Shopgirl

Shopgirl by Steve Martin


My rating: 2 of 5 stars
This was a complicated book. The writing was beautiful, filled with witty sarcasm, poetry and startling truths about life. I'm torn between loving it and hating it. The story was slightly boring, but I kept reading because the words were thoughtful - almost too plotted out.

I'm curious to see how this book plays out in the movie, I struggled with visualization alot reading this.

Pub. Date: October 2001

Synopsis: From the comic genius of Steve Martin comes a contemporary fable of life an love from the point of view of a shopgirl behind the glove counter at Neiman Marcus. Mirabelle, a semi-glamourous young woman who is making her way through the romantic jungles of Beverly Hills/Los Angeles, is an aspiring artist who prides herself on her clothing aesthetic. Unfortunately, she doesn't always have the best taste in men. When she meets a young Turk named Jeremy, whose idea of a great second date is a visit to the Laundromat, she sees him through a haze of prozac and other anti-depressants, and through the prism of her own poor self-esteem. But then she meets Ray Porter and thinks he could be her Knight in Shining Armor. In fact, he does turn out to be a worldly, rich gentleman who is a kindly and even exciting lover, but he never really takes Mirabelle seriously. Together, Mirabelle, Ray, Jeremy, and a few other suporting characters populate this insightful piece that is sometimes quirky, sometimes comic, and sometimes languid as a summer day.

Recommended Reading:
Born Standing Up by Steve Martin
Everyman by Philip Roth
The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger
Best Day of Someone Else's Life by Kerry Reichs

With Every Breath

With Every Breath by Lynn Kurland

My rating: 2 of 5 stars
This isn't my favorite Lynn Kurland.

A fast paced story and a decent romance. Too many head injuries and blacking out/throwing up. At some point both the hero and heroine should have become retarded. Too much crying.

While I think Kurland hit every major character in her series, the name dropping was just that, a list of who's doing what for her fans and not necessary to the story.

The hero was a cookie cut-out of a few of her other characters, only slightly more wimpy than the others.

Those new to Lynn Kurland would be advised to not read this book first. Those who are already fans, let's hope this was a fluke and that new books will be up to her standard.

Pub. Date: May 2008

Synopsis: When medieval laird Robert Cameron pounds on Sunny Phillips's door, he isn't paying a social call. He's braved a trip onto enemy soil to fetch the MacLeod witch, a crone renowned for her healing powers. But the woman who opens her door to him is enchanting and young... and not from his century.

Recommended Reading:
Till There Was You by Lynn Kurland
When I Fall in Love by Lynn Kurland
A Dance through Time by Lynn Kurland
Thirty Nights with a Highland Husband by Melissa Mayhue
Highlander of Her Own by Melissa Mayhue

The Fiery Cross

The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a hard book to review. Besides the fact that it's over 1400 pages and took me over a month to read... it's Diana Gabaldon. She writes fascinating accounts of history, trivia, mythology, a great love story, science fiction and people with great detail.

In some places I wanted to hurry through the details and get to the heart of the story, and other places I savored every word. That's the beauty of her writing, you have to read every word, absorb every detail because it will come back (maybe 700 pages later, but it does come back) and it has some importance.

I also love the fact that she doesn't waste time with back story, she throws you right into the action where the last book left off. She repeats a few of the important details, but for the most part lets the reader read between the lines or call upon their own memory of the previous books.

Pub. Date: November 2001
Series: Outlander Book 5

Synopsis: The year is 1771, and war is coming. Jamie Fraser's wife tells him so. Little as he wishes to, he must believe it, for hers is a gift of dreadful prophecy -- a time-traveler's certain knowledge.
Born in the year of Our Lord 1918, Claire Randall served England as a nurse on the battlefields of World War II, and in the aftermath of peace found fresh conflicts when she walked through a cleftstone on the Scottish Highlands and found herself an outlander, an English lady in a place where no lady should be, in a time--1743--when the only English in Scotland were the officers and men of King George's army.

Now wife, mother, and surgeon, Claire is still an outlander, out of place, and out of time, but now, by choice, linked by love to her only anchor -- Jamie Fraser. Her unique view of the future has brought him both danger and deliverance in the past; her knowledge of the oncoming revolution is a flickering torch that may light his way through the perilous years ahead or ignite a conflagration that will leave their lives in ashes...

Recommended Reading:
Drums of Autumn (Outlander Book 4) by Diana Gabaldon
A Breath of Snow and Ashes (Outlander Book 6) by Diana Gabaldon
Voyager (Outlander Book 3) by Diana Gabaldon
Dragonfly in Amber (Outlander Book 2) by Diana Gabaldon
Into the Wilderness by Sara Donati