Secret History of the Pink Carnation

The Secret History of the Pink Carnation - Lauren Willig

This is a new series that I have discovered that is now up to book five. The Secret History of the Pink Carnation has two story lines, one in present day England, telling the story of a graduate student, Eloise Kelly, researching spies in the Napoleonic Wars. The other storyline follows a spy named the Pink Carnation. This is a light hearted romantic historical fiction with a dash of suspense. The rest of the titles in the series are:

The Masque of the Black Tulip Bk 2
The Deception of the Emerald Ring Bk 3
The Seduction of the Crimson Rose Bk 4
The Temptation of the Night Jasmine Bk 5

February is Library Lovers Month

May I suggest some titles with Librarians as featured characters?:

The Librarian - Larry Beinhart
The Dewey Decimal System of Love - Josephine Carr
The Observatory - Emily Grayson
The Camel Bookmobile- Masha Hamilton
The Ice Queen - Alice Hoffman
The Grand Complication - Allen Kurzweil
Sideshow - Anne D. LeClaire
The Time Travellers Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
The Sweetgum Lit Knit Society - Beth Pattillo
The Book Stops Here: a mobile library mystery - Ian Sansom
American Wife - Curtis Sittenfeld

All titles are available at the Chatham-Kent Public Library, place holds at www.chatham-kent.ca/ckat

First time authors with a rural setting

Finally, I finished The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: a novel by David Wroblewski! This is Wroblewski's debut novel and it is the story of a mute boy living in rural Wisconsin. Edgar, the main character, communicates with the world through American sign language as well as his own developed signals. His family has spent three generations breeding dogs, Sawtelle dogs, based on their intelligence rather than a particular breed. The novel also explores the relationship between Edgar's father, Gar, and his uncle Claude. I highly recommend the novel although it does take some effort to get through.

The tale was chosen as an Oprah Book Club selection in 2008.

My next recommendation is Every Last Cuckoo: a novel by Kate Maloy. This is also a debut novel set in rural Vermont. It tells the tale of Sarah Lucas and her life with her husband Charles and her three children. Sarah suddenly loses her husband and is left to find and define a new life for self. Interestingly her husband leaves a letter for her after his death stating that he expects she will do something special with her life after he his gone. Sarah for weeks can't figure out what that special something might be. However, as so often happens in life things happen and before she knows it she has gathered a collection of people who need her and her home as a sanctuary. I highly recommend the story it is a quick read and will give the reader plenty to think about.

If you liked the Twilight series why not try...

If you can't get enough of the paranormal then why not try:

The Summoning - Kelley Armstrong (book 1)
Speak - Laurie Halse Anderson
Great and Terrible Beauty - Libba Bray
Marked - P.C. Cast (Book 1 House of Night Series)
Vamps - Nancy A. Collins
Masquerade: A Blue Bloods Novel - Melissa de la Cruz
Blood and Chocolate - Annette Curtis Klause
Vampire Academy - Richelle Mead
Cirque du Freak - Darren Shan
Peeps - Scott Westerfield

I would like to recommend a fabulous historical fiction The Book of Negroes: a novel by Lawrence Hill. It has all the elements one could want from an historical work, it is fast paced, chock full of historical detail, has an extremely complelling central character and is very readable. It was the 2008 Evergreen Award Winner, it was selected as a Canada Reads pick and has won a number of other awards. In honour of Black History month take the time to read an excellent Canadian work of Fiction.