I’ve confessed my love of Southern fiction to you many times before. While I enjoy books of all genres, from mystery to classic to theological, I do like a Southern story well told. The Pirate Queen is one such story. In this novel, Patricia Hickman evokes the Southern sensibility through her choice of setting and in her use of beloved Southern icons, Southern Living magazine for example. However, the real strength of The Pirate Queen lies not with its location nor its regional idiosyncrasies. The Pirate Queen is a beautiful, moving story of love and commitment: Treasure is found in the most unlikely places. The envy of all her friends, wife and mother Saphora Warren is the model of southern gentility and accomplishment. She lives in a beautiful Lake Norman home, and has raised three capable adult children. Her husband is a successful ...
Category Archives: Fiction
The Truth About Delilah Blue
Character driven novels are by far at the top of my preferred reading choices. Tish Cohen's recently released The Truth About Delilah Blue fits squarely in this classification, with the title character easily making her mark as a unique and memorable one with a story all her own. At twenty years old, Lila's life is not so much on a structured path, but she's doing her best to work with what she's got. Living with her father in the California hills, she's possessed with an artist's spirit but without the funds to send that spirit to art school, so she's come up with a plan that just might work. Modeling for art students provides the perfect opportunity to quietly observe and take in all the education in the arts she wants, all the while costing absolutely nothing. ...
32 Candles
My top reading genre pick, without a doubt, is contemporary fiction, and I'm a sucker for a novel that features cultural references that relate to my own life experiences. Ernessa T. Carter's debut novel, 32 Candles, released in late June, certainly bears all the markings of a 1980s childhood with a protagonist who views life through the eyes of a movie addict. Not just any kind of movie, though, but the specific teen flicks that decade is famous for- Pretty in Pink, The Breakfast Club, and of course, Sixteen Candles. Davidia Jones dreams of her "Molly Ringwald ending," and no reasonable or charitable person could deny that she deserves it. Growing up without ever knowing her father, even his identity, would have been bad enough, but living with her abusive mother and being the constant object of ...
The Starlet
As an average suburban mom, Hollywood is as foreign a land to me as is the Sahara Desert. Sure, I watch its movies here and there (the theater being quite a treat for an average mom!), and yes, I hear celebrity gossip from time to time, but I'm not a TMZ or Perez Hilton follower by any means. With a good measure of skepticism, I began Mary McNamara's new novel, The Starlet, wondering if its focus on characters enmeshed in Hollywood's foreign culture would appeal to me. Two days later, the answer was quite clear, and what a fun time it was! While indulging in a rare vacation in Italy, Juliette Greyson happens to be in the wrong place at the most definitely wrong time. In her public relations role in the hotel business, Juliette lives ...
Sand in My Eyes
Do you have an older wiser mentor who can encourage you in matters of motherhood and marriage? If not, do you wish you did? Anna is a struggling, harried mom of three kids under the age of 5. She and her husband have disconnected from each other, and she feels like she just can't get it all together. She's recently quit her job in New York City, and they've moved to Sanibel Island, Florida, in hopes of slowing down. Just when she thinks that she truly is going to lose it, the old woman next door, Fedelina, manages to work her way into Anna's life with a gift of an orchid that needs TLC. This orchid, and Fedelina's instructions about how to make sure it gets what it needs so that it will bloom, causes Anna to evaluate how ...
100 Classic Books on the Nintendo DSiXL
I really wanted to find the biggest picture that I could of the Nintendo DSiXL 100 Classic Books game to give you the best idea of what it would look like. Hopefully this particular picture gives you some idea of the reading experience you can expect to have, courtesy of a Nintendo DSi XL screen! Now the lovely ladies here at 5 Minutes for Books were each given an opportunity to read from this 100 Classic Books game on the new Nintendo DSi XL. As any of you who know me through my book reviews, you know that I like reading with an actual book on my hand. Reading a book on a game console is ...
Dark in the City of Light
Paul Robertson certainly could not be accused of exploiting one particular genre. No niche for him. His previous novels (linked to my review) centered around a DC bookseller in According to Their Deeds, a city council making a decision on a municipal project in Road to Nowhere, and a wealthy beneficiary embroiled in politics and murder in The Heir. His newest novel, Dark in the City of Light, takes place in Paris in 1870s at the brink of the Franco-Prussian War. From the publisher’s description: What Evil Haunts the Shadows of 1870s Paris? Baron Ferdinand Harsanyi — After his wife's mysterious death, this Austrian attaché holds control over mines whose coveted ore could turn the tide of war. Therese Harsanyi — Swept up in new romance and the spectacle of Paris, the Baron's daughter is blind to the dangers stalking her family and ...
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Jennifer Donovan
Managing Editor -
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