Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares – Rachel Cohn & David Levithan

Happy New Year! Every good wish for 2013. Here is the first review of this year. Hope you enjoy!

It is Christmastime in New York and Dash (short for Dashiell) finds himself in his favourite place in all the world, the Strand Bookshop. Whilst searching the shelves he comes across a red moleskin notebook with the words “DO YOU DARE?” written on masking tape, in black Sharpie stuck on the front cover. He opens the book and there on the first page was a message:

“I’ve left some clues for you.
If you want them, turn the page.
If you don’t, put the book back on the shelf, please. “


He knew the handwriting was that of a girl. As he turns the page he sees the words that lead to the first steps of a wonderful journey of dares and truth!

Dash hates Christmas! His parents had been through a bitter divorce when Dash was eight years old. His father used Dash as a weapon to hurt his ex-wife, trying to gain sole custody of him and thus denying her any access to her beloved son. Fortunately, the judge realised what was happening and Dash’s mother won that particular battle. He has lived with her ever since although, a few years after the divorce, she had taken up with a boyfriend who Dash was not too fond of.

Dash is now sixteen and this particular year finds himself all alone at Christmas. He engineered this by telling his father he was spending the holiday with his mother and telling his mother he was with his dad. Both his mum and dad had decided to go on holiday with their respective partners thinking he was with the other parent. Dash was certain he would not be found out as his parents had not spoken a word to each other since the day they divorced. Being alone was just fine by him, it was a good opportunity to read and trawl the eighteen miles of bookshelves at the Strand Bookstore, Dash’s favourite pastimes.

Lily loves Christmas! She loves everything about it and even set up her own carolling society because there was none in the “gentrified bohemia” of the East Village where she lives. Lily is the youngest in the family, a family which includes her devoted mother and father, her brother, Langston, a doting grandfather, a great aunt and so many aunties, uncles and cousins she cannot count them all. Her grandfather used to run the neighbourhood family grocery store in East Village. He knows EVERYONE and even though he has retired from the grocery store he still lives on the fourth floor penthouse of the old brownstone building where it stood. Lily and her family live on the second and third floor. Because of this extensive network of family, friends and acquaintances looking out for her and the fact that Lily goes to an all girls school where she is not in the “in-crowd”, she finds it terribly difficult to meet and associate with boys her own age.

Langston suggests that she needs a boyfriend of her own age and with similar interests. He mentions the book of dares idea to her. Slowly she comes up with a plan and as her cousin works at The Strand Bookstore, her favourite place, she decides to try it out.

This is when things get really interesting!

This is a lovely story of two teenagers who are bookish and lonely and find it difficult to meet people they get along with. The fact that it is set at Christmastime adds to the feel good factor of the tale too. I particularly like the fact that each of Dash’s chapters were written by David Levithan and each of Lily’s chapters were written by Rachel Cohn without them having mapped out a plan for the story beforehand. They wrote each chapter sequentially and shared them only after each one was completed. The story unfolds just like that, especially as in some of the chapters the Dash and Lily have not met in person.

I was sorry when the book ended and headed off to look for the two other books which the authors had co-written.

If you want an entertaining, heart warming, well written story with believable characters, then be sure to pick up Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares which was published by Harlequin UK in Oct 2012.

9.8/10

The Christmas Train – David Baldacci

Every Christmas for the past five years I have read The Christmas Train by David Baldacci. I love this story, it never disappoints and at 260 pages it is a quick read.

Tom Langdon is a retired, disillusioned war correspondent and is now back in the US writing articles for domestic magazines and covering teen beauty pageants. After a “misunderstanding” at airport security he is forced to travel from Washington DC to Los Angeles by train this Christmas. Unable to escape this situation he decides to undertake his father’s dying wish and finish a transcontinental railroad story started, but not completed, by his distant relative, Mark Twain! Thus begins a journey not only from coast to coast but also into Tom Langdon’s heart as he is unexpectedly reunited with his past on the train.

This is an extraordinary portrait of life for people working and travelling on long distance trains. As it is coming up to Christmas when this story starts the festive atmosphere is unmistakable. David Baldacci is masterful at drawing the characters and describing how their close proximity can lead to some very interesting encounters. It is a funny, poignant and dramatic tale, all at the same time. I just love the ending which, when I read it for the first time, was so unexpected.

First published in 2002 this story stands the test of time and is a classic Christmas tale. If you want something with a great feel good factor then The Christmas Train is a must for you.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Short Stories from Carole Matthews, Nita Wick and Stacey Joy Netzel

This year I decided to read some short stories during the run up to Christmas because I rarely get time to sit for long at this time of year and if I am really into a story, having to put the book down is really frustrating for me.

I started with Carole Matthews trilogy of short stories which she made available for free on any e-reader. Winter Warmers contains three short stories.
All I Want for Christmas is You is about two friends working in an office and about to have to endure the office Christmas party for another year without a date. Carole does a good job with the dialogue and some of it is laugh out loud funny.
Cold Turkey is about a woman who is dating a married man who lets her down once again on Christmas Day by not turning up for dinner as he said he would. It is a warm story in the end.
About Gardening is a story about a couple who have been married for ten years and have kind of lost the spark in their relationship. It is the shortest of the three stories but even so it was interesting to listen to the wife relate her relationship to her garden.

All three stories have a Christmassy feel to them and of course a fairly happy ending. I found them light hearted and reading these little tales of love and romance put me in the mood for more things Christmas. If you get a chance to download Winter Warmers it will be worthwhile as the stories did not disappoint and whilst not as fleshed out as Carole’s usual novels, were very entertaining.

You can still download this book for free at Amazon.com or search on Little Brown website http://www.littlebrown.co.uk

The Christmas Angel by Nita Wick is a short story about a child who thinks she has spotted a Christmas Angel whilst out looking for a Christmas tree. Although it is really short, it is a lovely little story and made me smile. It definitely has a feel good factor and is worth the time it took to read. I wish it had been longer. If you want to feel the love, make sure you look for this story.

Mistletoe Mischief is one of three books in Stacey Joy Netzel’s Mistletoe series. It is a story about two single parents who find themselves together during their daughters’ field trip to the zoo. Although this book is set in July, the summer camp trip to the zoo is called Christmas in July complete with Santa in full beard, usual hat and tee-shirt and shorts! (Well, it is Wisconsin in summer!) This is the longest of the stories I read and possibly my favourite along with Carole Matthews All I Want for Christmas is You.

Finding short stories to read for Christmas was definitely a successful experiment and one I will carry on with until the New Year.

May you be filled with Loving Kindness

I don't usually comment on things other than books or related topics on this blog but after the terribly tragic events in the Connecticut school yesterday I want to take a little detour today.

Please share this thought if you feel so moved to give a little healing back into the world and when all seems dark around, never lose hope.

May you be filled with Loving Kindness,
May you be well,
May you be peaceful and at ease,
May you be happy,
May you be free from suffering.

Leaves - Michael Baron

Leaves is set in the Connecticut River Valley during the month of October, when the leaves on all the trees there turn into a vivid array of assorted colours and hues as autumn arrives and they begin to fall. Here we meet the Gold family siblings who were brought to the valley from Long Island thirty two years earlier by their parents. After they arrived Bethany and Joseph Gold decided to stay in the Valley with their five children and to open The Sugar Maple Inn .

The Inn has been the cornerstone in the lives of Maria, Maxwell, Dorothy, Corrina and Tyler and all their partners and children. Now though, following the recent death of their mother and with both their parents gone they jointly decide to sell the Inn to an organisation which operates country inns all along the Eastern Seaboard. The inn will be officially handed over on November 1st. So as October begins the brothers and sisters prepare for the last days of ownership of the place which has played such a huge role in their lives and holds so many memories and ghosts from the past.

October is traditionally a very busy month in the Valley, especially as tourist (locally known as “tree peepers”) come from all over the country and indeed the world, to see the phenomenon of the beautiful Autumn leaves. The rooms at the Sugar Maple Inn are usually all taken way ahead of time and this year the restaurant, which is run by Deborah Gold, is fully booked too. Deborah is renowned for her culinary skills, particularly her sauces which always surprise and delight. Since the Gold’s opened the Inn, all those years ago, they have hosted a Halloween Party for all the people in the town as well as their guests. It is a tradition that has never been broken and this year is no exception. The show will go on even though head organiser, Mrs Gold, is no longer there. The children join together to make it happen, but, tempers fray and tensions rise as the event gets closer. We join the Gold’s on October 6th, 25 days before the party.

This is a lovely story of love and loss and family ties. It looks at people experiencing various stages in their life and relationships and examines how these events affects them. The Gold family have always been close and Michael Baron explores what happens to that closeness when the pivotal anchors are no longer there. The story does have a large cast of characters but because the focus stays on them, it is easy to keep track of who’s who. I really wanted to know what happened next by the end of the story and was delighted to read that Michael Baron plans to write more books about the Gold’s. As each of the siblings is at the beginning of something when this first book ends, is it easy to see where the material might come from.

Intriguingly, Michael Baron is the pseudonym of a well known author whose work is of a different genre than the books penned by Michael Baron. On his website he doesn’t show a photo of himself and says that the work he writes under his real name is much at odds with this work. I REALLY want to know who he is.............

I did enjoy reading this book. It is mostly warm and feels good. An ideal story to read sitting in front of the fire in late autumn or winter, especially as it also has a little touch of magic thrown in.

9.6/10

Peaches for Monsieur le Cure - Joanne Harris

Peaches for Monsieur le Cure, by Joanne Harris, (or Peaches for Father Francis in the USA) is the third book in the Chocolat series following the life of Vianne Rocher. In this book we find Vianne being called back to the village and the people of Lansquenet-sous-Tannes. In the intervening eight years since her first adventure there in Chocolat, she has lived in Paris with her partner, Roux and two daughters, Anouk and Rosette. A mysterious letter from Armande Voisin arrives unexpectedly beckoning Vianne back to the place where she once set up a Chocolatiere and created the first Easter chocolate festival in what had once been a traditionally quiet, religious and conservative French village.

Vianne is haunted by the letter as her friend, Armande, has been dead for eight years and is now calling her from beyond the grave with a message of foreboding about the people and the village she was once so fond of. Filled with curiosity and dread, Vianne decides to take a trip back to Lansquenet to see for herself what has been happening and perhaps to uncover the meaning behind Armande’s words. Roux does not want to go with her and find things changed, yet again, so she sets off with Anouk and Rosette for the reunion she has put off for all these years.

Vianne’s reason for leaving Lansquenet in the first place was because of the conflict she encountered with the strictly catholic attitudes of some of the villagers and in particular, her nemesis, Father Raynard who inferred she was a witch and accused her of evil doings. Upon her return, she finds that Father Reynard has become slightly more liberal in his attitudes, not least of all because there is now a large Islamic community living in the neighbourhood.

Whilst relations between the Father Reynard and the leaders of the Muslim community, the Said family, have now deteriorated to the extreme, they were not always so fraught. When the immigrants from Morocco first arrived at Lansquenet a few years ago they were less traditional, but, recently things have changed. Now they have become very strict in their teachings and practices and insist the women adhere to wearing traditional dress. They have built a Mosque and call the men to prayer throughout the night and day. There is conflict between the old Catholic and the new Muslim communities and Father Francis has been accused of an arson attack on the Muslim school. It is left to Vianne to unravel what lies behind the tensions and who set fire to the school which had once been her Chocolatiere.

I loved reading the first book in this series, Chocolat. I was disappointed with the film which, whilst fairly entertaining, did not come close to showing us the magical undertones of the story and the intolerance which lies behind people’s beliefs and assumptions. The core essence of the story is of conflict and injustice and what love can do to break through those binds.

Joanne Harris goes back to the theme she was following in Chocolat but now adds in more things for us to assume and misjudge. She is masterful at building tension and intrigue in this story and on every page there is a question. Questions of faith; conflict; religious intolerance; the past; good; evil; tradition; conservativeness; liberalness; injustice; revenge; truth and lies abound. Behind a charming title lurks dark secrets and raging conflict. Assumptions and stereotypes are everywhere and as a result people’s lives have been and will be destroyed.

Peaches for Monsieur le Cure, is one of the best books I have read this year. I know I will read it again and again. If you want to snuggle up with a great book containing controversial topics viewed from many perspectives and catch up with some old friends at the same time, then this is the book for you. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

9.8/10

A Walk in the Park - Jill Mansell

Lara Carson is back in Bath after leaving eighteen years before following a huge argument with her father and stepmother. Finding herself without a home following the fight, alone and desperate she heads north to her Aunt Nettie’s house in Keswick where she remains from then on. Other than her father, nobody in Bath knows where she is. Now, back for his funeral, Lara’s best friend from those days, Evie, is delighted to see her again. Evie is soon to be married to Joel and invites Lara back for the wedding. Lara is praying that she doesn’t run into her boyfriend at the time she left, Flynn Erskine. Lara has a secret which she has been keeping from him and when she and Flynn do bump into each other, Lara has to decide how to handle telling him the truth.

I love the way Jill Mansell writes. I know I have said this before, but, for me, the fact that there are so many well drawn characters in her stories separates her from most other authors writing in the same genre. There are often big and bold characters and they fill the pages with colour, warmth and humour. A Walk in the Park is no exception. Although there are lots of people involved it is not confusing, which is a testament to the clarity with which Jill Mansell writes.

Here is what I said in my last review of Jill Mansell’s “Nadia Knows Best” “The thing I enjoy most about Jill Mansell’s books is the way all of her characters play such a big role in the story she is telling. They are not peripheral to the plot, they are an integral part of it and at times one could be forgiven for wondering who the main character is.”

The same is true here too.

As well as the story of Lara and Flynn there are other storylines which are intricately woven into this tale. We get to learn more about Lara’s mother who died three years before Lara left Bath for Keswick. Jill Mansell looks closely at the relationships between parents and children, family links, old friends, new friends, best friends and romantic ties too. I loved (almost) all of the characters involved. I didn’t want to put it down or for the story to end.

A Walk in the Park has recently been released and is published by Headline Review. I can recommend it to anyone who wants to read a lovely story and be thoroughly entertained by enjoyable characters. You can check out more on Jill Mansell and her work here: www.jillmansell.co.uk

Enjoy!

9.8/10