Book: She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth by Helen Castor

Pages: 480; Hardcover; Published by Faber and Faber

She-Wolves was an interesting book.  It chronicles Matilda, Eleanor Of Aquitaine, Isabella of France, and Margaret of Anjou.

I thought Matilda was most interesting, and Isabella was pretty interesting too.  Margaret’s section was the most familiar to me, so I ended up glossing over it.  Eleanor was also interesting, and while I knew of her, and probably learned about her at some point, I was a bit fuzzy on her life’s story. 

It was dry, and pretty dense.  It was hard to get through, and the only reason I managed to do it in one sitting was because I had nothing else to do.  She managed to connect Matilda, Eleanor, Isabella and Margaret to both Elizabeth I and her sister Mary (a queen in her own right) rather well, and it was at that point that her interest seemed to shine through. 

It is a very good overview of 4 women, and she does a good job at condensing the information, especially in the Margaret of Anjou/Wars Of The Roses section.  If you’ve read about any of them, then you might be bored.  But if you want an overview, this is the book for you.

I give it a 2 out of 5.  It was just okay for me, but has some good information in it.

Book: The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Pages: 451; Hardcover; Published by Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam

The Help is about Skeeter, who has just returned home from college and Aibileen and Minny, 2 maids.  They come together for a project about what it’s like to be 2 African-American maids in 1960’s Mississippi.

I wasn’t sure about this book during the first few chapters, but as I continued reading, I found myself wanting to know more about Aibileen and Minny and what secrets they knew about the people they worked for.  It was really hard to put down, and I just got so caught up in the story. 

It felt very real, and Stockett did such a good job at bringing the people and the relationships between them to life.  You really see that we’re more alike than different, and that even a few differences aren’t so bad. 

It did start off a little slow, and it took a while for it to get going, but everything came together at the end.  The book shifts between Abileen, Minny and Skeeter.  I wasn’t sure about the 3 different narrators at first, but by the end, I thought it worked pretty well.

It’s hard to believe that this is Stockett’s first novel.  It’s so believable, and I could relate to so many of the characters, even the ones that I didn’t like.  It’s definitely engaging and thought-provoking.  I really can’t wait to see what Stockett comes up with next.

I give it a 4 out of 5.  It’s pretty uplifting, and I’m glad there was a happy ending.

Book: Twisted by Sara Shepard

Pages: 305; Hardcover; Published by Harper Teen

Twisted is book 9 in the Pretty Little Liars series.  The girls take a vacation to Jamaica to take their minds off of everything that happened to them.  While there, they come across a girl they believe is Ali, who might have survived the fire.  They are attacked by “Ali” and Aria shoves her off the rooftop in an attempt to save Hanna. 

Months later, they are no longer friends.  Aria is having trouble dealing with the Kahn’s new exchange student, Klaudia.  Klaudia wants Noel for herself, and it causes a rift between Noel and Aria.  Aria pushes Klaudia off a ski-lift in a fit of anger, and Klaudia ends up being injured.  Emily meets a girl named Chloe, and reveals that she was pregnant with Isaac’s child, whom she had given up for adoption over the summer.  She’s now worried about getting a college scholarship, which is her only option for college.  Chloe’s dad offers to help, since he has strings at the University of North Carolina.  However, he makes a few sexual advances toward her, which ruins her friendship with Chloe.

Hanna gets offered a modeling job by a photographer named Patrick; he sees her at a commercial her dad is doing since he’s running for Congress.  However, he was just trying to have sex with Hanna, and he goes on to blackmail her with some photos he had taken of her.  She steals money from her dads campaign and frames one of her dad’s campaign workers. 

Spencer’s mom gets engaged to a man named Nicholas Pennythistle, while Spencer has feelings for his son Zach.  He confesses that he’s gay, and Spencer promises to keep his secret.  Mr. Pennythistle accuses Zach of sleeping with Spencer and beats up Zach, which causes Spencer to accidentally reveal Zach’s secret.  It’s hinted that Spencer ruined a girl’s life in order to get into Princeton.

This book was just okay.  It really reminded me of the 5th book in the series- just tacked on because the series is really popular.  I mean, how many times can you bring back A, who’s holding something over the girls?  As much as I like the series, it’s starting to get a little tired now.  She’s really starting to recycle the plot every 4 books or so, and I’m pretty sure this book and the next one (Ruthless) were written because of how well the t.v. show is doing.

I did have pretty low expectations, and I’m starting to detect a pattern with the series.  It seems like there’s a new A, who threatens to reveal new secrets every 4 books.  If Shepard wants to do a book about their lives after everything, fine.  But is recycling the same storyline every few books really that worth it? 

It’s definitely never-ending, and while the next book probably won’t be good, I still feel the need to read it and figure out who A is. 

It gets a 2 out of 5.  It was painfully predictable, and the series doesn’t really need to be continued.

Book: Night Walker by Lisa Kessler

Pages: 266 in Paperback, Published by Entangled

Night Walker is about Calisto Terana and Kate Bradley.  Calisto was a priest 250 years ago, while Kate was a Kumeyaay Indian.  They fell in love and Kate got pregnant.  Calisto decides to leave the priesthood but an overzealous has Kate killed, so Calisto becomes a Night Walker in order to have a second chance at loving Kate. 

250 years later, Kate leaves Reno after discovering her fiance was cheating on her.  She meets Calisto, and is determined to not get involved with anyone.  She finds herself drawn to Calisto, and eventually they get together.

The mysterious Fraternidad Del Fuego Santo want to prevent Kate becoming a Night Walker, and will stop at nothing to do so.  However, their attempt at preventing it threatens to destroy the relationship they have, but it fails, resulting in Kate becoming a Night Walker in order to save her life.

I really liked the book.  I was rather surprised that there was a paranormal romance for adults, since that seems to be something usually associated with 15-year-old girls.  But all the same, it was an enjoyable read. 

One thing I absolutely loved was the fact that it’s set in San Diego!  The Gaslamp Quarter was mentioned several times, as was the Mission de Alcala.  The beach was also a pretty common location.  The fact that I live in the place that the novel is set in really brought it to life since I could picture all of these places so well.  Okay, part of it is set in Reno, but that’s just a blip on my radar.

I liked the characters, but Kate was irritating at times, with her whole thing about not wanting to get involved with someone but getting involved with someone anyway.  Calisto was interesting, especially where the Fraternidad is concerned.  They were definitely mysterious, and I really wanted to know more about them. 

I give it a 4 out of 5.  Definitely intriguing, and I can’t wait to see who was watching them at the end of the novel.  I can’t wait for the next book!

Book: Cook 1.0 by Heidi Swanson

Pages: 192 in Hardcover, Published by Stewart, Tabori, and Chang

For the last month or so, I’ve been reading and cooking from Cook 1.0 by Heidi Swanson.  I’ve made about 4 recipes and I wish I had more time to cook a couple other things that look really good.  But since I’ve had for 6 weeks, I think it’s time to return it to the library.

I really like Heidi’s blog, 101 cookbooks.  So when I saw that she had a few cookbooks, I knew I had to check them out from the library. 

I can honestly say that I LOVE how her cookbook is set up and organized.  It’s divided into different sections: chapter like breakfast, lunch, dinner and sides.  Each chapter is further divided into sections, which is cool.  It’s thought out very well, and it’s very easy to find recipes.  And the recipes themselves?  Everything is in table-format.  There are no long lists of ingredients or paragraphs for the recipes.  A quick glance, and you know where you should be and what you need to do next.  It’s very intuitive and it’s such a good vegetarian cookbook.  As much as I like tofu, it’s nice to see a cookbook that doesn’t rely a lot on tofu.   

The recipes are simple, with a lot of fresh ingredients.  I love that they don’t seem to take long to make- no more than 30 minutes for the ones I’ve made, and a lot of the recipes seem to be around the 30 minute mark. 

I also like the different variations that she has.  There are some basic recipes, and the variations of stir-fries, vinaigrettes, and flavored butters (amongst others) build on those basic recipes. 

 I give it a 5 out of 5.  It’s well-thought out, with good recipes.

Book: The Wives Of Henry VIII by Antonia Fraser

Pages: 482 in Hardcover, Published by Knopf

I really liked it.  Fraser was relatively unbiased, and it was a very impartial look at each of his wives.  Henry is rarely mentioned, and it’s a great look at each of his wives, with their own identity and personality.  It gives you a good overview of their lives and who they were as people.  I really appreciate the fact that it was more about the women as individuals as opposed to the men surrounding them. 

But in all honesty, I had some trouble sitting down and reading it.  It’s nothing against the book or Antonia Fraser, but this is the 3rd different book I’ve read about Henry’s wives, so at times, it was pretty repetitive.  However, it is the most readable of the 3 I’ve read, so I’m not sure if I could pick between Fraser’s book and Alison Weir’s book.

Fraser attempted to break down the stereotypes and myths of each woman, which I thought was an interesting take on them.  It worked okay, and for the most part, her telling seemed to be pretty standard. 

The narrative itself flowed pretty well, and it was also organized fairly well.  Some of the chapter divides were somewhat strange, and things included in one chapter (or section in some cases) were better suited being in the previous one. 

Overall, it gets a 4 out of 5.  It’s well-researched and pretty unbiased.

Book: Fruits Basket, Volume 13 by Natsuki Takaya

Pages: 190 in Paperback, published by Tokyopop

In Volume 13, Yuki has his parent-teacher conference, in which we meet his mother.  His mother is intent on deciding Yuki’s future, when Ayame shows up.  This gives Yuki the strength to tell his mother that he’ll decide his own future.  Tohru goes to the Sohma estate to see if Kureno Sohma is the same Kureno that Uotani is interested in.  While trying to find Kureno, she comes across Momo, who is Momiji’s little sister.  Tohru finally finds Kureno, who tells her that he has no intention of seeing Uotani.  They also go on their class trip, and a girl tells Kyo she likes him, but he pushes her away. 

With each passing volume, it seems like there’s more that happens.  Tohru’s relationship with Yuki is questioned by Kakeru, and when Kyo pushes away that girl, she wonders if he’ll push her away eventually.  I feel like this is the volume when things start to change between Kyo, Yuki and Tohru.  And since there are only 10 volumes left, things will start happening at a more rapid pace.

Like with every other volume, I love the artwork.  It really is getting better with each volume, and I love that you know what’s going on, even when there are no words.  Plus, seeing the fan art is cool, and we learn about the year of the horse. 

It gets a 5 out of 5, and it will only get better!