blurry, part II

Now that I've had a cup of coffee, unloaded the dishwasher, read the paper and started a load of laundry, I'm feeling less blurry. Yeah!

I finished a book yesterday, the nightstand pile is now down to one final novel. I'd picked my latest read up at Target...it had one of those special Target stickers on it to highlight a new author. I bought the book because the author graduated from Notre Dame. Since I grew up in the backyard of that university, I felt compelled to support the author. Plus, her bio indicated she became an English major so she could read. I could totally relate to that choice.

"And only to Deceive" by Tasha Alexander is a Victorian mystery centered around recently widowed Lady Emily Ashton. Lady Ashton married her hubby to escape her overbearing mother only to have him die while on safari in Africa. Over the course of the book, she falls in love with her dead hubby, cultivates an appreciation for Greek antiquities and mulls the age old contrast between Achilles and Hector. Sounds a bit dry? It really wasn't....although the book was a tad superficial in spots. While I enjoyed Lady Ashton and her spunk at defying Victorian convention, I never fell 'in love' with her as a reader can with some characters. I was, however, sufficiently entertained by this story and the mystery surrounding how fake Greek antiquities came to be in the British Museum. I'd consider buying the sequel.