Review: Mistress of Nothing by Kate Pullinger

Mistress of Nothing by Kate Pullinger

Copy Courtesy of First Reads and Simon and Schuster/Touchstone
Already Published

Summary
Sally is a lady's made to a vibrant Lady of London society - Lady Duff Gordon. Lady Gordon is sick with tuberculosis, and the doctor has prescribed the treatment of going to Egypt to help clear her lungs. Once in Egypt, despite having served her lady faithfully for many years, something happens, and Sarah find that she is mistress of nothing.

Commentary
The preface of the book (as well as the title and summary) informs you of the impending disaster so you are anticipating it the entire time. I think this expectation marred the otherwise pleasant journey through Egypt. Granted, without the expectation, I might have found the journey to be boring so obviously I'm just hard to please.

Mistress of Nothing reads very much like a diary. The story takes place in a time of political turmoil in Egypt, and I found the greater surrounding Sally's journey to be a very interesting setting despite the fact that the politics really didn't intrude very often. I could sort of connected with the characters, but I can't say that I really liked any of them.

If you like slice of life stories, you may enjoy reading this one The disaster, when it happens, is one that I'm not sure fits into the picture very well. It should be noted that this is based on a true story so it must be somewhat accurate, and real life in general is messy unlike nice neat books.

Star Rating: 3.0/5.0

For an explanation of the Star Rating go here.

Check out prices for Mistress of Nothing at Amazon
This is now a Book Party Post!

The Books from the Mail and Elsewhere

In My Mailbox (and its similarly names titles) is hosted by The Story Siren

This is my first one ^.^


FOR REVIEW


Sleight of Hand by Peter S. Beagle
Entwined by Heather Dixon
Thank you to Greenwillow Books (Harper Collins) and Tachyon Publishing!


FROM THE LIBRARY


The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin
My Fair Godmother by Janette Rallison
Really looking forward to reading these!


BOUGHT


A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin
I got a good deal on it, but I'm going to wait until at least the 5th book in the series is published although who knows when that will be.


WON


The International Dumpster by Roy Conner (Thanks to Lara Dunning)

All of them together!

Loving the Reviews Feb 12th - Bonnie Rozanski

Head on to Brandi's blog and check out the interview with Bonnie Rozanski, author of Banana Kiss!

Remember: If you review one of her books, you get 2 extra entries per review ^.^

Review: The Supernaturalist by Eoin Colfer

The Supernaturalist by Eoin Colfer

Summary
Cosmo Hill is an orphan, whose parentage couldn't be identified so he belongs to the Clarissa Frayne Institute for Parentally Challenged Boys. They rent boys out as test subjects for companies. Cosmo knows that if he stays, he will die. So he tries to escape only to find himself a part of a group who is trying to save the world from creatures that noone can see, creatures that are stealing people's lives.

Commentary
I love the world that Eoin Colfer has created for this novel. The corporate takeover of so many aspects of the world speaks to a lot of the increasing amount of power which companies wield. I would almost classify this as a dystopian book although it's much more a world gone a little too far rather than a complete police state so I wouldn't put it in that category.

Cosmo Hill gets really lucky all throughout this book to the point of deus ex machina. I don't mind a character getting lucky a couple of times because special circumstances are better story fodder, but pulling out another hidden talent every time he got into a tight situation does not a good story make.

The ending was also a somewhat predictable. Thus, despite very much admiring the world that Colfer had created, I am a little disappointed in the overall story.

Star Rating: 3.0/5.0

For an explanation of the Star Rating go here.

Check out prices for The Supernaturalist at Amazon

Loving the Reviews Feb 11th - Angela Morrison

Head on to Brandi's blog and check out the interview with Angela Morrison, author of Sing Me to Sleep!

Remember: If you review one of her books, you get 2 extra entries per review ^.^

Review: Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann

Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann

Copy Courtesy of Simon and Schuster via Galley Grab
Already Released

Summary
Tiffany has disappeared without a trace. In a tiny town like Cryer's Cross, this is big. Stuff like this just doesn't happen. Kendall can't forget that this has happened even as the town moves on around her. Then, her somewhat boyfriend, Nico, also disappears, and Kendall's OCD goes into overdrive while she tries to figure out what happened and hopes that they will be found.

Commentary
My initial thought after finishing the book was that it was really weird and somewhat disturbing. I think this is how the book is meant to be so it definitely achieved what it set out to do. There are some supernatural aspects to this book so I would put it under paranormal although not a fantasy piece.

I really liked the OCD aspect of Kendall's character because it's something I don't see much in books as a problem a character has to cope with. The way Kendall tries to fight with her inner self and hide her OCD, to me at least, was the real story. In comparison, the disappearances of the other kids was almost a sideshow.

My rating of this book is based on the fact that the main story is not something I much enjoy reading because I don't enjoy horror. I think horror readers would probably like this book even if I didn't.

Star Rating: 2.5/5.0

For an explanation of the Star Rating go here.

Check out prices for Cryer's Cross at Amazon

Book Blog Hop and Follow Friday (Feb 11)

Welcome from Book Blog Hop hosted by Crazy for Books and Follow Friday hosted by Parajunkee!


Book Bloggers! You write reviews, now you can win some prizes for doing so ^.^ YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO (*mind tricks on you) So go to the Loving the Reviews Link Up page

We've had some AWESOME guest posts:
Falling in Love with Your Novel by Maria Geraci
What Cleopatra Can Teach Us About Love by Stephanie Dray
Loving a Child by Krista D. Ball

I also managed to eek out 1 review this week despite the testing nonsense: The Atomic Weight of Secrets

Happily, since I'm done with tests for awhile, there will be reviews posted again starting tomorrow ^.^



What is your favorite romance hero-type? Stereotype wise. Do you like the strong silent type or the brute macho man?

I actually do like the strong somewhat silent type ^.^ Mostly, I like Joscelin from Kushiel's Dart!

Loving the Reviews Feb 10th - Kersten Hamilton

Head on to Brandi's blog and check out the guest post by Kersten Hamilton, author of Tyger, Tyger!

Remember: If you review one of her books, you get 2 extra entries per review ^.^

Third Sentence Thursday (#11)

Grab the Code

<a href="http://snifflykitty.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Third Sentence Thursday" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNF6L9g6kFcPnLrdwduf7eiEBTXfVTgO7j8AsNjFdP1BiosV_3_EOcuPUSJZ-yrQ_MM_eTyV3Gv1rpptbU-89HD5peK5CWnETvORgducIXEL8OASz8x5vpphCwIWZWUC8q6bq7ZavQlXA/s800/thirdsthursday1d2%20(Custom).png"/></a>

Third Sentence Thursday is a weekly meme for charging into the promote a third sentence fray!

So, in light of the fact that people seem to participate more when the third sentence is from your current read. I've decided that just posting the third sentence of your current read and reviewing it is the best way to go!

1) Take the book you are reading now and post the third sentence
2) Review this sentence anyway you want (funny and silly reviews encouraged)
3) Post a link to your sentence here or if you don't have a blog, just post it in the comments!


"Katherine Anne Stephenson!" -Kat, Incorrigible by Stephanie Burgis

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