Magic and Acceptance

As I've said before, Sarah Addison Allen is one of my favorite authors. In fact, every time she comes out with a new book, that new one becomes my new favorite :-) I haven't read the recent one she has out, The Peach Keeper, but I'm sure I'll love it when I do.

One of the reasons I truly love this book is because of the magic in it. Un-explainable magic that is accepted on faith. Emily's wallpaper changing to match her moods is, well, awesome. Really, can you imagine what the wallpapers would look like in your house if they changed to meet your moods? I also love the magic of Julia's baking and Sawyer's response to his mother's baking. I think it's fantastic because it's a calling for him. Julia's reasons for continuing to bake are both heartbreaking and heartwarming. It's heartbreaking because of what she's given up, and heartwarming because of the therapy it provided her.

The reaction Emily receives from a lot of the town is so confusing when looking at it from her perspective. The woman she knew as her mother is completely separate from the child she was when she lived in Mullaby. Win accepting her and seeing her as someone not like her mother is awesome, and in a lot of ways, progressive. I think Julia had the best line of all when she said to Emily, "You're not who your mother was. In fact, I'm beginning to think you are who your mother became."

For me this shows how big of a person Julia is, by not holding Emily accountable for Dulcie's actions while the rest of the town does just the opposite. I'm not going to say too much more right now, since I might inadvertently give something away in regards to the town and Duclie.

I have to say, I love Vance. He's such a soft giant and my heart breaks for all the tragedy he's had throughout his life. The story of his wife and how she brought him out of his shell to find that the town accepted him as is was so sweet. He feels responsible for keeping Emily protected by honoring Dulcie's promise, but I think he's realized that it won't work like that this time.

There are some pretty awesome parts coming up and I look forward to seeing what y'all think!

The Past versus the Present

I must first say I am really enjoying this book.  It is another intriguing book full of mystery and I find myself not wanting to put it down (but I have to when I'm reading it on my lunch break).

I feel bad for Emily for having to move back to her mother's hometown and live in her shadow.  It must be hard for her because she remembers her mother as one person and it turns out she was a completely different person in Mullaby.  I think its true for everyone that we were different people in high school verse now but for Emily's mother I think there was a dramatic difference.  I am wondering if her mother did feel guilt over Logan Coffey's death that she became this extreme activist determined to do only good and make sure her daughter was not like herself.

I am glad that some of the mystery has been revealed and Emily finally has some answers (but of course not all to keep us reading).  We still do not know what the Coffey family secret is, and I'm surprised her grandfather has not just told her since the whole town knows.  Maybe he knows that she wouldn't believe it like her wallpaper changing.  It might be too much information for her to handle.

Julia may be my favorite character, probably because she is older and I feel she is a more defined character.  She has such a loving heart towards Emily and Vance and even though Emily's mother tormented her in high school, she doesn't hold that against either of them.  Plus she bakes and that's my craving right now (and I don't know if everyone's book has this, but mine has her cake recipes in the back).  She's also struggling with her past in Mullaby and is desperately trying to escape all her old memories and feelings.

Again I'm glad we got some answers on her relationship with Sawyer. I was really shocked at Sawyer's confession that he wasn't able to have children and he regrets that he lost the only child he could ever have with Julia.  Before this I felt Sawyer was pretty flat as a character but he must have some motive to keep confronting Julia.  I am hoping Julia tells Sawyer about their child or that maybe their child will find them.

I feel like a major theme of this book is who we were versus who we've became.  Emily is battling this on behalf of her mother.  I think the townspeople assume she is just like her high school mother and not who her mother became.  Or they simply hate her because of her mother and don't care what she's like.  Julia is fighting her past by coming back to Mullaby and rekindling all the memories of her father and Sawyer.   I think Win Coffey might be in a similar situation as Emily.  He seems to be fighting against his family's past history with Emily's family.  He seems intrigued with Emily and doesn't have the hatred the rest of his family has towards her.  I think this makes him very much like Julia in that he sees that Emily is not like her mother and she's moved to her mother's hometown not knowing any of her mother's past.

The Girl Who Chased the Moon

"Emily Benedict has come to Mullaby, North Carolina, hoping to solve at least some of the riddles surrounding her mother’s life. But the moment Emily enters the house where her mother grew up and meets the grandfather she never knew, she realizes that mysteries aren’t solved in Mullaby, they’re a way of life: Here are rooms where the wallpaper changes to suit your mood. Unexplained lights skip across the yard at midnight. And a neighbor, Julia Winterson, bakes hope in the form of cakes, not only wishing to satisfy the town’s sweet tooth but also dreaming of rekindling the love she fears might be lost forever. Can a hummingbird cake really bring back a lost love? Is there really a ghost dancing in Emily’s backyard? The answers are never what you expect. But in this town of lovable misfits, the unexpected fits right in."

Sarah Addison Allen is one of my favorite authors. She does a beautiful job of weaving magic into her stories and pulling the readers into the world she created. I'm really excited to be able to share this with you ladies :-) Hopefully you'll enjoy this as much as I do, or at least more than Don Quixote, lol.

Final thoughts as we leave Shakespeare

I think I may be the only one that has not read any other works by Charlaine Harris. Therefore, I couldn't compare this book to her more popular Sookie series (which I have no desire to read after watching some of season one of True Blood).  Her writing style is very simplistic but her story is very character driven which left me wanting to know more about Lily and the other Shakespeare residents.  I do like the use of the first person perspective because we can get inside Lily's mind as she brings together the puzzle pieces of the mystery.  Of course with this, we also get a limited perspective in solving the murder ourselves.  We can't find out till the end that Claude had be staking out the camper so he also had some suspects in mind.

When I first started reading the book, I thought the romance would be between Lily and Claude.  But I was very glad when Marshall and Lily started their romantic relationship.  It was at this point I really started connecting with the book.  I was so happy for Lily that even though she went through a very traumatic experience, she is still willing to take a chance on having a relationship.  I really love Marshall for being the man he is, for looking past the scars and trauma and seeing the person she truly is.  I think Marshall is also able to connect to Lily because of the sexual experiences he's had with his wife.  Of course his experience is not nearly at the same trauma level as Lily, but it still gives him a basis of understanding the humiliation and pain.

I wasn't completely wrong about Claude.  The end of the book reveals that he does care for Lily as well.  I am curious as to what happens to Lily romantically.  I know everyone else seemed to be happy to find out Lily's past in this book but seeing as there are several more books I wonder what else we can discover about Lily to keep us interested in her.  Maybe her family history?

As far as the actual murder mystery, I suspected the Yorks because of their odd behavior but as I've said before, I became more interested in Lily and who was taunting her.  I thought the murderer was the same person that was leaving the items for Lily but I was wrong on that conclusion.  Lily's story became a distraction from the actual mystery as I grew more interested in her and Marshall.  Then Norvel is set up to be the most hated character in the book so then I was hoping it would be him but not really expecting it to be.  Because the story seemed so centered on Lily, I'm not sure how to rate this as a mystery novel. The only other mysteries I've read have been Nancy Drew but I found Shakespeare's Landlord an enjoyable read and would be interested in reading the next book to see where Harris takes Lily on her next mystery.

a mystery by any other name would smell as sweet...

I have to admit that I'm not much of a mystery novel lover, I have read a few here and there, but I'm not addicted by any means. With that said, I really enjoyed this novel! I have read a few of the True Blood books, so I was familiar with Harris' writing style. And I agree with Liz, I just felt that the series went too far, and I couldn't bring myself to finish the series.

Now for the good part, my thoughts!!

Shakespeare's Landlord has all the elements to be a great mystery story, with a great heroine and supporting cast, and a cozy town where they all live weaving in and out of each others lives.

Lily Bard has a dark past that Harris only hints at, which makes the reader eager to know what would make her run and set up home in a small town like Shakespeare. But she's managed to create a little niche for herself by starting a cleaning business and keeping herself to herself. That's the way she likes it.

I found myself obsessed with finding out what had happened to Lily, and what she could be hiding, and I was hoping too that we didn't have to read the next book to find out! I think it was interesting to have a mystery in a mystery so to speak. While trying to figure out who the killer was, we were also looking to find what Lily was all about.

One of the most fun aspects to "Shakespeare's Landlord" is that it had me guessing until the very end, which is a very good thing for a mystery and something which doesn't happen for me very often. As with most first books in a series it took me a little time to get into the story, but when I did I had great time visiting Shakespeare town.

"To Kill or not to Kill, that is the question!"

I have to admit something, going into this series I was excited, I had this book on my nook shelf since new years of 2010/2011, and haven't read it until now.  With that being said, I have read every other Charlaine Harris series she has out (though not all of True blood it got too out of control for my liking), while it's an awesome book, not my favorite series yet from her though maybe I have to read more of it.  All of her books tend to have a strong female lead with some tragic past, (minus the Aurora Teagarden series)  and maybe because I've read all of them I'm kind of tired of that story line.  However, I think out of all of them I can relate to Lily more than all of the other characters because my past which we all know of.

I would have to say my favorite partner for Lily would be Claude, when she was making that dinner it just seemed that they fit well together, and I found it sweet that he was taking care of her while she was recuperating.

As far as the killer goes, I honestly thought at one point that the killer was Marcus, just because Charlaine likes to throw curve balls at you in her stories, but the Yorks were a bigger curve ball, because of the other characters that could have been the more obvious killer.  Norvel gave me the creeps but McCorkindale, he's a shady reverend, I can't wait to find out what he's really about!

I love this book, so full of mystery, but here is a another recommendation for you guys if you liked this one try reading the Harper Connelly series, that one is my favorite it's so awesome!