Review: The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen

Genre: Southern Fiction
Series: No
Pages: 276
Copyright: 2008
Publisher: Bantam
Buy: Amazon

Reviews of other books by Sarah Addison Allan: Garden Spells, First Frost, Lost, Lake, The Peach Keeper, and The Girl Who Chased the Moon

Summary:
Josey Cirrini is the only daughter of Marco Cirrini. Marco transformed the town of Bald Slope into a ski resort town. Josey has always been seen as the daughter of Marco, and as  a child she was ornery and temperamental. However, when Della Lee shows up in Josey's closet she starts to change and move in a different circle than her mother, who she has been cowing to for years. Margaret, Josey's mother, takes advantage of the fact that Josey has never seen the world and keeps her locked up like you would a little child, even though Josey is twenty-seven. Josey goes behind her mother and has a stash of sweets she keeps in her closet. When Della Lee appears Josey is forced out of her normalcy. She meets Chloe who becomes her friend. Josey also takes action where she would have stood still before. This is an enticing story with a little magic: books that follow the main character.

Feelings:
I enjoyed reading The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen. There were times when it seemed a little over the top. I enjoyed the characters and the surprise of Della Lee. Chloe and Josey are both interesting in their own way. They are both trying to avoid love. Josey doesn't want others to know she likes the mailman, Adam, and Chloe has kicked out her boyfriend, Jack, but she can't forget him and move on. The story takes place during the winter. It is also a good winter read as it takes advantage of winter clothing and romanticizes it.

Review: Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

Genre: Southern Fiction
Series: Waverley Family #1
Pages: 290
Copyright: 2008
Publisher: Bantam Discovery
Buy: Amazon

Review of the second book in the series: First Frost
Reviews of other books by Sarah Addison Allan: Sugar Queen, Lost, Lake, The Peach Keeper, and The Girl Who Chased the Moon

Summary:This is a well crafted story set in Bascom, North Carolina. The main character has a magic garden that she tends. The garden has a large fence around it because there is an apple tree that has fruit which will tell you the biggest event in your life. This has caused the owners of the tree, the Waverleys, to become outcasts of society. Claire is a caterer, and she makes her living from the flowers in her garden. The apples from the tree are not used in any cooking. Claire's sister Sydney and her young daughter Bay return to live with Claire. They are running from their past. Tyler is the new art teacher at the local college who has moved in next door to Claire. He is interested in her sexually, but Claire resists. On Sydney's return she meets Henry, an old friend from elementary school. The story is strongly influenced by food and the apple tree.

Feelings:
I really enjoyed reading Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen. It was a pleasant surprise to find a good Southern novel. The story is rooted in the South and Southern traditions. I really liked the characters. Claire and Tyler were an interesting pair as they were so different. Not only that but there was a tension between them that seemed to by heightened by the apple tree and by Claire, who seems to posses some magic of her own. Sydney is harder to follow as she doesn't have as many pleasant memories. As the book unfolds it was nice to watch Sydney and Claire develop a friendship built on being sisters. The relationship among the characters and their past friends makes the story move at a fast pass. Henry and Tyler are both interesting men. They are manly with a feminine side that reaches for romance which Claire rejects and Sydney doesn't believe she can have. I would recommend this book. I enjoyed the magic and tension the writing created.

Review: The Road of Lost Innocence by Somaly Mam

Genre: Memoir
Series: No
Pages: 197
Copyright: 2008
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
Buy:Amazon

Summary:
The subheading "The true story of a Cambodian heroine" is a good way of describing what Somaly has done for young girls sold into sexual slavery in Cambodia and Southeast Asia. The blurb on the cover "As a girl she was sold into sexual slavery, but now she rescues others." is fitting. The story starts with her as a child in a small village where she has been left by her parents and her grandmother. From this village she is taken by a man who she calls grandfather, presumably just an older man who uses her as labor, and who later sells her to the brothel. Somaly now runs a center for girls who have been sold into brothels and escaped from them. Her story has brought the problem of sex trafficking to international attention. She runs Acting for Women in Distressing Situations (AFESIP) in Cambodia which helps former prostitutes gain life skills which they can use to support themselves. AFESIP also provides a safe place for the girls to regain their confidence before they enter society.

Feelings:
The Road of Lost Innocence is a book of bravery. Somaly had to have courage to reveal her life in a book which anyone can read. Her story is one which can speak to all people. To make her story as vibrant as it is she had to fully open herself and those around her to the pain that she went through and is still with her.

This is not an easy book to read as it is not about an easy topic. This is a book about human suffering that women and girls endure. Being forced to sell oneself for profit by family members because you are a girl and not worth anything to your family is hard to read about. One wonders how a mother would be able to let their child go so easily. Somaly is a strong woman who deserves the respect of all women for her ability to help so many girls out of a life which she lived through and is still haunted by.

The beginning of the book starts with a statistic, which I know many will find hard to comprehend or will not want to look at.

"By far the lowest statistic for the number of prostitutes and sex slaves in Cambodia is between 40,000 and 50,000. It can be expect that at least 1 in 40 girls born in Cambodia will be sold into sex slavery," from a 2005 report by Future Group. 

These are dismal numbers but the book is one woman's story of living through being a sex slave, and her life now as she tries to help others. This is a book which should be read in high schools and colleges to gain an outside perspective of the lives of individuals in third world countries.

I highly recommend this The Road of Lost Innocence: The True Story of a Cambodian Heroine by Somaly Mam. It might not be an easy subject to read about, but the book is not all dark.

Review: Darkborn by Alison Sinclair

Genre: Fantasy
Series: Yes, Trilogy. Lightborn next in series
Pages: 352
Copyright: 2009
Publisher: Roc Trade
Buy: Amazon

Summary:
Physician Balthasar Hearne, of the Darkborn, opens his door to a woman who is pregnant. Darkborn must live in the dark. In light they are burned to ash. Lightborn are the opposite and are melted by the dark. Balthasar cannot turn her away without killing her, so he asks her to stay. She gives birth to twins who seem able to live in both light and dark. Balthasar's wife, Telmaine, arrives home to find that her husband has been beaten and is close to death because of the twins. When she arrives at her home she finds the assailants leaving. The assailants has kidnap her daughter. She and Baron Ishmael di Strumheller, her escort home, heal her husband with magic. Once the danger for her husband is gone they set out to find their kidnapped daughter and fight the danger posed by unknown forces.

Feelings:
The book is in third person and every time the story switches points of view from one character to the next there is a heading to tell the reader which character is narrating. I found this useful but wished it wasn't necessary. I liked the story and thought it was an interesting idea. I will probably read the next in the series but it is not high on my list. While I enjoyed the story, it was an easy read and not very thought provoking. It did not ask the reader to engage. I like to engage with what I am reading and not be subjected to it. I liked both Telmaine's internal conflict and the external conflict of the Hearne family and the assailant. The characters in the story were interesting which is what made me finish reading the book and which will likely have me looking for the next in the series.

Review: Darkborn by Alison Sinclair

Genre: Fantasy
Series: Yes, Trilogy. Lightborn next in series
Pages: 352
Copyright: 2009
Publisher: Roc Trade
Buy: Amazon

Summary:
Physician Balthasar Hearne, of the Darkborn, opens his door to a woman who is pregnant. Darkborn must live in the dark. In light they are burned to ash. Lightborn are the opposite and are melted by the dark. Balthasar cannot turn her away without killing her, so he asks her to stay. She gives birth to twins who seem able to live in both light and dark. Balthasar's wife, Telmaine, arrives home to find that her husband has been beaten and is close to death because of the twins. When she arrives at her home she finds the assailants leaving. The assailants has kidnap her daughter. She and Baron Ishmael di Strumheller, her escort home, heal her husband with magic. Once the danger for her husband is gone they set out to find their kidnapped daughter and fight the danger posed by unknown forces.

Feelings:
The book is in third person and every time the story switches points of view from one character to the next there is a heading to tell the reader which character is narrating. I found this useful but wished it wasn't necessary. I liked the story and thought it was an interesting idea. I will probably read the next in the series but it is not high on my list. While I enjoyed the story, it was an easy read and not very thought provoking. It did not ask the reader to engage. I like to engage with what I am reading and not be subjected to it. I liked both Telmaine's internal conflict and the external conflict of the Hearne family and the assailant. The characters in the story were interesting which is what made me finish reading the book and which will likely have me looking for the next in the series.

Review: Mr. and Miss Anonymous by Fern Michaels

Genre: Romance with a little mystery
Series: No
Pages: 336
Copyright: 2009
Publisher: Kensington
Buy: Amazon

Summary:
Mr. And Miss Anonymous is about two individuals who, while in college, give donations to a fertility clinic and a sperm bank. Yes, these two individuals meet when they have just finished giving their donations, and they seem to have much in common, particularly a feeling that there is something strange about the facility. Yet, they part and go their separate ways. Nineteen years later they are both very rich and they meet at the airport. Both are troubled by their past donations and hit it off, again. In the Airport they see news clip about a shooting in which two boys escape. One of the boys looks exactly like Mr. Anonymous, Pete Kelly. Miss Anonymous, Lily Madison, feels that like Pete she must have children out there. After the shooting she wants to find them as much as Pete wants to find the boy who escaped. Once in California they start to look for the boy and uncover the secrets of their past.

Feelings:
This was a relatively predictable book. The romance genre seems to lack surprise as part of the story. I had a hard time getting into the writing. The author used a third person omniscient narrative and it made it difficult to really get into the story. It also took away from any surprise as the plot developed. I only finished reading the book because it was short and I wanted to see if Pete and Lily would actually follow the normal romance plot. They did. Michaels' is tame compared to most romance writers so if you want to read about couples in love chose a different book, which will be more convincing.

Review: Wildfire by Sarah Micklem

Genre: Fantasy
Series: Yes, first Firethorn, third yet to be released
Pages: 520
Copyright: 2009
Publisher: Scribner
Buy: Amazon

Here is a link to my review of the first in the series Firethorn

Summary:
This book tells the story of Firethorn after she is told to stay behind by Sire Galan, who has given her land which she can stay on. Firethorn does not listen and follows Galan. On the crossing she is struck by lightening. This makes much of the beginning of the story hard to follow. It seems like she is stumbling over what she wants to say and even her thoughts at times, but as the book progresses this fades. Not much more can be said in summary without giving away to much of the story.

Feelings:
I thought that this was a better story than Firethorn, the first in the series. Part of this may have been that I was more satisfied with the ending. Firethorn is tried and tested in many ways which I did not expect at the beginning of the story. It is hard not to appreciate her and what she goes through. This story moves and the plot is not as lingering. There are still the same descriptions which highlighted the first book. The movement between places makes this book move at a faster pace. The King of Icus Corvus becomes a person who isn't only the enemy, as he was viewed in Firethorn. I really enjoyed reading this book as I did the first one and hope that the next in the series arrives soon.