Charlene Reviews: The House on Becket Lane by Elizabeth Chanter

ISBN #: 978-1462036028

Page Count: 308

Copyright: August 22, 2011

Publisher: iUniverse

Overview:

(Taken from back cover)

Lord Dashell Lonsdale is considered one of the most eligible bachelors in London, but few - even Lord Lonsdale himself - know that despite appearances, his family fortune is not as secure as he believes. When a chance encounter with an unknown lady on the street shakes his seemingly stable world, the young lord has no idea how to react. She collapses at his feet, a frightened child in her arms. She is whisked away before he can even learn her name.

She is Caroline, the younger of two daughters of a family that carries a burden of secrets as well. All they know is that their mother's tongue is silenced not by pride but by fear - and she took her secret to her grave. Now Caroline lives in a house with only her stepfather to guide her.

Lord Lonsdale exploits his station to learn of her identity and where she lives. His arrival triggers an angry quarrel between Caroline and her stepfather. Horrified to have caused such tension within her family, he departs with the promise to return the next day.

But duty calls him away before he can keep his promise. He learns that, thanks to the gambling debts of his brother, his family is on the brink of financial ruin. He has no choice but to turn his attention to salvaging the family's fortunes and honor. Now Caroline has her own secret to share - and what she must tell him may end their love before it can begin.

Charlene's Review:

The House on Becket Lane is described as a 19th century classic romance. Set in London, Ms. Chanter captures the time period and setting with eloquence. When Lord Dashell Lonsdale literally runs into Caroline on the street, it sets into motion a romance that will change both of their loves forever. As Lord Lonsdale seeks to court Caroline, the mystery surrounding her past, and her very unpleasant stepfather, lead him to believe it may not ever come to pass. While he is called away on family matters, the threats in Caroline's life escalate, and he must make the choice to find the answers they both seek in order to protect the woman he loves.

I cannot express how much I enjoyed reading this story. I rarely read romance or even period novels, as they tend to bore me, but I can assure you, The House on Becket Lane kept me riveted to the end. While it is most definitely a romance, there is so much more going on in this story. There is the pull to the simpler, slower pace of the time period, and the conventional rules that applied to proper behavior which is sorely lacking in today's world. I especially enjoyed the dialogue of the time, with words like "agog" and the Cockney dialect of Johnny.

Family secrets are the theme throughout the book, and the villain, in the form of Caroline's stepfather, Thomas Wardlock, brings the element of suspense and danger. The story is written so beautifully that the characters came to life for me, and I could picture Dashell's handsome face as well as Wardlock's foreboding scowl. This book could definitely be a contender for "best of" in classic novels. I lost myself to this story and was so disappointed when it ended. I do hope Ms. Chanter hurries the promised sequel along, as I will be watching and anxiously awaiting the further adventures of Dashell and Caroline.

Mandy Reviews: The Wayfinder by Darcy Pattison

ISBN #: 978-0979862137

Page Count: 211

Copyright: 2011

Publisher: Mims House

Book Summary:

(Taken from back cover)

Winchal Eldras is a Wayfinder, one of the gifted few in G'il Rim who have the ability to locate anything: a lost ring, the way home, a blue dress in the marketplace, a lost child.

When the plague comes to his city, Win must lay aside his own grief and seek healing for his land. His only companion is Lady Kala, a telepathic Tazi hound, an imperious creature from the King's own kennels. Together they must face the Rift, a canyon so deep and so wide that no one has ever gone into it and returned.

Mandy's Review:

The idea of the story is unique and interesting. I've read a few fantasy novels, but this is the first time that a character has had this special gift (the ability to find anything). In order to find what they're searching for, a Finder receives a Finding by concentrating on the place, person or object they're trying to Find.

The Finders of the village are in high demand while the fogs from the Rift cover the village, which happens mostly at night and quite often. This is how they make their living, by leading people home during the fogs so nobody gets hurt or lost. They're like human taxis.

The village is surrounded by a wall, due to the village being built by the edge of the Rift. The wall has doors that lead to outside of the village. One fateful night, Win's sister wanders away from the village through the fogs. He goes out to find her and he does. One misstep, though, and Win's sister is gone into the Rift.

Win struggles under the grief of losing his sister and his inability to help her. Then fate steps in and he's chosen to go on a quest, where he will be able to use his grief for good.

This is definitely a story that young fantasy lovers will enjoy. I would recommend this for pre-teens on up.

The only issue I had with this book was the lack of editing. There were letters missing from words for most of the first half of this book. Yes, letters missing. Not words missing, but letters missing from words. I'd be reading along on a pretty good flow then come across these words, which interrupted my flow and made me stop. It happened often enough to annoy me and almost made me stop reading the book. I'm hoping that during the time I've had this book for review, the story has been edited and these issues corrected. If not, then I recommend you read at your own risk of annoyance.

Mandy Reviews: Darker Angels by M. L. N. Hanover

ISBN #: 978-1416576778

Page Count: 360

Copyright: 2009

Publisher: Pocket Books

Book Summary:

(Taken from back cover)

When Jayne Heller's uncle Eric died, she inherited a fortune beyond all her expectations - and a dangerous mission in a world she never knew existed. Reining in demons and supernatural foes is a formidable task, but thankfully Jayne has vast resources and loyal allies to rely on. She'll need both to tackle a body-switching serial killer who's taken up residence in New Orleans, a city rich in voodoo lore and dark magic.

Working alongside Karen Black, a highly confident and enigmatic ex-FBI agent, Jayne races to track down the demon's next intended host. But the closer she gets, the more convinced she becomes that nothing in this beautiful, wounded city is exactly as it seems. When shocking secrets come to light, and jealousy and betrayal turn trusted friends into adversaries, Jayne will soon come face-to-face with an enemy that knows her all too well, and won't rest until it has destroyed everything she loves most ...

Mandy's Review:

Darker Angels is the second book in The Black Sun's Daughter series. To read my review of the first book, Unclean Spirits, you can click here.

Only a few months have passed between the first book and this one. During that time, Jayne has been traveling with her entourage cataloguing all of her late Uncle Eric's properties and possessions. While in London, Jayne receives a call from a lady needing the special services her Uncle Eric provided. Jayne agrees to have her team fly to New Orleans to assess the situation and see if they're able to help.

Even before Jayne's meeting with Karen, a new type of spirit enters Jayne's life and tries to obliterate her ... which, now that I think about it, seems to be an ongoing theme for the first two books of this series so far. Almost as soon as both books begin, Jayne is in a life-threatening situation against an evil entity (be it spirit or demon) and needs assistance to diffuse the situation. It is a way to grab the reader's attention, but I hope the third book begins a little differently.

What I loved about this book is that it incorporates the spookiness of New Orleans with the focus on voodoo. I also liked the fact that this book took place in an entirely different city than the first book (Denver, Colorado). This time around, though, tensions creep up amongst Jayne's team, adding to the already mounting tension of the job they're working on. Both situations comes to a head and an important person on the team gets fired.

Will they reconcile and come back together? How much will Jayne get involved with voodoo and the voodoo practices to eliminate the threat Karen called her about? Will the threats and dangers to the members of the team be too much and injure them beyond full healing?

I am excited to begin the third book in this series to see what happens next. This is definitely a series for readers who enjoy supernatural fantasy books with an increasingly stronger female lead.

Charlene Reviews: The Christmas Village by Melissa Ann Goodwin

ISBN #: 978-1463646257

Page Count: 198

Copyright: October 1, 2011

Publisher: CreateSpace

Overview:

(Taken from back cover)

When Jamie Reynolds comes to his grandparents' Vermont home for Christmas, he just wants things to go back to the way they were before his dad disappeared. Time and again he is drawn to Grandma's miniature Christmas Village, where he imagines that life is perfect. Late one night, the village comes to life before Jamie's eyes, and his fantasy of escaping into it becomes very real indeed. He discovers that the village is called Canterbury, where the year is 1932. Jamie becomes fast friends with Kelly and Christopher Pennysworth, and is taken in by Ida, who runs the local boarding house. But he also makes a dangerous enemy of the mysterious and menacing Jim Gordon, whose return to town is nothing but trouble. As Jamie desperately races against time to find his way back home, he is suddenly faced with a terrifying choice: to go ahead with his plan to leave; or to stay and help his friends, at the risk of never going home again.

Charlene's Review:

The Christmas Village is a simply magical story. Jamie and his mother are visiting Jamie's grandparents for Christmas 2007. His dad has left them, his friends have failed him, and he just wishes for a simpler, more perfect world. He is drawn to a miniature village his grandma has set up for Christmas. His mother tells him the story of Canterbury Village, 1932, and he wishes he could live in that peaceful scene. At the stroke of midnight on Christmas Eve, he mysteriously finds himself transported there.

This story was written for children, but I immediately found myself mesmerized by the story line. Who hasn't at one time wished to live in a different time? Written in a simplistic style, Ms. Goodwin develops her characters to the point that you feel you know them. Fantastical twists turn this into a fairy tale story that still deals with struggles many kids face, but in a fun and entertaining way. The Christmas Village takes you back to a time when good still triumphed. As Jamie lives in the Depressioner-era Village, he learns life lessons that help him to forgive his father and return to his present-day life a happier person. Good, quick read for all ages!

Mandy Reviews: Mine by Lin Sten

ISBN #: 978-1450546300

Page Count: 300

Copyright: 2010

Publisher: CreateSpace

Book Summary:

(Taken from back cover)

Selena Castillo publicly claims to be an extraterrestrial. Is it a joke, a delusion, a gimmick, or a reality?

Tony Sturgess must believe that Selena's claim is only a publicity stunt, or that she is insane, as he falls in love with her, because he still struggles with the racism of his white-supremacist childhood; otherwise, he is certainly the right talent agent to exploit the gimmick, despite her radical environmentalism.

Professor Hal Bronson, on the other hand, is desperate to believe Selena's claim after he is labeled a "crackpot" for hypothesizing that the SETI silence is due to a global technological catastrophe that every advancing civilization must face: she might be a witness.

But if Earth is to be saved, from whom and for whom will it be?

Through humor, romance, and suspense, Mine entertains while its human characters resolve a case of mistaken insanity.

Mandy's Review:

Sometimes, as reviewers, you come across books that bring you great relief when you've finished reading it ... this is one of those books.

As far as the storyline goes, it was an interesting concept and it intrigued me. Once I began reading it, though, it was a completely different ballgame.

I do not mind scientific jargon. I do not mind characters expounding in conversations. However, I do mind when those two are combined and seem to happen throughout the entire novel. I know for sure there were parts of the book that I didn't even read because, while my eyes kept moving from word to word, my eyes glazed over and let me mind wander down some inane path.

Maybe I'm just not smart enough to "get" this novel. Perhaps my education isn't enough to catch the humor in it. I don't know. I do know I did not find one aspect of this book humorous nor romantic. It was an extremely mind-numbing read that, sorry Mr. Sten, I do not recommend.