A Literary Paris by Jamie Cox Robertson

I got this book for free through GoodReads.com.  They have a lot of giveaways that you can enter your name for so every couple of days I check out the first page and see if there are potentially any books that might be interesting to read.  So far I have won this book and one other after only being a member for a month.  Not bad.  I decided to enter for this book since I took a class in college that took a couple weeks to study the culture of France, mainly the difference between Paris and the rest of the country.  It was quite interesting and even though I think it would be fun to travel to Europe, I just don't want to do the actual traveling.  I want to get there and see everything, just not spend the money and time to do it.  Traveling just isn't that much fun for me.  Restless legs, little sleep, poor eating... yeah, not really for me.  So this book seemed like a fun way to read stories about Paris and get some personal insight into it and the places you might see.  Then, if I ever make it there, it would be fun to compare what other authors have said and get an opinion myself.  So, "A Literary Paris: Hemingway, Colette, Sedaris, and Others on the Uncommon Lure of the City of Light."  As the title says, there are a lot of exerpts from many famous authors on Paris.  I have not read the entire book yet since I just read an exerpt here and there, but I have enjoyed reading parts of writings from these authors that go into detail about the feel and look of certain cafe's and streets.  You get a feel for day and well and night life.  Jamie Cox Robertson even mentions in her preface that she like many other 'artists' feel a pull to go to Paris to open their creative minds and write, paint, perform, these amazingly inspired masterpieces.  It does not always work that way, but you get a glimpse into why so many feel the lure of this city.

The Haunting of Autumn Lake by Marcia Lynn McClure

I don't know if I have read too many of Marcia Lynn McClure's books or if this just did not live up to expectations.  Autumn is the daughter of Ransom Lake.  This sequeal to "The Visions of Ransom Lake" had potential but never really had a good climax or even a romance story.  Autumn's romance with the cowboy that shows up in her life didn't really build, it just happened quickly with no fun incidents like her mother had.  Autumn has her father's looks, but supposedly her mother's attitude.  You can tell Marcia tried to go more into depth with details and branch out a little with her writing.  I am proud of her for doing that and expanding her writing capabilities, I just wish it hadn't taken away from the story.  She also used the villian's son to be the one to molest Autumn.  Why not just bring in another villian instead of trying to pretty much rewrite "The Visions of Ransom Lake."  I like how she kept Ransom a major character in the story and even still had his intuitions.  Overall, a little bit of a dissapointment.