Joseph Cummins: Turn Around and Run Like Hell

From the back of the book-

Ranging from the siege of ancient Babylon and Caesar's campaigns in Gaul to the American Civil War and World War II, Turn Around and Run Like Hell captures key moments in history when the ingenuity, vison and daring of brilliant leaders turned the tide of battle.
Read about Hannibal's spectacular envelopment of the Roman army at Cannae in 216 BC; the Mongols' awe-inspiring rout of Christian forces at Liegnitz in 1241; Pizaro's daring kidnapping of Inca ruler Atahuallpa in 1532; and the brilliant campaign of subterfuge that helped ensure the success of the 1944 D-Day landings.

Subtitled Amazing stories of unconventional military strategies that worked this book delivers exactly what the cover claims.
I've never had a particular interest in military history but this title of this work raised my curiosity. Presented in a straightforward manner it is engaging and easy to read, bringing to life the fascinating personalities behind some of military history's most unorthodox moves.
Interesting and educational it might be worth a look for students of history.-Lynn

Fly Away Home – Jennifer Weiner

Sylvie Serfer has subsumed her life in service to her husband’s political career without any sense of sacrifice – the incessant calorie counting, tightly pinching shapewear, coloured and painstakingly straightened hair, never ending briefings and engagements, the secondary importance of her daughters to Richard have all been her willing contributions to their success. They’re a team, working toward a common goal since their college days thirty years earlier. That all changes in an instant, when Sylvie’s best friend Cecil breaks the news that, according to reports on every network, Richard has apparently had an affair with a staffer.
The news not only affects Richard and Sylvie’s lives but the lives of their very different daughters. Diana is a prototypical eldest child, high achieving and determined to have everything – marriage to a man who’ll never let her down, a well-raised child exposed only to healthy food and wholesome viewing, and a professional identity in medicine. From the outside she has everything, but her carefully constructed life was already cracking, and the one thing she really craves is no more likely than ever before – her parents’ unconditional love and attention. Lizzie could not be more different – from early adolescence she’s sought from drugs solace, absence and the filling of a soul-deep emptiness. Clean after her latest detox, Lizzie is managing to keep all her balls in the air and is caring for Diana’s son Milo, but therapy hasn’t managed to repair her past. The revelation of Richard’s affair acts as the catalyst for change, changed perceptions, and the revelations of secrets and truths for the whole family.
Fly Away Home is an engrossing novel that engaged me on several levels – a fan of TheGoodWife, I was interested in an exploration of what these scandals may be like on the inside, but it was Weiner’s characters that kept me turning pages. Richard is the closest to a cipher, for most of the novel acting more significantly as a catalyst than as a character. Diana’s losses of control and the tensions that cause is really well conveyed; LLizzie’s attempts at refashioning her life are admirable and feel real; and Sylvie is a complex character who, despite being betrayed, is no saint – her uxorial devotion to Richard has caused a profound emotional neglect of her daughters that created the strongest resonance for me. My only disappointment with Fly Away Home was that, except for Sylvie’s response to the affair and its related aftermath, there’s preciously little anger. This was most significantly the case with Lizzie, who I hoped would be able to give voice to feelings of betrayal and abandonment at events (and, more crucially, her parents’ responses to them) that clearly contributed to her life path, but Diana has been aware from a young age how much their childhoods were shaped around the father's career, their mothe's priorotising this over their best interets, and the expectation that follows them into adulthood, and isn't angry either.
I’ve enjoyed Weiner’s work since Good in Bed, though I've found her recent work somewhat mixed, and Fly Away Home (apparently written earlier and recently recrafted and updated for publication) delivers a similar combination of satisfyingly rounded and layered characters, intelligent and believable dialogue, and a compelling plot. - Alex

Undead and Unwelcome - MaryJanice Davidson

Marc Spangler's become used to life with paranormal creatures, but he's becoming increasingly concerned about the Satanists coming to pay homage to Laura. Sure, his brilliant idea to put them to work doing good deeds seemed to get them out from underfoot, but Laura's acting kind of weird, and Tina has most uncharacteristically vanished. He can't ring Betsy, because Laura's done something to all their cell phones, and even though he keeps emailing Betsy she stubbornly won't reply.
Reluctant vampire queen Betsy (not Elizabeth!) Taylor and her husband Sinclair, accompanied by their ward and her half-brother BabyJon, are accompanying the body of Betsy's friend Antonia to her estranged family, a pack of werewolves in Cape Cod. Antonia died saving Betsy from an assassination attempt, which has made the wolves none to happy to see her, and with a potential vampire/werewolf war on the horizon Betsy has only a little space to ponder the wolves' weird responses to BabyJon. She has no time at all for the increasingly text-jargon-heavy emails coming from her housemate, Marc, and refuses to respond until he sends one in English, with actual grammar. With Sinclair's factotum Tina, and her half-sister Laura (technically the devil's daughter, but a sweet girl) at home, how much trouble could there be, anyway?
Undead and Unwelcome is the eighth in an ongoing series about the adventures of an accidental vampire who'd have been more interested collecting shoes and going to the beautician than deposing leaders and correcting barbaric practices. Though more substantial than many similar series, particularly now some of the deaths are striking closer to home, the Undead series does suffer the same problem common to the sub-genre - in addition to an introductory "The story so far" there are several expository sections catching the reader up on recent events, and some of these sections lack a little finesse. Not only that, when they continue at least to page 63 of a 236 page book it can get a little teeth grinding.
The majority of the novel is told in first person; to allow simultaneous description of what's happening in Minneapolis while Betsy et al are in Cape Cod, Marc conveniently starts a journal, addressed to "Dear Myself Dude" or Dude for short - the references to 'dude' became increasingly annoying the further I read. It's in these sections in particular that the exposition is chunkiest and clunkiest. And I'm not even going to address the fact that this doctor either has only one adrenal gland or doesn't know the normal human body comes with two (which I admit is a snarky note). I also found the use of TXT, though necessary for the plot, really irritating; I could decode GYBBH (get your behind back here) and IDKWTD (I don't know what to do) unaided, but TSIATHTF, CBRACBN and LHM? I was SOOL.
I did like the theory that vampirism is a virus that, among other things, induces severe suggestibility, explaining why even atheists who are turned can be deterred by crosses. I prefer the Westerfeld explanation in Peeps but this isn't bad. I also think the cross-over with Davidson's werewolf novel Derik's Bane (which I've not read) would please more dedicated readers, and more information on the reincarnation of Morgan le Fay would round out that (admittedly small) section. And I enjoyed the reading enough that I've got the ninth in the series out from the library, but going from something like Shinn's work to this is distinctly anticlimactic, and I think my future Davidson reading would benefit from being timed to follow weaker and less well enjoyed works. - Alex

The Perfect Stranger - Anne Gracie

Despite the protests of her friends and family, Faith Meridew followed her heart, and left everything she knew for love. But the man she loved was perfidious, and Faith is now a ruined woman. Making her may across France on foot, her state is obvious to all - her clothes torn and dirty, her shoes ill-fitting, and her resources exhausted, she thought she had experienced the worst possible, until three Frenchmen pursue her across a beach in the depths of night. It looks as though they will succeed, until a stranger emerges from the shadows and rescues her.
Nicholas Blacklock is not inclined to stand by and allow a lady to be ravished. But he is not without agenda - he needs a wife and, as he has a dire and secret medical condition, he need harbour no feelings for her. But he does require she be a gentlewoman, and it's clear even in her current state that Miss Meridew is that. so despite the protests of his close friends and companions, Nick allows Miss Meridew to accompany them; he's more than a little surprised to find Miss Meridew exerting her own strong opinions with little or no provocation, and more surprised by how much he likes it.
I heard of Gracie through Smart Bitches, and am glad of the recommendation - the characters are engaging, the plot original without veering too far from expectation, and there are genuine moments of humour, as when Faith and Nick argue about a suitable wedding present to celebrate her betrothal:
"I'll buy you a ream of bloody writing paper, but not as a wedding present.... Now think of a proper present."
She gave him a look from under her lashes. "Some people think a person should think up their own presents. Some people think the value in the present is the thought behind it."
Those people have never been given hideous items they never wanted!" he retorted.
there were certainly elements I was less fond of, including a mystical aspects that acted as a deus ex machina to alter the plot, but I otherwise found The Perfect Stranger a lovely introduction to Gracie and a very pleasant way to spend an afternoon. - Alex

Tell Me Lies – Jennifer Crusie

Maddie Faraday was relatively content with her life – though the gossip mill grew a little tiresome, she liked the small town she’d lived in all her life, loved her beautiful daughter Em, and had managed to move past her husband’s affair five years ago. At least until she found a pair of black, lace, crotchless panties tucked under the front seat of her husband’s car. Even so, she could perhaps have lived with that, but her discovery coincided with the return to town of C.L. Sturgess, the boy who she lost her virginity to back in high school, admittedly in a fit of pique over something Brent had done. As Maddie discovers that C.L. still has a certain something, Brent disappears, and much to the distress of her mother, Maddie becomes the most gossiped about person in town. She also uncovers some long-held secrets, regains her self, and finds love.
I first read Tell Me Lies when it was released in 1998, as part of a glut of Crusie, and though I’ve thought fondly of her novels, until recently I hadn’t returned to them. I enjoyed going back, but in the week or so since my re-reading, and in the wake of half a dozen other novels, I have only a foggy recollection of the finer plot points. I certainly enjoyed the ride, but couldn’t tell you anything significant about any of the characters or plot twists, except for Maddie’s best friend Treva’s big secret. I know this was a better than average romance, with some interesting characterisation and fresh dialogue, and it certainly hasn’t dated in the interim, but that’s about it. - Alex

Undead and Unpopular - MaryJanice Davidson

Betsy Taylor is adjusting to her new, unexpected afterlife as Queen of the Vampires and is almost looking forward to her 31st birthday, her 1st undead anniversary, and her forthcoming wedding to the delicious Sinclair. But she's not exactly reconciled to the life vampiric and has decided to give up drinking blood, a decision that's a little more stressful than she imagined - her fangs tend to just pop out, making her lisp unattractively, and she's far more short-tempered than usual.
This alone would be bad enough, but as usual the problems keep mounting up, including a visitation by some powerful European vampires (just skirting dosrespect with the tardiness of their arrival), a zombie in the attic, and most worryingly a secret her very best friend is keeping from her. Ans thats's without factoring in her step-sister, daughter of the devil, her evil step-mother, and the latter's tendency of dropping off her baby half-brother for increasingly long periods of time.
The fifth in Davidson's popular Undead series, Undead and Unpopular is entertaining and brisk, but doesn't offer any real surprises. For example, the revelation that frequent mentions of a zombie on the grounds is not a joke assorted people (including a ghost nobody but Betsy can interact with) have spontaneously decided on comes as no real revelation, and unless it plays a significant role in the next book was rather a dead end (so to speak). Betsy herself is superficial, with an ongoing interest in shoes and fashion, and she's had very little character growth throughout the series.
That said, there's something about her that's quite charming, and I enjoyed her rant against the imperative of answering the phone regardless of how inconvenienced you may be by doing so:

The phone, the fucking phone! People used it like they used to use the cat-o-nine-tails. You had to drop everything and answer the fucking thing.And God help you if you were home and, for whatever reason, didn't answer. "But I called!" Yeah, it was convenient for you so you called. But I'm in the shit because it wasn't convenienent for me to drop everything and talk to you, on the spot, for whatever you needed to talk about.

Despite the mentioned caveats, spending time with Betsy is always an amusing diversion, and I quite enjoyed reuniting with her again after what, I was surprised to discover, has been quite an absence - not only has it been the better part of eighteen months since I read a novel in the series, I somehow managed to jump over this one in the process, heading straight to Undead and Uneasy! - Alex

Twenties Girl - Sophie Kinsella

Lara's life is not going to plan - her best friend Natalie has taken off, leaving her to try running their fledgling headhunting firm even though she has no experience or contacts, and even though he's the love of her life, Josh has broken up with her and won't even take her calls. The last thing she wants to do is go to her great aunt's funeral - she never even knew Sadie, and the last thing she feels like is lying to her parents about how together she is, maintaining that façade in front of her smug older sister, and having the brilliance of her coffee-chain billionaire uncle rubbed in her family's face yet again.
When Lara hears a young girl calling shrilly for her necklace she discovers that she can communicate with the ghost of Sadie. Though a hundred and five when she died, Sadie always felt like the young woman she was in the twenties - when life was a kick, filled with lovers and fashion and the dancing she adored. Sadie wants Lara to have a bit more life, too, and is quite good at persuading people to do things by screeching in their ear. Sadie can help Lara in ways she doesn't expect, and in return Lara is determined to track down Sadie's missing necklace, a task that reveals the most unexpected of family secrets.
When I started Twenties Girl I was underwhelmed - I found Lara one of those most trying of chick lit heroines, all self-centred and trailing after a useless man who clearly doesn't want her. But despite myself I was drawn into the novel and the characters, and before I knew it I was enthralled. Part romance, part historical and part mystery, Kinsella weaves together the lives of two twenty-something women living eighty years apart. As we learn more about each woman we see layers and maturation. The resolution of two secrets, one about Sadie's long-lost love and the other about Lara's odious Uncle Bill, is intertwined and deeply satisfying. Most of all we get to see Lara evolve into an independent, forthright woman. It's not serious literature but it's well worth the investment - and I'm not a big fan of Literature anyway. - Alex

Lie By Moonlight - Amanda Quick

Concordia Glade was happy to find a position as governess after revelations about her past were revealed to her previous employer. Her duty as a governess/teacher, however, did not allow her to turn a blind eye to threats to her charges, regardless of the potential cost to herself - discovering the four orphaned girls in her care were being groomed as high calibre call girls Concordia rescued them, though she had no idea what to do once they escaped the castle where they were being held captive.
Gentleman thief turned private investigator Ambrose Wells little expected, when he began investigating the death of a female attendant at the baths, that he would encounter five young women fleeing a burning building. Quickly grasping the situation, he provided disguises and found them shelter in the home of his protector. As his case and that of the thoroughly unconventional Miss Glade increasingly overlap, so too does their attraction.
Inspired by Lynn's recent review of Quick's Affair, I decided to try her for myself, and I wasn't disappointed - Quick captures the mores of the time while retaining a modern sensibility that, thanks to her character development, doesn't jar. The mystery is somewhat interesting but - at least for me - served mainly as a backdrop for a quite lovely romance. - Alex

Dead and Gone - Charlaine Harris

After much debate, the Weres have decided it's time to let the human world know that vampires are not the only paranormal creatures dwelling alongside them. Simultaneously, in newsrooms across America, friendly spokespeople change in front of the cameras. In Sookie Stackhouse's workplace, Merlotte's bar, the report is accompanied by her boss Sam's transformation into a collie and her friend Amelia's boyfriend Tray turning into a wolf. She can tell through her gift that the revelations, both global and local, are generally well received in the bar, but her former best friend Arlene is a notable exception. A convert to the Fellowship of the Sun, an anti-vampire 'religion,' Arlene's initially unsure of how to respond, but she quickly moves to outraged revulsion.
When the body of Sookie's brother Jason's pregnant ex-wife Crystal is found nailed to a cross, her limbs partly transformed into their panther form, Jason is a prime suspect. In light of the revelation, though, the murder is being looked at as a possible hate crime. In uncovering the killer Sookie is in more danger than ever before, and from an unexpected source. She gains and loses part of her already tiny family, and consolidates her relationship with vampire sheriff Eric. Former lover, and vampire, Bill is still interested, but he'll never be more than a friend to her now, though when her fairy great-grandfather Niall tells her “the vampire is not a bad man, and he loves you”, she's not sure which one he means.
As I said in March (when reviewing From Dead to Worse), I've been finding the more recent books a little flat. Although there's a heaping of back story that has to be slogged through at the beginning of each novel, I enjoyed Dead and Gone far more than I expected. The characters were interesting, there was a hell of a lot of action, and for once Sookie didn't make a new conquest. I wasn't wholly satisfied, and one sizable plot point particular irritated me:
a massive argument divides the fairy folk, who despite their longevity are dwindling in numbers due to decreased fertility. Some fairy believe this is because they're being contaminated by contact with humans, whose inventiveness has provided the fairies with inventions they can use but whose fondness for iron is toxic. This group want to kill all humans with fairy blood and close the passage between our world and theirs, to protect themselves - it was they who drowned Sookie and Jason's parents. The other group, which includes Sookie's great-grandfather, want to maintain things as they are, knowing this will trigger a war which will only end when the leaders of one or other side are killed. Despite winning a battle that sees all the fairies we've met in the series so far (including Claudine, who's saved Sookie's life several times before and who is - for no good plot reason except pathos - pregnant) die, the victorious Niall decides... to close the doors to the world of the Fae anyway. WTF? Couldn't he and his brother's son Breandan have talked about it first? Maybe reached a compromise along the lines of - we'll spare the fairy-tinged humans but close the passage and not allow any more interbreeding?
This irritating quibble aside I did, as I said, enjoy this installment more than I expected, and I'm quite looking forward to the next one, though I'd rather read another in the Harper Connelly series. - Alex

How It's Done - Christine Kole MacLean

Grace feels stifled by the expectations of her religious father - he's so sure about who she is and what she should do that Grace doesn't feel as though she can object. But when he considers her good behaviour of over two months is insufficient to outweigh breaking her curfew by five minute, causing her father to forbid her to go the the senior concert, Grace is primed for rebellion. Liv, her best friend, convinces Grace to go with her to a college literature class for extra credit Liv badly needs if she's ever going to escape her alcoholic parents. Slipping out part way through for a toilet break, Grace meets Michael - witty, urbane and over a decade older, Michael's a lecturer at the university.
When they meet again, by chance, at a coffee shop a brief attraction becomes something different, and Grace loses herself in a relationship with a man who challenges her, attracts her, makes her feel things she never dreamt of, and who offers her a way out. The question she doesn't ask is - into what?
MacLean sustains a strong degree of tension throughout How It's Done - Grace is not only torn between the traditions she was raised to respect and new mores Michael confronts her with, but also a growing awareness of her parents' marriage as a distinct entity, and the demands of a friend who expects favours Grace is uncomfortable asking for.
I found elements of How It's Done reminded me of Twilight, primarily the concept of a love-starved, insecure adolescent girl who, despite the protests of her family, is bewitched by an attractive, attentive older man with a dark side. MacLean manages to illustrate some of the concerns I had with that series here. Michael is not a blatantly bad person - he doesn't beat Grace or abuse her, but his motives are complex and he's not entirely honest.
However, my recollections of my reading experience are strongly overshadowed by a list of twenty discussion questions at the end of the novel. While I can see the need for analysis when a book is read for English literature class, or for a book group that's unable to come up with their own questions, or a texturally deep novel that has sold widely and that demands deeper analysis, in this case it came off to me as presumptuous and annoying. The questions weren't particularly insightful ("How are Grace's father and Michael the same or different?"), and I didn't think there was enough going on below the surface to warrant the inclusion of the questions. I am not, I acknowledge, the likely target audience of this YA novel, but it still rankled. If you decide to read it, consider stopping at the novel's end. - Alex

A Crack in the Line - Michael Lawrence

Alaric lives with his father at Withern Rise, a remote English country house. Since the death of his mother after a horrendous train crash it's just been the two of them - the house, and their relationship, are slowly falling to pieces. One snowy day while his father's away on business and his interfering but well meaning aunt is trying to restore order, Alaric ventures into a forgotten part of the Victorian mansion and rediscovers a miniature of Withern Rise his mother made. When he touches it he feels searing pain, and when he opens his eyes Alaric is in a cleaner version of home, with a strange girl who seems to think he's the intruder.
Naia tries not to think about the terrible time when she and her father didn't know if her mother would survive the injuries from a devastating train crash two years ago - the doctors said it was fifty/fifty, and the odds were on their side. Alone one snowy day she's shocked to discover a strange boy in her living room, a boy who seems to think she's in his house rather than the other way around.
The first in a trilogy, A Crack in the Line explores the idea of parallel universes - Alaric and Naia are similar in almost every respect, except gender, and their lives continued on near-parallel tracks until the accident two years earlier. Alaric and Naia are somehow able to cross into each other's lives through the model of Withern Rise that was carved from the wood of a massive tree on the property. For Alaric, the sight of his mother restored to life is a painful joy.
I was unprepared for A Crack in the Line to so completely end on a cliffhanger - although I knew it was a trilogy going in, I had expected something of a full narrative with ends to be tied up later. There is, however, no resolution of any aspect of the plot, and I found this so profoundly irritating that it has coloured my perception of the novel as a whole, so that I cannot appreciate the awe it's inspired in others - unlike Sarah Meador I certainly haven't spent the intervening time since reading it "in a stupor, scared and searching for one of the alternate realities lying on the grounds of the Victorian mansion in the title."
I will, however, borrow the rest of the series from the library; I hope that the knowledge that I can read it as though all three volumes comprise a single text will allow me to better appreciate the complexity and thoughtful fears that Meador detected. - Alex

Kiss the Girls and Make Them Spy - Mabel Maney

Jane Bond is tired of waking every morning with a vile hangover, lying next to some half-remembered pick up from the night before, but ever since she discovered her lover Astrid in bed with (oh the cliche) her best friend Ruth, Jane's had trouble doing anything else. Bridget's different than the other women, though - a gorgeous Powder Puff Cosmetics seller clad in a hot pink mini dress and thigh high white boots, she's every inch a 1962 moddish girl about town who takes no crap from Jane. She's also an agent for GEORGIE (Greater European Organisation of Radical Girls Interdicting Evil) which creates all kinds of problems when the Secret Service tap Jane on the shoulder to serve her queen and country. Jane's brother, the suave agent 007, is in a sanatorium but his presence is urgently required at a royal event. With a radical haircut and ingeniously tailored suit Jane may be able to pass for her twin brother, leaving the enemies of the state none the wiser.
There are subplots about a conservative group (Sons of Britain Society) plotting to kidnap the queen and reinstate the Duke of Windsor to the throne, and a spy eager to take over from 007 but failing, but you have the gist. The author of gay and lesbian parodies involving the Hardly Boys, Nancy Clue and Cherry Aimless, Maney has turned her hand to one of pop cultures most iconic figures and carried of Fleming's style quite well.
The plot is ludicrously convoluted, just like some of the canon novels, the Britishness is beautifully threaded through (particularly for an American author), there's a great sense of time as well as place, and the dialogue is punchy and often comedically perfect. Like all parodies a little goes a long way, but if you're a fan of the Bond books and prepared for some tweaks this is the book for you. - Alex

Me and Mr Darcy – Alexandra Potter

Emily Albright was born in the wrong age and on the wrong continent. Relationships with modern men have proved disastrous, and the only reliable love interest throughout her life has been the hero of Jane Austen’s most well known work. When Jane’s best friend, the much younger and considerably more outgoing Stella, invites her to come on a margarita-fuelled trip to Mexico, Emily is aghast at the prospect. Her eye falls upon a brochure that randomly appeared in the bookshop she manages, and she decides to go to England and join a Pride and Prejudice tour instead.
Most of her fellow tourers are quite old and pleasant, but journalist Spike is the exception. Spike’s writing an article about why Mr Darcy’s every woman’s ideal man. From the beginning, when he kept the bus waiting then shot their perfectly lovely driver a filthy look, she disliked him, an antipathy fuelled by overhearing him describe her as “pretty dull, average looking and even worse… American.” But a perfectly dishy actor playing Mr Darcy, who Emily first meets when touring Jane’s home, compensates for Spike’s presence. Okay, nobody else ever sees him, he meticulously stays in character, and her copy of Pride & Prejudice has somehow been misprinted with the second half all blank pages…
One of the books I read in my non-reviewing convalescence, the details are a little dimmed but here are my recollections: the contrast between the pieces of P&P Emily reads and the contemporary action (particularly her reflections on Spike while reading about how Elizabeth is lead astray by Mr Wickham about Mr Darcy’s true character) were good but a trifle unsubtle. I liked her realisation that Mr Darcy is far more interesting in theory and far too stuffy in reality – I never quite got the brooding, enigmatic hero myself.
All in all this was an agreeable enough read, but not particularly memorable. If you're smitten with Darcy it may shatter your illusions, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. - Alex

The Perils of Paella - Nancy Fairbanks

Carolyn Blue, food column writer and heroine of four previous books, is in Barcelona, catching up with an old friend while her academic husband attends a nearby conference. She plans to see the sights and try the cuisine but on Carolyn's very first day she discovers a body in the midst of an elaborate performance art piece, a body that in many ways resembles that of her dear friend and Miro scholar Roberta, resident at the museum.
Before she knows it Carolyn is waist deep in art, intrigue, run-away step-sons (Roberta's, not hers), seedy underbellies, suspicious police, murderous cabbies, pubs of ill-repute, amazing food and revenge.
This is a light and frothy series, ideal for a mentally break from more pressing concerns but far from substantial. The characters are sufficiently developed, the recipes amusing (though I have no intention of recreating any), and the plot diverting. I also liked the unusual setting, and Fairbanks' inclusion of Catalan history, language, culture and cuisine into the text - Alex

Practically Perfect - Katie Fforde

Interior decorator Anna has a huge and exciting challenge - her sister Laura has bought a broken down small cottage not far from London. All Anna has to do is fix it up for resale - from flooring to plumbing, and creating a stairway that's both sound and fits the interior architecturally and physically.
She didn't expect to acquire a retired greyhound, the perpetually high strung Caroline, and she never thought to contact the local building commission, who turn out to have rather strict requirements. She also didn't expect to find love.
I enjoy Fforde's novels, which tend to gentle English countryside romances, involving young single (or newly single) women who have a task to achieve and romance firmly off the agenda but creeping in anyway, and Practically Perfect was exactly what I expected. The characters are sufficiently three dimensional, the plot is believable and undramatic, the hurdles to romance don't stretch credibility too far, and the odd plot twist keeps things interesting.
Given Practically Perfect was published in 2006 I was a little disconcerted by the level of technological ineptness, demonstrated by the surprise Anna's neighbour and her sister show when discovering Anna set up an email address for herself unaided. She also went on a bit much about the tininess of the cottage, considering her young married neighbours are raising three boys in an identical (albeit habitable) home. These tiny quibbles aside, however, Practically Perfect was not particularly memorable or life changing but an amusing enough diversion. - Alex

Twilight - Stephenie Meyers

Bella Swan has returned to her childhood home in the small town of Forks, Washington, and the father her mother left when she was an infant. Though Bella has spent a little time with her sheriff father, they aren't close, but her flighty mother has remarried and Bella's giving them some space. Never popular in Phoenix, Bella's surprised to be something of the centre of attention in her new school.
She is immediately attracted to her new seatmate, Edward - gorgeous and enigmatic, Bella is dismayed to find him treating her with hostility every time their paths intersect, at least until he saves her from being mowed down in a car accident. She would swear he moved as fast as lightening, and the dents in the van's fender are hand shaped...
Bella is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery. A chance conversation with childhood friend Jacob, who tells her about local Native American mythology, leads Bella to conclude that Edward and his family are vampires. His adoptive father, Carlisle, has a non-human policy and all the members of the group drink animal blood, unlike the vast majority of vampires. Bella's scent is intoxicating to Edward, which is why he avoided her, and she is strangely immune to his ability to read thoughts.
Twilight is the first in a massively successful quartet that I've avoided until now. Lynn reviewed this first installment a few months ago and was less than impressed, which was good enough for me, but in the space of less than a week I've had three people tell me I have to read it, and I succumbed to the pressure.
I can certainly see why Twilight is popular with its' adolescent readership. It is, to the best of my knowledge, the first vampire series aimed squarely at teen girl, and that's certainly a factor. Bella is an archetypal Every Girl - unappreciated, lonely, distanced from her parents and unpopular until she discovers an environment where she blossoms. Edward is the ideal boyfriend - courteous and devoted, attracted but limit setting, gorgeous and faithful. There's a strong tension between desire and restraint, they have a secret that binds them from the outside world, and from the beginning Bella is concerned about the age difference between them.
Of course, like all vampire romance novels there's no concern about the fact that her apparently seventeen-year-old paramour is really a century or so old. Why does no-one ever find this disturbing? Instead the concern is that he will never age while she will continue to grow older and more withered. Bella desperately wants to join Edward as an immortal, a move he resists because of his belief that the turning will damn or lose her soul. With all the passion of young love Bella is deaf to any objections, and there's a strong Romeo and Juliet-type atmosphere, though more in terms of heedless, blind passion than suicidality and death.
Though pleasant and absorbing enough, I have certainly read more captivating and absorbing novels, even in this sub-genre. However, the pace is brisk, the large cast of characters introduced in a measured tempo and well differentiated, and I enjoyed the novel enough that I've reserved the next to read as well. I must say, though, that I still don't understand the strength of the passion this novel has inspired, particularly in middle-aged readers like myself. It's been suggested to me that at least some of this is down to the novel bringing back memories of their own disenfranchised teen years, and I suppose I can see that. However my adolescence wasn't all flowers and adoration and I seem to have moved past that in the intervening twenty years. - Alex

For Lynn's review of Twilight click here

Ice Station Zebra - Alaistair MacLean

When a fuel oil fire destroys Drift Ice Station Zebra, a UK meteorological research facility in the Arctic, killing many of the crew and stranding the remainder, the US Navy submarine Dolphin is sent to save the survivors. Much to the commander's displeasure Dr Carpenter, a Brit with expert knowledge of frostbite and other deep cold medical conditions, is thrust upon him. Despite an order for the Chief of Naval Operations instructing him to offer Carpenter every assistance, Captain Swanson is suspicious, and Carpenter reveals that Zebra is a listening post, the first line in detecting a missile attack from Russia.
The remaining plot is convoluted, and detailing it is impossible without revealing key plot points. The first-person narration allows the reader access to knowledge the crew are unaware of, including Carpenter's relationship with the Zebra leader, and the fact that the fire was deliberate. He does not, however, disclose all and the true role he plays, as well as the nature of the ice station, are not revealed until the end.
MacLean is far better known than my favourite action author, Bagley. This is only the second of his works that I've read, and I can't tell how much of my diminished involvement with this (in comparison to my depth of involvement with the Bagley oeuvre) is because Bagley's better and how much is because my enjoyment is coloured by fond and prolonged previous exposure.
I found the journey to the Arctic unnecessarily drawn out, primarily showcasing MacLean's naval experience rather than substantially advancing the plot. The station is variously referred to as "drift ice station," "ice station" and "drift station," for no reason I could see bnut that may be unnecessarily petty, as is my observation that alcohol is usually contraindicated for both cold exposure and shock (a fact Carpenter doesn't seem aware of).
Published in 1963, the novel is necessarily dated - not just because of technological changes and Cold War mentality but also because of changes in word use like "to-day" and "damn'" (to indicate that it's a contraction of 'damned').
This may make it sounds as though I didn't enjoy Ice Station Zebra; despite these flaws, and though I suspected the villain from the start, the twists and turns kept my interest, the plot was involving, and the narrator was enigmatic and engaging. I doubt I've found an adequate replacement for the redoubtable Bagley but I'll give MacLean another go. - Alex

The Girlfriend Curse - Valerie Frankel

Peg Silver is stunned when she discovers her ex has married, only months after their long-term relationship came to an end. When she learns that this has been a pattern with all her exes she is determined to find out why. A private investigator tells her that she acted as a catalyst, and that they all think of her favourably. Determined to do something wild to change this pattern, Peg sells her Manhattan apartment and moves to a house in Vermont, a place she's never visited.
On the bus she meets Ray, with whom she has an instant connection. Ray has the same problem, and is embarking on Inward Bound, a retreat designed to help people with relationship issues overcome the behaviours that have held them back. Her new house filled with mice and her loins lusting for Ray, Peg decides to join Inward Bound too, and make over her life entirely.
As is often the case with this genre, it took me a while to warm to Peg and I found the description overblown. For example:
Nina was dressed, as usual, in a silk suit, this one the colour of pale tangerines. Nina loved silk, and silk adored Nina, clinging to her bust, gliding along the flat landscape of her midsection and streaming down her long legs.
The redhead was just as striking, a Technicolour wonder in Day-Glo pink knee-high boots, an orange denim jackets, a yellow ruffled shirt and a pomegranate vinyl tote on her lap.
I also wasn't so taken with a translation of Robbie Burns' poem ("the best laid schemes of mice and men often go wrong. And they leave us nothing but grief and pain for promised joy") as though that were the poem itself. Finally, on a critical note, the solution to the solution for the mice problem, an ongoing sob-plot, was a bit of a stretch.
However I did for the most part enjoy The Girlfriend Curse - Peg grew on me, the encounter group and its characters were interesting and detailed, and though her family and friends would have irritated me not end they were internally consistent.
I've had mixed luck with Frankel's work, and had decided not to read any more. I found The Girlfriend Curse on the recently returned trolley and was captured by the blurb before I realised it was by her, then decided to try it anyway. I'm glad I did - the location is a refreshing change, and even though Peg is the near-mandatory New York single secular Jew with poor impulse control and an unhealthy obsession with fashion she moves and changes. the romance was slightly unexpected, there were comic moments, and the psychology of the Inbound participants (including its leaders, therapist couple Linus and Wilma) was genuine and interesting. - Alex

Puzzled to Death - Parnell Hall

Bakerhaven seems like the ideal place to have a charity crossword competition - after all, it's the home to America's best loved crossword creator, Cora Felton. The competition is the brain child of rival creator Harvey Beerbaum, and as the deadline approaches Cora is increasingly concerned that Harvey will unmask her as a fraud - Cora knows nothing about crossword puzzles and the real Puzzle Lady is her niece Sherry. This becomes less important, however, as a series of murders rocks the small Connecticut town - first the unfaithful wife of pool-playing ne'er-do-well, then contestants in Bakerhaven's inaugural (and possibly only) charity fund raiser.
The third in the Puzzle Lady series, I found Puzzled to Death more involving in its characterisation than the plot. While interesting, the mystery was plausible but not particularly captivating. It's peopled, however, by a series of fascinating characters - Cora is delightful, Sherry's attempts at restraining and managing her are still fresh and amusing, and the relationship between Sherry and reporter Aaron is rewarding. A fun and diverting read. - Alex

Simply Irresistible - Rachel Gibson

Hockey star John "the Wall" Kowalsky is at his Fortune 500 manager's wedding to a trophy wife out of necessity - you don't cross Virgil Duffy and maintain your career. He was prepared to put in an appearance, but that's about the extent of his involvement - hung over and disinterested, John leaves before the wedding even starts. On his way to the car, a '66 Corvette, he's waylaid by a pretty young thing in a hot pink dress who begs a lift. It's not until they're miles away that he discovers she is the intended trophy wife. If Virgil finds out then John's career is over, and that's not a sacrifice he's prepared to make, no matter how toothsome the ditz might be.
Georgeanne Howard was always more interested in tea parties than math, but when she overheard a doctor telling the grandmother who raised her (after her mother abandoned her at birth without so much as a backward glance) that she has a brain dysfunction, Georgie was determined that no one will over know her secret shame. Instead she'll make the most of her looks and marry well; Virgil looked perfect, but when it came down to it Georgie knows her reluctance was due to more than cold feet. John isn't a suitable substitute - he's arrogant and opinionated, and though he's undeniably hot he drinks all the time. The chemistry between them might be too much to resist, but when John unceremoniously dumps Georgie at the airport with a ticket home she knows she'll never forgive him. Discovering she's pregnant doesn't change that, either.
The combination of romance and sports stars strongly reminded me of Susan Elizabeth Phillips's work, and the style isn't dissimilar either. Georgie recreates herself and becomes an independent success, and John makes changes in his life too, so when they meet again some years later it's not precisely as the same people.
There's an irritating lack of honest communication that, though consistent with the way the characters are drawn, was nonetheless a little too convenient, and I could have done without the comparisons (one character looks and acts like James Dean, another bears "a striking resemblance to Burgess Meredith") but it was fortunately sparse enough to move past.
The most impressible characterisation was Lexie, the daughter Georgeanne has chosen to raise alone - Gibson has done a great job conveying the way little kids think. When, for example, John turns up at Georgeanne's house unannounced, though her mother's warned her not to let strangers into the house Lexie reasons 1) that he's not a stranger because he came to her school, and 2) that he must have come to sign her things because she missed out on that occasion.
I wasn't excited enough by Simply Irresistible to track down the rest of Gibson's oeuvre but I won't run away screaming if I see her, either. - Alex