Flavia is back!!!
Of course to be fair she’s been back before this in I Am Half-Sick Of Shadows but I see I didn’t manage to write a post about that.
Sorry.
Would I recommend it? Yes! I’d recommend all five and this one I liked better than the last two.
If you haven’t already please, do yourself a favor, read The Sweetness At The Bottom of the Pie where it all starts.
I’m not sure if it’s the elaborate feasts and celebrations, the crazy dresses, the scandalous going-ons, the hands off approach of raising children or the treasonous intrigue but whatever it is I love a good historical fiction full of kings and queens.
Would I recommend it? Even with it’s alternating view points between the two sisters I don’t think it’s quite as good as say something by Phillipa Gregory. But, if you have run out of Gregory’s works this one fits the bill!
I’ve read most of Chris Bohjalian’s other books so when I saw his newest on the shelf I dove right in.
Oops.
While some of his others were nightmare inducing for other reasons they didn’t involve seeing dead people, and contemplating killing your own children, not to mention and the extra chill inducing ending.
Please read something by Bohjalian… just maybe not this one.
Would I recommend it? No, well written, but just no.
Flavia is still my favorite eleven year old heroine.
Would I recommend it? Yes, start with The Sweetness At The Bottom Of The Pie and keep right on reading!
Awhile ago Aunt Corky mentioned she was reading this book and that she was enjoying it, since she’s usually got good taste I thought I’d try it.
She was right, I liked it.
Would I recommend it? Yes, I think I’m going to check out some of her other books as well.
Once you get through the first two chapters of the main characters cringe worthy views on childbirth and nursing, you can settle into a “fluffy” yet enjoyable book. That is as long as you don’t mind the adultery, drinking, drugs, depression, a baby thrown in the mix when convenient and lots of soap operas.
Would I recommend it? It’s all about expectations. If all you are looking for is a mindless yet enjoyable read in the romantic comedy style that may make you laugh out loud and if you can ignore any of the items mentioned above that may offend you, then yes. Otherwise you’d better skip it!
Ivy in her best Reading Rainbow pose!
First off I will say that the illustrations in this book are really wonderful, I love the soft colors and all the detail. Ivy likes the book and I think it’s mostly because she likes to find all the hidden animals and bugs in the pictures.
There I said something nice, now lets talk about the text. There is nothing wrong with it exactly, just that yellow butterflies don’t eat butter, blue butterflies don’t eat sky, and please don’t make me accidentally read a book to my girl that says little snakes only swallow little people and that sheep are scary. Granted, Stella is trying to reassure her younger brother who is apprehensive about sheep and snakes but Ivy and I still had to have a talk about how sheep were nice and snakes are cool, and that butterflies drink nectar from flowers. I also think this book has poor word flow. Add to that two kids named Stella and Sam and the combination creates something that is both challenging to read out loud (almost a tongue twister) and that misses the lyrical quality that many books have when spoken.
The back flap says that “Marie-Louise Gay is one of Canada’s leading children’s book author-illustrators.” and that her first two books about Stella “…have been sold in more than ten countries.” This lead me to wonder if I’m just a grump about books sometimes but in quick online search I found a few people who said that the first two were much better than this one. Maybe so but I hope the publisher spared the eight other countries!
Would I recommend it? Nope. I’d love to know if anyone has read her other books and liked them.
