#50: Death Comes to Pemberley

James, P.D.: Death Comes to Pemberley. New York: Random House Inc., 2011. Print. 291 pages.

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SETTING: October 1803 to June 1804, primarily at Pemberley, the Darcys' home in Derbyshire, and also in London proper.

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SUMMARY: The night before the Darcys' annual October ball, Lydia Wickham, who is never an invited guest at the Darcys' home, pays them a surprise visit.  Distressed and hysterical, Lydia informs the company assembled at Pemberley, which includes Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth, Jane, Mr. Bingley, Georgiana, Colonel Fitzwilliam, and the young lawyer Henry Alveston, that her husband, George Wickham, has been murdered!  Thus begins the race to solve a mystery that isn't as it seems...  

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FAVORITE QUOTE: "Since guilt is more commonly felt by the innocent than by the culpable, the atmosphere was less of expectation than of anxiety." - Book 3, Chapter 6, page 132.

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In my last post I wrote about my intention of finding a really great book, something that would serve as both leisure reading and a brain exercise.  That didn't really go as planned.  While browsing for a book, thinking I'd go for a classic, I came across this novel, a sequel to my favorite novel of all time: Pride and Prejudice.  You can imagine my excitement!  It's like something resurfacing from the dead, similar to the excitement I experienced when I heard that The Hobbit was being made into a film.  What you thought would never come back, suddenly does.  And yes, I bought this book.  A very rare occurrence!

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Things I liked about this book:

1. It's a continuation of Pride and Prejudice!  When I first saw the book, I immediately knew that even if it sucked, I would still enjoy it for the sole reason that it uses the characters from my favorite novel (unless, of course, the author completely butchered it).  This book has been out for nearly four years, so I'm sure you're asking, '"if you're such a fan, how did you not know about this book before?"  A very good question.  I love P&P, as well as Austen's other novels, but not so much that I'm a part of the huge Jane Austen community that's out there.  Being a part of a group like that, although I think it must be a lot of fun, isn't really my style.  So apart from having read P&P a bunch of times, I haven't done much else with it.
2. It's written in the style of Jane Austen.  There's a word for this: "pastiche."  Learned something new!
3. The characters maintain their personalities.  This point made the book very enjoyable for me.  To see these characters brought back to life in such a smooth way was great.
4. The new characters created by the author.  They fit in with the P&P bunch very well.
5. Harry Alveston.  He's a great character with great character.
6. Elizabeth and Darcy's love.  So romantic!

Thing I didn't like about this book:

1. The plot.  It had a lot of potential, but, overall, I found it pretty boring.  True, the plot of P&P isn't anything crazy, but that story has a theme to it, and that is what I fell in love with.  This book, from my understanding, started out as a fanfiction piece by the author, and was then published as a novel.  I'm sure many fanfictions are complex, but this wasn't one of them.  I barely had to think while reading this novel.
2. The repetition from P&P.  The author uses a lot of novel time to regurgitate the main events from P&P.  It's unnecessary, in my opinion.  If someone was reading this book without having read P&P first, then yes, it is helpful, but even then it is still superfluous.
3. George Wickham.  This isn't an issue with the book, but I still don't like him.  I like him even less now than I did prior to reading this book, which is something I didn't think was possible.
4. The future of the Wickhams.  The author gave too easy a solution.  This point is vague, I know, but if I say more it'll ruin the ending.

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This book wasn't that great, but I certainly did enjoy it, solely because it's based off of P&P.  The author did a great job of staying true to the characters created by Austen, and added in her own characters very flawlessly.  I read a lot of reviews about this book and they were all glowing.  If these reviews were fueled by the excitement the readers felt at this being an attempt at continuing a beloved classic novel, then I understand where they were coming from.  Objectively speaking, though, this novel was very basic and in no way complex.  Another book that barely requires the reader to use their brain.  

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Recommend?  Yes.  Even though it wasn't anything great, I enjoyed reading it.  If you like P&P, this book will, at the very least, entertain you.

*I labeled it as "19th-century british lit" so this book will come up with my reviews of P&P.  It's obviously not 19th-century literature :P

#49: The Housewife Assassin's Handbook

Brown, Josie: The Housewife Assassin's Handbook. Signal Press Books, 2011. Ebook.

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SETTING: Hilldale, a community in Orange County, California.

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SUMMARY: Donna Stone is not only a trained assassin working for Acme Corporation, a black ops organization, but also a widow and the mother of three young children.  Her initial inspiration for joining the organization was to find the individual responsible for her husband's death, her husband who was also an assassin for Acme.  Little does she know that nothing is as it seems...

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FAVORITE QUOTE: "It's then that I realize that I know nothing about him.  Sure, he is a legend on the spook loops.  But we are all more than the sum parts of our missions." - Chapter 9.

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

This is not the type of book I'll ever have on my "to read" list.  Ever.  But it is the type of book I will read when there's nothing else at hand and I DESPERATELY need something to read, for example to make the time pass on my flight home this winter break.  This book is free via iBooks, is a mystery novel, and seemed light hearted, so I figured I'd give it a go.  

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Things I liked about this book:

1. Donna Stone's awareness of her flaws.  The main character of the book does it all, but she is also very aware of her weaknesses.  I appreciate that the author of the book didn't create a perfect character, but rather someone who was "relatable."

Thing I didn't like about this book:

1. Poorly written.  There is very little complexity in this book.  It is an easy read, I'll give it that, but it's easy because it's written at a 5th grade reading level.  That would be perfectly acceptable, except for the fact that this a book written for adults.  To further clarify: I would say that The Hunger Games books were written at this level, and although I didn't enjoy that aspect of the books, I did acknowledge that the target audience was young adults.  This series is written for adults, and I would have liked the book much more if it read as such.
2. Poor character development.  The writer provides you with bits and pieces of each character in a haphazard fashion and expects that to count as satisfactory character development.  It is absolutely not.  Her characters are idiotic the majority of the time and often lack a clear train of thought.  If such assassins existed in real life, we would be in a great deal of trouble.
3. Predictable.  All the "twists" in the novel were easily predicted chapters before they actually took place.  The mystery aspect of this book can hardly be called that.

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This book was not very good, but since it made four hours of the journey home go by much quicker than it otherwise would have, it gets some points.  I almost started the second book in the series, but luckily the rest of the flight home was occupied by sleep.  But who knows, unless I'm a little more proactive and find a better book to read, the second in this series may be on the menu for my flight back at the end of winter break.  My brain is craving something that requires more thought though, so I'm going to put the effort in to finding an appropriate book.

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Recommend?  Nope.  Too many other books out there that are a better use of your time.  Unless of course you're looking for a "beach" read (i.e. something that requires you to use 0.5% of your brain...).