The Other Queen by Philippa Gregory

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I’ve been reading this book now for 3.5 weeks, when it really should have only taken me a day or two. The action is very slow, there’s not a lot of time for development of the characters. I could not get emotionally invested in any of the three main characters telling the tale. Each chapter is incredibly short, and this drove me nuts throughout the book.

I love Mary, and I love anything vaguely Tudor, so I’ve been wanting to read this book for a while. I wasn’t crazy about the back-and-forth taking-turns-telling-the-story in the Boleyn Inheritance, and I was so disappointed when I realized that this book was more of the same.

The story moves so slowly, that I was bored throughout most of the book. Only my stubbornness & love for Gregory’s other books, made me force myself to continue.

As others have said, if you are really interested in the history or Mary, or if you are in general a Gregory fan as I am, then the book is absolutely worth reading. It’s not a good book to try, if you’ve never read one of hers before.



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it’s time for a book review!

Insatiable by Meg Cabot

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I both loved & hated this book.

The characters are incredibly one dimensional, very flat, and for the most part, you can’t like any of them. I loved the premise – the main character, Meena, is psychic & knows when people are going to die, and she ends up meeting up with the Prince of Darkness. I loved the little bits tying in history & real places. I did like the pop culture references, though I wish there weren’t quite so many of them. There is some attempts at humor throughout the book, though the jokes were mainly as flat as the characters.

All of that being said, I couldn’t put the book down & read the book pretty quickly, lugging my library hardcover copy back & forth to work every day just so I could read a few minutes every day at lunch time. I wish I had realized that there is an intended sequel, because the book was very much written like it was setting you up for a sequel but that drove me nuts at the time because I didn’t know that. I felt like there were all these open storylines. And the book leaves you with a cliffhanger which made me so mad I threw the book across the room (sorry, library).

Will I read the sequel? yes, probably. I’m addicted to vampire books of all kinds, even the badly written ones. Will I be impatiently waiting for it to come out? Probably not. Will I pay money for the sequel? No, probably not, I’ll wait for a library copy. But I will recommend this book to other vampire lovers, especially other modern-day vampire lovers.



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Royal Harlot: A Novel of the Countess Castlemaine and King Charles II by Susan Holloway Scott

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book!

This was the first time reading a book by Susan Scott, and it won’t be my last. I am a huge fan of history, especially British history, but I admit I don’t know a lot about this particular time period, so I don’t know how historically accurate any of this book actually was. I’ve heard of Barbara Palmer, the infamous whore of Babylon, of course, but had no idea anything about her.

The book was very well written, very well paced, and I think touched upon the “adult” nature of Barbara & the king’s relationship very well, without being over-the-top graphic, a balance that I personally prefer. There were times when I would have liked to have heard more about the historical events going on, but since the book was about *Barbara* and not the time period, I do understand why the author chose to write the book the way she did. All in all, a very good, engrossing book, that I managed to finish in just a few days.



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The Crocheted Prayer Shawl Companion: 37 Patterns to Embrace, Inspire, and Celebrate Life by Janet Bristow

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was lucky to get an e-version of this book through netgalley.com.

I am a crocheter, and have made many, many shawls to give away to people. Though in my mind, I don’t call them “prayer” shawls, they are along the same idea – to give comfort to someone needing help. I was very eager to both read, and to make something out of this book. The shawls are beautifully photographed, with a variety of skill levels. Each shawl has a little intro, usually a little story about why the shawl was made or designed, and who it was given to. Heartbreaking stories, that make you want to save the world, one shawl at a time. There’s also a little section about the history of the prayer shawl, a story which I’m already familiar with, but went into a little more detail.

I was a little disappointed in the actual shapes of the shawls – I prefer to make shaped shawls, i.e. a triangle, a half circle, a farose or 3/4 shawl, etc., and there were very few in the book. There were also a couple of extremely basic, granny square type shawls which I personally felt was a waste of space in the book. Granny squares have been around as long as there have been crocheters, and there are dozens of free patterns for granny square shawls, both in leaflets & on the internet (I have one, too).

All in all, though, I do believe that this book is a wonderful resource, and it’s worth buying just for the stories if nothing else.



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I just received this book from Goodreads, and I was thrilled to win it! I never win anything! (OK so I know everyone says this, but in this case, it’s true. The only other thing I’ve ever won is something at my family’s raffle every year, and that’s usually only because I’m the only one who entered to win that prize!)

Saint Training by Elizabeth Fixmer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Though I am not at all Catholic, I wanted to read this book about a young, conflicted Catholic girl because my husband is very much an adult, conflicted, Catholic male. The main character in “Saint Training” is a sixth grader who starts the book wanted to become a nun, goes to a Catholic school, and helps take care of her large family. It’s a short book, filled with all the heartbreak any kid goes through. I read it in one sitting, and my heart aches for Mary Clare & what she goes through with her family, from her confusion with religion, to liking boys & struggling to help with family responsibilities while trying to be a kid. I think anyone who was raised a Catholic should read this book!



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