My Cozy Book Corner: 2019

Monday, December 30, 2019

2020 Book List

The Guinevere Deception (Camelot Rising #1) by Kiersten White

I really enjoyed The Dark Decent of Elizabeth Frankenstein and enjoyed the trip back to the Buffyverse in Slayer so when a retelling of the Arthur legend was announced I trusted Kiersten to do it well. Well she didn't, she did it more than well, it was amazing. Enough twists and surprises to make it feel fresh and new but enough of the tale of Arthur, Merlin, and Excalibur to be true to the legend.

I enjoyed this so much more than I thought I would and that is saying something since I fully expected to find it awesome.

I can't say a lot, well really much of anything more than READ THIS because the little twists and surprises are so important.

There is everything you expect from a Camelot tale, magic, danger, knights, mystery, romance...

Thank you for a great last book of the year read Kiersten!!!
(Finished December 30, 2019)

Wednesday, December 25, 2019

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell

This was the B&N Bookclub pick for the January 7, 2020 group so I had to read it. The story sounded very interesting from the blurb on the dust jacket and so I was glad B&N picked it since it was not like most of the prior picks and I had never read anything Lisa Jewell before so I don't think I would have read it if it wasn't the pick. I may have at some point if it showed up on the paperback special deal table. so in that sense I am glad it was the While I didn't love, didn't have the overwhelming desire to stay up late into the night after long shifts at work over this busy holiday season, I didn't dislike it. It's a solid 3.5 or 4 star book.

I did figure out many of the elements of the who done it. And it was but it was but I did figure out most of the story. That keeps it from being a higher rated, 5 star book. But the tension of what happened in this house to these kids, the specifics of how the crime was committed, and the interesting back and forth of the story telling for the reveal was well done. I like the way she uses first person when she is telling Henry's side of things in the past and third person for the current day points of view. The voices of the three main characters telling us the story are consistent and distinct which I like. I don't like when an author does the multiple voice thing but you can't tell who is who. Jewell did this well and that is another major push into the higher rating.

Overall an interesting story and I am looking forward to talking with the book club participants about their thoughts.

(Finished December 25, 2019)

Friday, December 13, 2019

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

I own but have not read her other book, The Night Circus, but from what I have heard from others who didn't like that one they still loved this one. I read this because Rachel put it in my locker at work with a note that said "This book is so amazing, I bought it!" That's big because one of the perks of our job is being able to borrow hard cover books.

I started this as soon as I finished Call Down The Hawk, and it was the only thing I think that could have eased me from that world. The Starless Sea clock in at just under 500 pages. About 320 pages in I was starting to dread returning the book to Rachel, of not having this book in my possession, so I went out and purchased my own copy.

It is truly beautiful and amazing. It is a twisty tale of a story buried in a story buried in a story. It is a lovely ode to stories both told and written. It goes from the first had account of Zachary Ezra Rawlins to stories in other books and back. I wish I could tell you more but there is something that feels important about letting you discover it all for yourself when you read it for the first time. Yes first time as in there will be more time after. This is one you will want to go back to and reread when you need it, a good story that is full of love and adventure and beautiful imagery (cat size bees excluded).

I love this fairytale. I love everything about it. The only complaint I have is that it ended.

(Finished December 13, 2019)

Monday, December 9, 2019

Call Down the Hawk (Dreamer Trilogy #1) by Maggie Stiefvater

Following The Raven Boys, The Dream Thieves, Blue Lily, Lily Blue, and The Raven King comes a new adventure this time with Ronan at the center. His brothers Declan and Matthew are back as is Adam. Gansey and Blue get mentions but don't actually appear and while they are missed there is so much here to love that it doesn't take away from the love I have for the start of this new trilogy.

If you haven't finished The Raven Cycle then you might feel spoiled by reading further.

Adam and Ronan are amazing and I love them and that they love each other. There are some bumps and I expect to find it fleshed out in books 2 and 3. There is a new character, Farooq-Lane, I didn't know if I liked at first but ended up really liking and see some real potential for development in her. Other new introductions are the Hennessy girls and people called Visionaries as well as covert government agents looking to save the world from what they call Zeds but which we know as Dreamers (like Ronan and his father). Declan gets some real character development here and all the ways I disliked him have become ways I love him.

There is a mystery around Bryde, who is he, what is he, why is he, and is he good or evil or is it less black and white than that?

I would have finished this sooner of work and sleep didn't get in my way; I totally enjoyed this installment and now am among those anxiously awaiting to devour more of Maggie's lovely words.

(Finished December 9, 2019)

Tuesday, December 3, 2019

Queen of the Conquered (Queen of the Conquered #1) by Kacen Callender

I won a copy of this book from a giveaway Kacen did on their twitter. I had just had the honor of meeting them at LeakyCon and then won and was very excited.

It is book 1 of a series, I am not sure of how many. I had read This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story and really enjoyed it and was excited to read this story. It sounded fascinating. I think though I did it a disservice. I read it after I finished The Raven Cycle and while Call Down The Hawk was sitting on my TBR cart and I was feeling the pull to it because of how much I ended up loving the characters and story. So part of me was destined to be in a hurry and anxious to get to it and so I think that is why I had a hard time feeling totally invested here. It took a but but I did get into the story. It is interesting world building. Queen of the Conquered takes place in a nation that has slaves, plantains, and magic called kraft here. The white skin and blonde hair and blue eyes is the valued look among the ruling class. This group not only feels like they are ordained to own others, the brown and black members of their world, but that kraft is their right only and that if someone of color has it they stole it. As in the slave society that we know form our shameful history, slaves here are not supposed to read, and even those people of color who have freedom are aware they can be enslaved at any time and that they have less freedoms than the colonizers.

Sigourney lives in this world and she is the only survivor after her family is massacred. They have been killed because of the power the family had managed to amass. She wants revenge. But she isn't the only one. She is loathed by her people, the people of this island nation because she hasn't freed her slaves. She says she can't until she is the ruler and then she will free everyone but she needs them until she has control, to help her take this power from the colonizers. The questions of does the ends justify the means, would she really free them once she has the power she is after or will she be corrupted by it, is she already corrupted, who killed her family, what is really happening on the island, and what is the deal with this odd king of their are all part of what book 1 tackles.

The world building is interesting and I was a bit surprised by the ending. I think I would have loved this more had I help off a little longer and read Call Down The Hawk, I would have then been ready (well not ready but forced ) to move on while waiting for the next book in that series. Also, I started reading this just around Thanksgiving and there was so much time I couldn't be reading between cooking and working (retail) Black Friday Weekend that it was hard to get into a grove with long blocks of time for reading.

This is also quite different from Kacen's other book which was a YA and a romance.

(Finished December 3, 2019)

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

The Raven King (The Raven Cycle #4) by Maggie Stiefvater

WHAT AN AMAZING SERIES!!!!

I fell totally in love with this story. My heart was so broken at times but it was so worth it.

The conclusion, which really isn't, if you know about the newest Maggie Stiefvater book, Call Down The Hawk, then you know that there is another set of stories to tell.

There is so much love in this book even as there is death and destruction.

I don't know how much to say because I don't know if you are here because you are thinking of reading this or if you have and are curious to see what I thought.

I will lean toward the cautious and avoid spoilers and specifics as much as possible.

If you have watched Doctor Who you are familiar with the concept of time being wibbly-wobbly. That is the way it works here too. Time isn't a straight line happening in a neat progression, things have happened and happen again and are known before and after and there is a magic and energy to it that is part of the ley line. Death is known and unknown, monsters exist and both good and evil can be made and unmade. Trees have souls. Love and family are as much if not more about choice than bloodlines.

Broken isn't the end, and what is broken can be fixed or at least mended.

Adam and Ronan and Blue and Gansey and Henry have stolen into my heart and rival The Trio and Luna and Neville as my favorite group of magical friends turned family.

Thank you Rachel, seriously, thank you, for putting this into my hands and shredding me in the process. I am so very grateful. (a high compliment from one bookish person to another)

(Finished November 26, 2019)

***I have Call Down The Hawk but need to read Queen Of The Conquered before I read it, it was sent to me by the author and having met Them at LeakyCon it feels important to me to do it this way. But I will be visiting the world created by Maggie as soon as I am done***

Friday, November 22, 2019

Blue Lily, Lily Blue (The Raven Cycle #3) by Maggie Stiefvater

Third in The Raven Cycle, Blue Lily, Lily Blue picks up the story that started with The Raven Boys and The Dream Thieves. The character development across the three books is incredible. The tension is amazing and painful. My heart has ached more than once and I have been told it will happen more as I read the final book in this part of the story, The Raven King.

Some of what I can share without it being too close to spoilerish is that we do see a bit of Adam's dad again. There will be some answers about Greenmantle but not enough to yet know the truth and depth of this character. The bond between Blue, Gansey, Adam, and Ronan grows and is tested. 300 Fox Way still plays a central role in the life of the story and I still really want to live there, or at least be a welcome visitor who never has to leave.

There is a new character, one who brings to mind Helena Bonham Carter's onscreen portrayal of Bellatrix. A mad as a hatter yet somehow charming person named Gwenllian.

I will admit that I am absolutely shipping Ronan and Adam. I love Persephone!!! I don't particularly like Orla but she isn't around too much.

I can imagine how hard the wait must have been for people who read these books as they were published because the cliffhanger (cave hanger?) this ended on had me screaming and all I had to do was come home from parent pick-up at my son's school and write this post before starting the next (last!!) book.

Yes, I know there is a side series that begins with Call Down The Hawk, which I bought and will read soon enough (or not soon enough depending on how this ends), but the next book is the end of this part of the story and I must admit I am terrified for Gansey. I want a happy ending for Adam after all the abuse he lived with. I want Ronan to smile. And I want Blue to feel like she can have a kiss.

(Finished Nov. 22, 2019)

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

The Dream Thieves (The Raven Cycle #2) by Maggie Stiefvater

I finished this one at work yesterday and started book 3 yesterday afternoon but didn't have a chance to come and put my thoughts down until now. I'm reading The Raven Cycle at the insistence of my friend Rachel. I got hooked pretty quickly into The Raven Boys and the love of this series only got stronger while reading The Dream Thieves. I want to live at 300 Fox Way. I want to sit and read under Blue's Beech Tree. I want to spend time with Persephone. I want to bake cookies for Adam. I want to slap and then hug Ronan. And Gansey!! I want to tell him to be a kid for a little while, he is like a little old man trapped in a teenagers body and he is something!! But oh, Blue, how wonderful she is for a female character. She isn't entirely comfortable in her own skin quite yet but she wants to be because she knows there isn't anything wrong with her, she is different sure, but that is ok. And she is loved by her mother and all the inhabitants of Fox Way.

The story in book 2 as in book 1 starts to cause tension that increases as you read and takes you to breathtaking ending and an overwhelming need to dive right into the next book. I feel so much for those who read these as published and had to wait between books!!

We learn more about The Gray Man. We learn more about Ronan and his "talent" and his mother. Kavinsky is still just really awful but we learn more about how awful. Each set of answers seems to raise more questions. And I am fully engaged and loving this series. I love that it is magic and fantasy but takes place in the here and now. I love that there are strong female characters and that there are boys who understand that boy will boys boys isn't an ok attitude and a license for bad behavior. I love the network of women who love and care for each other. I love that I feel while reading this. As I have said I love stories that make me feel while reading. I love that the story feels like a roller-coaster ride, both pleasing and terrifying.

For the record I DO NOT like coasters except in my books. I am a bit of a chicken.

(Finished November 19, 2019)

Thursday, November 14, 2019

The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle #1) by Maggie Stiefvater

My friend Rachel said I needed to start this once I was done with the Arc of a Scythe trilogy. I was torn between this and starting Shadow & Bone.
And wow!! I didn't know what to think at first. I mean Liked Blue right away. And I found the world interesting because unlike a lot of fantasy novels this one takes place in the "present" in the world we know because it is the one we inhabit. But there is magic, and danger, and mystery. And it is kind of a slow burn until it isn't. You slowly get attached to these characters are you get to know them and start trusting some, pulling for them, not trusting others and hoping they get what they deserve.

And then the story builds and thinks get tense and reveals happen and answers come bringing even more questions and before you know it the book is over and you are left wanting, no, needing more.

I am excited and anxious to see where Maggie takes me next in the tale of Blue, Gansey, Adam, and Noah.

(Finished Nov. 14, 2019)

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Me by Elton John

THIS WAS ONE OF IF NOT THE BEST MEMOIRS I HAVE EVER READ!!!!
It was exactly what you would expect and want from Elton John. It is campy, filled with over top stories, heartfelt, beautiful, musical, but not at all trashy. If you are looking for one of those nasty celebrity tell-alls filled with mean gossip and ragging on others or with lots of nasty and revealing for the sake of shock value then this is not the book for you.

If you want to read a refreshingly honest story of someone's life where they don't sugar coat it or try to make themselves look better than they are then you have come to the right book.

I loved Elton before this but now I LOVE him. I admire him and find him charming and smart and funny and talented and just so lovely and real.

His struggle with drugs, alcohol, and food addiction is no joke, it was pretty heavy and serious but he tells about how hard and ugly it is with grace and humor.

This also is not a sex book. There is talk of sex of course but it isn't a graphic glimpse into the bed of Elton. For someone who has spent their entire adult life making a name for themselves being flashy and over the top this book is dignified and, well, normal for lack of a better word. He tells what he wants to share and hold back what he wants to keep private but you still end up feeling like you walked in his garden with him as a confidant.

This was exactly what I needed to get over my book hangover after finishing The Arc of a Scythe trilogy!

(Finished Nov. 12, 2019)

Saturday, November 9, 2019

The Toll (Arc of a Scythe #3) by Neal Shusterman

I think it will be impossible to talk bout this book without including ***SPOILERS*** for Scythe & Thunderhead. If you haven't read them you might want to stop here after I say that I loved this book, this trilogy, so much. I cried a little at the end and read the last two lines about 10 times before I closed the book and went to bed. I stayed up until 12:30am to finish.

Now, you have been warned that if you go on from here you may got ***SPOILED*** by details from Scythe & Thunderhead. I won't be spoiling anything in The Toll.

The cloud has become Thunderhead. As a perfect entity providing for the needs of humanity and keeping some sense of equilibrium in the life of the living things on Earth it was proven that humans are still, even when they live in a world without want, without poverty, without racial and sexist and religious discrimination, with a balanced, equitable, system, people are still people. They are still greedy, power hungry, corruptible, and capable of terrible acts.

With Rowan and Citra we got to see inside the two different ways of being a Scythe. First during their time with Faraday and then Citra's with Curie and Rowan's with Goddard. It has become clear that Goddard will not stop until he is the supreme ruler of a world he has shaped to please himself.

Thunderhead plays a bigger role in this book, which is an incredible conclusion to the trilogy. There are moments of beautiful humanity, horrible acts by people who seem more monster than human, tension that kept me squirming, a few chuckles, and some coming into their own by some characters. We meet some new people, one of whom I totally, TOTALLY loved!!!

The plan that is the backbone of this story is surprising and fascinating. The insight we have come to expect from Thunderhead is still here.

There is a gender fluid character who comes from a place where a person isn't assigned a gender at birth and doesn't settle on a gender identity, isn't even allowed to do so, until adulthood and it is written beautifully and interestingly by Shusterman.

I have a major book-hangover!!!

(Finished November 9, 2019)

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

The Grace Year by Kim Liggett

While waiting for my copy of The Toll (Arc of a Scythe #3) to arrive I did what my friend and coworker Rachel asked me to do and read this because she needed to talk about the ending.
We had both being eyeing it on the YA table at work at our local Barnes & Noble and she went ahead and read it and passed it on to me...

...And right from the beginning it was one of those WTF crazy train rides. I had all kinds of anger and disturbed feels!! I hated one character so much that I couldn't even feel bad for her at any point.

There is a line in the book that sums up the premise this book is built on..."The sin of being born a girl."

Tierney is born into a world where men fear the power of women so much they think it is some kind of magic in them and that if they send these girls off into seclusion together in their 16th year they will burn off their magic and come back to be good wives, mothers, or workers in areas that support society (fields and factories and such). Good and controllable.

No one talks about what happens during the Grace Year but not everyone comes back, not everyone who comes back is in one piece, and no one is the same after...

What these girls go through is sickening. And some of it is made worse by their own natures/personalities. But the culprit is the way the men treat the women and make them feel about themselves and each other. It is the way we are set up in our world to not see each other as compatriots but as competition, for work, for men, for being the best of all things. No one expects men to be perfect but women have a different set of standards and expectations placed on them and this is a story that takes this to one extreme.

I am still processing this but I feel like it is an important read.

(Finished 12:01am November 5, 2019 )

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Thunderhead (Arc of a Scythe #2) by Neal Shusterman

Following Scythe this is book 2 in the Arc Of A Scythe trilogy. The final book comes out Tuesday and my special edition is on the way to me from Owl Crate.

My reaction at the end of this was a very loud OH MY GOD WHAT THE FUCK!!! This whole book left me feeling nervous and worried about how tech dependent we are as a society. Yes even as I make use of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram on a daily basis. And I track my books on Goodreads. And I post reviews here on a blog. And I can't remember phone numbers because I don't try because my smart phone has made me dumber. I do see the irony of this.

I feel like there isn't much I can say without spoiling someone who is still reading but I want to say enough to make sure if you haven't read this you start reading it.

The questions of good and evil, how much a perfect world is worth, can people ever really be truly good, are there those who are just born bad and no matter what kind of world they live in will that nature find its way out, questions of morality and who gets to decide what is right and just, these are just some of the puzzles Shusterman tackles in these books....I am just so sorry I waited so long to read, yet I am not because now my wait for the conclusion is only a few days away....

There is action, deception, a little bit of romance (very little) but a lot of love and hate and coming of age and just so many deep thoughts provoked...Please just trust me this is worth your time!!

Bottom line review if you need one- in a world made perfect is there really such a thing? Does the perfecting of health to do away with death and disease and all health (physical and mental) problems, no hunger, no war, no poverty, does that really mean life will be perfect? What does one do in a life that never ends but doesn't require one to have a job to get by, where you won't ever get sick, where everything is pretty much handled for you by a loving parent like figure evolved from The Cloud, no natural disasters to worry about...just really perfection....Is that sustainable? Is that desirable? Can technology really be a God replacement? That is the world of the Scythes.

(Finished Nov. 3, 2019)

Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Scythe (Arc of a Scythe #1) by Neal Shusterman

This is the December Barnes & Noble YA Bookclub book for December and my son likes to do the bookclub. Also OwlCrate had a special edition of the last book in the trilogy, The Toll so I decided to get that and read this before passing it on to my son. So many of the teens and adults I talk to while at work who read and love YA loved this so I had been meaning to read it for some time and the two things I mentioned just pushed me to read it. And I was hooked from the first page. So much so that when I finished it this evening I ran out in my PJs to get book 2!!!

In this version of the world The Cloud has become The Thunderhead. The Thunderhead has replaced governments and in a way god. There is no famine, disease, or war. There isn't even pain, there is something in all people that heals and stops pain. And everyone is pretty much immortal. That is unless Scythe has chosen someone for gleaning. A Scythe can also grant someone immunity from death. When someone dies by other means they actually are only something called deadish. They are healed and sent back on their merry way in a few days.

In this world two teens, Citra and Rowan, are both chosen to be Scythe apprentices to Scythe Faraday. This is highly unusual and it sets off a chain of events that change both of them in ways they could never have imagined.

The questions this kind of world raises are both interesting and disturbing. After all aren't all people, no matter how long they live and what kind of world they live in, aren't they still just people with all the flaws and complexities that makes us human? So if death is in the hands of a few, for the purpose of keeping the population under control to some extent, and these people answer to know one outside of the group of them, and they have the discretion to choose their gleaning targets, isn't there a risk of bad apples spoiling the bunch?

It is really something, when you stop to think of it...as much as their rules, basically a version of then commandments, forbid choosing using any kind of bias or malice, and to always be compassionate, aren't people still just human and so possibly corrupt or corruptible? It is a lot of power to have, the power to end life in a world where there is no natural causes of death....

It is enough to scare the heck out of you if you think to hard on it...and what would you do with that kind of power?

Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Doesn't it?

(Finished Oct. 30, 2019)

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Crier's War (Crier's War #1) by Nina Varela

Damit!! I did it again. I read a book I was excited by the description of only to find out when I was just about done that it was the start of a series. I first learned about this book when a little booklet about upcoming YA releases came into the Barnes & Noble where I work. I was very excited about it and then it came in my most recent Owl Crate box and I was so happy.

"Humanity is how you act. Not how you are Made." This is the crux of the story of Crier and Ayla.

Ayla is human. Crier is Automae. Ayla lost her family because of Crier's father, the ruler of the land she lives in. She spends years wanting and dreaming about revenge, about how she would take Crier's life as revenge. But then Ayla meets Crier. What begins to happen in their hearts isn't something either girl could have seen coming.

Crier shouldn't be able to feel anything, it isn't how she was Made. Ayla shouldn't feel anything but disgust and hate for Crier because of all the harm the Automae have done to humans. But neither of them does or thinks or feels what they think they should.

Crier finds she is more than anyone told her she was or gave her credit for being...she has some sort of humanity inside her. Is it a flaw in her design?

Ayla should be able to act when the chance presents itself to finally have the revenge she has been longing for...But there is a story, a cold night in water, a bed, food, safety, kindness that should not be possible, all of this has begun to soften and change her.

Crier shouldn't care what Ayla thinks or feels. She shouldn't want to protect and please her. But there it is...She does...

This was a really good story. But there is more to love her than the story.
It is a Queer story. There are uses of gendered pronouns AND gender neutral pronouns....

But dammit now I have another wait for the next piece of a story.

(Finished Oct. 27, 1978)

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd-Jones

I got this in my Owl Crate Box and the reverse colored cover is so amazing. It is a great read for Halloween time.

Ryn lives with her brother and sister. Her mother died and her father is presumed to have died in a mine collapse. She has been trying to keep the family graveyard and house from being taken and they are deep in debt.

Outside the village there are woods, woods where the dead don't stay dead. They haven't been known to leave the woods and so the village was considered to be safe and people began to forget what it was like when there were monsters afoot. The dead that aren't are called Bone Houses and Ryn needs to stop them to save her brother and sister from them and from the slimy jerk who runs their village and has been skimming money from the Prince's coffers.

Ellis has lived in the Prince's household since he was a little boy. He is a mapmaker who doesn't know his family name and doesn't know what happened that left him with a terribly painful shoulder and the desire to learn who his parents are.

Following a badly drawn map and working to fix it Ellis and Ryn meet and he asks her to be his guide into the mountains. She is desperate to pay of her family's debt and stay in their home and it is more than she can say no to.

I really enjoyed the magic and the goat and the slow burning chemistry between Ellis and Ryn. The story builds and gets tense and then the tension is released when the answers are revealed.

This feels like it is an old fairy tale and I lost myself in the reading and have zero regrets.

(Finished Oct. 23, 2019)

Friday, October 18, 2019

This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story by Kacen Callender

Imagine being a teen trying to figure out who you are in the general way teens do. Imagine that your dad died and you have seen your mother mourn for the years since. Imagine your best friend moves away and you have been crushing on him for a long time so you kiss him before he leaves and it freaks him out, but being 11 you don't know how to handle it. Imagine your girlfriend kisses someone else and breaks up with you and you try to remain friends but you aren't sure how you feel about that or her. Imagine now that your 16 and starting your junior year that best friends comes back and is cuter than ever and you find yourself having feelings for him, while you think you may still have feelings for your ex-girlfriend turned best friend. And imagine that you have internalized your mother's loss and your break up and taken it to mean that it is better to avoid relationships and/or hurt before you get hurt because it will always end and end badly so why wait to have your heart torn out....

Now imagine all of that happening at once....That's Nate. He acts out, sometimes really hurting others (and himself), from a place of fear and anxiety. He isn't by nature a mean spirited person, he is just a shy introvert who is trying to figure out who he is, how to deal with growing up and falling love and being a good friend and son but also good and true to himself.

Life can be overwhelming in the best of times, but being a teen on the cusp of adulthood, trying to figure out your feelings, your sexuality, your ability to trust and live your life even when it is scary AF, that just makes it even more overwhelming. Nate gives hope though, makes it feel like even when it is dark and one feels out of control there is a way through it. He is aware when he acts like a nitwit and feels remorse. He may take awhile but he tries to make amends and is truly apologetic. He has a big and good heart. He isn't perfect but that is what makes him feel real and alive.

His friends also have baggage but rather than get lost fully in their own muck they try to be helpful and good to each other.

This was really an epic story, a love story yes, but not just between Nate and Ollie, but between Nate and himself. And that is a lesson we all need to learn and relearn all the time, that we can fuck up on a grand scale but we can work on an even grander scale to fix our mistakes.

(Finished 12:10am on Oct 19, 2019)

Ninth House (Alex Stern #1) by Leigh Bardugo

First I want to say that this book made me think the Universe hates me....I will spare you the crazy story of why I was so late getting my ARC from work (I get ARCs of the Barnes & Noble Bookclub picks so I can read them since I lead the discussion in my store).

But I got it on Monday October 8th while working and got out at Midnight. When I got home I started it and ended up staying up an hour an a half reading until I fell asleep...

I loved the story from page 1. But then over the next 10 days, it early takes me this long to finish a book, the Universe kept throwing things in my path to keep me from having blocks of time to read...But I finished it last night, Thursday October 17. And what an ending!! WOW!!!

Ninth House is my first Leigh Bardugo read and her first adult book. Now I need to go back and read her YA stuff.

Alex (Glaxay but don't call her that) can see ghosts. Alex survived a brutal attack that left her best friend (maybe a girl she loved) among the dead. She survived a rough and traumatic childhood. And now Alex is at Yale. She is the new Dante of Lethe, the house the is the guardian house of the secret societies at the school. And magic is real. And danger is all over the place.

The story is told mostly from two POVs. Alex and Darlington. Darlington is the person who is working with Alex teaching her what she needs to know, he was the Dante before her. Yes there are code names and it is like all the stories of the secret societies are real but with magic too.

The story of what happened to Alex unfolds as she tries to solve a murder and figure out what happened to Darlington causing him to disappear. And the story of from Darlington's point of view leads up to the moment he disappeared.

Under all the magic and secret groups is a typical mystery story. That isn't a knock, it isn't "typical" in a bad way, just that there are clues and some are red herrings and there is a cop and a lay person and misdirection and surprise twists....just with magic and creatures and it works together brilliantly.

And now I have another wait for the next book in a series on my list....Because my life appears to be all about falling in love with books that draw me in and string me along waiting for the next fix.

(Finished October 17, 2019)

Sunday, October 6, 2019

I'm Not Dying with You Tonight by Kimberly Jones, Gilly Segal

This was the Barnes & Noble YA Bookclub book last month and my son, a regular attendee at the store where I work, told me I needed to read this book. So I did. And wow!!!

If you read and loved The Hate U Give or Internment or On the Come Up or When I Was the Greatest (I could go on but I think you get the point, and if you haven't read all of those get on that!)

This story is told in two voices and from the perspective of each of the two girls. Lena is a Black girl who has lived her whole life in the neighborhood the story takes place in. Campbell is a White girl and is new to the area, just moved in with her dad for her senior year of high school.

The girls don't really know each other but when a fight at a school football game they are both at throws them together and sparks protests that becomes a riot they must see past their differences to the main thing they share, the desire not to die and to get home safely. During the long night we get to have a view through each of their eyes and hear their thoughts. What we see and hear is that they both makes assumptions about the other and about the events of the night, and we see and hear their biases, which they aren't always they have.

But they must see past the words that the other has spoken which voice these assumptions or hint at them in order to survive.

I loved these two girls. They are both so strong and smart and vulnerable. The tension and pain the girls experience felt like it was leaking off the page and into me and it was at times so scary and worrisome.

It becomes clear they are both more than their skin and the other begins to see it too. In the time we are living in now this becomes an even more important story and a great lesson that needs sharing.

This is a must read!

(Finished Oct. 6, 2019)

Saturday, October 5, 2019

Spin the Dawn (The Blood of Stars #1) by Elizabeth Lim

I got this in one of my OwlCrate Box (click on the link to check them out and give it a try, I LOVE THE BOXES) and just got around to reading it. It took me longer than I would have liked because of work and other commitments and being a bit under the weather, a headache that dragged and made reading hard. But I enjoyed the book. It is the start of a series of I am not sure how many books with book two, Unravel The Dusk, coming sometime in 2020.

In this part of the tale we meet Maia who is a very talented tailor in a world where only males are allowed to be master tailors. When the opportunity to help her family arrives she pretends to be a boy, her brother Keton, to try and become the Emperor's Master Tailor. All she has to do is make people believe she is a he, and beat out 11 other tailors who are men and older and more experienced.

The story that is weaved here is one of magic, romance, palace intrigue, Chinese culture, and adventure. It was one that grew on me over the course of reading and I love Maia and her desire to be and do good and help her family. And when she falls in love I want her to have a happy ending that includes love and a career.

I really liked Edan and the dynamic between him and Maia. He is an interesting character with a long history that I think isn't fulled revealed yet but I hope to learn more in the future. I felt sad for him at times and also admired him too.

I will read book 2 because I want to know where she ends up. And I need to know what Edan's fate is as well as a few other questions I have but can't say here because "spoilers"

(Finished October 4, 2019)

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

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)

Monday, September 23, 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)

Friday, September 20, 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)

Wednesday, September 18, 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)

Monday, September 16, 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)

Wednesday, September 11, 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)

Monday, September 9, 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)

Saturday, September 7, 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)

Friday, September 6, 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.

Wednesday, September 4, 2019

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)

Tuesday, September 3, 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)

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

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)

Saturday, August 24, 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

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

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)

Monday, August 19, 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)

Tuesday, August 13, 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)

Sunday, August 11, 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)

Friday, August 9, 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)

Monday, July 29, 2019

Counting Descent by Clint Smith

I found this book because at work it was in a stack of books I needed to shelve. There was a quote on the cover by Michelle Alexander (The New Jim Crow) which caught my eye. I opened it to a random page and the poem was called Playground Elegy and it gutted me. I immediately bought the book.

Today I was looking for something to read next but the new Pierce Brown book comes out tomorrow and I want to start it right away so I didn't want to start a long book, I work later 5-midnight and so I won't have much time to get a longer book done and didn't want to pause a read or wait on the Red Rising #5, Dark Age. It was the perfect day to get into this thin but POWERFUL volume.

Page after page, poem after poem, Clint Smith packs an emotional punch into each line. Whether it is about his parents love (When Maze & Frankie Beverly Come on in My House), being passed by taxis (For the Taxi Cabs that Pass Me in Harvard Square), his freckles (Passed Down), or his home city of New Orleans (There is a Lake Here among others), this is an incredible read.

Without a doubt race is the central theme of his work here, being a black man, and it is so powerful to read. Some that stood out to me where race

No More Elegies Today

How to Make an Empty Cardboard Box Disappear in 10 Steps

what the fire hydrant said to the black boy

The above mentioned Playground Elegy

what the cicada said to the black boy....
I could go on but then I will be listing every entry so just read it and know you will be moved and if like me you are white you will be faced with your privilege and reminded of the need to make change, to be change...

(Finished July 29, 2019)

Sunday, July 28, 2019

Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah

I have read other books by Kristin Hannah (The Nightingale, Firefly Lane), really liked them, and had been told I needed to read this one, so when this was on the Buy 2 Get 1 Free table at work I grabbed it. And I loved it.

It is part historical fiction, the fall of Leningrad, and part family drama, mothers and daughters and the way it can be quite complicated.

Nina and Meredith are two sisters with a very distant relationship with their mother. They don't even know exactly how old she is. They also have a complicated relationship with each other. Meredith stayed near their parents and went to work in the family apple orchard business. She is married to her childhood sweetheart Jeff and they have two daughters and two dogs. Nina is a photojournalist traveling the world with her camera and her lover Danny. Her life is a constant adventure.

When their father has a heart attack they make him promises about taking care of their mother. In the form of a fairytale she tells them they get to know her and what she went through and why she is the way she is. The sisters also learn a lot about who they are two and it is a heartbreaking and beautiful journey that takes them from Russia to Alaska and much further.

My reads with Hannah are three for three and I will read more by her for sure

(Finished July 28, 2019)

Thursday, July 25, 2019

We Hunt the Flame (Sands of Arawiya #1) by Hafsah Faizal

This was my very first Owl Crate book and it was also the July Barnes & Noble YA bookclub book so I let my son read it first. He really liked it and so did I and we are both anxious for book 2.

We Hunt the Flame is a story of adventure, love, friendship, betrayal, and magic set in an Arabia type place. There is a forest that has grown up around this world and separated the caliphates and has caused magic to have vanished from the people. There are stories about the death of magic and the Six Sisters who were the guardians. A hunter who is really a huntress in disguise is the only person feeding her people in a place where women are considered the blame for all things bad so she hides. A prince who is used as an agent of death by his father the ruler. A general with a wicked sense of humor who is more than he seems. An immortal and vain man. A female warrior. They form a group thrown together each with their own agenda and it changes them all.

A silver witch. A lion of darkness. Boats with magic crews. Blood magic. Darkness. Death.

This was a fascinating story and I was drawn in from the first page, because hey, I really needed another series to pine for the next book of....AHHH!!!

(Finished July 25, 2019)

Sunday, July 21, 2019

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

This is the Barnes & Noble Bookclub August meeting book and I am leading the discussion at work. But it's by Colson Whitehead so I would have read it anyway.

I read The Underground Railroad and Zone One and really liked both!!

The Nickel Boys is the story of a Florida school for boys, a juvenile detention type facility that started in the Jim Crow days and Jim never left....It is the story of Elwood and Turner who met at Nickel. It is their time there in the days of segregation and the corruption of the school is told through Elwood's experience and observations and in the present because on the grounds of the now closed Nickel a secret burial ground is found and the abuse that took place is finally getting looked into. Where Elwood and Turner end up after Nickel is told as well. What happens to the boys is awful but it isn't overly graphically told. The lack of graphic violence doesn't detract from how powerful a book this is.

The story is based on a real school, the Dozier School and in a line used in the book, Colson said in an article I read that there were people to speak for the white boys but someone needed to speak for the black boys, and that is what he does here. But he finds hope in the darkness and hate of the time and place in the words of MLK Jr that Elwood finds strength in.

This is a slim volume, 210 pages, but it packs the power of an epic. I hope this book sparks a great conversation at bookclub on the August 13, and with who ever you get to talk to about it.

(Finished July 21, 2019)

Wednesday, July 17, 2019

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

Until the moment I was done I didn't realize how much I loved this. I mean, I knew I was enjoying it...but when it was done I realized I loved it and was sad to say goodbye to the Count.

A Gentleman in Moscow is one of those quiet reads, no horror, no supernatural twists, no magic, just people and life and time....Like quiet movies, the kids without car chases and explosions, where you really have to watch the movie to get the story, this is the book form, it is a slow burn that gets under your skin and into your heart.

Count Alexander Rostov spend decades in the hotel in Moscow where he lives after being sentenced to "house arrest" and as the years pass people come and go and life outside continues and Alexander observes and lives a very full life even as his physical space becomes small...Alexander wants to be a man of purpose and I would say he certainly becomes such. There is some intrigue as the world goes to war, the cold war begins, and the story of how Alexander even ended up in the predicament he finds himself in unfolds. And there is romance and love and the creation of a family where one finds themself planted...just a lovely and quiet story...

Towles writes beautifully and I totally enjoyed my time with Alexander and Sasha and the rest of the inhabitants of the Metropol.

(Finished July 17, 2019)

Friday, July 12, 2019

Izzy + Tristan by Shannon Dunlap

This isn't a novel, it's a romance. That's what the prologue tells us...the difference being "a romance is more like a fable...it traffics in ideals, mysteries, and obsessions...novel comes from the Italian for "new little story"...and this is about the oldest thing in the world. Love"

Set in modern day Brooklyn NY Izzy moves to the neighborhood with her parents and twin brother.

Tristian lives there with Aunt. Also on the block is Tristan's cousin Marcus.

Tristian plays chess, like just about Master level chess. Marcus uses this to hustle in the park for money betting on the matches.

It sort of works, no one really gets hurt and Tristian loves the game...until the day Tristan beats Hull and Hull loses his shit...this sets in motion a retelling of the old poem/story Tristan & Isolde.

Tristin and Izzy meet and fall in love....Marcus thinks he likes her too and doesn't know about them so wants Tristan to help him "get with her". Another local, a girl named Brianna, Izzy's only friend at her new school, has a crush on Marcus....Tristan is a bit scared of Marcus so they don't tell him right away, kind of hoping that he will get bored and move on...Oh and Izzy is White and Tristan is Black....

With escalating race issues, this is around the time Eric Garner's killer wasn't charged, as the background for their budding love, Shannon writes a story, a tale as old as time, that is also fresh and new and relevant. It is beautiful and heartbreaking....I loved it.

(Finished July 11, 2019)

Wednesday, July 10, 2019

The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman

The manager at the Barnes and Noble where I work had put this ARC aside for me, it will be out in September, and I was picking through my TBR pile and found it. I forgot I had it because I was so wrapped up in my Pride reading and B&N bookclub reads that it got buried. But I started it late in the day Monday and then was so sad when I had to stop and go into work and then yesterday my kids had so much that they needed me to do I didn't get to spend much time with Lea and Ava and Julian but today it was just me, my dog, and this book and I was not going to stop until I was done. And so I am....

Alice Hoffman has managed to do something I wouldn't have thought possible, she made a beautiful fairytale out of the experience of a cast of characters living through the Nazi attempt at exterminating Jews. The backbone of this story is the love Lea's mother has for her and the lengths she was willing to go to to make sure Lea was safe no matter the cost and so we get Ava.

Along the way we meet Julian, Victor, Marianne, Ettie, and others and we are along on a journey of pain, suffering, fear, death, love, life, beauty, and discovering what it means to have a soul, to be alive. This story was so damn beautiful and so very painful, and yet so full of promise and hope. I don't know how she did it but Alice turned this ugly page in history into something more, something unexpected, something life affirming...

(Finished July 10, 2019)

Monday, July 8, 2019

Bring Me Back by B.A. Paris

This is one of those books that leaves you feeling WTF was that, in the best possible way. It is also one of those books that it is next to impossible to write a review of because SPOILERS.

So here is a vague post all to tell you that YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK!!

It is kind of in the realm of Gone Girl or The Girl On The Train in that you don't know who is reliable and who isn't, who did what and who didn't, but this is BETTER. I thought I had figured it out a couple of times and once I came really close but I never quite figured it out and so the ending was fabulous because it was a surprise.

It is a quick read both because it's under 300 pages and because you can't put it down because you just need to know what the hell is going on. I was so upset when I had to put it down yesterday and go to work and I was so close to done that I took it with me when I walked my dog so I could finish.

(Finished July 8, 2019)

Sunday, July 7, 2019

Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

This was my Owl Crate book for June. If you aren't familiar with Owl Crate you need to be!! It is a monthly box that comes with a YA book and goodies. The book has a special cover that differs from the covers the book has in bookstores and the goodies are awesome, like the June box, there was a pin, a tote bag with a great quote and art on it, a pin, coffee, a gel pen shaped like a key (read the book to understand the importance of that), and a letter from the author.

Anyway, this book, Sorcery of Thorns is a fantasy/adventure about magical books in magical libraries cared for by a girl, Elizabeth, who grows up in this library. But when greed and evil and misused magic enter her realm she is called to be the hero.

Elizabeth was found on the doorstep of a library as an infant and was raised there. When she is 13 she becomes and apprentice and hopes to be a Warden some day. She has a love of the books and some of the books seem to know her heart and react kindly to her. Some books however seem to house dark material and need to be kept in differing levels of tight control. The worst thing that can happen is a book becoming a Malefict, this is taking on a monstrous form and going on a killing spree....There are demons and sorcerers and books that have eyes.....

While trying to find her way and her place in her world she finds friends and love where she least expected to realizing that sometimes the things we are told by those who are teaching us values isn't always right and fear and time without knowing those considered "other" can color how they are seen and maybe, just maybe we need to learn for ourselves the truth and make up our own minds. And sometimes doing the right thing comes at a cost but is still the right thing to do.

I truly loved this book about books and magic and LIBRARIES!!!

(Finished July 7, 2019)