December Book Wrap Up December
by
Natasa Djordjevic
- 8:31 AM
Hey everyone! As you can probably tell from the title, today I’m talking about all the books I read in December.
So, without further ado, let’s get started, shall we?
1. Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate (✬✬✬✬)
A story part true and part fiction. The true part is about an "adoption" agency and the cruel woman who ran it. She not only took in orphans, but she kidnapped babies and children from poor people and sold them to rich people. The fiction part is the story of one of the children and her four siblings who were kidnapped and taken to this horrible orphanage where kids were malnourished, abused mentally, physically, and sexually. Many even died. Names, birthdates, and records were changed so the birth parents could never find their children.
Layered onto this story is the story of a Grandmother with Alzheimer's and a Granddaughter who finds out her Grandmother had a secret. But she can't remember, so the Granddaughter starts a search for answers.
Both stories have many unexpected twists and turns. It is a well written and thought-provoking story.
2. The Sisters of Versailles by Sally Christie (✬✬✬)
I found this novel, enjoyable but overly wordy. However very exact in describing the rampant promiscuity and frivolous attitude of the French nobility under the Bourbon regimes and the complete disregard of the lower classes.
3. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (✬✬✬)
I did not love this novel as many others did and perhaps the hype worked against it for me. "Where the Crawdads Sing" is the story of a young girl, Kya Clark, abandoned by nearly everyone: her family, her community, the school system. Throughout it all, she's managed to survive and piece together a meaningful life for herself filled with nature and the marsh she resides in. The readers get the chance to grow with Kya, the writer chronicling her journey as a young girl to her older age. The second story happening in the book is the unraveling of murder and whether or not Kya played a role in it.
The descriptions of nature are beautiful. Beyond that, the plot unfolds along predictable lines, punctuated here and there by events that are hard to believe. The writing itself is often overwrought.
4. The Rose of York: Fall from Grace by Sandra Worth (✬✬✬✬)
Fall from Grace, written by Sandra Worth is the last of three volumes documenting the life of Richard iii the last Plantagenet King. Much has been written about Richard as the so-called hunchback king who for many murdered the young Princes to ascend the English throne. This novel is thoroughly researched, historically accurate and presents Richard as an honest, considerate monarch genuinely interested in the country's welfare. His downfall at the 1485 Battle of Bosworth is the main subject of this third novel; historical detail is provided of the undermining forces that operated against his success. The novel is sensitively expressed in fluent prose and the characters presented are eminently believable.
5. The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak (✬✬✬)
I found the beginning to be slow going and some passages to be far longer than necessary. However, I enjoyed this book. It was an interesting examination of Armenian/Turkish relations and how the expat Armenian community’s feelings differ from those of Armenians whose families remained in or returned to Turkey after the genocide at the beginning of the 20th century.
6. Romancing the Duke by Tessa Dare (✬✬✬✬)
Much of this story entertained me. I liked that Izzy wasn’t the typically beautiful heroine, and I loved that blind, gorgeous Ransom saw the beauty in her. They both had their issues to work out, and that’s always nice in a story. Wasn’t fond of the comic con element. Though it led to some witty dialogue. That’s something Tessa Dare is good at wit and her style.
7. Magic Clogs by Stjepan Varesevac Cobets (✬✬✬✬✬)
Once you get started with reading you will feel automatically like in a fairy tale: this place is magical! Full of courage, purity of heart, and well-earned rewards based on bravery and a good heart. It is wonderful and enchanting, sweet and full of wisdom!
8. The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht (✬✬)
The actual use of language in the book is decent. The individual anecdotes are interesting enough. But the overall plot doesn’t hang together in a compelling way, so there just didn’t seem to be enough of a point to the book.
9. How to Catch a Wild Viscount by Tessa Dare (✬✬✬)
The book is ok, I enjoyed reading it. My only complaint is that it is too short. Nevertheless, for a novelette, it is written nicely, and even amusing at some point.
10. Goddess of the Hunt by Tessa Dare (✬✬✬✬)
Tessa Dare's writing talent shines through on every page. This story is so well written that I could easily feel Lucy's desperation and later her confusion about her feelings. Yet I also understood why Jeremy kept silent about his troubling past, as well as why he felt he did not deserve Lucy.
11. Courtesan by Diane Haeger (✬✬✬✬)
I've always known of the love story between Henri and Diane and I was happy to pick up a fictional tale of it. I love how it stayed true to history and how well it flowed through the tumultuous years between the couple doomed by all to fail. The author paints a beautiful picture of the French court and its characters. The little details she incorporates really bring the story to life, especially when she describes the clothes, the rooms, furniture and even small things like jewelry and goblets.
12. The Improbability of Love by Hannah Mary Rothschild (✬✬✬✬)
The Improbability of Love is an entertaining read — an accomplishment of wicked humor counterbalanced with war crimes — outrageous conspicuous consumption, mirrored against the reverence and importance of art in all its many forms.
