Splendiferous!

That’s the word I would use to describe this series.  It’s full of twists and turns – things that are expected, yet unexpected at the same time.  I am sad to see that this series is over.

Splendor is the final of the Luxe novels, following The Luxe, Rumors, and Envy – all by Anna Gobbersen.  Most of the focus is on the Holland sisters – Elizabeth and Diana – and others of Manhattan high society.

Teddy Cutting, who is in love with Elizabeth and Henry Schoonmaker, who is in love with Diana, was engaged to Elizabeth, but married to Penelope Hayes, are off fighting in the war.  Henry gets only set to Cuba though because of his famous name.  Diana runs off to find Henry, which she does successfully until they are found together and sent back to New York.

While Henry was gone in Cuba and on his way back, Penelope mingles and flirts with Prince Frederick of Bavaria.  She thinks that perhaps if she gets her way she’ll get a title of a princess, because she realizes Henry doesn’t love her anymore.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth is pregnant with Will’s baby, though Will, her first husband, is dead.  To make her position in society still good she married one of her late father’s associates, Snowden Cairns.  Elizabeth is excited to be a mother yet still misses Will terribly.  She begins to suspect some things about her second husband while preparing his desk in their new home and what she discovers changes things for both her and her child.

And Carolina Broad, once Lina Broud – Elizabeth’s maid, is garnering the affections of one of Manhattan’s elite, Leland Brouchard.  However, Tristan Wrigley, who helped Carolina gain the affection of Carey Lewis Longhorn and his wealth, is threatening to expose Carolina’s past.

The questions to be asked – what is the secret Elizabeth discovered?  Does Diana get her happy ending with Henry?  What about Penelope and this Bavarian prince?  And will Carolina get her happy ending with Leland?  I won’t spoil the ending, but in some ways I was happy with how this book ended, yet in others I was sorely disappointed.  I am sad to see this series over as I felt like I got to know these characters really well over these four novels.  I would highly recommend this series – although this is probably more of a teen/young adult novel I think older women might like because it is a quick and easy read.  I myself read this book in a day because I just couldn’t put it down!

This might be my last blog for awhile – I am graduating in a few days and will be moving back home or to where my new job is located.  Wish me luck!

Getting Green with Envy

It seems to be a common thing in the novels of The Luxe series.  Someone is jealous of someone else’s life and would do anything to ruin their happiness.

With Envy, the next in Anna Gobberson’s Luxe novels, we continue with the story started in The Luxe and Rumors.  What was different about this prologue was that the point-of-view was from a sparrow flying around Manhattan peeking in our character’s lives.

Diana isn’t doing well.  Henry is now married to Penelope – but only because Penelope would tell that Diana and Henry slept together and Diana is a whore.  However, their marriage isn’t going well – Henry and Penelope aren’t sharing a bed but Henry’s father is pressuring Henry for grandchildren.  Carolina, or Lina, is doing well, having been taken under the wing of Carey Lewis Longhorn in the last novel, a bachelor who is more like a grandfather to her and provides her with necessities.  Elizabeth isn’t doing well either – she married Will at the end of Rumors but while heading back to California people thought Will kidnapped her, so Will was shot and killed.  She’s not quite ready to go back into society life, even though her mother is pressuring her to do so.  Mrs. Holland even organizes a small luncheon, inviting Elizabeth’s closest “friends” over.

While at the luncheon, Penelope brings up that she and Henry are planning on going to Palm Beach, Florida.  She asks Elizabeth to come, and Elizabeth’s mother says Elizabeth would love to go.  Henry earlier asked Diana, who he truly loves, if she can find a way to go. When Penelope asked Elizabeth, Diana said she would go with her sister.  Penelope acts like she’s excited about all of this, when in reality she’s upset.  So the trip is set – Henry, Penelope, Carolina, Elizabeth, Diana, and two others – Teddy Cutting, who likes Elizabeth, and Penelope’s brother, Grayson Hayes are off on their trip to Florida.

Even though the book changes locations, drama still is around.  One lady is constantly pursued by a gentleman.  Another young lady isn’t having a good experience on the trip, and finds out on her return that she’s expecting.  Men are falling in love, but are the ladies accepting?  And what’s up with the war?  That’s something I don’t want to completely give away because I want you, as a reader to be as shocked as I was when I was reading.

This book is definitely enjoyable, but you need to read the others so it all makes sense.  I am exciting to see how it all ends in Splendor, the last novel in the series which I haven’t read yet, but will be reading for next week.  I hope you are all excited as I am!

It only takes one person to start a rumor…

And it can be a very juicy rumor indeed.  One person’s statement can spread like wildfire, changing a person’s reputation forever.

This is definitely the case in Rumors, the second in the Luxe Novel series by Anna Gobberson.  Continuing right from where The Luxe left off, we start again with a prologue of Henry Schoonmaker getting married, but to whom?  The book then goes back to the beginning, leading up to the prologue.

Everyone is tragically mourning Elizabeth, who “died” in the last novel, but really escaped out west to find Will, who she truly loved.  Elizabeth didn’t want to marry Henry, who actually loves Diana, while Penelope is obsessed with Henry.  However, only Diana and Penelope know Elizabeth is alive, and Penelope is taking Elizabeth’s place as society’s darling – putting on a show to make her seem like a better candidate to become Henry’s wife.  Even Elizabeth’s old maid Lina, now the society darling Carolina due to information Lina gave to Penelope about Elizabeth is making the rounds in the Manhattan social circles.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth gets a note from Diana about their mother being ill.  Elizabeth heads home to New York with Will.  Diana and Henry still dance around each other, finally making love but being discovered by the maid, who is Lina’s sister.  Scandal ensues when Lina feeds this information to Penelope.  How will Penelope use this information to her advantage?  Does Elizabeth get her happy ending with Will?  I’ll leave that up to you to discover – I couldn’t put the novel down last night because I had forgotten about all the suspense that occurs at the end, and I don’t like spoiling novels for people!

Anyway, what will happen next to these characters?  There are two more books left in the series – Envy and Splendor.  Hopefully we’ll see Diana finally get to be with Henry, or will Penelope get her way once again?  Find out next week when I review Envy!

Pretty girls, dresses, and a whole lot of drama

Sounds like today’s society right?  In some ways that’s a correct statement but I’m talking about 1899 in New York, the setting of this week’s novel.

This week I re-read The Luxe, the first of the four Luxe novels.  The fourth novel, Splendor, just came out recently so I decided to go back and refresh myself of the characters and what is going on in their lives.

What’s interesting about this book is that there’s a Prologue giving hints to the end of the story, but the rest of the novel starts from the beginning and returns to the events mentioned in the Prologue.  To not completely give away the ending, I’ll start from the 1^st chapter.

Elizabeth and Diana Holland are members of Manhattan’s upper society.  It is a world full of glittering gowns, marvelous parties, and flirtations galore.  Elizabeth is very close to whom she considers her best friend, Penelope Hayes.  Penelope is infatuated with Henry Schoonmaker, who we learn through the novel isn’t exactly in love with Penelope, but likes Diana.  However, due to the Holland’s father wasting away their fortune, Elizabeth is being forced to marry Henry as his father wants Henry to reflect well on him with a good wife since Henry’s dad is running for mayor.  Meanwhile, Elizabeth is in love with one of the coachmen, Will Keller, one of Elizabeth and her maid, Lina’s closest friends as children.  Lina too, is in love with Will but he doesn’t return her feelings either.

The novel focuses mostly on planning the upcoming nuptials between Henry and Elizabeth, and all of society preparing for what has been called the wedding of the century.  Rumors spread from person to person and eventually reach Penelope.  What are these rumors?  I’ll leave that for you to find out.  This is definitely a book you have to read for yourself, but if you can wait a week for my review of Rumors, the second book in the Luxe series, you’ll find out!

The Tsar is returning to Russia?

Well, not in real life.  But have you ever wondered what it would be like if Russia had remained an autocracy?  I’ve always been curious, but then again, I love history, and it’s one of the reasons why I read this book.

The Romanov Prophecy by Steve Berry begins with the failure of Communism in Russia.  The citizens have decided to bring back the tsar, who will be chosen from relatives of the last tsar, Nicholas II.  Miles Lord, an American lawyer, is in Russia to prove that Stefan Balkanov is the closest heir and he should rule as the next tsar.  However, while having lunch with Artemis Bely in Moscow shots are fired, killing Bely and forcing Lord to flee.

Lord survives, and heads back to work but finds something interesting. In letters written between Tsar Nicholas and the tsarina, Alexandra, she tells Nicholas about a prophecy Rasputin – the only man who could heal the tsarevich, Alexei – told her.  Rasputin foretold his death, but different things would happen depending who killed him.  The worst case scenario was that if Rasputin was killed by a member of the Romanov family, none of the Romanovs would survive past two years.

Next, Lord meets Semyon Pashenko, a professor at Moscow State University.  Pashenko questions the fact that since two bodies of the Romanovs were never found (Alexei and one of the Grand Duchesses, Anastasia) there might be a direct heir still alive, causing a problem for Lord’s client.  Pashenko urges Lord to visit, St. Petersburg, but while returning to Moscow the same men from Moscow are after him again.  Lord ducks into a train car meeting Akilina Petrovna, an acrobat, who shields him from the men, who Lord suspects are members of the mafiya, the Russian mafia.

Lord and Petrovna are chased again once back in Moscow, but are saved by one of Pashenko’s men.  They are taken to Pashenko’s home, where he tells the duo he is the leader of the Holy Band, who were formed to protect the tsar.  Pashenko reveals that Lord’s information that he found about Kolya Maks and Starodug is the beginning of a quest to find Alexi and Anastasia.  Lord and Petrovna are the raven (Lord) and eagle (Akilina means eagle in old Russia) that Rasputin mentioned in his prophecy.

Soon Lord and Petrovna are off on a wild chase finding clue after clue to find the youngest Romanov survivors.  They visit other parts of Russia and even the United States.  The question is – is there really a direct descendant of Nicholas II still alive?  How will this affect Lord and his career as a lawyer to defend Balkanov’s claim?  I’m not going to spoil it for you readers, for this is something you have to read for yourself.

I am a big fan of historical fiction and as a child I loved the cartoon movie, Anastasia.  I thought it would be very cool to find out one day that I was a long lost duchess and had a family I never knew about.  Many have speculated when the two bodies were found missing that Anastasia and Alexei did survive – but recently, remains were found and all of the Romanovs are finally at rest.  Still, it would’ve been interesting if a direct descendant remained alive, let alone restoring the monarchy like Barry did in this novel. 

I would highly recommend this novel, especially if you’re a big history buff like me.

What’s up for next week?  I’m going to reread a book series which just came out with its fourth and final novel.  The series is The Luxe by Anna Gobbersen.  I’m excited to see how this series comes to an end!

Thanks for reading and I hope you’ll be back next week!

When in France...

Do as the French do…right?  Unless it’s during the French Revolution and everything seems to be falling apart.  Then you do whatever you need to do to survive.

This week’s book is The Queen’s Dollmaker by Christine Trent.  It focuses on Claudette Laurent, a young Frenchwoman.  This book spans the years 1765 to 1795, a crucial time in French history.

As a child, Claudette and her best friend Jean-Philippe had a chance encounter with the new Dauphine (or Princess) of France, Marie Antoinette.  Several years later Claudette is thrust into the chaos of France in 1781.  Claudette thinks fondly of Jean-Philippe, and they have secretly betrothed each other, promising to wed after his apprenticeship is over.

However, her father, a dollmaker, and her mother die in a fire, and Claudette is forced to run away.  Soon she along with other women get on a ship bound for England – escaping the chaos of France.  Claudette bonds with Beatrice du Georges, who is traveling with her daughter Marguerite since Beatrice’s husband passed away, leaving her unable to provide for Marguerite.

Another storyline in this book is the one concerning Marie Antoinette.  She and Louis are suddenly thrust to the throne after the death of Louis XV, and she is scared because she knows they are too young to reign.

Claudette goes through many adventures while in England, working for a few different families as a maid.  She eventually starts making dolls, like her father, to make more money.  Claudette comes in contact at a party for her mistress with William, who is clearly smitten with her.

Eventually, Claudette leaves her job and opens her own doll shop with help of Beatrice and Marguerite.  Claudette becomes very successful, even catching the attention of the Queen of France.  She even travels to France and makes a special doll for her majesty herself, while also reuniting with Jean-Philippe.  Claudette is unsure if she should go with Jean-Philippe or William, who has promised to marry her.

Claudette soon comes into trouble due to her close ties with the Queen.  I’ll leave it up for you the reader to uncover though.  You may know how Marie Antoinette’s story ends, but I won’t spoil Claudette’s fate.

I found this book to be interesting, since a lot of the fiction I have read during this time period usually is about England or even the colonial United States.  I really liked Claudette’s character and how she would do anything to survive, yet honor the memory of her father by making dolls.

That’s it for this week.  What’s up for next week?  I think I’m going to read a book about the Romanovs, the former royal family of Russia.  It’s completely fiction but I think you will all enjoy it.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you’ll be reading next week!

Should you be ashamed to fall in love?

I don’t think so.  Why?  You never know when it will hit you and change your life forever.

Born in Shame is the third and final book of Nora Robert’s “Born In” trilogy, following Born in Fire and Born in Ice, the two books that I blogged about the past two weeks.  While the first two books were about the Concannon sisters Maggie and Brianna, this book focuses on Shannon Bodine.

We’ve got *SPOILERS* in this post, so be warned!

The book starts off with Shannon’s sick mother, Amanda, telling Shannon the truth.  The man who Shannon knew as her father (who recently passed away) wasn’t her biological father.  That man was Tom Concannon – a man Amanda met while on a vacation with a friend in Ireland.  They met, fell in love, and made love as well.  After returning to America, Amanda learned she was pregnant with his child, which is Shannon.  However, Amanda’s family, who were very strict Catholics, wanted her to give up the baby to avoid scandal.  So Amanda left and then met the man who Shannon knew as her father, Colin Bodine.  After telling her daughter the truth, Amanda goes to sleep and never wakes again – she dies in her sleep.

Meanwhile in Ireland, Brianna is now happily married to Grayson (Gray) Thane, and had a child of her own – a daughter named Kayla.  Both she and Maggie are getting close to finding the identity of their half-sibling through a private detective, who is heading to Columbus, Ohio to follow the latest lead. 

The detective arrives in Ohio, where Shannon is a little surprised to learn that she has two siblings in Ireland.  She sends him away, and heads back to New York to work as an advertisement designer.  Shannon gets a letter from Brianna, inviting Shannon to come to Ireland and stay in the bed-and-breakfast.  Shannon accepts and soon is on her way to Ireland.  She meets her sister’s at the airport, and is soon introduced to the rest of the family – including Liam who was a baby in the last book and now is a tumbling little toddler.

We are soon reintroduced to Murphy Muldoon, Brianna’s next-door neighbor who runs a farm with various animals.  He’s curious to see what their Yank sister looks like, since a lot of the residents of County Clare thought he’d end up with Maggie or Brianna.  When he first sees Shannon, he is mesmerized and unable to speak.  He even leaves his plate full from tea, something Maggie noticed he never usually does.

Important parts to this story are dreams and folklore.  When Murphy first sees Shannon, he believes she’s the fairy queen and he is under her spell.  Shannon has been dreaming of a warrior with a broach, majestic and handsome.  Both have these same types of dreams throughout the book.

Shannon and Murphy start to bond.  They walk in the mornings along his farm – Shannon even pets a cow for the first time.  He teaches her to play one of his instruments.

Shannon begins to paint again, something she hasn’t done for a long time.  Things get interesting when Maggie and Brianna’s mother, Maeve, stops by for a visit.  Maeve isn’t too happy Shannon is in the house, since she kept her vows to not be with anyone else.  Maeve wants Shannon to leave, but Brianna said since she was invited Shannon is more than welcome to stay and Maeve decides she won’t come back until Shannon is out of the house.

Murphy and Shannon’s relationship keeps evolving.  They have dinner, and he asks if he can court her.  Shannon’s not sure if she wants that.  She keeps painting, even perking the interest of Rogan to have a showing of her work in one of Worldwide Galleries shops.  Again, Shannon is confused.  But her feelings for Murphy are growing, they even make love.

I’m not going to spoil the ending, but the question you’ll answer when you read the end is this – will Shannon follow her head and go back to life in New York, or follow her life and stay with Murphy?  It’s an ending I was surprised to read, and I know you’ll enjoy it too.

This whole series was a pleasure to read.  Each book was a little bit different because each of the sisters are different.  Yet they all found love, and even developed a close relationship with each other.  That’s the most important thing I got out of this book – love and family are important because that’s what you really need to survive in life.

This book is just another great example of Nora Roberts’s great novels.  If you’d like to learn more about this book or any others by Nora visit Roberts’s website at noraroberts.com.

For next week’s blog I’m still deciding on what to read.  After reading this trilogy I’m trying to find something different – so keep your eyes out for what I’m reading next week.

Thanks for reading and I hope you’ll be reading next week!

I guess I need to make a trip to Ireland..

Perhaps then I’ll have a whirlwind romance of my own!

As a friendly heads up, there are some *SPOILERS* in this post. 

Born in Ice is the second in the Born In trilogy, by Nora Roberts.  This book follows the events that occurred in Born in Fire, which I reviewed last week.  While Fire focused on Maggie Concannon, Ice focuses on Brianna, the younger sister who operates a bed-and-breakfast called Blackthorn Cottage.  While exploring the attic, Brianna discovers her father, Tom, got another woman pregnant who lived in New York and had his child.  Brianna goes to tell her sister, Maggie, who is now pregnant herself with her and Rogan’s first child.  Brianna and Maggie decide to send a private investigator to find out if their half-sibling is out somewhere in the U.S.

Brianna’s latest guest is the American mystery writer, Grayson (Gray) Thane, who is visiting County Clare to write his latest novel.  He is curious about his hostess and tries to learn more about her by asking questions, which Brianna won’t answer.  They soon adjust to each other at the house, getting used to the daily routine.  However, Gray does convince Brianna to go out with him to a nice restaurant in town.  They both enjoy the evening a lot, but Gray soon locks himself away in his room writing only to come out after a few days to kiss Brianna.

Soon another guest comes to the cottage, a British man named Herbert Smythe-White.  While adjusting to the new guest an invitation comes for Brianna to go to her Uncle Niall’s wedding to Rogan’s grandmother, Christine.  Brianna doesn’t want to leave her business, but Gray convinces her to go and let a neighbor take care of the business.  They kiss again, and they both enjoy it but Brianna doesn’t want to be rushed.  She is unsure of this relationship, since her last one with Rory didn’t end well and she is also a virgin. They go to Gray’s room to realize money has been stolen.  They go to Dublin and have a great time.

Next Maggie and Brianna decide to send their mother, Maeve, to Rogan and Maggie’s villa on the Mediterranean, but she doesn’t want to go.  She reminds her daughters that Maggie was conceived in sin (since Maggie was conceived out of wedlock) and Brianna was a child of duty because Maeve didn’t love their father.  Maeve even admits she didn’t share a bed with their father after Brianna was born.  The girls decide to send her anyway and she does enjoy it.

Meanwhile, Maggie gives Brianna a nephew, Liam.

Brianna and Gray go on with life at the cottage.  After asking about Rory, Brianna tells Gray all about her past, including how her father has another child with a different woman.  Gray offers to help as well.  Brianna soon learns that Rory was forced away by Brianna’s mother when Maeve told Rory Brianna slept with Murphy, the farmer who lives next door.  She is in tears when she returns home, but Gray comforts her and they make love for the first time.  Brianna tells Gray she loves him.  They travel to New York and enjoy it there, but then have to return to Ireland.  There they learn that Maggie and Brianna have a half-sister somewhere in the United States.

Gray’s time runs out and he has to return to give his publisher his latest novel.  He leaves Brianna, and she is upset after he’s gone.  Gray soon realizes the ending to his novel isn’t right – his main character left his woman but Gray didn’t want to leave Brianna.  He returns to Brianna and asks her to marry him, and she says yes.

I like this book just as much as the first.  I was happy that it continued with characters from the previous books, even seeing Maggie with her own child – something I thought would never have happened unless she had met Rogan in Fire.  Maggie and Brianna are two completely different women yet they both experience love unexpectedly, which is something I really liked.

This book is just another great example of Nora Roberts’s great talent as an author.  If you’d like to learn more about this book or any others by Nora visit Roberts’s website at noraroberts.com.

Next week I’ll continue with the next book in the trilogy – Born in Shame.  From what I’ve learned online it is about Shannon, Maggie and Brianna’s half sister.  Hopefully it will be just as good as the others!

Thanks for reading and I hope you’ll be reading next week!

When Irish Eyes are Smiling...

 

Everything seems to be going well.  It is fitting that I read a book about Ireland as we draw closer to Saint Patrick’s Day, and that I’m of Irish descent.

Be warned, there are some *SPOILERS* in this post.

Born in Fire is part of Nora Roberts’s Born In trilogy.  I purchased this book, along with the other two novels Born in Ice and Born in Shame, as one big book under the title Irish Born.  I was intrigued when I saw the beautiful ring with an emerald heart on the cover, and since I’m Irish and these novels involve Ireland I thought it would be an entertaining read.

Born in Fire focuses on Maggie Concannon, a glass blowing artist who lives in County Clare, Ireland. Maggie is extremely close to her father, Tom, who is a big dreamer.  Tom and Maggie’s mother, Maeve, don’t exactly get along making Maggie feel that she should never get married.  Unfortunately, while out on the cliffs with her father, he dies.  Maggie chats with her sister, Brianna, about how her father was a good man.  Their mother comes out, claiming that even though Tom is dead, he’s still making her life a hardship. 

Maggie and her sister then discuss the future.  Brianna wants to turn their home into a bed-and-breakfast because she enjoys having people around.  Maggie just wants to get back to work on her art.

The scene then goes to Dublin, where Rogan Sweeney is dealing with business.  He works at Worldwide Galleries, one of the top international galleries.  He wants to have Maggie belong exclusively to Worldwide and show her work all over the globe.  Rogan then travels out to County Clare to meet Maggie in person.  They discuss Maggie’s work and how Rogan wants to put it on display in the gallery and make Maggie very wealthy.  Maggie isn’t quite sure what to think so she sends him out.

Maggie decides to accept his offer, but only if she can do what she wants to do.  Rogan and Maggie negotiate minor details before Rogan kisses her. 

The novel goes through the unique relationship between Rogan and Maggie.  She meets Rogan’s grandmother, Christine, who knew Maggie’s own grandmother when she lived in County Clare.  Her debut in Dublin is a huge success, and Maggie soon realizes she’s in love with Rogan, and Rogan also comes to the same realization.

Back in Clare, Maggie realizes that she can free her sister from their mother by purchasing a home for her.  That way Brianna can operate her bed and breakfast without their mother in the way.  Maeve isn’t happy about it, and even confesses to Maggie that a boy that Brianna loved was forced away by Maeve so Brianna wouldn’t be married young.

Rogan returns to Maggie, and they make love for the first time.  They travel to Paris for another gallery opening and to Rogan’s villa on the Mediterranean.  Rogan then asks for Maggie to marry him.  Maggie isn’t so sure of this idea, but she says she’ll think about it.

Rogan then meets Maggie’s uncle who is flirting shamelessly with his own grandmother.  He travels off to Rome, while Maggie goes to Dublin finding him gone.  He goes to County Clare to meet Maggie, where she agrees to marry Rogan and be glad to be his.

I really enjoyed this book, because Maggie was so stubborn the whole time about her feelings.  It took the whole novel for her to realize that she could marry because she did fall in love.

This book is just another great example of Nora Roberts’s great talent as an author.  I’ve read a lot of her books lately, and if you’d like to learn more about this book or any others visit Roberts’s website at noraroberts.com.

Next week I’ll continue with the next book in the trilogy – Born in Ice.  Hopefully it will be just as good as the first book!

Thanks for reading and I hope you’ll be reading next week!

And I thought it took me awhile to get ready..

I thought it took me awhile to get ready in the mornings, but that’s nothing compared to what a geisha had to do during the 1920s and 1930s.  They were truly dedicated to their art.

I was inspired to re-read this book, Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, after watching the movie based on it this past weekend.  Honestly, it is one of the better novels turned into a movie that I’ve seen and I was really impressed that everything I saw in the movie almost was exactly as I pictured it while reading the novel.

Memoirs is the story of Chiyo, a little girl who along with her sister are sold by her parents to places in Kyoto, Japan.  She is very unusual for she has blue-gray eyes instead of the traditional brown.  Chiyo is sold to an okiya, or geisha house while her older sister, Satsu, is sold to what we’d consider a whorehouse.  Chiyo is scared and confused about her new life, but is told that if she does what she is asked, she may someday become a great geisha like the one currently in residence at the Nitta okiya, Hatsumomo.  Chiyo quickly becomes friends with a girl she nicknames Pumpkin, and soon Chiyo is on her way to becoming a geisha when she starts learning the geisha arts at school.

However, Chiyo misses her family terribly.  When learning of her sister’s location nearby in another part of Kyoto, she sneaks out of the okiya to meet Satsu and they make plans of escaping in a few days.  A problem arises when Hatsumomo is found out to have been sneaking a man into the okiya, which is forbidden.  The okiya servants are punished by not being let out of the okiya, seeming to stop Chiyo from leaving.  Chiyo realized she could still meet her sister by sneaking out onto the roof, but Chiyo falls and breaks her arm.  The owners of the okiya, called Granny, Mother, and Auntie are disappointed as this adds even more to the debt that Chiyo has cost them.  Chiyo’s dreams of becoming a geisha are now over.

While running an errand, Chiyo meets the Chairman, who is surrounded by geisha.  Chiyo realizes that in order to become close to him, she needs to become a geisha.  Soon a well-respected geisha, Mameha, stops by the Nitta okiya and tells Mother she wants to have Chiyo become her little sister – meaning Mameha will mentor her.  This comes as a surprise to all because Chiyo was forced to ruin one of Mameha’s kimonos by Hatsumomo a few years earlier.  Mother and Mameha make a wager on how successful Chiyo will become and Mameha realizes that since Mother does not have an heir that she will adopt one of the geisha – Pumpkin, Hatsumomo, or Chiyo – to become the daughter of the okiya.

Soon Chiyo is bonded to Mameha as her younger sister, and is no longer Chiyo, but Sayuri.  Sayuri continues on the path to becoming a full geisha, which is most of the rest of the book.  She entertaines various men, including the Chairman she met all those years before, whom she loves.  Sayuri is even forced to leave Kyoto during and a few years after World War II. 

The real issue here is love.  Geisha it seems can’t love – for it seems to bring them nothing but trouble and sadness.  A prize for many men was to buy a geisha’s mizuage, to be the first person to sleep with a geisha, which Sayuri set the record.  There is also the danna, or patron, of a geisha who pays for the geisha’s expenses.  For many of these men that are danna, geishas are their mistresses. 

I’ll leave it up to you, my readers, to read the content of this book.  It is something hard to explain to someone unless you’ve read it.  Parts of this book are more graphic than I thought, especially relating to an “eel” exploring a woman’s “cave.”  However, this work was partially inspired by the real life of a geisha named Mineko Iwasaki who did live in Kyoto during the 1960s and 1970s.

I would recommend this book, as well as the movie it’s based on.  It is always amazing to me to see how different people’s lives can be, and yet they still feel and love no different from the rest of us.

That’s it for this week.  What’s up for next week’s review?  I’ve got a couple of options but I’m still trying to decide, there’s so many books to choose from!

Thanks for reading, and I’ll hopefully see you next week!

If I Could Time Travel...

I seriously must have some underlying desire to be a medieval maiden, because it’s one of my favorite time periods to read about. I would definitely have liked to live as a noblewoman, but just not be one of Henry VIII’s mistresses.  Who knows what would have happened to me then!

This week I read Secrets of the Tudor Court: Between Two Queens by Kate Emerson.  A lot of the characters used in this story are real, which I found really interesting.

Again a warning, because there is so much going on in this book (it coves a great part of English history), I do give some SPOILERS in this post.

This story focuses on Anne “Nan” Bassett, fourth child of the late Sir Bassett and her mother Honor, who remarried Arthur Plantagenet, uncle to Henry VIII.  Nan has lived in Calais, an English possession in France.  She is sent to be a maid of honor to Queen Jane, Henry’s third wife, who is almost ready to give birth.  However, Jane dies giving birth to Edward, England’s long awaited male heir. 

Nan dreams of marrying a wealthy courtier, but instead has an affair with Ned Corbett, one of her father’s men, and they make love, which she immediately regrets.  Nan and her fellow ladies discuss who will possibly be the next queen and even discuss Henry’s various mistresses, including the late Anne Boleyn’s sister, Mary.  Nan even jokes she would become one, if it would gain her a wealthy husband.  Kate, another maid of honor, however seems to notice something holding Nan back – Nan is pregnant with Ned’s child.  Nan is forced to bribe Kate and a midwife to help hide her condition so she can remain at court, but not telling Ned about his child.

Nan gives birth to a son, who is given to a local shopkeeper and his wife.  She secretly visits him, whom the couple has named Jamie.

Court drama continues, as the new queen, Anna of Cleves, heads to England.  Henry is unsatisfied with Anna, seeing the new queen in person differs greatly from the portrait he was given.  Henry comes to Nan for comfort, and she sleeps with him, hiding the evidence of her not being a virgin while Henry believes he was the first.  Anna of Cleves doesn’t stay long, as her marriage is annulled and she becomes “The king’s sister.”

Ned soon gets involved in drama of his own, taking things to a friend, Sir Stephen Botolph, causing him to be put in the Tower of London.  Nan frees him with bribes, and Ned flees, only to return to London confusing Nan.  They reunite briefly, but Nan says she can never see him again, though she still loves him.

Soon Henry is married again, to another maid of honor, Catherine Howard.  However, Catherine’s indiscretions are soon revealed (she had had many affairs before and during her marriage to Henry) and she is executed.  Nan meanwhile is still being pursued by Wat Hungerford, a young man who first saw her at Edward’s christening and has been in love with Nan all these years. 

Nan becomes close to a returning member of court, sister to one of her fellow maids of honor, Lady Katherine Latimer, formerly Parr.  Katherine’s husband is dying, and she and Nan are both being pursued by Henry to be the next queen.  However, Henry is old, and Nan realizes that it would be better for her if Katherine became queen because of her ability to care for Henry in his old age.  Katherine and Henry soon marry before Henry dies.

We then get an epilogue.  Mary Tudor is now queen, who Nan has served in her household before and after Mary’s coronation.  Nan’s time is now up since she has agreed to marry Wat.  She may not have got the wealth and title she wanted, but realized what was more important that she had given up with Ned – love.

I would recommend this book if you're like me and love anything medieval.  I would also recommend this book if you're interested in the life of the Tudor royal family.  A lot of these characters in the book are based on real people, which I really enjoyed because some of these people I knew nothing about before reading the book.

Kate Emerson has other books written about this time period.  You can view more information about Kate and her novels at http://www.kateemersonhistoricals.com/

Next week my book will be Memoirs of a Geisha, by Arthur Golden.  It'll be a re-read but I'm excited because it's one of my favorite books.

Thanks for reading, and please leave a comment if you have any recommendations! :)

You know, I've always wondered about her...

Her being Queen Elizabeth.  The idea that she was a virgin makes sense because she was royalty, but I've always wondered what it would've been like if Elizabeth had decided to have children, married or not.

This week I read The Virgin Queen’s Daughter by Ella March Chase.  I stumbled upon it at Target, spending a gift card I got from a relative for my birthday.  What drew my eye was the cover, but what really drew me in was the story.

It starts off with the narrator, Elinor de Lacey, also known as Nell, mentioning in 1565 how she should never have been born. An interesting way to start the novel, but I kept on reading.

Then we go back to 1554.  A young Nell travels with her parents to London where her father meets with a fellow scholar.  Nell is five-year-old girl with bright red hair.  While visiting the Tower of London while Mary Tudor is queen, she has a chance visit with Elizabeth, Mary’s half-sister who has been in prison since Mary has ruled.  Nell is fascinated by Elizabeth, and dreams of serving in Elizabeth’s court in the future.

Chase again skips a few more years again, with Nell, now in 1564, sad due to the death of her father at 15.  Elizabeth is now queen, and has summoned Nell to be her maid of honor at court. 

An interlude chapter takes us back to 1548 with Elizabeth living with Henry VIII’s last wife, Katherine Parr and her new husband, Thomas Seymour.  Nell’s mother, Lady Caverly, is one of Katherine’s ladies-in-waiting at the time, taking care of the pregnant dowager queen.  However, it seems Seymour has eyes for Elizabeth as well and at the end of this chapter, we assume he has slept with her.

Now the similarities between the Queen and Nell seem to come to light.  Could Nell be the Queen’s child?  I don’t want to spoil this book, unlike my last one, because this book is too good to spoil.  Nell’s adventures at court and interactions with Robert Dudley’s (the queen’s favorite) knight, Sir Gabriel, will keep you on the edge of your seat.

I would recommend this book highly.  This is one of my favorite time periods to read fiction about.  I loved The Other Boleyn Girl (the movie), and I’ve always been fascinated with royalty, princesses, and the like.  The drama that goes on at court I think is more interesting than gossiping about celebrities today – because there was something real at stake, a crown.

I think next week I’m going to continue with the Tudors, and read a book by Kate Emerson called Secrets of the Tudor Court: Between Two Queens.  This book is more about Henry VIII and his women so I’m hoping it’ll be good as well.

Thanks for reading, and hopefully you’ll read again next week!