Ladies in Waiting by Laura L. Sullivan

Publisher:  Harcourt
Date:  May 8, 2012
ISBN:  978-0547581293
Pages:  336


I was surprised that this was listed as a YA book, I would definitely save it for the older end of the group.

The story is set in the court of Charles II.  There are three new ladies-in-waiting, all named Elizabeth.  They are:

Eliza - daughter of a wealthy noble, she wants to be a playwright
Beth - penniless and beautiful
Zabby - a foreign scholar, she ends up in court accidentally

Now, from the cover, I really thought it was going to be some sort of modern version or something.  The girls seem dressed in period, but look modern. Know what I mean?  It is a story of friendship, the girls do come across as typical girls really.  Their voices are quite different, which is nice.  There is actually a lot of talk about the King and his mistresses, their rivalries and general lustiness.  While that is stuff that really happened in court, I don't think that the younger end of our YA group probably needs to read about it just yet.

The writing is good, but the story runs a bit slow.

The Lens and The Looker by Lory S. Kaufman

The Lens and The Looker by Lory S. Kaufman
Publisher:  Fiction Std.
Publish Date:  March 16, 2011
ISBN: 978-1936558025
Pages:  336


It's the 24th century and three teens are so spoiled and lazy that they refuse to learn the lessons their elders wish to teach them.  They don't seem to care how their world came to be the way it is.  They are sent to History Camp - a reenactment of some of the roughest periods in our history.

The three teens - Hansum, Shamira and Lincoln - come in with poor attitudes and just get worse when they begin to use a genie to help them disrupt things.  Suddenly they're whisked off (kidnapped, really) to the REAL Verona, Italy in 1347.  When things go wrong and their kidnapper is killed, the teens are stuck in 1347 alone and must quickly learn life lessons.

The boys are apprenticed to a lensmaker and Shamira becomes a kitchen girl.  I think that the way the author handles the general issues that come up are wonderful - he really gets across the feel of how difficult life was in 1347, compared to now.  The lensmaking process is fascinating and explained in a very thorough manner.

The addition of a romance for Hansum with his master's daughter, really adds to the story.  Will he even WANT to go back to the 24th century if he has to leave Guilietta behind?

Definitely a good read for the younger set of YA.

The Bronze and the Brimstone - Lory Kaufman

The Bronze and the Brimstone by Lory S. Kaufman
Publisher:  The Fiction Studio
Publish Date:  June 7, 2011
ISBN: 978-1936558
Pages:  336

The second book in the Verona Trilogy finds our heroes settled into life in 14th century Verona.  The boys work making 'discs for the eyes', while Shamira is a kitchen girl.

The historical detail is wonderful - the clothes, everyday living, the deceit and deception!

This book deals mainly with Hansum, or as he is known, Romero.  It does feature Lincoln and Shamira, but mostly as asides.  I hope we see more of them in detail in book 3.

Hansum (Romero) has come to the attention of the nobles by 'inventing' lookers (telescopes) with the help of their genie and now has introduced cannons and black powder.  It's the age-old time travel questions - How does introducing technology, before it happens naturally, work out? The answer, as always, is IT DOESN'T!  Before Hansum knows what's going on, he's living with the nobles and being offered the hand of a beautiful girl.  The biggest problem is that he's already secretly married to his old Master's daughter, Guilietta.  He can't tell the nobles, he's seen what they do to people that displease them.  So he tells them he loves Guilietta and wants to marry her and believes that they are trying to help him achieve that.  Meanwhile, Guilietta doesn't feel so great...

By the end of the book, the genie is smashed and worthless, Black Death is sweeping through the town and Hansum fears all is lost.  As did I.  The end is very exciting and I can't wait to read more!

If you'd like some fun, go check out www.history-camp.com while waiting for the next book!

The Wicked and The Just by J. Anderson Coates

The Wicked and the Just by J. Anderson Coates
Publisher: Harcourt
Publish Date:  April 17, 2012
ISBN:  978-0547688374
Pages:  352

I received this ARC as an e-book from www.netgalley.com.


I know what you're all thinking - 'Seriously, this book isn't out until APRIL?!'  Seriously.  BUT I believe that this book is good enough that you need to pre-order it NOW.  You'll thank me in April.

The story is told from the point of view of two very different girls.  There's Cecily who's English and Gwenhwyfar (Gwinny) who's Welsh.  It's set during the time that the English tried to rule Wales, so about 1293 (I believe).

Cecily's father was once the lord of Edgely Manor.  But that has come to an end and now his brother has taken his rightful place and his wife has died, so he needs to make his fortune elsewhere.  So he moves himself and Cecily to Caernarvon, Wales; where just by moving there to keep down the horrid Welsh, he can have a house and be a respected member of the community...within the walls anyway.  Cecily hates it and wants to go home...and if she can't go home, she wants to be the lady of the house.  But neither is happening.

The house is run by a Welsh woman who understands the society they're living in, within and without the walls of the city.  She also oversees Gwinny who is the maid.  Gwinny was to be the lady of the house.  The same house that Cecily now lives in.  Gwinny's forced to wait on Cecily, who she refers to as 'The Brat'. 

The English believe that the Welsh are like animals and speak a nonsense language, just because they don't understand their customs or language.  Sound familiar?  The Welsh aren't taking being trampled very well.  Few Welsh are allowed inside the city walls, mostly only for work.  They aren't paid well and are chosen more frequently and quickly if they have enough money to bribe the officials.  Gwinny's beloved and her brother are both always looking for work.  At one point Gwinny's brother begins working for Cecily's father.  Unfortunately, Cecily feels he has been inappropriately looking at her and begins to give him trouble.  Inside and outside the city walls, tensions are rising and plans are afoot.

Cecily and Gwinny are, by turns, almost friends and bitter enemies.  There are times when Gwinny thinks that The Brat might turn out alright, but then Cecily will do something high-handed and end that thought.

Then one day the Welsh revolt.  The two girls and their families clash and the tables are suddenly turned.  The only thing that saves Cecily is a kindness she did for Gwinny's brother, Griffith, that no one but him knows about.

I do love historical fiction and this is a series of events that I knew nothing about, so it was wonderful to read about.  Ms. Coates doesn't sugarcoat the nastiness that the English and Welsh do to one another or how nasty the girls can be...which is often as bad as the men of the time.  I think that Ms. Coates has a winner on her hands and I can't wait for all of you to read it!  In the meantime, go check out the author at www.jandersoncoates.com/blog

Wayback Wednesday

So I thought I would add a new feature to the blog. I'm going to call it Wayback Wednesday (for now at least!). It will feature books that are from at least 10 years ago that I think you should all read. :)

For our first selection, here's a book that I was thrilled to find is being re-released!

 The Golden Key by Melanie Rawn, Jennifer Roberson and Kate Elliott

Publisher: DAW
Original Publish Date:  September 1996
Re-Release Date: June 7, 2011
Pages:  784
ISBN: 978-0886776916
Cover: Michael Whelan



I'm going to take a moment here to talk about the authors and cover artist.

Melanie Rawn has written numerous books since 1988 and been nominated for the Locus Award on three occasions.  The rumor is that a prequel to The Golden Key is coming up later this year, the title?  The Diviner.  Jennifer Roberson has been publishing since 1984.  She has multiple stand alone books as well as series and is still releasing books.  Kate Elliott has been publishing since 1988 under her Kate Elliott name and also under Alis A. Rasmussen.  She is still publishing and has more books in the works right now.  Cover Artist Michael Whelan  has done illustrations for authors such as Stephen Kin, Isaac Asimov and Anne McCaffrey.  Pretty impressive, eh?  He's also done CD covers for Sepultura and Meatloaf.  If you look at the picture on The Golden Key you'll see many elements of the story and it's an amazing picture.  The most amazing part - go look at a picture of Michael Whelan from the 1990's and then look at the painter on the cover.  Look familiar? :)

This book was a World Fantasy Award finalist for Best Novel of 1996 and Voya's 1996 SF, Fantasy, and Horror Books of the Year.

So finally.  The story is multi-generational and covers approximately 400 years.  It concerns two families; the Grijalvas - an artistic family and the do'Verradas - the royalty.  The Grijalvas give up one female member of every generation to be the official mistress to the reigning Duke, while one male member is the official artist to the Court (Lord Limner).  The d'Verradas don't always realize that they are given these Grijalvas, they believe that they are choosing them.  Some of the male artists in the Grijalvas family have an ability to manipulate time and reality in their paintings.  All records - birth, death, marriage, treaties, etc., are documented by paintings rather than written documents in thisstory.  The language used in the book seems to be a blend of several languages with made up words added in.  There is a dictionary of sorts in the back of the book, but I caught on quickly and thought that this is such an easy language, we should adopt it!

The two main characters are Sario and his cousin Saavedra Grijalvas.  Both have been born with the genius for painting, although girls aren't supposed to have it so no one believes it.  Sario loves Saavedra and cannot stand for her to give her heart to another.  He uses his talents in a new and dangerous way to prevent it.

The story moves along quickly and the political elements keep the story fresh and exciting.  This is a must read!

On the Volcano by James Nelson

Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons (division of Penguin)
Publish Date: April 14, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25282-2
Pages: 288
Cover: Christian Fuenfhausen


I want to say right up front that I did enjoy this book. However. My thought is that this book is going to appeal to a couple of select groups – not that there is anything wrong with that – most books appeal to select groups, right? I think that if you like historical fiction, you’ll love it. The younger end of the YA group will also enjoy it and it is ‘safe’ for them to read. There’s a minor bit of violence here and there, but most things are alluded to instead of right in your face. It reminds me a bit of the old books like Little Women or Betsy and Tacey or even Eight Cousins, but with a little more oomph. That being said, let’s carry on.

On the Volcano is set in the 1870’s. What a great period in history! There were still unsettled areas in the United States and people brave enough to go off on their own got to live in beautiful, peaceful areas. Katie MacDonald is fifteen years old and has never strayed from home. She lives on the edge of a volcano in the forest with her father. Her mother died when she was young and she’s only ever seen two people. Can you imagine being fifteen and only having ever seen two people besides your dad?! One is a family friend, Dan and the other is a visiting nurse, Lorraine.

Katie has lots of adventures in just 288 pages and ofcourse she eventually meets some people, including a young man named Adam Summerfield. The story is sweet and nice and does indeed show what life must have been like in the 1870’s. I will say that at times it struck me as a YA harlequin romance, but maybe that’s just me.

There are a couple of things that bothered me about this one:
1) Lorraine stays for months at a time. We are told there are two bedrooms – Father’s and Katie’s. Where the heck does Lorraine sleep? At one point her father refers to ‘our bed’. Wouldn’t a young girl question that? Won’t readers question that? I was a bit confused and went back to see if I had missed something. Then I decided that Father and Lorraine were sharing the room and no one was going to mention it.
2) In over fifteen years no one at all but Lorraine and Dan ever found the cabin, even accidentally? But suddenly several people find them and/or the cabin? If people were hunting and gathering, it seems that eventually someone would have run into them.
3) At times Katie seemed very young in the way she talked and thought. I’m putting this down to the fact that she must have been very sheltered, not seeing anyone or going anywhere. However, there are times that she seems very mature and knowledgeable, so I was confused. Sometimes she seemed to act like an adult and sometimes like a little girl. I decided to chalk it up to the fact that she is so sheltered yet knows how to survive in the wilderness.

I do think that this is a worthwhile read, the historical information is good and it does take you back to a simpler, quieter time.