The Apothecary's Daughter Book Review

Title: The Apothecary's Daughter.

Author: Julie Klassen.

Genre: Christian, Historical Fiction, Romance, Medical History, Regency England.

Plot: Lilly Haswell remembers everything, whether she wants to or not. There are things she loves to remember - birthdays, days spent with her family, etc. But there are also things she'd rather not remember, such as the day her mother left without a word and never came back. Over the years, Lilly has always imagined her mother to be off on some wild adventure, while secretly wondering if it was her fault that her mother left. Lilly's father is the local apothecary and while she enjoys the work, it is far from what Lilly wants to do with her life. When her mother's brother and his wife contact them with an offer to take Lilly to London, she wonders if her dreams are about to come true.

But when, at twenty years old, Lilly receives shocking news from home, her plans of marrying well and traveling are set aside. Returning to her old haunts, Lilly discovers that many changes have taken place - some are not so good. Her father has been ailing and seems to be getting worse, while her brother is off happily working as a gardener for the local lordly family. Setting her old world to rights is a task she'd much prefer not to do but do it she does and learns several things along the way, including where her real place in the world should be. But with trouble about to burst upon them, will Lilly's new-found faith and security be able to withstand the blows about to rain down on it?

Likes/Dislikes: This is Julie Klassen's second novel and while it is laid out and flows similarly to her first novel, The Lady of Milkweed Manor {which I couldn't finish}, it thankfully isn't as heart-wrenching. I enjoyed having multiple suitors for the main character; it kept me guessing, though I honestly would've preferred a different final choice. And the one sweet character who died - oh, that was so sad! But this was a beautiful story and I can't wait to add it to my personal collection.

Rating: PG-15 and up, mainly for reading level and content {past story of adultery, mild romance, some kissing, and a character sadly dies}.

Date Report Written: September 23rd, 2014.

Forever Pilot Blurb

Forever stars Ioan Gruffudd as Dr. Henry Morgan, a New York medical examiner cursed with immortality. When on board a ship during a storm two hundred years ago, Dr. Morgan was shot and thrown overboard. Since then, every time he dies, he returns a few hours later in a nearby body of water without clothes or memory of the intervening time. And he still has no idea why he is immortal to begin with. He can feel pleasure, pain, and probably hunger. He's lived, loved and lost. But he never dies. The only one who knows his secret is his long-time friend Abe. Dr. Morgan spends his time studying the human body - particularly the dead ones down at the morgue - in a search to unravel the mystery of his immortality. When a train wreck gains him the attention of widowed Detective Jo Martinez, Dr. Morgan has a chance at friendship and solving the crime behind the train wreck. But when mysterious anonymous phone calls lead Morgan to believe his secret is compromised, his fight or flight instinct kicks in.

With a fast-paced pilot, humor and some good attention-grabbing writing, this show has a lot of promise to it. Add in a few unique twists, such as returning in the water {sort of a rebirth kind of thing, maybe?}, Forever has enough originality to keep me interested.

September Midnight

Lyric night of the lingering Indian Summer,
Shadowy fields that are scentless but full of singing,
Never a bird, but the passionless chant of insects,
    Ceaseless, insistent.

The grasshopper’s horn, and far-off, high in the maples,
The wheel of a locust leisurely grinding the silence
Under a moon waning and worn, broken,
    Tired with summer.

Let me remember you, voices of little insects,
Weeds in the moonlight, fields that are tangled with asters,
Let me remember, soon will the winter be on us,
    Snow-hushed and heavy.

Over my soul murmur your mute benediction,
While I gaze, O fields that rest after harvest,
As those who part look long in the eyes they lean to,
    Lest they forget them.

~ Sara Teasdale

Star Trek Enterprise

So my husband and I have recently discovered a fun "new" show that we've been enjoying lately. It's Star Trek Enterprise. Taking place a hundred years before the original Star Trek with William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, but having aired in 2001-2005, this show is a lovely combo of prequel story lines and new technology. The main story of the series is that Captain Jonathan Archer is the captain of the first Warp 5 starship and, with his crew, is on a mission to explore new worlds and meet new species. Of course, they have plenty of adventures along the way.

Each of the characters is unique and different. They interact with each other in humorous ways and provide a lively mix of alternating stories and focal points. The main characters are Captain Archer, Subcommander/Science Officer {and First Officer/Vulcan representative} T'Pol, alien Doctor Phlox, Communications Officer Hoshi, Tactical Officer Malcolm Reed, Helmsman Travis Mayweather, and Chief Engineer Charles "Trip" Tucker.



The best character, in my husband's and my opinion, is Commander Charles Tucker the 3rd, or Trip as he's better known as. He's very gifted with mechanics and can coax the engine into going pretty fast, considering their limited technology at this stage in the series. He makes mistakes as he goes along on his various adventures, but he learns from them and doesn't lose his personality as he grows. At first, he and Malcolm had tension and friction in their friendship, but that got ironed out when they were stranded together and learned they have more in common than previously thought. Trip also falls for T'Pol and balances her Vulcan characteristics pretty well with his down-to-earth personality. We get a wonderful glimpse into his character when his and T'Pol's DNA is stolen to produce a hybrid clone that later dies form complications.

T'Pol herself is an interesting character. She's a promising Vulcan with a position on the Science Directorate and she provides the necessary logic to balance certain situations. She was originally placed on Enterprise at the insistence of the High Command, much to Archer's annoyance; but she proved herself helpful and became loyal to the captain - eventually leaving the High Command and joining Star Fleet. She views life aboard the Enterprise through an outsider's eyes and being Vulcan has saved them on more than one occasion.

Captain Archer's father invented the warp engine that now powers his ship, giving Archer a personal reason for being captain and seeing the mission through to the end. At first, he begins by being something of a pacifist and only wants peaceful interactions. But his opinions and mindset change when they are repeatedly attacked by unfriendly species and the weapons on-board come more and more into play in their "peaceful" negotiations. He makes a good commander; kind and sympathetic to those under his authority, but strict and stern when he needs to be. One of the softer sides of his character is that he has his dog on the ship with him and cares a great deal about him - as is proved when the dog gets sick in one episode and needs medical attention.

Malcolm Reed is very British; he says little, keeps to himself and occasionally has a dry sense of humor. When his birthday rolls around, no one - not even his own sister - can name his favorite food, which is pineapple. His roll as the tactical officer comes more and more into play as he upgrades weapons and improves the response time of the crew when under attack. He becomes good friends with Trip and Travis, the helmsman. Travis is unique to the group because he was born in space on a freighter and knows a lot about the "local" area of space, though this knowledge comes less into play the further from Earth they go. He is still an excellent pilot. And Hoshi manages to interact with everyone on board in one way or another. She is a highly talented communications expert and was personally persuaded by Archer to join their crew. Her fears and anxieties almost cripple her several times, but she soon learns to control them and gets more confident and comfortable with her duties on board the starship.

And the last of the interesting main characters is Doctor Phlox. He is obviously an alien - the only one on board aside from T'Pol - and his sense of humor paired with his medical skills adds a lovely touch to the show. He is very curious and genuine; his interest in the humans as their doctor and an alien race to study is often amusing. He finds himself in a pickle occasionally but bounces back quickly from whatever obstacles are in his way. Hoshi is a particular friend of his and often stops by to help him feed his many pets.

With such a fun colorful cast of characters and some really good writing, this show is a fun form of entertainment and also gives a good glimpse into how the more familiar Star Trek universe came into being. The allies and enemies they make now comes into play in the future, and they even incorporate time travel into this series which is quite nice. So if you're looking for a good summer show to watch, try finding this one at your local library. Enjoy!

Autumn Quote

O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn’s being,
Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead
Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,

~ Percy Bysshe Shelley

Writers Get Their Revenge in Print: Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift has accomplished much in her whirlwind career. She's a chart-topper and a talented young lady. She's also {to my knowledge} not tattooed, pierced, doesn't drink or do drugs, and isn't in the media for bad behavior. I like to think she's a Christian too, but that's trickier to tell nowadays. She keeps to herself and brings smiles to people's faces. There are heartwarming stories of her helping out children with cancer and doing good deeds. She has an interesting taste in clothing that is usually 90% modest in my opinion. There's always something about someone's wardrobe choices that I don't like. But I generally like Taylor's choices. Her music is uplifting, bright and I can relate to a lot of the songs - particularly Love Story. It's rather uncanny how close that song paralleled my own love story with my husband. Her previous album, Red, was a gradual step in a new direction and contained many wonderful songs that were a blast of fresh air to my musical library.

So why is everyone all up in arms over her new single Shake it Off? In my opinion, I believe it's partly due to the fact that nobody has any real dirt on her to throw around so they pick apart everything she does trying to find some. When you live your life in the media and the world's spotlight, everything you do gets judged, weighed, torn apart and excruciatingly examined. I imagine that this would be a very hard way to live and that many people would crack after awhile. I certainly would. I have days where I just plain hate people sometimes. But Taylor Swift has done a marvelous job of not cracking under the pressure and keeping a straight face in public. That being said, I think that her new video took people by surprise. With her good girl persona, nobody really expected her to do something that "wild." Bouncing around on stage with background dancers wearing short cut shorts, what appeared to be her underwear and this funny-looking gold thing, and dancing in a creative modern way, Taylor Swift openly explores a whole new territory for her. She is trying new things, exploring a whole new world and testing her limits. She's stepped out of her comfort zone and is growing. She has moved out of the country and into the realm of pop.

And this move wasn't an abrupt one either. If you really look closely at he songs in Red, you will see a definite difference between them and her older hits, such as Love Story, Fearless, and Sparks Fly. The happy innocence is gone, replaced with the knowledge of reality. She figured out that life really isn't a fairy tale and she dealt with that realization in musical style, to her fans' delight. One of the things I have always loved about her music is that she draws inspiration from her life experiences. You have to write what you know and Taylor does just that. Some people give her flack for writing about her breakups and heartaches, but I like it. Would you give a writer flack for taking their experiences and writing about them in their books? We writers use writing as a sort of self-therapy and we always get our revenge in print. We also explore new genres, with hit and miss success. That's what Taylor Swift is doing. She has country down and now wants to stretch and explore; if I were her, I would be pretty bored of the same old same old by now. So it's no surprise that she wants a change.

I don't like some of the outfits worn in the new music video and I don't know if I'll like some of the songs in her new upcoming album, 1989. But even if I like just one song, I'll be content because I know that she will have tried something new and enjoyed the experience as well as learned from it. Besides, I'm pretty certain that this new song, Shake it Off, was done on purpose for the shock effect. She did it on purpose! This is her way of going, "Oh, you don't like my music or life choices? Well, too bad." And she just shakes it off, like dust on her hands. This goes back to that self-therapy thing I was talking about. She's not rolling with the punches on this one; she's dancing with them.

I recommend looking up the lyrics here so you aren't distracted by the background dancers. *wink*

I thought this was an interesting article.