Book Review: Garden Spells

I tried my best to get through 100 Years of Solitude but I just couldn’t!  I had no desire at all to finish it but felt bad that I had spent so much time getting half way through.  Then I reminded myself that I was 40something years old and not in college or high school any more and did not have to finish the book.  It wasn’t the end of the world that I would miss a few weeks of the 52 Books in 52 Weeks challenge.  Whew, what a relief. 

This one I had no problem at all finishing.  In fact, I hated to see it end, just like The Sugar Queen and The Girl Who Chased The Moon (also by Sarah Addison Allen.)  In true Sarah Allen fashion, Garden Spells centers on women with mysterious traits and the conflicts these bring to their lives.  In fact, the town featured in Garden Spells is full of families with such mysterious abilities.  The Waverly sisters are our main characters.  They work to overcome the abandonment issues brought on by a “free wheeling” mother, and to learn to accept their own special “gifts” while trying to lead somewhat normal lives. 

Allen’s easy to read and colorful writing style has you connecting with the characters from page one.  This is a book that you don’t want to put down, but also one you are able to pick up and get right back into at any point.  What I like most about Allen is her ability to add the little mysteries and oddities into her story and make them completely believable and well, normal.  The worlds she writes about are perfectly normal everyday scenes out of anywhere in America, but she spices them up with “magic realism.”

This book is not hard hitting literature but is certainly far enough from “fluff” to qualify as a good read to me.  There are some detailed romantic encounters but they are brief and integral to the storyline.  I highly recommend this book and all others by author Sarah Addison Allen.

Book Review: The Girl Who Chased The Moon

Week 2 of this challenge has been a success!  I made it to the library but for some reason the “new and popular” shelf was practically empty so I just started roaming the fiction aisles to see what stood out to me.

I found this, The Girl Who Chased The Moon.  I had no idea when I picked this book up that I had already read this author (Sarah Allen) before (last year I believe) with Sugar Queen.  What a treat this book was!  In line with Sugar Queen, the author took a simple story and wove some magical elements in it, yet the situations as a whole are so believable you just accept the unusual.  Hard to explain, so just read one of Allen’s works for yourself.  The writing is easy and familiar, the characters are very likable…it doesn’t take any time at all to feel right at home with this book.  I loved it, went out of my way to find time to read it, and basically didn’t want it to end.  :)  If only all 52 weeks worth of reading would go this well lol.

Book Challenge Week 1

Well I did it!  I read a complete book this week, the first week of the 52 Books in 52 Weeks challenge.  I really had to make an effort to get the book finished so quickly, spending at least an hour each morning reading before everyone got up, and then there was one day this week ds3 was sick and I snuck in a lot reading while he napped on the couch.  So I don’t know if I can maintain this pace or not.

I read Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand.  Just picked it up at the library off the “new and popular” shelves on a whim.  I really enjoyed this selection, especially since dh and I lived in Britain for three years and I could easily picture many of the settings described in the book.  The lovely villages with their expansive greens, boxy houses lining the tiny quiet streets, and little shop on the corner were all painted in adequate detail.  Not to say the writing was bad, it was just good…not outstanding but certainly better than most.  The story centered on a retired and widowed military man who loses his brother and not only has to deal with that grief but with the family squabbles over a beloved endowment from his father.  The author cleverly threw in a somewhat scandalous late in life romance and a couple of obnoxious Yankee characters for good measure.  I was especially drawn in by the ending of the story, which contained an unexpected but well written twist.  Not to worry, the Major gets his happy ending, but I was pleased that it came in such an interesting and unusual manner.  The characters are endearing and the plot will keep you reading…in fact, I was struggling between finding out what happened in the end and watching my Colts try and advance in the playoffs last night.  The book had a happier ending lol.

I’m not sure what I will tackle for next week as I don’t have any new physical books on hand, but I did download some freebie electronic versions to my computer so I might try one of them.

52 Books In 52 Weeks

I stumbled across this most interesting reading challenge and decided to join in.  I will still be doing my 50 book challenge at Shelfari (4th year in a row!  Only made it to 32 books last year) but I figured a weekly thing might make me choose a book over the computer more often.  ;)  I found an interesting looking book at the library last time we were there, so I’ll start things off with it.

I’m not exactly sure when we link up reviews at the challenge site, but hopefully I’ll have one by the end of the week.