Right Ho , Jeeves!

Bertie Wooster has just returned from Cannes after a holiday with his Aunt Dahlia, her daughter Angela, and Angela's friend Madeleine Bassett. His friend Gussie Fink-Nottle, in love with Madeleine, is advised by Jeeves, Bertie's ever-resourceful ‘gentleman's personal gentleman', to accept her invitation to a fancy dress ball, but Gussie ruins things by forgetting the address. Meanwhile Bertie is in bed one morning nursing a severe hangover when Dahlia appears, and orders him to come and stay with her at her home, Brinkley Court, so he can give the prizes to the boys at the local school at the end of term. She knows he will make a fool of himself, but she has lost a large sum while gambling at Monte Carlo and needs a good laugh. Recoiling in horror, Bertie sends Gussie to deputise for him. However he ends up going to Brinkley anyway, to find that his cousin Angela has broken off her engagement with Tuppy Glossop, and Gussie has fallen out with Madeline.

There are inevitable romantic misunderstandings, family arguments, cooks threatening to hand in their notice, and a hilarious scene when the teetotal Gussie, his orange juice well laced with alcohol, ends up presenting the school prizes, and insults everyone in the process. The result is total uproar, until Jeeves comes to the rescue. 

Princess Diaries

Mia Thermopolis is your average urban ninth grader. Even though she lives in Greenwich Village with a single mom who is a semifamous painter, Mia still puts on her Doc Martens one at a time, and the most exciting things she ever dreams about are smacking lips with sexy senior Josh Richter, "six feet of unadulterated hotness," and passing Algebra I. Then Mia's dad comes to town, and drops a major bomb. Turns out he's not just a European politician as he's always lead her to believe, but actually the prince of a small country! And Mia, his only heir, is now considered the crown princess of Genovia!

I think Meg Cabot stole my 14 year old personality and changed my name to Mia.

From the first to last page, I was entertained. 

Meg Cabot made me love and relate to Mia. Who hasn't thought about what it would be like to be a princess? Although it would've been a dream come true for me at that age, I can understand Mia's immediate, horrified reaction. And although I had a pretty ok self image when I was younger, the doubts that crept in were so similar to Mia's in a charming hilarious sort of way.

She even admired her outspoken, intelligent best friend Lily instead of admiring the popular cheerleader Lana. my brain might explode. 

I really loved this book. It gets a full  rating from me. I highly recommend this to everyone:  books written in an epistolary style with charming characters.

Where Rainbows End

This book focuses on the intertwining lives of Alex and Rosie, from their childhood in Dublin to their adult lives. Best friends, they stick with each other through thick and thin, knowing somewhere in their hearts that they are each other’s soul mate. Misunderstandings, bad luck and troublesome circumstances keep them apart until finally they are presented with the ultimate opportunity to be together again.

Cecelia Ahern proved in ‘PS, I Love You’ that she has an understanding of life beyond her years. She proves this ability yet again in ‘Where Rainbows End’. This book deals with all sorts of life’s trials and tribulations including young motherhood, marriage, adultery and grief. Rosie becomes pregnant at a young age and her struggle as a young mother are well-documented in this book. She has to make so many sacrifices for her daughter Katie, career-wise and in her personal life too. While Rosie has to stay in Dublin to raise Katie, Alex marries Sally in Boston. And then Rosie marries Greg. Neither marriage is beneficial to say the least and both end eventually . The various themes in this ’Where Rainbows End’ makes it well worth a read.

I loved the character of Rosie in this novel. She is an ordinary girl leading an ordinary contemporary life who is easy to click with. Her personality is lovely, she is witty, kind and responsible. She doesn’t deserve the bad luck which destiny throws at her. I was with her when baby Katie was born, felt her pain when Alex married, was so angry on her behalf when Greg cheated on her. I was emotionally involved in this book because of Rosie.
The author does a fabulous job in portraying the relationship through the years. Nearing the end of ‘Where Rainbows End’ I was growing desperate to see Rosie and Alex together. But although this book follows the love between Alex and Rosie, it is not a romance. This is chicklit, chicklit at its very best. This novel is about the characters’ growth, their journey of self-discovery. Alex and Rosie’s magical connection makes you feel the strong love between them, but there is no ‘romance’ in this novel. 
Overall I enjoyed ‘Where Rainbows End’ and would recommend it to any of my friends. Not once did I want to close it. So if you’re looking for a good women’s contemporary fiction read, go pick this up here.

Thanks For The Memories

As you can probably gather, I am huge fan of Cecelia Ahern .So when her latest book ‘Thanks for the Memories’ was released I rushed out to buy it. In just a few days I found that I had read the entire book, it was such a compulsive read I just couldn’t put it down! 

Joyce Conway remembers things she shouldn’t. She knows about tiny cobbled streets in Paris, which she has never visited. And every night she dreams about an unknown little girl with blonde hair.

Justin Hitchcock is divorced, lonely and restless. He arrives in Dublin to give a lecture on art and meets an attractive doctor, who persuades him to donate blood. It’s the first thing to come straight from his heart in a long time.

When Joyce leaves hospital after a terrible accident, with her life and her marriage in pieces, she moves back in with her elderly father. All the while, a strong sense of déjà vu is overwhelming her and she can’t figure out why …

Set in Dublin, so it has an Irish flavor to it. Joyce Conway falls down the stairs and loses the baby she is carrying. This is the final blow for her marriage to Conor, since the possibility of a child was all that was holding it together. It also means that, after her hospitalization, she cannot bring herself to go back to her house where she had a nursery set up. She moves in with her dad, a very likeable old Irish guy who pretends to be a bit more addled than he actually is.

There is another way in which Joyce’s life changes. While she was in the hospital, she needed a transfusion of blood. At the same time, Justin Hitchcock, a divorced American who is guest lecturing in Dublin on art and architecture, is talked into donating blood, and his blood goes to Joyce.

As Joyce recovers from her accident, she finds that she suddenly has acquired knowledge and memories that aren’t her own and can’t be explained. Since the story of Joyce and Justin are told in parallel, the reader can see that the two lives are now entangled; Joyce even gets achy after Justin works out at the gym.

Once again Cecelia Ahern has delivered a true gem of a novel. It has exactly the right mix of heartache, romance and magic to keep readers hanging on her every word from start to finish as you become entangled in the lives of the characters she so realistically describes almost as if watching a movie play out in front of your very eyes....

PS I Love You

The book is an easy read, and it captures you that you do not want to put it down. The story is based in Ireland, where the winters can be gloomy but the summers are a breath of fresh air.

It is the story of a young woman, Holly, who is barely 30 but already a widow. As she tries to make sense of her personal tragedy, she receives a box of letters that her husband had written for her, before his death. Gerry and Holly had been high school sweethearts and were perfect for each other; unfortunately 'until death do us part' came too soon for them. Gerry died of a brain tumor, leaving Holly in a spiral of depression, where she only gets up to answer the phone. One day, her mother calls telling her that there is a box that Gerry had left for her.

10 letters, he left her, one for each month until the end of the year, and all signed "PS I love you". Each letter it gives her instruction for that month, is it buying a lamp to going to Karaoke.

The letters give Holly the strength to live her life by giving her something to look forward to each month. With the help of her friends, Denise and Sharon, and family, which help her, grieve. As the months go by she becomes closer to some of her siblings which in past wasn't so social with and discovers their softer side and pain as well. 
as you continue reading it,  you find yourself laughing and crying all at once.

The book definitely moved me.Cecelia is certainly the mistress of magic!

The Lost Symbol

I just finished reading my fifth Dan Brown book, The Lost Symbol. If you’ve read The Da Vinci Code and/or Angels & Demons, then you’ll recognize the main character, Robert Langdon, Harvard symbologist. Langdon is unexpectedly summoned by prominent Mason and longtime friend, Peter Solomon, to give a lecture in the U.S. Capitol Building. Upon Langdon’s rushed arrival to Washington D.C., he soon realizes that we was tricked into this trip and Peter was not the man behind this last-minute request.
We soon learn that Peter has been kidnapped by a crazed, tattooed, lunatic named Mal’akh. Mal’akh informs Langdon that he must follow his instructions carefully to ensure Peter keeps his life. Langdon’s main objective is to solve an age-old Masonic mystery to unveil the “Lost Word” so Mal’akh can complete his “transformation.” In the mix of it all, Peter’s sister, Katherine, a researcher of Noetic science, is dragged into the mess to join Langdon in his efforts to solve the mystery and save their beloved friend and brother.

The Lost Symbol is another great suspense novel by Dan Brown. I genuinely enjoy all of his books because he writes with such a great style that keeps me so engulfed in the material, and this book is just another great example of that.The Lost Symbol has an insane twist… Literally jaw-dropping. I give this book 4.5/5 stars. Definitely give it a read if you haven’t already — especially if you’re a fan of Dan Brown, or suspense/thriller novels in general. Can’t wait for his next book!

Da Vinci Code

Robert Langdon (first introduced in Angels and Demons) is a Harvard Professor of art history and religious symbology. He has spent a lifetime exploring religions and theology and explaining the use of their symbols in art and history. He is a veritable gold mine of information about the Catholic church, pagan religions, and religious mysteries. As The Da Vinci Code begins, he is in Paris to give a speech and to meet with Jacques Saunière, the curator of the Louvre, although he's unaware of why Saunière wants to meet with him. Unfortunately, Saunière is murdered in the Grand Hall of the Louvre and the French police get Langdon out of bed, ostensibly to help them understand the information and symbols Saunière left at the murder scene. Actually, Langdon is their prime suspect and they want to see if he inadvertently gives incriminating information before they arrest him. Trapped within his own gallery, Saunière had enough time to leave clues to his killer and to the information for which he was murdered. Langdon, however, cannot understand the clues left behind and the captain of the French police, Bezu Fache, is certain that they point to Langdon as the killer.

They are interrupted at the murder scene by Sophie Neveu, a police cryptologist who claims to have broken the code of the seemingly random numbers left next to the corpse. Unknown to Bezu Fache, Sophie is also Saunière's granddaughter and she is certain the clues he left behind were meant for her and that Langdon is not only innocent, but the key to helping her understand it all.

All that occurs in the first few short chapters and it sets a pace which never wanes for the rest of the book. Sophie and Langdon manage to barely escape from many dicey situations, but never in an unbelievable way. They continue to solve each ensuing puzzle and riddle they encounter, leading them deeper into more mysteries they must comprehend. Jacques Saunière was much more than just the curator of the Louvre; he raised Sophie after her parents died in an accident and he constantly entertained her with puzzles, riddles, and secret information. Sophie and Langdon soon realize that he was also a member of a secret society called the Priory of Sion, which over the centuries had included men such as Da Vinci, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Isaac Newton. Langdon is more familiar with the Priory, and he tells Sophie the story of their long history and that they purportedly keep hidden documents concerning the truth about the early Catholic church that the church never wants revealed, and that they also allegedly know the hiding spot of the Holy Grail.

Without giving more of the plot away, suffice it to say that everyone in this book is in the hunt for the secrets hidden by the Priory of Sion including the Grail. Some want to protect it, some want to expose it, and some want to destroy it. With the information provided to them by Jacques Saunière, Sophie and Langdon are ahead of everyone else, but police, assassins, and churchmen aren't far behind. The race is on, the tension is high, and the puzzles to be solved seem incomprehensible.

The chapters in The Da Vinci Code are short, usually not more than a couple pages. Most of them end with a cliffhanger that immediately catapults you into the next chapter. So grab this book, sit back, and prepare to be entertained and educated. It's well-written, it's intelligent, and best of all, it's fun!

Angels and Demons

Like the majority of readers, I read Angels & Demons by Dan Brown after reading The Da Vinci Code. I would venture that most people reading this review are asking the question, "How does Angels & Demons compare to The Da Vinci Code?" The short answer is that they're very similar. If you enjoyed The Da Vinci Code, you should enjoyAngels & Demons.

Angels & Demons introduces the character of Robert Langdon, professor of religious iconology and art history at Harvard University.As the novel begins, he's awakened in the middle of the night by a phone call from Maximilian Kohler, the director of CERN, the world's largest scientific research facility in Geneva, Switzerland. One of their top physicists had been murdered, with his chest branded with the word "Illuminati." Since Langdon is an expert on the ancient secret society known as the Illuminati, he's asked to help solve the murder.The murder victim is Leonardo Vetra. Not only is he one of the world's leading physicists, he's a Catholic priest. He's a priest who has adopted a daughter, Vittoria, who is also a scientist at CERN. This was the largest suspension of disbelief for me, a man who is a priest, a father, and a top physicist, but accepting it sets the rest of the story in motion. Vetra and his daughter were using the world's largest particle accelerator to create antimatter, and then suspend the antimatter properly in canisters so that it doesn't interact with matter. If a canister is removed from the electrical system which keeps the matter and antimatter separated, then backup batteries will serve the same purpose for 24 hours. When those 24 hours expire, the two will collide in an instantaneous explosion of unprecedented power.

Langdon and Vittoria Vetra are in a race against time. They dig through archives and ancient mysteries to find clues, which also requires an extensive background in art history and religious symbology. This makes Robert Langdon the expert tour guide through all this arcane knowledge with his congenial and scholarly fashion, doing his best to educate without seeming superior with his own intelligence. Much like The Da Vinci Code, Langdon understands enough about each mystery to go in search of the missing pieces necessary to solve each puzzle, which leads him to the next one. Vittoria is beautiful, tough, intelligent, and determined to avenge her father's murder and keep the canister from exploding. The two of them are constantly one step behind the Illuminati, and once it's clear that the Swiss Guard and Vatican City have been penetrated by the ancient society, they don't know whom to trust. This leads them through churches, fountains, crypts, forgotten passages, secret passages, and catacombs. Death stalks them at every turn, in one form or another.

Angels & Demons is still a highly enjoyable read. For those who love plot-driven novels, and for those who love thrillers and mysteries full of strange bits of information that tie everything together, grab a copy of Angels & Demons and find a comfortable chair. It's time well spent.

House Of Night Series

I have read all of the House of Night series.

Zoey Redbird has been marked - some weird looking dude appears before her and says some weird words, and disappears. She discovers she has the outline of a crescent moon on her forehead! This means she is tapped to be a student and part of The House of Night - a school for fledglings who will either become a vampyre, or their bodies reject the process and they die!

But she sees the Goddess Nix, and the Goddess finds favor with Zoey, and the Goddess fills in her crescent – something that usually doesn’t happen until a fledgling transforms into a vampyre.

Zoey, dealing with an uncomfortable situation at home - her step-father is very dominating of her mother, and Zoey is miserable, so picking up and leaving to a boarding school for pre-vamps sounds pretty good to her. Zoey finds friends who in various books are BFF's or giving her the cold shoulder.

Zoey has found she has a great gift given to her by the goddess Nix - she can cast the circle and can call on all the elements - indeed the first book's magic - was, well, when the magic of the circle comes.

Zoey's mentor and counselor is Neferet, who at first in my mind resembles the good witch from The Wizard of Oz - very beautiful, very powerful. Neferet is the High Priestess of The House of Night. She becomes like a surrogate mother to Zoey.

The whole series is addictive to me - I love vamps - indeed am writing my own vamp novel based on my popular short story THIRST - but I have more questions than answers -

Who pays the kids' tuition and living expenses?
Aside from the undead (they chomp down on their victims), how do the adult vamps feed? Dixie cups? I know sometimes blood is mixed in wine - but I want to know -

The path of Neferet has been really great - from goody two shoes to oh my gosh – creating horrid undead from dead fledglings, plotting to take over by allying with and wanting to be all powerful consort of the immortal Kalona - whom she brought back by an ancient magic – a fallen angel who is gorgeous with black hair and black wings. Did I mention this dude is evil incarnate?

The kids are fighting back uniting in the name of following Nix.

How do all of the kids when they are marked all of a sudden give up their religions and follow Nix? Although the Goddess Nix is wonderful and in book four the nuns say she is another name for the Holy Mother –

The timeframe from Marked to Hunted is only a few months since Zoey was marked at her mortal high school to the present. That’s a lot of action for the span of five books in such a small time.

Lots of everyday questions - but the series is a lot of fun and you root for all the kids who are part of Zoey's life.

The additions of Native American culture are amazing and the most important element of strength that Zoey had - to learn about the Culture, and a great deal of the mythology, is great.

I have to admit I read each book in a day - and have already ordered book six.

It is a great series - I totally understand what the books are intended for, but that is true of a lot of Twilighters, and Harry Potter fans. The older fans can enjoy it too.

Aside from some of the questions I mentioned - and more - I love this series -

Now my vamp hero from THIRST is nothing like these - well maybe poetic like Loren - although he doesn't look like Loren - but he has the heart of a poet yet can bite you in the throat if you cross him!

This makes the concept of vampire or vampyre stories so much fun - any take on them, make it believable in some magical way, and you have a winner!

Got to read all the books - and read again!
Excellent!

Twilight Saga

At the heart of it, Twilight is a story of forbidden love, this fact is reinfoced by the image of an apple on the cover of the first book. The story revolves around Bella, a self sacrificing young girl with a penchant for getting into dangerous situations and being clumsy. Bella moves to Forks to be with her dad, because she wanted to give her mum and her new boyfriend some space (told you she was self sacrificing). While in Forks, she meets and falls in love with a vampire (Edward Cullen) and as if that was not bad enough, she also becomes friends with a werewolf (Jacob Black who we find out in Breaking Dawn was actually a shape shifter and not a proper werewolf).

The Cullen family, of which Edward is a part, are a family of vampires who have decided not too drink human blood and instead feed on animal blood, jokingly referring to themselves as vegetarians. Edward, who also falls in love with Bella, has to learn to balance the his desire for her blood with his desire for her; a job not made easier by the fact that Bella seems to seemingly have no regard whatsoever for her own safety. I feel that reviewers that are debating the morality of a girl dating a vampire are all being pretty narrow minded and should all get over themselves. It is a fantasy fiction book for heavens sake! Maybe it is the dominating romantic in me this appeals to, but it does, so there you go.

Stephanie Meyer has succeeded in created gripping characters that you can identify with, even if it is just silently cringing and some of the situations that Bella always seems to get herself into. Anyone who has had their heart broken will be able to identify with the destructive spiral Bella fell into in book 2 when Edward left. Stephanie Meyer also seems to have mastered the knack of suspense and once the series gets going, you will be hard pressed to put it down.

However, sometimes having Bella describe everything that makes Edward perfect can get tedious after a while and it takes the first book a while to get started. Despite all this, it is still a good book and I will heartily recommend it :) .

Chasing Harry Winston

Lauren Weisberger's latest novel, Chasing Harry Winston , is about on three main female characters - Leigh, Emma and Adriana - attempting to look at what it means to be a single woman in her mid- to late-20s living in New York.  Weisberger's use of other popular culture phenomena is something that i totally want to learn as a budding writer.

This book focuses  on women doing everything they can to avoid growing old, are narcissitic, and need constant validation for their existence then it does provide a realistic look at what it means to be a self-sufficient woman who embraces the opportunity to grow older and more mature. Each character is a  archetype of women's worst characteristics.

I love this book because its so believeable yet Awesome! And there are all Emmys,Leighs and Adrianas in the crowd!

Obsessions

Books.
My dream world started when I started reading novels telling me how beautiful and diverse the world is. How NYC is the awesomest city in the world and how Paris has love everywhere.How legends and myths are so mysterious and beckon me to their folds and how supernatural is so superb!How running across Rome with Robert Langdon is ethereal and thrilling.

Damn! I heart books!

 I am gonna start Book reviews on some of my faves.