Oh my gosh I loved this book!! And I hated it!! I can't say why exactly because I don't want to spoil anyone. But I loved it and hated it in the very best possible ways!!!
First the two voices, I think Becky wrote Arthur and Adam write Ben. Ben feels like he would have been from the world in They Both Die at the End and Arthur feels like he would be friends with Simon in Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda
Now the story, the universe, fate, what ever you want to call it, puts Ben and Arthur together and then they really begin to find each other and themselves. They are real and fragile and strong and young and full of love and doubt and fear and bravery and I love them!!!
As they explore what it means to find yourself and someone who is ok with what ever that means they made my heart melt. And bonus for all the HP and Hamilton and of course (I mean look at the title of the book) Dear Evan Hanson references!!
Please read this!!! You will thank me!!
(Finished October 23, 2018)
Tuesday, October 23, 2018
Dear Madam President: An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Run the World by Jennifer Palmieri
Oops, I forgot to write a review and post it! I started and finished this the same day and then I passed it on to a great kid on her 13th birthday, my son's bestie!
This is a motivational reminder that the best way to make change is to keep moving forward. That when women move forward we draw fire and that's ok. It was a little bit of what happened to Palmieri after the devastating loss of the 2016 election. But it is more. It is a how she moved forward letter to the person who will some day be the first female president AND it is a love letter to young women everywhere that they have a voice and should not be afraid to use it. And to cry if you feel like you need to, it doesn't make you weak to feel what you feel.
(Finished October 20, 2018)
This is a motivational reminder that the best way to make change is to keep moving forward. That when women move forward we draw fire and that's ok. It was a little bit of what happened to Palmieri after the devastating loss of the 2016 election. But it is more. It is a how she moved forward letter to the person who will some day be the first female president AND it is a love letter to young women everywhere that they have a voice and should not be afraid to use it. And to cry if you feel like you need to, it doesn't make you weak to feel what you feel.
(Finished October 20, 2018)
Friday, October 19, 2018
Muse of Nightmares (Strange the Dreamer #2) by Laini Taylor
This is the followup to Strange The Dreamer. I hope this isn't the end of Sarai and Lazlo stories. I would like to spend more time with Eril-Fane and Azareen, with Ruby, Sparrow, and Feral, with Sheila, and even with Minya and Thyon.
Like many stories recently, Muse of Nightmares is about abuse of power and the fallout when those abused finally have had enough and fight back. It isn't always a clean outcome. There is death and loss. There is fear and anger. But there is victory and love too.
Sarai is learning how to use her powers in her new form. She doesn't want to inflict pain and suffering, she wants to help and heal.
How much of who we are and what do is comes out of trauma and how much is just our nature? Can incredible grief and loss be overcome? Can there really be a starting over, a remaking of oneself and doing better? How eternal is love? These are some of what Taylor explores in her writing. It doesn't feel preachy or forced. It feels like a fairytale, a very long one, but a fairytale none the less. I will gladly read more if she writes more.
(Finished October 19, 2018)
Like many stories recently, Muse of Nightmares is about abuse of power and the fallout when those abused finally have had enough and fight back. It isn't always a clean outcome. There is death and loss. There is fear and anger. But there is victory and love too.
Sarai is learning how to use her powers in her new form. She doesn't want to inflict pain and suffering, she wants to help and heal.
How much of who we are and what do is comes out of trauma and how much is just our nature? Can incredible grief and loss be overcome? Can there really be a starting over, a remaking of oneself and doing better? How eternal is love? These are some of what Taylor explores in her writing. It doesn't feel preachy or forced. It feels like a fairytale, a very long one, but a fairytale none the less. I will gladly read more if she writes more.
(Finished October 19, 2018)
Wednesday, October 10, 2018
The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White
Holy heck this was a great and creepy read!
A tribute to and a retelling of the original Frankenstein story by Mary Shelley.
Elizabeth is taken in as a child, rescued she thinks, by the Frankenstein family. Her job becomes clear, to be a companion to oldest son Victor. There is a bond between the two and it is a relief to his parents. Elizabeth is calming to Victor. Keeping him happy and calm becomes her life, and she believes it is how she will be allowed to stay with the family. As the years pass it becomes clear that there is something off about Victor.
He is obsessed with the idea of conquering death, to keep it from ever taking HIS Elizabeth. The things he does to figure out this puzzle are horrific. Much like in the original, he creates a creature. Which is the monster is the question addressed in Shelley's story and it is here too. There is mystery, some gore, love, betrayal, and the looking within to see people for who they are.
I was creeped out, scared a little, and even grossed out a few times. And it was delightfully awful!!!
(Finished October 10, 2018)
A tribute to and a retelling of the original Frankenstein story by Mary Shelley.
Elizabeth is taken in as a child, rescued she thinks, by the Frankenstein family. Her job becomes clear, to be a companion to oldest son Victor. There is a bond between the two and it is a relief to his parents. Elizabeth is calming to Victor. Keeping him happy and calm becomes her life, and she believes it is how she will be allowed to stay with the family. As the years pass it becomes clear that there is something off about Victor.
He is obsessed with the idea of conquering death, to keep it from ever taking HIS Elizabeth. The things he does to figure out this puzzle are horrific. Much like in the original, he creates a creature. Which is the monster is the question addressed in Shelley's story and it is here too. There is mystery, some gore, love, betrayal, and the looking within to see people for who they are.
I was creeped out, scared a little, and even grossed out a few times. And it was delightfully awful!!!
(Finished October 10, 2018)
Sunday, October 7, 2018
American Street by Ibi Zoboi
Wow!!!
Ok so where to begin....Fabiola, Fabulous to Kasim, Fab to her cousins, has come back to America. She was born and spent the first few months of her life in Detroit but then she and her mother returned to Haiti. Now they are back, or trying to come back. But when they land at JFK her mother is detained and she is allowed to continue on her own.
And alone she lands in Detroit and is swept into the world her cousins and Aunt occupy. Life in Detroit, in the little house at the crossroads of American Street and Joy Road, is so very different than her life in Haiti but not so different. There is a power struggle and not always enough to go around. She may be new to the language and culture but Fabiola is wise in her own way, and she is so very strong. Even when she gets it wrong. She believes in family, in love, and in Vodou, the culture which she holds onto and looks to for guidance and comfort as she adjusts to her new world. And she wants her mother back, and will do what ever she has to to get her, well almost what ever. But the cost is high and Fab doesn't expect where things go.
There is magic, love, fear, violence, and hope on America Street. And the writing is raw and beautiful. Zoboi has a new book out, Pride, a retelling of Pride and Prejudice, that I am not very anxious to get my hands on.
(Finished October 6, 2018)
Ok so where to begin....Fabiola, Fabulous to Kasim, Fab to her cousins, has come back to America. She was born and spent the first few months of her life in Detroit but then she and her mother returned to Haiti. Now they are back, or trying to come back. But when they land at JFK her mother is detained and she is allowed to continue on her own.
And alone she lands in Detroit and is swept into the world her cousins and Aunt occupy. Life in Detroit, in the little house at the crossroads of American Street and Joy Road, is so very different than her life in Haiti but not so different. There is a power struggle and not always enough to go around. She may be new to the language and culture but Fabiola is wise in her own way, and she is so very strong. Even when she gets it wrong. She believes in family, in love, and in Vodou, the culture which she holds onto and looks to for guidance and comfort as she adjusts to her new world. And she wants her mother back, and will do what ever she has to to get her, well almost what ever. But the cost is high and Fab doesn't expect where things go.
There is magic, love, fear, violence, and hope on America Street. And the writing is raw and beautiful. Zoboi has a new book out, Pride, a retelling of Pride and Prejudice, that I am not very anxious to get my hands on.
(Finished October 6, 2018)
Friday, October 5, 2018
Impostors (Uglies #5) by Scott Westerfeld
I have read quite a few books by Scott Westerfeld, the first 4 in the Uglies series, the Leviathan trilogy, the Midnighters books, and the Peeps books. And for the most part I have loved or at the very least really enjoyed all of his work.
Specific to uglies, I loved the first 3 books but didn't love Extras, it felt forced to me. I would say it felt like the story was done and then someone made him come back for more before there was more to tell to cash in on the popularity of the trilogy. When this book was announced I was excited even if I was a little worried it would suffer from what ever plagues Extras for me. I was hopeful that enough time had past that it made sense to revisit Tally's world. And boy was I right!!!
In the beginning I was wondering when she (Tally) would show up. But before long I found myself thinking less of her and getting more and more invested in Frey. I wondered about the romance and how it fit into the story as I often do when reading YA. I always ask myself is it gratuitous meant to pander to the teen audience and what publishers think they want or does it add to the story. In this case I would say it adds to the story, it is part of how Frey separates herself from Rafi, begins to find and form her own identity outside the world where she is kept as a secret killing machine and made to be a carbon copy of her twin and nothing more. It is a case of the heir and the spare taken to a deadly extreme.
By the time I got to the last page I was feeling a familiar sense of dread, the one I always feel when a series has gripped me and I know the current piece is ending and there is a wait ahead for the next part.
Bring on more Frey and Col please Mr. Westerfeld, as soon as possible.
Oh and I just want to say here, as a prediction of sorts, I don't trust Rafi. I have a feeling she is not what she seems and is not a good gal.
(Finished October 4, 2018)
Specific to uglies, I loved the first 3 books but didn't love Extras, it felt forced to me. I would say it felt like the story was done and then someone made him come back for more before there was more to tell to cash in on the popularity of the trilogy. When this book was announced I was excited even if I was a little worried it would suffer from what ever plagues Extras for me. I was hopeful that enough time had past that it made sense to revisit Tally's world. And boy was I right!!!
In the beginning I was wondering when she (Tally) would show up. But before long I found myself thinking less of her and getting more and more invested in Frey. I wondered about the romance and how it fit into the story as I often do when reading YA. I always ask myself is it gratuitous meant to pander to the teen audience and what publishers think they want or does it add to the story. In this case I would say it adds to the story, it is part of how Frey separates herself from Rafi, begins to find and form her own identity outside the world where she is kept as a secret killing machine and made to be a carbon copy of her twin and nothing more. It is a case of the heir and the spare taken to a deadly extreme.
By the time I got to the last page I was feeling a familiar sense of dread, the one I always feel when a series has gripped me and I know the current piece is ending and there is a wait ahead for the next part.
Bring on more Frey and Col please Mr. Westerfeld, as soon as possible.
Oh and I just want to say here, as a prediction of sorts, I don't trust Rafi. I have a feeling she is not what she seems and is not a good gal.
(Finished October 4, 2018)
Monday, October 1, 2018
Lethal White (Cormoran Strike #4) by Robert Galbraith
This was a LONG book. But it was good!! I paused it for a couple of days to read An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green and then picked it back up. I like, really like Robin. And I like Cormoran too. I like them together. I like how they like each other but neither knows it about the other and they are a little awkward with each other but their minds work so well together to solve mysteries and the mushy love stuff isn't a distraction, even if there isn't really any mushy love stuff...yet. There might be at some point, and I hope there is, but it is the mysteries I love most. This is four adventures in and I have yet to be disappointed. This was one was tough and I am not ashamed to admit I didn't figure it out before the reveal. I thought it was someone else and I was wrong. I love that in a who done it.
From book 1 I did not like Matthew...not even a little, and my dislike for him was cemented in this edition. He is a real ass!!!
I can't say much else because, SPOILERS. So I will end here saying this was a book I enjoyed and I hope there will be more soon!!!! If you like a good, well spun, murder mystery then you want to spend time with Robin and Cormoran.
Actually before I leave you, I want to say that as much as I would love to be friends with Robin I would be very nervous about going anyplace with her, she seems to attract a bit of danger. But then again she gets out of it so maybe....
(Finished October 1, 2018)
From book 1 I did not like Matthew...not even a little, and my dislike for him was cemented in this edition. He is a real ass!!!
I can't say much else because, SPOILERS. So I will end here saying this was a book I enjoyed and I hope there will be more soon!!!! If you like a good, well spun, murder mystery then you want to spend time with Robin and Cormoran.
Actually before I leave you, I want to say that as much as I would love to be friends with Robin I would be very nervous about going anyplace with her, she seems to attract a bit of danger. But then again she gets out of it so maybe....
(Finished October 1, 2018)
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