B&N Book Club's Pick, Quote of the Day, Paper Boat Booksellers Opens in West Seattle, Empire of Ruins and Island of Doom by Arthur Slade, The Oysterville Sewing Circle by Susan Wiggs, The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee, and the Book Charmer by Karen Hawkins

Good day to everyone on this rainy Sunday afternoon. I am finally getting the blog updated after a roller coaster of a week of emotional and physical ups and downs. Throughout it all, however, I was able to enjoy some wonderful new books, some purchased online and others given by the new ASL librarian at the Maple Valley library during her annual talk for my book group. This young woman is now in charge of the MV, Covington, Black Diamond and Enumclaw libraries, so we were fortunate that she took the time to give us a list of books for consideration for next year's reading roster. She also brought a bin full of ARCs that we could sift through and keep, so I waddled over as fast as my cane would get me, and scooped up 6 preview copies of works that come out this fall or winter. Exciting! Anyway, here are some interesting tidbits from Shelf Awareness.

I can hardly wait to read this book, however, I think I will have to wait until the price goes down significantly before I invest in a copy.

B&N's September Book Club Pick: The Testaments

Barnes & Noble has chosen The Testaments by Margaret Atwood (Nan A. Talese, $28.95, 9780385543781) as its September national book club selection. The novel, which will be released tomorrow, will be the focus of a book club night at B&N stores around the country on Wednesday, October 9, at 7 p.m.

Liz Harwell, B&N's senior director of merchandising, trade books, said, "Margaret Atwood's much-anticipated sequel to the now classic The Handmaid's Tale takes readers back to Gilead 15 years later to follow three female characters, connected to Offred, living in the patriarchal totalitarian regime. We can't wait to put this book in the hands of readers and then invite them back to our stores to hear their reactions and insights to this landmark publication." For more information on the event, click here http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz41791336.

 Margaret Atwood is an amazing author, and famous for her snarky wit and wisdom. I totally agree with her sentiments on Amazon's "accidental" embargo violation.

Quotation of the Day

Atwood on Breaking the Embargo

"I think anybody putting an embargo in place in the future should attach a dollar amount. They should say if you violate the embargo, this is what it will cost you and that money will go to independent bookstores."

--Margaret Atwood on Amazon's violation of the embargo for her new novel, The Testaments (officially on sale today), in a BBC interview http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz41792963.

 I really wish that someone would drive me to West Seattle so that I could visit this new bookstore. It sounds delightful.

Paper Boat Booksellers Opens in West Seattle

Paper Boat Booksellers http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz41816195, a general-interest independent bookstore with titles for all ages, opens today in West Seattle, Wash. The 1,680-square-foot store has around 1,200 sq. ft. of selling space and carries all new books, along with a selection of sidelines including journals and toys.Store owners Desirae and Eric Judy had planned for a soft opening on Saturday but, due to a systems failure, had to postpone until today. The store's first event, an author talk with Nicole Meier (The Second Chance Supper Club) and Jennifer Gold (The Ingredients of Us), is scheduled for Friday evening, and will feature a discussion, book signing and "sweet treats." An official grand opening, meanwhile, will likely take place in late September or October.

The store made its debut as a pop-up shop in April, with the Judys setting up in a gift shop in West Seattle on Independent Bookstore Day. They signed their lease for a space on California Ave. in early May.

Empire of Ruins and Island of Doom by Arthur Slade are the 3rd and 4th books in his Hunchback Assignments series. The 4th book is the final one in the series, so, Slade ended it on a high note, with lots of resolutions for the characters and a solid breakup of the bad guys, AKA the Clockwork Guild organization. These steampunk adventures are fairly well written, without an ounce of fat or fluff on the plot to slow down the precision prose. They're short novels, weighing in under 300 pages, and the characters are well defined into black hats and white hats (Good vs Evil). The main character, Modo, is a steampunk version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame's Quasimodo, and his partners in spycraft are a young cockney thief saved from the streets, Octavia, and a Japanese/French young spy who becomes obsessed with Modo named Collette. There's Mr Socrates, an old British military man who heads up the PA group of covert operatives bound to save the Empire from the Clockwork Guild, and Tharpa, the Indian servant who teaches weapons and martial arts to the young spies. There's also Mrs Finchly who teaches acting to the spies, but she also acts as a surrogate mother to Modo. Here's the blurbs: Empire of Ruins: Secret agent Modo's next assignment? Find ancient Egyptian ruins hidden deep in the Australian jungle and the mysterious God Face, rumoured to be a powerful weapon—anyone who looks upon it will be driven mad. And he must find the God Face before the evil Clockwork Guild does! Island of Doom: After previous assignments in London, the depths of the Atlantic Ocean, and the Australian rain forest, this final adventure in the Hunchback Assignments series finds our hero, shape-shifting, masked spy Modo, on his most personal quest. Along with fellow spy Octavia Milkweed, they search for Modo's biological parents. But when the Clockwork Guild find Modo's parents first, Octavia and Modo chase them across Europe and North America to the Island of Doom. Joined by memorable characters from the first three books—some lovable, and some who are terrifying and evil—Modo and Octavia dash towards a thrilling conclusion.

Though I enjoyed these adventures I found Modo to be inordinately concerned with his looks, and how the young women, especially, are revolted by his disfigurement. Women in general are much more likely to overlook men's physical appearance in favor of their minds, or hearts or talents, and particularly the way that they treat women and children...if they are kind and generous and loving, (not violent or cruel or abusive) with a good heart and soul, and with enough money to support a family, a majority of women I know are very willing to love and attach themselves to men deemed "ugly" by physical appearance alone. Women tend to be much more vigorous in their own self hatred and critical of their every bodily flaw. You can see examples of this everywhere, in movies, TV and Hollywood in general, where there are numerous men that no one would call handsome who are attached to or married to beautiful women. So I found Modo's sidekicks, Colette and Octavia, to be cliched and stereotypical in how they behaved toward Modo, being nauseated by his face and yet fascinated by his talent for shapeshifting. They both also seemed somewhat stupid and clueless at times, while Modo was somehow held up as being the pinnacle of intellect because he has a good memory. Yet Modo reacted like an emotional child many times, and had to be saved from his own folly by Tavia 4 times. Still, this was an enjoyable series that I'd grade at a B+, and recommend to anyone who likes YA steampunk.

The Oysterville Sewing Circle by Susan Wiggs was recommended to me because I enjoyed books by the late Dorothea Benton Frank and Fanny Flagg. Wiggs is a local PNW author, and is mainly known for her romance novels set in the Puget Sound area. So I splurged and got a hardback copy of the book in hopes that it would live up to author Adriana Trigiani's enthusiastic back cover blurb. Unfortunately, the redundancy and cliches/romance tropes proved to be too much for me to overlook when reading this book, so I found myself wishing that I had gotten a copy from the library instead. Here's the blurb:

At the break of dawn, Caroline Shelby rolls into Oysterville, Washington, a tiny hamlet at the edge of the raging Pacific.

She’s come home.
Home to a place she thought she’d left forever, home of her heart and memories, but not her future. Ten years ago, Caroline launched a career in the glamorous fashion world of Manhattan. But her success in New York imploded on a wave of scandal and tragedy, forcing her to flee to the only safe place she knows.
And in the backseat of Caroline’s car are two children who were orphaned in a single chilling moment—five-year-old Addie and six-year-old Flick. She’s now their legal guardian—a role she’s not sure she’s ready for.
But the Oysterville she left behind has changed. Her siblings have their own complicated lives and her aging parents are hoping to pass on their thriving seafood restaurant to the next generation. And there’s Will Jensen, a decorated Navy SEAL who’s also returned home after being wounded overseas. Will and Caroline were forever friends as children, with the promise of something more . . . until he fell in love with Sierra, Caroline’s best friend and the most beautiful girl in town. With her modeling jobs drying up, Sierra, too, is on the cusp of reinventing herself.
Caroline returns to her favorite place: the sewing shop owned by Mrs. Lindy Bloom, the woman who inspired her and taught her to sew. There she discovers that even in an idyllic beach town, there are women living with the deepest of secrets. Thus begins the Oysterville Sewing Circle—where women can join forces to support each other through the troubles they keep hidden.
Yet just as Caroline regains her creativity and fighting spirit, and the children begin to heal from their loss, an unexpected challenge tests her courage and her heart. This time, though, Caroline is not going to run away. She’s going to stand and fight for everything—and everyone—she loves.

  There is a tremendous amount of discussion and definition of sexual and physical abuse in this novel, so if Domestic Violence triggers you, I'd avoid reading it. One of the problems I had with the book is that they kept repeating these definitions and discussions over and over, along with a number of platitudes and cliches that read like something out of a DV pamphlet or a psychology text on why women allow themselves to be beaten and abused, only to return to their abusers. I kept wanting to shout "I GOT IT THE FIRST TIME!" at Wiggs when another paragraph on DV and drug abuse showed up. The fact that the sewing circle was mainly there to listen and not judge was a great thing, but they didn't seem to want to actually go toward the next step of helping DV victims with housing and jobs and legal help in escaping the cycle of violence and poverty. And our protagonist, Caroline, seems to go from not knowing how to parent two mixed race children to suddenly loving them so fiercely that she'd give up her hard-won career and reputation to keep them from their abusive scumbag father. The last two chapters have such a rushed feeling to them, that it seems like Caroline did a couple of emotional 360s and decided love is more important than her career in fashion design. Of course, the romance tropes are all there, with the petite heroine and the huge muscular beefcake hero who only realize their love in the final pages. Blech. Still, I'd give this book a C+, and recommend it to those who like their romances predictable and their novels full of redundant prose.

The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee is a historical YA novel about the 19th century treatment of Chinese and Chinese Americans in the Southern United States. Lee's prose glistens and glimmers along the beautifully woven plot. Here's the blurb: "A triumph of storytelling. A bold portrait of this country's past, brilliantly painted with wit, heartbreak, and unflinching honesty. Everyone needs to read this book." —Stephanie Garber,New York Times bestselling author of Caraval
By day, seventeen-year-old Jo Kuan works as a lady's maid for the cruel daughter of one of the wealthiest men in Atlanta. But by night, Jo moonlights as the pseudonymous author of a newspaper advice column for the genteel Southern lady, "Dear Miss Sweetie." When her column becomes wildly popular, she uses the power of the pen to address some of society's ills, but she's not prepared for the backlash that follows when her column challenges fixed ideas about race and gender. While her opponents clamor to uncover the secret identity of Miss Sweetie, a mysterious letter sets Jo off on a search for her own past and the parents who abandoned her as a baby. But when her efforts put her in the crosshairs of Atlanta's most notorious criminal, Jo must decide whether she, a girl used to living in the shadows, is ready to step into the light. With prose that is witty, insightful, and at times heartbreaking, Stacey Lee masterfully crafts an extraordinary social drama set in the New South.
I have to say that I agree with Stephanie Garber's assessment of this novel, everyone should read it, it's that well written and researched. I loved Jo and her grandfather, Old Gin, and I was amused and delighted by Jo's bold step in writing the Miss Sweetie column, which had such witty and wise advice, especially coming from a teenager, albeit one who is wise beyond her years. Unfortunately, we never find out if Jo finds a way to marry Nathan without causing trouble with the laws that forbid the mixing of races at that time. Still, it is worth the price of admission to read of Jo's journey to self reliance. I'd give this book an A, and recommend it to anyone who is curious about this era of history and the Chinese people who were left behind. 

The Book Charmer by Karen Hawkins was recommended to me because I usually love books about bookworms/bibliophiles, and I also like magic realism or just urban fantasy where magic is woven into the plot, often to delightful effect. Here's the blurb: The residents of Dove Pond, North Carolina, know three things: they have the finest bar-b-que this side of Atlanta, their Apple Festival is the best that ever was, and the town has phenomenal good luck whenever the Dove family has seven daughters. Fortunately, that time is now, because Dove Pond desperately needs a miracle.
The seventh daughter, Sarah Dove, believes in all things magical. Books have whispered their secrets to her since she was a child. Now the town librarian, she makes sure every book finds the reader who most needs it. But recently the books have been whispering something different—that change is about to come to Dove Pond. Sarah is soon convinced that the legendary Dove Pond good luck has arrived in the form of new resident, Grace Wheeler.
After the tragic death of her sister, Grace has moved to Dove Pond with her grieving young niece and ailing foster mother hoping to retrench financially and emotionally before returning to her fast-paced city life. But she soon learns that life in a not-so-sleepy town isn’t as quiet as she’d hoped. Despite her best efforts to focus on her family, she can’t avoid the townspeople, especially her next-door neighbors, the quirky and talkative Sarah Dove and cynical veteran Chris Parker. Grace’s situation grows more complicated when she assumes her duties as town clerk and discovers that Dove Pond is on the verge of financial ruin.
Already overburdened by her own cares, Grace tries to stay aloof from the town’s issues, but she’s never been good at resisting a challenge. With Sarah’s encouragement, and inspired by the wise words of a special book, Grace decides to save her new town. And in her quest, she discovers the rich comfort of being a part of a loving community, the tantalizing promise of new love, the deep strength that comes from having a true friend, and the heartfelt power of finding just the right book.
With Karen Hawkins’s “fast, fun, and sexy”  prose, The Book Charmer is a feel-good story with plenty of heart that will appeal to fans of Sarah Addison Allen and Alice Hoffman. 

I have to agree with the blurb, that Hawkins prose is fun and sexy and moves along the plot like greased lightening. I am also a huge fan of Sarah Addison Allen's and Alice Hoffman's magical tales, so I was thrilled that one of the protagonists, Sarah Dove, could actually talk to books and hear their words in talking back to her, when they recommend who needs to read them next. In fact, I wish that there had been more of Sarah Dove's discussions with books old and new, and less of sourpuss Grace Wheeler's whining and cold attitude toward the town where she's taken refuge. I loved Travis, or Trav, as he's called, and in my mind he looked just like Jason Momoa, who is hotter than Hades and has a really cool motorcycle that he likes to work on. I was thrilled that everything worked out so well for the town, but I was bummed that we never find out if Sarah gets together with the hottie sheriff guy whom she's been in love with for decades. Still, this book was loads of fun, and I'd give it an A, and recommend it to anyone who likes books, magical realism and small towns full of quirky characters.