|
 The
Devil Wears Prada by Lauren
Weisberger
ISBN # 038550926X
As a fan of The Nanny Diaries
and quite a few other "chick lit" books, I had to get this
one and see what all the hype was about—and I wasn't
disappointed!
The book tells the tale of recent college
grad Andrea Sachs whose ambition in life is to be a writer
for The New Yorker. Instead, she lands the job "a million
girls would die for" as an assistant/slave for the highly
renowned fashion maven and editor (Miranda Priestly) of the
fictional fashion magazine Runway. The word
is that an assistant who can last a year as Miranda's lackey
can pretty much name her next job and Andrea decides to bite
the bullet for 12 whole months. But can she survive the unbelievable
and escalating ridiculous demands put upon her by boss without
losing a bit of her soul?
For anybody who's ever had the boss from
hell, this book is for you as it will make you feel infinitely
better about your own experience. I was a bit disappointed
by the wrap-up in the end (Does she keep her boyfriend or
move on to new hottie Christian? What happens to her best
friend? Will she ever work for The New Yorker?)
but I found myself rooting for Andrea every page of the way.
 Much
Ado About You by Eloisa James
ISBN# 0-06-073206-7
As everyone who knows me well knows,
I absolutely adore regency historical romances and one of
my favorite authors in this genre is Eloisa James. I've been
a fan since her first book, Potent Pleasures,
was published in 2000 and I continue to be amazed at the sheer
talent this author has shown in each and every book since.
In Much Ado About You,
the first in a new series by Ms. James, our heroine, Tess
Essex and her four beautiful sisters have been left by their
late father into the hands of the most unlikely guardian selected
for no other reason than apparently his love for horses. It
becomes apparent that all sisters must soon marry, and they
set off with much enthusiasm. Unfortunately, despite enthusiasm
and great beauty, their task is not as easy as it seems.
I wish I could write dialog as good
as this! Her characters sparkle through their dialog, making
this reader believe she's really sitting in a regency-era
parlor matching wits with Tess and her sisters. Tess is an
admirable heroine, trying to make the most sensible choice
of a marriage-mate-if only she wasn't distracted by the very
intense and very desirable Lucius Felton.
I'm looking forward to the rest of
the books in this series!
 The
Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B.
by Sandra Gulland
ISBN# 0-684-85606-9
I generally read pretty much everything,
but I've never been a huge fan of historical biography until
I picked up this book. Wow! I could hardly believe that I
was staying up all night to find out what happens next in
this totally engrossing diary-style novel based on the life
and times of Josephine Bonaparte.
There are three books in the series
(all now available as this book was first released in 1995)
and each tells a portion of the exciting life of the Emperor
Napoleon's love, Josephine. This book starts when Josephine
(called Rose until she meets Napoleon and he renames her)
as a child on the island of Martinique on her father's insolvent
plantation. It takes the reader through her entire first marriage,
the French Revolution and her imprisonment, and ends with
her marriage to Napoleon.
Truly a remarkable book and highly
recommended for anybody who loves an engrossing and thought-provoking
read with the added benefit of learning a lot about a truly
great woman of history.
Check back for more book faves--I
always have a pile on my bed stand and I love to talk about
books almost as much as I love to write them!
- Great young adult reads
 Becoming
Mary Mehan - Two Novels
by Jennifer Armstrong
ISBN # 0-400-22961-8
The first novel is about an Irish
immigrant and her family as they try to fit in the mixed up
nation of the United States as it rages on in a war that divided
itself in two. In The Dreams of Marihe Mehan, Mary
is a bartender in the Irish slums of Washington, D.C. As she
struggles with talk of war and fighting, the lives of her
own brother and father has been lost. Her poor father has
lost his mind and her brother Mike does not come home from
the Civil War. Mary turns to helping the wounded soldiers
in order to keep her sanity.
In Mary Mehan Awake, Mary is
lost with terrible thoughts of taking care of bloody soldiers
for two years. With the help of a new-found friend with connections,
Mary leaves Washington, D.C. for New York with the hope of
waking up and starting over in the peace and surroundings
of her new life.
I thought this book is one of the
best books I have ever read because it is a powerful story
written in two narratives about a young girl during and after
the Civil War. This book is best for readers who love historical
fiction and a little love story.
 Pirates!
by Celia Rees
ISBN# 1-58234-816-2
Two very different young girls with a very
boring and awful life set off for adventure in this book.
Nancy Kington is a rich merchant's daughter living in Bristol,
England before going to Jamaica. She meets a slave living
on the Kington's plantation, named Minerva Sharpe, who has
a sad and mysterious background. They both decide to forget
their lives behind them and joining a ship called the Deliverance.
But the Deliverance is not an ordinary ship. It flies black
flags and hopes to scare away every ship they sight. But not
for one ship captained by an evil man who chases Nancy, his
runaway intended, to get back what he wants, and Nancy and
the Deliverance's crew know he will stop at nothing. Minerva
escapes to the life of pirates because of slavery and the
cruel overseer on the Kington's plantation. This book is a
very daring and exciting story about the different side of
pirates and you will not want to put it down.
 Both
Sides of Time by Caroline
B. Cooney
ISBN# 1-56352-750-2
Annie Lockwood is a fifteen-year-old
in 1995 and has trouble finding romance. When she travels
back in time and ends up one hundred years earlier, she finally
finds what she wants. But it does not end happily ever after.
Annie makes both sides of time more miserable, and if she
decides to stay with the one she loves she may not every be
able to fix the lives in her time, and the time she has trespassed.
This book is just the first in a four-book series. I couldn't
put any of these books down until I finished them.
- Out of Time - ISBN 0-440-21933-7
- Prisoner of Time - ISBN
0- 400-22019-X
- For All Time - ISBN 0-400-22931-6
- Dark Secrets - Legacy of
Lies ISBN 0-7434-0028-3
Megan gets confused when she is invited
by a cold grandmother she never met to visit a house, Scarborough
House, that she has only seen in her dreams. Her very handsome
cousin, who lives with their grandmother, wants her to leave.
Scarborough House is old and interesting with secret nooks
and corners. Thousands of questions pop up in her mind when
she visits Scarborough House. For one, why is Matt determined
to call Megan his "almost" cousin? Megan wants to find out
why everyone-especially Matt-is so surprised when they first
saw her and why some even act…afraid. Then Megan begins having
dreams of people she never knew, a love she never knew, and
a very dark secret that could very well end her life. This
book is also in a series. Each book is about a different generation
and different people, but they all revolve in the town called
Wisteria.
- Dark Secrets - Don't Tell
ISBN 0-7434-0029-1
- Dark Secrets - No Time To Die
ISBN 0-7434-0030-5
- Dark Secrets - The Deep End
of Fear ISBN 0-689-85259-2
|
