Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Wednesday Book Talk

So new this year at Quinn's Essentials--Erin's Book Talk.  I love talking about books and when I read one that is really special, I always want to spread the word.  Right now I'm in a critical reading class at ASU and we are reading, of all things, HARRY POTTER.  All of them.  That's pretty much taken up all my reading time and since those wonderful books have all been talked about countless times, I'm going to skip them here.  However, in the mix I did read another book that I thought was amazing.

I came by this book by chance and loved it.  I'm a huge Jane Austen fan and indulge in a few of the Austen Revival books, but none of them have given me that... that.... ahhhhh feeling.  Well, Elizabeth Rolls doesn't revive Jane Austen's characters--she creates exciting ones of her own and she did give me that ahhhhh feeling in Lord Braybrook's Penniless Bride.  I'm not a huge  reader of any one category of books--my tastes are all over the place from Regency to Historical to Paranormal to Urban Fantasy to an occasional Stephen King to thrillers and back to my one true love, Romance.  If you, like me, enjoy Jane Austin and are looking for a book that manages to capture the customs and manners of the Regency era, I highly recommend, Lord Braybrook's Penniless Bride.  I really thought it was wonderful.

I'm not going to write a typical review--there are others who do that and probably better than I ever would.  Suffice to say, it's a great book with a spunky, appropriate for her age/era, intelligent heroine.  You won't catch Miss Christiana Daventry cutting off her nose to spite her face, and yet you won't catch her bending over backwards to please a man, no matter how sexy he is.  Having been raised in the time period of her story, Christiana doesn't drop her drawers and have illicit sex at her first ball, but Rolls manages to put all the fabulous sexual tension that makes romance the great genre it is in her story.  There are complex issues and serious conflict in this story--all handled with an artists hand.

I understand this book features characters from other Roll's books and I will be looking for them (as soon as I finish all 7 of those Harry Potter books :-) 

So I'm always on the hunt for book recommendations.  Tell me what you're reading now?  Anything you'd like to recommend?

7 comments:

Jami Gold said...

Since I'm trying to break in to the paranormal market, almost all my reading has been in that genre lately as I gamely try to catch up on my TBR pile. When I'm not reading paranormal, I've been checking out Kresley Cole's historical romance series (If You Desire, If You Dare, If You Decieve).

Elizabeth Rolls said...

Thank you, Erin, for your kind words. And thank you for taking time to spread the word.
It's great to know that you enjoyed your time with Julian and Christy.

If you haven't finished the Harry Potter books yet . . . enjoy! We all loved them here. Death threats were issued to avoid spoilers.

Elizabeth

Erin Quinn said...

Jami--I do much of the same. Sometimes it's a good thing but other times I think--what am I thinking???? I'll NEVER be that good. sigh. Keep at it.

And that's for the recommendation on Kresley's historicals. I didn't even know she wrote historicals. I'll definitely be checking them out!

Erin Quinn said...

Elizabeth--what an honor to have you stop by. I really loved your book and can't wait to get back to "reading for Erin" so I can read more. Although I do love the Harry Potter books, reading for pleasure and reading for a class are never the same thing. :)

Fedora said...

Erin, I've heard good things about Elizabeth's books! Good to know you concur! My most recent rave reads are ones by Ann Aguirre and her alter ego Ava Gray. I've also really enjoyed Carla Kelly's The Surgeon's Wife (I think that's the title). Happy reading!

Erin Quinn said...

I think I'm going to like this book talk business. My TBR list is growing. Thanks!

Elizabeth Rolls said...

I agree about reading for class never being quite the same as just reading for pleasure. Sometimes I even wonder if we do kids a service by making them read books for study. Then I think about the books I read for school and many of them ended up being favourites, like To Kill a Mockingbird and I think it was the same for a lot of us. However,when I went to replace my battered old copy of TKAMB at Amazon I didn't know whether to laugh or cry at all the kids giving it one star reviews and explaining, in execrable English, why it was so badly written!