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Review: The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Posted by: Laura at Im Booking It on: November 13, 2009

The HelpMy rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is one of my favorite books of the year. The audio version is amazing.

The beauty of this book is in the characters, particularly the three leads.  The South of the 1960s is a character unto itself, a highly segmented society in a world that is changing around it.

Skeeter was raised to be a Southern lady– her purpose in life was supposed to be getting married, having children, and running a household (with the unacknowledged assistance of the help).  Her mother is embarrassed that Skeeter graduated from college without finding a husband, but Skeeter isn’t so sure this is the end of the world.

Skeeter doesn’t know it, but  she’s ready to move into a new era.  She’d like to work as a journalist.  She’d like to have her writing published, not just her household tips, but something more.

She’s given an amazing opportunity– if she writes about something she REALLY cares about, it will be read by someone with the power to make something happen.

As she looks at her life, she realizes that a very important set of players is consistently overlooked– the help, the black women that do the day to day work of running the households and raising the children.  These women are not treated with respect, and Skeeter wants to tell their stories.

Doing this is a risk for Skeeter, but the risk the black women are taking is incredible. This is one of the reasons that hearing the different viewpoints was so powerful– I wouldn’t have been able to feel this fear as thoroughly if I’d only had Skeeter’s view.

Aibileen is the first person to agree to work with Skeeter.  She’s also a writer, although if Skeeter’s chances of being published are small, Aibileen’s are non-existent.  This doesn’t stop her from watching everything around her with a writers eyes.

Aibileen mostly accepts her role in society, but she isn’t happy about it.  She loves taking care of young children, and has been handed the raising of her current charges.    She has a warm, loving demeanor, and wants to be a peacemaker– but she also wants change.

Minny is also involved in Skeeter’s project, although she is far less willing than Aibileen.  She doesn’t trust Skeeter at all, since Skeeter is white.  Minny is a strong, sassy woman who has made mistakes in her own personal life.

Minny doesn’t hold her tongue easily, and this has limited her employment prospects.  She’s found a job working for a rather unusual woman, but has reason to think her grasp on the job is rather tenuous.   None the less, when events of the day show all of her community how vulnerable they are, she is able to motivate more women to be interviewed for Skeeter’s book.  She also is the one that comes up with the scheme that they hope will keep them anonymous, and therefore safe from retribution.

Going back and forth between the three characters, seeing how it took all of them to make Skeeter’s book happen, and seeing the effect the book has on everyone in the community was compelling reading.

The book did an amazing job of telling the story of the society of the time by showing us these three women and their lives.  There were some funny moments, as well as many touching ones and outright sad ones.  There were beautiful tales of love and respect between some of the pairs of white and black women.

I listened to the audio version of this book.  I think it is one of the best audio productions I’ve listened to, and really added to my enjoyment of the book.  Hearing the different voices (with appropriate accents) for the 3 characters really helped them come alive for me.  All narrators were excellent.

I read this book for my Book Club M. We had a good discussion in spite of only having three of our six regular attendees– two of them had last minute situations come up. I think all three of us liked The Help more than we expected– one didn’t really want to read it, but really enjoyed it. We talked about what made the book work, about how authentic we found the characters, and about the different paths that Skeeter’s life could have taken. I strongly recommend The Help for book club discussion.

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Review: Now & Then by Jacqueline Sheehan

Posted by: Laura at Im Booking It on: November 12, 2009

Now & Then by Jacqueline SheehanMy rating: 3.5 of 5 stars.

I liked Now & Then, but I didn’t love it.

Usually when this happens, I can list what I did and didn’t like about the book. I’m finding that difficult to do. The book was pleasant enough. There wasn’t really anything I disliked about it. There wasn’t a lot that I strongly liked, either.

From the book cover:

Anna O’Shea has failed at marriage, shed her job at a law firm, and she’s trying to re-create herself when she and her recalcitrant nephew are summoned to the past in a manner that nearly destroys them. Her twenty-first-century skills pale as she struggles to find her nephew in nineteenth-century Ireland. For one of them, the past is brutally difficult, filled with hunger and struggle. For the other, the past is filled with privilege, status, and a reprieve from the crushing pain of present-day life. For both Anna and her nephew, the past offers them a chance at love.

Will every choice they make reverberate down through time? And do Irish Wolfhounds carry the soul of the ancient celts?

The past and present wrap around finely wrought characters who reveal the road home. Mystical, charming, and fantastic, New York Times bestselling author Jacqueline Sheehan’s Now & Then is a poignant and beautiful tale of a remarkable journey. It is a miraculous evocation of a breathtaking place in a volatile age filled with rich, unforgettable, deeply human characters and one unforgettable dog named Madigan.

I think the plot had a lot of promise, and I’m not quite sure why it didn’t feel like it delivered. It got tangled in time travel paradoxes, of course, but that’s what’s supposed to happen. I’d be disappointed in a time travel book that didn’t!

Anna had her moments, and I’m not sure why I didn’t her more than I did.   She had an interesting background.  I think I got tired of being told what a strong person she was.   I rarely felt it.  She didn’t seem weak.  I just didn’t have a good rapport with her as a character.

Joseph was an appropriately obnoxious teenager. I didn’t like him much, but I wasn’t supposed to. I was sympathetic to his situation, both his back-story before the book began, and the events of the book itself.

I did appreciate the look at Irish history, and the dynamics of the relationship between the English and the Irish.  It’s something I don’t know very much about, and now I’d like to know more.

I wish Madigan (the dog) had more of a role. I wish there had been a bit more grey and a bit less black and white. I wish it’d just had a little more of whatever it was that was missing.

It wasn’t a bad read, but it could have been better.  I apologize for the wishy-washy review!

For more information on the book or the author, check out Jacqueline Sheehan’s website, or listen to her interview with Book Club Girl on Blog Talk Radio.

TLC Book ToursI read this book for a TLC Book Tour.  Thank you to Trish for giving me the opportunity to participate.

To see some other opinions, see the other tour stops:

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Review: Blue Smoke and Murder by Elizabeth Lowell

Posted by: Laura at Im Booking It on: November 11, 2009

Blue Smoke and Murder (St. Kilda Consulting, #4)My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed reading this book, but weeks afterward, the details are merging with other similar books I’ve read.

From Goodreads.com:

Jill Breck was just doing her job as a river guide when she saved the life of Lane Faroe, son of two of St. Kilda Consulting’s premier operators. But when a string of ominous events—including a mysterious fire that kills her great-aunt and a furor in the Western art world raised by a dozen Breck family paintings—culminates in a threat to her life, Jill reluctantly calls in a favor.

Zach Balfour works part-time as a consultant for St. Kilda. His expertise is gathering and analyzing information from unlikely and often dangerous sources. Though he’s got the skills to be a highly effective bodyguard, being a bullet catcher isn’t his preferred way to spend time.

Protecting Jill will take him into familiar territory—among a strange, savagely competitive bunch of collectors who’ll do anything to stay at the top. But Jill is in deeper waters than she’s ever known; as she soon discovers, the perils of running wild rivers are tame compared with the hidden dangers in the high-stakes game of art collecting.

From the cozy rooms of the Breck homestead cabin to the cold multimillion-dollar galleries of the Western art circuit, Zach and Jill must race against time to unmask a ruthless killer hidden in a blue smoke of money, threats, lies, and death….

The setup is somewhat implausible, but I can deal with that. I think that events flow fairly reasonably once you accept it. Elizabeth Lowell is good at the thriller side of the story.

She’s also good at the characters, which is (to me) the most important aspect of a romance novel. I enjoyed the different aspects of Jill’s personality– her career and the aspects of her personality that make her successful as a river guide; her family loyalty that calls her back to deal with her great-aunt’s estate; and (of course) the part that makes her a good character in a romance novel.

Zach is similarly interesting, although with somewhat less depth. Watching their relationship develop was fun.

I read Blue Smoke and Murder during the read-a-thon, which means that I read it a few weeks back, and with several other books.   The main thing I remember is that I enjoyed reading it!

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Book Club: What we’re reading

Posted by: Laura at Im Booking It on: November 10, 2009

book clubMy Book Club M has picked our upcoming reads, using our usual voting method.

Have you read any of these books?  Has your book club discussed any of them?  Let me know what you thought!

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Review: Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris

Posted by: Laura at Im Booking It on: November 7, 2009

Dead as a Doornail (Sookie Stackhouse, #5) My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This isn’t a full review, but does cover my main thoughts on the 5th Sookie Stackhouse book.

From Goodreads.com:

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.

This is very clearly my least favorite Sookie book so far. The number of men drooling over Sookie has gotten ridiculous, particularly since she returns the interest of most of them. Pick any two of them, and it would be fine. I might even be able to stomach a third. But

  • Bill (vampire #1)
  • Eric (vampire #2)
  • Sam (shape changer)
  • Alcide (werewolf)
  • Calvin (werepanther)
  • Quinn (weretiger)

(and I feel like I’m forgetting one!) is just way too many.

Sookie StackhouseI’ll read the next one because (other than her extensive taste in men) I still like Sookie. I’m interested in what happens with Jason, and I did find the whole shapeshifter storyline in Dead as a Doornail interesting, but it was overshadowed by Sookie’s romantic possibilities.

I read Dead as a Doornail for the Sookie Stackhouse Reading Challenge.  This is book 5 of 9, with an end of year challenge deadline.

Other reviews:

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Winners: Life After Genius

Posted by: Laura at Im Booking It on: November 6, 2009

Life After GeniusThank you to everyone that entered my giveaway and to Hachette Book Group for allowing me to host it. (See my review  for Life After Genuis.)

Random.org says these are the winners:

  1. Ellie W
  2. Lisa
  3. Alicia
  4. Cara Powers
  5. Lindsayphoto

I’ve e-mailed them, and will submit their information.

If you didn’t win here, try these sites:

Check my blog for other my other giveaways– I keep a list  in my sidebar.

Enjoy your reading!

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Review: The Impostor’s Daughter by Laurie Sandell

Posted by: Laura at Im Booking It on: November 5, 2009

The Impostor's DaughterConfession:  At no point in the past 15+ years have I a read a graphic format book.  I didn’t realize this book was quite so heavy on the illustrations when I agreed to review it, and it kind of freaked me out when it arrived.

I saw a couple of good reviews in a row, and decided this would be a good time to bring it out.  I’m glad I did!  I really enjoyed The Impostor’s Daughter.

From Hachette Book Group’s website:

Laurie Sandell grew up in awe (and sometimes in terror) of her larger-than-life father, who told jaw-dropping tales of a privileged childhood in Buenos Aires, academic triumphs, heroism during Vietnam, friendships with Kissinger and the Pope. As a young woman, Laurie unconsciously mirrors her dad, trying on several outsized personalities (Tokyo stripper, lesbian seductress, Ambien addict). Later, she lucks into the perfect job–interviewing celebrities for a top women’s magazine. Growing up with her extraordinary father has given Laurie a knack for relating to the stars.

The story was compelling and entertaining, and I felt like I got to know the author.  It was just weird enough to keep me interested, just real enough to keep me connected.

The book was about Laurie, and how her relationship with her father affected her life.  Her interactions with the rest of her family, with friends, with co-workers, and with complete strangers are colored by her past experiences with him.

As she makes the decision to pursue his real story, her relationships become even more confused.  The book was quite open about her thoughts and feelings, but it only gives us her side.  I’d be interested in hearing what some of the other people in her life thought.

I don’t want to give the impression that the book is all sticky emotions.  It is also a lot of fun.  Her father’s stories are entertaining– people wanted to believe him, which is part of how he got away with his deception for so long.  Laurie’s stories about her celebrity interviews are even better.

The drawings were nice, but didn’t really stick with me.  I did find myself stopping to examine them at times. Others might appreciate them more, I think I’m just not that visually oriented.


The Impostor’s Daughter was an easy, entertaining read.  I’d recommend it as a Christmas gift for those who read regularly and those that rarely pick up a book.

Other reviews of The Impostor’s Daughter are at

  1. Bermudaonion’s Weblog
  2. At Home With Books
  3. Chick with Books
  4. J. Kaye’s Book Blog
  5. Trish’s Reading Nook

You can find more about Laurie Sandell on her website.

Thank you to Hachette Book Group for providing this copy for me to review.

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Review and Giveaway: To Desire A Devil by Elizabeth Hoyt

Posted by: Laura at Im Booking It on: November 4, 2009

ToDesireaDevilButtonMy rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

I’m not even sure I can pinpoint why I liked To Desire A Devil so much.  I think it comes down to how good the writing is. All aspects of the book just work for me, even when I wouldn’t have expected them to.

From the Hachette Web Site:

NOTHING IS MORE INTOXICATING-
Reynaud St. Aubyn has spent the last seven years in hellish captivity. Now half mad with fever he bursts into his ancestral home and demands his due. Can this wild-looking man truly be the last earl’s heir, thought murdered by Indians years ago?
OR DANGEROUS-
Beatrice Corning, the niece of the present earl, is a proper English miss. But she has a secret: No real man has ever excited her more than the handsome youth in the portrait in her uncle’s home. Suddenly, that very man is here, in the flesh-and luring her into his bed.
THAN SURRENDERING TO A DEVIL.
Only Beatrice can see past Reynaud’s savagery to the noble man inside. For his part, Reynaud is drawn to this lovely lady, even as he is suspicious of her loyalty to her uncle. But can Beatrice’s love tame a man who will stop at nothing to regain his title-even if it means sacrificing her innocence?

To Desire A Devil felt fresh to me, even though it’s hard to do anything really unique in a historical romance (although I’m not sure I’ve come across “hero captured by American Indians” in a book based in England before– usually, they’re captured by the French.)

Beatrice should have annoyed me.  I don’t usually have much patience with young women who refuse all previous relationships, waiting for a passion which will  sweep her away .  She fit thes description, but I wasn’t annoyed. I was interested in what happened to her, and I enjoyed reading about her life.

The portrayal of the relationship between Beatrice, her uncle and Reynaud was a strength of the book.  He had raised her from a small child, and you can see the affection between them even while they recognize each other’s weaknesses.  Her uncle had inherited his Earldom when Reynaud was declared dead 7 years ago, and Reynaud’s return means he stands to lose everything he has built his life around during that time.  He’s not going to give it up easily.

On the other hand, Reynaud has lost everything already.  He wants the last 7 years of his life back, and if that isn’t possible, he wants as many of the things that were taken from him as he can get. He isn’t inclined to deal reasonably with the person who currently has his title, his money, and his home.

Beatrice has to figure out how to maintain her relationship with both of the men she loves in very different ways.

Beatrice’s friendship with other women in the book wasn’t a primary focus, but led to some good insight and some fun moments. I liked this quote from her friend Lottie:

Well! Then you shall simply have to play nurse to a wickedly handsome man– even if he has far too much hair at the moment– who is ether a long-lost earl or a black scoundrel who might imperil your virtue. I must say I’m terribly jealous.”

Beatrice’s virtue is indeed imperiled. This book features more sex scenes that most of the historical romances I’ve read.  Take this as a warning or an enticement, whichever you’d like.  I think they were well executed.

I didn’t find that I was missing anything by not having read the previous books in the series, although I did spend time wondering which characters had been featured.  I think I guessed two of the three couples, I should go see if I’m right!

Overall, I found the To Desire a Devil kept me reading, not wanting to put it down.  That’s the most important thing in a fun read like this.

Thank you to Hachette Books for providing me with this review book and allowing me to host a giveaway of 5 copies of To Desire A Devil!

So:

  1. Leave a comment to enter.  I’ll get your e-mail address if you are on WordPress or you enter it where requested.  Make sure it is valid!
  2. If you have additional entries, you can leave them in the same comment.
  3. For another entry, let me know if you subscribe to my blog via RSS or e-mail, or if you follow me on Twitter. Thank you to my current subscribers, Welcome if you are new to my blog.
  4. One more entry if you let other people know about this giveaway! On your blog, on Twitter, another social site. Just let me know.
  5. As a bonus (for an additional entry) tell me what you like in a romance novel hero.

Having an address (not a PO Box) in the US or Canada is a requirement. I’ll pick the winners on the evening of November 30.

Check out the other stops on the blog tour:

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Review: Life After Genius by M. Ann Jacoby

Posted by: Laura at Im Booking It on: November 3, 2009

Life After GeniusMy rating: 4 of 5 stars

(I’m hosting a giveaway of Life After Genius running until the evening of November 5.  If the book sounds interesting, check it out!)

From the Hachette web site:

Theodore Mead Fegley has always been the smartest person he knows. By age 12, he was in high school, and by 15 he was attending a top-ranking university. And now, at the tender age of 18, he’s on the verge of proving the Riemann Hypothesis, a mathematical equation that has mystified academics for almost 150 years. But only days before graduation, Mead suddenly packs his bags and flees home to rural Illinois. What has caused him to flee remains a mystery to all but Mead and a classmate whose quest for success has turned into a dangerous obession.

At home, Mead finds little solace. His past ghosts haunt him; his parents don’t understand the agony his genius has caused him, nor his desire to be a normal kid, and his dreams seem crushed forever. He embarks on a new life’s journey — learning the family business of selling furniture and embalming the dead–that disappoints and surprises all who knew him as “the young Fegley genius.”

Equal parts academic thriller and poignant coming-of-age story, LIFE AFTER GENIUS follows the remarkable journey of a young man who must discover that the heart may know what the head hasn’t yet learned.

As I said in my review of The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, I enjoy books about precocious kids. What’s interesting here is that at18, Theodore (or Mead, as he prefers to be called) isn’t really a kid anymore. He’s transitioning from childhood to adulthood with some big issues to face.

It took me a little while to get into Life After Genius. I found Mead hard to get to know, and for the first few chapters, the skipping around in time got in my way of bonding with him.

About 1/3 of the way in, the book clicked for me, and I wanted to get to know Mead better, I wanted to understand what had happened and why. The skipping back and forth in time became an interesting way of doling out information, of setting up why I should care before being told about an event in Mead’s life.

I really liked the pull between Mead, the bright young man in control of his mathematical future, and Teddy, the boy who is younger than all of his peers, and doesn’t have the social skills to cope with this– even with those that are well meaning (which certainly isn’t everyone). Both sides came into play with his reactions to events in the book.

Mead’s cousin Percy’s story really touched me as it unfolded. This is another one of Mead’s contrasts– how he dealt with the cousin who was successful in so many ways that he wasn’t. Percy’s story plays out, and really affects Mead’s world, and Mead has to come to terms with it.

I did have to stop and decide what I thought about the “ghosts” in the book description. I wasn’t sure I liked the idea of math/mental illness link, as the reader had to decide why things were happening the way they were for Mead. In the end, I was OK with how it played out.

My Book Club M will be discussing Life After Genius in January.  I think it will make for interesting conversation, and I’m looking forward to it.  The publisher has a Reading Group Guide, which we usually use once our conversation has died down.

Thank you to Hachette Book Group for providing me with this book to review, and for allowing me to host a 5 book giveaway!

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Mailbox Monday

Posted by: Laura at Im Booking It on: November 2, 2009

My Mailbox looks a little like this one.I’m participating in Mailbox Monday from Marcia at The Printed Page.

Two books arrived on my doorstep this week:

I also picked up some books while Trick-or-Treating!  Someone had several boxes of books in front of their house, which a few of us looked through while everyone else went on to the next houses. Much less thought went into these selections than my usual acquisitions.  They are actually still in my husband’s car, so this is from memory, which turns out not to be very good.

  • The Christmas Sweater by Glen Beck
  • Something by Ian McEwan
  • Something by David Sedaris
  • A really random book I’d never heard of with a quote on the cover saying it is the funniest book about sex you’ve ever read.

Full details will be given next week– feel free to make a guess :-) .

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Laura de Leon is Booking It

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I'm always reading, and usually on the move. I'm a mom-at-home exploring where I want to go in the world, trying to see what my next move will be. For more information, see About Me


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Current Givaways!

To Desire A Devil by Elizabeth Hoyt ends Nov. 30
Life After Genius by M. Ann Jacoby Closed


  • Ellie W: Sounds like a great book. Thanks for the giveaway. eswright18 at gmail dot com
  • Allison: You've made me really want to read this book now. I may borrow it from the library!
  • Nicole: I am in the middle of listening to the audio as well. It's been slow going because I usually only listen as I clean but I agree with all that you hav

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