The Loner's Guarded Heart by Michelle Douglas

Harlequin Mills & Bonns 2008
186 pages

Josie was touched that her brothers had arranged a holiday for her--she certainly needed one. Only, the location isn't the lively resort she'd expected, but a rustic cabin in a beautiful but isolated Australian idyll....

Her only neighbour for miles is the taciturn, if incredibly attractive, Kent Black. Following a family tragedy, Kent cut himself off from the world. Josie can't help but be intrigued by this solitary man, and with her bubbly, warm personality, she's determined to pick away at the iron padlock around his heart.

- blurb from the back (yes I was lazy today)

I wanted something sweet, and what better to pick up than a book with the word sweet on the cover. A total promise for a HEA.

And it sure was, I started the book this morning and finished it a while later. Not that many pages, and it was so easy to read. You just went with the lovely flow if it. Totally adorable and heart warming.

A nice normal sweet heroine, who could sure bake. I so need chocolate cake now and all the other yummy things she made. A guarded hero, and of course I knew he would let his guard down and let her in. And a cute dog, and I am not really a dog person but they all went together so nicely.

So if you are looking for an easy book, with a full promise of a happy ever after then this is that kind of book.

Dancer by Collum McCann

It's a fictional story about Soviet ballet dancer Rudolf Nurejev. From his humble and poor Tatar upbringing, to when he studied at the famous Kirov in St Petersburg, to his jump to the west where he was adored by royalty and celebrities. And to his ultimate fall, his love affairs which brings him to his deathbed in Aids.

My problem with real characters is that I always have to google them, so yes I knew that he defected (not like I wouldn't have otherwise, he was too big for Soviet), and that he would die of Aids. )


I loved this book, ask me to explain and I don't know why. It just took me by surprise, McCann is a master with words and he knows how to spin a story. It all begins with soldiers coming home from WWII, and how they are bathed in Rudolfs home town of Ufa. It's glimpses out to the real world and they are shown through out the book.

"They looked out over the steppe and saw the bodies of fellow soldiers, a hand in the air, a knee in a stretch, beards frozen with frost, and they leaned to steal the dead man's clothes before he became stiffened in them, and they leaned in to whisper, Sorry comrade thanks for the tobacco."

Rather then seeing the world through his eyes, we see the world around him through those of his friends, family, and strangers. And in the beginning through his eyes the sentences are short, like thoughts sometimes. He is so busy so he only thinks of the things he must do to get better. The thing I then love is the fact that we see the world though the eyes of others, not only what they think about him, but how they are feeling. Hungry, tired, loved, everything that is crucial in life. I truly enjoy these glimpses into their lives. Some are fictional and some of them are real. McCann is not afraid to show the real world, and not some glamour bubble around one of the worlds greatest dancers.

Even though I do love this book, the end of the 3rd part and the 4th part gets tiresome. There is a lot of how he screwed everything that moved through out the 60's to the 80's. He really should be in sex addicts anonymous. Not to mention that is what killed him. Not explicit sex scenes no this is not that kind of book. But it's just so much, and it's so depressing.

Still it's a lovely portrait of a man loved by ballet fans. McCann waves the fabric of his life into a wonderful tapestry which I highly recommend to all. He shows him to be what he was, arrogant and temperamental, still loved by all. They couldn't help it.


And since he was so beautiful that everyone wanted him I do have to leave you with a photo since I didn't know how he looked either.

Nurejev and Fonteyn:

4/5

Uptown Girl by Olivia Goldsmith

Kate left her Brooklyn roots and made it to Manhattan. She has a good job and great friends there. But then one of her old Brooklyn friends shows up heartbroken, Bina has fallen apart after her boyfriend left to explore his "singleness". What to do in a situation like this? Well there is always the enigmatic Billy Nolan, all Brooklyn and all gorgeous. Not to mention that when ever he dumps a girl that girls marries the next guy that comes along, and it doesn't take that long either. Could he be the answer to Bina's problem? She can date Billy, get dumped and wait for Jacks return. But the problem might be what Billy feels about the whole thing.


This book got me thinking because I honestly didn't care for Kate, early on she mentions how glad she is to be out of Brooklyn, and how much better she is because of it, and this cos she dress better. That comes back later on when she thinks that even if she has the most "simple" dress she still looks so much better than the rest at the wedding she is on. I did recent that only because she lives in Manhattan she is so much better, more worth than those not living in the real big city. All this because of the expensive and fine clothes she wears. What kind of message is that? Or perhaps she only wants to diss Brooklyn, but I took it in too, and it means me too then.

And what is with this obsession to get married. Sure I love it in a book, but it was like they couldn't live without it, it defined them. And why marry someone you haven't known for long? Can that really tun out great, it wasn't like they showed in great emotions either, like it was kismet.

Oh and I am really tearing at the book now. It wasn't that bad actually. Yes it never did have me laughing or smiling, first once at the end. I was never that interested, and I quickly understood how everything would turn out. But I am sure others could love this book, well at least like it. I guess that because of what Kate said early on I never warmed up to her, and she was bitchy throughout the book, in a way.

I think I will stop giving ratings, it is so hard. But since I didn't like the book in the end, I can't recommend it. I rather say that it's up to each to make their own impression of it., but..

Books I don't like others love. That is life. Maybe others can laugh at it, if it seems to be something for you.

Though I can say that I give most of my books 3, because it's so hard to choose, and this book wasn't a 3 even if it was an easy read that didn't take much out of you.

The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies

The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies

It seems this book wasn't what I thought it was about, but that was just fun.

It's a book about 3 people, even though it focuses mostly on 2 of them. First there is a Jewish captain who is sent to see if Rudolf Hess is crazy or not. He is being held prisoner in Welsh. Then there is the main focus of the story, Esther, a 17 year old Welsh girl. She works in the local pub, and she longs to see more of the world outside. She meets a soldier, Colin, an English soldier who is there building a POW camp.

It's also the story of a German soldier, we meet him before he was capture and learns why he went to war. And then he end up in a Welsh POW camp.

Rooted in the story is the word cynefin, it has no English meaning. It has to do with the sheep, they know where to stay on the hill and never venture further. The know where they belong. It's seen through out the novel, Esther wants to escape, the Jewish captain who's mother is Lutheran and he is too, still he had to flee. And he keeps saying he is not Jewish. And at last, Karsten, the POW, who ordered his men to surrender to save them, and is troubled by this.

There is also the nationalistic angle in this book, the Welsh frown upon the English that is everywhere and they can't even write letters in Welsh cos the censures can't understand it.

It's a good book, I read it easily and I wanted to know what would happen. It was very well-written, but even if I didn't love the book it was worth reading

Not that I so much about Rotheram, the Jewish captain but he was an interesting character. He started and ended the book. I did like Esther, I felt that I could understand her and her doubts. And I even liked Karsten. It's not a book that points and says he is the bad guy, no they all have faults, and they all have those things that make you understand them. He has managed to capture something genuine in this book.

I will give the book a 3/5, because even if it was a great book, I felt it was just ok. Worth reading yes, but that all depends on the person reading.