Between now and April 30th, I will move some of this content there, and the rest will be archived for my personal use.  I will be contacting those of you I have a working relationship with to let you know of the changes so you can update your links as well.

I have not decided if I will continue to use UrbanBachelorette for more personal posts, or if I will end this chapter in my blogging life.

This is both a welcome transition and a sad time as UrbanBachelorette was my first foray into the blogging world and book reviews.  I will not post anything new here, and I hope you will continue to follow me over at SotP.  I already have a couple of posts ready to go and I can’t wait to continuing sharing my thoughts with everyone through my new site.

So what are you waiting for? Head over to Stains On The Page and tell me what you think!

The one submitted for a grade was the Castlevania theme with the moons, which C will be keeping once returned.  For my office, I finished the Vampire Bunny since it’s definitely more my style.

Title: Before the Fall After the Fall During the Fall
(Amazon, Goodreads)
Author: Nancy Kress
(Amazon, Goodreads, Website)
Series: None
Publisher: Tachyon Publications
Genre: Science Fiction
Format: Paperback
Source: Bought from Bookstore

Synopsis:

Title: Picture the Dead
(Amazon, Goodreads, Website)
Author: Adele Griffin
(Amazon, Goodreads, Website)
Series: None
Publisher: SourceBooks Fire
Genre: Historical Romance, Paranormal Thriller
Format: Paperback
Source: Publisher provided review copy

Synopsis:

On the home front near Boston in 1864, Jennie feels her twin’s presence like “a wave crashing over me” moments after he dies in a Union field hospital. Over the next year, she senses his presence and, more strongly, that of her fiancé, their cousin Will, who also died in the war. Will’s brother Quinn arrives home wounded, gaunt, and haunted by his experiences. When his painful revelations change the way she thinks about Will, Jennie faces hard choices and tries to contact the dead for guidance in discovering the truth. Brown’s evocative black-and-white drawings of photographs, letters, and other documents such as newspaper clippings appear between chapters in four-page, black-paper sections representing Jennie’s scrapbooks and, equally, possible evidence in the mystery. Although Griffin’s vivid writing will draw readers into Jennie’s first-person narrative of love, doubt, and mystery, the tale goes beyond her particular ghosts and also shows how broadly the country was haunted: survivors by the loss of loved ones and soldiers by wretched memories. A Civil War ghost story with gothic overtones.

Review:

I took longer to read this than I had planned since it was a short book, but I did enjoy it.  I had my suspicions throughout and was pleasantly surprised to discover that some of them were true.  Jennie is a well-developed character and as the story unfolds, Griffin draws the reader into the story.  Directed towards six to nine year olds and I can see myself at that age enjoying this book a lot.  Filled with images of Jennie’s scrapbook, the reader gets a more tactile approach to the book than mere storytelling.  If some of the letters had been more readable, I would have enjoyed it even more, sleuthing through the handwritten clues along with Jennie, but even not being able to read it all, I didn’t feel it detracted much from the book itself.

There are a few nice twists to this story, and overall I would recommend this book to young children with an interest in ghosts and historical fiction.

Title: Type Matters!  Simple Tips for Everyday Typography
(Amazon, Goodreads)
Author:  Jim Williams
(Amazon, Goodreads)
Series: None
Publisher: Merrell
Genre: Non-fiction
Format: Journal/Paperback
Source: 60 Cycle Media

Synopsis:

Back of the Book:

Nowadays, most of us work on personal computers and have access to hundreds of different typefaces.  We’d all like our letters, reports, school projects and other documents to look as good and be as readable as possible.  However, few of us can use typography effectively.  Type Matters! is perfect for desktop reference, and is packed with everyday tips for those keen to improve the look of their type, whether it be on screen or in print.  Beautifully designed to reinforce the principles discussed throughout, Type Matters! shows exactly what makes good typography and what doesn’t, presenting clear guidance on how to create documents that are both readable and elegant.

From the Publisher:

Once upon a time, only typesetters needed to know about kerning, leading, ligatures and hanging punctuation. Today, however, most of us work on computers, with access to hundreds of fonts, and we’d all like our letters, reports and other documents to look as good – and be as readable – as possible. But what does all the confusing terminology about ink traps, letter spacing and visual centring mean, and what are the rules for good typography? Type Matters! is a book of tips for everyday use, for all users of typography, from students and professionals to anyone who does any layout design on a computer. The book is arranged into three chapters: an introduction to the basics of typography; headline and display type; and setting text. Within each chapter there are sections devoted to particular principles or problems, such as selecting the right typeface, leading and the treatment of numbers. Examples show precisely what makes good typography – and, crucially, what doesn’t. Authoritatively written and designed by a practitioner and teacher of typography, Type Matters! has a beautifully clear layout that reinforces the principles discussed throughout.

• The ultimate book of typography tips for anyone interested in improving the look of their type

• Clear subject-by-subject structure helps the reader quickly identify the relevant topic

• Elegantly designed, with soft flexi binding, ribbon placeholders and an elastic enclosure, ideal for handy desktop reference

My Review:

When Rob at 60 Cycle Media contacted me to review this book, I was excited.  It’s not my typical kind of book, but I recently finished a typography assignment for my graphic design course, and the focus of my next digital imaging project is on the use of typography, so this came to my attention at the perfect time.

This is a book that is more than just pages filled with information.  It’s an experience.  The soft, journal-like appearance of the cover makes me want to hold it in my hands, and the two ribbons, red and black, cry out for you to find a place to mark a page with them.  The pages are heavy stock and add to the overall feeling that this book will last a lifetime or maybe even two.

Geared toward novices, I also see it being useful for more advanced typography learners by providing a little more history and excellent examples of what is a good and what is a bad use of typography.  The text is often repeated in various typefaces, but it provides so much more than just what the words are conveying.  Printed in red and black text, Williams certainly did a superb job in laying this book out for his audience.

I read that Williams wrote this as a primer for his classes, and I can only imagine how useful this was for his students, so I’m very glad he decided to make it available to more people in such a wonderful edition.

Not only did I learn some interesting typography facts, but I also figured out what I am going to do for my digital imaging project on typography.

This book releases in April and I hope if you have an interest in typography, or know someone who is, pick up a copy or give it as a gift.  It will make its new owner very grateful indeed.

All of the cakes there were amazing and I give a warm thanks to the sponsors who bring all these wonderful talented people together for a great event.  I can’t wait for next year’s!

Title:  The Water Wars (Amazon, Goodreads)
Author: Cameron Stracher (Amazon, Goodreads)
Series: N/A
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Format: Paperback
Source: Review copy from Publisher

Synopsis:

Welcome to a future where water is more precious than oil or gold…

Hundreds of millions of people have already died, and millions more will soon fall-victims of disease, hunger, and dehydration. It is a time of drought and war. The rivers have dried up, the polar caps have melted, and drinkable water is now in the hands of the powerful few. There are fines for wasting it and prison sentences for exceeding the quotas.

But Kai didn’t seem to care about any of this. He stood in the open road drinking water from a plastic cup, then spilled the remaining drops into the dirt. He didn’t go to school, and he traveled with armed guards. Kai claimed he knew a secret-something the government is keeping from us…

And then he was gone. Vanished in the middle of the night. Was he kidnapped? Did he flee? Is he alive or dead? There are no clues, only questions. And no one can guess the lengths to which they will go to keep him silent. We have to find him-and the truth-before it is too late for all of us.

My review:

The world of Water Wars is as dry as you would expect given the title, but the story itself is even drier.  This sounded like a great choice, one that could stand out in the ever-increasing number of young adult dystopian novels.  Unfortunately, it didn’t hold up.  The characters weren’t interesting, and even the bit of love sparking between Kai and Vera feels thrown in and lifeless.

The first half of the book is decent, but once you reached the half-way point, the adventures of Vera and Will as they search for Kai become crazier and crazier.  Even in a world without readily accessible drinkable water, these scenarios are just too much.  While I do think the point Stracher makes about conserving water and a possible future for our world if we don’t conserve, I think it comes across as too preachy in this book.

If you’re a big fan of the young-adult dystopian books that are everywhere, give it a shot, you might like it more than I did.   The cover is truly beautiful, but not even that make this story worthwhile in my book.

I’m only a few pages in, and I’ve already learned something new.  The terms uppercase and lowercase in regards to type comes from the days of metal setting the type.  The cases containing the capital letters was in the case above the case containing the small letters.  Hence the capitals were in the upper case and the smaller letters were in the lower case.

I’m very intrigued by what the rest of the book will hold and how it will benefit my next project on typography.

Are any of you typography fans?  What’s your favorite font?

]]> http://urbanbachelorette.com/2012/03/08/graphic-design-logo-project/feed/ 0 http://urbanbachelorette.com/2012/03/07/review-alison-wonderland-by-helen-smith/ http://urbanbachelorette.com/2012/03/07/review-alison-wonderland-by-helen-smith/#comments Thu, 08 Mar 2012 04:36:17 +0000 Amanda http://urbanbachelorette.com/?p=2707

Title:  Alison Wonderland (Amazon, Goodreads)
Author:  Helen Smith (Amazon, Goodreads, Website)
Series: None
Publisher: Amazon Encore
Genre: Mystery, Fiction
Format: Paperback
Source: Author sent a copy for review.

Synopsis:

After her husband leaves her for another woman, twentysomething Londoner Alison Temple impulsively applies for a job at the very P.I. firm she hired to trap her philandering ex. She hopes it will be the change of scene she so desperately needs to move on with her shattered life. At the all-female Fitzgerald’s Bureau of Investigation, she spends her days tracking lost objects and her nights shadowing unfaithful husbands. But no matter what the case, none of her clients can compare to the fascinating characters in her personal life. There’s her boss, the estimable and tidy Mrs. Fitzgerald; Taron, Alison’s eccentric best friend, who claims her mother is a witch; Jeff, her love-struck, poetry-writing neighbor; and—last but not least—her psychic postman. Her relationships with them all become entangled when she joins Taron for a road trip to the seaside and stumbles into a misadventure of epic proportions! Clever, quirky, and infused with just a hint of magic, this humorous literary novel introduces a memorable heroine struggling with the everyday complexities of modern life.

My Review:

My first reaction when I finished this book was ‘Huh?’  I wasn’t sure what I had just read or why.  The title intrigued me and if I had come across it in a store with the new cover I definitely would have picked it up myself.  However, after reading this, I’m not sure if I should recommend it or not.

The characters are definitely interesting.  Each character has its own quirks and adds to the story, but what is the story?  That seems to be the biggest question.  There is no real conclusion to the story, nor is it written to lead to a sequel.  I feel as if Smith started with a great story and yet distracted by random tangents along the way.  The ‘end’ with the sheep hybrid and the farmer who cares for it didn’t seem to fit in and feels like a gratuitous ‘eww’ moment so there is something memorable about the book.  Although it’s not memorable for a good reason.

I’m not sure who I would recommend this to, but if you’re expecting a little PI mystery mixed with some chick-lit like events, this is not the book for you.  I feel that Smith has a way with words and could write a wonderful book, perhaps her others are more like that, but this one just isn’t it.

This is probably my favorite piece on display this year.  The small figure in the front center moved up and down, and the tree stump had a moving door so it opened and closed revealing the lizard inside.  The dragon looked almost real and I wish I knew who designed it.  The judging was happening while I was there, so the names of the creators were hidden.

(The images are quite large, so please click on the thumbnail to see them larger and in more detail.)

Allergies and Music made it to the final project.  Suggestions from others confirmed my thoughts on adding some lines across the middle of the soup bowl so it looks more bowl-ish.  What do you think?

Title: The Westing Game (Amazon, Goodreads)
Author: Ellen Raskin (Amazon, Goodreads)
Series: None
Publisher: Puffin
Genre: Young Adult, Mystery
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased from Half-Price Books

Synopsis:

When an eccentric millionaire dies mysteriously, 16 very unlikely people are gathered together for the reading of the will–and what a will it is.

Review:

I read this as a child and was recently reminded of it.  I sought out a good condition used copy for my collection as it is definitely a book I want my children to read.  I’ve read this so many times, you’d think I would remember who the murderer is and how it was done, but even with this read, some things were familiar, but it was still a surprise in the end.

This is a good mystery with some unique characters and an interesting set of circumstances surrounding their arrival at Sunset Towers.  It reminds me of And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie which is also an excellent mystery.

If you read this as a child, re-read it.  If you haven’t read it yet, pick it up.  I re-read it in an evening and it is well worth your time.

Title: Bumped (Amazon, Goodreads)
Author: Megan McCafferty (Amazon, Goodreads, Website)
Series: Bumped
Publisher: Balzer & Bray
Genre: Young Adult, Dystopian Fiction
Format: Kindle E-Book
Source: NetGalley

Synopsis:

WHEN A VIRUS makes everyone over the age of eighteen infertile, would-be parents must pay teen girls to conceive and give birth to their children, making teens the most prized members of society.

Sixteen-year-old identical twins Melody and Harmony were separated at birth and had never met until the day Harmony shows up on Melody’s doorstep. Until now, the twins have followed completely opposite paths. Melody has scored an enviable conception contract with a couple called the Jaydens. While they search for the perfect partner for Melody to bump with, she is fighting her attraction to her best friend, Zen, who is way too short for the job.

Harmony has spent her whole life in religious Goodside, preparing to be a wife and mother. She believes her calling is to convince Melody that pregging for profit is a sin. But Harmony has secrets of her own that she is running from.

When Melody is finally matched with the world-famous, genetically flawless Jondoe, both girls’ lives are changed forever. A case of mistaken identity takes them on a journey neither could have ever imagined, one that makes Melody and Harmony realize they have so much more than just DNA in common.

Review:

I pushed myself and managed to finish this one, but it was definitely a struggle.  I can’t honestly recommend this book to anyone and I certainly wouldn’t consider it good for young adults.  This country faces an enormous problem of teenage pregnancy and unplanned babies.  Yes, I do understand the genre is dystopian, but I believe the message teens would come away with is more pro-teen pregnancy than not.  It seems as though (Author) is heading in that direction in the sequel to this, but I will never know as I do not plan to read it or any other books by her for that matter.  The writing itself isn’t horrible, but it’s filled with made up slang and it seems the only thing on the minds of these girls is sex and who is going to get pregnant.

(Author) does a good deal of development and change with the two main characters, but it’s not until the very last part of the book that you really see the dilemmas Melody and Harmony are facing.  With the flipping back and forth between perspectives of two twins, it would have been beneficial for (Author) to make their names a little less interchangeable.  I found it hard to remember which twin was narrating and there aren’t a lot of clues in the chapters to help.

Overall, the writing lacked some much-needed development, the characters needed to be more different from each other, and the overall story could have used a little more dystopian feel to it.  This was much, much too bright and bubbly for a dystopian novel where teen pregnancy is a must due to a virus (more background on that would have helped the story as well) and the future of the human race is dependent on teens procreation before they are affected by the virus.

Title: Slipping Reality (Amazon, Goodreads)
Author:  Emily Beaver (Goodreads, Website)
Series: None
Publisher: Authorhouse
Genre: Young Adult
Format: Kindle E-Book
Source: NetGalley

Synopsis:

In a time of hardship and heartbreak, sometimes, reality just isn’t enough. Slipping Reality is the story of fourteen-year-old Katelyn Emerson, who, when faced with the glaring reality of her brother’s illness, rebels against the truth by slipping away into the depths of her own imagination. There, she finds the kind of support and comfort she feels she deserves. There, she does not have to feel so alone. And yet, as Katelyn’s grasp on reality begins to unravel, so too does the story of a girl who grew up too fast and fell apart too soon. Emily Beaver’s debut novel is a coming of age story that deals with the trials of young grief, insight, and growth where it’s least expected.

Review:

It took me longer than planned to read this book, but sometimes life gets in the way.  For Emily Beaver, and her character, Katelyn, life got in the way of her normal life as well.  The story is told from a young girl’s perspective as she deals with the finality of her brother’s battle with cancer.  She finds escape in her imagination, although at times, her fiction is so believable, you begin to wonder what’s real and what’s not.  Beaver’s writing is amazing, but you don’t discover that until you are well into the book.  The beginning of the book goes back and forth between reality and imagination so much that it’s hard to keep track of where you are and what’s happening.  I think with a little editing this could have been fixed up.  Once the baseline of the story is set though, you are drawn into a world that allows Katelyn to deal with the anxiety and issues she has related to her brother and best friend dying.

There are a lot of raw emotions in this book, and it’s hard not to feel for both the character and the author.  At the end of the book, there is a note from the author detailing how she came to write this story about her struggles with her brother’s death at a young age from cancer.  The beginning of the book is clearly written by a 14 year-old, but you can see her writing blossom as she develops the story.  I am excited to see what comes from her in the future.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who has lost a loved one, or is dealing with the loss of a loved one to cancer.  I would also recommend this to teens who are dealing with a loss of any kind.  I know reading similarly themed stories as a young adult helped me through some hard times and I know I would have read this had it been released all those years ago.

My final project was mounted on a presentation board and looked very good, but I didn’t remember to take a picture before turning it in.  Therefore, you get to see a final Illustrator document and not the full presentation, but it will serve the purpose.

I’m actually enjoying the way this class makes me think.  Our next project is with negative and positive space which I’m looking forward to as well.

If I write so it’s understood by all, I cannot use words that would better express my thoughts nor can I add to my reader’s vocabulary thereby improving them as well. I know that sometimes I need to consider my audience a little more, especially for work purposes when I communicate across cultures. However, for this blog, my audience is composed of other avid or aspiring readers. I assume that they are as intrigued to discover new words and their meanings as I am.

I also enjoy searching for a new word I’ve come across in my reading and discovering the meaning and the usage of words. A quick search online will often take me to a site where I can learn more about a topic related to what I’m reading and how that particular word conveyed the meaning the author intended much more vividly than a more common word.

I hear many things said about our educational system in the United States and especially here in Texas. If we are simplifying our words and not encouraging our youth and adults to be intellectuals, then aren’t we contributing to the problem? A quick look at the popular books of today and you can see a serious decline in writing. Take for instance the Sookie Stackhouse series which in my humble opinion isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. Yes, I have read one and tried to read a second, but I couldn’t get past the juvenile style of writing. Another example that comes to mind is the Twilight series which has spawned a following unlike we’ve seen but it isn’t the writing that caused it. These two series do not challenge the reader and can be likened to the trashy romance novels our mothers and grandmothers read. What happened to a challenging literary read?

Unless you are on the Honors track in school, most students aren’t exposed to Shakespeare or Faulkner or other great literary masters. We are not growing intellectually nor are we challenging our youth to think outside the box. We are teaching that education is merely a method of obtaining a better job. Through standardized testing and the ever-increasing ‘dumbing down’ of our media, we are seriously hurting our future.

To bring this to conclusion, while my word choices and writing will continue to improve, I will not ‘dumb’ down my writing. I will not choose words that are easier to understand by all. If I write something that prompts someone to Google a word then I have added to their education, their cultural capital, and enriched their lives.

The original PC version was quite a challenge, and I found the same to be true of the Xbox 360 version for the sequel.  I like that there is a progression through the tools/abilities so that it’s not overwhelming trying to remember what button does what from the start.  It builds up in skill and while there were definitely some trying times, I never wanted to throw the controller down and give up.

The graphics as you can see in a quick search are amazing as well.  In particular, I loved the Veil of Tears and the Hatter’s Domain.  Both are filled with wonderful detail and gorgeous scenes.  Characters that you met in the first are back in the second, and I was happy to revisit some of these intriguing creatures.  Along with some new ones, this game has a bit of everything.

Overall I would say the graphics are much more interesting than the game itself, but I believe that is because while it’s a newer spin on the story, it’s still the same story heard time and again.  The graphics are beautiful and at times can distract you from the game as you gaze around in wonder through Alice’s eyes.  But don’t look around too long or you might find yourself lost or facing a horde of merciless creatures out to attack you.

One last thing that I really enjoyed was the pepper grinder weapon.  That is truly a whimsical yet perfect weapon for this mysterious world.

Two thumbs up for the people at EA.  You did a great job, and I would love to see you do something as great as this with another childhood story.

Title: Werewolf Descent (Amazon, Goodreads)
Author: Elizabeth J. Kolodziej (Amazon, Goodreads, Website)
Series: The Last Witch Series
Publisher: Third Broom on the Left Press
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Format: Paperback
Source: Review copy provided by author

Synopsis:

Last witch in the world, Faith Scott, and her Irish vampire boyfriend Trent have just come back from fighting for their lives to recover the Vampiric Blood gem and Werewolf Moon gem. Thinking they could finally relax and work on the romance growing between them, they now meet a mysterious psychic vampire named Vincent who has his heart set on being with Faith.

Soon bizarre killings of Zou Tai’s werewolf pack begin, with rumors of an alchemist possessing the famed philosophers stone being the assailant; which, causes Faith to turn to Vincent for help in figuring out why the werewolves are being murdered.

It isn’t long before all those around them test Trent and Faith’s love, along with their abilities, once again. It is all Trent can do to keep Faith safe by his side while both go up against a pissed off alchemist, deceptive gods, and having to rescue the werewolf prince; yet, after a deal with the God of Werewolves will Trent be able to save himself too?

Review:

An interesting sequel to Vampyre Kisses, but disappointing overall.  The first book took a new twist on the vampire/girl relationship we’ve all become so fond of, but this one seemed is more about how Faith must choose between one of two very different vampires or a werewolf, or any other random male character thrown into the mix.  Difficult as it is to not fall in love with Trent, throughout this second book, I found myself disliking Faith more and more and feeling that he might be better off without her.  Sometimes you can’t help who you fall in love with, and the Trent/Faith relationship is one of those instances.  I’m not saying she should be a woe-is-me, I can’t do anything without my boyfriend by my side characters that have overwhelmed the genre, but she goes from being a good girlfriend to taking what she has with Trent for granted when faced with Zou Tai and Vincent throughout the second book.

The twist at the end, while noble and expected of Trent, was by far the most troubling part of this series.  I can’t say I would have liked it more if the author had changed it around so things happen differently, but I do know that I don’t see a reason to read the next in the series when it arrives.  I know should the description even hint at a possible change in the way things are left at the end I will pick up the third to see what happens, but that puts a lot of pressure on the short teaser.

The writing certainly improved from the first book to the second and I found the plot is much less jumbled than the first, but there was a lot going on in a short amount of time and space.  At times, I felt there could have been some action taken out and some reflection or added descriptions of the scenes added to help pace the story better.

Despite my sadness on the outcome of the main plot twist, I do not regret reading this book and did enjoy it to some extent, however, I know this is not one that I will want to re-read.

How did this happen?  Well in part because those for this adjustment of copyright law were backed by those that are also backing SOPA and PIPA.  The music industry, the movie industry, and large corporations are all pushing to protect their money.  I’m fine with copyright as it existed before this decision.  I understand copyright and agree with it.  If I create something and someone uses it without my permission to make a profit, then yes, by all means I will enforce my rights as the owner of said property.  But when something that has been under public domain for years past the original copyright time frame suddenly goes from being public domain back to being protected, that is something I do not agree with.

Education in this country is appalling at best and through Google, libraries, and the Gutenberg Project, many of those works that would not otherwise be available to students of all ages, are now readily available.  Changing the availability of these works so that more people can experience and enjoy them increases our populations cultural capital.  Why should we let that be taken away?  We are up in arms over the Internet being monitored and controlled, but we are letting the smaller issues slide by without so much as a second thought.

If the people have their rights taken away in a big way, people notice immediately and cause an uproar, but when it’s taken piece by piece over time, do we notice?  What can we do about it then when we become use to the things as they are?  It’s only a little thing we lost right?  People will say it doesn’t matter.  But in the end, if we aren’t aware of these little things and fight them with as much vehemence as we fight larger things like SOPA/PIPA we will all end up losing more in the end.

Title: The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man (Amazon, Goodreads)
Author: Mark Hodder (Amazon, Goodreads)
Series: Burton and Swinburne
Publisher: Pyr
Genre: Science Fiction
Format: Paperback
Source: Received review copy from publisher.

Synopsis:

It is 1862, though not the 1862 it should be…

Time has been altered, and Sir Richard Francis Burton, the king’s agent, is one of the few people who know that the world is now careening along a very different course from that which Destiny intended.

When a clockwork-powered man of brass is found abandoned in Trafalgar Square, Burton and his assistant, the wayward poet Algernon Swinburne, find themselves on the trail of the stolen Garnier Collection—black diamonds rumored to be fragments of the Lemurian Eye of Naga, a meteorite that fell to Earth in prehistoric times.

His investigation leads to involvement with the media sensation of the age: the Tichborne Claimant, a man who insists that he’s the long lost heir to the cursed Tichborne estate. Monstrous, bloated, and monosyllabic, he’s not the aristocratic Sir Roger Tichborne known to everyone, yet the working classes come out in force to support him. They are soon rioting through the streets of London, as mysterious steam wraiths incite all-out class warfare.

From a haunted mansion to the Bedlam madhouse, from South America to Australia, from séances to a secret labyrinth, Burton struggles with shadowy opponents and his own inner demons, meeting along the way the philosopher Herbert Spencer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Florence Nightingale, and Charles Doyle (father of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle).

Can the king’s agent expose a plot that threatens to rip the British Empire apart, leading to an international conflict the like of which the world has never seen? And what part does the clockwork man have to play?

Burton and Swinburne’s second adventure—The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man—is filled with eccentric steam-driven technology, grotesque characters, and a deepening mystery that pushes forward the three-volume story arc begun in The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack.

Synopsis:

Hodder recently won the Phillip K. Dick Award for the first in this series, The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack, and it is no wonder that this is a worthy follow-up to the first book.  The story continues the tale of Sir Francis Burton, and his pals, as they become involved in the mysterious missing diamonds.  The title character, one Clockwork Man, starts off this adventure, but other than a bit part, he doesn’t play too heavily into the story.  This is something I would have liked to see change.  However, Hodder’s skill at drawing a reader in to the story allows you to quickly forget that this isn’t the story you thought it was going to be.  It is all the better for that.

The events of the first book have changed things in Burton’s England when this story picks up and Hodder delicately weaves the two together into one wonderful story.  I can only hope the third in the series, which recently arrived on my doorstep, will round out this threesome into a wonderfully intriguing tale.  Reminiscent of a Wilkie Collins mystery or a good Sherlock Holmes story, even if you are not a huge fan of steam punk, these are books worth reading.  Hodder brings the world of Burton and Swinburne to life through the use of illuminating descriptions, and famous and infamous names from history, which only draw you deeper and deeper into his world.

Hodder leaves the second book at the perfect point.  I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the third in the series, and I believe that Hodder’s ability to weave the three independent stories together so that they are at once their own book, and part of a whole makes this series one of the best I’ve read in a while.

Synopsis:

There is no such place as Krassnia. Lucy Stone should know — she was born there. In that tiny, troubled region of the former Soviet Union, revolution is brewing. Its organisers need a safe place to meet, and where better than the virtual spaces of an online game? Lucy, who works for a start-up games company in Edinburgh, has a project that almost seems made for the job: its original inspiration came from The Krassniad — an epic tale, based on Krassnian folklore, concocted by Lucy’s mother who studied there in the 1980s. As Lucy digs up details about her birthplace to slot into the game, she finds her interest in the open secrets of her family’s past — and the darker secrets of Krassnia’s — has not gone unnoticed. When a Russian — Georgian border war breaks out, Lucy has to move fast — and return to Krassnia herself, to the heart of the mountain that holds Krassnia’s darkest and oldest secret. But nothing Lucy has discovered can possibly prepare her for the crucial role she is destined to play in The Restoration Game …

Review:

I’ve heard many good things about MacLeod, and so I was interested in this book before I really knew what it was about.  When it arrived, it was put on the pile, and eventually I pulled it out to read.  I can honestly say it was interesting, but not in the least what I was expecting. Marketed as a science fiction book, but for the 5% (and that’s being generous) that is lite science fiction, I don’t think it should be considered as such.  It’s more of a political thriller and focuses on the personal journey of the main character, Lucy.  She is taken from her safe world working for a computer gaming company and thrown into the world of intrigue her mother and possible fathers are involved in.  The possible fathers sub-plot is thrown in there, I think, to add some depth to the story, but mostly I found it confusing in a is he or isn’t he kind of way.

I think this story would have held more interest for me if it had focused more on the science fiction points that are brought up towards the end.  MacLeod delivers some serious ides to mull over in your head awhile and perhaps even to analyze over a cup of coffee with your more ‘what if’ analytical friends, but they are thrown in almost as an after thought.  With a little more development of those ideas, and a little less political this and that, this story could have been a great story.  As it is though, I find it hard to recommend it to anyone who is not already a fan of MacLeod.  This will not stop me from trying another of his books, but until I read another, I don’t want to possibly turn people from him if this is not a good example of his abilities.

Synopsis:

The Hallows. Ancient artifacts imbued with a primal and deadly power. But are they protectors of this world, or the keys to its destruction?

A gruesome murder in London reveals a sinister plot to uncover a two-thousand-year-old secret.

For decades, the Keepers guarded these Hallows, keeping them safe and hidden and apart from each other. But now the Keepers are being brutally murdered, their prizes stolen, the ancient objects bathed in their blood. Now, only a few remain.

With her dying breath, one of the Keepers convinces Sarah Miller, a practical stranger, to deliver her Hallow—a broken sword with devastating powers—to her American nephew, Owen.
The duo quickly become suspects in a series of murders as they are chased by both the police and the sadistic Dark Man and his nubile mistress.

As Sarah and Owen search for the surviving Keepers, they unravel the deadly secret the Keepers were charged to protect. The mystery leads Sarah and Owen on a cat-and-mouse chase through England and Wales, and history itself, as they discover that the sword may be the only thing standing between the world… and a horror beyond imagining.

The Thirteen Hallows is the beginning of a spellbinding new saga, a thrilling tale of ancient magic and modern times by a New York Times bestselling author and an award-winning playwright.

Review:

Let me start off by saying, if you read the 13 Tidbits about The Thirteen Hallows and didn’t run out to buy it, why not?  Hmm?  This is one that you will not only crave more, but you will want to share it with your friends as well.  I know the perfect person who will be getting this for their birthday if they haven’t already read it.

If you saw someone being attached, would you step in and help or turn the other way?  A chilling thriller, the story starts off with a young woman helping an elderly woman when she is attacked by two thugs.  Unbeknownst to her, she is now at the heart of a centuries old struggle to protect the Hallows of Britain.  Filled with beautiful details of the Hallows, and mixed in with some blood and gore, this has a bit of everything.  Those trying to gather the Hallows together are ruthless, and will stop at nothing to see their mission accomplished.  Yes, there is plenty to send shivers down your spine, but for an adult thriller, I don’t think the bloodshed is overdone.

Scott’s work may be better known for his young adult Alchemist series, but he’s going to have a large adult following as this series takes off.  As for Freedman, I haven’t read/seen any of her works yet, but she’s on my list of authors to get to know.

I highly recommend this book to any adult, and older teens.  This is a series that adults who loved Harry Potter will embrace for its fantasy and mystery elements and one you will want everyone you know to read as well.

A week or so ago, C and I went to Fry’s to buy some items.  They weren’t big-ticket items, but as we were standing in line, we noticed they offered price matching.  I pulled out my trusty iPhone, booted up RedLaser and found that all three of the items we wanted to buy were cheaper elsewhere.  We stepped up to the counter to checkout, but no go.  To get the price match you had to go the department for each item and have them print you a page to get the price match.  Ok, we had time, so we wandered back to the departments, and spoke with their Customer Service person.  Instead of matching the price though, and they clearly don’t tell you this, we stood there for 20 minutes while they went to every site RedLaser showed, found the product, checked the price, and then found out how much it would cost with shipping.  Now had we bought all three from Amazon at the same time, at their prices, not only would we have gotten a better deal, but we would also get free shipping.  But Fry’s in their attempt to get out of real price matching, won’t put them all in the cart and check out.  It’s based on each item plus shipping.  Not really price matching is it?  It’s price and shipping matching.

I’ve shopped at Best Buy several times and used their price matching.  They look at the screen, see the price, and enter it into the computer along with the name of the place the price was matched.  Simple, and it’s done at the checkout.

Back to Fry’s, after the 20 minutes, with no luck finding any of the items at a lower price if it includes shipping, we walked out the door without purchasing anything.  For big-ticket items, this might be a good deal, but not for everyday purchases.  And with their lack of clear signage, you can waste time standing in line, and then going to each department to try to get the price matched, only to have to go stand in the checkout line again if you do choose to buy these items.

My biggest complaint is no one seemed to have any information on the price matching.  It wasn’t clear where you needed to go to get the price match, and given all the extra work the staff went through to try and match the price + shipping, not just the price, I find this to be an attempt to draw business under false pretenses.  They don’t actually match the price, but they can waste your time while they pretend they are trying to get you the best deal.

I was so happy to find a Fry’s in Austin when I moved here as I wasn’t near one before, however, given this incredible waste of time and lack of actual ‘price’ matching, I will now do my shopping elsewhere.  Have you encountered some shady ‘price’ matching tactics at other stores?  Did you end up buying the item or walking out?

Title: Twilight Tales: A Collection of Chilling Poems (Goodreads)
Author: J. T. Holden (Goodreads)
Series: None
Publisher: Kuro Books
Genre: Poetry
Format: Paperback
Source: Review copy provided by publisher.

Synopsis:

From the critically acclaimed author of “Alice in Verse: The Lost Rhymes of Wonderland” comes a chilling collection of rhyming poetry perfect for Halloween…or any other dark and spooky night. From the creepy jingles of Shadows in Nursery and the eerie angst of The Darkening ‘Tweens to the malevolently poetic odes of Medieval Maladies and the sweeping chillers of The Epic Tales, J.T. Holden’s “Twilight Tales” offers a deliciously wicked mix of frightening fare!

Review:

I was so excited to learn about this book after reading Alice in Verse.  I contacted the publisher and they were kind enough to send along a copy to review.  When it arrived, I immediately read through it and then read it again.  Holden does another great job with some unique poems.  These are all very Halloween-ish and I really wish it had been out in time for Halloween.  However, I know this is one that I will re-read again around that time of year.

I’m not usually a fan of poetry, but Holden’s I will continue to read and I look forward to any more he has to offer.

Bonus: Here is the video trailer for the book.  If this doesn’t encourage you to buy this, I don’t know what will.

Title: The Eternal Night (Amazon, Goodreads)
Author: Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan (Amazon, Goodreads)
Series: The Strain Trilogy
Publisher: William Morrow
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Format: Hardcover
Source: Christmas Gift 2011

Synopsis:

Review:

This was a perfect conclusion to The Strain trilogy.  Yes, the ending was somewhat predictable, even from the conclusion of The Fall and through this book the conclusion was alluded to enough that you could figure it out.  However, even with that in mind, this was a fantastic book.

Yes, you should read the other two books leading up to the conclusion to get the back story and the motivation for the main characters, but they too are worth your time.  The others don’t move quite as fast, but this one certainly picks up the pace and draws you into the story until the very last page.

The vampires have taken over the world, and the humans are now the fodder for the masses.  These are not the vampires portrayed in the Twilight Series who sparkle in the sunlight, nor are they the upper crust of vampires from Anne Rice’s novels.  These vampires are one of the worst you will encounter.  In appearance, I would liken them to the ‘vampires’ encountered in the movie version of I Am Legend.  But even worse than the vampires are the humans who have aligned themselves with the vampires.  They spy and snitch on those that don’t follow the strict rules set out by the vampires, and on those few humans still resisting.

The characters introduced in the beginning as well as some new ones make an appearance as the final confrontation between Ephraim and the Master comes together.  Some will die and some will survive, but it’s all up to Ephraim and his dwindling resistance to rescue his son and hopefully conquer the Master once and for all.

While some scenes are somewhat graphic and gruesome, you have to remember this is a horror story about  horrific creatures hell-bent on taking over the world and farming humans.

This is one to read and as I’ve highly recommended the first two, I cannot do anything other than highly recommend this book as well.  This is a refreshing series to be included in the cannon of good vampire books.

While I haven’t had the issues that so many people have had with their bracelet, it doesn’t surprise me that Jawbone has since stopped making them while they work out the bugs.

I’ve heard better things about the FitBit and if I decided to invest in another device, I would probably give that a shot.

But aside from these negatives, I do have to say that the bracelet idea is really a nice touch.  I didn’t have to find it, figure out where it fell off my clothes, etc.  And while it is a little bulky, it doesn’t interfere with day-to-day tasks, it is water-resistant to 1 m and overall works quite well in that regard.

Title: The Confession (Amazon, Goodreads)

Author: Charles Todd (Amazon, Goodreads, Website)

Genre: Mystery

Publisher: William Morrow

Series: Inspector Ian Rutledge Series

Format: Hardcover

Source: Received review copy from publisher.

Synopsis:

Title: The Demi-Monde: Winter (Amazon, Goodreads, Website)
Author: Rod Rees (Amazon, Goodreads, Website)
Genre: Fiction (Elements of Science Fiction, SteamPunk, Thriller, Historical Fiction, and other genres intermixed.)
Publisher: William Morrow
Series: The Demi-Monde Saga
Format: Hardcover
Source: Received from William Morrow for review.

The Demi-Monde:

1. A subclass of society whose members embrace a decadent lifestyle and evince loose morals.

2. A shadow world where the norms of civilized behavior have been abandoned.

3. A massive multiple-player simulation technology that re-creates in a wholly realistic cyber-milieu the threat-ambiance and no-warning aspects of a hi-intensity, deep-density, urban Asymmetric Warfare Environment.

4. Hell.

Welcome to the Demi-Monde, the ultimate in virtual reality—a military training ground and vivid, simulated world of cruelty and chaos run by psychopaths, madmen and fanatics.

If you die here, you die in the Real World …

In the year 2018, the Demi-Monde is the most sophisticated, complex and unpredictable computer simulation ever created, devised specifically to train soldiers for the nightmarish reality of urban warfare. A virtual world of eternal civil conflict, its thirty million inhabitants—“Dupes”—are ruled by cyber-duplicates of some of history’s cruelest tyrants: the fanatical Nazi butcher Reinhard Heydrich; Stalin’s arch executioner Lavrentii Beria; the torture-loving Grand Inquisitor Tomás de Torquemada; the Reign of Terror’s bloodthirsty mastermind Maximilien Robespierre.

But something has gone horribly wrong inside the Demi-Monde, and the U.S. president’s daughter, Norma, has been lured into this terrifying shadow world, only to be trapped there. Her last hope of rescue is Ella Thomas, an eighteen-year-old jazz singer and very reluctant heroine. But when Ella infiltrates the Demi-Monde and begins her hunt for Norma, she soon discovers the walls containing the evils of this simulated environment are dissolving—and the Real World is in far more danger than anyone knows. With the help of resistors determined to understand their world, Ella must race to save Norma and stop an apocalypse … but the clock is ticking.

Blending fact and fantasy, history and religion, military and existential themes, epic adventure and dark wit, dystopia and steampunk in a wholly original and driving narrative stream, The Demi-Monde: Winter is inventive fiction at its finest.

Review:

Two days, and I want more.  I read this book in two days flat and I cannot wait to get my hands on Spring.  Left at an excellent stopping point, both in keeping you wanting more, but not in that frustrating way where someone is on the edge of a cliff about to jump off and leaving you at a point where the story will certainly take a turn.  Don’t get me wrong, this is not an easy read, nor at 500+ pages is it a short book.  But it will drag you into Rees’ well-thought out and impressive world that is The Demi-Monde.  The program envelops the soldier, utterly and completely, and Rees draws the reader in until she becomes part of the Demi-Monde herself.

Rees has created an interesting if not the least bit terrifying virtual reality.  As described in the Product Description Manual (a copy is available for viewing on the book’s website) the world of the Demi-Monde is an heuristic alternate reality populated with duplicates “Dupes” of real world people alive in our world today.  Some of the more prominent ‘dupes’ have no real world counterpart alive today, but they are well-known figures from our most horrific events.  The first dupe Ella and the reader are introduced to is Reinhard Heydrich, engineer of the Nazi’s “Final Solution” and it certainly will chill you to the bone to see how accurate Rees has portrayed these villains of our past.

I could write a whole post on just the workings of the Demi-Monde and how well-thought out it is, especially after reading the PDM referenced above.  There are varying cultures, conflicting political agendas, isolationist religions, and many more stressors that have shaped our history each expressed throughout sections or the whole of the Demi-Monde creating a unique world always in upheaval and on the brink of war.  Clearly Rees spent significant time developing his world, and I can see why the series is in four parts, if Rees expects to cover half of what I think he will as the series progresses.  Thankfully, there is a wonderful website (linked at the top of this post) that will make you want to read the book if you haven’t, or increase your craving for the second book if you have.

As characters are revealed, you cannot help but spend some time Googling the names that pop up or the references to events.  I’m not history buff, but this definitely made me wonder just what the character had done in real life to warrant a doppelgänger in the Demi-Monde.  Many of these characters are very well-known while others are lesser known, but Rees weaves them all together into a very interesting cast of characters.  Aside from the random villainous singularities like Heydrich and Aleister Crowley, Shaka Zulu, and Empress Wu, there are the main protagonists: Ella, Norma, the president’s daughter, and Trixie Dashwood.  These three women are the focus of the first book in the Demi-Monde Saga.

Ella is brought in as part of “Operation Offbeat” to rescue Norma.  Somehow, unknown to the scientists and military men who created the Demi-Monde, Norma was brought into the Demi-Monde and has since been trapped.  Heydrich and the other singularities have gotten out of control, and the plan is to pull the plug, shutting the whole thing down despite the loss of life for a few soldiers still caught in the program, but they cannot do that until Norma is out.  As we have seen in our real world, the life of a soldier isn’t worth anything, but the life of the president’s daughter is worth more than 17 of them.  Rees really hits it on the head with some of his observations such as this one.  Another good example of this is how Ella, who is a smart, extremely attractive African-American woman, is able to distract even the toughest white supremacists out to capture her with her good looks and feminine whiles.  Yes, they should hate her so much that she cannot fool them, but there are plenty that while they claim to hate all African-Americans they can still be swayed by a pretty woman despite her skin color.  There are many examples of this through the book, and sometimes perhaps Rees uses Ella’s good looks to get her out of a situation that Rees wrote her into, but couldn’t figure out a more valid way to get her out.  However, that is a small detractor in what is otherwise a phenomenal book.  I look forward to seeing what the Demi-Monde has in store for Ella in Spring.

Norma is the president’s daughter who starts all of the trouble that has brings Ella, Norma, and Trixie together.  Norma is in the Demi-Monde, no one knows how or why, although they do allude to it a bit later in the book, and found out to be a Daemon.  She is captured and being held by Heydrich’s men and then taken to Trixie’s house in the hopes that Norma and Trixie will befriend each other allowing Trixie to get at the Daemon’s secrets.  Norma as expected turns out to be a holier than thou, whiny, emo, bitch.  I think I would have preferred her to be more like Ella and Trixie as strong female leads, but perhaps it would have been too crowded with three of them.  Thankfully for the most part, Norma, although the story revolves around rescuing her, doesn’t play much of a role throughout the book, only popping up here and there to let the reader into what is happening when she isn’t with Ella or Trixie.  Given the cliffhanger, I am curious to see how her character plays out in Spring.

Trixie Dashwood is quite a mutable character.  In the beginning she is a head-strong RaTionalist girl who is on the brink of being a huge trouble to her father.  She thinks for herself, and is always curious about the barrier that surrounds the Demi-Monde, how to get through it and what’s on the other side.  Admirable ambitions in a character, but once Trixie feels that all is lost, thinking her father dead, and doing all she can to revenge her father’s death, she becomes, as Ella notes, more like Heydrich.  Trixie goes from being a head-strong independent girl to a military leader out for blood.  It is an interesting transition, but Rees manages to show just enough of what drives Trixie to see how this change happens as she rises to become a leader and revenge becomes her main focus.

As these three characters grow and evolve, there is a host of supporting characters that add to the greatness of this book.  I hope that they continue on in the future books, as I would love to see how Rees develops them and their storylines.

As I indicated earlier, I could go on and on about this book.  There is so much to say about it, that a few paragraphs, even a few pages are not enough.  It is a tome, and at over 500 pages, it is not a light read, but it is a read that is well worth your time.  The plotlines tie together seamlessly, and it is a satisfying original read.

I received a Kindle Fire as a birthday present and I’ve had it for a week now.  It’s time to tell you my opinion of it.  Let’s start off with my praise of Amazon’s customer service.

I received the Kindle Fire on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, plugged it in, connected to the Wi-Fi, downloaded the software update and then the error message came.  I love new gadgets, and sadly this wasn’t what I expected at all.  I tried rebooting it, connecting it to my computer, anything I could think of as I’m not a stranger to trouble-shooting technology.  Alas, it was not something I could fix.  I called Amazon and spoke with Lettie who was super helpful.  She not only listened to my issues, but she was didn’t talk to me as if I didn’t know a thing about technology.  We spent a good hour going through every possible solution she had and unfortunately, she had to escalate it to the next level.

The following day, after some thinking, I realized that if it won’t connect to a Wi-Fi and it wouldn’t talk to a computer, there wasn’t any way for me to get a fix installed if the upper levels did come up with something.  I called Amazon back and spoke with Robert.  I explained my earlier discussion with Lettie and my thoughts on being unable to install a fix should they come up with one.  He agreed that I didn’t need to wait for that, spoke with his manager, and got a new Kindle shipped to me to replace the broken one.  I had the new one, at no extra cost to me, by the end of the day on Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

Amazon went above and beyond during both my calls, and I am truly grateful for such a great customer service team.  The new Kindle powered on with the updated software already installed, and has had no problems thus far.

Now on to the important details.  I am very happy with the size, it’s easy to hold in one hand and not too heavy.  The screen is clear, has vivid colors, and seems very sturdy.  It’s a very simple design which minimal buttons, a port to connect to the power source or a computer, and two small speakers.

The screen is very responsive, and I do like the user interface design.  The backgrounds on the lock screen are gorgeous.  Sometimes I wish I could just look at those.  I do not like that everything you access is stored as an image on the front dashboard.  You can clear some of them by clearing the applications, but it’s somewhat hidden, and I had to do a search online to find out how to clear that.  However, it does not clear everything and some things are there forever.  I’ve read many comments and that seems to be one of the main concerns.  Other than that, the dashboard is clean and very intuitive.

Kindle’s Lending Library is a nice addition to those with the Prime membership, but I find the selection of books to be less than desirable.  I spent a while flipping through the list to find my first book to borrow, and finally decided I would read Water for Elephants since I had it on my TBR list but hadn’t gotten around to reading it yet.  None of the books I have on my wish list are available through the Lending Library, so I think they will need to expand on that to make it a really worthwhile bonus to owning a Kindle and paying for the Prime membership.  Overall the reading experience was good.  I like that I can tap or swipe to change the page, and the ability to look up word definitions and such while reading is a definite plus.

One of the things I didn’t like was the inability to read my Google ebooks on the Kindle.  I’d bought some books from a recent Unbridled Books sale of their titles, and was looking forward to reading them.  However, Kindle doesn’t allow the Google apps, and won’t read the Google ebooks format.  Thanks to the wonderous Internets, I found a workaround for that.  I installed the Barnes and Noble Nook app and was able to import the Google ebooks into the Nook app.  Now I can read just about any format.  The Nook app works well on the Kindle as well and I’ve been going between that and the Kindle books.

I haven’t watched a full length movie yet, but I did fire one up that was available on their Prime membership.  Their movie choice is better than their book lending selection and I found a movie that I had recently watched on our big screen tv with surround so I could effectively compare it.  The picture was excellent on the Kindle, although I do wish they used the full screen instead of centering the picture in a box within the screen.  Other than that, I have no complaints.  The playing was smooth and what sound was put out on the device is perfect for a person to watch without disturbing those around them.  However, if there is any background noise in the area you’re in while watching, I highly suggest you put on a pair of headphones.

The web interface is nice as well although it’s not one I would use other than to look something up quickly or as a main device for accessing the internet.  The Google RSS feed reader is not able to work well on the Kindle and that’s my main source of internet entertainment/knowledge.  I’ve yet to try to use a site and was unable to although sometimes when scripts stop working instead of allowing you to continue without said script, it just restarts the browser.  That’s kind of annoying if you’re opening multiple tabs and aren’t sure which one is causing the problem.

All in all I love my Kindle.  I’m almost through my second e-book on it and I find it suitable for my purposes.  I’m not going to give up physical books anytime soon and go completely digital, but for books that I know I will probably only read once, or ARCs from publishers, I think this will do a great job of keeping my apartment and TBR pile clutter free.

Jacob T. Marley

(Amazon, Goodreads)

by R. William Bennett

(Amazon, Goodreads, Website)

Published by Shadow Mountain, October 2011

Marley was dead to begin with … These chillingly familiar words begin the classic Christmas tale of remorse and redemption in A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Now R. William Bennett rewinds the story and focuses the spotlight on Scrooge s miserly business partner, Jacob T. Marley, who was allowed to return as a ghost to warn Scrooge away from his ill-fated path. Why was Marley allowed to return? And why hadn t he been given the same chance as Ebenezer Scrooge? Or had he? Written with a voice reminiscent of Dickens, Jacob T. Marley is to A Christmas Carol as the world-famous Wicked is to The Wizard of Oz as this masterfully crafted story teaches of choices, consequences, and of the power of accountability. It is sure to become a Christmas favorite.

Who would’ve thought there was so much to tell about such a small character in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol?  I certainly expected this to be a retelling of the well-known story, but I was pleasantly surprised.  Full of charm and beautiful writing, Bennett pulls together a story that fits so perfectly into the original tale that you could almost see it as side notes for Dickens’ tale.  Not only do we get a glimpse into who the man Marley was and how he got that way, but we also see how he influenced Scrooge and helped to mold him into the man he became.

As the story unfolds, we are introduced to another side of some of literature’s most well-known characters and yet, it doesn’t read like a simple re-telling of Dickens’ classic tale of redemption.  Marley plays such a pivotal role in the final outcome of Scrooge’s night with the spirits and he becomes a new man in our eyes just as Scrooge does in A Christmas Carol.

As the holiday season approaches, I hope that you pick this up and add this wonderful tale to your yuletide traditions.  And perhaps even as a simple bedtime story to share with your children as I know A Christmas Carol in book form can be quite daunting.

 The Mistress Contract

(Amazon, Goodreads)

by She and He

Published by Unbridled Books, October 2011

The Taker

(Amazon, Goodreads)

by Alma Katsu

(Amazon, Goodreads, Website)

Published by Gallery Books, September 2011

Dr. Luke Findley is on the midnight shift in the emergency room when the police bring in a young woman. Few strangers come to this remote town in northernmost Maine in the winter, and this stranger is accused of a bizarre crime: killing a man and leaving his body in the Great North Woods. The young woman, Lanny, tells the doctor that she and the man in the woods lived in this town at its founding two hundred years ago, until fate sentenced them to an eternity of unhappiness until they atone for their sins.

The man in the woods is Jonathan, son of the town’s founder, and the love of Lanny’s life. After Lanny commits a terrible sin in the hope of claiming Jonathan for her own, she’s banished from town and sent to Boston to serve her penance. In Boston, she falls in with a beguiling yet frightening man, Adair, who has otherworldly powers, including the ability to confer immortality. His world is one of unknown sensual pleasures and seemingly limitless power, but at what price?

Adair wants to add Jonathan to the collection of treacherous courtiers who do his bidding (but for unknown ends) and sends Lanny back to Maine to collect him. It seems like the answer to Lanny’s deepest desire—to be with Jonathan forever—but once Jonathan has joined Adair’s pack of immortals, she sees that Adair is not what he seems and his intentions toward Jonathan are far worse than she imagined. And now it is up to her to save her beloved—and herself—from a terrible fate designed to last for all eternity.

The Taker is a story of the power of love to corrupt, to drive us to do terrible things in its name, and the courage it takes to sacrifice in the name of love and ultimately be worthy of absolution.

This review may come across as gushing, but if you haven’t read this book, you are doing yourself a disservice.  I met Katsu at the BEA in 2010 long before the book came out and had the ARC sitting on my shelf for far too long.  I picked it up and flew through it.

As some reviews of this book have expanded upon, there are some seriously violent scenes and activities that will disturb some readers.  However, these scenes are not there to be gratuitous, but to elicit the extreme emotions that Katsu impresses upon the reader.  The reader is taken from the heart wrenching tale of young love; a love that we rarely experience outside of  a book and yet one we all crave, to the intense yet brutal extremes as Lanny is taken in by Count Adair and his entourage, and finally to her realization of what she’s done and the woman she has become after many years finally taking responsibility for the choices she made.

Part historical fiction, part psychological horror, a bit of paranormal circumstance and all love story, The Taker will draw you in and run you through an emotional roller coaster that you don’t want to get off.  You cannot wait for the next page to reveal yet another reason to cheer for Lanny, even when she makes a decision that seems unforgivable.

The characters, Lanny, Jonathan, Count Adair, and Luke are so well-developed, it’s hard to believe this is a first book.  The love Lanny has for Jonathan, which turns to obsession, sometimes blinds her, but it doesn’t feel contrived and her intense feelings are at times almost palpable to the reader.  And the warmth felt from the love side, is starkly and perfectly contrasted by the violence experienced from Adair and his cold-hearted entourage.  Adair’s back story is delicately crafted to fit seamlessly into the tale.

I can’t stress enough that you should pick up this book.  A book that can make the reader feel such an array of emotions comes along rarely. It’s been a long time since I felt this strongly about a story that is both beautiful and tragic.  The last time I felt this way was when I read The Gargoyle and if you haven’t read that one either, then I suggest you get yourself to a bookstore and pick them both up.  Perhaps this will be continued in a sequel; one that I will jump at the chance to read.

This post is a selection for the Peril the First portion of the 6th annual R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril (R.I.P.) Challenge. To find out more information and/or to sign up to participate, please follow the link. If you are interested in more books or films that are being reviewed as part of this event, please visit the R.I.P. VI Review Site. (This paragraph borrowed from Carl V. who is hosting R.I.P. VI)

Immortal

(Amazon, Goodreads)

by Gillian Shields

(Amazon, Goodreads)

Published by Harper Audio, June 2010

Wyldcliffe Abbey School for Young Ladies, housed in a Gothic mansion on the bleak northern moors, is elite, expensive, and unwelcoming. When Evie Johnson is torn away from her home by the sea to become the newest scholarship student, she is more isolated than she could have dreamed. Strict teachers, snobbish students, and the oppressive atmosphere of Wyldcliffe leave Evie drowning in loneliness.

Evie’s only lifeline is Sebastian, a rebellious, mocking, dangerously attractive young man she meets by chance. As Evie’s feelings for Sebastian grow with each secret meeting, she starts to fear that he is hiding something about his past. And she is haunted by glimpses of a strange, ghostly girl—a girl who is so eerily like Evie, she could be a sister. Evie is slowly drawn into a tangled web of past and present that she cannot control. And as the extraordinary, elemental forces of Wyldcliffe rise up like the mighty sea, Evie is faced with an astounding truth about Sebastian, and her own incredible fate.

Gillian Shields’s electrifying tale will dazzle readers with suspense, mysticism, and romance.

This was a download from the Sync YA as a free audiobook this summer.

I fully expected this to be a standard Gothic thriller with a love story.  However, while it was that, it was far from standard.  Yes, the tale is somewhat predictable, but what makes this stand out is Shield’s ability to pull together a beautifully toned story that seamlessly transitions from past to present as the narration changes from Evie’s point of view to Agnes’s.  The depth of the characters, and Shield’s decision to make Sebastian an un-predictable love interest pull this story together making it stand out from the rest.

I liked the narration of the audiobook which held me even though I listened to it sporadically.  With two characters, Evie and Agnes, being so similar, yet from different time periods, it could have been easy to be lost as the narration transitions back and forth, but Shield’s superb writing allowed for a powerful reading that keeps you coming back for more.  I know that I would have had a hard time putting the book down if I had read it in that format.

I’ve also added the other novels in the series to my reading list, but this book can stand on its own, and I do not feel left hanging having not read the others.  It’s a bit heavy and deep at times, so not particularly a light summer read, but as the weather gets cooler, it’s a good book to keep in mind when you want to curl up with a good book.

This post is a selection for the Peril the First portion of the 6th annual R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril (R.I.P.) Challenge. To find out more information and/or to sign up to participate, please follow the link. If you are interested in more books or films that are being reviewed as part of this event, please visit the R.I.P. VI Review Site. (This paragraph borrowed from Carl V. who is hosting R.I.P. VI)

Floating Staircase

(Amazon, Goodreads)

by Ronald Malfi

(Amazon, Goodreads, Website)

Published by Medallion Press, October 2011

Following the success of his latest novel, Travis Glasgow and his wife Jodie buy their first house in the seemingly idyllic western Maryland town of Westlake. At first, everything is picture perfect–from the beautiful lake behind the house to the rebirth of the friendship between Travis and his brother, Adam, who lives nearby. Travis also begins to overcome the darkness of his childhood and the guilt he’s harbored since his younger brother’s death–a tragic drowning veiled in mystery that has plagued Travis since he was 13. Soon, though, the new house begins to lose its allure. Strange noises wake Travis at night, and his dreams are plagued by ghosts. Barely glimpsed shapes flit through the darkened hallways, but strangest of all is the bizarre set of wooden stairs that rises cryptically out of the lake behind the house. Travis becomes drawn to the structure, but the more he investigates, the more he uncovers the house’s violent and tragic past, and the more he learns that some secrets cannot be buried forever.

I jumped for joy when I received an email from Medallion Press asking if I was interested in reviewing Malfi’s newest book.  I’d received The Ascent from them before, and it was my first experience with Malfi’s writing.  I was not disappointed and so I was ready, willing, and able to read this and review it.

As you may have read before, while this book has nothing to do with spiders, reading it before bed gave me a tidbit of anxiety, perfect for a good mystery/horror story and resulted in some interesting dreams while I was reading it.

The story is well-developed and unpredictable which is my favorite thing when it comes to Malfi’s books.  The Ascent keeps you guessing up to the end and so does Floating Staircase.  If you enjoyed any of Malfi’s books, please pick this one up and give it a read.  It’s a perfectly chilling story that will send shivers down your spine.

Sometimes I find it very hard to review books like this because I can’t tell you about it without giving something away that may result in you not enjoying it as much and possibly figuring out the ending.  But I will say that if you enjoy a story about a house with an interesting history, and how it becomes an obsession, then this is definitely a book for you.

Click here to see my related posts.

This post is a selection for the Peril the First portion of the 6th annual R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril (R.I.P.) Challenge. To find out more information and/or to sign up to participate, please follow the link. If you are interested in more books or films that are being reviewed as part of this event, please visit the R.I.P. VI Review Site. (This paragraph borrowed from Carl V. who is hosting R.I.P. VI)

Going Underground

(Amazon, Goodreads)

by Susan Vaught

(Amazon, Goodreads, Website)

by Bloomsbury USA, September 2011

Del is a good kid who’s been caught in horrible circumstances. At seventeen, he’s trying to put his life together after an incident in his past that made him a social outcast-and a felon. As a result, he can’t get into college; the only job he can find is digging graves; and when he finally meets a girl he might fall in love with, there’s a sea of complications that threatens to bring the world crashing down around him again. But what has Del done? In flashbacks to Del’s fourteenth year, we slowly learn the truth: his girlfriend texted him a revealing photo of herself, a teacher confiscated his phone, and soon the police were involved.

Basing her story on real-life cases of teens in trouble with the law for texting explicit photos, Susan Vaught has created a moving portrait of an immensely likable character caught in a highly controversial legal scenario.

Having read the back of the book blurb and based on the cover, I wasn’t sure how I would like this book.  I mean the idea behind it is clearly something young adults should think about and understand the consequences of their actions in the eyes of the current laws, but how would it work as a story plot?  Would it come off preachy?  Or would it just be a back drop to an otherwise generic young adult novel about two kids in love?  Since I hadn’t  read Vaught’s work before, I had no idea what to expect.

Vaught provides an excellent novel which balances the life changing consequences with the heartbreaking challenges faced as one boy tries to put his life back together after what is thought to be an innocent act of two freshman in high school.  Vaught’s research and knowledge of current laws as well as how they are changing helps to expand a fictional story into a lesson (but not a preachy one) for young adults who do not always understand the consequences of their actions.

As I discussed with the girls of Explore Austin, the actions and things you say now in an ever increasing digital world, can have unknown responses down the road effecting both your personal life and potentially your professional life as well.  As the world connects through various digital means, the laws may not always be current with the new situations that arise with these technologies.  And as Vaught’s tale of Del clearly shows, what is thought to be a very innocent exchange between two non-sexually active teenagers, results in a young man about to graduate high school who cannot find a college to accept him, and his job prospects are so limited, that he is working in a cemetary.

I wish I had copies of this book to give to my friend who teach the target audience of this book as I know they would not only devour the story, but they might also stop to think before they do something that could result in a similar situation for them.  If you have a teen or even a tween, I would suggest you put this book in front of them.  It’s well worth a read.

An added bonus, this novel has the rare occurrence of being told from a boy’s point of view; something that you don’t often see in young adult novels and clearly a viewpoint that needs to be heard.

This post is a selection for the Peril the First portion of the 6th annual R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril (R.I.P.) Challenge. To find out more information and/or to sign up to participate, please follow the link. If you are interested in more books or films that are being reviewed as part of this event, please visit the R.I.P. VI Review Site. (This paragraph borrowed from Carl V. host of R.I.P. VI)

The Immune

(Amazon, Goodreads, Website)

by Doc Lucky Meisenheimer

(Amazon, Goodreads, Website)

Published by LJS&S Publishing, May 2011

1973 Herbert Boyer produces the first transgenic bacterial organism.

 1991 Herman the bull becomes the first transgenic mammal.

 2000 Transgenic rabbit fluoresces green.

In the not too distant future a biological crisis of epic proportions threatens the world. Genetically manufactured creatures, named airwars, attack and kill at random. Attacks on airwars result in the reproductive release of thousands of juveniles, which exponentially increase the airwar population hampering attempts at extermination.

A hastily formed world government, although having captured and sequestered the airwar’s creator, appears more effective in consolidating power than managing the crisis.

Hope emerges when a navy admiral discovers there are individuals born genetically immune to the deadly stings of the creatures. As the immunes struggle to protect humanity, they bemoan escalating governmental control. The admiral dismisses their concerns imploring focus on the creatures not politics.

There is, though, one key immune with the intelligence and leadership to look beyond the crisis. Consumed with exacting revenge against the airwars’ creator he remains oblivious. As the government unfolds its secret plans to end the crisis the destined future of humanity may well rest on his shoulders.

Please don’t judge this book by its cover.  I know it doesn’t look like much, and I have voiced my opinion of it to the publicist in the hopes that they will change it for future editions.  But for now, know that this is one that if you dismiss it because of the cover, you are missing out on a tremendous story.

I have to honestly say had I come across this in the bookstore, I wouldn’t have given it a second glance, but Victoria, Meisenheimer’s publicist, was at ArmadilloCon this year and told me about it and hooking me on the book.  And from page one to the last, I was drawn into this book, the writing, the characters, all of it.

What starts out as a government plot to keep those in power safe from the airwar attacks and leading the general population with an ineffective plan of ‘leave them alone, they’ll leave you alone’ attitude, soon becomes not only a great depiction of our leading powers the world over, but a window into the way people of all ages and backgrounds would react to such events if they should happen in the future.  Genetic manipulation is a very real and potentially dangerous act with many unknown consequences.  Not that there aren’t benefits, but there is always the good and the bad side of things.

Meisenheimer uses his extensive knowledge as a champion swimmer and his medical background to delve deeply into the world he creates bringing the characters and the threats to life.  His style of writing moves quickly, but doesn’t lack in details which enable the reader to vividly see the events as they unfold.  Keeping you on edge and just when you think you’ve got it figured out, he swings in with a twist and throws you right back to the edge of your seat.

As I said in the beginning, I’m not a fan of the cover and it does not do the story between it justice, but if you can put aside the cover, the book is more than well worth your time to read it.

This post is a selection for the Peril the First portion of the 6th annual R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril (R.I.P.) Challenge. To find out more information and/or to sign up to participate, please follow the link. If you are interested in more books or films that are being reviewed as part of this event, please visit the R.I.P. VI Review Site. (This paragraph borrowed from Carl V. who is hosting R.I.P. VI)

Edward and the Island

(Amazon, Goodreads)

by Charles Jonathan Martin and Will Weinke

(Amazon, Goodreads)

Published by Literati Press, May 2010

The End of the World isn’t the End of the Story. Sixty-three souls find themselves plucked from heaven and thrust into an experimental new universe. Haunted by the dark memories of their past lives on Earth and forced to live in an isolated community, a small group bands together to strike out into the new world and uncover the secrets of the Island.

I’m sad to see the awful review given this book on Amazon.  It seems to deter people from purchasing this book and giving it a shot.  Clearly, this is not supposed to be a factual book or even a biblical book.  Some people call it blasphemy, but I think they are missing the point of this book.

63 people have lived their lives and passed away and then they find themselves with all their memories, but as children just before puberty hits.  They have woken up on a plane and all been taken to an island which is home to a rustic summer camp.  As they begin to settle in, they are introduced to a hippie looking older gentleman who they are told is God.  Other than God, who takes a fairly loose handed role in guiding their activities and two ‘counselors’ who are somewhat of a mystery.

The children are put to tasks like making macaroni art and swimming in the lake, encouraged to read the only book available, the Bible, and are mostly ensconced in the camper life.  Many of the children fall into line and are happy to follow the rules.  However, the book focuses on Cabin 5, a cabin of boys who are not so willing to always follow the directions.  This leads to many interesting consequences which sometimes fit the crime, but sometimes seem to come from out of left field.

As the book goes on, we learn the connections between some of the children and how they knew each other in their past lives.  Seeing those connections, and the resulting discussions when the boys of Cabin 5 learn these connections, create a deeper level to the characters and their relationships as children as well as their actions as campers.

I thought that this book was well written, intriguing and definitely thought-provoking.  Even after reading this book a few weeks ago, I find that I recall events from it and find myself thinking about the story.  Clearly well written, and while it isn’t a religious book, I find that Martin takes into consideration many aspects of religion in his writing.

The end of this book has a nice twist/reveal that I found really made this book stand out and I wish I could discuss it more without giving it away.

I have another book of Martin’s that I picked up at ArmadilloCon when I picked up this one.  Martin himself is very well spoken and I find that his personality comes out in his writing.  I look forward to reading more of his work, and I would highly suggest that you pick this one up despite what other people have said negatively about this book.

This post is a selection for the Peril the First portion of the 6th annual R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril (R.I.P.) Challenge. To find out more information and/or to sign up to participate, please follow the link. If you are interested in more books or films that are being reviewed as part of this event, please visit the R.I.P. VI Review Site. (This paragraph borrowed from Carl V. who is hosting R.I.P. VI)

 The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities

(Amazon, Goodreads)

Editors: Ann and Jeff Vandermeer

(Amazon, Goodreads, Website)

Published by Harper Voyager, July 2011

The death of Dr. Thackery T. Lambshead in 2003 at his house in Wimpering-on-the-Brook, England, revealed an astonishing discovery: the remains of a remarkable cabinet of curiosities.

A carefully selected group of popular artists and acclaimed, bestselling fantasy authors has been assembled to bring Dr. Lambshead’s cabinet of curiosities to life. Including contributions from Alan Moore, Lev Grossman, Mike Mignola, China MiÉville, Cherie Priest, Carrie Vaughn, Greg Broadmore, Naomi Novik, Garth Nix, Michael Moorcock , Holly Black, Jeffrey Ford, Ted Chiang, and many more.

Thackery T. Lambshead.  I didn’t read reviews of this, but what I’d seen of it at various bookstores and events, I knew I wanted to read it.  The concept of a cabinet of curiosities and the stories behind the items thrilled me, not only because I love a good story, but also because I am intrigued by unique and random items.  Ripley’s Believe It or Not stories were some of my favorite childhood reading and I expected something similar.  However, I didn’t realize that there isn’t actually a Thackery T. Lambshead or an actual cabinet of curiosities.  It’s a collection of stories about a fictional character with a decidedly steampunk focus.  I probably would have figured that out had I actually read the back of the book or anything about this other than being drawn in by the cover and the idea.  While I was disappointed when I discovered that these were all fictional with not a bit of basis in reality, it did not detract in the least from my enjoyment of these stories.

The book is broken into different sections, each filled with wonderfully written stories that bring these creations and the man behind the collection to life.  In addition to the vivid writing, there are some amazing illustrations from gifted artists.  After hearing Scott Westerfeld speak on the loss of illustration and their re-immergence in books, I see how much greater this volume is with the addition of illustrations.  Some are so detailed, it looks like it’s more of a photograph, a testament to the artists abilities and making the story seem that more real.

While I enjoyed all the stories, one in particular still stands out after reading it.  China Mieville’s “Pulvadmonitor: The Dust’s Warning” by and far was my favorite story.  I would love to see Mieville turn this into a full length novel or even a shorter novella.  I would pick it up and recommend it because as a short story it was amazing.

The Vandermeers did a wonderful job pulling all these together into such an extensive tome that would be a welcome addition to any library.  I am looking forward to reading their earlier collection, The Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric and Discredited Diseases.

For a wonderful look into the artwork and stories of The Cabinet of Curiosities, please check out io9.com’s post here: The Horrible, Amazing, Odd Story Behind the Stories of Thackery T. Lambshead

Coffee Talk: The Stimulating Story of the World’s Most Popular Brew

(Amazon, Goodreads)

by Morton Satin

(Amazon, Goodreads)

Published by Prometheus Books November 2010

What is it about coffee that makes it so popular across so many different cultures? Can it be the caffeine or is there something else about coffee that makes it so alluring?

No beverage has broader worldwide appeal. In North America and Europe, the annual amount of coffee consumed is overwhelming. And in China and even in India, the traditional stronghold of tea drinking, the coffee business has grown by leaps and bounds.

In this entertaining yet comprehensive book, food expert Morton Satin describes how, in recent times, coffee has become the magnet that draws people together for spirited interchanges of information and ideas. In the intellectual capitals of the world, coffeehouses have been and continue to be the venues where the great minds flock to discuss the latest developments in the arts, sciences, and social philosophies.

Satin, moreover, traces the rich and intriguing history of coffee, showing how coffee consumption evolved to fit the social and economic needs of different times. His fascinating narrative dispels common myths and conveys such little-known facts as: the dark coffee bean originated in Africa, not South America, as many believe.

Today, of course, it is the indispensable wake-up beverage in most households throughout the West and the East. It is also the mainstay of the Starbucks phenomenon—a chain of coffeehouses whose popularity continues to soar. Satin even goes on to reveal the best techniques for home brewing. And he enlivens his narrative with stories of the fine art of the barista, which includes the World Barista Championship where rival barmen from around the globe display the highest artistry of coffee brewing.

Lavishly illustrated, this delightful and informative book is the perfect complement for your next coffee break.

I had intended to write this piece last week while sitting in my favorite Austin coffee shop, Epoch, but they were having network issues and so it just didn’t happen as planned.  But it would have been awesome to have a piping hot raspberry mocha to sip while writing a review all about coffee.

This book falls into the non-fiction that I love to read.  I love reading the history of things, how they came to be a part of life today, where the small things related to them originally sprung up, some things I’ve read about have been banned and so I learned why and any myriad of other tidbits about an item.

Coffee, holds a very dear place in my heart.  But it has to be really good coffee.  The best I’d ever had, was in college a neighbor in the next room over would invite me over for his specialty while we played chess or cards.  (I think I miss his coffee as much as I miss playing chess and cards on a regular basis.)  He would slowly warm the milk up to just below boiling, hand grind the coffee beans (I wish I could remember what they were specifically) then measure out the grounds into his french press, add the milk, set his timer and then press it when finished.  Amazing!  I’ve tried to replicate it, but haven’t been successful.  Apparently his attention to detail and the painstaking time he spent perfecting his technique was well worth it, almost a trade secret.

Learning about the rise of coffee, how it made its way into the heart of the American culture, and its spread around the world was quite enjoyable.  I learned about the rise of coffee shops and how several rulers tried to control their public by banning coffee, thankfully without much success.  Satin even tells how coffee is raised, harvested, and readied for roasting.  I learned some things I didn’t know, but having been a coffee fan for several years now, there was a lot of the information such as the difference between a bean that is sun-dried with its skin versus those that are dried with the skin on during the process, and of course thanks to modern movies, I even knew about the super-expensive, super-elite coffee that comes from the droppings of a wild cat.  If you haven’t seen The Bucket List I suggest you at least watch the bit about the coffee.  It’s very entertaining.

All in all I found this book to be a good read.  I did find it to lose some of its cohesion towards the last half as Satin seemed to jump around a bit from quotes about coffee to how to make coffee, and then going back to some of the history of it.  However, it did not distract enough from the whole to make me not suggest this book.

There is another book on my wish list that also covers the history of coffee, and it will be interesting to compare the two when I finally get around to getting a copy of the other.  Perhaps my next non-fiction should be about sugar, or something that is somehow linked to coffee.  We shall see.

Hamlet’s Blackberry:

Building a Good Life in the Digital Age

(Amazon, Goodreads)

by William Powers

(Amazon, Goodreads, Website)

Published by Harper Perennial, August 2011

A crisp, passionately argued answer to the question that everyone who’s grown dependent on digital devices is asking: “Where’s the rest of my life?”

At a time when we’re all trying to make sense of our relentlessly connected lives, this revelatory book presents a bold new approach to the digital age. Part intellectual journey, part memoir, Hamlet’s BlackBerry sets out to solve what William Powers calls the conundrum of connectedness. Our computers and mobile devices do wonderful things for us. But they also impose an enormous burden, making it harder for us to focus, do our best work, build strong relationships, and find the depth and fulfillment we crave.

Hamlet’s BlackBerry argues that we need a new way of thinking, an everyday philosophy for life with screens. To find it, Powers reaches into the past, uncovering a rich trove of ideas that have helped people manage and enjoy their connected lives for thousands of years. New technologies have always brought the mix of excitement and stress that we feel today. Drawing on some of history’s most brilliant thinkers, from Plato to Shakespeare to Thoreau, he shows that digital connectedness serves us best when it’s balanced by its opposite, disconnectedness.

Using his own life as laboratory and object lesson, Powers demonstrates why this is the moment to revisit our relationship to screens and mobile technologies, and how profound the rewards of doing so can be. Lively, original, and entertaining, Hamlet’s BlackBerry will challenge you to rethink your digital life.

Care to take a guess how many times I checked my iPhone or email while reading this book?  Too many to count that’s for sure.  While I do maintain some distance by having my phone on silent and it does not vibrate or ping when I receive an email/text/invite/etc. it doesn’t mean I’m not addicted to it and check it consistently throughout the day.  While I do find myself checking it over and over, I do not wait in anticipation of the next ping as I did when I had the sound on and the notifications turned on.

The basis of Power’s book is to show that while we are addicted to our technology, people throughout history have dealt with new technologies as they developed and found a happy medium between obsessive connectivity and co-existence.  I’d like to think that I’m working more towards co-existence than obsessive, but it’s been a long time coming.

One of his most intriguing points is that nature has made us more prone to pay attention to new stimuli whether it is to find food or avoid a predator.  Like a Pavlovian response, we get a little dopamine kick each time our email pings or the phone beeps with a text.  I’m sure you’ve felt the rush when new mail arrives.

And it’s not just the phone, it’s the computers, television, radio, everything.  Our lives are wired many times over and we have no shelter from the crowd.  I would suggest reading this if only for his wonderful description of a room filled with people and how there is no place to get away for a moment to reflect on the interactions of the day.  I know of many book bloggers who, even with our love of books, cannot help but be pulled out of our stories when the email ping sounds.  What do we lose of the story and our enjoyment when we are constantly pulled from one thing to the next?  And think of how difficult that can be when working and you have not only the email ping, but instant messages, texts, phone calls, etc.  Even the best multi-tasker cannot get any benefit from the constant motion of our thoughts until the day’s end and sometimes not even then.

Powers explains that as new technologies came about, people felt overwhelmed by the changes and the need to connect and disconnect.  There is an excellent example of Socrates believing that writing, which was starting to come to the mainstream, would let people forget things because instead of remembering them, they could just look it up if it was written down.  And yet, writing was developed, improved upon, and has persisted for hundreds of years.  Today, we wouldn’t blink an eye if something suggested we write something down instead of remembering it.

Powers covers a lot of history, revealing many interesting facts that draw you into what he is trying to tell us.  We don’t need to give up on technology, but we do need to find a happy medium which will allow us to interact with people in real-time, not just through Facebook and Twitter, and to reflect on those interactions.  Without some ‘quiet’ time away from busyness of the world, we cannot maintain a balance and gain the fulfillment those experiences bring to our lives.

Little Brother

(Amazon, Goodreads)

by Cory Doctorow

(Amazon, Goodreads, Twitter, Website)

Published by Listening Library, May 2010

Marcus is only seventeen years old, but he figures he already knows how the system works–and how to work the system. Smart, fast, and wise to the ways of the networked world, he has no trouble outwitting his high school’s intrusive but clumsy surveillance systems. But his whole world changes when he and his friends find themselves caught in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco. In the wrong place at the wrong time, Marcus and his crew are apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security and whisked away to a secret prison, where they’re mercilessly interrogated for days. When the DHS finally releases them, Marcus discovers that his city has become a police state, where every citizen is treated like a potential terrorist. He knows that no one will believe his story, which leaves him only one option: to take down the DHS himself.

This book was not my first experience with Doctorow’s work, although it was my first of his as an audiobook, and so while I knew and loved his style of writing, I was not quite prepared for such a fascinating book.  As most characters in his books, this one focuses on a teenager named Marcus who is quite intelligent and loves video games, especially one that has an online part and a real life adventure component.  And this is what gets Marcus started down his path.

Marcus is a character that you can believe in.  I could easily imagine meeting him in life and not having the thought of this could never happen to a real teenager.  Yes, he is smart and as we soon learn, resourceful with a bit of an edge when it comes to authority figures, but he also has one thing that makes him even more real, he makes mistakes.  His actions and decisions make him an easy to identify with character while he faces the consequences of his decisions and actions that many of us fear no matter what our age.

Homeland Security plays a large part in Marcus’s story.  In the near future, terrorist have blown up the Bay Bridge and Marcus and his friends are in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Marcus and his friends are well versed in their freedoms and therein lies the major part of this tale.  Who is right,  Homeland Security for their actions or Marcus for his rebellion against those actions?

Filled with many technical terms and high-tech programs, these enable Marcus and others to thwart the DHS in their attempts to take away various personal freedoms and privacy in the wake of the bridge attack.  Through the use of security cameras and RFIDs, DHS tracks the riders of the BART system and pulls aside for questioning anyone who has an unusual ride pattern.  The techniques Marcus employs and the technology used, RFIDs, propaganda, cryptography, computers, are real as the very informative afterward to the book details.

In the wake of similar instances in our lives, we can identify with Marcus as we see personal freedoms and privacy taken away little by little.  We now take our shoes off and subjected to pat downs when we decide to take a flight.  Eventually all those little things that we said ‘It’s not that bad, it’s just a little thing’ will add up to a lot of personal freedoms lost but it will happen so slowly that we won’t really notice until it’s too late.

This book moves at a good pace, and excels at bringing the jargon and techno-babble to a level that even novices can understand.  Combined with the detailed afterword, those questions and ideas discussed in Doctorow’s book are now accessible to those that want to know more.  With our lives becoming increasingly intertwined with the internet and social media, it’s a good jumping off point for increasing our awareness of how to protect our privacy and our personal freedoms.

This is an excellent YA read, and I think that adults as well as teens will enjoy this book.  The audiobook version is well read and worth a listen.  Note that there are some intense scenes toward the end, but nothing that a teenager can’t understand and learn from in a positive way.

]]> http://urbanbachelorette.com/2011/09/13/review-little-brother-by-cory-doctorow/feed/ 0 http://urbanbachelorette.com/2011/09/08/review-between-by-jessica-warman/ http://urbanbachelorette.com/2011/09/08/review-between-by-jessica-warman/#comments Thu, 08 Sep 2011 19:37:19 +0000 Amanda http://urbanbachelorette.com/?p=2173

Between

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by Jessica Warman

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Published by Walker Childrens, August 2011

Elizabeth Valchar—pretty, popular, and perfect—wakes up the morning after her eighteenth birthday party on her family’s yacht, where she’d been celebrating with her six closest friends. A persistent thumping noise has roused her. When she goes to investigate, what she finds will change everything she thought she knew about her life, her friends, and what lies in between. As Liz begins to unravel the circumstances surrounding her birthday night, she will find that no one around her, least of all Liz herself, was perfect—or innocent. Critically acclaimed author Jessica Warman brings readers along on a roller-coaster ride of a mystery, one that is also a heartbreaking character study, a touching romance, and ultimately a hopeful tale of redemption, love, and letting go.

I truly enjoyed reading Where the Truth Lies, Warman’s previous book to this, however, I loved this one.  I feel as if Warman is growing as a writer with each successive book.  Each one is unique and tells such a deep story that goes beyond the surface of what we, as readers, expect.

Liz was a truly wonderful character to follow and cheer for as the story unfolds.  Yes, she is a ‘princess’ at school, dating the most popular guys, friends with everyone, and a step-sister who is also her best friend, but as the story comes out, she is revealed as a real person.  She isn’t vapid and self-centered, and she really comes into her own as she learns just how superficial and fake her family and friends were before the night of her birthday.

I’m excited to see what Warman writes about next, as both of her books that I’ve read have left me loving both the books and the author.

Please click here to read my review of Where the Truth Lies.

The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack

Burton & Swinburne Trilogy Book 1

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by Mark Hodder

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Published by Pyr, September 2010

London, 1861.

Sir Richard Francis Burton—explorer, linguist, scholar, and swordsman; his reputation tarnished; his career in tatters; his former partner missing and probably dead.

Algernon Charles Swinburne—unsuccessful poet and follower of de Sade; for whom pain is pleasure, and brandy is ruin!

They stand at a crossroads in their lives and are caught in the epicenter of an empire torn by conflicting forces: Engineers transform the landscape with bigger, faster, noisier, and dirtier technological wonders; Eugenicists develop specialist animals to provide unpaid labor; Libertines oppose repressive laws and demand a society based on beauty and creativity; while the Rakes push the boundaries of human behavior to the limits with magic, drugs, and anarchy. The two men are sucked into the perilous depths of this moral and ethical vacuum when Lord Palmerston commissions Burton to investigate assaults on young women committed by a weird apparition known as Spring Heeled Jack, and to find out why werewolves are terrorizing London’s East End.

Their investigations lead them to one of the defining events of the age, and the terrifying possibility that the world they inhabit shouldn’t exist at all!

It’s been a long time since I read a science fiction time travel novel.  I’m thankful that Pyr sent me a copy to read and review.  Hodder ‘s well thought out and researched history go a long way to make this novel not only unique but also frightfully entertaining.  I was drawn into the life of Burton as he goes from the recent news of his frenemy’s death to being assailed by Spring Heeled Jack in the murk of London.  From there he is pulled into the search for just who or what Jack is and how can they stop him from molesting young women.

Jack’s time travel plays an important role in the lives of the characters as well as his own life.  He’s trying to make right what went wrong many years ago (current period for most of the book) and yet while he is trying to fix his past, he is not only changing things, but also screwing up his failed attempt to correct his mistake again and again.  The book’s timeline is not confusing at all and I believe that can only be credited to Hodder’s masterful storytelling.  He is able to create believable characters and make them come alive in a London that could have been had things happened the way Hodder’s events unfold.

If you love a good sci-fi thriller/mystery or a good time travel book, I highly recommend this book.  I have the sequel sitting in my TBR pile and I hope to get it to the top of the pile soon.  I expect great things from the sequel and the upcoming third book in the trilogy.

Janitors

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by Tyler Whitesides

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Published by Shadow Mountain, July 2011

The magical, secretive society of JANITORS will sweep the country in the fall of 2011. Have you ever fallen asleep during math class? Are you easily distracted while listening to your English teacher? Do you find yourself completely uninterested in geography? Well, it may not be your fault. The janitors at Welcher Elementary know a secret, and it s draining all the smarts out of the kids.  Twelve year old Spencer Zumbro, with the help of his classmate Daisy Gullible Gates, must fight with and against a secret, janitorial society that wields wizard-like powers. Who can Spencer and Daisy trust and how will they protect their school and possibly the world? Janitors is book 1 in a new children s fantasy series by debut novelist Tyler Whitesides. You ll never look at a mop the same way again.

Let me just say I’m sad this book wasn’t out when I was in middle school.  I would have loved this book.  For me, the janitors at school were always this strange group of people who were always there but you may not ever talk to them.  There was an air of mystery about them.

And while that doesn’t hold true as we get older, but for those middle graders who read this book, I’m sure the story will draw them in and hook them on this series.  Whitesides mixes a little magic with everyday school age drama and creates a fresh story for younger readers.

If you have school age children, I would suggest you get a copy and read it to/with them.

Mister Creecher

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by Chris Priestley

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Published by Bloomsbury, September 2011

Billy is a street urchin, pickpocket and petty thief. Mister Creecher is a monstrous giant of a man who terrifies all he meets. Their relationship begins as pure convenience. But a bond swiftly develops between these two misfits as their bloody journey takes them ever northwards on the trail of their target … Victor Frankenstein.

Friendship, trust and betrayal combine to form a dangerous liaison in this moving and frightening new book from Chris Priestley.

As you might know, I am a big fan of Frankenstein in all forms.  My youngest dog, Victor is named for Victor Frankenstein.  Shelley’s original work is probably my most read book in my collection.  Each year around Halloween I re-read it.

While at the BEA, I was quite excited to find Mr. Creecher, a unique retelling of the Frankenstein story.  Shelley’s story skips over what happens to the monster as he is tracking Frankenstein through the world and Priestley’s story fills in that gap wonderfully.

The story is told from the point of view of a young pick pocket named Billy.  He and Mr. Creecher become friends and during the day Billy follows and tracks Victor Frankenstein and his companion through the streets of London as Mr. Creecher is unable to go unnoticed during the day.  Billy is quite unaware of how Frankenstein and Creecher are linked until well into the story and Priestley does a wonderful job keeping the readers hooked.

I read this quite fast and I really enjoyed the story.  The characters were very believable and whether you are young or old, if you have read and enjoyed Shelley’s Frankenstein I suggest you pick up Priestley’s book as you will not be sorry.

Apocrypha

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by Catherynne M. Valente

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Published by Prime Books, 2005

Apocrypha: Catherynne M. Valente’s first full-length poetry collection, where freaks, emperors, bodhisattvas, beasts, witches, wicked stepmothers, Greek heroes, told seductively and wickedly in poem and prose, jostle and vie for supremacy. It contains the long prose poem, Z, as well as numerous other pieces.

This is my first venture into the poetry by Valente.  But like her writing, it’s both simple and complex, ugly and beautiful, and overall amazing.  I found myself drawn to the events she describes, the people, the places, the emotions, and I even found one or two that I loved so much I’ve read them multiple times since I finished the whole series.

Out of the whole book, “Still Life with Wicked Stepmother,” “Song for Three Voices and a Lyre,” and “Requiescat” were my ultimate favorites.  I found that Valente has links on her website to some of the poems from this collection and so they are linked here so that you might be drawn into reading more from her.

“Memoirs of a Girl Who Failed to Be Born From a Peach,” from Pedestal Magazine, 2005

“The Emperor of Tsukayama Park”

“Suzuri,” from Pedestal Magazine, 2004

“Song for Three Voices and a Lyre,” from The Fund for Women’s Artists

I hope you enjoy these as much as I have.  And tomorrow I will review another of her poetry collections, Oracles: A Pilgrimage.

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland

in a Ship of Her Own Making

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by Catherynne M. Valente

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Published by Feiwel & Friends, May 2011

Twelve-year-old September lives in Omaha, and used to have an ordinary life, until her father went to war and her mother went to work. One day, September is met at her kitchen window by a Green Wind (taking the form of a gentleman in a green jacket), who invites her on an adventure, implying that her help is needed in Fairyland. The new Marquess is unpredictable and fickle, and also not much older than September. Only September can retrieve a talisman the Marquess wants from the enchanted woods, and if she doesn’t … then the Marquess will make life impossible for the inhabitants of Fairyland. September is already making new friends, including a book-loving Wyvern and a mysterious boy named Saturday.

Deathless

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by Catherynne M. Valente

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Published by TOR Books, March 2011

Koschei the Dealthless is to Russian foklore what devils or wicked witches are to western European culture: a menacing, evil figure; the villain of countless stories that have been passed on through story and text for generations.  But Koschei has never before been seen through the eyes of Catherynne Valente, whose modernized and transformed take on the legend brings the action to modern times, spanning many of the great developments of Russian history in the twentieth century.

Deathless, however is no dry, historical tome: it lights up like fire as the young Marya Morevna transforms from a clever child of the revolution, to Koschei’s beautiful bride, to his eventual undoing.  Along the way there are Stalinist house elves, magical quests, secrecy and bureaucracy, and games of lust and power.  All told, Deathless, is a collision of magical history and actual history, of revolution and mythology, of love and death, which will bring Russian myth back to life in a stunning new incarnation.

I was fascinated by this book. I had read a blurb about it long before it was released to the public, and have had it on my wishlist ever since.  Thankfully, when I decided to actually buy some of the books on my wishlist, this was at the top and was immediately transferred to the cart.  The long wait and anticipation of this book was well worth it.

The book starts out about a young girl, Marya Morevna, who waits by the window and sees as various birds fall from the tree in front of her house, turn into a handsome young man who comes searching for the girl who sits by the window, only to have her mother mistaken them to mean one of Marya’s older sisters.  Each sister is taken away and Marya sits and waits for her bird to come.

What a lovely start to a book. You can read an excerpt by clicking the link below and get drawn into the story yourself.

As the story progresses, you meet a myriad of strange and unique creatures and characters.  Upon doing some research into the story and Russian mythology, I learned that a lot of the characters are from various Russian folklore and you can see that Valente did her research and not only drew a unique telling of the story that inspired Deathless, but expounded upon it making it a full-fledged story of Marya Morevna who only plays a bit part in the story of Ivan of the original folktale.

At times heartbreaking, this story uses the folklore set amidst a backdrop of Stalinist Russia.  Giving you a well balanced mix of history and folklore, the story could not have been better.  There were times I found myself re-reading a section not because it was hard to understand, but because some of the passages are so well written and vivid that I didn’t want to let them go just yet.  And now that it’s been a few days since I finished reading it and with the story still fresh in my mind, I am very tempted to pick it back up and read it for a second time.

That is a rarity for me.  There are many books on my keeper shelves that I will read over and over, but there is always a lapse of time, a couple months, a couple years, before I can pick it up and enjoy it as much as I did on the first reading.  With Deathless however, I feel that I would not only enjoy it as much as the first reading, but so much more so to read it again in such a short time.

If you have read any of Valente’s works, you will certainly enjoy her telling of Marya Morevna’s story.  If you haven’t, I can’t imagine a better book to start your fascination with such a gifted writer.

Click here for an interview with Valente and learn her inspiration for Deathless.

Click here to read an excerpt from Deathless.

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by Ransom Riggs

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Published by Quirk Books, June 2011

A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. And a strange collection of very curious photographs. It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children who once lived here—one of whom was his own grandfather—were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a desolate island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.

This was an extraordinary book.  I wasn’t sure what to expect as I had only perused it while at the booth at the BEA this past May.  I only knew that I wanted to read it because the cover was intriguing.  I wasn’t to disappointed.  I was expecting more of an adult story, but while the story was more young adult and not what was expected, it was very good nonetheless.  The story is well developed and you are drawn into the story of the orphanage just as Jacob is and you begin rooting for him from the beginning.  As the story unfolds, you are greeted with pictures of the characters of the orphanage, and yet you wonder, are they real?  I strongly believe that without the pictures, this story would have been one that was tossed aside and did not create such buzz as has been surrounding this book.

The story leaves with a good cliff-hanger, but also, if Riggs should not write a sequel, the book can stand on its own and still be fantastic.

As for the pictures, I wondered throughout if they were Photoshopped for the book or if they were real photos.  They certainly have certain realistic qualities to them.  I was happy to learn in a note at the back, that other than a few edits to a couple of the pictures (so they fit into the story line), they are all original and untouched pictures from times past.  I have to wonder if Riggs had the idea for the story and then found the photos or if the photos inspired the story.  Either way, Riggs use of the photos to illustrate the story draw the reader into the world of Jacob and the peculiar children.  I would be happy to meet some of these peculiar children myself.

This one made it to my keeper shelf because of the pictures and the story.  The details, the photos, the story, they all drew me in and I know that I will want to re-read and re-live the story over and over again.  Needless to say, you should read this book.

God’s Eye

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by A. J. Scudiere

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Published by Griffyn Ink, October 2011

A demon …

Every soul he claims is another chance to advance.  Until he can walk among us, look like us, make us believe in him.  The only thing holding him back is …

An angel…

The rules of the realm bind him from fighting on the demon’s terms.  But this is his chance to steal something away from the demon, to steal the thing the demon wants most …

A woman who must choose …

A woman who has been chosen. Katharine is suddenly a pawn in a game where the rules and the stakes are beyond her comprehension. She must take a side even though she can’t tell angel from demon. And in the end, they will all be judged.

I can’t believe she’s done it again.  This is the third book by Scudiere that I’ve read/listened to the audiomovie and each one is so profoundly different and unique that it’s amazing.  There are a number of authors that I’ve read multiple books by and sometimes I can only read so many as they start to sound like the same story re-written with a little difference here or there.  John Saul, who I read a lot of in my early teenage years, is a classic example of this writing style.  Somehow Scudiere manages to write vastly different tales and each one is perfect and cherished in its own way.

God’s Eye is the story of Katherine, a woman who has it all.  She’s shuffled from position to position at her father’s well established multi-million dollar investment firm learning the ropes so that when her father finally steps down she can take over.  But is that really what she wants?  Before she meets Allistair and Zachary, she knows her path.  It might not be the one she will choose in the end, but it is what she has been groomed for and she doesn’t even consider something else.  But when Allistair and Zachary start to reveal how the world really is and how it could be for her, and she makes a true friend in the librarian, Margot, Katherine’s world is turned upside down and she is forced to consider her life and her decisions.

Truly a wonderful read, as are Scudiere’s other books, I highly recommend you pick this up when it releases and read it for yourself.  It will make you think and you will fall in love with the characters, the angel, the demon, and of course, Katherine.

Shiver (Wolves of Mercy Falls Book 1)

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by Maggie Stiefvater

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the cold.
Grace has spent years watching the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf—her wolf—watches back. He feels deeply familiar to her, but she doesn’t know why.

the heat.
Sam has lived two lives. As a wolf, he keeps the silent company of the girl he loves. And then, for a short time each year, he is human, never daring to talk to Grace…until now.

the shiver.
For Grace and Sam, love has always been kept at a distance. But once it’s spoken,it cannot be denied. Sam must fight to stay human—and Grace must fight to keep him—even if it means taking on the scars of the past, the fragility of the present, and the impossibility of the future.

 I really did want to like this book.  I’d read so many good things about it and I was excited when it came up on Sync YA’s free audiobook a couple of weeks ago.  But unfortunately, I didn’t love it, I didn’t even really like it.

I felt that the book just went on and on and on about how in love Sam and Grace were without a lot of actual story in there.  There were hints at times that kept me listening, but when it was all over, I wanted those hours and hours I’d spent listening to that drivel back.  It seemed that Grace fell in love so quickly (reminiscent of Twilight) and all she wanted to do was give up her life as she knew it to be with Sam and when that seemed impossible she tried to change him.  I do relent and accept that Sam too wanted to change, but I didn’t find myself caring about either of them.

I’m sorry to say that this immediately popped into my mind as a Friday Flop.  If you enjoyed it then I hope that you continue to enjoy it now that there are two more in the series.  I, however, do not expect to even be tempted to pick up the second and third books as I fully expect it to lack any depth of character/story and it to be more of the sappy love between Grace and Sam.

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The Last Little Blue Envelope

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by Maureen Johnson

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Published by Harper Collins 2006 and 2011 respectively

Synopsis for 13 Little Blue Envelopes:

Here’s the deal: Aunt Peg, the New York artist and the person Ginny Blackstone depended on to make her life interesting, took off to Europe without a word three years ago. Aside from a few postcards, Ginny hasn’t heard much. Then she gets a horrible phone call that changes everything.

But the story is only beginning. Soon after, Ginny receives one little blue envelope from Aunt Peg containing a thousand dollars and some very strange instructions…

Rule #1 You may bring only what fits in your backpack. Don’t try to fake it out with a purse or a carry on.

Rule #2 You may not bring guidebooks, phrase books or any kind of foreign language aid. And no journals.

Rule #3 You can not bring extra money or credit/debit cards, travelers checks, etc. I’ll take care of all of that.

Rule #4 No electronic crutches. This means no laptop, no cell phone, no music, and no camera. You can’t call home or communicate with people in the U.S. by internet or telephone. Postcards and letters are acceptable and encouraged.

And with that, she is sent off to pick up a package containing twelve similar envelopes, which she can open one by one, as instructed. Each letter contains a task that Ginny must perform.

Soon, the mild-mannered and quiet Ginny (who’s barely made it out of New Jersey before) finds herself running from London to Paris to Rome, and beyond. Along the way, she collects a number of new friends, including: a manager from Harrods department store who runs errands for the rich and famous, a handsome but maddening thief-turned-playwright, a celebrity painter who tattoos the names of her dead pets on her body, and the angriest vegetable salesman in all of France.

As time goes on, Ginny realizes that her aunt has sent her on a mission, and that there is something big waiting for her in the thirteenth envelope. All she has to do is make it from place to place and complete all of the tasks that have been set before her.

As if life is that easy.

Synopsis for The Last Little Blue Envelope:

“People would say that it’s impossible to have a private pool in the city, unless you were some sort of mogul and had it on the roof of your penthouse or something. But it’s not illegal to have a really clean dumpster, and if you want to fill it with water, and if you want to get in it… well, that’s your prerogative. People always say they can’t do things, that they’re impossible. They just haven’t been creative enough. This pool is a triumph of imagination. That’s how you win at life, Gin. You have to imagine your way through. Never say something can’t be done. There’s always a solution, even if it’s weird.”

Ginny Blackstone thought that the biggest adventure of her life was behind her. She spent last summer traveling around Europe, following the tasks her aunt Peg laid out in a series of letters before she died. When someone stole Ginny’s backpack—and the last little blue envelope inside—she resigned herself to never knowing how it was supposed to end.

Months later, a mysterious boy contacts Ginny from London, saying he’s found her bag. Finally, Ginny can finish what she started. But instead of ending her journey, the last letter starts a new adventure—one filled with old friends, new loves, and once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Ginny finds she must hold on to her wits … and her heart.

This time, there are no instructions.

I enjoyed both of these books.  I’d seen Maureen Johnson speak at the 2010 Book Blogger Con as the keynote speaker and she cracked me up.  I was looking forward to finally reading some of her work as well.

Ginny is a strong female character, and while she may not realize it at the beginning, she soon learns that she can handle a lot that is outside of her comfort zone.  While I never did any international travel, my family did encourage me to do things independently and so I have never been leery of going to a new city or taking a train/bus trip somewhere since I was young.  It definitely helped me as I’ve gotten older and I feel that Ginny as she progresses through her Aunt’s instructions, not only grows as a person, but also starts to understand herself and her aunt in a way she wouldn’t have otherwise.

The concept of this story is wonderful and Johnson does a good job detailing the emotions that Ginny experiences and she draws the reader along with her.  I can’t say that I liked either of the love interests much and I did think in the second book that Ginny was still a little too naive when it came to her big discovery.  And while the book does have a happy ending, I felt it was a little two neatly wrapped up almost as if Johnson had decided this was how it was going to end before she started and so what happens along the way doesn’t always fit nicely with how things turn out.  But in the end, both books were enjoyable.

If you haven’t read the first, then pick it up as it makes the second that much more enjoyable.

For more Wordless Wednesdays, click here.

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by Karin Slaughter

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Published by AudioGO Jule 2011

There’s no police training stronger than a cop’s instinct. Faith Mitchell’s mother isn’t answering her phone. Her front door is open. There’s a bloodstain above the knob. Her infant daughter is hidden in a shed behind the house. All that the Georgia Bureau of Investigations taught Faith Mitchell goes out the window when she charges into her mother’s house, gun drawn. She sees a man dead in the laundry room. She sees a hostage situation in the bedroom. What she doesn’t see is her mother.…

“You know what we’re here for. Hand it over, and we’ll let her go.”

When the hostage situation turns deadly, Faith is left with too many questions, not enough answers. To find her mother, she’ll need the help of her partner, Will Trent, and they’ll both need the help of trauma doctor Sara Linton. But Faith isn’t just a cop anymore—she’s a witness. She’s also a suspect.

The thin blue line hides police corruption, bribery, even murder. Faith will have to go up against the people she respects the most in order to find her mother and bring the truth to light—or bury it forever.

Karin Slaughter’s most exhilarating novel yet is a thrilling journey through the heart and soul, where the personal and the criminal collide, and conflicted loyalties threaten to destroy reputations and ruin lives. It is the work of a master of the thriller at the top of her game, and a whirlwind of unrelenting suspense.

As you know from my previous review of Martin Misunderstood, another audiobook of Slaughter’s I was hopeful that this would be better, but I didn’t have high hopes for it.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.  Clearly Slaughter has a way with words, at least in novels.  I was fully drawn into the story and while I don’t drive much, I found myself looking forward to when I did have to go somewhere so I could hear the next few chapters of the book.  It took me a while, but I never considered not finishing the book.  For one that doesn’t always do well with audiobooks, this says a lot.

I loved the characters, and while Faith certainly wasn’t my favorite, I did enjoy the parts with Will Trent and Sara Linton quite a bit.  Even Amanda, who got on everyone’s nerves, including mine, was a pretty good character.  The story itself is well thought out, never giving too much away so that when the story peaks, you are just as shocked as the characters.

At times I found the narrator to be a bit dead sounding, but it didn’t stop me from enjoying the book.

I don’t know if I’ll give another thought to Slaughter’s other books, but I’m happy to say this was a vast improvement over my previous listen.

If you like a good crime novel, I would suggest picking this up.

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by Douglas Perry

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Published by Penguin July 2011

The true story of the murderesses who became media sensations and inspired the musical Chicago

Chicago, 1924.

There was nothing surprising about men turning up dead in the Second City. Life was cheaper than a quart of illicit gin in the gangland capital of the world. But two murders that spring were special — worthy of celebration. So believed Maurine Watkins, a wanna-be playwright and a “girl reporter” for the Chicago Tribune, the city’s “hanging paper.” Newspaperwomen were supposed to write about clubs, cooking and clothes, but the intrepid Miss Watkins, a minister’s daughter from a small town, zeroed in on murderers instead. Looking for subjects to turn into a play, she would make “Stylish Belva” Gaertner and “Beautiful Beulah” Annan — both of whom had brazenly shot down their lovers — the talk of the town. Love-struck men sent flowers to the jail and newly emancipated women sent impassioned letters to the newspapers. Soon more than a dozen women preened and strutted on “Murderesses’ Row” as they awaited trial, desperate for the same attention that was being lavished on Maurine Watkins’s favorites.

Somehow when I read the title of this (and I didn’t read the back blurb above before I read the book), I thought that ‘inspired Chicago’ referred to the city, not the play/musical.  I was pleasantly surprised to discover my mistake and thoroughly enjoyed this read.  Perry goes into extensive detail about the girls, how they ended up where they were, and the madness of the press as they follow the stories, and sometimes even do a better job of seeing through the girls’ beauty for the killers they are.

Learning about Maurine Watkins and her rise to become an excellent non-nonsense reporter, and her interactions with these women of the roaring 20s moves this book along at a good pace.  It has murder, and intrigued, sadness, and fame.  What more could you ask of a book?

And even better, learning of Maurine’s rise to fame as the writer of Chicago, and her subsequent fall from the spotlight, overwhelmed by the push to create something greater than her first play.

I would suggest that anyone who loves a good historical crime pick this up as while it isn’t fiction, it certainly has enough panache to rival some of the best crime fiction out there.  And if you enjoyed the musical on stage, or the movie remake, I would suggest you pick this up and learn about the girls behind the story.  You won’t be sorry.

Coffee Talk: The Stimulating Story of the World’s Most Popular Brew

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by Morton Satin

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Published by Prometheus Books November 2010

What is it about coffee that makes it so popular across so many different cultures? Can it be the caffeine or is there something else about coffee that makes it so alluring?

No beverage has broader worldwide appeal. In North America and Europe, the annual amount of coffee consumed is overwhelming. And in China and even in India, the traditional stronghold of tea drinking, the coffee business has grown by leaps and bounds.

In this entertaining yet comprehensive book, food expert Morton Satin describes how, in recent times, coffee has become the magnet that draws people together for spirited interchanges of information and ideas. In the intellectual capitals of the world, coffeehouses have been and continue to be the venues where the great minds flock to discuss the latest developments in the arts, sciences, and social philosophies.

Satin, moreover, traces the rich and intriguing history of coffee, showing how coffee consumption evolved to fit the social and economic needs of different times. His fascinating narrative dispels common myths and conveys such little-known facts as: the dark coffee bean originated in Africa, not South America, as many believe.

Today, of course, it is the indispensable wake-up beverage in most households throughout the West and the East. It is also the mainstay of the Starbucks phenomenon—a chain of coffeehouses whose popularity continues to soar. Satin even goes on to reveal the best techniques for home brewing. And he enlivens his narrative with stories of the fine art of the barista, which includes the World Barista Championship where rival barmen from around the globe display the highest artistry of coffee brewing.

Lavishly illustrated, this delightful and informative book is the perfect complement for your next coffee break.

 

I had intended to write this piece last week while sitting in my favorite Austin coffee shop, Epoch, but they were having network issues and so it just didn’t happen as planned.  But it would have been awesome to have a piping hot raspberry mocha to sip while writing a review all about coffee.

This book falls into the non-fiction that I love to read.  I love reading the history of things, how they came to be a part of life today, where the small things related to them originally sprung up, some things I’ve read about have been banned and so I learned why and any myriad of other tidbits about an item.

Coffee, holds a very dear place in my heart.  But it has to be really good coffee.  The best I’d ever had was in college a neighbor in the next room over would invite me over for his specialty while we played chess or cards.  (I think I miss his coffee as much as I miss playing chess and cards on a regular basis.)  He would slowly warm the milk up to just below boiling, hand grind the coffee beans (I wish I could remember what they were specifically) then measure out the grounds into his french press, add the milk, set his timer and then press it when finished.  Amazing!  I’ve tried to replicate it, but haven’t been successful.  Apparently his attention to detail and the painstaking time he spent perfecting his technique was well worth it, almost a trade secret.

Learning about the rise of coffee, how it made its way into the heart of the American culture, and its spread around the world was quite enjoyable.  I learned about the rise of coffee shops and how several rulers tried to control their public by banning coffee, thankfully without much success.  Satin even tells how coffee is raised, harvested, and readied for roasting.  I learned some things I didn’t know, but having been a coffee fan for a number of years now, there was a lot of the information such as the difference between a bean that is sun-dried with its skin versus those that are dried with the skin on during the process, and of course thanks to modern movies, I even knew about the super-expensive, super-elite coffee that comes from the droppings of a wild cat.  If you haven’t seen The Bucket List I suggest you at least watch the bit about the coffee.  It’s very entertaining.

All in all I found this book to be a good read.  I did find it to lose some of its cohesion towards the last half as Satin seemed to jump around a bit from quotes about coffee to how to make coffee, and then going back to some of the history of it.  However, it did not distract enough from the whole to make me not suggest this book.

There is another book on my wishlist that also covers the history of coffee, and it will be interesting to compare the two when I finally get around to getting a copy of the other.  Perhaps my next non-fiction should be about sugar, or something that is somehow linked to coffee.  We shall see.

(Amazon, Goodreads)

by Project Itoh

(Amazon, Goodreads, Wikipedia)

Published by VIZ Media July 20, 2010

In the future, Utopia has finally been achieved thanks to medical nanotechnology and a powerful ethic of social welfare and mutual consideration. This perfect world isn’t that perfect though, and three young girls stand up to totalitarian kindness and super-medicine by attempting suicide via starvation. It doesn’t work, but one of the girls—Tuan Kirie—grows up to be a member of the World Health Organization. As a crisis threatens the harmony of the new world, Tuan rediscovers another member of her suicide pact, and together they must help save the planet…from itself.

This is truly an amazing book.  It’s a full book, plenty of action, great characters, and a unique style.  It’s written as though you’re experiencing it from a computer in that it is full of HTML and it uses that to its advantage.  The reader is given emotions and insight through the tags and this helps to really bring the book to life.  I’m sorry I put it off on my TBR pile for so long.

In more ways than one, this book makes a lot of valid points about our society and where its potential lies.  It is not hard to see the potential of the WHO of Tuan’s world coming to a reality in our not so distant future.  I feel I would be like Tuan and break out of society’s mold, putting myself out there into potentially dangerous situations for the possibility of securing alcohol or tobacco, vices we take for granted today, just to feel different.

But there is also a part of me that desires what the WHO offers, a way to maintain your existence without having to make all the decisions yourself.  The computers tell you what to eat, monitor your vitals, never getting sick, and while that can be good for a while, I wonder if people could really exist like that for any long term period of time.  Perhaps if, as Tuan’s predecessors experienced, something extremely horrible happens and it is the way found to prevent it happening again.

I suggest you pick this up if you enjoy a good dystopian novel.  It is truly amazing and I was looking forward to reading more of the author’s work when I finished.  Alas, when I read the small blurb at the end about the author, I learned that he passed away a few years ago, and that this was the only book.  If nothing else it is a book to read and savor as there will be no more to come.  And if that’s not enough of a selling point for you, it has received rave reviews and won a number of awards.  It’s just that good.

Witches! The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem

(Amazon, Goodreads)

By Rosalyn Schanzer

(Amazon, Goodreads, Website)

Published by National Geographic Children’s Books on September 13, 2011

In the little colonial town of Salem Village, Massachusetts, two girls began to twitch, mumble, and contort their bodies into strange shapes. The doctor tried every remedy, but nothing cured the young Puritans. He grimly announced the dire diagnosis: the girls were bewitched! And then the accusations began.

The riveting, true story of the victims, accused witches, crooked officials, and mass hysteria that turned a mysterious illness affecting two children into a witch hunt that took over a dozen people’s lives and ruined hundreds more unfolds in chilling detail in this young adult book by award-winning author and illustrator Rosalyn Schanzer.

With a powerful narrative, chilling primary source accounts, a design evoking the period, and stylized black-white-and-red scratchboard illustrations of young girls having wild fits in the courtroom, witches flying overhead, and the Devil and his servants terrorizing the Puritans, this book will rivet young readers with novelistic power.

Taught in middle and high schools around the U.S., the 17th-century saga remains hauntingly resonant as people struggle even today with the urgent need to find someone to blame for their misfortunes.

I picked this up while at the BEA and I have to say for a kid’s book this is pretty informative.  I didn’t learn much that I didn’t already know having been interested in it as a child when we covered it in school.  However, I think had I read this book then, I would’ve found it very enjoyable.  It had some great details, but it flowed without getting to heavy on the dates of events. (One of the things I was always bad with when it came to history.)

If your child is looking for a good book on the Salem witch trials, I would suggest this once it is finished.  The drawings that were included in this preview copy went along well with the text and I think once it is complete it will be a very nice finished book.  If you don’t know anything about the trials, this is a good book to start with as it will give you a lot of detail on the main people (adults and children) who were involved.

Your thriller books have captivated readers from your debut as an author in 2008 with Resonance – where do you find the inspiration for the incredibly vivid details your share?

A.J.: I find inspiration all kinds of places. Mostly, I tuck away details for years, waiting for the right character to use them with. My friends are really familiar with me asking “Can I put that in a book someday?” For Resonance, the last piece was an article I read from two Harvard geologists proposing this hot spot theory. As I read their idea and the evidence they had, all the characters and the story of Resonance just gelled. I almost immediately put down the article and started writing the opening scene.

You are on the cutting edge of Audio Books, releasing not just words being read from the story you’ve written but an actual Audio Movie (www.AJsAudioMovies.com) with actors and sounds to accompany the book. Tell us a little about those.

A.J.: AudioMovie credit goes almost entirely to Stefan Rudnicki and SkyBoat Road Productions. Stefan is a master at audiobooks and has so many awards. I remember talking to him and complaining about the number of audiobooks I’d listened to in which readers had barked like a dog or tried to imitate the sound of a shotgun being cocked. Stefan had been wanting to do an audiobook with multiple readers, but it takes an author who uses point of view the way that I do in order to make that kind of narrative. Ultimately, the AudioMovie format is the only unabridged version of full cast reading with soundtrack and score. Stefan did such an amazing job making the background subtle, but really adding to the texture of the story. It’s like being in a movie theater with your eyes closed: you hear everything!

Has being a female affected your career as a thriller writer? How so?

A.J.: At this point, I don’t know that it does affect things. But initially, I was shocked by how many agents called me and were surprised to find out I was female.

You’re a scientist. Is the science behind your novels true?

A.J.: Obviously, what I write is fiction, but I do my research very carefully. I hate when writers get details wrong – anyone who knows the material better than the author can have the story shake loose on them when they see something they know isn’t true or doesn’t work. For Resonance, I read tons of articles and applied everything I know from my masters degree in physiology. So, yes, the science there is real. Much of what happens at the beginning of the book that starts the polar reversal is actually happening in the world around us right now. And a lot of people predict that the earth’s magnetic poles will trade places soon, given the speed at which they are moving.

For Vengeance, I did much the same. Only this time I spent my time working with my black-belt friends and out at the gun range. I worked up to where I can shoot pretty accurately two handed. I’m sure if I practiced with Lee’s dedication, it would be more than possible to do what he does. As for the crimes Lee and Sin commit, I have to admit my family got a bit tired of me breaking into our house. So, everything there is plausible. I don’t recommend it! But it can be done.

What makes a good thriller in your opinion? Any favorite authors you follow?

A.J.: A good Thriller has to have that can’t-put-it-down quality. You have to believe that if you turn the page you’ll get an answer to a burning question or a serious stand-off will be resolved. The best thriller writers do this by not dragging out the scenes, but by answering your questions. Only – as the reader starts to feel relief that the question has been answered – he realizes that he can’t put the book down because there’s another question, or something else has happened.

Thrillers also follow the laws of other books. 1] The writing itself should be high quality. The turn of phrase should be easy to read and well crafted. 2] The plot should be solid: no gaping holes, no unmotivated actions that drive the plot forward. 3] And if you’re really good, your work can be read on multiple levels – it can be a breezy beach read that you enjoy, or you can take it into a literature class and dissect it, looking at the deeper questions the book raises.

I have a few authors that I love, but few hold up over time. I hate recycled plots, and books (or even movies) that bring back beloved characters only because they are beloved. They need a good story behind them! Some favorites are: Nabokov, Tim O’Brien, and Orson Scott Card.

How do you express yourself outside of writing?

A.J.: Aside from being really talkative? I’m a teacher, and I think both writing and teaching are similar. In both cases it’s my job to convey a story with clarity so the listener can understand. Whether that’s a story I made up or content about where each electron is most likely to be found in the subshells of an atom, it’s still something that has to be conveyed well.

Your newest novel, God’s Eye (www.GodsEyeTheBook.com), releases October 2011. What’s it about?

A.J.: God’s Eye is the story of what happens when your world gets shaken and everything thing you think you knew is no longer true. Katharine has lived a golden life, she inherits her mother’s trust fund and has a guaranteed job at her father’s investment firm. Though she can’t say everything is right with her life, she believes nothing is wrong with it. But because of her malleability and willingness to accept things at face value, Katharine becomes the prize in a tug-of-war between an angel and a demon. Both appear to her as human and ask her to change her world; she’s in a situation where she’s forced to choose one side or the other. The problem is she can’t tell which man is the angel and which is the demon.

These are the bigger questions Katharine and all of us face: what is evil? Would you recognize it if you saw it? And how responsible are you for the ramifications of your actions, even the unintended ones?

If you could be any of the characters in any of your books, who would you be and why?

A.J.: That’s tough. There’s no ‘good’ guy in any of my books. Everyone, even the supernatural creatures aren’t purely one way or the other. And just like people, even the greats have flaws. I love Jillian’s ability to learn, even when it’s hard for her. I wish I had Jordan’s innate vision into people, and Carter’s irreverence and Becky’s peace. But each of them has things they struggle with, too. I’d love to kick butt like Lee or Sin, but wouldn’t want to shoulder their burdens. I try to ‘do the right thing’ like Owen, but wouldn’t want to face his difficult decisions.

I think in the end, I’ll stick with being me. Besides, as me, I get to be each of them for a while!

You can read more about A.J. and her works at http://www.ajscudiere.com/ or you can follow here on Twitter: @AJScudiere

And please keep an eye out for my forthcoming review of God’s Eye.

Haunting Violet

(Amazon, Goodreads)

by Alyxandra Harvey

(Amazon, Goodreads, Website, Twitter)

Published on June 21, 2011 by Walker Childrens

1872, London, England
Violet Willoughby doesn’t believe in ghosts. But they believe in her. After spending years participating in her mother’s elaborate ruse as a fraudulent medium, Violet is about as skeptical as they come in all matters supernatural. Now that she is being visited by a very persistent ghost, one who suffered a violent death, Violet can no longer ignore her unique ability. She must figure out what this ghost is trying to communicate, and quickly because the killer is still on the loose.

Afraid of ruining her chance to escape her mother’s scheming through an advantageous marriage, Violet must keep her ability secret. The only person who can help her is Colin, a friend she’s known since childhood, and whom she has grown to love. He understands the true Violet, but helping her on this path means they might never be together. Can Violet find a way to help this ghost without ruining her own chance at a future free of lies?

I accepted this ARC from the publisher purely on the cover.  Isn’t it gorgeous?  I couldn’t imagine a book with this amazing cover would hold anything but a great story, and I wasn’t to be disappointed.

This story is an excellent tale of mediums, ghosts, the late 1800s in London, and yet it’s also a tale of love’s triumphs and tribulations.  I couldn’t help but think of Wilkie Collins’ The Moonstone while I was reading this.  While Collins is not a YA author, but he did write some amazing mysteries in his day.  I’ve read a couple of his books, and loved each of them.  I can only say that to remind me of him is a great accomplishment.

Violet is a very believable character, as are the others involved throughout the story.  I was kept guessing until the end when the mystery finally comes to a head.  I loved the interactions between her and her mother as well as her and Colin, who was definitely a dreamy presence in a story filled with fickle boys as was common in those days.

I would suggest you pick this up and read it.  It’s quick and will suck you in.  I haven’t read any of her other books, but I fully intend to add them to my TBR list.  And I can only hope Harvey writes another book like this (maybe a sequel, maybe not) for me to read.

(Amazon, Goodreads)

by Karin Slaughter

(Amazon, Goodreads, Website)

Narrated by Wayne Knight

Published by BBC Audiobooks on July 8, 2008

A darkly comic tale about Mr Less-Than-Average in an average world.

Martin Reed is the proverbial butt of everyone’s jokes. Working as a glorified accountant at Southern Toilet Supply and still living with his cantankerous mother, he has become resigned to the world in which he lives — the school bullies now pick on him in the workplace, women still spurn him and his arch enemy is now his supervisor. So when he leaves home one morning to find his car bumper hanging right off, he thinks it’s nothing more than the usual pranks his toxic colleagues like to play on him.

But everything soon conspires against Martin when he arrives at work to find the police on site, including a beautiful Dutch detective with a gold badge in one hand and a list of questions for Martin in the other. A co-worker has been brutally murdered and her body abandoned in a ditch. And the overwhelming evidence points to Martin — especially when he can’t or won’t admit that he has an alibi.

When a second victim is found in the company bathroom, things really conspire against Martin. The one bright star on his otherwise bleak horizon is the beautiful and sympathetic Detective Anther Albada, but even she’s beginning to have her doubts about his innocence. Could Martin be guilty? Or is he just misunderstood?

Oh how I really tried to like this story.  But alas, it joins those rare books that just don’t do it for me.  I picked this one up at the Book Blogger Convention, and figured I’d start with it since it was a short audiobook.  Only two discs, and two days in the car running errands finished it up.  I was a little leery to listen to her other audiobook Fallen which I had picked up at the same time, but thus far, that one is turning out to be good so it doesn’t seem that it’s the writer.  Perhaps it was the reading which is done by actor Wayne Knight, well-known for his roll as Newman from Seinfeld.  Some of the story just didn’t work and his ability to change his voice wasn’t really up to par with some of the other audiobooks I’ve listened to recently.

But maybe you’ll feel differently, maybe not.  But for me, this one joins the ranks of those ever tragic books that are part of my Friday Flops.

(Goodreads, Amazon)

by Jennifer Rainville

(Goodreads, Website)

Published on April 12, 2011 by Rainville Books

On a cold January morning, just as Jules Duvil is finishing her shift as a producer at NEWS 30, she makes a spontaneous decision to grab a beer with Jack, the hunky anchor of the station’s top-rated morning news program. It is a decision that will shake both of their lives forever. Soon, Jules and Jack become entangled in a torrid and tumultuous romance, so intense it ends up tearing them apart.

Seven years later, Jules has a life beyond what she could’ve ever imagined having grown up in a run-down duplex in South Boston. She lives in a beautiful townhouse in the West Village with her handsome husband and is on the verge of publishing her first novel. But a call from Jack sends everything spiraling. Suddenly the memories of their potent love affair and the wounds she thought she’d healed resurface and Jules is caught between building her future and rewriting her past. This time, the decision is a serious one — Jules must choose between the life she always wanted and the only man she ever truly loved.

Jennifer approached me through email with a request to review her book.  I added it to my pile when it arrived, and I’m not sure what prompted me to finally pick it up and read it, but I’m glad that I did.

The story follows Jules as she adjusts to life in NYC and pushes past every obstacle thrown up in her pursuit of a career in front of the camera.  It flashes from present to past and back and forth, but not in a jumbled way.  The flash backs allow the reader to glimpse just a little bit of why the current circumstances are just so difficult and in the end why the decision she makes, while it can hurt, is the right one for her.  Jules falls for an anchor of the news station she gets a behind the scenes position as she works to get her foot in the door and finally in front of the camera.  Who would guess that he is the one who she just can’t forget.

While the story is a psuedo memoir for Jennifer and her experiences in the broadcast media, it is also a story that many of us have been through.  I know I have.  I met someone, funny enough while I too was living in NYC, and while I was madly in love with him, he was not the man for me.  That didn’t stop me from dropping everything when he was around or putting up with his lame excuses for why he didn’t show up when he said he would be coming over.  It was an off and on thing for 3 years and while my friends always honestly told me that he was no good for me, I just couldn’t let him go.  Even after I moved away from NYC, he would occasionally send me an email or text and I would let in back in for however long he wanted.  Much to the dismay of my friends and the potential boyfriends, I would back away from them and let him throw my life into a complete upheaval.  Eventually I wised up, and like Jules, made the decision that while it wrenches your heart wide open, in the long run, is the one that will set you free.

It was hard to accept that he was holding me back from being who I wanted to be and that every time I let him back in my life it just threw everything into upheaval until he was gone again and I was left to pick up the pieces and put myself back together again.  And looking back on a lot of my relationships, I felt that somehow I was settling with someone who wasn’t right for me, just because it worked then.  If there is one thing I learned a few years ago, don’t ever settle, even if it means you’re going to go to the movies by yourself or go out to dinner with your friends who all seem to be coupled up.  It’ll work out in the end.  I know it has for me.  I met a great man, and never once has the thought that I might have ‘settled’ for him ever crossed my mind. This is something I particularly spent some time thinking about when the old memories started to flood in as I read the book.  It’s a great feeling, and I hope that my love for him will continue to grow and that I don’t ever feel as if somehow I settled to be with him. (And hopefully he doesn’t feel this way about me either.)

Jules learns that as well, and while her story isn’t quite as cut and dry as mine, it was well worth the emotions and memories that it brought back as I relived through her some of my own experiences.  While this gives away some of what happens, you cannot fully grasp the complex and yet common experiences she goes through in her struggle to find herself.

On a side note, I did a little reading about the author, Jennifer, after I finished the book, and figured out why I thought her face looked familiar in her picture on the book.  She was a reporter on NY1.  That was one of the few stations I had in NYC whether I had cable or not, and lived by their news reports.  She was on the air during the time I lived in NYC, so of course she looked familiar.  While I don’t know what parts of this story are true and which are fiction, she tells a wonderful story that is both enlightening and heart wrenching at the same time.

It’s a good read, and the only reason I didn’t finish it the day I started reading it was I had to get some sleep, so the last 35 pages waited until the morning.

For those that have read this far and are interested in giving this book a chance, please leave a comment here to be entered to win a finished copy of this book.

(Goodreads, Amazon)

by Daphna Edwards Ziman

(Goodreads, Amazon, Website, Twitter)

Published on June 1, 2011

Publisher: Greenleaf Book Group Press

A seductive young woman chooses the dangerous path of confronting the justice system and corporate power for the sake of her children, her passion for life, and her desire to be loved.

Kelly Jensen was only six years old when she witnessed her mother’s murder, for which her father was wrongfully convicted. Moved from foster home to foster home, Kelly was exposed to abuse, neglect, and human trafficking. By age fifteen she was a runaway, combining her innate intelligence with street smarts to become a chameleon capable of losing herself in every character she impersonated. Beautiful and bewitching, Kelly used her talents to become the most notorious identity thief in the country.

Ruggedly handsome defense attorney Jake Brooks finds the enigmatic Kelly Jensen irresistible despite suspecting her of murdering his best friend from law school. His obsession leads him to risk his own illustrious career in Los Angeles to see that justice is served. Kelly finds him addictive. Together, the two uncover a sordid link among immoral foster care parents, high rollers in Vegas, politicians, and the legal system itself. Kelly ultimately takes fate into her own hands behind closed doors in the gray zone.

I really didn’t think I would like this one at first.  It took me a bit to get into it, but once I was about 40 pages in, I couldn’t put it down.  The interactions between Kelly and Jake are not those of star crossed lovers or even those of attorney and client with a mutual attraction, but they somehow come to life and are all the more believable for it.  Ziman does a wonderful job crafting a story so intense and so intricate that you can’t help but be amazed as each twist of the story unfolds.

There are a lot of stories that I want to end a certain way, not everything has to be a happy-happy ending.  Ziman, while I did wonder along the way how it would all turn out, does her story justice with its ending.  Like how I didn’t tell you just how it turns out?  Maybe it ends happily, maybe not.  Either way, you should pick this up if you like a good mystery/crime drama as this story will definitely tickle your fancy.

Reading her website after I finished the book, I learned that she is an active advocate for the foster children of this world.  Clearly she knows something about this as she portrays how a foster home childhood can go terribly wrong and one woman’s struggle to avoid that for her children even at the height of her struggles.

Note: This book was sent to me unsolicited by the publisher.  The origin of the book in no way effects my review.

I CANNOT BELIEVE I JUST FOUND OUT ABOUT THIS!!!!!  How did I miss it?  What a fun filled Alice related week this is turning out to be.  It seems it was released on Wednesday and I didn’t even know it.  But that won’t stop me from obtaining it this weekend and spending some hours loving it (hopefully just as much as I loved the first one.)

And who knows? The first one inspired my most recent tattoo on my arm which is a quote from the Cheshire Cat and reads:

Only a few find the way, some don’t recognize it when they do, some don’t ever want to.

Perhaps my next will be something just as deep and wonderful.  Although where to put another one?  I already have two in mind that have dedicated spots.  But we shall see.

Anyone else looking forward to this?  Have you played the first?

Have you ever wondered…

Who really stole the Queen’s tarts? Whatever did become of the Walrus & the Carpenter after their nefarious jot down the briny beach with the little Oysters? Is there truly any sense to be found in nonsense at all?

Come follow Alice down the rabbit-hole once again as Lewis Carroll’s timeless classic is reimagined through the lyrical language of Wonderland…where a Caterpillar dispenses an indelible lesson, a Cat offers safe haven and  (fairly) sound advice, and a Hatter and Hare throw a mad tea party before matching wits at the trial of the century!

I don’t know how Derek from Candleshoe Books found out that I like all things Alice, but I’m so glad he did.  And I’m so glad he offered to send me this to read and review.  This little book, so unassuming from the cover, is filled with original and I must say beautifully written poems that follow up on some of Alice’s encounters in Wonderland.  The writing is superb.  It flows freely and with purpose, leading you back to Wonderland and all the amazing people and animals first encountered in Lewis Carroll’s classic tales of Alice.

I won’t spoil it, but one of my favorite parts is the tale of The Walrus and The Carpenter, and Holden wrapped up that story exquisitely.

The artwork is done by Andrew Johnson and I love it!  Check out the Cheshire Cat, who I think it embodied perfectly in a mischievous Siamese-like cat.  It reminds me a bit of the American McGee’s Alice video game characters although that is much much darker.

And the tea party pictured here is so detailed and really brings to life the madness of the Hatter and the March Hare.

For more artwork from the book, please click on either drawing to be taken to the gallery.  Here is a link to his deviantart site as well for more of his amazing artwork that isn’t in the book.

I have to say I recommend this book for children and adults alike who have a love of Alice in Wonderland.  The story is lovely and truly captures the audience, and I just couldn’t put it down till I’d devoured every last line.  And then I read it again!  It’s really that good.

I would love to offer a giveaway of the book, but this one is going on my keeper shelf next to my favorite copy of both Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.  It definitely belongs in good company.

But! Aren’t you glad there’s a but? Here is what I am giving away to four lucky readers:

This gorgeous bookmark (picture is on the front, wording is on the back.)  Derek from Candleshoe books sent along some extras, so I’m going to give them to the first four people to leave a comment here.

Vampyre Kisses is an enthralling story about a young woman named Faith, who was content with her life, but deep down craved more excitement. Then a mysterious man named Trent enters her life and everything changes. Surprising to Faith, Trent is a green-eyed vampire from Ireland. She is even more surprised to find out that she is a witch, and the last of her kind.

Faith finds out that she is destined to restore her witch line and becomes more powerful as she gains confidence and knowledge, but danger lurks everywhere. Especially when unknown assailants steal the most important gems from the vampire master and werewolf royalty.

Now surrounded by a world full of mystifying vampires and werewolves, can Faith gain enough power to help her friends and rescue the stolen gems?

I met Elizabeth J. Kolodziej at this year’s Book Blogger Convention and while I didn’t realize at first that she was a novelist, I was happily surprised when she told me about her book.  I am grateful to her for loaning me her last physical copy (as I’ve mentioned before, I’m a little less than excited about ebooks.)  I will be purchasing my own copy to add to my keeper shelves as I loved it so much the first time, I know I’ll want to read it again and again.

And now, my review.  I have to say I love strong female leads and this book definitely has that.  It has a good solid love story at the base of it, but it is so much more.  There are witches, werewolves, vampires, gods, and who knows what else will come in the next book.  I can only imagine the hours of research she put into this book as there are ample references to folklore and mythology that is intricately woven into the story.

Some people may not like it, but I enjoyed how she spends the first couple of chapters going back and forth from Faith and Trent’s perspectives at times overlapping to give you a more rounded view, but to also expand on the events as it effects each of them.  I thought it added a little something extra to the story as it unfolds.

I found that the writing strongly conveyed the challenges and the accomplishments of Faith as she grows into her powers and accepts what she must do.  Beautifully descriptive and yet it doesn’t get lost in the descriptions, moving the story along at a good pace and leaving you wanting more.

I’m super excited that the next in The Last Witch series, Werewolf Descent, will be released as an ebook later this month and in print shortly thereafter.

Want to read a bit of the book yourself? Here’s an excerpt from Vampyre Kisses.  And of course here is an excerpt from the upcoming Werewolf Descent.

The Sturgis Motorcycle rally is no place for buttoned-down citizens –
UNLESS THEY’RE TRYING TO HIDE A MURDER OR TWO.

In this second book in the eponymous series, gutsy, sharp-witted Liv Bergen vows to clear her brother’s name as a murder suspect. Her way is hindered, though, by half a million bikers and gawkers who have turned the Black Hills of South Dakota into a modern-day Sodom in the dog days of summer.

When Liv witnesses a second homicide, she attracts the uninvited attentions of Mully, the menacing leader of biker gang Lucifer’s Lot. Their cat-and-mouse game puts Liv once again in the path of FBI agent Streeter Pierce, who’s gone undercover to find the perp in the first murder—plus a shadow criminal called the Crooked Man. Liv taps every ounce
of brains and brawn she has to avoid becoming the killer’s next victim, and the intriguing Streeter shoots to kill.

If you read my review of Brannan’s first book, In the Belly of Jonah, you know I wasn’t a huge fan, but that all changed with this book.  I loved the character development, the story, the details, and how quickly the story moved.  I was guessing who the killer would be from the start and was surprised to find myself on the wrong path right up until Liv figures it out.  That doesn’t happen often.

Brannan’s ability to describe events and to misdirect you is astonishing.  I felt like I was deep within the annual motorcycle rally in Sturgis and while it is a rough, raw, and sometimes hard to swallow place, it allowed me to experience something I would never have the balls to do in real life.  The story can be graphic at times, but it’s not over embellished or drawn out for the sake of blood and gore.  It makes the story what it is, a ghastly murder with some bad bikers at the center of the story.

I love that the story of Liv was expanded, and that Streeter Pierce was in this one as well.  I wasn’t that excited about it when I finished the first book, but I’m so glad I gave this one a chance and read it as well.  I’m waiting patiently for the next to be written.

The one thing I can only hope Brannan will wrap up in her next book is the murder of a family friend, and just who is the Crooked Man.  I hope the references to them in this book were put there to intrigued and perhaps foreshadow what is to come.

If you have read In the Belly of Jonah, then I know you’ll want to pick this one up.  And if you haven’t, then you can read this one and go back later to read the first in the series (you won’t be lost if you read them out of order at this point) or go ahead and spend a weekend wrapped up with two spectacular murder mysteries.

Check out an excerpt from Lot’s Return to Sodom here: Excerpt

And if you missed her first book, In the Belly of Jonah, you can check out my review or read an excerpt from the first book here: My Review and Excerpt

Giveaway

Since I was able to meet Sandra Brannan in person at the Book Blogger Convention this year, I was able to score an autographed copy of the book for my very own.  Which means I have my ARC available for one lucky reader.  Leave a comment on this post, and I will choose a winner on Tuesday, June 14th.

Good Luck!

Daphne is the new girl in town and is having trouble fitting in. At least she has Jesse… sort of. He wants to be more than “just friends,” but there’s something he’s not telling her about his past. Something dangerous. When a female student is brutally attacked, police turn to PROFILE, a new program that can predict a student’s capacity for drug use, pregnancy, and violent behavior, to solve the case. As the witch hunt ensues, Daphne is forced to question her feelings for Jesse–and what she will do if her first love turns out to be a killer.

I actually stopped by the Sourcebooks booth during the BEA for a different title, Alice in Zombieland, but I wasn’t able to speak with anyone about that title.  I happened by the YA section, and saw this.  Thankfully, Danielle was there to tell me all about this book and suggest I read it.  I’m so glad she did.  At times I felt like I knew what was going to happen, but then it would throw in a twist that I hadn’t thought of and keep me going to the very end.  I loved that it took an idea like this and really fleshed it out.  I felt that it was believable, and well written.

I truly liked that this book gave you a lot of food for thought.  It wasn’t just a story that you read and forget.  I’m waiting on my friend to finish reading it so we can discuss it.  The concepts brought forth in this book were well researched and thought out.  Not to give anything away, but at the very end there is a discussion about the type of violent crime someone is supposedly predetermined to commit and whether it is premeditated, spontaneous, or self-defense and if that is also predictable.  Quite interesting I must say.

I hope you add this to your wish list.  It’s available for pre-order on Amazon and other sites now, and is scheduled to hit the shelves in September.  Feel free to check out Christine Seifert’s blog or her Facebook profile for more news as the title nears it’s release.

The spell was simple …

Cruentus Protectum. Defend the Blood.

But what do you do if your blood is your enemy?

Victoria Warrick has always known she was different. An outcast at school, she is no stranger to adversity. But when she receives an old journal for her seventeenth birthday, nothing prepares her for the dark secrets it holds—much less one that reveals she’s a witch with unimaginable power.

What’s more, when she meets the dazzling but enigmatic Christian Devereux, she has no idea how much her life is about to change. Enemies will hunt her. Friends will turn on her. The terrible curse that makes her blood run black will stop at nothing to control her. And Christian has a sinister secret of his own …

Without knowing whom to trust, can Victoria survive her blood’s deadly desires? Or will she lose everything, including herself?

Isn’t that cover GORGEOUS?!?  I received this as an ARC from JKS Publications and while I wasn’t sure I would like it, I gave it a chance.  I’m so glad I did as it was an amazing read.   I think I prefer stories with witches and vampires to just the too often seen everyday girl falls for vampire stories that are out now.

So what is this book about? Well witches, vampires, and of course young love.  Not just a love story though as there is plenty of action and some amazing imagery.  I don’t want to give away too much of the book, but you should check it out.  I haven’t read a book lately that I was so excited by and I cannot wait for the sequel.

And what’s even better than a good book like this? Why meeting the author of course!  I didn’t know she would be there, but while I was at the Book Blogger Convention, she showed up to drop off some goodies for us to have.  I’ve got three autographed tote bags (like the one in the picture below) as well as a couple of autographed bookmarks.  Drop a comment and you’ll be entered to win one of these.  I’d love to give away my ARC too, but I’ve already passed it on to a friend and have another waiting in line to read it, so that may have to wait a bit.

Amalie is an awesome person and while I’m sure I came off as a nutty fan, I just couldn’t help myself.  I’d only just finished the book before leaving for NYC so it was fresh in my mind and yeah, I went a little crazy.  Check out the picture of the two of us below.  I’m clearly way too excited.

And if all this raving isn’t enough, check out the book trailer for Bloodspell.

Giveaway

I’ve got three autographed tote bags (like the one in the picture below) as well as a couple of autographed bookmarks. Drop a comment and you’ll be entered to win one of these.

Irrationality is not all bad. In the Upside of irrationality we examine some of the positive effects irrationality have on our lives and offer a new look on the irrational decisions that influence our personal lives and our workplace experiences.

I tend to think of myself as a fairly rational person.  Definitely more rational than emotional most of the time.  I found the research and insights Ariely provides into the irrational decisions of all people to be quite interesting, and upon reflection see that maybe I’m not as rational about decisions as I thought.  I love statistics, and this book was filled with plenty of food for thought when it comes to research and experiments that provide plenty of data on how we respond to certain situations and why.  In particular, I found the chapter on why we overvalue what we make to be quite interesting.

There is a bit about how bake mixes didn’t sell when they were first introduced because the baker only had to add water, but after some re-evaluation, the companies took the powdered eggs and oil out as well so the baker had to add a few more items to the mix.  Once they did that, sales took off and Ariely explains in more detail why the bakers felt it was then a product that they created and it didn’t matter that it came from a mix.  I find that this would ring true with me, as a baker, I prefer to make things from scratch and do not value the result as much as when I make it from a mix.  Certainly if I only had to add water the value of the outcome would be less than the current version, and even less valuable than the from scratch version.

I somehow missed out on reading his first book, Predictably Irrational, but I fully intend to get my hands on a copy and read it now.  I find the insight he provides into reasoning to be not only a good read, but very informative.  If you’ve read his first book, pick this up.  If you haven’t, you can enjoy this without having read it and I suggest you pick up a copy of the first book as well.

A Dub Walker Thriller: Forensic and Criminal Behavior expert Dub Walker must solve a series of savage murders perpetrated by a killer that is at once careful, calculating, and organized as well as brutal, impulsive, and disorganized.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  It takes place over a week’s time and the pace is fast.  At times I felt it might be a bit too fast, but then I thought about all the crime drama movies and TV shows I love and decided that it didn’t move any faster than those so it can’t be too fast.  I’m not sure I’ll enjoy the same characters again and again as this is part of the ‘Dub Walker’ series, but I’m going to give his newest release Hot Lights, Cold Steel a chance to wow me.

Lyle has a link on his site that gives you a sneak preview of the book, so please check it out.  Stress Fracture — A Special Excerpt

Lyle’s blog The Writer’s Forensics Blog is quite a read as well.  If you have any interest in forensics or just love a good crime drama, check it out.  I learned quite a few things I didn’t know.  It’s no wonder his writing is so intricate and in depth when it comes to the forensics side of things.

The shift is coming. Soon. Dr. David Carter knows this. However, he’s a geologist, so ‘soon’ means anywhere from tomorrow to a thousand years from now. People are dying. Now. Drs. Jordan Abellard and Jillian Brookwood are standing at the edge of SuperAIDS. Or are they? They won’t be able to figure it out if they can t get some authorization signed–and soon. But they’re peons and no one is paying attention.

Whole species died at the last polar shift, 65 million years ago. Right now Dr. Becky Sorenson has some seriously mutated frogs in her lab. In Los Angeles, Bees are making abnormal columns on the side of the freeways. In Georgia, birds are migrating out of season. It all makes a sick kind of sense when the doctors consider that the last magnetic shift is strangely coincidental to the dinosaur die-out. And the only similarity in the problems today is that each is occurring in a ‘hotspot’–a pocket of reverse polarity tells them all the shift is already here.

I finished listening to this as an audio movie quite a while ago, but mistakenly thought I’d already posted my review.  But upon some checking, it seems I forgot about it.  This is an amazing book.  It keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout the whole story.  You come to love the characters and their idiosyncrasies as they each try to put the pieces together of what is causing the frogs to mutate and the people to lapse into a coma and die.

While this is science fiction, it is quite plausible that this could happen at some point.  We already see that the poles shifting and causing runways to be renamed.  And there is a great article on Wikipedia about true polar wander. The basis of Resonance works on the cataclysmic pole shift hypothesis.

But enough about the science behind it, this book is well worth a read or a listen.  I was truly hooked on it when my stereo died, and I couldn’t wait to pop it in when I got my stereo fixed.  I was a bit sad when it was over as it kept me going on my commute each day.  Read it!

It’s seems to be the classic tale of Cinderella; with the help of a fairy godmother, beautiful Ella meets and falls in love with a handsome prince. However, Ella has lost her mind after years of abuse from her stepmother, and everything isn’t as she imagines.

My Aunt mentioned that she had a friend who’s daughter had written a book.  I contacted Sally and received not only a copy to review, but a few copies to give away as well.  So please let me know if you’d like a copy and I will send one along until I’m out of them.

This is a wonderful book.  It gives a whole new look at the classic Cinderella story and I’m a sucker for a good fairytale, especially the traditional darker versions of the Disney-fied tales.  Sally mixes in the main elements of the well-known tale but with a more believable reason for the fairy godmother and other magical elements.  It’s quite a good mix of old and new.  I enjoyed the bit about Rapunzel that is thrown in there to explain the disappearance of the prince’s older brother which results in the prince needing to find himself a princess.

It’s a quick read and quite entertaining, so if you get the chance, pick it up.

It’s got an auxillary input as well as a USB input and we got the super awesome cable which hooks into my iPhone so it can be controlled by the stereo.  And well it’s just pretty much amazing.  Colin said it was super easy to install which I’m sure made a big difference.

I’ve tested out the iPhone control and I’m impressed.  I need to add some more music to my phone though.  And first thing tomorrow I’ll be testing it out for my audio movie which I’m very close to finishing.

I want to also give a shout out to Crutchfield for being so quick with shipping and having such a great deal on my stereo.  I would suggest you check them out if you’re in the market for any electronics.

Nine years ago, Claymore Beller tried to do the right thing. It was the last thing he did. In retaliation for his efforts, his mafia bosses laid waste to his family. Only the youngest — Cynthia — came up fighting.

Three years ago, Lee Maxwell made the same error. His wife and daughter paid for his mistake. In a haze of booze and regret, Lee disappeared.

Now, Owen Dunham is following the trail of the ‘Grudge Ninja’ — only all the evidence is false and the profilers can’t get their heads around anything except the obvious fact that the Ninja is extracting a deadly revenge for an old wrong.

As the Ninja gets bolder and far more dangerous, Owen is forced to recognize that he hasn’t always made the best decisions — he’s spent far too much time trying to be right. Even as he  questions whether bringing in the ninja is the right thing to do, the voice in the back of his head is telling him it will make his career …

I started listening to A.J. Scudeire’s Resonance and had planned on listening to the audio movie version of this book as well until my car stereo broke.  I can only imagine how much better this book would have been listening to it.  It was a great read, and pulls you into the story from the very first chapter.  It has intrigue, deception, three main characters who intertwine stories with easy and it doesn’t stop until the very last page.

As I approached the last bit, I had the gnawing fear that somehow it wouldn’t end very well, but let me tell you, Scudiere keeps it up right until the end.  It’s no wonder that the audio movie is up for two 2011 Audie Awards!  The winners will be announced during the book filled week of May when the Book Expo America and Book Blogger Convention take place in addition to NY Book Week.  If you have an opportunity, please vote for Vengeance in the categories of best Thriller/Suspense and best Audio Drama.

So what is an audio movie? Well it’s just what it sounds like.  You listen as the unabridged story is read by not one person, but multiple voice actors each playing a different character and in addition to that they have sound effects and a score to go along as well.  Since I haven’t been able to listen to Vengeance that way yet, I can’t say just how good it is, but I am loving Resonance (Scudiere’s other audio movie) and don’t think I’m putting myself out on a limb by saying Vengeance will be just as good if not better.

As a bonus to my readers, I’ve been given the opportunity to give away the MP3 download of the audio movie, and one lucky winner will receive the limited edition, USB flash drive with the whole audio movie on it.

Keep an eye out next week for your chance to enter to win this unique USB audio movie as well as download your copy of the MP3 files.  Until then, you can download and read the first two chapters of the book:

Click here to download the first two chapters of Vengeance.

So what do you think of the idea of audio movies? Have you listened to any of them already?  Would you recommend them?  I’m going to need some more to check out once I’ve finished Resonance and given Vengeance a listen.

I would also like to give a shout out to Marissa at JKSCommunications for giving me the opportunity to review not only Vengeance, but Resonance as well in both book format and audio movie.  And without her, you, lucky reader, wouldn’t have the chance to win this USB drive!  Thanks Marissa!

Two abandoned souls are on the hunt for one powerful man. Soon, their paths will cross and lead to one twisted fate. Danny Hansen is a Bosnian immigrant who came to America with hopes of escaping haunted memories of a tragic war that took his mother’s life. Now he’s a priest who lives by a law of love and compassion. It is powerful men and hypocrites who abide by legal law but eschew the law of love that most incense Danny. As an avenging angel, he believes it is his duty to show them the error of their ways, at any cost. Renee Gilmore is the frail and helpless victim of one such powerful man. Having escaped his clutches, she now lives only to satisfy justice by destroying him, regardless of whom she must become in that pursuit. But when Danny and Renee’s paths become inexorably entangled things go very, very badly and neither of them may make it out of this hunt alive. Judge not, or you too will be judged.

This is the first book by Ted Dekker that I’ve read, but it surely won’t be the last.  Wow! This book sucked me in from the beginning and kept my interest throughout.  I couldn’t wait to find out what happened, and I almost missed guessing the end before it was right there.  The work of a truly amazing author.  I’m going to keep this short and sweet as with any blog tour, you can read every detail about a book before all the reviews are up.  If you’re a fan of Ted Dekker, read this; if you’ve never read his work and enjoy a good mystery with a lot of intrigue, read this book.  Bear in mind there are some very vivid descriptions of death scenes, but they in no way detract from the story or go overboard as some authors are want to do.

Take a peak into this book, if this doesn’t make you want to read it, then I don’t know what will!

The Priest’s Graveyard is releasing on April 19, 2011.  Don’t miss it!

I recently finished reading There Is No Year by Blake Butler and I have to say it’s well worth your time.  If you loved Danielewski’s House of Leaves, then you’ll enjoy this novel.  It took me much longer than I expected to read it, but I think it was due to it evoking such vivid imagery that I wanted to be able to take it all in instead of rushing through it.   And while there are some disturbing parts, it’s nothing violent or blood and guts.  It did make my dreams quite interesting when I read it prior to bed though.

Not that it will give you even an inkling of just what this book is about, here is the description from the publisher’s website:

A family of three: father, mother, son.

A house that gives them shelter but shapes their nightmares.

An illness that nearly arrested the past, and looms over the future.

A second family—a copy family. Mirror bodies.

Events on the horizon: a hole, a box, a light, a girl.

Holes in houses. Holes in speaking. Holes in flesh.

Memories that deceive and figures that tempt and lure and withdraw.

There Is No Year is the astonishing new novel by Blake Butler.

It is a world of scare, a portrait of return, a fable of survival and the fierce burden of art.

And just in case that doesn’t pull you in, you can take a peak inside the first part of the book here:

I really enjoyed this book and am thankful for Harper Collins for giving me the chance to read and review this one.

Titles: Hamster and Cheese; And Then There Were Gnomes; The Ferret’s a Foot

Author: Colleen AF Venable

My Review:

I picked these up at the Staple! Independent Media Expo.  I had a blast reading them.  They take place in a pet shop who’s owner has no idea what these animals are so he labels the hamsters as koalas and the mice are walruses.  He’s an interesting character.  But he’s just a background presence.  The main characters are Hamisher the Hamster and Sassapants the Guinea Pig.  When the G falls off Sasspants’ cage, Hamisher thinks that Sasspants is the only one who can help him solve the mystery as she must be a Private Investigator.

Sasspants is a lover of reading mysteries, but she does not want to be involved in Hamisher’s mystery or have anything to do with him.  But Hamisher in his unique way wins Sasspants over and she finally agrees to help.

After solving the sandwich mystery, Sasspants and Hamisher join up again to find out where the ghost came from and why it’s stealing the mice one by one and then it’s on to the case of the ferrets.

Colleen has done a fantastic job creating some lovable characters and bringing the personalities of each animal to life.  I know my niece would love these and it would be a great introduction to comics for her, but as I am currently pet sitting for a friend’s son’s guinea pig, I think he will love these stories even more.

If you’ve a love for cute animal stories or children you’d like to get into comics, these would be a great start.  They are full of good information about the animals,  and even some really memorable lines (mostly from Hamisher.)

Title: Altered Carbon

Series: Takeshi Kovacs Novels

Author: Rickard K. Morgan

Publisher: Del Rey

Date (to be) Published: February 2006

Synopsis:

In the 26th century mankind has spread through the galaxy, taking its religions and racial divisions out into the cold arena of space. While tensions exist and small dirty wars flare up every now and then, the UN Protectorate maintains an iron grasp on the new worlds, aided by its very own elite shock-troops; the Envoy Corps.

Meanwhile, what religion cannot guarantee technology has already delivered; when your consciousness can be stored in a cortical stack and routinely downloaded into a new body even death has become little more than an inconvenience. As long as you can afford a new body…

Ex-UN Envoy Takeshi Kovacs has been killed before; it was a hazard of the job, but his last death was particularly brutal. Needlecast across light years of space, re-sleeved into a body in San Francisco on Old Earth and throw into the centre of a conspiracy that is vicious even by the standards of a society that has forgotten how to value life, he soon realises that the shell that blew a hole in his chest on Harlan’s World was only the beginning of his problems…

Where Did It Come From?

I received this as a gift for Christmas.

Why Did I Choose It?

I’d read a review a while back and it was on my wish list.

My Review:

A cyberpunk noir, this book has it all.  A great mystery, intriguing plot and awesome characters.  I enjoyed this book immensely and would love to see some of the futuristic events take place in my lifetime.  I wouldn’t mind being able to store yourself on a ‘stack’ and get a new body (sleeve) in the future to go out and explore the world.  I can only imagine all the possibilities this would open up to see things in person even if it meant having a different body to do so in.  I mean isn’t it the experience not the body that matters?

I’m interested in reading his other Takeshi Kovacs books as I found myself really enjoying following him around as he discovered the details and intrigues that ultimately resulted in a great novel.

If you haven’t read his books yet, I would suggest you pick up anything Morgan has written.  I can’t imagine someone with his talent writing something that wouldn’t suck you into the story.

Title: The Habitation of the Blessed: A Dirge for Prester John Volume 1

Author: Catherynne M. Valente

Publisher: Night Shade Books

Date (to be) Published: November 2010

Synopsis: (from publisher’s website)

This is the story of a place that never was: the kingdom of Prester John, the utopia described by an anonymous, twelfth-century document which captured the imagination of the medieval world and drove hundreds of lost souls to seek out its secrets, inspiring explorers, missionaries, and kings for centuries. But what if it were all true? What if there was such a place, and a poor, broken priest once stumbled past its borders, discovering, not a Christian paradise, but a country where everything is possible, immortality is easily had, and the Western world is nothing but a dim and distant dream?

Brother Hiob of Luzerne, on missionary work in the Himalayan wilderness on the eve of the eighteenth century, discovers a village guarding a miraculous tree whose branches sprout books instead of fruit. These strange books chronicle the history of the kingdom of Prester John, and Hiob becomes obsessed with the tales they tell. The Habitation of the Blessed recounts the fragmented narratives found within these living volumes, revealing the life of a priest named John, and his rise to power in this country of impossible richness. John’s tale weaves together with the confessions of his wife Hagia, a blemmye–a headless creature who carried her face on her chest–as well as the tender, jeweled nursery stories of Imtithal, nanny to the royal family. Hugo and World Fantasy award nominee Catherynne M. Valente reimagines the legends of Prester John in this stunning tour de force.

Extra: Read an excerpt here: Prester John Online

Where Did It Come From?

I purchased it from Amazon.

Why Did I Choose It?

I love Valente’s work and cannot wait for more.

My Review:

This tree bore neither apples nor plums, but books where fruit should sprout.  The bark of its great trunk shone the color of parchment, its leaves a glossy, vibrant red, as if it had drunk up all the colors of the long plain through its roots.  In clusters and alone books of all shapes hung among the pointed leaves, their covers obscenely bright and shining, swollen as peaches, gold and green and cerulean, their pages thick as though with juice, their silver ribbonmarks fluttering in the spiced wind.

How could you not fall prey to a book with such elegant prose as that one paragraph?

Valente has again stolen my heart and added another book to my keeper shelves.  She uses impressively vivid imagery to detail a rich and powerful tale of four stories that at first seem disjointed and confusing, but before long you are swept along the current of each stream and cannot bear to step away for even just a moment until they meet and mix together a great river you wish would never meet its end.

I stared at my previous three books with the eyes of a starving child – could I not somehow devour them all at once and know their contents entire?  Unfair books.  You require so much time!  Such a meal of the mind is a long, arduous feast indeed.

How joyful would it be to simply consume a book as you do an apple? With every bite, knowledge, and every drop of juice, words?  What more could I ask for if it were only that simple.  And yet, without dedicating that time to a book, to read it, envision the characters and setting, would it truly be as meaningful or wonderful?

… when a book lies unopened it might contain anything in the world, anything imaginable.  It therefore, in that pregnant moment before opening, contains everything.  Every possibility, both perfect and putrid.

While this review has given away nothing in regards to the three stories within a story, I hope that it has drawn you, with a few small glimpses, into a book that you will rush out to pick up and read for yourself.  It is well worth your time, and while its pages are few, don’t worry if you should lose yourself within and take longer to reach the end.

And with that, I leave you with one last tidbit from an astounding piece of work.

Love is hungry and severe.  Love is not unselfish or bashful or servile or gentle.  Love demands everything.  Love is not serene, and it keeps no records.  Love sometimes gives up, loses faith, even hope, and it cannot endure everything.  Love, sometimes, ends.  But its memory lasts forever, and forever it may come again.  Love is not a mountain, it is a wheel.  No harsher praxis exists in this world.  There are three things that will beggar the heart and make it crawl – faith, hope, and love – and the cruelest of these is love.

Note: perhaps you think I gave this rave reviews only because I’ve loved her other books?  Here are some others who share their thoughts after reading this book as well.

The Little Red Reviewer

The Book Smugglers

Fantasy Books Cafe

Title: The Maze Runner

Author: James Dashner

Publisher: Delacorte Books

Date (to be) Published: August 2010

Synopsis: (from author’s website)

When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. His memory is blank. But he’s not alone. When the lift’s doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade—a large, open expanse surrounded by stone walls.

Just like Thomas, the Gladers don’t know why or how they got to the Glade. All they know is that every morning the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened. Every night they’ve closed tight. And every 30 days a new boy has been delivered in the lift.

Thomas was expected. But the next day, a girl is sent up—the first girl to ever arrive in the Glade. And more surprising yet is the message she delivers.

Thomas might be more important than he could ever guess. If only he could unlock the dark secrets buried within his mind.

Where Did It Come From?

Gift for Christmas 2010

Why Did I Choose It?

I’ve read Dashner’s 13^th Reality series and thought this would be good as well.

My Review:

I cannot believe I waited so long to get this and read it.  I’m hoping that the sequel will arrive in the mail soon.  It took a lot of willpower not to read the first chapter of the second book that was included at the end of the first book.  But I just couldn’t do that to myself without having the book in my hands to read it through.

This tale is well developed and the mystery behind the boys and the maze is never fully explained which makes you want more and more.  It’s fast paced and flows very well.  I couldn’t believe what happened at the end and while I knew there was a sequel as it is a trilogy, I never would have guessed the ending.  I expect great things from the sequel and the subsequent final book which I can only hope comes out very soon.

If you haven’t read any of Dashner’s work, I don’t know what’s stopping you.  Pick up his 13^th Reality series or the Maze Runner books and get going.

Title: Great Philosopher’s Who Failed at Love

Author: Andrew Shaffer

Publisher: Harper Perennial

Date (to be) Published: January 2011

Synopsis: (from publisher’s website)

Few people have failed at love as spectacularly as the great philosophers. Although we admire their wisdom, history is littered with the romantic failures of the most sensible men and women of every age, including:

Friedrich Nietzsche: “Ah, women. They make the highs higher and the lows more frequent.” (Rejected by everyone he proposed to, even when he kept asking and asking.)

Jean-Paul Sartre: “There are of course ugly women, but I prefer those who are pretty.” (Adopted his mistress as his daughter.)

Louis Althusser: “The trouble is there are bodies and, worse still, sexual organs.” (Accidentally strangled his wife to death.)

And dozens of other great thinkers whose words we revere—but whose romantic decisions we should avoid at all costs.

Where Did It Come From?

Harper offered me a review copy.

Why Did I Choose It?

It sounded like it could be full of random interesting tidbits.

My Review:

What can I say about this book?  While it was interesting to see the various well known philosophers who struggled to find love and sometimes even marriage, this book seemed to strongly imply that they failed at love because they didn’t settle down, get married, and live their life with one person.  Is that failing at love?  Yes, some of them fell for another who had no interest in them, some of them were cads, and some of them even had children out of wedlock, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they failed.  Two of them, I won’t reveal their names, you’ll have to read it for yourself to find out, were in an open relationship throughout their life, but in the end, they were together for many years and eventually were buried together.  I can’t say that’s failing at love, clearly they loved each other greatly.

While it was an interesting read and I learned a lot about the various philosophers adventures in love and relationships, I can’t honestly agree with the author that these people failed.  I’d recommend you read this book, despite the misnomer, and come to your own conclusions.

Title: Mystify

Author: Artist Arthur

Publisher: Kimani Press TRU

Date (to be) Published: January 2011

Synopsis: (from author’s website)

Sometimes being an outsider is the best way to fit in…

Sasha Carrington has grown up feeling like an outsider, and her parents are too concerned with scaling the Lincoln, Connecticut, social ladder to even notice her. They’d be really horrified to know about the supernatural abilities Sasha and her friends Krystal and Jake possess. But as part of the Mystyx, Sasha has found her place.

Now her parents have suddenly taken an interest in everything she does, and their timing couldn’t be worse. Sasha’s father wants her to become BFFs with snooty Alyssa Turner, who hates Krystal for stealing her boyfriend. Then there’s Antoine Watson, the boy Sasha has liked forever, the boy her parents would never approve of. But with the dark side getting more dangerous by the day, and the Mystyx’s own powers growing in unexpected ways, Sasha is facing choices that could affect her friends, her love life—and even her destiny.…

Where Did It Come From?

I won a competition through OnlinePublicist.

Why Did I Choose It?

I’d read the first book in the series and was excited to read the next chapter in the Mystyx series.

My Review:

I was very excited to read this book, as I enjoyed the first of the series.  However, as I was reading it, I kept waiting for something to happen, some battle or major event, but it never came.  The last few pages did leave a nice cliff-hanger to entice you to read the third book, but I have to say this book was not overly interesting.  Yes it gave more insight into the characters, in particular, Sasha, but a lot of it came off as if it could have been condensed into a quarter of the book with more emphasis on the group as a whole.  Unlike the first book, there wasn’t much in the way of action or pulling you into the story.

The cliff-hanger though does help to make up for this clearly being an in-between book in the series.  I am very interested to see where Arthur takes her story and what trials the characters will have to face in the next book.  I hope that she includes a little more action and less internal teen angst that seemed to plague this book.

If you’ve read the first book, you should definitely read this one, and you’ll definitely want to read the third one that is due out later this year.

Title: Zombies Don’t Cry: A Living Dead Love Story

Author: Rusty Fischer

Publisher: Medallion Press

Date (to be) Published: April 2011

Synopsis: (from publisher)

Maddy Swift is just a normal girl—a high school junior surviving class with her best friend and hoping the yummy new kid, Stamp, will ask her out. When he finally does, her whole life changes.

Sneaking out to meet Stamp at a party one rainy night, Maddy is struck by lightning. After awakening, she feels lucky to be alive. Over time, however, Maddy realizes that she’s become the thing she and everyone else fear most: the living dead.

With no heartbeat and no breath in her lungs, Maddy must learn how to survive as a zombie. Turns out there’s a lot more to it than shuffling around 24/7 growling, “Brains.” Needing an afterlife makeover is only the beginning of her problems. As Barracuda Bay High faces zombie Armageddon, Maddy must summon all of her strength to protect what matters most—just as soon as she figures out exactly what that is.

Where Did It Come From?

Review request from the publisher.

Why Did I Choose It?

Sounded like a quick, fun read.

My Review:

This was definitely a quick, fun read. There were plenty of times I smiled to myself and a few times I really laughed out loud.  You’d never guess that Rusty Fischer was not a teenage girl.  He writes from that perspective so well, you’d think he went through all these teen girl struggles. This starts out as a typical teen love story, but then it gets interesting.  How could it not when the protagonist becomes a Zombie?  And then it delves into the lore that you probably never knew about Zombies.  Fischer really goes all out with this and makes Zombies not must have brains shuffling decaying monsters, but brings them up to a level of awesome that was previously only for Vampires and Werewolves.

I’d be very interested to see if Rusty writes a follow up to this or even another book with different characters as it would be one I’d pick up.

Title: The Fall: Book Two of the Strain Trilogy

Author: Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan

Publisher: William Morrow

Date (to be) Published: September 2010

Synopsis: (from publisher)

The vampiric virus unleashed in The Strain has taken over New York City. It is spreading and soon will envelop the globe. Amid the chaos, Eph Goodweather—head of the Centers for Disease Control’s team—leads a band out to stop these bloodthirsty monsters. But it may be too late.

Ignited by the Master’s horrific plan, a war erupts between Old and New World vampires, each vying for control. At the center of the conflict lies a book, an ancient text that contains the vampires’ entire history … and their darkest secrets. Whoever finds the book can control the outcome of the war and, ultimately, the fate of us all. And it is between these warring forces that humans—powerless and vulnerable—find themselves no longer the consumers but the consumed. Though Eph understands the vampiric plague better than anyone, even he cannot protect those he loves. His ex-wife, Kelly, has been transformed into a bloodcrazed creature of the night, and now she stalks the city looking for her chance to reclaim her Dear One: Zack, Eph’s young son.

With the future of humankind in the balance, Eph and his team, guided by the brilliant former professor and Holocaust survivor Abraham Setrakian and exterminator Vasiliy Fet and joined by a crew of ragtag gangsters, must combat a terror whose ultimate plan is more terrible than anyone has imagined—a fate worse than annihilation.

Where Did It Come From?

Gift for Christmas.

Why Did I Choose It?

It’s been on my wish list since I read the first book.

My Review:

As a second book in a trilogy, this did not disappoint in the least.  Sometimes the second book isn’t quite there, but this one was on spot all the way through.  The depth of the characters and the mythology that Del Toro/Hogan touched on in the first novel was fleshed out in this second book, and with a wild cliffhanger leaving you wanting more, they have set you up for a guaranteed read of the third novel.  An excellent present day horror story.

Title: The House of Discarded Dreams

Author: Ekaterina Sedia

Publisher: Prime Books

Date (to be) Published: November 2010

Synopsis: (from publisher)

A young college student, Vimbai moves into a dilapidated house in the dunes and discovers that one of her new roommates has a pocket universe instead of hair, there’s a psychic energy baby living in the telephone wires, and her dead Zimbabwean grandmother is now doing dishes in the kitchen.  Strange things start moving under the porch, as the house continues to grow and mutate, and creates from African urban legends all but take it over.  Now Vimbai has to find a way back to the real world, even if it means coming to terms with her past … the past that only exists in discarded dreams.

Where Did It Come From?

Amazon wish list purchase.

Why Did I Choose It?

I’ve read Sedia’s Alchemy of Stone as well as an anthology she edited and love her work.

My Review:

This was yet another delightful work from Sedia.  Her ability to describe places and events in such detail that they come to life from the page is amazing.  The story follows Vimbai as she moves into a house with two roommates and their adventures when the house floats out to sea and they must find a way back home.  Filled with well researched folklore and myth from around the world, this story springs from the page and inspires you to hop online and learn more about these cultural references.

If you enjoy Sedia’s work or if you’ve never read her before, now is the time to pick up a copy and get to know her.

Title: Hating Olivia

Author: Mark SaFranko

Publisher: Harper Collins

Date (to be) Published: November 2010

Synopsis: (from publisher’s website)

Max Zajack’s life is cheap rooms, dead-end jobs, and suicidal fantasies until he meets the alluring and mysterious Olivia Aphrodite, and everything goes to hell.

Max is a struggling musician and wannabe writer. His life is in a rut until one night, while playing a gig at a local club, he gazes out into the crowd and sees Olivia. Before long, they are sharing a bed and host of dark vices that begin to consume them. Their love turns toxic, sending them spiraling downward toward the inevitable. Violently romantic, viscerally honest, Hating Olivia is the story of two loners whose obsessive love brings them to the edge of destruction.

Where Did It Come From?

The lovely folks at Harper.

Why Did I Choose It?

It sounded quite interesting from the description so I requested a review copy.

My Review:

This was quite an interesting read.  It reveals just how far one can lose themselves in a relationship with another person.  In this case, it’s not the healthiest relationship, and in the end is quite detrimental to our main character, but while it is a bit anti-climatic in the end, the story is well written and Max manages to extricate himself with something left of himself.

There are many other things I could say about this book, but we’ve all been in a relationship that maybe wasn’t the best so you know the basic idea.  However, knowing that this is somewhat of a memoir for the author, it makes the feelings evoked by the interactions of the characters that much more real.

Definitely a book to read at least once and I look forward to reading the follow up tale, Lounge Lizards.

Title: Monsters of Men

Author: Patrick Ness

Publisher: Candlewick

Date (to be) Published: September 2010

Synopsis: (from author’s website)

Three armies march on New Prentisstown, each one intent on destroying the others.

Todd and Viola are caught in the middle, with no chance of escape.

As the battles commence, how can they hope to stop the fighting? How can there be peace when they’re so hopelessly outnumbered? And if war makes monsters of men, what terrible choices await?

But then a third voice breaks into the battle, one bent on revenge…

Why Did It Come From? Amazon

Why Did I Choose It? I’d read the first two in the series.

My Review:

Sadly this book was somewhat of a disappointment.  I really wanted to love it as I enjoyed the first two immensely, but this book just kept dragging on and on.  It was interesting to see things from the point of view of Viola, Todd and the Spackle, but outside of that, I didn’t really care what happened to any of the characters.

The ending when it finally did come about was very predictable, overly sappy, and just didn’t leave you with the same feelings the first two did.

I do suggest you read it if you’ve read the first two just to find out what happens, and to learn more about the Spackle, but don’t expect to finish it and feel this was an awesome series.

Title: A Wolf at the Table

Author: Augusten Burroughs

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Date (to be) Published: April 2008

Synopsis: (from publisher)

“As a little boy, I had a dream that my father had taken me to the woods where there was a dead body. He buried it and told me I must never tell. It was the only thing we’d ever done together as father and son, and I promised not to tell. But unlike most dreams, the memory of this one never left me. And sometimes…I wasn’t altogether sure about one thing: was it just a dream?”

When Augusten Burroughs was small, his father was a shadowy presence in his life: a form on the stairs, a cough from the basement, a silent figure smoking a cigarette in the dark. As Augusten grew older, something sinister within his father began to unfurl.  Something dark and secretive that could not be named.

Betrayal after shocking betrayal ensued, and Augusten’s childhood was over. The kind of father he wanted didn’t exist for him. This father was distant, aloof, uninterested…

And then the “games” began.

With A Wolf at the Table, Augusten Burroughs makes a quantum leap into untapped emotional terrain: the radical pendulum swing between love and hate, the unspeakably terrifying relationship between father and son. Told with scorching honesty and penetrating insight, it is a story for anyone who has ever longed for unconditional love from a parent. Though harrowing and brutal, A Wolf at the Table will ultimately leave you buoyed with the profound joy of simply being alive. It’s a memoir of stunning psychological cruelty and the redemptive power of hope.

Why Did It Come From? Barnes and Nobles discount book section.

Why Did I Choose It? The cover and title intrigued me.

My Review:

This book at times was a hard read.  The horrors this child experiences are at so awful and all he wants is for his father to show him some semblance of love.  It is however, very well written and having not read any of his other works, I am now interested in reading those as well.  It’s amazing that he even made it to adulthood.

It is a touching memoir revealing how someone can rise from the pit of their childhood and not become his father.

I would suggest this book to anyone who enjoys a good memoir that makes you really look at a less than perfect childhood.

Title: Regret

Author: Gabrielle Faust

Publisher: Dark Regions Press

Date (to be) Published: October 2010

Synopsis: (from publisher)

Where Did It Come From?

Gabrielle sent me a preview copy to review.

Why Did I Choose It?

I love her writing and couldn’t wait to read something different from her.

My Review:

This was one that I didn’t really know much about prior to Gabrielle approaching me to review it.  I read her blurb about it and thought, I love her other books, I’m sure this will be just as good, even if it’s not about vampires.

I was not to be disappointed.  Regret is another stunningly beautiful yet disturbing book by Faust.

The story of Marcus, who meets Desiderium, the Demon of Regret, and in an interesting twist, takes the place of Desiderium, leads the reader through various parts of Hell, and forms of Hell on Earth.  Following a ‘newer’ demon through his duties, watching him become accustomed to his new form, and life, such as it is, reveals much about the mythos of our various demons.  Marcus encounters a handful of demons, of varying ranks and power, making a pact with one, and irritating another, all while trying to obtain the one soul he truly feels is his to take.

The story is haunting and beautifully written, yet another book to add to my collection (and if you so desire, you can purchase a gorgeous copy for your collection as well from the publisher’s website above.)

Since discovering her about a year ago, I find myself wanting to devour her books with voracity, but find that I savor them, drawing out the experience far longer than necessary.  I have an insatiable desire to read anything that Faust releases, but knowing that she doesn’t put out a book just to get the next one out, but delves into her story and her characters, only increases my desire when a book is finally released.  I highly suggest you check out her books if you have not already done so and if you need some other prompting, check out her website or any of the other reviews of her previous books here on my website.

Author: Lauren Baratz-Logsted

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Date (to be) Published:

Synopsis: (from Bloomsbury)

Be careful who you let in the door … they may not want to leave

Lucy Sexton is stunned when a disheveled woman appears at the door one day…a woman who bears an uncanny resemblance to Lucy’s own beautiful mother. It turns out the two women are identical twins, separated at birth, and raised in dramatically different circumstances. Lucy’s mother quickly resolves to give her less fortunate sister the kind of life she has never known. And the transformation in Aunt Helen is indeed remarkable. But when Helen begins to imitate her sister in every way, even Lucy isn’t sure at times which twin is which. Can Helen really be trusted, or does her sweet face mask a chilling agenda?

Filled with shocking twists and turns, THE TWIN’S DAUGHTER is an engrossing gothic novel of betrayal, jealousy, and treacherous secrets that will keep you guessing to the very end.

Where Did It Come From?

I received this from Bloomsbury as a preview copy.

Why Did I Choose It?

It sounded like a quick mystery to run through.

My Review:

This book, while I was at first expecting a somewhat typical mystery, had such a fantastic twist ending that it has risen well above my expectations.  The story is told by Lucy, the daughter of Aliese, who’s twin sister appears on their doorstep many years later.  It seems that Aliese does not know of the existence of her twin sister, Helen, and the circumstances by which her twin was raised.  The story unfolds and while I was led to believe the conclusions that Baratz-Logsted wants the reader to come to, despite my best efforts, I was not even close to the actual outcome of events.  The characters are believable, their motives quite easy to understand, and yet, it all seems somewhat fantastical when it finally comes to a head.  And yet, I could see this story as being something that truly could have happened.

I feel that this book is worth the read.  It’s a great mystery with a little bit of a love story and full of vigor.

Please do yourself a favor and give this one a look.

Title:

Author: Jacob Ritari

Publisher: Unbridled Books

Date (to be) Published: July 2010

Synopsis: (from publisher)

A disillusioned and raggedy American reporter and his drunken photojournalist partner are the last to see three Japanese schoolgirls who disappear into Taroko Gorge, Taiwan’s largest national park.  The journalists who are themselves suspects investigate the disappearance along with the girls’ homeroom teacher, their bickering classmates, and a seasoned and wary Taiwanese detective.  The conflicts between them complicated by the outrageousness of the photographer and the raging hormones of the young raise questions of personal responsibility, truthfulness, and guarded self-interest.  The world and its dangers both natural and interpersonal are real, changing, and violently pressing.  And the emotions that churn in dark rooms overnight as the players gather in the park visitors center are as intense as in any closet drama.  There’s enough action and furor here to keep readers turning the pages, and the cultural revelations of the story suggest the human need for mystery outweighs the desire for answers.

Why Did It Come From?

The Unbridled Books booth at the BEA.

Why Did I Choose It?

I overheard some people discussing it and it sounded like a worthwhile read.

My Review:

This book is rife with well portrayed characters and accurate cultural predispositions and the misconceptions that occur when three very different groups of people are thrown into a dire situation.  Three Japanese schoolgirls disappear and as the story unfolds, all of the characters are suspect.  The search for the missing girls and what happened to them is exacerbated by the arrival of a hurricane that settles over Taroko Gorge.

Ritari’s done his research and that is very apparent in his descriptions of the gorge itself and the characters.  The story while very simple, becomes an examination of social interactions and the underlying suspicions that are brought forth when everyone is a suspect.

I thoroughly enjoyed this read and suggest it to anyone who is looking for a good mystery as it is not readily apparent why the girls disappeared and who is ultimately at fault.

Author: Douglas Clegg

Publisher: Vanguard Press

Date (to be) Published: April 2010

Synopsis: (from publisher)

For years, the Jackson family has vacationed at Rowena Wandigaux Lee’s old Victorian house on Gull Island, a place of superstition and legend off the southern coast of the U.S. One particular summer, young Beau follows his cousin Sumter into a hidden shack in the woods-and christens this new clubhouse “Neverland.” Neverland has a secret history, unknown to the children… The rundown shack in the woods is the key to an age-old mystery, a place forbidden to all. But Sumter and his cousins gather in its dusty shadows to escape the tensions at their grandmother’s house. Neverland becomes the place where children begin to worship a creature of shadows, which Sumter calls “Lucy.” All gods demand sacrifice… It begins with small sacrifices, little games, strange imaginings. While Sumter’s games spiral out of control, twisting from the mysterious to the macabre, a nightmarish presence rises among the straggly trees beyond the bluffs overlooking the sea. And when Neverland itself is threatened with destruction, the children’s’ games take on a horrifying reality-and Gull Island becomes a place of unrelenting terror.

Bonus: To read an excerpt from the book, click here.

Why Did It Come From?

I picked it up at the Book Expo America.

Why Did I Choose It?

The title and the cover were intriguing.

My Review:

This was an excellent read.  I’ve never read anything by Clegg, but this was a good starting point.  The story unfolds and while at times I wondered where it was going, Clegg does not disappoint.  The story unfolds at a good pace and he makes some excellent observations about children.  The story in its basest form is a coming of age story where youthful innocence is replaced with the realities of life.  While there is a supernatural aspect to this story, it is so well intertwined with the underlying events as to be believable.

If you enjoy a good thriller I would highly recommend this book.

What is Trea­sured Thursdays?

A weekly install­ment of books that have affected me so deeply that I can­not bear to part with them.  Each week I will show­case one book from my per­ma­nent col­lec­tion and tell you why it holds it place in my library.

10. The Lucifer Principle by Howard Bloom

This book is one of the non-fiction books that really struck a chord with me.  Bloom has written a couple of excellent books, and I am working on his most recent, The Genius of the Beast which already exceeds the greatness I found in his earlier works.  The Lucifer Principle delves into the history of societies.  How did England rise to become a world power only to fall from that upper most position?  What causes these events to happen?  Are they predictable?  Is history destined to repeat itself?  These are all questions that are explored and answered in the Lucifer Principle.  An excellent read that anyone with an interest will enjoy as much as I have.

Title:

Author: Gabrielle Faust

Publisher: Immanion Press

Date (to be) Published: September 2010

Synopsis: (for the series)

What if the fate of humanity lay in the hands of one vampire?

After a century-long Sleep, Tynan Llywelyn has awoken to find the world he once knew utterly obliterated by a brutal war of epic proportions. In a new apocalyptic society bitterly divided by magic and technology, the Tyst Empire has found that a hundred years of global domination is not enough to sate their thirst for power. They have discovered the secret of the vampire race and have designed a plan to seize their own sinister form of immortality with the help of an ancient vampiric god. The Phuree, a rebel uprising that has been engaged in a bloody war with the Tyst since the beginning of the new regime, have obtained the knowledge of Lord Cardone’s plans and have allied themselves with the remaining Immortal clan. The powerful Phuree oracle, Nahalo, has had a vision that in Tynan alone lies the power to defeat the vampiric god and the dictatorship. Cast in violence and conspiracy into the midst of a global war between magic and technology, mortals and vampires, in a new world he is still struggling to define, Tynan must make the harrowing decision to save the world he so bitterly detests or stand and watch as humanity is destroyed by a primordial evil beyond all imagining.

Eternal Vigilance sweeps the audience away with the darkly poetic, ancient voice of Tynan Llewelyn into a gritty and violent future where humans and vampires are forced to work hand-in-hand to save the world from annihilation, where technology has evolved far beyond the control of its creators and the barriers that separate the mortal realm from the world of the gods has begun to crumble. This ground breaking trilogy will ensnare your heart and soul, leaving you breathless and quietly pondering our universal fate, once the sun has gone down…

Synopsis: (for Bound in Blood)

When Tynan Llywelyn awoke from a century of Immortal Sleep in the year 2111 his Maker, Phelan Daray, delivered him by force into the arms of a war between the Tyst Empire, a global technological dictatorship bent on becoming immortal by resurrecting a vampiric god called the Vicinus and the Phuree, the human rebel uprising. Without a chance to fully adapt to the dangerous war-torn world around him, Tynan was forced to make a horrific choice to either stand and fight against the Tyst Empire, carrying out a mission to assassinate the Queen bearing the vampiric god, or turn his back on the world, leaving it to the mercy of the Tyst’s greed and the Vicinus’ revenge. Against his better judgment, he chose to fight.

Now, with the rage of a thwarted empire and a denied primal god bearing down upon him, Tynan must make his final stand, risking everything to save not only his own vampiric race, but humanity as well.

Where Did It Come From?

I bought it from Gabrielle at ArmadilloCon.

Why Did I Choose It?

After reading the first two in the series, I could not wait for the third to be available and I was not to be disappointed.

My Review:

Faust’s imagery is so vivid that it’s hard at times to separate her descriptions from your own imagination as you are drawn into the world of the Immortals, Phuree, Tyst, and Chronos.  The third book in the series picks up where the second left off, and it doesn’t stop until the very last page.  This was a book that I couldn’t read fast enough and yet I found myself tasting it word by word as if it were a treasure to be savored and not devoured.  It is rare that a book will elicit reactions from all the senses as the author weaves their tale, but Faust certainly has this extraordinary ability.  At a time when vampires sparkle in the sunlight, it’s a breath of fresh air to have some truly unique and enticing Immortals to lust after.

As you might guess, I highly recommend this book and the series in its entirety.  My only question for you is why haven’t you read it yet?

Now that all three are available, pick them up and lock yourself away for a weekend if it even takes you that long to consume them.  You will want more of Faust’s writings as well as more of the characters you will grow to love.  I can only wait for what comes next from Gabrielle Faust.

What is Trea­sured Thursdays?

A weekly install­ment of books that have affected me so deeply that I can­not bear to part with them.  Each week I will show­case one book from my per­ma­nent col­lec­tion and tell you why it holds it place in my library.

9. Forever by Pete Hamill

This book follows a young boy of Celtic descent as he grows into a man, seeking revenge on the descendants of the man who kills his family.  From the old world to the new, Forever reveals a great deal about the time when New York city was growing and changing  all the way up to the present day.  Forever has a bit of mysticism, a bit of romance, and a lot of fantastic adventures in an ever changing city.  I have read this twice now and it will always have a place on my shelf.