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ClareR (5869 KP) rated Peach Blossom Spring in Books

Feb 13, 2023  
Peach Blossom Spring
Peach Blossom Spring
Melissa Fu | 2022 | Fiction & Poetry
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Peach Blossom Spring is the beautifully told story of three generations of a Chinese family as they experience love, war, migration and their driving need to belong.

Meilin leaves her home in order to protect her son Henry, and find somewhere safe for him to grow up. But without passports or papers to isn’t easy. She relies on her own abilities to survive along with the help she gets from others.

Henry goes to America to study at university and ends up staying on to work. He marries, gets a good job, and tries his best to be a good American. This is at a time of fear and suspicion of communists and everything either Chinese or Russian. Henry is terrified that he’ll draw the wrong kind of attention, and deprives his daughter of learning his language or traditions.

I felt so sorry for Meilin, left behind in Taiwan, so far from her son and unable to join him in America. I also felt for Henry, limited by his fear. But Henry’s daughter provides the bridge for Henry to return to his homeland.

I loved everything about this book - the settings, the history, the characters. And the fact that this is semi-autobiographical was just the icing on the cake.

A wonderful novel.
  
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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2336 KP) rated Murder on Bedford Street in Books

Aug 9, 2023 (Updated Aug 9, 2023)  
Murder on Bedford Street
Murder on Bedford Street
Victoria Thompson | 2023 | Mystery
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Rescuing a Woman from a Mental Institute
Frank Malloy is hired by Hugh Breedlove who is convinced that his niece, Julia, has been sent to an insane asylum because her husband is abusive and evil. When Frank and his wife Sarah go to visit Julia, she certainly appears sane. But can they prove it to a judge?

It’s always a pleasure to travel back to New York City in 1901 with this series. I thought I knew where this story was going early on, but I turned out to be wrong. Instead, I got a great story that turned into a thriller by the end. It’s always wonderful to spend time with these characters, we even got to see a couple of the recurring characters and some of the regular characters played a different role than normal. The multiple view points are use perfectly to advance the story. I get lost in the time period as I read this story, and that happened here again as well. It’s a little hard to believe I’m caught up on the series, but I’m happy to see the next book in the series will be out in the spring, so I won’t have to wait too long to visit these characters again.
  
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Morgan Sheppard (936 KP) created a post

Jan 6, 2022  
A Hero. Honourable Thief. Lovable Rogue. Scoundrel. Blackguard.

Everyone’s heard of Robin Hood and his band of Merry Men, with big, bad Sheriff of Nottingham and evil Prince John trying their best to thwart Robin at every turn. But what if things were different to what you’ve been told? What if Robin wasn’t as altruistic as history portrayed?

In the late spring of 1198, the hamlet of Girton is razed to the ground. Newly married eighteen-year-old Will Scathlock and sixteen-year-old Alana move to the larger village of Blidworth to start their lives anew. In his new job as a forester for the Royal Palace of Clipstone, known to the locals as King’s Houses, Will hears tales of a good thief, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. But in her role as seamstress for the Manor House, Alana hears a different story.

Find out what it was like for the peasant folk Robin was supposed to be helping, before his well-known adventures in Nottingham. Meet Alana Dale and read her story of what it was really like, and how it all began.

Available for pre-order - https://books2read.com/CabbagesKings

#YoungAdult
#ComingofAge
#HistoricalFiction
#RobinHoodOrigin
      
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BookInspector (124 KP) rated Gather the Daughters in Books

Sep 24, 2020  
Gather the Daughters
Gather the Daughters
Jennie Melamed | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry, Science Fiction/Fantasy
10
7.3 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
The first thing which attracted me to this book, was the cover; I think it’s absolutely stunning and incredibly mysterious. The second reason why I picked it up, was the blurb; cult on an island, I was absolutely intrigued with this, and it absolutely drawn me in once I started it.

This book absolutely hooked me with its diverse and complex characters. This novel is told by children, sharing different perspectives of the events happening in the book, and beautifully opening up their personalities and feelings. I loved how Melamed is giving insight into different lives, first of children, and then how it feels, once you are forced into adulthood. There is a great variety of characters to choose from, and everyone will be able to find their favourite. My favourite one was Janey, I absolutely loved her strength and her wish to do something, to change the lives of young girls. All the characters are carrying so much pain and sadness that it literary breaks your heart while reading the book. That’s why, if you are sensitive towards child abuse and incest, you might want to skip this one.

The plot of this book was incredibly well thought through and very amusing. Melamed’s experience with traumatised children was shining through in this novel. The whole narrative travels through seasons, starting in spring and finishing in spring again. Every season brought in different stories and different feelings. I really enjoyed the creative twists and turns in this novel, which made it more enticing and didn’t leave me bored. The topics discussed in this book are endless; every girl shared the issue they were facing, that’s why this book is really fascinating and intriguing. Even though this is a work of fiction, there are some of the described things still happening in this world. For example, child marriage and abusing children as soon as they hit puberty, is still a common practice in South Asia and Middle East, and is absolutely horrifying.

The writing style of this novel is gorgeous and I absolutely loved it. The chapters are decent length and didn’t make me bored while reading. The ending of the book rounded up everything really nicely, leaving me satisfied, but questioning at the same time. I think it is absolutely stunning debut of Melamed and I will be looking forward to read more of her books. So, to conclude, this is a very dark and sorrowful novel filled with complex family relations and children, who want to be children as long as they can. I do strongly recommend this book and I hope people find it as fascinating, as I did.
Was given this book by publisher for honest review.
  
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FilmIntuition (33 KP) rated The Kiss Quotient in Books

Jun 28, 2018  
The Kiss Quotient
The Kiss Quotient
Helen Hoang | 2018 | Romance
8
8.4 (13 Ratings)
Book Rating
Bold & Original Romance Adds Up
Back when I read the First Impression excerpt of The Kiss Quotient on Bookish First this past spring, I knew Helen Hoang's novel was sure to be one of the most talked about romances of 2018.

Bolstered by its inclusion as one of June's Book of the Month Club titles (which is where I nabbed my copy), it has fulfilled that promise and more as the genre's most popular summer beach read.

Taking familiar romance genre paradigms and giving them a new spin, Hoang's startlingly sexy title might bill itself as a gender swapped Pretty Woman but it actually reads more like a politically correct version of Fifty Shades of Grey... only with econometrics, martial arts, and fashion design filling in for the Red Room.

Centering its sexy Pygmalion narrative around a heroine with Asperger's whose disability does not define her – a premise that originally attracted me to the novel – the book is both a refreshing step forward for fictional disabled representation and a bold work all around.

While it inevitably suffers from predictable genre conventions including a slightly clunky start that moves from Point A to Z at an unrealistic pace, once Hoang balances out her equation, The Kiss Quotient really adds up.

Note: I would probably give this book 7.5, if able to award half points.