Thoughts on a Tuesday

So, my friend had her baby a week ago today, so that means that she is a week old today. Yep, she had a girl. Her name is Jasmine Arianna, but I am afraid I do not have any details passed that. I have not heard from her at all since before she was due, so I have not even seen a picture. Anyways, for those that were wondering, she had her baby. I only found out on the weekend and this is the first time I have had to really post since then.

On another note, I have two reviews posted, but on my other two blogs. I posted a review of The Huntress by Susan Carroll on Historical Tapestry. While not as good as the previous three books, it was still a great read and I cannot wait for more in the series. To head over there directly, click here. Then on Twisted Kingdom you can read a review of The Smoke Thief by Shana Abe. To head over there, click here.

Other than that, not much to post about. Just trying to figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life, which is actually a big thing and stressing me out, but in any case. Other than that, I am just reading. Tolkien is good, very hyper, though, he just fell off the counter. The other cats are very unfriendly, so hopefully they get used to the kitten soon! Oh, and I am organizing my bookshelves. That's actually a lot more difficult than I would have thought.

The Huntress by Susan Carroll

For those, like me, wondering what this book is about because none of the the book sites (last I checked) had an info, someone filled me in on my comments and I thought I would share.

FYI – found this via Google search
(http://www.midwestwritingcenter.org/Writers%20Conference.htm) :

“Ms. Carroll launched a new series with the publication of the The Dark Queen , The Courtesan, and The Silver Rose set during the turbulent days of the French Renaissance. A blend of history, magic, romance and intrigue, these books relate the saga of the Cheney sisters, three women of extraordinary abilities who live in constant peril of being accused of witchcraft. The novels combine fictional characters with real events and personages such as the enigmatic Catherine de Medici and the lusty Henry of Navarre. The fourth book in this series, The Huntress is slated to be released in summer of ’07.”

And this from http://www.historicalnovelsociety.org/forthcoming.htm:

“Susan Carroll, The Huntress, Ballantine (Catriona O'Hanlon, a pagan Irishwoman accused of witchcraft, must foil a plot against Queen Elizabeth)"

I am excited to learn that this book is related to the last three books, and hopeful it will both be good and promising for more books in the series.

The Silver Rose by Susan Carroll

Books Completed: 8
Completion Date: January 20, 2007
Publication Year: 2006
Pages: 515
Owned Prior to 2007
Book Three in Cheney Sisters Trilogy

From Brittany's fog-shrouded forests to the elegant dark heart of Paris's royal court, one woman must challenge a country's destiny-and her own dangerous fate.

France, 1585. She is the youngest and most powerful of the "Sisters of Faire Isle," women known far and wide for their extraordinary mystical abilities. Skilled in healing and able to forecast the future of those around her, Miri Cheney has returned to her ancestral home to take refuge from a land devastated by civil war-and to grieve for her family, driven to exile. But she cannot hide from the formidable new power threatening to seize control of France from the dread "Dark Queen," Catherine de Medici-a diabolical woman known only as the Silver Rose. Miri has no choice but to turn to the one man she distrusts as much as she desires: Simon Aristide, the charismatic witch-finder who is now himself the hunted, and who has reluctantly made an unholy pact with Catherine. Miri must defy throne and family to save all that she loves most-and command a future greater than she could ever imagine.

Vibrant with stunning historical detail, alive with characters as richly passionate as they are compelling, The Silver Rose is a sweeping, exquisitely wrought tale from a mesmerizing storyteller.

I was supposed to read this book back in October of last year, and as you can see, I am a bit late, but since I was supposed to buddy review it with Marg, I resurrected her old post and I am going to add my thoughts to it. I am in blue, with her comments in black.

When the legendary witch hunter Simon Aristide, is becoming the hunted rather than the hunter, he turns to the one person who he would prefer not to - Miri Cheney. Miri was just a young girl living on the Faire Isle when he first met her, but he betrayed her and nearly caused her to be tried as a witch. Some years later he met her as a young lady in Paris, but he was well and truly entrenched in his role as witch hunter, and she was once again betrayed. It is hard to believe sometimes how these two find themselves coming together. Simon is like two different people, one moment he is nice, while other times you cannot seem to find a nice trait in him. The events in this latest book in the trilogy take place ten years after The Courtesan, so Miri and Simon are both older and wiser (we think) than they were in the previous books.

After many years of living in exile, Miri has returned to live on the Faire Isle, looking to recapture her lost happiness. For Miri, Simon was a young boy that she first came to love during an idyllic summer that nearly ended in tragedy. When he reappears asking for her assistance Miri is reluctant, especially once she understood that he was asking for her assistance in tracking down a witch. Miri is still the same character that we have watched grow up in the two previous novels about her sisters. She is a lover of animals, understanding them better than people. She looks for the good in people at great cost, and she never seems to know what she risks by refusing to see the negative in people. It does not seem to matter how many times Simon betrayed her, she is still totally on his side and believes that there is a good person in him. At the beginning of the novel, though, when he reappears, she finds that she attempts to look at him as others have.

Miri has always thought of herself, and others like her, as a wise woman, as opposed to a witch, and getting Simon to understand the difference was a big part of their journey, but in a way another part was having Simon find the man behind the witch hunter. The young boy with a happy family life, who survived in the face of tragedy, and who was taken in and taught to hate and fear. Ah...Simon. He would have to be right up there with the most tortured heroes every written..surely. Not only is the man terribly scarred, and missing an eye, but he really is a good man as well struggling to live with the way he had previously lived his life and the actual and emotional consequences of that life. One of the things I enjoyed about this book was how Miri seemed to bring out Simon's past. We know the three Cheney sisters, and have seen what they have gone through in the course of their life. Simon's past has been hinted about in the two previous novels, but in this one he really goes back and enlightens Miri on who he is (or was) and how he became to be the person that we see in the course of the book. I really was looking forward to seeing how Simon would play a part in this book. I wanted to know if Miri ever found the good in him, and what would happen if she did.

Miri was practically engaged to Wolf, a man who had been her loyal friend, for many years, but she had always held back from committing to him, and from allowing any kind of hanky panky. In a way I felt sorry for Wolf even though he was a bit of a womaniser. I liked him from the time we first met him in the second book in the trilogy, and I was really scared that something horrible was going to happen to him. It was certainly an interesting twist in the story for him during this book. The other really interesting twist was the identity of The Silver Rose! I really was curious which man that Miri would choose. It really could have been either of them, and I was waiting to see if it would be predictable or if it would surprise me. As the novel went along, though, and I started to understand the outside characters, I found that Carroll wrote the best ending possible for the trilogy. I feel bad for Wolf, he loved a girl that was not sure what she wanted, and he tried so hard. When the identity of the Silver Rose was revealed, it made sense to me, and yet did not.

This third book is definitely one that you will appreciate more if you have read the two books proceeding it in the series. I am not sure if there is going to be more books related to this one, but there certainly seems to be scope for it particularly in relation to Wolf who you may notice I have a certain tenderness for! I for one would certainly read any future books. I know that this is supposed to be a trilogy, but I would love to see spin off books. This really was one of the better trilogies I have read, overall. I am very sad to see it end, and I think that is partly why it took me so long to read this book. I did not want to see it end! Sometimes with trilogies, the first book is very strong and the rest fades in comparision. I believe that all three of these books are well-written and they stand up well.

One small note to the author though...please, please get a website so that your fans have some idea about what is coming up next! Having read and enjoyed this trilogy, I will definitely be trying to find whatever books I can of Susan Carroll's backlist. Anyone have any idea what she is working on now?

Marg's Rating 4.5/5
Kailana's Rating 4.5/5

I also need to take the oppurtunity to thank Random House for this book! Everyone should read this trilogy, and all three books are available through them, although I owned the other two from other sources.

Author Genders:
Female: 7
Male: 1

I have previously read this author before. You can see my reviews of the two previous books in this trilogy by clicking here and here.

The Courtesan - Susan Carroll [July/06]

For something new, me and Marg decided to read a historical fiction novel together. This is the sequel to The Dark Queen, which I read and reviewed recently. Anyways, we are coming towards this from two different backgrounds. As I said with the last one, there is a lot of romance in these books. I don't particularly like romance novels, while Marg on the other hand is a very big romance reader. This should offer two different views on how we took the novel.

Anyways, from the back:

Skilled in passion, artful in deception, and driven by betrayal, she is the glittering center of the royal court - but the most desired woman of Renaissance France will draw the wrath of a dangerous adversary.

Paris, 1575. The consort of some of Europe's most influential men, Gabrielle Cheney is determined to secure her future by winning the heart of Henry, the Huguenot king of Navarre. As his mistress, Gabrielle hopes she might one day become the power behind the French throne. But her plans are jeopardized by Captain Nicholas Remy, a devoted warrior whose love Gabrielle desires - and fears - above all. She will also incur the malevolence of the Dark Queen, Catherine de Medici, whose spies and witch-hunters are legion, and who will summon the black arts to maintain her authority. With the lives of those she loves in peril, Gabrielle must rebel against her queen to fulfill a glorious destiny she has sacrificed everything to gain.

Alive with vivid detail and characters as vibrant as they are memorable, The Courtesan is a sweeping historical tale of dangerous intrigues, deep treachery, and one woman's unshakable resolve to honor her heart.

I really enjoyed the first book in the trilogy. So much so that I gave it to my mother to read, in the hopes that she will one day read something other than Nora Roberts. She had been saying that she read a book by Nora Roberts that wasn't up to par, so I thought maybe she would give this book a try. Me and her rarely ever read the same sort of books. I too enjoyed the first book in the trilogy. In fact, the day after I finished reading it, I went and bought this book, and ordered The Silver Rose. I had good intentions of reading them pretty much straight away but it didn't really happen. By the way....I've enjoyed the Nora Roberts books that I have read!

Anyways, to the review. I think the thing about this book we all have to remember is that it is called "The Courtesan". That betrays what the main character in this book is all about. You see, it is Gabrielle, Ariane from the first books younger sister. Gabrielle has had a rough life. The thing that is essential to who she is at this time in her life is that one "honourable" knight took advantage of her, and Gabrielle has never been able to get over it. If anything, she thinks that it is her fault and she feels the compulsion to take on the scars this man left her with as all she is worthy of. She could annoy me in the first book, but she grows on you in this one, and I actually found myself both wanting to interject to tell her that she's foolish, but I also felt bad for her. She is living in Paris now, a life of a Courtesan. It is not until ghosts from her past make an appearance that she starts to second guess her life. In The Dark Queen, Gabrielle was portrayed as a completely disenchanted character. We knew that Nicholas Remy had fallen for her, but Gabrielle had so many walls built up around her because of her previous bad experience that he was really not allowed to get all that close. Fast forward three years and shift to Paris, and into the French court, and Gabrielle has left behind all that she knows and loves and has become one of the most famous and desired courtesans. Yet behind the glamorous facade, there is a very lonely woman, who is haunted by the ghost of a supposedly dead man - Nicholas Remy. When it is revealed that Nicholas is not in fact dead, but is plotting to get into the French court to try and arrange for his king to escape, it soon becomes clear that Gabrielle and Nicholas are not necessarily on the same side...and yet they are extremely attracted to each other.

I found this novel to have more romance than the first one. I don't even think it was any different, but for some reason it felt like more. Once Gabrielle starts to get her life back on line and give her heart to the man that she loves, they spend a lot of time leading up to and then in bed together. It just seemed like once they made it to the bed, that was a central occurrence for the next little while. The sex scenes are tasteful. For example, there are a few scenes with Ariane and Renard, and we finally learn that he has brown hair - a fact that was left out in the first book, or so most people believe (we had a big discussion about this over at Historical Fiction Forum a while ago!). So, the scenes are not all about the action, like a romance novel, so I didn't find them distasteful, which is always good. I actually wonder whether you are confusing romance with sex? There is definitely a more romantic storyline in this book, and in many ways less of a focus on historical events. In The Dark Queen, one of the key events was the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre, and there are many references back to the events of that day here, but in this book there was more a historical context as opposed to actual historical events. Whilst the sex is there, and there is a section where there is a strong emphasis on the development of the physical relationship between Gabrielle and Nicholas, this is something that was necessary to enable Gabrielle to move on from her emotional and self esteem issues, to go back to finding herself. (Sex and romance are both the same to me. I read books that rarely have any romantic or sexual scenes, so this book had a lot more of everything than I was used to).

A bit more background information. Simon, the witch hunter apprentice from the first novel makes a court approved appearance. It has been prophesied that the Dark Queen's power is waning, and there are moments when she does not seem to have her son the King under her command. Ariane and Renard are married, but Ariane is suffering through some unhappy moments because of her desire to have a child. She also does not like it when her sister runs off, she is protective of her little sisters. Miri follows Gabrielle to Paris in the hopes of keeping her sister safe, and enchants a young boy affectionately called 'the Wolf'. I am hoping we will learn more about him in the third book that centres around Miri. I have made reference in previous posts to the fact that I love a series, so for me it was great to revisit Ariane and Reynard, and the build up is definitely there for Miri's story in The Silver Rose. I do however have one concern for the next book, and that is that I really liked Nicholas's offsider Wolf. It would appear that it is not his fate to end up with Miri, but I really hope that he does get some Happy Ever After.

This is a very engaging novel. I never though I would say it. I didn't like it as much as the first one, but it was still a very worthwhile read. I enjoyed the first book more too, mainly because it was more of an intriguing mix between historical fiction, fantasy and romance. This book was more like straight romance, with a historical context and a bit of magic thrown in. I would say however that this one flowed a bit better. There were the odd occasions during the first book that parts dragged as there was a bit too much infodump. However, on the down side for this book, it felt as though there were a few storylines that were introduced that were either not resolved, or resolved very quickly and conveniently. Maybe this will be resolved during the next book. The thing I have noticed about these books is that I don't feel like you have to read them in order to understand. Susan Carroll does a very good job making each book look more like a stand alone. Whilst I guess you don't HAVE to read the books in order, I would think that it is far more rewarding to do so. For example, if you haven't read The Dark Queen, you would not understand the significance of Simon being the main witch hunter in this book, and then in whatever role he is in in the next book. Even though these books contain more romance than I normally would seek out, I can not wait until I get book 3 from Random House and can see how the story continues. Me and Marg are discussing maybe reading that one together too. We will see how it goes. I am planning to read The Silver Rose pretty soon, but then again, it did take me six months to pick this one up!

Marg's rating: 4/5
Kailana's rating: 4/5

The Dark Queen - Susan Carroll [July/06]

This is the first novel in the Cheney sisters trilogy. I have had it for a while because it was the Book of the Month for the Historical Fiction Forums that I belong to a couple months ago. I just went through this period where I was tired of reading historical fiction novels and tried other genres instead. This week at least has marked a return to one of my favourite genres.

From the back of the book:

From Britany's mist shores to the decadent splendor of Paris's royal court, one woman must fulfill her destiny while facing the treacherous designs of Catherine de Medici, The Dark Queen. She is Ariane, the Lady of Faire Isle, and of the Cheney sisters, renowed for their mystical skills and for keeping the isle secure and prosperous. But this is a time when women of ability are deemed sorceresses, when Renaissance France is torn by ruthless political intrigues, and all are held in thrall to the sinister ambitions of Queen Catherine de Medici. Then a wounded stranger arrives on Faire Isle, bearing a secret the Dark Queen will do everything in her power to posess. The only person Ariane can turn to is the comte de Renard, a nobleman with fiery determination and a past as mysterious as his own unusual gifts. Riveting, vibrant and breathtaking, The Dark Queen follows Ariane and Renard as they risk everything to prevent the fulfillent of a dreadful prophecy - even if they must tempt fate and their own passions.

I think this is the best historical fiction novel I have read so far this year! It was really well-written and I could not put it down! We went to festivities for Canada Day and I found myself carrying this book around and instead of watching the concert, I tuned in to see how things were progressing for Ariane and Renard. (I did see The Stampeders, though. They are from outwest. My parents have all their albums, so they were one of those bands I heard over and over again when I was a child. It was more a childhood delight than any real desire to hear them, but it is fun to know all the songs.)

So, the trilogy will eventually cover all three sisters. Ariane is the eldest, and when her mother died she inherited the title of Lady of Faire Isle. The island that they call home. Her responsibilities are to healing the ill and keeping her people safe from danger. It is one of the few places at the time that women can own their own businesses and inherit when their menfolk die. There is even a statue of her mother, Evangeline Cheney, in the town square to represent all the strong women that came before and will continue into the future. Her mother had only died two years before the novel starts, and Ariane is still dealing with her new responsibilities. If the Island folk were not enough, she is also responsible for her sisters: Gabrielle and Miri. Her father went out on a voyage and as of yet has not returned, so the sisters have to fend for themselves.

Then enter Renard. Can I say, I am not a big romance novel reader, but can't help appreciating good male characters. For one, it is just nice to picture him, even if the men are not your type, they always have this characteristic to them that has you entranced and wishing that your guy would just do this like the men in the novels. But hey, always fun to dream. Renard is an appealing character. He is the stereotypical perfect looking male, or, at least you want him to be. That is all I am going to say on romance in novels. Sometimes it is just a nice thing to read about, but only when books have more going on than sex scenes.

Anyways, Renard has inherited the position of comte de Renard. A law-abiding position from his deceased grandfather. His real name is Justice, which is sort of corny as he is always riding around saving Ariane when she gets into trouble, but not everything can be perfect. He meets Ariane when he becomes lost on his own estate (men and their crappy sense of direction, huh) and stumbles upon her. Her father's estate on the mainland borders his, so they begin their acquaintance as neighbours. Renard also begins the novel as cocky. He sends a carriage for Ariane because he just assumes she will be willing to marry him. It doesn't really turn out the way that he pictures it will, of course.

When Ariane scorns his advances, Renard decides to take matters into his own hands by giving her a ring. There is magic in this novel, as any strong woman is accused of being a witch, but these rings do seem to have some power to them. When Ariane is in trouble she can put the ring over her heart and Renard will hear her call and come for her. Of course, Renard is determined to have her hand in marriage, so he makes it that if she uses the ring three times, she has to marry him. Something that does not appeal to Ariane, but she holds onto the rings anyways. And for good cause, as witch hunters come calling and her family finds themself trapped in the middle of it.

When Renard saves Ariane for the first time, their story together begins. A wonderful story at that. Ariane is not your typical Renaissance lady and she does not give into Renard, which makes the novel more appealing. If she had not fought him, the book would have lost its interest. Then, there are the other two sisters. Gabrielle who was raped by a man she thought was more worthy and is still feeling some hatred toward the male sex and Miri who is kind-hearted and has a way with animals.

I strongly recommend this book, I can not wait to read The Courtesan or The Silver Rose. If all goes well, I will be reading both with Marg. Then we can do a buddy review like we did for J. D. Robb. You can read her review of The Dark Queen here.

5/5