'The Misremembered Man' by Christina McKenna

Official Summary:
The Misremembered Man is a beautifully rendered portrait of life in rural Ireland which charms and delights with its authentic characters and gentle humor. This vivid portrayal of the universal search for love brings with it a darker tale, heartbreaking in its poignancy.

The Review:
When the cover of the The Misremembered Man by Christina McKenna flashed up on the Kindle's screensaver two things happened:

1. I bought the book based on the interesting title and pretty cover and;
2. Amazon's ad executives had another reason to pat themselves on the back for orchestrating another successful attack on my wallet.

If you'll notice, at no time during the buying process did I stop to read the book description, check the genre or read any of the existing reviews which, at least in this case, may have stopped me from grabbing up the title in the first place. That would have been my loss. More to the point, if I'd read the severely cut down, vanilla description above I wouldn't have even given this title a chance mainly because it screams 'boring'!

Now literary fiction isn't usually my thing anyway - in fact, it's usually my experience that titles with more interesting descriptions than this one can result in some frustratingly mind-numbing stuff. And don't think for a minute that when I finally got around to cracking open The Misremembered Man  and realized that it was a staunch member of the dreaded literary fiction camp that I didn't contemplate cutting and running onto the next title on my list.

This desire to move on was amplified by the adjective laden opening chapters. Thankfully though, the overly descriptive style of the first few pages is tampered down once the stage has been set and the stories of both the weathered, rough-edged Jamie, and the spinster Lydia begins. Centered on each of these characters search for companionship using the classifieds section of the local newspaper, McKenna adeptly weaves in a poignant critique of the church and their gross abuses of children in the Irish orphanages in the 1930's while introducing some truly colorful characters along the way.

Bottom Line: Pick up The Misremembered Man if you have an interest in cultural books about Ireland, love this genre, or you liked titles like A Friend of the Family or Mariana, (although, in my humble opinion, this title is leaps and bounds better than either of those). Avoid it if you're searching out romance or humor as this title is really has very little to offer in either category even though the too short summary would lead you to believe otherwise.
 

'The Witch's Daughter' by Paula Brackston

Official Book Summary:

In the spring of 1628, the Witchfinder of Wessex finds himself a true Witch. As Bess Hawksmith watches her mother swing from the Hanging Tree she knows that only one man can save her from the same fate: the Warlock Gideon Masters. Secluded at his cottage, Gideon instructs Bess, awakening formidable powers she didn’t know she had. She couldn’t have foreseen that even now, centuries later, he would be hunting her across time, determined to claim payment for saving her life.

In present-day England, Elizabeth has built a quiet life. She has spent the centuries in solitude, moving from place to place, surviving plagues, wars, and the heartbreak that comes with immortality. Her loneliness comes to an abrupt end when she is befriended by a teenage girl called Tegan. Against her better judgment, Elizabeth opens her heart to Tegan and begins teaching her the ways of the Hedge Witch. But will she be able to stand against Gideon—who will stop at nothing to reclaim her soul—in order to protect the girl who has become the daughter she never had?

I'm sorry to say it, but the very thing about 'The Witch's Daughter' synopsis that drew me into this book is the very same thing that pushed me away from really enjoying this title: the simultaneous telling a two halves of a supernatural story linked by the passing of time. But it seemed like whenever I'd get into what was going on in one story line I'd be pushed into the other. In a way it was a lot like 'Mariana' by Susanna Kearsley - an historical fiction, told from the perspective of a questionably strong female perspective... but so very, very torpid.

As much as these summaries make it seem like I'd love this book (Immortality? Witches? Girls names Tegan?!) they aren't. But man are these descriptions are deceptive! Having me thinking that it'll lean harder on the supernatural elements... silly, naive me.  I think I've just got to learn that this type of fiction isn't for me - at all.

Bottom Line: To reiterate to future me when my interest is peeked by the next historical fiction masquerading as supernatural romance: This stuff is not, I repeat, not one tiny little iota written for people like me. If you liked 'Mariana' though, or other titles like it, this one should be added to you stack of TBR's.

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'Child 44' Leo Demidov #1 by Tom Rob Smith

I'm going to tell it to you straight: This book is uncomfortable to read.

Well written? Yup.
Absorbing? Absolutely.
But no holds barred, 100% depressing.

You see, once the story gets started, we meet the main character, Leo Demidov. Leo is a terrifyingly efficient war hero in Stalin's Soviet Russia that's banked his life and the life of his family on keeping his head down and his eyes closed to the atrocities that surround, and have greatly influenced, his everyday life. But when confronted with the real cost of this lifestyle, and circumstances start turning against him, Leo is finally pushed to action.

While all that might seem like it would add up to an inspirational read, the book sticks so close to reality that there isn't any room for much more than small, meaningful gestures between individuals. In fact, it's the courageous things that people do for one another - regardless of income, neighborhood or family ties... essentially the base humanity of it all - that makes this novel's message potently clear.

The Bottom Line: Part mystery novel, part historical fiction and part cautionary tale, 'Child 44' by Tom Rob Smith is worth everyone's time. In fact, part of me believes books like this should be required reading for all humanities students as tales like this one serve as stark reminders of what can happen if we forget ourselves.

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'Mariana' by Susanna Kearsley

Blizzards are good for a few things. Dropping a few feet of snow is one, and blowing out the power to your home is another. That's right wonderful world of T.T.P. - a little stormed named Nemo ran through my corner of New England and brought down my power for a little over 40 hours from Friday night well into Sunday afternoon. Why am I telling you this? Well, I'd irrationally banked on the possibility of having an entire weekend holed up due to inclement weather doing nothing but making progress with my literary work-in-progress, catching up on some T.V. and, oh yeah... get a few blog posts together. Unfortunately, I hadn't factored in my particular homes tendincy to lose power every time a storm even glances by.

Ultimately, I tell you this because I'm asking for your pity understanding as I scramble to review everything I've read (have to say that was one benefit of the storm... I definitely caught up on the reading list). Hopefully I'll carve out some time and get them going again with some regularity. 

All of that aside, let's talk about 'Mariana' by Susanna Kearsley, shall we?  

I'm going to give this one a solid, 'meh.' Now granted, this flavor of book is probably teetering right on the edge of what I'd usually pick up, (and I wouldn't have even come across it at all if it weren't for my future-MIL buying it on our shared Amazon account), but it seemed interesting enough. I'm sorry if my interest gets peaked when the synopsis of novel is:

As if Greywethers were a portal between worlds, [Julia Beckett] finds herself transported into seventeenth-century England, becoming Mariana, a young woman struggling against danger and treachery, and battling a forbidden love.

Long review short, this novel was interesting... kinda. The opening was absolutely captivating but what followed was about 100 pages of borderline boring narrative, 100 pages of somewhat less boring narrative and than a truly stellar final third.... until you get to the last few pages and by the end I was absolutely confused.

Maybe I should explain that before someone points me out for being daft. I get what happened but without giving out any spoilers* that given the focus of the entire story I was more than a little miffed by the time the end came round.

Bottom Line: Read it if you love other things that Susanna Kearsley has done or historical fiction. This author has a great following and is insanely prolific. Skip it if you don't like fantasy romance or if historical fiction just isn't your thing.

*After I finished reading that last page I actually did a search on him because by the end of the book I couldn't picture what he looked like. I had a clear mental image of the other guy, but him? I'd pictured some mid to late-forties guy going gray... not, well  - and you know what? That's not surprising because according to my search I didn't find one, substantial description of what he looked like! Most of you might call that a nit-pick, but because I hadn't been able to give what's-his-face a "face" I couldn't connect with the character. That is the main reason that the ending felt like it'd been forced. Created for the soul (see what I did there?) purpose of throwing the reader an utterly unremarkable curve-ball ending. 

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'The Hangman's Daughter' by Oliver Pötzsch

'The Hangman's Daughter' by Oliver Pötzsch takes the prize for the best book I've read in a long, long time, and to be honest that surprised me. Not only was this an historical fiction, a genre that I'm not terribly invested (or interested) in, but it was originally written in German and brought over for my reading pleasure in a rather excellently executed English translation.

In what I understand is the first of many in this series*, we find Kuisl, a hangman born from a line of hangmen, his beautiful, brilliant, but cursed, daughter Magdalena, and Simon, a fancy-pants city type whose trained at the university (but never graduated) to be a doctor (like his father) but instead of making a proper name for himself has the misfortune of respecting the Hangman, and loving his daughter. Watching the interplay of these three main characters against the hugely gratifying story that includes but is not limited to a murder, a witch hunt, a political scandal and the impeding doom of the local rulers visit is nothing short of fabulous. 

If you like a good mystery, a good love story or just a good all-star novel, this one is for you. If you need vampires or some young-adult fancy to your fiction... well... I know a good vampire series that's worth your time.

*I can honestly say this is probably the first series I've gotten truly excited about in a long time - and probably the first time I've gotten excited about one that didn't really leave my head spinning over some crazy cliff-hanger. I actually want to read it because I've seriously enjoyed the Hardy-boy-esk nature of the books. This one is good folks - read it.