Book Review: Jamaica Inn

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Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier
Jamaica Inn 
by Daphne du Maurier

4 out of 5 stars on GoodReads 

After her mother’s death, Mary arrives at Jamaica Inn on the coast of Cornwall to live with her Aunt Patience and the uncle she has never met. He is a man feared through all the country as rumors of smuggling and murder surround Jamaica Inn. Mary is horrified as she discovers the truth about the inn, but it’s too dangerous to go against her vicious uncle, until Mary receives help from an unexpected ally.

The writing is expressive and really paints a picture of the setting amidst the dark moors. The story is certainly striking, even though I found the plot fairly predictable.
Mary’s character has a good balance, since she’s plucky but also vulnerable. The other characters are vivid and interesting too, even the awful villains. Each person has such colorful dialogue, descriptions, and body language that they jump off the page into life! I was truly afraid of the villains, truly sorry for the pathetic Aunt Patience, and absolutely disgusted with the nasty smugglers. I could almost smell them, they were so close to life.

Excellent writing and a good tale of mystery and suspense!

Book Review: Frightful’s Mountain

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Frightful's Mountain by Jean Craighead George
Frightful’s Mountain (Mountain, #3) 
by Jean Craighead George

3 out of 5 stars


This is my least favorite book in the trilogy, because it mainly focuses on the peregrine falcon, Frightful, and Sam is barely in the story at all. If you are interested in falconry at all, you would LOVE this book! Very informative and dramatic, as Frightful learns to survive in the wild, struggles to find a mate and raise her own chicks, and finds her way back to Sam as a wild bird.
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Book Review: Under the Red Spotlight

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Under the Red Spotlight by Shawn King
Under the Red Spotlight 
by Shawn King

4 out of 5 stars on GoodReads


Tamryn is a slave in a circus, along with her aerialist partners, Torin and Patrick. They are beaten and starved, forced to perform for the cheering crowds, until one day Tamryn’s situation becomes desperate and Torin risks everything to help her escape. Separated from the only family she knows, Tamryn struggles to find a balance between survival and following her true heart. Torin vows to find a way to escape and be reunited with Tamryn, but the circus owner is ruthless and cruel. Escape seems impossible. In the middle of it all, Patrick seeks for comfort in the arms of Jessica, Tamryn’s replacement in their aerial act. Four young people searching for freedom, and they will only find it through knowing Christ.

I loved this book!!! I don’t know if it was the writing, the characters, or the dramatic plot… but this story pulled me in. There is so much action and running around and drama! Usually I don’t even like circus stories, but this one definitely captured my attention.
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Book Review: Candide

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Candide by Voltaire
Candide 
by Voltaire, John Everett Butt (Translator and Introduction)

2 out of 5 stars on GoodReads

Candide and his friends are thrown into horrible situations, tortured, robbed, conscripted into armies, sold as slaves, shipwrecked, beaten, thrown into prison, etc… for the entire book, all the while discussing the philosophy of optimism, the idea that all is well and good in the world, despite the evidence to the contrary.

The writing is extremely concise and lacking in any detail, so that all the characters are one-dimensional, and the plot is very sparse. Everything moves quickly from one plot point to the next, so that within a few sentences the entire situation has changed. Not much is explained either, leaving a lot of plot holes and gaps in the story.  Continue reading →

Book Review: Midwinter Nightingale

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Midwinter Nightingale by Joan Aiken
Midwinter Nightingale (The Wolves Chronicles, #10) 
by Joan Aiken

3 out of 5 stars on GoodReads


Within hours of returning to England, Dido is kidnapped and interrogated regarding the whereabouts of the missing King Richard and his successor, Simon, Duke of Battersea. Dido has no idea where they are hiding, but she could never betray the good King and her kind friend Simon, so she turns her attention to escaping the fearful Fogrum Hall and the ghastly werewolf, Baron Magnus. Continue reading →