Review: I WAS JANE AUSTEN'S BEST FRIEND by Cora Harrison ***

It is a truth uniersally acknowledged that a single girl in possession of a journal must write all her secrets in it ...

When shy Jenny Cooper goes to stay with her cousin Jane Austen, she knows nothing of the world of beautiful dresses, dances, secrets, gossip, and romance that Jane inhabits. At fifteen, Jane is already a sharp observer of the customs of courtship. So when Jenny falls utterly in love with Captain Thomas Williams, who better than Jane to help her win the heart of this dashing man? But is that even possible? After all, Jenny’s been harboring a most desperate secret. Should it become known, it would bring scandal not only to her, but also to the wonderful Austen family. What’s a poor orphan girl to do?

In this delicious dance between truth and fiction, Cora Harrison has crafted Jenny’s secret diary by reading everything Jane Austen wrote as a child and an adult, and by researching biographies, critical studies, and family letters. Jenny’s diary makes the past spring vividly to life and provides insight into the entire Austen family—especially the beloved Jane.

A quick note before I begin - the US edition above isn't out yet, but I decided to post both covers as they're both lovely and yet so different. Which one do you prefer? Personally I like the US one, but I absolutely adore the UK cover and I fell in love with it the moment I saw it at Frankfurt (report here) and that's the cover I'll be rating at the end of my review.

Quite frankly, I don't think I would've read/bought this book if it weren't for the cover. I must confess that while being an admirer of Ms Austen's works, I'm not really the biggest Austen fan and I haven't re-re-read her works and I'm not all that familiar with her life story so this book gave me some insight. It's not really about Jane though, she's just a side character, but the main story is told mainly through the diary entries of Jenny Cooper, Jane's 16-year-old orphan friend who lives with them in Steventon.

The story takes place in 1791 and in the opening scene, Jenny commits a terrible offence by braving the streets of Southampton in the middle of the night in order to post a letter addressed to Jane's mother, informing her that Jane (aged 15) is terribly ill at boarding school (you can read about this here). Thus Jenny may have saved Jane's life, but this scandalous act has a great effect on Jenny's life later on, mainly because she met Captain Thomas Williams on that fateful night.
After that, Jenny and Jane were pulled out of that dreadful boarding school and went to live with the Austen family in Steventon. There Jenny meets all of Jane's numerous siblings (including the disabled brother George who is not allowed to live with the family), develops a crush or two, attends her first few balls in wonderful gowns, learns the language of the fan and falls head over heels in love with a dashing man ... There are a few twists and turns, but you know there's a happy ending in store. :)

This was a truly lovely and romantic little book and I rather enjoyed it. I had great fun reading about the life in the 18th century when the world was oh so different and this book sort of makes you want to experience it first hand, le sigh. While I enjoyed reading about Jenny's love troubles, I found myself far more touched by the sub-story of Jane's brother George and how Jenny and Jane tried to help him and didn't shun him just because he was disabled.

I quite enjoyed this book and I really can't fault it, but it just didn't amaze me. It was an incredibly and a very romantic read, but I felt I didn't get to know the characters well enough (perhaps that's due to the fact that everyone was so ... rigid back then?) and the writing could've been more flowerly or old-fashioned for a diary that was written in the 18th century.

What makes this book even more adorable are the oh so pretty illustrations that are featured all through the diary. They were meant to be Jenny's sketches of things that she talked about in her diary, but actually they were done by Susan Hellard and I thought they were the perfect addition to this lovely novel. I've posted a few examples below (click to enlarge) - aren't these just the cutest things ever? :)

I expect most people who will be reading this are fans of Austen's work and are probably wondering what this book has to do with her. Well, as it turns out, a lot of it is actually based on real events and people - if you want to know more, please read the author's note on what is fact what is fiction, but I have to say I found the book to be a wonderful mix of both.

All in all, I enjoyed this book and while I was not amazed by it, I'd still recommend it to all the Austen fans or to anyone who enjoys a lovely romantic read. Quite frankly, I think it's worth owning just because it's so darn cute! :)

overall rating:
plot: 3/5 | writing: 3/5 | characters: 3/5 | cover: 5/5

In My Mailbox #34

IMM is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren in which bloggers post about the books we've received in the past week. Here's what was in *my* mailbox this week:

LITTLE DARLINGS by Jacqueline Wilson - Yeah, I just decided to take a picture of the whole book jacket because I think it's great and very eye-catching and I love it! I may have mentioned before that I have a bit of a soft spot for Ms Wilson so obviously I had to pre-order her new book and now it's finally arrived, yay!

I also finally got my copy of BEFORE I FALL by Lauren Oliver. Readers of this blog already now that I've read this book months ago (it's actually the only book I've ever read on a comp) and it was soooo good that I just had to get a copy so I did (I pre-ordered it ages ago).

The last three books came in a surprise package from the lovely people at Headline (thanks so much!) and so I got:
THE PERFECT LIE by Emily Barr - Haven't read anything by this author yet, but I've heard great things about her books so I'm excited to give her a try!
DESIRE by Luise Bagshawe - Same as above, haven't read anything by LB yet, but looking forward to! This is just another ARC and the finished cover is lovely!
TOP TIPS FOR LIFE by Kate Reardon - This appears to be non-fiction, but it seems pretty cute and useful!

What did *you* get? I can't wait to find out! :)

ps: Thanks so much to everyone who entered my Before I Fall contest! I'm afraid I've been rather busy lately and sadly haven't had time to do all the entries and everything, but I promise to sort everything out in the next couple of days so the winner should be announced soon, just bear with me! :)

Hope you're having a great weekend, everyone!

Review: DAUGHTERS OF FORTUNE by Tara Hyland ****

William Melville's daughters are heiresses to the world's most exclusive fashion dynasty. Beautiful and rich, they are envied by all. But behind the glittering facade of their lives, each girl hides a dark secret that threatens to tear their family apart.
Smart, ambitious Elizabeth knows how to manipulate every man she meets, except the one who counts: her father.
Gentle, naive Caitlin, the illegitimate child, struggling to fit into a world of privilege while staying true to herself.
Stunning, spoilt Amber, the party girl with a weakness for bad boys; more fragile than anyone realises.
As each of them seeks to carve out her own destiny, Elizabeth, Caitlin and Amber face difficult choices, which will take them in wildly different directions. But as old wounds resurface and threaten to destroy the foundations of the Melville empire, their paths will cross again. Because the simple truth is that, no matter how far you go, you cannot escape the claims of family.

If you're anything like me and you tend to judge a book by the cover, then you're probably already in love with this book, just like I was when I first saw it (and it's even more beautiful in real life), even though I generally don't favour anything blue, but this one is just stunning. If on top of being a fan of the cover art you're also interested in a good bonkbuster, then this is definitely the book for you! It's a massive thing with nearly 600 pages, but it was so good and engrossing that I sped through them in less than two days and now I'm slightly sad that it's over as I got really attached to the three main characters and I want to know what happens to them next!

This impressive debut tells the story of three daughters of a fashion magnate, William Melville. The opening scene takes place in 1974 and explains how William and Katie (Caitilin's mother) fell in love and why their affair ended and they never spoke again. Then we get to know the three girls who are at the centre of this story: Elizabeth and Amber (the legitimate daughters) and Caitlin. We see how Caitlin joins the family after Katie's death and then we follow the girls during their teenage and school years in 1990s and afterwards in 2000s when they're trying to lead their own lives as more of less successful young women. The trio couldn't be more different, but what they all have in common is that despite the fact that they could've enjoyed the luxurious life, they all want to be independent and prove to both the world and their father what they're really worth so they develop their own careers in fashion design, business and modelling. Throughout the book, we witness their private and professional ups and downs, and though they may have had their fair share of indifferences and haven't quite been the closest of sisters, they know how to step together and unite forces when a war is declared on their fashion empire.

As I said, the book is massive in the typical bonkbuster fashion, but it's still a rather quick read and I honestly cannot fault. While I think it could've been shorter and some side characters could perhaps be eliminated, I still enjoyed every single page. The prose is rich and elegant and thus matches both the setting and the cover perfectly while it also sucks the reader in. Ms Hyland can definitely write and I'd definitely like to read more by her! The rumour has it that she's already working on her second novel, whoop!

While the plot was a bit slow at first, it was never boring - how could it be with the glamurous lives that these girls lead! I also expected fashion to play a more dominant part in the book as a whole, but it was really more about business than clothes as such and thus this book provides a great behind-the-scenes look for fashion empires. Apart from those rather sophisticated themes, these book also features all the typical ingredients of a bonkbuster: rich people, sex, scandals, betrayal, scheming, drugs, cheating etc. Perfect escapism!

As a typical bonkbuster, this book features a loooot of characters, but I found them very well portrayed, especially the main ones really jumped of the page. I felt like I really got to know them (despite the third person narration) and I was sad to let them go at the end of the book so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a sequel.

All in all, I wasn't exactly blown away by this book, but it was a damn enjoyable and engrossing read! Really, the pages were just turning themselves and it was all over before I even knew it!

The book is officially released on March 18th, when I'll also be posting an interview with the author. If you can't wait that long, you can find out more about the book and the author here or read the prologue here. If you find it tickles your fancy, then you can pre-order your copy at Amazon or Book Depository.

overall rating:
plot: 4/5 | writing: 4/5 | characters: 5/5 | cover: 5/5

Waiting On Wednesday: A double dose of YA reality chicks!

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine and it's used for listing the exciting upcoming releases.
Today I'll also be doing a double post since two of the books I'm looking forward to tackle the same subject, i.e. REALITY SHOWS. Surprisingly, I'm not a fan of reality TV at all, but I still find myself drawn to these books, lol. Yep, I already have both LA Candy books to read along with The Real Real, fingers crossed I'll get round to them in 2010, heh!
Anyway, I came across two other book about girls who become stars of reality TV and here they are:

REALITY CHECK by Jen Calonita
[14 June 2010]

Sixteen-year-olds Charlie, Keiran, Brooke, and Hallie have just been signed up for their own reality television show. They can't even believe it. "You'll be The Hills meets The Secret Life of the American Teenager," the Armani-suited executive tells them, "and the hottest thing on our network." How could they say no?
But soon enough, cameras following them everywhere and interfering producers surreptitiously scripting their lives start to affect the four best friends' relationship. Brooke seems to want all the screen time. Keiran is abruptly written out of the show-and consequently the group's friendship-when she doesn't rate well. As soon as Charlie realizes what's going on, she figures out the perfect way to give the studio and her home audience a much-needed reality check.
Because friends don't let friends do reality shows.

How cute does this sound and look? What are everyone's thoughts on this cover? I've heard mixed responses so far, but I actually quite like it!


WATCH ME by Lauren Barnholdt
[6 July 2010]

Going away to college means total independence and freedom. Unless of course your freshman year is taped and televised for all the world to watch. On uncensored cable.
Sweet and normal Ally Cavanaugh is one of five freshpeople shacking up on In the House, a reality show filmed on her college campus. (As if school isn't panic-inducing enough!) The cameras stalk her like paparazzi, but they also capture the fun that is new friends, old crushes, and learning to live on your own. Sure, the camera adds ten pounds, but with the freshman fifteen a given anyway, who cares? Ally's got bigger issues -- like how her long-distance bf can watch her loopy late-night "episode" with a certain housemate . . .

As the cover says, this is a re-release of the author's work entitled REALITY CHICK and I actually used the summary for that edition as it emphasises the subject of reality TV more. Both the cover and the title have been changed for the re-release and I have to say the change has been a definite upgrade, although I quite liked the previous title.

Can't wait to get my hands on these books! What are you waiting on? :)

ps: What are your thoughts on Hilary Duff writing YA novels? (Sarah Dessen tweeted: "Writing YA is the new black!" - LOL!) Will you read it? I honestly don't care about Hilary Duff, I don't think I've seen a single thing she was in, but I probably won't be able to resist the hype this book will very likely be subjected to and I'll probably give it a chance, heh.

pps: Don't forget - my BEFORE I FALL contest ends today, on the 10th! You only have until midnight so go enter now if you haven't already! :)

Review: VERY LeFREAK by Rachel Cohn ****

Very LeFreak has a problem: she’s a crazed technology addict. Very can’t get enough of her iPhone, laptop, IMs, text messages, whatever. If there’s any chance the incoming message, call, text, or photo might be from her supersecret online crush, she’s going to answer, no matter what. Nothing is too important: sleep, friends in mid-conversation, class, a meeting with the dean about academic probation. Soon enough, though, this obsession costs Very everything and everyone. Can she learn to block out the noise so she can finally hear her heart?
Rachel Cohn makes her Knopf solo debut with this funny, touching, and surely recognizable story about a girl and the technology habit that threatens everything.

The main reason why I bought the book and gave this book a chance was the awesome book trailer, which I loved. I expected to love this book so I was quite surprised when I just couldn't get into it at first ... I found the first part of the book rather boring and I didn't really like any of the characters and I kept thinking, "Whoa, this Very chick's got some serious issues." I was very close to giving up on this book, but I knew that if I gave up on it, then I'd never pick it up again and I thought that maybe writing a bad review once it a while would do me good. Buuuuut in the second part, the book really picked up and I ended up loving it! Why? Read on. ;)

When we first meet Very (real name Veronica), she spends all her time connected to various devices and she's obsessed with El Virus, her online buddy/crush who's been completely MIA for a couple of weeks and Very can't wait to hear from him. She also does some stupid things so her friends (Jennifer aka Lavinia) and Bryan are really worried about her. Thus they make her give up all her gadgets for a couple of weeks. Very is coping more or less successfully with her predicament when all of a sudden she finds out that Bryan deleted all the stuff on her laptop ... Very gets *very, very* angry and a very naked attack ensues aaaaand our Very ends up at ESCAPE, which stands for Emergency Services for Computer-Addicted Persons Everywhere, which marks the second part of the book.

From here on, we eventually get to meet the real Very and get to the bottom of her issues. At ESCAPE, Very makes some new friends and gets into needlepoint and bedazzling and clothes washing and basically discovers that life without technology isn't all that bad. During her sessions with the counsellor Keisha, Very also openly discusses growing up all over the place with a very liberal mother and why she feels guilty for her death, about not knowing her father, about her sexuality, about being hurt and hurting people etc. I felt that Very really grew as a character and I loved how she really tried to be a better person and strived to resist the temptations both of the people and technology variety. But just when she's about to complete her recovery, two very important people in her life show up and Very has to choose which path she will take. There were quite a exciting few twists & turns in the end, but I was happy with Very's choice.

I wasn't too fond of the third person narration, but the narrative voice was fantastic so I could easily overlook that minor flaw (which is totally personal preference). The plot isn't exactly gripping (at least not until the end), but the great narration and character development make this book really easy to read once you get into it. Also, I find it quite funny how I went from being quite irritated by Very to really liking her (as well as Lavinia and Aunt Edith) and rooting for her in the end! I thought she was a great character and I love how she grew throughout the story.

Lastly, there are three things I want to say:

• the trailer is great, but the book has so much more to offer;
• if you're participating in the GLBT Challenge, then you might want to add this book to your list - just saying ;)
• I can't get the Le Freak song out of my head now, haha! "Oooh, freak out! Le freak, c'est chic!" :)

overall rating:
plot: 4/5 | writing: 4/5 | characters: 4/5 | cover: 3/5

ps: I've no idea what's with all the four star reviews lately, but coincidentally I've just been reading great books! :)

In My Mailbox #33

Hey, everyone, and welcome to another installment of IMM (hosted by TSS). I'm happy to say that some of the books I've been waiting for have finally arrived, yay! Here are the lovely books I received in the past week - a great mix of chick lit, YA and historical books:

Firstly, DAUGHTERS OF FORTUNE by Tara Hyland - I've been excited about this book ever since I first heard of it and now it's finally arrived and it looks even more stunning in person! So elegant and posh, I love it! I'd like to thank Tara and Ally from S&S for sending me this for review, I cannot wait to read this one!

I also bought a hardcover copy of I WAS JANE AUSTEN'S BEST FRIEND by Corra Harrison, which looks adorable both inside and out - the cover so pretty and it even has all these cute illustrations inside, yay!

I ordered THE GYPSY CROWN by Kate Forsyth after I read & loved The Puzzle Ring, which made me want to read more by this wonderful author so I bought this one. It also has a great cover and I hope it's just as good as The Puzzle Ring!

I pre-ordered LOVE LETTERS by Katie Fforde a while ago as it sounded like a great read, but I was waiting for the paperback to come out. I've heard great things about Ms Fforde's books but I haven't read any myself so I hope Love Letters is a good one to start!

THE COUNTERFEIT GUEST by Rose Melikan is the sequel to The Blackstone Key (gorgeous cover!), which I bought ages ago, but still haven't read as I'm waiting for all three books to come out in paperback. This historical series sounds fantastic though and I really can't wait to start reading it!

That's it from me! Can't we to see what everyone else got! Isn't IMM like the best meme ever? :) Have a great weekend, everyone!

CELEBUTANTES by Ruthanna Hopper and Amanda Goldberg ****

What would you do if you were born on Oscar night into Hollywood royalty? If you went to Vanity Fair parties rather than birthday parties? And if your life felt like a glamourous movie - but you were only an extra in it, playing boyfriendless, jobless hopeful no. 310?
Meet Lola Santisi. She's an Actorholic. Stuck in a pattern of dating beautiful actors then as soon as she's got over the dazzle of their teeth and the rockhard abs, realising they're just as self-obsessed as the last one. She's gone cold-turkey, and resolved to plough her energy into helping her friends instead. Julian, Lola's BGF (best gay friend), is a designer on the up. But he'll be down and out if he can't get someone to wear his designs on Oscar night so persuades Lola to become his Hollywood Ambassador. Lola's best friend Kate, is an ambitious young agent desperate to sign a big name. Together with their other friend, Cricket, a ditzy actress aspiring to play something other than a coma victims on ER, they must navigate through celebrity-hell if they're ever going to make it to the red carpet ...

I've had this book for like two years and I've nearly given up on reading it after I came across several bad reviews. But then one day I just felt like reading this particular book - I guess I was just in the mood for something light and fluffy and this book was just what the doctor ordered! It was actually far better than I expected from the negative reviews and I ended up really enjoying it!

The book revolves around the Oscars - the opening scene takes place after the ceremony and then it goes back to document the week before this opening scene to explain how things ended up the way they did. The story is narrated by Lola Santisi, a 26-year-old failed actress and wannabe fashion designer. She was born into Hollywood Royalty as her father is a producer and she's completely used to being surrounded by the biggest film stars and fashion designers. Her current objective during the week before the Oscars is to help her designer friend Julian find a film star who will wear his dress on the red carpet and thus make him famous, otherwise he'll be out of business and she'll be jobless again. Finding a star to wear a Julian Tennant dress is proving to be harder than it sounds, especially since film stars are known to change their minds every two seconds, plus her enemy Adrienne Hunt is trying to sabotage her every step of the way and she's trying to recover from her break up as well as struggling to resist falling for yet another actor. Lola may make a few mistakes along the way, but she's determined to succeed no matter what it takes.

Not surprisingly, there is a looooot of name dropping in this novel - it feels like every possible film star and designer or any kind of celebrity gets a mention in one way or another, either these people actually appear in the book or they're just mentioned in passing. I personally didn't mind this at all, but I know some people get annoyed with name dropping. Really, this book is all about Hollywood and its excess and craziness. I can't deny that it is indeed very shallow, but sometimes it's just nice to read a book where the main problem is who will wear which dress down the red carpet - perfect escapism from the real life problems!

The plot wasn't terribly exciting, but it wasn't boring either. The characters seemed slightly one-dimensional at times, especially Olivia, diva extraordinaire who refers to herself in the third person and comes up with the craziest requests that her team have to deal with, but she really provided several plot twists with her demands about Julian's dress. Lola was a great character though - yes, quite shallow, but you can't really blame her since she was born into this kind of world. Nonetheless, she was determined and funny and really less spoilt and selfish that I would've expected so I grew quite fond of her.

I think this book could've been quite annoying if it wasn't so well written. I really enjoyed the simple yet contemporary and oh so funny narrative, which I found very appropriate for this kind of a novel - it actually reminded me of Air Kisses, which was modern and witty too.

All in all, this is pure fluff, but it makes for great entertainment so I'd certainly recommend it if you're into books about the lives of the rich and the famous, if you're fascinated by Hollywood or you're just looking for a light read. There's an Angelica Huston quote on the back cover that I think describes the book really well - it says: "Fashion, film stars and great fun!" I couldn't agree more. :)

overall rating:
plot: 4/5 | writing: 5/5 | characters: 4/5 | cover: 3/5

ps: The main reason why I wanted to read this book were actually the promos for it posted on YouTube. My favourite one features Lola herself (see below) and there are three more featuring Lola's friends Julian and Cricket and Kate. The videos are great and fun to watch, but there's just one problem - these scenes either didn't happen in the book or they were described differently in the book. For example, I've no idea why they used the Willow Fox scene in the video below - Willow was just mentioned in passing (and there was no climaxing in the book, lol) whereas Olivia, the main diva of the book, provided more than enough material to film. Sooo I'm slightly puzzled by that, but on the plus side, at least the videos are fun and contain no spoilers - honestly, watch them, they're great!

Waiting On Wednesday: BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS

In my review of Splendour, I mentioned that the author of brilliant The Luxe series is already working on a new series called Bright Young Things - well, now the GORGEOUS cover and the amazing summary have been released (thanks, Goodreads!) and I could not possibly be more excited!!! Honestly, I adore everything about the cover (gorgeous model, perfect font - Ms Godbersen seriously gets the best covers EVER) and the summary sounds fantastic too and I love the characters' names and the time it is set in and everything!
Talk about PERFECTION! I need this book in my life NOW, but sadly it doesn't come out until 26 October 2010, boo! I can't wait that long!

Bright Young Things is the first in an epic four-book series about three teenage girls finding their way in the glittering metropolis of New York City and the glamorous mansions of Long Island.
It’s 1929 and Letty Larkspur and Cordelia Grey have escaped their small Midwestern town to chase big dreams and even bigger secrets. In New York, they meet Astrid Donal, a flapper who has everything she could ever want, except for the one thing Letty and Cordelia have to offer—true friendship.
Set in the dizzying summer before the market crash, against the vast lawns of the East End and on the blindingly lit stages of Broadway, the three girls will find romance, intrigue, and adventure.
Just as The Luxe books brought the Gilded Age to readers of Gossip Girl, Bright Young Things will bring the Jazz Age to bestselling author Anna Godbersen’s devoted fans and to new readers alike.