The Sleeping Bride by Dorothy Eden

Synopsis From Dust Jacket:

Aurora, beautiful, glamorous, immensely attractive to men; and her sister Lydia, whose beauty is of a quieter nature.  Although she could have had any man she wanted, Aurora impulsively chose Philip Nash, a young artist she had met only recently.  Then, on the very eve of her wedding, she disappeared without a trace!

In the frantic weeks that followed, Philip and Lydia were together constantly in their search for the missing bride, and it soon became evident to Philip that Aurora's plainer sister was the one he loved.  But could Lydia, aware of her own growing desire for her sister's fiance, dare take what he wanted, as Aurora had always done?  And where was Aurora?  Had she run away voluntarily, or was there something sinister about her life that no one - least of all her sister - had ever guessed.

 I don't know what's happening to me, but I'm rather starting to like my mystery/suspense with a little romance.  I'm not sure how this has happened, but between The Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie, various Mary Roberts Rinehart books, and  Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, I'm starting to appreciate the mixture.  That's not counting all the other books I've read lately that seem to be blurring the boundaries between mystery and romance.  I do have a little caveat though, I seem to prefer older books, rather than the romantic suspense stuff that is written today.  I don't know if it's the settings or the writing style, but what annoys the hell out of me in a modern mystery novel, doesn't even phase me in a book written prior to 1960.  I'm sure that some would call this a double standard, and want to question me on it.  They are welcome to question away, because I doubt I have any answers they will like.  I'm not concerned enough over it to sit down and really analyze my feelings on the subject.  I like what I like, I don't what I don't.

The mystery itself was rather tangled, just the way I like them.  Aurora isn't the only one who is missing, it seems she was trying to help an elderly woman who's sister is missing as well.  Did she get too close to the truth, or is her disappearance another matter all together?  What about her boss, who seems to give her expensive presents, but when Lydia meets him, he just doesn't seem to be the type.  Is this who Aurora is supposed to been having an affair with?  And what is being hidden at his country home?  Why are there no servants, except for one man who seems to do it all, and is the bedridden, elderly woman the woman that is missing?  Lydia and Philip put their own lives on the line in order to find out the secrets of that house, and to find Aurora before it's too late.

Challenges:  A-Z, VM (Wicked Women)

Murder in the Mews by Agatha Christie

Synopsis From Back Cover:

How did a woman holding a pistol in her right hand manage to shoot herself in the left temple?  What was the link between a ghost sighting and the disappearance of top secret military plans?  Ho did the bullet that killed Sir Gervase shatter a mirror in another part of the room?  And should the beautiful Valentine Chantry flee for her life from the holiday island of Rhodes?

Hercule Poirot is face with four mysterious cases - each a miniature classic of characterization, incident, and suspense.

It feels good to have a Agatha Christie fix.  It's a pleasure that I have been ignoring, or not partaking in as much as I would like, lately.  That neglect is something I plan on doing something about this year.  In another review I commented on how a favorite book can fee like home.  I'm here to tell you that a favorite author can feel the same way.  No matter what else is going on in my life, even the worst book that Dame Christie wrote, can get me out of a funk and back into reading bliss.

When the first Christie book of the year is a collection of 4 short stories, that bliss is amplified.  While I may thoroughly enjoy her full length novels, I have a soft spot for her short stories.  She is so deft and brilliant at creating a believable plot line, well at least a plot line you can see happening, in her novels, that seeing her do the same thing in a shorter span of time, is a bigger treat.  She is able to form a full mystery story; plot, character development, and enough twists and turns to please even the harshest critic, even though the story may only be 80 or so pages.

I can't say I loved every story equally, because that will never happen.  I could have done without the second, and I absolutely loved the fourth.  Where Agatha Christie rises above the rest, is that even though I didn't enjoy the second story as much as the others, it was still better than most of the crap put out today.  That and the fact that Hercule Poirot is not one of my favorite creations of hers, doesn't help either.  I can only deal with him in small doses, so I don't tear through his books the way I do some of the others.

Challenges: A-Z, VM (Get Out of Jail Free: Short Stories)

Joss Whedon's New Movie: Much Ado About Nothing

First of all, I can't believe I never heard of this project before.  I'm such a huge Joss Whedon fan.  Between Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, Angel, Dollhouse,and Firefly, he is responsible for four of my favorite TV show of all time.  Add into the mix that Nathan Fillion, Alexis Denisof, and Amy Acker are in the movie, and I'm already in seventh heaven.  But it gets even better!  Not only is Much Ado About Nothing one of my favorite Shakespeare plays, but the trailer at least is in b&w.  I am convinced that not enough movies are in black and white.  It looks like the release date on the movie is June 7th, and I will be seeing the movie on that day, or at least within the week.

The Fire by Katherine Neville

Synopsis From Back Cover:

2003, Colorado:  Alexandra Solarin is summoned home to her family's ancestral Rocky Mountain hideaway for her mother's birthday.  Thirty years ago, her parents, Cat Velis and Alexander Solarin, believed they had scattered the pieces of the Montglane Service around the world, burying with the chessmen the secrets of the power that comes with possessing them.  But Alexandra arrives to find that her mother is missing - and that the Game has begun again.

1822, Albania:  Haidee, the young daughter of a powerful Ottoman ruler, embarks on a dangerous mission to smuggle a valuable relic out of Albania and deliver it to the hands of the one man who might be able to save it.  Haidee's journey brings forth chilling revelations that burn through history to present day.

I don't know how the rest of you feel about sequels, but I'm always a little leery of them.  Unless a book or movies was planned to have a sequel to it, then for many reasons that unplanned sequel just doesn't seem to work.  Many times, the problem can be as simple as the new installment not being as interesting as the first.  Or it could go to the extreme of completely changing the first one, leaving the reader/watcher feeling cold towards both of them.  Thankfully, The Fire is closer to the first situation.

What's worse, is I wish I could completely explain my reaction to this book, but I can't.  I loved the first book, The Eight, so much that I have read and reread it many times over the years.  I feel in love with the characters, and the historical flashbacks didn't annoy me the way they normally do.  Sadly, with The Fire, I didn't fall in love with the new characters, and actually was wanting more of the old characters.  Nor did the flashbacks work as well for me.  Despite including Lord Byron in them, they seemed even more convoluted and forced this time around.

I guess my biggest issue with the characters is that I just didn't care about Alexandra as much as I did for Cat and Alexander.  Where the parents kept me invested in what was happening on the page, their daughter, while not a horrible character, didn't do the same.  It's not that I didn't like her, I just kept comparing her to her mother the entire time.  The little page time Cat gets, perked me up and kept me far more engaged during her appearances than at any other time in the book.  And the way Alexander is treated annoyed me.  What happens to him in the beginning, though horrifying, was better than the odd way in which he was returned to the reader.  It was a poor use of him.

If it wasn't for Lily getting a lot of page time in this book, I'm not sure I would have appreciated it as much.  Of the new characters, Nokomis included, they were interesting, but they just didn't have the same punch as the first group.  I didn't dislike any of them, but they never felt real to me.  The villains of the piece were probably the weakest of all the new characters.  They just were never developed in the way they should have been.  At least in The Eight, they were essential to the lives of all the other characters.  This time around, they are more of a peripheral group, all on their own.

My last gripe, and I may be alone on this one, is the way the "teams" seemed to blend and change.  In the first book, it's clear that the black team is good and that the white team is bad.  With The Fire, the author plays with that concept a little bit too much, making individuals on both teams good and bad, blurring the lines and forcing a rethink of the Game itself.  I guess within the context of this book, it makes sense, but it seems to be changing the actual history of the Game in order to get to this point.  It just didn't feel "right" for whatever reason.

Now I'm not saying I hated the book, because I didn't.  I love The Eight so much, that any opportunity I have to revisit the world Katherine Neville created is well worth my time.  And I also think it would be safe to say that if she ever decides to write a third book, I'd read that too.  My only regret is that I didn't love it as much as I did the first one.  I wish I could have not let my feelings for the first, reflect on the way I reacted to the second.  But I don't think there is any way to do that, so what's the point on worrying about it.

The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan

Synopsis From Dust Jacket:

The seals of Shayol Ghul are weak now, and the Dark One reaches out. The Shadow is rising to cover humankind.

In Tar Valon, Min sees portents of hideous doom.  Will the White Tower itself be broken?

In the Two Rivers, the Whitecloaks ride in pursuit of a man with golden eyes, and in pursuit of the Dragon Reborn.

In Cantorin, among the Sea Fold, High Lady Suroth plots the return of the Seanchan armies to the mainland.

In the Stone of Tear, the Lord Dragon considers his next move.  It will be something no one expects, not the Black Ajah, not Tarien nobles, not Aes Sedai, not Egwene or Elayne or Nynaeve.

Against the Shadow rising stand the Dragon Reborn....

One thing that my break allowed me to do was get the remaining 11 books in the Wheel of Time series read, and in a rather timely manner.  Which is no small feat considering the size of these books, in pages and characters.  With book four, The Shadow Rising, the story continues at a pretty quick pace, though you can tell that it will start to slow down in a bit.  More and more side plots are being added, which of course requires more characters and lands to be introduced and explored.

For the most part this installment focuses on Perrin as he returns to the Two Rivers with Loial and Faile, who I am starting to like at this point in time.  He is having to deal with the death of his family, his changing status in Edmond's Field and the rest of the Two Rivers, and his growing attachment to the wolfs.

Rand, Egwene, Mat, Moiraine, Lan and the Aiel head back to the Waste in order to gather the other clans around him, uniting the People of the Dragon.

Min, Gawyn, and Galad are in the White Tower when Elaida leads a coup against Siuan Sanche and has herself names as the Amyrilin Seat.  This move splits the White Tower, and forces the three characters to choose sides.  One helps Siuan and Leane escape, the other two side with Elaida, though for different reasons.

The Forskaen continue to cause problems, though they are starting to appear to be more and more human in their character.

I'm not hating any of the characters at this point in time, though my disgust of the Seanchan is growing.  I feel contempt for the Whitecloaks, and Padan Fain just gets on my nerves, though I don't hate the idea of him yet.

Other Books in the Series:

The Eye of the World
The Great Hunt
The Dragon Reborn

The Lonesome Gods by Louis L'Amour

Synopsis From Back Cover:

"I am Johannes Verne, and I am not afraid."

This was the boy's mantra as he plodded through the desert alone, left to die by his vengeful grandfather.  Johannes Verne was soon to be rescued by outlaws, but no one could save him from the lasting memory of his grandfather's eyes, full of impenetrable hatred.  Raised in part by Indians, then befriended by a mysterious woman, Johannes grew up to become a rugged adventurer and an educated man.  But even now, strengthened by the love of a golden-haired girl and well on his way to make a fortune in bustling early-day Los Angeles, the past may rise up to threaten his future once more.  And this time only the ancient gods of the desert can save him.

One of the earliest decisions I made about my reading this year, is that I'm going to accept very, very few review books, and concentrate on the books I want to read.  That means I'm going to be rereading a lot of books I haven't touched since I started blogging.  I have missed my visits with old friends, especially those I first discovered as kid.  Zachary & Johannes Verne, Miss Nesselrode, Jacob Finney, Meghan Laurel, and Dona Elena, are characters I first encountered as a wee lad, and I have loved them ever since.

I can say with all honesty, that I am not a Western fan.  I have never been able to get into the genre, movies or books.  My mom on the other hand, is a huge fan.  Growing up, I watched her devour John Wayne movies and Louis L'Amour books.  You can't be a book whore like I am, even at such a young age, and not pick up a book or two that your parents seem to be into.  For the most part, the Louis L'Amour books I read, didn't do anything for me.  But there was something about The Lonesome Gods that has stuck with me over twenty years later.  I have a feeling that it's because the story starts off with Johannes, as a young boy, traveling to California with a dying father.  A child who is facing a unknown fate, and has no clue what will happen to him.  The bravery he shows in the face of death and a black hole of possibilities amazed me the first time I read this book, and still leaves me feeling a little annoyed with myself, thinking I would not have been so brave.

As the book progresses and Johannes grows into a young man who any father would be proud of, the book never looses focus on the danger that still awaits him.  He is surrounded by those who would rather seem him dead, then think of what he means to them.  Luckily for him, he gathers a few close friends around him, friends who are fiercely loyal and will do what needs to be done to make Johannes honors his father's memory.

The Eight by Katherine Neville

Synopsis From Back Cover:

New York City, 1972 - A dabbler in mathematics and chess, Catherine Velis is also a computer expert for a Big Eight accounting firm.  Before heading off to a new assignment in Algeria, Cat has her palm read by a fortune-teller.  The woman warns Cat of danger.  Then an antiques dealer approaches Cat with a mysterious offer:  He has an anonymous client who is trying to collect the pieces of an ancient chess service, purported to be in Algeria.  If Cat can bring the pieces back, there will be a generous reward.

The south of France, 1790 - Mireille de Remy and her cousin Valentine are young novices at the fortress like Montglane Abbey.  With France aflame in revolution, the two girls burn to rebel against constricted convent life - and their means of escape is at hand.  Buried deep within the abbey are pieces of the Montglane Chess Service, once owned by Charlemagne.  Whoever reassembles the pieces can play a game of unlimited power.  But to keep the Game a secret from those who would abuse it, the two young women must scatter the pieces throughout the world....

There are certain books that feel like home.  I'm not talking about a physical home, because unless you are a Smurf, I'm not sure you could find one big enough to live in.  Even then, I think it would take a book like War and Peace, to find one big enough to make it work.  What I'm talking about are the books that you have read so many times, that diving back into their pages, feels like you are being welcomed back by family you haven't seen in a while.  When you are feeling down, or in a rut, they are the books you return to in order to make everything right with the world again.  There is never any sort of judgement or restrictions on what you need to make it all good, but those characters, their story, always seems to be what you are needing at that time.

The Eight by Katherine Neville, is one of those books for me.  To tell you the truth, I have a lot of them, since I'm such a huge rereader, but this is one of my favorites.  First published in 1988, Katherine Neville was doing the whole Dan Brown thing, before anyone even knew who Robert Langdon was.  Cat Velis was cool before Laura Croft, and a hell of a lot more interesting.  This is even one of the few books where I'm not bored by the historical flashbacks.  I find Mireille to be just as interesting as Cat, and when their two stories come together in a very physical sense, I'm amazed by how much I'm willing to buy into the concept and storyline.  I think it's a credit to the author that my willingness to suspend disbelief, never waivers.  She has me from the first page to the last, and often times I'm so into the story, that I forget what time of day it is, or even if I've ate anything or not.

That is the power of a good reread for me, that no matter how many times I've delved into a specific world, or ran along with the characters as they are being chased through a desert, I'm never bored.  I'm engaged the entire time, and am already looking forward to the next time I pick the book up.

I was going to leave the review likes this, but then I remembered I have read the sequel to this book, The Fire, recently, and if I want to review that as well, I'm going to have to talk about the action in the book itself.  Otherwise, the upcoming review, will make entirely no sense.  So really quickly, I'm going to touch on a few things, that I will not be able to leave out of the review for The Fire.

As you can tell by the cover, and by the synopsis, chess, in all is facets, plays a huge role in this book.  From the teams, white and black, on down to the various characters who not only play the game, but seem to be masters at it, chess is the lifeblood of the book.  Cat Velis and her begrudging friend, Lily Rad, are drawn into a game of chess played on a global board, with players as pieces, and others pulling the strings for the last few hundred years.  The object of the game is to collect the Montglane chess set; pieces, board, and cover, discover it's secrets, all before the opposing team.  It's a game that has been nonstop for years, and has been played by some major figures in history; Catherine the Great, Voltaire, Napoleon, Robespierre, and Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord, to name just a few.  Maurice actually plays a huge role in the life of Mireille, and ends up being a pivotal player of his generation.

That game, with some of the same players, is still going on when Cat is dragged into it.  At first, she has no idea of whom to trust or what the endgame is supposed to be.  Through some great teamwork with Lily, a Russian chess master, Alexander Solarin, and a few others who she grows close to, she is able to bring the game to a point that will allow her side to claim victory for the first time.  The fact the is faced with a duplicitous opposition that will do everything to gain the service for themselves, even murder, doesn't stop her from being a kick ass heroine that would give Allan Quartermain a run for his money.

Challenges: A-Z