Showing posts with label Siri Mitchell. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Siri Mitchell. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

A Writer's Review of “Unrivaled” by Siri Mitchell

{Dawns Review}

I almost always love Siri Mitchell’s books, mostly because she writes some of the few historicals in the CBA market written from first person point of view. I’m still not quite used to this switching back and forth between hero and heroine though. I mean, I liked seeing Charlie Clarke’s side of everything and all, but I like better when an author is able to let the reader get to know the hero from the heroine’s perspective. It’s more challenging, but so worth it in the end, if done well.  

I really liked both Charlie Clarke and Lucy Kendall and felt that they had a meaningful friendship from the beginning of their tumultuous acquaintance. However, it kind of bothered me that the main focus of the book was upon the feud between the candy businesses of Saint Louis instead of the main characters whose lives were being messed up because of the feud. I felt that the scenes were a bit sporadic and the reader was left in the dark as to how the scenes actually affected the main characters. And I know this might seem silly, but I didn’t really feel that the cover depicted Lucy, Charlie, or the story inside the book very well.


Overall, I enjoyed this book—which is saying something coming from this picky reader. I just felt that I was reading a book’, when what I really wanted was to be so engaged in the words, the characters and the story that I could forget I was actually reading a book. I wanted to get to know Charlie and Lucy so much more, to know more of WHY they were saying what they were saying and WHY they were doing what they were doing.   

I was given a copy of this book by the publisher in exchanged for my honest review. I give Siri Mitchell’s Unrivaled 4 Stars.

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{More about Unrivaled}

Lucy Kendall returns from a tour of the Continent, her luggage filled with the latest fashions and a mind fired by inspiration. After tasting Europe’s best confections, she’s sure she’ll come up with a recipe that will save her father’s struggling candy business and reverse their fortunes. But she soon discovers that their biggest competitor, the cheat who swindled her father out of his prize recipe, has now hired a promotions manager–a cocky, handsome out-of-towner who gets under Lucy’s skin.

Charlie Clarke’s new role at Standard Manufacturing is the chance of a lifetime. He can put some rough times behind him and reconnect with the father he’s never known. The one thing he never counted on, however, was tenacious Lucy Kendall. She’s making his work life miserable…and making herself impossible for him to forget.

Purchase a copy here.

Read an excerpt here.

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{Meet Siri Mitchell}

Siri Mitchell is the author of nearly a dozen novels, among them the critically acclaimed Christy Award finalists “Chateau of Echoes” and “The Cubicle Next Door”. A graduate of the University of Washington with a degree in business, she has worked in many different levels of government. As a military spouse, she has lived in places as varied as Tokyo and Paris. Siri currently lives in the DC-metro area. Find out more about Siri at www.sirimitchell.com.
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{Enter to Win!}
  • A Kindle Fire
  • Vintage Candy Kit
  • Unrivaled by Siri Mitchell (one for you and one for a friend!)
Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on April 17th. 

Winner will be announced at the “Unrivaled” Author Chat Facebook Party on 4/18. Connect with Siri, get a sneak peek of her next book, try your hand at a trivia contest, and chat with readers just like yourself. There will also be gift certificates, books, vintage candy kits, and more!


So grab your copy of Unrivaled and join Siri on the evening of the April 18th for a chance to connect with Siri and make some new friends. (If you haven’t read the book–don’t let that stop you from coming!)


 

Don’t miss a moment of the fun, RSVP today. Tell your friends via FACEBOOK or TWITTER and increase your chances of winning. Hope to see you on April 18th!

 

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{More Historical Novels by Siri Mitchell}

(click for Goodreads info or A Passion for Pages review)

Love's Pursuit 

{Contemporary Novels by Siri Mitchell}

 
Moon Over Tokyo
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Ive read most of these books and loved them.





Monday, December 31, 2012

My Top 12 Reads of 2012

Well, I did it.  

My goal was to read 48 books this year, and I have. There were a few in there I might have given up on before ACTUALLY finishing, but I did try. Here is a list of my Top Twelve  Reads for the year 2012.  

(They are listed in the order I read them with a link to my review)

 
The Accidental Bride by Denise Hunter
(Contemporary Romance, Thomas Nelson) 

I loved the love-hate tension Denise Hunter created between the two main characters of this book. I really didn't know which side I was on concerning the hurts they both caused one another in the past.
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The Maid of Fairbourne Hall by Julie Klassen
(Regency Historical Romance, Bethany House)

Julie Klassen always amazes me with her fleshed out characters and flawless plots.
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My Stubborn Heart by Becky Wade
(Contemporary Romance, Bethany House)

This book came out of nowhere and totally blew me (and all of my friends!) away. I'd never heard of Becky Wade before last spring, but I sure am going to keep my eye on her books in the future!

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Short Straw Bride by Karen Witemeyer
(Historical Romance, Bethany House)

Karen Witemeyer is another author I can always count on for true-to-life characters and plots that make me sigh all the way to her satisfying endings.
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The Messenger by Siri Mitchell
(Revolutionary Historical Romance, First Person, Bethany House)

Hannah Sunderland and Jeremiah Jones were, quite possibly, my favorite couple of the year. Which is funny, because the story is about so much more than them falling in love. I blame the fact that it was written from both of their perspectives in first person.
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Love Finds You in Mackinac Island, Michigan 
by Melanie Dobson
(Historical Romance, Summerside Press

Melanie Dobson was another new author for me. I loved the suspense in this book, even if part of it was not having the hero and heroine meet until close to the middle of the book.   

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The Rose of Winslow Street by Elizabeth Camden
(Historical Romance, Bethany House)

Atmosphere. Dark and gothic. And real.

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Unending Devotion by Jody Hedlund
(Historical Romance, Bethany House)

I blazed through this book so fast, I wished it was twice as long! Actually, I wish any of Jody Hedlund's books were twice as long.

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A Love Surrendered by Julie Lessman
(1920's Historical Romance, Revell)

AMAZING wrap up for the O'Connor Family. I think Steven was my favorite of them all... but that might only because his was the last book. I think that every time I read any of Julie's books. 

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Wonderland Creek by Lynn Austin
(1920's Historical Romance, First Person, Bethany House)

This was such a touching story written from first person perspective about a young woman finding her true place in the world  

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Against The Tide by Elizabeth Camden
(Historical Romance, Bethany House)
Translating foreign codes for the Navy, bringing down drug rings, and going undercover at a secluded, palatial mansion. Oh, and Alexander Banebridge. Lydia Pallas's heart never had a chance. 
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The Tutor’s Daughter by Julie Klassen
(Regency Historical Romance, Bethany House)

Oh, how I love a good, sigh-worthy Regency! And this one had it all! A Country House, masters and servants--and everyone in between, the sea-weathered cliffs and bluffs off of the coast of Cornwall, and a brooding hero who saves the heroine from certain death! (yes, I love the melodramatic...)
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I hope you enjoyed my list and will look these titles up in the coming months! I'd love to hear what you thought of them!
  


Monday, May 14, 2012

A Writer's Review of “The Messenger" by Siri Mitchell

{My Review}

I spent every spare moment of the last few days reading this book until it was finished. This was such a good book! At first I wasn't sure if I was going to like it, but the two characters quickly changed my mind and just kept drawing me in further and further. They were both so... different.



Hannah Sunderland was so quaint saying her "thee's" instead of "you's" and so darn unabashedly straight-forward! I could really tell at the beginning of the book she was a little lost, caught right smack dab in the middle-ground of "having no side" in the Revolutionary War since she was raised as a Quaker. I could also tell when she went from just being what any Quaker maiden was "supposed" be... to living with her her own convictions, but all the while staying just as true to herself as she did to everyone else. 

And the hero, Jeremiah Jones... wow. He really had a ways to grow on me... which he did. Just as he slowly grew on Hannah. The love that slowly grew between them was just plain adorable. There weren't a ton of physical descriptions, or even much description at all since the book was written from first person point of view and the reader is really only able to see what a particular character would be noticing.

And not a single (real) kiss in the whole thing!?! There were lots of "displays of affection" that only went as far as hugging (with one arm... so sweet!) and kisses on hair... And all this coming from a writer/reader (me, that is) who is madly obsessed with the romantic passion portrayed in all of Julie Lessman's books! But oh, did this book have passion! It was tied up in their love and in their beliefs and their duty to do what they could... no matter the cost. And it was just so subtle and reserved... so like Hannah and Jeremiah themselves. Which, as it turns out, was a very interesting twist, since Hannah and Jeremiah were polar opposite in every way possible besides this very important aspect.    

Siri Mitchell is an amazing writer. She does first person so well! But so differently than others may write it. Since I also write from first person point of view, I have a particular love-affair with it... especially when I see it so well done... the way Siri Mitchell always writes it. The Messenger was even half written from the hero's perspective... which I don't see often done. And I ended up loving it... a lot.

This, put quite plainly, is one of the best books I've read in a very long time.

My FAVORITE part of the book was one sentence in the second to last scene, on the second to last page. I'm not going to tell you what it is because I want it to perhaps hit you as it did me. Square in the chest. All I will tell you is that I think I'll probably be carrying around that one moment from this book for the rest of my life.      

Bethany House Publishers provided me with a paperback copy of this book to review in exchange for my honest opinion. I give Siri Mitchell's The Messenger 5 (bright and shining) stars.