Archive for the ‘Fiction: Romance’ Category

Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler

ISBN: 0525950400
288 pages
published in 2007.

This book was such a sad let-down. It seemed like such an interesting read, and I was pleased that I was able to read it for the Jane Austen challenge I’m doing (of which this is the first book I’ve completed for it). This really just fell flat, due to the poor writing and what seemed like a serious lack of research on the part of the author’s. The only reason this got the carrot-and-a-half that it did was because the first quarter of the book or so was actually interesting. But it seemed after that it just went around and around in circles through a mix of incredibly exasperating and frustratingly stupid exchanges between half-developed characters.

Courtney Stone is surprised to find that she is not where she expects to be when she awakens one morning in a bed in the middle of Regency England, the time period of her favorite author – Jane Austen. And despite the fact that she is apparently a huge Jane Austen fan, she finds herself completely thrown by the life that the woman whose body she’s woken up in leads. Not only does she have her own thoughts, but she is increasingly remembering things from the life of this woman. Foremost in her thoughts is the relationship between Jane – the woman whose life she is living – and Mr. Edgeworth, a charming suitor who seems to have a complicated past with Jane. Having this going on while remembering the frustrating and disappointing relationship between her ex-fiance and her ex-best friend back at home in 21st century LA proves to be almost too much for her to handle. Courtney attempts to navigate her way through this strange and not always kind world in 19th century England while trying to figure out a way to get back into her own body and her own time.

Dirt Music by Tim Winton

ISBN: 0743228480
416 pages
published in 2001.

There is really no way to describe how much I enjoyed this book. Reading the back synopsis in Barnes & Noble intrigued me, but I wasn’t really sure how I’d take to it as it isn’t really my normal style. I was so impressed. The story really wraps you in and keeps you going. I wound up reading it slowly so for a while it was just this really interesting, lovely thing I could return to whenever I wanted it. So I’m a bit sad it’s over.

The story centers around Georgie Jutland, her husband, Jim Buckridge – the most prosperous fisherman in the town they live in – and Luther Fox, an outcast that lives just outside of town that has been making his living by fishing illegally. Faced with dead-end marriage with someone she finds she barely knows, Georgie starts seeing Lu secretly. With her background as a nurse and an ongoing need to take care of others that George herself describes as the failing point of all of her relationships, she begins uncovering a bit of what has caused Lu to retreat to the life he is currently living in a way that Jim had never bothered to. He begins to describe a life of music with his siblings and family, a life of caring for a melon farm, something comfortable despite being strained and despite the fact that his family had never had “good luck” and was always rejected by the rest of the people in town. At least before a terrible accident that his entire family.

However, when the people in the town find out about Lu’s activities and destroy his car and kill his dog, Lu decides to take off across Western Australia to try and find a place where he cannot be tracked down. He’s sure that Jim is after him and hides out far in the bush to escape him. Meanwhile, Georgie agonizes over her failed relationship with Jim and the life she might have been able to lead with Lu. Jim seems to want to make amends for his past, which was anything but kind, and convinces Georgie to take off and find Lu, wherever he may be.

Winton is one of the best writers I’ve ever encountered. The story is compelling and it’s very easy to find yourself attached to his characters, even the ones you are not quite sure you like. I’ll be reading Cloudstreet next, and I’m excited to see how his writing style works in other stories. He really is wonderful at description, which was especially important for a story like this that relies so heavily upon the Western Australian landscape. There are descriptions of plants and animals and land everywhere in the book.

Vampire Kisses by Ellen Schreiber

ISBN: 0060093366
253 pages
published in 2003.

I picked this one up at the library yesterday. Not sure what I expected, but I suppose it wasn’t much. At first, the book seemed to be sort of a let-down. The main character is stereotypical to the point of nausea and the plot line seems like nothing more than any 13-year-old girl’s dream. However, there was something redeeming about the book the farther into the story I got, and it’s adolescent charm is what ultimately won me over.

Raven has just turned 16 and entered a period of her life where a lot of changes are supposed to happen. However, Raven hasn’t changed much her entire life. She’s been an outcast since the day she entered school. Fueled by a vampire obsession she’s had since she was a little girl (and proudly proclaimed that she wanted to be a vampire when she grew up when asked in kindergarten one day), she decides to start investigating a new family that has moved into the large mansion down the street from her that has stood empty most of her life. Rumor has it that the family that moved in are vampires, and when Raven catches a glimpse of a young, attractive boy that seems to have moved in with them, it’s all she can do to keep from throwing herself into his arms. When they finally meet – and Raven discovers that beyond his strange appearance and antisocial habits – she realizes he is the kindest, most gentle person she has ever met. And she’s falling in love! But Trevor, the boy that’s tormented her in school all of her life, decides that he is going to target her and her new relationship with this new boy. What is Raven going to do? How will she keep Trevor away? And what is the deal with this new boy anyway? Is he really a vampire?

While I was able to predict every single thing that happened in this book down to the very end, I still enjoyed the twist at the end and actually found Raven to be not quite so annoying the further along I got in the story. The tedious band references sprinkled throughout were a bit irritating, as was the constant effort Schreiber seemed to put into proving to the readers just how ~unique~ Raven is. However, I will definitely read the following books in the series, if not to just find out what happens. It was nice, diversionary reading (I should be working on commissions, haha!) for a mid-summer afternoon.