Summary:
Lily Valence is determined to forget the horrors of the war by throwing herself into the decadent pleasures of the 1920s and pursuing her career as a music hall singer. When she meets Captain Stephen Winters, a decorated veteran, she's immediately drawn to his wealth and status. And Stephen, burdened by his guilt over surviving the Flanders battlefields where so many soldiers perished, sees the possibility of forgetting his anguish in Lily, but his family does not approve.
Lily marries Stephen, only to discover that his family's facade of respectability conceals a terrifying combination of repression, jealousy, and violence. When Stephen's terrors merge dangerously close with reality, the truth of what took place in the mud and darkness brings him and all who love him to a terrible reckoning.
My Thoughts:
While this book was well written as expected, I did not enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed Ms. Gregory's other books. Lily, Rory, Charlie, and Coventry were the only likable characters. I did not like Stephen from the start, and hoped maybe I would later on, but I only started to hate him more. On their first (?) "date", he briefly thinks about raping Lily. As the book went on, he became both verbally and physically abusive toward her after they married. While Coventry was friends with Stephen from the war, he is a lot more likable. He has a soft spot for Lily, and ends up saving her and her baby in the end from Stephen. Rory is Stephen's father who was badly injured in the war. Lily spends time taking care of him, and as he starts to get better, we see why Lily spent so much of her free time with him: he is kind. Charlie is Lily's first love who she met during her time working as a singer. He loves her as well but won't marry her because of his infidelity. He also tells Lily that if she decides to leave Stephen, she can live with him.
While the book was really interesting, I was not a huge fan of it. I probably won't pick it up again.
My Rating: 2 stars
05 January 2020
19 November 2019
Mad Love by Paul Dini and Pat Cadigan REVIEW
Summary:
When she was only seven years old, Harleen Quinzel witnessed her father being beaten up by thugs, and then arrested by the police. That night she ran away to the safest place she could think of: Coney Island amusement park. But there, pursued into the Funhouse by the men who brutalised her father, she beheld unimaginable horrors.
Years later, Harleen has put her past behind her and used her intelligence and ambition to escape her childhood of poverty with a career in psychiatry. Assigned to her first position at Arkham Hospital, she will discover, deep in the asylum, something dangerous and alluring, something quite unlike anything else she has ever known before: the Joker. Because why would you settle for love, when you could have Mad Love?
My Thoughts:
It was really interesting to me what her childhood was like, as she has always interested me in a deeper level than just a woman in love with a psychopath. On the night she runs to the amusement park, she is about to be sold to a pedophile when she runs away again and is rescued by her mother. Her parents get arrested by the police, and that is when Harleen's distrust of law enforcement starts. Why did they not try to catch who did this to her and her father? It seems to me as well that this is part of the reason why she believes that the Joker can be saved. Of course, she didn't save him, she just freed him and let him walk all over her for a while before she tries to start anew. Which, of course, doesn't work for long.
I do wish this book was longer.
I can honestly understand her hatred and distrust toward Batman now. Although she doesn't really seem to trust anyone.
My Rating: 4 stars
When she was only seven years old, Harleen Quinzel witnessed her father being beaten up by thugs, and then arrested by the police. That night she ran away to the safest place she could think of: Coney Island amusement park. But there, pursued into the Funhouse by the men who brutalised her father, she beheld unimaginable horrors.
Years later, Harleen has put her past behind her and used her intelligence and ambition to escape her childhood of poverty with a career in psychiatry. Assigned to her first position at Arkham Hospital, she will discover, deep in the asylum, something dangerous and alluring, something quite unlike anything else she has ever known before: the Joker. Because why would you settle for love, when you could have Mad Love?
My Thoughts:
It was really interesting to me what her childhood was like, as she has always interested me in a deeper level than just a woman in love with a psychopath. On the night she runs to the amusement park, she is about to be sold to a pedophile when she runs away again and is rescued by her mother. Her parents get arrested by the police, and that is when Harleen's distrust of law enforcement starts. Why did they not try to catch who did this to her and her father? It seems to me as well that this is part of the reason why she believes that the Joker can be saved. Of course, she didn't save him, she just freed him and let him walk all over her for a while before she tries to start anew. Which, of course, doesn't work for long.
I do wish this book was longer.
I can honestly understand her hatred and distrust toward Batman now. Although she doesn't really seem to trust anyone.
My Rating: 4 stars
20 October 2019
The Last Tudor by Philippa Gregory REVIEW
Summary:
Jane Grey was Queen of England for nine days before Mary Tudor mustered an army to depose her. When Jane refused to betray her Protestant faith, Mary sent her to the executioner's block and tragic martyrdom.
"Learn you to die" is the advice Jane leaves in a letter to her younger sister Katherine, who has no intention of dying. She plans to enjoy her beauty and fall in love, but Queen Mary, and then Queen Elizabeth will never let their heir marry or produce a Tudor son. When Katherine's pregnancy betrays her secret marriage, she faces imprisonment in the Tower, only yards from her sister's scaffold.
"Farewell, good sister" writes Katherine to the youngest Grey sister, Mary. A beautiful Little Person disregarded by the court, Mary keeps family secrets, especially her own. What will happen when the last Tudor defies her ruthless and unforgiving cousin Queen Elizabeth?
My Thoughts:
To be quite honest, I never had a negative opinion toward Elizabeth until I read this book. It is actually quite sad that she knew nothing but fear that she would be betrayed.
As the book starts, one can clearly see that Jane never wanted to rule; she was quite literally dragged into it. And that became Jane's downfall.
Katherine does not want to rule either, she wants only to be married to someone she loves. She marries in secret, but her pregnancy starts to show and the queen sends her away to confinement, never to see her husband and second child again (she dies within a few years).
Mary also only wants to marry the man she loves. However, when she finally does in secret, she too is sent away to confinement, never to see her husband again (he dies before she is eventually freed).
You feel a lot of sympathy toward pretty much everyone except for the queens Mary and Elizabeth.
I definitely enjoyed reading this novel and learning about the three doomed sisters.
My Rating: 5 stars
Jane Grey was Queen of England for nine days before Mary Tudor mustered an army to depose her. When Jane refused to betray her Protestant faith, Mary sent her to the executioner's block and tragic martyrdom.
"Learn you to die" is the advice Jane leaves in a letter to her younger sister Katherine, who has no intention of dying. She plans to enjoy her beauty and fall in love, but Queen Mary, and then Queen Elizabeth will never let their heir marry or produce a Tudor son. When Katherine's pregnancy betrays her secret marriage, she faces imprisonment in the Tower, only yards from her sister's scaffold.
"Farewell, good sister" writes Katherine to the youngest Grey sister, Mary. A beautiful Little Person disregarded by the court, Mary keeps family secrets, especially her own. What will happen when the last Tudor defies her ruthless and unforgiving cousin Queen Elizabeth?
My Thoughts:
To be quite honest, I never had a negative opinion toward Elizabeth until I read this book. It is actually quite sad that she knew nothing but fear that she would be betrayed.
As the book starts, one can clearly see that Jane never wanted to rule; she was quite literally dragged into it. And that became Jane's downfall.
Katherine does not want to rule either, she wants only to be married to someone she loves. She marries in secret, but her pregnancy starts to show and the queen sends her away to confinement, never to see her husband and second child again (she dies within a few years).
Mary also only wants to marry the man she loves. However, when she finally does in secret, she too is sent away to confinement, never to see her husband again (he dies before she is eventually freed).
You feel a lot of sympathy toward pretty much everyone except for the queens Mary and Elizabeth.
I definitely enjoyed reading this novel and learning about the three doomed sisters.
My Rating: 5 stars
02 October 2019
Seven Sides of Self by Nancy Joie Wilkie REVIEW
Summary:
The stories in Seven Sides of Self explore the various sides of one's personality: the storyteller, the skeptic, the saint (or the sinner), the scholar, the seeker, and the savior. Through the lives of central characters such as Zarce Sun De'oggo, Sister Othrosa Vella, Jarka Moosha, and Old Mims, Nancy Joie Wilkie explores themes of battling strong emotions, the lengths we might go for self-preservation and self-sacrifice, the inability to accept difference, and taking responsibility for what we create in pieces that inhabit the worlds of both sci-fi and fantasy. Original and thought-provoking, these are stories that will stimulate the intellect and engage the imagination.
My Thoughts:
I've never quite read a book like this. I'm not usually into short stories, but these are really entertaining and kind of relatable to me.
The first story is about a man who wants to write, but can never find the time; when he does find the time, nothing comes to him. I have had this problem a lot, but I am good at ideas. The writing and putting everything into a fleshed-out story is hard for me. At the end, he started to write a memoir.
The second story was about a man who didn't believe something called the Ledge existed. He ended up being brought there because he wasn't supposed to know about it. It erased his memories. I think that this would honestly make a great novel.
The third story was about a man who went back to his hometown to explore a place that he wanted to since he was a kid. The Microwave Man. The guy dodged all of his questions and disappeared to another world only to leave him a note explaining everything.
The fourth story is about a woman who believes in the bonding of souls and is trying to explain it to the man she believes she is bonded to in order to get him to appreciate his life. The ending of it...made no sense at all.
The fifth story was about a man going to visit another planet to find out what the people are like. Their society seems perfect...until he discovers a dark secret.
The sixth story is about a man on a journey to find a place he believes exists, despite it sounding like a myth. He succeeds in finding it, and joins a godly figure as well as the man that was in the stories.
The seventh story is about an author who copes with his problems by giving them to his characters in his books. He is prompted by a dream to give his characters happy endings or he will be in eternal torment. This is probably the only story that seemed kind of weird to me. It didn't make much sense at all.
All in all, this was a quick yet enjoyable read.
My Rating: 4.5 stars
The stories in Seven Sides of Self explore the various sides of one's personality: the storyteller, the skeptic, the saint (or the sinner), the scholar, the seeker, and the savior. Through the lives of central characters such as Zarce Sun De'oggo, Sister Othrosa Vella, Jarka Moosha, and Old Mims, Nancy Joie Wilkie explores themes of battling strong emotions, the lengths we might go for self-preservation and self-sacrifice, the inability to accept difference, and taking responsibility for what we create in pieces that inhabit the worlds of both sci-fi and fantasy. Original and thought-provoking, these are stories that will stimulate the intellect and engage the imagination.
My Thoughts:
I've never quite read a book like this. I'm not usually into short stories, but these are really entertaining and kind of relatable to me.
The first story is about a man who wants to write, but can never find the time; when he does find the time, nothing comes to him. I have had this problem a lot, but I am good at ideas. The writing and putting everything into a fleshed-out story is hard for me. At the end, he started to write a memoir.
The second story was about a man who didn't believe something called the Ledge existed. He ended up being brought there because he wasn't supposed to know about it. It erased his memories. I think that this would honestly make a great novel.
The third story was about a man who went back to his hometown to explore a place that he wanted to since he was a kid. The Microwave Man. The guy dodged all of his questions and disappeared to another world only to leave him a note explaining everything.
The fourth story is about a woman who believes in the bonding of souls and is trying to explain it to the man she believes she is bonded to in order to get him to appreciate his life. The ending of it...made no sense at all.
The fifth story was about a man going to visit another planet to find out what the people are like. Their society seems perfect...until he discovers a dark secret.
The sixth story is about a man on a journey to find a place he believes exists, despite it sounding like a myth. He succeeds in finding it, and joins a godly figure as well as the man that was in the stories.
The seventh story is about an author who copes with his problems by giving them to his characters in his books. He is prompted by a dream to give his characters happy endings or he will be in eternal torment. This is probably the only story that seemed kind of weird to me. It didn't make much sense at all.
All in all, this was a quick yet enjoyable read.
My Rating: 4.5 stars
08 September 2019
Julian Fox: The Dream Guardian by E. J. Miranda REVIEW
Summary:
Thanks to their dreams, dreamers can receive the special visit of eternal wisdom that has inspired the creativity of great inventors, scientists, musicians, and even writers throughout the ages.
This creative wisdom is not always the type that appears to the eager conscience. Sometimes, a Defiler, a destroyer of dreams, is the one who tries to appear before the dreamer. These creatures were once humans, but they allowed their pain and desire for revenge to take over and seek the same miserable fate for the one who dreams. You must not fear-Dream Guardians, also known as Kelsdrant, will always protect the one who dreams, even with their own life. They are people of flesh and bone, just like you and me, or at least they are on earth.
The following story is dedicated to the fun, extravagant, and enlightening life of Julian Fox, the Dream Guardian.
My Thoughts:
I went into this book not really knowing what to expect. I knew it would be fantasy, but the synopsis was one that I had never heard of before and had no clue how it would go.
About one-third into the book, the story picks up a little and becomes more interesting.
I really loved the emphasis on family in this book; most fantasy novels don't have that and it was fun to see the characters develop throughout the novel.
Most of the characters were useful in some kind of way, but Henry did not seem to serve a purpose except to make Julian annoyed.
I absolutely loved the world building. It was well done. There was enough description, but not too much.
I would love to see more books that take place in this world from the author. Especially since the ending did not make much sense to me.
I would definitely recommend this to anyone, it is like a breath of fresh air in the fantasy genre.
My Rating: 4 stars
Thanks to their dreams, dreamers can receive the special visit of eternal wisdom that has inspired the creativity of great inventors, scientists, musicians, and even writers throughout the ages.
This creative wisdom is not always the type that appears to the eager conscience. Sometimes, a Defiler, a destroyer of dreams, is the one who tries to appear before the dreamer. These creatures were once humans, but they allowed their pain and desire for revenge to take over and seek the same miserable fate for the one who dreams. You must not fear-Dream Guardians, also known as Kelsdrant, will always protect the one who dreams, even with their own life. They are people of flesh and bone, just like you and me, or at least they are on earth.
The following story is dedicated to the fun, extravagant, and enlightening life of Julian Fox, the Dream Guardian.
My Thoughts:
I went into this book not really knowing what to expect. I knew it would be fantasy, but the synopsis was one that I had never heard of before and had no clue how it would go.
About one-third into the book, the story picks up a little and becomes more interesting.
I really loved the emphasis on family in this book; most fantasy novels don't have that and it was fun to see the characters develop throughout the novel.
Most of the characters were useful in some kind of way, but Henry did not seem to serve a purpose except to make Julian annoyed.
I absolutely loved the world building. It was well done. There was enough description, but not too much.
I would love to see more books that take place in this world from the author. Especially since the ending did not make much sense to me.
I would definitely recommend this to anyone, it is like a breath of fresh air in the fantasy genre.
My Rating: 4 stars
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