Friday’s Fabulous Five ~ From Page To Screen

Friday’s Fabulous Five theme today is book’s that have made onto the big screen. Sometime’s when a well known and well loved book is made into film it doesn’t always do the book any justice and it can be a let down, so this list is for those film’s that didn’t do too badly, Today I have scored the Adaption’s mark’s out of five, this is just my opinion and you can always let me know what you think.
1. The Duchess ~ Amanda Forman

A tale of decadence and excess, great houses and wild parties, love and sexual intrigue, this biography of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, casts an astonishing new light on the nobility of eighteenth-century England.

Fashionable, extravagant and universally adored, Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, was one of the most influential women of her day. But her flamboyant public persona hid a multitude of personal troubles: drug addiction, vast gambling debts, an unhappy ménage à trois with her husband and best friend, and a doomed affair with the future prime minister. Like her descendant, Diana, Princess of Wales, Georgiana was a vulnerable woman living the life of an icon.

The Film star’s Keira Knightly in the title role, the always brilliant Ralph Fiennes and Dominic Cooper. I give The Duchess Film – 3/5
2. Atonement ~ Ian McEwan

Ian McEwan’s symphonic novel of love and war, childhood and class, guilt and forgiveness provides all the satisfaction of a brilliant narrative and the provocation we have come to expect from this master of English prose.

On a hot summer day in 1934, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis witnesses a moment’s flirtation between her older sister, Cecilia, and Robbie Turner, the son of a servant and Cecilia’s childhood friend. But Briony’s incomplete grasp of adult motives—together with her precocious literary gifts—brings about a crime that will change all their lives. As it follows that crime’s repercussions through the chaos and carnage of World War II and into the close of the twentieth century.

Again it this see’s Kiera Knightly doing basically what she doe’s best, the very talented Saoirse Ronan and James McAvoy. I give Atonement the Film – 3/5
3. Suit Francaise ~ Irene Nemirovsky

Beginning in Paris on the eve of the Nazi occupation in 1940. Suite Française tells the remarkable story of men and women thrown together in circumstances beyond their control. As Parisians flee the city, human folly surfaces in every imaginable way: a wealthy mother searches for sweets in a town without food; a couple is terrified at the thought of losing their jobs, even as their world begins to fall apart. Moving on to a provincial village now occupied by German soldiers, the locals must learn to coexist with the enemy—in their town, their homes, even in their hearts.

Starring Michelle William’s, Matthias Schoenaerts and the always brilliantly understated Kristen Scott Thomas. I give Suite Francaise the film – 4/5
4. PS; I Love You ~ Cecilia Ahern

Holly couldn’t live without her husband Gerry, until the day she had to. They were the kind of young couple who could finish each other’s sentences. When Gerry succumbs to a terminal illness and dies, 30-year-old Holly is set adrift, unable to pick up the pieces. But with the help of a series of letters her husband left her before he died and a little nudging from an eccentric assortment of family and friends, she learns to laugh, overcome her fears, and discover a world she never knew existed.

Starring the gorgeous Gerard Butler and Hilary Swank – I give PS; I Love You the Film – 3/5
5. DaVinci Code ~ Dan Brown

An ingenious code hidden in the works of Leonardo da Vinci. A desperate race through the cathedrals and castles of Europe. An astonishing truth concealed for centuries . . . unveiled at last.

While in Paris, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is awakened by a phone call in the dead of the night. The elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum, his body covered in baffling symbols. As Langdon and gifted French cryptologist Sophie Neveu sort through the bizarre riddles, they are stunned to discover a trail of clues hidden in the works of Leonardo da Vinci—clues visible for all to see and yet ingeniously disguised by the painter.

Starring the lovable Tom Hank’s, Audrey Tatou and scene stealing Paul Bettany as Silas. I give The Da Vinci Code Film – 2/5

 

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The Courtesan’s Lover ~ Review

Gabrielle Kimm ~ Courtesan’s Lover

Back Blurb :

Francesca Felizzi, former mistress of the Duke of Ferrara, is now an aspiring courtesan. Astonishingly beautiful and ambitious, she revels in the power she wields over men. But when she is visited by an inexperienced young man, it becomes horribly clear to Francesca that despite her many admiring patrons, she has never truly been loved. Suddenly, her glittering and sumptuous life becomes a gaudy facade. And then another unexpected encounter brings with it devastating implications that plunge Francesca and her two young daughters into the sort of danger she has dreaded ever since she began to work the streets all those years ago.

My View :

This is so good it has everything that a Historical Romance should have it has brilliant charector’s, equally thrilling plot and a scenery to die for. Francesca is a strong, well thought out and balanced charector that you can’t help yourself but instantly like. This isn’t the only  time that we have been introduced to Francesca though she is in the other  Gabrielle Kimm novel ~ His Last Duchess ~ but as good as His Last Duchess was this one is so much better, in the other one you only get a glimpse of Francesca but in that glimpse she instantly came across as a strong willed woman with fierce loyalty to those she care’s about and that made you want to know more about this young woman. And The Courtesans Lover doe’s not disappoint we see her in full.

Francesca may still be a prostitute but we see her go from the abused, human punch bag from the last novel to a high and mighty courtesan, we see how she fall’s in love and how she is keenly protective of those around her that have got past her defenses and managed to get into her inner circle.

Gabrielle Kimm is a intelligent and skilled writer, she easily mix’s a not quite run of the mill love story with a intriguing tale that has twist’s and turn’s that will keep you hooked from the first page and wanting more when you have closed the book at the end. I love the fact that’s it’s set in Italy it’s a nice change from the Tudor’s and what’s even better there isn’t a Borga insight.

It would be interested in to have another one about Francesca but seeing as eventually end’s up leaving her courtesan way’s and finally settling down I think that is it the best thing to leave her story where she is, but I do hope that Kimm write’s another in this era. I know she has done The Girl With The Painted Face which is incredible, but I am looking forward to another Kimm masterpiece.

 

Saturday’s Super Six ~ All Thing’s French

I wasn’t able to do a Friday’s Fabulous Five as I haven’t been well for a few day’s but i’m not going to not do my list so here is the Saturday’s Super Six and in honour of all the brave and proud Frenchmen and woman the theme is ~ All Thing’s French!

1. Kate Mosse ~ Citadel

1942. Occupied France. A time of courage, betrayal, loyalty – and love.

1942, Nazi-occupied France. Sandrine, a spirited and courageous nineteen-year-old, finds herself drawn into a Resistance group in Carcassonne – codenamed ‘Citadel’ – made up of ordinary women who are prepared to risk everything for what is right.

And when she meets Raoul, they discover a shared passion for the cause, for their homeland, and for each other.

But in a world where the enemy now lies in every shadow – where neighbour informs on neighbour; where friends disappear without warning and often without trace – love can demand the highest price of all.

2. Charlotte Betts ~ The Chateau On The Lake

After her English mother and French father are brutally murdered, bluestocking Madeleine Moreau travels to France in 1792 in  search of relatives she hadn’t known existed. When France declares war on England it becomes unsafe to return and Comte Etienne d’Aubery offers her shelter in his chateau. Impulsive and sometimes self-opinionated, Madeleine favours the people’s revolution in France but her views are shaken after she witnesses Louis XVI’s death by the guillotine.The revolution gathers momentum and as passions of the populace are enflamed, Madeleine sets off on a dangerous race against time to save the man she loves.

3. Lindsey Kelk ~ I Heart Paris

Angela is in the city of love – but romance is taking a nose-dive…

When Angela Clark’s boyfriend Alex suggests a trip to Paris at the same time as hip fashion mag Belle asks her to write a piece, she jumps at the chance.

But even as she’s falling for the joie de vivre of Paris, someone’s conspiring to sabotage her big break. And when she spots Alex having a tête-à-tête with his ex in a local bar, Angela’s dreams of Parisian passion all start crashing down around her.

With London and her old life only a train journey away, Angela can’t decide if should stay and face the music or run away home…

4. Lucie Hart ~ A Valentines Kiss

This Valentine’s day Imogen is going to meet the man of her dreams.
If only she can discover who he is…

At a gloriously over-the-top house party in the balmy South of France, British trainee chef Imogen finds herself playing blind man’s buff with a host of impossibly handsome men. And then one of them kisses her.

It’s the most perfect kiss she’s ever experienced in her short – and frankly, to date romantically disappointing – life. Sweet, sexy and full of promise. Imogen wants more, but by the time she recovers her wits sufficiently to remove her blindfold her mystery kisser has disappeared.

Could her Prince Charming be one of her fellow-chefs, Dimitri or Bastien? Both are clearly interested in her. But there’s also enigmatic Latino hunk Enzo, good-times-guy DJ Cheyenne, aristocratic Amaury, and the American visitors – Archer and Everett… So many men, so little time. And Imogen can’t just keep kissing men until she finds the right one… can she?

5. Kate Mosse ~ Labyrnth

Three Secret’s, Two Women, One Grail. . .

July 1209: in Carcassonne a seventeen-year-old girl is given a mysterious book by her father which he claims contains the secret of the true Grail. Although Alais cannot understand the strange words and symbols hidden within, she knows that her destiny lies in keeping the secret of the labyrinth safe…

July 2005: Alice Tanner discovers two skeletons in a forgotten cave in the French Pyrenees. Puzzled by the labyrinth symbol carved into the rock, she realises she’s disturbed something that was meant to remain hidden. Somehow, a link to a horrific past – her past – has been revealed.

 

6. Freda Lightfoot ~ The Queen And The Courtesan

Henriette d’Entragues isn’t satisfied with simply being the mistress of Henry IV of France; she wants a crown too. Despite his promises to marry her, the King is obliged by political necessity to ally himself with a rich Italian princess. But Henriette isn’t one for giving up easily. All she has to do to achieve her ambition is to give Henry a son, and then do whatever it takes to set him on the throne . . .

 

It Happened One Autumn ~ Review

Lisa Kleypas ~ It Happened One Autumn (#2 The Wallflowers)

Back Blurb :

It happened At The Ball. . .Where beautiful but bold Lillian Bowman Quickly learn’s that her American way’s weren’t entirely ‘the thing’. And the most disapproving of all was the insufferable and impossible Marcus, Lord Westcliff, England’s most eligible aristocrat.

It Happened In The Garden. . .when Marcus shockingly – and dangerously – swept her into his arm’s Lillian was overcome with a consuming passion for a man she didn’t even like. Thank goodness they weren’t caught very nearly in the act!

It Happened One Autumn. . .Marcus was always charge of his own emotion’s, a bedrock of stability. But with Lillian, every touch was exquisite torture, every kiss an enticement for more. Yet how could he consider taking a woman so blatantly unsuitable . . .as his bride?

My View :

The second installment of the Wallflower’s follow’s Lillian Bowman, the beautiful, independent American as she set’s out to catch that allusive husband, as with the first one Secret’s of a Summer Night, it doe’s follow along the same pattern and I think if it wasn’t for Lisa Kleypas’ skill of being such a brilliant writer it would become very tiring. But because she has created such likable character’s ~ especially Lillian and Marcus ~ it is so easy to read.

I have to admit that Lillian isn’t my favorite of the Wallflower’s, that has to go to Evangeline Jenner who; If you have read book 3 ~ The Devil In Winter, is a charming and somewhat surprising character, but I will get to her when I review The Devil In Winter. I am not saying that Lillian isn’t a good character because she is. Lillian is smart and independent, with a sharp tongue and wit to match and the chemistry between her and Marcus is electric and I don’t think that this book alone doe’s them justice they are a enigmatic pair and when they are together whether that be arguing are the heated sex scene’s they are fascinating.

But I would have really liked a follow up to these two, to see the stiff and tightly buttoned up Marcus, Lord Westcliff being brought to kneel by the sensual Lillian Bowman is a thing of beauty. I like the fact that Kleypas seem’s to have her character’s jumping from one series to another and that these two do turn up in the Hathaway’s, not often but enough to know how they are getting on. What I do like about this one is that we are introduced to Sebastion, Viscount St. Vincent, who is a pearler of a character.

All in all a good second installment of the Wallflowers, it can get a bit samey and it’s not by far my personal favorite, but it is still a great read.

The Linnet Bird ~ Review

Linda Holeman ~ The Linnet Bird

Back Blurb :

India, 1839: Linny Gow, a respectable young wife and mother, settles down to write her life story. To outside appearances Linny is the perfect British wife: beautiful, gracious, subservient. But appearances can be very deceptive…

Born into direst poverty in Liverpool, Linny escapes the life of prostitution her stepfather has forced her into, and flees to India, where the British Raj is in its infancy. There she will find heartache and suffering, but also an understanding of what love can mean and — perhaps most precious of all — freedom.
But how did Linny achieve all this? And what has she sacrificed along the way? Most importantly, is this the end of Linny’s journey, or is her story not yet over?

My View :

I first read this year’s ago, in fact it was book that cemented off my love for Historical Romance and it is a scorcher. It’s not your usual Romance especially with the lead character being a prostitute but because of what Linny has to go through while trying to survive day-to-day really make’s root for her the more. She a courageous young woman who; from no fault of her own has to do everything within her power just to stay alive even though that doe’s mean walking the lonely dark street’s of Liverpool.

I have to admit that this is the only Linda Holeman novel I have read mainly because I haven’t been able to get my hand’s on any more. Yet! but she is a engaging, imaginative and highly entertaining writer and I really like her style, in this one in particular she stay’s away from the well trodden ground of Aristocratic Regency novel’s and instead take’s us along the darker and murkier street’s of the period and I do like that. We get to meet some very compelling character’s and not to mention the very sinister one’s which there are in abundance, but that is what make’s her work so highly enjoyable.

I guarantee that anyone who like me has a love for Historical Romance then they will love this one, it is different but all the ingredient’s of a glorious romantic romp are there, Holeman take’s us along a journey that is filled with everything from romance to suspense and it is a wonderful ride. This is one of those rare book’s that you can read and re-read again and again and you’ll never get bored. I havn’t and i’ve read this more time’s then I can count.

Friday’s Fab Five ~ Hero’s

Today for my Fabulous Five the theme is all thing’s Wounded Hero and how a good woman can mend so many broken wing’s whether they be Soldier’s or Spies here is my favorite five.

1. Gaelen Foley ~ Lord Of Ice ( Knight Miscellany #3)

 

 

 

Damien Knight, the Earl of Winterley, is proud, aloof, and tormented by memories of war. Though living in seclusion, he is named guardian to a fellow officer’s ward. Instead of the young homeless waif he was expecting, however, Miranda FitzHubert is a stunning, passionate beauty who forces him back into society. But can Miranda help severely scarred Damien over come his demon’s?

2. Mary Balogh ~ The Arrangement ( Survivor’s Club Series #2)

Blinded by a cannon blast on the Napoleonic battlefields, Vincent Hunt, Lord Darleigh, needs time away from the well-meaning meddling – and matchmaking – of his family. But anonymity proves impossible, and soon another marital trap is sprung. Luckily, he is saved in time by a stranger with a captivating voice that stirs something deep inside. And when Miss Sophia Fry’s intervention on his behalf finds her unceremoniously booted from her guardian’s home, Vincent can see a solution to both their problems: marriage

3. Elizabeth Hoyt ~ To Desire A Devil (Legend of Four Soldier’s #4)

Reynaud St. Aubyn has spent the last seven years in hellish captivity. Now half mad with fever he bursts into his ancestral home and demands his due. Can this wild-looking man truly be the last earl’s heir, thought murdered by Indians years ago?

4. Gaelen Foley ~ My Ruthless Prince ( Inferno Club #4)

To London’s aristocracy, the Inferno Club is a scandalous society of men no proper young lady would acknowledge. In private, they are warriors who would do anything to protect their king and country. Book 4 of The Inferno Club focuses on Drake Parry, Earl of Westwood, who at the beginning of the series get’s court by the enemy and get’s tortured so badly that he loses his memory. This we see him regain his memory and try to defeat the evil Promethean’s at the same time trying to save not only the woman he love’s but his very soul.

5. Gaelen Foley ~ Her Every Pleasure (Spice Trilogy #3)

Princess Sophia was only a child when Napoleon conquered the island paradise ruled by her father. Raised in England and now twenty-one, she means to claim the throne that is rightfully hers and bring peace to her war-torn land. But an ambush by deadly enemies forces Sophia into hiding outside London. Disguising herself as a peasant girl until she can safely return, she meets Major Gabriel Knight, a wounded warrior whose brush with death has utterly changed him.
Heir to a great fortune, and a master swordsman, he has given up his worldly possessions and laid down his arms. Sophia is fascinated by his brooding magnetism, and Gabriel, lured by her beauty and healed by her touch, is drawn back inexorably toward the world of the living.

 

The Emperor’s Tomb ~ Review

Steve Berry ~ The Emperor’s Tomb (Cotton Malone Series #6)

Back Blurb :

The tomb of China’s First Emperor, guarded by an underground army of terra cotta warriors, has remained sealed for 2200 years. Though it’s regarded as one of the greatest archeological sites in the world, the Chinese government won’t allow anyone to open it.

Why not?

That question is at the heart of a dilemma faced by former-Justice Department operative Cotton Malone, whose life is shattered when he receives an anonymous note carrying an unfamiliar web address. Logging on, he sees Cassiopeia Vitt, a woman who’s saved his life on more than one occasion, being tortured at the hands of a mysterious man who has a single demand – “Bring me the artifact she’s asked you to keep safe.” One problem: Malone doesn’t have a clue what the man is talking about, since Cassiopeia has left nothing with him. So begins Malone’s most harrowing adventure to date-one that offers up astounding historical revelations, pits him against a ruthless ancient brotherhood, and sends him from Denmark to Belgium to Vietnam then on to China, a vast and mysterious land where danger lurks at every turn.

My View :

When I first picked this one up I was looking forward to getting lost into another Cotton Malone adventure, but unfortunately I was very disappointed, the plot and character’s were there as always but it was slow and sluggish and I’m afraid that I did put it down half way through to start another but I did eventually go back and finish it mainly because I don’t like leaving a book unfinished but it wasn’t anywhere near as good as the other Cotton Malone novel’s are.

I do like Steve Berry he is an incredible novelist, his imagination and skill is amazing and the Cotton Malone series’ is brilliant, Malone is such a strong well-defined character and I love how you don’t have to read them in order to know what’s going on or who’s who because each one is different. But I do hate to say it but this isn’t a favorite of mine, which is such a shame it doe’s have all the ingredient’s for a perfect Cotton Malone tale. Thrill’s and humor, well researched background and the character’s are as always flawless, but for me this one was a little flat I can’t explain why it just didn’t live up to the hype.

The saving of this was having the brilliant Cassiopeia Vitt in it, she is such a brilliant character’s she always come’s across as a one woman army, she is independent, self-reliant but you do see those more human emotion’s behind that hard exterior. As always she doe’s steal every scene she is in, but even that for me couldn’t bring up to the mark I am just hoping the next one is better as I do love this series. But I don’t want to put anyone off what I wasn’t fond of could be someone else’s favorite.