So first we have Mine Is the Night: A Novel
, by Liz Curtis Higgs. Basically it's the story of Ruth set in 1700s Scotland. I almost put it in the get rid of pile because everything works out just too perfectly and smoothly. But I'll hold onto it for now, see how I feel later. I won't get too into what this book is because I'm sure most people reading this have a basic idea of who Ruth was and what happened for her, but the short is basically that Ruth and her mother-in-law went back to the mother-in-law's hometown and met a wealthy man who winds up marrying Ruth. So that is basically what happens here, with some things added in.The second book is Night Magic
, by Charlotte Vale Allen. I actually put it down not 2 chapters (3 chapters?) in and decided I didn't want to read it. But I picked it back up and skimmed through the rest of it. Why did it get an almost instant dismissal from me? Because, while the back cover does let us know the "woman" in the story is 16 it failed to mention the man is 31 when they meet. (they're 17 and 32 when they get around to doing stuff though, as if making her one whole year older makes a difference) He is disfigured from a car accident, his face a ruin. She's a rich girl who thinks she's ugly. They instantly fall madly in love. After only seeing her once he thinks thoughts like "dear sweet beautiful child, such a child would ruin me" and becomes creepily obsessive over her and all that she could do to him. She becomes psychotic and, after having only seen him twice, threatens to kill herself if he doesn't call her back. Finally she convinces him to give in to her and they spend countless nights together. At no point do any of the adults in her life go "hey, he's twice your age!" No, in fact her father gives them his blessing! So during these nights of magic with him she sinks into an unhealthy obsessive state in which she does not eat and winds up in the hospital. She also hopes she gets pregnant, because "that would show him!" because she thinks he needs a baby to make him grow up. Finally, her father dies and she runs off and marries this guy who's almost old enough to step into her life as a father figure. She dooms herself to a life she comes to resent, consistently calling it claustrophobic over the many years the book follows them through. Finally, she's about 35, and has repeatedly been terrified of bringing up children and any time she has brought up children he either goes down on the floor crying because no one loves him or he goes into a rage. Then she's on a train and is witness to someone jumping in front of it. A stranger nearby comforts her and offers to drive her home, she wonders at such a simple thing that her beloved husband could never do for her and winds up going to his house the next day. Her husband follows her, sees her and runs home to claw his face off and almost kills himself. After being in a stifling relationship seemingly built on lust and a need to play nurse, I can see why she'd want some normalcy, doesn't make it right but I could see it happening, but she doesn't seem to see it that way, doesn't know why she's there and winds up almost being raped, and then hops on the next plane to England where her husband stalks her for a few weeks (and sees her bruises and puts the pieces together that she didn't cheat on him). She spends this time hating herself for everything, for the way she treated her husband (I guess she felt bad about occasionally turning on the light to shower, because you know he can't stand to see himself and forces her to do everything in the dark), for being mean to her best friend (who told her to stfu cause she's being a selfish whiner for being 35 and feeling her biological clock ticking, think of how her husband must feel with her constantly whining to him for a baby), for being at this hot young guy's house (because, well, ok, that one was wrong of her), for not telling her husband she wasn't on birth control anymore (it had only been for a week while she waited for an operation and she didn't tell him because she was terrified of his reaction because the last time he had a bad reaction to something he threw a stool out a window and cut his hand). Though the book shows them across the span of about 17 years neither of them grew up at all throughout the book. They are the same people in the beginning that they are in the end. The one thing that changes is that, finally, after watching her wander around England for a few weeks, he realizes she does actually love him (*gasp* what gave it away? Surely not the 16 years of marriage!) and they can go ahead and have a baby. He wanders up to her, tells her he's been stalking her, which she thinks is charming, and they go back to the hotel to get started on that baby. The end.I don't feel bad about giving spoilers about that book. It was awful and has already been placed in a box headed for the thrift store. I understand it was meant to be somewhat based on Phantom of the Opera, which I have not read, and I did get that since I've seen the movie, and I understand it was meant to loosely show bits of Beauty and the Beast, but it could have been done so much better. Now, you know I love angst, but this was too much even for me. I skipped pages and pages and pages of whining, angsty nothings. I'm all for tragic pasts and healing each other, but I had no patience for this. I may try to pick apart other books to find things wrong with them, but I don't even have to try with this one. I wouldn't even recommend it for a lazy, sunny, sick day. And trust me, this is a sick day for me, and the only reason I don't regret wasting it on this book is because I can now shake my head and marvel that this drivel got published.
The 3rd book I mentioned I've been reading while deciding if I wanted to skim the rest of Night Magic or move on. I'll post about it when I'm done with it.
, by Greg Keyes. This is one of the better NJO books, I think. I enjoyed it a lot. A lot of awesome stuff (and some funny) happened in it, and it makes me sad that the rest of the series is packed away in storage where I can't get to them right now. Or I'd be reading those next. I'm this close to the end, finally. I've been reading the NJO for, probably, a good 7 years at least. I did take a break for a long time, though. But I'm so far behind on Star Wars books. After this I have the Dark Nest Trilogy (which I got for Christmas last year!) and then the Legacy series. It has occurred to me that I had best catch up as quick as I can before Episode VII comes out because I don't want spoilers for the books. o_0 I know that makes almost no sense, lol, but it's how I feel.
, by Neil Gaiman. It's about a little boy, told from his point of view as an adult. Rather, it's about a man who sinks into memory. (see? I made a water joke!) It's about his adventures with a girl who lives, as the title says, at the end of the lane, and the magical powers she and her family have, and they wind up battling magical creatures. I wouldn't say it was spectacular, but it certainly wasn't bad either. I am glad I read it because it was entertaining. I liked the boy we follow, and I liked that he was an average kid. A lot of books that follow kids have them being better than the adults or somehow more mature or intelligent than they should be, they're given free passes. But this boy was a regular 7-year-old. I wouldn't say it has a happy ending, but it's not a sad one either. Kind of a thoughtful ending, I think. I liked the questions to make you think (or whatever they're called) at the end, like book group questions.