Book Review-- The Paris Wife Paula McLain

Synopsis: A deeply evocative story of ambition and betrayal, The Paris Wife captures a remarkable period of time and a love affair between two unforgettable people: Ernest Hemingway and his wife Hadley.

Chicago, 1920: Hadley Richardson is a quiet twenty-eight-year-old who has all but given up on love and happiness—until she meets Ernest Hemingway and her life changes forever. Following a whirlwind courtship and wedding, the pair set sail for Paris, where they become the golden couple in a lively and volatile group—the fabled “Lost Generation”—that includes Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald.

Though deeply in love, the Hemingways are ill-prepared for the hard-drinking and fast-living life of Jazz Age Paris, which hardly values traditional notions of family and monogamy. Surrounded by beautiful women and competing egos, Ernest struggles to find the voice that will earn him a place in history, pouring all the richness and intensity of his life with Hadley and their circle of friends into the novel that will become The Sun Also Rises. Hadley, meanwhile, strives to hold on to her sense of self as the demands of life with Ernest grow costly and her roles as wife, friend, and muse become more challenging. Despite their extraordinary bond, they eventually find themselves facing the ultimate crisis of their marriage—a deception that will lead to the unraveling of everything they’ve fought so hard for.

A heartbreaking portrayal of love and torn loyalty, The Paris Wife is all the more poignant because we know that, in the end, Hemingway wrote that he would rather have died than fallen in love with anyone but Hadley.
The Nerd's Ramble: This book blew me away. I had no intention of reading it as I'm not a fan of Hemingway. I kept seeing it around various stores, and when I went into the library to pick up some books that I had on hold I saw that it was the book selected for our county's read-a-long. I picked it up, read the back and figured I'd give it a shot. I sat down one morning and didn't move until I finished the book. It's not very long, it took me a couple hours to read and I think it's a book that I'd also like to own (one day when I have more space on my shelves.)

Much how people either love or hate Hemingway, people love or hate this book. Goodreads is full of reviews talking about how much people loved this, and equally how much they hated it. I for one loved this book. The story is told from Hadley's point of view, a 28 year old woman who meets, and falls in love with a much younger Hemingway. They have a whirl-wind romance and courtship through letters, and I got caught up in it as well. Ms. McLain is a wonderful story teller, and she managed to drag my Hemingway-despising self through this six year romance and actually brought me to tears toward the end of their story.

The main setting of the book is post-war Paris, and the descriptions really transported me there. The setting itself is a character, seducing both Hemingway and Hadley into it's lifestyle and introducing them and the reader to names that still hold a lot of sway on literary shelves. The story really is vibrant and beautiful, though tragic in the end. I cannot recommend this book enough.

Rating: ★★★★★
Total Length: 314 pages
Formats Available: Kindle, Nook, Epub, Traditional publication.
Publication Date: February 11, 2011 (Ballantine Books)
Author's Link: Paula McLain on Goodreads

Book Review-- In The Woods (Dublin Murder Squad #1) Tana French

Synopsis: As dusk approaches a small Dublin suburb in the summer of 1984, mothers begin to call their children home. But on this warm evening, three children do not return from the dark and silent woods. When the police arrive, they find only one of the children gripping a tree trunk in terror, wearing blood-filled sneakers, and unable to recall a single detail of the previous hours.

Twenty years later, the found boy, Rob Ryan, is a detective on the Dublin Murder Squad and keeps his past a secret. But when a twelve-year-old girl is found murdered in the same woods, he and Detective Cassie Maddox—his partner and closest friend—find themselves investigating a case chillingly similar to the previous unsolved mystery. Now, with only snippets of long-buried memories to guide him, Ryan has the chance to uncover both the mystery of the case before him and that of his own shadowy past.

The Nerd's Ramble: This book is extremely slow starting, and once it gets going, it finishes almost too fast. I read this as the selected book for a book club I'm part of on Goodreads. The characters are interesting and diverse and all around human. They make mistakes they do things wrong, they make corrections and sometimes things aren't as cut and dry as we want them to be.

Rob and Cassie's relationship is something interesting, and I like that it's again very human. There's attraction, and affection but like all relationships nothing's perfect. Their relationship and partnership evolves and changes, sometimes for the better, and for the worst.

The mystery in this book is also compelling and complex. A few details are predictable, but the ending really made me stop and think about a few of the clues that Ms. French dropped in the narrative. The setting for this book is gorgeous, and the research painstakingly well done.

This is the first in a series, and I'm still undecided if I want to pick up the other books. I really liked this story and the characters, but I don't feel the same pull and connection as I do with other series like this.

Rating: ★★★☆☆
Total Length: 429 pages
Format: Epub, Kindle, traditional
Publication Date: May 17, 2007 (Viking Adult)

Book Review-- Party Crasher by April Angel

Synopsis: She crashed his party and became his prize…

According to one annoying Drex Callum, Chris is a “nosy reporter.” And maybe she is. She’s heard of the super secretive event known as the Seduction Party, and she won’t be content until she finds a way in. The last thing she expects to find is that Drex is the host. She’ll never get an invitation from her nemesis—unless she finds a way to get one herself. And breaking into his house is nothing if it means getting the scoop. But what she gets instead is an eye-full of the man himself, half-naked and more than she’d ever dreamed he could be in all her teenage fantasies.

Drex has been fantasizing about Chris forever, and now that she’s a grown woman, he still has a hard time treating her like one. So when she shows up at the Seduction Party—on the auction chair!—he’s got no other choice but to teach that nosey woman a lesson. He never dreamed sex could be like this, with Chris in his room, tied to a bed, asking him for stuff that blows his mind…

The Nerd's Ramble: This book is by far one of the steamiest, sexiest things I have ever read. It's a little longer than Ms. Angel's "Wicked Valentine", and I appreciate that there was more backstory and more development with this book. Chris is a reporter, and grew up with her older brother and his best friend Drex. As a reporter she manages to worm her way into an exclusive party, and ends up in a rather-- entertaining position.

Drex is a fun character to read. I really like his and Chris' relationship and their banter. Their tension is high and it's really fun to watch the sparks fly and see what happens when they get each other alone. There is a bit of a dramatic streak and some intense situations due to another character who doesn't approve of their relationship, or Chris' access to the exclusive bash. I feel that while it was a little more rounded out, it could have done with a bit more toward the end when Chris and Drex figure out who is behind the horrible things happening to Chris.

Wicked Valentine Review

Rating: ★★★★☆
Total Length: 101 pages
Format: Epub, Kindle
Publication Date: February 22, 2013 (Etopia Press)