The End of Everything by Megan Abbott
Reagan Arthur Books, Little, Brown
July 7, 2011
ISBN-13: 978-0316097796
Review copy provided by the publisher, thank you!
Burton Book Review Rating: 3.5 stars


The End of Everything is one of those quick reads that you just can't put down. Even though the subject matter is creepy-crawly with themes of bad deeds of evil doers.. it certainly held my attention. This is the story of two tween girls who have been best friends and neighbors for as long as they can remember, and were always like two peas in a pod. Lizzie and Evie shared their clothes, their lives, their thoughts with each other until that one untangible thing came along that Lizzie knew that Evie was hiding from her.

And then the unthinkable happens: Evie disappears pretty much into thin air and Lizzie is the last person to see her alive. Lizzie is bombarded with all the emotions at once, and still she knows that somehow Evie is out there, alive. Told in first person, we go through all of Lizzie's thoughts and suspicions as we follow Lizzie's life during those horrific weeks that Evie is gone. She spends time with Evie's grief stricken father, and even while Evie is gone she feels something a bit more for this Mr. Verver, which is creepy in itself. And then Evie's older sister Dusty is there, watching on the outside, making Lizzie and us readers feel that Dusty knows something, and we can't quite put our finger on it.

Lizzie at first helps the police, but then fabricates stories to the police as an effort to steer people in the direction of insurance agent Mr. Shaw, based on her hunch. Mr. Shaw's family is then turned inside out, as the police take any leads they can get. But as a reader we begin to question, is it really Mr. Shaw? Is all this for nothing? Did Evie jump in the lake? Did someone else take her? All these questions along with that gut-wrenching fear grip you as you read this book, and given its horrific subject matter of a young girl gone missing and what could happen to her as she is abducted, this is a story that is well-told. It was full of suspense and with its own weird twists that kept me guessing - making me think I should look up the author Megan Abbott's previous works.

Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
Viking Adult, July 26 2011
ISBN13: 978-0670022694
Review copy provided by the publisher, thank you!
Burton Book Review Rating: Four Na Yorkah stars

A sophisticated and entertaining debut novel about an irresistible young woman with an uncommon sense of purpose.


Set in New York City in 1938, Rules of Civility tells the story of a watershed year in the life of an uncompromising twenty-five-year- old named Katey Kontent. Armed with little more than a formidable intellect, a bracing wit, and her own brand of cool nerve, Katey embarks on a journey from a Wall Street secretarial pool through the upper echelons of New York society in search of a brighter future.

The story opens on New Year's Eve in a Greenwich Village jazz bar, where Katey and her boardinghouse roommate Eve happen to meet Tinker Grey, a handsome banker with royal blue eyes and a ready smile. This chance encounter and its startling consequences cast Katey off her current course, but end up providing her unexpected access to the rarified offices of Conde Nast and a glittering new social circle. Befriended in turn by a shy, principled multimillionaire, an Upper East Side ne'er-do-well, and a single-minded widow who is ahead of her times, Katey has the chance to experience first hand the poise secured by wealth and station, but also the aspirations, envy, disloyalty, and desires that reside just below the surface. Even as she waits for circumstances to bring Tinker back into her orbit, she will learn how individual choices become the means by which life crystallizes loss.

Elegant and captivating, Rules of Civility turns a Jamesian eye on how spur of the moment decisions define life for decades to come. A love letter to a great American city at the end of the Depression, readers will quickly fall under its spell of crisp writing, sparkling atmosphere and breathtaking revelations, as Towles evokes the ghosts of Fitzgerald, Capote, and McCarthy.

Every now and then you read a book that grabs you from page one and you can't set it down. For this one, the first few pages were a bit iffy with me attempting to get settled into the upcoming story because the dialogue was just weird and couldn't pinpoint who was what or who and why I was there. An evil fleeting thought even passed through urging me to set it down and move on. That cover was just mesmerizing enough to pull me in.

And like a little Energizer bunny I kept going and going and going and going and going... I felt like I had become a New Yorker all over again within these pages.. I neglected to cook dinner for the kids and opted to read instead.. I managed to take a shower.. and then I kept going and going. I finished the book at midnight fully knowing that I had to wake up for work in six hours. At 352 easy pages, I was completely immersed in the characters, and the story. Why was it so tantalizing? I can't really put my finger on it. It was atmospheric with characters that were over the top, being lovable and hate-able all at once.

These characters were a mixture of stereotypical New Yorkers, but it was set back in the quaint year of 1938. It was a humdinger of a year for the main character, Katey, as she and her best friend Evie meet up with the dashing Theodore "Tinker" Grey and toast the town. A grand time was had by the trio until the unthinkable happens one rainy night. Everything changes for the new friends and it wasn't all good.

The storyline focuses on Katey, Evie, and Tinker but includes a host of circles of friends who flit in and out of Katey's life. Most of all, there was New York. I couldn't help but to imagine my great-grandfather and the extended family living out the lives that the book exhibited in that long ago era. The narrative was descriptive in a methodically engrossing sort of way and I simply couldn't tear myself away from it. There were several levels of the social classes at work in the story, but predominantly it was a bit more of a slice of life of the well-to-do at high society clubs like 21, Bentley autos and fancy shmancy hotel rooms. And there was Katey, watching it all, invited in, but not exactly a part of that world as she is a straight-laced hard working girl who keeps perfect time. She is in love with Tinker although we don't really know for sure if she knows it, and she dates others and we wonder if she'll ever see the light. But then we wonder who really is this Tinker fellow anyway.

I would be remiss if I did not mention a major pet peeve, though. The form of the novel is a bit odd, with the prologue and epilogue thing in a novel and zero quotation marks. Zero. Major complete total annoyance about the lack of the tried and true proper written format. Which is why this is not a 5 star for me. Please use proper punctuation in a book. I get it that you're totally cool and innovative in your non-conformist ways as a debut author, but get over it. So, with the title of the book mentioning "rules" (*I used quotation marks purposely), I wonder if there is a hidden meaning here. Whatever it was I missed it. Otherwise, Tinker used George Washington's little handbook of Rules of Civility to help fit in with high society, yet with all these polite mannerisms he lacked the sincerity of it all as it didn't run core deep.

Despite the lack of quotation marks, Rules of Civility is purely fantastic stuff. Loved this story and if you are/were a New Yorker, or even maybe want to be, this novel really shines just for that 1930's New Yorker feel it embraces. Think F. Scott Fitzgerald, Edith Wharton, etc. And it was kind of a shame I didn't make this one drag out a smidgen longer so that I could tote that quaint cover around a bit longer.

Oscar Wilde and the Vampire Murders by Gyles Brandreth
Touchstone, May 2011
Trade Paperback, 400 pages
ISBN-13: 9781439153680
Review copy provided by the publisher, thank you!
Burton Book Review Rating: Great fun! Four stars!

Oscar Wilde and the Vampire Murders opens in 1890, at a glamorous party hosted by the Duke and Duchess of Albemarle. All of London's high society -- including the Prince of Wales -- are in attendance at what promises to be the event of the season. Yet Oscar Wilde is more interested in another party guest, Rex LaSalle, a young actor who claims to be a vampire.
But the entertaining evening ends in tragedy when the duchess is found murdered -- with two tiny puncture marks on her throat. Desperate to avoid scandal and panic, the Prince asks Oscar and his friend Arthur Conan Doyle to investigate the crime. What they discover threatens to destroy the very heart of the royal family. Told through diary entries, newspaper clippings, telegrams, and letters, Oscar Wilde and the Vampire Murders is a richly atmospheric mystery that is sure to captivate and entertain.

I love me some history with mystery and vice versa. Vampires, no, not so much. But last year I read Dracula in Love by Karen Essex and really loved it. The theme of medical experimentation is in both of these books, horrific as the thought is. I knew this Oscar Wilde series by Gyles Brandreth already had accumulated a following due to the prior mysteries, so I wanted to give this fourth one a try. Oscar Wilde was truly an amazing man, and I enjoyed how his character was so efficiently infused in this mystery. The absolute main draw of this mystery was the wittiness of Oscar and his never ending amount of one liners.

Apparently different from the previous forms of the series, this installment utilizes many different narrators as told via notes, letters and diaries. The main characters are all distinguished gentlemen who behaved in similar fashions, so I had to sometimes go back and look at the heading of the particular note or letter to see who was speaking presently. The narrations were short and swiftly changing, hence the minor confusion at times. This would be the only negative about this book, as the story was full of these British guys partying like 1890's rock stars and doing their little investigations of the murders along the way. There was indeed one of those guys who swore he was a vampire, and the murdered victims were adorned with vampire-like wounds, but that was pretty much the extent of the vampiristic tendencies except of course for the men discussing the habits of vampires. The first victim was a beautiful duchess named Helen, whom Oscar liked to quip "She is Helen, late of Troy, now of Grosvenor Square." The sleuths had to decipher whether there was a big cover-up going on because "the prince detests scandal" or was the prince never really involved at all.

Along with Oscar Wilde, other famous notables we have would be his close friend, Bram Stoker, aspiring vampire author, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the slowly becoming famous author of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries. Among the suspect pool we have doctors, Princes, and of course, the vampire friend Rex LaSalle whom Oscar was infatuated with. And then of course there was the magnificent character of Victorian England herself, where the author did a magnificent job of setting the scene and reimagining the cobbled streets of the era. I especially enjoyed the High Tea scenes, where it boasted a feast that excluded only tea. One of the suspects, the Prince of Wales, is the same prince who became Edward VII in 1901, and it was his order that none of this vampire murder business be published while he was alive, which is why we have this splendid story at our disposal now (wink, wink).

And as far as the mystery goes, I had a feeling regarding the whodunit part, but the why part was intriguing as well. The novel was definitely the "rattling good yarn" the author wanted to give us, and I will definitely keep an eye out for his other Oscar Wilde history mysteries since I enjoyed this one so much.

Some witty Oscar Wilde lines in the novel:
"The man who thinks about his past has no future."
"It is, of course, the the second editions of my books that are the true rarities."
"The one duty we owe to history is to rewrite it."

Madame Bovary's Daughter by Linda Urbach
Bantam Paperback, 512 pages
ISBN 13: 978-0385343879
Review copy provided by the author, thank you!
Burton Book Review Rating: 4.5 stars!

Picking up after the shattering end of Gustave Flaubert’s classic, Madame Bovary, this beguiling novel imagines an answer to the question Whatever happened to Emma Bovary’s orphaned daughter?

One year after her mother’s suicide and just one day after her father’s brokenhearted demise, twelve-year-old Berthe Bovary is sent to live on her grandmother’s impoverished farm. Amid the beauty of the French countryside, Berthe models for the painter Jean-François Millet, but fate has more in store for her than a quiet life of simple pleasures. Berthe’s determination to rise above her mother’s scandalous past will take her from the dangerous cotton mills of Lille to a convent in Rouen to the wealth and glamour of nineteenth-century Paris. There, as an apprentice to famed fashion designer Charles Frederick Worth, Berthe is ushered into the high society of which she once only dreamed. But even as the praise for her couture gowns steadily rises, she still yearns for the one thing her mother never had: the love of someone she loves in return.


Brilliantly integrating one of classic literature’s fictional creations with real historical figures, Madame Bovary’s Daughter is an uncommon coming-of-age tale, a splendid excursion through the rags and the riches of French fashion, and a sweeping novel of poverty and wealth, passion and revenge.

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert caused quite a stir over a hundred years ago in Paris, as it gave us the uninhibited housewife's struggle to always want more than what she was given. Madame Bovary caused a scandal with her adultery, and died a young woman. Shortly after, her doting husband followed her to the grand mausoleum. This left their daughter, Berthe, a penniless orphan. And this is where author Linda Urbach picks up the story as she brings us the tale of Berthe's life in Madame Bovary's Daughter.
With great attention to period detail, the author recreated Berthe's world in France as she struggled to find her place in the world. Berthe is young, but intelligent, and yet the author had the young girl making decisions as a young girl would, even though I wished Berthe would wise up at times. Those times were very hard for her, and she just wanted a normal, decent life for herself. That was not in the cards, though, as her grandmother reduced her to a slave and later Berthe toiled in a textile mill.
Berthe's only female friend was a thief, but Berthe managed to maintain a friendly relationship with a painter. He introduced to the world of art, and this opened up her creativity. She later found herself suggesting fabrics and designs to friends of her employer, and managed to work her way up slowly in society. How she got there was a struggle that was at times difficult to bear, as she underwent much hardship since her story began. But throughout her story, we witness Berthe becoming a young woman, never quite losing her girlish impetuousness, but finally managing to make wise decisions.

Madame Bovary's Daughter is not a quick light-hearted read, as it can be depressing and disheartening And even though my psyche railed against the poor decisions of Berthe, I always wanted to keep reading and see how she would get out of her current predicament. As a pretty young girl, Berthe attracted the attentions of many (female and male), thus there were several sexual situations and they could get graphic. These scenes add to the authenticity of the plight of Berthe as she attempts to make her life better than her own mother's was. At 500 pages, this novel took me 3 days to read, which means I found it very hard to put down. A very intriguing story, and Gustave Flaubert would be proud to have Berthe's voice finally on paper, as well as an additional understanding of Gustave's original characters.

Have you heard of the scandalous Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert? His first published novel in 1850, and it was a pioneering one at that. And the scandal! The criticism of social classes, the affairs..Flaubert himself was hit with an immorality charge when Madame Bovary was serialized in a literary magazine.

I am looking forward to learning more of this intriguing story, and I will review Madame Bovary's Daughter here on Burton Book Review this summer. I asked the author to elaborate on a few key topics for her potential readers. Please welcome author Linda Urbach to Burton Book Review with her introduction to her newest novel:

Why I wrote Madame Bovary’s Daughter.
When I encountered the novel Madame Bovary for the first time in my early twenties I thought: how sad, how tragic. Poor, poor Emma Bovary. Her husband was a bore, she was desperately in love with another man (make that two men), and she craved another life; one that she could never afford (I perhaps saw a parallel to my own life here). Finally, tragically, she committed suicide. It took her almost a week of agony to die from the arsenic she’d ingested.

But twenty- five years later and as the mother of a very cherished daughter, I reread Madame Bovary. And now I had a different take altogether: What was this woman thinking? What kind of wife would repeatedly cheat on her hardworking husband and spend all her family’s money on a lavish wardrobe for herself and gifts for her man of the moment; most important of all, what kind of mother was she?

It was almost as if she (Berthe Bovary) came to me in the middle of the night and said, “please tell my story.” Having adopted my beautiful daughter at age 2/12 days I had a big soft spot in my heart for the orphan Berthe Bovary. I totally sympathized with her lack of mother love. Also, I remembered how much I loved Paris when I lived there. I had a strong desire to return-- which I was able to do in my head as I wrote the novel.

The research and writing process of Madame Bovary’s Daughter.

This is the first historical fiction I’ve ever written, so research played a big part. My first two novels were all about me but my life had gotten very boring which is why I turned to historical fiction. I used the Internet almost extensively. I found sites where I could walk through Parisian mansions of the times. Sites that not only showed what women wore but also gave instructions on how to create the gowns that were popular. I bought this great book, Mrs. Beeton’s Household Management which gives you details of absolutely everything you need to know about the running of a house in the 1850’s. You want to serve a 12-course dinner, she’ll tell you how. She’ll also tell you how many servants you need and how many pounds of paté you need to order.

The thing about research is you have to be careful not to let research get in the way of the writing. I tended to get so interested and involved in reading about the Victorian times and France in the 1850’s I would find the whole day had gone by and I hadn’t written a word. So the important thing for me is making sure I’ve got the story going forward. That’s the work part. The fun part is then filling in the historic details. It’s like I have to finish my dinner before I’ve earned my dessert. The other thing about research is that I learned to keep room open for a character I hadn’t thought about before. For example, I suddenly came across the famous couturier Charles Frederick Worth, an Englishman who went to Paris and revolutionized the fashion business. He jumped off the page at me and insisted on being part of my novel. So my advice to writers is always keep a place at the table of your book for an unexpected guest.

Release date: July 26, 2011

Summary of Madame Bovary’s Daughter

What you may remember about Madame Bovary is that she was disappointed in her marriage, shopped a great deal, drove her family into bankruptcy, was abandoned by two lovers, and finally took her own life. With all that drama, who even remembers she had a daughter?

And what ever happened to the only, lonely daughter of the scandalous Madame Bovary? Poor Berthe Bovary. She was neglected, unloved, orphaned and sold into servitude before the age of 13. It seems even Flaubert didn’t have much time for her. She was the most insignificant and ignored character in that great classic novel.

But in Madame Bovary’s Daughter we see how Berthe used the lessons she learned from her faithless, feckless, materialistic mother to overcome extreme adversity and yes, triumph in the end. As a young girl, Berthe becomes a model for famed artist Jean Francois Millet, later a friend to a young German named Levi Strauss and finally a business associate of Charles Frederick Worth, the world’s first courtier.

This is a Sex and the Cité tale of a beautiful woman who goes from rags to riches, from sackcloth to satin, from bed to business. Busy as she is, she still has time to wreak revenge on the one man who broke her mother’s heart. And, of course to have her own heart broken as well.

From her grandmother’s farm, to the cotton mills to the rich society of Paris, it is a constant struggle to not repeat her mother’s mistakes. She is determined not to end up “like mother, like daughter”. And yet she is in a lifelong search for the “mother love” she never had.

Berthe Bovary is a Victorian forerunner of the modern self-made woman.


EDIT to add that I have finished the novel (LOVED it) and you can read my review here at Burton Book Review.

For the King by Catherine Delors comes out today, a great day indeed (it's my birthday)!! I really enjoyed this novel and highly recommend for anyone interested in the French Revolution. You can read my review here. This was an adventure that had romantic and mystery elements set within a tumultuous historical atmosphere, which was all tied together very well in this novel. Find it at B&N or Indiebound. And yesterday was the author's birthday, so buy yourself her book in honor of her birthday!

The King's Witch by Cecelia Holland
Berkley Trade June 7, 2011
Paperback 320 pages
978-0425241301
Review copy from publisher, thank you!
Burton Book Review Rating: 3.5 stars

Of the women in King Richard’s life, she is the least known—and the most powerful.

During the Third Crusade, deaths from fever and starvation are common, but King Richard the Lion-Hearted has a secret ally against these impassable enemies—a mysterious healer by the name of Edythe. She was sent to him by his mother Eleanor, and Richard first assumes that Edythe is a spy. But when her medical knowledge saves his life, she becomes an indispensable member of his camp—even as his loyal soldiers, suspicious of her talent for warding off death, call her a witch.

I read this novel on the Third Crusade in a weekend. It is a perfect summer read, sitting by the pool and losing yourself in a tumultuous era without getting bogged down with the details and facts of the times. The author uses the storyline of Richard of Lionhearted's quest for Jerusalem and brings us the story of the fictional doctor, Edythe, who travels along with Richard's Crusader Army and his sister Johanna as they progress through Acre and Jaffa in efforts to defeat Saladin.

The Third Crusade features notables such as King Conrad of Montferrat and King Philip of France who add to the religious and political strife, but the story focuses on Edythe and her relationships. Edythe serves Johanna, who also has a significant storyline as she is caught up in personal tangles, and Edythe becomes well-known as a doctor of sorts which tags her with the witch insult among the other Crusaders. Edythe helps King Richard during his illnesses and fevers throughout the Crusade, and along the way meets Rouquin who acts as a military commander for Richard. Edythe is attempting to discover the meaning of her own life, as she was rescued by Queen Eleanor many years ago during the persecution of the Jews. That was a different life for Edythe, though, and she had felt like she had acclimated herself to the Christian ways. When she goes along on the Crusade, she begins to doubt herself and her faith, becoming very afraid of the secret she harbors. The secret threatens to harm the only true thing she has come across, which is the love she bears for Rouquin.

Author Cecelia Holland has become quite prolific, as her back list includes over thirty historical novels. I reviewed her last release The Second Eleanor last year and found that I was intrigued by Holland's easy writing style. The King's Witch is no different: the writing was fluent and fast paced and I was entertained by this story set during an important time for King Richard. I was particularly engaged within the story during the battle scenes, and I felt like I raced through those pages. As a fan of historical fiction, I have recently read stories that solely focused on real characters, but this novel reminds me of what is so wonderful about the genre. The setting of the time and place was an educational backdrop to the two fictional characters at the heart of the story, and their story helped me appreciate and understand the turmoil that the Crusaders experienced. This was not just a love story, but The King's Witch incorporated the pressures of the Crusaders versus Saladin with intriguing side stories such as the succession of the crown of Jerusalem. I think it's time I peruse Holland's back list for more of her entertaining reads.

Before Versailles: A Novel of Louis XIV by Karleen Koen
Hardcover: 480 pages
Publisher: Crown (June 28, 2011)
ISBN-13: 978-0307716576
Review copy provided by the publisher, thank you!
Burton Book Review Rating: five stars!

Louis XIV is one of the best-known monarchs ever to grace the French throne. But what was he like as a young man—the man before Versailles?
After the death of his prime minister, Cardinal Mazarin, twenty-two-year-old Louis steps into governing France. He’s still a young man, but one who, as king, willfully takes everything he can get—including his brother’s wife. As the love affair between Louis and Princess Henriette burns, it sets the kingdom on the road toward unmistakable scandal and conflict with the Vatican. Every woman wants him. He must face what he is willing to sacrifice for love.
But there are other problems lurking outside the chateau of Fontainebleau: a boy in an iron mask has been seen in the woods, and the king’s finance minister, Nicolas Fouquet, has proven to be more powerful than Louis ever thought—a man who could make a great ally or become a dangerous foe . . .
Meticulously researched and vividly brought to life by the gorgeous prose of Karleen Koen, Before Versailles dares to explore the forces that shaped an iconic king and determined the fate of an empire.

Karleen Koen's newest novel represents several firsts for me. Before Versailles is the first novel on Louis XIV that I've read, therefore it offers my first characterization of Louis and his contemporaries. Secondly, this is my first Karleen Koen novel, even though I've ogled her previous books and been told many times that I absolutely must read them. I do own them and have already let my mother read them (who devoured them all in a short amount of time) and now I am certainly looking forward to all those novels after enjoying Before Versailles so much!

Since this is my first novel that deals with Louis XIV, please realize that I really have no way of differentiating from the gossip, rumors, scandals or facts that Koen utilizes in her magnificent storytelling. Before Versailles focuses on a specific four months of the reign of Louis soon after the powerful Cardinal Mazarin passes away in 1661. The Cardinal and the Queen mother, Anne, were known to have a close relationship, but how close was any one's guess. Louis realizes it is now time to take over the reigns of the government after the passing of the Cardinal, and he begins to learn of the treachery amongst his family and courtiers. And while he is focusing on the politics of his court with a lookout for more revolts, he is also eyeing Henriette, his brother's wife whom everyone adores. Henriette is portrayed as a bored woman stuck in a loveless relationship, and happily wreaks romantic havoc throughout Louis' court, as she tells the King to court other girls as well as her to divert some of the rumors surrounding her own conduct with the King.

Louise de La Baume Le Blanc

The story features these women who Louis courts, as well as his own boring wife and his meddling mother. His brother Phillippe is a scandalous creature causing embarrassment everywhere, yet I couldn't help but feel sorry for him as his wife was making him a fool until I later realized Phillippe didn't really deserve my sympathy at all. One of the main characters is maid of honor Louise de La Baume Le Blanc, a young spirited girl who adores animals over people any day. (She is featured in Sandra Gulland's novel Mistress of the Sun). King Louis takes notice of her and a courtship eventually develops, helped along by Henriette's maneuvering. Louise seemed like a hunted deer, as she was caught in the royal traps and manipulations of the court although she was the one of the few true innocents of the court. It was very hard to not feel sympathetic towards her, especially how the author favorably portrays both Louis and Louise.

Besides the relationships of Louis and his dalliances with women, the novel touches upon Viscount Nicolas as we watch Louis and his main man Colbert slowly gather damning evidence against the Viscount who was becoming a threat to Louis due to his own wealth and powerful connections. The Viscount is not aware of the concerns of the King, and blindly hopes for a high position under Louis's wing. It was all very entertaining and suspenseful to read and witness the Viscount's downfall, learning the ways of the early reign of Louis before he was known as the Sun King. Louis was portrayed in a most positive light as a strong and powerful young man with a growing leadership ability, yet with the faults of having a soft heart as well. The women at court were catty and snobby and the men encouraged it as they took advantage of whatever they could get. I really enjoyed how the intricacies (and scandals!) of the storyline played out because there were quite a few of them running concurrently. Behind the scenes of Louis' courtships and political machinations, there was always the running current of Louise's girlish curiosity of a mysterious boy in an iron mask which slams her into reality when she finally tells the King of this strange boy she saw at a monastery.

"L'Homme au Masque de Fer" ("The Man in the Iron Mask") 1789

Fontainebleau was the setting for the story, and I was immediately intrigued by the author's description of it and its immeasurable beauty. It was always there as a symbol for Louis, as a place that was built by ancestors, where Louis seemed to walk along its shadows and those of his predecessors. It slowly began to make sense to this reader why Louis moved court to Versailles and why the author chose the title Before Versailles. The writing of Karleen Koen was a bit different, as she has her own uniquely mesmerizing style which was conversational yet verges occasionally towards stream of consciousness. The myriads of court players in the beginning of the story were a bit much to get my head wrapped around, but I quickly caught up and found myself intrigued and enthralled with Louis and his many courtiers and musketeers, as Karleen Koen offers us a sensational glimpse of Louis as he was just beginning to become the man known later as the Sun King. I absolutely adored the ending, and there were several times in the book I could have cried. This is a must read for French history fans as well as those who enjoy historical romance, because there was plenty of that in this story, with a healthy dose of suspense as well. A wonderful combination of enjoyable factors and I am so glad that this one was my first read on Louis XIV. In fact, this is going on my shortlist for favorites of 2011. Where to go from here? And where does Karleen Koen go from here? A novel on Athenais, and Louis' later reign? I would love to see another trilogy that starts with Before Versailles.

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by At Home With Books.
To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme this week, post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken and then leave a direct link to your post at Alyce's blog here.

And here are my four snapshots where you can see a little piece of my world. These were all taken 6-4-2011 in a pretty elusive attempt to follow a family of cardinals we have. As you can see, I was only able to snap the daddy cardinal sitting still. Enjoy!

I love this little girl statue as she watches over my lantana flowers.

and here is the one semi-focused snapshot of Monsieur Cardinal. Can you see him?

See the airplane?

Pears, anyone?

I hope you enjoyed these pictures! I also wanted to take a moment to close out the giveaway I had running for Happily Ever After edited by John Klima where I asked for really witty comments. I think I picked the most creative comment EVER.. by choosing::

My dear Lady Marie of the House of Burton,

I wholeheartedly accept entry into this very merry giveaway. Why, some of my most beloved authors' works are in this enchanted book. As one who constantly wanders about in Story looking for enjoyable tales, I can assure you that this magical book would give a good home with me in the shire of Pennsylvania.

I only learned of the Kingdom of Burton Book Reviews this evening, and have signed up to receive your dispatches on my RSS Feed, made a treaty with your kingdom on Facebook, and joined your alliance via GFC.

I thank you for your time, Lady Marie, and hope you find this scroll delivered via messenger most pleasing. Fare thee well!

Sincerely Yours,
Amy of Backseat Writer

Queen Defiant: A Novel of Eleanor of Aquitaine by Anne O'Brien
(Devil's Consort is the UK title)
448 pages, paperback
Penguin NAL Trade: April 14, 2011
Personal copy won through Maria Grazia's giveaway at her Fly High blog, thank you!!
Burton Book Review Rating: 4 stars

Orphaned at a young age, Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, seeks a strong husband to keep her hold on the vast lands that have made her the most powerful heiress in Europe. But her arranged marriage to Louis VII, King of France, is made disastrous by Louis's weakness of will and fanatical devotion to the Church. Eleanor defies her husband by risking her life on an adventurous Crusade, and even challenges the Pope himself. And in young, brilliant, mercurial Henry d'Anjou, she finds her soul mate-the one man who is audacious enough to claim her for his own and make her Queen of England.

Eleanor of Aquitaine has been written about many times, and even more so in the past few years as her popularity grows as a strong and willful woman. Anne O'Brien gives us an intriguing look at the upheaval that Eleanor caused her French husband with a few fictional spins based on the rumors of Eleanor's time. For those that do know the history of Eleanor, she was wed to the prince of France at a young age, and soon after became Queen of France. For years Eleanor chafed against the pious confines of her husband and his advisers, and was given little acknowledgement for her intelligence. Eleanor was bred to rule over Aquitaine, and with this hasty marriage with the French she consequently missed her home tremendously. Fast forward through a disastrous crusade and embarrassing attempts to give France a male heir, Eleanor finds a way out of France but needs young Henry Plantagenet's help.

The French king Louis is still portrayed as the overly pious, devoted to God and less of his country and his wife. Abbot Suger, and Bernard of Clairvaux come into play as they continually thwart Eleanor's schemes for her independence. And the reason Eleanor is so widely popular is apparent with her strong characterization here; she is not weak, whimpering and simpering, she is always aware that to persevere she must plod on. And for years she did. She outlived most of her closest family members and pretty much went through everything under the sun by the time of her death. The arrival of the young and virile Henry Plantagenet on the scene gave the book a welcomed flair, as Eleanor had finally met her match with Henry.

Anne O'Brien sticks to the main plot of Eleanor's life in France, but also blends in her fictional dramatic license to skew certain dates and events, but I was still not put off. There was something to be said about the voice which the author gave Eleanor that made me want to keep reading this story, even though I knew what happened to Eleanor and her hopes in the end. The fact that the author did not unequivocally stick to the facts or time lines made it that much more fun, and since I noticed the "factual errors" I think this is actually what held some of the story's appeal for me as well. Which is quite an odd revelation for me, really. I normally would rail against the extreme dramatic license, but this time I really enjoyed it, and I was entertained (and a touch scandalized!). Exactly what I am sure the author set out to do. And those folks who have not read an Eleanor every other month probably wouldn't notice most of the differences in the events. I was also intrigued by the genealogy charts in the beginning referencing the lines of consanguinity, as well as the map showing the scope of the lands between Eleanor, Louis and Henry. And that cover was fabulous as well, the texture of the book was just right.. and the pages inside kept me rooting for Eleanor to the very end. The very end actually ended with the coronation of Henry II and Eleanor, so I've got to wonder what's next on Anne O'Brien's plate? Another novel focused on Henry's and Eleanor's devilish brood? Where do I sign up?

Queen Defiant is roughly my seventh Eleanor themed read in the past 15 months. I have read others before those as well. Since they were all novels, I think it's time I read the biographical Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Life, by Alison Weir just so I can brush up on the facts and timeline for Eleanor and call myself well-versed. But, for a woman who lived eight hundred years ago as a lady of two kingdoms and mother to three kings, you've got to applaud the everlasting appeal that she maintains with the historically inclined reading audience.

The Little Women Letters by Gabrielle Donnelly
Hardcover: 368 pages
Publisher: Touchstone (June 7, 2011)
ISBN-13:978-1451617184
Review copy provided by the publisher, thank you!
Burton Book Review Rating: 3.5 stars

When Josephine March's great-great-granddaughter stumbles across her letters, the Little Women shed a glorious light on a new generation of sisters. The Atwaters are a loving, sprawling mess of a family and Fee's three daughters, Emma, Lulu and Sophie, couldn't be less alike if they tried. Emma is planning her wedding, Sophie is an up-and-coming actress, but Lulu - the cleverest of them all - is more than a little lost. If life is for living, why is she stuck in a series of dead-end jobs? Grandma Jo's letters had been gathering dust in the attic for decades, but when Lulu gets her hands on them, everything seems to change and different worlds begin to open up. And even though dark family secrets emerge, Jo's words offer comfort and guidance across the centuries. Sometimes family is all that matters. And sisters are the closest friends you can find.

Little Women and its sequels were a huge part of my growing years, and I was very interested in revisiting the charming March family with Donnelly's The Little Women Letters. Three sisters in a contemporary setting who evoke the nostalgia of the original Little Women, and these sisters actually descend from those characters. This time around, it's Lulu who is struggling with discovering her purpose in life, as her other sisters seem to know which direction they are heading in. Emma, the eldest, is getting married (and acts just like Meg March), and Sophie, the youngest, is going to be a famous actress (and acts just like Amy March).

Lulu discovers letters written by ancestor Jo, and feels a kinship that she hadn't felt before. As a middle child, Lulu has always felt out of place although she was clearly beloved. She finds herself admiring Jo through the letters she discovers, and we readers are privy to these letters as well. A small bit of the double storyline is apparent as we get Jo's point of view of her life as an apparent spinster before she finally marries, and Lulu relates to this as she is still single and pretty much floundering for direction in her life.

The present-day characters range from friends, family and boyfriends with interesting events and conversations, but I was so much more in tune to the classic storyline with Jo and wished the present day characters evoked more passion. Lulu kept the letters to herself, and I kept waiting for the climatic moment that Lulu would sit around the fire and share with her sisters all the mementos she came across. That moment was muted to say the least. The author did attempt cohesion with the parallels between past and present, such as buying shoes Emma couldn't afford and suffering the consequences (and learning from them), but the conclusion to this plot line didn't quite work either.

The Little Women Letters offers a lot of potential, and a bit of nostalgia, but if it weren't for the actual letters that we got to read, the rest of the book could be a hindrance to those readers who are typically character driven with their novels. The contemporary characters were all a just bit too perfect, or too predictable, and everyone seemingly was just forced into their role and there was little development. I wish there were a way the sisters could have come full circle in a way, but it just wasn't there.

If you a die hard Little Women fan though, this is a perfectly light read for those that wish to be taken back to that whimsical time of long ago that Louisa May Alcott created for her readers. The spirit of Jo was indeed portrayed in the letters that were shared, which were my favorite parts of the novel.

Have you seen the promos for Happily Ever After by John Klima?

This is such a fun premise for a book I had to share it with you all.. aren't you lucky?
I first saw it on Shelf Awareness, and was immediately intrigued and requested an ARC.
Somehow I got two finished copies of these wonderful books.. so I am giving the spare away to one of my USA Followers. I haven't reviewed it yet, but I am certainly going to! I have not read fairy tales since I was a child, and I thought this would be a fun summer read and I might brush up on some stories to share with my own children. I haven't read fantasy or anthologies etc in a dog's age either, so this read will cover my bases.

Check this book out.. and I've bolded what is even so amazingly clever which sold me on this book...


...in the faraway land of Story, a Hugo-winning Editor realized that no one had collected together the fairy tales of the age, and that doorstop-thick anthologies of modern fairy tales were sorely lacking...



And so the Editor ventured forth, wandering the land of Story from shore to shore, climbing massive mountains of books and delving deep into lush, literary forests, gathering together thirty-three of the best re-tellings of fairy tales he could find. Not just any fairy tales, mind you, but tantalizing tales from some of the biggest names in today's fantastic fiction, authors like Gregory Maguire, Susanna Clarke, Charles de Lint, Holly Black, Aletha Kontis, Kelly Link, Neil Gaiman, Patricia Briggs, Paul Di Filippo, Gregory Frost, and Nancy Kress. But these stories alone weren't enough to satisfy the Editor, so the Editor ventured further, into the dangerous cave of the fearsome Bill Willingham, and emerged intact with a magnificent introduction, to tie the collection together.


And the inhabitants of Story, from the Kings and Queens relaxing in their castles to the peasants toiling in the fields; from to the fey folk flitting about the forests to the trolls lurking under bridges and the giants in the hills, read the anthology, and enjoyed it. And they all lived...

...Happily Ever After.


Table of Contents:

1."The Seven Stage a Comeback" by Gregory Maguire
2."And In Their Glad Rags" by Genevieve Valentine
3."The Sawing Boys" by Howard Waldrop
4."Bear It Away" by Michael Cadnum
5."Mr. Simonelli or the Fairy Widower" by Susanna Clarke
6."The Black Fairy's Curse" by Karen Joy Fowler
7."My Life As A Bird" by Charles de Lint
8."The Night Market" by Holly Black
9."The Rose in Twelve Petals" by Theodora Goss
10."The Red Path" by Jim C. Hines
11."Blood and Water" by Alethea Kontis
12."Hansel's Eyes" by Garth Nix
13."He Died That Day, In Thirty Years" by Wil McCarthy
14."Snow In Summer" by Jane Yolen
15."The Rose Garden" by Michelle West
16."The Little Magic Shop" by Bruce Sterling
17."Black Feather" by K. Tempest Bradford
18."Fifi's Tail" by Alan Rodgers
19."The Faery Handbag" by Kelly Link
20."Ashputtle" by Peter Straub
21."The Emperor's New (And Improved) Clothes" by Leslie What
22."Pinocchio's Diary" by Robert J. Howe
23."Little Red" by Wendy Wheeler
24."The Troll Bridge" by Neil Gaiman
25."The Price" by Patricia Briggs
26."Ailoura" by Paul Di Filippo
27."The Farmer's Cat" by Jeff VanderMeer
28."The Root of The Matter" by Gregory Frost
29."Like a Red, Red Rose" by Susan Wade
30."Chasing America" by Josh Rountree
31."Stalking Beans" by Nancy Kress
32."Big Hair" by Esther Friesner
33."The Return of the Dark Children" by Robert Coover

Doesn't this sound fantastically intriguing? What do you think? Would you want this for your own fairy tale collection?
If so.. comment here at Burton Book Review to enter the book giveaway for Happily Ever After by John Klima! Remember to leave your email address so I can contact the winner.

Open to my followers of Burton Book Review in the USA for an undetermined amount of time, and I will haphazardly pick from the comments in any way I see fit when I get around to it. Today, tomorrow, or next week. Or the next? Surprise me with your wittiness and clever commenting abilities..

544 pages Hardcover, Little Brown/Sphere UK 6/2/2011
Sourcebooks US Release 9/1/2011
ISBN 13: 9781847442376
Review copy provided by the UK publisher, thank you!
Burton Book Review Rating: Five Glittery Stars

Two very different women are linked by destiny and the struggle for the English crown. Matilda, daughter of Henry I, is determined to win back her crown from Stephen, the usurper king. Adeliza, Henry's widowed queen and Matilda's stepmother, is now married to William D'Albini, a warrior of the opposition. Both women are strong and prepared to stand firm for what they know is right. But in a world where a man's word is law, how can Adeliza obey her husband while supporting Matilda, the rightful queen? And for Matilda pride comes before a fall ...What price for a crown? What does it cost to be 'Lady of the English'?

As mentioned before as a preface to Elizabeth Chadwick's article she provided us with here, I had first tapped into my historical fiction passion with the novel When Christ and His Saints Slept by Sharon Kay Penman. Henry I's son and heir to England, William, dies in the White Ship disaster, leaving his daughter Matilda as sole heir to the throne after her father's death. The path to that throne is littered with obstacles for the woman, as the new King Stephen usurps the throne of England from the Empress. Elizabeth Chadwick focuses her newest novel on two women: Matilda, Henry I's daughter, and Adeliza, Henry's beautiful wife, as turmoil ignites throughout the lands of Normandy and England.

13, rue Thérèse by Elena Mauli Shapiro
Hardcover, 278 pages
Published February 2nd 2011 by Hachette/Reagan Arthur Books
Review copy provided by publisher, thank you!
Burton Book Review Rating:



This book is a visual delight. Photos of correspondence, photos of the people discussed, a treasure hunt of a puzzle. The writing is another intriguing factor.. flits in and out of "present" and the past.. which could either be construed as a confusing mess or instead a fun jaunt into adventure unlike any other book you've read. The entire premise is original and rare, and I embrace it.

This is one of those books that to review it without spoiling the delight for the new reader is very difficult, as each little discovery of the plot and the people were slowly unwrapped via the narration as we peruse the contents of a mysterious box. I shall not spoil it. There are many themes here, from family loyalty and trust, marriage and infidelity, war and its dizzying effects, and finally a bit of time travel or reincarnation or spiritualism that just may be the definition of whether you enjoy or hate this book. And the fact that there is infidelity which brings explicit sexual content could go either way: love it or hate it.

For me, I normally dislike abundance of sex. And I certainly do not promote infidelity, nor do I do so now. It was not full of sex scenes, but full of thoughts of them. In a cemetery, in the hallway, etc. And still, this book as a package, was a winner for me, for the sheer unconventionality of it all. I loved the different visuals of  memorabilia: the jewelry, postcards, letters, and photos as they were examined piece by piece in the story. I loved the very different and very creative way the story played itself out. And in the very end, there is a 'twist' that could make you exclaim "how contrived!".. but it could also shiver you with delight with its ingenuity.

13, rue Thérèse by Elena Mauli Shapiro spoke to the vintage lover in me, the creative side of me, the French language lover in me and to the mystery lover in me. The history of the family behind the artifacts was an intriguing story, as was the story of the narrator himself, Trevor Stratton. Trevor himself was a bit annoying to me. His documentation (with footnotes!) to whom he was writing was not apparent to the very end, and the very end.. was.. you'll have to read it to see... but I dropped a star because of it. And yet, eccentricities are alive, and if your mind is feeling open today, you should open 13, rue Thérèse as well.

There is an intriguing website with some of the images from the book, and I even had fun using the iPhone QR code reader at the back of the book. You'll have to check it out!

It is with glee that I present this article written by Elizabeth Chadwick in honor of today's UK release of her newest novel, Lady of the English. This is a beautiful hardcover that is available at the BookDepository or Amazon.uk. I couldn't wait to sink my teeth into it, and it is not disappointing me in the least! Lady of the English will be available in the USA in the fall. But I know you can't wait for the paperback USA release, so go grab this gorgeous 544 page book from the UK, you know you want to.

Two very different women are linked by destiny and the struggle for the English crown. Matilda, daughter of Henry I, is determined to win back her crown from Stephen, the usurper king. Adeliza, Henry's widowed queen and Matilda's stepmother, is now married to William D'Albini, a warrior of the opposition. Both women are strong and prepared to stand firm for what they know is right. But in a world where a man's word is law, how can Adeliza obey her husband while supporting Matilda, the rightful queen? And for Matilda pride comes before a fall ...What price for a crown? What does it cost to be 'Lady of the English'?

One of the most favored historical fiction authors of our day, here is Elizabeth Chadwick, as I asked her to set the scene of her new novel for those who might not be familiar with The White Ship disaster and the ensuing struggle between Empress Matilda and King Stephen. I myself had read When Christ and His Saints Slept by Sharon Kay Penman which begins with the White Ship Disaster. That book got me started on this fabulous journey of the medieval era, and it is with eager anticipation that I get my reading pleasure back to that historic time period.


Marie, thanks so much for allowing me to guest blog for the UK hardcover publication of Lady of the English.



On November 25th 1120, King Henry I of England was at Barfleur in Normandy preparing to return to England. He was in settled middle age, but still looking to the future. His eldest son William was in his late teens and being groomed to eventually succeed his father as Duke of Normandy and King of England. Henry's daughter Matilda, also in her late teens was Empress of Germany. Henry's wife, Matilda, had died two years ago, but Henry was now looking to remarry and had already set matters in motion and was contracting to wed Adeliza of Louvain, a young woman of similar age to his daughter. Adeliza was accounted beautiful and pious, and Henry was keen to marry, and hopefully beget more legitimate heirs beyond the two born of his first wife. Henry had something of a reputation for liking the ladies and fathered at least a score of bastards on various women.

But that cold winter's night in Normandy, everything was to change. Henry set sail first in daylight with a lot of older, sober court members, but left the youngsters including his son and several of his illegitimate offspring, to their carousing and pleasure. It was the last Henry ever saw of them. The White Ship foundered when it hit a rock in Barfleur harbour, and sank without survivors save one - a butcher who clung to a spar and was washed ashore.

Henry's whole game plan had to change because now the only legitimate heir to the throne was his daughter Matilda in Germany. He went ahead with his marriage plans, but it became obvious that no child was going to be forthcoming from Adeliza. Young and beautiful though she was, she did not quicken. Henry began to cast around for a successor and his gaze fixed upon his nephew Stephen, son of his sister Adela. Stephen had an older brother Theobald, who would become count of Blois, and a younger brother Henry who was destined for the priesthood. Stephen in the middle seems to have attracted King Henry's interest and approval. He had grown up at the court with tragic young Prince, and had only been saved from drowning himself because he was suffering from a stomach upset and preferred not to embark on the fated White Ship.

Henry married Stephen to Matilda of Boulogne, who was kin on her mother's side to the old Royal Saxon house of England, thus giving Stephen a firm claim to the Crown. There was another claimant to the throne too, a young man called William le Clito. He too was Henry's nephew, but an enemy because he was the son of Henry's older brother, Robert. Henry had defeated Robert in battle way back in 1106, and had had him cast into prison ever since - where he was subsequently to die. When le Clito was old enough, he took up his father's gauntlet and laid claim to England and Normandy. However Henry's grip was strong and sure, and although le Clito fought hard, he was hampered by a lack of resources and his threat to Henry was to end in 1128 when he died from a poisoned battle wound.

In 1125 the Emperor of Germany died untimely, leaving Henry's daughter Matilda a widow. Suddenly there was a new player in the game. Henry summoned Matilda home and had the barons swear to her as their future sovereign. This did not sit well with many of his lords and clergy, but Henry was so strong a King, and ruled with such charisma and iron that no one dared oppose him. However, he did not cast off Stephen entirely. As I have him say in LADY OF THE ENGLISH:

‘A prudent man keeps more than one horse in the stable, but there is always one he prefers to ride.’

And that is exactly how I believe Henry felt. He could play one off against the other. If one displeased him or if policy changed that he could turn to the other. I also think that he was hoping to live forever, or at least until his grandson's were grown up. Externally he might have prepared to meet his own mortality, but internally he had no intention of giving up his fistfuls of power.

When he did eventually die – (did he jump or was he pushed?) The Blois faction were well placed to seize the Crown, and I think their swift action was premeditated. Stephen was at Wissant which was a short sea journey from England, and his brother Henry was at Winchester and in control of the Royal Treasury. You tell me whether there was a conspiracy or not!

Matilda on the other hand was in Anjou with her husband and sons, and newly pregnant again. No one came galloping to offer her the crown. Instead it was all stitched up by the Blois faction and the reluctance of barons to accept a woman on the throne, when they could have a man.

Nevertheless, they had sworn their allegiance to Matilda, and Matilda had not only her own right to fight for, but that of her small son, Henry - and fight she did, to the great cost of the lands involved, the people, and herself.

Adeliza helped her in that fight. Indeed Adeliza was immensely important to Matilda. After Henry died she married William D’Albini, a young baron who was a staunch supporter of Stephen. But despite her loyalty to her husband, Adeliza was determined to do what she felt was right by old obligations and ties. When Matilda came to England to fight her corner, it was Adeliza who gave her a safe landfall.

LADY OF THE ENGLISH begins the story in 1125 when Matilda is setting out from Germany to return home, and Adeliza is despairing that she will never bear Henry an heir. Both women were titled ‘Lady of the English’ in their lives, and and that's why I chose it for the novel. It was always given to the Queen of England in that period, and although Matilda never gained the Crown, she was acknowledged with that tribute.

Mothers and Daughters by Rae Meadows
March 29, 2011, Henry Holt and Co.
ISBN: 0805093834
272 Pages
Review copy provided by the publisher
Burton Book Review Rating: 4 stars

One of the benefits of reading novels is to garner certain viewpoints of the characters, as some make statements about society or offer insight into something we hadn't really thought about for ourselves. Humanity is alive in this novel, Mothers and Daughters by Rae Meadows, as it traces the paths of three very different women who really aren't all that close on the outside. The bond of motherhood holds them together in a single trembling thread, as it seems communication was null and secrets were deep.

The story of Violet was most compelling, as it seemed she underwent the most hardship. Violet and her mother left the farm and an abusive husband and struck out on their own in 1900. After scavenging around in Brooklyn, she was set on an orphan train at age 11, by her not very responsible mom. Violet matures very quickly and although we pity her, we know she will survive, because a third of the story encompasses her daughter, Iris. Iris is strong, capable, and willful. She was once married to a man she didn't feel passionate about. And now she is dying. Enter stage right, Samantha, who as a new mother is trying to decipher the legacy of these women and how they relate to her and what she should become. A tangled weave unravels slowly throughout the story as we flit back and forth in the narration between the three women. It is almost like a statement on how the roles of women have changed, and their expectations of life, or those forced on those from society. There is a mixture of emotions and themes as well as some cynicism that tried to overshadow the value of hope.

While the reader is enthralled with the history of early America regarding the life of Violet, such as the mercy trains of the Children's Aid Society transporting unwanted children, Samantha is the contemporary woman who struggles within the confines of motherhood as she attempts to balance it with being a wife and an artist. Samantha seems bitter with her husband, Jack, for no particular reason. She also seems to want a lot of her life without actually doing anything to attain it. Yet, the fact that she is a new mother can make the reader empathetic towards her character as we remember what it was like with round the clock feedings of an infant. Otherwise, Samantha doesn't come off as being very likable. And the weird momentary stalking of a prostitute really sets you on edge and makes you wonder if Samantha is a fruitcake.

The story is crafted in such a way that the element of time shifts continually as we go in and out of each memory, each thought, and each separate narration. Since this is a novel purported to explore the characters of these women, these shifts are not jarring in any way. The writing flowed, the story flowed, and I felt like I was putting together a puzzle of each of these women piece by piece. The supporting characters were each unique in their own way, from eccentric neighbors, cheating husbands to boring brothers. It is not epic saga material, but intriguing and insightful reading that kept me interested throughout as it effortlessly blends past, present, and even a bit of future with Samantha's little infant, Ella. I give it four of five stars because I didn't feel a strong conclusion to the family dynamic. There still seemed to be a lot more to be told, and if this was expanded upon, perhaps it would have been saga material.

Since history is always my favored subject, I was very intrigued by the Children's Aid Society and the mercy trains that sent children like Violet across country to work on family farms, become adopted, or be indentured. Violet worked at a hospital and later married. After such meager beginnings, this otherwise boring life was welcomed. Thinking in genealogical terms, it is staggering to think of the 120,000 children who became displaced from their real families in the early 1900's, who had their pasts erased and were even given new birth dates. Another historical tidbit I gleaned from the story was a mention of the Hoboken, N.J. Steamship fire that occurred in 1900. I wrote a little post about it here.

To wrap it up, Mothers and Daughters by Rae Meadows was an intriguing novel of the generational gaps between women, and a great story for new mothers. Since it also dealt with the death of Samantha's mother Iris, there was a bit of grief involved and the inhumanity of the suffering through cancer till one's last breath. Iris really couldn't wait to take that last breath, unfortunately Samantha realized too late there were things she would have liked to ask her mom. Mothers and Daughters was a sad, yet hopeful journey of these three women, and yet it was still much more of a portrait of relationships as a whole. I recommend this for both its tenderness with the age-old topic of motherhood and for its uniquely powerful storytelling that draws you into its spell.

The BEA 2011 is over, so we will go back to normal programming of book reviews next week. This post is not completely thought out, I am running on empty and need a triple espresso to wake up.. but here goes.



Today, the Armchair BEA Panel asks us to Blog about Blogging! There is a Book Blogger Convention today in NYC (come to Dallas!!) so the theme seems right.
There were lots of writing prompts, like how to social network, how to balance reality from your online life, tips on technique, etc.

One of those prompts was "a rule list":

Create a "rule list" of things you should and shouldn't be doing on a book blog.


That stuck out for me.. because we blog for us. We blog because we want to. We do not get paid to blog. We do not have to cater to one particular genre if we do not want to. We do not have to post if we don't want to. Lots of people have their own niche's and their own set of general do's and will not do's for their own life. You should set your own as you see fit, and never let anyone else set boundaries for you. Barring explicit and offensive/prejudicial content, you should aim high! Or aim just as you see fit. Your blog is your creation and you should let it be a reflection of yourself, if you want it to.

My personal set of rules:
Be happy.
Enjoy the experience.
Only accept review books that I am extremely interested in.
Converse with other bloggers as time permits.
Cultivate relationships with favorite publishers.
Make my reviews informative and interesting, while using spell-check.
*Stay away from reviewing the same books that every one is reviewing. *

That last one is a toughie and I'm trying to move in that direction as the summer comes along. Even though blog tours can be fun for the authors, I have to wonder how many times we really want to see the same book over and over and over again. The plus is most of the time there are giveaways that go along with the tours, so I would think that those who do want to win that book would follow along on the tour to enter for the chances to win. So, I'm still on the fence on this one. As a blogger yourself, what do you think are the pro's and cons of Blog Tours? Are they redundant to you?

Back to my "rules list".. there are a lot of technical tips that I could go into such as twitter and facebook pages to help promote your blog, but all that should be a personal preference. It depends on how far you want to take your blog, and how much time you have to devote to it. Build it, and they will come.. but you can't just let it sit there and expect people to show up. You will have to market yourself. You will have to comment on other blogs. You will have to get out there and insert yourself into that niche that you want to be in. You need to want it, you need to have a passion for it, and you need to not expect greatness if you are not. And no, I am not greatness, but someday I will get to where I want to be, though I am still working out what that is. We shall see. There was a point when I felt like I didn't want to write one more review.. so it just depends on which way real life is blowing at any particular time.

When I started branding my blog, it became important to have a specific graphic, something identifiable as your blog, to represent you. So, @BurtonReview is my twitter handle. I signed up with Gravatar so the same image comes up when I comment on wordpress blogs. Certain little things like that go a long way.
If you are a newbie, I would definitely say to watch for the bloggiesta events that come up, as they suggest things you may have forgotten to work on which helps clean up and focus your blog in the right direction. I did participate once and got a lot of work done on my blog one weekend.