Queen By Right

      Queen By Right  by Anne Easter Smith

   Queen By Right is a really great read by Anne Easter Smith.  I have just finished  this book and loved every bit of it, prompting me to read another book by Anne Easter Smith called Daughter of York. I love English history and can not get enough historical fiction, Queen By Right filled that need.

  Queen By Right by Anne Easter Smith is about Cecily Neville, one of England's most courageous and intelligent woman.  She stood by her husband and put her own fears aside as he fought for the crown.  Cecily was to be Queen of England if her husband Richard, Duke of York had lived to defeat King Henry VI.  Cecily may not have been Queen of England but she was the mother of two Kings of England.

                                      Cecily was named Rose of Raby for her beauty and fair hair and she was also named proud Cis for her loyalty and courage during difficult times in her life.  Cecily was deeply in love with her husband, Richard, Duke of York.  Most times a girl was married off to a boy or man that she did not know, but in Cecily's case she knew her husband to be.  Richard and Cecily had met when they were young and Richard was left in the care of Cecily's father.  During this time Richard and Cecily got to know each other  and fall in love.   Because of this love Cecily chose to move around the country with her husband rather than stay at home and tend to the house and the children.  Cecily often packed up her family to follow Richard.  At times this was hard for Cecily to do, there were often times when she was with child or there were battles that put them in danger and her family was quite large.

   Cecily had stayed loyal to her husband through the ups and downs.  Staying true to being a good wife and supporting her husband, regardless of what though.  She was wise and loving, guiding her husband to do the right thing.  Fighting for the crown against a King that was ill and his wife who was ruthless.  Through the heartache and pain Cecily encountered along the way she was able to see her son Edward with the Crown and the people of England.

   This was such a great book!  Filled with love, family, courage, heartache, and triumph.  Cecily Neville had the strength and wisdom I admire.  I can not even begin to imagine how hard it must have been to be a woman in Cecily Neville's time.  I encourage you to read this book, you will not be let down!

      

A little Update

  I posted two reviews this evening, one was for The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory and the second one was for Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen.  I admire both writers and loved both books!  I can't wait to get more reviews up.  I'm still trying to get the feel for what I want my reviews to be like and how I want to blog to run.

  Now that the school year is winding down for my girls, my days are a little hectic right now.  My youngest has five days left of pre-school.  I can not believe how fast the time has gone by already.  In the fall she will be in kindergarten!

  My oldest has a few weeks left of school and then off to second grade in the fall!  So I have end of the year activities going on right now, which means that I am not reading as much as I usually do.  Soon the girls will be home and we will be spending a lot of time outside and at the beach, meaning that I will be reading quite a bit.

   I am going to be posting a few more reviews over the next few days!  I also went to the library with the girls to day and have a few new books to read, so as soon as I am done with those I will be posting reviews for them as well.  So when the day is done and the girls are in bed, I will be listening to the iPod and typing away.

  I hope everyone has a great rest of the week and I hope you all enjoy your Memorial day weekend.

~Melissa~

Water For Elephants

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

   Sara Gruen is very talented writer.  Water for Elephants was the first of her books I have read, and it did not disappoint me at all.   I was hooked from the very beginning!  This book is about the Circus...I know what you must be thinking, Oh Great Clowns!  But that is not the case in this book.

   Water for Elephants is about a young man named Jacob Jankowski, who is about to graduate from Cornell University as a Veterinarian.  Tragically his parents are killed in an automobile accident  which leaves him with nothing in the 1930's.  The time of the depression.  With nowhere to live and nowhere to go, Jacob starts walking and walking until he ends up by the train tracks.   As a train comes his way, his life changes.  Jacob, with nothing left for him in his small town, starts running after the train and hops on.  Much to his surprise, it's a circus train...the Benzini Brothers Circus.

   This is where he will be pushed to the limit and where he will fall in love.  He works hard and ends up staying with the circus as their veterinarian.  Living through the day seems to be the biggest challenge for young Jacob as his boss, August, has a severe mood swings and is married to one of Jacobs love interests named Marlena.

  In the time of the depression it was hard to get work and it was hard for the Circus' to stay running.  If you were one of the fortunate Circus' to stay afloat,  you did so by gaining circus acts from a fallen circus.  The Benzini Brothers acquire an elephant named Rosie, Jacobs second love in this book.

   Jacobs job is to take care of the animals and to be the man in charge of the elephant Rosie.  Rosie is going to be the saving grace of the circus as the main act with Marlena.  Working with Rosie and Marlena, Jacob forms great bonds with both.  Torn between the right thing to do and the way things must go are a great displeasure to Jacob.

  August is abusive to everyone around him, especially Rosie and Marlena.  August had many problems with the Rosie, due to the language barrier between them.  Rosie finds herself in a few troublesome situations that are funny and light in nature, and in turn suffers severe punishments at the hands of August.

   Also suffering from the hands of August, is his wife Marlena.  Although Marlena is not a troublesome Elephant she also finds herself in some trouble.   August is paranoid and takes things the wrong way and with doing that, becomes abusive to Marlena.  Jacob does not like this at all and tries to do everything he can to save both Marlena and Rosie.  The two loves of his life.

   A very moving book about circus life and how hard it must have been in the 1930's.  I recommend this book with great praises.  Entertaining and captivating to the very end.  I almost want to run away to the circus!