Ms. Hen reviews two Halloween books

The Ruby Tear

Suzy McKee Charnas writing as Rebecca Brand

Tor Books 

1997

Dandelion Wine 

Ray Bradbury

Corgi Books

1957

Ms. Hen has been on hiatus, and she hopes you haven't been worried. She's been having problems with her blogger, but she's trying to work with what she has. She always writes her post in a document, then pastes it into the blog, but she hasn't been able to do that. But she's still been reading her books. Don't fret, she's healthy and on pumpkin overload for the month!

THE RUBY TEAR is a vampire novel that was written by the same author that wrote Ms. Hen's favorite vampire novel this year, THE VAMPIRE TAPESTRIES. Ms. Hen had to hunt down to see if this author wrote any other vampire novels, and she has, but she published it under a nom de plum.

This novel is about an actress named Jessamyn, who got into a car accident with her boyfriend, and she was badly hurt, which occurred before the beginning of the novel. Her boyfriend, Nic, is a writer and a playwright and at the start of the novel, she auditions for the lead in his new play. Nic has not spoken to her, and has brushed her off since the accident. Nic thinks the play is cursed and he does not want Jessamyn to play the lead, but he does not tell her because his secret is his family is under a spell.

This novel is about the theater, and the eccentric people in this world. Vampires do appear, and Ms. Hen is intrigued by them. She does not think this is as good as THE VAMPIRE TAPESTRIES, because it's written like a pulp novel. So many adjectives and adverbs appear on these pages, that Ms. Hen wonders how the same person could write both novels. She thinks Ms. Charnas was trying to write a popular novel, which Ms. Hen thinks is a bad idea. One should always write the best one can.

Even though it is badly written, Ms. Hen thinks this novel is fun and diverting, good for a weekend in October while drinking pumpkin iced coffee.

DANDELION WINE isn't quite the Halloween book that Ms. Hen expected, even though there are some scary parts. She wanted to read SOMETHING WICKED COMES THIS WAY, but she found DANDELION WINE at a Little Free Library near where she lives, and decided to read that instead.

This novel is about the summertime in one boy's town. In the beginning of the novel Douglas looks out the window and pretends to wake up the town when he watches the lights turn on. He picks the dandelions to make dandelion wine with his grandfather, which they think is summer in a bottle, which can be opened in the winter and they are able to taste summer. This novel is told as stories within the novel about the town where Douglas lives, Green Town. There is a man who makes a happiness machine that does not quite work, a newspaper reporter who becomes friends with a ninety-year old woman who tells him about her travels, a witch that lives in a glass case, who Douglas frees in able to tell him his fortunes, and other tales that center around the people of the town.

Ms. Hen thinks this novel is nostalgic. It's so nostalgic, that she thinks that she has read it before, but she's sure she hasn't. It's the type of book that someone might read when that person is twelve, and it would stay with her. Ms. Hen learned that this novel is not typical of Ray Bradbury's work, and his normal books are more fantastic.

Ms. Hen hopes you have a happy Halloween season, and she will be reading more books, and enjoying the changing leaves.