Tara Chevrestt's Blog, page 54

Frog Music: Murder and Scandal in 19th Century San Francisco

If you look at the summary for Frog Music by Emma Donoghue, you might think that this is a murder mystery investigated by a burlesque dancer in 1876 San Francisco.  While it does contain elements of a murder mystery,  investigation isn't the focus of the plot or the central character.   I had never previously read Donoghue, but I'm aware that she doesn't write genre fiction.  So I didn't really expect a mystery along genre lines from her.  In fact, I wasn't sure what to expect.



The murder victim, Jenny Bonnet, was a real person as Donoghue reveals in her Afterword. If you would like to read an obituary published soon after her death, see Jenny Bonnet Obituary.  Scroll down to the second item on the page.  Jenny was an unusual person in the context of 19th century San Francisco.  She dressed as a man and hunted frogs for her living.  Donoghue portrays her as independent and very outspoken.  In the novel, she often got into fights because she always said exactly what she thought regardless of circumstances, and refused to kowtow to anyone.  In real life, Jenny's murder is still an unsolved case.  Emma Donoghue's  ideas about who murdered Jenny are based on her theories about her.   There have been some very interesting stories told about Jenny Bonnet that Donoghue includes in her Afterword. I agree with Donoghue that her version of Jenny Bonnet is as likely to be true as any other.

  Burlesque dancer Blanche Beunon, the main protagonist, also actually existed.  I have to say that I loved the way she was portrayed in this book initially.  She was so comfortable with her sexuality, and I got a real kick out of one song that she used in her act . I was also interested in her circus background.  Blanche knew Jules Leotard, who invented the flying trapeze.  "The Man on the Flying Trapeze", which was inspired by Jules Leotard's popularity as a performer, is another song that appears in Frog Music.  Donoghue appended notes about the songs in the back of the book, and I was amazed by what she had to say about this famous trapeze song.  I realized that I'd never heard the entire song.You can find the 19th century lyrics here.  You can also find a playlist where you can listen to all the songs from Frog Music at  8 Track Radio.

Blanche's life changed completely in the course of the novel and she becomes a very different woman.  She had never thought of herself as being exploited by men or the sex industry, but her eyes are opened by events.  I am sex positive, and don't personally believe that the sex industry is inherently abusive. Unfortunately, as in many industries, most such businesses are structured to benefit management a great deal more than the employees.  Then there's the problem of sex workers with children.  In the period that the novel deals with,  management was often very unsupportive to sex workers raising their children as Blanche found,and the fate of such children could be quite horrific.  Donoghue shows us the extreme indifference and brutality to which children were routinely subjected in the 19th century.  She shines a light into some very dark corners.

 San Francisco has always been known as a refuge for the unconventional like Jenny Bonnet and Blanche Beunon.  Yet being notorious for non-conformity can be as dangerous in San Francisco as it is in other places.  The murder of Jenny Bonnet and the murder of Harvey Milk were separated by a century. Hate crimes like these can happen anywhere, so long as intolerance continues to be taught. We need books like Frog Music to remind us of this fact.

                                       

Reading Radar 6/14/2014

What I put on my wishlist this week and how I came across it...

Spotted on Historical Editorial, Battle Hymns by Cara Langston hit the wishlist/radar. If you are a fan of historical fiction with real stories, history, and just some overall depth, a reason for reading it, this is a great blog to follow. Ms. Jenny does either editing or cover art for said titles and I eagerly look forward to new announcements.

In December 1941, Charlotte Donahue is engaged to Nick Adler, a handsome, pre-law student at Georgetown University. Despite her studies at a liberal arts college, she expects nothing more than to marry her fiancé and settle into a conventional life as a young American homemaker. But her future is unexpectedly disrupted after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. While Nick trains for the battlefront with the U.S. Army, Charlotte does her part by volunteering as a nurses’ aide with the American Red Cross. 

Assigned to a convalescent ward at Walter Reed’s Army Medical Center, Charlotte discovers her passion lies, not in the home, but in tending to the wounds of injured soldiers, all of whom remind her of Nick. Here she is drawn to a mysterious soldier, Lieutenant William Kendrick, whose jet was shot down in the skies over Germany. As Will’s physical and psychological wounds begin to heal, he and Charlotte develop a friendship that will bind them together in ways they never imagined.

Battle Hymns is a poignant story of love, survival, and redemption set against the backdrop of the Second World War.


***
Coming soon from Choc Lit Publishing, Monsoon Mists by Christina Courtenay. It's book three in a series and I loved the first two. How I found it? Browsing their website as I occasionally do to make sure I don't miss anything fabulous, like this one. :D

It’s 1759 and Jamie Kinross has travelled far to escape his troubled past—from the pine forests of Sweden to the bustling streets of India.

In India he becomes a gem trader, but when his mentor’s family are kidnapped as part of a criminal plot, he vows to save them and embarks on a dangerous mission to the city of Surat.

There he encounters Zarmina Miller a rich and beautiful widow whose haughtiness has earned her a nickname: “The Ice Widow”. When they meet, Jamie is instantly tempted by the challenge she presents.

But when it becomes clear that Zarmina’s step-son is involved in the criminal plot, Jamie begins to see another side to her—a dark past to rival his own and a heart just waiting to be thawed. But is it too late?

Monsoon Mists is the final in the series about the lives of the three Kinross men. The first was Trade Winds followed by Highland Storms. They can all be read as stand-alone novels.

***
Also spotted and releasing later this year, Zana Bell's Fool's Gold. I've read and really enjoyed two other titles by her, so I'll be nabbing this one as well.
It’s 1866 and the gold rush is on. Left to fend for herself in the wilds of New Zealand’s west coast, Lady Guinevere Stanhope is determined to do whatever it takes to rescue her ancestral home and restore her father’s good name.

Forced out of his native Ireland, Fergus O’Donnell dreams of striking gold. His fiercely held prejudices make him loath to help any English person, let alone a lady as haughty and obstinate as Guinevere. But when a flash flood hits, Fergus is compelled to rescue her, and pass. But and their paths become entwined in this uncharted new world.

Though an intense attraction forms between them, both remain single-minded in pursuit of their dreams. Will they realize in time that all that glitters in not gold?


***
Spotted on Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, The Ripper's Wife by Brandy Purdy is now on the wishlist. What a different twist on Jack the Ripper...

It begins as a fairytale romance-a shipboard meeting in 1880 between vivacious Southern belle Florence Chandler and handsome English cotton broker James Maybrick. Courtship and a lavish wedding soon follow, and the couple settles into an affluent Liverpool suburb.

From the first, their marriage is doomed by lies. Florie, hardly the heiress her scheming mother portrayed, is treated as an outsider by fashionable English society. James's secrets are infinitely darker-he has a mistress, an arsenic addiction, and a vicious temper. But Florie has no inkling of her husband's depravity until she discovers his diary-and in it, a litany of bloody deeds...

***
Spotted on the same blog, The Dance of the Spirits by Catherine Aerie, hit the list. Why? I've read very few novels about the Korean War so that alone promises to be different, but it's also about a Chinese woman surgeon during this time period.

Spring 1951: it is the fiery zenith of the Korean War, a war that the youthful US Army lieutenant Wesley Palm and his men thought that they had won... until the Chinese swept across the Yalu River. Traveling with the million-man army bent on driving back the march of "American imperialism" is Jasmine Young, a Chinese surgeon who has volunteered herself into the war for unspoken, grave reasons. Through a chronicle of merciless battles, freezing winters, and the brutality and hypocrisy of human nature, the two will find themselves weaving through the twists and turns of fate and destiny. Though their love is forbidden, their passion and pursuit of liberty cannot be quenched.

Ten Questions from Tara: Interview with Vanessa Stubbs

Tara: Welcome. You’re here to promote Star Attraction, a chick-lit book. Tell me, please, what was the inspiration behind this story (or series)? How did it come to you?

Readers, here's the 411 on SA:

He's the most famous and most desired man in the world.

She's a hard-news journalist trying to keep her job.

When Sydney girl Madison Edwards is sent to interview Hollywood heartthrob Jamie Hall, as far as she's concerned it's an embarrassing blot on her credibility. As far as Jamie is concerned, Madison is just one of the thousands of people who want a piece of him. They both turn out to be wrong.
When an unimaginable attraction develops between them, they're momentarily blinded. Could it be true love or just the glare of the paparazzi's flashbulbs?

This stellar debut is a deliciously seductive story of our times, about celebrity and stardom – and about finding something real and true, even when the whole world is watching.

Vanessa: I did that rather predictable thing of writing from experience. Fortunately I had a lot of interesting material from my years of being a journalist. My novel is about a reporter who’s sent to interview a huge movie star. I’ve been doing celebrity interviews for many years and always thought it would make a good novel. It’ s just such an unnatural experience. You’ve got about eight minutes to try to get something interesting out of this star when they’ve interviewed 30 other journalists before you. I wondered what it might be like to have a journalist who wasn’t at all fawning or star struck and a movie star who was totally over being the biggest thing on the planet and put them in a room together for eight minutes and see what happened. That was the kernel of my idea and then the rest of it kind of made itself known as I wrote.

Tara: We focus a lot on heroines here on Book Babe. Tell me what makes your heroine(s) strong.

Vanessa: I was really only ever going to write a strong heroine. Madison has a lot of faults and in a way her strength is somewhat projected – she’s this very smart political journalist who is breaking amazing stories and wants to change the world. But underneath the suit and the intellect she’s vulnerable and a bit neurotic. I mean, if you dig deep enough into anyone you find their weakness. But the thing that makes her strong is that she has to really dig deep when confronted with big choices. She has to actually face her demons and decide if she can let herself be open to love. She’s so invested in her career and success (which looks strong on the outside) but she’s lonely. Falling in love is a big risk, a big gamble and I think that takes strength. She also calls things as she sees them and she’s very honest and authentic. I really love this in a person and it’s a great strength to have.

Tara: Do you see any of yourself in her?

Vanessa: Yes and no. Madison is much more outwardly ballsy than I am. She’s more ambitious and much less flighty than me. I’m an emotional creative whereas she’s much more analytical and probably smarter than me! She’s the person I wish I could be sometimes. But all the self-doubt that she harbours under her polished exterior is a part of me. Also, I’m not really one to get star struck over celebrities. I think I see celebrity interviews as a more anthropological exercise – really weird and fascinating than sitting there being in awe/love with Hugh Jackman or Daniel Craig.

Tara: What makes her sexy?

Vanessa: I think her authenticity is the most sexy thing about her and it’s the thing that Jamie, my hero falls for. She’s so honest, sometimes to the point of being a little rude. I find this refreshing – not needing to please just to be liked but instead being true to herself. She’s also very ambitious in her job and that’s kind of sexy. She wants to make a difference and she sees the big picture.

Tara: I find ambition very sexy. Kudos to her! What kind of research did you do when you penned this novel? Did anything surprising come up in your search?

Vanessa: I didn’t do a huge amount. A lot of it was pulled from my own experiences as a journalist. But I did have to research L.A. a bit as I’ve only been there once. I looked at a lot of pictures of movie star’s houses in order to get a picture of where Jamie lived. I guess it surprised me just how rich these people are and how many properties they own. I also have a scene in the book where Jamie is interviewed by an American TV host, like a Letterman kind of thing. I watched Robert Pattison interviewed on a few of those big talk shows to get a real sense of how it goes down. Watching his body language I was surprised at how nervous and ill at ease he appeared despite being a huge movie star in the middle of the Twilight series.

Tara: What would you like readers to gain from reading your book? Is there a strong moral? Do you hope they will laugh, learn something, ponder a point?

Vanessa: I think this is the point of stories. At the end we must have learnt or pondered something and hopefully done a bit of laughing and tearing up, too. As an author sometimes it’s only after you’ve finished writing that you realise what you were trying to say. A lot of reviews have said my book is much deeper and more thought provoking than they’d been expecting given the title and the cover. This is one of the best compliments. I’d like to think that readers will think about the stighly warped nature of celebrity and the way in which the world seems so attuned to the hording of material possessions. They are two great markers of success in our society. But are these the things that really equate to happiness?

Tara: Actually, I've read a lot of books that did nothing and had next to nothing. No moral, no point, no laughter... LOL Not all stories seem to have a point. But let’s talk about your hero. What draws the heroine to him? Is he based on a real man in your life by any chance?

Vanessa: I think Jamie is an amalgamation of some of the celebrities I’ve interviewed and possibly my husband! (I guess that’s not so surprising given that he’s the man I’ve known best in my life!) I wanted my hero to be emotionally intelligent but also typically male and so sometimes not so emotionally intelligent. I often asked my husband for advice over how a guy might act in a certain scenario. Jamie is flawed – he uses the power of his celebrity to bed women (note - not based on husband’s experience!) but he’s empty. Madison is certainly not at all drawn to him at first as she sees the power he wields and his big ego. But while he does have those things, he’s also a softie. He’s at a place in his life where he wants something real and true to cut through all the BS that comes with being a star. He’s very intelligent and that’s where their first connection happens.
Tara: I'm chuckling at the "not based on husband's experience". I'm glad to hear that. LOL Your book takes place in Sydney and Los Angeles. If I were a tourist, what would you recommend I see in this town/country?


Bondi Beach, Wiki CommonsVanessa: Well, a lot of my book happens in and around expensive hotels in Sydney, as that’s where movie stars are forced to hole up. There’s a scene at Bondi when Jamie gets mobbed. But Madison wishes she could take Jamie away from the crowds and get a ferry to Manly beach for fish and chips. That would be my ideal for a tourist or a date.

Tara: A more personal question. What’s the one thing you hope to accomplish before you die? Your main goal?
Vanessa: Wow. Big question. This is going to sound completely soppy but I do dabble in romance, so please excuse me! I think when everything is done and dusted, it all comes back to love. Learning how to give it, receive it, nourish it. And that includes all kind of relationships; friendships and familial love. Putting those you love first. If you think about the times you’re happiest, it’s usually when you’re surrounded by people you love.

I also think that everyone has a talent they’ve been given. It might be sailing boats or sewing or drawing or numbers. For me it feels like it’s writing and telling stories and so I feel like if you’ve been given that, you need to find a way to use it and honour it.

Tara: What an excellent answer and food for thought!

I’m a dog mom, so I always ask this. Do you have pets? If so, tell me about them and do provide pictures.

Vanessa: I’m afraid I only have two fighting fish called Coral and Sabrina. They have had a tempestuous relationship trying to kill each other from opposite sides of the fish bowl but I think they’ve finally found a way to live in happy harmony…quite like most romances, really.
Tara: I've had a series of those fish!!! Even the males try to kill the females. LOL. I had to separate them. Talk about interesting mating habits...
Congratulations on your book and good luck. Readers, the buy link is below.

Paw Enforcement by Diane Kelly

"You kick my dog again, you're losing a tooth or a nut. I'm not telling you which, so it'll be a surprise."

What a fabulously fun and funny read! I laughed so many times. Those of you who may have read the Chet and Bernie mysteries, featuring the PI and his dog...if you enjoyed that, you'll love this! It's Chet & Bernie for women, only better, in my opinion.

First of all, Megan the cop is incredibly ballsy. She has inner fears, but acts regardless. Even when she's afraid, she steps up to get the job done. She's also getting over a childhood in which she was made fun of and ridiculed for having a stutter. That's a disability in a way, and to me, makes her even more likable. She does have anger management issues, but who can blame her?

To give you an example of what Megan is like....let's just say the book starts off with her having tased her human partner in the....err...nads. LOL But he deserved it, trust me.

Something else I like about this, though it plays a minor part to the whole tuna-bomber and dog/partner stories is that it shows us the "good 'ole boy" system in the police force. I have a feeling the series will shows us book by book Megan struggling to overcome this as she strives to make detective.

I also enjoy just seeing what everyday beat cops do, especially K-9. Most novels follow detectives or something, so this was something new to me.

And I can't fail to mention Megan's new partner is a dog, a K-9 dog, obviously, with funny dog thoughts and habits, and an appetite for leather shoes.

Like Mackey she occasionally passed gas in the cruiser, but at least she didn't laugh about it and hold the window lock button down to prevent me from getting fresh air.

There's a mystery involving a bomber. The story goes back and forth in third person, following either the bomber, Megan, or Brigit the dog. My only complaint about this book is that some of the chapters were incredibly short. We get all of one or two sentences before the chapter ends and the "POV" changes.

But this was a very enjoyable read and I look forward to reading more of Megan and Brigit's adventures. The LOL moments were just priceless and had me laughing out loud at break at work.

I found a metal coat hangar in my closet, manipulated it into a hook shape, and fished what looked like a wet kitten out of my drain. Had I been the crafty type, I could've glued googly eyes to it and sold it on Etsy.

ARC received via Netgalley. No financial reimbursement. Quotes may be different in the final version.

Build Me Up! : What Romance Novels Did For Me, A Guest Post from Georgina Penney

I grew up in an extremely negative environment. Any change, anything different, anything unusual was seen as suspect and subject to ridicule. My family were poor working class people when I was little with a working class suspicion of anything different from what they knew.
Change was seen as wrong. My brother and I were expected to be carbon copies of our parents and given that my mother was an insecure teenager with borderline personality disorder (that got much worse as time grew on) and my father was a Vietnam War veteran with PTSD and a prescription drug addiction... well I’m sure you get the idea.
Needless to say, I was expected to be married and have babies by the time I was eighteen. I didn’t and the sole reason why, the only reason I can attribute to my bucking the trend and going against my family’s often histrionic reprisals, was romance novels.
Yep, you heard me, romance novels. And I’m not talking about the more politically correct ones you get nowadays. No siree. A lady from church that I used to know loaned me my first ever bodice ripper at the tender age of eleven and I never looked back. I can still remember the cover but for the life of me, I can’t remember the name. I do know it had every single element in it that people disparage about the old school romance format though, but to me it was magic.
Here was a female character who was going through hell in many parts of the story, who was going against her family, against the man she loved (until he came around and groveled at the end). And better yet, she was a teenager like me! From the minute I put that book down and picked up the next I was hooked. Story after story featured these amazing young women who were making life work, no matter how much crap was being thrown at them. Yeah, they ended up married in the end. Yeah, they fit the system but they made it work for them.
I didn’t realize it at the time but each of those books was a pink painted crowbar, cracking my world open. Suddenly, it became clear to me that I shouldn’t be in any relationship with any man who wasn’t going to love and respect me. I realised that I could go out and—in historical romance speak—be a woman of the world. The heroines I loved had. And if they could, I could too.
I left home as a kid, not really understanding how things worked still but knowing the last thing I wanted to be was an unhappy teenage mum.
I didn’t really know how to do friendships—in my family, criticizing others was the only real form of bonding—but what I did have was over a thousand romance novels under my belt and a thousand female friendships in those novels to guide me.
The heroines of romance taught me that women could be intelligent, loud, opinionated and friends with other women. That’s right. Friends. Friends who built each other up, who were there for each other when crap went down, who didn’t bitch behind each other’s backs and who forgave each other when things went wrong.
It took me a couple of years and a bunch of hits and misses to get it right. Learning how to be a young woman functioning normally in society, making friends normally, trusting others to treat you kindly does take a little practice without any practical education. Just like the heroines in the novels that I loved so much, I screwed up, I got it right sometimes, I laughed, I cried and I came out the other end with my own hard-earned Happy Ever After.
That’s what romance novels did for me.
 And today my greatest wish in the world as a writer is that somewhere out there, there’s going to be an eleven year old girl who’s having a rough time of it, who picks up my novels, Unforgettable You or Irrepressible You (let’s just hope she skips the naughty bits, unlike me!) and works out that she can get out there, do things for herself, make something of herself and in the end, it’s going to be okay.
*** .

Blurb For Unforgettable You

After months working on an oil rig in the Atlantic Ocean, engineer Jo Blaine can't wait to get home. Her job is tough, and she is desperate for some long overdue girl time. The last thing Jo needs when she walks through her front door is to find a strange man staying in her house. When she learns that her uninvited guest is none other than Stephen Hardy, she's tempted to head straight back out to sea.

Stephen has always felt guilty for the part he played in ruining Jo's life years earlier and immediately jumps at the chance to make things up to her by looking after her apartment and her giant cranky cat. It takes some fast talking, but Jo is finally convinced to let him stay. And by the time she leaves for her next shift at work, they're both eagerly anticipating her return.

But as they grow closer, it soon becomes clear Jo is hiding something about her past that is coming back to haunt her. After a lifetime of taking care of herself and her sister Amy, Jo isn't used to sharing her problems, especially when they involve her messy family history. But when threats start to escalate, Jo must decide whether to trust Stephen before her stubborn independence places them all at risk.
***About The Author: Georgina Penney has lived all over the world including Australia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and presently, Brunei Darussalam. She shares a jungle stilt house with her wonderful husband and opinionated cat and spends her days writing emotional, humorous novels featuring heroines who tackle life head on
Links:

Website: www.georginapenney.com

Blog: www.steamypuddings.com

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Georgina-Penney...

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

Twitter: https://twitter.com/georginapenney

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/georgina.pen...

Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries Season Two Doesn't Disappoint

"Beside every good man is a good woman and she must always be prepared to step in front."

Miss Fisher is back! The flapper has a new series of murders to solve, thirteen of them to be exact, and she solves each one with her usual style and flair.

Anyways, as I said above, season two has thirteen episodes; that's thirteen hours of Miss Fisher complete with the sexy Inspector, his nice sidekick Collins (this young man is starting to grow on me!), and the prudish Dottie. And let's not forget the incredible historical setting of Melbourne Australia in the twenties and the immaculate costumes.

Episode one really starts the show in a delightfully scandalous manner. Miss Fisher goes undercover in a house of ill repute and does a very shocking fan dance as she tries to get the bottom of a murder that occurred in a politician's house. We meet the Inspector's ex-wife in this episode too, as well as see the lovely Phyrne dressed as a cat burglar. Nice! I especially loved the flamenco dancing touch. Miss Fisher does everything!

The second mystery involves the occult, seances, graveyards. As spiritualism was especially popular in those days, I felt this was a superb twist and added a very good historical touch. World War I memories come up in this too.

Episode three is one of my favorites, if a bit predictable, because it takes place on the beach. We get to see the Inspector and Collins both in their bathing suits. I loved all the history that made its way into this one, not only in the swimming costumes, but the temperance society plays a large role. This show also has one of my favorite funny moments:

Dottie: "You're just in time. There's been a murder."
Mr. Butler: "Will there be one less for dinner then?"

The fourth one has boxing and gangs and we finally see some of the strife that went on between the Aboriginals and the whites. At this point, however, I'm starting to question Miss Fisher's choice of bedmates. It's a new man every episode and she's beginning to show poorer and poorer taste with each installment. Is she bedding all these men so fast to rid herself of her yearnings for the Inspector? And now that's divorced and up for grabs, why isn't she grabbing him? Hm... Collins and Dottie have no such compunctions, however. Their romance is progressing at a sweet pace.

The rest of the series takes us from the competitive world of rugby to a small town still reeling from WWI losses. There's murder mixed with high fashion, scandal and death over ancient history at a college. There's blood shed on a silent movie set.

Each mystery follows a formula: MF is called to or walks in on a murder. She calls up the Inspector and Collins. She beds a fellow--NOT the Inspector (in most episodes). They work together to solve the crime. Each episode ends with her and the Inspector eyeing each other in such a way...

The formula is predictable, but it works. With television, you don't want to change something that seems to be a good thing. Look at Law & Order SVU. Used to rock, but last season they changed the formula--not good. So I don't mind that this show sticks to the formula--it works. Just like with season one, I have the same complaint this time around--and it's my only one. MF just jumps into bed with some random man nearly every episode. Strong woman doesn't necessarily mean promiscuous. There's nothing wrong with a woman getting her jollies. She knows what she wants and gets it, but some of her lovers, like the winemaker...what??? Huh? Sometimes her choices made no sense at all and she bedded them way too quickly, with no real basis, no attraction, at least not to me.

Regardless, every episode had a LOL moment or a quote that made me grin or nod my head.

"We have a quaint custom here. The person with the gun asks the questions."

After Miss Fisher informs the Inspector that someone stole her gun from her room...
The Inspector: "What kind of town is this?"
Miss Fisher: *shrugs* "They make very good wine."

And later in the Xmas show...

Collins: "Miss Fisher's gone on holiday again."
Inspector: "Anyone dead yet?"
Collins: "Only one so far, sir."

And I can't fail to mention my favorite episode, in which there's a rally race and a dead woman driver and a hoity toity uppity man declaring that women aren't biologically suited to drive. And boy, oh boy, does Phyrne and Dottie and another lass just prove him wrong!!! This episode was all girl power and I loved it. Def my fave.

Hugh: "It's (driving) a lot more complicated than operating your sewing machine, Dottie."
Dottie: "I'd like to see you operate my sewing machine, Hugh Collins."

I hear whether or not there's going to be a season three is still up "in the air". Please keep this one going, folks. And if AU doesn't want it, bring it over here. ;)

I received this on blue-ray from Acorn in exchange for an honest review to be featured on New Age Mama. The quotes may not be exact. You must remember, I depend on subtitles.

Kim Foster's Top 5 Anti-Heroines

Please welcome the author of the Agency of Burglary & Theft Series, a series featuring a lady thief...and not the petty sort... I read book one last year. Check out my review here.
Being good is totally overrated.
Popular culture is full of anti-heroes—from Jay Gatsby to Dexter—protagonists who are layered, complicated, flawed. They fascinate us with their contradictory brew of good and bad qualities.
But what about anti-heroines? For whatever reason (and I suspect there are many), we just don’t see as many anti-heroines as anti-heroes. Is society ready for the rise of the anti-heroine—women who are nuanced, conflicted, and not entirely...good?
My fascination with anti-heroines goes back many years. It was the height of the chick-lit era and I found myself reading a lot of books with well-intentioned heroines who got themselves into various scrapes and misadventures. At first these stories were funny and diverting, but I soon began finding them, well, tiresome. It thought: how cool would it be to read about someone whose intentions were not so honorable? I wrote a short story about a girl pirate—a young girl with larceny in her blood. It won 2nd place in the Writer’s Digest Annual Competition. For unpublished writers, this is a biggie—there were 17,000 entries that year. Validating? You bet. But it was just the start.
I then wrote my first novel, A Beautiful Heist, which was published in 2013 by Kensington, and now the sequel, A Magnificent Crime, which has just been released. My protagonist is a professional jewel thief—a young woman who has friends, love interests, the trappings of a normal life...she just happens to be a career criminal.
Clearly, I have a thing for anti-heroines. Whether they’re tough, ambitious, unforgiving, or morally ambiguous, there’s something compelling about a complicated heroine with shades of good and bad—not quite the villain, but certainly not the damsel-in-distress, either.
Here are some of my favorite anti-heroines:
1. Becky Sharp in Vanity Fair. Thackeray’s famous anti-heroine is a fascinating character: an ambitious social climber who uses her cunning and her charms to get what she wants. Vanity Fair was first published in 1847—proof that the anti-heroine is not a modern construct.
2. Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With The Wind.Scarlett is vain, spoiled, and self-centered—but she possesses an iron determination to survive. Terrible things happen to her, but she stays strong. Even if you don’t love Scarlett, how can you not admire her?
3. Bonnie Parker in Bonnie & Clyde.Bonnie wasn’t a character at all, of course, but a real woman. The 1967 film starting Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty allowed us to imagine what she might have been like—and the results were fascinating. The character of Bonnie was a criminal, a bank robber, ruthless and morally off-center, but daring and full of life. Is that why we found ourselves rooting for her?
4. Elphaba Thropp in Wicked. Gregory Maguire wrote a story about The Wicked Witch of the West—but made her the protagonist, not the villain. It’s such a fabulous idea, I can't help but feel a little envious that I didn't come up with it first. The character he created, named Elphaba, is still green, still angry, still powerful…just way more interesting than the one-dimensional Wicked Witch.
5. Elizabeth Swann in Pirates of The Caribbean. She fights, she lies when she has to, she uses her charms when it gets her what she wants. Although she’s a Governor’s daughter, she’s a pirate at heart, unapologetically. Incidentally, I’ve always felt the Pirates of the Caribbean stories were in fact Elizabeth’s stories—she’s the central character in my mind. She changes the most, she grows the most, she has the most at stake.
So tell me, who’s your favorite anti-heroine? And what do you think--is society ready for the rise of the anti-heroine?
                -Kim Foster, May 2013.
Everyone has a talent. Some are just more legal than others.

Cat Montgomery is a natural-born thief with a special gift for stealth—or at least she thought so. Years

ago, she stole from the diamond-hoarding businessman Albert Faulkner III. Now he wants revenge, and

he forces Cat to plan a heist of the infamous Hope Diamond while it’s on loan to the Louvre in Paris. If

she fails the mission, he'll wreak bloody havoc on her loved ones. But the stakes are raised even higher

when Cat discovers that stealing the Hope is not only an impossible task, it's a cursed one. . . Meanwhile, Cat's boyfriend, FBI agent Jack Barlow, is tracking a fierce criminal known as the Gargoyle, running into Interpol and resistance among his agency. As he follows the trail to Paris, where Cat is, their missions entwine in ways neither of them would have suspected. . .
***
Kim Foster is the author of the Agency of Burglary & Theft Series, a series of novels about a professional female jewel thief. Kim has a typical background for someone who writes thrillers about thieves and spies and criminals: she has a degree in medicine and is a practising family doctor. (Don’t worry, it doesn’t make much sense to her friends and family, either.)

She’s addicted to yoga, loves to travel, and has a clinical weakness for dark chocolate with sea salt. Online, you can find her blogging about her left-brain, right-brain mash-up on www.kimfoster.com. Kim lives with her husband and their two young sons in Victoria, BC, where she's hard at work on her next book. And drinking a ridiculous amount of coffee.

The Secret Life of Violet Grant by Beatriz Williams

I am thoroughly impressed with this novel. Never having read this author before, I didn't really know what to expect. I began completely engrossed in this story and absolutely enamored with the 60s' heroine. She's so very witty, sarcastic, funny, honest. What's not to love about her? I can't remember the last time I was so taken by a narrator.

The story goes back and forth between her, Vivian, and the past--pre WWI--to a scientist spurned by her own well-to-do American family. The 60' story mostly stays in NYC and revolves around a reporter, a romance with surprising twists and turns, a best friend, a rather snobby but utterly amusing family...and of course, the digging up of Violet Grant's tale.

Violet's tale takes us from English college in the early 1900s to Germany and parties with scientists and spies and tensions pre WWI in Europe. There's a lot of exciting things going on during her tale, though much of it is the background to her tumultuous relationship with her sexually perverted husband. I had a difficult time with this heroine. She's weak, blind, manipulated, doesn't see what's right in front of her. I wish her....dumbness in what is otherwise an extremely intelligent woman had been better explained. That has to be my only complaint about this novel. Though in her defense, she was a woman at a college, in a profession, in which women were not really accepted yet. At first, I can understand her being taken with the professor, who believes in her (so he says), and suffrage. But after being called child so many times...I was amazed she didn't see what I saw.

But moving on... Even Albert Einstein makes an appearance in this book!

Though a long novel, it's so well written and engaging, you won't even notice the length. I was just completely immerse and didn't want to put it down. You would expect, that due to the switching narratives, that it would be jarring, but it wasn't hard to realize instantly who was speaking and when. Extremely well done. And oooh, I love that it has an ending you don't see coming from page five. So rare nowadays. Totally shocked me! And delightfully so!

I'll be reading more of this author.

I received this via Edelweiss.

My Reading Radar 6/7/2014

I cannot believe I did not see this title sooner, like back in January when it was first released. It's the first of a Roaring Twenties series and you know I love that era.


Anyways, Bitter Spirits by Jenn Bennett is on my wishlist. 

There's a big curse in little Chinatown…and it's not Prohibition.

It’s the roaring twenties, and San Francisco is a hotbed of illegal boozing, raw lust, and black magic. The fog-covered Bay Area can be an intoxicating scene, particularly when you specialize in spirits…

Aida Palmer performs a spirit medium show onstage at Chinatown’s illustrious Gris-Gris speakeasy. However, her ability to summon (and expel) the dead is more than just an act.

Winter Magnusson is a notorious bootlegger who’s more comfortable with guns than ghosts—unfortunately for him, he’s the recent target of a malevolent hex that renders him a magnet for hauntings. After Aida’s supernatural assistance is enlisted to banish the ghosts, her spirit-chilled aura heats up as the charming bootlegger casts a different sort of spell on her.

On the hunt for the curseworker responsible for the hex, Aida and Winter become drunk on passion. And the closer they become, the more they realize they have ghosts of their own to exorcise…

***
Ran across this author while browsing...the books are a bit too pricey for me so they've hit the wishlist. The author has two books (at least, that I could find) involving women in aviation, from the FAA to crash inspectors to mechanics. Sounds fabulous.

In Love, At War by Graysen Morgen. Charley Hayes is in the Army Air Force and stationed at Ford Island in Pearl Harbor. She is the commanding officer of her own female-only service squadron and doing the one thing she loves most, repairing airplanes.

Life is good for Charley, until the day she finds herself falling in love while fighting for her life as her country is thrown haphazardly into World War II.

Can she survive being in love and at war?


***
Also by Graysen Morgen, Fate Vs. Destiny. Logan Greer devotes her life to investigating plane crashes for the National Transportation Safety Board. She works by the book and lives a very structured life; until she meets two very different women that simply cause her to unravel. Brooke McCabe is an investigator with the Federal Aviation Association who literally flies by the seat of her pants. She gets what she wants and leaves trails of embers in her wake.

Jensen Tirado is a recluse that is full of mystery. She appears and disappears like a ghost in the night.

When Logan gets tangled in head games with both women will she choose fate or destiny?


***
And this one...I have no idea how this one escaped my radar. No idea whatsoever. It's def on my to read and wishlist after seeing an ad for it on Goodreads. 

Regardless, I've vowed to get my hands on this one. What is Visible by Kimberly Elkins.

At age two, Laura Bridgman lost four of her five senses to scarlet fever. At age seven, she was taken to Perkins Institute in Boston to determine if a child so terribly afflicted could be taught. At age twelve, Charles Dickens declared her his prime interest for visiting America. And by age twenty, she was considered the nineteenth century's second most famous woman, having mastered language and charmed the world with her brilliance. Not since The Diving Bell and the Butterfly has a book proven so profoundly moving in illuminating the challenges of living in a completely unique inner world.

With Laura-by turns mischievous, temperamental, and witty-as the book's primary narrator, the fascinating kaleidoscope of characters includes the founder of Perkins Institute, Samuel Gridley Howe, with whom she was in love; his wife, the glamorous Julia Ward Howe, a renowned writer, abolitionist, and suffragist; Laura's beloved teacher, who married a missionary and died insane from syphilis; an Irish orphan with whom Laura had a tumultuous affair; Annie Sullivan; and even the young Helen Keller.

Deeply enthralling and rich with lyricism, WHAT IS VISIBLE chronicles the breathtaking experiment that Laura Bridgman embodied and its links to the great social, philosophical, theological, and educational changes rocking Victorian America. Given Laura's worldwide fame in the nineteenth century, it is astonishing that she has been virtually erased from history. WHAT IS VISIBLE will set the record straight.

Ten Questions from Tara: Interview With Leesa Bow

Tara: Welcome. You’re here to promote Winning the Player, a New Adult book. Tell me, please, what was the inspiration behind this story? How did it come to you?

Readers, here's the blurb real quick.

When injury destroyed her dream of playing college basketball, Aubree Taylor fled overseas. Now she's finally home again and ready to move on with her life. Until she runs into Hunter Stone on her first night out, the only guy who's ever meant anything to her – and the last person she wants to see.

Since she ran out on him two years ago, Hunter hasn't been able to get Aubree off his mind. The sexy football star has had girls all over him for years, but Aubree is the only one to have ever seen behind the cocky persona he puts on for the crowd.

Despite her attempts to keep her distance, Aubree is unable to resist the strong attraction between them and it isn't long before they fall into a passionate relationship. She has never been afraid of a challenge, but Hunter's arrogance and inablity to trust are testing her to her limits. Aubree must decide whether to follow her heart and lower her guard…or risk losing the best thing that's ever happened to her.
Leesa: My husband played Aussie Rules football and my four daughters all played basketball. One of my daughters played College basketball in the USA while my second daughter was diagnosed with bone cancer and had all her basketball dreams ripped away. She is well now and in remission but much of my inspiration came from family.

Tara: We focus a lot on heroines here on Book Babe. Tell me what makes your heroine(s) strong.

Leesa: My heroine, Aubree lost her father at a young age. She found strength in basketball and she soon became an elite athlete. In her last year at school a devastating knee injury severed her dream of playing basketball for Australia. After years of focusing on playing college basketball in America she now faces an uncertain future. Her ability to cope and push on, and find another passion in life, shows her real strength.

Tara: Do you see any of yourself in her?

Leesa: Sometimes, and sometimes I see my daughters. Overall she is an individual.

Tara: What makes her sexy?

Leesa: Aubree doesn’t wear a lot of makeup and likes to dress in jeans or old track pants. She has natural beauty. She is thoughtful and considerate, never wanting to hurt people intentionally. I like how she works in a nursing home and takes up a friendship with one of the elderly residents.

Tara: Where do you see your heroine ten years from now? What will she be? What do you predict she’ll accomplish?

Leesa: I see Aubree married to Hunter with a couple of children. She would have graduated from university as a teacher and continued to coach junior basketball.

Tara: What would you like readers to gain from reading your book? Is there a strong moral? Do you hope they will laugh, learn something, ponder a point?

Leesa: Yes I think readers will laugh and cry in ‘Winning the Player’. It is a fun read about second chances, and never giving up. Aubree’s grandmother offers plenty of advice we could all learn from.

Tara: Now let’s talk about your hero. What draws the heroine to him? Is he based on a real man in your life by any chance?

Leesa: Football is Australia’s favourite game and football players have a strong following, like rock stars, with girls. For an ordinary girl to win the heart of a star football player is inspiring. Hunter has an air of arrogance about him stemming from his stardom, however he softens around Aubree, and sees the person she is on the inside. I like that he is attracted to her as a person, not just for her looks, and that makes him more appealing as a hero.

Tara: Your book takes place in Adelaide, South Australia. If I were a tourist, what would you recommend I see in this town/country?

Leesa: Adelaide is a scenic city with iconic beaches, fine restaurants and a lover of sport, especially Australian Rules football. It is like a giant playground for water sports, bordered by world class vineyards and rivers where many people have built holiday homes at only an hours drive from the heart of the city. I make mention of Glenelg, and Victor Harbor, two popular beach destinations with tourists. Our beaches are known for the white soft sand, and spectacular sunsets. I also talk about Popeye, a boat that offers rides along the River Torrens in the city. Adelaide is also known as the city of churches.

Tara: A more personal question. What’s the one thing you hope to accomplish before you die? Your main goal?

Leesa: I have a bucket list of places to see in the world. Apart from being a good mother and wife, I hope to someday hit USA’s best seller’s list.

Tara: I’m a dog mom, so I always ask this. Do you have pets? If so, tell me about them and do provide pictures.

Leesa: I once had chickens, canaries, dogs, fish, and rabbits for my children. Slowly the animals dwindled, and then my eldest daughter left home and took the dogs with her, A white German shepherd, a Border Collie, and a Samoyed cross Golden Retriever.

A few weeks ago the Border Collie died, age 13 years, and it was a traumatic experience as my daughter was on her honeymoon.
Tara: That's very sad. :(
Thank you for joining us today and good luck with your release! Readers, buy link is below!
***
Leesa Bow grew up in Broken Hill and moved to Adelaide, South Australia with her husband.

In her spare time, Leesa enjoys watching basketball and football, having beach days with the family, catching up for coffee with girlfriends, and taking long walks along the beach.

Leesa only began writing when her second daughter became sick with cancer. Initially writing was therapeutic, but when her daughter got the all clear, she decided to continue writing seriously.