By The King’s Design-Christine Trent

By The King’s Design

Christine Trent

Kensington, Feb 1 2012, $15.00

ISBN: 9780758265906

 

In 1812 Leeds, Annabelle Stirling runs her successful cloth making dress shop.  Her wastrel brother Wesley and her fiancé Clive Pryce join the Luddites who destroy her new gig machine as immoral.  Angry at the double betrayal and believing the Luddites worked for her rivals, Belle demands the authorities do something; they ignore her rants.

 

Fuming, she heads to London to make her case with the leadership, but the Prince Regent who she meets acts no differently than what she met in Leeds.  Architect John Nash takes her under his wings as his mentee while she and cabinet maker Putnam Boyce are attracted to one another. Meanwhile Wesley gets involved with a high level assassin abduction plan.

 

The latest Christine Trent historical (see A Royal Likeness and The Queen’s Dollmaker) is an engaging Regency story starring a likable protagonist who enjoys her shop vocation; which makes the twin betrayals that much more hurtful.  The storyline is driven by undeterred Belle’s need for retribution as she makes a wonderful lead holding the plot together.  While the Luddite movement anchors time and place, other historical facts slow down what is overall a strong early nineteenth century tale.

 

Harriet Klausner

Leaving Lancaster-Kate Lloyd

Leaving Lancaster

Kate Lloyd

David C. Cooke, Mar 1 2012, $14.99

ISBN: 9780781405089

 

In Seattle, Esther informs her thirty something daughter Holly that she received a letter from her grandma begging for her to come home as she needs her.  Holly, whose dad died in Vietnam, is a bit taken aback with the news as Grandma Anna is dead.  She is even more stunned when her mom sadly says she will hate her.  Esther tells Holly, who she knew desperately wanted relatives for years that she lied to her all her life; her mother and her brothers still live in the Lancaster area. 

 

Her BFF Dori agrees to manage Esther’s Amish Shoppe while mother and daughter are away as reluctantly Esther decides to go home to Lancaster County.  Holly accompanies her as she wants to meet her grandma, her five uncles and aunts and cousins.  They stop at the home of Mennonite Beth Fleming before finally meeting the family.  Ass Holly enjoys her time with her kin; she meets and falls in love with Beth’s son Zach.

 

This is a wonderful refreshing Amish tale that focuses on the complications of second chances.  Esther makes the tale work with her trepidation of seeing her mom and brothers (who are all heading to Big Sky Country) after abandoning her family, her community, her religion and her lifestyle decades ago.  She prays for forgiveness from her kin especially her Mommy Anna and her daughter.  Readers will relish the prodigal child’s return accompanied by her adult offspring.

 

Harriet Klausner

The Woman Who Loved Jesse James-Cindi Myers

The Woman Who Loved Jesse James

Cindi Myers

Bell Bridge, Jan 2012, $15.95

ISBN: 9781466473461

 

In 1864 Missouri, a fire and brimstone Methodist Minister’s daughter Zeralda Mimms and her cousin Quantrill’s Raider Jesse James meet at the wedding of her older sister Lucy to Bowling Browder.  Each is attracted to one another and he boldly kisses her.  Jesse returns to the fighting.  When the war ends, wounded Jesse goes to Zee’s home to heal.  As she nurses him back to health, they fall in love.  They become engaged and she learns her future husband is a robber and rumored to be a cold blooded killer.  She prays that their marriage and their children will straighten out her beloved husband, but that hope is not answered.

 

The Woman Who Loved Jesse James is a fascinating biographical fiction that looks at the famous outlaw through the eyes of mostly his adulating beloved wife in a world still suffering from the ravages of the war and the consequential agony of defeat.  Because of Zee’s loving filter, Jesse comes across as heroic rather than a cold blooded killer.  She needs to believe in the goodness rather than the wickedness of her mate who she knows is tender with his family.  Well written, readers will enjoy Cindi Myers fine nineteenth century look at Jesse James through his spouse’s loving perspective.

 

Harriet Klausner

Beneath a Meth Moon-Jacqueline Woodson

Beneath a Meth Moon

Jacqueline Woodson

Nancy Paulsen/Penguin, Feb 2 2012, $16.99

ISBN: 9780399252501

 

Fifteen year old Laurel is filled with remorse as she feels she failed her loved one especially when she turned to meth to numb the pain of death.  Having kicked the habit, encouraged by her BFF Kaylee who she let down, she writes an elegy to cleanse her soul and hopefully regain her life.  Her downward spiral began when Hurricane Katrina killed her mother and grandmother who remained in the family house when the storm swamped New Orleans. 

 

Her father, her younger brother Jesse Jr. and Laurel obtain temporary shelter in Jackson, Mississippi before moving to Galilee, Iowa in order to start over.  Laurel seems to adapt well as she becomes BFF with Kaylee, becomes a cheerleader and dates basketball team captain T-Boom.  Still the teen grieves her matriarchal losses; so T-Boom introduces her to “the moon,” which numbs the depression.  However, she soon needs more and more moon until she becomes an addict begging people for loose change on the city streets.

 

This is a great tweener-teen cautionary tale that makes a powerful case that Beneath A Meth Moon the addicting drug takes over your mind and body as you only live for more meth.  Laurel’s observations of going to hell and back (she is writing the elegy so she obviously has survived her self-inflicted ordeal) are brilliant as her recollections are dark, choppy and filled with memory gaps.  Jacqueline Woodson provides a powerful warning to her tween-teen audience that meth may allow you a moon walk or two but will incarcerate you with a desperate need for more.

 

Harriet Klausner

A Texan’s Honor-Shelley Gray

A Texan’s Honor

Shelley Gray

Abington, Mar 1 2012, $14.99

ISBN: 9781426714634

 

In 1874 the notorious Walton outlaw gang is infamous for cold blooded murders as much as they are for their robberies.  Gang member Will McMillan plans to end the killing spree of his violent compatriots soonest though he knows how difficult this will prove to be as he expects he probably will not survive.

 

The gang stops a train in Kansas.  Those who are not immediately killed are held hostage including the only solo female Jamie Ellis.  She quickly realizes that the outlaw Will is the only reason she has not been harmed so far.  Undercover Will needs to stay in character if he does not wish to be exposed although that keeps him at risk when the law catches up to them, but saving Jamie takes precedence over saving his life though he sadly knows she could never love a violent man like him.

 

The second Heart of a Hero thriller stars an honorable man who rode with the title character of A Texan’s Promise.  Fast-paced, readers will enjoy the romance between the “outlaw” and the hostage as Shelley gray provides a fabulous Kansas post-Civil War thriller.

 

Harriet Klausner

What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank: Stories-Nathan Englander

What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank: Stories

Nathan Englander

Knopf, Feb 7 2012, $24.95

ISBN: 9780307958709

 

This insightful anthology focuses on living Jewish in a modern fast food world; yet the themes of conflict (modernization and assimilation vs. tradition, anti-Semitism, and grief, etc.) are universal.  These excellent eight entries were published previously over the past five or so years but not in one place.

 

“What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank” stars two married intoxicated women discussing the Holocaust as the secular Jew says the Nazis are the culprit while the orthodox Jew says it is now with assimilation leading to mixed marriages.

 

“Sister Hills” focuses on a settlement in Samaria over four decades ago in which the heroic Jews build their city, but their rigidity in a changing world leaves everyone in peril.

 

The students decided an eye for an eye when they confront an anti-Semitic bully in “How We Avenged the Blums,” but now feel haunted with what they did.

 

He indulged in “Peep Show” porn in Times Square, which gave him pleasure until everyone even the strippers became rabbis lecturing him.

 

“Everything I Know About My Family on My Mother’s Side” has a different tone; that of a cherished memoir.

 

“Camp Sundown” in the Berkshires hosts seniors who believe one of them is a concentration camp guard who deserves swift justice.

 

The Author would do book tours to lines out into the street; now no one shows up except one elderly “Reader” who demands he read.

 

“Free Fruit for Young Widows” who pass down from generation to generation tales of surviving the Holocaust, but the survivor is not the same soul that she was when she entered the death camps.

 

Harriet Klausner

History of a Pleasure Seeker-Richard Mason

History of a Pleasure Seeker

Richard Mason

Knopf, Feb 7 2012, $25.95

ISBN: 9780307599476

 

Piet Barol leaned in his recent adolescence that he is a pleasure magnet to most women and many men.  He knows his charm comes from his late mom as his dad is a grim university administrator.  Thus Piet uses his looks and gracefulness to obtain whatever he desires. 

 

In 1907 in Amsterdam, Piet becomes a tutor to preadolescent mentally ill piano protégé Egbert Vermeulen-Sickerts.  Heeding the advice of a footman, Piet avoids the daughters of his sexual abstemious employer but the wife is fair game.  However, while almost everyone in the household adores Piet, he has one key adversary, Daughter Louisa, who strips away his charming veneer with a look of scorn.  However, he begins to understand his student’s issues as the martinet father brings the wrath of rigid strictness to his son.

 

This is an intriguing morality tale starring a fascinating protagonist who is not so much a pleasure seeker but a pleasure giver who wants to do right by his student and help others with their tsuris.  The key cast members are fully developed as they anchor time and place, and enable the reader to better understand the title protagonist.  Although the ending serves only the purpose of setting up the further adventures of the pleasure seeker in South Africa, fans will enjoy his Dutch escapes as The Netherlands in the Queen Wilhelmina Era come to light.

 

Harriet Klausner

The Affair-Alicia Clifford

The Affair

Alicia Clifford

St. Martin’s, Mar 132012, $25.99

ISBN: 9780312376277

 

Famous author Celia Bayley received critical and fan accolades for her poignant passionate look into human relationships.  She came from an upper middle class background, married World War II hero Frederick as a teen back sixty-five years ago in 1944 and raised three successful children with a happy home.  Now the extended family gathers for her funeral.

 

Newspaper profile author Jenny Granger asks Celia’s children if she can write the family sanctioned biography of the great late writer.  They allow her access to Celia’s diaries, notebooks and letters.  They shock the reporter and the deceased’s loved ones as they paint a different picture of her.  Naive Cecila’s love match with over a decade older Frederick was a sham as he broke her heart early on, but for the sake of her children and 1950s culture created the facade of a happy home.  Even more stunning is years later the sophisticated Celia met the grand passion of her life who was not Frederick.

 

The Affair is a stunning character study as Celia made a sacrificing choice for the sake of her children.  Incredibly profound, fans will ponder whether destroying a legend with the truth will set everyone free when already knowing the truth sets everyone somewhat free.  As each of her loved ones (and the author) looks inside their hearts and souls, they wonder what happiness means to them and whether they have what they desire in their respective relationships.  The Affair is a thought provoking winner that will have reader doing the same inner SWOT analysis of what we want in our lives.

 

Harriet Klausner

St. Martin’s, Mar 132012, $25.99

ISBN: 9780312376277

 

Famous author Celia Bayley received critical and fan accolades for her poignant passionate look into human relationships.  She came from an upper middle class background, married World War II hero Frederick as a teen back sixty-five years ago in 1944 and raised three successful children with a happy home.  Now the extended family gathers for her funeral.

 

Newspaper profile author Jenny Granger asks Celia’s children if she can write the family sanctioned biography of the great late writer.  They allow her access to Celia’s diaries, notebooks and letters.  They shock the reporter and the deceased’s loved ones as they paint a different picture of her.  Naive Cecila’s love match with over a decade older Frederick was a sham as he broke her heart early on, but for the sake of her children and 1950s culture created the facade of a happy home.  Even more stunning is years later the sophisticated Celia met the grand passion of her life who was not Frederick.

 

The Affair is a stunning character study as Celia made a sacrificing choice for the sake of her children.  Incredibly profound, fans will ponder whether destroying a legend with the truth will set everyone free when already knowing the truth sets everyone somewhat free.  As each of her loved ones (and the author) looks inside their hearts and souls, they wonder what happiness means to them and whether they have what they desire in their respective relationships.  The Affair is a thought provoking winner that will have reader doing the same inner SWOT analysis of what we want in our lives.

 

Harriet Klausner

Saving Hope-Margaret Daley

Saving Hope

Margaret Daley

Abingdon, Mar 1 2012, $14.99

ISBN-9781426714283

 

In Dallas, teenager Rose knows that Kate Winslow, manager of the Beacon of Hope School, will be disappointed in her for borrowing the van.  However, she feels she has no choice as her BFF Lily frantically called her from the “Nowhere” Motel where both have had to turn tricks for pimps.  Rose believes once she returns with Lily, Kate will forgive her though she will admonish her.

 

Kate is despondent with worry when Rose fails to return to the school.  Texas Ranger Wyatt Sheridan is assigned to find the girl, but what he learns upsets him as Rose seems to have vanished inside what increasingly looks like human trafficking ring.  Matters turn even uglier when someone abducts Kate and his daughter Maddie is threatened to make the Ranger back off.

 

The key to this terrific contemporary romantic suspense is that the romance takes a back seat to the investigation.  The storyline is fast-paced while placing a deep spotlight in child trafficking that at times overwhelms the plot.  A touch of inspirational and a stunning late metaphoric twist enhance the exciting Men of the Texas Rangers investigative thriller.

 

Harriet Klausner

Wedded in Scandal-Jade Lee

Wedded in Scandal

Jade Lee

Berkley, Mar 6 2012, $7.99

ISBN 9780425245934

 

Robert Percy knows that one of his recurring missions is to learn what his dad purchased whenever the earl is in his cups.  This time the viscount explores the drunken entrepreneur’s latest acquisition a coal mine. 

 

Lady Helaine Talbott was forced to become the seamstress Mrs. Mortimer, half owner of A Lady’s Favor, due to her vanished father “the thief of the ton.”  She visits her BFF widow Lady Irene hoping to arrange a business deal as their acquisition expert.  Grieving Irene accepts the mercenary role of shopkeeper as that gives her hope to find her lost zest for life.

 

Mrs. Mortimer next visits Robert as the dressmaker for his sister Gwen’s wedding to collet payment as his man of business sent her to him; he accuses her of being a con artist and threatens her with the constable.  Soon afterward Robert comes to her shop.  He interferes with her assisting a customer, but realizes she is a lady though why she works in trade is beyond his understanding until he learns who she is.  Falling in love, each knows they have no future together except as his mistress as he has spent a lifetime avoiding a hint of scandal and she has spent her adulthood dealing with the sins of her father.

 

This Bridal Favors “wicked” historical romance is a superb gender war as the protagonists engage in a delightful battle of the wits.  She forces him to make a paradigm switch about the business acumen of a lady while he forces her to fully grasp how far she has fallen as five years ago they could have had a future together.

 

Harriet Klausner