The Golem and the Jinni (TLC Blog Tour)

The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
Grade: 4 stars out of 5
Published: April 23, 2013; Harper / hardcover
FTC: ARC provided by publishers for tour

"In The Golem and the Jinni, a chance meeting between mythical beings takes readers on a dazzling journey through cultures in turn-of-the-century New York.

Chava is a golem, a creature made of clay, brought to life to by a disgraced rabbi who dabbles in dark Kabbalistic magic and dies at sea on the voyage from Poland. Chava is unmoored and adrift as the ship arrives in New York harbor in 1899.

Ahmad is a jinni, a being of fire born in the ancient Syrian desert, trapped in an old copper flask, and released in New York City, though still not entirely free

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Ahmad and Chava become unlikely friends and soul mates with a mystical connection. Marvelous and compulsively readable, Helene Wecker's debut novel The Golem and the Jinni weaves strands of Yiddish and Middle Eastern literature, historical fiction and magical fable, into a wondrously inventive and unforgettable tale."

Helene Wecker built a fantastic world in The Golem and the Jinni. In the beginning of the novel, the onslaught of characters was overwhelming. The story does not truly revolve around the golem or the jinni, but rather the communities in which they dwell in. Imagine their tale to be a ball of yarn and slowly it unravels. At the end, all the characters that were introduced, that was originally thought to be irrelevant, were all tied together. Quite honestly, the first half of the novel barely caught my attention, but the last half was a whirlwind of emotions--grief, anger, and finally satisfaction.

Wecker did a wonderful job writing the different lives: Sophia (the wealthy heiress), Saleh (the blind doctor turned ice cream maker), Arbeely (the tinsman), Anna (the charismatic baker), Michael (an atheist and a Rabbi's nephew), Schaalman (an intelligent evil trapped wizard). Somehow or another, Wecker managed to combine this motley crew with the golem and the jinni to create this tale. The golem,named Chava by her guardian Rabbi, was given curiosity  intelligence, and properness, but her growth, given those few traits, was expotential. She is a strong heroine, literally and figuratively, but has weak moments of insecurity. The jinni, named Ahmad by Arbeely, was someone who was difficult to sympathized in the start. He was pompous with a full ego, a frivelous attitute towards women, but had moments like Chava of insecuity and homesickness, that was touching. I grew to empathize Ahmad. Chava and Ahmad's character grew to become someone with human qualities despite being made from earth and fire, respectively. In the end, I enjoyed reading all the characters for not one was truly evil. Wecker added depth to her characters and their tale.

I would recommend The Golem and the Jinni to those who enjoy reading character driven plots. It was slow build to the climax, and the climax was worth it.

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Visit Helene: website / twitter / facebook

 

Helene Wecker grew up in Libertyville, Illinois, a small town north of Chicago, and received her Bachelor’s in English from Carleton College in Minnesota. After graduating, she worked a number of marketing and communications jobs in Minneapolis and Seattle before deciding to return to her first love, fiction writing. Accordingly, she moved to New York to pursue a Master’s in fiction at Columbia University.

She now lives near San Francisco with her husband and daughter. Her first novel, THE GOLEM AND THE JINNI, will be published in April 2013 by HarperCollins.

Three Sisters Blog Tour Review

Three Sisters by Susan Mallery
Grade: 4 stars out of 5
Published: 26, February 2013; Harlequin MIRA paperback
FTC: ARC was provided by Meryl L. Moss Media Relations, Inc. as part of blog tour.

"After Andi Gordon is jilted at the altar, she makes the most impetuous decision of her life – buying one of the famed Three Sisters Queen Anne houses on Blackberry Island. Now the proud-ish owner of the ugly duckling of the trio, she plans to open her own pediatric office on the first floor, just as soon as her hunky contractor completes the work. Andi's new future may be coming together, but the truth is she's just as badly in need of a major renovation as her house.

When Deanna Phillips confronts her husband about a suspected affair, she opens up a Pandora's Box of unhappiness. And he claims that she is the problem. The terrible thing is, he's right. In her quest to be the perfect woman, she's lost herself, and she's in danger of losing her entire family if things don't change.

Next door, artist Boston King thought she and her college sweetheart would be married forever. Their passion for one other has always seemed indestructible. But after tragedy tears them apart, she's not so sure. Now it's time for them to move forward, with or without one another.

Thrown together by fate and geography, and bound by the strongest of friendships, these three women will discover what they're really made of: laughter, tears, love and all."

Three Sisters was the perfect blend of humor, love, and angst. Three Sisters reminded me of Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, but instead of pants connecting the girls together, the houses tied the women together. Even though Andi, Deanna, and Boston don’t have much in common, but their houses, they still work together and help one another. Each tries to comfort the others using humor, snark, or just a good bottle of wine.

Initially, the multiple POVs and jumping right into the story can be daunting, but once you start, it’s had to stop.

For me, I enjoyed reading Deanna’s POV the most. Her story hit me the hardest and I remember lying bed just full on ugly crying by the middle of her story. I enjoyed the juxtapositioning of her need on control of her life by washing herself and the destruction of her family. But Andi and Boston hold their own as well. Both have had experiences that hurt them terribly and unable to move on. I had more trouble relating to them because I never experienced what they went through, but I was sympathetic to their troubles and rooted when lives started to come back together again.

I loved the setting and the sexy men and the fact that even though Three Sisters is the 2nd installment to the Blackberry Island series, I didn’t have to read the 1st book to follow this. I really loved the stories even though Boston had moments when I just wanted to punch her and Andi’s storyline seemed to go off tangents at times. I would definitely pick up another book by Susan Mallery.

You can follow the rest of the tour here: http://blogtoureditors.booktrib.com/2013/02/28/blog-tour-three-sisters-by-susan-mallery/

Visit Susan Marlley: website / facebook/ twitter

The Dark Heroine Blog Tour Review

The Dark Heroine by Abigail Gibbs
Grade: 1.5 stars out of 5
Published: March 5, 2013; trade paperback; William Morrow
FTC: ARC was provided by publisher for blog tour

Oh how I wanted to love this novel. My favorite genre is paranormal romance, and this was up my alley. The synopses was something that I wold pick up in a heartbeat, but as I've learned, the synopses does not always agree with the book. 

When Violet Lee witnesses a killing in front of her, she is taken captive by none other than Kaspar Varn, heir to the throne of a vampire kingdom. Together, Violet and Kaspar will succumb to fate and their passion.

Smack dab on the cover of The Dark Heroine, it is claimed that this is “The Sexist Romance You’ll Read This Year”. Quite honestly, you might say this is indeed sexy; it is full of kisses, sex, rape, and don’t forget the orgies. Vampires, however, don’t seem consider the time and place for most of these actions though. Just a fair warning, all of that does occur. The book was not graphic though, but there are many cusses.

I do enjoy Gibbs’s world building. Her idea of multiple dimensions and parallel connections and a prophecy of nine women tying them all together were intriguing. It is something a little different from the other paranormal romances I’ve read. I also appreciate her slow introduction into the world; there’s nothing more boring than reading pages and pages of information just thrown in your face. The Dark Heroine, however, has only covered 1 dimension in which the vampires reside. The sequel will cover where the magicians reside, so it is a slow world building, but definitely more gratifying than word vomiting.

The pacing to The Dark Heroine was awkward and clunky. The shifts between politics and romance were abrupt. In one chapter there’s talk about going into war and fighting hunters, the next chapter some vampire guy is hitting on Violet and asking her to a dance/ball. What?

Anyhow. Violet Lee is not one of my favorite heroines. She’s a damsel-in-distress and constantly forgets that is a hostage that may cause a war. She’s spunky and has plenty of lip, but I find Violet so frustrating and too naïve. In a hypothetical scenario where I was held captive in a building full of people who can kill me and happily drink my blood, and my death can cause a full on war, I would not play a prank on someone who does seem to like me very much. I love sleep and all, but if it was between my life and not getting a good night’s rest, I would choose life. There is a time and place to play pranks. There is also Violet’s thinking that they should treat her better. I laugh and laugh because she is a hostage and that thought pattern eludes her. Throughout the novel, the vampires do treat her kindly, but when they threaten and are physically rough she cries. Get over it. (As a side not, Violet’s eyes are violet, but there is no real significance to her eye color so I do not quite understand why it was mentioned so often.)

Then there’s Kaspar. I have few more colorful words than jerk, a term most commonly used by Violet in describing Kaspar. (Really, is jerk all that you can come up with?) Kaspar is the typical bad boy turned good guy by the right girl. He is obnoxious, a manslut, arrogant with an ego that can fill the room, with bits (tiny bits) that show him to be gentle and caring. There are some chapters when Kaspar’s emotions are at a high that it will be in his POV which offer some insights. I wished these chapters were more frequent as many of his actions were at odds to what he says and what (he says) he feels.

The romance between Violet and Kaspar appeared to be forced. Riding on the fate track works and calling it love was contrived. I found the foundation of the romance to lean more on lust and the rest (conversations, intimate moments, commonness) hastily thrown  on top.

The side characters on average were eh. I liked some, but many were cliché. Violet’s best friend is of course beautiful and flirty. To the readers, she doesn’t sound like a very good friend. Kaspar’s best friend, Fabian, doesn’t sound quite a great friend either. And I do not, do not, understand why being rejected by a girl is a good to participate in an orgy. I would name more, but the list will get too long.

In all, I would most likely not read the sequel toThe Dark Heroine. While I find the world building fascinating, the characters and writing style did not click for me. I rolled my eyes and scoffed too many times for me to consider this book something I would want to read again.

On another note, The Dark Heroine is pitched for lovers of Twilight and A Discovery of Witches. I have not read A Discovery of Witches so I can vouch for that comparison, but comparing The Dark Heroine to Twilight is pushing it.

Visit the author's Wattpad page, Facebook page, or the Facebook group for Dinner With a Vampire 

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