Highlander for the Holidays by Janet Chapman

Overview

After a brutal attack, Jessie Pringle moved to the small mountain town of Pine Creek, Maine, to start over. But she never expected to meet Ian MacKeage, who had seemingly stepped right out of the Scottish Highlands. As drawn to Ian as he is to her, Jessie finds it more and more difficult to deny her own desires...

Then, on one of her long walks through the wilderness, she meets a kindly hermit who sells her a walking stick-one imbued with a magic that may allow Jessie to finally be rid of the pain of her past, and build a future with Ian.

My thoughts:
I am now starting to get caught up with all the books I read while I wasn't getting around to posting.  They should keep me busy for quite awhile!  I read this one last month and loved it.  I remember quite a few winters ago, long before I had discovered blogging, I read book 2 of Chapman's Highlander series and loved it.  I went back and bought book 1 and then read all the others either then or as they came out.  I love her writing and of course, though strong Highlanders who want to protect the object of their affection, while also being both gentle and passionate, just the right mix for a romance!  I got this book as a swap on Paperbackswap earlier this year.  I have since sent it along to another reader so someone else can enjoy it.

I enjoyed Jessie, I guessed at one of the points from her past that was holding her back from recovering, but I don't think that it detracted from the story at all.  Having her move so many miles from where the attack occurred and putting her in a situation where she got to be strong and self-reliant let her heal in a way I don't think she ever would have had she stayed in Atlanta.  Going someplace new can let you be someone else and shed some of the preconceived notions people who already know you may have. 

I must admit I had a bit of trouble placing Ian, figuring out whose son he was as I read the other books so long ago.  i actually decided for the beginning bit that it just didn't matter and then at one point it clicked.  I think even without already knowing this whole clan a reader could pick up the book and jump right in.  The magic jumps out and shows itself pretty well that no one is going to be too thrown off.  I wish I had made the time to read this at Christmas time, but now that the hot weather has hit again maybe it is just as well.  I could have waited and read myself cool!

Product Details

• ISBN-13: 9780515150087
• Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
• Publication date: 10/25/2011
• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Pages: 352

The Night Circus by Tess Morgenstern

Overview

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazement's. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per­formers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.

Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart.

My thoughts:
I really wanted to read this book, but the opportunity to listen to the audio version from the library came up and I took it.  I always wonder when I listen to a book if it would have been the same experience reading it myself.  I love that Jim Dale who read the Harry Potter books I listened to with my children was the narrator.  I have to say some of his voices sounded just like they did for certain Harry Potter characters and it threw me until I got used to it.  Another thing that gave me more trouble with the audio was the jumping back and forth in time, as some chapters are happening in the future or the past.

I purposefully did not read much of anything about this book, not even the synopsis, so I could experience the story on my own without thinking about what other thought about it.  i skimmed a few blogger reviews, but that was it.  There was so much talk about the book that I knew I wanted to read it.

The funny thing is my Ipod only gave me a very blurry picture of the cover and I thought the picture was a doll in someones hand.  When I pulled it up just now I saw that it was the circus on a hand instead.  I think the circus does become a character in the story so it is fitting my tiny image was what I thought was a doll or small child, a character in all of the action.

I was reminded of the Hugh Jackman movie, The Prestige, and the other one with Christian Bale, The Illusionist, because of the time period and the performances of magic on stage.  There was something unique about each of the characters and even as they continued to appear and interact, new facets about them would emerge from the story. 

It made me wonder how much hinges on time and being in the right place, or wrong place, at the right or wrong time.  None of us can control time and things can be decided based on being late or early.  Isabelle meets Marco because her train is late.  Bailey misses the train when the circus leaves early.    Also, how much do any of us understand the big picture of everything that goes around in the world around us and how much are we just cognizant of our own little bubble of it.  Do we see how our actions reach out to others?  Not to the extent that Celia and Marco are effecting others, but there are ripples from all that we do that go outward farther than any of us can know.

I saw when looking at some reviews tonight that many, many people loved this book and some others were less than thrilled with it.  I'm not in the less thrilled camp, but it did feel like a bit of a slow start to me, once I got into it I wanted to listen whenever I had a chance and listened to quite a bit today while I did a long run on the treadmill.  It gave me something to focus on while I was running and a reason to keep going as I knew I was very close to the end!

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780385534635
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication date: 9/13/2011
Pages: 400

Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris

Overview from Barnes and Noble When Sookie's brother Jason's eyes start to change, she knows he's about to turn into a were-panther for the first time. But her concern becomes cold fear when a sniper sets his deadly sights on the local changeling population-and Jason's new panther brethren suspect he may be the shooter. Now, Sookie has until the next full moon to find out who's behind the attacks, unless the killer decides to find her first.

My thoughts:
I read this at the beach last week.  It was the third time I've picked it up but somehow I never got around to finishing it.  It was a little weird reading this one at the same time as I am watching season four of True Blood on HBO because in the TV series Jason is not turning into a were-panther.  While the show is based on the books, they really do change a lot of details.

This one had all the elements you expect from the series, Sookie and her feelings for vampires and her ability to hear thoughts, shape shifters in danger from a sniper set on taking them out one by one, werewolves and their pack business and a few fairies thrown in for good measure.

I wonder if the issues with picking a new pack leader will be covered next season on the TV series and if it will be as graphic as it is in the book. I'm going to have to look for book 6 at the library or online because I would like to read the rest of them before they are covered on TV so I can experience them in my own way, not comparing them to what is happening on the screen.

Details
•Pub. Date: April 2006
•Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
•Format: Mass Market Paperback , 320pp
•Series: Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire Series #5
•ISBN-13: 9780441013333
•ISBN: 0441013333

Dragon Warrior by Janet Chapman .

Overview from Barnes and Noble:

The steamy second book in Janet Chapman’s dazzling Midnight Bay series seduces readers with an enticing tale of a fiery independent woman and an irresistible immortal warrior with a dragon’s courageous heart.

Maddy Kimble has no time for a suitor—not with caring for her spunky nursing home patients, her shy nine-year-old daughter, her widowed mother, and her rebellious teenage brother. William Kilkenny’s stunning lack of modern dating protocol doesn’t help. The man is uncouth and outrageous—a towering, drop-dead, breathtakingly hot warrior. Who refuses to give up.

William is secretly a ninth-century Irish nobleman formerly trapped in a dragon’s body. All Maddy knows is that lately, she can hardly resist the urge to lose herself in his powerful arms. But as their uncontrollable passion grows, eerie occurrences in her small coastal Maine town begin to rouse Maddy’s suspicions about her lover. He begs her to trust him, but how can she surrender—body and soul—when she fears the danger he poses to her yearning heart?

My thoughts:

This was another beach read this year.  I loved that my children were so happy on the beach this year.  In past years we would go to the beach for a few hours and then go back to the condo for lunch, naps and downtime.  Each afternoon I would wish we could go back out to the beach, but they didn't seem to have the energy for it.  This year they did so we spent hours sitting on the beach, walking, playing in the water and sand and just enjoying it.  I love reading on the beach.  This was the first book I finished.

I discovered Janet Chapman a few years ago with her highlander series which I loved.  I read book two first and then went back and did the rest in order.  The MacKeage family were all larger than life and so much fun to read about.  I think since then I've read just about all the books Chapman has published.  They are such a fun escape from day to day life.

I only have a dim recall of the first book in the Midnight Bay trilogy.  It took Kenzie, who is the brother of Matt who married one of the MacKeage daughters in the other series, from his panther form to human again and brought him to a new place in Maine.  Kenzie of course found love and happiness.  He is forced to rebuild the house that was destroyed due to supernatural forces.  One of the supernatural things going on is a dragon from the ninth century who is really a man in need of help.  William Kilkenny has to both help Kenzie with the continued supernatural events and work on wooing a modern woman who thinks he looks like a caveman with his beard and crazy hair. 

Maddy had her life thrown off course early on by an unexpected pregnancy and then a marriage that didn't work.  She has been working hard to provide for her daughter, help her brother and mother and get by and has put her heart in a closet to keep it safe.  William threatens that protection, but offers a lot more.

Magic is throughout this book.  Along with men who can become animals there is a mermaid, a druid, supernatural storms and more.  I can't wait to read book three.  I have it on my wish list on Paperbackswap and the estimate is that a copy will be available to me within a week or so!

Details

•Pub. Date: January 2011

•Publisher: Pocket Star

•Format: Mass Market Paperback , 368pp

•Series: Midnight Bay Series

•ISBN-13: 9781439159897

•ISBN: 1439159890

Meet The Author

A native of rural central Maine, Janet Chapman lives there in a cozy log cabin on a lake with her husband. Three cats and a stray young bull moose keep them company. The author of the hugely popular Highlander time-travel series, she also writes contemporary romances.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 the Movie

My husband and I had a movie date this morning.  When you have kids sometimes you have to be flexible about times and I hate to be in packed movie theaters so this worked out great.  I love the low price of the morning movies at our local AMC theater too!

I remember when the first movie in the series came out.  I reread the book and went to see it the first week and felt let down.  So many things were changed and deleted from the movie that I as too distracted to really get into it and enjoy it.  Now I enjoy rewatching the movie and the changes don't bother me.  I have a feeling that this movie is going to be the same thing for me. 

I loved the story and it is evident that there was a lot of effort made in keeping it very close to the book, but there were still some changes that bothered me a bit.  I won't name them because I hate to spoil movies.  My biggest complaint was that the movie felt slow.  It was as if there were scenes that needed to happen so they made a checklist and just filmed each one then strung them together.  There wasn't a lot of continuity between one scene and the next.  There also wasn't a lot of suspense.  Yes I have read the books so I knew what was going to happen, but part 1 seemed more suspenseful and tense.  Even the scene with the dragon wasn't how I pictured it.

This is a movie that I may need to see again.  My older two children want to see it, but we wanted to see it first to make sure they would be okay and we feel they will.  One day I may take the two of them and try to relax more.  Maybe my expectations were too high.  All the other reviews I've read have been great, so it may just be me.  Perhaps it is residual sadness over knowing that the movies are over and the reminder that the book series is over as well.  I always thought Rowling would eventually write more, maybe about Teddy Lupin or Harry, Ron or Hermoine's children.  Maybe explore a new generation at Hogwarts.  Who knows, that may eventually happen.

"A Highlander Christmas" by Janet Chapman for Pocket Blog Book Tours

My rating 4.5 out of 5
Where the book came from: received as part of Pocket Blogs Book tours (although I had it on my wish list on Paperbackswap and had thought about buying it.

Synopsis from Amazon.com:
"Camry MacKeage has absolutely no intention of telling her parents that she left her job as a NASA physicist for the small-town life of a dog-sitter -- which is why she's spending the holidays alone in coastal Maine with her furry friends Tigger and Max. Unfortunately, her irresistibly handsome rival, scientist Luke Pascal, accidentally spilled the beans. Now he's on a mission from her mother to tempt Camry home for the family's annual winter solstice celebration. But Luke is hiding his own secret, and he'll need a little bit of magic to earn Camry's trust...and a whole lot of mistletoe to seduce his way into her heart."

My thoughts:
This is part of Chapman's Highlander series. It is the seventh book in the series. Prior to this I had already read the previous books and enjoyed them. The first two are among my favorite books. As the series has gone on I've started to get some of the characters a little mixed up but I still enjoy them and the magic they contain. I think Camry may be the last unmarried daughter out of Grace and Greylen MacKeage's seven daughters. She has burned out and is taking a break from NASA while working in a small town not far from her family as a dog sitter and bartender. The Luke drops in and things start happening. Believing in a little magic is so fun in December, who wouldn't like to be able to believe for just a little while, but while Camry is open to the magic that is pat of her family heritage, Luke is very grounded in science. When they get married by a wizard turned justice of the peace they both have to evaluate what it means to love "uncompromisingly, unpretentiously, and unconditionally" and make allowances and adjustments for each other. Through an avalanche on a Maine mountainside they both work through their doubts about life, magic and science. This was the perfect December story for snuggling by a fire and watching miracles happen.