tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69576880835821785352024-02-19T05:45:15.564-06:00What is the Librarian Reading?smailehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10874005187169078249noreply@blogger.comBlogger172125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6957688083582178535.post-38196699695042338312014-11-07T16:20:00.001-06:002014-11-07T16:20:40.568-06:00The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Main character: Amanda Palmer, musician and performance artist<br />
Location: around the world, though mostly the Boston area<br />
Time period: Contemporary<br />
Genre: Nonfiction, Memoir, Sociology<br />
<br />
Dear Amanda,<br />
<br />
You wrote such a personal book that I feel the need to be personal as well. You have built a devoted following by being so open and generous and trusting--and maybe naive--that your fans respond in kind. You have suffered a few betrayals, but that has not diminished your trust. I have a feeling that you are the kind of person that considers everyone who spend some time with your friend.<br />
<br />
I was fascinated when you talked about being the Eight-Foot Bride. (You didn't have to get permission to be a living statue? Really? Who knew!) I like the thought of setting up the limitations for yourself, and then trying to make a connection with individuals within those limitations. (And my bone and joints ache in sympathy for standing still for such long periods of time..) It made me think of when I go to a farmer's market or an arts and crafts fair--the stall holder who strikes up a conversation and talks to me--about their product, the weather, my t-shirt, anything--is the one I will buy from, even if it's something I did not intend to buy. Yes, making a connection makes someone want to return that connection.<br />
<br />
If there are degrees of fandom, I would have to say that I am a casual fan of yours. I have not been to any of your concerts and I'm not familiar with much of your past work, but I enjoy your music videos. The Bed Song is heartbreaking, and there are segments of Want It Back that I find absolutely terrifying. But I follow you on tumblr and facebook, and will sometimes click through to read your blog. When you started referring to certain incidents in your book that I was already familiar with, I started trying to remember when and how I first became aware of you. I think it was on a Doctor Who special where you were one of several "celebrity Whovians" and I wasn't sure what to make of this person in a lovely white gown, very blue eyeshadow, and high penciled Joan Fontaine/Bette Davis eyebrows. (I was a little obsessed with your eyebrows for a while--I'm glad you explained them in a footnote.) I heard about your Kickstarter campaign, but since I wasn't yet familiar with your music I didn't contribute anything. Sorry. (However, since I missed out on that, I have contributed to Jason Webley's "Margaret" purely on your recommendation. Pay it forward.) Then Neil Gaiman posted a link to the video for Want It Back on his blog, and I was just blown away. Later I saw a link to The Killing Type. After that I started seeking out your videos. Have You Seen My Sister Evelyn is astonishingly creative. I am amazed at the work it takes to plan and execute something like that. When I listen to The Killing Type and Gaga, Palmer, Madonna: A Polemic, I am reminded of Tom Lehrer ["and it don't matter if you put a couple of extra syllables into a line."] This doesn't really relate to anything in your the book, but I wanted to say it.<br />
<br />
I was glad to read more fully about your relationship with Anthony--hearing about what he has meant to you for so much of your life made your facebook postings about his health make a little more sense to me.<br />
<br />
I am delighted by the thought of you and Neil Gaiman as a couple and am grateful that you shared as much as you did--even though many things were deeply personal and not really any of my business. I was worried about you two because you spend so much time apart touring and working, but it sounds like you have crafted a friendship/marriage/relationship strong enough and understanding enough to withstand the separations. For all that your books reads like it just spilled out in a stream of consciousness, the way you crafted the story of the tomato, schedule and banana was lovely. When you had those items taken to Neil during his signing when he learned his father had died just brought tears to my eyes. <br />
<br />
I am so glad that you included the conversation that you had with your mother about her computer programming--that story works on so many levels. Who among us hasn't as a teenager thoughtlessly flung something hurtful at our mothers?<br />
<br />
Obviously this book is a very personal book--for you the author, but also for the reader. As I read it, it was easy to imagine us sitting in a living room drinking wine and sharing stories about our lives and our beliefs. Nearly every anecdote resonated with me--not because I shared the same experience but because an experience I had somehow related to it. If you're ever in my town, I would be honored to lend you a spare bedroom.<br />
<br />
Thank you, Amanda.<br />
<br />
<br />
I read this book as an e-ARC from <a href="https://www.blogger.com/www.netgalley.com">NetGalley.</a><br />
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<br />smailehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10874005187169078249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6957688083582178535.post-60042572650030495262014-10-16T15:51:00.000-05:002014-10-16T15:51:47.214-05:00Mary: The Summoning by Hillary Monahan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Main characters: Teenagers Shauna, Jess, Kitty, and Anna<br />
Location: Solomon's Folly, Massachusetts<br />
Time period: Contemporary<br />
Genre: YA Fiction, Horror, Supernatural, Ghost Story<br />
Series: Bloody Mary, bk. 1<br />
<br />
Jess has become obsessed with the legend of Bloody Mary, and has decided to research the historical Mary. She learns enough to convince (or some might say browbeat) her friends into performing the summoning ritual. What they don't know is that Jess doesn't just want to play the game for a few scares--she wants to set Mary free.<br />
<br />
When Mary is able to reach through the mirror, she claims Shauna by scratching her. Now she is able to attack Shauna and those with her through any reflective surface--not just mirrors, but bathroom fixtures, shiny picture frames, car windshields and sunglasses. There is nowhere that she cannot reach.<br />
<br />
I'm not necessarily a fan of current horror films--which influence this book a great deal--but there were some things I really liked about this book. One is the way the author revealed Mary's history through letters that showed how Mary's abuse at the hands of a powerful preacher led to her mental and emotional breakdown and turned her into the vengeful ghost of legend. This is not a restless spirit who wants to be laid to rest--in life Mary was tormented and bullied and now she wants to make others suffer the way she suffered. In this, she reminds me of the ghost in Susan Hill's <em>The Woman in Black.</em> The other thing that caught my imagination is this thought that Mary haunts a victim until she becomes fixated on another. Once Shauna is marked, she meets Cordelia, the woman who had previously been Mary's victim and only now knows peace. By visiting Cordelia in her house, Shauna is given a look into what her life will become--a solitary life trapped in a dark house with no light and no reflections. Cordelia also gives her the awful news that Mary torments her victims by going after those close to them, forcing them to retreat from the comfort of friends and family. <br />
<br />
Shauna is a very nice, empathetic character. Jess, however, is despicable. She withholds information from her friends when not outright lying to them. Her obsession with Mary blinds her to the danger that she puts her them in, and then she is cold-blooded enough to try to trick other girls into performing the ritual in order to save Shauna. As much as I would hate to have her as a friend, she is a crucial catalyst to the story. I can't wait to see what will happen to her in the next book.<br />
<br />
I read <i>Mary: The Summoning</i> as an e-ARC from <a href="https://www.netgalley.com/">NetGalley.</a><br />
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smailehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10874005187169078249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6957688083582178535.post-62183208722863834952014-09-25T12:53:00.000-05:002014-09-25T12:54:59.440-05:00The Blackhouse by Peter May<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Main character: Fin McLeod, a police detective<br />
Location: Isle of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides<br />
Time period: Contemporary, with flashbacks to Fin's childhood<br />
Genre: Fiction, Mystery<br />
<br />
Fin McLeod thinks that he's escaped his childhood home in a isolated village on the Isle of Lewis. He went to university, and though he didn't finish he did become a cop, got married, had a son. But now his son is dead and his life is crumbling. And because a particularly gruesome murder back on the island matches the MO of a case he had been working on, he is sent back to his childhood home to help with the investigation.<br />
<br />
An interesting choice by the author is to write the contemporary sections in third person, but the flashbacks to Fin's childhood in the first person. It took a little while to get used to this, but it does mean that we don't have to depend on chapter titles with time and location listed to know what takes place in the present and what is in the past. (Peter May must know readers like me who don't always pay attention to those headings.) It also makes sure that we don't have any information that Fin doesn't have--for this murder has more connection to Fin than just a similar MO to a crime he's been investigating.<br />
<br />
As the book went along, I was so much wrapped up in Fin's story that I often forgot about the murder that brought him there. The real mystery was what happened to him. Was it his experiences with the town bully, the bane of every boy's life and the murder victim? Or the romantic triangle between him, his best friend Artair, and Marsaili? Or maybe that one time that he joined the traditional guga cull on a small rocky island. (The guga is a bird that can only be hunted for 2 weeks a year and is considered a particular delicacy.) Somewhere in his past the seeds were sown that lead us to the present crime.<br />
<br />
This is a richly drawn picture of life in a bleak and desolate place and the people who stay there. The wind, the scent of the sea, the smells of the boats and the guga hunt--reading this was a totally immersive experience. It drew me in and I did not want to leave. I highly recommend this book.<br />
<br />
I read <i>The Black House</i> as an e-ARC from <a href="https://www.netgalley.com/">NetGalley.</a><br />
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<br />smailehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10874005187169078249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6957688083582178535.post-20815640600870246802014-09-24T16:25:00.000-05:002014-09-24T16:25:10.287-05:00The Girl with All the Gifts by M. R. Carey<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Main characters: Melanie, a gifted 10-year-old; teacher Miss Helen Justineau; Sergeant Eddie Parks; Dr. Caroline Caldwell; and Pvt. Gallgher<br />
Location: England<br />
Time period: sometime in the not too distant future<br />
Genre: Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Science Fiction, Horror<br />
<br />
I quite enjoy stories that take a classic horror monster--in this case, zombies--and plays with the traditional tropes. One of my favorites of this type of story is Scott Westerfeld's <i>Peeps</i>, which draws a comparison between vampirism and parasites and includes details of some real-world parasites and their effects of their hosts as illustration.<br />
<br />
In this book, a fungus has infected most of the population and turned them into canabalistic "hungries." Certain children though, like Melanie, seem to be unaffected. While the hungries are brain-dead and mostly immobile unless they scent prey, these children of the hungries seem almost super-normal, with high intelligence, speed, and strength. A group of them have been captured and taken to a research facility where they are taught a traditional school curriculum but are strapped in wheelchairs or locked in cells for the protection of the scientists, soldiers, and teachers who work at the facility.<br />
<br />
When they are overrun by hungries, Melanie, her teacher Miss Justineau, lead scientist Dr. Caldwell, Sgt. Parks and Pvt. Gallagher are the only survivors and begin a journey south to try to join up with another facility. <br />
<br />
Though there are some good action scenes, the main thrust of the story is a character study of these five survivors. We are already primed to like Melanie--it is mostly her POV that we experience for the first part of the book--and we like Miss Justineau because Melanie loves and trusts her. But Sgt. Parks and Dr. Caldwell start as Melanie's enemies--Dr. Caldwell because she has dissected the children to study them (and is about to dissect Melanie's brain when the hungries attack) and Sgt. Parks because he is the guard who enforces Melanie's captivity. As they travel together and become more acquainted, Sgt. Parks becomes more sympathetic; he and Melanie never quite trust each other but they do gain a certain amount of respect for each other. Dr. Caldwell never becomes sympathetic, but she does become more understandable.<br />
<br />
It did take me a while to get into this book and I had to re-start a few times before I got acclimated to this new world. By the time the hungries attacked, I was invested and really enjoyed the journey these five characters took. I would recommend this to zombie fans who are not averse to re-interpretation of the zombie genre.<br />
<br />
I read this book as an e-ARC from NetGalley.<br />
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<br />smailehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10874005187169078249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6957688083582178535.post-40509118523230001672014-09-09T12:15:00.001-05:002014-09-09T12:15:12.888-05:00I Am the Mission by Allen Zadoff<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Main character: a teenage assassin whose real name is unknown; this time he's going by Daniel<br />
Location: New Hampshire<br />
Time period: contemporary<br />
Genre: YA Fiction, Action Adventure, Thriller<br />
Series: The Unknown Assassin<br />
Sequel to: <a href="http://librarybooklist.blogspot.com/2014/05/i-am-weapon-by-allen-zadoff.html">I Am the Weapon</a><br />
<br />
After the events of the previous book, Daniel needs to take a break. He goes off-grid, hiding in a summer camp. But even with all his training and precautions, the Program finds him and he is extracted. Mother and Father are unsure whether or not he is still loyal, so they subject him to a number of tests before being sent on another mission. (Or is this mission just another loyalty test?)<br />
<br />
This time, his target is Eugene Moore, leader of the survivalist Camp Liberty where he is indoctrinating teenagers to perform terroristic acts with an ultimate aim to bring down the government. Following his regular MO, Daniel will use Moore's own children to get close enough to eliminate his target. But of course things don't go according to plan; Daniel is cut off from the Program's resources and forced to improvise. He is able to handle Moore's son, Lee, with little trouble but the daughter, Miranda, is another story. Daniel's training in the Program apparently did not cover teenage girls and he is totally blindsided by her actions at the climax.<br />
<br />
Again, I am reminded of the Alex Ryder series by Anthony Horowitz, but this series is much darker and more violent. My sympathies are mostly with Daniel, though he does some things in this book that seriously shake those sympathies. We do learn a little bit more about the Program, and how many other assassins like Daniel there are. As Daniel becomes more isolated and less sure of who he can trust, he turns to Howard--the high school computer geek that he met in the first book. I was so happy to see Howard again; he is refreshingly uncomplicated and totally loyal to Daniel. However, that loyalty also winds up putting him in danger and Daniel is forced to choose between their friendship and Howard's safety.<br />
<br />
If Howard is a recurring character that appeals to Daniel's lighter side, fellow assassin Mike is the recurring character of Daniel's nightmares. Mike was instrumental in recruiting and training Daniel, but what is his true role in the Program?<br />
<br />
I will be looking out for the next book in this series.<br />
<br />
I read <i>I Am the Mission</i> as an e-galley from <a href="https://www.blogger.com/www.netgalley.com">NetGallery</a>.<br />
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<br />smailehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10874005187169078249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6957688083582178535.post-71656168856577124622014-08-29T14:56:00.001-05:002014-08-29T14:56:13.297-05:00The Battle of the Bridges by Frank Van Lunteren<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Main characters: The men of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment<br />
Location: Nijmegen, Holland<br />
Time period: World War II, 1944<br />
Genre: History, Nonfiction, World War II<br />
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I do realize that it is strange to say that I have affection for Operation Market Garden, but I do. When I was a history major in college, I did my senior research paper on the battle of Arnhem which was just one part of the Operation. I did tons of reading on the battle and even had a Dutch classmate whose parents answered some of my questions in a series of letters.<br />
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Operation Market Garden was a huge operation, conceived of by Field Marshall Montgomery, that--if successful--could have allowed the Allies to invade Germany and end the war by Christmas of 1944. It consisted of 3 parachute zones and a tank corps that tied them all together. Unfortunately, it was too ambitious and failed at the farthest point--the bridge at Arnhem, which became know as the "bridge too far" of Cornelius Ryan's book.<br />
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As I said, my own research paper focused on the battle of Arnhem, so I was interested to read this book with its focus on the 504th regiment of the US 82nd Airborne Division. This was the middle of the 3 zones and is notable for the daring river crossing that allowed the paratroopers to take the Nijmegen bridge by capturing both ends at once. I had a broad understanding of this battle, and this book filled in details. A lot of details.<br />
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It is obvious that Van Lunteren did extensive research for this book. Besides the written record of military reports, there are also the memories of a number of the men who participated in this battle. In addition to his own interviews, he had access to the interviews that Ryan conducted--information that did not make it in to Ryan's book. There is even information that shows the German side of the experience. I found it interesting that some of the stories cited here show the same events from different points of view. One man may talk about how he witnessed a certain officer perform heroic acts, only to be cut down by enemy gunfire. Right after would be another man's memory of how he helped to carry that officer back to behind the lines for medical aid. This helps to tie together what might otherwise be a fragmented narrative.<br />
<br />
Even after the supposed end of the Operation--the retreat and escape of the British from Arnhem--these men had to continue to hold their territory they had won. The battle may have been over and done with in September, but the occupation lingered. Fortunately, they had a lot of assistance from the Dutch citizens, who housed and fed them, and in some cases formed relationships that lasted for years after. <br />
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As much as I enjoyed this book, I do wonder how wide its appeal will be. I won't be recommending it for my relatively small library. But I could see it in large public libraries, academic libraries where there is a strong history program, and libraries with a specialized military collection.<br />
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I received this book as an e-ARC from <a href="https://www.netgalley.com/">NetGalley.</a><br />
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<br />smailehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10874005187169078249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6957688083582178535.post-2565706953917403432014-07-24T11:47:00.003-05:002014-07-24T12:51:38.277-05:00Fives and Twenty-Fives by Michael Pitre<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Main characters: Marines Pete Donovan and Lester Pleasant, and Iraqui interpreter Dodge<br />
Location: New Orleans and Iraq<br />
Time period: 2006<br />
Genre: Adult Fiction, War Fiction<br />
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<i>Fives and Twenty-Fives</i> follows three men who were brought together by the war in Iraq, focusing not just on their time of service, but afterwards as they struggle to fit back in to civilian life.<br />
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Lieutenant Pete Donovan was a college man from Alabama before the war. As a lieutenant, he seemed easy-going and content to allow his sergeants to handle the day to day running of his command. Their role was road repair, which sounds a bit boring--filling potholes out in the brutal desert heat--but each pothole could, and often did, hide a bomb or trigger an ambush. Pete has been awarded a bronze star for heroism, but he is uncomfortable with the label "hero" or even "sir."<br />
<br />
Lester "Doc" Pleasant was from Cajun country in Louisiana before joining the Marines and becoming a corpsman, the first to administer aid in case any in his squad are wounded or injury. He is deeply affected when he is prevented from running out to help a marine that badly wounded in an ambush. The Lieutenant tells him that the man is already dead, but Doc is convinced that he saw him roll over. Soon Doc is heading down a spiral of drug abuse which leads to him being discharged from the Marines.<br />
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Dodge is the Iraqui interpreter. Dodge is, obviously, not his real name, which the military hides to protect him and his family from reprisals. What Dodge does not tell anyone is that his father and his brother are much more likely to be the ones performing reprisals. He wants to run from Iraq, from his family, and head to Syria, or Jordan, or anywhere there isn't war and he can resume his studies. After his time with the Marines, he makes his way to Tunisia where he becomes a witness to the birth of the Arab Spring.<br />
<br />
The author is a former Marine captain who served in Iraq and there is a strong feeling of authenticity through the book. While reading it, I was reminded of the great World War II novels of Jim Jones, like <i>From Here to Eternity</i> and <i>The Thin Red Line</i>, or of movies like <i>The Best Years of Their Lives</i> and <i>The Big Red One</i>. The emphasis is not on the battles but on the men and their relationships. The structure of the novel--using current events to frame flashbacks--keeps propelling the story forward. You keep getting hints that something big happened and you have to keep turning the pages to discover what that was. (I was reading while waiting for a doctor's appointment and actually resented being called in because I wanted to keep reading.)<br />
<br />
There is a well-crafted section where Pete is in a group of other officers and trying to have a serious conversation with one person while another man in the background is telling a story. The way Pitre writes this section lets you clearly follow both conversations. It's the sort of scene that would be so easy to do in a movie or TV but is very difficult in writing. <br />
<br />
Pitre says in his forward that one of the things he wanted to do in this book was to show the suffering of the Iraqui people. I think one of the saddest sections was where Dodge was talking about how he didn't have friends. If you have friends, you have people. And if you have people then there is a weapon that can be used against you. So he denies himself from forming relations. But though this is what he might say and what he might believe, he can't help getting entangled with others. <br />
<br />
I very much enjoyed this book and would recommend it highly to everyone, even if you don't think you like stories about war.<br />
<br />
I received this book as an e-ARC from <a href="https://www.netgalley.com/">NetGalley.</a><br />
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<br />smailehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10874005187169078249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6957688083582178535.post-58585392703516588582014-07-17T12:24:00.001-05:002014-07-17T12:24:50.206-05:00The Bitter Trade by Piers Alexander<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Main character: 17-year-old Calumny Spinks<br />
Location: London, England<br />
Time period: Late 1600's<br />
Genre: Historical Fiction<br />
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"I was born to a raging Frenchy slugabed mother, sired by a sulking silk-weaver with a battered box of secrets under his floorboards. From her I got my flaming hair, so red that the scabfaced villagers of Salstead spoke of the evil's seed, spitting in the dust for salvation when I walked past. From my father came my sharp tongue, the quick wits to talk above my station, and the shoulders to take the blows that followed."<br />
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Everything is stacked against young Calumny Spinks--despised and rejected by the villagers of Salstead for having a foreign mother, seemingly rejected even by his father, Peter, who refuses to enter Calumny's name in the guild book so that he can be apprenticed and possibly make something of his life. Peter refuses to even tell Calumny why. He's almost 17, and already his life is almost over.<br />
<br />
Then calamity strikes, and Calumny's mother is killed by the villagers who accuse her of witchcraft. Though it is the last thing he wants to do, Peter takes Calumny to London and finds a home with others in the silk-weaver's guild. London opens a whole world up to Calumny and he soon finds himself in over his head.<br />
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This time period, well after the English Civil War and the Restoration of the Monarchy, and after the Great Fire of London, is one that I'm not all that familiar with, and I did have to periodically check Wikipedia to get my bearings. Peter was a fighter in Cromwell's army during the Civil War and his secret--one that makes him fear for his own life and for Calumny's--dates from that time. The strife between the Catholics and the Protestants is still high almost a century after Henry VIII brought the Reformation to England, with power between the two groups shifting back and forth. Peter is a staunch anti-Papist, as are many of the guild members, and chafes under the rule of a Catholic king. Religion is not the only reason to oppose the king--there are also reasons of commerce and trade. Since Calumny cannot be apprenticed as a weaver, he becomes entangled with people trying to build a coffee trade, and who therefore are seeking to overthrow King James in favor of William of Orange.<br />
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All of this scheming and politicking is complicated when read in a history book, but seen narrowly through the eyes of Calumny (who is, by the way, a very lusty young man) it flows in a way that makes sense. Everything is new to him, and he is not one to examine the morality of what he is told to do. All he wants is to become a man of position, to be called "Mister" or "Master," and so he does what he's told and adds a bit of scheming of his own.<br />
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With a vividly depicted backdrop that manages to encompass the beauty and the ugliness of its time period, I would recommend <i>The Bitter Trade</i> to fans of unromanticized, unsanitized historical fiction.<br />
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I read this book as an e-ARC from <a href="https://www.blogger.com/www.netgalley.com">NetGalley.</a><br />
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<br />smailehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10874005187169078249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6957688083582178535.post-90057778332842216002014-07-14T11:56:00.001-05:002014-07-14T11:58:26.370-05:00The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Main character: 17-year-old Lia, First Daughter of the house of Morrighan<br />
Location: Morrighan and neighboring lands<br />
Time period: Fantasy Middle Ages<br />
Genre: YA Fiction, Fantasy<br />
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Lia is being prepared for her wedding--a wedding she does not want to a man she has never met or even seen. The arranged marriage between her and the Prince of Dalbeck will bring peace to their two countries, but Lia sees the relationship between her parents, whose own marriage was an arranged, political one, and she knows that she could not bear that. So, with the help of her maid, Pauline, she escapes the palace and, disguised as a commoner, heads to a town far enough away that no one will recognize her. There she cheerfully gets a job as a barmaid and for the first time in her life feels free.<br />
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Not too long after her arrival, two young men come into the inn where Lia is working. What we, readers, know that Lia does not is that one of them is the jilted prince of Dalbeck, come to retireve the princess to restore his country's honor. The other is an assassin from Venda, tasked with killing the princess to destroy any chance of peace between Morrighan and Dalbeck. But even we do not know which one is which.<br />
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This is a very cleverly written novel with a trio of likeable characters at its core--yes, even the assassin. In many ways, it reminded me of The False Prince trilogy by Jennifer Nieman. Though Lia has a power--a type of foresight--there is not a lot of magic in this fantasy (though that may change in the upcoming books), and there is a similar theme of young people being used as playing pieces in a political game.<br />
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The Kiss of Deception also has its share of romance, as Lia finds herself attracted to both men, and they certainly seem to be competing for her attention. The inevitable revelation of all the hidden identities is almost a disappointment, but it does shift the tone of the book from a pastoral interlude to an action cliffhanger (this is the first of a series, after all.) I quite enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the future volumes.<br />
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I read The Kiss of Deception as an e-ARC from NetGalley.<br />
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smailehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10874005187169078249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6957688083582178535.post-42382007636610433292014-06-25T17:03:00.000-05:002014-06-25T17:03:00.131-05:00Outshine by Nola Decker<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Main characters: Gabe, who is allergic to lies, and Jessa, whose entire life is a lie<br />
Location: Galtonville, a college town<br />
Time period: Conteporary, or possibly near future<br />
Genre: YA Fiction, Science Fiction, Bio-engineering Speculative Fiction<br />
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When he is told that his younger brother has disappeared, Gabe is relieved and hopes that his brother never comes back. Though Gabe is the older by two years, Watts is an aggressive alpha male and has made Gabe's life a torment. But Gabe's mother is devastated by Watts' absence.<br />
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When she hears that Watts has disappeared, Jessa is disappointed since now all her planning to get Watts to take her to the Valentine's Day dance is now worthless.<br />
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Sounds like a typical teen angst style YA novel, doesn't it? But both Gabe and Jessa have super human powers that they have kept secret for years. Gabe is literally allergic to lies--when someone lies to him, he gets a migraine and a rusty taste in his mouth, and he can hear the truth in the liar's mind. This does not mean that he can read minds generally--only when someone lies. As you might imagine, just being in high school bombards him with lies all day long.<br />
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Jessa has incredible strength. She has to be careful when she opens a door that she doesn't destroy the doorknob. When she hugs her friends she has to hold back so she doesn't break bones. She has never even kissed a boy because she's afraid of what might happen if she loses control.<br />
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Reluctantly, Gabe agrees to help Jessa look for Watts, and they eventually uncover a secret genetic experiment begun by Deacon, a mad man trying to create an army of superior humans. Gabe is a Spotter, part of an attempt to create human lie detectors that is considered a failure since the Spotters are also compulsive about telling the truth. Jessa is a Nuke, genetically manipulated before birth and enhanced with nanobots after. It's not too much of a surprise to discover that Watts is also a Nuke, and that he and Jessa are meant to mate and create the next generation of Nukes. The Spotters, however, are to be exterminated.<br />
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On the run from Deacon and his henchmen, Jessa and Gabe soon learn that they can trust no one but each other. But as they become more comfortable with each other, an attraction begins to build. They influence and change each other, as Jessa becomes a bit kinder and gentler, and Gabe begins to stand up for himself and for her.<br />
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I found this a very intriguing and exciting novel--it was very hard to put it down, especially once we began to learn about Jessa and Gabe's origins and how far-reaching the conspiracy goes. I did feel that the ending was a bit abrupt, and a solution was a little too pat. Still, it did not ruin my enjoyment of the book as a whole. As far as I can tell, this is a stand-alone novel, but I would welcome a sequel to see what happens next.<br />
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I read Outshine as an e-ARC from <a href="http://www.netgalley.com/" target="_blank">NetGalley</a>.<br />
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<br />smailehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10874005187169078249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6957688083582178535.post-16654576022167552202014-06-20T15:43:00.000-05:002014-06-20T15:43:08.280-05:00Inspector Hobbes and the Curse by Wilkie Martin<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVky87wNHRCT5q17PblbjITQIDaPnY67HDBcHiTQQjHHEHEGE3u3zpEufnUBLgBAm8B8zxGf5bgZURMP9KXDAWovdJPkD95oje1PykEnss7INrJNVspj0osjG9un02diJuJspQTctHcf8K/s1600/inspector+hobbes+and+the+curse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVky87wNHRCT5q17PblbjITQIDaPnY67HDBcHiTQQjHHEHEGE3u3zpEufnUBLgBAm8B8zxGf5bgZURMP9KXDAWovdJPkD95oje1PykEnss7INrJNVspj0osjG9un02diJuJspQTctHcf8K/s1600/inspector+hobbes+and+the+curse.jpg" height="200" width="131" /></a></div>
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<div class="Paragraph SCX2845547" style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 6pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="TextRun SCX2845547" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px;"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX2845547" style="background-color: inherit;">Main character: Andy Caplet, a 30-something out of work journalist; Inspector Hobbes, unhuman policeman</span></span><span class="EOP SCX2845547" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px;"> </span></div>
</div>
<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX2845547" style="margin-left: 0px;">
<div class="Paragraph SCX2845547" style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 6pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="TextRun SCX2845547" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px;"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX2845547" style="background-color: inherit;">Location: </span><span class="SpellingError SCX2845547" style="background-color: inherit;">Sorenchester</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX2845547" style="background-color: inherit;">, a small village in England</span></span><span class="EOP SCX2845547" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px;"> </span></div>
</div>
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<div class="Paragraph SCX2845547" style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 6pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="TextRun SCX2845547" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px;"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX2845547" style="background-color: inherit;">Time period: contemporary</span></span><span class="EOP SCX2845547" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px;"> </span></div>
</div>
<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX2845547" style="margin-left: 0px;">
<div class="Paragraph SCX2845547" style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 6pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="TextRun SCX2845547" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px;"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX2845547" style="background-color: inherit;">Genre: Humorous supernatural British cozy mystery</span></span><span class="EOP SCX2845547" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px;"> </span></div>
</div>
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<div class="Paragraph SCX2845547" style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 6pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
</div>
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<div class="Paragraph SCX2845547" style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 6pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="TextRun SCX2845547" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px;"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX2845547" style="background-color: inherit;">What
a mash-up this is! A British cozy mystery with a supernatural element
and a lot of word play. I found it delightful, but I'll admit it won't
necessarily appeal to every taste.</span></span><span class="EOP SCX2845547" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px;"> </span></div>
</div>
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<div class="Paragraph SCX2845547" style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 6pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
</div>
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<div class="Paragraph SCX2845547" style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 6pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="TextRun SCX2845547" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px;"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX2845547" style="background-color: inherit;">From
the beginning, there is a definite call-back to the Sherlock Holmes
template. You have your all-knowing yet unknowable detective, the
biographer side-kick, and the incomparable housekeeper. In this case,
the detective in Inspector Hobbes, a large man who is an excellent
Inspector, incredibly long-lived (he fought in the First World War) and
definitely unhuman, though we don't know exactly what he is. We do know
that he's not a werewolf, however. The sidekick is Andy Caplet, a
30-something out-of-work journalist who was has been welcomed into
Hobbes' household. Andy is terribly klutzy, socially awkward, and not
always very sure of Hobbes. But he's got a good heart. And in the Mrs.
Hudson role, we have Mrs. </span><span class="SpellingError SCX2845547" style="background-color: inherit;">Goodfellow</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX2845547" style="background-color: inherit;">--an excellent cook who teaches karate and collects teeth as a hobby.</span></span><span class="EOP SCX2845547" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px;"> </span></div>
</div>
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<div class="Paragraph SCX2845547" style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 6pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
</div>
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<div class="Paragraph SCX2845547" style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 6pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="TextRun SCX2845547" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px;"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX2845547" style="background-color: inherit;">I
missed the first book in this series, so I don't know if we learned
anything more about Hobbes there. I suspect that there will be slow
hints parceled out over the entire series, however long it lasts.</span></span><span class="EOP SCX2845547" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px;"> </span></div>
</div>
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<div class="Paragraph SCX2845547" style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 6pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<span class="TextRun SCX2845547" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px;"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX2845547" style="background-color: inherit;">The peaceful village of </span><span class="SpellingError SCX2845547" style="background-color: inherit;">Sorenchester</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX2845547" style="background-color: inherit;">
is being threatened. The wealthy London businessman Felix King has his eye on
certain properties and he doesn't take no for an answer. At the same
time, people begin reporting two large cats--panthers, maybe--attacking </span><span class="SpellingError SCX2845547" style="background-color: inherit;">livestock</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX2845547" style="background-color: inherit;">
on the edges of town. The mystery is not that challenging, but this is
the kind of mystery book where the mystery is not the most important
thing--the characters and the humor is. </span></span><br />
<span class="TextRun SCX2845547" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px;"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX2845547" style="background-color: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span class="TextRun SCX2845547" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px;"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX2845547" style="background-color: inherit;">I quite enjoyed <i>Inspector Hobbes and the Curse</i>; it was just what I was in the mood for at the time. I read it as an e-ARC from <a href="http://netgalley./">NetGalley.</a></span></span><br />
<span class="TextRun SCX2845547" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px;"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX2845547" style="background-color: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
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<span class="TextRun SCX2845547" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 18px;"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX2845547" style="background-color: inherit;"><br /></span></span>smailehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10874005187169078249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6957688083582178535.post-11906202928019925652014-06-17T16:46:00.004-05:002014-06-17T16:46:44.849-05:00Annaliese Carr: How I Conquered Lake Ontario to Help Kids Battling Cancer by Annaliese Carr as told to Deborah Ellis<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCMcbs9zdgPgzwWEV0avgNXpi20cg_sY2tfS3xELMUgTvifbbLBb6LdgZCzxyUMJ6lwh2Gfp-d2KOtKbzK0tajkq26UVJ8TTk3AIlISLTOlpXQAihg9DlipzVbLWccngopRJBYuB6k40xa/s1600/annaleise+carr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCMcbs9zdgPgzwWEV0avgNXpi20cg_sY2tfS3xELMUgTvifbbLBb6LdgZCzxyUMJ6lwh2Gfp-d2KOtKbzK0tajkq26UVJ8TTk3AIlISLTOlpXQAihg9DlipzVbLWccngopRJBYuB6k40xa/s1600/annaleise+carr.jpg" height="200" width="120" /></a></div>
Main character: Annaleise Carr, a 14-year-old swimmer<br />
Location: Lake Ontario, Canada<br />
Time period: August 2012<br />
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction, Inspirational Story<br />
<br />
On August 18, 2012, Annaleise Carr became the youngest person to swim across Lake Ontario. Even better than her achievement is the story of why she undertook the challenge.<br />
<br />
Annaliese is an avid swimmer who belonged to both a pool swimming club and an open-water swimming club. Every year, her open-water swimming club put together a 10K swim on Lake Erie as a fundraiser. One year, a teammate suggested they raise money for Camp Trillium, a camp for kids who have been diagnosed with cancer. When they visited the camp, Annaliese was so impressed with it that she wanted to volunteer. Unfortunately, she was told that the minimum age for volunteering there was 18. Not wanting to wait years before she could help out, she came up with the idea of swimming across Lake Ontario, the smallest of the Great Lakes, to raise money for the camp. Her family was supportive of the idea, and she got to work.<br />
<br />
Annaliese had to find a trainer, and discovered that there was a governing body who controlled these long distance lake swims. There were many rules to follow and a hefty registration fee, but Annaliese wanted to do this right. Of course since the reason for the swim was to raise money for Camp Trillium, she had to overcome her natural shyness and start asking companies to help sponsor her. Eventually, she began to get noticed by the media who publicized her cause. She hoped to raise $30,000 for the camp. By the time she was through, she had raised $90,000.<br />
<br />
There were a number of things I liked about this book. Even though written with a professional co-writer, Annaliese's voice shines through. She is a smart, good-hearted teen with a great family. She acknowledges that she did not go through this alone--even when she was alone in the water she was surrounded by family, friends, and well-wishers. She meets some of the families whose kids went to Camp Trillium and realizes that they, too, were not alone--they had the support of their families and health care workers. These kids never gave up, and that gives her the spur to not give up. She admits that she was scared, she was tired, and at points had doubts, but she could not let everyone down.<br />
<br />
This is not a long book. It tells her story very simply without a lot of embellishment. And yet I became unexpectedly emotional when she made it across and was greeted by her sister.<br />
<br />
I read this book as an e-ARC from <a href="http://www.netgalley.com/">NetGalley</a>.<br />
<br />
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smailehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10874005187169078249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6957688083582178535.post-1227338592024483432014-06-11T17:28:00.001-05:002014-06-11T17:28:56.300-05:00Then and Always by Dani Atlins<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPvCBEntuV2Yhl_46SaTLeTy8bFmX4ZwpYkJdKbo-DQAepqWXcpLjuvxHNq1EImZShiTx3z84X9odZA-PXLY_F_THviI9v4O0XCXhgSwykijvGwPUcVpXqJUzhX8OjdvyEN3X15mR-F3gu/s1600/then+and+always.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPvCBEntuV2Yhl_46SaTLeTy8bFmX4ZwpYkJdKbo-DQAepqWXcpLjuvxHNq1EImZShiTx3z84X9odZA-PXLY_F_THviI9v4O0XCXhgSwykijvGwPUcVpXqJUzhX8OjdvyEN3X15mR-F3gu/s1600/then+and+always.jpg" height="200" width="128" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Main character: 20-something year old Rachel</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Location: London and Great Bishopsford, England</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Time period: Contemporary</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Genre: Fiction, Romance, Fantasy</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX137659864" style="margin-left: 0px;">
<div class="Paragraph SCX137659864" style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="TextRun SCX137659864" style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX137659864" style="background-color: inherit;">The
day before heading off to university, a group of friends meet for
dinner. There's Rachel, her boyfriend Matt, and her two best friends,
Sarah and Jimmy, among others. As they are enjoying themselves, a car
goes out of control and careens into the restaurant. Rachel is trapped
between the table and the wall and will surely be killed, but Jimmy
wrenches her free and saves her life--at the cost of his own.</span></span><span class="EOP SCX137659864" style="line-height: 18px;"> </span></span></span></div>
</div>
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<div class="Paragraph SCX137659864" style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
</div>
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<div class="Paragraph SCX137659864" style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="TextRun SCX137659864" style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX137659864" style="background-color: inherit;">Five
years later, Rachel is a virtual recluse, the scar on her face echoing
the one in her soul. Only Sarah's wedding has brought her back to her
hometown. The rehearsal dinner is stressful, and Rachel leaves early
because of a painful headache. Seeking solitude, she visits the Jimmy's
grave where her headache becomes so intense that she collapses in the
road just outside the cemetery.</span></span><span class="EOP SCX137659864" style="line-height: 18px;"> </span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX137659864" style="margin-left: 0px;">
<div class="Paragraph SCX137659864" style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX137659864" style="margin-left: 0px;">
<div class="Paragraph SCX137659864" style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="TextRun SCX137659864" style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX137659864" style="background-color: inherit;">Or
maybe she was mugged on her way to the wedding--when she wakes up in
the hospital, she finds that everyone else remembers the last five years
differently. For one thing, Jimmy isn't dead, and she didn't break up
with Matt after the ill-fated dinner. In fact, she and Matt are engaged to be married, and they
believe that she was mugged for her engagement ring--which is no longer
on her hand. </span></span><span class="EOP SCX137659864" style="line-height: 18px;"> </span></span></span></div>
</div>
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<div class="Paragraph SCX137659864" style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
</div>
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<div class="Paragraph SCX137659864" style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="TextRun SCX137659864" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX137659864" style="background-color: inherit;">This
is the kind of romance novel that is really about so much more than
romance. It is about relationships and regrets and what ifs. Rachel is
close to her father--it has been only the two of them since her
mother died--and she worries about his health since he was diagnosed
with cancer. Unless he's really in remission. Her friendship with
Sarah is close enough to bring Rachel out of her self-imposed
seclusion. Or to finally take a break from her high-powered journalism
job in London. These two lives can be very confusing. Is it only
relief that Jimmy is not dead that leads her to
spend so much time with him? Or is there some deeply buried
ambivalence about her upcoming marriage to Matt?</span></span><span class="EOP SCX137659864" style="line-height: 18px;"> </span></span></span></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="TextRun SCX137659864" style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX137659864" style="background-color: inherit;">The
mystery of Rachel's memory, and of her two pasts, is not
cleared up until the very end but there are clues as to what
is happening. The ending, then, doesn't come as a shock to the reader
but instead is very sweet and moving and perfectly lovely. </span></span><span class="EOP SCX137659864" style="line-height: 18px;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="TextRun SCX137659864" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX137659864" style="background-color: inherit;">I read <i>Then and Always</i> as an e-ARC from </span><span class="SpellingError SCX137659864" style="background-color: inherit;">NetGalley</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX137659864" style="background-color: inherit;">.</span></span><span class="EOP SCX137659864" style="line-height: 18px;"> </span></span></span></div>
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smailehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10874005187169078249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6957688083582178535.post-50711741774846630182014-06-06T11:38:00.000-05:002014-06-09T09:40:17.870-05:00Allegiant by Veronica Roth<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Main characters: Tris and Tobias<br />
Location: Chicago and surrounding area<br />
Time period: sometime in the future<br />
Genre: YA Fiction, Dystopian Fantasy<br />
Series: Divergent trilogy, Vol. 3<br />
<br />
Back when I was a YA librarian, I snatched up and read the first two books in this series, <i>Divergent</i> and <i>Insurgent</i>, as fast as they came out. This one wasn't published until after I changed jobs, so I am coming late to the party in reading it. I'm also coming to it with the ending already spoiled for me. Did that affect my enjoyment of it? I honestly don't know.<br />
<br />
I did have a harder time getting into this volume to begin with. Jeanine, the Erudite villain of the first two books, has been defeated and the faction system is teetering. The factionless, the group of unwanted people who always reminded me of India's untouchables, have finally decided to throw off their shackles, so to speak, and try to take some power for themselves. They are led by Evelyn, Tobias' mother who abandoned him when he was a child.<br />
<br />
At first, the conflict seems to be the one between the factionless and the Allegiant--the remnants of the remaining factions brought together in a common purpose at last. But then there is also the Edith Prior video, with the enticing hint of others living outside of Chicago. Tris wants to go outside, following the directions left by her previously unknown ancestor. Tobias (I still want to call him Four) is torn by the desire to stay with his mother. But Caleb's life is in danger because of his association with Jeanine and, despite his betrayal, Tris wants to help him. So they escape to the outside and discover the Bureau of Genetic Welfare, housed in what used to be Chicago's O'Hare airport. There they learn that they have been unwitting parts of a massive genetic experiment.<br />
<br />
The previous books had such sharp focus that this one seemed to me to be a little diffuse, and that made it hard for me to get into it. A new location and a new collection of characters have to be dealt with and there was a lot of exposition before we find that we have to fight the same fight yet again. Tris and Tobias are both distracted by unexpected revelations--Tris learns that her mother came from here, from the Bureau, and was inserted into Chicago before her Choosing Day and continued to send reports back to the Bureau, and Tobias is shattered to learn that he is not really Divergent.<br />
<br />
I was a little surprised at how hard Tobias took the news that he was, in the parlance of the Bureau, genetically damaged. Then I remembered that he had spent his childhood abused, both physically and mentally, by his father. (Marcus' abuse of Tobias and Evelyn also colors her motives in leading the factionless back in Chicago.) Joining Dauntless was his first act of defiance against Marcus and he had slowly built up an independent and strong life, but he never quite shook the belief that he was not good enough--and now his genes seem to be confirming that.<br />
<br />
The book finally picks up in the latter part when Tris and Tobias learn that the Bureau, believing that the experiment in Chicago has failed, is going to reset it--by erasing everyone's memory. Finally the focus sharpens again as they come up with a plan to save their family members back home, but to do it in a way that avoids a violent revolt.<br />
<br />
It's always difficult to end a series, especially when it has built an enthusiastic fanbase. Expectations are riding high and how a reader wants it to end may not match the author's vision. I heard a lot of reaction from people who did not like the ending of <i>Allegiant</i>, but I did. The groundwork was laid out so that it wasn't a complete surprise (but I had been spoiled ahead of time so that also reduced the shock), and I think it showed how both Tris and Tobias had grown and developed through the series.<br />
<br />
I checked out <i>Allegiant</i> from my library collection.smailehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10874005187169078249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6957688083582178535.post-21476744514106037152014-06-03T12:58:00.000-05:002014-06-09T09:42:19.188-05:00The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexander by Helen Rappaport<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Main characters: Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia Romanov<br />
Time period: Late 19th, early 20th century<br />
Location: Imperial Russia<br />
Genre: Nonfiction, History, Biography<br />
<br />
The story of the family of Nicholas II, last Tsar of Russia, is well known - the opulent lifestyle, the personal heartbreak of the son and heir's illness, the influence of the mad monk Rasputin, the revolution that resulted in the abdication, the imprisonment, and finally the shocking murder. And always in the background are the four pretty girls in their pretty white dresses.<br />
<br />
In <i>The Romanov Sisters</i>, author Helen Raapaport brings those four girls--Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia--to the foreground. She paints a picture of a loving, closely knit family that was also very sheltered from the outside world. Partly because of their mother's crippling shyness--a trait shared by Olga--the girls do not mingle with outsiders. Their closest friendships beyond the immediate family are with members of the household and the sailors that man the imperial yacht.<br />
<br />
Because of the events happening while I was reading this, I found the description of their summer vacations in the Crimea very moving. They loved going to this beautiful land well removed from court and official duties.<br />
<br />
I did find the center section of the book lagging a bit, with so much attention being paid to Alexei's hemophilia and Alexandra's growing dependence on Rasputin as the only person who could relieve her son's pain. Fortunately, Rappaport avoids sensationalizing Rasputin. As she does through the whole book, she depends on her extensive research of surviving letters, diaries and memoirs. There were plenty of people who disapproved of Rasputin and his dissolute ways, while others, closer to Alexandra, swore by his healing abilities.<br />
<br />
Once Would War I begins, the focus shifts back to the sisters and their contributions to the war effort. Olga and Tatiana found their own hospital and are trained to nurse the wounded--and sometimes developing close (too close?) relationships with their patients. Maria and Anastasia also have their own hospital; though they are too young to be nurses, they do spend a lot of time visiting and playing games with their charges.<br />
<br />
Following the Revolution, the family is forced to leave their home and sent first to Tobolsk and then to their final home in Ekaterinburg. Their household shrinks as does their living space, but they are together after the long separations the war caused. The girls try to be cheerful and make the best of things, not wanting to add to their parents' worry.<br />
<br />
Rappaport does not dwell on the murder, but in a fascinating epilogue, she follows what happened to members of the Romanov household--many of whom also fell victim to the revolutionary forces.<br />
<br />
Rappaport has done a great deal of research, as the footnotes and bibliography attest. Her use of personal diaries and letters makes the scenes where Alexandra burns her own letters and journals--how much more could we could have known if she hadn't felt the need to do that.<br />
<br />
The e-ARC that I read did not include the index or illustrations--I am looking forward to the published book to come out so I can see the illustrations--but it did include a helpful glossary of names. I read <i>The Romanov Sisters</i> as an e-ARC from <a href="http://www.netgalley.com/">NetGalley</a>.<br />
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<br />smailehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10874005187169078249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6957688083582178535.post-72492122270453264412014-05-22T16:10:00.003-05:002014-05-31T07:23:19.483-05:00I Am the Weapon by Allen Zadoff<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Main character: 16-year-old Ben (or is it Zach?)<br />
Location: Manhattan<br />
Time period: Contemporary<br />
Genre: YA Fiction, Thriller, Action/Adventure<br />
<br />
Ben is a trained killer, an assassin. His age is his advantage--who would suspect a teenager? When he is assigned a target, he gets to the target through a son or a daughter (preferably a son--girls are difficult to predict), infiltrating the school, spending months becoming close enough to the family to strike. His preferred weapon is a pen that delivers a toxin that mimics a heart attack. Assignment done, he slips away, to emerge in another place with another name, enrolling in another school to befriend another child of a powerful, possibly traitorous man.<br />
<br />
Now Ben is given a new assignment, but this one is very different. He doesn't have months, he has five days to get close to the daughter of the mayor of New York so he can kill her father. Trouble is, he likes her. And he likes her dad. When he misses two perfect opportunities, his handlers have to ask--is Ben losing his touch? Can he still be trusted to complete his job?<br />
<br />
In a lot of ways this book, the first of a series, reminded me of Anthony Horowitz's Alex Ryder books. Those, of course, were based on the James Bond series, and Alex knew that what he was doing was in service of his country and rarely was his assignment specifically to kill someone. Ben has been trained to kill, though he, too, thinks that he is serving his country. He is told that his targets are either about to betray the United States or through their actions cause harm to the U.S. <br />
<br />
Throughout this assignment, Ben is reminded of his own father and his own grief on learning of his father's "questionable loyalties" and subsequent death. The organization became his new family, with his handlers being referred to as Mother and Dad. But is what he remembers really the truth, or part of the indoctrination he was put through?<br />
<br />
I really enjoyed this book. On one level there is all the clandestine details--the drop points, the coded messages on the smart phone. On another level is using Ben's memories to fill in his history. Then there is Ben himself who is likeable (for a killer.) He is not a cold-blooded killing machine, but a smart, introspective kid. It's easy to see how both the mayor's daughter and her best friend are attracted to him. Okay, there are times when I question whether a teenager, or an adult for that matter, can think as fast, move as fast, or fight as hard, as Ben does, but that's what makes a thriller a nice piece of escapism. <br />
<br />
I read <i>I Am the Weapon</i> as a e-ARC from Net Galley. <br />
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<br />smailehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10874005187169078249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6957688083582178535.post-91815149015866807552014-05-16T10:18:00.000-05:002014-05-16T10:18:02.354-05:00A Creature of Moonlight by Rebecca Hahn<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Main character: 17 year old Marni</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Location: unnamed fairytale land</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Time period: Medieval-ish</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Genre: YA fiction, fantasy</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Marni, the flower girl, lives with her Gramps at the edge of
the forest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People from the village and
lords and ladies from the castle come to buy their flowers and visit with
Gramps, but Marni does not feel a part of either group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is something in the forest that calls
to her, especially a pretty lady with glowing eyes who teaches Marni to knit
magic with pine needles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But Marni never
goes too far into the forest and she always stays close to her home, her garden,
and her Gramps.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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Every once in a while, the forest will call to other girls
who walk in and are never seen again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Marni’s mother was one of these girls, but she was the only one to come
back out—with a baby.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But Marni’s mother
was the daughter of the king and the king’s son is enraged at what he sees as
his sister’s betrayal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He chases her to
the ends of the kingdom and kills her, crippling his father when he tries to protect her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He would have killed Marni as well, but the king promises to give up his
throne and raise her apart from the court.</div>
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<br /></div>
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This is pure fairy tale.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s not a retelling or re-imagining of a familiar tale, or a fractured
tale, or a mash-up of fairy tale characters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Instead, it’s more like Gail Carson Levine’s original fairy tales, such
as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ever</i> or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fairest</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is so steeped in
fairy tale traditions that it feels real. That can set up expectations in the reader--when Marni
winds up at the castle, her uncle’s wife, the queen, welcomes her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was expecting a stepmother variation and
worried that the queen’s welcoming words hid a darker purpose, but no.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She is perfectly sincere in offering
friendship to Marni.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I also really enjoyed that when faced with a choice--go into the forest and become a wild creature or marry Lord Edgar who can protect her from the king--Marni chooses her own
path.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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I read A Creature of Moonlight as an e-ARC from Net Galley.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHXH0GW-Vo_GqllwQZw7x9s_1wLeTtQPzzCAvNSXv8hReAHWKj0V3y0XE9tgCV2AqvCluDmc65Ca-KyR28bNuKJ0zTEUlB3mY8xHlL2iGxM-RgHsCf5smxUg6f1h-vFIM9DVfu-lYwez95/s1600/netgalley+badge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHXH0GW-Vo_GqllwQZw7x9s_1wLeTtQPzzCAvNSXv8hReAHWKj0V3y0XE9tgCV2AqvCluDmc65Ca-KyR28bNuKJ0zTEUlB3mY8xHlL2iGxM-RgHsCf5smxUg6f1h-vFIM9DVfu-lYwez95/s1600/netgalley+badge.jpg" height="197" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />smailehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10874005187169078249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6957688083582178535.post-807834698993873242014-05-06T16:17:00.002-05:002014-05-06T16:18:43.964-05:00We Are the Goldens by Dana Reinhardt<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi00DzX2sytLiwFtu4Of2VEs4uuG8ybjYTSnloOfo966CpcVq9rgRe-1VYAvpy_oABpq0mpFcoB8qPNnuY8zvBjAzd4W-x4Dbi1E884bpjtYpaJ8B4cer59pDxhZpRamklgA4RA_aYiCxn6/s1600/we+are+the+goldens.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi00DzX2sytLiwFtu4Of2VEs4uuG8ybjYTSnloOfo966CpcVq9rgRe-1VYAvpy_oABpq0mpFcoB8qPNnuY8zvBjAzd4W-x4Dbi1E884bpjtYpaJ8B4cer59pDxhZpRamklgA4RA_aYiCxn6/s1600/we+are+the+goldens.jpg" height="200" width="135" /></a></div>
Main character: High school freshman Nell Golden<br />
Location: San Francisco<br />
Time period: Contemporary<br />
Genre: YA fiction, Relationships, Sisters<br />
<br />
Nell Golden is so excited to be going into high school where her older sister is already the star of the soccer team. Nell and Layla have always been close, and the last two years of going to separate schools has been hard on Nell. Now finally, the sisters will be back together and life will be back to normal--except, of course, that it won't.<br />
<br />
There is an ominous tone throughout this book, a feeling that things are not going well and will not end well. Layla is sometimes distant, not talking to Nell and not wanting to do things with her. When Nell finds out why, she feels compelled to keep Layla's secret from her parents, to keep the peace, just as she has always done.<br />
<br />
It doesn't help that Nell sometimes refers to the Creed bothers, family friends who were as close as Nell and Layla were--until one brother died in an accident (possibly because of drugs) and the other commits suicide because he cannot live without his brother. Nell even has imaginary conversations with the Creeds. I was really dreading a very tragic end. <br />
<br />
The book is written as if from Nell to Layla, putting the reader in the position of Layla but without knowing everything that Layla does. (Is this a long letter to a dead sister, perhaps?) This choice does really draw the reader in and makes this a hard book to put down.<br />
<br />
Layla isn't the only one with a secret. Nell develops a crush on a good-looking junior boy, Sam. She even tries out for the school play to get close to him. When Layla tries to warn Nell about him--that he has a cruelness about him--the sisters' relationship has already been damaged to the point that Nell ignores her. There is a discretely written scene that takes place at the closing night party, when Nell learns that Layla was right about Sam's cruelness. (The scene is so discrete that it is open to interpretation--when Nell denies the rumors that Sam himself starts, I was surprised. Is she telling the truth? Or has she turned into a unreliable narrator?)<br />
<br />
I did like this book, though I recognize it may not be to everyone's taste. It does not have a lot of action, but it is an in-depth look at families, sisterhood, and all the different ways of love. Though one cannot say that it has a happy ending, it certainly is a better one that I had foreseen.<br />
<br />
I read this as an advanced ebook from NetGalley. <i>We Are the Goldens</i> is scheduled to be published on May 27, 2014. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />smailehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10874005187169078249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6957688083582178535.post-36196161082313543352014-05-01T16:59:00.003-05:002014-05-01T16:59:37.534-05:00Dangerous Dream (short story) and Dangerous Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmHRlmNMgA7EtFa05VSjDr6gw__Rfy8ZelE57WCEj7Uj7Kzo_tarsjPgGUoMZL-Fpw2YY4QGr87WTZEcbgJwRyG7NLdf6Mr3M50Hmux8CDOSzzFYiW7h44eTIfhFjRlaIWPWpUUTkzTkW-/s1600/dangerous+dream.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmHRlmNMgA7EtFa05VSjDr6gw__Rfy8ZelE57WCEj7Uj7Kzo_tarsjPgGUoMZL-Fpw2YY4QGr87WTZEcbgJwRyG7NLdf6Mr3M50Hmux8CDOSzzFYiW7h44eTIfhFjRlaIWPWpUUTkzTkW-/s1600/dangerous+dream.jpg" height="200" width="131" /></a></div>
Main character: Ridley Duchannes, Siren and dark Caster<br />
Location: Gatlin, South Carolina,plus a world tour<br />
Time period: Contemporary<br />
Genre: Fantasy, YA Fiction<br />
<br />
Graduation marks the end of one period of time and the beginning of another. It's also a good time to shift from the <b>Beautiful Creatures</b> series with its focus on Lena Duchannes and Ethan Waite, to the new <b>Dangerous Creatures</b> series with its focus on Ridley Duchannes and Wesley "Link" Lincoln. <i>Dangerous Dream</i> is a transitional short story that bridges the summer between high school and what comes after.<br />
<br />
When Link says three fatal words ("I love you") to Ridley, she flees from him and embarks on a world tour, reasserting her Siren nature to attract men to her like moths to a flame and then move on, leaving behind her a string of broken hearts. She eventually finds her way to a Caster club where she bluffs her way into a game of Liar's Trade which Casters play for talents, favors and powers. She thinks her power of Persuasion makes her sure to win, but she is set up for a major fall, owing the House a band drummer and a favor to be named later. Who does she know that's a drummer? <br />
<br />
Back to Gatlin and her half-mortal, half-Incubus boyfriend.<br />
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Main character: Ridley, the dark Siren, and Link, the half-Incubus<br />
Location: New York City<br />
Time period contemporary<br />
Genre: Fantasy, YA Fiction<br />
<br />
Ridley returns to Gatlin in time for a "last night" party with Link, Lena and Ethan, and John and Liv. Around a campfire they roast marshmallows and speculate on the future, and Lena casts a binding spell. The spell creates rings for each of them which not only symbolize their connection, but can change color to alert them if one needs help. The following morning they split up, and we follow along with Ridley and Link as they head up to New York.<br />
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Ridley maneuvers Link into meeting with the members of the band he is (unknown to him) going to join to fulfill one of Ridley's debts. This is a Caster band, and includes an Illusionist, a Necromancer, and a Darkborn. When Link finds out why he's accepted into the band, he is furious with Ridley and makes her promise not to use her powers anymore. But the club owner, Lennox Gates, who holds Ridley's markers, has some dark purpose that includes both Ridley and Link--at the bidding of a mysterious and dangerous spirit. How will she be able to protect him?<br />
<br />
I really enjoyed the <b>Beautiful Creatures</b> series (which I actually listened to as audiobooks),but I think I might wind up liking this series better. Ethan and Lena were often in danger--both of their lives and their souls--but there was rarely any doubt of the strength and purity of their love and that they would ultimately prevail.<br />
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Ridley has a much more complicated relationship with Link. Sirens are supposed to go through life wreaking emotional damage without being touched by it. Link loves her despite of (or maybe because of) her faults, but she fights her growing affection for him. Despite herself, she also comes to care for Link's band members, especially Necro. <br />
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I suspect that we may see this series develop into a redemptive journey for Ridley, and those kinds of stories are always fun. I kept thinking of Faith from <i>Buffy the Vampire Slayer--</i>how she reveled in her badness for so long until she had her (mostly off-screen) redemptive journey and became a force for good. I can see Ridley beginning such a journey--though she may need to be dragged kicking and screaming at some parts--and becoming good. It may not be within the rules of the Caster world to go to the Light when you've been claimed by the Dark, but we've already seen rules of the Caster world ignored and broken. I will be keeping my eye out for the next <b>Dangerous Creatures</b> book.<br />
<br />
(I wonder, will there be a third series following John and Liv?)<br />
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I read <i>Dangerous Dream</i> and <i>Dangerous Creatures</i> as ebooks from NetGalley.<br />
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<br />smailehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10874005187169078249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6957688083582178535.post-30967547821676681702014-04-28T15:33:00.000-05:002014-04-28T15:33:25.304-05:00Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Main character: almost-17 year old Dimple Lala<br />
Location: New Jersey, Manhattan<br />
Time period: Contemporary<br />
Genre: YA fiction, children of immigrants<br />
<br />
Dimple Lala is a high school student, a first-generation Indian American who is trying so hard to be American that she is in danger of leaving the Indian behind. Her best friend, Gwyn, is a golden goddess, a blonde and beautiful all-American girl, and Dimple wants to be more like her. Gwyn, on the other hand, wants to be more like Dimple--a girl with two parents who love her and each other and who has a wonderfully exotic cultural heritage.<br />
<br />
When Dimple's parents want her to meet the son of a family friend, Dimple is predisposed to not like him--she wants to choose someone of her own to fall in love with, not have her parents arrange her life for her. The first meeting with Karsh does not go well, but as she encounters him in different situations and learns more about him she finds herself drawn to him. The trouble is Gwyn is also attracted to Karsh and who could possibly see Dimple when Gwyn is in the room (or so Dimple thinks.)<br />
<br />
In the beginning of the book, Dimple is really very self-centered. Her parents don't understand her, they don't understand her photography, they embarrass her. As we progress though the summer, however, she comes to learn to look outside herself. She hears stories about her parents from Karsh's mother--about how her mother was a dancer who was good enough to make a career of it but who gave it up to be a wife and mother, about how her father was a simple country boy who was absolutely floored by the beautiful dancer--and about Gwyn's unhappy and neglected childhood when Gwyn tells Karsh. These were stories Dimple never heard before, but then again she never asked.<br />
<br />
Dimple's own passion is her photography and that is a metaphor for her journey during this summer. At first she only works with black-and-white film, just like she sees everything in black or white. A cousin who has come from India to go to college in New York gives her a large supply of color film to work with. This cousin also opens Dimple's eyes to a world beyond her suburban New Jersey life--a world that includes many Indians/Indian Americans/South Asians who are also trying to understand themselves and their place in the world.<br />
<br />
This book was originally published in 2003, and is being republished in paperback in anticipation of the sequel coming out in a few months. At first, not realizing that it was a reprint, I was a little off kilter because of some of the the 11 year old details. For one thing, Dimple works with film rather than digital pictures. It really is necessary for her to work with film--being in the darkroom and developing and printing her own pictures is the one place Dimple can really be herself. In developing pictures, she reveals things; uploading a digital picture and editing with Photoshop would allow too much to be altered or hidden and would destroy the metaphor. <br />
<br />
I really loved the use of language in this book. The parents have a way of creating rhyming phrases that suggest a musical lilt, and Gwyn's misuse of language is playful, like a secret code all her own. The ending may be a little too perfect, too fairytale-like, but it feels right.<br />
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I read this book as an e-book from NetGalley. This republication Born Confused is scheduled to be released April 29, 2014.<br />
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<br />smailehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10874005187169078249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6957688083582178535.post-88053581238075979162014-04-01T17:43:00.000-05:002014-04-01T17:44:10.752-05:00The Word Exchange by Alena Graedon<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Main characters: Anana (aka Alice), Bart, Doug<br />
Location: Manhattan and Oxford, England<br />
Time period: Near future<br />
Genre: Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Science Fiction<br />
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I found this book utterly delightful. Not just for the thriller plotline and characters, but for the clever thesis, examination of language and communication, speculation on over-dependence on computers, and references to other works. (I am such a sucker for clever things.)<br />
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Ana is worried about her father, Doug, who missed a dinner date with her. As she tries to locate him, she discovers that he has seemingly disappeared without a trace from his office, where he is the editor of the North American Dictionary of the English Language, which is about to release the massive 3rd edition. Bart, a co-worker of Doug's, tries to downplay Ana's fears but soon even he has to admit that something is wrong.<br />
<br />
That simple setup does nothing to prepare you for the rabbit hole that this story plunges into. In a near future where most Americans are literally addicted to their smart phones, a corporation is attempting to monetize language by buying up the copyrights to all the printed dictionaries, then destroying the printed copies so that people are forced to use the only online dictionary--The Word Exchange--where they are charged per word lookup. Next, a game encourages people to make up their own words. Soon, whispers of a word flu begin to leak out and a virus attacks both computers and human brains, threatening to destroy language entirely.<br />
<br />
The delight begins with the table of contents, where you see that the chapters are named in alphabetical order. The chapter titles are then matched with definitions that recall those of Samuel Johnson, the great English lexicographer. For example, empanada is defined as "a source of considerable digestive discomfort." Compare that to Johnson's definition of oats: "a grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people."<br />
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Samuel Johnson's dictionary is a running theme in this novel, even down to Doug and Ana's surname of Johnson. Another literary work that is referenced is is <i>Alice's Adventures in Wonderland</i> and <i>Through the Looking Glass</i>. Doug's fondness for nicknames leads him to refer to Ana as Alice, and there is a reference to the poem, <i>Jabberwocky</i>, which is filled with made up words. And who can forget Humpty Dumpty's assertion that "when I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean--neither more nor less."<br />
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Though not referenced this work, I was also reminded of another science fiction book I recently read--<i>Snow Crash </i>by Neal Stephenson, which also has a running theme of a virus that affects both computers and minds.<br />
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I wonder what Grant and Martha from <b>A Way with Words</b> will think of <i>The Word Exchange</i>.<br />
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I read this as an e-ARC from NetGalley. The Word Exchange is scheduled for release on April 8.smailehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10874005187169078249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6957688083582178535.post-46140550755822215822014-03-27T17:09:00.001-05:002014-03-27T17:09:24.931-05:00There Here and Now by Ann Brashares<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Main characters: 17-year-olds Prenna, a refugee from the future, and Ethan, a time native<br />
Location: upstate New York<br />
Time period: Contemporary<br />
Genre: YA Fiction, dystopia, time travel, timey-wimey mystery<br />
<br />
Our future is not a bright one. The world becomes warmer and wetter which allows the mosquito population to expand greatly without the cold winters to control them. Places that never had to worry about mosquito borne illnesses before are now vulnerable to a number of them, including the blood plague which decimates the human population. Fearing the mosquitoes, people begin using and then over using pesticides, and doing whatever they can to destroy mosquito habitat, not realizing until too late that they've destroyed their own habitat as well.<br />
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This is the world that Prenna comes from. She and her mother were part of a temporal emigration. Their group has been here in our time for 4 years now but live by strict rules designed to prevent affecting the timeline. So while there is some interaction with the time natives, intimate relationships are forbidden. This is difficult for Prenna because Ethan is very interested in her. And truth to tell, she is interested in Ethan too. <br />
<br />
There is a nice dose of romance in this book, as Prenna and Ethan discover that the leaders of her group are not, as claimed, interested in repairing the future but only in keeping control of their followers much like cult leaders. The two are able to puzzle out clues from the future to find the tipping point that will prevent the coming catastrophe.<br />
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Ann Brashares is, of course, best know for <i>The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants</i> series. While this book may not sound like it has much in common with that series, there is still the emphasis on relationships--with parents, with best friends, with boyfriends--as young women learn to come into their own and discover their own independence. <br />
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Though it doesn't dwell on the subject of global warming, it is clear that this is the trigger of the bleak future--and it is not an unreasonable progression. Last summer, the area where I live was hit hard by West Nile Virus--a previously unfamiliar disease spread by mosquitoes. Many communities, including my own, used nighttime aerial spraying to try to control the mosquito population while the nightly news was filled with stories of the ever increasing death toll.<br />
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I read this as an e-ARC from NetGalley. <i>The Here and Now</i> is scheduled to be released on April 8.smailehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10874005187169078249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6957688083582178535.post-13212362340079971612014-03-18T13:17:00.000-05:002014-03-18T13:17:04.834-05:00Under the Egg by Laura Marx Fitzgerald<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Main character: 13-year old Theo Tenpenny<br />
Location: Manhattan<br />
Time period: Contemporary<br />
Genre: Art History, Mystery, Puzzle, Juvenile Fiction<br />
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The publisher's blurb for this book compares it to <i>From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil F. Frankweiler</i> by E. L. Konigsburg and <i>Chasing Vermeer</i> by Blue Balliett. Since I enjoyed both of those books, I was well primed to like this one--and I was not disappointed.<br />
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Theo Tenpenny lives in an old house in Manhattan that has been in her family for generations. Her family is not financially well-off so the house has seen better days, but Theo does her best to keep it standing. Her grandfather, Jack, was a painter, but he was killed in a traffic accident before the start of the book. Theo was a witness to the accident, and as he lays dying he tells her to find the treasure that is under the egg.<br />
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I hesitate to give too many plot details because a great deal of the enjoyment in reading this book was to discover things along with Theo and with Bodhi, a new girl in the neighborhood who has had just as unconventional an upbringing as Theo. Starting with just Jack's cryptic words, the two girls chase clues, solve the mystery, find the treasure, and make friends with many wonderful characters along the way.<br />
<br />
It is that cast of characters that also adds to the enjoyment of the book. Many have their eccentricities--especially the French tea-seller who lives next door--but, with two notable exceptions, they all give generously to the two girls and open Theo's world up greatly. They reminded me of the townspeople in <i>Gilmore Girls'</i> Stars Hollow.<br />
<br />
I would definitely recommend this to tweens who enjoy mysteries, as well as anyone who enjoyed <i>Mixed Up Files</i> and <i>Chasing Vermeer</i>. <br />
<br />
I read this as an e-ARC from NetGalley.<br />
<br />smailehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10874005187169078249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6957688083582178535.post-80146644709528129092014-03-11T16:49:00.005-05:002014-03-11T16:49:59.772-05:00The Runaway King by Jennifer Nieman (The Ascendance Trilogy, bk. 2)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Main character: Jaron, a 14-year-old king<br />
Location: the kingdom of Carthya<br />
Time period: Medieval-ish<br />
Genre: Fantasy (non-magical)<br />
Sequel to: <a href="http://librarybooklist.blogspot.com/2014/03/main-character-sage-14-year-old-orphan.html">The False Prince</a><br />
<br />
When we last left our heroes, Jaron had reclaimed his rightful throne and revealed the identity of the traitor who was responsible for the deaths of his parents and brother. We knew that wasn't the end of the story--there were too many people who were jostling to claim power for themselves to simply accept a teenaged kind that most had assumed was long dead. (Besides, there were two more books to come in the trilogy.)<br />
<br />
At the state memorial service for Jaron's family, he is the victim of an assassination attempt led by Roden, one of the boys he was in competition with in the first book. Roden is now allied with the pirates and has a message for Jaron--the pirates want Jaron dead. He can surrender himself to them and they will leave Carthya in peace, or they will invade and destroy Carthya in order to kill Jaron.<br />
<br />
Jaron's regents advise him to go into hiding while they elect a steward to rule Carthya. The most likely choice for steward is Gregor Breslyan, captain of the guard. Not surprisingly, Gregor is one of the strongest voices urging Jaron to hide. But also not surprisingly, Jaron has his own ideas. He pretends to go along with the plan, but instead of going to the planned hiding place, he takes up his old identity as the orphan boy Sage and goes to find the pirate crew. Along the way, he learns some things that are happening to his kingdom that he was never told, and he meets some new characters--some that will be friends and some that will definitely not be friends.<br />
<br />
I really enjoy how Jaron is able to submerge himself in Sage's identity, and how he never lies to anyone. He tells the truth--not necessarily the whole truth--and if the listener fills in the blanks with wrong assumptions that's not Jaron's fault (though it usually works in his favor.) He has been alone for so long that he is wary of others and their motives, which on the one hand is a good thing since Conner was not the only traitor in Jaron's court. On the other hand, it does cause him to keep at arm's length people who want to help him, such as Amarinda, his intended princess. Fortunately, he begins to learn to trust and by the end of this book has built a loyal cadre of friends and advisors.<br />
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The book ends on a cliffhanger that lets us know what the main plot of the last book will be. Unfortunately, it will be a while before I can get my hands on <b>The Shadow Throne</b>. For this series, I am reading copies checked out from my library.<br />
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<br />smailehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10874005187169078249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6957688083582178535.post-18518051147243630422014-03-05T22:47:00.001-06:002014-03-08T17:19:20.555-06:00The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen (The Ascendance, bk. 1)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Main character: Sage, a 14-year-old orphan<br />
Location: the kingdom of Carthya<br />
Time period: Medieval-ish<br />
Genre: Fantasy (non-magical)<br />
<br />
A friend and co-worker has been urging me to read this book, the first in the Ascendance Trilogy. Not only was she right that I'd enjoy it, I've already checked out book #2 to read next.<br />
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Sage is an orphan, a thief, and a street rat. One day a nobleman named Conner arrives at Mrs. Turbeldy's orphanage and offers to take Sage off her hands--and pay her a handsome price for the exchange. She agrees with alacrity, and Sage is thrown into a cart with three other orphan boys, all of similar age and, strangely, of similar physical features and build.<br />
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Once they arrive at Conner's castle, his sinister plan is revealed--the royal family has been killed and Conner wants to gain control of the kingdom by installing Prince Jaron on the throne. Prince Jaron was lost at sea four years earlier when pirates attacked his ship but his body was never found, so Conner is seeking a boy of the right age and physical type who could impersonate the prince well enough to convince the regents. Thus begins a dangerous competition where the winner gains a throne and the losers lose their lives to ensure their silence.<br />
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<b>The False Prince</b> is a suspenseful cat-and-mouse game with layers of secrecy, lies, and betrayals. We are fairly sure that Sage will win out--he is the main character after all--but how will he save the others? And why he is fighting Conner at every turn? And just where is the story going after this?<br />
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<b>The False Prince</b> was on the 2013 Texas Lone Star Reading List. I read a copy checked out from my library.<br />
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<br />smailehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10874005187169078249noreply@blogger.com0