE WORLD CHANGED.  WHAT IF YOU COULD CHANGE IT BACK? 

In this brilliantly conceived tour de force, Stephen King—who has absorbed the social, political, and popular culture of his generation more imaginatively and thoroughly than any other writer—takes readers on an incredible journey into the past and the possibility of altering it.

It begins with Jake Epping, a thirty-five-year-old English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine, who makes extra money teaching GED classes. He asks his students to write about an event that changed their lives, and one essay blows him away—a gruesome, harrowing story about the night more than fifty years ago when Harry Dunning’s father came home and killed his mother, his sister, and his brother with a sledgehammer. Reading the essay is a watershed moment for Jake, his life—like Harry’s, like America’s in 1963—turning on a dime. Not much later his friend Al, who owns the local diner, divulges a secret: his storeroom is a portal to the past, a particular day in 1958. And Al enlists Jake to take over the mission that has become his obsession—to prevent the Kennedy assassination.

So begins Jake’s new life as George Amberson, in a different world of Ike and JFK and Elvis, of big American cars and sock hops and cigarette smoke everywhere. From the dank little city of Derry, Maine (where there’s Dunning business to conduct), to the warmhearted small town of Jodie, Texas, where Jake falls dangerously in love, every turn is leading eventually, of course, to a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald and to Dallas, where the past becomes heart-stoppingly suspenseful, and where history might not be history anymore. Time-travel has never been so believable. Or so terrifying.

Normally I am not a big Stephen King fan, his books are too scary for me. I have read some of his fantasy, non-horror stuff, such as the first few books of his Gunslinger Series, but that's about it.  When I heard about this book and that it was about time-travel and the 1960's - it sold me!  It's one of my favorite eras, having grown up during this time, the youngest of a large family.  When I look back on my earliest memories, the early '60's seemed like an idyllic time.   I was too young to remember JFK's assassination, but I do remember Bobby's and Martin Luther King's.  Before those tragic events, days were long and lazy, before the escalation of Viet Nam and the race riots in Newark - which were not far from where I grew up.  For me, as I was about to start first grade, summers were endless, catching lightning bugs at dusk before bed without a care in the world except for maybe the occasional worry about learning how to read in the upcoming school year and if I'd like my new teacher.  I associate those days with the music on the radio as well:  Petula Clark's "Downtown, " the Young Rascals "Groovin'" as well as any number of Beatles songs (my sisters were avid Beatlemaniacs).

Is it any wonder I ate this book up like candy?  On audio it was spellbinding.  Craig Wasson, an actor that I only know from his role in the movie, Body Double, did a fantastic job of narrating the novel in the first person as the protagonist, Jake Epping.  He does a myriad of voices for the many characters in the book.  As much as some may think it gimmicky, he used impersonations of well known Hollywood actors for some of the characters.  I recognized Jack Nicholson (as Frank Dunning, Harry's father).  Burt Lancaster and Jimmy Stewart popped up as well.  I liked it!  It brought the book to life, as if I were listening to a movie that left nothing out from the book! An ideal situation!  I had a similar reaction when reading The Help.  Wasson also does women's voices as well - I loved the soft southern drawl of Jake's love interest, Sadie, as well as Miz Mimi  and Ellen Dockerty.

11/22/63 brings back many yesteryear memories.  I won't go over the whole plot, which you can read in the book description above, but King weaves a fabulous story of how Jake Epping travels back in time to 1958 to undo certain events that created misery for people he knew personally or knew of.  The book is broken up into parts, beginning in Maine, then Florida and ultimately to Jodie, Texas where the bulk of the book takes place not far from Dallas leading up to the assassination attempt on Kennedy.   It's a great, great time travel story that lets us experience life in the late '50's and early '60's from Maine to Texas through Jake's eyes and especially as he falls in love with a young school librarian, Sadie Dunhill.   

His time in Jodie and his relationship with Sadie was especially satisfying to read.  It's the one romantic element to the book, but not overly done.  I consider myself somewhat of a connoisseur of romance ;) and I found no issues with King's sex scenes - though I believe the book made it onto some Bad Sex in Fiction Award short list for 2011.  Pay no attention, they're tasteful and pretty tame compared to what I've read elsewhere.  Plus, he's given me a new appreciation for pound cake.  I'll always have a smile on my face when I have some from now on.  ;)

While in Jodie, Jake takes on the persona of George Amberson, a substitute teacher at the local high school.  A highlight of the novel for me is when he is directing the school play "Of Mice and Men."  On audio is was great as he describes opening night and the audience's reaction to the young star of the play - Mike Coslaw. Wonderful! Wonderful!  I get teary eyed just thinking of Lenny and George...  His characters are well drawn, real people to me.  I miss them and I was involved with their lives.  Jake/George made many friends in Jodie and it was a good life he had there for a while...

But as we get closer to November of 1963, the plot turns gritty and menacing - the past is obdurate.  The bigger the event that is to be changed, the more obstacles time sets up to prevent it.  I was on the edge of my seat wondering what calamity was going to prevent Jake from fulfilling his goal.  Lee Oswald and his wife Marina are now center stage and the focus of the book.  Would he be able to pull it off - can he stop the Kennedy assassination and if so, what will happen to the future if he does? That is the $65,000 question.  If Jake stops the assassination, how will it change events in the future, and will he even be able to return to 2011?  And what about Sadie? Can he leave her behind? Can he risk bringing her back with him to an uncertain world of 2011? Will it be that much different?

I'm leaving a ton out so as not to spoil the book for those of you who want to read it.  It's epic-like, Jake's many tasks and journey from Derry, Maine (the same evil, dark and dank town as in his novel, It) to Dallas takes us on a roller coaster ride.  Some critics have said this is a self-indulgent chance for King to write a book and spout off on his feelings about Viet Nam, etc., but I say, ignore all that and read it for the entertainment alone and don't think too hard about what the author's intentions were.  I say he wanted to write a time travel novel and it's one of the best I've ever read - and I've read many.  Although, as good as it was, there were a few things that bugged me about it, the book wasn't perfect after all.  There were some similarities to another great time travel novel, Replay by Ken Grimwood and towards the ending, it tended to ramble and go on and on.  I also found the ending a little overly sentimental and bittersweet.  But, overall, I can overlook these minor matters.  I just simply loved it and even gave it to my husband and brother for Christmas!

Nothing like starting the new year off with a five star review! This was a fabulous, memorable book!  Don't miss it, and on audiobook it's amazing!

5/5

P.S. I love the "what if" back cover in the hardcover!

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Goddess of Spring by P.C. Cast

Book Description:
To save her failing bakery, Lina trades souls with Persephone, the Goddess of Spring-and starts falling for hunky Hades.

And what a hunk he is!  Trust me, this Hades is not the Hades from Disney's Hercules, believe me!

I really enjoyed this story that plays on the mythological story of Persephone and Hades.  Never having read anything by this author before, I had heard good things about this book, which is part of her Goddess Series.  This is book #2, which I had heard was the best of the series.

Catalina aka Lina is a modern day, middle aged forty something owner of a baker.  She's an attractive divorced woman who has made a great success of her bakery in Oklahoma.  But, thanks to her incompetent accountant, she owes a ton to the IRS and realizes she must branch out and start inventing something new in the bakery to bring in more business.  She finds some old cookbooks and an old recipe for pizza.  Part of the recipe calls for her to pray to the gods and do a little dance around a tree, etc. etc.  She has some wine, does her little dance and hopes for the best.  Little does she know...

At the same time, on Mt. Olympus, where the gods dwell, Demeter, goddess of the harvest and the seasons wants her beautiful daughter, the goddess Persephone to grow up and become a bit more serious about her role as Goddess of Spring.  (Persephone is a bit flighty.)  Demeter becomes aware of Lina from her little prayer dance.  She listens to Lina's prayer and comes to Earth to make her a deal.  It's quite a whopper!
She asks Lina to trade places with Persephone and go to "hell" (literally) and live there with Hades for six months.  While there, she wants Lina (as Persephone) to help Hades and be a goddess to the dead souls living in the Underworld that are in need of the Goddess of Light and Spring.  Lina is skeptical, naturally.  But, she agrees to do it.  While Lina is gone, Persephone will step into her place and make the bakery a success.

As outlandish as it all sounds, it wound up being a really good story!  Lina is suddenly thrust into the beautiful body of Persephone and is soon face to face with the god, Hades.  Demeter had given Lina the impression that Hades was a dour recluse with no interest in women.  She was partly right, but she left out the part that he looks like a god (he is a god after all).  Muscular, dark and handsome, he has a brooding virility about him that proves to be irresistible to Lina, yet he has a vulnerability too.  (Lina thinks of him as Batman - the Val Kilmer version.)  We follow Lina as she gets to know Hades better and learns what it's like to be a goddess at the same time.  Not a bad life!  The Underworld isn't nearly as bad as she thought it would be, it's actually quite nice! En route to the Underworld, she meets a young soul who has recently died, Eurydice, who becomes her hand maiden and takes care of her.  (Eurydice has her own little side story as well, remember the myth of Morpheus and Eurydice?)

As Lina (as Persephone) and Hades inevitably fall in love, she is torn because she knows she must return to her real life in Oklahoma in six months.  She's convinced Hades only loves her for her gorgeous persona as Persephone.  Once he finds out she's a middle aged nobody he'll turn from her.  Plus, he hates lying women!   She sees no possible happy outcome, thus she leaves Hades of her own accord before he can dump her.  Hades has a major chip on his shoulder because he is the god of the dead.  The other gods on Mt. Olympus look down on him and mock him, so he's sensitive and has shunned the gods and goddesses.  Yet, he is drawn to Lina.  She's so different compared to the other goddesses he's known.  She's a breath of fresh air.  He loves her completely, but is worried she won't want to stay with him in the Underworld.

I felt sorry for Hades when he finds out the truth.  Before Lina can leave, he finds out about her real persona from Demeter who callously tells him that she's really a mortal middle aged woman posing as Persephone.  Hurt and confused, he bitterly casts Lina off, telling himself she had only been toying with him.  He hardens himself against her because he can't stand the thought she'd been lying to him all along, and he's convinced she never really felt anything real for him.  Both are so wrong about each other, yet afraid to seek out the truth for fear of betrayal.  Lina is desolate when she returns to her bakery. 

How can Hades and Lina return to one another and be happy forever?  It seems impossible, yet the author comes up with a great solution which also fits in with the whole Persephone/Hades mythological story.

I found the whole premise of the story fun and different.  I love mythology, so this book was right up my alley.  I will definitely read more of this series!  The side characters were good too!  Lina has a few friends who work for her at the bakery, Hades' right hand man was good too, who forms an attachment to Eurydice.  Eurydice was a bit too sweet and cloying - always wanting to please.  Persephone's story working at the bakery is touched on, but not much, but we get a good idea of what's been happening on her end and she comes through for Lina to tie up all the loose strings and make a happy ending possible.

There's lots of other parts of the book that gave the story more depth as well.  The characterizations make the people realistic and there's some humor involved (the obligatory gay co-worker that seems to be in every contemporary I read nowadays) and the fact Lina has a way with animals - they all love her, including Hades' terrifying horses that become pussycats around Lina.

I recommend this romance, especially if mythology is your thing.  It's a contemporary romance with a fantasy element to it, plus I like the fact the heroine is a middle aged forty something woman!  I can relate to that!  She doesn't have a perfect body (except as Persephone) and in the end, we find out it's not her body Hades was in love with, it was her soul.  Some hot moments between Lina and Hades, but most of all, it was a heartwarming story that I found had some realistic elements to it, despite it's fantastical premise.

4/5

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Legacy by Jeanette Baker

Book Description:
In Scotland to claim a castle she has inherited, professor Christina Murray meets the handsome man who may hold the key to the secrets of Traquair House, and to her heart. Then she travels through time to unveil the mystery of her family, only to find herself in grave danger.

Although I liked the gist of this time travel Scottish historical, I found Legacy a bit confusing and choppy in parts.  It's basically the story of a young woman, Christina Murray who has memories of three of her Murray ancestors who were put under a curse that would not allow them to marry anyone from another clan - the Douglas's.  Christina is an American who has just learned she has inherited a Scottish estate and has no knowledge of this curse or her ancestors.  She is perplexed and confused about why she, of all people, has inherited this estate, known as Traquair House. Things become even stranger as she begins to time travel back to the lives of these three women.

To complicate things further, a handsome Scottish neighbor, Ian Douglas (uh oh, he's a Douglas!) befriends her and soon they begin a romantic relationship and Christina promptly gets pregnant - something she never thought possible.   Ian is friendly enough and wonderful in many respects, but she suspects he's keeping something from her. She also wonders why Traquair House's housekeeper seems to dislike her - and what is the housekeeper's relationship to Ian?  After overhearing a conversation between the two, Christina is having doubts about him.  Is Ian only after the estate or does he truly care for her?

In addition to the present day storyline, the book is broken down into three different time periods and storylines from the past that parallel an important period in Scottish history.  Each part revolves around one of Christina's ancestors: Katrine, who lives during the times leading up to the battle of Culloden in the mid 1700's, Jeanne, who is accused of being a witch and loses one of her children in a fire in the 1500's and Mairi who was loved by Edward I, King of England in the 1200's and stole the real Stone of Scone, hiding it so the English couldn't take it.  All died violently for the causes they believed in.  As Christina lives through their eyes, she realizes she looks just like all three of them - and they all had diabetes... just like she does!   Each one's story is sad in of itself and they kept my attention - I just wish they didn't end so soon!  Because this is not a really long book, each story was missing the sort of depth and romantic build up I'm used to.  Because of the lack of development I felt vaguely dissatisfied with each separate storyline.  Regarding the present day romantic storyline, it was much too fast and unbelievable as well. 

Overall I was disappointed in this book.  I feel it could have been better if it were longer so each historic storyline could have gotten the attention and romantic build up it deserved.  There were poignant moments, yet I felt little emotion over them because I hadn't gotten a chance to really get to know the characters involved.   The climax of the book when all is revealed was anticlimatic and Christine's decision about her pregnancy and what to do about Ian was - frankly - annoying!  Albeit, it was probably realistic, but I was angry at her!  Still, I did appreciate the historical background and the different locales of the Scottish Highlands like Blair Castle and Traquair House (I'm really thinking of passing by it this August on my trip to Scotland) but I wish the last 50 pages of the book had been written differently.  It does end happily, but not the way I expected it to.

3.5/5

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A Cottage by the Sea by Ciji Ware

Book Description:
Some might call it running away . . .

But after a scandalous Hollywood divorce, Blythe Stowe considered it damage control for body and soul. The pain, the humiliation, the daily tabloids shouting details as her famous husband dumped her for her own sister demanded a serious getaway: to the wild coast of Cornwall and a cottage by the sea that her Wyoming grandmother claimed had been home to her ancestors.

Some might call it chance . . .

But Blythe encountered more than just a quaint retreat nestled amid vivid skies and gorgeous ocean. And she had the odd sensation that her wickedly handsome neighbor Lucas Teague was more than a British gentleman going broke. He might be her destiny . . .

Another Ciji Ware winner that swept me away! I totally enjoyed this story of a young woman who leaves Hollywood and her messy divorce behind to the shores of Cornwall, England where she eerily experiences the life of her ancestor who lived on the very land where she rents a cottage for the summer. She also meets her handsome landlord - lord of the manor - who has his own demons and memories to overcome.  A good book that got me from the very beginning!

Blythe Barton Stowe needs to get away from Hollywood - and her no good ex-husband, a famous Oscar-winning British film director.  Cornwall is the perfect place to get away from it all, far the madding crowd so she can lick her wounds and get on with her life in peace and quiet.  She's somewhat shell shocked due to the publicity of her divorce and the fact her ex wasted no time in marrying her pregnant sister.  They married literally hours after the final divorce decree.

While in Cornwall, Blythe meets the handsome owner of the estate where she is renting a cottage for the summer.  They hit it off immediately.  While touring his grand home that has seen better days, she becomes hypnotized while reviewing a large genealogy chart on the wall of his library.  Blythe notices that some of the names are familiar on the chart, another Blythe Barton from over two hundred years ago is on it.  There seem to be other similarities as well.  Upon touching an engraved name on the chart, our Blythe is transported somehow in time to that person's life.  Blythe witnesses the goings on of the first Blythe's history as if watching the action of a movie.  No coincidence that Blythe worked for her husband as his set director. 

And so sets the tone of the book.  Blythe repeats this process a few times and learns about what happened to the ancestors that lived on the estate long, long ago.  Their tale is all tangled up, an unhappy forced marriage, marital betrayals between two siblings, not unlike Blythe's own experience with her sister, and the answer to the long lost tale of whatever happened to Blythe's ancestors and how they came to live in America.  As much as I was into the eighteenth century story, I preferred Blythe's own modern day story involving her romance with her landlord turned business partner, Lucas Teague. Ironic, since I usually prefer historicals.  

Lucas, though lord of the manor, is not a rich aristocratic.  He's an average man, a widower, who's trying to keep his ancestral property from taxes and ruin.  He also needs some healing after dealing with the death of his wife to cancer and the ordeal of raising his son, Richard, as a single parent - a task he is having a hard time with.   He and Blythe become friends and she comes up with an idea that he should start a nursery gardening business on his property that will pay for it's upkeep.  Meanwhile, Lucas' young son is staying with him for the summer during the school break and Blythe is curious about their seemingly strained relationship.  She can't help but notice that Richard is in great need of love and attention, yet Lucas seems incapable of showing it to his son.  That British stiff upper lip and all that kind of nonsense. What's the problem here and how can Blythe help without interfering where she's not wanted?   Plus, what does his son's godmother, an aristocratic perfectly manicured bitch in her Jaguar mean to Lucas?  It's obvious she has designs on him, but does he have a romantic interest in her?  Better yet, does he have romantic designs on Blythe? 

Sure enough, all our questions are answered. I loved their modern day story and the way it paralleled Blythe's eighteenth century genetic memories or whatever they are.  I devoured this book and loved it!  What sucked me in was the slow and burgeoning relationship that develops between Blythe and Lucas.  I was really rooting for them and couldn't wait to see what happened between them!  Their characters were well drawn, I sympathized with them, I didn't want their part of the story to end!    Of course, I always focus on the love interest!  But, it wasn't just that, I liked the whole package: Blythe, Lucas, his son, the housekeeper and her husband, the bitchy godmother (who I loved to hate, btw) and last but not least Blythe's shameless ex-husband who comes to visit in Cornwall asking for a favor!  I found all of it riveting and hard to put down! 

Although, as much as I loved reading about the modern day Blythe and her trials and tribulations, I can't say the same about the first Blythe Barton.  She was selfish and impulsive and I felt she got what she deserved.    To make matters worse, I did not like the idea that the author married her off to one of my favorite characters in another of her books, Island of the Swans (which I loved!)  No, no, no! Poor Thomas Fraser! Anyway, I digress...

I'm leaving out a lot of details but, trust me, this is a worthwhile read, one you can really get caught up in.  The eighteenth century part was a bit lacking in some ways, probably because we are "watching" that part of the book as spectators and none of the characters are likable.  Really, not one of them, except maybe Blythe's cousin who loved her.  We don't get into the characters heads as much, so I did not have the same amount of empathy for their plight as I did for Blythe and Lucas. Still, despite what the eighteenth century part lacked, the modern part more than made up for it.  I highly recommend the book as a whole.  Ms. Ware is fast becoming a favorite author of mine.  She has a way of luring you in and keeping you there until the final page - the sign of a fine storyteller!

Oh, and one last thing, wouldn't you know it?  After I bought it for my kindle, it's offered for free! Still, I don't mind, it was a great book and I loved it!

4/5

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The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley

Book Description:
Carrie McClelland came to Scotland to research her next book. Renting a cottage in the same town where her story takes place, Carrie embarks not only on her novel, but on a romance with her landlord's handsome son, Graham Keith. When the boundary between past and present begins to blur, Carrie finds herself channeling memories not her own. Pulled deeper and deeper into the memories of the past, Carrie realizes these visions are more than the means to another bestselling novel, but also a way to right the wrongs of the past and create a future with the man whose love is her destiny.  

This really was a lovely book to read.  Recently reissued through Sourcebooks, I'd never heard of this author before.  I took my time with it.  It's a story within a story going back and forth between the past and present day Scotland in which an author, Carrie McClelland is drawn to the northeast coast of Scotland while writing about the Jacobite rising of 1708.  She visits the real life castle of Slains, inspiration for her latest novel.  Soon, much to her surprise, she appears to be channeling the events that happened to her ancestor Sophia Paterson who lived there at that time.   Carrie realizes, unaccountably, that she has complete memories of her g-g-g-grandmother and the events surrounding her life at Slains.

We become involved in Carrie's writing, reverting back to Sophia's story and her relationship with John Moray, a Jacobite sympathizer with a price on his head.  We are seduced by the evocative and rugged coastline of Scotland - and it's tragic and romantic history.  The Winter Sea is an unpretentious story, there is not a lot of adventure, the romance portions are oblique, yet they are powerful in their quiet simplicity.  Sophia and John fall in love, yet, as a reader I was not caught up in a tempestuous type of romance.  For the most part I felt at arms length in regard to them.   As much as we are aware of Sophia's thoughts and her trials and tribulations, I did not feel deeply for her until the second half of the book.  I had trouble connecting with her as a person, and it took me a while to warm up to her storyline and her love for John.  It was hard for me to get into her head and for most of the book, Sophia was stuck and at the mercy of all those around her.  She had no say in what happened to her, a complete inability to direct her own life.   As I read about the events that happen to Sophia as she tries to hold it together while her love is caught up in the Jacobite uprising, most of it was surprisingly unemotional for me, except for one instance when I had tears streaming down my cheeks during one particularly poignant moment.  Don't get me wrong, it was a great story and the ending was wonderful.  I loved the way it was all wrapped up and came together, I was pleasantly surprised.

The modern day part of the novel was good, but again, I had that 'one step removed from the action' feeling.  Carrie has a romance with one of two local brothers that are wooing her.  It's their little secret.  I enjoyed the playfulness and burgeoning romance that develops between them, but again, it was subtle and the ending seemed a bit anti-climatic in regard to what happens to them.  I guess it was more realistic that way, but I felt a bit let down.  I think I like a bit more drama and romance in my novels (surprise, surprise!)

Some of the more memorable features of the book were the side characters, whom I found engaging.  I liked Jimmy Keith (her lover's father and landlord), and John Moray's uncle who becomes a source of comfort for Sophia while John is away in France.  I appreciated the research by the author that must have been involved in the writing of this novel, it really set the scene and I often could imagine I was standing on a bluff looking out at the North Sea on a blustery wintry day. 

Despite the strange lack of depth and emotion I felt in regard to Sophia and Carrie as heroines, I consider this book to be somewhat of a gem.  The sad storyline, scenario of the book within a book and the background, genealogy and locale whet my appetite for more by this author.  My head is full of Scotland these days (I'm planning a trip to the Highlands this August), so I can't get enough of it!  I will definitely be paying a visit to Cruden Bay, where the ruins of New Slains Castle can be found!

4/5

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The Legend MacKinnon by Donna Kauffman

Book Description:
Three centuries ago in Scotland a curse was born of the long-standing feud between the Claren and the MacKinnon clans. Now, generations later, destiny has decreed that three women, the last of the Claren line, be granted one final chance to set things right. — Maggie, Cailean, and Delaney Claren are three cousins who grow up unaware of one another-until an inheritance brings them together. Now mysterious journals and the deed to an ancient Scottish castle will bring them face-to-face with the warriors at the heart of the MacKinnon family, three brothers sentenced to cruel fates by a terrible curse.

Duncan is trapped in the form of a ghost, Rory must live an immortal life alone, and Alexander has been wrenched by time from the past to the present, with no way back. Ferociously compelling, dangerously relentless, they are bound by no mortal laws-except desire for the three Claren women. The journals speak of one key that can break the powerful spell. And finding that key will plunge them all into a world of unforeseeable danger and tantalizing desire...

I thought this sounded interesting and something I'd really like, but it turned out to be just a so-so time travel story set in contemporary Scotland.  Three cursed brothers from 300 years earlier meet the descendants of their clan's enemies: three women who are cousins, though they have never met.  Eventually the cousins all come together due to an inheritance they've been notified about.  All meet their match (and mate) in each brother while trying to figure out how to end this blasted curse.  This took me forever to get through, it just didn't pull me in or keep me interested.  It wasn't bad, but nothing compelling in it for me, when it should have been. 

The book is broken down into three parts.  We begin with the first cousin, a young woman who is fleeing from her ex-boyfriend who is now stalking her and trying to kill her.  This story has the most background and detail to it.  Maggie has just received communication about a ramshackle cabin she has inherited from some long lost relative in the back woods of Kentucky or Tennessee, maybe North Carolina (I can't remember) who has left it to her in his will.  This is her chance to get away from her crazy ex-boyfriend who'll never find her now.  When she arrives at the cabin she meets Duncan MacKinnon.  He is a ghost, but he doesn't seem like a ghost, he's very real and solid, and very much a Scottish Highlander in full regalia.  Neither one likes the other, but they form a truce of sorts and eventually develop feelings for one another.  Duncan pops in and out at will, he's gruff and doesn't trust Maggie because she's a Claren.  The Clarens are his worst enemies, never mind the feud was from 300 years ago.  Still, he had one very bad experience thanks to a Claren woman and because of it, Duncan is in a sort of after life "purgatory", cursed from long ago.  He is allowed to be human and live on earth once a year for a month - in the cabin.  Duncan is always angry, primarily because of this curse hanging over his head.  Can Maggie somehow help lift the curse?  Their relationship was only skin deep, not much to it and I felt like Maggie should have been a bit more freaked out over the fact that Duncan was really a ghost.  She just sort of seemed to take it in stride.  She didn't seem all that upset when her ex showed up and nearly killed her before Duncan killed him for her instead - blood spattering all over her to boot!  Again, she held it together pretty well...  An odd sort of love story between them.

Part two of the book is the story between Cailean and Rory.  Cailean has sought out Maggie for help with this inheritance and family curse.  Cailean has "the sight" and is aware of the curse and the history of the two feuding clans.  By the time Maggie and Cailean meet, Maggie has already fallen in love with Duncan and doesn't want to leave him, refusing to join Cailean in Scotland.  Her time is short with Duncan, their time together is running out.  Maggie goes off to Scotland on her own to where their clans lived three hundred years earlier.  There she meets Duncan's younger brother Rory.  His curse is that he is immortal.  He is sort of a mysterious legend, known as a sheepherder.  As it turns out he's been living in the MacKinnon Castle all this time, it has been hidden underground and no one has ever discovered it (this called for a big stretch of the imagination - but let's face it, this whole story did!)  Soon Cailean and Rory have a torrid affair and can't keep their hands off one another, they seemed to have the most chemistry together and passion of the three couples, but still, nothing all that compelling, I just didn't care about them - or any of these people for that matter.  Still, I kept with it...

Next, along comes Delaney, who was some sort of covert operative for the government - until recently.  She's cute and feisty - just what the third brother, Alexander needs.  Alexander has time traveled from the past and has had no way to get back.  All three of the brothers have been unaware of what has happened to the other and by the time we get to Alexander and Delaney's story, Alexander, who is the eldest and laird of the family just bothered me more than anything else.  I didn't even like him!  By this point Maggie and Duncan have joined up with the others in Scotland and the brothers are reunited which was an emotional moment.  Yet Alexander wants them to go back in time with him to finish off the Clarens and regain their castle.  Never mind that Alexander has no idea how he can achieve this!  Meanwhile, he's been stockpiling guns and all kinds of weapons in the underground castle (amazing that he and Rory have never bumped into each other in over seven years!) so he can take them back to medieval Scotland and wipe out all the Clarens!  Duncan and Rory can't join him, nor do they want to.  The curse prevents them from it and they've fallen in love with their respective Claren cousin!  There's no way they're going to go back in time and wipe out their ancestors!  Plus, Alexander's plan is pretty far-fetched.  They manage to talk him out of it.  Alexander took the longest to come around to falling for Delaney who basically launched herself at him.  I didn't identify with either one for their characters were so undeveloped.  I barely knew them.  I felt like Delaney and Alexander got short shrift in this book, so much time was devoted to Maggie and Duncan, a little less with Cailean and Rory, and by the time Delaney and Alexander have their turn, it's in record time and only a few pages devoted to them!  But, they fall for each other eventually, as I knew they would.

Once the three brothers all admitted their love to their respective Claren woman - and said it aloud - voila!  Guess what happens?

I can't exactly pinpoint what went wrong with this book, it should have been so much better.  This is the second book I've read by Ms. Kauffman, and I'm afraid it's my last.  Her last one was only lukewarm as well.  I guess it was just simply dull in parts and there was a real lack of passion or emotion - not much action either (except when Duncan killed Maggie's boyfriend).  Too much talking and searching for this key that no one could find.  Lots of hand wringing by everyone, though I did feel sorry for Maggie and Duncan who had to say good bye to each other once Duncan's time was up after his month with her.  That was about the most emotion I sensed throughout the entire book!  The weak characterizations and lacklustre sex scenes didn't help.  Overall, a disappointing read for my last Time Travel Challenge book for 2010. 

3/5

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Replay by Ken Grimwood (audio)

Book Description:
Jeff Winston, forty-three, didn't know he was a replayer until he died and woke up twenty-five years younger in his college dorm room; he lived another life. And died again. And lived again and died again - in a continuous twenty-five-year cycle - each time starting from scratch at the age of eighteen to reclaim lost loves, remedy past mistakes, or make a fortune in the stock market. A novel of gripping adventure, romance, and fascinating speculation on the nature of time, Replay asks the question: "What if you could live your life over again?"

I really loved this audiobook, I was completely swept up in the story, though I didn't speed through it.  I savored it.  At times, I stopped listening for a while (X-mas holidays had me sidetracked), but when I returned to it, I was always glad to get back into the story of Jeff Winston and what he was going to do in his "current" life - for he has several.

Jeff is a 'replayer' a term he coins for this odd phenomenon that happens to him.  Dying from a sudden heart attack at his office while in his mid-40's in the late 1980's, Jeff doesn't die.  He inexplicably finds himself back in his old dorm room at Emory in Atlanta, early 1960's - he's 18 years old again.  Everything is just as it had been, same roommate, same girlfriend, same car, same everything.  Yet, he is not the same 18 year old.  This 18 year old remember what happens in life as the future unfolds.  He takes advantage of it, and bets everything on the Kentucky Derby - and wins.  He goes to Vegas and bets on something else - and wins.  He easily makes a fortune betting on sure things.  He tries to prevent the Kennedy assassination - but as it turns out, it wasn't just Lee Harvey Oswald - it was a conspiracy.  Jeff tries to stop Oswald, but someone else kills Kennedy instead, and Jack Ruby kills that person.  Some things Jeff can't change.   Eventually, he hooks up with a Vegas gold digger, Sharla, living the high life at age 18 - traveling and living in Paris, living in NYC, starting his own investment firm, he doesn't even bother with graduating from college - what's the point?  His life turns out completely different than his "first" life.  Successful, a millionaire, money is of no concern to Jeff now.  Married, with a daughter his life is going well.  Yet, when that fateful date comes around again, when he is 43 years old, no matter what he tries to do to prevent it's outcome, cardiologists, hospitals - he dies.  The same sudden heart attack. Where does he land? 

Atlanta.  Emory.  18 again.

And so it happens again and again.  Each life takes Jeff on a different journey.  Sometimes he tries to look up his first wife, Linda.  Another time, he marries his girlfriend from Emory.  Another time he meets another 'replayer,' Pamela, who becomes the love of his "lives."  Together they try to sort it out and find other "replayers" and figure out why this is happening to them.  They reunite a few times after they "die."  His relationship with Pamela is the one constant for him.  Yet, soon they realize that this 'replaying' is not going to go on indefinitely, there is an end eventually.  When they reach that point, the book is both fulfilling and bittersweet.

Does this sound bewildering?  Does it make your head hurt just trying to think about it?  Trust me, it's told so well, it's believable, it's poignant - stimulating.  I loved this book!  What a little gem I stumbled upon!  I identified with Jeff, felt his frustration and yet was enthralled by the way he lived each life - and how different they all were.  This is not another version of "Groundhog Day", it's much better, richer, detailed and "deeper."

If you like time travel or these kinds of stories, give it a try.  The setting for the most part was in the 1960's, one of my favorites.  A worthwhile read and the reader, William Dufris, who narrated this was wonderful as a Southern Jeff, with a bit of a Southern accent.  His girlfriends' voices (most of them Southern - with an irresistible lilt to them) were good too - I really enjoyed the whole thing, I was sorry when it ended!

Read this book - or listen to it, a real keeper!

4.5/5

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A Dance Through Time by Lynn Kurland

Book Description:
James MacLeod was the most respected - and feared - laird in all of Scotland...  Unpublished romance novelist, Elizabeth Smith, knew she was overworked when she began hearing voices.... To clear her mind, she took a walk in Gramercy Park. She dozed off on a bench - and woke up in a lush forest in fourteenth-century Scotland.  A forest surrounding the castle of James MacLeod...  

Quickie Review:

My first book by this author and I really loved this time travel romance. Twentieth century young woman who happens to be a romance author from NYC accidentally travels to medieval Scotland and meets the fierce laird of the MacLeod clan who immediately thinks she's a witch and throws her into his pit of a dungeon.  Feeling guilty, he frees her and then tries to make it up to her and they fall in love and you can guess the rest.  It was actually a really good book and I devoured it!

This is one of the time travel stories in which the modern heroine, Elizabeth, must deal with the dirt and grime, bad teeth and foul breath of just about every Scottish Highlander she meets - except for the hero, of course! *grin*  I was glad Elizabeth figured out pretty quickly what had happened to her when she traveled back in time.  She handled it pretty well.  I loved the way she meets James MacLeod, the laird.  His reaction thinking she's a witch is realistic, frankly, and his first inclination is to have her burned.  But, instead he throws her in this horrible dungeon, it was disgusting and naturally, she is totally traumatized by the experience.  He finally lets her out after feeling so sorry for her and does all he can to then help her.  They gradually fall in love, and of course, there is a villain who's trying to mess things up for everyone.

As the story progresses, James and Elizabeth marry and she has come to terms with the fact she won't ever see NYC again, but she remembers something about what she read about the MacLeod Clan.  At one point she saves James' life after a fierce battle with a neighboring clan.  Only he should have died at that battle.  She realizes she has changed the future so that she and James are going to have to travel ahead in time so that the future is not screwed up.  So, they go forward and James at first is blown away by everything, but he gets used to it pretty quickly and he meets her brothers and parents and it's all one big happy family, until they have to go back again to kill this awful villain!  It's complicated, but it was really good, and there are something like 13 more books in this series! 

All I can say is Elizabeth was endearing, I really liked her and her reaction to things, though she did tend to be annoying at times.  James was, to me, sort of a realistic highlander, what you'd expect from those days.  It took some getting used to for him to accept Elizabeth's ways (primarily, about cleaning up his disgusting castle!)  The side characters were good too, his illegitimate son and the young girl he falls for.  Elizabeth's brothers all get their stories too.  I even enjoyed the way her father reacted to James as well - it was all so good!

I highly recommend this classic time travel story, a real keeper and it's "clean", with some allusions to sex, but nothing blatant, so it's appropriate for young teens, who I'm sure will eat it up!!

4/5

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First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde (audio)

Book Description:
Literary sleuth Thursday Next is out to save literature in the fifth installment of Jasper Fforde's wildly popular series.

Beloved for his prodigious imagination, his satirical gifts, his literate humor, and sheer silliness, Jasper Fforde has delighted book lovers since Thursday Next first appeared in The Eyre Affair, a genre send-up hailed as an instant classic. Since the no-nonsense literary detective from Swindon made her debut, literature has never been quite the same. Neither have nursery rhymes, for that matter.

It's been fourteen years since Thursday pegged out at the 1988 SuperHoop, and Friday is now a difficult sixteen year old. However, Thursday's got bigger problems. Sherlock Holmes is killed at the Rheinback Falls and his series is stopped in its tracks. And before this can be corrected, Miss Marple dies suddenly in a car accident, bringing her series to a close as well. When Thursday receives a death threat clearly intended for her written self, she realizes what's going on—there is a serial killer on the loose in the Bookworld. And that's not all—The Goliath Corporation is trying to deregulate book travel. Naturally, Thursday must travel to the outer limits of acceptable narrative possibilities to triumph against increasing odds.

Packed with word play, bizarre and entertaining subplots, and old-fashioned suspense, Thursday's return is sure to be celebrated by Jasper's fanatical fans and the critics who have loved him since the beginning.

Finally, I’ve finished the Thursday Next series, which for the most part was highly enjoyable, except for the fact that the series began to fizzle as it got closer to the end. This last book was somewhat of a disappointment. Rambling and disjointed, it was the weakest of the series. It really seemed more like a re-tread of all the previous books, summarizing what went on in them.

Here we find Thursday, and it’s fourteen years later from where the last book (Something Rotten) left off. Thursday and Landen are middle aged marrieds with their children. Friday is a grubby teenager, who barely speaks in anything other than monosyllables. There are two other younger daughters, Tuesday and Jen who we never see. We find out later that Jen is a figment of Thursday’s imagination and doesn’t really exist, due to a spell that Uranus Hades put on her. The narrative is from Thursday’s point of view, so she wouldn’t know this of course, until Landen and Friday tell her, but, due to the spell, Thursday can only remember this fact for a few hours at most before forgetting again and thinking she has a teenage daughter who is up in her room studying or something.

Anyway, back to the story, Thursday has been faking retirement from SpecOps all these years. She’s been hiding her secret from Landen, making him believe she works for a carpet installation company. Meanwhile, she’s still flitting in and out of Jurisfiction, the backbone of the behind the scenes book world that exists in all the Thursday Next novels. Jurisfiction is a brilliant alternate world and my favorite place in all these books. At first things seem a bit tame, until we realize that something is up and there is a dastardly scheme afoot to turn the beloved masterpiece, Pride and Prejudice into a reality TV show! I must admit, I had to laugh over this – it’s not a bad idea! But, the clincher is, if it’s made into a horrible reality show, the original book will disappear! Oh no! Can Thursday stop it? Mrs. Bennet, Kitty and Lydia, of course, are all for the idea, Jane is her usual noncommittal self as long as everyone is happy, Lizzy is distrustful of it – and darn! We never got to see or hear from Darcy – I would have loved to know what he thought of it!

While Thursday is trying to thwart this travesty from happening, she's battling all sort of other disasters due to the "serial" killer (hilarious pun!).  She’s also training her “other” Thursday trainees, one who is known as Thursday5, a peace loving, Earth Shoe, yoga loving Thursday and Thursday 1-4, who is nothing like Thursday5. Thursday5 follows the “real” Thursday all around in Jurisfiction – learning the ways of being a Jurisfication agent. The other one, Thursday 1-4 (based on the books written about Thursday’s adventures) is more like a Lara Croft wannabe. She was quite amusing with her snide remarks and put downs of Thursday5. Everyone detests her in Jurisfiction-including the real Thursday, who disapproved of the way she was written in the first four novels about her.  Thursday 1-4 has plans of her own to secretly turn Jurisfiction upside down – a major takeover more like!

In addition, Thursday is worried about the future of her son Friday and if he’s ever going to save the world. The way he is at 16 is not all that promising – but thanks to her time warp/travelling capabilities from her Dad and Uncle, she knows that Friday is destined to be a genius and play a huge part in time travel and saving the world! But, will he? Uh oh! *much too complicated to go into*

The usual mayhem takes place at the end of the book, but all ends well. The book wasn’t bad, it does have it’s moments, but it did seem to fall a little flat. Overall, it’s an amazing series, with loads of humor and plays on words, it’s ingenious the way it’s written.  Yet, I got the impression that Fforde got tired of it and wanted to end it with the last book, Something Rotten, and was talked into writing another.

I listened to this on audio, which was narrated by Emily Grey, a different narrator than the earlier books. She did a fine job, but I disliked the way she made Landen sound, as if he’s some big, dumb galoof, otherwise it was good, but not great.

3/5

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The Last Highlander by Claire Cross

Book Description:
While celebrating the reclaiming of Edinburgh Castle, a Scottish warrior heads down a flight of stairs - and into another century...

Scotland, 1998. When a beautiful American traveler stumbles upon this handsome Highlander, she is intensely drawn to the mystery surrounding this man, a mystery that has the power to alter history - and her heart - forever...

I'm a sucker for Scottish time travel novels, obviously, since I'm such a fan of Outlander, and I enjoyed this time travel Scottish romance, though it was nothing more than a light piece of fluff. Not bad, but not great. Morgan Lafayette is an American illustrator of children's books who is still suffering the after-effects of her no-good womanizing ex-husband. Her confidence in men is at an ebb. While traveling in Scotland with her sister and brother-in-law she hopes to find inspiration for a new book of Scottish fairy tales while in the Highlands. To add to the mix, her sister, who means well, is always on the lookout for a new man for her sister as well - any man, it seems, will do.

Earlier, we meet Alasdair MacAuley, a Scottish Highlander who has been celebrating his victory and is now in his cups after taking Edinburgh Castle on hehalf of Robert the Bruce in the fourteenth century. He meets an old hag in the dark hallways of the castle, who dares him to follow her and recite a chant and turn three times on behalf of the legendary sorceress Morgaine le Fey. His friends egg him on to do it, and before he knows it, he literally winds up at the feet of our present day Morgan while she is touring the same Edinburgh Castle seven hundred years later. He is perplexed for one minute he's in the fourteenth century and the next, his bearings are off, everything looks different - yet the same. What has happened and what alternate world is this? He is convinced that the legendary Morgaine le Fey has put a spell on him and taken him to her domaine, the land of fairies. This answers our question of why he isn't more freaked out to be in modern day Edinburgh with electric lights and motor cars and restaurants - he thinks he's in fairy land!

Of course, he's not, but he doesn't know that until much later. Morgan is under the misunderstanding that he is some drunken actor who works at the castle as a reenactor for tourists. Despite his rugged blonde good looks she takes an instant dislike to him for she also thinks he's a thief and wants nothing to do with him. There is lots of confusion and miscommunication. From the time Alasdair lands in the twentieth century, history has suddenly changed, yet the only ones who seems to know this are Morgan and Alasdair, though neither of them knows why. Alasdair seems to think he must seduce Morgan to get back to his own world, so he sets out to do it, but she'll have none of him, despite her body's natural inclinations to do otherwise. It was fun to read about his attempts and the way she cleverly foiled each one. Her sister doesn't help matters for she instantly takes a liking to Alasdair and invites him to have dinner with them, which eventually leads to their sharing a drive across Scotland to his home which is far away on an island. Along the trip, Morgan and Alasdair share the back seat and become closer while her sister smiles approvingly encouraging them (and giving them no choice) to share a room at the roadside inns and B&B's they stop at.. Their feelings for each other are growing, yet they're both frustratingly under the wrong impressions about each other! Gradually, Morgan figures out he's a time traveler and she wants to help him return to his century, despite the fact she's falling for him.

How can Alasdair get back to his own time and seven year old son, and will Morgan be able to resist his kisses and kilted sexiness before he goes back - if he even can go back?

This was a cute story and the Scottish folk tales that are interspersed throughout the storyline added to it. The tales, recounted by Alasdair, add a poignancy and foreshadowing to what we suspect will ultimately happen at the end. It would have been a really good book, if only Morgan hadn't been so incredibly stupid and naive when it's staring her right in the face that Alasdair is a good man and he is not still in love with his dead wife! She was so dense! But, it's understandable since she's been hurt before and is not sure of herself and how men think of her. There were also some ramblings bits of description that I found unecessary - do I really need to know what it's like to watch the ferry guys direct cars and point to where they're supposed to park so as to fit every car in?

I really loved Alasdair, he was adorable at times and he really grew on me. I enjoyed the many faux pas he makes in modern times and the way he handles them (still thinking he's in the land of fairies). It was so funny and absurd that he thought Morgan was the great Morgan le Fey with her sister and brother-in-law as her loyal advisors. I did wonder that Morgan didn't think he was kind of nutty since he kept calling her milady and referring to her domaine and stuff. She's pretty clueless most of the time. Morgan is so ordinary and normal with no hint of grandeur or the makings of a sorceress, yet Alasdair is smitten with her on first sight and it was very cute how he tries to win her, for he thinks by wooing her she will send him back to his world. It was sad and touching when he finally finds out that Morgan is not a great fairy and she doesn't have the power to send him back. I felt sorry for him for he became so disheartened and realized the hopelessness of his situation. Despite that, the book has an overall lighthearted humerous feel to it with many funny moments, though they were offset by Morgan's density, bordering on TSTL. She was hard to like because of it, but overall it was a good story and not bad for a Scottish time travel novel, though I've read better.

3.5/5

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Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde (audio)

Book Description:
Detective Thursday Next has had her fill of her responsibilities as the Bellman in Jurisfiction, enough with Emperor Zhark's pointlessly dramatic entrances, outbreaks of slapstick raging across pulp genres, and hacking her hair off to fill in for Joan of Arc. Packing up her son, Friday, Thursday returns to Swindon accompanied by none other than the dithering Danish prince Hamlet. Caring for both is more than a full-time job and Thursday decides it is definitely time to get her husband Landen back, if only to babysit. Luckily, those responsible for Landen's eradication, The Goliath Corporation-formerly an oppressive multinational conglomerate, now an oppressive multinational religion-have pledged to right the wrong.

But returning to SpecOps isn't a snap. When outlaw fictioneer Yorrick Kaine seeks to get himself elected dictator, he whips up a frenzy of anti-Danish sentiment and demands mass book burnings. The return of Swindon's patron saint bearing divine prophecies could spell the end of the world within five years, possibly faster if the laughably terrible Swindon Mallets don't win the Superhoop, the most important croquet tournament in the land. And if that's not bad enough, The Merry Wives of Windsor is becoming entangled with Hamlet. Can Thursday find a Shakespeare clone to stop this hostile takeover? Can she prevent the world from plunging into war? Can she vanquish Kaine before he realizes his dream of absolute power? And, most important, will she ever find reliable child care?

As much as I've loved this series, Something Rotten was not up to the same calibre as the previous books about Thursday Next and her neverending fight for truth and justice against the Goliath Corporation and her amusing exploits (literally) in the world of fiction. Even though it was still a laugh and highly enjoyable, (Jasper Fforde has an amazing imagination), I found it hard to follow in parts - the story was all over the place, maybe because I was listening to it on audio.

The above recap of the book tells it all. The fourth in the Thursday Next Series, it's two years later from where the last book ended and Thursday leaves Jurisfiction and finds her way back home to Swindon. She gets a job back with SpecOps, though she has a whole new set of problems to solve.

As in the previous books, Thursday meets various fictional characters, here we meet Hamlet, who is sort of in the background, though by no means as humorous a character as I found Heathcliff or Miss Haversham in the previous novels. In addition, Thursday's mother runs a sort of rooming house for displaced historical figures, one of whom is Lady Emma Hamilton who is carrying on an affair with Hamlet (much to the ire of the tyrannical and diva-like Ophelia). Emma is one of my favorites. Having become a lush due to the untimely death of her Horatio (Wellington) she is living with Thursday's mother until history can be changed (frankly, this was all lost on me, I didn't quite get this part of the story, except that Thursday's father was working on it) She is always looking for a drink, I laughed out loud several times, especially on audio. Meanwhile, Thursday is wondering if her mother may or may not be having a fling with Bismarck - yes, that Bismarck, the same from 19th century Germany - or was it Austria?

Anyhow, the highlight of the story is Thursday and Landon's reunion - they're back together again, although it was touch and go at first - literally! Once he was un-eradicated, it took a couple of times for it to take. Landen had the unhappy misfortune of disappearing at the most inconvenient of times, leaving Thursday in one particularly embarrasing situation with his parents!

I was a bit disappointed that the narrator of Something Rotten was not Elizabeth Sartre, who I had gotten used to in the last two books. Emily Gray did this narration, and she was very good, but she just didn't have the same endearing quality in her characters, though I think I was just spoiled from Sartre. Gray was very good with Lady Hamilton, and very funny with St. Zvlkx (I never would have known how to pronounce his name if not for the audio version - it sounds like "zivilkix") and his lewd and bawdy Old English way of speaking that only Thursday's brother Joffy can translate. She was also good at two year old Friday's speaking, which was some sort of crazy latin word-speak from the world of Jurisfiction. Basically, you couldn't understand a word that Friday said, although it sounded like he was speaking Latin. Since I barely know any Latin to begin with, I don't know if he was speaking gibberish or not!

As usual, there are loads of literary inside jokes, Thursday has her own stalker Millon de Floss, Thursday's foe is Yorrick Kaine - which of course, gives Hamlet his line at the end, "Poor Yorrick - "alas..." You get the idea... The Cat formerly known as Cheshire is back (I love him) and there's a hilarious battle between him and Yorrick - the book definitely had it's moments, but as a whole it kind of fell flat. The ending was very odd too. No spoilers here, but I think it was supposed to be sentimental with Thursday's Gran, but I didn't get that feeling at all. It just left me perplexed and asking "Why?" I wondered if Fforde intended to end the series here and then wrote one more book for it, for it had a sort of final feeling to it. I'm all confused!

Some say they thought this book was a bridge to get Thursday from Jurisfiction back into the real world, maybe it is, I can't say until I read the next (and last) book, First Among Sequels. Whatever it is, it was amusing in parts, but a jumble as a whole. Between the world championship super hoop croquet game, Hamlet's being out of Hamlet, neanderthals saving the world, and the quest to expose Yorrick for who he really was - I was a bit lost in parts. But, as usual, the book is full of smirks and suprises and I'm happy for Thursday that she has her husband Landen back. But, I didn't find this one as good as the others. The ending was a bit wobbly as well. I still liked it, Fforde is incredibly adept and creative with this alternate world, but this is the weakest in the series, in my opinion.

3.5/5

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Pirates by Linda Lael Miller

Book Description:
A thoroughly modern woman encounters a dangerous, dashing eighteenth-century buccaneer is a sensuous, joyous, utterly heartwarming tale of love....

Phoebe Turlow needs to get out of Seattle and forget about the man she just divorced, her dwindling finances, and the lonely nights that stretch ahead of her. But she can't foresee what awaits her on Paradise lsland....

Duncan Rourke is known to historians as "the pirate patriot." He's been dead for two centuries -- or at least he's supposed to be, until Phoebe Turlow steps out of a van, into a run-down island hotel, and into his world.

Neither Phoebe nor her pirate can envision the glorious venture that is about to unfold. They understand only that they have found each other, and a grand passion across the chasm of time...and they fear only the moment when it may vanish. Passionate, emotional, and completely entrancing, Pirates will steal your heart.

I had high hopes for this time travel book that I've had on my TBR list for ages. It sounded good to me, but as I began to read it, I kept scratching my head and thinking to myself why does this storyline sound so familiar? Was it the hero's scarred back from a flogging by a sadistic English officer? Or maybe it was because a 20th century woman goes back 200 years in time only to find love and romance and then returns to her present time, pregnant with her 18th century husband's child - but then rejoins him again two hundred years earlier? Sound familiar to any of you Outlander fans? Sheesh!

As much as there were some Outlandish similarities, this book was not at all like Jamie and Claire's story. Phoebe is an unemployed divorcée who is down on her luck. She takes a trip to the Caribbean, all expenses paid, as long as she sits through the interminable time share pitch that the hotel makes as a prerequisite. While conveniently dressed for the fancy Saturday night masquerade party as a serving wench from the eighteenth century, she pushes the wrong button on the elevator and finds herself back in the Caribbean, only it's now 1781 and the Revolutionary War is going full tilt in America and she comes face to face with Duncan Roarke, the owner of the hidden Caribbean mansion where she finds herself. The mansion is his pirate lair, only he doesn't seem much like a pirate at all. He's more of a patriot for the American cause, although the rest of his family are all Loyalists.

Duncan is surprised at who Phoebe is, but believes her time traveling story, thanks to the help of his servant Old Woman, who is a wise native islander that teaches Phoebe the ways of the eighteenth century. She seems to have some sort of psychic power and has been waiting for Phoebe to arrive. She informs Phoebe that she will marry Roarke and bear him children. Well, that took care of any surprise for the rest of the book. Ho hum - bo-ring! Phoebe takes it all in (eventually) and falls madly in love with Duncan, even though he's gone off sailing for weeks and has left her behind on the island. While he's gone, she thinks of him constantly. Who wouldn't? He's handsome, dashing, plays the piano and looks like a pirate! Then, at one point, Phoebe leaves Paradise Island and goes off on her own because Old Woman told her to. She meets the same sadistic British officer that flogged Duncan and a whole other subplot enters into the story. She works as a serving wench in a tavern and bides her time until Duncan comes and finds her.

What got me was, what did Duncan see in Phoebe and why did he want to even find her? I found her annoying and often stupid, particularly when she keeps on wanting to befriend Duncan's former island mistress! Plus I can't stand romances in which the heroine falls in love immediately and the hero and heroine have sex before page 50. Now, I was reading this on kindle, so I don't know what page it was, but it seemed too damned early, and I did not understand the attraction Duncan had for Phoebe. In fact, so much about this whole plot line was trite and clichéd, I could barely get through it!

One interesting short lived part of the book was when Duncan went forward in time with Phoebe for a while, but then he inadvertently leaps back in time again without being able to let Phoebe know or say good bye to her. She figures it out soon enough, but what I didn't understand is why she just moped around pining for him. Why didn't she go to the elevator again and again every night and try to leap back to him again? It took her ages to figure it out! I did like their reunion, which was full of battle scenes and excitement. Although there was some sailing in ships that took place in the boat, the title Pirates is sadly misleading. This book is not in the least bit about pirates, don't get your hopes up. It's about an American patriot posing as a pirate to attack British ships for the Americans.

Meanwhile, the side stories involve the dilemma of Duncan's family being Loyalist, yet wanting to protect Duncan and his Revolutionary leanings. His mother and brother and sister all wind up having to flee Charleston (where he is from) and go live with him at his Caribbean hideaway. They all accept Phoebe with alacrity, not even questioning her background as strange or her odd short hairdo! I normally love time travel stories, but I do like to have a little reality thrown in them too, even if that sounds paradoxical. For Duncan's family and friends to all be so accepting of Phoebe (who I couldn't stand) just irked me and was unrealistic! Okay, okay, so I'm a time travel snob.

If I had the chance to do it all over again, I'd pass up this book, but it was part of my Time Travel Reading Challenge list, so I stuck with it. I wish I had been warned, I'm surprised it's gotten such good reviews elsewhere. Lovers of this book must be die hard Linda Lael Miller fans or have never read Outlander. What can I say, I've been spoiled by Diana Gabaldon. This is the only book I've read of Ms. Miller and I suspect it will be the last.

2.5/5

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Green Darkness by Anya Seton

Book Description:
The year was 1968 ... the country was England. Richard Marsdon had brought his new bride, Celia, to the family home, Medfield Place. They were young and very much in love. But Richard and Celia were not only of this time. They had lived and loved before-in another world-in sixteenth-century England. And their love had been tragically doomed. Was their new love destined for the same fate?

GREEN DARKNESS - a spell-binding story of a great love caught in an evil web of mysticism and witchcraft - of a threatening past that reached across centuries to change the present.

This is the first book I've read by Anya Seton. A bestseller in the early 1970's, it comes across as a bit dated now, but it was an interesting book that covered the Tudor period of King Henry VIII's son, Edward VI, through Mary Tudor's brief reign and then into the first few years of Elizabeth I, all with a mystical reincarnation theme. Doomed lovers that died violently during Tudor times are reincarnated and reunited in 1968 only to face new challenges and unhappiness. Can a learned and wise doctor help them overcome the tragedy from their past life so that they can live in peace now?

The book starts out in "present day" of 1968. Celia and Richard Marsdon have been married for less than a year. They meet on a cruise ship and fall in love and marry quickly. She, an American heiress, he, an earl who could use an infusion of American money for his crumbling country estate. They are happy at first, but some strange things begin to happen in their marriage. Celia seems to have some unexplained blackouts while visiting an old nearby estate, and Richard becomes more and more withdrawn from her. No longer sharing a room, Celia is convinced he no longer loves her or wants her. During a country weekend party at their estate in the country all hell breaks loose when she has a sort of breakdown and comes seriously close to dying and is removed to a London hospital. An Indian, Dr. Anankanda who was a guest during the fractious weekend, thinks he can help her. He believes she has been reincarnated and was once a young woman, Celia, who lived four hundred years earlier. The book is in three parts: Part I is in 1968, Part II is four hundred years earlier, and Part III is in 1968 again.

Once the good doctor begins his hypnosis/mystical therapy on Celia the story shifts to Tudor times and we meet the young Celia, who is an orphan of dubious, but once noble birth. Her mother worked in a tavern, but her aunt on her father's side (the noble side) takes her in and helps elevate her status. Celia is taught how to read and the learnings of the Bible under the tutelage of a young and handsome monk, Brother Stephen. The family she now lives with in the house of Sir Anthony Browne is Catholic, though they must practice in secret since Catholicism is now outlawed for it is during the reign of the young King Edward VI, a devout Protestant. Unlike today, England was either all Protestant or all Catholic, depending on who the ruler was. Despite the restrictions, Sir Anthony keeps a house priest, Stephen Marsden, who is a Benedictine monk from the a nearby family, members of the gentry. He is truly devout to his calling, but once he begins to give lessons to the young and beautiful Celia, his devotion to God is tested.

For much of the book Celia is in love with Stephen. I found her character somewhat stupid and annoying, I didn't really like her. I often found her incredibly naive or selfish. She was young and had convinced herself that Stephen loved her back, even though he was always pushing her away! She was sure that he would leave the priesthood for her. At one point, she throws herself at him, they have a passionate kiss and he comes to his senses and renounces her, he cannot love her, it goes against all he knows and believes in as a priest. She hates him for a while as she goes North with her aunt to visit the Dacres, a noble family with a son who may want to marry Celia. She becomes friends with a daughter of the Dacres, Magdalen who is nice to her amidst a lot of weird ghoulish sorts of goings on. Blood drinking crazed women and ghosts roaming about desolate castles, with the proverbial loutish son that can't wait to get his hands on the beautiful and virginal Celia...

This northern interlude is long, it mostly gives background fodder to the plot and points out the difficulties of being a Catholic family during the Dissolution and the political ins and outs under Edward's reign and then into Mary's where everyone has to be Catholic, and then under Elizabeth's where everyone has to be Protestant again! It's like watching a tennis game! Families fall and rise dependent on their religion. Heads rolled and many were imprisoned for their religions during this time. Eventually Celia, raised as a Catholic, gives up all religion and simply depends on herself. This interlude also touches on a homosexual relationship that Celia witnesses which I imagine must have been pretty daring and titillating to read about back in the early 70's when the book came out! Nowadays it would seem pretty tame.

Once Celia returns from the North, she marries an older man who eventually dies. She returns to Sir Anthony's house, who is now married to her old friend, Magdalen Dacre and under Mary Tudor's reign, the Browne's have been elevated and Sir Anthony is Master of the Horse under Queen Mary. They are very grand now and Brother Stephen has risen as well. He and Celia are reunited and sure enough, she tempts him again, and this time she succeeds where she failed last time. They have a night of passion together just before she is supposed to marry a nice young man. But, once again she's not happy with just the one night and wants Stephen forever. He cannot live with the guilt - he is a priest and she is supposed to marry another! But, she runs away and finds Stephen who is the house priest for the Allens, who live on another estate. Celia disguises herself and finds a job there as a scullery maid and eventually makes herself known to Stephen. She is pregnant from their one night together and at last he admits his love to her and they have plans to run away to France - but... but... it doesn't turn out that way! I won't give it away, but it does not end well... all I can say is Mrs. Allen is just as creepy as her counterpart in the present, Mrs. Simpson.

Back to 1968... now that we know what their past lives went through, their present day counterparts make alot more sense. Dr. Anankanda has brought Celia back to the present with a lot of mystical mumbo jumbo reincarnation stuff and he is also able to help her husband Richard/Stephen come to terms with his past lives as well. Their former lives are finally put to rest. In addition to Celia and Stephen, there are many side characters that we see in both present and the past, such as Dr. Anankanda/Julian, Celia's mother/Ursula, the Simpsons/The Allens (Mrs. Simpson/Allen is especially creepy), and the Duchess/Magdalen. They are interesting, but hardly any real character development to anyone, including the main characters of Celia and Stephen. We know what drives them, but it did feel like there was not much depth to them, the historical aspects of the book were front and center, with the plotline giving it life.

Overall, Green Darkness wasn't bad, but the 1968 plotline was a little dated and strange with it's modern tone. The switch to the earlier period was jarring. The Tudor period was well done, but I can't say I really got into the doomed love story of Celia and Stephen all that much. Although it is the central thread of the book, this is more of an historical novel, not a romance. I almost got the impression the author wanted to write about Tudor times and the role of religion and it's importance to the noble families and how it affected them under the changing monarchs but added the love story to give it more broader appeal.

I can't say I was really crazy about this book, but it was interesting and it made me think about this aspect of the Tudor times and the background history and settings and descriptions were first rate. I liked comparing the modern settings with the past settings and figuring out who was who. It gave a vivid impression of what it was like to live back then and I was compelled to read on to see what happens to the star-crossed lovers of Celia and Stephen, even though we have a pretty good idea of what happens to them in Part one, which gives a sense of doom through most of the book. You know it won't end well, though I really could care less about the modern Celia and Richard. Richard was completely unlikable in present day, I felt more sympathy for his alter ego, Brother Stephen.

If you are into Tudor historicals give this a read, particularly if you think you'd like the mystical, time travel, reincarnation aspect, I have a feeling some will love it, and some won't.

3.5/5

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The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde (audio)

Book Description:
When soon-to-be single parent Thursday Next emerges from her comfortable life inside an unpublished book, she steps into a new age of fictional narrative. The entire book world is abuzz with anticipation of an improved Text Operating System that moves from the 8-plot to the new 32-plot story system. But danger lurks when Jurisfiction agents keep turning up dead. When Thursday steps in, she encounters Dickens' Miss Havisham, passes through Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, and deals with a mispeling vyrus, holesmiths, and unionized nursery rhymes.

I've been away on vacation for a week, driving back and forth from NJ to FL and got a lot of reading and audiobook listening done! We had a great time in the sun, and audiobooks make the driving a pleasure along I-95!

The Well of Lost Plots is the 3rd installment in the Thursday Next series, and I enjoyed listening to it. Elizabeth Sastre was once again the narrator and she has an endearing British accent for the 30-something Thursday. A matter of fact tone, which stands out amidst all the mayhem and craziness that surrounds her in Jurisfiction, where she is biding her time, in hiding from the Goliath Corporation and evil genius, Aornis Hades, who is screwing around with her memories by trying to make Thursday forget her eradicated husband, Landen.

Thursday, now pregnant with Landen's baby has become part of the Character Exchange Program in the unpublished book, Caversham Heights, a book that is basically too crummy to get published. She's taking over the character of Mary for a year. Her role in Caversham Heights is a sideline, for the real plotline of the book is her apprenticeship at Jurisfiction under the tutelage of Miss Havisham from Great Expectations. Miss H is one of my very favorites. She steals every scene and Ms. Sastre does her voice perfectly. Jurisfiction is a kind of policing agency within the imaginary fictional world of what goes on behind how books are really written and developed. All the characters from all the books in the world, past and present, are real and alive in Jurisfiction. One of the funniest scenes in the book - if not the funniest - is when Miss Havisham must run an anger management session for the characters of Wuthering Heights. It was a real hoot. All the characters hate Heathcliff (except Cathy, of course) and Heathcliff comes across as a movie star with sunglasses and his agent in tow. Much more than this, I'm leaving a lot out, but it was great!

Another aspect of the story I found interesting as well as prophet-like was the scenario of the new operating system known as UltraWord. We learn the history of the text operating system used by Jurisfiction, beginning with OralTrad, then onto the award winning SCROLL, that was upgraded numerous times, finally leading to BOOKV1, which was used successfully with it's many upgrades for over 800 years. Now UltraWord is being unveiled as the brand new text operating system of the future to be voted on. But, it is not as great as it seems. It turns out that only three people can read a book on UltraWord (reminiscent of today's DRM ebook dilemma), thus putting an end to lending libraries and used bookstores. Plus UltraWord's descriptions really stink, it basically makes everything sound cheap and generic. Good-bye to great writing, hello slap dash, computer written, get-it-out-as-fast-as-you-can prose. It turns out that Jurisfiction agents are being killed off because they are aware of these issues and want it stopped. Thursday ingeniously foils the dastardly "powers that be" who are trying to get UltraWord passed quickly in a vote (not unlike the health bill debacle going on these days) at the BookWorld Awards (another memorably funny part of the book).

In addition to the hilarious Wuthering Heights characters, another side plotline I loved was about ibb and obb, two generics that live with Thursday in Cavisham Heights. We see how they morph into Lola and Randolph and become real characters! Plus, there is the ongoing problem of what is going to happen next (no pun intended) with Thursday. Will she have her baby in the real world, will she ever see her husband Landen again? What's in store for Thursday in Jurisficion - will she live there forever?

Stay tuned and do yourself a big favor and read this series. It's a must for anyone who is well-read and has a sense of humor for the absurd. These books weave in and out of the classics and will make you giggle over and over-this book was no exception! I didn't like it as much as the last, since Thursday, for the most part, is on hold and not in the real world - but what a world it is!

Highly recommended!

4/5

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Secrets of the Highlander by Janet Chapman

Book Description:
He is the father of her child, but the secrets they are hiding are tearing them apart....

Megan MacKeage escaped the smothering protectiveness of the Highland MacKeage clan to work as a scientist on the Canadian tundra. But when fellow researcher Wayne Ferris breaks her heart by rejecting her, Megan returns to Maine alone.... Then she meets the town's new police chief, Jack Stone--the man she knew as Wayne Ferris. Instead of the quiet scholar he posed as, he's an aggressive private eye who's willing to fight for what he wants, just like all the overbearing men in her clan. So why is Megan still feeling a dangerous attraction? And though Jack claims he followed her here because he loves her, can she ever trust a man with so many secrets?

Another winner from Janet Chapman! I pretty much read this in a day - a snowy blizzardy blustery snow day off from work. Nothing like spending the whole day in your pajamas curled up in bed reading a romance that takes place in the snow in Maine! Perfect!

This is the official last book in the Pine Creek series of time traveling highlanders from the 12th century (not including her recent Christmas book, which is coming up on my TBR list) that wind up in present-day Maine running a ski resort. One of the highlanders, Greylen MacKeage, has seven daughters - and this book is about Megan MacKeage who finds herself pregnant and single. On top of everything else, she's not sure of how she's going to handle the fact that the father of her baby basically ended it with her as soon as he found out she was pregnant while working together in the tundra of Canada. Now, lo and behold, he has shown up in her home town in Maine as the police chief with a new name and new look to him - granted, a very attractive look - but, what's he up to??

To say the least, Megan is pissed off!

The man she knew as her nerdy boyfriend Wayne, has now morphed into rugged and attractive police chief, Jack Stone. And he expects her to come running - to forgive the way he humiliated her and sent her packing, breaking her heart and wondering what she's supposed to do with a baby on the way? Well, Megan starts out determined to send him packing instead, with a swift kick in the you-know-what, but soon she learns the truth about him, that he sent her off for her own good, and though it takes her a while to believe him, she begins to thaw when it comes to Wayne/Jack, and it doesn't hurt that her father likes him as well as everyone else!

As usual in Chapman's Pine Creek books, there is lots of paranormal and fantasy elements. This is no exception. There's a mysterious dragon-like creature breaking into bakeries and stealing doughnuts in addition to the subplot of who is after Megan to get some DNA samples she took in Canada. Plus, there's lots of Greylan and Grace (from the first book in the series - Megan's parents) and Winter and her husband Matt, and his brother Kenzie, who is mixed up in the mystery as well!

I found the plotline exciting and compelling, but most of all I loved the chemistry between Megan and Jack. No matter how much she resisted him at first, she couldn't stay that way forever. Not only does he explain away what he did and why, but he's a great guy in the end. Okay, so he's not over six feet, like all her relatives who were Scottish highlanders, but he's someone that you'd want to have with you if you're lost in the woods on a cold winter's night. Adept at survival with his own brand of magic up his sleeve he is a man after my own heart. He also has a wrenching backstory of his own of how he became orphaned at the age of nine, which is unforgettably sad. I really loved Jack, a great guy (plus the back picture of the book makes him look very yummy!)

I won't reveal too much of the plotline, but this was a great addition to the series, one of my favorites! I highly recommend this series! I'm sad it's almost over! :(

4/5

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