Entries Tagged as 'Books'
Karen Harper tells an engaging story of a country girl’s rise to power in the Tudor court **** 4 Stars
By Gabrielle Pantera
The Queen's Governess, a country woman rises to power and survives four Tudor monarchs
HOLLYWOOD, CA (Gosh!TV) 8/15/2010 - “It’s a story that gives a fresh glimpse into the making of Elizabeth Tudor…a touching mother-daughter story, a ghost story, a story of one woman’s rise to power in treacherous times,” says The Queen’s Governess author Karen Harper.
The Queen’s Governess is the story of Katherine Ashley or Kat as she’s known. History tells us little of Kat’s life. Bestselling author Karen Harper tells a convincing tale of Kat’s life that spans four Tudor monarchs. Harper maintains her focus on the roles of powerful women showing strength and weaknesses as she did with Mistress Shakespeare.
Kat’s ability to (more…)
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Tags: Books
Mina Harker reboot of Stoker’s Dracula novel shows why girls go ga-ga for Dracula *** 3 Stars
By Gabrielle Pantera
Mina Harker reboot of Stoker's Dracula novel shows why girls go ga-ga for Dracula
HOLLYWOOD, CA (Gosh!TV) 7/23/2010 - “One day it occurred to me, what if Mina’s journal entries weren’t the entire truth?” says Dracula My Love author Syrie James. “What if Dracula only appeared as an old man to the men in the story, but to the women he wished to woo, he appeared in his youngest and most attractive form…just as the female vampires at his castle appeared to Jonathan as ravishing beauties?”
Dracula My Love is told from the point of view of Mina Harker and her obsession with Nicolae Dracula. The male characters are held to the plot of the original while we learn more about Mina and what was not told in Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Mina, newly married to Jonathan Harker, loves her husband but there’s something drawing her to Dracula.
In the original Dracula, the novel is told through journal entries and letters from five different narrators. The two female characters in the book are sweet, feminine and sexless. The story is full of gaps and unanswered questions. Their encounters with Dracula are almost entirely off-stage and shrouded in mystery.
“Stoker’s Dracula is a (more…)
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Tags: Books
Farooki’s Half Life, the ghosts of your past come back to make you face your demons *** 3 Stars
By Gabrielle Pantera
Farooki’s Half Life explores running away from home as an adult
HOLLYWOOD, CA (Gosh!TV) 7/20/2010 – “I wondered what it would be like to be a grown-up woman who was running away from home, rather than trudging back,” says Half Life author Roopa Farooki. “I wondered where this woman would go, and exactly where she was running to. This led to the opening scene of Half Life, where Aruna walks out of her home and on her marriage in the middle of breakfast, and the rest of the story developed from there.”
Farooki’s narrative is reminiscent of Amy Tan’s writing. Written in first person, the narrative jumps from person to person. Bengali doctor Aruna Ahmed Jones marries a British physician hoping to forget a tragic romance with her childhood friend Ejaz Jazz Ahsan. Mentally unstable, Aruna leaves Jazz in Singapore’s Little India. When she arrives in London to stay with a friend she starts taking drugs to cope with the trauma of the miscarriages she’s had.
“The idea for Half Life came to me when I was traveling home late one night after (more…)
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Tags: Books
