The Testaments (The Handmaid's Tale #2) by Margaret Atwood

I must be honest here and say I never read The Handmaid's Tale. I did watch the first season of the show on Hulu. I didn't feel like I was lost reading this and don't feel like I would have been even if I hadn't seen the show. I don't know if having read the first book would have added to this but the story is told in three voices and none are part of the first book. I read it because it is the bookclub book at work and I am glad it was because I probably wouldn't have read it otherwise and it was something!
In the Q&A in the back of the book Atwood says her hope for the readers tis that having read the book we never have to live it. And that is the freaky part of this story, it feels like it is something that on the one hand is so extreme but on the other hand it feels dangerously possible.

This story is told in flashback from three perspectives that intersect.
An "Aunt" is writing a secret book about her role in how she became an "Aunt" in Gilead and her long game to bring it down.
Agnes, a young women who has lived in Gilead her whole life.
Daisy, a young women who finds out she was born in Gilead and smuggled out, she has lived her whole life in Canada.

The questions the story had me asking myself were difficult. What would I do if I was Lydia? Would I have given my life early on to not be part of this horror? How should she be judged for choosing to stay alive and does it make her brave to play the long game she played? Do the small kindnesses she did along the way take away any of the bad she did? Did she make up for it all in the end?

I am looking forward to conversation about this at bookclub, I think it will be quite interesting

(Finished Sept. 25, 2019)

The Song Rising (The Bone Season #3) by Samantha Shannon

First I read AND LOVED SO MUCH The Priory of the Orange Tree  and I wanted more of Samantha Shannon so I got my hands on these books, which my friend Rachel who I work with, and who has amazing taste in books by the way (her favorite which is now in my top 5 for sure is I'll Give You the Sun which I highly suggest you read), said this was a good series. It took awhile for me to really fall into this world but once I did, about 80ish pages into The Bone Season, I was totally hooked and with small break between The Mime Order (which I loved from page 1) and this one to read How to Be Remy Cameron (also a must read!!) I am not anxious for the next book in the series which I believe is do out next year sometime and then 1 a year until I think I heard 7 books have been published. 

The Song Rising picks up where The Mime Order left off and Paige is trying to lead and she is trying to learn to have trust in her own instincts and gifts and not be what others want to make her into. It isn't easy and she faces betrayal and resistance. There are some who think she is too soft and others who think she isn't worthy and can't be trusted to run the syndicate. Her judgments are questioned and she begins to believe her detractors. 

I am happy to say Warden is back, he is perhaps my favorite character in this series. I like Paige too, her desire for freedom and to temper justice with mercy are timeless themes. I know this series was begun in the pre-trump era but it feels so important to the times we are living in. The dire warning about creating hierarchies based on some characteristic used for othering, in this case being a clairvoyant, is parallel to the racial and religious othering trump and his ilk are pushing and which is making the world even more dangerous for people of color, Jews, Muslims, and LGBTQ+ people.

Anyway, I won't go into the political realm any more that that. I will end by saying I am so glad I stuck with book 1 because I am now truly invested in this series and these characters.

(Finished Sept. 23, 2019)

How to Be Remy Cameron by Julian Winters

I read and loved Running With Lions so when I found out that Julian Winters had another book coming out I was so excited and waited (not) so patiently for it. I had to order it and as soon as it came into the store where I work (as you know by now I work at a Barnes & Noble), finished the book I was reading and paused my read of the series it's part of to spend some time with the words of Julian and I am so glad I did. This is one I will reread and will suggest often.

I love Remy. Remy (Remington) is a 17 year old high school junior and he thinks he knows who he is. That is until he has to write an essay for his AP Lit class about who he is. Then he realizes a lot of how he sees himself is defined by labels, some of his own and some placed on him by others. He begins to struggle with figuring out who he really is and how to separate what he is from who he is.

He is black, gay, adopted, a big brother, a son, a friend, into music, has a great sense of his own style, an ex-boyfriend, dreams of being a writer....But is any of that who he is?

This is such a beautiful book!!! Remy learns a lesson we all need to learn no matter our age and one he realizes he will continue to learn as he grows and changes...labels don't make us, we make us with the choices we make, with the life we live and grow in...and while it isn't always easy, taking this step of his journey with him was amazing!!!


I loved all the references to 80's pop culture, I loved the vibe of the coffee house Remy and his friends frequent, I loved the relationship he has with his best friends Lucy and Rio. I love his bond with his amazing little sister and his parents.

I was so sad for him when he was feeling like he couldn't talk about all of the storms brewing in his heart and mind, but when he does, I cheered for him and was so glad his parents stayed as awesome as they seemed from the start.

Remy's friends aren't perfect and at times it feels like they aren't respecting his boundaries, but as their relationship becomes more clear and defined it isn't really so much a respecting or disrespecting of boundaries but a knowing each other so well and counting on each other that there is a coming around, one friend even doing something she thought she'd never...don't worry it isn't harmful, it is just a coming around to sometimes we go places with those we love because they need us to even tho it isn't what we would have planned to do....I know that is vague but you will see....

There is one scene at a party with Remy and a guy who is a real jerk and who says some ugly things that make Remy uncomfortable, but a friend comes to his side and he doesn't have to face it alone. On the second to last page this is addressed a little in the content warning, which I appreciated seeing.

Thank you for another awesome read Julian, anything you write I will read!!!

(Finished Sept. 20, 2019)

The Mime Order (The Bone Season #2) by Samantha Shannon

As soon as I finished The Bone Season I had to start book 2. As I mentioned in my post about book 1 it took me some time to fall in hard for this story but once I did I was hooked. The Mime Order didn't disappoint at all. It grabbed me from the first page and picked up right where The Bone Season left off. 

It was a wild ride. Paige was faced with some hard choices and she faces them with courage and heart even when she struggles and has to take on more than she feels like she can handle. She is on the trail of answers and the answers aren't what she  (or I) thought they would be. Warden is back and thank goodness because I really like him. He knows he has made some terrible mistakes and wasn't as strong as he should have been and so while he did what he thought the best in a  bad situation he freely admits and accepts the consequences of the choices he made, like keeping Paige instead of letting her go. 

There is a feel of political and societal commentary going on in the subtext of the story, sometimes overtly so. The way people are classified but he magic/powers they have and the hierarchy this categorization places them in is a parallel between current issues around inequality/discrimination around race/religious/gender/sexuality etc. There is othering of those who are perceived to be less because of their powers or lack there of, there is the segregation or a group because they are thought to be the least of the least...it is parable of sorts I would say....

The use of storytelling in the story is interesting. The thought being that even fairytales start with some lesson or grain of truth you want to impart. But the dangers of unchecked writing and how it can be used to further a nefarious agenda is part of the story too (Jax's pamphlet being the base of the way clairvoyants are ranked). 

And ok there is some romance too. But it doesn't feel sloppy or overly played up at the expense of character development. 

I am so anxious to get to book 3....

(Finished September 18, 2019)

The Bone Season (The Bone Season #1) by Samantha Shannon

I got this because I read and instantly loved The Priory of the Orange Tree and wanted to spend more time in the words of Samantha Shannon. Unlike Priory I needed more than a page or 2 to fall in love with Paige and the world she lives in but fall in love I did. I am so glad I stuck with this one and am looking forward to diving into book 2 ASAP.


In this version of the world it is in 2056 and takes place in England, in London and Oxford.

In London there is an unground network of criminals and a government run by something called Scion. The "criminals" are people with clairvoyant abilities and to avoid punishment the underground has sprung up. For Paige there is the added danger of being Irish and having a father who works for Scion. But she seems to be managing. Until she gets caught up in the Bone Season and spends time in a "rehabilitation" center. There she meets Warden. And he is so fascinating. There is a hierarchy of clairvoyants on the streets and also in the center, called Sheol I, and there is something not quite "normal" or right about those running the place. Who are they are where are they from? Can Warden be trusted? What is his story? The Paige/Warden story kind of has a Beauty & The Beast feel to it...

The building of the world and the powers takes some time to becoming "can't put this down" and the language takes some getting used to, there are slang terms and words Samantha uses for her world that are old or her own creations but there is a handy glossary in the back. The way their abilities work, the naturalness of the powers or abilities they have as part of them as much as hair color or eye color and the way they are called and treated as bad and unnatural has parallels to the way those who don't fit some ideal "norm" someone somewhere at sometime decided was the standard we have in our world now and for many years before now....

If like me you aren't immediately hooked then you should also be like me and stick with it because it is a bit of a slow burn but all of a sudden you will find yourself fully immersed and not wanting to leave Paige and her story.

(Finished Sept. 16, 2019)

The Hazel Wood (The Hazel Wood #1) by Melissa Albert

I have seen this one on some must read lists and then at work I was putting out books on a sale shelf and the over just wouldn't let me go...so I read the first couple of pages and had to finish so bought it. I really enjoyed this a lot. It was unlike anything else I've read in that it was a true fairytale and not a hybrid (think House of Salt And Sorrows). 

Alice and her mom Ella have been on the run from bad luck her whole life, all 17 years of it. Her memory is spotty and things sort of run together but she blames it on bouncing around so much. But when Ella gets a letter that her mother, Alice's grandmother, died she tells Alice their bad luck is over and they can stop moving. But odd things still keep happening...and then Ella is kidnapped and Alice is ready to do anything it takes to get her mom back...and then finds out not only is her mom not who/what she thinks, but she herself isn't anything close to what she expected...

Alice's story is interspersed with fairytales from a book that her grandmother wrote...and they are quite dark and creepy and more a part of her than she imagined....

With her "friend" Finch she sets off to solve the mystery of her life and her mother's disappearance and her grandmother's not being in their life and what happens next is just fantastical.....


An entertaining read!!!

(Finished Sept. 11, 2019)

Hope Never Dies (Obama Biden Mysteries #1) by Andrew Shaffer

I got this book quite awhile ago and it has been sitting on my TBR pile. After finishing The Chain I needed something much lighter and this was perfect for that. It was pretty funny in parts. The "mystery" was good, even though it wasn't part of why I bought or read it. I admit I judged this book by its cover and it was the picture of President Obama and VP Biden on the cover looking like they stepped (drove?) out of a buddy film that made me get it.

There wasn't anything deep about this, but I didn't want anything deep when I picked it up to read. There was some political commentary hidden, or not so hidden, in the writing, but I didn't mind. As for the story itself, if the characters hadn't been 44 and his VP it would have still been a decent story. Drug trafficking, biker gang, good man in a jam needing money and making a bad choice, murder, pretty much all the elements of good detective novel.

I will get the second book and put it aside for when this kind time arrives again, the need for a break from the heavier content I read often...or just when I need a good laugh without taxing my brain too much.

(Finished Sept. 9, 2019)

The Chain by Adrian McKinty

I started this book after work yesterday and finished it this morning. I love my job because one of the perks is being able to borrow hardcover books. The manager of the store I work in and two coworkers were going nuts over this one and yesterday when I was trying to pick my next read said manager told me since I still hadn't read it yet I wasn't talking out of the store without it and so I signed it out. I read the first page while waiting to leave and was instantly hooked. My page 7 I almost peed my pants. I couldn't breathe during most of the book and I struggled with the what would I do question....

So what would you do if your child was kidnapped and the person who did it told you it was because they had their child kidnapped and that the only way to get the kids back is to keep the chain going, you kidnap a child and tell that child's parent to do the same, when they do you get your kid back, when their victim creates a victim they get their kid back and so on and so forth....If you had sold reason to believe death was the only other alternative, for you and your child, what would you do? Would you do anything to save your child? How can you do it when doing it is to cause some other parent the same pain...but this is your child...and it is all enough to make the reader feel the panic and struggle....

This book was off the chain crazy...and so tense and good. Also, if you are one of "those readers" the kind who gives in and peeks at the last page, if you do it for this the spoiler is minor, it doesn't give away the who and why.....so just read on, and be prepared to be sucked in....

(Finished Sept. 7, 2019)

Black Wings Beating (Skybound #1) by Alex London

My son saw this book at Barnes & Noble while shopping for my Hanukkah and thought I'd like it. Unfortunately it got buried in my TBR piles but it waited patiently and finally found its way into my hands for reading, I went and grabbed it when I saw book 2 had been released. And I wish I hadn't waited so long! This was such a good start to a new series.

In this world there are three kinds of people:
Uztari who I guess you could call the common folks, though there is a sort of royalty running things from the Sky Castle. The majority of the story centers around the Six Villages where our main characters, twins Kylee and Brysen live. Life centers around birds. Birds are used in hunting, trade, and even entertainment.

Altari a kind of religious fanatical group who believe it is sinful of people to training birds of prey.

Kartami another kind of religious fanatical group but they want to clear the skies because they believe it is the birds who are sinful.

Kylee and Brysen grew up with a terribly brutal dad who took most of his abusiveness out on Brysen.

On a hunt for the legendary Ghost Eagle he dies leaving the twins safer but having to fully fend for themselves and having inherited not only their fathers bird training business but his debt too. As they are finally so close to paying it off and Kylee being so close to the freedom she wants a choice becomes necessary. The boy Brysen loves has his life threatened for not paying a debt by keeping his promise to catch the Ghost Eagle. This starts a journey the twins go on and it becomes more than a hunt for a bird. It becomes a journey of self-discovery and of finding their way back to each other. It is also the world building and build up of the coming war that they find themselves right in the thick of.

This was a thrilling story, a family tragedy, a story filled with deception and betrayal, with bravery and love, and a great start to a series.


(Finished Sept. 5, 2019)

I was so close to finished that I forced myself to stay up and finish. Then I crashed and waited until this morning (9/6/19) to write this post.

With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo

Everything about this book is beautiful. The dust jacket art is beautiful. The cover of the book under the dust jacket is beautiful. And the words on the pages, they just so incredibly beautiful. 

Meeting Emoni was such a pleasure. She is a high school senior when we met her and she is an amazing cook with aspirations of becoming a chef. She has had her heartbroken by a boy and by her dad and has a hard time trusting. And she is a teenage mom. And then along comes Malachi. He is cute and sweet and just really likes her and wants to know her. But all of her experiences have left her burnt and tender and she thinks he is just out for a taste of her pudding (read this and the reference will make perfect sense). 

So much happens to Emoni during this year and it isn't always easy but it is always raw and real and touched my heart so deeply. She faces changes and choices that are difficult for every graduating senior but when you don't have a lot of money and you have a child some dreams seem so far out of reach it takes real bravery to even try and reach for them. 

Elizabeth Acevedo has a gift and I am so glad she is sharing it with us. 

(Finished September 4, 2019)

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

WHAT A BEAUTIFUL BOOK!!!
The dust jacket art is truly beautiful. The pages are amazing and thick and so well made. The book just physically looks and feel epic, which is so appropriate a way to house this epic tale.

There are four character's whose point of view the story is told through..
Eed, who lives at the court of Queen Sabran in Inys, but is a secretly a member of the Priory.
Tané, a fledgling dragon rider in the east.
Niclays, a banished alchemist.
Loth, a friend and member of Sabran's court and a brave and amazing man.

This story blends eastern and western cultures and myths to tell a story full of intrigue, adventure, political wrangling, and DRAGONS, that talk, yes talking dragons!!! There is even a section titled "Here Be Dragons"
There are two kinds of dragons in the world of Priory, eastern dragons are water dragons and more reptilian and the western dragons are fire dragons and much like the dragons found in the stories of knights and dragons that most people are familiar with. It's like a blend of Asian and British lore and it is so good! The need to put aside ones own desires and put the greater good first is a common theme in fairytales and modern stories, but in this case it also is a story about respecting differences and not trying to force ones views on each other while still working together to save the world, to form alliances and not conquer each other.

There is also a beautiful queer aspect to this story in the west thread. There are two love threads that weave into the tale, one is between two men and the other between two women. And the problem facing the couples isn't about gender/sexuality, it is about rules about class/royal placement in court and being of the right group to be a companion (no husband and wife titles, married people are called companions).

I fell in love with this book. I can't recommend it strongly enough!!!

(Finished September 3, 2019)