Book Review: Us by David Nicholls

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted weekly by Jill at Breaking the Spine. What new releases are you eagerly waiting for? Link your post to Breaking the Spine.

Us: A Novel by David Nicholls
Expected publication: October 28, 2014; Harper
Genre: fiction

Publisher's description:

'I was looking forward to us growing old together. Me and you, growing old and dying together.'
'Douglas, who in their right mind would look forward to that?' 

Douglas Petersen understands his wife's need to 'rediscover herself' now that their son is leaving home. He just thought they'd be doing their rediscovering together.
So when Connie announces that she will be leaving, too, he resolves to make their last family holiday into the trip of a lifetime: one that will draw the three of them closer, and win the respect of his son. One that will make Connie fall in love with him all over again.
The hotels are booked, the tickets bought, the itinerary planned and printed.
What could possibly go wrong?

This novel will be released soon. I have already read the preview edition and can't recommend it enough.

My comments: Douglas, a "nerdy" and rigid biochemist tries to save his strained marriage and reconnect with his teenage son during a month-long Grand Tour of Europe. His wife, Connie, a much freer spirit then he, wants to return to her art and the freedom she had as a single woman twenty five years previously. Their son Albie, soon to be a college student, seems estranged and uncommunicative with his father.

The adventure in Europe changes Douglas and exposes him to new experiences and people that open up his previously narrow view of life. It changes the family dynamic as well. The ending is a surprise one.

My rating: 5 stars. Great plot about family dynamics; wonderful characterizations. Grab this book as soon as it's published!

I received an advance edition of this book for review.

Book Review: Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth

Bitter Greens

Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth
Publication Date: September 23, 2014; Thomas Dunne Books
Hardcover, 496 pages
Genre: Historical/Fantasy/Fairy-Tale Retellings

Publisher's description: ‘Bitter Greens’is a retelling of the Rapunzel fairy tale interwoven with the life story of the woman who first told the tale, the 17th century French writer, Charlotte-Rose de la Force.

A personal perspective:
When I started the book, I was delighted to discover the history of the fairy tale "Rapunzel" and the history of the woman who wrote the current version. Charlotte-Rose de la Force's version of Rapunzel has been handed down from the 17th century.

We could go into many discussions about the meaning of the fairy tale, how it represents the extreme plight of some young women with malicious people in their backgrounds, not to mention their having plain bad luck.

In this novel, I felt that a deeper message or meaning was missing somehow. Many fairy tales are to warn children of the dangers of not obeying parents, of wandering off on their own, trusting total strangers, etc., such as in Hansel and Gretel, Peter and the Wolf, Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Bears.

In Bitter Greens, bad luck happens when the fictional girl's father is caught stealing a handful of parsley for his starving family and when he has to promise the "bad witch" the life of his daughter when she reached a certain age. Bad luck also happens to the writer of the story, Charlotte-Rose de la Force, who is locked up, so to speak, in a convent for being too outspoken at court. (She spends time writing her stories though freed later on to live a normal life).

The novel could have been shortened from its 496 pages to have more impact, I felt. As it is, I found it hard to get through the entire book to find the message at the very end and also felt that the stories of the fictional Margherita and of the real Charlotte-Rose were too similar in their "bad luck," which made for a depressing read.

I enjoyed the first half of the book and rate it 3 out of 5 overall.

 For more reviews of Bitter Greens, visit the tour schedule at Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours

About the Author

Kate Forsyth, award-winning author of thirty books for both adults and children, was voted one of Australia’s Favourite 20 Novelists, and is an accredited master storyteller with the Australian Guild of Storytellers. 

Her recent novel, ‘The Wild Girl’, is the true love story of Wilhelm Grimm and Dortchen Wild, the young woman who told him many of the world’s most famous fairy tales. It was named the Most Memorable Love Story of 2013. ‘Bitter Greens’ has been nominated for a Norma K. Hemming Award, the Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Fiction, and a Ditmar Award.

Kate's books have been published in 14 countries. She lives in Sydney, Australia, with her family and many thousands of books. Visit her website and blog. You can also find her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Goodreads.

I received an ARC of this book for review.

Sunday Salon: Mixed Genres

Welcome to the Sunday Salon where bloggers share their reading each week.Visit The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer; Also visit It's Monday: What Are You Reading hosted by Book Journey and Stacking the Shelves at Tynga's Reviews.

Cool temperatures are here, not that I mind. Good for reading and sleeping!

I have some new books on my desk this fall:

And a few cozies:

I have just reviewed on Goodreads two good cozies:
The Blood of an Englishman: An Agatha Raisin Mystery #25 by M.C. Beaton
The Wolfe Widow: A Book Collector Mystery #3 by Victoria Abbott

and am 98 percent finished with Us: A Novel by David Nicholls. I rate it 5/5.

Click on the book covers for book descriptions. Lives In Ruins and Chinese Rules are nonfiction

What are you reading these days?

Jane and the Twelve Days of Christmas by Stephanie Barron: Book Beginnings

Visit Book Beginnings by Rose City Reader for this weekly Friday meme.

Jane and the Twelve Days of Christmas

Jane and the Twelve Days of Christmas: Being a Jane Austen Mystery by Stephanie Barron
To be published October 28, 2014; Soho Crime
Genre: mystery

Book beginning:

Saturday, 24th December, 1814

Steventon Parsonage, Hampshire

"Jane," said my mother over the lolling head of he parson slumbering beside her,"be so good as to shift your bandbox and secure my reticule. I cannot manage the hamper with one hand, to be sure."

"No, indeed," I pressed my bandbox - already crushed from the confines of the stage, which was crowded beyond bearing - into my friend Martha's lap, and seized my mother's purse. She had netted it from silk, an effort demanding considerable invention and time; none of us should hear the end of it if Mrs.Austen's work were ruined well before it could be universally admired. I braced my booted feet against the unsteady coach's floor and cradled the reticule as tenderly as a newborn babe.

Book description:
Christmas Eve, 1814: Jane Austen has been invited to spend the holiday at The Vyne, the ancestral home of the politically prominent Chute family. Jane and her circle are in a celebratory mood: Mansfield Park is selling nicely; Napoleon has been banished to Elba; British forces have seized Washington, DC; and on Christmas Eve, John Quincy Adams signs the Treaty of Ghent, which will end a war nobody in England really wanted.

Jane, however, discovers holiday cheer is fleeting. One of the Yuletide revelers dies in a tragic accident, which Jane views with suspicion. With clues scattered, dark secrets coming to light, and old friendships returning to haunt the Christmas parties, whom can Jane trust to help stop the killer from striking again?

This latest novel in the mystery series will be released next month. I am looking forward to reading this as a stand-alone novel, and my first in this series. 

Book Review: Becoming Josephine by Heather Webb

Becoming Josephine

Becoming Josephine by Heather Webb
Published December 31, 2013; Plume
Genre: historical fiction

Becoming Josephine uses historical facts to weave a personal story about Rose Tascher of the island of Martinique who traveled to France, married, entered French society and later became the Empress Josephine, ruling France with Napoleon after he declared himself Emperor. I enjoyed the facts behind the imagined inner life of a girl who rises to undreamed of heights, at times a bit unwillingly.

The novel was easy to read presenting the facts of the French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon from Josephine's point of view and imagining her feelings and personal reactions to the monumental changes around her.

The novel was informative and entertaining. I only wish it had finished the story about the future that Napoleon faced after Josephine, and not ended quite so abruptly, as I felt the novel at the end was almost as much about Napoleon as it was about the Empress.

I rated this excellent read 4 out of 5 stars.

Heather Webb is the author of historical novels BECOMING JOSEPHINE and the forthcoming RODIN’S LOVER (Plume/Penguin 2015).  A freelance editor and blogger, she spends oodles of time helping writers hone their skills—something she adores. You may find her twittering @msheatherwebb or contributing to her favorite award-winning sites Writer Unboxed and Romance University. In addition, she is a member of The Historical Novel Society.

Connect with Heather

Website | Twitter | Facebook

Thanks to TLC Book Tours and the publisher for a review copy of this book. Visit the tour schedule for more reviews.

First Chapter: Embrace the Whirlwind by Laurel-Rain Snow

First Chapter, First Paragraph is a weekly meme hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea.
Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Miz B; choose two teaser sentences from a random page of your current read.

Embrace the Whirlwind

Embrace the Whirlwind by Laurel-Rain Snow
Published March 19, 2007; BookSurge
Genre: fiction

First chapter, first paragraph: 

She hadn't trusted in the myth of "happily ever after" for a very long time, but, despite herself, she had trusted that he was going to be the love of her life. After all, the two of them had been hanging out pretty regularly now for a couple of months. He came to the roadhouse where she worked, usually right after she finished up with his construction crew, and they had fallen into the habit of leaving together after her shift ended. But tonight had been different, right from the start.

Book description: 

Coming from a deeply troubled family, Amber finds herself making more and more misguided choices. Pregnant and subsequently abandoned, she becomes obsessed with a man who can't seem to commit to her. Hopelessly addicted to his love, Amber whirls more and more out of control until she meets a retired social worker whose kindness and caring guide Amber toward understanding and self-fulfillment.

Based on the opening paragraph and the book description, would you keep on reading?

Sunday Salon: Books Set in Warm Places

Welcome to the Sunday Salon where bloggers share their reading each week.Visit The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer; Also visit It's Monday: What Are You Reading hosted by Book Journey and Stacking the Shelves at Tynga's Reviews.

Fall seems to be here as the temps have plummeted, though I am hoping for some Indian summer days in the future. Most hummingbirds have gone south, so it seems, though one of them has been kept away from the feeder by small wasps landing on the feeder mouth. Don't know how to fix that.

A few books came in while we were away on vacation. Had a great time whale watching off the Long Beach, CA coast and visiting the LA art museums and botanical garden. Even saw the retired Endeavour space shuttle and the Pompeii Exhibit at the California Science Center. I recommend seeing it if you are there.

Two ARCs from Poisoned Pen Press, due to be published October 7, 2014, came in for review:

Sons of Sparta

Sons of Sparta: A Chief Inspector Andreas Kalkis Mystery by Jeffrey Siger

Did the warriors of ancient Sparta simply vanish without a trace along with their city, or did they find sanctuary at the tip of the mountainous Peloponnese? That stark, unforgiving region's roots today run deep with a history of pirates, highwaymen, and neighbors ferociously repelling any foreigner foolishly bent on occupying this part of Greece. 
Special Crimes Division Detective Yiannis Kouros is summoned from Athens by his uncle. Kouros fears his loyalty to his boss, Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis, is about be to be tested by family pressure on the detective to act in some new vendetta in the region involving his uncle. (publisher)

Desert Rage
Desert Rage: A Lena Jones Mystery by Betty Webb

Ferociously ambitious U.S. Senatorial candidate Juliana Thorsson has been keeping a secret. The horrific slaughter of a prominent doctor, his wife, and their ten-year-old son inside their Scottsdale home brings Thorsson to Private Investigator Lena Jones. The slain family s 14-year old, Alison, and her boyfriend, Kyle, have confessed to the murders. Thorsson wants to hire Lena to discover if Alison is telling the truth, but before accepting the job, Lena demands to know why a rising political star wants to involve herself with the fate of a girl she s never met. (publisher)

And a few cozies:

A Midwinter's Tale

Murder Off the Beaten Path

One Potion in the Grave

What's new on your desk? Don't you just love these covers?
Click on the covers or the blue titles under the covers for more details about the books.