Recent Reads {As High As the Heavens}

As High as the Heavens by Kathleen Morgan - it wasn't that I didn't like this book, but I must say I was disappointed.  Great potential for an intriguing storyline, and the main plot was a great premise, but I thought there were a couple of minor gaps in the subplots.  However, my main disappointment was that I felt that this was basically a cheap bodice-ripper that had been cleaned up a little.  (Just doing a little bit of quick research, it appears that this book was originally on the secular market and then was reworked a little - IMO, not enough - for the Christian romance fiction market. If that's true, it explains a lot.)  You know just by reading the back cover that the two main characters, Heather and Duncan, will fall in love and live happily ever after despite all the circumstances against them.  What I didn't expect was that they would both be so blatantly lusting after each other right from the first meeting, and that the romance would be so driven by their physical desire.  I don't have objections to the story including these aspects of their relationship, but I didn't read enough evidence that each was actually finding themselves loving the other for their mind and character.  The author tells us that's the case, but focuses more on how difficult it was for them to maintain propriety and virtue in the face of so much temptation.

Anyway, the basic storyline is this - supporters of Mary, Queen of Scots, have hatched a plan to help her escape from the castle at Lochleven and need the rough highlander Duncan to impersonate the court favorite that he resembles closely in order to complete the operation.  Duncan's speech and manners need to be refined so that he can fool the castle's keepers, and Heather is sent to tutor him because her father is one of the conspirators.  Not surprisingly, the two fall in love (and lust LOL) and need to overcome obstacles of mistrust between them and the opposition and manipulation of Heather's father following the the completion of the mission to free Queen Mary.

Recent Reads {Surrender the Dawn}

Surrender the Dawn by MaryLu Tyndall - The final book in the Surrender to Destiny series focuses on Cassandra Channing and Luke Heaton, who previously served on Noah Brenin's ship (in Surrender the Heart, the first book).  Heaton has a reputation as a gambler and drunkard, but has hopes of fitting up his ship as a privateer in order to support himself and his younger brother.  Cassandra's father and brothers are gone, leaving her to support her mother and younger sisters.  She wants to invest in a privateer with the last of her family's savings, but no one will accept a woman as an investor.  The two have a passing acquaintance, since Cassandra is close to Noah Brenin's wife Marianne, so they enter into the business agreement together, and the venture is off to a great beginning - and they are both finding themselves attracted to each other.  There is, of course, a suitor for Cassandra who is devious and manipulative, especially when Cassandra is uninterested in him.  He makes trouble for Heaton, and Heaton's second voyage runs to bad luck, and Heaton is left with few options other than deception and betrayal.  The climax of the story is the bombing of Fort McHenry, and naturally there is a happy ending.   Fluffy, far-fetched at times, but nonetheless fairly enjoyable reading.

By the same author:  Surrender the Night, Surrender the Heart, The Falcon and the Sparrow, Charles Towne Belle Series (The Red Siren, The Blue Enchantress, The Raven Saint), The Legacy of the King’s Pirates series (The Redemption, The Reliance, The Restitution)

Recent Reads {This Time Together}

This Time Together by Carol Burnett - I LOVED the Carol Burnett Show.  And obviously I'm not alone.  It was one of the most popular comedy shows in television history.  This book is a collection of short memoirs about Ms Burnett's career, colleagues, and family.  For some time she had been travelling the country and doing Q&A appearances, allowing the audience to ask questions similar to the way she used to open her show.  This book contains the 'answers' to some of the most commonly asked questions, and is full of hilarious moments, just as you'd expect.  It contained insights on the people she worked with, including her co-stars Vicki Lawrence, Harvey Korman, and Tim Conway.  I especially liked all her funny stories about her first time meetings with celebrities, in which she invariably did or said something very embarrassing but very funny.  Quick read, as the majority of the stories are only a couple of pages long, so it was good for reading in little snippets of time.

Recent Reads {Surrender the Night}

Surrender the Night by MaryLu Tyndall - I read the first book in this series quite a long time ago, it seems, and finally decided to finish the trilogy.  This second book is about a young American woman, Rose, and a British naval officer during the War of 1812.  Rose is alone on her family farm near Baltimore, when a brutal naval lieutenant attacks her.  She is surprised to be rescued by the 2nd Lieutenant, Alexander Reed, and dismayed that he is injured in melee.  She cares for the wound and decides to shelter him on the farm until he is recovered enough to return to his ship, rather than turn him in to the American militia.  Naturally, the two develop feelings for one another (do you ever NOT see that coming in these types of books? LOL) but Rose's past experience has taught her that no one can be trusted, and Alex wrestles with how to reconcile his sense of honor and duty to his family and country with his growing distaste for the war and his own countrymen's treatment of the Americans.  This was an easy read and kept my interest - I finished it in one day! - and in my opinion, Ms Tyndall's writing is showing improvement from her first novels.  She still has what appears to be some overused 'favorite' phrases, but I found these far less distracting than in some of the earlier titles.  She does a great job of inventing characters and putting them in rock-and-a-hard-place situations within historical setting frameworks.  The situations are a bit on the far-fetched side, but it wouldn't make a good story if they were too ordinary, right?

By the same author:  The Falcon and the Sparrow, Surrender the Heart (first in this series), Charles Towne Belle Series (The Red Siren, The Blue Enchantress, The Raven Saint), The Legacy of the King's Pirates series (The Redemption, The Reliance, The Restitution)

 

Recent Reads {Mr Darcy's Little Sister}

Mr Darcy's Little Sister by C. Allyn Pierson - As the title indicates, this 'sequel' to Pride and Prejudice focuses on Georgiana, the younger sister of Mr Darcy.  The story picks up after Darcy and Elizabeth announce their engagement and reflects on the wedding preparations and first year of their marriage mostly from Georgiana's point of view.  Georgiana is preparing for her presentation at court and her first Season, and her close friendship with her new sister proves invaluable as she navigates London society and pursues her own dreams for happiness.  Pierson has been very respectful of Jane Austen's characters and morals, and the result is a well-researched novel that is dignified, classy, and mostly believable, yet told for a 21st century reader.  I kept turning the pages, interested in the storyline, yet not completely drawn in emotionally, but I'm not sure why.  It seemed to me that Elizabeth's character became much too staid and matronly immediately upon her marriage, with her spirit and humour much more subdued than I would have imagined, and that did disappoint me somewhat.  Overall, however, I think this book ranks among the finest of Jane
Austen fan fiction, because the main characters and major storyline are in keeping with the original work, and Austen herself would not need to blush over the behavior of the characters she created.

Recent Reads {The Bell Messenger}

The Bell Messenger by Robert Cornuke with Alton Gansky - It surprised me to see the Cornuke has also written some works of fiction, and piqued my curiosity, but I did manage to find this one through my local library.  The story follows a Bible as it passes from one 'messenger' to another, always with the challenge to "Be God's messenger as I have been."  The Bible is first passed from a young Confederate named Elijah Bell to the Union officer who shot him, and from there the Bible journeys around the world with its various owners.  Cornuke uses parallel storylines beginning with the Union officer, Jeremiah Tate, and the modern-day recipient of the Bible, Gary Brandon.  Gary receives the Bible as a graduation gift from an alcoholic uncle and begins to research the names recorded in the Bible in an attempt to find its true owner and its history.  Tate takes the Bible with him to San Francisco, and it passes through the hands of a Chinese doctor, a new bride on her honeymoon tour of Egypt, a soldier during the Great War, and a treasure-hunter seeking gold in Saudi Arabia.  The story is enjoyable, and as I expected from Cornuke, full of well-researched historical background.  I'm not sure the ending was completely satisfying, but I won't give it away. ;-)

By the same author: In Search of the Lost Mountains of Noah, In Search of the Mountain of God, In Search of the Lost Ark of the Covenant,  The Lost Shipwreck of Paul

Recent Reads {Mine Is The Night}

Mine Is the Night by Liz Curtis Higgs - This is the continuation of the story of the Kerr widows, Marjory and Elisabeth, from Here Burns My Candle, and it's another real gem.  Marjory and Elisabeth return to Selkirkshire, where Marjory has a cousin she hopes will take them in despite their scandalous ties to the Jacobite rebellion.  The ladies are in extremely reduced circumstances, and Elisabeth finds work as a seamstress in order to provide a small income.  Just as in the Bible story of Ruth, Elisabeth finds another income and favour with a wealthy landowner in the neighborhood, who shows her great kindness.  But he is also an Admiral in the King George's Navy, and Jacobites are still not safe.  Elisabeth and Marjory both find love and second chances in this novel, but face trials of their faith and courage along the way.  One element of the story that struck me as rather unusual is that the heros and heroines are all honorable, God-fearing people from start to finish in the book - none are reprobates that must change in order to earn the respect of the one they love.  It seems like Ms Higgs has a winning 'formula' - a parallel based on a Biblical story set in historical Scotland - but it shouldn't be a surprise that the Bible's demonstrations of love, justice, and salvation are the basis of the best stories.

By the same author:  Here Burns My Candle, Thorn in My Heart, Fair is the Rose, Whence Came A Prince, Grace in Thine Eyes