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I have a tumblr, if anyone is interested in that sort of thing (I know, I'm super late to that party). It's mostly a lot of Once Upon a Time GIF sets right now, because WHY NOT?!, but if anyone has any good recs for Doctor Who or Grimm or other BBC show-related sites let me know in the comments or on tumblr...much appreciated!

booktalkandmore.tumblr.com

Return to the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel!

I totally forgot that The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel was happening, and now that I've seen the trailer, I can't wait!

Guardians of the Galaxy

Last weekend Guardians of the Galaxy, one of my post anticipated movies of the year, finally came out and promptly became one of my favorite things ever. If you love superhero movies or space operas or both, this is SO the movie for you.

I was thrilled to have the opportunity to write about the film for BreakPoint. You can read my article HERE.

If you've seen the movie I'd love to hear your thoughts and fangirl in general. :)

Amazing Kindle Sales!

I have NO IDEA how long Amazon is going to have these books on sale, but as they are by some of my favorite authors, and at FANTASTIC prices, I didn't want to let the chance go by to share them here. Remember to verify the price before purchase!

Mesu Andrews - $1.99 EACH:

• Love Amid the Ashes
• Love's Sacred Song
• Love in a Broken Vessel
• In the Shadow of Jezebel

Laura Frantz - $1.99 EACH:

• Love's Reckoning
• Love's Awakening

Jill Eileen Smith:

• Michal - FREE
• Sarai - $0.99
• Rebekah - $0.99
• Rachel - $1.99

Brock & Bodie Thoene: The Gates of Zion is currently just $0.99!

Act fast & enjoy! :)

Review: Ruined by a Rake by Erin Knightley

Ruined by a Rake (All's Fair in Love #1)
By: Erin Knightley
Publisher: CreateSpace/Amazon
ASIN: B00C4CSUDG

Review:

Eleanor's introduction to her step-cousin Nicolas did not have an auspicious beginning. At the age of seven, a full two years younger than her, the boy had the temerity to steal a kiss upon their introduction, an embarrassment that branded him forever as a thorn in her side. Their relationship grew increasingly combative until Nicolas taught Eleanor to fence, their frequent -- and secret -- bouts providing an outlet for their mutual irritation. While not serving to ingratiate her cousin into her good graces, the fencing lessons did, at least, allow Eleanor to tolerate Nicolas's presence in her life. But two years ago, the annoying boy who had so long been the bane of her existence left to assume a military commission, and Eleanor forgot her longstanding tormentor as her life became consumed by the loss of her beloved mother.

After witnessing the toll her parents' tumultuous marriage wreaked on her family, Eleanor determines to embrace spinsterhood at twenty-four and never marry. But her resolution is tested all too soon when she re-enters society and her uncle Malcolm determines to use his eldest niece as a pawn in his political machinations. Horrified, Eleanor refuses, but when Malcolm threatens to impose his will on her younger sister instead, she is well and truly trapped. Her only distraction is Nicolas's return, now a dashing soldier who bears little resemblance to the annoying prankster of her youth. Could it be that her one-time adversary is just the man she needs to help foil her uncle's plans? Or will her old prejudices blind her to the truth Nicolas has always known -- that they are a perfect match.

Novellas can be a hit-or-miss proposition -- a good one can provide a serviceable introduction to a new author's writing style, while a poorly-conceived effort can kill any interest I once may have held in a full-length book. But even rarer is the novella that provides a wholly satisfying story on its own, with tension, humor, and a swoon-worthy romance. Happily, amazingly, Ruined by a Rake delivers on all fronts, turning me into an instant Erin Knightley fan, eager to explore her backlist! The adversaries-to-lovers romance trope is a classic for a reason -- who doesn't love the sparks that fly when to individuals who are absolutely perfect for each other can't see the truth right before their eyes? Julia Quinn (The Viscount Who Loved Me) and Loretta Chase (Lord Perfect) are two masters of the genre and the formula -- and to find a storyteller whose work delivers ALL THE FEELS of a master in a novella? One cannot help but take notice!

Knightley imbues what could otherwise be a formulaic, by-the-numbers storyline with a refreshing energy. Not only were Eleanor and Nicolas raised as step-cousins, Eleanor is two years senior, and for years has relegated Nicolas to the position typically occupied by bratty, annoying younger siblings. Knightley does a fantastic job sketching their tension-fraught relationship, particularly in how Nicolas isn't even on Eleanor's radar. Not only is he younger, but she's predisposed to avoid all thoughts of marriage thanks to the tensions she witnessed in her parents' relationship. This is a woman determined to forge her own path in life, and it is her independent spirit that draws Nicolas to her first and foremost and that which he seeks to support and enable, rather than control.

While the length constraints of the novella format make Eleanor and Nicholas's journey to a happily-ever-after somewhat rushed, Knightley is careful to sprinkle hints of their history of mutual annoyance throughout the story, ensuring that the emotional payoff, when it comes, is sweet and well-earned. Over the course of just eight slim, tightly-plotted chapters, I fell head-over-heels for Knightley's writing. It's replete with the humor and spark I adore in favorite romance authors like Quinn, Chase, and Kate Noble, with a sweetness all its own. This is a heart-melting romance with nary an impropriety in sight -- a refreshing change of pace from mainstream offerings, and all the more delightful because Knightley's characterizations truly shine. I cannot wait to dive further into her backlist, and am particularly eager to see how she handles the freedom afforded in full-length fiction.

About the book: 

It started with a kiss.

When nine-year-old Eleanor Abbington first met her uncle’s new stepson, Nicolas Norton, the boy rudely stole a kiss from her that set the tone for their contentious and competitive relationship. It wasn’t until years later when Nick introduced her to fencing that they finally had a proper outlet for their frequent arguments.

Having just emerged from mourning following her mother’s death, Eleanor is exactly where she wishes to be at the age of four-and-twenty: an on-the-shelf spinster and unofficial companion to her aunt. Unfortunately, her ambitious uncle has other plans for her future. On the eve of his house party, he lays down his ultimatum: either Eleanor marries the man of his choosing, or he'll force her seventeen-year-old sister to do so instead.

When Nick unexpectedly arrives on their doorstep after a two year absence, Eleanor is in no mood for their normal banter. Seeming to know exactly what she needs, Nick challenges her to pick up the foil once more. During their pre-dawn matches, he shows her just how strong she can be . . . and exactly how much he’s changed since leaving. But when her old adversary becomes her only ally, she may very well find herself . . . Ruined by a Rake.

First Impressions: Jane Austen's First Love

^ See what I did there? *wink*

Today I am THRILLED to participate in the blog tour celebrating the release of Syrie James's latest novel, Jane Austen's First Love! (I am less thrilled, however, that due to life and a lack of time management I have not yet finished the novel, so I am unable to give you my full review as scheduled today...hence, the "First Impressions" title.)

Syrie James's novels have been on my radar for quite some time thanks to glowing reviews -- a recommendation from Laurel Ann of Austenprose carries great weight! --  and intriguing subject matter (Charlotte Bronte's secret diaries? I am so there!), but until I was approached for this blog tour her novels had not yet made it to the top of my to-be-read stack.

Let me start by sharing a bit about Jane Austen's First Love:

About the book:

INSPIRED BY ACTUAL EVENTS

 
Fifteen-year-old Jane Austen dreams of three things: doing something useful, writing something worthy, and falling madly in love. When she visits her brother in Kent to celebrate his engagement, she meets wealthy, devilishly handsome Edward Taylor—a fascinating young man who is truly worthy of her affections. Jane knows a match between her and Edward is unlikely, but every moment she spends with him makes her heart race—and he seems to return her interest. Much to her displeasure, however, there is another seeking his attention
 
Unsure of her budding relationship, Jane seeks distraction by attempting to correct the pairings of three other prospective couples. But when her matchmaking aspirations do not all turn out as anticipated, Jane discovers the danger of relying on first impressions. The human heart cannot be easily deciphered, nor can it be directed or managed. And if others must be left to their own devices in matters of love and matrimony, can Jane even hope to satisfy her own heart?

I've long admired Austen's prose, her warmth, humor, and razor-sharp wit! And I am an avid fan of several of the numerous film and miniseries adaptations of her work. However, it wasn't until Becoming Jane was released that Austen began to come alive for me as more than an author's name on the cover of a beloved novel. That film details the author's possible relationship with one Tom Lefroy as the impetus behind the timeless romances in her writing. Around the time of Becoming Jane's release, the BBC released the tele-film Miss Austen Regrets, which tells the story of Jane's last years, a poignant retrospective that sees an older Austen revisiting her life choices and past romantic possibilities.

Both films are gorgeous glimpses into this intensely private and beloved author's life, but it wasn't until I started Jane Austen's First Love that she came alive for me with the energy and life I always found within the pages of her novels. If this is an example of Ms. James's writing, I can only regret the time it has taken me to explore her work!!

This is an exquisite portrait of a youthful, vibrant Jane, who at fifteen is eager to explore the possibility of romance while honing her writing craft. James knows Austen's world like few others, her prose saturated with the period's rhythm of speech and colorful descriptors that bring everyday existence in the early nineteenth century to vibrant, technicolor life on the page.

James's teenage Jane has the energy of a Lydia and the romantic imagination of a Marianne, wrapped up with an Elizabeth's penchant for sly humor or cutting social commentary. As Jane's relationships with family and friends are sketched on the page, it is easy to see little hints of the classic characters that will spill from her pen plant seeds of imaginative possibilities in her keenly-observant conscious.

I am SO intrigued by the possibility that a youthful Jane's first brush with romance may have been with this Edward Taylor, heretofore completely unknown to me, and yet such a fascinating potential hero template -- educated, well-traveled, and a future Member of Parliament! Like much of Jane's life, the true extent of any possible relationship between them may never be known, but it is a fascinating premise for this articulate, beautifully-rendered sketch of a young Jane's life. I cannot WAIT to finish this novel and share my full review with you!*

You can check out the full list of tour stops as well as the launch contest on Austenprose.

*My apologies to the author and publicity team for being late with my review post! My goal is to have it finished on or shortly after the book's official release on August 5th!

the art of the stare...

Thanks to Deborah for making me aware of this delightful video's existence...

Review: And Only to Deceive by Tasha Alexander

And Only to Deceive (Lady Emily #1)
By: Tasha Alexander
Publisher: HarperCollins
ASIN: B000OI0E0Y

Review:

Lady Emily Bromley married Philip, the Viscount Ashton, not for his good looks or fortune, but to escape her overbearing mother's attempts to control every facet of her life. Love, least of all, played no part in her marriage equation. For while she had more interest in her books, a well-bred woman in Victorian England was expected to marry, and to marry well -- and so when Philip offered, she accepted. Six months later, Emily found herself a widow, thrown into the elaborate and socially expected mourning rituals of the day for a man she barely knew, let alone really, truly, grieved. It's only as she finally enters half-mourning, when at long last gray could begin to replace her black mourning crepe that Emily begins to understand that the man she married was wholly different from the one she thought she knew. Philip loved his hunting, yes, but it is his best friend, the handsome Colin Hargreaves, who first opens Emily's eyes to her husband's academic passions and even more shocking, the idea that he may have really, truly, loved her.

As a wealthy widow, Emily now as the resources and freedom to pursue her own interests, and using her husband's journals and antiquities collection as a starting point, she begins her own socially unorthodox -- but oh so personally gratifying -- academic pursuits. But as she delves into the world of Homer, Greek antiquities, and academia, the unthinkable occurs -- Emily begins to fall in love with her husband. The more she gets to know Philip through his writings and friends' reminiscences, the deeper her regret cuts at not having put more effort into her marriage when she had the chance. As she becomes an amateur expert in Philip's field of antiquities, she makes a terrifying discovery -- someone has been replacing priceless artifacts in the British museum with fakes, and several of the items in her husband's collection prove genuine. With their provenance in question, Emily fears the man she learned to love too late will prove a thief, and if not, a victim of men willing to go to any length to achieve their unscrupulous aims...

Tasha Alexander's Lady Emily series has been on my radar for several years now, and when the first installment was keenly-priced on Amazon I couldn't resist finally meeting her aristocratic lady sleuth. I am always eager to meet new, smart, and intelligent heroines, and the Victorian-setting within the pages of Alexander's debut is one rife with possibilities -- a period characterized by great scientific and intellectual advancements as well as a strict moral and social code. By positioning Emily as a wealthy widow, Alexander has gifted her heroine with an extraordinary amount of relative freedom, an ideal situation for an amateur sleuth. There is an authenticity to the almost leisurely manner at which Emily's intellectual awakening unfolds; however, the flip side is the glacial pace of the novel, stalling any forward plot momentum and character development. A full two-thirds of the story is devoted to Emily's educational pursuits, which, while admirable, are meted out with a pedantic tone that turns the story into an intellectual exercise rather than a compelling character study.

The pacing picks up when Emily makes the shocking discovery that her husband's antiquities collection contains genuine, priceless artifacts, the knowledge threatening to topple Philip from the pedestal on which she'd installed him in memoriam. While Emily's intellectual pursuits to this point are gratifying and empowering, it isn't until she starts to research the questionable provenance of her inheritance, exercising her intellect and free will, finally hinting at a character with the moxie and smarts to actively challenge convention. Prior to this juncture, she's toyed with the concept, attending lectures and (horrors!) professing a preference for brandy rather than sherry, but there was a naivete to her approach to freedom that quickly grew stale. Yes, the social expectations and restrictions she encountered were real, but her response to resistance too often reads as childish rather than focused -- there is a lack of balance in her swings from one extreme to the next that came off as initially more immature than compelling.

The promise of a widow coming to know and love her husband through his writings intrigued me, and the one-sided love affair is one of the more intriguing aspects of Emily's introduction that sets her apart from other sleuths of her ilk (i.e., Raybourn's Lady Julia). However, in the end I think Alexander took the conceit too far, as Emily's headlong obsession with building a one-sided, post-death "relationship" of sorts with Philip reaches its inevitable conclusion of going exactly nowhere. Yes, he is a critical catalyst for Emily's intellectual and personal "awakening," but the scant journal excerpts aren't lengthy or compelling enough to warrant siding with Emily's rose-colored view of Philip. The contrast is especially stark when her two new, would-be suitors are introduced -- Colin and Andrew. Both men have their secrets, but Colin's pursuit of Emily possesses such a maturity that it is frankly maddening every time she spurns him for Andrew.

But, personal preferences aside, Emily's relationship with the men in her life charts a clear trajectory of her emerging maturation. As a first novel and an introduction to Emily's world, Alexander has delivered a serviceable storyline that hints at the possibility of greater, more compelling characterization to come -- a possibility that I hope bears out in subsequent volumes of this long-running series. While the glacially-slow plotting and characterization issues didn't leave me eager to read the sequels, Colin's promise to Emily -- wherein he tells her he only wants to "complement a life you already find perfectly satisfying" -- gives me hope that subsequent installments take this budding relationship of true intellectual like minds on deeper and more satisfying adventures. The intellectual slant of Lady Emily's character sets her apart, and I have high hopes that further volumes have seen the formula polished and the character's potential hitting the right balance between intellectual and historical authenticity and compelling storytelling.

About the book:

For Emily, accepting the proposal of Philip, the Viscount Ashton, was an easy way to escape her overbearing mother, who was set on a grand society match. So when Emily's dashing husband died on safari soon after their wedding, she felt little grief. After all, she barely knew him. Now, nearly two years later, she discovers that Philip was a far different man from the one she had married so cavalierly. His journals reveal him to have been a gentleman scholar and antiquities collector who, to her surprise, was deeply in love with his wife. Emily becomes fascinated with this new image of her dead husband and she immerses herself in all things ancient and begins to study Greek.

Emily's intellectual pursuits and her desire to learn more about Philip take her to the quiet corridors of the British Museum, one of her husband's favorite places. There, amid priceless ancient statues, she uncovers a dark, dangerous secret involving stolen artifacts from the Greco-Roman galleries. And to complicate matters, she's juggling two very prominent and wealthy suitors, one of whose intentions may go beyond the marrying kind. As she sets out to solve the crime, her search leads to more surprises about Philip and causes her to question the role in Victorian society to which she, as a woman, is relegated.