It's Like a Theme Party

For some reason, on my trip before last to the library I checked out a huge cache of books with a nautical theme.  I don't remember why - maybe it just so happened that those were the only ones on my to-read list that were available for checkout at the library branch I wanted to go to.  I was a bit worried at the time that checking out so many books on the same theme might backfire on me.  I mean, how many pirate books can you read in a row before you get sick of them and say enough already?  Strangely, though, what I actually said after reading them all was Give me more!  So I went to the library again and checked out as many more as I could find.  Here's the rundown:

I actually wrote a full-length review of The Beholder by Anna Bright.  I published it back in September, but in case you missed it, you can find it here.

I was really looking forward to reading Dark Shores, by Danielle L. Jensen, because, look at that cover.   Unfortunately, this book was a weird mix of alternate history and historical fantasy and it didn't work AT ALL.  I didn't get very far into it, mainly because it was stupid.  Really.  It takes place in a fictional empire, but it is actually totally completely based on ancient Rome.  I mean, everything about it says Roman Empire.  But then there is a ship full of women sailors from across the sea, from a place that nobody in the east knows about, and they have these gods that like, interact with the people and there is a magical sea creature who is the consort of one of the goddesses who follows the ship around as it sails, yada, yada, yada.  Not only does the fantasy aspect not mix well with the history part, but the author can't even get her history straight - she makes a comment right off the bat about some guy's toga gaping and revealing too much, not even realizing that men wore tunics under their togas.  In my opinion, if you are going to write historical fantasy (even historical-ish), you might want to have some clue what you are talking about!  Anyway, that's my rant.  I don't recommend you read this book.  Ever.  For any reason.

The Last Voyage of Poe Blythe, by Ally Condie, wasn't exactly nautical, and it didn't exactly have a ship, nor did it exactly have pirates per se.  What it did have is an armored river barge (okay, they called it a ship) that dredged gold from the river bottom, and raiders who were intent on taking over said river vessel.  So, close enough.  I really enjoyed it.  It was kind of steampunkish, but not in the alternate history sort of way.  More like in the post-apocalyptic-without-the-actual-apocalypse sort of way.  Sort of like the Fever Crumb trilogy only not so much so.  It seemed to be set in the future, but wasn't really science fiction-ish (except for a very tiny part near the very end), because instead of advancing technologically, the people in the story had kind of regressed.  Anyway, the story is about a teenage girl who becomes captain of the barge, and it is sort of a coming of age/coming to terms kind of story.  (In case you haven't figured it out yet, it is pretty hard to classify!)  It is written in a very simple style, something like The Boneless Mercies, and the simplicity packs as much of a punch in this one as in the other.  You should read it.   (Reading Level: 4.3 / Middle Grade +)

I had been waiting a long, long time to read Daughter of the Siren Queen by Tricia Levenseller.  I read the first book in the series more than two years ago (see mini review here), right after it was published, which meant that I had to wait almost a year for the sequel, and then it was so popular that there were never any copies in the library!  Well, I know why it was so popular.  After reading the first book, everyone was anxious to see the relationship between the two main characters blossom into a proper romance, which it of course does in the second installment.  This book delivered everything that the first one gave us, and just as well, too.  So, if you like stories with kick-butt teenage pirate girls, and somehow haven't managed to read this one yet, go out and grab a copy already!    (Reading Level: 4.6 / Upper Grades)

The Dust of 100 Dogs, by A. S. King, is another book that had been on my to-read list for ages and ages.  (And ages!)  For some reason, I kept passing it by.  Silly me, you'd think I would have learned my lesson by  now.  I loved this book!   It is about a teenage pirate girl (yes, she was kick-butt, too) who is cursed to live 100 lives as a dog.  (This is probably why I never actually read it before  now!)  So, that part isn't even really in the story, except that the heroine periodically mentions the lessons she learned while a dog, and there are these clever interspersed chapters that are all about raising dogs, but if you are paying attention, you discover are totally relevant to that particular point in the story.  Brilliant!  So, the story takes place in the present, after the girl is reincarnated in modern times with all of her memories intact, and then it has flashbacks to her pirate days, so it is kind of like reading a contemporary fiction book and a historical fiction book all mashed up together.  The only part about it that I didn't like was the skeevy character that seems to take up way too much of the story, but by the end you realize why he is in there and that makes it forgivable.  Much of the book reads like adult fiction, though, so this is not one for the younger teens.    (Reading Level: 5.3 / Upper Grades)

Seafire is another book that fits in with the nautical theme, but not so well in a particular genre.  It is about a teenage ship captain and her crew of girl sailors, who are trying to wreak havoc on the fleet of some ruthless overlord who takes boys as tribute and turns them into drug-addicted sailors on his ships which rule pretty much the entire area covered in this story.  The story itself is pretty much timeless and placeless, although it does mention old tech, so I'm guessing it would fit into whatever genre The Last Voyage of Poe Blythe actually belongs in.   It is written by Natalie C. Parker, who wrote another book that I just loved (see my review here), and this one is done just as well.  I especially liked the way that the author approached the relationships of the characters - very ambiguous, which allows the reader to interpret things any way they want.  I definitely recommend you give this one a try, but you might want to wait several months - it is the first book in a trilogy and it is going to be nearly a year's wait before the next installment becomes available.    (Reading Level: 5.8 / Middle Grade +)


So, even though the first two books I tried to read were some of the worst books I've ever encountered, the next four were Great (with a capital G, see?), so I went back to the library to see if I could find any more for this theme party thing I had going on.  As it turns out, I must have exhausted the good ones in my first haul, because it was pretty slim pickin's at the library and I ended up with some real doozies:

I checked out The Girl From Everywhere, by Heidi Heilig, even though the title was just plain stupid, because it was supposed to be about a teenage girl and her father who can sail their ship to any place and time, real or imaginary, mind you) for which they have a map.  The only catch is, once they've used a map, it cannot be used again.  It had intrigue, and a mystery, and some action,  a sort-of love triangle, and a bit of family drama.  The concept was great, the writing was great, the characters were great, pretty much everything about it was great.  (I actually ordered my own copy, so you know it was great!)    (Reading Level: 5.2 / Upper Grades)

Ship of Smoke and Steel, by Django Wexler, was supposed to be another book about a girl pirate, but in the purely fantasy genre instead of historical fiction/ fantasy.  I say supposed to be, because I didn't get far enough to even get a hint that something like that might be happening.  After the first two chapters I decided the book just wasn't for me.  I really, really hated the style of writing.  That's it.  So I'm not going to recommend that you steer clear of it, because maybe you will actually like it.

I thought that The Left-Handed Fate was going to be good.  It is a historical fiction piece set during some war between Britain and France in (I think) the early 1800's.  It should have been full of mystery and intrigue and action and all that good stuff.  But when I got ready to check it out, I realized that it was shelved in the juvenile fiction section, which didn't sound too promising, but hey, you never know when a book for younger readers will keep you interested so I gave it a try.  I didn't stick with it for very long.  It was quite boring.  On top of that, two of the main characters, a boy and a girl who were (if I remember correctly) maybe around fourteen or fifteen years old, kept doing this quasi-flirting kind of thing, but since this is juvenile fiction it was really toned down and annoying.  If the author had just turned it into a book for sightly older readers, it probably would have been great.  So, if you like juvenile historical fiction, this might be a good pick for you, but if you are bored or annoyed by books for that age group, I'd say you should definitely skip it.   (Reading Level: 5.8 / Middle Grades)

I got through one chapter of Devon Taylor's The Soul Keepers.  I didn't mind the concept - a teenage boy dies and ends up being chosen to serve on the evolved version of Charon's boat, as a sort of ferryman for the dead.  Actually, the blurb for the book sounded fantastic.  Unfortunately, it had the same style of writing as Ship of Smoke and Steel.  (Dare I say it?  I think the best way to describe it is that it felt like it was written for junior high boys.  Only junior high boys, and nobody else.  Of course, I am not now nor have I ever been a junior high boy, so I guess it's possible I have no idea what I'm talking about!) Anyway, there was no way I would have made it through 300 pages of that, so it was ANOTHER book abandoned.

The last book I had left from my nautical haul was Icebreaker by Lian Tanner.  This was also a juvenile fiction book, so once again I checked it out with considerable trepidation, but I had read a book by the same author to my son when he was a little kid and we both loved it, so I decided to give it a try.  By the time I was two or three chapters in, I was afraid I was going to have to abandon it as well, but after a couple of more chapters I really started to enjoy it.  The concept was fresh and original (It would really take too long to explain, so read the Goodreads blurb here.), and although I found the characters to be very stereotypical and even somewhat annoying at first, after awhile each one's unique voice became apparent and I remembered why I had enjoyed Tanner's first book so much.  And, since it is a book intended for younger readers, it of course has a very important message (or two!) written into it.  This is a great book to read to kids, but one that is also quite enjoyable for readers of all ages.  And as a bonus, if you like it, there is a sequel.  Yay!   (Reading Level: 5.3 / Middle Grades)


So it looks like the books I checked out were either really great, or really NOT.  I think some authors out there (let me clarify - good authors) should write some more pirate-y type books, because even after reading so many in a row, I still didn't get my fill.  Of course, Seafire has two more books in the series coming out in the next year or so, and I have since discovered that Icebreaker and The Girl from Everywhere both also have a sequel, so that's something at least, but if anyone out there has any recommendations for me, leave a comment!

What I've Read Lately - (Or Actually Quite Awhile Ago)

Remember when I said that I was doing a better job finding time to read more?  Well, as it turns out, that came at the expense of writing about what I've read.  I have gotten so far behind, I've gone through like 15 books that I haven't told you about yet!  I'm going to cover the first half today, and then I'll get busy writing about the other ones.  I'm giving you fair warning, though - it's been more than three months (!) since I've read some of these, so I might be getting a bit hazy on the details by now!

I didn't get very far into Illusive by Emily Lloyd-Jones.  I was so unimpressed with the book that when I found its title on my library receipt a couple of weeks after I had returned it, I couldn't even remember what it had been about!  I actually had to go to Google Books and read the first page of the preview before I recognized it.  I think I made it through about one chapter, and after discovering that it was another book about teenagers with powers, and not a particularly well-written one at that, I decided I wasn't going to waste my time on it.

When I first started reading Wicked Saints, by Emily A. Duncan, I was like, well, not the best, but it might be okay.  It was about a girl who had been hidden and raised in a mountain temple because she could talk to the gods (who gave her some powers), and everyone else even remotely similar to her had been killed by the neighboring kingdom that they had been at war with for like, 100 years.  So, the first chapter began with the temple under attack, and we saw the invaders being led by the enemy prince, who just so happened to be a 'blood magician,' and I was like, oh no she didn't.  To make it worse, the blood magicians practiced their magic by - get this - cutting themselves, ripping a page from the spell book they always carried, and crumpling the spell up in their bloody hand.  And I thought, this is the stupidest thing I have ever heard of.  I would have quit right then and there, but I had already abandoned the previous two books I had attempted to read, so I stuck with it.  Which was a pretty good thing, because I mostly liked it from there on out.  I say mostly, because there were actually quite a few times when there seemed to be sentences or even paragraphs missing - like things just wouldn't make sense and I'd be like what just happened?  But what really sucked me in is the fact that this book had not one, but two broken boys, so I pretty much couldn't help but love it.  Add to that the incredibly dark and bizarre and totally original concepts presented, and I was willing to forgive the haphazard writing.  Unfortunately, this is the first book in a series, so I am going to have to wait for the ending.  But after reading the author's preview (scroll down to the reviews) of the next book, I've got some serious ants in my pants!   (Reading Level: ? / Upper Grades)

I was pleasantly surprised by The Lovely & the Lost, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes.  I had read a couple of books by the author before and liked them, but this one had a lot to do with dogs, and I am absolutely not a big fan of animals in stories.  The book is a psychological thriller about a girl and her adoptive family who train search and rescue dogs and become involved in the search for a missing girl.  Along with the mystery and intrigue, there are family secrets and flashbacks, and fantastic characters.  Especially the adoptive brother, who is possible the most optimistic character ever written, making him so quirky and loveable that nobody could hate this book.  So whether you are an animal lover or not, you won't want to skip this one.  (Reading Level: ? / Upper Grades)

I got one chapter into Other Words for Smoke.  That's it.  I didn't like the concept, I didn't like the characters, I didn't like the writing.  And that's all I have to say about it.

As you might remember, I am a big fan of Neal Shusterman.  Apparently, I am not a big fan of his son.  Dry was written in the trademark style of Shusterman's most recent series, but it was pretty much a propaganda piece about global warming and the disaster awaiting us all.  Not only that, but the characters were annoying, as was the dialogue, now that I think about it.  I strongly suggest that you skip this one and pick up something else by the author instead.

The Missing Season, by Gillian French, started off pretty bad.  The characters, though supposedly juniors in high school, acted more like seventh graders.  Really annoying seventh graders.  I was just about to give up on it, but then the mystery started to get going, so I ended up sticking with it.  It still wasn't a great book, (okay, it still was barely a mediocre book), but I've read worse for sure.   (Reading Level: 5.4 / Upper Grades)

Teeth in the Mist, by Dawn Kurtagich, started off great, and then went downhill.  Really, really downhill.  Although there were some chapters with a modern character interspersed throughout, the first half of the story was primarily a really good historical fiction/gothic story with occasional flashbacks to an even earlier time.  It was creepy and mysterious, and had great characters, and a sort of romance.  But by the time I got to, oh, maybe the last third of the book, the story mainly followed the modern character, who was really really really annoying.  I mean, I didn't like a single thing about her.  Not anything.   And to make matters worse, the author decided to take a perfectly good historical fiction/gothic story and turn it into a lesbian romance that was super unbelievable and - you guessed it - really really really annoying.  So if you take the 4 star material from the first two-thirds and the (barely) 1 star material from the final third, you get something around a low 3 star book.  The ending sounded like there was going to be a sequel - I won't be reading it.   (Reading Level: ? / Upper Grades)

I really enjoyed I, Claudia by Mary McCoy.  I'm guessing it is supposed to be modeled after the book I, Claudius, which I haven't read but am pretty sure is supposed to be a fictional autobiography of a Roman emperor (maybe?).   The story follows a girl at a prestigious prep school, who gets involved in the student government/honor council, only to discover that it is very, very corrupt and the student leaders wield a frightening amount of power over everyone's lives.  So, basically, it is all about what can happen when wealthy, power-hungry teenagers are allowed to run amok. The writing was great, the characters were great, the concept was very well done - definitely a keeper.   (Reading Level: 6.6 / Upper Grades)



And that's it for the first set.  I'll try to get the next batch of reviews out sooner rather than later, because I think I am back up to like 15 books that I've read and still (even after this post) haven't reviewed!

A Bad Beginning, a Better End

In my last post I was all excited that I had somehow found time to start reading more again.  I thought I would start making better progress toward meeting my reading goal (which I already reduced by ten books from last year), but then I ended up starting and abandoning three books in a row!  So much for picking up the pace, huh?  But then, I was lucky enough to read three great books in a row (okay, so they were the three parts of a trilogy, so I guess that's kind of cheating), so it all ended on a good note.  Here's the lowdown:

The first book I abandoned was Dreaming Darkly, by Caitlin Kittredge.  It was about a girl whose family is cursed, and she has dreams in which she does violent things (like kill people), which then seem to have really happened (like, a person she killed in her dream turns up  missing in real life).  It's a concept I haven't really come across before, so I was interested to read it, but unfortunately it didn't keep me interested.  This is mostly because it wasn't very well written - the dialogue wasn't great, the characters were both not very likable and also pretty stereotypical, the plot development left much to be desired, and the backstory was just plain dumb.  Honestly, I just didn't have the patience for it.  Don't let the cover fool you - this book isn't worth reading.

The second book I abandoned was We Set the Dark on Fire, by Tehlor Kay Mejia.  I actually got quite a ways into this one before I finally decided I was NOT going to finish it.  What could have been an inspirational story of a poor girl overcoming the odds against her through her strength of character, turned into a propaganda piece denouncing rich male privilege and promoting open borders.  On top of that, the writing was not all that good, either.  If you want to read a story with a strong female lead overcoming the odds, there are plenty of better choices out there.

The third book I abandoned was StepSister by Jennifer Donnelly.  To tell you the truth, I found it quite surprising that the book was as bad as it was, because I've read three of Donnelly's other books and liked them all.  This was a retelling of the Cinderella story, but with one of the ugly stepsisters as the main character.  Yes, this has been done before, but I figured there are a whole bunch of ways a writer could approach it so, why not?  It started off pretty good, and quickly went downhill.  The weird juxtaposition of historical details that didn't quite match up into a logical timeline really bothered me, as did the main character herself.  I hated the way the author used her thoughts to constantly explain where she was taking the story, instead of letting the readers figure it out on their own.  I mean, she made everything so obvious, that there was no pleasure in interpreting subtle clues and being able to say Ah, I see where she's going with this.  The worst part about it is that she started the book with a fantastic twist, in which Fate and Chance (as in one of the three Fates of ancient mythology and a fantastic character who was somewhat similar to the Harbinger from Ann Aguirre's Mortal Danger trilogy) were fighting over the girl's destiny.  That part of the story was so original and interesting that I actually just set the book aside and thought, well, maybe I'll come back to it.  Obviously, I eventually decided it wasn't worth it.  If you want to read a version of the Cinderella story that is centered on the stepsister, I recommend picking up Tracy Barrett's The Stepsister's Tale instead.

A Brief History of Montmaray, by Michelle Cooper, had been on my To-Read list for years (literally - years), and for some reason I never checked it out of the library.  I think this is because, every time I got ready to grab more books, I was like, what is that supposed to be about again?  And then I was reminded that it is supposed to be the writings in a diary.  And then I'd be like, I am really not in the mood for that.  For some reason I finally broke down and brought it home, and then it sat on my bookshelf until it was the very last book left to read (not even an emergency standby was left in case I didn't like it!), so I read it.  By the end of the first chapter I was hooked.  I loved everything about it.  It is a historical fiction piece that is set in the 1930's.  It tells the story of some siblings and their cousin who are royalty of the (very tiny) island kingdom of Montmaray.  Pretty much they are all that is left of their country's citizens, and since the king himself has lost his mind, they are pretty much left to fend for themselves.  The castle is falling apart around them, and then the Germans arrive . . .  Loved the concept, loved the characters, and although it is supposed to be the writings in a journal, the girl tells what happened in narrative form, so you completely forget about that and think you are reading a regular novel.  If you like historical fiction, you should definitely read this one.  (Reading Level: 6.5 / Upper Grades)

After reading the first book in the series I had to make a special run to the library to pick up the second book, The FitzOsbornes in Exile.  This is partly because I saved the first book until the very last and didn't have anything else to read, but also because I just had to continue reading the story.  I even made my husband and son swing by the library with me after going out to eat for lunch, and left them in the car while I ran in and grabbed the book off the shelf.  (I actually had a couple of unread books that I own on my other bookshelf, but I really wanted to read this one!)  This book continues the saga of the teenage royals as they are forced to flee Montmaray and live with their aunt in England during the years leading up to WWII.  It is just as good as the first book, even though it is heavier on the historical fiction and lighter on the action and whimsy that I found particularly appealing.  (Reading Level: 6.6 / Upper Grades)

I think the third book in this trilogy, The FitzOsbornes at War, was a bit better than the second one.  It had a little more action, and a lot more tension, and of course, knowing it was going to be the end of the story, that whole how is it all going to pan out anticipation.  Well, it all panned out very nicely, except for one character, which frankly, I wasn't very happy about.  He was the underdog from the beginning of the first book, always getting the short end of the stick, and I absolutely hated the resolution that the author chose for him.  It just seemed so unfair.  And let me tell you, there is nothing more frustrating than reading a good trilogy and having the author mess things up in the very last chapter.  It was still a really good book, though, so don't let my little complaint keep you from checking the trilogy out.  (Reading Level: 6.7 / Upper Grades)

A Crying Shame

It’s been awhile since I’ve come across a truly bad book.  I’ve had several that were boring and some that just weren’t my cup of tea, but not one that was honestly just plain awful.  Well, yesterday my luck came to a screeching halt, with a book that started out (and I can predict with utmost certainty would continue to be) just downright bad.

How does one accomplish this?  Well . . .

Create a main character that nobody could possibly like.  Throw together a whole bunch of mismatched details.  Mix two entirely different genres in a way that makes them completely incompatible.  Write bad dialogue, present iffy concepts, and use metaphors that fall flat or, worse yet, confuse the reader as to what sort of mood you are trying to create.  Now, one of these things alone might not be enough to kill a book, but put them all together . . .

Selah has waited her whole life for a happily ever after. As the only daughter of the leader of Potomac, she knows her duty is to find the perfect match, a partner who will help secure the future of her people. Now that day has finally come. 

But after an excruciatingly public rejection from her closest childhood friend, Selah’s stepmother suggests an unthinkable solution: Selah must set sail across the Atlantic, where a series of potential suitors awaits—and if she doesn’t come home engaged, she shouldn’t come home at all.

From English castle gardens to the fjords of Norge, and under the eye of the dreaded Imperiya Yotne, Selah’s quest will be the journey of a lifetime. But her stepmother’s schemes aren’t the only secrets hiding belowdecks…and the stakes of her voyage may be higher than any happy ending.

The Beholder, by Anna Bright, has got to be about the stupidest book I’ve ever attempted to read.  (I only made it through six chapters, which was only 45 pages because they were incredibly short.)  I mean, it was so bad, it was almost comical.  Almost, but not really, because I wasted 45 minutes on those 45 dumb pages.

The book is supposed to be an alternative history-type fairy tale retelling.  Now, I know that doesn’t sound so bad, but listen – it takes place in the kingdom of “Potomac,” which we can gather was originally the colony of Maryland (everyone is Catholic, and, you know, the Potomac River and all that).  Apparently, the original British colonies had been abandoned by England and developed into small, independent countries.  So, Potomac is small, and poor, and now has a seneschal whose first wife died and he married a wicked lady who wants to send her lovely stepdaughter away forever (you know, like a mash-up of Cinderella and Snow White – lines from both fairy tales are actually quoted on a preface page before every few chapters), so there you have the fairy tale part.  

I suppose a brilliant writer could have made the whole thing work, but whatever the opposite of brilliant is, that’s what we’ve got with this book.  In fact, you know that saying, “I could count on one hand . . .?”  Well, I think I would need both hands and a foot or two to name all of the things I found wrong with this book in just the first 45 pages.  Let’s see:

The story begins on Arbor Day, which is the day the country celebrates its roots. (Ha!)

They celebrate their roots in Arbor Hall, which has a veritable forest of trees growing out of the paved floor under a “marble dome.”  (Somebody please explain to me how the trees are all still alive when they don’t get any sunlight.)

The main character is annoying and unlikeable.

Her love interest is so absolutely perfect (and the most boring clique imaginable) that he is also annoying and unlikeable.

The main character is wildly underdeveloped, and yet a walking contradiction at the same time.  (She is too ridiculous to even describe.)

The book is a ridiculous mix of historical and modern details:  The country is apparently agrarian, with women working the fields and men raising animals, yet they have modern jobs like florists and an evening gown designer (who is married to a “well-to-do farmer”), the main character and her love interest go to a seemingly modern high school with algebra and sports, yet they obviously don’t have electricity yet, since the council was meeting by candlelight.

The country is terribly poor, with common fields that the government seeds for the people, yet they have an annual custom of planting “a thousand new saplings.”  (Is this Maryland or Pennsylvania, folks?)  And, being an incredibly small country, how do they even have any land left for fields when it is customary to plant so many trees on Arbor Day every year?

For some reason unexplained, even though this is an annual celebration honoring the country’s roots, it is somehow also the engagement ceremony of the Seneschal-elect (our heroine).

The main character is the daughter of the head of state (not to mention the next head of state herself), and yet she has to sit at a table with the family of her love interest during the Arbor Day feast, which was a bizarre detail thrown in for the sake of telling us how uncomfortable she felt since he had just rejected her marriage proposal (so much for the engagement party).

This is a country in which women are expected to be guided and advised and led by their husbands, (in fact, our heroine can’t take her place as the next head of state if she doesn’t get married), and yet she is the one proposing to a boy.  As the future head of state, she is supposed to “set an example” for her people by getting married and bearing children, yet she is supposed to be the head of state.

The poor girl’s parents supposedly negotiated the whole marriage arrangement with the boy’s parents ahead of time, yet, not only did they not sign a marriage contract, but didn’t even get a definitive answer as to whether they were in agreement before announcing their plans in front of hundreds of their countrymen.

The writing is just bad.  Here is an example:

"I dropped my eyes, avoiding his confused gaze, taking in safer pieces of the boy I adored.  Rounded shoulders.  The soft shell of his ear beneath his laurel wreath.  His hands, clean and slim and white-knuckled with disquiet beneath their dark complexion.

I would never hold them.  And they would never hold me."

(Gag.)

Speaking of writing, the author spends waaay too much time mentioning people’s skin color.  And it is so bizarrely unnatural the way she throws it out there that there is an obvious agenda behind the whole thing (as in an agenda other than writing a good book).

There is a godmother (fairy tale bit), but she is actually an old nun (alternate history bit).

The Seneschal of Potomac has a council that helps govern the country, and they were having a meeting after the Arbor Day shindig (in the council chambers which were called “the Roots of the Great Arbor,” which was actually down three flights of stairs from Arbor Hall and had all the roots of the halls trees crating a canopy over the chamber), and the heroine thought they were just going to chastise her for being rejected by her love interest and so she was wondering why they all needed to be present for that.  What I want to know is, why would they call a council meeting for that in the first place, and if they called a council meeting, wouldn’t the whole council be expected to be present?  And this girl is supposed to be the future leader of their country?  (Really, if you put all of her ridiculous thoughts together she seems like a complete idiot.)

There are three strange men in the council meeting, who turn out to be a ship’s captain, his navigator, and the stepmother’s hand-picked “protocol officer.”  Why in the world would the ship’s captain need to be in the meeting?  And why on earth would his burly navigator be there?  Oh yeah, because

“. . . something about this man calmed me…I trusted him instantly.”

Maybe the author is setting him up to play the role of the huntsman later on.

The stepmother (a.k.a. the smother, as we are told a million times) tells everyone present that, since our heroine's marriage proposal was rejected and their country is going to fall apart if they don't get her married soon, she is going to be sent to Europe to find a husband.  She has obviously secretly planned this whole thing in advance, but the father (a.k.a. the leader of the darn country) doesn’t seem to be at all surprised by these strangers sitting in his council meeting.

The supposedly loving father doesn’t seem to have a problem sending his daughter off all alone across the ocean on a ship full of strange men.  In fact, he doesn't even seem all that surprised that his wife is sending her away at all.

If all of the original thirteen colonies were now independent countries, why in the world couldn’t they try to find the poor girl a husband from one of those places, instead of sending her so far away?  (After all, her father’s wives came from Savannah and New York.  Duh.)

Actually, there was nobody else in their own country she could marry?  The guy she proposed to was just a friend of hers from high school!

More bad writing.  When the girl hears that she is going to be shipped off to Europe:

"My vision clouded as I slipped into a daze; my thoughts grew fuzzy, as though my brain had fallen asleep the way my arms and legs sometimes did."

(See? Annoying and unlikeable!)  And I say again, this is the future ruler? 

More bad writing:

"Horror clenched me between its jaws, gnawed my bones with its teeth."

Lame attempts to throw in fairy tale parallels:

"Half a mile away, the clock tower at the Church of Saint Christopher warned of midnight’s fall . . .I tore up the pallid stone stairs and through halls as white as a bloodless face.  I’d nearly reached one of Arbor Halls back doors when I tripped, losing a shoe as I crashed to the floor. . .I limped toward the door, my remaining shoe slicker than glass against the marble floor."

Even more bad writing:

"When I gathered myself off the snowy white tile, I hissed at the throb in my knees that told me twin purple bruises would bloom there, like lilacs beneath my skin."

And how did we get from “pallid stone stairs as white as a bloodless face” to “snowy white tiles” and blooming lilacs in the same paragraph?  (And then, not four sentences later, the chapter ends with the line, “I had to get to the graveyard.”)  What mood is she actually trying to convey?  Talk about mixed metaphors!

See what I mean?  This book reads like it was written by a fourteen year old girl who slept through history and has no idea how the world works.  Bad, bad, bad. I just don’t understand how a book like this gets published.

The most incomprehensible thing to me, however, is the fact that somebody else’s probably much, much, much better manuscript was passed over in favor of publishing this one. 

Now that’s a crying shame.

Picking Up the Pace

I have finally managed to begin making better progress with my reading - I've gone from one book a week to averaging one and a half books per week!  (Hey now, even a little bit better is still better.)  Unfortunately, I've been reading, and not writing my lovely little reviews for you, so I have forgotten most of the detail about some of those books (I read some of them like two months ago!)  So here's what I've read since the last time, and hopefully I've come up with enough to say about them that you'll know whether or not you should give them a try yourself:

Open Mic Night at Westminster Cemetery, by Mary Amato, tells the story of a girl who has died and now resides in a famous cemetery where she and the other deceased residents come out of their graves and hang out together at night.  They aren't really ghosts, though, because they can't do anything other than interact with each other.  Which means that all of the action takes place in the graveyard, and all of the conflict and relationship drama is between only them.  Which, honestly, makes the story kind of boring.  Add to that the fact that the story is written in the format of a play, and there really isn't a lot the author could do to spice things up with the writing.  Well, actually, I guess some fantastic dialogue could have done the trick, but she didn't give us anything special so . . . not a bad book, but not something I'd recommend to anyone who doesn't have a lot of time for reading.  (Reading Level: ? / Middle Grade+)

I almost didn't check this one out when I pulled it off the library shelf, but for some reason I did anyway.  I probably shouldn't have.  And Then There Were Four, by Nancy Werlin, was really not so great.  It was about five teenagers, one of whom dies under suspicious circumstances, causing the others to suspect that their parents are trying to murder them.  Not a bad concept.  The execution, on the other hand, like I said, not so great.  Really, the only thing that kept me reading was the character named Saralinda, who was really original as far as a book character goes, but not actually as far as a real person goes because she reminded me so much of a contestant on the last season of Survivor.  (Watch this clip, and then read this page from the book.)  Anyway, her character was great, but it was balanced out by a character who was just awful, and some of the plot was idiotic, but other parts were interesting and fun, so I guess, now that I think about it, it wasn't really bad, but you should probably not even bother if you don't think you'd enjoy the character I gave you a little preview of above.  (Reading Level: 4.7 / Upper Grades)

I am a big, big fan of Brenna Yovanoff.  Unfortunately, she hasn't written a whole lot of books.  The ones she has written, though . . . she really has a way with picking a unique (and somewhat strange or creepy) subject matter for her stories.  For example, The Replacement was about a changling boy,  The Space Between was about the daughter of Lilith, and Fiendish was about, well, fiends.  This book, Places No One Knows, didn't seem like it was going to be anything like her other ones, so I kept putting off reading it.  Then, I remembered my whole The Scorpio Races experience and told myself, just get it over with already!  Well.  this book was nothing like the others, but I loved it anyway.  It is about a 'perfect' girl who somehow visits an 'unperfect' boy from her school while she is asleep.  Okay, that is a terrible explanation.  She somehow meets him in some other plane of reality or something, because she is still in her bed, but then she is also wherever he's at.  Or something like that! Anyway, they are both highly intelligent but on different ends of the emotional spectrum, with her being so logical-minded that she has trouble with feelings, and him feeling both more, and more deeply, than the typical person.   (For them both, think highly gifted and/or on the autism spectrum).  Anyway, it is an amazing story told in an amazing way and you should all go out and get a copy and read it.  (Reading Level: ? / Upper Grades)

I debated for quite a while whether or not I should put Reign the Earth on my To-Read list.  On the one hand, it was written by A. C. Gaughen (the author of the Scarlet trilogy, which I absolutely loved - see my review here).  On the other hand, there was the cover and blurb - nomadic desert girl with elemental powers (I don't do elemental powers) gets married to foreign prince in an attempt to end the animosity between their peoples.  On the third hand (which I don't actually have and now discover I need), there is the comment on the back about strong women yada yada... which is fine and all (this was a major theme in Gaughen's previous work, which remember, I loved), but something about the wording made it feel anti-men (which I also don't do).  To make a long story short, I read it, but I didn't think the writing came anywhere close to the level of Scarlet.  Pretty much I only kept reading because, before the end of the third chapter it is so obvious that the girl married the wrong man, and I was curious to see how she was going to end up with the one she should have married.  There were some bits here and there that I enjoyed (like the relationship between the girl and her brother and her interactins with her body guards), but overall I was completely bored with the whole thing most of the time.  I checked out the second book in the series on my following library trip, but after mulling it over for a couple of weeks I decided not to bother reading it.  You might like it, though - it just wasn't my cup of tea.  (Reading Level: 4.8 / Upper Grades)

 Well, Neal Shusterman has done it again.  If you enjoyed the Unwind dystology, then you will like the Scythe trilogy for sure.  (Of course, I haven't read the whole trilogy because book three hasn't been released yet, but Shusterman is a very reliable writer!)  Scythe is a science fiction dystopian novel based on the concept that A) the cloud has evolved into the sentient "Thunderhead" which watches over and can personally interact with every person on Earth (yes, like God), and B) death has been conquered, and C) in order to curb the exponential population growth caused by nobody ever dying, "scythes" are appointed who "glean" a certain number of people each year.  Once again, Shusterman gives us an original concept with unique characters and all the action and intrigue you could desire, all tied up with a profound ethical question.  Written in the same style as Unwind, with seemingly unrelated characters and events eventually merging into one cohesive story, Scythe is a novel you won't want to put down.   (Reading Level: 6.5 / Upper Grades)

Thunderhead is the sequal to Neal Shusterman's Scythe (as if you couldn't tell from the cover),  and it is jam packed with more good stuff.  The story picks up shortly after the first book ends, with the two former apprentice scythes taking dramatically different paths.  Of course I had to go pick up a copy as soon as I finished the first book.  Unfortunately, when I tried to grab the third book after finishing the second one, I discovered that I will have to wait until November for it to be released.  What was I thinking?!  (I was thinking that the first book had been out for ages so it was safe to start reading.  I guess I have lost all sense of time.)  Anyway, if you choose to wait until all three books are available, make sure to put this on your own To-Read list - trust me, you don't want to miss it.  (Reading Level: 6.7 / Upper Grades)

The minute I saw the title of this book, I was like, I have to read that - it just sounds deliciously creepy, doesn't it?  As it turns out, The Devouring Gray, by Christine Lynn Herman, wasn't super creepy, but it was good.  It is about a town out in the woods whose founders imprisoned a monster in a parallel reality (kind of like Stranger Things, now that I think about it); their descendants must now use their "gifts" to make sure the monster stays where they put it.  The book jacket compares it to The Raven Boys (see my review here), and I can see why they would say that - it's got plenty of weird magical/mystical stuff going down, a solid group of friends with an outsider joining their ranks, teenagers with strange & unnatural abilities, a mystery to solve and secrets being kept, power hungry adults, and both a perfect boy and a broken boy who feel the need to watch over each other.  Despite the similarities, it is different enough to not feel like it is copying Stiefvater's story.  Although it pales in comparison to The Raven Boys (in my opinion, most books will), it is still definitely worth reading.  But be forewarned - I thought it was a standalone, but the last page made it sound like there would definitely be a sequel coming out next year.  (Reading Level: ? / Middle Grade+)

I really enjoyed The Boy in the Black Suit by Jason Reynolds.  It is about a teenage boy whose mother dies and whose father deals with the loss by becoming a drunk.  The man who lives across the street takes the boy under his wing and gives him a job at his funeral home.  Hence the black suit.  The story is very well written, and the author did a phenomenal job creating each character's unique voice.  With a little bit of humor, and a little bit of romance, a little bit of a surprise twist, and an underlying theme that ties the two main characters together, this is a book that I think most readers will enjoy.  (Reading Level: 4.8 / Middle Grade+)

I should have loved The Wise and the Wicked by Rebecca Podos.  And I did love most of it.  It had everything I love in a story:  good writing, original concept, a main character who is not annoying, perfect pacing, family secrets, some so not-normal things going on, and a big OMG twist at just the right place.  It is about the descendants of a Russian BabbaYaga, who fled to America when angry villagers went after the family's matriarch.  Now, a couple of generations later, most of the women in the family only retain a mere fraction of the powers they should have inherited, but every single one of them is gifted/cursed to foresee her own death.  Loved the concept.  So what was the problem?  The problem had to do with the portrayal of the main character and her love interest, who just so happens to be transgender.  Now, I firmly believe that everyone should have the opportunity to read books with characters who they can relate to.  The problem was that the whole scenario was highly improbable - I can't think of a single person I know who is not of the LBGT or Q persuasion who would have reacted the way the main character did in the situation that presented itself - which I think is annoying for some readers, and very unfair for those who might be in the midst of a gender identity crisis.  So, yeah.  Didn't love it in the end.   (Reading Level ? / Upper Grades)

This Book Was Amazing . . . Except When It Wasn't

You know how sometimes you read a book that the you are absolutely loving, and you are like, Oooh, I am going to have to buy a copy of this one, and then something happens that makes you say, Why did she have to go and do that?  I've read a couple of those lately.  The first one, which I actually read more than a month and eight books ago, is the one I made reference to at the end of my May post - The Waking Forest by Alyssa Wees:

The waking forest has secrets. To Rhea, it appears like a mirage, dark and dense, at the very edge of her backyard. But when she reaches out to touch it, the forest vanishes. She’s desperate to know more—until she finds a peculiar boy who offers to reveal its secrets. If she plays a game.

To the Witch, the forest is her home, where she sits on her throne of carved bone, waiting for dreaming children to beg her to grant their wishes. One night, a mysterious visitor arrives and asks her what she wishes for, but the Witch sends him away. And then the uninvited guest returns.

The strangers are just the beginning. Something is stirring in the forest, and when Rhea’s and the Witch’s paths collide, a truth more treacherous and deadly than either could ever imagine surfaces. But how much are they willing to risk to survive?

I don't think I did more than scan through the blurb before I checked this book out.  I don't really remember, but it doesn't seem like the kind of thing I would choose to read.  Not only that, but most of the chapters in the first quarter of the book don't even have anything to do with the witch, and I don't remember feeling misled while reading, so I probably just saw it on the new releases shelf and thought it looked good and creepy (except for those wolves, which I later discovered weren't wolves - I vaguely remember worrying that they hinted at something other than 'creepy.')

Actually, now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure I chose this because of the back of the book cover:

IN THE PECULIAR QUIET of the absolute dark, I sit up in bed, cross-legged, wondering if it was a mistake to come here.  Wondering if, maybe, even this darkness cannot help me escape myself.  

I'm so deep in these thoughts that it takes me a few minutes to notice it:  the darkness, breathing.  The darkness itself is breathing. 

Or.

Someone is breathing in the darkness. 

I don't know which frightens me more. 

It's exactly like in my dream, except now I'm awake.  Holding my own breath, I hear it: long drag in, short whoosh out. 

Again . . . 

         And again . . .  

                        And again.

Seeeeeee?  What did I tell you?  Creepy.  (Which must be why I checked it out even though those 'wolves' were telling me it was a bad idea.)

And then I read the first chapter.  It was about the witch, and told in that really boring fairy-tale sort of way.  Not in the interesting fairy-tale story sort of way.  (You know what I mean, right?)  So, at just seven pages in, I was like, who on earth could sit through 297 pages of this?  because for some reason I thought the whole book was going to be like that.   But, having learned my lesson to not give up quite so quickly, I moved on to chapter two.  Which began like this:

Alternatives to screaming: Hold your breath.  Chew the inside of your cheek.  Push your face into your pillow.  Stuff the hem of your T-shirt far into your mouth.  Wrap your arms around your ribs so tightly that you fear your bones will break and your lungs collapse.  Pretend you don't have a mouth or a chest or a throat with which to produce such a sound.  Close your eyes and smile. 

Smile, and maybe even laugh, just a little, however much laughter you can manage, even if it's only a squeak, when all you really want to do is yell and thrash and cry, cry, cry and never ever cease.

And then I was like, well alright, now this, I like.  And then the author started in with the figurative language, which was dark and creepy and strange:

...suddenly I can see straight through my sternum to my heart, like my skin was a window all this time that was just waiting and waiting for me to notice and look inside.  My heart, right there, red and jarring and wrong, wrong - hearts are meant to be heard, not seen - and it's not beating so much as it's opening and closing, opening and closing, very, very fast.  Almost like a mouth, gasping, or a fist, unfolding.

So, there I was, liking the way the author writes, and liking the main character, and then, then there was a fox.  Which was the girl's pet.  And this fox pet was named Gabrielle.  And it just sort of lurked around.  And I was like what? How stupid. And annoying.  And then, the sisters were introduced.  And every one of them was annoying.  And I thought, how can the main character be pretty good, and the other characters so annoying?  But I was still liking the writing, so I kept going.  And theeeen, I discovered that this is supposed to be a family of modern witches and I was like, she did not just go there, because, you know, me and my thing about modern witches.

But by then I was about a quarter of the way into the book, and I still liked the main character, and pretty much loved the writing (even though for some reason the wonderful examples of figurative language were somehow not working so well together to create the mood I think the author was going for), and even the random fairy-tale-ish chapters thrown in here and there about the witch in the woods were getting better and better, so I decided to keep going.

Now, about those random chapters - they didn't really seem to have anything to do with the main part of the story.  They were just thrown in there every once in a while, and progressed somewhat chronologically, as if two totally different stories were broken up into chapters and then shuffled together.  I didn't really get the point of it all . . until all of a sudden I did.

At some point, maybe about halfway through the book, after the boy was introduced, and after things started to get really weird, and the witch in the woods chapters got longer and more frequent . . . suddenly everything came together and fell into place and I was like Aha! and OMG! (again and again, mind you).

And I was listening to one of my reading playlists, and this song by Peter Gundry just so happened to be playing (click to listen, but let the whole song play through!), and I don't know if it was just the music or what, but the story became amazing - beautiful, and tragic, and beautifully, tragically romantic, and I was like, how did this even happen?  But of course I was glad that it did.

Now, if you read the previous post, you might remember that I said that this book got way better, and then way, way worse.

Somehow, with a little more than a quarter of the book left to go, the whole creepy/fairy tale vibe morphed into - get this - pretty much pure fantasy of the variety that I absolutely CAN NOT STAND.  And not only that, but the climax was super rushed and cheesy, oh, but with some creepy stuff thrown back in.  (Why?  I don't know.  Maybe the author thought it was a good way to tie everything together?  Whatever she was thinking, it just made everything worse.)

And that was it.

Honestly, I don't even know what to think about the whole experience.  I don't understand how a book can have a first half that is okay to pretty good and then have a quarter that is completely awesome, and then have another quarter that is just plain awful.  Maybe it happens when an author tries to create a mix of genres that, for me at least, just don't quite work together (remember the gothic science fiction book, Strange Sweet Song?!)  Maybe if you are into strange, creepy fairy tales, but also clique fantasy, you will find this book more appealing overall.

But if not, don't say I didn't warn you.




Rating:  3 Stars
Reading Level:  ?
Age Appropriate:  Middle Grade +
Page Count:  304
Genre:  Fantasy
Keywords: sisters, magic, witches, good vs evil, romance

A Visit to My Home Library

This is actually a post that I wrote several months ago and for some strange reason never published!  So, the time frames mentioned are definitely off, but that's okay, because that's not the important part anyway!


Yesterday, after eagerly waiting for three long weeks, the two newest additions to my home library arrived. A couple of things I’d like to explain: first, the reason I had to wait for three weeks to get my books is because I ordered them from Book Depository. This is a great place to shop if you are just buying a few books, because the prices are low and shipping is always free. The trade-off? The books are coming from either the UK or Australia, and even though they say they will be dispatched in two days and arrive five to eight days after that, it really never happens within those time frames. But hey, I shouldn't complain because free shipping!

The other thing is that ‘my home library’ is not a library in the sense of being a separate room that houses books. (Alas, that dream of mine remains currently unfulfilled.) No, I mean home library in the sense of the collection of books that I own, and are housed in my home. Which means,  overflowing from two sets of bookcases in two sets of rooms, neither one of which could even be remotely described as a library. (Well, the home office in which one sits does have a nice couch where someone could sit and read, but as my son has appropriated said room as his video game den, there is no way anyone is going to be doing any reading in there.)

So, what two books did I get? The Scorpio Races, by my favorite author, Maggie Stiefvater, which I have just recently read and reviewed and then rushed out to buy a copy for myself, and Lips Touch Three Times, by my other favorite author, Laini Taylor, which I have not read but am very much looking forward to. (I haven’t read it yet, because you can’t find it in a library. Hence the need to purchase a copy without knowing if it is any good or not. Buuuuut, considering how much I have LOVED every other book of hers so far, I am betting it will be worth it.)

Anyway, after cramming those two books on top of the other 183 books already filling my bookcases, I thought it might be interesting to give you all a sort of tour of my library, seeing as how I read many of the books on the shelves before I started this blog, which means I have no reviews for them. So. Today we will look at the books by Karen Cushman. (I actually did give a mini-review of one of her books, Catherine Called Birdy, a few months ago, so I’ll just go over the other ones here today.)

Okay, so I must confess, I don't actually have a copy of this book on my bookshelf right now.  I swear I had one at some point, so maybe I lent it to someone and never got it back.  The Midwife's Apprentice was actually the first book I read by Karen Cushman, and I loved it so much I read everything else she came out with.  It tells the story of an orphaned girl in medieval England who becomes the apprentice of a midwife and, as she learns the craft, discovers that she is smart and capable and not a nobody after all. Which, the way I've described it sounds pretty boring, but in reality is not.  At all.  And although everything out there that you see will tell you this is a middle grade book (4th to 6th grade or so), some parents might take issue with a bit of the content and feel that it is more appropriate for an upper middle grade reader (6th to 8th grade) instead.  (Reading Level: 6.0 / Middle Grade+)

Matilda Bone is another book set in the Middle Ages, this time with the heroine being apprenticed to a bone setter instead of midwife.  This is another book with a great lesson, witty dialogue, and humor - Cushman's trademark combination that leaves you wanting more.    (Reading Level: 5.7 / Middle Grades)

Rodzina tells the story of a twelve-year old Polish-American orphan who is packed up onto the orphan train and sent west in 1881, causing her to learn a lot about life and her own strength and self-worth in the process.  Are you seeing a pattern here?  Cushman pretty much writes books about girls.  She pretty much writes books about strong girls who might not realize they are strong in the beginning.  And, she pretty much writes books about girls who lived in times past.  This is actually one of my favorite books by Cushman, and even though the heroine is only supposed to be twelve, she gives the impression of being older, making the book appealing to teens as well as middle grade readers.    (Reading Level: 4.5 / Middle Grades)

The Ballad of Lucy Whipple is another book set in the 1800's, this time in a small California mining camp during the gold rush.  The spunky heroine has been dragged there from across the country by her mother, and makes it perfectly clear time and again that she is not happy with the situation.  Cushman really outdid herself with this character, and I think even those who are not fans of historical fiction will enjoy this book just because of her.
 (Reading Level: 5.8 / Middle Grades)

The Loud Silence of Francine Green is a little different from Cushman's other books.  It is set at the beginning of the McCarthy era in America, so historical fiction, but not too far in the past.  I didn't like it nearly as much as her previous works - it just didn't seem to have the same caliber of heroine as the rest.  It wasn't bad, though, so if you are looking for some fiction to go along with a study of the Red Scare, this might be a good pick.   (Reading Level: 4.6 / Middle Grades)

Alas, I wasn't impressed by Alchemy and Maggy Swann, either.  The main character was a crippled girl living in the 1570's in England, so kind of back to the Middle-ish Ages, but I just thought the book fell a little flat.  Maybe it was just geared more toward the younger reader, and without all the irreverent humor and heroines-with-attitude it was less appealing to me.  Once again, not bad, but definitely in my opinion not in the same league as her earlier books.    (Reading Level: 5.6 / Middle Grades)




So, there you have it.  If you are looking for historical fiction, or for books with a female lead realizing her inner strength, and if you don't mind a bit of irreverence or crudeness thrown in here or there, these are the perfect books for you.  And don't worry, you don't need to be twelve years old to enjoy them - I never read any of them until I was a full-fledged adult, and I think, owing to the fact that we can appreciate aspects of them that a child would not, that they are a fantastic read for us older folk as well.