Book Review: Moonstone by Marilee Brothers

15 year old Allie’s life is already pretty abnormal. She lives in a travel trailer with her deadbeat mother, her best friend is the elderly town “witch” and she has a crush on a former gang member. But her life gets even weirder after an accident with an electrical fence sets off her psychic powers, she inherits a powerful moonstone and learns about a prophesy that names her as a “star seeker” who must save the world from evil.

I really liked the flippant, almost campy tone of this book. Allie was very likeable and it was surprisingly easy to identify with her plight despite the paranormal aspects of the book. Junior is a nicely complex love interest and the relationship between Allie and her mother rang true. I wish the villains had been more than vaguely menacing, but otherwise, this first book in the Unbidden Magic series was a very enjoyable read.

If this sounds good to you, you're in luck! The Book Muncher is giving away two copies of the book here. Contest ends on Saturday, November 8th so enter now!

Happy Halloween! (Part two: Gallery of costumes past)

By popular demand, here are a few pictures of past halloween costumes:

With my brothers. The Raggedy Ann look.

With Margui. The hippie chick look.

With Rachelle. I think I am going for the modest Greek belly dancer look.

Which look is your favorite?

Happy Halloween!

May you get more treats than tricks :)

My "love letters to books" series will return next week.

Book Review: Company of Liars by Karen Maitland

In 1348, a group of travelers thrown together by fate, each with their own dark secret, is trying to outrun the plague as it sweeps across England.

The novel is narrated by a scarred old Camelot who has been on the road for years pedaling fake holy relics. The Camelot is soon joined by a diverse cast of characters including a pregnant woman and her husband, a musician and his apprentice, a magician, a healer, a storyteller, and a young girl who reads the runes. As the title suggests, each in the company is lying about something, though most of the lies are quite easy to figure out long before the truth is revealed.

Author Karen Maitland excels at setting the scene of the story – the historical details are grinded into the plot rather than left in lumps of exposition which makes for a vivid and compelling reading experience. There was also a tinge of the mystical and the occult in the narrative, which makes sense considering the superstitions of the time. Oh and it has one of the most chilling endings I’ve ever read (especially after going back to read the prologue again).

In a story set in this turbulent time, it’s no spoiler to say that death awaits some of the characters. But strangely enough, I was not emotionally attached to any of the characters (save Camelot) to be more than mildly concerned for them and certainly no one’s fate touched me so much that I had to shed any tears. I don’t know if this was because most of the characters were vaguely unlikable and spent a lot of the time bickering or if was something more intangible.

Thanks to LibraryThing for the Early Review copy. Company of Liars is out in hardcover now.

Waiting On Wednesday (6) The Fetch by Laura Whitcomb

Host Jill of Breaking the Spine asks us every week to talk about one book we are really looking forward to. My pick this week is Laura Whitcomb's The Fetch, coming February 2009. Check out this book description and just try not to get excited:

Calder is a Fetch, a death escort, the first of his kind to step from Heaven back to Earth. The first to fall in love with a mortal girl. But when he climbs backwards out of that Death Scene, into the chaos of the Russian Revolution, he tears a wound in the ghost realm, where the spirits begin a revolution of their own.

And I found this little tidbit on Laura's website:

Calder, like every Fetch, had only one name, but he had two ages: his Earth Years numbered nineteen and his Death Years numbered three hundred and thirty. Though it was no excuse for what he would do, for a Fetch, Calder was young. The Order of the Fetch, on the other hand, was old--it began when the ruins of the first garden could still be found hiding in the desert beside a river, a blanket of green having grown over her like a shroud, and, in this moist cave that was once Eden, at the heart of her darkness, the Tree of Knowledge bowed to the earth.

Sounds a bit like a mix between Meet Joe Black and The Book Thief and the Russian Revolution/Garden of Eden elements make it even more appealing to me. I've heard awesome things about Laura's previous book A Certain Slant of Light and I even managed to track down a signed copy on amazon. So that's actually TWO books I'm eager to read. Are you also excited about this one? What other forthcoming books are on your radar?

Book Review: The Whisky Rebels by David Liss

It’s difficult to distill everything that’s going on in this novel into a short summary, but I’ll try. Basically, it follows two plotlines which merge in the later part of the novel. One is narrated by the disgraced (and drunk) former Revolutionary War spy Ethan Saunders as he seeks to aid a former sweetheart and gets involved in trying to stop a plot against the US Treasury. The other is narrated by Joan Maycott who together with her husband, also a war veteran, try to improve their lot on the frontier by coming up with a new whisky recipe (which proves so popular that the government decides to tax it to raise funds).

I’ll admit that I was a bit reluctant to start this book even though I was intrigued enough to request it from the LT ER program (especially when I have such amazing reading material coming out of my ears at the moment), but once I did, I was completely charmed by the devil-may-care attitude of Ethan and the raw determination and clever machinations of Joan. I found their fictional stories, intertwined with real historical events and personalities, compelling reading. Author David Liss has an impressive talent for making history, even something as potentially boring as 18th century finance, really come alive. Joan sets out to write a novel, but she ends up living one – and a very good one at that.

Library Thing Tuesday (25) + Pic of Emmy

This week's question: Legacy libraries. With which legacy libraries do you share books? Tell us a little about a couple of them and what you share.

I'd never checked out this feature before today, and it took me a couple of minutes to find them (they are under the Groups tab). With most legacy libraries, I share at least a couple of the classics which is no surprise. I share 23 books with Carl Sandburg including The phantom tollbooth by Norton Juster. I share 12 with Karen Blixen including The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers.

This is definitely an interesting project!

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Last week, Kathy of Oklahoma Booklady commented that they'd need 4 hands to hold up their cat which directly led to the following picture in which we demonstrate that we only need one hand to hold Emmy up (and she LIKES it):

In Loving Memory of My Mother

Who loved to read to me (and my brother)

November is a HUGE giveaway month!

November is just around the corner and it's going to be a huge book giveaway month at presenting lenore!

Not only am I going to be participating in The Book Giveaway Carnival from November 3-8 at http://www.bookroomreviews.wordpress.com/ with over 70 other book bloggers, I'm also going to be giving away books all month long. Here are just some of the books I'll be giving away:

(2) signed copies of Cecelia Ahern's Thanks for the Memories (April 2009) - Congrats to Janie and WordLily

(1) copy of Aurelia by Anne Osterlund (April 2008) - Congrats to Carol (unconfirmed)

(1) copy of Death by Bikini by Linda Gerber (May 2008) - Congrats to Cynthia

(1) copy of You are so undead to me by Stacey Jay (March 2009) Congrats to Shalonda

(2) copies of Beautiful Americans by Lucy Silag (January 2009) - Congrats to Kelsey & Amber

(1) copy of Schooled by Anisha Lakhani (August 2008) - Congrats to Mari

(1) signed set of Libby Bray's Gemma Doyle trilogy!! Congrats to Keri (unconfirmed)

and more!

SURPRISE ADDITIONS:

(5) copies of Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway - Congrats to Yan, Carolina, Kimberly Derting, Simply Megan and Book Lover Lisa

(5) copies of Chalice by Robin McKinley - Congrats to Jana, S. Krishna, Jeane and AC and Cuileann

(1) box of at least 6 YA books from Penguin in a "Publicist's Choice" prize pack - Congrats to Allison (unconfirmed)

There will be a separate entry post for each contest, and some will be instant win (meaning that the first person to "claim" the book will get it), so it pays to become a follower of my blog (see sidebar) or to subscribe to my blog. Some giveaways will even be open worldwide. NOTE: Regardless of when winners are announced, I will be sending all books the week of December 15th.

If you are an author that would like to donate bookmarks or promotional items to send along to the winners, please let me know at lenoreva AT hotmail DOT com.

Book Review: Chalice by Robin McKinley

After a disaster which kills the master and chalice of the Willowlands, beekeeper Mirasol is appointed new chalice and the master’s brother is recalled from the priests of fire and asked to assume master duties in a world he has mostly forgotten. With no training, Mirasol struggles to find her way as chalice and to bind the land and people to a strange new master, one whose very touch can burn human flesh to the bone.

Although Chalice takes place in a fantasy world, the political maneuverings of those in power are very much reminiscent of our own world. Every action, or inaction, on Mirasol and the new master’s part is scrutinized and judged by the ruling circle and the common people alike. And Mirasol’s own inexperience in her role leads to a showdown which could tear the Willowlands apart. It’s a quiet and contemplative sort of novel (in addition to all the politics there is a lot of talk about honey), but the patient reader will be charmed by this story of the power of love to heal.