& in the "also ran's" section...

A couple of DNF’s actually. Dammit.

• All I Want For Christmas by Amy Silver – I just didn’t get interested in the main character, enough that is to keep reading. However something safe for the great aunt or grandma to read.

• The Crowd Goes Wild Year in Sport – the show isn’t the same now Prime have moved it (I blame Hayley Holt, nice enough girl but not the same combo as Richardson, Mulligan, Sommerset & McConey) and this book just wasn’t there either. Good try tho. One for the BIL’s stocking maybe?

TK Roxborogh - Bloodlines

Amazon Description: 'Do not feel guilty that you do not love me like her.  Our union will be another story, Fleance.  I will be a good wife and an excellent queen.' Fleance is the new king of Scotland, but he is the ruler of a divided nation. According to his advisors he must marry a woman from a royal bloodline to strengthen his position.  It seems that Rachel, sister of Fleance's dead friend King Duncan will be the next Queen of Scotland, although Fleance cannot forget Rosie, his first love. But when Rachel is abducted, Fleance's position becomes even more dangerous and a bloody civil war seems inevitable. Love and duty collide in this gripping tale of valour and betrayal. The epic story that began with Banquo's Son continues.

Tania Roxborogh’s an Otago-based English teacher and her premise for this series was – What happened when Shakespeare’s Macbeth finished? The first title of the trilogy was Banquo’s Son, has Fleance growing up far too fast – fleeing to England after the murder of his father, and learning both love and the necessary skills that will enable him to enact revenge. I absolutely loved it and was waiting with a lot of anticipation for this one. Bloodlines is still a teen read (late teens, if you please) and IMO, suffers a little from the trilogy bug, in that the second title is never quite as good as the first or the last.

But having said that, it’s still a good read. Plenty of action and romance, which any teen wants, along with attention to the historical details (crafty teacher – get them learning while they’re being entertained although I was looking for any reference to flagstones) – I liked the sneak peek of William of Normandy and wonder how much of a part he will play in Birthright and thought Aha! at the wedding in the last chapter. I can’t say too much as really anything would be a spoiler but things are set up very nicely for Birthright and I’m looking forward to that one too.

Erin McKean - The Secret Lives of Dresses

Amazon Description: Dora has always taken the path of least resistance. She went to the college that offered her a scholarship, is majoring in "vagueness studies," and wears whatever shows the least dirt. She falls into a job at the college coffee shop, and a crush on her flirty boss, Gary. Just when she's about to test Gary's feelings, Mimi, the grandmother who raised her, suffers a stroke. Dora rushes back home to Forsyth, NC, and finds herself running her grandmother's vintage clothing store. The store has always been a fixture in Dora's life; though she grew up more of a jeans-and-sweatshirt kind of girl, before she even knew how to write, Mimi taught her that a vintage 1920s dress could lift a woman's spirit. While working there, Dora befriends Mimi's adorable contractor, Conrad. Is he after Dora, or is working from a different blueprint? And why did Mimi start writing down--and giving away--stories of the dresses in her shop? When Mimi dies, Dora can't get out of town fast enough and cedes control of the store to her money-hungry aunt who wants to turn it into a t-shirt shop for tourists. But ultimately, she returns to Forsyth, willing to battle whatever may stand in the way of her staying there. Dora can trade her boring clothes for vintage glamour, but can she trade her boring life for one she actually wants?

The Amazon description probably gives away too much but the only true fault I found with this book is it gallops to the end. It’s a good storyline, realistic dialogue and bonus! No sex scenes, so safe to give to Grandma or the MIL as a present (so refreshing after the last book I read! Romance is not dead yet after all). And the secret lives of the dresses – cool idea.

Alison Weir - The Captive Queen

 

Amazon description: It is the year 1152 and a beautiful woman of thirty, attended by only a small armed escort, is riding like the wind southwards through what is now France, leaving behind her crown, her two young daughters and a shattered marriage to Louis of France, who had been more like a monk than a king, and certainly not much of a lover. This woman is Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, and her sole purpose now is to return to her vast duchy and marry the man she loves, Henry Plantagenet, a man destined for greatness as King of England. Theirs is a union founded on lust which will create a great empire stretching from the wilds of Scotland to the Pyrenees. It will also create the devil’s brood of Plantagenets – including Richard Cœur de Lion and King John – and the most notoriously vicious marriage in history. The Captive Queen is a novel on the grand scale, an epic subject for Alison Weir. It tells of the making of nations, and of passionate conflicts: between Henry II and Thomas Becket, his closest friend who is murdered in Canterbury Cathedral on his orders; between Eleanor and Henry’s formidable mother Matilda; between father and sons, as Henry’s children take up arms against him; and finally between Henry and Eleanor herself.

I normally enjoy Weir’s books and devour them. This time I keep stuttering and stopping to readjust my set- there’s something not quite right about this novel. The author is a best seller in both fiction and non-fiction but frankly I enjoyed her biography a lot more. This is a little too short to do justice to the times and the extra-ordinary life that Eleanor lived; and a lot too heavy on the bodice ripper. If you’re looking for a fictional Eleanor and Henry, try Sharon Penman’s trilogy (When Christ and His Saints Slept, Time and Chance & The Devil’s Brood). For the non-fiction, Weir’s own work does nicely. Disappointing really – Innocent Traitor was so much better.

Suzanne Collins - Hunger Games #3 - Mockingjay

I’ve been waiting what seems like ages to read this one, the conclusion to the pretty awesome Hunger Games trilogy (Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay). While it’s ostensibly a teen read, I’ve converted a few “adults” to reading them.

Way back when I read the first title, I was so excited. I’d compare reading it to the same level of excitement I got when reading CS Lewis’ Narnia books – adventure, good vs evil, a whole new world and every other good thing. If you haven’t read any of the series, it’s a must to read in order – and avert your eyes from the next bit.

The Hunger Games are set in a post-apocalyptic world of what was the US. There are 13 districts that support the Capitol by paying tributes – and once every few years, those tributes are two children from each district who compete against each other in the Hunger Games arena until death claims all but one. When Katniss Everdeen competes, taking the place of her younger sister Prim, she causes the game to change. President Snow and the Games are under pressure and the Rebels choose Katniss, the human Mockingjay, as their emblem of the Rising. But Snow has a weapon to use against Katniss – her district and her family, and most of all, Peeta.

Book three wraps away nearly everything in a good, clean package. Action and suspense vie with a little romance (only right as Katniss is getting older, but nothing graphic or un-needed) in a fast paced, smooth conclusion. I put down Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for this – and I definitely don’t regret it!

PS - the NZ cover isn't as pictured; I am still waiting on the supplier to send it :)