Interesting read. It is a little dated but an easy and quick read. It is the story of a slave and her sad life in slavery. I felt for her, her grandmom and her children.
It gives a personal perspective to the large establishment of slavery.

The story is set in a labour camp in Russia in 1933. After the Bolshevik revolution 2 young women end up in this labour camp together. Anna, the daughter of a once powerful and wealthy doctor arrives after being captured because her father has been named an enemy of the people for caring for wealthy landowners. Sophia and Anna soon become firm friends however Anna's quickly failing health prompts Sophia to try to escape to find Anna's childhood friend Vasily who she is convinced will help her rescue Anna from the Freezing Siberian labour camp.

I loved every minute of this novel. Its so well written and about a period and location that I had learned about while in school, but much of it seems to have fallen out of my head so it truly brought me to a whole new world. The intensity of the love and friendship is overwhelming and I will definitely be following up with more reads from this author.

First of all it's typical and I don't know the characters at all. Characters should be developed quickly--I have no feel for these people.

Second, they're already so attracted to each other, that even 43 pages into the book, the sexual tension is the main aspect.

Third, I feel like I know what's going to happen already. She arrives at his house and spills her guts, there's no mystery left about who she is or why she's here, I already know he's going to sleep with her and then marry her and then fall in love with her (in that order) so why should I keep reading?

I'll give it a few more pages. But I'm feeling kinda depressed.

An Earl to Enchant by Amelia Grey
Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance

Rating: 1

After the first two chapters of this book, I was ready to give up. I gave it a little bit more just to see if it was worth it, and I sort of regret it. I could have been reading something else.

I felt like I knew everything after the first chapter, and that there was no reason to keep going. The character spilled her guts, the sexual tension was immediate and way too strong for a first meeting, and it felt typical. I knew what would happen: They’d meet, they’d sleep together, they’d get married, they’d fall in love. In that order. There was no mystery, there was nothing keeping me reading.

The characters seemed dense and melodramatic. For instance, Arianna fainted in the first chapter, and woke being “carried in strong arms” (the Earl). She “felt safe there for some reason.” But I was thinking the whole time, She doesn’t even know the guy. It felt wrong that she was so attracted to him and “felt safe” and “felt at home” when she—and I as a reader—didn’t even know the character very well. Also, after one argument she’s convinced herself that he’s ill tempered—when he’s not—and that keeps her from being open to him.

The writing wasn’t that great, either. The prose felt forced and hard to read, and the dialogue was awkward. It was as if the characters said more than they needed to, and said everything they thought, and described things unnecessarily. For example,

It’s just that I’m so happy to be outside for the first time in such a long time. I seldom left my room on the ship, and this is the first time I’ve been out of your house. Everything looks fresh and new.”

(Page 108, ARC)

I would have said “It’s just that I’m so happy to be outside for the first time in such a long time.” She had seldom left her room on the ship, and it was her first time outside of his house. Everything looked fresh and new. It’s less awkward... or maybe just less wordy.

There was just too much against this book to keep me reading. I will say that from what I read, Grey is good at developing the sexual tension. But that was another thing that was just too much for me.

All in all, I was expecting a lot more from the plot and characters than I got from An Earl to Enchant.

An Earl to Enchant was published April 6th. It got 4- and 5-star reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. Please consider other reviews before making purchase decisions.

Finished 5/16/07.

I read this for my middle school book club. It was likeable enough, and the pictures made it a different read. I can see this apealing to middle schoolers though!

While I was reading this book I had my moments where I was thinking “this is nice…this is cute…” the writing was very eloquent and good. However the plot was just… nonexistent. By page 85 not much had happened. I had no urge to continue reading and even though I enjoyed it while I was reading it, I had to force myself to sit down and read it. And you should never have to force yourself to read a book (except for school). I felt the same way about The Midnight Charter. Both of these were similar in that they both had a bit of politics in them.

I did like the characters (Loved Tom Seymour!) and the writing, again, was great. But nothing made me want to keep reading.

I didn’t get far enough into the book to be able to say what content was in it.

Young Bess was re-published by Sourcebooks March 1st. Please know that I am in the minority for those who didn’t like/finish it. See other reviews on Amazon and Goodreads.

I started reading this last night. Even the first page and a half was amazing! So descriptive and poetic! I am loving it. I can't wait to devour it. The nice thing about being sick is being able to sit in bed and read all day long :)

liked a lot on first read, but no impulse to go back and reread.

When I read this book in high school (college?) I felt that it was amazing- that it completely changed the way I thought about history, womanhood, and the Bible. To tell such a rich story from such a small part of the Bible really made me realize they could have been real people, and the stories in the Bible sound so strange because they're completely taken out of context.
I'm older and more cynical now, so I didn't find the story as powerful as when I was an adolescent. Perhaps I was expecting it and therefore on guard against it. I still found it a really great, insightful, interesting novel.

What a wonderful book this is. I kept putting off reading it as I didn't think I would like it but wish now that I had read it a long time ago. Do read this book - it is intense and great story-telling.

Blurb:
Her name is Dinah. In the Bible, her life is only hinted at in a brief and violent detour within the more familiar chapters about her father, Jacob, and his dozen sons in the Book of Genesis.
Told in Dinah's voice, this novel reveals the traditions and turmoil of ancient womanhood - the world of the red tent. It begins with the story of her mothers - Leah, Rachel, Zilpah and Bilhah - the four wives of Jacob. They love Dinah and give her gifts that are to sustain her through a hard-working youth, a calling to midwifery, and a new home in a foreign land. Dinah's story reaches out from a remarkable period of early history and creates an intimate, immediate connection.
Deeply affecting, The Red Tent combines rich story-telling and a valuable achievement of modern fiction: a new view of biblical women's society.

The red tent is the place where women gathered during their cycles of birthing, menses, and even illness. Like the conversations and mysteries held within this feminine tent, this piece of fiction offers an insider's look at the daily life of a biblical sorority of mothers, wives and daughters.

Although everyone else seemed to like this book, I found the writing geared more toward a very young audience even though the subject matter was not.

The is a beautifully written book. It cheapens the book to view it as women's fiction, or as religious fiction for that matter. The world created by Diamant is epic and vast and so fully realized that you can get lost in it.

SAID IT BETTER THAN I (paraphrased from a synopsis on ReadingGroupGuides.com):
THE RED TENT tells "the other side" of the Biblical story of Dinah, daughter of the patriarch Jacob and his wife, Leah. In Chapter 34 of the Book of Genesis, Dinah’s tale is a short, horrific detour in the familiar narrative of Jacob and Joseph. Anita Diamant imaginatively tells the story from the fresh perspective of its women. In the Biblical tale Dinah is given no voice; but here she is the sole narrator.

This is one of the rare books that I've read more than once. This was a beautiful retelling of a bible story and filling in what may have happened. The author did an amazing job!

Again, lyrical women's fiction, full of blood and sense and heady prose that will make you swoon. The characters though, brought alive from their Biblical hsitory. The relationship between the four wives of Jacob (who bore the twelve sons- you know the story, Lloyd Webber did the musical) who also happen to be sisters shows the closeness and nessecity of family and friendship between women at that and all times. The story then tells of Dinah, Jacob's only daughter, and her plight in Egypt.

I'm not going to be a massive spoiler, but by the end of the book I was weeping and if I ever feel in the need of a good cry this is the book I turn to (when I find my own copy of it!)

A tale in biblical times from the perspective of a minor biblical character as well as a woman. It is a fascinating take on well known stories and characters from the perspective of a woman. Love the way the story can really makes biblical era come alive for me. Def would recommend reading.

This book tells the story of Dinah, Jacob's only daughter in the bible. It gives her story beginning to end, and the story of her mothers. I liked the characters in this book, I also was drawn this book because it explains a biblical story from the point of view of the women in the story, which makes the familiar (to me at least) seem different or in a new light.

3-10

I can't stop thinking about this book. I know this book says it's a fable and perhaps that excuses the complete lack of believability. I'm not sure. Even a 9 year old would probably recognize Auschwitz outside his window. Even a 9 year old would probably get that there was something wrong with the black smoke billowing outside his window. A 9 year old in Germany would definitely know what a Jew was. The end of this book is absolutely indefensible. I know the author is trying to make a point. I guess he can be forgiven for that. But not in a book for kids.