Review and Giveaway! "The Twelfth Enchantment"

"The Twelfth Enchantment"
 by David Liss

Publisher: Random House
Release Date: Aug 9, 2011 
Source: sent by publisher and TLC Book Tours

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Summary from goodreads.com:


Lucy Derrick is a young Regency woman of good breeding and poor finances: after the death of her father, she is forced to maintain a shabby dignity as an unwanted boarder with her unpleasant uncle, fending off marriage to the local mill owner, Mr. Olson. But her prospects of even that unwanted match are complicated by the appearance of a beautiful stricken man who appears on the family doorstep begging her not to marry Mr. Olson just as he collapses. This appearance seems to open the door to a series of increasingly strange occurrences surrounding Lucy. Soon it becomes clear that there is more at stake than her own happiness — and that she is caught between two forces, one ancient and one modern — and that the soul of her very country is at stake.

My Review:

So, I admit, the reason I wanted to read this book is because I love all things Lord Byron. I assumed he wouldn't really be in the book much, but I was wrong. Byron was actually a pretty central character in the story. The author took a lot of liberties with a real historical figure, some of it worked for me, some of it didn't. It didn't bother me at the beginning, but things got very, very strange at the end and I started to wonder why he didn't just invent a purely fictional character. Nonetheless, I enjoyed reading about Byron's escapades in the beginning and middle portions of the book.

The writing was very quick and clever, and it will really appeal to a lot of Austen fans. Lucy had some opinions that may have come across as snarky if written in a different way, but with Lucy's manner of speaking, it was all in good fun.

Sometimes, I find that books written by men don't really fully understand the female point of view. However, I was very impressed by how well the author wrote his female lead character. She was very strong in her opinions and values without being a cliched 'kick-ass' female character.

I've seen this book billed as YA crossover, but I'm not sure I completely agree. I don't think there's anything inappropriate, and Lucy is around age 20 or so, but I think it might be a little slow-moving by YA standards.



Main Characters: 4/5
Supporting Characters: 4/5

Setting: 4/5

Romance: 3/5

Uniqueness: 4/5
Cover: 3/5 (I feel like I've seen it before)
Writing: 4/5



Bottom Line: An enjoyable fantasy read with snappy writing and a great heroine.


  GIVEAWAY RULES:

Putnam Publishing and TLC Book Tours have generously provided a copy of "Reign of Madness" for a lucky reader of my blog!



All you have to do is follow my blog publicly and leave a comment on this review with your email address! Please follow publicly or I can't tell that you are following :) Also, if you aren't comfortable leaving your email here, go ahead and leave a comment and then send me an email with your email addy
Extra Entries:
+1 Tweet this contest (leave link in comment)
+1 Post link in sidebar of your blog (leave link in comment)

Rules:
  • US and Canada only
  • Must be a follower to enter
  • Extra entries are optional and can all be left in the same comment
  • Leave a comment with your email address
  • Books will be mailed out by the publisher
  • Must be 18 or over 
  • Ends Mon Aug 22
Thanks to everyone for entering! Good luck!


More Tour Stops Here:

25 comments

  1. Is the crossover thing just cos she is young? Cos I have sure read book that are about young people and thy are not YA. Ok, I feel a rant coming on ;)

    I just see this one and think Jane Austen cos of that other novel

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, that's so cool. Sometimes I'm wary of books written by men too, but you make it sounds like this author did a good job of it! :D

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for the giveaway. Sounds like fun book - I love Lord Byron too!
    GFC follower: Coreena McBurnie
    coreenamcburnie at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sounds like a fascinating story and I'm looking forward to reading it. I enjoyed your review, I hadn't heard of this book before and now I feel like I know quite a bit more.

    Barbed1951 at aol dot com
    GFC follower - Barbara E.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I haven't heard of this author or book and it sounds like it would be interesting; I'm very intrigued. Review was nicely done.

    kacbooks(at)hotmail(dot)com
    GFC follower as Karen C

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm also wary about books written by men! I guess I have a little sexism in me! Great giveaway - this looks good!

    bookcrookliza at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for the great giveaway! It sounds fascinating.
    GFC: audreyclair
    twigerina[at]hotmail[dot]com

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks for the review and giveaway!

    Isn't this some kind of historical fantasy novel? I don't see how you could have fantasy elements in a book based on a true character and not take a lot of liberties. :)

    The cover does seem familiar...probably because of the Regency theme, with so many Austen-related books coming out recently.

    susanna DOT pyatt AT student DOT rcsnc DOT org

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'm a follower! lifeisshort.readfast at gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  10. I am a new Austen fan, so I think I will love this.
    GFC - rickimc
    rickimc[at]aol[dot]com

    ReplyDelete
  11. You have seen the cover before: Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler 2007. Seems so lazy to use the same cover...

    I'm a follower. kennedyotoole at gmail

    ReplyDelete
  12. I'm still not sure what to think about this. I love historical fiction but I don't like when when authors take too many liberties. If they change history...I'm not sure. But I am curious.

    reflectionsofabookaholic[at]gmail[dot]com

    ReplyDelete
  13. How can I say "no" to snappy writing and a great heroine? :) Thank you for the review!
    lvsgund at gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  14. Yeah, I'm not a big fan of the cover, but this sounds great!

    I follow: nfmgirl

    Blogged:
    http://cerebralgirl.blogspot.com/2011/08/book-giveaways-in-blogworld-08-07-11.html

    Tweet:
    http://twitter.com/#!/nfmgirl/status/102030795694284800

    nfmgirl AT gmail DOT com

    ReplyDelete
  15. Great review. I am a fan of historical fiction so I think I would like this book.

    o2oole(at)verizon(dot)net

    ReplyDelete
  16. Cool. would love to win this one.

    hellgirl_fran@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  17. This looks great! gfc follower

    felecia@twinoaksfl.org

    ReplyDelete
  18. I'm an anything Jane Austen fan! Thanks for the giveaway!

    Margaret
    singitm@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  19. I had not yet heard of this book. It is an intriguing plot even though it seems one will have to suspend disbelief a bit, especially toward the end. It is fiction, so that isn't a problem.

    I am a GFC Follower, librarypat.

    librarytpat AT comcast DOT net

    ReplyDelete
  20. This sounds very interesting, would love to read this myself. Thanks for the giveaway!

    chibipooh(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  21. Thanks for they giveaway and great review! This book sounds really good :)

    teddybrgrrl@sbcglobal.net

    ReplyDelete
  22. Love David Liss. :) http://twitter.com/#!/tlukey73/status/103449128343830528

    teresa[dot]lukey73[at]gmail[dot]com

    ReplyDelete
  23. I'd love to read this! I've read a few of Liss's previous novels and he's an excellent writer. This fantasy things sounds like a fun twist. Thanks for the chance to win a copy!

    +1 Here's my Tweet: http://twitter.com/#!/ASeaOfBooks/status/104221059703783424

    +1 Posted on my sidebar at http://aseaofbooks.blogspot.com/

    geebee.reads AT gmail DOT com

    ReplyDelete
  24. Thanks for being a part of the tour!

    ReplyDelete
  25. I enjoyed The Whiskey Rebels by David Liss and would love to give this book a try.
    I'm a follower.
    http://twitter.com/#!/forever913/status/105108827648704512
    tiredwkids at live dot com

    ReplyDelete

Thanks so much for your lovely comments!