Review: Anastasia's Secret by Susanne Dunlap

Anastasia's Secret by Susanne Dunlap

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Anastasia Romonova has always been somewhat of a mystery. The youngest daughter of the last Tsar of Russia and a descendant of Queen Victoria, Anastasia lived a sheltered life with her older sisters and sickly younger brother. History paints her as the joke maker of the family and the one who was in charge of keeping spirits up. Until recently, there had been speculation as to whether or not the Russian princess could have survived her family's slaughter and there have been many theories.



Susanne Dunlap's debut novel is told from Anastasia's point of view and starts from the beginning of the first world war when Anasasia's life really started to change and her privilege was slowly taken away. The central focus is on Anastasia's friendship and later brief romance with a soldier whom she meets and sneaks out with. Sasha (the young soldier) isn't a particular fan of her father but is intrigued by the princess who seeks his conversation and company. Anastasia appears to be starved for company outside her family circle. As the Romonov's situation and treatment becomes more desperate, Anastasia seeks comfort and information from Sasha, who becomes one of the guards essentially keeping the family prisoner.

Sasha does whatever he can to protect Anastasia - pretending he does not know her as anything more than the princess and at times being purposely sharp tongued towards her. When the situation gets dire and Sasha believes her life really is in danger, he tries to convince her to let him smuggle her, and only her out of Russia and to safety.



Susanne Dunlap has definitely done her homework and used the materials and information already known about the family well: it is known during their capture that the Romanov children formed a friendship with the soliders and Susanne Dunlap has worked this into the novel, giving the soliders personalities and names and showing kindness to the girls.



She has rounded out Anastasia's personality so that she becomes a character rather than some intriguing mysterious historical figure.



I have always had a fascination with Anastasia so this book was perfect for me, all the way through the last chapters I was rooting for Sasha to whisk her away and save her even though I knew that's not how it would happen. The only negative comment I have about this book is I wish the Sasha/Anastasia relationship had been developed a bit more and fleshed out a bit and made more of a feature than it was, while it is always in the background, the book focuses more on Anastasia's everyday life than the romance.



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Review: The Murderer's daughters

The Murderer's Daughters by Randy Susan Meyers

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


How deep does the parent/child relationship go? If you saw your father kill your mother in a drunken argument then plunge a knife into your little sister's chest or you were the sister whose chest he plunged the knife into - could you or would you forgive him? Could you still love him? How would it shape the rest of your life?



These are the questions posed in The Murderer's Daughters.



Lulu believes she is the reason her family fell apart: she opened the door to the apartment - she let her father in on the fateful day he murdered her mother and stabbed her sister. The sense of guilt haunts her through out her life and causes her to feel the need to protect her baby sister who she both loves fiercely and resents for her carefree lifestyle and her need to maintain a thread of a relationship with her father.



Merry, the youngest and Daddy's little girl has vague, blurry memories of what happened. She knows it happened but at the same time can't/won't quite believe all the negatives about her daddy. While Lulu insists their father is as good as dead and maintains the story that their parents were killed in a car accident Merry continues to visit her father in prison.



I wasn't sure about this book to start with because of the subject matter - it's an interesting concept to explore but at the same time needs to be handled delicately and with respect as for many people this scenerio is their reality but the author had obviously done her homework and research because this book was a rollercoaster of emotion and so intricately written. I loved how it was written in the first person and switched from Lulu to Merry and portrayed each of their differing emotions and issues.



Not exactly a light read but definitely a great read.



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Review: What Alice Forgot

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


When we first meet Alice she is floating in a dreamlike state and all she can smell is lavender. Her eyelids flutter open and she believes she is twenty-nine and pregnant with her sultana - her first baby, her husband and her have an idyllic beautifully loving, passionate marriage and the year is 1998. It's in fact 2008, she is the mother of three children, her husband apparently now hates her and they are getting a divorce and she has turned into the kind of person she never wished to be.



Her eldest child believes she hates her, her sister walks on eggshells around her and can't quite believe she's being so friendly and her husband just wants to know if with her memory loss she is capable of looking after the three children she doesn't remember having.



This is a beautiful book - and just look at that cover- about second chances and reforming your life into what you want it to be and rediscovering the joy in life. Alice's life is now like a blank canvas she can now redesign.



The writing of this book is so intricate that I read it in one day and became so immersed in Alice's story I felt like I was inside her life and head watching it all unfold - I could feel her confusion, her pain and her heart ache. The book is narrated in such a unique way; firstly by Alice, secondly by Alice's sister via her journal and thirdly by Alice's surrogate grandmother through her blog and online comments. This is a really uniquely intriquing book which I just could not put down.



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Book review: Girl with the dragon tattoo

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson


My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family gathering on the island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was never found, yet her uncle is convinced it was murder - and that the killer is a member of his own tightly knit but dysfunctional family. He employs disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist and the tattooed, truculent computer hacker Lisbeth Salander to investigate. When the pair link Harriet's disappearance to a number of grotesque murders from forty years ago, they begin to unravel a dark and appalling family history. But the Vangers are a secretive clan, and Blomkvist and Salander are about to find out just how far they are prepared to go to protect themselves.



I was leant this book and thought I'd jump on the hyped up band wagon and give it a go. Honestly, I can't say I enjoyed it. It took almost half the book to introduce the characters and their background and to get going with the action. Some would say it was just on a slow burn but for me there has to be some excitement or action quite early on to hold my attention.



Before the action unravelled I could see the kind of direction it was going to go - Harriet was in fact not dead - it was hinted at rather blantantly for me.



While the writing was indeed intricate, I found it full of cliches and just too graphic - it left nothing to the imagination when it came to the crimes committed. Unfortunately this won't be a series I'll be continuing with, it just didn't hold up to the hype for me.



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Book review: Leaving Paradise by Simone Elkeles

Leaving Paradise by Simone Elkeles


My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Nothing has been the same since Caleb Becker left a party drunk, got behind the wheel, and hit Maggie Armstrong. Even after months of painful physical therapy, Maggie walks with a limp. Her social life is nil and a scholarship to study abroad—her chance to escape everyone and their pitying stares — has been canceled.



After a year in juvenile jail, Caleb’s free . . . if freedom means endless nagging from a transition coach and the prying eyes of the entire town. Coming home should feel good, but his family and ex-girlfriend seem like strangers.



Caleb and Maggie are outsiders, pigeon-holed as "criminal" and "freak." Then the truth emerges about what really happened the night of the accident and, once again, everything changes. It’s a bleak and tortuous journey for Caleb and Maggie, yet they end up finding comfort and strength from a surprising source: each other.



This is essentially a story about forgiveness. Could you ever really completely forgive someone who harmed you? Caleb has spent the last year locked up in prison paying for one piece of bad judgement which ended in his neighbour and his sister's best friend being maimed for life.



Maggie is terrified of Caleb and what she thinks she remembers from the accident. He's the reason she can't walk properly, can't play tennis and has lost all her friends. He's also the reason why they all call her a freak. But as Caleb is released from prison and Maggie returns to school, they are constantly thrown together - particularly by the old lady they are both working for.



Caleb's family are falling apart, Maggie is racked with guilt by how much her therapy is costing her single mother and they gradually realise the only person who they can find solace with is the one person they shouldn't.



The concept of this book I found to be realistic and the progression of Maggie and Caleb's relationship to be natural. My one gripe with the book is that Simone Elkeles always seemed to have the boy leaving in order to 'save' the girl just as he's realised he's in love with her.



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The mediator: Shadowland

Shadowland by Meg Cabot


My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Suze is just your average sixteen year old girl. Except she has the ability to see and interact with ghosts. When she moves across the country to live with your mother and her new stepfather she thinks it will be the end of her entanglement with the afterlife...but the house turns out to be from the eighteenth century as does the hot guy ghost invading her room...oh and her school is also older than the hills and the only reason there's space for her in school is because some girl offed herself and is now pissed off and haunting the place.



Ah...the mediator series. I read and loved these as a teenager. I had such an incredible crush on Jesse. And who wouldn't? He's a hero who is always there to help Suze out when she needs but can also step back and let her kick butt. He's also a consummate gentleman.



Meg Cabot wrote this with such intricate detail that even the most cynical reader could picture the events described in their minds eyes.



Suze is sassy and vulnerable at the same time and is portrayed as a teenage girl not as being wise beyond her years. There is seriousness mixed in with humour.
Once again as I was as a teenager, I am hooked on this series and swooning for Jesse.



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Review: I Heart New York

I Heart New York by Lindsey Kelk


My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Angela Clark has it all: freelance writing career, loving parents, close female best friend and highschool sweetheart/fiance. That is until she catches said fiance in the arms of another woman at best friend's wedding. And it's not a one time thing. After an impressive throwdown/tantrum she packs a bag and gets on the earliest flight to New York. Not knowing where to go or what to do she checks into the first hotel she sees where the desk clerk takes pity on her and befriends her.



Things are all shiny and new from there, she gets to see the city which never sleep with her new best friend, meets not one but two gorgeous guys - one a wall street banker, the other a slightly damaged rock singer and she lands a very sex and the city style gig writing a blog for an online New York magazine.



While this book lacks realism in terms of how often does this type of thing actually happens, it's a great piece of literary escapism. The writing is fluid and makes you forget just how unrealistic the plot is, it's heartwrench, heartwarming and has it's moments of humour added in for good measure and two hot male leads. It's a great book for what it is - guilty pleasure chick-lit.



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