Four Books

“Such a Pretty Face”       Cathy Lamb

This was a great book from beginning to end; I loved the writing style and the characters were entirely believable.  Stevie negotiates her new life after an abusive childhood, heart attack and drastic weight loss cause her to choose between her old self and the person she is trying to become.  I laughed, cringed and cried throughout the book; there’s a love interest, familial horror, skeletons, murder, abuse, ethical legal procedures, envy, politics and self-help groups all written into a fantastic book about growing out of our childhood.

“The Daughter of Sienna”           Marina Fiorato

I love period books and this was historical fiction at its best for me.  Set in the final years of the Medici rule of Italy, a woman is the governor of the city of Sienna and has to fight for her life and her rule; while another woman must survive the plotting of her father and her father-in-law to be.  Horse racing, royal divisiveness, romance, classic literature, Cleopatra and King Arthur and 18^th century Italy.  The intrigue was easy enough to follow without being boring and the characters were so interesting and inviting that I was sorry when the story was over.

“The Captive Queen”     Alison Weir

I don’t have much to say about this book; I should have enjoyed it as it’s historical fiction.  The characters were too hard to follow and I lost track of the storyline about 50 pages in.  I was also a bit annoyed by the overtly descriptive sexual passages early on and the overall theme of infidelity.  Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitane was a fairly shallow character in this book and I just couldn’t get into it at all.  I didn’t finish the story.

“Daughter of Fortune”  Isabel Allende

I remember when this book first came out I wanted to read it, but forgot about it.  I found it a few months ago at a thrift store and picked it up.  I have to say that of the Oprah Book Club books I’ve read, I really just haven’t been able to get into most (if any) of them.  This is no exception.  The characters are interesting, yet shallow and there’s just so much I can read about dysentery and bi-polar before I think “Why Am I reading this”?  I’m hoping it gets better, but I’m thinking it’s going to go back to the thrift store.