Chris's Picks

February 2013: In a kingdom that is at peace with it neighbors because magic has been banned, magic has started to creep in over the boarders. Cleo has gone against her family’s wishes and gone across the board. She now finds herself on a quest to find magic. Jonas has taken a stance against his countries injustices. He now finds himself at the start of a revolution. Lucia has started to suspect that she has magic in her blood. Magnus has to come to terms about who he is. This is a gripping tale of four young people that have the will power to change everybody’s lives.

February 2013: There is so much mystery around the tale of King Author and the Knights of the Round Table, that how can it really be true? Donald Gladstone has set his sights on trying to prove that Author was real. Julia Llewellyn who works for the Oxford English Dictionary, is pulled into the search with Donald. They have a chance meeting again after many years of separation. And find clues that lead them on the adventure of their lives.

February 2013: This is a compelling tale of the legacy of lace, from its making to its role in the hierarchy of Europe. Katharina is given to a nunnery at a young age to make lace. Her sister tries for years to buy her freedom. Lisette uses lace to outwit the nobles. And the Dog smuggles it in.

The Ruins of Lace is a fascinating historical fiction story about the not only the hardships of making the lace, but of all the political intrigue behind its black market sales. The characters all have such depth and their stories come together so well. My favorite character is the lace smuggling dog.

Eggburt is the young child that lives on an island with only his father, older siblings and pirates. When Eggs' father takes them to the other island and then disappears with his sibling, Egg is left alone. He finds himself in a mansion with a new family that seems perfect. He soon learns that wants him dead, and to claim his home island of Deadweather. Egg takes off on a journey to not only save himself but this home. Along the way he meets Millicent and a one handed cabin boy that help him conquer pirates, bad weather and villainous businessmen. This book is a great adventure read and is going to be a series. So look for more books coming soon.

Xenia is coming of age in the court of Catherine the Great. She watches as her sister and cousin are married off to older men that they do not love. She is fortunate to marry the man that she loves. But as tragedy strikes, Xenia finds herself trudging through life in her husbands old closes and helping the poor. This is a very moving story of the patron saint of St. Petersburg.

This action packed story continues. But now the story is told by four different people. Lore does such a great job of bringing all the characters together to keep the story rolling. He also loves to throw a new twist in. Lore's story line is so addicting that you just want to keep reading.

Eggburt is the young child that lives on an island with only his father, older siblings and pirates. When Eggs’ father takes them to the other island and then disappears with his sibling, Egg is left alone. He finds himself in a mansion with a new family that seems perfect. He soon learns that wants him dead, and to claim his home island of Deadweather. Egg takes off on a journey to not only save himself but this home. Along the way he meets Millicent and a one handed cabin boy that help him conquer pirates, bad weather and villainous businessmen. This book is a great adventure read and is going to be a series. So look for more books coming soon.

The grisly rampage of a man-eating Amur, or Siberian, tiger and the effort to trap it frame this suspenseful and majestically narrated introduction to a world that few people, even Russians, are familiar with. Vaillant has filled his story with amazing history and emotions that run deep. The Tiger is also about conservation and animal protection in the 21st century.

In 1453, seventeen-year-old Luca Vero, accused of heresy and expelled from his monastery, is recruited to help investigate evil across Europe but frees his first subject, Isolde, from captivity in a nunnery, and together they seek the one who defends the boundaries of Christendom and holds the secrets of the Order of Darkness.

“Prince Charming is afraif of old Ladies.” What a great way to start a book. This is the story of four princes…All named Prince Charming. They are the princes of Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Rapunzel. They are Liam, Frederic, Duncan and Gustav. These mem now have to go on a quest to save themselves after they have been put aside by their respective princesses. Healy is a wonderful story teller and his book is so much fun to read. Especially aloud to younger readers.

At the tender age of 15, varvara’s father dies and she is then in the employ of the empress elizabeth of russia. she soon learns what’s like to be a lonely servant, and takes the steps needed to move up in the racks. varvara becomes a spy for count bestuzhev, the chancellor, and a friend of sophie who is destined to become the indomitable catherine the great. this is a wonderfully told story of the rise on one of the greatest women leaders of all time, through the eyes of a spy.

Tess, in her flight from England and maid service, fortunately or unfortunately as the case may be,is hired on at the last minute by Lady Gordon Duff. Who, at the time of 1912 is a famous designer and is about to board the Titanic. Tess has always wanted to be a seamstress, and this is the change of a life time. but after the ship sinks and they do make it to America, Tess is thrown into all the inquires of the sinking. Does she defend her employers actions? And along the way she has met two very different men, the sailor and the rich man. Who should she choose? This book was so much fun to read!

When Stalin invaded the Baltic States during World War II, Lina was just a young girl with her whole world before her. Before long she was shipped out with her Mother and brother to the other side of Russia to work in labor camps. There travels took them all the way to the arctic where she and others lived for years until they were released. This is not an event that is discussed much in history and few people know about now. This was an eye opening book about a young girls determination to survive what ever Soviets threw at her.

When Yakob sets off on an a business trip to Stamboul to sell his rugs, his young prodigy of a daughter stows away on the ship. Books, backgammon, beautiful dresses and shoes, markets swarming with color and life—the imperial capital overflows with elegance, and mystery. For in the narrow streets of Stamboul—a city at the crossroads of the world—intrigue and gossip are currency, and people are not always what they seem. What is to happen with the events of the day when Eleonora meets the Sultan Abdulhamid II. She is destined to change the world.

 

 

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Chris's Past Picks

This is a story that takes place in Germany during WWII and the present. Those Who Save Us tells the story of a mother and daughter who survived the war - and the extremes people go to just to survive. As the years pass, the daughter is faced with the facts of what her mother hid from her  - what she did during the war. And now she grapples with how she feels about it.

She was taught to submit, to obey . . . but she dreamed of an empire. The sole heir to the House of Omura, a venerable family of Kobe sake brewers, nineteen-year-old Rie hears but cannot heed her mother's advice: that in nineteenth-century Japan, a woman must "kill the self" or her life will be too difficult to bear. In this strict, male-dominated society, women may not even enter the brewery—and repressive tradition demands that Rie turn over her family's business to the inept philanderer she's been forced to marry. She is even expected to raise her husband's children by another woman—a geisha—so that they can eventually run the Omura enterprise. An epic and breathtaking saga that spans generations as it sweeps through the heart of a century, Joyce Lebra's The Scent of Sake is a vivid and powerful entry into another world...and an unforgettable portrait of a woman who would not let that world defeat her.

A sweeping novel set in war-torn 1928 China, with a star-crossed love story at its center. In a city full of thieves and Communists, danger and death, spirited young Lydia Ivanova has lived a hard life. Always looking over her shoulder, the sixteen-year-old must steal to feed herself and her mother, Valentina, who numbered among the Russian elite until Bolsheviks murdered most of them, including her husband. As exiles, Lydia and Valentina have learned to survive in a foreign land. If you liked Snow Flower and the Secret Fan you will like this Mother / Daughter story as well.

The Other Queen is the story of the captive years of Mary Queen of Scots, who trusted Queen Elizabeth’s promise of sanctuary when she fled from the rebels in Scotland and then found herself imprisoned as the “guest” of George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury and his indomitable wife, Bess of Hardwick. The newly married couple welcomed the doomed queen into their home, certain that serving as her hosts and jailors will bring them an advantage in the cutthroat world of the Elizabethan court. To their horror, they find that the task will bankrupt them, and as their home becomes the epicenter of intrigue and rebellion against Elizabeth, their loyalty to each other and to their sovereign comes into question.

This novel tells the tale of a friendship between two women, one with surprising twists and turns, and one that is ultimately a revelation of the finest parts of the human spirit. The harsh conditions of life that each has endured help them to create an instant bond, and a friendship is born, one in which the deepest of hardships are shared and the darkest of secrets are confessed. This is the happiest feel good book I’ve read in a while!

When Nora Grey is assigned a new partner in her biology class. Her instincts tell her Patch is trouble, but who doesn't fall for the bad guy, and she doesn't like the way he is already inside her head (“Part of me wanted to run away from him screaming, Fire! A more reckless part was tempted to see how close I could get without... combusting”). Soon she is questioning her sanity. Is he really the one behind all the odd things that have been happening or is the other new kid?

Here the veil is ripped away from modern China--its venerable culture, its teeming economy, its institutionalized cruelty--and the inextricable link between China's fortunes and America's is underscored. In the depths of a Beijing winter, during the waning days of Deng Xiaoping's reign, the U.S. ambassador's son is found dead--his body entombed in a frozen lake. Almost simultaneously, American officials find a ship adrift in the storm-churned waters off Southern California. No one is surprised to find the fetid hold crammed with hundreds of undocumented Chinese immigrants--the latest cargo in the Chinese mafia's burgeoning smuggling trade.