2010 Book 11 - Sepulchre

I'm slowly getting caught up on documenting my 2010 reading synopsis that I'd planned. I guess I got ahead of reading stuff and then jumping into the next book without opening up the computer....I know CRAZY!!

So, I finished reading Kate Mosse's Sepulchre about a month ago, just as I was moving into the house, which may have been another reason why I didn't get it documented. Here is what is written on the inside flap:

October 1891: Seventeen-year-old Leonie Vernier and her brother, Anatole, abandon the gaslit streets of Paris for the sleepy mountain town of Rennes-les-Bains in southwest France. They've come at the invitation of their widowed aunt, whose estate, the Domaine de la Cade, is famous in the region. But their aunt, and the Domaine, are not what Leonie had imagined. Aunt Isolde is young, willowy, and beautiful, yet with a melancholy air that suits the slightly sinister Comaine. Leonie discovers that the isolated country house and its ancient forests have long been the subject of local superstition; when she stumbles across a ruined Visigoth sepulchre, she unwittingly involves herself with the timeless mystery of this eerie place, which may be spelled out in a strange pack of tarot cards that is rumored to hold the power of life and death. While Leonie delves deeper into the secrets of the Domaine, a different evil stalks her family - one that may explain why Leonie and Anatole were invited to Rennes-les-Bains in the first place.

October 2007: More than a century later, Meredith Martin, an American graduate student, arrives in Rennes-les-Bains. She checks into a grand old hotel - the Domaine de la Cade - and almost instantly, strange dreams and visions begin to haunt her waking hours. A chance encounter leads her to a pack of tarot cards painted by Leonie Vernier, which may hold the key to this twenty-first-century American's fate...and explain the ties that bind the two women together.

As the Feast of All Saints approaches - when the veil between life and death is thinnest - Meredith is drawn inexorably to a secluded forest glade where the secrets of the past are far from buried.

I found this book to be a pretty light, mind-candy sort of read. There wasn't a whole lot of plot points to try and follow, even though the book does shift between the past and the present. I do like a historical novel, if you hadn't figured that out yet, and this one intrigued me and made me want to find out more about the time period. Some of the characters are a little tedious and if I could have, I would have given one of them a really good slap in the face, but since I couldn't do that I just kept calling her stupid. Anyway, I would probably not recommend this book to most people. I liked it, but would not be something that I would push onto somebody else.

2010 Book 9 - You Suck

I cannot say enough great things about Christopher Moore. He one of my all time favorite authors, even though I know there will be a lot of people out there that probably won't appreciate his works, but I love him. I purchased this book early on when I moved out to California because I found a signed copy of it in one of the smaller bookstores out there. (Christopher Moore is from San Francisco and many of his books are actually based there or the surrounding area, and his characters will oftentimes show up in minor roles in another book.) You Suck is a sequel to Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story. Here is what is written on the inside cover:

Being dead sucks. Make that being undead sucks. Literally. Just ask Thomas C. Flood. Waking up after a fantastic night unlike anything he's ever experienced, he discovers that his girlfriend, Jody - the woman of his dreams - is a vampire. And surprise! Now he's one, too.

For some couples, the whole biting-and-blood thing would have been a deal breaker. But Tommy and Jody are in love, and they vow to work through their issues. Like how much Jody should teach Tommy about his new superpowers (and how much he needs to learn on his own). Plus there's Tommy's cute new minion, sixteen-year-old goth girl Abby Normal. (Well, someone has to run errands during daylight hours!)

Making the relationship work, however, is the least of Jody and Tommy's problems. Word has it that the vampire who nibbled on Jody wasn't supposed to be recruiting any new member into the club. Even worse, Tommy's erstwhile turkey-bowling pals are out to get him, at the urging of a blue-dyed Las Vegas call girl named (duh) Blue.

And that really sucks.

And, I just realized that there is a third one in this series released less than a month ago, but before I can get to that one I have to read my most recent Christopher Moore purchase Fool: A Novel. I'll let you know what that one is about soon....

2010 Book 8 - The Heretic's Daughter

I finished Kathleen Kent's book The Heretic's Daughter a couple of weeks ago, but am just now getting around to blogging about it. Here is what is described on the back of the book:

In 1752 Sarah Carrier Chapman, weak with infirmity, writes a letter to her granddaughter, revealing the secret she has closely guarded for six decades...

Her story begins more than a year before the Salem witch trials, when nine-year-old Sarah and her family arrive in a New England community already gripped by superstition and fear. As they witness neighbor pitted against neighbor, friend against friend, hysteria escalates - until more than two hundred men, women, and children have been swept into prison. Among them is Sarah's mother, Martha Carrier.

In an attempt to protect her children, Martha asks Sarah to commit an act of heresy - a lie that will most surely condemn Martha even as it will save her daughter.

I love reading stories between mothers and daughters, I don't know why because I like to think I have a great relationship with my mom. I would recommend this book to anybody. It gives insight into not only the relationship between a mother and her daughter, but also into what people may have had to go through during that time period in our country's history.