MR. ROSENBLUM DREAMS IN ENGLISH by Natasha Solomons

MR. ROSENBLUM DREAMS IN ENGLISH by Natasha Solomons

June 21, 2010 (Little, Brown & Company) Hardcover, 368 pages

ISBN-13: 9780316077583

Such a delightful story that needs to be read and believed

Jack Rosenblum flees to England from war ravaged Germany taking his wife and daughter with him all the while dreaming of his new life. He knows England is where they can begin again living life without Jewish persecution so off they went. They just need to follow the assimilation into proper English life rule pamphlet they have been given and all will be fine – learn to blend or at least be ignored. His wife, Sadie is less sure but will follow her husband anywhere he thinks best for their family.

Jack holds on to the pamphlet reading it constantly and adding items that he picks up to make sure no one thinks they are not part of English life. He earns an income and then falls into a stroke of good luck and finds himself owning a carpet factory that within ten years is one of the largest in London. Making more than enough money to upgrade their life again Jack starts another phase of following his dreams to be the perfect English gentlemen and in order to accomplish this he needs to play golf.

He buys a set of clubs which leads to a larger purchase of a cottage with enough land to design and build his own golf course where everyone can join regardless of their ethnicity. Again Sadie follows but this dream she is having trouble swallowing and fears the risk is too great for them to handle. Jack says no it will be fine and starts the process of adding items to the list of proper English behavior and construction of his golf course.

The town is less than welcoming but slowly and surely he makes friends and gets some local assistance in the construction. Jack thinks he needs the greatest golfer of his time, Bobby Jones to come and play the inaugural round but letters go unanswered while at the same time jealousy and prejudices start to rear their ugly heads. Jack has tried to assimilate and tried to stay under the radar but there are those that will never accept and never allow that everyone has a right to their dream. Jack keeps chasing his and in the end all his hard work and hope of a better life pale in comparison to knowing he made friends and his family will always be by his side.

This book was a wonderful read and turned into marvelous read when I discovered it was a true story written by a granddaughter about her grandfather. The heart break and triumph of Jack’s life comes through so clearly that you ache for things to work out for him and his family and a good storyteller has a gift with the ability to convey these emotions. Ms. Solomons has done an excellent job of showing up what one family’s dreams can lead to.

Mary Gramlich is The Reading Reviewer at www.marygramlich.com

TEN THINGS I LOVE ABOUT YOU by Julia Quinn

TEN THINGS I LOVE ABOUT YOU by Julia Quinn

May 25, 2010 (HarperCollins Publishers) Mass Market Paperback, 384 pages

What a wonderful, amazing and absolutely delightful book.

We are born with some understanding of where we place in the general rankings of society. There is the possibility to move up in stature as a result of a marital match but for the most part we live and die in the same general area. But this would not be true for Sebastian Grey as he was not born with a title but could in fact inherit one were his uncle not sire a son. His uncle however, really wants anyone but Sebastian to inherit his title and is determined to marry and have a son. Sebastian is therefore seen by proper London society as marriageable because perhaps, just maybe there is a possibility that his uncle at his advanced age would not have a son and Sebastian could become a titled gentleman. Sebastian states clearly that he wants nothing that his uncle has -- or so he thought until he set his eyes upon Miss Annabel Winslow, the woman his uncle decided to marry and the resulting circumstances will have the Ton talking for many a day.

Annabel is not fond of Lord Newbury with his age being the least of her concerns, but she must marry to help support the family who is dependent on her now that her father is deceased. Her maternal jaunty grandmother is trying to fix her up and marry her off even though she sees Annabel as such the unsophisticated country mouse and explains that a woman can marry one man, yet be affectionate with another. Annabel is resolved to her fate until life takes an unexpected turn when she meets Sebastian after she trips over him, literally. He is charming, handsome and so irresistible to women that you would think Annabel might know better than to steal a kiss from him. But he draws her to him so that she becomes blind to everyone and everything when he is near. He makes her feel different, special and beautiful in ways she never experienced, and lets her know that she is desired for reasons other than to produce an heir. But Sebastian’s uncle will not take this lying down and when he finds that Sebastian is pursing what he rightfully believes he owns, fists are drawn and a competition for Annabel’s affection is issued.

There are secrets between them but none as great as the one Sebastian is holding back from Annabel. He may have declared his love, lifelong devotion and desire to have many children, but will he confess that he is a clandestine writer who pens graphic novels under a woman’s name? Can he trust her enough to tell her all his dreams and desires? Sebastian believes he can because while his writing career was a dividing point in his life and had him view himself as before and after he began his writing career he is again standing at the crossroads where he sees what his life is and what it can be with Annabel as his wife.

There are 100 things I love about this book but the main one is that it is a joy to read. So much so that it felt like a friend moving away when I finished and had to put it on the bookshelf. Sebastian and Annabel are so full of life and each bring so much of their own story to the book that together they create magic. Julia Quinn is the gold standard for historical romance and her books are something you can anticipate reading with a great story, wonderful characters and a little bit about the gossipy London society thrown in. You know when you read her books that everything will circle around the two main characters and the draw they have for each other, but the additional characters always bring so much to the book without crowding out the main characters.

Mary Gramlich is The Reading Reviewer at www.marygramlich.com

A MOST SINFUL PROPOSAL (Book #2 in The Husband Hunters Club Series) SARA BENNETT

A MOST SINFUL PROPOSAL (Book #2 in The Husband Hunters Club Series) SARA BENNETT

April 2010 (HarperCollins Publishers) Mass Market Paperback, 384 pages

Settle in for a great read!

Marissa Rotherhild knew want she wanted from life – a husband but not just any husband one that had no interest in anything scientific. She had spent her life with parents who paid more attention to the ferns and moss than they did to their own daughter. Marissa even knew who her husband should be – George Kent as he was handsome, interesting to talk to and paid attention to her. However Marissa’s fellow members of the Husband Hunters Club questioned her reasoning on why she would settle for this particular man and she explained that that he would make her laugh and give her a sense of belonging that her parents never did.

Marissa thought George was her perfect match and she was delighted when he invited her for a weekend house party at his family estate. But what a surprise when she arrives to discover that it is not George she desires but in fact his brother Lord Valentine Kent. Valentine is everything she did not want in a husband in that he is overly intelligent, driven and focused on his main goal in life which is finding The Crusader’s Rose one of those mysteries that had become legend in the botanical circles. Valentine was committed to finding this perfect rose and he thought nothing could stop him but the minute he laid his eyes on Marissa everything else seemed unimportant and his focus became winning her hand and proving his affections were built on love and respect not a quick conquest.

But there is someone else trying to find the rose and this person is as obsessed as Valentine but his motive is revenge not science, but revenge for what Valentine does not know. While the man stays one step ahead of Valentine and Marissa as they follow one lead after another Valentine becomes more convinced that he has a traitor in his home and that in proper English society is not going to be tolerated. But trying to find the rose becomes less important with every passing day he spends in Marissa’s company as she it turns out was what he was looking for all along – long and companionship.

The 2^nd Book in this series is as amazing as the first (Led Astray by a Rake) and I expected nothing less from Ms. Bennett. The characters are refreshing, colorful and such a delight that you have such sorry when the book is over because you want it to go on and on the romance is that sweet.

Mary Gramlich is The Reading Reviewer at www.marygramlich.com

WHEN WINTER RETURNS by Kathryn Miller Haines

WHEN WINTER RETURNS (A Rosie Winter Mystery) Kathryn Miller Haines

May 2010 (HarperCollins Publishers) Paperback, 352 pages

Wonderful read with an amazing character driven storyline

Rosie Winter is a woman living through the difficulties of WWII trying to find her place and to survive living through war times. She is an aspiring actress just returned from a USO tour with her friend Jayne to find her room at the boarding house had been rented. So now they are staying there but with new roommates who may be holding some secrets that are either life altering to the country or as simple as a women with a working knowledge of how to encrypt letters written in invisible ink.

Rosie was chasing a dream when she went overseas with the USO following her love Jack who it turns out was in love with someone else. But while Rosie’s heart was broken her friend Jayne found love but all too soon lost her Billy when his plane was shot down. Rosie is trying to help her recover from this loss and as they go to say the proper respect to Jayne’s late fiancé’s parents it turns out he is not who he said he was and the life he was living was not his own. So the hunt begins to uncover who Billy really was, why was he was living under the name of another soldier and why does he have money hidden in a coat pocket he deserted. Rosie and Jayne are also dealing with Jayne’s ex mob boyfriend who has gotten them blackballed from getting stage work waiting for Jayne to come back to him. Rosie is all about solving mysteries but this time are there too many to resolve, probably not for her. It also seems to be Rosie’s responsibility to help her ex fiancé Jack as he recovers from the wounds he received overseas. Geez she is broken up with him isn’t that enough pain and suffering, apparently not because he needs her strength to get better.

But things take a scary turn of events when the aunt of Jayne’s deceased fiancée turns up murdered and the plot thickens to molasses with a lack of clues and too many suspects. Was her being German the problem, maybe a traitor or just an innocent victim of circumstance and prejudice? Rosie is an actress by career choice an amateur sleuth by natural instinct who when given all these clues can solve the crime and not just because she is nosy but just good at uncovering mysteries and fitting pieces of the puzzle together. If not for Rosie’s ability to knock those walls down and barreling through the issues nothing would get done right but this time the dark shadows are following her so the bigger question becomes can she keep her herself as safe as she should so that nothing happens to her?

What wonderful characters, a well written book about a time in our history that has been well documented but not as much from the female point of view. Rosie provides us with the difficulties of trying to make enough money to survive, absorb the complexities of a country surviving the war and hopefully find the love of your life. None of these objectives would have been met if the writer did not articulate this as clearly and wonderfully as she does and write a mystery that keeps your turning the pages to solve. It was an honor to read this book and feel the emotions that come from the characters that lived through this very bleak time. This book is a great reflection of the best of times created out of the worst of times. Rosie is a good person trying to do what every woman in the 1940’s was, have a career until she finds a husband and in the mean time solve a crime or two and Rosie is up for all of these challenges.

Mary Gramlich is The Reading Reviewer located at www.marygramlich.com