She wasn’t hailed as the Queen of Suspense for nothing. Mary Stewart has this amazing ability to surprise you with her choice of seemingly ordinary circumstances and characters on which to build an utterly startling yet plausible story of suspense and drama out of it. 

One of the first novels I’ve read of hers is The Moonspinners, and this was back in my early 20s. Since then, I’ve picked up her books on and off. I recall a period when I was absolutely mad about suspense with a subtle romance angle, and besides Mary Stewart, my other favourite author is M M Kaye, whose ‘Death in …’ series bear similar traits to Stewart. Stewart writes in the first person, so you’re experiencing the adventure through her young, often intelligent and courageous, heroine’s eyes. 

In ‘Madam, Will You Talk?’, Stewart sweeps the reader into the serene hilly town of Avignon and Marseilles, France where Charity Shelbourne, a war widow trying to make a fresh start, is holidaying with her teacher girlfriend. Before long, she’s befriended a lonely 14-year-old boy and somehow got embroiled into a tangled mystery involving car chases, narrow escapes, mistaken identities, and a far-fetched but remotely related event from the past which came back to haunt the key players of this novel in the present day.

First of all, l’d like to thank Jessica sincerely for her precious gift of Believe in Me and for introducing the world to the magical universe of Les Croyants. I’m definitely going to revisit this series when I’ve finished my first term of French lessons (courtesy of my very generous employer). 

It really was serendipity finding the first of Ms Jessica Inclan‘s series on a community of sorcieres in Paris. I was instantly intrigued the moment I picked up When You Believe, so of course having read and loved it, I have to find out what happens to the other two Valasay brothers. Actually, the one whom I was most impatient to see fall under the spell of love is Felix.

The youngest of the brother, he’s the smooth operator and chick magnet, so it was most amusing to see how he dances around Sayblee, a powerful fire-starter in her own rights. Can you believe I read Reason to Believe in less than a day because I so wanted to see the brothers settle down and Quain the evil sorcerer brought down? 

Few historical romances set in the Scottish Highlands and pairing off main characters from both sides of the border can boast of the emotional depth and stirring human drama of Marsha Canham’s The Pride of Lions and The Blood of Roses.

When I first read these two books more than six years ago, I was deeply affected by the author’s vivid description of the battle at Culloden. Not only was the story well researched, the author has faithfully kept to some of the significant timeline. Despite the horrific and tragic defeat of the Scots, one couldn’t help but admire their grit and fighting spirit, their deep rooted sense of honour and their fierce loyalty to clan and cause. 

Re-reading this two-part series last week, I was again drawn to the powerful characterization and the heart-wrenching, yet unerringly hopeful ending that buoys my spirit with the thought that indeed, if all else failed, love will always carry us through the most difficult of circumstances.

Nothing can keep me away from quizzes and so called personliaty test, it seems.  This is the latest I’ve succumbed to …

Having just finished watching Harry Potter movie DVDs one through four over the last three weekends with the kids, and re-reading Order of the Phoenix and Half Blood Prince for the, I don’t know, fourth (?) time, I couldn’t help feeling excited about the next movie hitting the big screen this summer. Not to mention the thrill of receiving the last instalment, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows at the bookstore I pre-ordered with a couple of months from now. 

I really really hope the director, Yates, put all the crucial points of this book into the movie. Of course, there’ll be cuts. This is after all the thickest book by far. The other night while I was surfing the web, I came across this fabulous movie tie-in site, Join Dumbledore’s Army, and thought it was a very, very clever marketing idea. It’s another good use of the social interactive nature of the web again. Bloody brilliant, I’d say! 

Btw, if you’ve a moment, drop by Dan’s site – it’s very classy looking now and there’re news and interviews on all his new ventures.

Anyway, that set me to thinking about the coming movie, and this is what I envision it should contain.

This was a book which Jay liked, and I was wildly curious about. I mean, I’ve liked both of Katie MacAlister’s books that I’ve read, so wanted to The Corset Diaries a go. 

The synopsis on the back cover sounded fun. It goes:

No woman in her right mind would consent to wearing a corset for a month. Especially a “skinny-challenged” woman like myself. But dreams of being debt-free danced in my head when I received the offer to appear on a reality TV show. 

A Month in the Life of a Victorian Duke is about real people–people like me–pretending to live on an English estate, circa 1879. Sounds fun, no? Well, it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. We’re talking no televisions, no cell phones, no PMS medication. And did I mention the corsets? No breathing for a full month. Luckily, when I met the real-life descendant of a duke who was to be my pretend husband, he took my breath away… 

In a manor in which everyone must strictly follow the Victorian lifestyle, things were bound to go wrong. Like when some harmless lust turned into that other thing… 

Love was definitely not in the contract!