Jenn's Bookshelves

*Warning: Spoiler alert! If you have not read the previous books in the Outlander series what you read below will be considered spoilers. Proceed at your own discretion!*

In the seventh novel in the extremely popular Outlander series, we find Claire Fraser and her husband, Jaime,  in the American colonies during the revolution.  Three major storylines transpire in this lengthy novel: Claire & Jamie’s during the revolution, their daughter and her family in 1980s Scotland, and Lord Grey in Claire & Jamie’s time.  Jamie is planning on returning the family to Scotland so he can obtain his printing press, thereby allowing him to report on the war.  Nothing ever comes easy for the Fraser family and they are wrought with conflict at each stage of their journey.  Meanwhile, Claire & Jamie’s daughter, Bree, learn about her parents progress through a series of letters they wrote to her.  

It’s hard to give a synopsis of the storyline without giving too much away to future readers.  Therefore, I’ll go right to my opinons of the book.  I’ve been a fan of the Outlander series for several years.  Gabaldon never fails to provide well-thought out, developed characters.  I love the relationship shared by Claire & Jamie.  It’s quite the interesting one, given that they are both from vastly different times. They are now residing in Claire’s past, but Jamie’s future.

The storyline is well developed and researched.  I couldn’t help but read other reviews of this book, with readers complaining about the confusing jump in storylines and the unresolved ending.  Flat out, the Outlander books are meant to be savored and enjoyed.  Each book is several hundred pages long; if you rush through the reading you will undoubtably miss out on a lot.  I didn’t find the jump in storylines confusing at all, as each “leap” is clearly indicated or broken up by chapters.  Each of the storylines are melded together at the end, providing for a very satisfying read. The unresolved ending? Hello! This is part of a series. Leaving an unresolved ending forces the reader to crave for the next book in the series. This is fairly typical and not out of the norm.

The great thing about this series is that it falls under several genres: science fiction, historical fiction & romance. It really has a bit of something for everyone.

Although it is possible to pick up any Outlander book and start reading from there, I can’t say enough how much I recommend that you start from the beginning.  Although the author provides adequate back story, one can’t truly get the depth of the characters and the richness of each of the storylines without first reading each of the books. Yes, they are all quite lengthy, but definitely well worth it. 

I do recommend that those that might be put off by each book’s length try the audiobooks.  The narrator is spot-on with the pronunciations of terms that might prove to be difficult if just reading the book alone. 

Just a few warnings before I close. There is a good deal of violence…we are dealing with a few wars here.  None of it is out of context or inappropriate though.  And yes…there is sex.  Jamie and Claire have quite the healthy marriage and Gabaldon doesn’t fail to share this with her readers.  The love scenes aren’t raunchy but some can be quite descriptive.

Ok, bottom line: if you haven’t read any of the Outlander series, I suggest you run out and pick up the first now.  I guarantee you will enjoy it and will become instantly enamored by the characters. So….what are you waiting for? Go!

Thank you to TLC Book Tours for reinvigorating my love of these books and for permitting me to participate in these tours.  Be sure to check out the other stops:

Wednesday, August 4th:  The Literate Housewife Review (Voyager)

Monday, August 9th:  Musings of an All Purpose Monkey (Outlander)

Wednesday, August 11th:  Starting Fresh (An Echo in the Bone)

Thursday, August 12th:  Under the Boardwalk (An Echo in the Bone)

Monday, August 16th:  Planet Books (Outlander)

Thursday, August 19th:  Rundpinne (An Echo in the Bone)

Wednesday, August 25th:  MoonCat Farms Meanderings (An Echo in the Bone)

Monday, August 30th:  Hey, Lady!  Whatcha Readin’? (Outlander)

Tuesday, August 31st:  The Brain Lair (Outlander)

Wednesday, September 1st:  My Two Blessings (Outlander)

Thursday, September 2nd:  Life in the Thumb (An Echo in the Bone)

Tuesday, September 7th:  That’s What She Read (Dragonfly in Amber)

Monday, September 13th:  Suko’s Notebook (Outlander)

Tuesday, September 14th:  Luxury Reading (Outlander)

Wednesday, September 15th:  The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader (An Echo in the Bone)

Thursday, September 16th:  Pop Culture Junkie (Outlander)

Friday, September 17th:  Devourer of Books (Outlander)

Be sure to check back later today and enter to win one of two copies of An Echo in the Bone!

On December 24, 1800, an unsuccessful assassination attempt on Napoleon brutally massacres several innocent bystanders. Chief Inspector Roch Miquel must rush to find the guilty party before another attack is attempted.  His efforts are thwarted by internal politics and  corruption within the police force.  His work is also hindered by his superior, Minister of Police Fouche, who arrests his father when Miquel’s investigation leads him in a direction Fouche finds undesirable. His father’s fate and life are held in the balance. Can Miquel reveal the identies of the guilty parties and preserve the life of his dear father?

Delors paints a very vivid setting. For the King combines two of my favorite genres: history & thrillers. Although the reader knows of the identities of the bombers early on in the book, their motives and incentives for the bombing are carefully and intricately revealed throughout.  What I really enjoyed about this book is the amount of historical detail.  It’s not only an investigation to find and put to justice three individuals, but a history lesson as well.  The reader also learns a great deal about the politics and turmoil of France at this time.

Initially, not very much about Miquel is known, but Delors provides a bit of history about this character through flash-backs to his childhood. Miquel is an extremely likeable and compelling character.  Unlike others in his station, he did not come from a wealthy family. His promotion to such a high level within the police force shows his dedication to this cause.

 I highly recommend For the King to readers of historical/political thrillers.

Eric Shaw is a failed filmmaker who, rather than making the films in LA as he’d hoped and dreamed, is now making a living making family videos for the families of those who have passed. When he is approached by Alyssa Bradford, a wealthy young woman and promised a substantial amount of money to travel to French Lick, IN to research her father-in-law’s history, Shaw cannot refuse.  She describes her father-in-law, Campbell Bradford, as an extraordinary man who was extremely financially successful in his youth, despite the Depression.

Alyssa presents Shaw with a small bottle of water, the only evidence she has of her father-in-law’s past.  The bottle is full of Pluto Water, spring water from the famous mineral springs that flow around the West Baden Springs Resort. Eighty years ago, the water contained in that bottle was considered a cure-all for all life’s ailments. That water alone brought people from all over to the West Baden Hotel and surrounding area.

The moment he arrives Shaw realizes something is amiss.  When he mentions the name Campbell Bradford, the residents of French Lick insist the man is long dead.  How is this possible, when Shaw himself met the man just days before his departure? He’s also described as a horrible man, who ran away from the town, leaving a wife and child behind. “People were terrified of the man…thought he was evil.” 

When Shaw meets Kellen, a young college student researching the African-American history in the area, he learns of the murder of Shadrach Hunter, a black casino owner who was murdered shortly before Campbell’s disappearance.  Campbell was believed to be the killer.  Kellen agrees to help Shaw in his hunt for the “true” Campbell Bradford.

Shaw, largely out of curiosity, takes a drink of the eighty year old spring water presented to him by Alyssa Bradford.  He is instantly sickened by it’s foul taste. After drinking the water, he begins to have visions, ominous and haunting snapshots of Campbell Bradford. He also begins to succumb to horrible headaches, the only way to alleviate them is to drink more of the ancient spring water, which now tastes sweet.

Anne, an elderly woman who has lived her entire life in that area, is key to Shaw’s “investigation.”  Anne has quite the collection of Pluto Water and is able to provide Shaw with a bit of history that no one else can.  Another vital part of the story: Anne’s an expert on weather and storms; she keeps a daily record of barometric activity in the area. She begins to notice a significant change in the weather since Shaw’s arrival;  perhaps “the” storm she’s been predicting will finally make an appearance.  Anne has always been aware of something “different” in the area:

“I’ve always connected it more to the weather myself…there’s something different in this valley…You can feel it in the wind now and again, and on the edge of a summer storm, or maybe just before ice comes down in the wintertime.  There’s something different.  And charge is the best word for it.  There’s a charge, all right.”

Shaw & Kellen soon realize that evil has returned to West Baden, evil buried decades ago. Rather than leave, Shaw feels he must get to the cause of this evil and find out more about the illusive Campbell Bradford.

Let me just start out with this: Koryta’s writting is stunning!  The pacing of this thrilling chiller is perfect, it starts out slow, slowly building with momentum, until it explodes at the end.  I can’t help but compare this to the storm that builds and builds and then unleashes it’s wrath throughout the book.  This storm is like a character itself…it slowly builds and progresses along with the storyline.  The way Koryta describes it makes it appear humanlike:

“The mass above it was black and purple but the funnel cloud was stark white. It eased to the ground almost peacefully, as if settling down for a rest, and then its color began to change, the wite turning gray as it blew through the fields and gathered dirt, sucking soil and debris into its vortex.”

The other characters, particularly Shaw himself, are very well laid out and organized.  As the book progresses, we learn more about Shaw, his life, his history. Anne’s character is an important one; she ties the present to the past.

One of the things that really interested me in this book was the setting.  I was lucky enough to visit the West Baden Springs Hotel while it was undergoing renovation. To state it is breathtaking would be an understatement.  Here are just a few pictures:

The exterior of the hotel. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to walk along the dome. Despite my fear of heights, I stepped outside, knowing I’d never have the opportunity again.

Inside the atrium…the tilework, the detail, simply magnificent!

All in all, I highly recommend this unique, chilling thriller!  Check back later today for a giveaway: a autographed ARC of the book!

 Emmy Hamilton is a recent widow; her husband, a soldier, was killed in Afghanistan.  As to be expected, she’s having a difficult time getting over his death.  Her mother, Paige, insists that he would have wanted her to do more with her life other than stay in their small town in Indiana and work at Paige’s bookstore.  She encourages Emmy go to Folly Beach, a sanctuary for many, and buy the small town’s bookstore, Folly’s Finds.

Emmy is reluctant at first; she’s perfectly fine with staying where she is.  However, when her mother buys a box of books from Folly’s Finds, Emmy discovers that several of the books have messages written in them.  She’s always had a special “sense” about certain things, and when she touches a few of the books they send tingles up her spine.

She arrives in Folly Beach and meets Abigail, the current owner, and Abigail’s aunt Lulu.  Lulu is quite the interesting character; she’s not exactly pleased to see Emmy there.  Emmy purchases the bookstore, with the condition that Lulu will be allowed to remain as an employee of Folly’s Finds and continue to sell her very interesting bottle trees.

As she renovates the bookstore, Emmy continues to find old books with messages written in them.  They appear to be love notes written by a young man and woman during World War II. She eventually finds out more about the history of Folly Beach and of the couple who communicated via the old books from an initially reluctant Lulu.  She learns that it wasn’t merely a young love that was kept secret between the pages, she also discovers a possible murder & mysterious disappearance.

Karen White’s writing never ceases to amaze me.  I’ve read all of her previous work and have enjoyed each of them tremendously.  In On Folly Beach, White intricately weaves together two stories of love and loss.  The chapters shift between the 1940s and present day and this is done in a very fluid manner. Each chapter reveals a new piece to the puzzle. I instantly became invested in the storyline and the characters. White added a bit of history and folklore to the story, really enhancing the already powerful story. 

Lulu’s bottle trees intrigued me.  African slaves brought the tradition of the bottle tree to the United States in the 18th century.  The bottles on the trees ward off evil spirits; spirits who get caught in the bottles are unable to escape.  Here is a picture of a bottle tree:

 In the story, a young Lulu also uses the bottle trees to communicate with loved ones who have gone away. 

In case you haven’t realized it yet, I highly recommend these books.  The Southern setting, the mystery, the characters all come together to form a phenomenal read!  Be sure to stop by tomorrow for a guest post by Karen White and a giveaway!

Thank you to TLC Book Tours for giving me the opportunity to review this book.  Please be sure to check out the other stops on this tour!

Monday, May 3rd: Rundpinne

Tuesday, May 4th: Downtown Southern

Thursday, May 6th: Life in the Thumb

Friday, May 7th: Café of Dreams

Monday, May 10th: Diary of an Eccentric

Tuesday, May 11th: Peeking Between the Pages

Wednesday, May 12th: Write Meg

Thursday, May 13th: Savvy Verse & Wit

Friday, May 14th: Luxury Reading

Monday, May 17th: Lit and Life

Wednesday, May 19th: Books Like Breathing

Thursday, May 20th: Jenn’s Bookshelves

Monday, May 24th: From the Land of Cotton

Tuesday, May 25th: Natalie’s Sentiments

Wednesday, May 26th: A Tale of This Newlywed

Thursday, May 27th: Good Girl Gone Redneck

Friday, May 28th: Flower Patch Farmgirl

Monday, May 31st: Sasha and the Silverfish

Tuesday, June 1st: Red Lady’s Reading Room

Related posts

• Review: The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths (5)
• Review: Ashes to Water by Irene Ziegler (3)
• Mini-Review: Running from the Devil by Jamie Freveletti (9)
• Guest Post & Giveaway: Karen White, author of On Folly Beach (7)
• A Glimpse Inside Chelsea Cain’s Portland (12)

When artist Claude Monet sees a young woman in a train station, it’s love at first sight. Fate brings them together and Monet asks the young woman, bourgeoise Camille Doncieux, to be a model for his paintings.  She agrees and the two ultimately fall in love.  She leaves behind her fiance and her family and runs away with Monet. 

I know very little about the personal life of Monet.  Cowell does an outstanding job of relaying this information via Camille and Monet’s contemporaries, including Renoir, Bazille, and Pissaro.  It was enlightening to see the struggle each of these now-famous artists went through to achieve status in the art world. Everyone is familiar with the term “struggling artist.” Cowell portrays just how desperate this struggle was in such a unique and vivid way.

One of the many strong characters in this novel was Monet’s good friend, Bazille.  Bazille had a tremendous impact on Monet’s success, for he served as both a close confidant and a financial supporter of Monet’s work. Without Bazille, Monet had almost nothing.

Camille is another unique and strong character in this novel.  She was the muse for several of Monet’s memorable paintings. Their relationship, while based on love, was constantly ridden with financial struggle.  Her love for him was obvious, but on several occasions I detected a bit of emotional instability on her part.

Monet himself was painted as a sensitive man, extremely dedicated to his passion. He gave up the financial comforts of living with his father to move to Paris to paint. Seeing this side of Monet was tremendously rewarding. Monet was an artistic genius, and seeing his faults and insecurities relayed how “normal” he really was.

The strong characters and the relationship between each of them is without a doubt my favorite aspect of this novel.  As mentioned, I never truly got an inside look at the life of such an important figure in art. Viewing Monet’s life in this aspect was tremendously rewarding, something I am forever grateful for Cowell for presenting.

I highly recommend this book to fans of historical fiction. While the storyline is scattered with bits of history, the relationship between Monet and Camille transforms it into a well-rounded novel. Fans of art and the Impressionist movement would also find great benefit in reading this, as it provides social and emotional background on a very imporant figure in art history.

Please be sure to stop by tomorrow for a guest post by Stephanie Cowell and a chance to win a copy of Claude & Camille: A Novel of Monet.

Check out what others are saying about Claude & Camille (click on the link to view the entire post):

Julie from Booking Mama writes: I thought Ms. Cowell did a wonderful job of creating Claude’s and Camille’s story while also staying true to the known facts about his life. She wrote a very honest story about the man while also including enough juicy tidbits about his relationships to keep the reader interested.

Amy from Passages from the Past writes: Simply stated – Claude & Camille is by far one of the most beautiful books I have ever read! I had little knowledge about Monet prior to reading this, but I know now I will never forget him or Camille and their story nor will I ever look at his paintings the same way again.

Related posts

• Review: Daughters of the Witching Hill by Mary Sharratt (13)
• Guest Post & Giveaway: Marjorie Price, Author of A Gift from Brittany (4)

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (April 7, 2010)
• ISBN-10: 0547069677
• Source: Publisher

Beth Southerns is a poor beggar woman who lives in Pendle Forest in Northern England. Desperate to keep her family fed, she draws from the folk magic taught to her as a youth and begins  to heal the sick and foretell the future.  She draws her power and strength from Tibb, her familiar. As her ancestors taught her, she teaches her granddaughter Alizon in the family “trade.”

This family trade is a sensitive one and healers must tread lightly.  All it takes is one accusation for them to be cast out as witches. When Alizon uses her powers in a fit of anger, the  Southerns women are imprisoned and charged with witchcraft.

Daughters of the Witching Hill is more than just a mere tale of witchcraft. It is the story of an incredibly strong family of women, whose future is put in the hands of the local townspeople.  Friends become enemies and they are forced to survive by their own strength alone.

It is obvious that Sharratt did a great deal of research on this subject. The setting of the story was the author’s own backyard, giving her unique access to historical data. Daughters of the Witching Hill is based on the Pendle witch hunt of the early 1600s.  The author paints a very detailed portrait of the lives of these women. They were among twelve others who were imprisoned for their supposed crimes.  Nine individuals were ultimately hanged. These victims weren’t witches, but innocent bystanders in a war between old and new religion.

Sharratt’s prose was vivid and detailed.  It was easy to become engrossed in the setting. Sharratt portrayed extremely powerful and dedicated women, their dedication to family was paramount. There were so many levels to this story.  As I read it again in preparation for this review, I uncovered so many details that were missed in my first reading.  This is definitely a story that will stick with you.  This trait is the sign of a very talented author.    This book has encouraged me to find out more about this witch hunt, which took place before the infamous witch trials of Salem, Massachusetts.  Sharratt has given the characters a chance to be reborn and a long-forgotten story to be revitalized. I look forward to reading more of Sharratt’s work.

Following is a mini-documentary, narrated by Mary, that discusses the background of her new novel.

Please be sure to come back tomorrow to read a guest post by the author herself, and enter to win a copy of Daughters of the Witching Hill!

Related posts

• Review: Claude & Camille: A Novel of Monet by Stephanie Cowell (10)
• Guest Post: Mary Sharratt, Author of Daughters of the Witching Hill (3)

Wenchis set in the mid-19th century South.  It chronicles the tales of four slave women: Lizzy, Reenie, Sweet and Mawu, who all spend their summers with their masters Tawana house,  a free-state resort in Ohio. All four women share the same fate, a life of physical and sexual abuse at the hands of their masters. Favorites of their masters, they each still crave the freedom from slavery.

The author does an outstanding job of bringing each character to life for the reader.  We feel their pain, their anguish, and very rarely, their happiness. Never before have I felt so drawn to the characters.  While there are parts that are brutal in their detail, these descriptions are completely necessary in order to understand the lives of each of the slave women.  I felt a whirlwind of emotions: fury, sadness, and grief. While I have read dozens of books chronicling slave life, never before have I read anything so real and so eloquently portrayed.

I highly recommend this book, especially to book clubs. There are so many topics to be discussed, the relationships between slave mistresses and their masters is just one of many.  I guarantee that you will fall in love with the writing and the characters, and by the end of the book, you will be craving  more.

Situated in the free state of Ohio, Tawawa House offers respite from the summer heat. A beautiful, inviting house surrounded by a dozen private cottages, the resort is favored by wealthy Southern white men who vacation there, accompanied by their enslaved mistresses.

Regular visitors Lizzie, Reenie, and Sweet have forged an enduring friendship. They look forward to their annual reunion and the opportunity it affords them to talk over the changes in their lives and their respective plantations. The subject of freedom is never spoken aloud until the red-maned, spirited Mawu arrives and voices her determination to escape. To run is to leave behind the friends and families trapped at home. For some, it also means tearing the strong emotional and psychological ties that bind them to their masters.

My thoughts so far:

I’m halfway through my reading of Wench and I can’t help but state how drawn I am to the characters already.  Each of the women have a compelling story and a specific reason for not opting to run when the opportunity presents itself.  The storyline itself is heart-wrenching and powerful.  Never before have I read fiction about slavery that haunts me so.  When I’m not reading the book, I can’t get my mind off of the characters and their brutal histories. When I am able to devote some time to reading it, I instantly become absorbed in each of the women’s lives. I guarantee this novel is going to garner a lot of well-deserved attention and praise.  Please come back on January 25th for my full review of this novel.

About Dolen Perkins-Valdez

Dolen Perkins-Valdez’s fiction and essays The Kenyon Review, African American Review, PMS:  PoemMemoirStory, North Carolina Literary Review, Richard Wright Newsletter, and SLI:  Studies in Literary Imagination.  She is a 2009 finalist for the Robert Olen Butler Fiction Award.  A graduate of Harvard and a former University of California President’s Postdoctoral Fellow, Dolen splits her time between Seattle and Washington, DC.  She is a faculty member of the University of Puget Sound where she teaches Creative Writing.  Wench is her first book of fiction.  You can visit Dolen Perkins-Valdez’s website at www.dolenperkinsvaldez.com, her blog at www.dolen.blogspot.com or connect with her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/dolen.

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (October 13, 2009)
• ISBN-10: 0061768251
• Source: Publisher

Publisher’s Summary:

In southern Greece in 2004, a close-knit group of archaeologists searches for the buried traces of a formidable ancient power. A student running from a failed marriage and family, Ben Mercer is a latecomer to their ranks, drawn to the charisma of the group’s members—to the double-edged friendship of Jason, the unsettling beauty of Natsuko and Eleschen, and the menace of Max and Eberhard. But Ben is far too eager to join the excavation project, and there is more to the group’s dangerous games and dynamic than he understands. And there are things that should always remain hidden.

A novel of astonishing grace and power from award-winning author Tobias Hill, The Hidden brilliantly explores the secrets we keep, the ties that bind us, and the true cost of fulfilling our desires.

My review:

I really REALLY wanted to enjoy this book.  Really, I did.  But it just didn’t happen for me.  It’s categorized as a thriller, one of my favorite genres, but I hardly found it to meet the criteria.  Perhaps it should have been advertised as historic literary fiction instead?

I have to compliment the author on the amount of research that must have gone in to writing this.  Throughout the book, there are numerous “flashbacks” to Sparta and Ancient Greece.  Although, I couldn’t quite pinpoint how these “flashbacks” related to the rest of the story.

The formatting of the book was also difficult. The chapters are quite lengthy and other than a slight indent, the paragraphs aren’t broken up at all.  Conversations are indicated by a hyphen (-) instead of quotes so it makes the entire book a bit difficult to read.  This disjointedness prevented me from really connecting with the characters. 

Ultimately, I determined that quite possibly I’m not the intended reader for this book.  It is quite literary, and you really have to dig down through the surface to truly get the meat of the story.  I am a fan of literary fiction and do read a great deal of it. Perhaps I didn’t dig deep enough? It’s possible.  But how much effort must one put into a book to find the core of the story? How much effort should a reader put into a book before giving up? I read the book cover-to-cover.  I put in a tremendous amount of effort to enjoying this book.  Unfortunately, it just didn’t happen.

Thank you to the publisher and TLC Book Tours for providing me the opportunity to review this book.

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Avon A; 1 edition (June 23, 2009)
• ISBN-10: 0061547786
• Source: Publisher

Anna O’Shea has just returned from a trip to London, a getaway after going through a divorce five months before. The divorce was a painful one; after years of miscarriages, her husband told Anna that he was leaving her for someone else.  His mistress was able to give him something Anna was unable–a child.

Immediately upon her return, she learns her brother, Patrick, has been in a severe automobile accident.

Before she is able to unpack from her Ireland trip, Anna makes her way to the hospital to see her brother.  Her mother, Alice, was already there.  Patrick sustained severe head injuries and his fate is undetermined. Anna’s brother then drops another bomb: Patrick was on the way to pick up his teenage son, Joseph, from jail when he got into the accident.  Joseph was arrested after stealing a car with a friend.

Anna is asked to pick up her nephew, who is in a jail approximately five hours away.  She does so, grudgingly.  She’d rather stay by her brother’s side until he regains consciousness.

Anna picks up Joseph and returns to her home to get some rest. She’s exhausted, so she quickly succumbs to sleep.  She’s awoken to the sound of the zipper on her suitcase. She finds Joseph holding an object in his hand.  She grabs on to the item, and the both of them are sucked into what Anna believes is a tornado or some other catastrophic event.

Anna awakes on a beach, her body riddled with injures from the sea, including a long gash that extends from her knee to her ankle.  She hovers in and out of consciousness.  She is soon rescued and is taken to a small village to recover. Anna soon realizes that something is amiss.  Her rescuers use primitive methods (leeches!) for healing her leg injury.  When she asks the date her suspicions are confirmed: It is September 1844.  Joseph is no where in sight.

Joseph awakes on a bed made of corn husks.  His rescuers have brought him to a local manor.  He heals relatively quickly and soon begins exploring the manor in which he currently resides. His memories of his father’s accident are faint and fading quickly.

And so begins Anna’s desperate search for Joseph.  While on her search, she soon realizes that her leap through time is her destiny.  Her family’s fate is dependent upon her…

Sheehan has done an outstanding job of combining rich,multifaceted characters and a compelling storyline.  Fans of historical fiction, particularly Irish history, will be fascinated by this book.  Sheehan’s writing is incredibly descriptive; you can’t help but be pulled in.  The underlying issues of infertility and family issues add depth to the storyline. My only complaint would be the references to the dog.  The paperback has an image of a dog clearly displayed on the cover, and the line “A magical tale of hope, second chances…and a not-so-little dog.”  At first glance, it appears the book is about this dog. While the dog does play a fairly key role in the novel, I think it’s a little  misleading to readers to give that much attention to a seemingly minor character.  But this is really the only complaint I have with this book!  If you can see past this, as I could ultimately, then I highly recommend that you read this book!

Thank you to TLC Book Tours for giving me the opportunity to review this book.

Check out the other stops on this tour:

Tuesday, December 1st: The Tome Traveller

Wednesday, December 2nd: Bloggin’ ’bout Books

Want to hear more about Jacqueline Sheehan? Be sure to listen to her interview with Book Club Girl!

Now on to the giveaway!  The publisher has provided me with five copies of the book to give away.  To enter, please follow this link and submit the form. Winners will be announced on Monday, December 7th. US and Canadian residents only.  Books will be sent directly from the publisher.