My August reads
Sep. 2nd, 2014 10:51 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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christianreaderElizabeth Camden – Against the tide 4/5
Lydia Pallas is a translator at the US Navy and very happy with her safe and predictable life. But this is all about to change when she is contacted by Alexander Bainbridge to do some translation work. Soon she discovers Alexander is campaigning against the opium trade and some of the most dangerous criminals in the country and Lydia is in over her head.
A very entertaining novel set in the 19th century with a professional heroine who is not a schoolteacher or a nurse (hehe) Lydia is a great character, brave and intelligent. I read many raving reviews about this novel and the reviewers were especially fond of the hero 'Bane'. However, he left me rather cold, I found him too selfish and reckless at times. The unusual and interesting background really made this novel for me.
Kate Breslin – For such a time 5/5
The story of the Bible character Esther set during the Holocaust. Stella, a Jewish young woman with false Arian papers, comes to work for the commander of the concentration camp Theresienstadt as a secretary. In this capacity, she tries her best to save some of the inmates of the concentration camp, while fighting an attraction to commander Aric Schmidt.
I was a bit skeptical about this book when I read the synopsis. Wouldn't it be garish and fake to place an 'Esther-story' in the horrid reality of the Holocaust. But I was won over by For such a time. The story was written beautiful and the storyline felt very real and did not avoid painful questions or scenes. Stella was a wonderful heroine and her relationship with Aric (maybe the part I felt most skeptical about) was totally believable. A great debut novel, one of the best Christian fiction books I've read this year.
Holly Martin - The guestbook 3/5
Young widow Annie Butterworth is landlady of the holiday cottage Willow Cottage. In the cottage’s guestbook, guest write their experiences and sometimes (much) more while we also read about the changes in Annie’s life through the guestbook.
The story-idea is interesting, but severely hampered by the format. People don’t write their life stories in a guestbook! And a landlady certainly doesn’t write hers in between…. Sorry, but I couldn’t suspend my disbelief enough to really enjoy this novel. Plus I found it a bit too racy.
Anthony Trollope - He knew he was right 4/5
Louis and Emily Trevelyan have been happily married for two years with a baby son when Louis becomes jealous of his wife’s friendship with the older family friend Colonel Osborne. And it all goes down from there…. Side stories detail the life and love of Nora, Emily’s younger sister and Dorothy, another young lady in the Trevelyan’s acquaintance.
This is my first Trollope and I must say I’m not disappointed at all! Trollope has a pleasant writing style and can be funny and profound by turns. If the book had just been about Emily and Louis, it would have been very dreary and depressing, but the stories of Nora, Dorothy and Reverend Gibson add variety, humour and a lighter touch. Certainly a classic author I will read more off!
Syrie James – Jane Austen’s first love 4/5
Jane, her mother and two of her siblings take a summer trip to get to know her eldest brother’s fiancé and her family. During this trip, Jane meets young Edward Taylor and falls very much in love with him.
This book is based on the real-life trip that Jane undertook and the few times she mentioned Edward Taylor in her surviving letters. It’s an interesting idea and Syrie James writes a very nice Regency style with lots of historical details. All in all a lively and sweet ‘Austenesque’ novel, I just couldn’t really get into the main romance as Jane is only 15 years old.
Anne Elisabeth Stengl – Heartless 3/5
Princess Una of Parumvir has come of age and suitors come to the castle to court her. Among them is the mysterious Prince Aethelbald of Farthestshore, but Una thinks him boring and refuses his suit. But when a dragon attacks Parumvir and sets his sights on Una, she might need Aethelbald after all.
This first book of a new Christian fantasy series is entertaining and exciting, but the worldbuilding leaves much to be desired (too much questions left unanswered, too much presumed knowledge) and I thought the allegorical aspect was a bit too much (I love a more subtle allegory myself). I’m still in doubt whether I will try the next book in this series.
Maggie Bennet – The Carpenter children 3/5
The three children of carpenter Tom Munday grow up in a small English village at the eve of WWI. Eldest daughter Isabel is in love with the local curate, but her parents think her too young to marry. Her brother Ernest is at a loss what to do with his life, while the youngest sibling Grace is wayward and cannot hold a job.
A nice easy read with a simple (some might say run-of-the-mill) storyline. I liked Isabel, she was a strong character and I liked that it showed how an average family and an average English village fared through WWI. But all in all it was rather average, not very original, so therefore the 3 stars.
Books read in August: 7
Books read in 2014: 46
Lydia Pallas is a translator at the US Navy and very happy with her safe and predictable life. But this is all about to change when she is contacted by Alexander Bainbridge to do some translation work. Soon she discovers Alexander is campaigning against the opium trade and some of the most dangerous criminals in the country and Lydia is in over her head.
A very entertaining novel set in the 19th century with a professional heroine who is not a schoolteacher or a nurse (hehe) Lydia is a great character, brave and intelligent. I read many raving reviews about this novel and the reviewers were especially fond of the hero 'Bane'. However, he left me rather cold, I found him too selfish and reckless at times. The unusual and interesting background really made this novel for me.
Kate Breslin – For such a time 5/5
The story of the Bible character Esther set during the Holocaust. Stella, a Jewish young woman with false Arian papers, comes to work for the commander of the concentration camp Theresienstadt as a secretary. In this capacity, she tries her best to save some of the inmates of the concentration camp, while fighting an attraction to commander Aric Schmidt.
I was a bit skeptical about this book when I read the synopsis. Wouldn't it be garish and fake to place an 'Esther-story' in the horrid reality of the Holocaust. But I was won over by For such a time. The story was written beautiful and the storyline felt very real and did not avoid painful questions or scenes. Stella was a wonderful heroine and her relationship with Aric (maybe the part I felt most skeptical about) was totally believable. A great debut novel, one of the best Christian fiction books I've read this year.
Holly Martin - The guestbook 3/5
Young widow Annie Butterworth is landlady of the holiday cottage Willow Cottage. In the cottage’s guestbook, guest write their experiences and sometimes (much) more while we also read about the changes in Annie’s life through the guestbook.
The story-idea is interesting, but severely hampered by the format. People don’t write their life stories in a guestbook! And a landlady certainly doesn’t write hers in between…. Sorry, but I couldn’t suspend my disbelief enough to really enjoy this novel. Plus I found it a bit too racy.
Anthony Trollope - He knew he was right 4/5
Louis and Emily Trevelyan have been happily married for two years with a baby son when Louis becomes jealous of his wife’s friendship with the older family friend Colonel Osborne. And it all goes down from there…. Side stories detail the life and love of Nora, Emily’s younger sister and Dorothy, another young lady in the Trevelyan’s acquaintance.
This is my first Trollope and I must say I’m not disappointed at all! Trollope has a pleasant writing style and can be funny and profound by turns. If the book had just been about Emily and Louis, it would have been very dreary and depressing, but the stories of Nora, Dorothy and Reverend Gibson add variety, humour and a lighter touch. Certainly a classic author I will read more off!
Syrie James – Jane Austen’s first love 4/5
Jane, her mother and two of her siblings take a summer trip to get to know her eldest brother’s fiancé and her family. During this trip, Jane meets young Edward Taylor and falls very much in love with him.
This book is based on the real-life trip that Jane undertook and the few times she mentioned Edward Taylor in her surviving letters. It’s an interesting idea and Syrie James writes a very nice Regency style with lots of historical details. All in all a lively and sweet ‘Austenesque’ novel, I just couldn’t really get into the main romance as Jane is only 15 years old.
Anne Elisabeth Stengl – Heartless 3/5
Princess Una of Parumvir has come of age and suitors come to the castle to court her. Among them is the mysterious Prince Aethelbald of Farthestshore, but Una thinks him boring and refuses his suit. But when a dragon attacks Parumvir and sets his sights on Una, she might need Aethelbald after all.
This first book of a new Christian fantasy series is entertaining and exciting, but the worldbuilding leaves much to be desired (too much questions left unanswered, too much presumed knowledge) and I thought the allegorical aspect was a bit too much (I love a more subtle allegory myself). I’m still in doubt whether I will try the next book in this series.
Maggie Bennet – The Carpenter children 3/5
The three children of carpenter Tom Munday grow up in a small English village at the eve of WWI. Eldest daughter Isabel is in love with the local curate, but her parents think her too young to marry. Her brother Ernest is at a loss what to do with his life, while the youngest sibling Grace is wayward and cannot hold a job.
A nice easy read with a simple (some might say run-of-the-mill) storyline. I liked Isabel, she was a strong character and I liked that it showed how an average family and an average English village fared through WWI. But all in all it was rather average, not very original, so therefore the 3 stars.
Books read in August: 7
Books read in 2014: 46
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no subject
Date: 2014-09-03 01:40 am (UTC)For Such a Time definitely sounds very daring! But if you rate it so highly I might have to check it out!
He Knew He Was Right has moved up my to-read list after such high praise! :)
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Date: 2014-09-03 10:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-09-03 06:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-09-03 10:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-09-03 01:10 pm (UTC)