Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Winner of Michelle Moran's New Book - Madame Tussaud!

The winner of Michelle Moran's New Book - randomly drawn this morning was:
#21 - Cindi!
Congratulations!  Thanks to everyone who entered!

Sunday, February 20, 2011

The King's Grace by Anne Easter Smith

This is the second book I've read by Anne Easter Smith.  I'm enjoying the era that she writes in.  This book centres on Grace Plantaganet, the bastard daughter of Edward of York.  It is right after Henry Tudor has come to the throne.  Grace is brought to ex-queen Elizabeth's care to live with her and her daughters.  The book spans over 10 years and shows how fragile the new Tudor reign was.
I enjoyed this one.  It introduced a character that I had never heard about before.  In fact the author found only one reference to her in her research.  She notes that it gave her a chance to tell the story from a new angle.  Because Grace is a non-important historical figure she gets a lot more artistic license with her.  The other interesting part of the story centres on the mystery of the Princes in the Tower and what may or may not have happened to them. 

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Mini Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

This is the 6th in the line of Shopaholic Books.  The first one (Confessions of a Shopaholic) made me laugh out loud.  This one had me smile at points but...I guess was hoping Becky would have matured a little.  In a way Becky reminds me a bit of the Rachel character on Friends.  The difference is is that Rachel grew up and evolved as a character as the show went on.  Becky is still the same as she was in the first book. 

The reason I laughed out loud with the first book is simple, it was fresh and funny.  The idea was new.  Now that we are on book 6, it's more of the same.  It's fine for an afternoon of light reading.  It falls into the category of what a friend of mine once described as a "nice, fluffy book".

Incidentally, Sophie Kinsella has set Becky up quite nicely for a book 7.