1. The Midnight Palace by Carlos Ruis Zafon- what a small silly book.
2. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters.
I love all things Sarah Waters, but Fingersmith was her best. This was alright, but not amazing like that. I did enjoy reading her version of a middle aged man though- I thought she might have gotten that part right. But what do I know, I will never be one.
3. The Winter Rose by Jennifer Donnelly
I loved this. I adore stories about female doctors at times when female doctors were a rarity. The characters here were lovely. Except for the annoying insistence only One True Love forever I enjoyed the book a great deal. Which is why I galloped into the sequel. Big mistake.
4. The Wild Rose by Jennifer Donnelly
I hate books that make me despise the women in the book, while ignoring the sins of the men. This book did that to me. The cast of characters got too unwieldy, and she didn't establish the primary woman as a sympathetic sort- not early enough, in fact not at all. I found her character to be completely unrelatable, and inconsistent with the way she appeared in the previous books. This One True Love Forever business got very tiresome as well. It would be nice if not everyone behaved like tragic lovers a la Romeo and Juliet- there is a reason they are so young- it is behaviour best suited to teenagers. Presumably when you get a bit older the world forces you to pull your head out of your ass.
I should have loved that the main character was based on Gertrude Bell, but instead of making the book about her work the book was about her pining away and doing all manner of silly things because she lost her leg and wouldn't communicate with her boyfriend or her family. Bah. As you might have gathered the book annoyed me. It took up 700 pages of my life and left me bugged.
