There was much I really liked about the Witch of Painted Sorrows: the excellent research and the feeling that I was actually there, in 1890s Paris. I also enjoyed all the details about painting and artists during the time period. However, parts of the book just seemed incomplete. There would be a big event, such as at the Paris Opera, that would just suddenly end and it would be the next day. What happened in between? How did she get out of the situation? Also, the main character, Sandrine, seemed far too modern in the ways that she acted and had an unrealistic amount of freedom that I just found unbelievable.

I thoroughly enjoyed the three intertwined stories of the girl in the tower, the witch, and the author of Rapunzel. Growing up fairy tales fascinated me and this entire book reads just like a fairy tale, but with accurate historical details blended in.

The real test of a good book to me is how much I think about it after I read it, and whether it compels me to keep reading it. I found this book passed that test. Once I started I wanted to keep reading to discover what was going to happen to Katie O'Toole. However, I think it could have used a little more description in places (what is a "dress in the French manner?") and the whole story line was a unbelievable. I liked the characters enough and the story was compelling enough that I was able to ignore that. It was more of a romance than I usually read, but I think that it would especially appeal to more of a YA audience.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Songs of Willow Frost, even though the story is mostly a sad one. The author did a wonderful job of capturing the spirit and language of 1920s and 1930s America. In my opinion, this far surpasses his earlier book, On the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. This would be a great book club book because it raises so many questions about race and the roles of women in that era, including the idea that mothers were not as important as fathers. Because of the big role of the early movie industry and its depiction of the limited rights of women, it reminds me a bit of The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty.

This story of Geniver and the mystery surrounding the death of her baby 8 years before was impossible to put down. It was difficult tell if she was losing her mind or if someone close to her was deceiving her. The comparisons to Gone Girl and Before I go to Sleep are spot on.

I was looking forward to reading "Murder at Rosamund's Gate" because it sounded just like my kind of story. I found the historical detail outstanding and meticulously researched. However, overall I found the plot slow moving and the mystery somewhat predictable. I think it would have been a stupendous read if it had picked up the pace a little.

I liked many aspects of this book, such as the descriptions of the everyday lives of the soldiers and nurses during the Civil War. I think the title is a little misleading as it makes the book sound like a romance, which it really isn't. However, several historical inaccuracies took me out of the story, such as the use of gasoline described in an early scene and gasoline would have been a very unlikely commodity during the Civil War. However, the battle scenes and things like that seemed to be very well researched.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Bloodletter's Daughter. The author did a great job of invoking life in 17th century Bohemia from the bathhouses to the castles of the wealthy. I liked the fact that it was based on historical facts and the life of the illegitimate son of a Hapsburg who happened to be insane. I enjoyed the discussions of medicine of the time including the treatments for insanity, the belief in bloodletting to control the humors of the body, and the use of herbs.

The Homecoming of Samuel Lake is the kind of book that will stay with me a long time. The characters are so realistic and likable that I had to stop reading the book before bed because when bad things happened to the characters it upset me so much that I couldn't sleep. Not many books are this powerful.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading a Lady Cyclist's Guide to Kashgar and trying to figure out how the two separate story lines were going to converge. Suzanne Joinson's research was amazing and she did a great job of evoking the sounds, smell, and feel of Kashgar. I thought the modern sections were also well done, but found myself wanting to know more about the life of Evangeline and Irene Guy when they returned to England and why she had the owl as a pet.

I had a hard time reading this book at first because, as a ten year old, I was bullied like Judith McPherson in the Land of Decoration (but in a much less severe way, thank goodness). I was also exposed to some frightening stories about the book of Revelations and the end times that gave me horrible nightmares. Once I got past that I thought the writing and story were wonderful and perfectly captured the life of a lonely 10 year old girl. I also could have imagined when I was ten building my own world out of junk in my bedroom, just like she did. I am not sure the ending was totally believable, but I liked the rest so much that I am willing to overlook that.

I really wanted to love this book and liked the reincarnation idea as I really enjoyed that angle in books like Ferney, by James Long. The Irish setting was interesting and I found I got a bit of an insider's view on Ireland. However, I found that I didn't connect well with the characters and didn't care what happened to them and ended up skimming the final third of the book.

I also liked the idea of the chapters telling the story from the viewpoints of the two reincarnations of Mickaleen, but found it unbelievable that the Uncle would have written out entire conversations in Irish dialect in his journal. The theories on reincarnation and how organized religion carried hints to the truth of reincarnation was thought provoking, and left me pondering some ideas that will stick with me for a while. On the other hand, I felt like the reincarnation bits began to seem a bit like a long winded lecture and were a little heavy handed.

I think this could have been a much better book if the author would have gone further back in Ireland's history to explain the original source of the "troubles" and made the other parts shorter and less repetitious.

I highly enjoyed Arcadia, once I adjusted to the style in which it was written. At first, the use of the present tense made me feel disconnected from the story, but soon I was sucked in and felt that Dicken's Ghost of the Christmas Past had taken me on ride to view the commune and I felt like I was really there, feeling their hope and anticipation for a better future. I also enjoyed the hints at the Utopian ideals and communities of the 19th century, which most people seem to have forgotten.

Bit's integration into mainstream society was interesting, and a part of the book that I would have liked to know more about. I thought the ending dragged on longer than it needed to be and I had trouble getting through that part.

At the end this book gave me a lot to think about and says quite a bit about modern society. In today's world people have a great deal of freedom, but they have lost the sense of community they once had. I liked the way that Groff had the Amish helping the commune, even though on the surface the Amish were so different, in some ways they had the same objective in the long run.

I was very excited to be receiving this book and loved the concept of it. The story kept me interested, the attention to historical detail and obviously thorough historical research I found impressive. I kept wishing that such a tour actually existed because I would like nothing more than to go on a tour of Europe in a Volkswagen van, exploring places that tourists never go.

However, I was a little disappointed in the writing, which seemed self concious and a little over the top, as though the author was trying to sound literary, but didn't quite make it.

I think it is well worth reading and makes a great read for a virtual tour of Europe.

I have been wanting to read a book by Carol Birch for a long time and was excited when I learned she would have her newest book released in the United States.

I enjoyed this book immensely and found it hard to put down. It read as if the main character, Jaffy Brown, was actually telling his story and I was with him in the streets of Wapping and Radcliffe Highway, and out on on the open seas hunting whales. The reason for 4, rather than 5 stars is because the second section of the book was too realistic and hard to read for me.

This reminds me of Dickensian tale, with touches of Life of Pi.

I really enjoyed the book and thought it was well written and the characters were well developed. It reminded me a lot of an Amy Tan book, as other reviews have mentioned. The relationships between all the women in the book read so much like real life.

I think the book could have been improved by cutting out the rambling thoughts and preachy internal dialogue. It slowed the pace of the book and slowed down my reading. I found myself quickly skimming those sections so that I could get to the real meat of the story.

Overall, I think it was definitely worth reading and I have been suggesting it to my friends.