Summer's Child

Bantam Books

Summer's Child
Luanne Rice
2005

The Summary
"On the first day of summer, Mara Jameson went out to water her garden--and she was never seen again.  Years after her disappearance, no one could forget the expectant mother whose glowing smile had captured the heart of everyone who'd known her:  Maeve Jameson, still mourning the loss of a granddaughter she had struggled to protect...Patrick Murphy, a dogged police detective obsessed with the vanished woman...and Lily Malone, drawn to the rugged beauty of the Nova Scotia coast and its promise of a new life.

"Here Lily hopes to raise her nine-year-old daughter, Rose, far from the pain and loss of the past.  Here she will meet a gifted scientist, Liam Neill, whose life is on a similar trajectory from heartbreak to hope.  And before the season is over, Lily will find the magic that exists in people we love best...the everyday miracles that can make the extraordinary happen anywhere."

The Good
Although I actually read Summer's Child several years ago, I enjoyed revisiting the rugged coast of Nova Scotia and a special rose garden on the New England coast.  Summer's Child does very well at giving readers a feel for the setting whether it's the conifer-covered coast of Nova Scotia with its rocky shores or the overflowing gardens of small Massachusetts cottages or the antiseptic whiteness of a hospital room.  You really get the feel for these locations, which I greatly appreciated.

I also thought the characters were well developed.  I really liked Lily who still struggles with her choices, who still fights her demons every day, and Liam stole my heart.  (I'll be honest, I had a bit of a crush on the big shark researcher.)  But I also thought the Rice did a wonderful job of characterizing children without making them seem unbelievable.

Take Rose, Lily's daughter, for instance.

Rose is only 9-years-old.  She's a sweet kid, but she's mature for her age because she's had to endure multiple heart surgeries to deal with her terrifying condition, Tetralogy of Fallot.  She doesn't sound like a little adult, but she doesn't sound too young for her age; she's just right, plus she's incredibly bright and incredibly sweet.  I just wanted to give her a hug and tell her it would all be alright.

Summer's Child is just a good wholesome book.  It sticks in my memory, because it's one of the very first purely romantic books I read.  It's very mild, very sweet, but it does a wonderful job of building characters and relationships to make them seem realistic and, more importantly, believable.  It reminded me a little of Jan Karon's Mitford series, in that it had stories laced with tragedy but, at it's core, it's about hope and love.

I liked it.  It gave me the warm fuzzies.

The Bad
No complaints, really.  It could get a little dull at times, especially when I really wanted to know what was happening with Rose.  But, otherwise, I enjoyed it all around.  It's not my favorite romantic novel, but it's definitely up there as one of my all-time favorite comfort books.

The Ugly
Abuse, plain and simple.

I really, really hated Ted.  I mean, he was absolutely despicable.  I disliked Edward, of course, but he was somewhat of a distant memory, a simmering hatred that lingered in the back of my mind.  Ted, however, incurred my active hatred since he was so recently in the past of both Marissa and her daughter, Jessica.

I'll just leave it at that, or else I'm going to spoil a plot twist.

The Reluctant Reformer

Leisure

The Reluctant Reformer
Lynsay Sands
2002

The Summary
"Lady X.

"Everyone knew Lady X...or, at least, everyone knew of her.  The masked courtesan was reputedly a noblewoman fallen on hard times.  What Lord James had not known was that she was Lady Margaret Wentworth--the feisty sister of his best friend.  Gerald claimed his sibling was beautiful, virtuous, naive; and he had forced James into an oath of protection.  But when James tracked the girl to a house of ill repute, what other explanation could there be but that Maggie was London's most enigmatic wanton?

"Lord, Why?

"Snatching the wench away would be a ticklish business, and after that things would get harder.  James had to ignore his quarry's violent protests that he was an idiot, that she was never the infamous X.  He had to find a way to reform the hoyden, to save her from scandal.  He had to steer clear of his own meddling aunt--all the while keeping his hands off those luscious goods that the rest of the ton had reputedly sampled.  And, with Maggie, hardest of all would be keeping himself from falling in love."

The Good
The Reluctant Reformer is a funny, if rather absurd, romance novel.  They were constantly misunderstanding one another, constantly misinterpreting each other's intentions.  It's quite amusing to watch them circle around the main issue, both embarrassed to admit anything (she's actually a writer, but he thinks she's a courtesan; she doesn't want her secret to get out to the ton, who would disapprove of her occupation, while he's likewise trying to protect her reputation from a completely different issue) and bumbling around blindly.

It's really very funny, and it's not a bad book.  Sands' novel was amusing enough to keep me attentive, and it's actually very well done.  I don't think it's completely historically accurate and it's absolutely absurd, but I enjoyed the story.  The characters developed nicely, even if the plot was a little predictable, but it kept me involved.

It gives an unexpected twist on the boy-meets-girl romance.  In this case, boys meets girl; boy falls in love with girl, even though he believes she's a prostitute; girl discovers what he really thinks of her, and promptly delivers a swift kick to his shins.  Admittedly, I liked the deviation and I couldn't help laughing about it.

The Bad
I was constantly frustrated by the fact that if James and Maggie had simply said the right words--if she had admitted her real occupation, and if he had simply said the words out loud what he thought--they both could have been saved a lot of embarrassment.  But I suppose that would have cut the story short, and made it less awkward for the couple.

The Ugly
Attempted murder.  Plus, it's quite explicit.

I will never look at cinnamon apples the same way again.

Fables: Storybook Love (Volume 3)

Vertigo

Fables:  Storybook Love (Volume 3)
Bill Willingham
Mark Buckingham
Lan Medina
James Jean
2004

The Summary
"A fairy tale ending?

"Not likely.

"In the Fables' world, there isn't a lot of happily-ever-after to go around.  As refugees from the lands of make-believe, the Fables have been driven from their storybook realms and forced to blend in with our gritty, mundane reality.

"But that doesn't mean they don't have any room for romance--or the pain, betrayal and jealous rage that go along with it.  In fact, love may be blooming between two of the most hard-bitten, no-nonsense Fables around.  But are they destined for happiness--or a quick and untimely death?"

The Good
Truthfully, I was curious to see how this story would develop.

Well, okay, I'll admit I was mostly curious to see what was going on between Bigby and Snow White.  They have a curious relationship: part romantic, part professional, yet incredibly complicated.  It's interesting to witness the way they react together, the way they protect one another when faced with deadly enemies--and it's interesting to see how they, eventually, manage to form a relationship.

More or less.

Like I said, it's very complicated.

The Bad
I read Fables:  Storybook Love, but I can't help but feel I started to lose some interest in the story.  I know the series continues for a grand total of 22 volumes, and I don't think I'll muddle my way through the rest of the story.  It's complex and dark and, truthfully, it's just not what I'm looking for right now.

The Ugly
It's hard to kill the Big Bad Wolf, but not for lack of trying.

Poor Bigby.  I know that has to hurt.

Fables: Animal Farm (Volume 2)

Vertigo

Fables:  Animal Farm (Volume 2)
Bill Willingham
Mark Buckingham
Steve Leialoha
2002

The Summary
"Fables of the world, Unite!

"Ever since they were driven from their homelands by the Adversary, the non-human Fables have been living on the farm--a vast property in upstate New York that keeps them hidden from the prying eyes of the mundane world.  But now, after hundreds of years of isolation, the Farm is seething with revolution, fanned by the inflammatory rhetoric of Goldilocks and the Three Little Pigs.  And when Snow White and her sister Rose Red stumble upon their plan to liberate the homelands, the commissars of the Farm are ready to silence them--by any means necessary!"

The Good
Fables is a complex series, morally and politically speaking.  You get a taste of the microcosm in which they exist, the intricate relationships that tie them together and the political juggling act performed by Snow and others, in volume one; however, in Animal Farm, you really get to see how the divisions between the humanoid and anthropomorphic parts of the community split the Fable world.

It reminds me of George Orwell's novel from whence it takes its name.  By turns brutal and complex, Fables:  Animal Farm really dives deep into the dark side of the Fable world--and attempts to shed light on a political situation that is at once volatile and surprisingly tenuous.  It's fascinating to watch the story unfold.

I also enjoyed the inclusion of other literary worlds, branching out into the old folktales, like Br'er Rabbit and Reynard the Fox, and classic tales, like The Jungle Book.  There's so much history to them, so much depth to them from all the years of telling and retelling--and its interesting to see how my views, my feelings of these characters match up to their newly imagined counterparts.  It's mind-boggling to think these characters will not always stay the same.

The Bad
I don't always recognize the fairy tales and stories involved in Fables.  But, I think, that's more or less my own failing rather than anything on the part of the authors who brought these characters together in new and exciting ways.

The Ugly
Graphic violence.  It made my stomach churn.

And for good reason.  I very much disliked the Lord of the Flies reference.  It's quite obvious when you see it, and it's just as sickening.  (All I can say is:  Poor Colin.)

Fables: Legends in Exile (Volume 1)

Vertigo

Fables:  Legends in Exile (Volume 1)
Bill Willingham
Lan Medina
Steve Leialoha
Craig Hamilton
2002

The Summary
"Who killed Rose Red?

"In Fabletown, where fairy tale legends live alongside regular New Yorkers, the question is all anyone can talk about.  But only the Big Bad Wolf can solve the case--and, along with Rose's sister Snow White, keep the Fabletown community from coming apart at the seams."

The Good
Fables:  Legends in Exile is an interesting concept, but it also succeeds with the execution.  I really liked the idea of fabled worlds, these literary lands where stories and their characters--like Snow White, Rose Red, Prince Charming (who I really dislike, just FYI), Beauty and the Beast, Briar Rose, Bluebeard, and even the Big Bad World--and it's incredibly fascinating to see these characters coming to life and mingling together.  It's a literary stew just brimming with all my favorite stories and fairy tales.  How could I not enjoy it?

I liked Snow White.  I like that she's basically in charge of Fabletown, that she has the capability to run a government and run it well.  She's smart, she's tough, and she's really quite amazing.  But I also like the Big Bad Wolf--or Bigby, as he's now known.  He's a cross between a hard-boiled detective noir and a werewolf, which, confidentially, makes him quite interesting.  Plus, he seems like a genuinely good guy (for the most part anyway).

Overall, I enjoyed it.  Although I'd tried to read Fables in the past and didn't care for them, I find now that I'm older--and, perhaps, a little more jaded when it comes to comic books and what is permissible in graphic novels--and a more knowledgeable of fairy tales, I enjoy Fables.  It's a catchy series with intriguing characters, complicated relationships, and fascinating stories.

The Bad
Admittedly, I wasn't always intrigued with the course of the plot.  It's an interesting story, don't get me wrong, but it was sometimes a little dry.  Plus, I couldn't always discern the relationships between the characters, unless it was spelled out for me, and I always closed the book feeling like I was missing something.

All the denizens of Fabletown have a history with one another  Everyone fears Bigby, because he was once the Big Bad Wolf who gobbled up unsuspecting travelers in the forest, and yet he's Fabeltown's enforcer; Bluebeard is a homicidal maniac who has managed to ingratiate himself into the political and social scenes of Fabletown; Snow White is sister to Rose Red, first wife to Prince Charming, and right hand to King Cole, mayor of Fabletown; Little Boy Blue is an assistant to Snow, helping to keep Fabletown running smoothly; Jack (of Jack and the Beanstalk fame) is a con-artist and computer hacker with a less-than-stellar record.

There's more, I assure you, and it's all very complicated.

The Ugly
These characters are not the saccharine sweet Disney characters fans of fairy tales have come to know and love.  They are tough, they are jaded, and, in some cases, they are homicidal maniacs.  In fact, they are closer to their roots in Brothers Grimm and Hans Christen Anderson than their modern counterparts.  Their stories are painted with a little more blood and gore, riddled with a little more tragedy, which is decidedly unpleasant.