Elixir - Hilary Duff with Elise Allen

★★★★★★★★★★ (5/10)

I want to start by saying I've never been a big Hilary Duff fan.  In fact, when I first saw this book, I was interested in the jacket description, but when I realized who the author was, I was a little wary about purchasing a book by an actor/singer/whatever that I didn't think too highly of.  My boyfriend convinced me to give it a chance -- partly out of his being a fan of her music and partly out of his push to get me out of my comfort zone.  It turned out to be a mostly good idea.  

Elixir features a pseudo-famous teenager who has a love of photography and anonymity.  Clea is the daughter of a high profile politician, and she has recently lost her father.  The difficulty is that no one can tell her if he's dead or just missing, and if he's dead, no one knows how or why.  Still, this isn't the point of the novel, although it plays a strong role in determining Clea's frame of mind.  She starts finding one person over and over again in the photos that she takes, without remembering that she saw him anywhere when she was traveling.  This leads her on a chase to track down this mystery man and find out what he knows about her father's death/disappearance.  I won't say much more than this about the plot, because I don't want to spoil anything, and I think that my opinions would be more biased than I care to admit.

I can't really decide whether I liked this book or not.  It's one in which I liked the idea of the plot, but the way it was written and the way it turned out didn't exactly live up to my expectations.  It's very similar to the way I feel about J.R.R. Tolkien's novels: awesome story idea, but the execution leaves something to be desired in my reading mind.  Point one that I had trouble dealing with is the dreamland time travel that Clea experiences.  While I think that Duff's usage of reincarnation is very clever in this novel, I don't really agree with her putting into Clea's dreams; it seems too forced.  There's also a problem with this because up until the dreams start, Clea has a sleeping problem.  I find it hard to believe that a girl can go from having nightmares if she sleeps to having amazingly life-like fantastic dreams.  Clea suffers from some type of trauma disorder; ever since her father went missing, she can't fall asleep without having a nightmare about what may have happened to him.  Then, all of a sudden, seeing this man Sage in her photos changes her unconscious? I don't like it.

I won't go into details about my dislike of the name Sage.  I will go into my general apathy towards Clea.  I felt no sympathy for her, no empathy; I felt nothing for her.  This was a strange sensation because I usually have some type of strong feeling for the main character.  In this novel, though, I was more interested in her friend Ben.  I was a little disturbed by her treatment of him, and his own decisions regarding his relationship with Clea and her family.  He seemed to make bizarre choices, and those choices were never really explained.  Not to sound cliché, but this was a very Edward-Bella-Jacob triangle, but without the major supernatural turn. 

I did enjoy all of the traveling that Duff put into the novel.  I'm assuming, though I can't be sure, that Duff has been to all of these places, so that depictions in the novel of Rio, Tokyo, Paris, and the other locations are hopefully true to life.  Even if they aren't, Duff has a very good mind for locational details, and I really could see the picture she was painting, even if the plot didn't keep my attention. I really wanted to go to the mall in Tokyo, and go to Carnival in Rio someday.  I think that if Duff could work with another author, and maybe a different editor, she could possibly make a fairly decent novel.  At the very least, she has really good cover art. 

By the way, Elixir is "Elixir of Life", and I think that may be where Duff lost me...

I gave this novel 5 stars, and those five came from the psychological reasons behind Clea's issues, the setting details, and the overall plot idea.  The missing five stars happened because I wasn't impressed with the characters, and the execution of the plot left something to be desired.  However, I have hopes that Duff could be a better author if she tried something without the occult involved.  She could probably write a really good mystery novel if she put her mind to it; she's excellent when it comes to details. If you like Hilary Duff, this is probably a good read, but if you weren't a fan before this, Elixir won't make you one overnight.

Murder on the Eiffel Tower - Claude Izner

 ★★★★★★★★★★ (5/10)

Who doesn't love a good mystery?  I must say I do love a mystery novel, but Murder on the Eiffel Tower wasn't quite up to snuff.  Maybe that's because I've read one too many Agatha Christie mysteries, so I can't really be called an impartial judge.  I admit that the overall plot was very well thought out and the end was surprising, but getting from beginning to end was what troubled me the most. 

I was initially attracted to this book because, in the jacket description, the main character was depicted as a bookseller, which he is.  After all, if I'm buying a book, why wouldn't I like to read about a person that sells them?   Murder on the Eiffel Tower starts right off with a death; that should have been enough to grab my attention, but it didn't.  After this death, the author goes into background on the main character, Victor Legris.  This is good background, things that I needed to know, and I was very happy reading it: his family history, how he grew up in England, but lives in France, etc.  Still, all of this knowledge about Victor did not make me interested in him.  There was nothing that set him apart, nothing that really made him special.  So, there went one piece of the puzzle.


I very much liked the plot itself.  It was a series of murders that all seemed to be committed by killer bees at World Expo that presented the Eiffel Tower.  As the novel began, I really wanted to know if the murders were really committed by bees, or if there was someone behind the deaths.  As I read on, I got bored.  The pace was too slow for me, and I found that I kept getting distracted by other things: eating, laundry, walking the dogs.  This is unusual for me, especially if I like a book; usually, I can't wait to be finished to find out what happens.  In this case, I was reading it piece by tiny piece, just because I needed to finish it so that I could put its dust jacket back on and put it back on my shelf.  


The love-story portion of the plot was a bit strange for me as well.  I can understand infatuation at first sight, but the way that Victor goes about figuring out what his intentions and actions should be was too contrived.  Also, based on what I'm told in the novel about Tasha, I don't think that Victor is anything close to her type. I suppose that maybe this was the point, but the age difference (in my mind), as well as the differences in temper and occupation, make it a very strange match.  I would have liked Murder on the Eiffel Tower better if these scenes had just been taken out. 


Pros: good plot, interesting situation, good character development. Cons: too slow, odd logic patterns, bad dating strategy.  I can't recommend this book, but I'd say that if you're new to mystery novels, it's not a bad place to start.  This would also be a good book if you just like history; I'm pretty sure that the details about the Expo and Paris at that point in time are correct, and it makes for a beautiful backdrop to a novel.

The White Queen - Philippa Gregory

★★★★★★★★★★ (8/10)

As a general rule, I don't read Philippa Gregory's novels.  After the disaster I had with The Other Boleyn Girl, I thought I'd never read another Gregory novel out of principle.  However, I know it's a bad idea to hold a grudge, especially against someone I've never met, so I thought I would give it another shot.  What I discovered was enlightening, amusing, and not half bad.

The White Queen is the first of two (so far) novels in what Gregory dubs "The Cousins' War" series.  This refers to the wars in the mid-1400s between the royal houses of Lancaster and York (The War of the Roses).  This novel in particular takes on the tale of Edward IV's wife, the lady Elizabeth Grey, and her journey from poor widow to Queen of England to widowed mother in sanctuary (twice).   

What I noticed about my reaction was that, unlike with The Other Boleyn Girl, I had no real knowledge of the details of this period of English history, so I had no biases one way or the other. With The White Queen, I could read it was a completely blank slate, and I have to say now that Gregory has some great skill with a pen (or more likely a keyboard). She paints Elizabeth, not so much in a flattering light, but in a fair light.  Of course, since this is told from Elizabeth's perspective, there is a sense of entitlement and righteousness when it comes to how she describes dealing with her enemies.  Still, I feel that she is a character that I can sympathize with, until I saw how her ambition cost her the lives of almost everyone she loved.  After that, I stopped sympathizing, and fairly wanted to slap her, except that she's a fictionalized version of a woman that's been deceased for more than 600 years.  I'll change that to a mental slap in the face.  That's better. 


I won't try to summarize this novel, because you could honestly read a history book about the War of the Roses and get a fair idea about what happened (historically) here.  I did enjoy the story of Melusina, a pagan water goddess whose legend was attached to Elizabeth's family.  It put a little of the supernatural into the story that was well-placed, but the novel did not depend on it.  While witchcraft or anything close to it was punishable by death (the favorite modes of execution being the dunking chair and burning at the stake), Elizabeth and her mother, and later Elizabeth's oldest daughter, do have some sort of powers.  These could be just in their own minds, but I liked the way that Gregory incorporated them, and used them to sometimes explain certain historical oddities of the time period.  

This is another novel to make you pity and envy the royals and aristocrats of the past.  They lived privileged lives in times of peace, yet the politics they were faced with could be hurtful, painful, and one wrong move could and did throw the country into civil war.  The ones who suffered the most were the children, who lost either their parents or their lives so that someone else could sit on the throne of England.  I very much like this novel, and, now that I know what to look for in a Gregory novel (ie anything she wrote not involving Henry VIII or Elizabeth I), I can look forward to reading more of her works, and know that I will probably have a fun time while I read them.

I was Jane Austen's Best Friend - Cora Harrison

★★★★★★★★★★ (7/10)

If I were to describe this book quickly, I would have to say that it's perfectly adorable.  Harrison takes a person from Jane Austen's history and creates a whole new view of life in the late 1800s. Many people who enjoy Austen's novels have some idea of what her life was like growing up, but I've rarely seen anyone take someone in Jane Austen's life and breathe a bit of creativity into that person.  I Was Jane Austen's Best Friend was a delightful change, regardless of its fictitious nature, and I thoroughly intend to read it again. 

This novel follows the diary of Jenny Cooper, a cousin of Jane's who spent a good deal of time with Jane's family.  It begins with Jane being very sick, and Jenny deciding to do a deed of great daring, that would get her into an immense amount of trouble were she caught.  The two girls are currently in a boarding school, run by a woman more interested in profit that her charges' health, well-being, or education.  Jenny decides to send a letter to Jane's mother, which has been forbidden by the school mistress, so she must do this in the dead of night.   It is this act of courage (for it would be disastrous to her reputation if she were seen at midnight on the streets without a chaperone), which both earns her the gratitude of the Austen family, and their protection, as well as introduces her to Captain Thomas Williams, who is very important later in the novel.

The Austens go to the school, where they find that Jenny has also taken ill, and bring both girls back to their home in Steventon.  For the first time since Jenny's mother died, she is happy and enjoying her life and her schoolwork in the company of the Austen family, and all of the adventures that it entails. 

So much for the plot. (I feel that saying much more would ruin the effect of the novel if you decide to read it.)  

What I like most about I Was Jane Austen's Best Friend is that Harrison manages to use the details of Austen's life without making the entire novel about Jane.  I'm always a bit wary about reading books written about people related to or who were friends of famous personages; there's always a chance that the famous person (i.e. Austen) will become the focus of the book, which defeats the whole purpose.   In this novel, Jane happily subsides into the role of supporting character, while Jenny takes the spotlight.  I am more interested in Jenny's life than Jane's, although the way Harrison incorporates events in Austen's life does make for interesting reading. I read Jenny's diary entries because I want to know what has happened to her that day, or that week, not because I want to find out what Jane said or did or thought. 

Harrison did do one thing that is extremely important: she gave the two girls the bond of authorship -- Jane and her novel bits and Jenny and her detailed diary.  While there could be any number of things that could make these two the best of friends, I think Harrison's choice of writing is the most apt.  They share many moments in the novel where they just sit in their room writing, then sharing their ideas.  It's also kind of funny when Harrison creates events that give Jane or Jenny ideas that are parts of Austen's books (which we know and love). 

At the same time though, I was surprised to see how differently the two girls are portrayed.  I've always thought of Austen as a woman who never fit into the societal norms, but not exactly to the extent she appears in the novel.  She seems to flout propriety at every turn, and there are some instances were I am a bit embarrassed for her.  Jenny, on the other hand, is more concerned about growing up to be a well-bred young lady.  Given that she has nearly no dowry, no great connections, and a brother and sister-in-law who rather wished Jenny didn't exist, Jenny's life seemingly depends on her making a suitable marriage.  Jenny is also a bit more interested in domestic life.  She does enjoy the various adventures she gets into with Jane, but she also wants to excel at her "accomplishments" (she draws very well), learn what it takes to run a household, and she thinks more about her future.  When I think about these girls side by side, Jenny's image is of a young woman who is a bit shy, but well-mannered and polite, while Jane's image brings to mind a village urchin just waiting to find a mud puddle, but who has the wit and intelligence of a genius.  Two drastic images, but when the two are put in the same novel, they balance each other nicely.

All in all, I Was Jane Austen's Best Friend left me feeling quite happy, and I thoroughly enjoyed the brief glimpse into Jenny Cooper's life (that's not her real name though...).  Harrison is quite a talented writer, and I hope to find more books from her in the future.  There was such a good deal of vivid images and character depth, which I feel is a mark of a great author, as well as a great book, that I would recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys a good romp in history and girlhood.

The Little Giant of Aberdeen County - Tiffany Baker

★★★★★★★★★★ (0/10) for not being able to finish

I feel sad.  This is quite possibly the first time I've even given up on a book.  Usually, I will read to the end just to be done with a book, no matter how much I don't like it.  With this novel, though, I've been stuck on page 37 for over 3 weeks. I can't go on like this, so I am officially quitting on this book.  It will retire peacefully to a dusty corner of my bookshelf, and live the rest of its life wondering why it has no friends.

My biggest reasons for being unable to continue reading The Little Giant of Aberdeen County are that it's extraordinarily slow, and that it skips around so much that it's too much effort to keep track of who's who and what year it is.  I thought the slowest book I'd ever read was Tolkien's The Hobbit, due to the immensely long descriptions (especially that stupid tunnel), but this takes the cake.  The plot just doesn't go anywhere! Also, it feels like Baker needs too much setup to get to the beginning of whatever the "plot" may be.  This novel is only 341 pages long, so if there's a point that needs to be made, or characters that need to be introduced, it needs to be done a little bit quicker than the rate she's going.

I don't feel that there's anything else I can say.  I didn't read enough of it.  Thank goodness for Borders closing; I don't feel so bad spending money of this novel since it was 75% off.

Mr. Knightley's Diary - Amanda Grange

★★★★★★★★★★ (9/10)

Continuing in the same vein as the last post, I return to Amanda Grange and her wonderful diaries of the men in Jane Austen's novels.  This time around we come to Mr. Knightley - the down-to-earth, upstanding gentleman-hero of Emma.  He's one of my favorite male characters, and not just from Austen novels, so I may be a bit biased when it comes to my feelings for this novel.  However, I do think that Grange did another fantastic job entering the mind of Mr. Knightley; she kept to the original novel, but gave the reader a look into Mr. Knightley's deeper feelings, hopes, and fears.

I've always felt that Mr. Knightley was one of the more difficult characters to understand in Emma.  On the surface, he is very settled in his ways, has a fulfilling life, and enjoys the company of the Woodhouses, but never seems to have any inclination to become more a part of the family than a true friend.  Since Emma was born, Mr. Knightley acted more like a brother and role model for her, and was the only person who would tell Emma when she was in the wrong.  In this respect, he was highly influential to Emma's personal character, and continued to be a check on her own behavior.  

Getting into Mr. Knightley's Diary, I feel that Grange really comprehended the difficulties and confusions that Mr. Knightley faced.  As Emma grew up, his feelings naturally changed, but not in a way anyone could have expected. His conversations with Mrs. Weston about Emma seemed to sway back and forth between warm admiration of Emma as a person and criticism of her actions.  Even in his private thoughts, thanks to Grange, Mr. Knightley is not quite sure what to make of his emotions.  His is one of the most heart-wrenching struggles to read about because he constantly tries to convince himself that he should explain his feelings, then persuades himself that he should never say a word.  Emma is no help to him, either.  She is witty and friendly, but her age and situation in life lead her to have no cares for the type of relationship that Mr. Knightley envisions. It also does not bode well that there is such a gap in their ages, or that their siblings (his brother and her sister) are already married to each other.  I still think it's strange for a person to marry someone their already related to by marriage (i.e. Emma marrying her sister's husband's brother). 

Regardless of my own feelings about the nature of the match, I am still intrigued by Mr. Knightley as a character.  In Emma, I believed him to be a strong person, greatly enmeshed in helping those around him, and dedicated to seeing to his own business personally instead of foisting it off on an underling. In Grange's diary for him, I see these qualities again, but there is something else about him that makes him more endearing.  I get a sense of gentleness, compassion, understanding, and great forbearance towards nearly everyone.  While these may or may not be implied in Austen's novel, I feel that all of these qualities are necessary in order to understand his feelings, misgivings, and foibles in his own mind.

I especially liked the conversations between Emma and him after they become engaged, and I felt so much pity for him because of Emma's flakiness.  In Austen's novel, there is a debate over what to do about Mr. Woodhouse, as he wouldn't be able to bear being alone at Hartfield if Emma married. Still, what Grange portrayed made Emma's character even worse than my original opinion of Emma made her out to be. She changes her mind multiple times each day about whether or not she should marry Mr. Knightley. She knows that she loves him, but she cannot bring herself to be decisive.  Mr. Knightley is constantly in mental agony from her wavering behavior; I'm in agony over her behavior! It feels like it takes weeks for Emma to accept and propose Mr. Knightley's solution that they all live at Hartfield until Mr. Woodhouse passes away.  The fact that it took so long for Emma to believe it would work is astounding, and I think that Grange captures Emma's selfishness and inconstancy with this episode.

As usual, another highly engaging novel by Grange that leaves me waiting to read another one of her "diaries." I give Mr. Knightley's Diary full marks for creativity because there was a good deal that Grange would have had to imagine (such as Knightley's conversations with his steward, among other things), and I appreciate Grange's devotion to not changing the original storyline. But, it is that time again, so -- on to the next novel!

Captain Wentworth's Diary - Amanda Grange

★★★★★★★★★★ (9/10)

Here we are, once again, with a diary of one of Jane Austen's under-appreciated male characters.  This time I went into the mind of Captain Wentworth, the estranged former suitor of Anne Elliot in Persuasion.  Captain Wentworth's Diary was one I was especially eager to read, as Persuasion is probably my favorite Jane Austen novel.  For the first time, I got to imagine what his own life was like, before he met Anne and to think about how Jane Austen would react to Grange's interpretation of Wentworth's adventures, follies, and hearbreak. 

I started reading this novel with no real thoughts on Captain Wentworth's time before and after meeting Anne Elliot.  I pitied him for most of Persuasion because of his shattered chance of happiness, and eight years of waiting and probably misery a lot of the time, but I hadn't given any thought to what kind of person he was before they had met and fallen in love.  I usually imagined Wentworth as the dashing naval officer, with gentle manners and a hearty laugh, but I had not ascribed any personality to him. After reading CWD, I feel I was remiss and haven't given Wentworth the credit that he deserves.  

So, with that, we begin CWD. I greatly appreciated that Grange started this novel a good deal before Wentworth's initial meeting with Anne, and their subsequent engagement.  Grange has the reader meet him, as well as Benwick and Harville, just when Wentworth is promoted to Commander, and has won a large prize from sinking/disabling a French warship.  Through his conversations and his own personal thoughts in the diary entries, I find that I agree with Grange when she makes him out to be a young, vibrant, easy-going man, who enjoys the world because he has found that his career is finally going somewhere, and he can afford to look forward to a promising future. During this portion of the novel, I finally got to meet the mysterious "Wentworth, the curate," Captain Wentworth's brother, who appears in name only in Persuasion.  He's mentioned multiple times, but Austen never introduces him in person.  I like Grange's take on the brothers' relationship as well.  They are wholly different, yet have a strong bond, and each looks out for the other.  Not only are their relationship and interactions interesting, but they pave the path for Wenthworth's meeting with Anne, which was a surprising meeting, yet satisfying, nonetheless.

I'm going to skip their meeting, engagement, un-engagement, and other bits that are easily inferred from reading Persuasion itself, and move on to Wentworth's reasoning behind flirting with the Misses Musgrove. I had originally thought that his attentions to Louisa and Henrietta stemmed partly from wanting to punish Anne, and partly from being a friendly human being.  I didn't expect Grange to interpret his actions as an intention to marry one or the other of these girls.  Thinking back to Persuasion, this conclusion makes sense: he is out of the navy and looking to marry, Louisa (who becomes a favorite) is young and pretty, and Wentworth has enough money to support himself and a wife.  He also spends a good deal of time with both girls, and I can remember a few scenes where it seems as though Louisa is enough in love with him to expect a proposal.  Whatever the case may be, whether Austen was encouraging Wentworth to fall in love with someone new, or if she just was using H & L to make Anne jealous, it doesn't truly matter.  It's an aspect of the book that can be read either way, and I'm still making up my mind as to which way I believe.  

Just as with the other diaries Grange has written, my favorite part of Wentworth's diary is seeing his reactions to scenes from Persuasion.  I know what Anne is thinking, but having Grange's imagination bring to life Wentworth's thoughts, emotions, internal conflicts, hopes, and plans gives the whole story more depth and I get a better sense of enjoyment from combining the two in my mind.  For instance, toward the end, Wentworth follows Anne to Bath with the hopes of talking to her about his own feelings, and to see if hers are still what they were eight years before.  From Anne's perspective, his arrival is a welcome shock.  She had believed him to be over her, and did not expect to see him in a place that she didn't think he particularly liked.  However, Wentworth finds himself in Bath with his good intentions, only to find that Anne's attention is being comandeered by Mr. Elliot. What is he to think but that Anne's affections have changed, and she now prefers this man who is next in line for her father's title.  Their situation was awkward enough in Persuasion because I could tell that Anne didn't know of Wentworth's assumptions, but to see Wentworth's reactions to Anne's conversations and actions toward Elliot, was more amusing and helped clarify a few things that used to puzzle me. 

So, again, Grange has done a fantastically excellent job bringing one of may favorite characters into the limelight in his own right.  Captain Wentworth now has a voice, and I like the words that Grange has put in his mouth.  Captain Wentworth's Diary is a wonderful addition to Grange's other diaries of Austen's men, and I can't wait to read more of them!