The Story

From the back of the book:

Charles Lenox, Victorian gentleman and armchair explorer, likes nothing more than to relax in his private study with a cup of tea, a roaring fire, and a good book. But when his lifelong friend Lady Jane asks for his help, Lenox cannot resist the chance to unravel a mystery.

Prudence Smith, one of Jane’s former servants, is dead of an apparent suicide. But Lenox suspects something far more sinister: murder, by a rare and deadly poison. The grand house where the girl worked is full of suspects, and though Prue had dabbled with the hearts of more than a few men, Lenox is baffled by the motive for the girl’s death.

When another body turns up during the London season’s most fashionable ball, Lenox must untangle a web of loyalties and animosities. Was it jealousy that killed Prudence Smith? Or was it something else entirely? And can Lenox find the answer before the killer strikes again – this time, disturbingly close to home?

The Response

So, I’m not typically into mysteries. In fact, a lot of the time I’d pass on a mystery for almost anything… but this has been on my TBR for a long, long time, and Rachel loves it and has told me numerous times that I need to read it. Plus, I was in the mood for something either Regency or Victorian, and this was the first thing fitting that criteria that I saw on la TBR.

And I was pleasantly surprised. I may not always like mysteries, but when I do, I absolutely love them. See, this reminded me a heck of a lot of Maureen Jennings’ Murdoch books, which are quite fabulous. Both are Victorian with a lovely detective that is rather dashing – though, one is a gentleman and the other is a working man. That and they’re both set in the Victorian time period – though one is in England and the other in Toronto (Canada). Awesome and awesome!

I really liked this because it didn’t just center around the mystery. Yes, that was a large part… but we also got to experience Victorian London through Lenox. Not just the setting, but also the culture and the social circles that an independent gentleman would be involved with. I quite liked the look into the gentlemen’s clubs, especially – that sort of stuff really always has had some sort of draw on my imagination, mainly because I have no idea what to compare that to today. It almost, in and of itself, has a sort of nostalgia and romance (in that bromance sort of way, rather) that we no longer see as much today.

The author was also able to keep me guessing on who the murderer was right until the end. I have to say, that I didn’t expect it to be who it was, and I ended up having sympathy for people I hadn’t liked right from the beginning. I’m quite impressed that the author was able to do this.

The Bottom Line

I quite liked this! I’ll be reading more in this series.

The Story

From the back of the book:

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife…”

Tailored from the adored Jane Austen classic, Marvel Comics is proud to present an adaptation of the whimsical tale of Lizzy Bennet and her loveable-if-eccentric family, as they navigate through tricky British social circles. Will Lizzy’s beautiful sister Jane marry the handsome, wealthy Mr. Bingley? Or will his brooding friend Mr. Darcy stand between their happiness?

One of the most acclaimed novels in English literature has endured since its release in 1813 and is adapted as a graphic novel for the first time, collecting all five instalments from two-time RITA award-winner Nancy Butler and fan-favorite Hugo Petrus.

The Response

This would be a good introduction to P&P… and it was a good way to revisit it. It would be a good substitute for it. Oh, nothing could ever be a good substitute for it!

So, here’s what I liked about it – it still had some of the best of Austen’s dialogue. It still brought the characters to life, and it was still able to make certain ones (ahem Mr Collins) as dislikable as if you were reading the full novel. (Or watching the BBC P&P miniseries). The illustrations were absolutely gorgeous. Beautiful! Lovely!

But… all of Pride and Prejudice was condensed into five comics. That’s like condensing the whole book into a 129 minute film starring Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen. Very pretty to look at, but missing so much of the depth that makes the story so rich and such a classic in itself.

I did get some time with some of my favourite characters though. Oh, Mr. Darcy! I would that you were real! (But shh, don’t tell the bf that my love for you will never die!) And Lizzy, I wish that you were my best of friends! Ah, loving fictional characters more than most real people makes for some interesting times.

The Bottom Line

This was a cute accompaniment or a cute introduction. I’ll be flipping through it again when I need a quick Darcy fix.

The Story

From the back of the book:

Tara can pinpoint the moment when everything in her life changed: it was when she fell in love with Aidan Forrest – who just happened to be a part of the biggest boy band in the world, Idol Hands. She spent two years as his “secret girlfriend,” hiding from the media to protect his career, until he broke up with her, breaking her heart, and leaving behind a secret that Tara has never shared.

Fourteen years after their breakup, she’s in a bad marriage, and a dead-end job. When she sees a television documentary in which Aidan confesses that he still loves her, she makes a life-changing decision: she leaves her husband to go and find Aidan. With no real plan of attack it’s not going to be easy, but Tara knows that she can’t give up.

The Response

So, back in the time of Angelfire and Geocities, there was this awesome (or at least I thought it was awesome at the time, if I were to find it again and revisit it I could find I was totally wrong) fic about a college girl who ended up being the secret girlfriend of a member of a boy band. I don’t remember anything else about that story, except that I really enjoyed it. When I first read up on Idol Hands, this was the first thing that popped into my mind. So besides being nostalgic for good old fics that I used to read, I was also all nostalgic for when I used to be (*cough* used to be?) obsessed with boy bands. Because, let’s face it, what girl wasn’t obsessed with at least one boy band when she was growing up? (And what woman still isn’t, somewhere deep inside her, a little bit obsessed with them?)

I may still have an obsession for some boy bands. And I would give anything for *NSYNC to do a reunion.

Anyway.

I really liked Hill’s Idol Hands. For more than just the feeling of nostalgia. She’s created realistic characters – you can’t help but feel their pain, their excitement, and want to get to know better. And even while you’re sitting there cheering for these characters, you can’t help but be drawn into the horror that is unfolding around the main character.

It’s hard to really talk about what it was that I really liked about this book without getting into spoilers. And that was part of what was really awesome – I had no idea what was coming, so when I started to see glimpses of it, I was in shock. I don’t know how long it took me to realize where this was going, but when I did I must say I was impressed. Gods, that was unexpected.

The way Hill narrated the book was well thought-out as well. While it started in the format of a diary, the last portion was written in the format of celebrity rags, press releases and video transcripts, all covering the reunion of Tara and Aiden, and how things unfolded after that point.

Again, I have to say that I really liked this book. It was fast-paced, and I had a hard time putting it down. While it was light and fluffy, it also had a slightly darker side to it. And there was so much in Tara that I am sure many of us can recognize in ourselves. (That being said, though, I’m not sure if that’s a good thing…)

The Bottom Line

Really thoroughly enjoyed this! I’m definitely looking forward to reading another book by Hill, and would highly recommend this one to other women who were obsessed with boy bands!

The Story

From the inside cover flap:

At least one-third of the people we know are introverts. They are the ones who prefer listening to speaking, reading to partying; who innovate and create but dislike self-promotion; who favor working on their own over brainstorming in teams. Although they are often labeled “quite,” it is to introverts that we owe many of the great contributions to society – from van Gogh’s sunflowers to the invention of the personal computer.

Passionately argued, impressively researched, and filled with indelible stories of real people, Quiet shows how dramatically we undervalue introverts, and how much we lose in doing so. Taking the reader on a journey from Dale Carnegie’s birthplace to Harvard Business School, from a Tony Robbins seminar to an evangelical megachurch, Susan Cain charts the rise of the Extrovert Ideal in the twentieth century and explores its far-reach effects. She talks to Asian-American students who feel alienated from the brash, backslapping atmosphere of American schools. She questions the dominant values of American business culture, where forced collaboration can stand in the way of innovation, and where the leadership potential of introverts is often overlooked. And she draws on cutting-edge research in psychology and neuroscience to reveal the surprising differences between extroverts and introverts.

Perhaps most inspiring, she introduces us to successful introverts – from a witty, high-octane public speaker who recharges in solitude after his talks, to a record-breaking salesman who quietly taps into the power of questions. Finally, she offers invaluable advice on everything from how to better negotiate differences in introvert-extrovert relationships to how to empower an introverted child to when it makes sense to be a “pretend extrovert.”

This extraordinary book has the power to permanently change how we see introverts and, equally important, how introverts see themselves.

The Response

Susan Cain was one of the speakers at 2012′s Blissdom Canada conference. I had heard of her book prior to seeing her speak, but didn’t know much about it or the ideas it puts forward. Listening to her speak, I knew I had to pick up Quiet… It was like she GOT me. She understood who I was, how I was motivated, and why I frame my life in the way that I do. It was inspiring. After that point, I knew I needed to read her book.

While I got this book for Christmas, I didn’t start reading it until recently, and wasn’t really able to put it down… which is quite unusual for me when it comes to non-fiction books.

This book was divided into four parts:

• The Extrovert Ideal
• Your Biology, Your Self?
• Do All Cultures Have an Extrovert Ideal?
• How to Love, How to Work

Each part equally focused on different approaches to explain and illustrate introversion – from Cain’s personal experiences, to interviews with introverts, to scientific studies about introversion. There was a lot of information that was covered in this book, and the varying ways the information is presented really helps to bring across stuff in a meaningful and memorable sort of way.

While each section was extremely interesting to read, I think the part that I enjoyed most was the fourth part, How to Love, How to Work. This focused a lot on some things that I struggle the most with – especially how introverts and extroverts need to communicate. I’ve realized a bit more about why the bf acts the way he does (as he is a crazy crazy extrovert), and I’m hoping I can convince him to read at least this part so that he can understand a bit better why I act the way I do.

Reading other’s experiences was another highlight for me. It certainly is reassuring to know that there are other people who would rather stay at home instead of going to a party. Or that there are others who need to get away on their own in order to recharge after a draining event. I am relieved that I am not the only one.

The Bottom Line

This book spoke to me in a way that I rarely come across in non-fiction books. It was amazing how much this helped enlighten me on myself. I would definitely highly recommend this to other introverts, as well as extroverts who are trying to understand introverts a little better.

The Story

From the inner cover flap of the book:

For over three hundred years, Hudson’s Bay Company has been more than a retailer – it’s a brand Canadians recognize instantly, from the multicoloured stripes of its Point Blanket to The Bay’s ribbon banner. Where Bay men once traded blankets with First Nations trappers for pelts, today the retailer offers the best and brightest of the world’s fashions. The merchandise may be different but the mission is the same: to deliver what is new, exciting and authentic. In these pages more than 200 illustrations trace the history of Hudson’s Bay Company and how it continues to shape tastes and trends today.

The Response

True fact: I am obsessed with The Bay. This obsession makes me feel patriotic. Or my patriotism makes me obsessed. Either way, what it comes down to is, in my most humble opinion, there is no greater department store than The Bay.

This is an absolutely gorgeous coffee table book all about the Hudson’s Bay Company and it’s great history in Canada. I have had my eye on it for a LONG time; every time I would walk into The Bay, I would purposely make a detour into the section with the HBC collection and lovely gaze upon this book. Needless to say, I was thrilled when the bf got it for me for my birthday last week.

Aside from the foreword and introduction (which tells the history of Hudson’s Bay Company), each spread consists of large imagery (one one spread, there’s either two large full-page images or one image for the full spread) and a short description about the history of the pictured item. The quality of the imagery is gorgeous – there was only one image in the almost-300-pages book that wasn’t super crisp and clear, and where the text on the imagery was hard to read. It is just such a beautiful book! I have spent a lot of time just drooling over the layout and design of this book. The typography alone, oh!

I also like how all of the information provided on each page is done so in an easy-to-read way that very quickly tells the history of what is pictured – whether it’s a picture of a fort, one of the first opened department stores, an important figure associated with the Hudson’s Bay Company, or a product that could be purchased (either in the far past, or more recent past). It’s such an easy way to grasp how much impact this company has had on Canadian history.

The Bottom Line

What a beautiful book! I would definitely recommend this to fellow Canadians who love beautiful books about the history of Canada.

The Story

From the back of the book:

At some point in their lives, all young people believe their parents are evil . . . but what if they really are?

Meet Alex, Karolina, Gert, Chase, Molly and Nico – whose lives are about to take an unexpected turn. When these six young friends discover their parents are all secretly super-powered villains, the shocked tens find strength in one another. Together, they run away from home and staright into the adventure of their lives – vowing to turn the tables on their evil legacy.

The Response

So… Free Comic Book Day saw some awesome sales at the local comic book store. I’ve read a few volumes of Runaways but have always meant to read much more, so the huge sales were a great opportunity to grab the first few Runaways collections.

It was great to finally go to the beginning of the series and see the origin stories of these characters, to see how they became the Runaways as I know them from later volumes. Suddenly things seem to make so much more sense to me about the group, though there are a few different characters from what I know, so am quite curious about what happens to a few of them.

I love the illustrations in this. Really, it’s amazing how much of the story can be told just in the illustrations of comic books. Yes, the dialogue is important, but so much more can be gathered by how the characters appear and what you can see going on. And these illustrations really are beautiful. Love.

One thing I don’t quite follow, however, was how willing these kids’ parents were to kill their own children to save themselves. I just… even with super villains, I don’t know if I’ve come across other parents who were so willing to just eliminate their own children, unless they were completely mad with power… but in that case, would you have to have a child knowing that one day you may have to kill them, and so never get very close to them? Because that didn’t seem how the parents were in this case – at the beginning of the book, they actually really seemed to love and care for their own kids. Were they so drunk with power that everything else was expendable? What kind of people are like that? I just didn’t understand the motivations of The Pride. Bother.

The Bottom Line

Great start to the Runaways series. Love this series, and would highly recommend it. Looking forward to reading the next volume.

The Story

From the back of the book:

How far will you go to find your way home?

Emma and her father are always on the move, traveling from place to place as her father’s work demands, until they move into a strange building in a strange city. Their new home is certainly different. There’s a frightening oman who lives down the hall, who bears an uncanny resemblance to a witch. There’s a mysterious light that comes from her apartment, a small boy trapped inside, and basement brownies in the vents.

Haunted by visions of her mother, Emma follows the brownies down the vent to a land deep within the earth, where she travels through the brownies’ burrow to the valley of Hades to visit with the goddess Ceres, following a series of clues that lead her across the sea of memory to the center of the world.

There, on an inhospitable rock floating in a sea of steaming lava, she must find a way to defeat the witch and restore life to the brownie burrows, and by extension, to the human world above.

The Response

I received this book at Blissdom Canada in October. I meant to read it earlier. Much earlier. Unfortunately, I didn’t pick it up until this past weekend. But once I did, I couldn’t put it down. It pulled me in right from the beginning, was fast paced, and full of so much adventure and excitement.

I love how Gough pulled on different kinds of mythology in her book – most particularly the Greek and Scottish mythology that we see throughout the whole novel. I’m a sucker for anything mythological, and these just happen to be two of my favourites.

This is a cute novel, which middle grade readers will quite enjoy. The main character, Emma, is accessible and although she’s going through fantastical events, she’s also dealing with stuff that a lot of children will find relatable. It’s pretty cool how the bullies in Emma’s school are reflected in the gorgons that she meets in her adventures, and how her school principal is reflected in a troll who is supposed to protect Emma in Hades (and beyond). It seems like the author did a lot of planning for this book ahead of time, and it ended up turning out really well.

The Bottom Line

Definitely cute, and I would certainly pass this along to middle grade readers who are looking for a good fantasy novel.

The Story

From the back of the book:

The Demonologist marks a major departure for critically acclaimed author Andrew Pyper as he takes the reader into a terrifying new literary direction of unimaginable horror.

Professor David Ullman is a world-renowned expert in the literature of the demonic, notably Milton’s Paradise Lost. But David is a scholar, not a believer, until he witnesses a malevolent act so shocking it forces him to reexamine everything he has thought to be real.

On a consulting trip to Venice to observe a mysterious phenomenon, he finds his world – and his heart – ripped apart when a door is opened that allows a demonic spirit to take his young daughter hostage.

Now David is pushed headlong into a desperate journey of discovery, forcing him to confront the boundaries between human good and inhuman evil. Guided by arcane symbols and riddles from the pages of Paradise Lost, he enters the underworld of shadows that exists everywhere around us in a quest to rescue his daughter from the Unnamed – a demonic entity that has chosen him as its unlikely messenger. It is an impossible task undertaken in the name of lover – a task that, if he fails, will mean David’s daughter will be claimed by darkness for eternity…

The Response

This book reminds me of Elizabeth Kostova’s The Historian in the fact that the main character is a scholar whose main speciality is the evil that they are now being confronted with. That is where I am going to end the comparison because while I did enjoy this book, it didn’t affect me nearly as much as The Historian had when I first read it.

This book had a lot of things going for it. For one, I liked how Pyper was able to bring settings to life. It actually kind of makes me want to visit Venice, minus the whole demon bit… and there was a scene in a farmhouse where there was a murder-suicide had amazing atmosphere. Plus, there were parts of it that took place in a cottage in Muskoka (which, when happening in books, always makes me think of L.M.M.’s The Blue Castle, so creates a warm fuzzy feeling in my heart). I like that this book takes the reader to so many different places.

I also really like how there was danger from opposite factions on Ullman’s quest to find his daughter – from the demons who wanted to keep Tessa (and who wanted to Ullman to tell the world about how demons are real), and from those who want to keep what happened to Tessa (and the fact that demons are real) secret. Both dangers could have harmed Ullman, and most of the book we saw him trying to keep ahead of one or the other. In that way, there weren’t really any moments of rest for the characters, and kept pushing the book forward. This wasn’t a slow read, which I definitely appreciated.

Even though I really enjoyed the buildup in this book, I will admit that I found the ending extremely anti-climatic. It felt safe, and everything wrapped up too nicely. I never doubted that things were going to end happily. I like it when my horror is slightly messier, and when the danger feels real. It is nice that I can come out of this saying that there definitely won’t be a sequel, but it feels like the stakes faced by the character never seemed high enough or real enough.

Aside from that slight disappointment with the ending, however, I did enjoy this book, and will be looking forward to reading more from the author.

The Bottom Line

This was an entertaining read, and I’ll be recommending it to others who like supernatural horror stories.

The Story

From the book flap:

The Mortal War is over, and Clary Fray is back home in New York, exited about all the possibilities before her. She’s training to become a Shadowhunter and to user her unique power. Her mother is getting married to the love of her life. Downworlders and Shadowhunters are at peace at last. And – most important of all – Clary can finally call Jace her boyfriend.

But nothing comes without a price.

Someone is murdering the Shadowhunters who used to be in Valentine’s Circle, provoking tensions between Downworlders and Shadowhunters that could lead to a second bloody war. Clary’s best friend, Simon, can’t help her. His mother’s just found out that he’s a vampire and now he’s homeless. Everywhere he turns, someone wants him on their side – along with the power of the curse that’s wrecking his life. And they’re willing to do anything to get what they want. At the same time he’s dating two beautiful, dangerous girls – neither of whom knows about the other.

When Jace begins to pull away from Clary without explaining why, she is forced to delve into the heart of a mystery whose solution reveals her worst nightmare: she herself has set in motion a terrible chain of events that could lead to her losing everything she loves. Even Jace.

Love. Blood. Betrayal. Revenge. The stakes are higher than ever in City of Fallen Angels.

The Response

I feel like it has been such a long time since I read the first three books in this series. And I feel like I should have finished The Internal Devices before getting back into this… (But I am a little afraid with how that is going to turn out, that it isn’t going to be as awesome as I want it to be.)

That said though, this book certainly didn’t disappoint! It was what I expect from a Cassandra Clare book. It is exciting, fast-paced, funny, and very hard to put down – definitely a winner for me!

I am so over the whole Jace/Clary relationship with their constant will they won’t they. First, it was all, are they siblings? Will they fall in love even if it is forbidden? Now it is all, omg will they break up or will they actually communicate and stay together? Blah blah blah, tired of the drama between the two of them.

So while everything centring around Jace and Clary was rather trying, I really enjoyed everything else. Or everyone else… Magnus! Alec! Simon! Isabelle! Luke! Love them all, and were all just as wonderful as they had been before.

I also really like the new characters that are introduced in this book, and how the author has tied mythology into these characters. It is going to be interesting to see how Clare continues with this thread. I am looking forward to seeing where this is going from where we are now.

The Bottom Line

I really enjoyed this one, and am very much looking forward to reading the next one.

The Story

From Random House of Canada‘s website:

The long-awaited magnum opus from Haruki Murakami, in which this revered and bestselling author gives us his hypnotically addictive, mind-bending ode to George Orwell’s 1984.

The year is 1984. Aomame is riding in a taxi on the expressway, in a hurry to carry out an assignment. Her work is not the kind that can be discussed in public. When they get tied up in traffic, the taxi driver suggests a bizarre ‘proposal’ to her. Having no other choice she agrees, but as a result of her actions she starts to feel as though she is gradually becoming detached from the real world. She has been on a top secret mission, and her next job leads her to encounter the superhuman founder of a religious cult. Meanwhile, Tengo is leading a nondescript life but wishes to become a writer. He inadvertently becomes involved in a strange disturbance that develops over a literary prize. While Aomame and Tengo impact on each other in various ways, at times by accident and at times intentionally, they come closer and closer to meeting. Eventually the two of them notice that they are indispensable to each other. Is it possible for them to ever meet in the real world?

The Response

I read the first book in this trilogy not too long ago. I typically take so long between books in series or trilogies that I don’t remember what happened at the end of the book, so reading this so soon after finishing the previous one is a new experience for me. I didn’t have to play catch up for the first few chapters. It was awesome!

This book picks up right where the last one ends off, and I don’t want to say anything in case it spoils it for another reader… But know that it throws us into the story immediately. There’s no buildup to remind the reader where we’ve been, to reintroduce us to the characters, or to give us background on the story. In this sense, it’s definitely essential to have read the first book in the trilogy before picking up this one – and preferably to have read it in the recent past. I’m going to be trying to read the third one soon just so I don’t forget anything that’s happened.

One of the things I mentioned that I really liked in the previous book, that I am again really loving with this one, is how Murakami unfolds events – whether it shows how closely connected Tengo and Aomame really are, even though they don’t actually meet in real life. He also slowly reveals things that very slowly give you a little idea of what may actually really be happening, but never enough so that you can guess what the heck is going on. It’s… intriguing! I can’t figure out what is going to happen with the main characters, or what’s going on with these Little People. Goodness!

There was only one thing I didn’t particularly like about this book. Or this trilogy, considering the rest is written in the same way. I’ve decided that I don’t like the way this trilogy tells alternating chapters from Aomame and Tengo’s point of views. It’s a little distracting to really get into what’s happening with one character, and then have a big exciting bit happen, only to have to hold off reading any more about that character until a whole chapter later. I found that it was a little distracting in that way.

The Bottom Line

Awesome second book in the trilogy. I’m definitely looking forward to reading the third book in this story. Hopefully soon!