Review: Last Night at Chateau Marmont

By Lauren Weisberger
Available now from Atria
Review copy



If you've read a book by Lauren Weisberger before, you know the basics of the experience. It will be set in New York; it will deal with the difficulty of balancing careers and personal lives. Her books also have a nice authoritative tone - you feel like you're getting real dish.

Right now HBO is developing a miniseries about the history of Chateau Marmont. For those who haven't heard of it - I hadn't before Weisberger's LAST NIGHT AT CHATEAU MARMONT - it is a hotel that has been hosting celebrities since the 60's. In the case of the novel, the celebrity is Julian Alter.

Brooke Alter is a nutritionist who has been supporting her husband's musical career. They can only afford a small apartment, where they live with their adorably named dog Walter Alter.  And it pays off when Julian gets a deal with Sony. Soon he's appearing on Leno . . . and both of them are appearing in the tabloids. As her husband leaves home more and more often to make appearances, Brooke feels increasingly stressed and isolated.

Weisberger sets up LAST NIGHT AT CHATEAU MARMONT well. The book takes awhile to reach the promised stay at the Chateau, but that gives the reader time to see Brooke and Julian's relationship before it is strained. When Julian is at his worst, Brooke's continuing hope for their relationship is understandable.

The insider tone was briefly ruined for me. The characters go to the Hula Hut in Austin . . . which is neither a dive restaurant nor famous for its queso. It's a mid-priced Tex-Mex/Polynesian fusion restaurant on Lake Austin. It makes me question how well other locales are described.

But it didn't bother me too long. LAST NIGHT AT CHATEAU MARMONT is funny and quick. Things do reach a low point, but I would not say it gets as depressing as some chick lit.  Ultimately, the book is about Brooke and Julian's marriage and whether it can survive unwanted celebrity and the rock-and-roll lifestyle.

(And can I add that it was super cool to be in New York when the state legalized gay marriage?)

Review: Flying Blind

By Deborah Cooke
Available now from NAL Trade (Penguin)
Review copy




I can be a stick in the mud sometimes, so I'm starting this review with a PSA moment. When someone is threatening to destroy your personal property and asks you what you're going to do about it, you say, "I'm going to make you pay for the replacement." You can fairly easily, in fact. You know a lawyer. It may be the parent of a band/choir/orchestra/whatever friend or someone who attends your religious institution of choice. You know one. Explain the situation and ask him or her to send a letter on official letterhead. People react when they get a letter from a lawyer. NEXT, AND VERY IMPORTANT: If someone breaks your face, you do not accept him or her telling the teacher you fell down. You press charges. Let me repeat that. YOU. PRESS. CHARGES.

Onto the story!

FLYING BLIND starts at Zoë Sorensson's school. The popular girls bullying her friend pushes her to shapeshift for the first time. Unfortunately, she's not supposed to let people know she's a dragon shapeshifter. Fortunately, her dad decides to punish her by sending her to boot camp. Boot camp is where the young Pyr go to figure out how to use their powers. Zoë really needs it since she's the Wyvern: the only female shapeshifter, who is supposed to be able to see the past and the future. But mostly she wants to go because Nick will be there.

There are several spanners in the works, however. There's Isabelle, a Pyr's adopted human daughter, who is beautiful, sophisticated, and also attending boot camp. There's Jared, Nick's human cousin, who looks like a pirate and flirts with Zoë. There's also Adrian, an outside Pyr who doesn't fit in, but does defend Zoë against her friends' expectations.

Zoë and the other boot campers felt like true, young teens. They're petty and impulsive. Sometimes their inability to just state their feelings or to try to get along grates, but luckily, there is an explanation for the worst behavior. I also liked the romantic storyline. Zoë wrote a story in her head about what her life would be like, and now she's having to face reality.

The worldbuilding is disappointing. Each scene has a good sense of place, but there's no sense of the larger world. The kids are all excited about winning the newest messenger, which seems to be something like an iPod Touch. Is this a way to get around using trademarked names, or is it some kind of future technology? The scenes at school and in the library seem contemporary, not futuristic. While humans don't know dragon shifters exist, they do know that dragons exist. How would a world with dragons develop differently than ours? What attitude do humans who aren't in the know have toward dragons?

FLYING BLIND is a fine character-driven fantasy, but Deborah Cooke made a few missteps. I am tempted to read her adult Dragonfire novels as well as future Dragon Diaries. I would like to find out more about the world, and hope she chose not to write about it here because it's in a different book.

Some Things Strike You Suddenly

When updating my packing list today, I realized being in New York this summer means I can probably attend some of those signings in New York that always sound so exciting. Anyone know of some good ones I can tentatively put on my schedule?




I also just realized that the Summer 2011 issue of Subterranean Magazine is a YA issue. I think I'm most excited to read Alaya Dawn Johnson's story, "Their Changing Bodies," since I loved her contribution to ZOMBIES VS. UNICORNS.

The Opposite of In My Mailbox

I bought two books this week: the Oprah's Book Collection edition of A TALE OF TWO CITIES/GREAT EXPECTATIONS and S. M. Stirling's A TAINT IN THE BLOOD. I also received a big box of books to review for TGTBTU. I'm not writing all those down, but I will tell you I am currently reading MAGIC SLAYS by Ilona Andrews.



When putting together my box, Sybil called me. She tries to tailor the boxes to the reviewers, since it's in everybody's best interests for the reviewers to like the books. She asked me about Lyn Benedict and I said I'd never heard of her. Then I went home and saw GHOSTS & ECHOES on my bookshelf. I'd bought it for a dollar at my dad's Borders before it went out of business.



Then, I was talking to my mom about Sarah Pekkanen after she read my copy of SKIPPING A BEAT. She mentioned OPPOSITE OF ME, which I've never read. She pointed out that the library has two copies, which I already knew. But then, when reorganizing part of my room today, I noticed OPPOSITE OF ME in a stack of books.

I have reached the point when I no longer remember what books I own.  In some ways, I can't believe it took so long.

Spam

Oddly, in the years I've been writing this blog, the spam has not been uncontrollable. I was worried, with the prominently posted e-mail and such. Then, about a month ago, I started getting at least 30 spam messages a day. Luckily my spam folder is catching most of them. I tried setting my controls to be more strict, but then an unacceptable number of real e-mails were caught by the filter. So if I take a little longer to respond to you than usual, I apologize.