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August 17
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Ana
gave
   
to:
The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup and a Spool of Thread (Paperback)
by Kate DiCamillo
bookshelves:
juvenile-ya
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my rating:
   
Added to my books!
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August 15
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Ana
gave
   
to:
The Sugar Queen (Hardcover)
by Sarah Addison Allen
bookshelves:
chick-lit,
favorite-fiction
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my rating:
   
Added to my books!
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read in August, 2008
Ana said:
"Though less outwardly magical than Sarah Addison Allen first novel Garden Spells, this book is also sweet, tender and sentimental. It i...more
Though less outwardly magical than Sarah Addison Allen first novel Garden Spells, this book is also sweet, tender and sentimental. It is another story about a woman-child who has distanced herself from others at the expense of her own happiness and the risks she has to take to really live and love.
Despite the comments from other reviewers, I was surprised by the ending and moved to tears. I cannot wait for Sarah Addison Allen's next book!...less
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August 12
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Ana
gave
   
to:
Faking It (Paperback)
by Jennifer Crusie (Goodreads author!)
bookshelves:
chick-lit,
favorite-fiction
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my rating:
   
Added to my books!
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read in January, 2006
Ana said:
" Faking It was the first book I ever read by Jennifer Crusie and is the reason I went to read every other book she has ever written. This one,...more
Faking It was the first book I ever read by Jennifer Crusie and is the reason I went to read every other book she has ever written. This one, however, remains my favorite. The story is one part romance novel, one part action adventure and is liberally sprinkled with humor, musical references, art and movie quotes. The heroine is asthmatic which is a first for me in fiction -- asthma as a charming plot ploy rather than the sad pathetic fat kid's problem. Here, here, Ms. Crusie! Hoorah!
Faking It is the perfect beach read, vaction book or airport diversion. Charming and a little racy, I have returned to this book several times to visit with the quirky Goodnights....less
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Ana
gave
   
to:
Garden Spells (Hardcover)
by Sarah Addison Allen
bookshelves:
chick-lit,
favorite-fiction
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my rating:
   
Added to my books!
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recommended for: anyone who loves Alice Hoffman
read in August, 2008
Ana said:
"This book was absolutely riveting. As a former southern girl, I appreciate the magical moments in everyday life in the South. This is a tender sweet story of a girl reconciling her life by opening her heart. And there's a tree that throws apples. You...more
This book was absolutely riveting. As a former southern girl, I appreciate the magical moments in everyday life in the South. This is a tender sweet story of a girl reconciling her life by opening her heart. And there's a tree that throws apples. You'll have to read it to find out anything else about it....less
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August 01
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Ana
gave
   
to:
Seven Up (A Stephanie Plum Novel)
by Janet Evanovich
bookshelves:
audiobooks,
chick-lit,
mysteries
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my rating:
   
Added to my books!
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July 31
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Ana
marked as to-read:
Poison Study (Study, Book 1)
by Maria V. Snyder
bookshelves:
to-read,
wishlist
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my rating:
   
Added to my books!
add my review
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Ana
read and liked
Angie's
review of Poison Study (Study, Book 1):
"I remember seeing Poison Study on the shelves when it first came out, but passed it up several times because of, yes, I admit it, the cover. It was this older mass market paperback cover and not the lovely new trade paperback one. The girl on ...more
I remember seeing Poison Study on the shelves when it first came out, but passed it up several times because of, yes, I admit it, the cover. It was this older mass market paperback cover and not the lovely new trade paperback one. The girl on the old cover looked just a little too haughtily seductive for me. And I knew that Luna was the fantasy division of Harlequin and so I was suspicious it was a romance thinly disguised as fantasy. So when the new trade paperback came out, I went and read a few dozen more reviews just to "make sure" and decided to go ahead and give it a shot. I'm so glad I did. You'd think I'd have learned by now not to judge a book by its cover. Archangel, anyone?
Poison Study opens with a young woman named Yelena imprisoned for murder. A murder she freely admits to committing. When a pair of guards yank her from the dank dungeon she's languished in for almost a year, Yelena is certain she faces imminent death. She even welcomes it in light of the hell her life has become in the past few years. More to come on that bit of nastiness later, we learn. But instead of the gallows, she finds herself in the office of Valek, the chief of national security (i.e. the Commander's Personal Assassin) being offered a choice. To be hung by the neck until dead or to become the Commander's Personal Food Taster. The last one having recently died on the job. Yelena chooses life and immediately begins a crash course in the art of poison detection. To complicate matters, Valek slips Yelena a deadly poison known as Butterfly's Dust to ensure she won't attempt to escape the first chance she gets. In order to survive, Yelena must show up at Valek's door each morning for the antidote. Skip one morning and she'll be dead within 48 hours. And all of this happens within the first few pages of the book. I was completely sucked in by page ten.
The pace never slows throughout the rest of the book as we come to care more and more for this young woman who is forced to court death on an hourly basis. Piece by piece we learn more about why she was in the dungeon in the first place, her complicated background, and the demons that haunt her. Fortunately, her unquenchable will to survive and her quick mind earn her a few choice friends within the compound and these supporting characters are delightful and funny. Then there is Valek, the ruthless assassin who employs his vast array of frightening skills to protect Yelena even as he poisons her, convinced she is the missing piece of the puzzle in his quest to discover who is attempting to overthrow the government and why. I loved this book and I can't wait to read the sequel, Magic Study....less
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Ana
marked as to-read:
Urban Shaman (Book 1 of Walker Papers)
by C.E. Murphy
bookshelves:
to-read,
wishlist
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my rating:
   
Added to my books!
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Ana
read and liked
Seth's
review of Urban Shaman (Book 1 of Walker Papers):
"This is the book I've had more people telling me to read--all independently of one another--in years. It certainly seems like it would interest me.
The genre is a common one for Luna. Strong female protagonist, modern fantasy/slipstream with the s...more
This is the book I've had more people telling me to read--all independently of one another--in years. It certainly seems like it would interest me.
The genre is a common one for Luna. Strong female protagonist, modern fantasy/slipstream with the supernatural element hidden from most people, and a hint of sexual tension or romance.
Our protag is Joanne Walker, an Irish/Cherokee crossbreed trying to go as mainstream American as she can. She's a Seattle cop by vocation and a mechanic by avocation, so she works in the motor pool keeping the cruisers running. The department keeps her badged in a cynical attempt to up their apparent diversity (she counts as a woman and a Native American!).
As the story starts she begins to develop abilities she doesn't understand and doesn't want. She looks out the window of her landing plane and sees a woman about to be attacked; once the plane lands she feels compelled to go help, although no one believes she could have seen the detail she did from the plane.
So she's awakening abilities as a shaman, combining both the Celtic and Native American traditions. She acquires a spirit guide (Coyote, of course... it's always coyote in these books), comes back from the dead, loses her job (but not her place on the force) and becomes embroiled in a complex set of shenanigans between Cernunos, Herne, and the control and mission of the Wild Hunt.
A few things set Urban Shaman apart from lesser books in the same vein:
- Joanne doesn't ever embrace her role as a shaman and healer. She feels compelled at times, and when someone's life is at stake she doesn't consider whether she wants to use magic or not, but she really just wants to fix cars, preferably classic muscle cars.
- Joanne's shamanic path is 100% about healing. When investigating a serial killer who clearly uses magic, she wants to find him to heal him, although she willingly admits that the only way to heal him may involve killing him at the same time.
- There is a sidekick character, Gary the Cabbie, who holds enough surprises to keep us interested. I hope we learn a lot about his past in a later book. He confounds Joanne's assumptions repeatedly; she should challenge those assumptions at some point.
- Joanne's sexuality is present, but left very vague. As the narrator, she mentions when people (usually men) are very attractive but we get no sense of her actually having a romantic life. We also don't get the brooding, whining, "I don't have anyone because I work too much" complaint that many books of this ilk have.
- Her requisite antagonistic relationship with her boss (required in every story about a cop unless it's a procedural) is well drawn. They are well-matched adversaries and the sexual tension grows between them very nicely.
And especially:
- The take on shamanism is actually interesting. It's different from most forms of fantasy or slipstream magic. Joanne finds a metaphor that makes sense to her--repairing cars--and applies it to her healing. The metaphor is brought up often enough, and in enough detail, to remain interesting but never belabors the point.
- Her interactions with Coyote are excellent. She makes a comment at one point that she shouldn't trust him because he's a trickster. He replies that he's a teacher first and foremost. Being a trickster is one of his methods to teach.
So overall, it's noticeably better than you'd have any reason to expect, especially if you're interested in the magical side of the story. Compared to, say, the Patricia Briggs stories, the "woman mechanic" element is actually part of the story and not just some backstory. And the side characters--Gary the Cabbie and her boss--are compelling enough to hold up a lot more of the story than they do.
I'm not sure where the rest of the series can go without turning into "freak of the week," but we'll see. I started the second book yesterday.
... I'll detail why I may not bother to finish it in its review....less
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Ana
marked as to-read:
Dancing With Werewolves: Delilah Street, Paranormal Investigator (Paperback)
by Carole Nelson Douglas
bookshelves:
to-read,
wishlist
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my rating:
   
Added to my books!
add my review
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