The Reluctant Heiress

The Reluctant Heiress Eva Ibbtoson

Last week I was in A MOOD and this book perfectly fit the bill.

Guy Farne was found on the docks in Newcastle and made his fortune to become on of the richest men in the world-- all in order to win over the snobby family of a girl he once loved.

Tessa is the under-wardrobe mistress of an opera company in Vienna. She also happens to be a Princess and heiress to Austria's most stunning castle, but it's post-WWI and Austria's nobility is crumbling. Luckily, the castle has a buyer and Tessa can devote herself to the music she loves so much.

You can see where this is going.

I love a good surprise reveal scene (like when Guy finds out Tessa's actually a Princess!) and a fun reunion and Ibbotson does them really well. I loved the glimpse into interwar noble life. I've seen it on the British side often enough, but it's different here because Austria lost and their vast empire was carved up and they turned Republic. It's a lot for them to handle and they're doing it with various levels of grace. I also loved the crazy characters in Tessa's opera company. Little details like the Yogurt Mother make it such a fun read.

The plot is predictable, and characters flat and not at all nuanced, but it was still very enjoyable and exactly what I needed.

Book Provided by... my local library

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Love is in the air....

Hmmm... blogger and flickr aren't playing well at the moment, so a picture will come at some later point... update 2/13 Finally! Huzzah! Pictures!

A Countess Below Stairs Eva Ibbotson

Anna is a countess who has been rendered penniless through the Russian Revolution. Living in London with her former governess she knows she must find work and ends up as a housemaid in the old-money-but-lost-splendor manor of Mersham. She works hard and tries to keep her blue blood a secret.

Rupert is the newest Earl of Westerholme. He never wanted to return to Mersham, it was supposed to go to his older brother, but George lies buried in Flanders field and Rupert knows George would want the family to hang onto the estate. But how to handle the crippling debt? Enter Muriel, his noveau riche heiress fiancee. The Earl needs her money, she wants his aristocratic title. Too bad she’s a nightmare.

Rupert and Anna soon fall in scandalous love, but it’s never to be, for she’s a poor servant and he’s an engaged Earl. But…

Oh how I loved this. It’s silly. Anna is ever so perfectly good (seriously, she makes Nancy Drew look nasty!) and Muriel is ever so evily bad. All the characters are flat and the plot is predictable and the end is unbelievably nice and tidy and perfect. But, I couldn’t put it down, how was it all going to play out? How was Rupert going to discover Anna’s true identity? Would it all come crumbling down? You knew how it was going to end, but how was Ibbotson going to get you there? It was oh so delicious!

Oh, were I a kid again...

Now Reading: Madame Chiang Kai-shek: China's Eternal First Lady

These are all books that my reaction to was "meh" BUT that I know I would have looooooooooved back when I was a member of the intended age range for the book...

We all know I enjoy books that aren't great literature-- I'm not the most discriminating reader, but there is something about these books that just didn't grab me. Many are books in series and where I didn't flat-out dislike these books, they also didn't compel me to read the books that follow...

Dragon Slayers' Academy: The New Kid at School #1 by Kate McMullen and Bill Basso

So.... Wiglaf is the youngest brother in a large, brutish family. In Cinderella-like fashion, he has to do all the work and is constantly picked on. He decides to go to the Dragon Slayer Academy so he can kill dragons and get the loot to help out his family. But the Academy is run down and out of cash, and leads to madcap adventures and friends...

Although this book didn't grab me, it would have when I was in third grade. As an adult, the plot was predictable and the characters flat. And, despite what Mary Pope Osburne says on the back cover, Wiglaf could not be Harry Potter's little brother-- the series (of now 19 titles) isn't serious enough, it's just slapstick. I did really enjoy the yearbook at the end of the book with information Wiglaf has learned, as well as ads and things for the school.

Camp Princess 1: Born to Rule by Kathryn Lasky suffered many of the same problems-- the plot was horribly predictable but mainly it didn't work-- it's about princess at summer camp. A lot of the things that were supposed to make summer camp special--such as the weather that can go from summer to winter in five minutes-- just don't work. Lasky has written such great work and won so many awards, that the mediocrity disappointed me.

Meet Calliope Day by Steve Haddard is about Calliope who thinks the old lady next door is a witch but has the delightful twist that she thinks this is kinda cool. If she can make friends with the witch, maybe the witch will cast some spells on Calliope's behalf. Of course, the lady next store does not want to be friends with a small girl who runs wild around the neighborhood. Not as good as Ramona, Junie B. , Clementine, or a host of others.

Which Witch? by Eva Ibbotson I enjoyed-- it was cute and fun-- but I would have really loved this back in the day. Arriman the Awful needs an heir, so he has to marry. There's a competition and the local witches are all worked up on what evil spell to perform to win his heart. The witches are more hilarious as they trip all each other to prove they're the most evil. Of course, there's the one who really is evil and the one that's actually good, but is trying very, very hard to be a bad witch. Funny and heartwarming, but better when you're 12.

Ok, and here's one I don't think I would have liked even when I was a kid-- I finally broke down and read a Goosebumps book (hey-- it was banned books week). So, I read The Blob That Ate Everyone which was not scary and predictable with an amazingly weak ending. And wow, it really is bad writing.