Unremembered

Unremembered by Jessica Brody
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Amnesia is a tricky thing. It plays out oddly because it comes in such a variety of conditions - nobody ever really forgets everything they ever knew. It's often like reformatting a hard drive in that there's some kind of basic structure set up. People usually remember what most objects are and have a cursory knowledge of what's going on and why and how.

It's also a clever plot device. In this case, it works as the basis for a great sci-fi story about Violet, an amnesiac girl who is the lone survivor of a plane crash. She wakes up in the water surrounded by bodies and one of her first thoughts after being found is "what's a plane?" She's only 16 so she's placed with a foster family after a couple of days in the hospital. She finds that numbers comfort her and that she always wants to run away from trouble. She has no feel for societal cues in interaction, which is always entertaining in its honesty no matter the story. And then there's the strange boy who keeps showing up no matter where she is, telling her she needs to remember. It's kind of creepy.

She has violet eyes, so everyone calls her Violet. Then she learns her name is Sera, short for Seraphina.

Jessica Brody did some smart things with this book. Because amnesia is such a spotty thing, she covered a lot of plot holes with it. There were times I wondered why Sera would remember some things and not others. But overall I have to admit that what seemed like an inconsistency could be attributed to overall amnesia. Points to the author for that.

You'd think this book is all about Sera finding out who she is, and it is. But as the story unfolds it becomes much more sci-fi, well done because it's not overly predictable. Although I wasn't surprised by the way the plot went, I was somewhat ever-so-slightly-surprised by the twist at the end. It's a good hook to continue the rest of the series.

The secondary characters here are interesting and likable. Zen is a bit exaggerated, but that's probably because I thought he was a lot more mature when we first meet him. Violet/Sera's foster family is delightful and her foster brother, the geeky Cody, provides some funny moments. He's a thirteen year old boy who's written really well. In fact, all the characters are written well except for maybe the villains, who are rather one-dimensional. There's a showdown near the end with the bad guy that seems slightly cliche. For as clever as the plot is with the whole amnesia thing, solving it edges on cliched, predictable territory. It's not enough to derail things, though. My hunger for the next book is sufficiently whetted.

On audio, this book is narrated by Julia Whelan. I'm not a huge fan of her style because I don't think it works for every book she does. But she was great for Unremembered. I don't care overmuch for the way she voices male characters because it sounds forced. But it wasn't distracting enough to drop the audio and continue in print.

Overall this was a great read. It's light enough to enjoy and complex enough to stay interesting. And it was memorable, which is remarkable for a book about amnesia.


View all my reviews

Someone Like You

Someone like You by Addison Moore


I regret that I had to DNF this one at about 20%. On audio the narration is wonderful from Kate Rudd & Luke Daniels. But a couple of things bugged me.

First off, Ally (the main character) vascillates between "I want him he's so hot" and "I hate him for no good reason." Hot, cold. Hot, cold. Make up your mind already!

Secondly, the scenes are really drawn out. In the beginning of the book Ally is set to go on stage as a stripper. She's going on, she's not. This is a bad idea so she's going to change her mind. But she doesn't. She steels herself with champagne and nearly falls down and nearly throws up. But she doesn't fall down, she stumbles. Then finally she falls. She never does throw up. I hate being led down a path thinking something's going to happen only to find that it doesn't. That's manipulating me as a reader and is something I detest.

Lastly, the way this is written. So many metaphors! It's clever for a chapter or so. But beyond that, it just got old. Really quickly. As in I quit listening at about 20% (2 hours).

I wanted to like this a lot; it's a good premise. But sadly, it just fell flat for me.



View all my reviews

Under Different Stars

Under Different Stars by Amy A. Bartol
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

That cover and that title. It promises a great story and boy does it deliver.

This really was a cover buy for me. I couldn't resist it when I met the author and had her sign the book. I put it on my shelf, thinking 'oh, she's a self-published author and it might be good and might not, likely not.' Nine months later when I saw that it was out on audio and narrated by Kate Rudd, I decided I'd give it a go. Kate Rudd is a well-known, experienced voice actor. There was no amateur narrating here.

What a surprise! I find self-published authors to be rather hit and miss - and this is a bullseye. It ranks right up there with all the great urban fantasies from the big publishing houses. In fact, they're foolish to have passed on this one.

This is the story of Kricket. She's a runaway foster kid, having been orphaned at age six and shuffled from one home to the next. At sixteen she got fed up with the system and struck out on her own. We meet her at her job as a janitor. She has a dependable, good group of friends and a roommate who works at a bar. Because she's underage, the bar pays her (under the table) to clean up and run supplies up and down from the basement. She's got a fairly good gig going and soon, when she's eighteen, she can stop hiding from Social Services and move on with her life.

And she's got an uncanny knack of knowing when people are lying. It works every time.

While on the train going home from work, some wealthy guys in trench coats find her. They insist she come with them and she's having none of it, lying about her name and where she's from. As she's technically a runaway, she's not about to own up to who she really for fear of being put back into the system. Later that night she's approached by another guy in a dark coat and she runs again, right into the arms of the first guy. He kidnaps her and the story goes from there.

Kricket is established from the start as a capable, strong character. She's independent and feisty and smart. She's easy to like. She doesn't take foolish chances or make dumb mistakes, which is refreshing. Oftentimes an author will write a character like Kricket but then have her behave in short-sighted, idiot ways that endanger herself and others. Not so here. She gets hurt in real-life ways that disable her - she doesn't just keep going for some ridiculous "oh I can't give up" reason. She's tough but is willing to admit when she's had enough. When she faints or gets tired, it isn't overly dramatic. There is depth to her without all the damsel-in-distress rescues. Bartol also initially gives us a physical description of Kricket as a tall girl, 5'10", with blonde hair. She's not devastatingly gorgeous, just average, moderately pretty. But when she gets to Ethar, it's like she's gone to giant land. Everyone is taller and as the gravity is less, they're stronger on the whole - and of course they're all exceptionally beautiful while she's just ok. Kricket becomes the small girl that everyone wants to rescue. It's a fun change because Bartol plays that standard YA heroine both ways.

Trey, the other main character and love interest, is a soldier. He's confident, in charge, quick to action. He has a mission to collect Kricket and bring her back to his home world, Ethar. It's pretty clear from the outset that he likes her. But Bartol was smart to make this character a soldier; oddly, it alleviates most of the hero-rescuing-the-damsel problem. It's in his military interests to keep her safe, so whenever she isn't, he makes sure she is. From the outset he's a competent leader of a small band of soldiers. He delegates much of the saving of Kricket to them; he knows she's valuable and he's got a mission to accomplish. Getting her there in one piece is important but he's focused more on the getting there than having her in one piece.

But don't get me wrong, there's clearly a romance developing here. It progresses at a nice pace, neither rushed or needlessly protracted. The fact that Trey's a focused, disciplined Army Major just makes him more appealing. It's fun to see the interplay of his impatience with Kricket and his more than obvious attraction to her.

The secondary characters of Jax and Wayra are very entertaining. They add a wit and charm to the story that just enhances the action. Although Kricket gets a translator injected, much of the language the guys use is foreign. The way they explain things and the vernacular they use are just funny most of the time, especially because they talk and joke like typical men who are soldiers.

The bad guy is painted rather grey; we don't like him but he does have his merits. Kricket gets caught in the middle of a lot of political maneuvering and is forced to make difficult choices. Soon the villain, although clearly a villain, becomes just one of a few villains. The complication makes things lively.

The ending is a good one, satisfying while readying things for the next book in the series. It certainly was enough to whet my appetite for the next book. The audio is so well done, only enhancing the action. Since I have the print book I went back a few times and just re-read what I'd heard. As a person who primarily listens to books rather than read the print, I found this to be better on audio. Kate Rudd is able to put us right in the middle of the action, distinguishing each character's voice. What a pleasure this was.

I hope this series gets more hype, because it really does deserve it. It's a great story, well-written and more people should be enjoying it. If indeed it was pitched to a publisher and they turned it down, it was their loss.




View all my reviews

Lies Beneath

Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

MacLeod Andrews has now officially made me very afraid of mermaids.

Lies Beneath is aptly titled; it is a very dark book. The mermaids in it are monsters who rob humans of their positive emotions while drowning them. They are also very particular about their promises and agreements - it is highly unwise to break one. They are vicious and not only are they not forgiving, they hold grudges. In this case, a "family" of mermaids are pretty upset about their mother's death and are seeking vengeance on one Jason Hancock.

I loved that this book was told from Calder's perspective. He's a typical guy with three crazy sisters, often the only one thinking with a level head. Oddly, when I read mermaid I thought girl - so this was a nice departure. The book starts off with Calder being called home from the Caribbean to Lake Superior, MI and nagged to death by his oldest sister Maris. He's resentful and brooding, joining with his sisters in their mission to avenge their mother's death. But Calder is a little different in that he wasn't born a mermaid, he was created one. He's the key player in the plan to kill Jason Hancock, but Maris isn't happy with how long it's taking. So she takes matters into her own hands and skews Calder's plan.

As the romance develops between Lily Hancock and Calder, the characters of Pavoti and Maris are further explored. The way the character development worked overall with the world building was done extremely well; it never felt like info-dumping for the sake of furthering the plot along. There were twists throughout, making the book unpredictable. And the romance was nicely handled, unfolding slowly and appropriately.

On audio, the book is narrated by MacLeod Andrews. He is quickly becoming one of my favourite voice actors. He was able to give Calder a wry humor that really defined Calder's character. He didn't really distinguish the voices of the women vocally, but they were each distinct in Andrews' phrasing. Overall the narration just enhanced the story and made it more appealing.

This first book in the series is the only one available on audio. Hopefully the successive books will be released, because this is an interesting story that Andrews could only make better.



View all my reviews

Captive (The Blackcoat Rebellion #2)

Captive by Aimee Carter
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This sequel to Pawn (The Blackcoat Rebellion #1)? Good try. A for effort.

Captive continues the story of Kitty Doe, who lives in a caste society where your status is determined by an aptitude test and then tattooed onto the back of your neck. Because of some political issues involving the purported death of the daughter of a ranking government official, Kitty is kidnapped and her rank is changed. She is "masked" to look just like the daughter and set up as a puppet to further a corrupt official's quest for power.

This second installment involves Kitty's demand to both be able to bring down the corruption and further a brewing rebellion. She gets into a lot of trouble and sent to a prison camp. More trouble ensues and Kitty continues to work to help the rebels.

Kitty is the most frustrating, irritating, brainless main character ever. She's resourceful, but she's also impulsive and short-sighted. People in charge trust her and she manages to betray that trust time and time again in the interest of doing a good, useful thing. She never seems to learn from her mistakes - or even pay for them! She's stubborn and rebellious for the sake of being stubborn and rebellious; it continues to mystify me throughout this story as to why any of the secondary characters would bother to pay any attention to her at all.

The plot follows a great arc; the story is solid. The world building is average. This has all the potential for another interesting fantasy, but it is completely ruined by this main character. She is surrounded by good secondary characters who are infinitely more interesting (and capable and smarter) than her. This makes her actions even more pointless and rash, throwing the whole thing off.

The love interest is bland and given no power. Even the impact of the villains are diminished by their trust in Kitty Doe. This is really a shame, because many of the secondary characters are so strong. In fact, the rebellion itself is strong. Sadly, even those characters in control of it question Kitty's involvement and the necessity to keep her involved. When they don't trust her, why should we as readers?

With a strong main character this book would have been amazing. As it is, it is marginal. Aimee Carter seems to be able to write a great story - but her main characters need work. This is a missed opportunity that is just a waste. The story is strong enough to warrant reading the last book in the series; hopefully Kitty Doe will have undergone a major personality change and be smart and responsible. Probably not, but we can always hope.

View all my reviews

Between the Lines

Between the Lines by Tammara Webber
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Ever wonder what happens on the set of a movie with young, hot stars? Somebody should make a movie about that. Or write a book - which is exactly what this is.

I wasn't sure about this one going in; I'd had my eye on the series for awhile because I like the author's other series, Contours of the Heart. I didn't know just how high-school-soap-opera-drama this would get. Sometimes books of that genre are so exaggerated that they edge into the ridiculous territory. I generally prefer my books sans eye-rolling.

However, this was a pleasant surprise. Soap opera drama yes, but not in a bad or overdone way. Emma is a young actress who's been relatively successful. She's also just a normal girl with a normal best friend. Her life is full of being on movie sets and doing commercials, but she's pretty level-headed about it. She seems grounded, which is refreshing. She gets a big break to be in a major movie starring Reid, who is The Hot Guy Right Now. She's an innocent when it comes to celebrity, he's an old pro. He's also a selfish, self-centered player who uses people and things. There are other major cast members and while we get Emma's first-person perspective, the whole cast of the movie is central.

I liked the character of Emma a lot. She's really more unfamiliar than wide-eyed and that made her believable. This is a character-driven book, so we get a lot of the personal interaction and not as much of the movie acting. Reid is so obviously a jerk - and again, Emma is believable because 1-she knows he's a jerk and a player and 2-she's innocent enough to be flattered and somewhat level-headed when he pursues her. There is family drama, best friend drama, previous relationship drama - and yet it all plays out in a way that doesn't seem forced or trite.

This book feels realistic. Probably the best thing it does is dismantle celebrity. There's a nice romance (or two or three), some characters to love, some to hate, some to root for, some to pity, all of whom are entertaining. It moves along nicely on schedule with the filming of the movie.

The ending sets up nicely for a sequel. This is one of those series that sneaks up on you; even though I wasn't blown away by the story, I find myself thinking about the characters several days after having finished the book. I find myself wanting to keep going with the series. A good book is a memorable one.

On audio the book is narrated by Kate Rudd and Todd Haberkorn. They give the story a voice and presence that enhances it. They made it all the more enjoyable.



Tammara Webber has quickly become one of my go-to authors. It's nice to know that when she publishes something new, I know it will be worth reading.

View all my reviews

A Thousand Pieces of You

A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Move over, time travel. Parallel universes are where it's at.

Who among us doesn't love to think about how life might be in a parallel dimension? The possibilities are endless and varied, as Claudia Gray has so aptly shown. A Thousand Pieces of you is one part sci-fi, one part historical, two parts romance and one part murder mystery. And it all works together to make a great story.

Marguerite is our main character. Her parents are both physics professors and her mother invented a device called The Firebird. This enables a person's consciousness to jump into alternate universes, inhabiting the duplicate person there. The parents also have two grad students, Theo and Paul, both treated like members of the family.

Everything begins with Marguerite mourning the death of her father and chasing his killer across an alternate dimension in London. Marguerite and Theo are chasing Paul, the alleged murderer. Things are interesting and get even more interesting as the three jump from dimension to dimension.Things stay interesting because of the differences in the universes, all caused by the choices made there. One can have flying cars and transporters while another can be just entering the industrial revolution. Another could be as similar to the universe of origin with only slight changes, like the color of a shirt or paint on a wall.

Gray handles the science of all this relatively well, although I did have a few problems with it. In stories like this, an author needs to establish certain rules and stick to them. This is tricky at times because of the way things need to be explained. Plot holes can occur when an author breaks her own rules.

This happens a few times. For example the Firebird is worn as a locket around the neck. Gray established a rule of travel wherein physical objects can't transfer; only energy can go between dimensions, hence the travel of the consciousness of a person and not the actual physical person. There are no dopplegangers in the dimensions when they travel. But, the Firebird travels with the characters and appears as a physical object around their necks. So do physical objects transfer or not?

Another problem arises in separating the Firebird from a traveler. It causes the traveler to forget who they are and allow the person in that universe to stay the same. Otherwise the traveler is in control - except where does the person in that universe go? This was never adequately explained other than to say that the person had no memory of the traveler inhabiting their body. This rule was broken when one of the travelers was separated from his Firebird - and yet he had memories of the person he was inhabiting while that person was in control.

Also lacking an explanation was the way the travelers were able to track one another and even direct their travel. Apparently this was just something the Firebird could do - but how? Was it a setting on the device? Did it communicate with the traveler somehow? It never made much sense to me.

Beyond the rule breaking, there were some conflicts in the way the main character behaved. There were times that Marguerite wasn't proactive in changing her circumstances. She had a mission to continue to search for her father's killer - but for a big chunk of the story she just waited around until events aligned rather than going out and making things happen. To some degree this was limited by the societal rules and limitations of dimension she was in. But it seemed contradictory to me because she was so committed to her goal. Granted, doing this within the plot allowed for the exploration of one particular dimension and lent to character development and the establishing of the romance. It was interesting and exciting. But for me, it seemed contradictory to Marguerite's character on the whole.

The overall character development here is great, especially because you have varying versions of each person. Death is relative; someone may die in one universe but be alive in the next - so how does that affect the grief process? Gray capitalizes on the similarities and differences in each person to further enhance the plot. It makes for a story that it hard to put down.

In the end, this was a great story. There's no cliffhanger (thank you Claudia Gray!) but the ending certainly leaves room for the continuation of the series. It's a great idea executed relatively well, especially when plots like this are so tricky to achieve. I really liked it despite its problems. I'll be reading the sequels.


View all my reviews

Firefight (The Reckoners #2)

Firefight by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Brandon Sanderson has done it again. This book is fabulous.

Firefight continues the story of David Charleston, Amateur Reckoner with Potential and Inventor of Creative Metaphors. This character is probably my favourite of all time; he's smart and creative while being impulsive and rash, even bumbling at times. And above all else, he's really funny.

This second book in the series continues with the characters we met in Steelheart and a few new ones added in. David continues to get smarter and bolder, but it's really Megan whose character really develops and changes. We also get to know Prof a lot better and meet some new, devious Epics. This book is full of extremes and yet not; while the Epics tend to polarize the situations, they are never completely bad guys. Their intentions are always brought into question, making them complicated and thereby interesting.

The plot here is wonderful. While Steelheart had a dark, ominous feel to it, this book has instead a lighter tone. New Babylon (New York City) has been flooded completely and is painted with bright colours and plants. Things glow in the dark and the weather is warm. People have parties amid the destruction that happens. It feels like a new story that really could stand on its own; there's no middle book syndrome here. Just when you think the situation is impossible and/or inescapable, Sanderson throws in some unexpected event and things go haywire all over again. People die but aren't really dead, get mortally injured but don't die, get shot at and just when you think they were killed, they teleport themselves away. It is a crazy comic book at its best.

The book on audio is narrated by MacLeod Andrews and he is fantastic. He embodies David and the emotion he gives to the action scenes place the listener right there in the center of the action. The expressions he uses with the dialogue are spot on. He really made this book a pleasure.

Overall I have no criticisms of this book at all. How can you fault a story that begins with a reluctant hero chasing a supervillain who's shooting lighting bolts at him while he fights back with cherry kool-aid-filled water balloons? This book is a must-read for action lovers. Even Grammar Nazis will get a good laugh.

View all my reviews

After Math

After Math by Denise Grover Swank
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book surprised me. It was a freebie, not well known and my expectations were low. I find that NA romances are so common that it becomes hit and miss to find the gems. But this one is definitely one of them gems.

The standard NA novel usually has either a positive, fairytale tone or a dark, gritty tone. This had a nice mix of both, which was the biggest surprise of all because you'd think it wouldn't work. But it really does. It is the story of Scarlett, who turned out to be somewhat of a contradiction for me. She grew up in a trailer park with an alcoholic mom, expected to follow in both her mother's and sister's footsteps and be pregnant by age 16. She saw a way out when she discovered how much she loves math. This led to a scholarship and prospects for a far better life. You'd expect this to be a girl who's confident and outgoing.

So the first surprise for me - she's not confident at all. Rather, she struggles with panic attacks and an anxiety disorder. She does math to calm herself down, which, when you think about it, makes sense. It's numbers and logic and equations with set answers that follow order. When panic overwhelms you, it only follows that structure would be calming.

Scarlett is kind of blackmailed into tutoring the campus boy-who-likes-to-play, Tucker Price. He's a soccer star and general screw-up who's partied himself into academic probation and a possible loss of his soccer scholarship. He's a pretty self-absorbed jerk. No surprise there.

But Scarlett sees a connection with him and as corny as that sounds, it works. Their relationship grows slowly and ends up being a pretty good story.

The next surprise for me was how smart this book was. The story could be entirely cliche and predictable and while the plot is predictable, the writing that gets you there is not. The dialogue is witty without trying too hard. At one point Scarlett may be helping a very drunk Tucker back home, but I didn't expect that he'd puke along the way. Somehow that seemed out of place in this kind of story and yet not out of place in context - novels like this may be gritty, but this one just had a tone that led me to believe that things wouldn't get quite that realistic. A swoon-worthy guy isn't usually seen puking his guts out along a sidewalk.

Another surprise was the romance. It didn't get overly graphic as these sorts of novels go. But that's just it - it didn't need to get overly graphic in order to tell the story. That's not to say that there weren't "sexy times," because there were. But they weren't really a play-by-play, and here that was smart storytelling.

The epilogue is pretty standard in that it sets up the next book in the series. But again, it isn't overly indulgent. It might be cliche but at least it's tempered. And it is a nice setup for one of the side characters without giving everything away.

I'm impressed. It's not often you find a NA author showing some restraint and telling a story you expect in an unexpected way. The best thing a book can do for me is surprise me and this one did just that. Some might see this as lacking depth; I just found it refreshing. I hope the next book in the series is told as well as this one was.



View all my reviews

Parallel

Parallel by Claudia Lefeve


I began this on audio (narrated by Sienna Beckman) and although the narration was very good, the story - not so much. I got through about half of it and then switched to Kindle, then skimmed through to the end. That's the reason I'm not giving this book a star rating.

The premise here was good. Orphan girl gets spirited away to a parallel universe where her life is much better. There's a missing dad. There are the changes between the worlds. There's something "else" going on. There are paranormal abilities.

And then there's all the high school drama. That's where this author lost me. I felt like it just dumbed the book down and reduced it to a silly soap opera. There were supernatural things happening but they felt thrown in for effect and convenience rather than adding to the story. The romance was good, the love triangle was terrible (terrible!), and I never did get a good bead on the characters. Especially the main character - Etta started out being a smart, capable, street-savvy girl. That seemed to end when she jumps to the parallel world. She's expected to suddenly cope with a whole new world around her. And she does and nobody suspects anything? If anything, this should have made her extraordinary. Instead, it was just unbelievable.

I really do respect the time and effort an author puts into a book. This was a good try, but just fell flat for me. I won't be continuing with the series - and yet I hope this author is able to mature in her writing. It just needs to be smarter and less cluttered.

View all my reviews

The Snow Child

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Snow Child is a modern retelling of Snegurochka, a Russian fairytale about a girl made from snow who comes to life.

This is a rich story told in a sparse, clean way. It is cold but not in the sense that it is unfeeling or austere. It's just set amid cold weather, snow and ice and the beauty of Alaska. It encompasses all of winter in its raw, crystalline grandeur.

Things unfold from a rather depressing beginning. Mabel is barren, having lost a child to stillbirth. She knows the joy of carrying a child but has been robbed of motherhood. This is a deep, deep pain generally misunderstood by women are mothers. It is the denial of the one thing that makes a woman what she is: the ability to have children. Mabel is on her way to commit suicide when we meet her. She's stranded in the Alaskan wilderness with little prospects of survival for herself and her husband. She decides to drown herself in a river, then after some consideration, decides she just can't do it.

The only real consolation for Mabel is her relationship with Jack, her husband. One night they are awakened briefly out of their dull, flat life, seized with some frivolity in the snow. They build a snowman, a snow child outfitted with mittens and a scarf, her face carved into the icy snow. The next morning they rise to find that the mittens and scarf have been stolen and the snow child knocked down. And they spy color and movement in the trees. This turns out to be Faima, a girl who lives in the wilderness. Their relationship with her develops and the story continues from there.

This is a pioneer story. Things aren't really pretty or nice. Ivey has contrasted a hardscrabble life in the Alaskan wilderness with the beauty of winter here. And while the plot is an uplifting story overall, there is a tone of caution in it, a hesitation to really accept happiness amid the joy that is happening. Mabel and Jack are the epitome of this balance; they find themselves acting like parents to a child that is not theirs. It happens slowly and grows, taking us as readers on their journey from despair to hope. It is an amazing character study of two people who go from remote and disconnected (by choice, in order to heal) to contented and encircled by neighbors and friends that they love and that love them.

This book has won numerous awards and deservedly so. It's one of those stories that, when you finish it, you know you've been changed by it. It's not full of sweetness - but it is full of overwhelming beauty. It's happy and sad and wonderful and terrible and leaves you with a feeling of being glad you read it.

On audio, it is narrated by Debra Monk. Her voice is one that can sound dull and emotionless - but that's perfect for this story. She isn't overly emotional or bright. Having said that, she did make the characters who were bright and happy sound like just that. Her voice for Esther was the best. She really captured a woman who lives on the prairie surrounded by boys and men. And her voice for Mabel was perfect; reserved, cautious, hesitant to hope. Faima was also perfect, with a light, fairy-like, almost transparent sound. Monk gave yet another layer of depth to the story.

This needs to be read in winter. Even better if you live in or are visiting Alaska - it will change you in a way that life in Alaska does. It is brilliant.




View all my reviews

The Ace of Skulls (Tales of the Ketty Jay #4)

The Ace Of Skulls by Chris Wooding
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'm not even sure what to say about this final installment to the Ketty Jay series.

Pirates. Battles. Pirates. Secrets. Pirates. Supernatural creatures. Magic. Pirates. Great love. Great loss. Pirates. More battles. Even more battles. Action. Ships falling from the sky. Big guns. Small guns. Lots of blood. Lots and lots of blood. Death. Destruction. Cool magic objects. A cutlass. Ghostbuster packs. Pirates. And a couple of pirate cats.

What an incredible book. What an incredible series! This needs it's own movie, graphic novel, tv series and at the very least a video game. Or all of those. Chris Wooding is a genius. The only thing better would be a team of Wooding and Joss Whedon.

One last word: amazing.

View all my reviews

Here

Here by Ella James
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wow. I certainly didn't see this one coming.

This is the story of Milo, whose parents live in Colorado and are invested in the counter-culture there. Her dad designed wind turbines and her mother's a sculptor. Milo is at about the mid-point of the school cliques; she's well-liked but not popular. She's 17 and somewhat hesitant about life in general. When her dad dies of leukemia, she kind of freaks out. We meet her after some time has passed and she's been dealing with his death for awhile. She connects with him by continuing some of his work - part of which was tagging mule dear for the government. While out one day doing just this, she experiences something strange as she's shooting a fawn to tag. A boy appears, laughing, wearing a tuxedo and clutching a red whistle. He has no memory of who he is or how he got there. So the story becomes their quest to find the answers to his appearance and for him to get his memory back.

This was a page turner, so to speak (I listened to it on audio). There were glimpses of what was going on, but James kept enough suspense going for us to stay glued to the story, wanting to know what happens next. The slow, steady reveal of the mystery was paced perfectly. I had a lot of ideas about who this boy was and none of them were exactly right. So as to predictability, this hit the mark on surprising me with the action.

The characters in this story were the real strength of it. Milo speaks like a 17-year old girl would speak. She reacts in a realistic manner. She isn't easily swayed or willing to depart from the real world in her thinking. She really works through problems and considers her friendships. She behaves like a true 17-year old trying to figure out the situation; she doesn't magically get ideas or plans. She starts where we'd start. The nice thing about this is that she didn't come across as naive or clueless. She was just so . . . normal.

Nick was also a deeply interesting character. As we find out who he is, the way he is begins to make more sense. He's as confused about things as anyone is. But he's also frightened by things about himself that he doesn't understand, like a regular teenaged boy would be.

The plot was a great one. The bad guys slowly enter the picture without being major players that hijack the story. The ending sets up the conflict for the next book beautifully. And it is a whopper of a cliffhanger, leaving us dying to know what's going to happen next.

The book was narrated by Allison McLemore and Eric Michael Summerer. Alilison was able to capture Milo's voice perfectly. Her expression built Milo's character in a beautiful way. Eric tended to sound a bit stiff, but it was appropriate for the character overall. Both voice actors did a great job and made the book better. They were excellent choices for narrators.

All in all, this was far better written than your run-of-the-mill indie author. I was really impressed. This story is sticking with me. I loved it.

View all my reviews

Trapped (Here Trilogy #2)

Trapped by Ella James
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ella James has surprised me again. This continuation of the Here series picks up with a bang.

There's no break in the action as Trapped picks up right where Here ended. There is a new character, Vera, who throws a bit of snark and humor into the mix. The action really picks up in this one. Our characters are on the run from the bad guys and end up getting caught. Sadly, the book descends into the common trope of the humans being the stereotypical "we are going to slice you up and study you" sort. Milo is also held captive. But here's where the realism steps away somewhat. It tends to get unbelievable here - not in a bad way, but in a common way. Where the first book Here was really inventive, this book is more about the characters dealing with the circumstances. Although Nick and Milo behave like normal teenagers, the whole science fiction aspect of the story is really pronounced. The realistic feel is sacrificed for action scenes, which move the plot along. I didn't mind overall because I liked where it was going.

With the introduction of Vera, we get a much broader back story of Nick. Who he is and why is explained much more in depth. And in this, James is able to keep Nick a sympathetic character in the way he explains things to Milo. He never is condescending but struggles to find the appropriate language to communicate concepts. Milo spends much of the book being intrigued by Nick and scared of him. And along the way she falls in love with him, which also plays into the story in a beautiful way. The relationship they began in the first book continues and grows in this book. Personal wants are set aside for the bigger cause. But the romance isn't sacrificed. It gets pretty sticky, which provided the tension that kept things going until the plot twist at the end. I thought I had the whole thing figured out only to be surprised yet again. This book is anything but predictable in that way.

Allison McLemore narrates this book as well as the first one. She has wonderful expression in the way she relates the characters. Her phrasing is spot on. My only criticism of her (and it is a small one) is that when a character is screaming or yelling, the narrator should also be doing that. Narrators seem reluctant to do that in many cases. They kind of "whisper yell," which lightens an otherwise tense situation. This was the case in some of the scenes in this book. Overall, some of the intensity was lost.

That said, the narration was again excellent. It made the book better.

There is talk of a third book in this series, but the author is apparently busy with other projects. This sequel took two years to follow the first book, which was a shame since the first book ended on such a cliffhanger. The ending here wasn't convenient or simple, but it did leave things open for another book. This story isn't finished. Hopefully James will take time to write the third book and finish the series. Milo and Nick's story is definitely not finished. I look forward to what comes next.



View all my reviews

What's Left of Me (Hybrid Chronicles #1)

What's Left of Me by Kat Zhang
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I had really high hopes for this story - which is probably why I'm so disappointed. It's not always good to go into a book that's recommended expecting to like it.

The premise for this story is great. Two souls are born into every one body. By the time the person is around 10 years old, they "settle" and one of the souls becomes more dominant and the other fades. Sometimes both souls stay intact, and those people are referred to as hybrids. Hybrids, although common throughout the world, threaten the American society and when discovered are sent to psychiatric institutions to be healed. Drugs and surgery are involved. And of course this is a bad thing that must be stopped and the government overthrown.

The story is told from the point of view of Eva, who is the non-dominant soul in the body where Addie is dominant. Eva hasn't faded completely although she doesn't have any motor control of the body they share. Addie is clearly the dominant soul and the person that everyone sees. Eva starts out as shy and hesitant, becoming stronger as the book progresses. The way her character develops is steady, but this is probably due to the fact that we hear the story from her perspective. Addie clearly loves her other half but isn't consistent. While she's supposed to be dominant, she seems to acquiesce to Eva pretty easily. Maybe it's natural to the story for her to recede a bit, but it seemed that her character developed backward. The idea here was to even things out so that both characters had equal control of the body (as did several of the side characters). But it just didn't work for me.

None of the side characters were well-developed, which was a shame. This is probably due to the fact that the premise dictates that each person is really two people, which meant there were a lot of characters. By the end, it got a bit tricky trying to keep track of which ones were connected.

Does all this sound complicated? It was. And that's the biggest downfall of this book for me. It just tried to be too many things.

As to the plot, we have Eva/Addie dealing with life in a psychiatric hospital. There were so many inconsistencies here that I just lost interest after awhile. The hospital is apparently a cross between a boarding school, a prison and a psych ward. But apparently the kids in it were able to fool guards and get away with a lot of running around. In a secure facility? There were nurses and guards everywhere, but they were all adults and they were all pretty stupid. The suspense of the breaking into and breaking out of and general sneaking around was very weak, and this because the adults were painted as bumbling bad guys. There's a mad scientist-type, a sympathetic/conflicted woman doctor, several nondescript board members and one bad guy. The bad guy was seemingly some kind of government official. Even Eva/Addie's parents betrayed her, which should have been heart-wrenching. Instead it was just bland because the relationship between them was so watery.

Things built to a big climax (albeit unbelievably) and then just fell flat. There's the hint of a romance, but it didn't make any sense at all since there were two people in each body. In fact, the idea that two people had to get along in one body was just never really fully explored. There was the hint of a look at this problem through the eyes of Eva and Addie, but only a hint. There just weren't enough internal conversations combined with actions to flesh it out. The action scenes just weren't believable; the big showdown was shallow and the post-climactic scenes were without direction.

The one word that stands out to me with this book is bland. It's like a watered down version of a good dystopian. It's so disappointing because it had such great potential. It may get better with the successive books in the series, but not for me, especially when I struggled to finish this one. I need my stories rich and diverse and this was just the imitation of one, all appearance and no depth.

View all my reviews

Never Never

Never Never by Colleen Hoover
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is like a taste of something really good - that just leaves you wanting more.

Colleen Hoover can really develop characters nicely. Not having read anything by Tarryn Fisher I didn't know what to expect - but I have to say that if this is what the combination turns up, then it's a great writing team. They seem to play well off one another's strengths.

In terms of story development and plot, it's interesting. Hoover hasn't gone paranormal before. Again, I haven't read Fisher but she's gone into the whole memory-loss thing with her Love Me with Lies series. Her characters seem edgy; they're not the nice girl next door by any means. The backdrop of New Orleans and the whole occult culture there is the perfect setting for the mystery of it. There's a side character mentioned briefly, and I have my suspicions that she's the catalyst in the story. I wonder if this will follow a plot line similar to Beauty and the Beast - less than savory characters have to change for lives to improve. Maybe the beast in this story is the state of their lives.

As far as romance, this is very YA. These are regular high school kids. The mystery and paranormal aspects of the story really overshadow the romance at this point in the story. But don't be fooled - there's still a heavy dose of romance developing here.

There's a major cliffhanger, so it might be advisable to wait until the whole story is complete before reading it. For the rest of us, we need that sequel now. Immediately. As in, yesterday. Colleen Hoover has hooked us and it will be torture waiting for the next installment.

View all my reviews

My Favourite Mistake

My Favorite Mistake by Chelsea M. Cameron
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a book I really wanted to love. Turns out I was infatuated and ended up only sort-of liking. But I'm not ready to break up with Chelsea Cameron just yet.

This is the typical college romance with a good premise. Girl with tragic past gets assigned a roommate who's a guy with an equally tragic past. Girl throws a fit, boy is immediately infatuated, romance ensues. There's a lot of potential here. The side characters are likable enough and the setting is good. So what went wrong?

My major problem with this book was the character development. Although the female protagonist is off-putting at first, I expected to come to like her. I never did; she was just an angry girl who needed to at least want to get past her tragic childhood circumstances. I never got the sense that she really liked the guy who seemed to be giving her all the problems. There was no well-defined attraction between the two, which is a death sentence for a romance. I kept thinking she needed to get over herself and just give the guy a break.

The male protagonist was fun - very determined and confident. At least he was at first, because as the story progressed he got less and less solid and decidedly more of a doormat. He apologised entirely too much. He gave in way too often. He took responsibility for things that weren't his fault. He didn't stand his ground; he just put up with this girl's petulant attitudes in the interest of sticking it out until she fell for him. Where did the confident, determined guy go?

And then when the actual falling in love happens, it happens far too quickly. There is a very sweet scene that happens when they skip school one day. But it gets quickly shot down by the tragic past that makes a rude entrance. The behaviour that followed was just a little extreme, and the resolution of said behaviour was just not believable. It would have been if it there had been a different lead-in to it, but this girl just does a 180 degree turn from "I hate you" to "I love you" in about two sentences. There is also a bet between the two characters that just doesn't make any sense because it can't be proved. It's arbitrary according to the guy. This is even addressed in their discussion of the bet, but it's never resolved. The ending is very cute in terms of who wins the bet - but by the time it happens, it's pretty contrived and predictable.

Let me also address the cheese factor. Sometimes the dialogue between these two protagonists crossed into seriously high school/early teenaged behavior. Think "no, you hang up first." "No, you hang up first." "No, you." "No, you! (giggle)" Yeah - kind of wanted to kill myself at that point both because it was ridiculous and because it was unnecessary and mostly because it was out of character.

When it comes time to address the tragic past, things are totally overblown. The big emotional showdown scene is completely underwhelming and comments made about the villain are arbitrary. All we know is that this guy is a villain; we're supposed to immediately agree with the main character without any consideration of the villain as a person. This wouldn't be a problem if an offhanded comment weren't made about him, piquing my curiosity. Maybe the guy had a past that played into his crime? We'll never know.

This is by no means a horrible book, even with its flaws. It is a book that tried too hard to be too many things - angry girl, tragic circumstance, determined boy. It's all been executed better in other books by other authors. But that is not to say that Cameron's books won't improve. There's the potential here for her future books to be amazing. I'm up for another one. It will take more than one so-so telling for me to call it quits.



Author with great potential? Definitely. Great story? Not so much.

View all my reviews