Welcome to Part 1 of the Baker Publishing Group/Revell Blog Tour for January 2010! Today and tomorrow, I’ll feature reviews for two books (now available) that I’ve read as part of the tour. I’ll be providing honest reviews to these books, and please feel free to ask any questions that come to mind – either about the review or each book itself.

So, without further ado, here’s book one!

The Silent Governess – Julie Klassen (Bethany House, 2009)

Synopsis:

Olivia Keene is running away from her own secrets, but when she accidentally overhears a dangerous secret belonging to the Lord Bradley, she has little choice but to accept a post at his father’s court — a place where Lord Bradley can ensure Olivia’s silence about his own secret.

As Miss. Keene teaches the children at Brightwell Court, Lord Bradley finds himself both drawn to her and frustrated by her. What is the secret she hides, and why does his heart feel so conflicted?

Thoughts:

At first glance, The Silent Governess is an intriguing tale of relationships in nineteenth-century England: familiar characters, social mores, elegant costuming, and people who never quite say what they mean. It’s fairly typical of this style of historical fiction, and fans of Julie Klassen’s previous work will find much to appreciate here.

The characters are well-drawn, and sub-plots arise at every turn — and not only that, but Klassen manages to weave them all together at the end with skill, leading to a relatively satisfying conclusion. However…

My primary issue with the book was the amount of crying/weeping/tears from the main character throughout the first half of the novel. Every ten pages or so, Miss. Keene either cries, holds back tears, or feels teardrops rolling down her cheeks. Yes, admittedly, she goes through quite a bit at the beginning of the book, but do we really need to join her at every moment of her tears? It gets rather tedious, and at one point I actually shouted at the novel, “Listen, just suck it up and deal with it!”

At the end of the book, the resolution with Miss. Keene’s father also seemed somewhat contrived. It felt as through Klassen was desperate to tie up all the threads into a neat little bow, and that subplot in particular was resolved far too conveniently and neatly to be believable. It’s eye-roll worthy, to say the least.

That aside, the book held my interest at length — I read the entire thing in one evening. I suspect that, despite its flaws, people who are a fan of this genre and of Klassen’s work will enjoy The Silent Governess. On the whole, I much preferred Klassen’sLady of Milkweed Manor — but, it’s worth giving this one a try.

I’d also recommend it for church libraries, as I think it would find quite a large readership there.

Available now at your favorite bookseller from Bethany House,

a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Toxic Friends: The Antidote for Women Stuck in Complicated Relationships

By Susan Shapiro Barash (St. Martin’s Press; 2009.)

From childhood to the golden years, friendship is both one of the most important and the most complicated aspects of a woman’s life. What is it that makes female friendship so complex, so rewarding, and yet also so often  a source of pain?

In Toxic Friends, Barash profiles 10 different types of female friends: The Leader; The Doormat; The Sacrificer; The Misery Lover; The Frenemy; and 5 others (which you’ll have to read the book to discover!).

Personally, I was shocked to realize that I could finally verbalize the actions of certain friends in the past – it wasn’t just me, and it wasn’t just them. They were acting in ways that were typical of certain types of women, and Barash’s categories actually helped me to understand them better. If I ever reconnect with those women – doubtful, but you never know – I believe that I’ll be better prepared to communicate with and relate to them than I was in the past.

Above all, I think this book will help to identify those types of women if they appear in my life in the future. That doesn’t mean I’ll be psychoanalyzing every person I meet… rather, it means that I’ll have a better awareness of my relationship to certain people (for example, which women to politely and gently excuse myself from spending time with). That’s something I honestly can say I wish I knew a long time ago… I could have avoided a lot of heartache that way, and I suspect the majority of women would feel the same way about some of their own friendships/ex-friendships.

I highly recommend Barash’s book to women with friends. Yes, that’s a broad recommendation – but I honestly believe the book is helpful, not just in terms of understanding and identifying the friendships you have, but also in gaining insight into the kind of friend you are to other people.

(This book was graciously provided for review by St. Martin’s Press.)

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind - William Kamkwamba (Memoir)

The one thing I have to say about this book is: Everyone should read it.

Adults, children, teenagers, male or female. This book should be required reading in schools, universities, community groups, you name it…

The book itself is about William’s life as a young boy in Malawi, about his family’s life during a very bad famine year, and how William taught himself about physics and electricity and built a windmill to power his family’s radio. William’s efforts grew until he was noticed by a figure on the international stage, and who eventually introduced him to the right people until he received a scholarship to attend University.

The first amazing thing about this is that William, an unschooled, poverty-stricken boy from Africa, was able to rise against the odds and use his brilliant mind to make something of himself. It’s clear that William is an extremely skilled and talented man, and I’m so thankful that his story was brought to the world, for another reason…

The second amazing thing about this book is that William discusses famine and living through it as though it’s simply a part of life. He never sensationalizes, never gives off a ‘poor me’ or ‘woe was our family’ or ‘Africa is horrid’ vibe, nothing of the sort.

Instead, he tells his story in a matter of fact way, simply telling us what happened and what it was like, and honestly? It’s more vivid than those World Vision ads on TV. It’s more real than hearing from the media that ‘people are starving in Africa’. Want to understand what that really means? See through William’s eyes what happens to a person’s body when there’s no food… how it bloats until the skin is like putty, how people simply dropped dead on the roads as they walked half a mile to try and get some rations, how the President of Malawi denied that anything was wrong and refused to let food and aid supplies into the country, how a family of six can live on only a fistful’s worth – total – of food per day, and sometimes less…

After I read William’s story, I was compelled to pass the book on to the rest of my family.
We who live in first-world countries can never truly understand what it means to starve until we’ve either experienced it first hand, or seen it with clear vision through the eyes of someone who actually lived it and survived.

William’s story will change the way you look at the world. It’ll pull at your heart and you may find yourself crying out for change, for some way to help these people, and you may ache to do something – anything – to help. There are so many children all over the globe who have so much to offer the world, just like William, but if conditions remain the same… frankly, they’ll all die (and already are) and the world will continue to lose brilliant minds to a thing as stupid and senseless as hunger.

Again, I implore you, read this book. There’s also a website in conjunction with the book where William talks about how he came up with the idea to build the windmill and other sorts of things, and I encourage you to view those as well.

This is Willliam’s story, and it’s worth hearing.

Love & Respect: The Love She Most Desires, The Respect He Desperately Needs – Dr. Emerson Eggerichs

Two years ago, before I was married, I read this same book by Dr. Eggerichs. At the time, I thought ‘well, this sounds reasonable’, and continued along my merry way after closing the front cover. I remember now that, at the time I’d picked the book up at the store, a woman mentioned to me ‘this book saved my marriage, honestly… pay attention and you won’t regret it’. Reading it through for a second time, after being married for a year and a half? Dr. Eggerichs has it right.

Women need love, and men need respect. Both are mutually inclusive, because when a woman receives love she feels respected, and when a man is respected, it’s a sign of love to him. Eliminate either love or respect, and couples start on what he terms ‘the Crazy Cycle’. How do you stop the crazy cycle? It’s all based on love and respect. Dr. Eggerich outlines what this means for both husbands and wives, what they can do to increase love and respect (and maintain it!), and how to prevent getting back on the Crazy Cycle in the future.

Whether you’re dating, engaged, or married for any length of time, the Dr. speaks the truth… and it’s worth a listen!

I received this book as a part of the Thomas Nelson Book Review Blogger program.

Hush Hush – Becca Fitzpatrick (YA)

Becca Fitzpatrick has done an excellent job of cornering the teen market in her novel, ‘Hush Hush’. It provides the romance of Twilight, the urban edge of City of Bones, and a unique kind of characterization that we don’t often see these days: an independent female protagonist who questions herself, and doesn’t simply give into her emotions. She’s stubborn, determined, and cautious — and our male MC, Patch, is mysterious enough to keep you turning the pages long after everyone else in the house has gone to bed.

I was fortunate enough to be able to read this as an ARC through the First Look program at B&N, and I hear there’s an alternate ending which we didn’t get in our version. And you know what? I enjoyed the book enough to go out and buy a copy, to support this new author’s work. I can’t wait to read more from her… if you have someone in your life who enjoys YA — or if you do, yourself — do yourself a favor and pick this one up!

Women, Work & the Art of Savoir Faire: Business Sense and Sensibility – Marielle Guiliano (Business)

For a woman entering the business world, it can be a tough slog to figure out the balance between being yourself – ie. a female – and maintaining a tough, can-do attitude in the workplace. Guiliano’s book looks at woman and their place on the corporate ladder, covering everything from your first interviews to being a good, no-nonsense female boss that is still liked by her employees.

For many years, Guiliano worked as the North American head of Veuve Clicquot, a high-end champagne company, and she draws on her experiences in this book, presenting women with anecdotes, advice, and hints on how to achieve success in the business world without compromising things like friends, family, and the pleasures in life that bring you happiness.

While I’m not a corporate businesswoman, nor do I have any interest in a business career, any woman at any stage of her life (or career!) could benefit at some level from Guiliano’s advice – I found it refreshing to read a business book from a woman who refuses to compromise her own happiness at the expense of her career, but who also refuses to give up her career simply because being a female executive is difficult and requires sacrifice.

Guiliano recommends facing challenges head-on, maximizing the opportunities for happiness and pleasure in your life, and getting ahead without losing sight of what’s really important to you.

I may not be a businesswoman, but I certainly came away from this book feeling encouraged, challenged, and grateful for the time spent reading it.

(Galley courtesy of Atria Books)

I’ve really got to stop doing this. “Doing what?” you ask. Well, I admit: I tend to judge books by their covers. And their weight. And publisher. And back cover copy. Arrrgh. But, but, but… who doesn’t? Is there anyone who literally doesn’t judge books on first glance/touch?

I received a copy of The Deadline Murders through LibraryThing’s Member Giveaway program. It came with a letter from the publisher, a couple of promo pages for additional books by the author, and a personalized autograph on the front page. This was good marketing, I thought, but what of the book itself? It didn’t have that ‘professional’ feel. It didn’t have that ‘professional’ look (though it looked much, much better than many small pub novels). I liked the image on the cover, but the title font stopped me. I also couldn’t believe the blurb on the front — an endorsement from Piers Morgan? Seriously? What the…?

I set the book aside. For months. Finally, I gave in and decided to fulfill my commitment to the author, and review his work. I didn’t expect to like it, and for the first 50 pages or so, I was rather bored.

But that was just for the first 50 pages. Surprisingly, around there, things started to pick up. I didn’t hate the main character quite so much (she seemed really pretentious, too pretentious to be likable at first), and the banter between the female and male leads became entertaining. The story itself picked up, and I spent the rest of an evening devouring the rest of the book.

To boil it down, The Deadline Murders is a mystery novel without the fancy technology, gore, or sex of many mystery novels out there today. This was a mystery for entertainment’s sake — not quite old fashioned, but more adventure-oriented than anything else. Of course the resolution was too simple in the end, but we sure have a lot of fun getting there, and it’s not so disappointing that you’re upset with the author. Let’s be honest — the book is meant to be a fun escape, and it is.

I finished this book with a smile, and have thus resolved to track down the rest of this author’s books. I’m happy to see that they’re available at Amazon.ca (1-3 weeks shipping, since I assume they’re brought in from the UK) and I’m thrilled to have found a new author from a non-traditional publisher.

Here’s the product description from Riverheron‘s website listing for the novel:

HENRIETTA FOX is a paparazzo. A wild, flame-haired girl in biker’s boots and leathers, with an Irish temper. She rides the streets of London stalking celebrities for the tabloid gossip pages.

When a Chinese military plane explodes in a fireball before her camera, life for Henrietta Fox gets dangerous! Five reporters across Europe have been murdered, each with their exotic, lop-eared Sumxu cats. Animals considered extinct for 300 years. Only Henrietta Fox knows why – and that knowledge could kill her.

To survive she must pursue a madman across China with partner CASS FARRADAY, an ex-Repton public schoolboy turned tabloid reporter with a devious line in interviews.

Only they can prevent an Armageddon assault on Britain’s Air Traffic Control. Fail and half a million lives will be lost.

Sounds cheesy, yes? Good. Definitely recommended.

The Land of Elyon Book 2: Beyond the Valley of Thorns – Patrick Carman
The Land of Elyon Book 3: The Tenth City – Patrick Carman
The Land of Elyon Prequel/Book 4: Into the Mist – Patrick Carman (all Children’s Fiction)

Several years have passed since I read the first book in this series, and for whatever reason at the time, I never got around to reading the rest of the books… which made absolutely no sense, since I loved the first book. Last week, I made up my mind to just go for it and “git ‘er done”. Well, I still have one book to go, but in the meantime, what were these three like?

I have to say, I truly believe Patrick Carman is one of the new masters of worldbuilding. After recently reading the first two books in his Atherton series for older readers, and then coming back to this series, it’s clear to see that Carman has a gift for creating unique worlds that make sense. He weaves geography, cultural differences, politics, and economics into his worlds, which is quite the feat, considering the age level these books are targeted toward and the shorter length of his books (compared to, say, other children’s fantasies).

The main character of this series is a young girl – twelve or thirteen, I believe – and I was surprised how well this male author portrayed a girl of this age! Then I learned that he has two daughters of his own, and it made sense. He writes strong female leads who are true to their age.

And as for the story itself? The first three books in the series continue along the same path, though books two and three are more directly linked (ie. don’t finish book two without book 3 in hand!) and keep the action continually moving. The fourth book, or the prequel, can be read separately from the rest of the series… however, reading it fourth sets the stage for the fifth book (technically book 4 in the series, but I count the prequel as book 4 because it comes between 3 and 4 (er, 5) chronologically but not really… confused yet?). The prequel features the main characters from the previous books as they listen to the main thread of the book, which is told in the form of a story being related from memory by one of the characters. The final page in the prequel/not-a-prequel ends the storytelling and the main characters have arrived at their destination to begin the next book. Make sense?

Final verdict: read the books in the order they were written. 1,2,3,Prequel/4, Real book 4. They’re short, exciting, fun, and very well done. Highly recommended!

Homer’s Odyssey – Gwen Cooper (Memoir/Animals)

Yes, it’s another animal memoir book. Yes, you’ll laugh, cry, groan, smile, and sniffle all the way through. But before you sigh and say “I can’t handle it, I know what happens at the end of animal memoirs”, let me forewarn you – and I really don’t consider this a spoiler – that the cat doesn’t die at the end. That’s right, she wrote the memoir while the animal was/is still alive, and thus ends the tale without a final death scene. Happy? I was.

So now that we’ve eliminated that fear, how about the book? Wow. Yes, wow. A young woman adopts a blind (actually, eyeless) kitten that no one else wants… and it turns out to be the most intelligent, active, curious, life-loving cat I’ve ever heard of. This cat took daring leaps from the tops of furniture, loved to roughhouse with other cats and humans, hunted flies by sound (and *always* caught them), and in general, was an incredible testament to how an animal can overcome what we might see as a disability and thrive through it.

Throughout the course of the memoir, I was struck by how vibrant and full of life this little blind cat was. He never knew what it meant to see, and yet that didn’t slow him down even a tiny bit… his world was what it was, and he loved it.

It comes down to this: If a little creature like a blind kitten can take what he’s given in life and make the most of it – love, live, and thrive – what can’t we, as humans do with what life doles out to us?

Because I’m not sure whether my description does the book justice, here’s the product description from the Amazon.ca webpage:

Product Description
Once in nine lives,
something extraordinary happens…

Homer’s Odyssey is the once-in-a-lifetime story of an extraordinary cat and his human companion. It celebrates the refusal to accept limits—on love, ability, or hope against overwhelming odds. By turns jubilant and moving, it’s a memoir for anybody who’s ever fallen completely and helplessly in love with a pet.”

Rating: 5 out of 5