Book Blurb... The Lake House

Hello lovely readers,

I know it has been awhile since I posted about the "26 book challenge" I have been going through this year...the last book on my list was to read "A Book set Somewhere you've Always Wanted to Visit" at first I thought this book would be about Africa or India or someplace exotic. I decided then after read the The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley and watching Poldark over the summer, both set in Cornwall I began to fall the idea of wanting to go to Cornwall, England. And while I have been to London and Bath. I still really, really want to go to the English country side.

In Kensington Park

Thankfully I found the book that satisfies my love of the English country side and yet makes my desire to visit to grow even so more so.  That book is The Lake House by Kate Morton.

Meeting Kate Morton

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In May (with some of my birthday money) I pre-ordered the book and anxiously awaited the book to come in the mail and it was worth the wait. I have loved Kate Morton's writing for years, she has a brilliant way of tying the past and present together to figure out a mysterious secret, and while she lives in Australia she writes mostly about England. Half the book takes place in 1930s and in 2003 to solve the case of a baby boy who has disappeared into thin air...





Living on her family’s idyllic lakeside estate in Cornwall, England, Alice Edevane is a bright, inquisitive, innocent, and precociously talented sixteen-year-old who loves to write stories. But the mysteries she pens are no match for the one her family is about to endure…
One midsummer’s eve, after a beautiful party drawing hundreds of guests to the estate has ended, the Edevanes discover that their youngest child, eleven-month-old Theo, has vanished without a trace. What follows is a tragedy that tears the family apart in ways they never imagined.
Decades later, Alice is living in London, having enjoyed a long successful career as an author. Theo’s case has never been solved, though Alice still harbors a suspicion as to the culprit. Miles away, Sadie Sparrow, a young detective in the London police force, is staying at her grandfather’s house in Cornwall. While out walking one day, she stumbles upon the old estate—now crumbling and covered with vines, clearly abandoned long ago. Her curiosity is sparked, setting off a series of events that will bring her and Alice together and reveal shocking truths about a past long gone...yet more present than ever. 

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The story was gripping and I loved the different perspectives between Sadie, Alice and Eleanor Edevanes (Alice's mother) keep the story going and trying to figure out what happened to Theo. Not only did it touch on the 1930s, it also went into 1910s and World War I, which is my favorite era. So not only is this book set in a place I want to visit it is also is set in a era I would love to visit (if I could).

As part of the story is set in the 1930s I loved imagining the character Eleanor in great gown (left). And Kate Morton wrote great passages of details about London in the past that I underlined or tabbed so I can refer back them. For example, "London had a distinctive smell, the unpleasant mingled of manure with exhaust fumes, of old and new, and she was glad when she turned into Hyde Park and caught the scent of roses." And one quote that caught me was, "Eleanor, wondered sometimes whether hope, that awesome, awful habit, ever died; better still, whether it could be killed. Things would be so much easier if it could, if it were simple as flicking a switch. But, alas, it seemed hope's glimmer always hovered in the distance, no matter how long one journeyed towards it without it."    

I loved this book and highly recommend it if you like to mysterious secret historical novel. I also recommend if you like the English country side.

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Friday Films... A Little Chaos

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Hello lovely readers,

Before I can truly write a review of A Little Chaos that there are some aspects of the movie that might make some people uncomfortable. I am not condoning these actions I am just saying it was common in French Court for the King and the people around him to have mistresses. These aspects made me hesitant to write about this film but I thought this was a beautiful film I had to share it with you all. 

 

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I will admit the film is a little slow and the love story is slow and with films like Star Wars and other high action movies coming out I think this film might not satisfy someone who loves a fast pace movie. From the trailer you can tell it is a romantic story but the romance is so little you don't even know they are in love until Andre Le Notre's (played by Matthais Schoenarts) wife points out that he is infatuated with Sabine De Barra (played by Kate Winslet).

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I was first intrigued by this movie after watching Far From a Maddening Crowd and I thought Matthais Schoenarts looked familiar so I looked up his other film credits, only to discover I had never seen a movie of his but I discovered this film. I was intrigued by the casting and loving both Kate Winslet and Alan Rickman I put it on my waiting list at the Library... got to love the library and free access to 100s of movies. 

The movie starts off saying "There is an outdoor ball room at Versailles, in what follows this much is true." So the character of Sabine is fictional, as there would be no women landscapers at the time, regardless Kate Winslet plays Sabine very well. Sabine is strong, passionate, and does not confirm to the world around her.  This draws attention to her not only from the love interest but also from the King and his brother Duke of Orleans (played by Stanely Tucci.)

Stanley Tucci and Alan Rickman in awesome wigs

At the start of the film Sabine is hired by Andre, who is in charge of the landscape for the gardens at Versailles but he cannot handle demands of the King so he brings her on. At their first meeting he does not seem to like her very much, because she won't confirm, they discuss how gardens are to be structured and she doesn't agree with him. Then they have a beautiful scene in her personal garden where Andre discusses when God made men he put them in a beautiful garden, since we have been banished we have been seeking out our own Eden... it could almost give you the desire for a green thumb. While Sabine doesn't want to confirm to the world around her, she does have to navigate the happenings of French Court... oh and Jennifer Ehle (aka Elizabeth Bennet) makes an appearance. She also needs to deal with some struggles of her past in order to accept love.

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One reviewer on IMDb wrote that she would "watch Stanley Tucci read a phone book, he is that good." I quite agree and I did find him quite an amusing character.

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The story was charming and beautiful with costuming and settings to match. I know it is a British Film (directed by Alan Rickman) but I found it funny that all the settings were in England. Some of them I even recognized from watching The Young Victoria a lot. But try to not let that distract you if you watch the movie.

I would recommend this film if you like Sense and Sensibility (for Alan Rickman and Kate Winslet), The Young Victoria (beautiful settings) and Marie Antoinette (French Court). 

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Tunes for Tuesday... Christmas music

Hello Lovely Readers,

After my last Tunes for Tuesday (link) where I shared music that inspired me while I was writing I thought this week it would be fun to share my favorite Christmas Music... In no particular order.

Even though I said no particular order this has been my favorite Christmas song this year

Song: Mary Did You Know?

By: Pentatonix 

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Song: God Rest Ye Merry Men
By: Mercy Me
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I listen to this song probably all year round--it is so beautiful

Song: O Come O Come Emanuel
By: Bethany Dillon
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Song: O Holy Night
By: Carrie Underwood
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I like these next 2 songs because I am from Oklahoma

Song: Oklahoma Christmas
By: Blake Shelton and Reba McEntire
Lyric

Song: BC Clark's Jingle
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I know this song gets dissed for being too materialistic
but I have memories of singing it with my sister

Song: Santa Baby
 By: Eartha Kitt
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Song: Carol of the Bells
By: Pentatonix
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No Christmas song list would be complete without this

 Song: Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas
By: Judy Garland
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Ah! So many Christmas songs I love... it is probably favorite type of music. And while in some ways I wish I listened to it all year round I am glad to keep it special for this time of year.

Friday Films... Age of Adeline

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Hello Lovely Readers,

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Last weekend I watched the beautifully artistic film of Age of Adeline staring Blake Lively. Blake Lively was perfect casting she is flawlessly and classically beautiful, she looked in the 1920s style to modern day fashion. The story is one of those where you have to suspend reality and just believe it is possible. In the beginning of the film we see Adeline have a horrible car accident (it is in the trailer... so not a spoiler) and because of a bolt of lighting she is never able to age. She then has to be on the run as she worries people will want to arrest her and maybe do test on her (she lives in the MacArthur era so people might think she is a communist spy). Anyway she moves every 10 years and she is about to move when she meets Ellis Jones (Michiel Huisman... Orphan Black and Nashville). Ellis is swept away by Adeline's beauty and brains (I mean she works at a library...so how awesome is that). He is also very persistent, which at first worries Adeline but then she gives in and they fall in love (that is not a spoiler as it a romantic movie). He takes her to meet his parents and his dad (Harrison Ford) instantly recognizes her as Adeline, even though she says that was her mother. From there things begin to unravel... will Adeline run again? will she tell her secret? 

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Trailer Link

Ellis and Adeline

The main reason to see this movie is to see the

costuming. As I said Blake Lively was great casting she can live in any decade and still look wonderful. She can wear any style and still look beautiful... okay I will admit I got a little bit of a girl crush on her (from watching this).

And while the story was romantic and I got a little sappy feelings from parts of it I am glad I did pay a movie ticket for it... sorry Lively. I thought the film was beautiful and the story good for the message it was trying to portray but on my budget I think I would have been upset with myself if I spent $10 dollars on a ticket. However, for a movie to watch for free on Sunday afternoon it was delightful.

The one part that really annoyed me was the voice over. It wasn't Lively's voice so it made me distant from the story and I think there could have been a way to portray what the voice was saying better. But overall I thought it was a good twist on a love story. 

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This is just a sampling of the costume design... but as I love costume design I will probably search out more movies with the same costumer. 

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