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Deborah (162 KP) rated The Last Queen in Books

Dec 21, 2018  
TL
The Last Queen
C.W. Gortner | 2008
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The start was a bit shaky - a few Americanisms thrown in there (Why 'visit with'??! It's a daft, redundant sort of expression!) but when I got in to it I found it to be a really rather compelling novel! This is the story of Juana 'The Mad', Quuen of Castile, daughter of Ferdinand & Isabella, the catholic kings. Gortner has an interesting take on Juana's 'madness' which he develops in the novel.

It's not altogether a comfortable read though! so many times I felt myself to be frustrated for Juana and the situation she found herself in - manipulated by others.

An interesting and thought-provoking read about a queen perhaps not much known outside of Spain.
  
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Deborah (162 KP) rated Habits of the House (Love & Inheritance Trilogy, #1) in Books

Dec 21, 2018  
HO
Habits of the House (Love & Inheritance Trilogy, #1)
Fay Weldon | 2013
4
4.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I really expected to like this book, but it didn't really live up to my expectations. Plot is aristocratic family, land rich and cash poor and what are they going to do about it. Nothing really new there either. Some other reviewers have seen this as a brilliant satire, but I'm afraid for me it was just a novel with lots of characters, many very undeveloped and most of them not even very likeable.

It is supposed to be the first part of Weldon's Love & Inheritance trilogy, but a lot of lose ends are tied up and this could really be a standalone novel. Certainly I'm far from feeling the compulsion to read the next two volumes.
  
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Gisell Middleton (189 KP) rated A Bad Day for Sunshine in Books

Feb 23, 2020  
A Bad Day for Sunshine
A Bad Day for Sunshine
Darynda Jones | 2020
9
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
This is a fantastic novel! The well rounded characters, interest backgrounds and fast pace make for a can’t-put-down page turner. I enjoyed the several layers to each sub-plot and how certain people/events were connected and some were not. It takes a skilled writer to be aware of how much to include as well as how much to omit. This author is amazing! Most of the questions we, the reader, start out with in this novel are answered by the end in a way that gives us the satisfaction of “an ending” but leave enough hanging so that we are intrigued by the possibilities and will be waiting for the next installment. Great book!
  
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The Chocolate Lady (94 KP) rated Young Jane Young in Books

Oct 5, 2020  
Young Jane Young
Young Jane Young
Gabrielle Zevin | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
8
7.3 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
We've heard it before; a young intern gets involved with an older elected official and no matter how discrete the two of them are, something happens and the affair eventually comes out. That's what happened to Aviva Grossman, and despite her efforts to carry on with her life and build a career, escaping the scandal and notoriety was almost impossible. In her latest novel, author Gabrielle Zevin (The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry) takes this idea to gives us a window into the lives of the women involved as well as the women in their families in the aftermath. Read more in my review of this novel here. https://tcl-bookreviews.com/2017/08/20/the-choices-we-make/