The Fortune Cookie Chronicles by Jennifer 8. Lee

The Fortune Cookie Chronicles by Jennifer 8. Lee is the author's fascinating quest to discover the true history of the fortune cookie. Fortune cookies, ubiquitous at Chinese restaurants, are crunchy with a slightly vanilla flavor; this unassuming cookie wouldn't seem to bear up under the weight of an entire book, but Lee makes this book delectable. Want info on the Kosher Duck Scandal of 1989 or about the Chinese immigrants aboard the Golden Venture? Lee has a wide variety of stories that she dug up in her search for the origin of the cookie. Chapters about the cookie are alternated with stories about Chinese immigration throughout the history of the US, how Chinese restaurants have become international, where did General Tso's Chicken come from, and so many more. Lee's book is like a great Chinese buffet. There are lots of selections to choose from, and there's just enough of each to satisfy without a glut of information. Lee's stories about the Chinese immigrants who work in and own Chinese restaurants across the country are the strongest. The images of ghost towns in China filled with huge homes built with the money sent home, but have no residents, streets empty of those of working age, and a school where the older children are taught just enough English to work in the restaurants, show an entire society built on food that no one in China actually recognizes. The best of this genre of book not only educate the reader, but teach the writer something about his/herself as well, and Lee succeeds on both fronts as she connects with her Chinese roots. The mystery of the origin of the cookie is solved in an unexpected way. This book is a must read!

Betrayed by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

Betrayed is the second book in the House of Night series by P.C. and Kristin Cast. In this newest installment (the third book coming out in March of 2008), the story begins with a day (or night, more appropriately) dreaded by some and anticipated by others: parent visitation. Unfortunately, some parents aren't okay with their children being Marked...and beginning the change in which they become a vampyre-if they survive at all, that is.
In Betrayed, Zoey Redbird and her new vampyre friends, fledglings just like her, try to solve the mystery that has baffled the local human police of Tulsa. Human teenagers (all football players, coincidentally, with whom Zoey has been acquainted), have been disappearing, very near to the House of Night's walls. The police have been led to believe that the vampyres have something to do with it, whether adults or fledglings. But after consulting with Zoey and the vampyres' high priestess, Neferet, they are told that, clearly, vampyres couldn't have done anything. It was all just a coincidence. But after death strikes near home, Zoey and her friends discover a terrible secret-they have been betrayed by someone close to them.
Betrayed is a stunningly good read and I would recommend it to anyone looking for an astonishing, tear-jerking (even if it wouldn't appear so in the beginning), fast paced novel.

Review by Bethany

All Around the Town by Mary Higgins Clark

I was never much of a mystery novel fan, but a friend of mine recommended this well-known author, so I decided to give her books a try. I'm glad to say I'm not in the least bit disappointed. Clark keeps you intrigued through the whole 300 some page book, and you just can't put it down.
The story focuses on Ms. Laurie Kenyon, who is kidnapped at age four and returned home when she was six. But because of all that she has been through out those two years, the doctors have reason to believe that Laurie has developed multiple personality disorder. The years pass and when Laurie is in college, her parents die in a horrible car crash. Laurie blames herself for this tragic accident. The alternates appear again, after being dormant for some time. Very soon after their appearance, Laurie is convicted of the murder of one of her college professors-even though she has no memory of the incident. The doctors, once again, believe that it was one of her alters who committed the crime, and Laurie's sister, Sarah, a lawyer, tries her hardest to turn the case in Laurie's favor. But it simply cannot be done with all the evidence that they have been able to scrounge up. Just when all hope seems lost, however, startling evidence is revealed that turns the whole story around. I was extremely impressed with this novel and am already reading another by Mary Higgins Clark. Anyone looking for a good read should try this book.

Review by Bethany

Obedience by Will Lavender

Obedience by Will Lavender is another suspense book that fails to live up to its hype. Winchester University's class Logic and Reasoning 204 has an enigmatic teacher, Professor Williams, who on the first day of class announces that a girl named Polly will die in six weeks if the students fail to solve the mystery of her disappearance. Most of the students treat it as a joke, but for three students: Mary, Dennis, and Brian, it quickly becomes an obsession. Individually, at first, they start investigating the professor and the hypothetical case. Events throw them together when the professor himself disappears. The story is an interesting exercise in how people react to a perceived threat to another human being, but it quickly dissolves into impossible coincidences, and then the author blatantly lies to the reader. There has been a recent spate of books (Little Face and The Art Thief) that get a great deal of good press and reviews for debut authors. But each of these books has a twist at the end that betrays the reader. Some authors can pull off that kind of writing with a flair that leaves the reader breathless and full of admiration. These books instead make me want to pull out my hair and take out an ad in the newspaper announcing what a waste of time it was. Reading a book is a give and take between author and reader. Good authors understand that and respect it. This author instead betrays that trust with a implausible ending that satisfies no one.

The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes

The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes is a delightfully quirky mystery filled with twists and turns. Edward Moon is a renowned magician in late Victorian England. Along with his partner, the silent giant The Somnambulist, Moon has acquired a reputation for solving complicated crimes through deductive process. A ham actor is murdered in an exotic manner, and the police call in Moon to help, but the too easy answer only opens the door to many frightening and confusing twists. Soon all of London is under threat of attack, and only Moon can figure out the secret of the poet. I was suffering from book fatigue when I picked up this novel. Too many books in too few days, and none of them were appealing me anymore. But within the first pages of Barnes' book, I was laughing out loud and reading passages to my husband. The narrator promises you that he's going to embellish his story and on occasion even lie to you, and I loved every moment of it! The story is hardly plausible, but that's not the point. My imagination was stirred, my funny bone tickled, and my mind thoroughly engaged. Although this is Barnes' debut novel, he writes with the assurance and flair of a well established author. He even handles a startling twist and complete upending of the story with style.

American Jennie by Anne Sebba

American Jennie by Anne Sebba is the story of the incredible life of Lady Randolph Churchill. American Jennie Jerome fell in love with Brit Randolph Churchill in a whirlwind courtship. After overcoming parental objections on both sides of the match, the couple wed and quickly produced son Winston. But the romance faded soon, and both engaged in affairs. They pulled together to get Randolph into the House of Commons, but for most of the rest of their lives, they lived apart. Sebba digs through newspaper accounts, family records, diaries, and letters to produce this well put together biography of an unusual woman. Jennie was well known for her beauty and her indiscretions in a time when women were still considered a husband's property. She produced a literary magazine, helped get both her husband and son seats in the House, traveled extensively, and cared for her husband at the end of his life. Randolph, who suffered from syphilis, was a difficult man, capricious even before the disease attacked his mind. Sebba tries to defend and protect Jennie where possible, but even in the best of lights, Jennie was an atrocious mother who ignored her children. In the end, the picture that emerges of Jennie is of a woman determined to live life on her own terms. She produced children, but that didn't make her a mother. She was married, but was a better wife to her lovers. She lived very much in the moment, always in debt and buying Worth gowns. Sebba does her best to make Jennie likeable, and to an extent, she succeeds. Jennie would be a wonderful addition to a dinner party, but not someone you could count on as a friend. A couple of complaints: there are not nearly enough photos of Jennie. For such a famous woman, I'm sure there are many more out there that would have shown her recognized beauty to better advantage. Also, Jennie and her sisters spoke French, so they peppered their letters to each other with French phrases. Sebba also throws several in her writing. I don't know French, so I often felt a bit left out. Sebba easily could have included translations in brackets, because the meaning was usually not easily gleaned from the rest of the passage.