Book Review: Earl to the Rescue by Jane Ashford

This was an interesting experience for me as this is actually a reprint of a much older book by the title of Gwendeline.  One of the reasons that I love Jane Ashford is that she writes marvelous characters and while there is chemistry between the characters, there aren't any sex scenes.  It was interesting to see the difference in characters between her older book and her more contemporary ones.  I find Gwen to be something of a widgeon, but at least she fights back when the situation calls for it.  Not my favourite protagonist, but at least she isn't constantly having fits of the vapours and fainting constantly.  My favourite character was the Countess of Merryn.  She is quite literate and has the most interesting discussions in the book.  I think I need to track down some Rousseau and add it to my TBR list!
Due to the irresponsibility of her parents, Gwendeline Gregory is now an orphan and is about to be tossed out on the street.  When Alex Audley, the Earl of Merryn comes and offers to help her out with a house and income put together by a group of her father's friends (the first example of crowdfunding!)  As she is out of choices, she says yes and goes to live with the Earl of Merryn's mother who intends to bring her out in society.  However, Gwen is suspicious of Alex as there is no proof of the secret partners.  When someone in society sets out to ruin her, will the Earl come to the Rescue?
I would suggest this to people who like books that have interesting plotlines and who want a decent love story without sex scenes.

Book Review: La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman

The Book of Dust is the sequel series to His Dark Materials.  The title of the first book is La Belle Sauvage, which, if you don't speak French, means "the Beautiful Wild".  This one takes place 10 years before The Golden Compass.  Lyra is an infant and has very little to do with this book.  This story surrounds her and provides a background for those of us who wanted to know more about the background behind the golden compass.
It all begins with a boy named Malcolm who is very good at being invisible.  When he is at the convent and hears that a baby is there, he is very excited as he is an only child and he befriends her.  When he witnesses something happen in his small village, he then accidentally becomes entangled with spies.  As danger creeps ever closer, he does what he can to protect his family, friends and Lyra.
I would suggest this to people who have read His Dark Materials.  This is because this particular book makes a lot more sense if you have read it.  Apparently the rest of the series will take place AFTER His Dark Materials, so you may as well read it now!  I highly suggest reading it while it is warm because Pullman is a master of description and a lot of the book is spent in a wet and cold environment.

Review: The Night Circus

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

The night circus is the venue for two magicians to compete by proxy each choosing a child as a game piece. They grow up learning different methods of magic and then they compete with each other, not knowing the horrible truth of the game until it is nearly too late.

The story is told from multiple points of view over different periods of time we see how the night circus came to be. This book has everything: love, revenge, magic, fantasy (it doesn't have pirates.  If you want pirates as well, read The Princess Bride by William Goldman).

This book was amazing! Once I got into it, I just couldn't put it down! The plot was very fast-paced and switched points of view (P.O.V) pretty much every chapter. However, the switches between P.O.V were so smooth that it didn't bother me at all. It took me a little while to figure out the changes between time, but at the beginning of every chapter (in tiny tiny print) there are the dates.  I referenced them frequently at first to see what was going on, but as I got to the end, I didn't need to reference them anymore because the pace and events picked up as I got closer to the end of the book. It is a circular story as well because the end of the book is the beginning of the book.

It is well worth the read!  People who would enjoy this are people who enjoy historical fantasy set in the real world or steampunk.