This book has all the elements of a fantastic historical novel. The cover is beautiful. The title is captivating. The setting is perfect - exotic Shanghai. The theme is engaging - a boatload of expats fleeing Russia following the Bolshevik Revolution, to begin a new life in China. The era is interesting - the Roaring 20’s.

An historical novel should evoke a time and place for the reader. It should make us feel that we are in the scene. For me there was no feeling of being transported to 1920’s Shanghai, nor any feeling of angst on the part of the Russians fleeing their homeland. The book is about a group of shallow, unconnected (except for the two main characters, Klim and his wife, Nina) individuals living in Shanghai. I tried very hard to like the novel. The titles of the 80 chapters are superb and the pencil sketches throughout are charming! I persevered in reading it for about 150 pages and then gave up. 

This book was originally written in Russian and translated into English which may account for the stilted phrases and expressions used. I find it hard to take seriously an historical fiction that uses such expressions as “in your dreams, sweetie” – I really don’t think that was the language of people in the 20’s; or “goodness gracious,” “silly chicken,” “Oh Lord have mercy on us,” as a menu is read; or “The Madam wants to see you,” he barked indifferently. A person can “bark” irritatedly, or irately, or angrily, but not indifferently. Again, this may be the result of translation.

Historical fiction is my favorite genre of book, but sadly, this book neither captured nor retained my interest.

Reviewed by Sandra

Disclosure: Thanks to Yana Kovalskaya from Glagoslav Publications for sending me this book for review. I was not compensated in any other way, nor told how to rate or review this product.

The synopsis of this book sounded so good and I was eager to read it. It started out fine but before long I realized I didn't care much for the characters, the story evolved too slowly and I was tired of all the profanity and crass language. Halfway through the book I no longer wanted to read anymore of it. The story no longer held any interest for me. I found the characters lacked maturity and common sense. Nell was too disrespectful toward her mom (for no reason it seemed), and I didn't like where the story was going.

However, you might want to read the other reviews and judge for yourself if this is a book that might interest you.

Note: This book is rated P=Profanity. There are lots of f-words and religious expletives in this book.

For more reviews of this book, please visit the TLC Book Tour page.

About the author:
Allison Winn Scotch is the bestselling author of Time of My Life. A former freelance magazine writer, she has written for Glamour, Parents, and Men’s Health. She lives in New York City with her husband and their two children. To learn more about Allison Winn Scotch, please visit www.allisonwinn.com.

Compulsively Mr. Darcy is a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice. Mr. Darcy is an obsessive compulsive philanthropist who follows his friend Mr. Bingley and his family to Vietnam where Bingley's older sister Louisa and her husband want to adopt a child. Here they meet Dr. Elizabeth Bennet at an emergency room and her sister Jane, who works at the orphanage. Misunderstandings ensue when Elizabeth thinks that Darcy and Bingley are a couple and that they are the ones who really want to adopt a child.

After some of the good reviews I read about this book, I was eager to read it. It started out okay, and the premise of the story promised a funny read but before long I realized I didn't real care for it. After 100 pages I had enough of the crude language and romance based on nothing but physical attraction. The characters were okay but not enough for me to want to continue reading. I was actually getting bored. The setting of Vietnam was interesting but it wasn't exotic and the story could easily have taken place elsewhere and not much would have changed.

I realize that Austen spin-offs are a hit and miss with me. I'm a sucker when it comes to Pride and Prejudice but maybe I should just hang up my hat and stick to the real thing. That way, disappointment won't be a possibility.

This book is rated P and S = Profanity and explicit sexual content.

John and Ricky Ryrie lose their third child only fifty-seven hours after it was born. This loss, and the secret Ricky kept from her husband about the baby's condition test their disintegrating marriage and affect the lives of their 10 and 14 year-old children. But when John's daughter from a previous relationship comes back into their lives pregnant, the isolation in this family begins to dissolve.

This book started out really good but gradually after the first hundred pages it became tedious reading for me. The story seemed to lose its momentum and continuity. I didn't care much for Ricky. I thought Ricky was selfish the way she kept that secret from her family, and I felt it was a domino affect from there. Even before this baby's conception she was unfaithful and took her husband for granted. She set up her family to believe one thing and then left them to deal with the aftermath when it didn't happen. I can understand a person making mistakes, but she seemed calculating in the way she made hers, without thought to how it would affect her family, her children.

The sense of loss is heavy in this book permeating every scene. It wasn't just the loss of the baby but the way the characters dealt with their lives and the disconnect of the family unit. No one was happy. I felt for Biscuit, the ten year-old daughter who was left to grieve and figure things out on her own. I felt the story could have moved along more quickly without all the details about every thought a character had that I didn't care to know. Some of those details were so brutally honest that I felt like a peeping Tom with no right to know certain things. Having said all this, I do think the author was insightful about building her characters, and she created interesting ones, realistic in their reactions, especially John and his teen son.

Finally two thirds into the book, I only skimmed through it to see how it ended. Although this book got some great reviews, I was left disappointed. What's more, the text is scattered with profanity (F-words especially) and some explicit references to sexual activities, all of which I felt tainted the author's lyrical writing and was unnecessary.

To read more reviews of this book, follow the tour here.

Disclosure: Thanks to the publisher and TLC Book Tours for sending me this book for review. I was not compensated in any other way, nor told how to rate or review this product.

I was really looking forward to this book based on some of the reviews from fellow bloggers, but I have to say I struggled through the first 100 pages. I decided to continue because I hate giving up on a book, and I was really hoping it would get better. But after struggling through the next 100 pages I decided to call it quits. Although I have never read any of this author's work I had heard good things about her books, so I was quite disappointed to discover this book did not live up to my expectations as a reader or a writer.

The main reason is that this story was not only very slow going and hard to get into, but for me it was also unrealistic. The story of Cate Cooper is told in the first person POV. Her husband of 26 years commits suicide after losing all of his private equity firm's money and their clients. Within 48 hours, Cate (who lives in Alpine, NY) is completely stripped of all her wealthy possessions down to the coffee cups, and makes the shocking discovery that her late husband slept with every girl who ever worked in his office and had a second family on the side. Cate has no insurance so she is left totally broke.

Within a few days she gets settled at Folly Beach in South Carolina, meets a gorgeous man and has adapted to her simple life. Just like that. Here's a pampered woman who used to visit her hairdresser three times a week, wore designer clothes and hadn't worked a secular job in decades. Back in NY she had no friends, never suspected anything was amiss (that clueless?), and had had very little, if any sexual contact with her husband during the last ten years of her marriage when he treated her less than stellar. Yet she appeared unscathed from all that happened to her. This story was so superficial, lacking insight and depth that many of the situations and even the dialogue just added to the unrealistic storyline and characters. This is why I couldn't get into it, even if it was fiction.

Through all this, though, I could see the novel had potential. After all, the story of a middle-aged woman who suffers a shocking life experience but who re-invents herself and finds a new passion in life is a good premise, had it been dealt with differently. I really tried to look beyond the farfetchedness, but this book failed to capture my interest even though the story of the Charleston Renaissance could have made it interesting. I say could have because the way the author introduced this historical aspect of the book (through a screenplay at alternate chapters) was intrusive to the main story, confusing as regards how it fit in with the main plot, and... I hate to say this... boring.

The setting of Folly Beach, South Carolina was the one thing that kept me reading. I have visited South Carolina which is vastly different from Quebec, and the beach setting always makes for good reading this time of year. It's true that the Lowcountry has a magical quality to it. Unfortunately, this charming setting was not enough to make up for what could have been an endearing and entertaining read, but was not for me.

About the Author:

Disclosure: Thanks to William Morrow and TLC Book Tours for sending me this book for review. I was not compensated in any other way, nor told how to rate or review this product.