Latest reading
88. Shobhaa Dé: Bollywood Nights
Asha Rani is a major star, but that has been the result of her mother's ambition and her prostituting her daughter(s) to all the major producers in order to achieve her goal. Everything goes brilliantly for a while, but then Asha Rani falls for Akshay Arora who is already married. For a while she dreams of changing her religion and marrying him as a Muslim, but that doesn't work out. After a while she tries "normal" life abroad and even finds momentary happiness, but she just can't escape the film industry.
This was a fairly entertaining look at the Indian film industry and some of the details sound familiar from real life (Hema Malini and Dharmendra, anyone...) Still, it's not a book I'd want to reread anytime soon. Too sordid, I guess.
sassiefin, do you want to borrow it? If not, I'll add it to my Bookmooch inventory.
89. Rhys Bowen: Her Royal Spyness
Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie is related to royalty, but dirt-poor since her father lost most of his money in gambling. Her brother, the Duke, holds the title and has stopped her allowance, so she must find something to do with her life. She isn't very keen on marrying any random member of European royalty just to please her relatives...
She decides to travel to London and find a way to support herself. After some fumbling, she decides to start an agency that airs the rooms and does some minor tidying in the houses of the nobility before they arrive in town. All anonymous, of course! She also meets a quite unsuitable but fascinating member of Irish nobility who she might really like.
But it's all changed when she finds a dead body in the family house's bathroom. It belongs to a man who had threatened to take over the family home, because apparently their father had lost it in a game. And now the police suspect her brother and Georgie has to find out who is really responsible.
This was a delightful combination of humour, slight romance, and some detective work. I quite liked it. I might check out the rest of the series as well, since this was the first book in it.
90. Janet Evanovich: Fearless Fourteen
This book was good times as always, and there wasn't really anything new in it apart from Lula suddenly deciding that she wanted to get married. Her wild fantasies that just escalated by the minute were fun enough (I already mentioned Tank in a pink tux in another post :D), but I have high doubts that the marriage will ever go through, at least in any form Lula imagined...
Stephanie is taking care of a teenage boy obsessed with an online game, everyone thinks there is treasure buried in Morelli's yard or basement (and he is not happy with all the fortune hunters destroying his lawn...)
Stephanie is also working for Ranger in the bodyguard detail of a local female star who would be more than happy to have Ranger take good care of her body...
This was fun as always, but I've come to the conclusion that these books are fun read once a year when the new one comes out, but trying to read several of them in a row just doesn't work.
91. Meredith Ann Pierce: Treasure at the Heart of the Tanglewood
For as long as she can remember, Hannah has lived by Tanglewood and cared for the villagers who come to her for remedies for their various illments. Knights sometimes come to the forest to find the treasure that is rumoured to be hidden within the wood, but Hannah has never seen anything that could constitute as a treasure.
One day she starts to wonder about the truthfullness of the wizard whom she serves. And when one more knight comes to the forest, things change irrevocably.
Hannah starts to question who and what she really is, because she is clearly different from the cottagers she has been healing. She goes on a quest to find out the truth and to save the latest knight from his current fate.
I really enjoyed this book. Hannah being ignorant didn't stop the reader from soon figuring out what was going on with some things, but I still enjoyed Hannah's journey to discovery very much.
Asha Rani is a major star, but that has been the result of her mother's ambition and her prostituting her daughter(s) to all the major producers in order to achieve her goal. Everything goes brilliantly for a while, but then Asha Rani falls for Akshay Arora who is already married. For a while she dreams of changing her religion and marrying him as a Muslim, but that doesn't work out. After a while she tries "normal" life abroad and even finds momentary happiness, but she just can't escape the film industry.
This was a fairly entertaining look at the Indian film industry and some of the details sound familiar from real life (Hema Malini and Dharmendra, anyone...) Still, it's not a book I'd want to reread anytime soon. Too sordid, I guess.
sassiefin, do you want to borrow it? If not, I'll add it to my Bookmooch inventory.
89. Rhys Bowen: Her Royal Spyness
Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie is related to royalty, but dirt-poor since her father lost most of his money in gambling. Her brother, the Duke, holds the title and has stopped her allowance, so she must find something to do with her life. She isn't very keen on marrying any random member of European royalty just to please her relatives...
She decides to travel to London and find a way to support herself. After some fumbling, she decides to start an agency that airs the rooms and does some minor tidying in the houses of the nobility before they arrive in town. All anonymous, of course! She also meets a quite unsuitable but fascinating member of Irish nobility who she might really like.
But it's all changed when she finds a dead body in the family house's bathroom. It belongs to a man who had threatened to take over the family home, because apparently their father had lost it in a game. And now the police suspect her brother and Georgie has to find out who is really responsible.
This was a delightful combination of humour, slight romance, and some detective work. I quite liked it. I might check out the rest of the series as well, since this was the first book in it.
90. Janet Evanovich: Fearless Fourteen
This book was good times as always, and there wasn't really anything new in it apart from Lula suddenly deciding that she wanted to get married. Her wild fantasies that just escalated by the minute were fun enough (I already mentioned Tank in a pink tux in another post :D), but I have high doubts that the marriage will ever go through, at least in any form Lula imagined...
Stephanie is taking care of a teenage boy obsessed with an online game, everyone thinks there is treasure buried in Morelli's yard or basement (and he is not happy with all the fortune hunters destroying his lawn...)
Stephanie is also working for Ranger in the bodyguard detail of a local female star who would be more than happy to have Ranger take good care of her body...
This was fun as always, but I've come to the conclusion that these books are fun read once a year when the new one comes out, but trying to read several of them in a row just doesn't work.
91. Meredith Ann Pierce: Treasure at the Heart of the Tanglewood
For as long as she can remember, Hannah has lived by Tanglewood and cared for the villagers who come to her for remedies for their various illments. Knights sometimes come to the forest to find the treasure that is rumoured to be hidden within the wood, but Hannah has never seen anything that could constitute as a treasure.
One day she starts to wonder about the truthfullness of the wizard whom she serves. And when one more knight comes to the forest, things change irrevocably.
Hannah starts to question who and what she really is, because she is clearly different from the cottagers she has been healing. She goes on a quest to find out the truth and to save the latest knight from his current fate.
I really enjoyed this book. Hannah being ignorant didn't stop the reader from soon figuring out what was going on with some things, but I still enjoyed Hannah's journey to discovery very much.