'When You Were Mine' by Rebecca Serle

Received from the Publisher

From the BLURB:


Rosaline has been best friends with Rob since they were little kids. Recently, something deeper and more electric has entered their friendship, and when Rob returns after the summer break and asks Rosaline on a sort-of date, it seems they are destined to become a couple, just as Rosaline always knew they would be. The next day at school, a mysterious, beautiful girl arrives: Rosaline's long-lost cousin, Juliet. And suddenly it looks as if Rosaline might be about to lose her best friend AND her new boyfriend…


Rosaline ‘Rose’ Caplet is looking forward to the start of senior year, for more than just the obvious perks. Her best friend, next-door-neighbour and long-term crush, Rob Monteg, is returning home after being away all summer. He left Rose with memories of an ‘almost’ moment between the two of them, and a head filled with questions about where they stand and what happens next.


Rose’s best friends, Olivia and Charlie, are thrilled at the prospect of Rose and Rob dating – swearing that the two of them are meant to be together. And it looks as though they might be right . . .  Rob returns and things between him and Rose pick up where they left off. Knee-bumping, long looks and a confirmed date, and a kiss that confirms it all – that Rob feels the same way about Rose as she does him.


And then Rose’s cousin, Juliet, returns home.


Juliet and her family moved to LA when the girls were very young. Juliet’s father went on to become a powerful senator, but Rose and Juliet’s young friendship evaporated and they never spoke again. Until Juliet reappears in her life, and sweeps Rob off his feet right out from under Rosaline’s nose.


‘When You Were Mine’ is the debut young adult novel from Rebecca Serle.


Of all Shakespeare’s plays, I think ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is among the most misunderstood and overrated. No beef with the Bard or anything, but it’s probably his most over-quoted and underwhelming play (I’m a ‘Macbeth’ girl myself - what can I say? I’m bloodthirsty!). Don’t get me wrong, ‘R&J’ has its good points – I personally love Mercutio and Tybalt (best put-down line ever? “What, drawn and talk of peace? I hate the word as I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee”). But people do tend to forget that it’s a tragedy, not a love story. Juliet was thirteen years old (creepy, huh?) and Romeo was as clingy as he was flighty, beginning the play with professions of his love for a girl called Rosaline. Never mind that Friar Laurence was a total cowardly villain who never gets his comeuppance. With all that in mind, I really liked the idea of a modern retelling of the story from the oft overlooked Rosaline, Romeo’s thrown-over ‘love’. Unfortunately, Serle’s attempt to give some page-time to poor Rosaline left me cold.


I do think that ‘When You Were Mine’ had a good idea behind it. Shakespeare provided a really interesting loose end with regards to Rosaline. Romeo starts the play by declaring:

One fairer than my love! the all-seeing sun
Ne'er saw her match since first the world begun.

Yet by scene five he proclaims of Juliet;

Did my heart love till now? forswear it, sight! For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night!

Ouch. Burn. But plenty of room for interesting ‘what if?’ that Serle runs with . . .  it’s just a shame she dropped the ball.


In this modern retelling, Rose and Rob are next-door-neighbours and best friends since childhood. When Juliet lived in town, all three were good friends until Juliet moved away when she was seven-years-old. When the book begins, Rob has returned home after a summer away and Rose is thrilled to learn that he has feelings for her. The two go on a tentative date, and share a heartfelt kiss, and Rose is certain all her crush dreams are coming true. And then Juliet returns home. Rose’s father and Juliet’s father stopped talking after he moved his family to LA – some mysterious family falling out that Rose is too young to remember, but which comes to the fore once again when Juliet returns. Rob and Rose’s parents, friends since the two were children, are having whispered conversations about the Senator and his family. Juliet is frosty towards her dear cousin . . . and she quickly sets her sights on Rob, who pretty quickly forgets all about Rose.


Now suffering the indignity of having to watch Juliet and Rob fall further and further in lust and obsession, Rose also gets paired with the class jerk in biology. Len Stephens is handsome, sure, but he’s also cocky and constantly smirking – and for some reason, always giving Rose a hard time, especially about Rob.


When rumours start circulating about Juliet’s self-destructive behaviour and Rob’s entanglement, Rose wants to step in but doesn’t know if she can overcome the hurt and pain that Rob and Juliet’s love inflicted on her. . .


I think the biggest problem with Serle’s ‘When You Were Mine’ is that it’s pitched too young. Narrated by Rosaline, the story feels like it’s more ‘tween’ than ‘teen’ because Rose’s voice is so young and naive. I can kind of see why Serle may have done this. Going off of the Bard’s framework, in the play a bit is made of Rosaline’s chaste sensibilities, as Romeo muses; “Well, in that hit you miss: she'll not be hit with Cupid's arrow” (in other words; she’s saving herself). Serle plays with this for Rose, and her concerns with still being a virgin while one of her best friend’s already has experience, and the other is contemplating taking the next big step with her boyfriend. But what this translates to are a lot of over-blown scenes in which Rose muses on the message behind Rob’s knee touching hers in assembly. It’s not exactly earth-shattering, sparks-flying stuff.


I also think that by writing the novel for a younger audience, Serle missed out on writing meatier, more complex characters. I didn’t believe that Rob and Rose were ‘in love’ or even ‘in lust’ because all they came down to was a couple of kisses and hand-holding. I also wasn’t too convinced that Rob and Juliet had much in the way of chemistry – even though I think we’re meant to presume a lot when she rocks up to a party wearing his sweatshirt. Or we're meant to believe that the two are hot and heavy because Rose's friends, Charlie and Olivia, are constantly spouting 'slut shaming' vitriol about Juliet. I had a big problem with this too - bandying the word 'slut' around like it's okay to put girls down that way. It's not, and Serle having her characters constantly spit it out about a fellow student had me seeing red. But, ultimately, because I didn’t believe the relationships, the stakes were missing for me and I did belittle the romances in the book to ‘puppy love’ . . . more melodrama than actual drama. I think that would have been different if Serle had written this for a slightly older YA audience, including some PG13 scenes of connection and romantic interaction; really illustrating the love triangle. I also think Serle wrote a bit of a cop-out by alluding that Rob is blown away by Juliet’s looks, and that’s mostly why he chooses her over Rose. That may be inferred in the play, but it’s a hollow reason in this modern retelling (especially with the back-story of Rob and Rose’s long-standing friendship). It just adds to the idea of Rob’s childishness (and makes you wonder what Rose sees in him!) – not to mention it’s an insult to Juliet that the only reason the guy likes her is because she’s good looking enough to have appeared in a TV commercial or two.


Speaking of meatier, more complex characters . . .  they’re entirely missing from ‘When You Were Mine’. Juliet gets such little page-time considering her reappearance throws Rosaline’s entire life off-course. I know this is Rosaline’s book, and Serle wanted to write the antithesis to Juliet hogging the spotlight . . .  but Juliet had so few scenes and was such a one-dimensional, unfulfilled character that it just added to the feeling that Rose was making a mountain out of a molehill when, as readers, we couldn’t see how bad Juliet was. Because she was so one-dimensional, readers are never given the opportunity to decide for ourselves whether or not she’s manipulating Rob as a personal attack against Rose, or if it’s genuine affection.


This book also has one of my biggest YA pet-peeves. The adult characters are really just props, conveniently written in for grandiose pep-talks after spending the rest of the book in the shadows. The parents in ‘When You Were Mine’ are really just talking heads – there to (oh so conveniently!) provide words of wisdom when Rose needs them most.


Alas, most of the page-time that should have been devoted to Rob/Juliet/Rose was given to a character called Len Stephens – the school jerk and mysterious loner who Rose is paired with for a biology project. In him too, it felt as though Serle was writing a sickly-sweet and tidy romance for a much younger and more naive audience, when I think what would have been more interesting for Rosaline’s story is a build-up of her romance with Rob and the tragedy of losing it to Juliet.

Len sighs, like he’s already frustrated. “Look, I don’t really know how else to put this. You don’t need to worry about some dumb guy falling in love with you. You’re you.”
“Exactly,” I say. I’m me. Rose Caplet. Plain brown hair and brown eyes and the daughter of a history professor, not a senator. I’m not on magazine covers, and I don’t do allergy commercials. I don’t even drive.
Len turns to me, and he’s looking at me so intensely, I think he might have just sucked the air out of my lungs. All of a sudden I feel like I can’t breathe. “Sometimes,” he starts, “the hardest part about letting someone go is realizing you were never meant to have them.”

I also wasn’t a big fan of Serle’s writing style, in general. She has a propensity to write somewhat faltering sentences that read a bit clunky. Like this one, in which she needs to communicate how old Rose is in a flashback she’s remembering;

It’s Christmas Eve and I’m sitting in the backseat of our station wagon with my arms crossed, beads of sweat rolling down my seven-year-old forehead.

‘Seven-year-old forehead’ was a really bizarre not-so-subtle way for her to tell me Rose’s age, and it was just one of the many oddly-worded sentences that took me out of the story on occasion.


All in all, I think ‘When You Were Mine’ had good story bones. Rosaline is an interesting loose-end in the Bard’s most popular play. Unfortunately, I think Rebecca Serle’s debut would have worked better with a more mature romance explored between the triangle of Rose, Rob and Juliet. As it is, the characters in ‘When You Were Mine’ come across childish and naive for their age, and a tidily convenient and romantic side-story relationship for Rose had me rolling my eyes. Not for me, sorry.


I am really surprised to learn that the movie rights to Serle’s book have been sold and there is a film tentatively in-development called ‘Rosaline’. The film seems to be in the very early stages, with no release date mentioned but Deborah Ann Woll (‘True Blood’) and Lily Collins (‘Mirror, Mirror’) signed on for unspecified roles. Because there is so little known about the film, I clearly can’t comment on how closely it will stick to the book – but I was intrigued by the one-line synopsis available on IMDB; “A young girl is dumped by a guy who immediately falls for another girl with whom he forms a suicide pact.” Now, that really doesn’t sound like ‘When You Were Mine’, purely for the reference to a ‘suicide pact’. Nothing so dark is in this book, and that’s another of its failings – there are unfounded rumours about Juliet taking sleeping pills but they’re crassly dismissed as sensationalism by most of the student body. And, considering this is ‘Romeo and Juliet’ with perhaps the most famous ending of any play, the way Juliet and Rob die (not a spoiler – it was written in the stars, after all) was really quite anticlimactic. Again, it was Serle shying away from darker, more adult themes to leave their death so up in the air. From its one-line synopsis, I actually think the film adaptation sounds better and darker than ‘When You Were Mine’.


2/5

Interview with Laura Buzo, author of 'Holier Than Thou'

Last year I read an incredible debut novel called 'Good Oil', from Australian young adult author Laura Buzo. I was blown away. Buzo wrote a raw and powerful, true-to-life teen romance full of heartache and messy love and it was one of the best, sucker-punching YA novels I ever had the pleasure to read. I was thrilled at the chance to interview Ms Buzo, and pick her brain about love, loss and the Land of Dreams. 

And I was doubly-thrilled when Buzo's new novel, 'Holier Than Thou' landed in my hot little hand earlier this year. I was not in the least bit surprised that I loved the book; head-over-heels, loved! So, of course, I had to have another Q&A with Ms Buzo.

It is my pleasure to give you Laura Buzo - new Australian YA author extraordinaire!

❦

Q: Where do story ideas generally start for you? Do you first think of the character, theme, ending? Or is it just a free-fall?

With a couple of key kernels. HTT grew out of two scenes, from which I extrapolated some themes, my main character and then I never looked back. People have asked me if I have the whole thing plotted out in my head before I start but I assure you I have had moments of idling in traffic and thinking ‘hmm, how should I end my novel?’

Q: ‘Holier Than Thou’ is your second novel after the incredible success of your debut, ‘Good Oil’. How is it writing the second time round? Easier or harder? Are you feeling more pressure?

Pretty similar process-wise. I’d like to say I had more confidence this time round and it was easier. And maybe it was, a little. Although as Helen Garner once said, you might think that having written one novel you now know how to write novels. But really, you just know how to write that novel. And have to work the next one out on it’s own.

Q: ‘Holier Than Thou’ is a lovely, looping story – Holly’s narrative slips between the ‘here and now’ and also backtracks through her high school and uni years. Was it hard to wrangle the story and get the right balance between past and present? Did you ever think to write a story set solely during Holly’s Year Twelve, or entirely in her mid-20’s?

The time looping was very intuitive. I just closed my eyes (in a manner of speaking) and moved back and forth in the best way to advance the story. I think I was drawn to this device, as many writers have been, because I believe the past informs the present. Come to think of it, that’s probably why I majored in history too.

Q: Holly’s story is very much influenced by the four men in her life (both past and present). Her dead father, loyal boyfriend, the ‘one that got away’ and her tempting co-worker. Were any of these male characters inspired by real people? Which of these characters was the hardest to write?

As my hero Kate Jennings says, “I write close to life and I cheerfully admit it.” I think all the blokes in HTT are amalgams of people, ideas and conundrums I have stumbled across in real life and they all serve a purpose in Holly’s unfolding trajectory.

Q: When I read I can’t help but think of soundtracks for the books I’m getting lost in. Reading ‘Holier Than Thou’ I kept pairing Missy Higgins songs with Holly’s story, particularly ‘The Special Two’; ‘And you make boundaries you'd never dream to cross’. Do you write to music? Do you have a soundtrack associated with your books? If so, could you give us a few samples from the playlist?

Er…. I may have been quite familiar with this song, back in the day. Way back in the day.

One of my favourite novels is Prelude to Christopher (published in 1934) by quiet achiever and brilliant Aussie author, Eleanor Dark. The frontispiece is six bars of a Tschaikovsky adagio that she claims to have inspired the novel.

One of the ‘kernels’ of the story that I mentioned in the first question came to me during, and kind of from, a Holly Throsby song. I was pinned beneath my then baby daughter during one of her lengthy feeds, on a wintry afternoon, listening to one of Ms Throsby’s many excellent albums. I won’t spoil it and tell you the song, but it was from the album Under The Town.

Q: Your debut YA novel, ‘Good Oil’, was partly inspired by your youth spent working at Woolworths (aka: ‘The Land of Dreams’). In ‘Holier Than Thou’, Holly is a social worker, which also happens to be your day job. So you definitely ‘write what you know’. Do you find it’s cathartic to use your life for inspiration – particularly with Holly’s social work, which discusses holes in the governmental and medical care system? Are you concerned about your co-workers reading ‘Holier Than Thou’?

The thing is Alphareader, I am a very busy lady. I essentially work three jobs, and I don’t have time to research things I don’t know about. So I put a bit of my work experience into my books. A lot of writers and artists have not really experienced the cruel world of work, so that world doesn’t often get a really good representation in literary fiction. Really successful writers don’t need to work outside their craft. But I think it is important to write about what happens at work, because most people will spend most of their lives there and coming to terms with that can be hard. When I was a young person, and certainly in a lot of the YA fiction I read growing up, there was not much exploration of the world of work. I had no idea what to expect or how it would affect my life.

Q: At one point in ‘Holier Than Thou’, Holly reflects on her high-low expectations of Year Twelve. Having read Melina Marchetta’s ‘Looking for Alibrandi’, she remarks: “I was disappointed that Year Twelve did not bring me a handsome, salt-of-the-earth boyfriend and ultimate emancipation from all that ailed my teenage soul.” YES! I think many Gen-Y’ers who grew up on Marchetta books will relate to Holly’s statement. But how do you feel when I compare your writing to Ms Marchetta’s. . .  young people could very well be reading your YA novels and hoping it reflects their lives (or doesn’t, as the case may be). What do you hope your young readers will take away from ‘Holier Than Thou’?

Honoured! Chuffed! To even be in the same sentence as a writer who has reached into the hearts of so many readers is a thrill.

As for what I hope people take away from reading HTT… well, I hope that no-one will ever accuse me of failing to ‘keep it real’.

Q: So, February last year I asked you if there were any plans for a sequel to ‘Good Oil’, continuing Chris and Amelia’s story. You replied with a very cryptic “possibly”. Has that answer changed at all?

Nothing immediately planned Alphareader but I wouldn’t rule anything out.

Q: Barring a ‘Good Oil’ sequel, what else are you working on . . .  and when can we expect your next novel to hit shelves?

I suspect this is not the last you’ve heard from me.

But right now… I really need to get my roots done, I haven’t made it to the hairdresser’s in months. And the dentist. That’s been, like, over a year. Maybe two!

And you should see the pile of dirty dishes piling up in my sink.

Don’t even ask about the piles of laundry.

❦

Pictures used are from http://weheartit.com/ (all, except for the Sydney harbour bridge and night shot of Melbourne - those two were taken by me, using instagram on my iPhone)  

‘The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society’ by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

From the BLURB:

“I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers.”

January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she’s never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb….

As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends—and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society—born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island—boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all.

Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the society’s members, learning about their island, their taste in books, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, she sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds will change her forever.

Written with warmth and humor as a series of letters, this novel is a celebration of the written word in all its guises, and of finding connection in the most surprising ways.

The year is 1946, and Miss Juliet Ashton is touring England to promote her book ‘Izzy Bickerstaff Goes to War’. Originally a serial that appeared in ‘Spectator’ to lift spirits by taking a humorous look at the war, the book is now selling splendidly and Juliet finds herself a legitimate authoress. The only problem is that she doesn’t have much of an idea for a second book. The war is over, but Juliet is struggling (with the rest of the nation) to forget the horrors. Her flat was bombed to bits in 1942, and Juliet finds herself displaced in a Chelsea rental. Ration cards are still in circulation, to begin helping all those displaced persons across Europe (and Juliet will admit; it sticks in her craw that some of those persons are German).

Waiting ever patiently for an idea to come to her is Juliet’s dear friend and publisher, Sidney Stark (of Stephens & Stark Ltd.) who also happens to be the elder brother of her very best friend, Mrs Sophie Strachan. Ideas are even less forthcoming when rival American publishing tycoon, Markham V. Reynolds Junior takes to courting Miss Ashton – on the basis that she is the only woman to have ever made him laugh.

And then a letter arrives . . .  a letter all the way from St. Martin’s Parish, Guernsey – a small island (population approx 42,000) in the English Channel, between Weymouth in England and St. Malo in France.

The letter is from one Mr. Dawsey Adams, who just so happens to be in possession of a book by Charles Lamb called ‘Selected Essays of Elia’, once owned by Juliet, and which luckily contained her old address in the jacket cover. Dawsey Adams has a favour to ask of Juliet – if she would kindly give him the name of a London bookshop who could find him more books by Charles Lamb, and perhaps a biography? You see, Mr Lamb’s essays helped Dawsey a lot during the German’s five-year occupation of Guernsey – and he credits the essayist, and his own ‘Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society’, with keeping him sane during the war.

Never one to shy away from curiosity, Juliet replies with a Charles Lamb book for Dawsey, and burning questions about this Potato Peel Pie Society . . .  thus opening a Pandora’s box into the little channel island; its inhabitants, their stories, their bravery during the war and the books that they came to cherish.

Juliet starts receiving letters from all of the Guernsey Literary Society members. Amelia Maugery, whose stolen pig founded the Society. Eben Ramsey, who lost his daughter and son-in-law during the war, but who is now enjoying the return of his young grandson, Eli, after a five-year absence. Isola Pribby makes potions for the islanders, has a pet bird called Zenobia, and was haunted by ‘Wuthering Heights’. Juliet also receives cautionary letters from island busy-body and God-fearing woman, Adelaide Addison, who warns her against associating with such ragamuffins. During her letter-writing, Juliet also learns of Elizabeth McKenna . . . the Guernsey woman who thought up the literary society, and whose defiance of the German soldiers landed her in a concentration camp – she is still missing, but the islanders have hope that she will return – especially because her four-year-old daughter, Christina ‘Kit’ awaits her return.

‘The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society’ was the 2008 bestseller from Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Told entirely in letter-format, the book has been an unmitigated success since its release – and in 2013 it will be turned into a film, to be directed by Kenneth Branagh and starring Kate Winslet.

Believe all the hype you read and hear about this book – it’s all entirely true. If anything, it’s understated. ‘The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society’ has been on my radar for a few years now, and I’m ashamed to say I was only finally prompted into my reading when I heard that a movie was in the works. Regardless, this is one of those books that, no matter when or how you come to read it, you finish with the satisfactory and transcended feeling that you are better for having known these characters and their story. 

The book is entirely in letter format. Beginning with Juliet’s letter to her friend and publisher, Sidney Stark, lamenting her book tour that forces her to be outgoing and charming, and despairing at having no ideas for a second novel. When Dawsey Adams’s serendipitous letter arrives from Guernsey (courtesy of an old book Juliet donated, now in his possession, which contained her London address on the cover) he unknowingly triggers a chain of events that will lead Juliet to Guernsey and a story all their own. 

Through her correspondence with the various members of the town’s Literary (and Potato Peel Pie) Society, Juliet begins piecing together the story of Guernsey’s five long years under German occupation. The Channel Islands were among the first pieces of English soil to be conquered; much to Hitler’s delight (he wrongly thought it would be a hop, skip, and a jump to London from the Channel). The Channel Islands were left defenceless by the British navy, who needed resources closer to home. Luckily, some children and mothers were successfully shipped off the island before the Germans arrived, and were placed in English homes for the duration of the war. What started as a friendly-enough occupation (despite two previous days of bombing) soon turned into a hellish enterprise. The Germans confiscated radios and cut phone cables – the islands were, literally, cut off from the rest of the world for five years. Then the Germans bought in Todt workers (prisoner slaves from all over Europe) – who were worked to death in fortifying the town against attack than never came. The Germans took the islander’s food for their own, leaving them little provisions and towards the end of the war, starvation had set in. The price for stealing food or aiding Todt workers was imprisonment, concentration camp or death on the spot.

Through her correspondence, first with Dawsey then Amelia, Isola, Eben and eventually the majority of the islanders, Juliet learns that the founder of the Literary Society was one Elizabeth McKenna. Elizabeth hastily came up with the idea of a Literary Society one night when she and a number of its members were caught by German soldiers in town after curfew – she quickly scrambled a lie together about getting caught up in their reading – a lie that saved them from jail, or worse. They were made to register their club with the commandant, and what started as a ruse quickly progressed into saving grace for many of the Society’s members.

Juliet learns of countless acts of heroism Elizabeth McKenna performed; from turning herself into a nurse, to helping hide a Todt worker from the Germans. And it was this last act of kindness that saw her shipped off to a concentration camp, yet to return to the island and her daughter, Kit . . .  a daughter, Juliet comes to learn, whose father was a German doctor called Christian Hellman; one of the few well-liked officers on the island. And so Juliet comes to wait, with bated breath like the rest of the islanders, for Elizabeth’s return. And in the meantime, she travels to Guernsey herself, to meet these people she has come to care about, and call friend, and perhaps tell a story or two about. . .

I do have a tiny infant of an idea, much too frail and defenseless to risk describing, even to you.

This book is a marvel. I had a bipolar reading experience with this one – laughing one moment and crying the next. Juliet is a wonderful narrator; in her early thirties, she’s surprisingly relatable in her love life (between the swank American Mark Reynolds, and curiously shy Dawsey Adams) and hilarious in her private sufferings (which she shares with Sidney and Sophie – mostly about how scared she is to end up a cat lady spinster). But this is a book of many voices, and although Juliet is our primary narrator, with the majority of letters being to and from her, it’s the islanders who often steal the spotlight.

Isola Pribby is hilarious in her potion-stirring, head-bump-reading ways. Adelaide Addison calls her the island witch, but Isola is just a flamboyant, overly curious gem who goes through a revelation when she reads ‘Pride and Prejudice’ for the first time. Amelia Maugery is a character you’ll wish could be your grandmother in real life – a straight-talking woman whose empathy and kindness knows no bounds. And Kit McKenna, Elizabeth’s four-year-old daughter, has a glare like Medusa’s and an enviably steely spine – one of the best child characters I have read.

Then there’s Dawsey Adams – a man close to Juliet in age, he used to be the town recluse (partly because of his terrible stutter) but since meeting Juliet he has come more and more out of his shell, much to the delight of the Literary Society. He’s a quiet but compelling man, whose presence commands any room he walks into, and who Juliet cannot help but fall for in the most delicious and heartfelt of romances.

This book is fascinating for the story of the Channel Islands occupation during WWII alone. But what I really loved was the many revelations and proclamations about books – their healing power, ability to bring people together and aid individuals through dark times.

That’s what I love about reading; one tiny thing will interest you in a book, and that tiny thing will lead you onto another book, and another bit there will lead you onto a third book. It’s geometrically progressive – all with no end in sight, and for no other reason than sheer enjoyment.

I think Mary Ann Shaffer summarized the book best when she said in her afterword;

I hope, too, that my book will illuminate my belief that love of art – be it poetry, storytelling, painting, sculpture, or music – enables people to transcend any barrier man has yet devised.

Marvellous as this book is, equally interesting is its inception. Mary Ann Shaffer had the seed for the story planted in 198o, but she didn’t finish writing it until 2008. Sadly, by the time the first manuscript was complete and sold, Shaffer fell ill. Her health would not permit her to finish the editorial and rewriting process, and so she handed the reigns over to her niece, Annie Barrows (author of the children’s book series, ‘Ivy and Bean’) who finished the book for her. Mary Ann Shaffer died in February 2008.

‘The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society’ is now one of my favourite books. It is a story about people overcoming adversity together, and with the aid of characters and authors – in books that helped lift their spirits and take them out of the drudgery and travesty of war. This book will be passed on to my friends and family, for I firmly believe in Juliet Ashton’s prediction that “there is some secret sort of homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers,” – and I hope that such an instinct finds this book in your hands very soon indeed.

5/5

'Red Queen' by Honey Brown

 From the BLURB:

DEEP IN THE Australian bush, Shannon Scott is holed up in a cabin with his brother, Rohan, waiting out the catastrophic effects of worldwide disease and a breakdown of global economies.  After months of isolation, Shannon imagines there's nothing he doesn't know about his older brother, or himself – until a mysterious woman slips under their late-night watch and past their loaded guns.

Denny Cassidy is beautiful and a survivor.  Her inclusion into cabin life brings about the need for a new set of rules.  Soon the brothers begin to look to her as a source of comfort, hope and intimacy . . . Or is her warmth just a trap?  Could she actually be a cold tactician, a woman with a deadly agenda?

Shannon Scott is sick of looking at his brother’s face. He and Rohan have been living in the remote Australian bush since the plague broke, and Shannon is growing more and more irritated with Rohan’s quirks and dominance – from his nicknaming him ‘pup’ to the way he resignedly wins at poker.

But since their parents died of the Red Queen Virus months ago, Rohan is all Shannon has. And, thanks in large part to their paranoid father, they have a well-stocked, veritable fortress to live in and wait out the mayhem of the outside world as country’s scramble for a cure or, in the meantime, attempt to regain control of the populace.

So Rohan and Shannon wait. They tend to the sheep and chooks, fish in the nearby river and take turns standing guard with loaded rifles; watching the quiet bush that surrounds them for any signs of intruders.

And then Denny Cassidy comes along.

She leaves a note, explaining that she has been watching them for weeks from her perch atop the hill. She says she is not infected. She says she wants to stay with them. She has already been in their house, taken some of their food without them knowing . . .  she is not dangerous, she says.

Rohan is adamant that this is a bad idea. The Red Queen Virus can take up to two weeks to show symptoms, and he doesn’t trust Denny’s sudden appearance or her humble motives. But Shannon wants her to stay – he is intrigued by a new face, a young woman no less, and thinks that if they turn her away, they will have lost all vestiges of their humanity.

So Denny stays with them.

At first she is a real asset to their home life; helping with chores and willing to comply with Rohan’s stringent rules. But when her hand starts lingering on Shannon’s knee, when she starts offering him back rubs and sings along with his guitar-playing . . . the dynamic in the house shifts. Denny chooses Rohan’s bed, but continues to coax Shannon, until everything becomes messier and more complex than either of the brothers could have ever expected; especially when they both fall in love with her.

But is Denny playing a game? Is her love a survival technique, or genuine feelings for two men?

‘Red Queen’ was the 2009 Aurealis Award-winning debut by H.M. Brown (Honey Brown).

My first Honey Brown book was ‘The Good Daughter’; a tightly-woven, small-town mystery that had me in the palm of her hand from page one. My second Brown reading, ‘After the Darkness’ was just as enjoyable – a ticking psychological thriller that had me on the edge of my seat. So I always knew that I would eventually go back and read Brown’s critically-acclaimed debut novel – I’m only sore at the fact it took me this long to get around to it because, as I suspected, ‘Red Queen’ was wonderful.

The dystopian genre has exploded in recent years. Everything has pretty much been covered – from a world ravaged by global warming, to structured society’s ruled by government theory. I have read dystopian wastelands, and worlds plagued by disease that turns people into zombies. I've pretty much read all that dystopia has to offer, but I've never read anything quite like Honey Brown’s ‘Red Queen’.

The book is told from Shannon’s first-person narrative. At one point he offers a theory of the Red Queen Virus origin. He says that it came from an “arms race principle” – that when humans stopped treating the symptoms of diseases, and started fighting the causes of them, they effectively issued war against biology. The theory being that humanity had gotten so good at curing itself, lowering death-rates and overpopulating the world with surgeries, vaccines, medicines etc, that disease was forced to evolve – into the Red Queen Virus (of which, it is rumoured, there is now ten strands – RQV1 through to RQV10 – as the virus keeps adapting). The virus is, essentially, righting the wrongs of science by culling the population. The virus starts as a common cold, but progresses to fluid in the lungs and a slow, bloody death. Transmission is easy, and can be found in the touch of one’s hand;

What was without question was the sovereignty of touch. We did not touch. It had become automatic the minute the virus landed on Australian soil. It wasn’t a spoken rule; arms could brush, shoulders could bump, and incidental skin contact was repellent but forgiven, but conscientious touch – fingertips, a warm hand, a face too close – it just went without saying. Personal space had shrivelled to a hard nut so far inside each body even your own hand on your skin could seem unwanted. So the sight of Denny’s hand, the long curve of her thumb, the dirty curl of her fingers, held out and inviting the chance of Rohan’s touch, became the centre of the room, and everything converged in on it.  

Throughout the book all three characters drop hints and speculations about how the outside world is coping and trying to cure the RQV. Denny, Shannon and Rohan can only muse on the word-of-mouth they heard before going into hiding – but the consensus is that China has a cure (because of their low rate of infection) but they don’t intend to hand it over. Metropolitan areas are deserted, and people have scattered all over. Denny claims that the army are providing rations to the groups who have banded together – but lone travellers or ‘unknowns’, are set upon by those groups and shunned by the army. As long as the Red Queen Virus keeps adapting and killing, humanity will continue to crumble. Denny says that Rohan and Shannon have done well to stay hidden in the outback, and she is glad to be banded with them.

What I love about Brown’s dystopia is that while chaos reigns in the outside world, ‘Red Queen’ is focused entirely on three characters and their evolving dynamic in a small, secluded cabin in the bush. So often in dystopian’s these days, our protagonists just so happen to be in the thick of the action – apart of the uprising rebellion against the totalitarian regime, or a member of the group tasked with searching for ‘the cure’. Sometimes in those books, the world-building is so grand, the plot so epic and in the thick of it, that human connections get lost amidst the dystopian theatrics and themes. Not so in ‘Red Queen’. Brown never lets us lose sight of why the brothers and Denny are out in the middle of the bush – a virus is raging and the world as they once knew it is forever changed. But the really, truly fascinating crux of the book is in Brown’s explorations of human interaction.

Rohan is older than Shannon – 38 to his 23. This age discrepancy has informed their entire relationship in the cabin, with Rohan the self-appointed alpha (who calls Shannon ‘pup’, as a reminder). Their past sibling interaction also informs how they are with each other now – their parents had Rohan when they were in their teens, so the boy’s father treated Rohan more like a friend than a son and so taught him different life skills than Shannon (who consequently took after their mother). Shannon and Rohan also never lived together growing up – they saw one another for family dinners and outings, but their time together in the wake of the virus outbreak is their first prolonged period of time together.

Enter Denny. She is 30 years old and more than willing to adhere to Rohan’s rules in his presence, but quick to side with Shannon in private. Denny’s presence is the match-strike to the tense kindling relationship between the brothers. She starts flirting with Shannon, but goes to Rohan’s bed. When she shows an open attraction to both brothers, old rules of civility and boundaries are blurred and skewed.

Reading the knife-edge relationship between the brothers is a fascinating dip into the human psyche unto itself. Throw a beautiful woman into the mix, and ‘Red Queen’ becomes a terse psychological thriller . . . especially when Honey Brown starts readers questioning Denny’s intentions. Does she have genuine affection for both brothers? Or is she playing them off one another – and if so, to what end? This is where ‘Red Queen’ becomes a stand-out from all other dystopian’s. I feel like in other ‘disaster’ books, the triggering plague/earthquake/zombie-horde sometimes overshadows the characters. Not so in ‘Red Queen’. The virus provided the necessity for the setting, and adds a certain permeating paranoia; but ultimately ‘Red Queen’ is about human foibles and trickery. Brown has readers questioning how far human-beings will go to save themselves; what boundaries they’ll cross, and who they will betray.

Something I find fascinating in all of Brown’s books is her portrayal of women, in particular their interactions with men. She touches a lot on violence against women, particularly rape, without writing explicit scenes. Sometimes there’s more power in Brown putting the idea out there than actually reading a gut-churning rape scene. She did it in ‘The Good Daughter’, when the main character was almost gang-raped but escaped with the help of a stranger – and I honestly felt sicker in the build-up and possibility of that violence, more so than with some books in which the writer lays it all on the page. Brown does it again in ‘Red Queen’ – poking and prodding the idea of men and their dominance over women, without writing graphic scenes. As a woman, it was one of the first things I thought of when I read Denny approaching Shannon and Rohan – she does so early on in the book, when as a reader I was still trying to establish how they’d treat her – and, I admit, my mind went to rape. I think it’s a very unfortunate, but natural reaction that female readers will have in the book – that inherent “what would I do in her shoes?” and the thought of being raped by these two men is an obvious one to flit across your mind. Brown acknowledges that – she expands on it and questions it in such a way that will have you thinking on societal norms and human interactions. And that’s partly why I love reading Honey Brown’s portrayals of women – she writes our fears and thoughts without horrifying us with unnecessary graphic detail. And, as I said, Honey Brown writes better brutal build-up than some authors do violent scenes.

I was utterly and completely enthralled by ‘Red Queen’. I was guessing at Denny’s intentions right up until the very last page – and the ending was one of the trickiest and most satisfying I have ever had the pleasure of reading. I now, officially, love all of Honey Brown’s books – but, by a small margin, I would perhaps recommend ‘Red Queen’ above all others. A very different look at dystopia – this is a tense, human psychological drama that doesn’t lose sight of the triggering disaster, but rather writes a brilliant guessing game around its fallout. Incredible.

5/5

'Everything on a Waffle' by Polly Horvath

From the BLURB:

Primrose Squarp simply knows her parents did not perish at sea during a terrible storm, but try convincing the other residents of Coal Harbour on that score. For all practical purposes, at least for the time being, Primrose is an orphan, and there’s no great clamoring of prospective adopters. After realizing the impracticality of continuing to pay Miss Perfidy (a mothball-scented elderly lady) an hourly wage to baby-sit her, the town council is able to locate a relative, Uncle Jack, who reluctantly takes Primrose into his care. Primrose does warm up to living with him and in his home, despite the eerie noises resembling a hockey game that haunt her in the night. But true sanctuary can always be found at a restaurant called The Girl in the Swing, where everything—including lasagna—is served on a waffle, and where the proprietor, Miss Bowzer, offers a willing ear, as well as sage advice. .

Primrose Squarp is busy believing in the unbelievable.

Primrose’s mother and father are lost at sea – and Primrose has been living with her babysitter, Miss Perfidy ever since the wild storm that (supposedly) carried them away. But then her Uncle Jack arrives in the town of Coal Harbour, to become Primrose’s guardian.

Uncle Jack leaves the navy to come and live with Primrose (and start a housing development in the picturesque town) – but Primrose expects the arrangement will only be a temporary one – because she is certain that her parents are alive. Primrose is positively certain that her mother and father are sitting huddled on an island somewhere, deciding how to return to their daughter.

In the mean time, Primrose loses a toe and hangs out at ‘The Girl in the Swing’ and gets cooking tips from Miss Bowzer, who his fending-off Uncle Jack’s offers to buy the place out.

It’s just a matter of time before Primrose’s parents return, and everybody in Coal Harbour who thinks Primrose is in grief-denial will be proven wrong, and showed the power behind positive thinking. . .

‘Everything on a Waffle’ is the Newberry Honour book by Polly Horvath.

I read this book as a part of my Printz/Newberry kick. I loved the title, and thought it had an interesting premise about a girl whose parents recently vanished (suspected dead). But in reading ‘Everything on a Waffle’ I found myself somewhat let-down by Horvath’s avoidance of the heavier topics hinted at in the blurb. . .

Primrose Squarp is a wonderful character (and has a cool name!). She’s very upbeat in the wake of tragedy; a perpetually sunny, optimistic little sweetheart whose faith in her family is unwavering. Throughout the book Primrose gives recipes for the various foods and delicacies that she mentions throughout her adventures in Coal Harbour. It’s partly out of comfort that she recites these recipes for the reader – since many of them are meals her mother made. But the recipes also illustrate Primrose’s deeper perceptions about the goings on around her, like this recipe for Caramel Apple;

Do not muck around with chocolate or nuts or anything else fancy that may tempt you. It will only gum up the works. Sometimes you get tempted to make something wonderful even better but in doing so you lose what was wonderful to begin with.

I really liked reading about the town of Coal Harbour and its residents. From the boastful-boring Ms. Honeycut, to forgetful Miss Perfidy. Horvath does a wonderful job of making the town a character unto itself – and I had no problems in believing that Uncle Jack would be trying to buy up real estate in the area.

What I struggled with in this book, was Horvath’s reluctance to write the tragedy of Primrose’s parents. Her father, a fisherman, was at sea in the middle of a terrible storm – and Primrose’s mother took a little dinghy out to try and save him. Both were lost at sea, suspected dead by everyone (except Primrose). I thought the whole book would be about Primrose coming to terms with the truth of her parent’s death. But Horvath isn’t building up to that at all – instead she wraps things up nicely, and I had a small problem with that.

In reviewing this I’m thinking about the very sad news of Maurice Sendak’s death. I read a great article about the author of ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ in The Age. This article discusses how Sendak’s life was affected by the Holocaust; his brother joined the army, and many of Sendak’s European relatives were captured and killed. As a result of encountering death and brutality so early on in life, Sendak said "It forced me to take children to a level that I thought was more honest than most people did." The point of the article being that, although Sendak’s books were magical and beautiful adventures, at the crux of them he wanted to help children grow up – to confront a few realities and leave the “wild rumpus” behind, for truer things. And I like that. I love children’s and young adult authors who don’t ‘talk down’ to their audience – they don’t pull punches and they don’t shy away from the harder, truer side to life. And that’s why I didn’t particularly like the ending of Horvath’s book . . .  it was all wrapped up a little too neatly, a too sickly-sweet, unbelievable happy ending.

So, ultimately, I thought that the neatly-wrapped ending didn’t do this book justice. Sure it was cute and quirky, Primrose was magnificent and the recipes offered an interesting character insight. But I felt like this book was a bit like fairy floss – all temporary tastiness, no real substance.

3/5

'Immortal City' by Scott Speer

From the BLURB:

We pay them to protect us.  And we're their biggest fans.

They are our celebrities, and we worship them with paparazzi and endless gossip and speculation.  To us, they are glamour.  To them, we're an assignment.  Their job is to guard us-that is, those of us who can afford them . . . Because the only thing stronger than a Guardian Angel is the rule they must obey.

So what happens when one of them falls for one of us?

In the City Angels, the rules are about to be broken.

Maddy is sick and tired of hearing about the Angels and Jackson Godspeed’s upcoming Protection announcement.

Maddy lives with her uncle Kevin in the City of Angels in their family diner, but she doesn’t buy into the hysteria around the winged celebrities. Angels are sworn to protect, for a price; every year the world’s wealthiest bid for Protection from one of the many Angels in the world – protection that means their lives will be saved by one of their Angel Guardians if the need ever arises. Maddy hears enough about the Angels from her best friend Gwen, who is constantly plugged into the A! Network, reading ‘Angels Weekly’ or any number of blogs that follow the celebrity lifestyles of the Angels. This week’s latest Angel goss? Jackson Godspeed’s Protected humans being announced, and his are-they-or-aren’t-they tumultuous relationship with fellow Angel, Vivian Holycross.

Jackson ‘Jacks’ Godspeed, aka ‘Halo Hunk’, is starting to feel the mounting pressure of his Protections being announced. Everyone is watching him – from the ANN (Angel News Network) to his revered Angelic family. Things really start heating up when a murdered Angel is found, his wings plucked (making him mortal) and Jacks’s stepfather (and Archangel extraordinaire) is put on the case.

But what Jacks really wasn’t expecting in the midst of his rise to fame and an Angel-murderer on the loose, was to meet human girl, Maddy. A girl who isn’t interested in Angels and fame, but who is disturbed by the inherent capitalism of ‘saving’ and ‘protecting’ humans. . .  and she’s making Jacks question all that he, and the Angels, stand for.

‘Immortal City’ is the debut young adult paranormal novel from Scott Speer.

I was initially intrigued when I read the blurb for ‘Immortal City’; Angels as celebrities, saviours (for a price). In the City of Angels, to be saved is to be someone. It’s an interesting premise that caught my eye. But I did wonder if Speer’s debut would evolve beyond the one-trick-pony idea of ‘Angel Celebrities’. Sadly, the answer is no.

Scott Speer hammers the fetishism of celebrity home, with his descriptions of a world gone ‘Angel Crazy’. Not surprisingly, he has warped our already celebrity-obsessed world into a more angelic one with a few nifty name changes, there’s: Angels Weekly (Us Weekly), ANN Angel News Network (CNN Cable News Network), Walk of Angels (Walk of Fame) and the A! Channel (E!) to name a very few. Angels are the supermodel, megastar and all-round über-celebrities of this world;

The walk to school took Maddy down Vine Street and through the heart of Angel City. She passed under the towering billboards of Angels selling jewellery, sunglasses, designed handbags, and luxury cars. Half-naked Immortal bodies were the alluring backdrop for labels like Gucci, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, and Christian Dior.

Interesting idea, I admit . . .  but not enough to sustain interest in a 368-page book that has little else to offer.

There is a story about an angel murderer (done bigger and better in Nalini Singh’s ‘Guild Hunter’ series). And the obligatory supernatural-boy-meets-human-girl love story which is exactly as it sounds and you can guess how it pans out from a mile away;

“Would you save me, Jacks?”
It came out in a rush.
All of a sudden Maddy realized it was the nagging she had felt deep inside her. It was this single question. It had been gnawing at her ever since he had come to pick her up earlier in the night.
Jacks’s eyes darted to hers, intent, then looked away. “If you were my Protection, yes.”
“No. As I am now, tonight,” Maddy pressed. “If something were to happen, would you save me?” When she spoke again, her voice was gravelly and raw. “Would you come for me, Jackson?”
Finally, he spoke.
“I’m sorry. It doesn’t work that way, Maddy,” he murmured.
The words cut like a knife.
“It’s just not allowed,” Jacks said, carefully. “As Angels our duty is to our Protections.”

I think part of the problem with ‘Immortal City’ is that Scott Speer is pretty much hitting readers over the head with metaphors and ‘life lessons’ that are already heavy-handed. In his author bio at the back of the book, Speer says about ‘Immortal City’: “At its core my first novel is about a character coming of age in Los Angeles, a journey that in many ways reflects my own experiences in this Immortal City.” Nobody will be surprised to learn that Speer started his career as a music video director and briefly dated ‘High School Musical’ actress, Ashley Tisdale. So he knows a thing or two about the ‘fame game’. So of course when he writes about people’s obsession with Angels (i.e.: celebrities) and the distorted importance the general public give them, how we feed them in a never-ending catch-22 cycle of trash TV and paparazzi stalking . . .  it’s generally a bad thing. We get it. We didn’t really need 368-pages to ‘get it’. Maybe the subtle-as-a-sledgehammer Angel as celebrity story could have worked as a nice backdrop, but only if the core story of Maddy and Jacks had been interesting enough to counteract . . .  but it isn’t. It’s a done-to-death version of every supernatural boy meets human girl story, from Edward and Bella to Elena and Stefan.

Not to mention the fact that Speer doesn’t have enough panache in his writing to sustain the story. He’s just rehashing all the paranormal-YA plot points, right down to the old ‘discuss the history of this universe in a classroom setting to let the reader know the background of how [insert supernatural being] came to be integrated into our society’. For the record, in ‘Immortal City’ it turns out Angels revealed themselves to humans during the American Civil War when they got tired of the bloodshed and didn’t want to serve mankind “out of kindness” anymore, and so decided to put their Protective skills into American capitalism.

Sorry, Scott Speer; Angels as celebrities is an interesting idea for a couple of pages, but readers can pretty much fill in their own gaps in thinking about the ramifications of ‘saviours for a price’. And when the love story is as lacklustre as this one, it only serves to highlight how unsustaining the whole Angel schtick really is after 200+ pages. The concept behind ‘Immortal City’ would have probably worked better in a short story (I could imagine it in a Dashiell Hammett-esque noir piece; washed up Archangel pours his guts out to a bartender in a seedy LA bar?).

2/5

'Where Dreams Begin' by Lisa Kleypas

From the BLURB:

"We're strangers in the darkness," he whispered. "We'll never be together like this again."

Zachary Bronson has built an empire of wealth and power, but all London knows is not a gentleman. He needs a wife to secure his position in society—and warm his bed in private. But one alluring, unexpected kiss from Lady Holly Taylor awakens a powerful need within him beyond respectability.

An exceptional beauty whose fierce passions match Zachary's own, Holly always intended to play by society's rules, even when they clashed with her bolder instincts. But now a dashing stranger has made her a scandalous offer that does not include matrimony. Should she ignore the sensuous promise of a forbidden kiss...or risk everything to follow her heart to a place where dreams begin?

Lady Holly Taylor is in her third year of mourning. Her husband, George, suddenly died of typhoid three years ago, leaving Holly with little money and their daughter, Rose, to raise by herself. Luckily for Holly and Rose, George’s family have been more than accommodating, and insist that they will look after them for all time.

But Lady Holly is struggling in her widowhood. After three years she is now allowed to wear more modest colours, not just black shrouds. She is also expected to step back into society in her new role of widow … except Holly has no interest in the ton. If it were up to her, she’d happily go about the rest of her life missing George and raising Rose. So when Holly finds herself suffocating at a society ball, she ducks away for a bit of peace and quiet… only to find herself in the arms of a kissable stranger.

Zachary Bronson finds himself in a most difficult situation – kissing the wrong lady at a ball, in the dark. Even more damnably annoying is how lovely this mysterious woman is – how responsive and addictive. Though she flees from him, Zachary finds out his kiss in the dark was with Lady Holly Taylor – a most respectable, blue-blooded widow, not meant for the likes of him.

Zachary clawed and fought his way into ton society – investing the money he made as a successful fighter to save himself, his mother and little sister from a life of poverty. But if there’s one thing London society despises, it’s a made man. No matter what he does; how many society clubs he joins or willing ton ladies he beds, the upper crusts want nothing to do with him. Unless, of course, Zachary finds himself a biddable ton wife to fast-track him to the top. Lady Holly Taylor may be the most coveted, blue-blooded widow in London, but Zachary finds himself wanting her for far more than her status…

‘Where Dreams Begin’ was a 2000 historical romance stand-alone from Lisa Kleypas.

I unabashedly love dipping into a Lisa Kleypas romance. They are my guilty pleasure, my guaranteed-good-read. When I’m in the mood for something light, I know I can get happily wrapped up in one of her deliciously sensuous ‘golden oldies’. And I am especially glad that I still have Kleypas’s backlist to chew through, after ‘Wallflowers’, ‘Hathaways’ and the ‘Travis Trilogy’ – I have barely scratched the surface of Kleypas’s previous work.

‘Where Dreams Begin’ is an interesting book, dealing with two fairly large romantic storylines. On the one hand there’s Lady Holly Taylor – after three years she is still recovering from her husband’s death by typhoid. Theirs was an unusual union – a true love match, that was also well suited for being an advantageous ton coupling. Lady Holly doesn’t just miss George, she’s still very much in love with him…

Then there is Zachary Bronson – once a gutter rat who became a formidable boxer, now with enough money to buy his way into high society … but even with his ostentatious wealth, Zachary is finding it near impossible to break into the ton’s impervious upper crust. Zachary reminded me, ever so faintly, of Cam Rohan from Kleypas’s ‘Hathaways’ series. Both are men from disreputable backgrounds – Cam a gambling gypsy, Zachary an ex-fighter –who have risen in the social ranks, thanks to their wealth. But where Cam was content to keep his gypsy ways, and didn’t care much for the stupidity of high society, Zachary is desperate to be accepted… less for himself, more for his mother and younger sister’s sake (especially since Elizabeth will have her debut soon, and be on the marriage-mart).

Enter Lady Holly – in a chance meeting that’s only ever believable in a Kleypas romance, Holly and Zachary share an accidental kiss in the dark, which leads to Zachary hunting down the biddable mystery woman and deciding to pursue her for marriage (luckily she happened to be a respectable widow, from good ton stock). Zachary entices Holly into his household under the pretence of lessons in ladylike behaviour for his sister (with a few classes to curb Zachary’s un-gentlemanly ways too). Holly cannot resist Zachary’s monetary temptation for herself and Rose – when she feels like such a burden on George’s family. She accepts, and what follows is a long, drawn out coupling that swings between Zachary’s guilt at using Holly to rise in the ranks, and Holly’s mixed feelings for Zachary, versus her still love for dearly departed George.

It is a tangled web, indeed. Between Zachary constantly flip-flopping between wanting Holly, and feeling inferior to her, and Holly clinging to her loyalty to a dead husband…. Not to mention the collective societal *gasp!* when Holly moves into Zachary’s town-house – there’s a lot of delicious drama packed into one Lisa Kleypas novel. The thing is, Kleypas writes it so darn well – yes, it’s over-the-top and fancifully sensuous. But it’s also fun to read. Zachary Bronson is a teddy-bear in brute’s clothing, and Holly is a delightfully fiery even-match for him. Holly’s daughter, Rose, offers up some ‘kids say the darndest things!’ funnies (like questioning why Zachary once had two ladies in his bed).

Holly and Zachary are delightful – their banter before the bedroom gets top-marks, while their eventual succumbing to desire is (as always in a Kleypas book) fiery-fantastic:

“I'll follow you to the next life if I have to," he whispered harshly in her ear. "You'll never be free of me. I'll chase you through heaven and hell and beyond." He continued to whisper without stopping while his hands gripped her body close to his. "You stay with me, Holly," he muttered savagely. "Don't do this to me. You stay, damn you.”

My one complaint comes towards the end, when Kleypas feels the need to put a definitive answer to the question of Holly’s love for two men – Zachary and her dearly-deceased, George. There’s a scene I saw coming a mile away, that’s so fantastically cheesy it almost ruins the momentum of the finale.

All in all, ‘Where Dream Begin’ hit the spot for me – I was in the mood for a carefree, feel-good read and Lisa Kleypas reliably delivered.

4/5