Brazen Broads Book Bash

This week I read Amy Chua's book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.   I'm not at all certain I qualify as a "Chinese Mother", but I am certain that Chua and I agree on a great deal concerning parenting. Chua has been eviscerated in the press for demanding so much from her girls, who are developing talents, gaining knowledge, and becoming high-achieving young women as a result of these demands.  Parents are lining up in droves to criticize her tough love parenting style. As a mother, (the German, French, Mediterranean variety) I commend Chua for her non-apologetic stance.  She speaks truth when she says that the majority of parents reward mediocrity and lavish undeserved praise on under-achieving offspring.  More harsh truth is found when she observes that often, we parents take the selfish, easy way out while hiding behind clichés such as, "Well, they have to find their own way", or, " They've got to make their own mistakes".  I admit to the t...

A Literary Gem........ The Moonstone, by Wilkie Collins opens with a letter explaining the severed relations between a certain gentleman and his infamous cousin Herncastle, who is suspected of pilfering a rare yellow diamond from the sacred temple of the Hindu god of the moon while serving the British army in India.  Without proof, the gentleman only divulges his suspicion to his family to explain his behavior.  A brief history of the jewel in question follows to capture the reader's imagination and set the stage for the story's main focus; the mysterious and curious happenings surrounding the accursed diamond's entrance, by the will and testament of her late Uncle Herncastle, into the possession, however briefly, of Lady Rachel Verinder, and subsequent investigation of the gem's disappearance. I must admit that before this novel was recommended to me, I had not heard of Wilkie Collins, but am certainly glad to have made the discovery.  Collins wove a delightfully ...

When you're talking about romance novels, you've got to include Candace Camp.  With over 60 novels, she's a standard in the industry. She's nothing less than prolific, and if you've published that many novels since 1978, you've got to have something going for you.  I'd never read any of her stories until Impulse, so while she's well-known to many others, she was new to me.  First published in 1997 (now that's old school!), Impulse has been re-released by Harlequin.  I'm not a huge fan of Harlequin's re-releasing books from the late 1990s.  At the very least, I think it should be made perfectly clear to the potential reader that the book they're considering is a re-release.  Lori Foster's Unbelievable , which we reviewed a while back, was a disappointment, and I hoped Ms. Camp's book wouldn't be.  But I requested it from NetGalley with confidence that at least I was going to be reading a story from a name that has become a s...