Girls of Paper and Fire (Girls of Paper and Fire #1) by Natasha Ngan

HOLY SHIT!!! That's my reaction upon closing this book. Followed immediately by the need for book 2 which isn't coming until November!!!

Lei is so damn strong and amazing. She doesn't even realize it. She thinks she is powerless and others tell her she is. She goes through some horrible things both before and after being forced to be a Paper Girl. Paper Girl's live for a year and are used as concubines for the Demon King of the land. But what she finds in the house they reside in is friendship, love, and her true worth and sense of self. And she meets with betrayal and pain too. But Natasha tells the tale so beautifully that even when it is painful it begs to be read. 

Wren is so amazing and real. She is so strong but she finds her soft and loving heart during her time as a Paper Girl. She becomes so much more as she learns to be less and let someone else take up some of her burdens. 

Love and sacrifice and class war far and war....and action, adventure, and romance...death and hope, violence and romance....it is all here in this tale....

This is a great LGBTQ+ read...
Also a trigger warning needs to be noted, there is talk of sexual assault...

I loved this book!!!!! And with the Barnes & Noble special edition there is a great annotated chapter with notes by Natasha that add so much to the experience. 

(Finished Aug. 27, 2019)

Inland by Téa Obreht

I didn't love this one. I didn't hate it. I guess I was just meh about it. It just wasn't my sort of thing. The writing was fine, rather poetic in places, and I guess the story was ok. The story was told from two voices, Lurie and Nora, and they were on a course towards each other. She as her husband and two of her sons have gone missing and there is a drought and she is at home with their youngest son, her mother-in-law, and the husband's cousin. Lurie as he tells how he came to be on the road with a camel...yes a camel...Burke...and this all takes place in and around 1893.

There is some historical facts at the base of this...the US Army did try using camels as beasts of burden and the camp and men of the army that Lurie meets are all real people.

The struggle with thirst and feelings and being a pioneer of sorts that Nora tells ring true.

Again, it isn't that this is a bad book. It just wasn't for me. I had to read it because it is the next Barnes & Noble bookclub book and I am the discussion leader for the store I work in.
I freely admit I didn't feel a full grasp of the story. Also, I never felt an emotional investment in the characters which made it hard to get lost in the story.

If you read and liked The Tiger's Wife (I never read it and it wasn't on my want to read list) this might be of interest to you. I just prefer a different style of story/writing/book.

(Finished

The Magician (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel #2) by Michael Scott

After finishing The Alchemyst  I had to start book 2 right away. I wish I could go right on to book 3 but I have to read the September B&N bookclub pick, Inland by Téa Obreht, first. 

Sophie and Josh are back with their (maybe) friend Nicholas and Scathach. Perenelle is stuck as a captive on Alcatraz being guarded by a Sphinx, and the twins and Nicolas have met up with Joan of Arc. Sleazy Dr. Dee is back and is joined by another bad guy, Niccolò Machiavelli. Other elders are revealed and it is exciting. 

Josh is a brat in the Ron Weasley jealous of Harry Potter sort of way but Sophie is amazing and I love Scathach. I don't think Nicholas is the bad guy Josh thinks he is but I am sure, as with all people, and he is human even if he is immortal, he is more complex than being just good or bad. Some people are just bad, others are just plain good, but most people are more complicated. 

There is action, mythology, history, magic, friendship, danger...all the things a good story should have. So far this series is just what I need from time to time, a good story that isn't overly sexualized or with a romance story line because someone told some authors that sex sells. What sells is a good story and writing, sex and romance should be part of the story when needed but not just there to see extra books. I tell you that not because I am a prude (I am so far from one) but to assure you that if you are giving this book to a middle grade reader or an upper elementary age strong reader you don't have to worry about content that is age inappropriate. 

If you have a young person in your life who doesn't read much, but read Harry Potter or Percy Jackson they will probably like this series too. 

(Finished Aug. 21, 2019)

The Alchemyst (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel #1) by Michael Scott

Because I guess I am not reading near enough different series I went and started another.

I found this one I don't even know how long ago when it was on the Buy 2 Get 1 Free table at Barnes & Noble. I picked it up thinking I needed something to read before I have to start the next B&N Bookclub book and this seemed like a good read that also wouldn't take me long to read. But then life got in the way and events conspired against me...mainly my son was in a show and there was so much back and forth and volunteering, plus having to work, that I didn't get to spend as much uninterrupted time with Josh, Sophie, Nicholas, and Scathach as I would have liked and it took me longer to read then I would have liked...

The Alchemyst shouldn't be confused with The Alchemist by Coehlo. This is a story about the man who is part real person part myth. He was born in 1330 and his death was recorded as being in 1418 but when the tomb of Nicolas and his wife Perenelle was broken into it was found to be empty. Rumor had it that he had found a way to create the philosopher's stone and used it to keep him and Perenelle perpetually young, immortal, an in steady supply of money. So imagine if you will if it was the early 2000's and Nicholas was Nick and he owned a bookstore in California. And imagine he has a teenage employee who is one of a pair of twins who may be the twins in this important book that some other immortals who are quite evil come for and said twins and Nicholas meet a much older warrior who looks like a teenager but is 1000's of years old and they are on the run and trying to save themselves and the world...that is this story...and it is good and exciting and full of magic and danger....and while it is in the YA department I would say it is age appropriate for children, teens, and adults...

I will read the rest of the series for sure.

(Finished Aug. 19, 2019)

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

While helping me with a list of books to suggest for a young man at work my friend & the best children's department lead ever Rachel suggested this one and said it was her favorite book. I immediately had to know why so here we are...and I have to say not since I first read Jhumpa Lahiri have I ever felt like words had a taste and I was feasting....Jandy Nelson gives voice to Jude and Noah and NoahandJude in such a beautiful way, so painful and vivid and heartbreaking and amazing...lines like "he laughs a laugh so happy it blasts about a billion balloons into the air" and "I feel relaxed now, I mean supernaturally relaxed, like I'm left-out butter." and "the colors start flooding into me, not through my eyes but right through my skin, replacing blood and bone, muscle and sinew, until I am redorangebluegreenpurpleyellowredorangebluegreenpurpleyellow." And the portrait titles scattered throughout are so vivid and sometimes heartbreaking, "Boy Blows Into Dust" and "Boy in a Blender"

This is a story of heartbreak and healing, loss and discovery, love and first love and first times (which aren't always connected) and finding out who you are and what you want to be and all the joy and pain that come with that. It is coming of age, coming undone, and being put back together, as Jude calls it, "remake the world"

This is now among my all time favorite books ever!!! It will be suggested to every reader I come in contact with. I haven't been this tempted to start a book over the moment I was done in I don't know how long.....

(Finished Aug. 13, 2019)

House of Salt And Sorrows by Erin A. Craig

I don't want to spoil anyone so I won't give away the who in whodunnit or the ending...but I want to tell you enough to make sure you read this.

It is a beautifully spun tale that is a retelling of sorts of the 12 Dancing Princesses which I believe is a Grimm's Fairytale but it is so much more....the writing is beautiful and descriptive without being ridiculously wordy...it paints beautiful images and you can taste the briny salt air as you read about the world Annaleigh and her sister live and die in....The world here is one that has it's own Gods and Goddesses and that centers heavily on the story....but basically I think this is what it would look like if Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey and the Grimm's 12 Dancing Princesses had a love child born in the world as seen by Stephen King....And the ending, I loved it...I wish I could say something about it but I don't want to ruin it for you...But it was so very satisfying....



I loved my time in the House of Salt and Sorrows and my only sorrow is that it is over.

(Finished Aug. 11, 2019)

Dark Age (Red Rising Saga #5) by Pierce Brown

Holy Reaper!! Unholy Howlers!! Talk about a crazy ride!!!!!!!

Yes, that is a lot of glorydamn exclamation points but from page XVII of The Sovereign at the start right until page 752 when it ends this is an adrenaline filled ride that grabs on and rips through you and doesn't let go for a moment.

I saw a Tweet that perfectly describes how indescribable the Red Rising Saga is...."If GoT and Star Wars had a baby, then that baby grew up to marry the Hunger Games, and then the baby was flown 100s of years to the future to marry Halo-how I explain the Red Rising Saga to people and then I just start howling." ~ @yourhostandmc

I started reading this series back when my friend Danielle told me I had to because it was so good and it was a trilogy and all the books were published so I wouldn't have to wait to find out "what next". Well as I was finishing book 3 it was announced there would be more...and I was too invested to stop...and now the wait begins for the next piece of the story and damn you Pierce Brown for making me love this world you created...even when I hate it and it breaks my heart.

It really is a great story. The violence is crazy and fast paced and the descriptions of the battles and weapons and tech are amazing, and it is tied together by a story of politics, world building, family, love, and betrayal. I can only imagine the Herman's Head type shit that is going on inside of Pierce's brain!!!!

(Finished Aug. 9, 2019)