I really enjoyed this one at the beginning and through the middle, but towards the end I really started losing interest. It took me almost a week and a half to read the last 150 pages! It's hard for me to say anything else about the book. I liked reading about the evolution of Rebecca, the main character. Her life was definitely interesting! My favorite parts of the book, though, were at the beginning. She is the daughter of immigrants and her father is the town gravedigger. I liked reading about the tiny stone cottage on the edge of the graveyard.

At first I was confused and thought I missed a novel or two after Chocolat - but with the help of LT I realized that this was, in fact, the second installment of said series. The novel was published in the UK as Lollipop Shoes.returnreturnThis is the continued story of Anouk and Vianne after they left the village of Lansquenet - the two of them continued to follow the wind, which took them (among other places) to Las Laveuses, which is the village of Framboise and Paul in Five Quarters of the Orange. But with them now is another child, Rosette. Rosette is a challenging child, at present she is four and not yet talking but drawing wonderful pictures and signing for communication.returnreturnVianne, Anouk and Rosette end up working in a small cafe/chocolaterie in Paris, which is where they meet Zozie - a mesmerizing woman who quickly finds herself in good graces of all those around her. Vianne struggles to live a life without magic after Accidents happen with Anouk and Rosette, but Zozie has a magic and an agenda all of her own.returnreturnDefinitely a great read and I loved how Harris intertwined other novels into this one - it feels like fun insider jokes to see characters from other novels pop up.

I've seen the movie probably about 5 times. I tend to watch it on days when I've called out sick and just want to curl up on the couch or in bed and be carried away. This book brought the same kind of comfort, but ten-fold. Of course, the book is slightly different than the movie in little ways. The biggest (and most interesting to me) is the way the priest is protrayed in the movie - a clumsy, awkward, and naive newbie - and the "villain" is the town mayor (or the French equivalent). This is not the case in the book. In Harris' original version there is no mayor, and the priest is the "villain." I can only assume that Hollywood made those changes to avoid controversy and I find it interesting (and a bit amusing). returnreturnIt was wonderful to get some back story on Vianne and Anouk - we learn about Vianne's mother and a slight mystery concerning the truth regarding that. And let me tell you, this past week I've craved more chocolate than ever before!returnreturnI read in some thread on LT that someone thought that the movie was set in the past, but this book surely hints that it is present day. However, I think the movie might cause us to go astray, because Guillame is smitten for the mourning widow, who lost her husband during the war. Vianne says but the war was 20 years ago, and Guillame responds with "no, the first war." Which I was thinking made the movie set in the 60s? I'm not too sure (my history and math skills are a bit sketchy).returnreturnAll in all - this is a wonderful book!

I loved it. It reminded me a bit of The Thirteenth Tale - it had the same haunting feel to it, and it centered around a huge house full of mysteries. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of time to write a review about this one right now. But this was the wonderful story of two girls and an uncle who love each other and will do almost anything to protect each other. There's murder, town bullying, greedy relations, and cooking galore in this novel - so check it out if any of that sounds like your cup of tea!

I know that there are a couple of film adaptations about this, but I haven't seen either one of them. This book starts with Dr. Montague (his degree is in Anthropology, but his main interests lie in proving the paranormal) renting a supposed haunted house for the summer. He looks for a couple of assistants who have had run-ins with the paranormal, and two women accept: Eleanor and Theodora. In addition, Luke, who is a relative of the family who owns the house, stays with the group.returnreturnThe book chronicles their stay in the dark Hill House, a mansion about six miles away from the nearest town, Hillside. Hill House is nestled in the mountains and forest and is taken care of by a couple by the name of Dudley (or was it Didley? oops, sorry). The house has a confusing design and the doors have a pesky habit of closing after they've been propped open. By day, the house is a hair bit creepy but the house guests are able to keep their humor about it all. But at night, things are a little different.returnreturnThis was another quick read. Again, I got it at the library yesterday morning and finished it before I went to bed last night. It's fun if you like scary stories, but if you're worried, I don't think you'll have any problem falling asleep with the lights off.

Set in and around Dublin, this book is a chilling mystery that started out slowly but became quite a page turner for me. During the summer of 1984, three young children are playing in the woods behind their new development. Two never come back home; one is found hugging tightly to a tree with his shoes filled with blood.returnreturnFlash forward twenty years and that young boy is a detective working on a case set in the same development he lived in as a boy. The death is a young girl, quite obviously murdered, with seemingly no leads. Unfortunately, I wasn't bamboozled as I was told I would be, but it was still good fun watching the plot unfold.returnreturnOne thing that I do have to say is that the book probably could have been about 100 pages shorter... but I did enjoy it nonetheless.