Jenn's Review: The Queen of the Tearling

Author: Erika Johansen
Series: The Queen of the Tearling, #1
Publication Date: July 8, 2014
Publisher: Harper
Pages: 448
Obtained: publisher
Genre:  NA Fantasy, Dystopian
Rating: 3.25
Bottom Line: A stumbling novel that could have been brilliant with more editing
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Blurb:  Her throne awaits . . . if she can live long enough to take it.

It was on her nineteenth birthday that the soldiers came for Kelsea Glynn. They’d come to escort her back to the place of her birth – and to ensure she survives long enough to be able to take possession of what is rightfully hers.

But like many nineteen-year-olds, Kelsea is unruly, has high principles and believes she knows better than her elders. Unlike many nineteen-year-olds, she is about to inherit a kingdom that is on its knees – corrupt, debauched and dangerous.

Kelsea will either become the most fearsome ruler the kingdom has ever known . . . or be dead within the week.

Combining thrilling adventure and action, dark magic, mystery and romance, The Queen of the Tearling is the debut of a born storyteller blessed with a startling imagination.


Review:  Most reviewers either loved or hated this book and I am on the fence.  I don't read many dystopian novels because they usually fail to capture my interest in the premise.  Although this caught my eye, establishing the world took so many chapters my interest began to wain.  In fact, I attempted to read this book several times and failed miserably... however listening to it worked wonders, so welcome to my first audio book review.

The first few chapters are very detailed in the setup (I remember a particularly long passage about a door)   and also switched points of view several times which disrupted the continuity. Once I got beyond the first third of the book, I found it was intriguing.  The story is modernistic Arthurian with a compelling though somewhat familiar in premise.  However for all of the plot exposition I felt that there wasn't a clear definition of the time period the book is set in.  Had you not read the blurb you would never have known it was set in the future until midway through the book.

This is definitely and Adult or New Adult Fantasy -which I rarely read because I find the adult themes distracting to the magic of the fantasy.  There are lots of mature themes in the book, rape, sex, murder, child slavery... and while I will be the first to admit some of it helped with the world building and were necessary to the plot, a lot of it felt gratuitous and existed only for shock value.  None of it was overly graphic but I was particularly bothered by the fleeting treatment of the victims and the glossing over of the aftermath.  If you are going to deal with these topics, take them on in their entirety or just edit them out.  

Kelsea's naivetee leads to some cringeworthy moments.  I still have no idea who or what the Red Queen is besides a sex-crazed sorceress.  However, there are plenty of interesting characters, perhaps a few too many to keep track of at first but they all sort themselves out eventually. I want to know more about all of them and in the murk of this novel, that is Erika Johansen's shining success.  By the time I was two thirds of the way through, I found myself involved in the story.  Things start to get rolling and the novel comes to a close.

Will I read the second one?  Yes, at least I'll try (I may have to listen to it).  I can't help feeling that somewhere underneath it all is a decent series -- with different editing, it may even have been a fantastic series.

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Alice's Review: The Secret Place

Author: Tana French
Series: Dublin Murder Squad
Publication Date: September 2, 2014
Publisher: Viking
Pages: 464
Obtained: publisher
Genre:  Contemporary Fiction, Mystery, Crime
Rating: 4/5
Bottom Line: A taut mystery that has other great elements
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Summary: The photo on the card shows a boy who was found murdered, a year ago, in the grounds of a girls boarding school in the leafy suburbs of Dublin. The caption says I KNOW WHO KILLED HIM. Detective Stephen Moran has been waiting for his chance to get a foot in the door of Dublins Murder Squad—and one morning, sixteen-yearold Holly Mackey brings him this photo. “The Secret Place,” a board where the girls at St Kildas School can pin up their secrets anonymously, is normally a mishmash of gossip and covert cruelty, but today someone has used it to reignite the stalled investigation into the murder of handsome, popular Chris Harper. Stephen joins forces with the abrasive Detective Antoinette Conway to find out who and why. But everything they find leads them back to Hollys group of close-knit friends and their fierce enemies, a rival clique—and to the tangled web of relationships that bound all the girls to Chris Harper. Every step in their direction turns up the pressure. Antoinette Conway is already suspicious of Stephens links to the Mackey family. St Kildas will go a long way to keep murder outside their walls. Hollys father, Detective Frank Mackey, is circling, ready to pounce if any of the new evidence points towards his daughter. And the private underworld of teenage girls can be more mysterious and more dangerous than either of the detectives imagined. The Secret Place is a powerful, haunting exploration of friendship and loyalty, and a gripping addition to the Dublin Murder Squad series. ~powells.com

Review:  Tana French is back with another intriguing installment of Dublin’s Murder Squad. Although I am not a huge fan of Mystery/Crime novels, I completely soak these in. I really enjoyed how different this novel was from her earlier work. This novel had a clear resolution whereas her others left something unanswered. The best part of this novel is the resurrection of one of my favorite literary characters, Frank Mackey.

I will seriously read anything, ANYTHING, that features Frank Mackey even in the smallest capacity. I love me some Frank. Give me an entire novel focused on him and I am in reading heaven. He can be so rough and crass and well, sometimes a jerk. I loved seeing him in what is probably his favorite role, Father.

Enough about my fictional husband, the meat and bones of this novel is about friendship. Any woman who had girlfriends understands the power that holds, especially when you are 16 and your life centers around these relationships. Tana French captured that beautifully. Each girl was so different, yet it was easy to see how they fit together. My favorite of the four was Julia. She had moxie, tough as nails, but probably the most sensitive of the bunch. She was the leader, the one who would go to bat for the others.

I enjoyed the mystery in The Secret Place. Tana French is a sorceress. She writes strong character driven mysteries where you are invested in their lives and situations. You open one of her novel and begin to read it, the next thing you know it is 4 hours later and you are elbows deep in a story you can’t tear yourself away from. There is a mystery you must get to the bottom of. Thankfully, there are one or two detectives asking all the right questions unraveling the mystery layer by layer. You don’t know who you can trust, you don’t know who is lying or who is telling you the truth. The only thing you do know is you are on one hell of a ride.

This isn’t the strongest of her work, but it’s still fantastic. I hope we have another go at the reluctant villain of this novel, Detective Stephen Moran. I didn’t envy his task and I can’t wait to see what comes next for him.
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Jenn's Review: The Blood of Olympus

Author: Rick Riordan
Series: The Heroes of Olympus #5
Publication Date: October 7, 2014
Publisher: Hyperion Books
Pages: 516
Obtained: purchased
Genre:  YA Fantasy
Rating: 5.0
Bottom Line: The final epic battle!
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Blurb:  Though the Greek and Roman crewmembers of the Argo II have made progress in their many quests, they still seem no closer to defeating the earth mother, Gaea. Her giants have risen—all of them—and they're stronger than ever. They must be stopped before the Feast of Spes, when Gaea plans to have two demigods sacrificed in Athens. She needs their blood—the blood of Olympus—in order to wake.

The demigods are having more frequent visions of a terrible battle at Camp Half-Blood. The Roman legion from Camp Jupiter, led by Octavian, is almost within striking distance. Though it is tempting to take the Athena Parthenos to Athens to use as a secret weapon, the friends know that the huge statue belongs back on Long Island, where it "might" be able to stop a war between the two camps.

The Athena Parthenos will go west; the Argo II will go east. The gods, still suffering from multiple personality disorder, are useless. How can a handful of young demigods hope to persevere against Gaea's army of powerful giants? As dangerous as it is to head to Athens, they have no other option. They have sacrificed too much already. And if Gaea wakes, it is game over.

Review:  I read The Blood of Olympus shortly after it came out in October.  I've re-read it several times since then.  I should have reviewed it ages ago, but in all honesty I just haven't been ready to say goodbye to such a fabulous group of characters. I love that the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series started as Middle Grade novels and grew with the characters into the YA series The Heroes of Olympus. The demigods have grown up and we have been watching and cheering them on all the way.

This final novel starts with the team reunited but with seemingly insurmountable tasks ahead of them.  Being separated has bound them together and made them appreciate each other even more, more than that they've learned to trust themselves and rely on each other.  I think the relationship that shows the most growth is between Percy and Jason.  As sons of  Posiedon and Zeus they are naturally a little wary of each other but they learn that their father's quarrels are their own.

The individual characters that go through the biggest development are Reyna, Nico, and Jason. Jason has to reconcile his Greek and Roman side, as he more than any of the heroes was affected the most by Juno's deception.  In the end he decides that he will control his fate.  Meanwhile Reyna and Nico are thrown together on a quest.  Nico has come to the forefront in the last two books and the reader suddenly becomes painfully aware that while all the characters have been interacting and growing Nico has remained painfully isolated.  It takes a quest with others for Nico to accept himself, trust his friends, and come out of his shell.  For Reyna, it is in helping Nico that she finds herself.

I won't spoil the ending for anyone.  Suffice it to say I laughed and I cried.  I will miss these characters immensely.  It is the interactions between the characters that make Riordan's novels so rewarding --isn't that true of all the best novelists?  Rick Riordan left a small loop hole that leaves the possibility of more --and I sincerely hope there will be more.  Until then, I've started reading them to my daughter from the beginning and (who am I kidding?!?) I know I will be re-reading them for myself!

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Jenn's Review: Made for You

Author: Melissa Marr
Series: none
Publication Date: September 15, 2014
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 368
Obtained: publisher
Genre:  YA thriller
Rating: 3.5
Bottom Line: Good page turner but lacking depth
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Blurb:  When Eva Tilling wakes up in the hospital, she’s confused—who in her sleepy little North Carolina town could have hit her with their car? And why? But before she can consider the question, she finds that she’s awoken with a strange new skill: the ability to foresee people’s deaths when they touch her. While she is recovering from the hit-and-run, Nate, an old flame, reappears, and the two must traverse their rocky past as they figure out how to use Eva’s power to keep her friends—and themselves—alive. But while Eva and Nate grow closer, the killer grows increasingly frantic in his attempt to get to Eva.

For the first time, New York Times bestselling author Melissa Marr has applied her extraordinary talent to contemporary realism. Chilling twists, unrequited obsession, and high-stakes romance drive this Gothic, racy thriller—a story of small-town oppression and salvation. Melissa’s fans, and every YA reader, will find its wild ride enthralling

Review:  I wanted to love this book but I just didn't. It was enjoyable with a real page turner of a mystery, but...  I didn't love it. Actually the more I wrote this review, the less I liked the book.

I would have to say one of the things that held me back was that I never identified with any of the characters. As a matter of fact they were all so flawed that there wasn't a single overly likeable character.  Eva was a little shallow and complacent which I suppose describes many teens, but none that I want to read about. Her friends Nate and Grace were interesting characters but we only get to know them on the surface. 

When it came to the whodunit of it all the reveal wasn't a great 'A-ha!' moment, more of an 'Oh'.  As a matter of fact it seemed a little unrealistic.  After Eva and Nick figured it out, their actions were unnecessarily risky to the point of ludicrous.  Maybe it's just the mom in me but I had a very hard time with the excessive amount of danger they placed themselves in at the end of the novel.

Honestly, I kept hoping for more.  I have read three books by Melissa Marr and that seems to be how I feel after all of them. While I enjoy them, I am always left wishing they were deeper. 

Alice's Review: The Museum of Extraordinary Things

Author: Alice Hoffman
Series: None
Publication Date: February 18, 2014
Publisher: Scribner
Pages: 368
Obtained: Publisher
Genre:  Historical Fiction
Rating:  4/5
Bottom Line: An alluring story of  mystery and love.
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Summary:  Mesmerizing and illuminating, Alice Hoffman’s The Museum of Extraordinary Things is the story of an electric and impassioned love between two vastly different souls in New York during the volatile first decades of the twentieth century.  Coralie Sardie is the daughter of the sinister impresario behind The Museum of Extraordinary Things, a Coney Island boardwalk freak show that thrills the masses. An exceptional swimmer, Coralie appears as the Mermaid in her father’s “museum,” alongside performers like the Wolfman, the Butterfly Girl, and a one-hundred-year-old turtle. One night Coralie stumbles upon a striking young man taking pictures of moonlit trees in the woods off the Hudson River. The dashing photographer is Eddie Cohen, a Russian immigrant who has run away from his father’s Lower East Side Orthodox community and his job as a tailor’s apprentice. When Eddie photographs the devastation on the streets of New York following the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, he becomes embroiled in the suspicious mystery behind a young woman’s disappearance and ignites the heart of Coralie. With its colorful crowds of bootleggers, heiresses, thugs, and idealists, New York itself becomes a riveting character as Hoffman weaves her trademark magic, romance, and masterful storytelling to unite Coralie and Eddie in a sizzling, tender, and moving story of young love in tumultuous times. The Museum of Extraordinary Things is Alice Hoffman at her most spellbinding. ~powells.com

Review:  Alice Hoffman...I don’t even know where to begin. She is one of my favorite authors ever. She can write about nearly any subject with authority and heart. I love her books. Love them. This one is no different. I love that it’s set in New York City. I just adore when a city is a character in a novel. Make is New York City in 1911 and it’s even better. I love that she ventures into Brooklyn and writes about the freak shows and oddities on Coney Island. It was such a marvelous, fascinating time in history.

Like most others, I am drawn to a novel that is close to home. I work a few blocks from Eddie’s apartment in the novel. I love knowing we walked down the same streets in much different times. I really appreciated that she encompassed real events into her storytelling. I first learned about the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire on a ghost walk tour last year. My interest in The Museum of Extraordinary Things was immediately piqued when I learned the novel began with that catastrophe. I love that she writes in a way that makes me feel as if I am there, standing on the sidewalk next to Eddie in horror at the burning building in front of me. Or that it is me, and not Coralie who is swimming in the frigid Hudson. She has the ability to transport her readers to a different place and time. See, that’s the thing about Alice Hoffman. She writes in a way that Eddie and Coralie are not characters in a novel. They are people who lived a long time ago, as human as I am.

Eddie was such a great character. With everything he faced, he grew up a lot faster than he should have. There was no boyhood innocence to draw from. He lost is even before he stepped into his life in Manhattan. And Coralie, the opposite of him, sheltered and protected to a fault. First she forced to act like a child when she craved the things of a woman, and then forced into wanton behavior by someone who should have protected her. I enjoyed their love story. I especially enjoyed that their love story wasn’t the focus of the novel. This novel was much more than two people coming together.

There were a few other characters that I enjoyed, especially Maureen. As Coralie’s companion and Dr. Sardie’s housemaid, she had a small but significant role. I loved that she was scarred yet had wisdom and desires. She had a way of centering Coralie and the novel. It was her happy ending I hoped for the most.

Ms. Hoffman is still very much on her game, but there was something nagging me while reading this. Something was missing. I can’t quite explain what it is but I can tell you that it simply wasn’t there. The more that I think about it, I realize the novel lacked the usual magic she folds into her stories. It’s that little thing that makes her novels different. Even with that lack of magic, this was quite a tale.

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Alice's Review: The Book of Someday

Author: Dianne Dixon
Series: None
Publication Date: September 3, 2013
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Pages: 335
Obtained:  Borrowed
Genre:  Women's Fiction
Rating: 4/5
Bottom Line: Wonderful character driven novel with a surprising ending.
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Summary:  Three women. One stranger in a shimmering silver dress. Whatever binds them together has already destroyed one life. It just might consume them all. Someday, Livvi Gray will break free from her past. Someday, she will escape her recurring nightmare about that stranger in a shimmering silver dress. Someday, she will have a family of her own. Now she's found Andrew, and someday seems to be right around the corner. But there's so much Livvi doesn't know. Shortly before her thirtieth birthday, she will come face-to-face with the stranger from her dream-an encounter that will alter Livvi's future and crack open everything she knew about her past. Livvi is swiftly moving toward the ultimate turning point in her life-and she's not the only one. Linked by an unforgettable mystery, photographer Micah and young mother AnnaLee are also being rapidly drawn into a web of devastating secrets about the unexpected ways in which we choose to protect-and betray-the people we love. ~amazon.com

Review:  I am a lover of short stories. This novel reads very much like a short story. In fact, you could probably read each character’s story as a standalone as one is not needed to benefit the others. Yet, as they are told in alternating chapters, they are forever entwined, linked in a way I never expected. The only common factor is a woman wearing a pearl button shoe. I thoroughly enjoyed how this novel came together. I couldn't have guessed it and I was quite surprised.

The Book of Someday is the stories of three women. Livvi is a literary sensation, Micah a world famous photographer, and AnnaLee a young mother trying to hold her family together. Thinking about it now, I believe these women have something else in common besides the woman in the pearl button shoe. Each woman is beautifully damaged, broken in spirit and soul. As we get to know them, they reveal the depths of that damage. It’s difficult to describe them without revealing too much of the novel.

I like Livvi initially. She came from a broken home, had a father who was there but not engaged. She had a stepmother who was a monster to her. She carried her experience deep within her, hiding her truth from all who know her. It is only with the love a man that she begins to acknowledge her past. Towards the end of her arc, I didn’t particularly care for her. The decisions she made tarnished her character and turned her selfish and greedy. At least that is how I saw her.

Micah was a wonderful character. She was the opposite of Livvi: a horrible woman in search of absolution. I didn’t like her at all, with her black soul and narcissistic ways. As her story is exposed and we learn her truth, we can see why she’s that way. It wasn’t pretty, but it made sense. I didn’t like her any more in the end than I did in the beginning of the novel, but I appreciated her darkness.

I can’t quite figure out how I feel about AnnaLee. Sometimes I really liked her and how caring she was for her daughter and husband. Other times I saw her as this judgemental, bitter woman who was never happy. I covered both extremes on the spectrum.

Overall, I think this is a great novel. I love that it was told in alternating chapters. I love that I didn’t figure out the ending. I love that it truly made me gasp in shock. It was pretty darn awesome. I didn’t feel any connection to the characters but I was still invested in their story. I kept reading because of morbid curiosity. I had to know what was up with the woman in the pearl button shoe. The only flaw I found was the disenchantment I felt towards Livvi in the end. I expected more from her and was a bit disappointed at the outcome. I think I would have been happier with a real resolution.

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Alice's Review: The Fault in Our Stars

Author: John Green
Series: None
Publication Date: January 10, 2012
Publisher: Speak
Pages: 352
Obtained: Purchases
Genre:  Young Adult
Rating: 5
Bottom Line: A tear-jerking powerhouse.
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Summary:  Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.

Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, The Fault in Our Stars brilliantly explores the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love.  ~powells.com

Review:  Some reviews are easy to write, some a bit more difficult. This is one of the more difficult ones. This is hands down the best book I read this year. From the wonderful characters to the compelling story line to the great adventures the character’s experience, The Fault in Our Stars is perfect in everyway. The reason this is difficult is because I don’t know what to say to fully express how much I loved this novel and how this is a must read for everyone. It really doesn’t matter who you are or what your favorite genre is, this novel is wonderful. I believe the only readers who may struggle with this are those personally affected by the loss of a child to a cancer. I can’t imagine anyone wanting to experience that kind of loss again. That feeling of loss is what John Green masters. The Fault in Our Stars is so well written, I felt I knew Hazel and Augustus personally. They were not two literary characters, but two teenagers falling in love in the most tragic circumstances. Their story was deeply moving and so personal.

I just loved Hazel. Her courage was inspiring. She was everything a person should be when facing such tragedy. I am always amazed how well a man can capture such a strong, fascinating female character and Mr. Green does just that. Here is someone who has owned who she is without letting her illness define her. She’s brilliant. And Augustus...talk about a guy with many layers. On the surface, he is a happy go lucky guy without a care in the world. As Hazel gets to know him, we see he is much more than that. I loved how he reveals his true character to Hazel.

I loved how Mr. Green used humor throughout the novel. I loved how there were many funny moments, injected at the perfect time to diffuse grief. I loved how he give us a peek at what Hazel and Augustus’ parents were feeling. We understood what they were going through however, Mr. Green never fully shifted the focus to them. I think we truly saw them as Hazel and Augustus saw them. I especially believe that to be true with Hazel’s parents.

Overall, I know I’m just adding to the list of glowing reviews for this wonderful novel. This is one you can’t pass up.

Total Love Count: 6

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Jenn's Review: Big Red Tequila

Author: Rick Riordan
Series: Tres Navarre #1
Publication Date: June 2, 1997
Publisher: Turtleback Books
Pages: 372
Obtained: purchased
Genre:  Crime
Rating: 3.5
Bottom Line: Riordan's debut novel has all the snark but lacks the charm.
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Blurb:  Everything in Texas is bigger...even murder. Meet Tres Navarre...tequila drinker, Tai Chi master, unlicensed P.I., with a penchant for Texas-size trouble.

Jackson "Tres" Navarre and his enchilada-eating cat, Robert Johnson, pull into San Antonio and find nothing waiting but trouble. Ten years ago Navarre left town and the memory of his father's murder behind him. Now he's back, looking for answers. Yet the more Tres digs, trying to put his suspicions to rest, the fresher the decade-old crime looks: Mafia connections, construction site payoffs, and slick politicians' games all conspire to ruin his homecoming.  It's obvious Tres has stirred up a hornet's nest of trouble. He gets attacked, shot at, run over by a big blue Thunderbird--and his old girlfriend, the one he wants back, turns up missing. Tres has to rescue the woman, nail his father's murderer, and get the hell out of Dodge before mob-style Texas justice catches up to him. The chances of staying alive looked better for the defenders of the Alamo....


Review:  I am missing Percy Jackson something fierce.  I have one book left while I wait for the last book of The Heroes of Olympus series to come out in October and I'm just not ready to go there yet.  So my choices were to try Rick Riordan's Kane Chronicles or his adult private investigator series.  Obviously, I went with the latter.

This is Riordan's debut novel and while his writing style is there brimming with wit and sarcasm, his character development is not.  I wanted to like Tres; I spent the whole novel thinking, I almost like him and it kept me turning pages.  The novel is Psych meets Grosse Point Blank with none of the charm.  Tres drops a life and a relationship in California at the beck and call of his old flame.  Though Tres is immediately pulled into something bigger than just investigating the death of his father, he refuses to see things for what they are, not even when his California girlfriend bails him out.  I respected Tres, all womanizing aside, but I just can't seem to like him.

There were also a ton of secondary characters to keep track of and I had to keep going back and looking up who was who.  It works fine when the secondary characters are established mythological gods, but when they aren't an identity needs to be developed. Without the connection, the story was slowed.

If you're a fan of San Antonio apparently the references are wonderful.  Never having been to Texas, they were lost on me as I suppose LL Bartlet's Buffalo, NY references in her Jeff Resnick series are lost to everyone outside of Western New York. So that didn't hook me either.

However there is something about Riordan's storytelling that just pulls you in.  The plot was twisted, but not overly complicated. It was the mystery and the writing that kept me turning pages, which is incredible when I don't like the characters.  I actually purchased the next book in the series immediately after finishing Big Red Tequila because I wanted more.  Even though I wasn't fond of Tres, I want to know more about him and hope he'll grow into a character I can love.  That's Rick Riordan's talent.



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Jenn's Review: Beautiful Redemption

Author: Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Series: Caster Chronicles #4
Publication Date: October 22, 2012
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Pages: 456
Obtained: purchased
Genre:  YA, Paranormal
Rating: 4
Bottom Line: A fitting end to an enjoyable series
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Blurb:  Is death the end . . . or only the beginning?

Ethan Wate has spent most of his life longing to escape the stiflingly small Southern town of Gatlin. He never thought he would meet the girl of his dreams, Lena Duchannes, who unveiled a secretive, powerful, and cursed side of Gatlin, hidden in plain sight. And he never could have expected that he would be forced to leave behind everyone and everything he cares about. So when Ethan awakes after the chilling events of the Eighteenth Moon, he has only one goal: to find a way to return to Lena and the ones he loves.

Back in Gatlin, Lena is making her own bargains for Ethan's return, vowing to do whatever it takes -- even if that means trusting old enemies or risking the lives of the family and friends Ethan left to protect.

Worlds apart, Ethan and Lena must once again work together to rewrite their fate, in this stunning finale to the Beautiful Creatures series.

Review:  It is nearly impossible to finish Beautiful Chaos without jumping straight into Beautiful Redemption... which is exactly what I did.  As a reader, you know where this is headed, but you can't help but enjoy the journey.

Once again Ethan and Lena are separated but they both have faith that they can rectify the situation.  I enjoyed the alternate space that Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl created, even if it was a little Beetlejuice.  Honestly I wouldn't have minded spending more time there, perhaps with other characters, throughout the series.

Out of necessity, this is the first time the story is broken up into two viewpoints, but I think it works nicely. I was a little surprised how fluidly things went on both sides, but if it hadn't I suppose it would have taken up another book.  At the critical point in the novel there was a pretty significant plot hole for me, maybe it was explained in passing and I missed it, but either way it is easily forgiven.  The ending is bitter sweet as I knew it would be but it was the perfect ending to the series.

This writing team creates enchanting stories you can't help but want to slip into.  I'm glad that there is a new Dangerous Creatures series featuring Ridley as I think there are many more stories to come from the world Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl created.  I look forward to the release of the first book in a few weeks.

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Alice's Review: The Here and Now

Author: Ann Brashares
Series: Yes?
Publication Date: April 8, 2014
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Pages: 288
Obtained: Publisher via NetGalley
Genre:  Young Adult, Science Fiction
Rating: 4
Bottom Line: A reluctant hero's journey.
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Summary:  Follow the rules. Remember what happened. Never fall in love.  This is the story of seventeen-year-old Prenna James, who immigrated to New York when she was twelve. Except Prenna didn’t come from a different country. She came from a different time—a future where a mosquito-borne illness has mutated into a pandemic, killing millions and leaving the world in ruins.   Prenna and the others who escaped to the present day must follow a strict set of rules: never reveal where they’re from, never interfere with history, and never, ever be intimate with anyone outside their community. Prenna does as she’s told, believing she can help prevent the plague that will one day ravage the earth.   But everything changes when Prenna falls for Ethan Jarves.  ~blurb

Review:  A bit of time has passed since I finished this novel and started the review. I’ll start off by saying I think this novel is flawed however, I really enjoyed it. I liked Prenna, our main character. I like the time travel storyline. I liked that it was set in New York. I liked that the time travelers are woven among us, living secretly out in the open. That is the good.

And now for the bad. I thought the timeline of the novel was a little wonky. In one scene they have two days to save the world, in another they had enough time to go to Jones Beach one day and the Jersey Shore the next. Then after the Jersey Shore adventure, they are rushing back to North Jersey to accomplish their mission. It didn’t make sense. I hate when things don’t make sense. And a mosquito-borne illness? Seriously? I have a hard time believing there aren’t any vaccinations against this disease or ways to terminate mosquitoes in general. This future truly sucks. I won’t even get into how far-fetched the story line is or how anti hero Prenna is. It’s amazing she’s lived as long as she did, let alone long enough to impact the world.

Even with all this, here I am telling you how much I enjoyed it and I really did. It was interesting, a page turner, and unexpected. I believe in the concept of the novel, however I hope Ms. Brashares takes more time with the next one to smooth out some of the rougher edges. The more I think about this novel, the more I’m questioning my own judgement on giving it such a high marking. The truth is I enjoyed it, even with all the plot holes and inconsistencies. I’m looking forward to the next one in this series.

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Jenn's Review: The Sea of Tranquility

Author: Katja Millay
Series: None
Publication Date: November 13, 2012
Publisher: Atria Books
Pages: 352
Obtained: purchased
Genre:  Contemporary, YA
Rating: 5
Bottom Line: Emotionally raw, heart-wrenchingly beautiful
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Blurb:  I live in a world without magic or miracles. A place where there are no clairvoyants or shapeshifters, no angels or superhuman boys to save you. A place where people die and music disintegrates and things suck. I am pressed so hard against the earth by the weight of reality that some days I wonder how I am still able to lift my feet to walk.

Former piano prodigy Nastya Kashnikov wants two things: to get through high school without anyone learning about her past and to make the boy who took everything from her—her identity, her spirit, her will to live—pay.

Josh Bennett’s story is no secret: every person he loves has been taken from his life until, at seventeen years old, there is no one left. Now all he wants is be left alone and people allow it because when your name is synonymous with death, everyone tends to give you your space.

Everyone except Nastya, the mysterious new girl at school who starts showing up and won’t go away until she’s insinuated herself into every aspect of his life. But the more he gets to know her, the more of an enigma she becomes. As their relationship intensifies and the unanswered questions begin to pile up, he starts to wonder if he will ever learn the secrets she’s been hiding—or if he even wants to.

The Sea of Tranquility is a rich, intense, and brilliantly imagined story about a lonely boy, an emotionally fragile girl, and the miracle of second chances.

Review:  I came across The Sea of Tranquility last year during a blog hop and was intrigued by not only the blurb but the outpouring of adoration from the blogger. This is not my normal read; I'm usually not a big fan of contemporary works. However the more reviews I came across the more glowing recommendations I found, so I added it to my pile. I finally picked it up this past week and the praise for this book is richly deserved.  In fact, it's going on my list of all time favorites. 

Katja Millay has a way of bringing everything to the surface and letting it simmer.  The prose are straight forward, in your face. Was the language sometimes corse?  Yes, but sometimes it needed to be.  However it was never overly gruesome or vividly violent... even when Nastya finally reveals to the readers what happened... her retelling takes on a dreamlike quality that makes it easier to read, though no less horrifying.  It was hard not to identify with all the characters.  I even loved the minor characters... even Drew and his uber-popular sister are given depth that is easily overlooked by some writers.

Nastya has to find a way to keep going even if it means running on rage.  What do you do when you no longer have your outlet?  When the very thing that gives you relief from the world is taken?  As a conservatory trained musician, I can't imagine the loss of my ability to create; to loose the very thing that is so much apart of you it comes to define you.

As a mom, it's your worst nightmare, a completely random act that destroys your happy, healthy child.   How do you deal with the destruction of your child?  How can you help her rebuild when you can't get through at all?  Should she have pushed Nastya to open up more?  Who can say.

Josh is amazing.  He's lost just about everyone, but he's still standing.  He let the anger and hurt overtake him for a while but he's gotten to a point where he's made peace with it enough to live with it.  Not letting anyone in is his defense mechanism and he's been pushing everyone away for so long, it's just habit now.

Credit also needs to be given to the publisher for the fantastic cover that's poignantly symbolic.  Honestly, there just aren't enough wonderful things to say about this book.  It's going on my recommend to everyone list.  It's fabulous.

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Alice's Review: Vintage

Author: Susan Gloss
Series: None
Publication Date: March 25, 2014
Publisher: William Morrow & Company
Pages: 320
Obtained: Publisher
Genre:  Contemporary, Womens Fiction
Rating: 4
Bottom Line: Quirky shop owner's coming of age.
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Summary:  At Hourglass Vintage in Madison, Wisconsin, every item in the boutique has a story to tell . . . and so do the women who are drawn there.  Violet Turner has always dreamed of owning a shop like Hourglass Vintage. When she is faced with the possibility of losing it, she realizes that, as much as she wants to, she cannot save it alone.  Eighteen-year-old April Morgan is nearly five months along in an unplanned pregnancy when her hasty engagement is broken. When she returns the perfect 1950s wedding dress, she discovers unexpected possibilities and friends who wont let her give up on her dreams.  Betrayed by her husband, Amithi Singh begins selling off her old clothes, remnants of her past life. After decades of housekeeping and parenting a daughter who rejects her traditional ways, she fears she has nothing more ahead for her.  An engaging story that beautifully captures the essence of womens friendship and love, Vintage is a charming tale of possibility, of finding renewal and hope when we least expect it. ~powells.com

Review:  Vintage is a great story about the owner of a vintage clothing and goods store in a Midwestern city and the wonderful people who cross her path.

I’ll start by saying that I loved the location. I never once thought I would enjoy a visit to Madison, Wisconsin until now. It’s the kind of novel where the city itself is a main character. Madison is as eccentric and charming as her inhabitants. It’s also a place pictured myself completely enjoying and one I have added to my Places To Visit list.

I loved the characters. Violet was quirky and entertaining. I enjoyed her journey, her great sense of style, and her overall way of life. She was always true to herself and never wavered on what was important to her. The downside was she was very set in her ways and as the saying goes, couldn’t see the forest from the trees. There were times when I had to roll my eyes at her and the choices she made. If she were my friend, I think I would have shaken some sense into her on more than one occasion.

April was insightful, mature beyond her 18 years. She was dealt with a lot and handled it with grace that is uncharacteristic for someone her age. Yet she felt the most authentic of all the three women.

My favorite was Amithi Singh. The way she dealt with her husband’s betrayal was sad and heart wrenching. My heart went out to her. As a first generation American myself, I appreciated how she had to balance the old country with her new world. She was everything you would expect her to not be. Bold, daring, and finally ready to start living the life she wanted.

I really enjoyed this novel. I could see myself at Hourglass Vintage, browsing the displays and chatting with Violet, hearing her tell the stories of the unique pieces in her shop. It was a fun time, however you know how authentic I like a story to feel. Novels, although works of fiction, need to be real in order for me to enjoy them. Mostly though, a novel needs to have life and a soul. Vintage started out with all that but somehow lost a bit of the soul in the end. I think it was because the ending was too perfect. There were a few things that happened at the end that didn’t make sense to me. As my boyfriend likes to say, things happened to “move the story along.” I think it did Vintage a real disservice because it didn’t feel organic and I questioned the authors choices.

That’s the only minor flaw I found. Overall, it has great characters, a great setting and a whole lot of happy endings all around.

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Jenn's Review: The Cuckoo's Calling

Author: Robert Galbraith (Pseudonym), J.K. Rowling
Series: Cormoran Strike #1
Publication Date: April 30, 2013
Publisher: Mulholland Books
Pages: 455
Obtained: purchased
Genre:  mystery
Rating: 4.75
Bottom Line: a modern, classic English mystery
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Blurb:  A brilliant debut mystery in a classic vein: Detective Cormoran Strike investigates a supermodel's suicide.

After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, and creditors are calling. He has also just broken up with his longtime girlfriend and is living in his office.

Then John Bristow walks through his door with an amazing story: His sister, the legendary supermodel Lula Landry, known to her friends as the Cuckoo, famously fell to her death a few months earlier. The police ruled it a suicide, but John refuses to believe that. The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, and desperate designers, and it introduces him to every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man.

You may think you know detectives, but you've never met one quite like Strike. You may think you know about the wealthy and famous, but you've never seen them under an investigation like this.

Introducing Cormoran Strike, this is the acclaimed first crime novel by J.K. Rowling, writing under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

Review:  This is a classic English detective novel in every sense of the phrase.  Rowling as Galbraith has taken it and modernized it beautifully.  ...and I found it hard to put down.

As with Harry Potter, the world created through the writing, though non-magical, is palpable.  You can't help but be pulled into the story.  But that is where the comparisons ends.  Galbraith is heavier and wordier; I even learned a few new words.  That said, however, it never seemed to be forced or cumbersome in any manner.  The prose are fluid, mellifluous and throughly entrancing.

Cormoran's trying hard to fit back into the world and every time he seems to almost have it together, it falls apart.  He is downtrodden, but not broken and it was easy to fall in with him.  Robin, on the other hand starts off a little fluffy but proves herself to be solid and resourceful.  I'm glad that she stands up to fiance about finding a job that she loves, even though it's not the pay or the ideal he holds.  Galbraith does a fabulous job of keeping Robin's relationship with Cormoran strictly platonic in this first novel, leaving room for it to grow but leaving the direction ambiguous.

The pacing is steady (it is not a thriller by any means) but never seemed sluggish.   The mystery itself doesn't seem very twisted, but appearances are deceiving.  The more Cormoran learns the more intriguing things become.  As the body count rises, you know Cormoran is on the correct trail, which is why the ending is so completely shocking. Galbraith leads you right up to the final reveal with three solid suspects. I thought I had it all figured out, but I didn't have a clue.

This is the beginnings of a beautiful series.  The next novel, The Silkworm, is due out in June and it's already on my wish list.

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Alice's Review: Bread and Butter

Author: Michelle Wildgen
Series: No
Publication Date: February 11, 2014
Publisher: Doubleday
Pages: 336
Obtained: Publisher via Netgalley
Genre: Literature - Family Life
Rating: 4/5
Bottom Line: For foodies who like a little heart in their novels.
Grab, Just get it at the library, or Remove from your TBR list? Just get it at the library

Summary: Britt and Leo have spent ten years running Winesap, the best restaurant in their small Pennsylvania town. They cater to their loyal customers; they don't sleep with the staff; and business is good, even if their temperamental pastry chef is bored with making the same chocolate cake night after night. But when their younger brother, Harry, opens his own restaurant — a hip little joint serving an aggressive lamb neck dish — Britt and Leo find their own restaurant thrown off-kilter. Britt becomes fascinated by a customer who arrives night after night, each time with a different dinner companion. Their pastry chef, Hector, quits, only to reappear at Harry's restaurant. And Leo finds himself falling for his executive chef — tempted to break the cardinal rule of restaurant ownership. Filled with hilarious insider detail — the one-upmanship of staff meals before the shift begins, the rivalry between bartender and hostess, the seedy bar where waitstaff and chefs go to drink off their workday — Bread and Butter is both an incisive novel of family and a gleeful romp through the inner workings of restaurant kitchens. ~powells.com

Review:  Bread and Butter centers on three brother, each in the restaurant business.  Britt and Leo are owners of the established Winesap while youngest brother and prodigal son Harry returns to throw his hat in the business as well.  What ensues is drama that rivals any Chick Lit novel.  Actually, this novel reads a lot like Chick Lit even though the three main characters are men.

Each brother has likeable characteristics and each carries a very different story line.  Of the three, I like Leo the best.  He’s the stable brother, the one the others turn to for comfort and acceptance.  Britt is the charming one.  And Harry is the fun brother.  I enjoyed getting to know each of them.  I also enjoyed the restaurant setting.  Having worked in the business, I feel that Ms. Wildgen shows an accurate portrayal of what goes on behind the swinging doors.   She placed these characters in realistic situations.

What I found most interesting is that in writing the review, I had to adjust my rating.  The more I thought about it, the more I realized there were many hidden gems that I didn’t pick up while I was reading Bread and Butter.  I didn’t expect for it to be the kind of novel that I wanted to discuss and I sure do.  I want to know what others thought of the trials the three brothers faced.  Mostly I want to talk about the surprising romance that carried me through the novel.  I would love to discuss how we never know what demons others are facing, even when those others are our own flesh and blood.  I think Bread and Butter would make a perfect book club book.   

I do have one complaint.  I am of the school that believes why use a $10 word when a nickel word works just fine.    Bread and Butter is a $10 word novel.  At times, it comes across as pretentious and impersonal.  However, when she sets down her dictionary and gets out of her own way, Ms. Wildgen writes so beautifully that she makes lamb neck bones sound delicious and something I would love to try.

I recommend this novel but it’s definitely a borrow book. While not as hilarious as promised in the description, this is a great read if you are a foodie and love family drama as it has the perfect mixture of both.

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Alice's Review: Girls in White Dresses

Summary:  Wry, hilarious, and utterly recognizable, Girls in White Dresses tells the story of three young women grappling with heartbreak and career change, family pressure and new love--all while suffering through an endless round of weddings and bridal showers.  Isabella, Mary, and Lauren are going to be bridesmaids in Kristi's wedding. On Sunday after Sunday, at bridal shower after bridal shower, they coo over toasters, eat tiny sandwiches, and drink mimosas. They're all happy for Kristi, but they do have the ups and downs of their own lives to cope with. Isabella is working at a mailing-list company, where she's extremely successful, and wildly unhappy. Mary is in love with a man who may never love any woman as much as he loves his mother. And Lauren, a waitress at a midtown bar, finds herself drawn to a man she's pretty sure she hates.  With blind dates and ski vacations, boozy lunches and family holidays, relationships lost to politics and relationships found in pet stores, Girls in White Dresses pulls us deep inside the circle of these friends, perfectly capturing the wild frustrations and soaring joys of modern life.

Review:  I’m not quite sure where to begin with this one… I’ll start with how difficult it was for me to keep track of all the characters.  I thought about making a list to figure out who was who and how they know each other.  In the end, I vetoed the idea because a book shouldn’t require that much effort.  Especially a chick lit novel of 300 pages.   It was a little frustrating.  The other thing is that with these new character introductions, it was difficult to get invested in their story lines.  Especially since one of the main characters had a major life change and there was hardly an explanation as to what happened.  I would much rather have read about what that than about another friend whose relationship is on the fritz because of a Presidential election.  It was annoying to say the least.

I know this seems unfair, especially since I love books written like this.  They are more factual than poetic.  You get to know the characters much in the same way you get to know people in real life, through conversations.  There aren’t many people who reveal everything about themselves when you first meet them.  You need to foster the relationship, talk, get to know them, and I felt that Ms. Close handled that beautifully.  I just wish she had focused more on Isabella, Lauren, and Mary and less on the gaggle of friends constantly thrown at us.

Of the three main characters, I like Lauren the best.    I liked  her attitude.  The scene at Kristi’s bridal shower made me laugh.  I loved her spunk.  She wasn’t the only comic relief in Girls inWhite Dresses.  The novel was pickled in humor.  I laughed a lot.  And I especially enjoyed Lauren and Isabella’s story arch. 

It’s difficult to say if I would recommend this novel or not. I’m happy I read it, but I’m also happy I didn’t buy it.  It’s been on my TBR pile for a while and it’s my introduction to Jennifer Close.  I would definitely read her novels again, but they would be library books and not purchases.  

Final Take:  3/5
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Alice's Review: The Bride Wore Size 12

Summary: With her upcoming nuptials to PI Cooper Cartwright only weeks away, Heather's already stressed. And when a pretty junior turns up dead, Heather's sure things can't get worse and every student in the dorm where she works is a possible suspect, and Heather's long-lost mother shows up.  Heather has no time for a tearful mother and bride reunion. She has a wedding to pull off and a murder to solve. Instead of wedding bells, she might be hearing wedding bullets, but she's determined to bring the bad guys to justice if it's the last thing she does . . . and this time, it just might be. ~ powells.com

Review:  The start of The Bride Wore Size 12 finds Heather happily engaged and soon to be married to her true love Cooper Cartwright.  It’s also the start of the new school year and of course that means a new set of challenges for Heather and her crew at Fisher Hall.

When I started reading this novel, I questioned whether I would keep reading this series.  How many people have to die in this dorm before they finally shut this thing down?  It felt a bit repetitive and done.  However, as I kept reading, I knew why I’ll read as many Heather Wells novels as Meg Cabot writes.   That reason is simple… I just adore Heather Wells.  Meg Cabot created a winner with her.  She’s quirky, funny, with a big heart and great friends, and the kind of life that constantly keeps her on her toes.  And I love, LOVE, her relationship with Cooper.  The more I read, the more I liked that this installment focused more on Heather and her friends and less on the actual mystery, which truth be told, was underwhelming.  By the end of the novel, I nearly forgot about Heather’s sleuthing skills and newest casualty at Death Dorm because the subplot was so good. 

I was glad to see the usual suspects back for this installment:   Magda is fantastic as usual, as is Gavin.  That kid genuinely cracks me up.  And it was nice to see a cameo by Canavan.  I love that he always tells it like it is and will forever have Heather’s back.  I also loved the introduction of Coop’s sisters, Jessica and Nicole. 

You don’t have to read the series to appreciate this novel but it does help.  The Size 12  novels (Size 12 Is Not Fat, Size 14 Is Not Fat Either, Big Boned, and Size 12 And Ready To Rock) are all quick reads.  They are perfect weekend books for winter when there isn’t a lot going on or you might be snowed in.   Although truth is unless you are a huge Meg Cabot fan, I would recommend picking them up at the library.   These are the kind of novels you read and share, rather than add to your personal library.  I can’t imagine picking them up to read again. 

I read that The Bride Wore Size 12 is the last installment of this series and if that is true, I am sad to see it go.  Life shouldn’t stop at happily ever after, especially if you’re Heather Wells.  Here’s hoping we see her again in the future.

Final Take:  4/5
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