Eesoo by Kathleen Boettcher: A Review and Comparison!!

Melanie reviewed this book a while back, but it took me a while to hunt a copy down. It’s out of print, published first in 1990. On the last page there is a form so you can be contacted when the next book was published. It’s ironic because no following book was ever published. Someone somewhere knows why, but we the masses will never know. In the front of the book the author claims there were to be 7 books to follow.


My theory is that she changed her name to Diana Gabaldon While reading this book I just couldn’t help but feel I had read it before. The main characters are so similar to Outlander (book 1) or Cross Stitch (in the UK) it was like dejuvu. If you remember I hated Outlander, which is one difference, I didn’t hate Eesoo.

Here are a few of the similarities: There will be spoilers!!

The heroine: Claire-Nurse; Angela-Doctor (she only got interesting in the last few pages); Both-Spunky character who is a boring marriage. Is forced to marry an exciting adventurous type. Both females drove me crazy with they way they conducted themselves. The hero: Jamie-beat/raped; T’hur-beat/raped, which means they both have reasons for being guarded moody men who need to learn how to love/trust and be loved/trusted in return--by someone who can not only fix them, but understand them. Both are some form of royalty one is to rule the other a duke or something.
As for the story one is about space travel the other time travel, but it gives each story a fantastical feel. And both are slightly overly long. The main characters where one dimensional, but that is common in most romance novels/stories. Romeo and Juliet, Twilight etc… Yay I did it I just put Shakesphere and Meyers in the same sentence. If your main characters are plain they don’t alienate the reader. The reader needs to be able to insert themselves or relate to the main characters.

Going back to Romeo and Juliet it was the secondary characters that really made the story and that’s how I feel about Eesoo. Outlander was horrendous with silly things happening and on more then one occasion things that happened were unbelievable and the secondary characters were nonexistence. Eesoo has some amazing loveable secondary characters!!
Eesoo gives you exactly what it promises to give! Romance, adventure, and mystery! Even though my guesses were right in the end, I wasn’t 100% sure. Which is what I think makes a good story! It also made me laugh out loud sometimes. That's hard to do in a book I think. The writing was very witty! If you ever come across a copy of Eesoo I suggest you grab it up!!

It’s sad that the other books were never written/published. Yet, I hate sagas and series because it usually drags on too long. They ruin a good book. The other thing I like about this book is the name, Eesoo is a creature that looks loveable, but when pissed off becomes a scary monster. The lesson nothing is what it appears to be. That’s what this book is, it isn’t what it appears to be! Love it!!

~LiSa
note: all books were purchased by me and they are my own opinions and views and thoughts! If you disagree or agree with anything I've said please leave a comment I'd love to hear your thoughts!!

West End Girls by Jenny Colgan {book review}

from the back cover: The streets of London are paved with gold . . . allegedly. They may be twin sisters, but Lizzie and Penny Berry are complete opposites - Penny is blond thin and outrageous; Lizzie quiet, thoughtful and, well, definitely not thin. The one trait they do share is a desire to DO something with their lives, and as far as they're concerned, the place to get noticed is London. Out of the blue they discover they have a grandmother living in Chelsea - and when she has to go into hospital, they find themselves flat-sitting on the King's Road. But, as they discover, it's not as easy to become It Girls as they'd imagined, and west end boys aren't at all like Hugh Grant . . .

I first read Jenny Colgan when I bought a magazine that came with a free copy of one of her books. I can't remember the title and it's okay because it was a typical chic lit story about a girl finding her true love in the most unlikely of places. Then I read Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe and loved it. So, when I picked this one up I had a 50/50 chance of liking it. Now I will always give Jenny Colgan a chance because this was an entertaining read. With semi-predictable ending. I don't read chic lit if I was looking for a mystery, crime, or fantasy novel I read it to be entertained for a while and this book entertained me. Summer is months away, but a good summer read, something to take to the beach!
~LiSa