The Eastman Review

Friday, September 10, 2010

Book Review: Darcy's Voyage by Kara Louise

From the back cover:

A Tale of
Uncharted Love
On the Open Seas

In this enchanting and highly original retelling of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet sets out for the new world aboard the grand ship Pemberley's Promise. She's prepared for an uneventful voyage until a chance encounter with the handsome, taciturn Mr. Darcy turns her world upside down.

When Elizabeth falls ill, Darcy throws convention overboard in a plan that will bind them to each other more deeply than he ever could have imagined.

But the perils of their ocean voyage pale in comparison to the harsh reality of society's rules that threaten their chance at happiness. When they return to the lavish halls of England, will their love survive?

* * *

Over the past 15 years, the market for Jane Austen-themed novels has just exploded. Aside from the truly strange ones (e.g., ones with vampires and the like), I'm game to read just about any of this genre that comes across my path. And while I don't consider myself an expert in this area, I've read enough to discern the well-written and what I prefer to read.

Kara Louise's Darcy's Voyage took me a bit by surprise. The idea of relocating the setting of Pride and Prejudice on a sailing vessel was unique, and I looked forward to see how this concept would play out. What surprised me was the level at which I began to enjoy this story. Many of us know the P&P story inside and out, so what could possibly be new about these characters to make the story compelling once again?

Darcy’s Voyage accomplished this and more. I would have enjoyed this tale if it had been about two characters completely unrelated to P&P. The dance that is their relationship at sea was tantalizing, with the perfect romantic tension being held at all times. Occasionally some of the tension would be released, providing satisfaction for the reader, but immediately another moment of tension would arrive, propelling the narrative forward.

I don’t believe it would be “spoiler material” to say that Darcy & Elizabeth return to England and find themselves in many scenes that are found in the source material. The events on the ship have changed things a bit, but the characters continue in the same manner Miss Austen wrote them. Again, Ms. Louise has the perfect balance of tension and payoff, keeping the now very-familiar story lines fresh and compelling.

Like the quote states on the cover of this edition, I couldn’t put it down. I read it whenever I could, asking my husband to drive my Mommy Minivan so that I could have time to read. I read it while standing in line at the Post Office. I told friends about the book. Every chapter was wonderful, and I didn’t want it to end.

As I came to the final two chapters, I saved them to read in the evening, after the children were in bed and my husband was away at work. It had been a rough day for a number of reasons, and I looked forward to finishing it on a lovely note. I got in a stress-reducing workout, put the kids to bed, grabbed a scoop of ice cream (low fat, of course) and settled in for my last moments with the Nautical Darcy. I hoped the ending would be as the rest of the book (and my ice cream), scrumptious and satisfying.

It was my pleasure to find the conclusion of the story to be absolutely perfect! I can’t tell you how many books I’ve enjoyed up until the end….and they fall flat, leaving a bad taste in my literary mouth. Darcy’s Voyage was the rare case wherein each page down to the closing one was enchanting. I didn’t want it to end, but as it must, I’m glad the conclusion was crafted in the way that it was.

In addition to enjoying Ms. Louise’s storytelling, I also appreciated her choice to keep any romantic interludes decidedly PG-rated. Lately I’ve become weary of novelists (Austen-related or otherwise) who devalue sex by offering an overabundance of details, and placing these intimate moments outside the safe harbor of a marital relationship. Louise’s romance was delectable, being neither puritanical nor salacious.

Originally published as Pemberley’s Promise, Darcy’s Voyage was a journey well worth the crossing. It was surprising, refreshing and filled my heart with joy. Kara Louise has given us a wonderful gift, and I look forward to sharing this delightful diversion with others.

This title was provided to me by Sourcebooks Landmark. No obligation other than an honest review was required.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

DVD Review: Total Body Makeover - Hardcore Fusion Express

I have been partnering with CSN Stores in recent months, offering product reviews of some of the many items that are available on their website. In addition to the fitness equipment that I prefer, CSN also sells many products for the home, such as rocking chairs, bookshelves, small appliances and more!

CSN graciously sent me a copy of Total Body Makeover by The Firm on DVD, which includes four complete workouts. Recently I reviewed the second workout, Sculpt-ilates Express. Today's review will focus on Hardcore Fusion Express, the third routine on the DVD.

Like Sculpt-ilates Express, Hardcore Fusion Express is derived from a previous Firm workout. The original Hardcore Fusion DVD is 56 minutes. The express version of the workout, which is available on the original Hardcore Fusion DVD and Total Body Makeover, is 35 minutes.

Hardcore Fusion Express is led by Master Instructor Allie Del Rio Pointer, with cast members Rebekah Sturkie, Ania Zalewski, Jenny Anania and Alison Davis-McLain. Allie is an experienced Firm instructor, participating in their videos for over 20 years. She comes across as a tough, yet fun person, challenging her students while having a good time as well.

Hardcore Fusion Express begins with a fast-paced workout, with marching steps and moves that warm up and stretch the areas of the body that you're about to work. As is the case with most of the workout, Allie's cueing is very good, but the moves are coming at you pretty fast if you've never done the workout before. I would advise new users to watch the video all the way through the first time, so they know what to expect from Allie. The moves don't require tons of coordination or anything, you just have to be ready to move on to the next step.

After a good warm up, Allie starts the first weight training segment of the workout. On this DVD she utilizes the Firm's "Cardio Weights", but you can use whatever weights you have available at home. Having a light set (about 3 pounds) and a medium set (about 5 pounds) would be great to start with. Strength training gets alot of the spotlight during these 35 minutes, with the weights sometimes used, and other times just resisting gravity provides adequate resistance.

After a few minutes focusing on just strength training, Allie moves back to just keeping the heart rate high, with simple, fun moves. There are a few high-impact moments, but Alison always provides a lower-key option for beginners. Moments of strength and balance training are worked into the cardio segments, always challenging multiple areas of the body. Some of the moves found in the cardio segments are lunges, a hop-scotch/jump rope type of move, a touch of kick-boxing, standing ab work and cross-country ski hops.

After the cardio, we move back to just weight training, focusing on our back, arms, legs, glutes and abs. Most of these moves are fairly easy to do-- the intensity is changed by the amount of resistance you want in your choice of free weights.

There's one more strong cardio segment that's exciting and alot of fun. The music is really motivating! Kick boxing moves come into play, but this boxing novice had no problem with what we had to do.

The last moments are spent in some light balance training, working the core and arms. Some work is done standing, but the latter moves are done on the floor. If you're not working on carpet, a padded mat would be helpful to protect your back.

Allie then leads us through stretching our whole body and cooling down. She does a little bit of plank work during this segment, but it's mostly stretching and releasing those tense muscles that were just worked.

At 35 minutes, I found this "express" workout to be a really effective use of time. The strength training was the main focus, but even during those segments, we were moving fast enough that my heart rate remained high after cardio segments. Plenty of sweat droplets made their way to my carpet tonight!

I popped this video in when I knew that I had less than 45 minutes to get this day's workout done, and I really needed it. My afternoon had been really stressful and I hadn't met my fitness goals for the day. By the time I was done, I was well worked-out and relaxed within my time limit. Hardcore Fusion Express is a great addition to the Total Body Makeover collection!

Coming Soon: My review of the last workout on this DVD, plus a unique kettlebell workout!

CSNStores.com

These materials were provided to me by CSN Stores. No obligation other than an honest review was required.

Click here to order!

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Wednesday Contest Report - September 8th

Here's my weekly spotlight on contests that I'm entering around the blogosphere these days. Some of these might appeal to you as well. Check them out!

Author Cindy Pon is giving away three books: Entwined, Everlasting and Wildwing. Deadline is Sept. 20th. Here's the link:

http://cindypon.com/2010/time-travel-fairy-tales-and-immortals-oh-my/

Monday, September 6, 2010

Book Review: Equilibrium by Imogen Rose

From the back cover of Equilibrium:

It's not every day you see a naked body slumped by the side of the road...

THIS OMINOUS SIGHT IS JUST THE BEGINNING OF A MYSTERY THAT WILL SPAN TWO DIMENSIONS

When California teen Arizona Darley and her siblings go missing, their mother, Dr. Olivia Darley discovers that the time-travel portal she invented has been hijacked.

Is the hijacker responsible for the disappearance of her children? Have the children been transported to another dimension? If so, the police and FBI will never be able to find them, and Olivia must find a way to rescue her children on her own.

How will she do this without access to the portal?

* * *

Book 2 in the Portal Chronicles, Equilibrium continues to follow the multi-dimensional tale of Arizona Stevens-Darley, her family, friends and one special little dog named Gertrude. Imogen Rose's time-traveling novel is not a stand-alone volume. To understand the plot (and this review), you will need to step back and read its delightful predecessor, Portal. Furthermore, if you would like to avoid any spoiler material, please continue reading after the next set of red stars below.

Equilibrium picks up shortly after Portal's cliffhanger conclusion, jumping right back into Arizona's struggles to deal with the consequences of her mother's decisions. Olivia Darley has uprooted daughter Arizona from her life, taking her and others to a new time and dimension. Here Arizona finds a better home life and a wonderful boyfriend, yet she still longs to return to what she sees as her "real" life and her real (albeit loser) father.

As seen in the closing pages of Portal, Arizona was given the opportunity to return to her old life, but in that moment she chose to stay in her new dimension. The window of time in which she had to make this decision was a small one, and her feelings for boyfriend Kellan enabled her to agree to stay – for now.

Staying in her new dimension doesn’t last long, however. Within a short amount of time, Arizona, Kellan and others are mysteriously kidnapped. This begins a roller-coaster ride for the characters of Equilibrium as enemy forces contend with them to meet their dimensional-travel goals, with little to no regard for the welfare of others.

Although hinted at in Portal, the group of people called the Wanderers takes a larger role in Equilibrium. Wanderers are able to travel as if using a portal, only they can do it on their own with no apparatus required. They’re concerned about the care and safety of Olivia, her family and friends, and are willing to use their special abilities to help them in their struggle against their enemies. Without them, Olivia & company could lose control over not just the portal, but the trajectory of their lives.

* * *

After Portal’s delectable cliffhanger, I eagerly dove into Equilibrium and read it within a short period of time. Once again Imogen Rose has brought us entertaining and interesting writing, with characters we care about and new twists to the story begun in the previous novel. As mentioned in my Portal review, I’m fascinated with time travel and Rose’s addition of dimensional travel makes her story even more inviting.

Unlike the first book, I thankfully didn’t have a sense of disorientation as I read. I understood the world(s) in which the characters were living and the roles they were playing. That being said, I still enjoyed Portal more than Equilibrium. This might just be a case of Act II limbo, wherein first and last acts provide more satisfaction due to the introduction and conclusion they provide. I felt that much of this portion of the series was spent going back and forth to different locations, as characters were frequently lost and found during their struggles. While there wasn’t a dull moment to be found, all the running about wasn’t as captivating as I would have liked.

Equilibrium also has its own tasty cliffhanger, though. Of course it whet my appetite in anticipation of the next title Quantum, which should be available before the end of 2010. I’m looking forward to seeing what transpires in the lives of these characters. What will happen with the portal? Where are Olivia & company going to end up next? Good may prevail in the end, but what trials will they go through? What terrible sacrifices must be made to get there? And what role does Gertrude the dog play in all of this?!?

* * *

Review Update: Author Imogen Rose has informed me that The Portal Chronicles is not a trilogy! I'm not sure why I ever thought otherwise. In any case, I'm looking forward to as many Portal Chronicles titles as Imogen will share with us!

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Great Maria Giveaway Results

By using Random.org, I've chosen the winner to my Great Maria ARC giveaway. Congratulations to Aik Chien of Friends and Family. I believe she's all the way over in Malaysia, but she provided a US mailing address for me.

Thanks to all of you who entered-- more giveaways are coming in the future!

Thursday, September 2, 2010

DVD Review: Total Body Makeover - Sculpt-ilates Express

I have been partnering with CSN Stores in recent months, offering product reviews of some of the many items that are available on their website. In addition to the fitness equipment that I prefer, CSN also sells many products for the home, such as dutch ovens, bookshelves, small appliances and more!

CSN graciously sent me a copy of Total Body Makeover by The Firm on DVD, which includes four complete workouts. Recently I reviewed the first workout, Total Body Time Crunch Express. Today's review will focus on Sculpt-ilates Express, the second routine on the DVD.

Like Total Body Time Crunch Express, Sculpt-ilates Express is derived from a previous Firm workout. The original Sculpt-ilates DVD is 50 minutes. The express version of the workout is only available on Total Body Makeover, and it is 31 minutes. In both DVD cases the Firm provides the sculpting band required for the workout. If you happen to buy the DVD as a used product and the sculpting band has been misplaced, a standard strength training stretchy band will work just fine.

Sculpt-ilates Express is led by Master Instructor Robyn Johnson with cast members Kelsie Daniels and Alison Davis-McLain. To my knowledge, this is the only Firm video that has featured Robyn as lead instructor. However, given the way she cues the workout, it feels like she's been involved with or a fan of the program for a long time. Die-hard Firm fans will recognize terms like "lateral flexion" and "peak hold", which are used in Firm videos going back many years.

Sculpt-ilates Express is primarily a strength and flexibility training workout. During the short introduction, Robyn refers to it as "Pilates Sculpt", which may have been the program's working title at some point. This is a good description of the routine, as it has many elements of Pilates within it. While I consider myself a fitness video "vidiot", my forte does not come in the yoga/pilates workouts that I do. This program was very reasonable for me. Robyn offers moves that are challenging, but not beyond my intermediate abilities.

She begins with a very relaxing warm-up, getting your entire body limber and stretched out. This leads into the main workout, which includes balance training, more flexibility moves and of course moderate strength training. All of the major body parts are covered-- arms, legs and core. While I didn't break a huge sweat during the workout, it did get my blood flowing. There is absolutely no high-impact activity, and the ladies in the video don't even wear shoes. And if you find some of the moves to be difficult (as I did in some of the floorwork moments), cast member Kelsie offers beginner options for the moves.

This workout would be great to do while out of town, after a long stressful day of work. Only a small amount of floor space is required, and the stretchy band fits right into the DVD case itself. Assuming your room is carpeted, no other equipment is required. If you're doing the workout on a hard floor, you'll need a mat for padding during the floorwork.

While I don't find Robyn's demeanor to be my favorite of all the Firm instructors, she does a fine job leading the class. She has a pleasant, calm personality, and it's evident that she's comfortable in what she's doing.

My only quibble I have with the program is in some of the camera work. Every once in a while Robyn introduces a new move, and the camera is focused only on Kelsie. In moments like this, we should be able to see the main instructor and the beginner-option cast member at the same time. If I can't see Robyn during a new move, I have to wait until the camera shifts to adopt her version of it.

Overall I found this workout to be pleasant, challenging (at my personal level) and invigorating. The following day I was just a bit sore in my core, but it was a "good kinda hurt". I could tell that I'd challenged my body the day before without overdoing it. The 31 minute time period is great for those days when you don't have the 50 minutes or the strength required for the original version. It's a great addition to Total Body Makeover and rounds out the entire DVD very well.

Coming Soon: My reviews of two other workouts on this DVD, plus a unique kettlebell workout!