The Rossetti Letter - Christi Phillips

An easy read that is reminiscent of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, an adventure in the modern day solving a historical mystery. The writing is pretty good, and both story lines (Past and Present) work well together, no part to long no part to short. I would recommend this to anyone who liked the Da Vinci Code and is looking for a light read.

Shade's Children - Garth Nix

I enjoyed this very much, read it in two days. The story is fast and makes you think at least a little bit. The characters are very easy to sympathize with and the whole plot of the novel made me really grateful to life where I live with all that I have. Basically a perfect YA book, concepts that make you think, questions left unanswered and a great story. I would recommend this to those hesitant teenage readers who like science fiction and video games.

Lost - Gregory McGuire

I enjoyed this book, it was a good light read that moved along fast enough to keep it interesting with a few twists and turns along the way. It is not like his other works, a lot less traditional fantasy and whimsy but still a good read. The ending isn't a "real" ending and I am ok with that but can see how some readers would feel incredibly let down. All in all a good read but not one I am going to hang onto or remember reading in a year.

Abundance - Sena Jeter Naslund

This novel was interesting but not particularly well written, it was very repetitive and overly descriptive (of the same things over and over). However it was very well researched (I assume), full of historical details and stories. The editor could probably have cut out about a quarter of the text. It was an entertaining read but not one I would recommend to anyone not overly obsessed with  Marie Antoinette.

Corduroy Mansions - Alexander McCall Smith

This was a lovely story but the writing did tend to drag on from time to time.  The characters are all very memorable but the descriptions get long winded and boring. all in all I don't regret the time I spent reading the book but will not be continuing with the series unless someone strongly advises it.

The Dead In Their Vaulted Arches - Alan Bradley

This was a wonderful addition to the story of Flavia de Luce. The child detective and chemist is growing up and this is the perfect book to transition her (and the series) to the next stage of her life. It concluded a lot of open ended questions from the first 5 books in the series and opened up Flavia's world to all sorts of new adventures. As always the writing is fantastic and the story a page turner that I couldn't bear to put down. A fantastic addition to any library.   (See here for my review of the first part of the series)

Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel

This novel is a fantastic look at history if you like that sort of thing. It has great depictions of historical figures, whom I have heard about but never thoroughly researched, giving them personalities that are very memorable. I also enjoyed the descriptions of art and architecture and all that went into acquiring the raw materials that made these beautiful paintings and buildings which we can still see today. Much research went into the writing of this novel; that said it can get a bit bogged down in details and a bit repetitive, it is a long read but I do not regret my time spent with it.

Jab Jab Jab Right Hook - Gary Vaynerchuk

A fantastic book, feels like a fun text book, the kind a super cool teacher would assign a high-school class! It was full of great ideas and successful examples of how to make social media work for you and your business. It broke everything down into understandable bites without the normal jargon you find in a lot of business books. The Author did such a fantastic job I lent my copy to my 66 year old mom and 59 year old dad to help them understand "what us young people do with our fancy phones and Internets" we are bringing our family business into its 50th year and this will be a great help in crossing the generation gap when it comes down to how to promote successfully.

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and The End Of The World - Haruki Murakami

I loved this book, both of the stories are fantastic. I must admit I had a preference for the Hard-Boiled Wonderland story but The End Of The World kept me turning the pages as well! It is one of those books that makes you feel smarter for having read it and makes you (well me at least) feel a bit pretentious for having read it. That this book has that intellectual feeling for me and is also a fantastic page turner is amazing! I recommend this to everyone who wants to read a bit of a surreal story that is digestible but the average reader without making us feel dumb or out of the joke.

Keeping for my library.