Soulless (The Parasol Protectorate #1)

Soulless by Gail Carriger
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Forget everything you thought you knew about vampires and werewolves in the 19th century. Throw it right out the window, because this is the good stuff.

Appropriate societal behavior in the 19th century was very serious business. Manners were paramount in order to avoid offending a lady's "delicate sensabilities." Set it as the backdrop for a comedic romp with paranormal creatures and you get the magic that is Soulless.

Gail Carriger has taken the romantic trope of "I hate you but wait, I love you" and created characters to adore. They are what makes this book really shine. Alexia Tarabotti is a spinster - 26 years old and unmarried - and has olive skin and generous curves. She likes to eat. She is a person who is very self-assured, confident, and unwilling to accept that she has no value in society. That said, she has fallen victim to her family's perception of her as old, fat and ugly and has learned to compensate with aplomb. She is instantly relatable as a "real" person. We meet her as she is attacked by a rogue vampire and kills him by mistake.

Which then introduces us to her love interest, Lord Maccon, head of the police agency that handles the affairs of the paranormal folk. Carriger immediately reins us in by making the situation far more about the social impropriety of the situation rather than the details of the murder. Who cares about a murder victim when the alleged murderer was a woman alone in a library having tea? During a party? Unchaperoned? It is simply not done!

Lord Maccon is a Scottish werewolf, the combination of two "barbaric" qualities. The fun starts with the banter between he and Alexia when he comes to investigate the murder, setting the stage for the mystery and romance. Along with Maccon is his assistant Profession Lyall, who is sort of the Dr. Watson to Maccon's Sherlock. Lyall and Foote, the butler, are the "straight men" and provide part of the reason the two main characters are so funny. Ivy Hisselpenny is Alexia's honest and loyal but clueless friend. The villains are sufficiently evil and devious, there's a steampunk automaton and an American scientist. And the vampire Lord Akeldama completely steals the show with his flamboyance.

The plot isn't overly intricate here, just interesting enough to keep us reading. There were parts that slowed down but were necessary information for us. There was more romance in the story than I was expecting - and adult romance at that. While things don't get overly explicit, it is clear that these are adults behaving as such. The innuendo makes it both palatable and engaging. There is kidnapping and torture and a sort of mafia mentality with the groups of vampires and werewolves and their heads. Even the Queen Victoria makes an appearance.

On audio, the book is narrated by Emily Gray. Her voices for the characters were excellent, but the phrasing was slow. Because the language is such that you really have to pay attention to get the full effect, this made things boring at the start. Speeding up the narration to 1.5 or 2 times normal is advised to get the full ambience of the story.

This was just delightful. I cannot wait to get into the rest of the series and see just what mischief Ms. Tarrabotti gets herself into next.
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Burn Out

Burn Out by Kristi Helvig
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When the synopsis of this books says that Tora needs to "get the hell off the earth," it isn't kidding. This stubborn main character is going to die if she doesn't leave immediately. So she does leave, kicking and screaming, and what an adventure it is.

There was so much to love about this book - the characters, the plot, the non-stop action. It didn't cross the line into "amazing" territory, it almost got there. Tora, the main protagonist, is a gritty orphan with a chip on her shoulder. She's realistic about her prospects and living situation; she's pretty convinced she's going to die soon because of the conditions on the earth. The sun has gone supernova and has burned up most of the earth. What is habitable is either underground or in domes created for people until a new planet was found for them. Everyone has left when we meet Tora - her mother and sister died from exposure to the elements and her dad was murdered.

So she's alone in this bunker her dad built, trying to survive. Her dad's partner Markus shows up to rescue her, but he has a price. When she turns him down, he leaves and comes back - with friends. And the adventure begins with Tora defending her turf and then agreeing to leave the planet with this group of mercenaries.

The action here is palpable. It is fast-paced and relatively believable as science fiction goes. There's a lot of skulking about and people who come around corners shooting. There are crashes and escapes and rescues. It definitely holds interest.

But the real appeal of this book is the characters. They are such a diverse group and even better, who is on who's side? Who are the good guys among the bad guys? Are they really bad guys? Things get muddier and muddier in terms of who to trust. This made for some riveting plot turns.

But the book isn't perfect. There are some places where the actions of the group are somewhat questionable. Feelings among the group members tended to change quickly and sometimes without cause. One character tries to murder another and shortly thereafter are friends and compatriots. It pushed the limits of believability.

Even with its flaws, the book is a great read. On audio it is narrated by Suzy Jackson, who is quite good. Her voice for Tora is authentic and as a voice actor in general she was great.

The book didn't end on a true cliffhanger but it did leave me wanting the next book in the series. I'm in - I can't wait to see what happens to Tora next!

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If We Survive

If We Survive by Andrew Klavan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Dude, that was intense.

This is the story of Will Peterson, an average 16-year old sophomore in high school. He goes on a mission trip with his school and church friends to build a wall for a school in Costa Verde, a fictional country in Central America. On the last day of their trip a revolution breaks out. What follows is their struggle to stay alive and get back home.

Klavan is smart to tell the story through Will's narrative. He begins by describing each member of the team. This works especially well because Will's perception of each character changes through the course of events. One is a jerk until he's a hero. One is calm and mature under stress until she's giggling like a schoolgirl. One is an idealist until he begins to see what's really happening. One is a pacifist believe he will be heard until he is not. One is a shallow valley girl until she gets over herself.

There is suspense and real danger here. It is believable for the most part, at least in a fictional story sense. It is also Christian but not overtly so. Will has a rudimentary faith that gets expressed mostly in general way - like "please God get us out of here." The book isn't preachy at all. Rather, Will comes to appreciate the beauty of things amid the evils of men. His faith and general world view become much broader.

On audio, the book is narrated by Jeremy Johnson. He did a great job, but his phrasing was a bit too slow for my liking. Speeding it up by twice kept me riveted.

This is a scary book because it is possible and has even happened in some cases. Life is a dangerous business. It's a great suspenseful, action-packed read and I highly recommend it.

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Where You Are (Between the Lines #2)

Where You Are by Tammara Webber
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Emma, Graham, Reed and Brooke are all back again. The cast of School Pride continues on as the movie premiere approaches and things get a little bit sticky. And once again we have an innocent girl and a responsible boy vs. two really screwed up kids with entirely too much money and celebrity.

This is essentially the story of the romance between Emma and Graham. In the first book, we met Emma Pierce is a young ingenue. She gets a big break to star in a movie opposite Reed Alexander, the current hunk of the moment. In this sequel, she has decided to leave her successful film career behind and attend college at NYU. Having survived a failed romance while shooting the movie with Reed, she runs into Graham Douglas while visiting NYU. They had been friendly during the filming of the movie and upon meeting, quickly decide they feel a lot more than friendship. A romance ensues, complicated by Graham's young daughter Cara.

The story is told from four alternating points of view: Emma, Graham, Reed and Brooke. Reed is the spurned superstar, unbelieving that any girl could turn him away. Graham has always considered Brooke a good friend, saving her from disaster at times. When Brooke decides that she and Graham are meant to be despite Graham's disinterest, she enlists Reed's help to sabotage Graham's relationship with Emma. Things get interesting from there.

While this was supposed to really be Graham's story, he didn't take center stage. Instead, the focus is the struggle for honesty between he and Emma despite circumstantial evidence to the contrary. Brooke is devious and spiteful. While her actions are understandable, they are not sympathetic. Reed just wants to have what he can't have and freely admits how shallow this makes him. All these relationships are complicated. Even so, Webber is able to untangle the mess beautifully. The plot never lags and although things get a little crazy, well, it could happen, right?

On audio this book was made fabulous by Kate Rudd and Todd Haberkorn. These two are spectacular narrators. Haberkorn especially was able to give Reed a cocky swagger that would never have translated from the page to my brain. The turn of the phrase, the interpretations of the sentences, these were all acted rather than simply read. It was voice acting at its finest.

This is a full-on soap opera that just gets better. It will be interesting to see what Webber does next with the character of Brooke. Oh, the secrets we will uncover!

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Unleashed (Uninvited #2)

Unleashed by Sophie Jordan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sophie Jordan has taken some chances here and for some of us, it's paid off.

Unleashed is the sequel to Uninvited. This is a dystopian based on the idea that scientists have discovered a gene that is a marker for homicidal tendencies. Those who have the gene are segregated, imprisoned, branded and often killed. There's an evil corporation behind it all and the government is backing it. Davy, our protagonist, has escaped her circumstances in Uninvited and now is headed to Mexico to escape with her friends and her boyfriend Sean.

From the outset this romance is questioned. It's uncomfortable but understandable. When Davy gets separated from the group things change dramatically. We get to see a new side of things, a resistance group who has formed an underground railroad of sorts. We also get to see some characters who really are homicidal maniacs. It was nice to know that not everyone was mistakenly tagged. Davy is very clear in her view that everyone with the gene is either apt to commit violence or seriously dangerous. There was no whining here about how things weren't fair.

What took a serious turn here was the romance. Jordan took a big risk by separating the two romantic leads and introducing another guy. There was really no love triangle. Instead we got Davy being conflicted but committed to bigger issues. The world does not treat her well in this book. She is sympathetic but not someone to pity. In fact, she's pretty much fed up with the whole situation.

Caden, the new love interest, is a great guy. He's a leader of the resistance and hard not to like. His character develops slowly through his interaction with Davy and the other resistance leaders. There's a clear bad guy with his gang of thugs. There are rivalries. There is a lot of chest-pounding and sword rattling. The problem is that there is no real clear reason why. A lot of questions weren't answered with regard to why some of the characters had a problem with Davy. And the ultimate villain had such a poor reason for being a villain, making the plot somewhat disappointing.

That said, it still worked. The story was engaging. The characters were likable. And the ending worked. There have been other books where this sort of thing completely flopped - but somehow Jordan pulled it off. Everybody was happy in the end.

On audio this book is narrated by Rebecca Gibel. She embodies Davy beautifully. Her voices for the other characters were also well done.

Overall this is a good dystopian duology that is worth reading. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would highly recommend it.


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Red Queen

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Two things this book wins on without even trying: the cover and the main character's name, Mare Barrow. These promise great things and boy does this book deliver.

The premise here is set in a fantasy world of haves and have nots. The haves are Silvers, people with silver blood and super powers. They are the ruling, upper class. The have nots are Reds, those with red blood and no superpowers. They are the lower, working class, treated with disdain. Mare Barrow is a Red, a pickpocket who is anticipating following her brothers into the army as a conscript. One evening she runs into a guy who gets her a job as a servant at the palace. An accident happens during the selection of the next princess and Mare discovers she has powers of her own.

This sets up the story for a whole lot of intrigue, politics, cat-and-mouse and overall good vs. evil. There is a bit of a romance, but it is greatly overshadowed by rivalries and a secret rebellion. The plot is intricate but not really that complicated; if you read this stuff regularly you could see the plot twist coming a mile away. That said, the villains just got more and more wicked, making any triumph of the good guys all the more satisfying. The fight scenes with the Silvers using their powers was great. The ending was fantastic.

Mare as a character was someone I alternately liked and then didn't like. She wasn't clever. It is never good when the reader is smarter than the main character. She was used by the other characters like a pawn when she was smart enough to know better. I liked her best when she was fighting, because it was then that her intelligence won out.

Cal, the love interest, was Prince Charming. He's a good soldier, gets along with his dad the King and takes becoming the next King seriously. He was likable without truly becoming a cliche. But his younger brother Maven, Mare's betrothed, is much more dimensional. He's relatively easy to figure out and yet Aveyard is able to portray him as such a study in contrasts. Maven was the one keeping things interesting.

Probably the best part about this book is that the heroes are really good and the villains are really bad. There is a fair amount of ambiguity with The Scarlet Guard (what a cool name for a rebel group!), but things are pretty much black and white when it comes to morals and motives. It wasn't hard to choose a team here. Ordinarily this would make the plot predictable and boring. But, there are enough secrets here to keep things moving along. The plot twist at the very end was a nice setup for the next book in the series.

Amanda Dolan narrates this on audio and does a great job. She is able to bring life to the characters and distinguish them nicely. She made the book all the more enjoyable.

Overall this book didn't wow me like I thought it would. It fell a bit short with regard to predictability and the likability of the main character. But it is a fantastic story and well told. This series promises only to get better.
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Seed

Seed by Lisa Heathfield


This book is seriously disturbing.

Set in the UK, it is the story of Pearl, a member of a cult community. As expected, it is run by a madman. It dances just to the edge of religion, but pulls back into new age mysticism in its belief system. Members are deceived and controlled. And Pearl, an innocent young girl just starting to grow up, is asking questions and getting unsatisfactory answers.

It was a difficult book to read. At first it was difficult to keep so many characters straight. But as the story progressed, it became easier. The key players emerged and the plot became the story of whether Pearl can and/or wants to get away from the only community she's ever known. Villains are well-defined, but there are no real heroes here. There is a lot of tragedy, widespread blindness to reality and difficult decisions.

This isn't entertainment as such. But it is a good, fictional look at the way a cult can arise and entrance a community. Ultimately it is the story of the way that power corrupts. And unfortunately, this is an all-too-often occurrence in contemporary culture. I'm not sure how to rate it, so I am not giving it a star rating. It seems more suited to a story that is required reading in schools. Overall, I didn't enjoy it, but I do think it is an important book that addresses some important issues.
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Forever for a Year

Forever for a Year by B.T. Gottfred
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What a delightful, sad, thought provoking book. B. T. Gottfred has managed to take the tart (and sometimes bitter) taste of life and wrap it in the sweetness of something we all know well - our first year of high school.

At first, this book is just ridiculous. It is told via the stream of consciousness from a fourteen year old girl. Carrie has decided she will now be known as Carolina - pronounced car-o-leen-ah, because she is now grown up and no longer a baby in junior high school. We start with her first day, full of trepidation and insecurity. Trevor, a new boy, enters the classroom late so she gives him two sheets of paper and a pencil.

The book is told alternately from Carolina's and Trevor's points of view. It really is stream of consciousness; probably the funniest thing is when they catch themselves being ridiculous. Case in point - Carolina often says her life is ruined. Then she decides to stop being such a drama queen and stop referring to her life being ruined. It's almost like you're reading their diaries.

But the writing fools you. I wondered if I could continue with the story after just the second chapter. But Gottfred draws us in slowly, putting us right into the minds of these two characters. They begin a relationship that is naive and sweet, full of saccharine almost to the point of nausea. But it works, because while we're rolling our eyes we're understanding that this is the only way these two teenagers know how to communicate. Their feelings are heartfelt even though they relate them in such a juvenile way. The sappy dialogue is nicely balanced with their poignant inner musings.

And they do communicate well, which might be where the book strays somewhat into unrealistic territory. What two teenagers are that secure in themselves that they can be so honest? As their relationship gets more and more serious, they find solace in each other as their respective families slowly disintegrate. It's funny the way they think of the future and yet tragic when they have to face it. As I watched them encounter the real world, changing feelings, changing situations and people, I just couldn't turn away. My heart just broke for them, because life isn't the fairytale they believed it was. It was almost like watching them figure out that Santa isn't real.

Because of the dual perspectives, the characters are extremely well-developed. Carolina starts out as a quiet geek. But her true colors emerge as her relationship with Trevor grows; she's an extrovert who loves fun and friends. and Trevor, who is a moody, angsty, angry young man slowly lets go of his cynicism and allows himself to be happy with Carolina. The side characters are just enough to enhance the story without overwhelming it. They lend a sense of believability to the plot.

Ultimately the strength of this book is that kids just starting high school will be able to identify with it. The book illustrates beautifully what can happen when every hope and dream rests on a changing, growing person. Disappointment and heartache always follow. And yet, that's not the end of the world. We grow up and life goes on.

Also refreshing is that the adults in this book are seriously flawed but never really vilified. The book really does take a pretty realistic view of kids playing at being adults - and then finding out all is not what it seems.

I never expected that the flighty ramblings of a fourteen year old girl would move me. But it really did. By the end, I was totally invested in this story. This author took a gimmicky hook - telling the story via stream of consciousness - and turned it into something beautiful. What a pleasure it was.

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Simply Irresistible (Lucky Harbor #1)

Simply Irresistible by Jill Shalvis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book is like salted caramel. Sweet and sugary with just enough salt to offset and make it yummy.

Jill Shalvis does the typical Chick Lit thing here: she sets up characters in a "world" - in this case it's a town along the Washington coast - sets up the romance and goes from there. She follows the typical Chick Lit formula, but somehow managed to make it just a tiny bit different. This story was such fun.

Maddie, our main character, is the middle child in a family of three sisters. They all have the same mom but different dads, so they were all raised differently. When Mom dies, they converge on a run-down B&B that Mom left behind in order to fix it up and sell it.

The interaction between these three sisters is priceless. Dialogue is where Shalvis really shines in her writing and here it is witty and quick. Maddie's character begins to be revealed through these scenes, so we get a really good sense of who she is as an only child who avoids confrontation like the plague. She has just left a relationship with an abusive boyfriend, her biological clock is ticking and she's a bit neurotic. This makes her sympathetic rather than annoying; we see her slowly emerge from her emotional hiding place.

Jax, the love interest, is the typical hunk. But he is mostly described that way thru the observations of others around him. While there's a lot of "he's so fine" there is also a fair amount of interaction with his brothers and best friend. Again, enough salt to offset the sugar and make him believable. His backstory is revealed slowly but it isn't nearly as interesting as Maddie's. He is much more of a typical stock character while Maddie and her sisters are more dimensional. It isn't that Jax is boring - he's just what you'd expect in a chick lit novel.

The romance happens pretty much instantly, which might bother some. They've suddenly each met their soulmate, yada yada, whatever. The romance isn't the most interesting thing here. It's the character development that makes it good.

On audio the book is narrated by Celeste Cuilla. While she is an excellent narrator I didn't find her a good match for this story. Her voices for the women were great - but her voices for the men sounded a bit too feminine. As a voice actor she wasn't able to distinguish them as decidedly male. Because of this, I set aside the audio and read it as an ebook. Once I did that, it was a wonderful book.

I don't generally read Chick Lit; I instead opt for New Adult and all its angst. But in this case, the wit and banter between the characters made it just delightful. This is the first book in pretty long series so OK, Lucky Harbor, I'm hooked. What else have you got?

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In the After

In the After by Demitria Lunetta
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Sometimes combining sci-fi elements works, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it's just your average pairing. In this case, it's a little of everything.

We begin with Amy, an extremely competent 13-year old who gets orphaned when an alien invasion happens. Her parents were environmentalists and prepared for the worst, so Amy is in good shape when it comes to survival. She quickly learns how to evade both the creatures and other survivors. One day on a trip to scavenge for food, she finds a toddler walking in an aisle. Oddly, the baby is silent. Amy scoops her up and takes her home and they spend years surviving like sisters, speaking only with sign language and keeping each other out of harm's way. About halfway through the story a dystopian element is introduced. It's the typical supposed-to-be-utopia-but-is-up-to-no-good kind of place run by none other than Amy's mother. From there the story becomes all about Amy getting to the truth.

The strength of this book is it's world building. It was easy to see this post-apocalyptic world, Amy's home and then the compound on which she and Baby go to live. I even got a good sense of what the aliens looked like. The atmosphere was very present and even palpable at times. The tension and suspense grabbed me and held. The story never lost a good pace and although somewhat predictable as these sorts of stories go, it held my interest. Lunetta used flashbacks to tell the story and as the past began to meet the present it got better and better. This story was very well told.

As for characters, I have to say that Amy's mother was done extremely well. I hated that woman - she was extremely flawed, selfish, driven - and yet we never ceased to feel some minute degree of sympathy for her. She allows all sorts of bad things to happen to her daughter in the name of the greater good, let her husband die, allowed evil to flourish right under her nose. I would paint her as the villain, even though there was another clear villain.

Baby, while a necessary part of the plot, really never goes beyond being a happy-go-lucky 7 or 8 year old. Rice the boy genius assistant to Amy's mother is nice because although he is clearly the love interest, romance really doesn't play any part in the story. The police force headed by Kay is a good group, balancing out the cast nicely.

So all in all, a great read. On audio the book is narrated by Amanda Dolan. Her voices for the male characters sound a bit like she's making fun of her dad - but then not every female voice actor can do deeper-voiced male characters well. Her voice for Rice was entirely too old and far too similar to her voice for Dr. Reynolds. So as such, she's not an outstanding narrator. But she was good enough.

It will be interesting to see how the story concludes in the sequel. Lunetta is not afraid to go for the gritty, shocking bad stuff. Maybe the producers of The Walking Dead should have a look at this series for their next project.

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Confess

Confess by Colleen Hoover
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Colleen Hoover is an author that, when you hear she's written a new book - you know it will be good. Confess is no exception.

This time the story is all about Auburn and Owen, two characters who are trapped in their own inability to face confrontation. Owen is an artist, so he paints away his troubles. Auburn is an unhappy hairstylist who needs a second job to finance some legal troubles. She happens by his studio one day when he needs someone to handle clients at his show later that evening. Things go from there.

The hook here is that Owen asks for "confessions" - he has a little mail slot on the door of his studio and he encourages people to anonymously write their secrets and drop them in. He then takes those secret confessions and uses them as inspiration for his paintings. Everybody in this story has something to confess, some secret they're keeping, and the plot is just the slow reveal of those secrets.

The characters here are classic Hoover - poignant and sympathetic without being sappy or cliche. They handle situations in a realistic way that showcases both their strengths and weaknesses. They make dumb decisions, they talk themselves into doing the wrong thing for the right reason. The story starts with heartbreak and then eventually circles back to it but with a more hopeful perspective. This plot device is one of those that seldom works, but we're talking Colleen Hoover here. She always makes it work in a way that is refreshing and clever.

The story is told well but the pacing was a little off for me. There were long stretches of time between events in the characters' lives that didn't have much going on; it seems that the romance could have been a little better developed here. Doing that would also have offset the "insta-connection" - it wasn't really instalove as much as it was a spark that fed the whole forbidden love idea. It was still believable.

On audio the book is narrated from two points of view by Elizabeth Louise and Sebastian York. These two narrators are prolific. But that's their downfall for me; all the characters from all the books sound alike. In this case I was prepared to be disappointed. They turned out to be average, which may have colored my view of the book somewhat. There are just better narrators out there and this story would have benefited from them. While this one isn't terrible on audio, it is probably better read in print overall.

This isn't my favourite of Colleen Hoover's books - but that doesn't mean it isn't fabulous. I'll read anything this woman writes. I'm always waiting for her next story.

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Time's Edge (Chronos Files #2)

Time's Edge by Rysa Walker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Get ready to re-think time travel as we know it. The adventure continues with a few new characters and a few bits of history that make it interesting.

Kate is back again, having gotten much more comfortable with her time traveling ability. She's managed at this point to return to something akin to her own timeline - which is somewhat unfortunate since her boyfriend is from the one she left. Her grandmother Kathryn has her running all over the world (and history) to obtain the keys which enable travelers to jump from time to time. Kiernan is prominent in the story and all the characters we loved are back.

The character development in this book is substantial. Kate easily jumps with her Chronos key now and it's not just her who's familiar with the way her ability works. It seemed complicated in the first book, and it should have because Kate was new to the whole thing. Now as she understands the way she can travel, so can we. Jumping from timeline to timeline is far easier to understand. This being the case, Kate comes across as a much more grounded person and less the wide-eyed innocent who has no idea why people are out to get her. She's impulsive but in a way that's appropriate for her age. This quality really made her a lot more believable when coupled with how smart she is. She has no tolerance for racism, the demeaning of women or generally being treated without respect. On the other hand, this is normal behavior for a person her age in the world today who has no experience with these things other than in books. She's also conflicted in terms of the love triangle, but not in an annoying way. Love triangles are seldom done well, but this one succeeds. Kate really is pretty committed to one guy but is honest enough to admit that she has feelings for the other - and this hints at perfect relationship versus soulmate. It's tough to choose when you really like both guys.

Kate also has a good sense of humor, especially with Kiernan. We see a lot more of Kiernan in this book and while he is entirely likable, he's also not entirely trustworthy. This was a nice balance for him; Walker could have written him as a swoon-worthy love interest pining for the Kate he knew. Instead, this guy is self-assurred and essentially working undercover as a spy. His loyalties are constantly in question; is he lying to protect Kate and others? Or is he working for the Cyrists? Or is he in it completely for himself? It's never clear, making him completely charming and slightly dangerous at the same time.

The romance with Trey progressed slightly too fast for my taste. This is a guy with no idea who Kate is - she's just some girl who shows up with a video for him and kisses him and then takes off. The important person in the romance of course is Kate, but Trey seemed to fall for her pretty quickly and that smacked of instalove. The balance here is that this romance happened in the first book and that Trey isn't really a major character in this particular part of the story. In fact, Walker really plays on this idea of a past relationship in a different timeline; because both were genuine we have a Kate who is justifiably conflicted. It just works.

The other secondary characters were just deep enough. Connor continues to provide the comic relief, Pru gets more and more crazy, Simon is just as devious as before but we begin to understand why and Saul continues to be the mysterious figurehead. Kathryn shows her true colors. Kate's dad Harry is as wonderful as ever and her friend Charlaine makes an appearance. Eve also returns as a villain, but it's more of a cameo. Oddly this works because she's in cahoots with the bad guys and we don't need her to further define them.

The thing I love most about this series is that it is entirely believable. Rysa Walker set her time travel rules and stuck to them. This means we have characters from the 24th century acting the way they were described: committed to the rules and expecting protocol to be followed. They're good actors who are well-prepared and yet when faced with the reality of history, they have a bit of trouble adapting. They're not supposed to live there, they're just supposed to observe as historians. So when they freak out having to cope with real people from an historical time, it's believable, even entertaining.

The book ends on somewhat of a cliffhanger, just enough to leave us wanting the next book. This story could resolve in so many ways that it's entertaining just to imagine them. This of course means that everyone will have a different view of what should happen in the end and that could leave some readers unhappy. But it's a risk worth taking in this case. It's possible that every imaginable thing could happen. Walker hasn't taken the easy, predictable plot line up to this point, so it's probably safe to say that the ending will be spectacular.

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Time's Echo (Chronos Files #1.5)

Time's Echo by Rysa Walker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This novella made me fall in love with the character of Kiernan all over again. It's written from his perspective and follows some of the key events from Timebound, the first book in this series. Reading it a second time through raised all sorts of questions in my mind about how the series will end, which is the mark of a very good book. I want to know more!

Nick Podehl is absolutely amazing with his narration. The soft Irish accent of Kiernan combined with all the other character voices was just delightful. It wouldn't have sounded half as good with any other narrator.

The time travel in this particular book is still complex but not difficult to follow. The idea of running into one's self and having to reconcile different sets of memories is far clearer; it lends itself well to the idea that the bad guys really are insane.

I can't wait to move on to the next book in the series. The story is so unpredictable that I'm anxious to see what happens next - and that's saying something about a book. On to more Kate and Kiernan!

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Unchanged (Unremembered #3)

Unchanged by Jessica Brody
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Talk about a fantastic ending to a series. Brody has really given us an incredible, emotionally-laden conclusion that winds things up perfectly.

In this third and final book, Sera has changed dramatically. We knew this would happen at the end of the second book; it's no surprise that she's returned home and has somewhat reverted to the person she originally was. The world has been established with only a few missing details, one being the ultimate goal of the evil corporation. There are a few new characters and relationships, but it's the story that really changes more than the players.

Aaaannnnd . . . enter the complicated love triangle. This one was relatively well done because the protagonist is so sympathetic. We feel her pain and are as conflicted as she is.

Sera was a frustrating character in this book. But understandably so; the story is set up so that we're supposed to be frustrated with her. She doesn't behave out of character but rather as expected within the confines of her situation. It's the situation and the way it resolves that is the thing that made me crazy. Sera is smart, conflicted, wary, driven. She's logical. She evolves naturally through to the end; things never felt forced or contradictory in terms of the way she handled a situation. Her choices may not always have been good, but they were certainy understandable.

Zen is absent for the first two-thirds of the book. And when he makes his entrance, boy is he changed! Brody was expert at keeping the tension very taut here. She danced the tightrope of heartbreak while never allowing us to lose our hope in the romance. To do this while placing Zen in the center of the action was really well done. That's good writing.

Kaelen is the real change here. He is a completely different character than in the second book, almost but not quite to the edge of believability. Brody maintains some thread of a connection to the character we initially met through his devotion to the cause. The distinction between he and Sera is well-established. And their romance is again, just at the edge of believability. Brody plays with the nature vs. nurture idea here very well.

Even the bad guy shows another facet, making him much more complicated. Alixter is still a horrible character but at least we understand some semblance of why. Not that it matters, really. He's bad enough for us to still not forgive him.

In some ways the plot was underdeveloped in spots; the ending, while not forced, could be seen as rushed. But those elements that Brody gave a lighter hand could easily be addressed in a novella. There were no real lags in the action and things moved along at a good pace. The ending was nothing short of spectacular.

On audio, the book was narrated by Julia Whelan. She's an excellent, talented narrator. For me, this was made even better by increasing the narration speed to twice as fast. The dialogue and characters were oddly enhanced by doing this. It didn't sound unnatural at all.

This is a great series. It deserves any and all hype it receives because of it's diversity within a basic plot line. There's a lot to enjoy here. I loved it.

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Unforgotten (Unremembered #2)

Unforgotten by Jessica Brody
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Well, I'm glad we got that whole amnesia thing out of the way.

This second book in the Unremembered series starts off with a bang. We're in 1609 with Sera accused as a witch and being burned at the stake - and this after some disturbing dreams. The dreams thread through the book and become the basic line to follow in terms of the plot. This is nice because while they are at first undecipherable, they're a hint. And when they unfold into scenes that actually happen, the device works beautifully.

Sera is a much different main character in this story. She is no longer desperately trying to find out who she is; her identity was established in the first book. Now we have a focus on her relationship with Zen. That said, this installment really does center in on Sera. When Zen gets sick she goes in search of a cure, leading her to the next really interesting character, Kaelen.

I found Kaelen to be at first mysterious. He was like some kind of hit man sent to retrieve Sera. As things went along, however, he got more and more entertaining and flat out funny. The contrast between he and Sera and her observations of him were highly entertaining. That said, I thought that Kaelen gave Sera way too much leeway for a guy "programmed" to bring her back home. He seemed like a cross between a child and an assassin. It made for some interesting action.

Cody was the real surprise here. His basic personality hasn't changed at all but he's now a grownup. And like in the first book, he is highly likable. The whole geeky/smart thing really works for his character. And the bad guys are still the bad guys. Things are ambiguous enough to keep us interested; there's a lot of "why" to their villainry.

The plot does slow down in spots. There are scenes with Cody and his family when Sera is supposed to be diligently searching for answers under a time limit. These were filled with mindless sorts of activities; why is she having dinner and playing video games when Zen' condition is so desperate? While the whole Cody's family thing was necessary on some level, it did seem a bit of a plot device. The action near the end is great, especially since more secrets are revealed and terrible choices have to be made.

On audio the book is narrated by Julia Whelan. She's very good, although I don't care for her lower, "man's" voice. She does distinguish the male voices exceptionally well, though. I ended up speeding the audio to twice the normal speed and surprisingly it worked! Whelan's speaking voice was fast, but that lent itself to the characters and story extremely well, especially when Sera is being sarcastic.

Overall this second book narrowly avoided middle-book-syndrome. There is enough going on to draw us in, but there were elements that seemed to be just filler. This didn't overwhelm the story, though, making this a very enjoyable read. It works because it turns the focus of the story a different direction in terms of finding the answers to Sera. Brody has another winner here and the story holds the promise for a great ending.

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Flat-Out Matt (Flat Out #1.5)

Flat-Out Matt by Jessica Park
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This short novella is wonderful; it rounds out the story told in Flat Out Love but is told from Matt's perspective.

The baseline story here is so well done. It's all about grief and relationships and while the main story is laid out in Flat Out Love, here we get Matt's view of things. The different slant just adds to what is already a delightful story with depth. It also goes a bit further into somewhat of an epilogue. Matt is already a very likable character. But here, he crosses the line into sweet, caring and witty. We see the depth of his care for Julie.

It's brief but it hits all the high points of the main story, filling it out wonderfully. I loved Flat Out Love - and I think I loved this even more.

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Invaded

Invaded by Melissa Landers
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This series is just so clever. A foreign exchange student program between planets? Sign me up!

This sequel to Alienated is even better. This time, Cara is living on L'eihr and Aleyx is on earth. They are honoring an agreement put forth by The Elders of L'eihr brought on by the circumstances of the last book and neither one likes it much.

Cara is struggling to fit into a new society, a new school and a new climate. Apparently someone is also trying to frame her for theft, punishable by death. She doesn't speak the language (much) and she's trying to keep up with people who are physically, academically and technologically advanced. Add to this the fact that she is essentially the Earth ambassador and her stress level increases exponentially. The way she handles all this stress is somewhat fictional, but there's a sense of her frustration there. She adopts an "I will conquer this!" attitude rather than wallowing in self-pity. She usually won't even let herself cry.

Aleyx is such a great character. He is balanced and calm in every situation. Even when his life is threatened repeatedly, he finds time to joke and laugh with his roommate and friends. Watching him try to analyze the female psyche is pretty entertaining. He wants so desperately to get it right and is completely unfamiliar with getting anything wrong in general, let alone the complex workings of the mind of an Earth girl.

There are some delightful side characters here. The side romances are as entertaining as the primary one. The bad guys are mysterious. It's not difficult to discern what's happening, but it doesn't read as predictable. Landers has done an excellent job of providing ups and downs in the plot, keeping the suspense going without seeming anti-climactic.

There's really not much to dislike here. For a YA romance that's inventive and new, it's a great departure from the standard contemporary romance. The audio is narrated by Madeline Lambert, who does a fabulous job. Her voice for Aelyx is especially good. She captures his character perfectly.

Melissa Landers states on her website that this series is only contracted for two books and a novella. The ending of this book is emotionally satisfying, leaving no real need for another book. But Landers was smart to leave room for another book there is interest from the publisher. As good as this series is, I would anticipate yet another winner. This is fun YA sci-fi done really, really well.

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Branded

Branded by Abi Ketner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

You'd better be good or rich in this world, or you're headed for big trouble.

This is the story of Lexie, unjustly accused and sentenced to life in prison. In this dystopian society, all the laws are based on the seven deadly sins. Offenders of these sins are branded with a tattoo around their necks and sent to a place called The Hole. The Hole is essentially a town that functions as a prison - everyone has a job and there are guards. But crime is rampant. Lexie is sent to The Hole for the sin of lust. There she meets a resentful guard who is highly annoyed that he has to keep her safe for 48 hours, basically suicide watch. He acquaints her with her new, dreary, hopeless life and things go from there.

Lexie was a character I liked for the most part. She's been controlled and abused for most of her life, so she doesn't put up much fuss when she's shipped off to The Hole. She does have a mind of her own and she takes some chances, but they aren't much. The real change comes when she starts deciding to do things for herself and stops letting the men in her life control her. It was a refreshing change to see a character who'd been so downtrodden, especially a young woman, start to stand up for herself.

My one problem with Lexie is that she was always nauseous. Every time she got nervous we heard about how she felt like throwing up. Really, Lexie? She was always either vomiting or feeling like she wanted to vomit. It seems like there should have been more ways for this girl to feel when she was scared or upset. However, points to the authors for making a comical note of this in the story - at one point during a conversation she is told "yeah, you do tend to throw up a lot." I thought it was just me, but no - even characters in the book noticed.

I liked the secondary characters, especially Zeus the big dog. The bad guys were really, really bad. Lexie went through some things and there were times when I kept waiting for the authors to get her out of a horrendous situation - and they didn't. They weren't afraid to take the risk to really go there when it came to violence and torture. It isn't overt, but it is realistic and even appropriate in context.

This was no case of instalove. The romantic interest didn't even like her at the outset. He was distant and even kind of a jerk, proclaiming all too often that he was risking his life for her every day. She didn't treat him well either - and yet the case was made for Lexie distancing herself for him in order to get free of everyone who tried to control her. I liked this guy a lot, but I felt myself saying "you go girl!" when she pulled away so he wouldn't be yet another guy in her life who controlled her in the name of protecting her.

That said, she did treat him rather badly. I guess when you act like a jerk you get treated like one. Fair is fair.

One other problem for me was the way Lexie's family was portrayed. I didn't like them at all, even though she admired them. Her activist father was killed for his efforts to change the system; while Lexie and her brother thought he was amazing, I found him to be a workaholic guy who neglected his family in order to serve the greater good. Lexie's mother was a terrible person with questionable motives. Her brother was a bully. These people in Lexie's life that she held so dearly really hurt her and kept hurting her. She forgave quickly and while that's a great thing to do, she ignored their history and the consequences of their actions. It was somewhat contradictory to her her character; for all her breaking free of those who controlled her, she let those closest to her hurt her.

Kate Rudd narrates and is dependable fabulous. She is able to really enhance a story and make it come alive. She made it a pleasure.

This is a good dystopian that leaves room for more action in the next book. It will be interesting to see how Lexie fares and if she can grow as an independent woman. She is certainly off to a good start.

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Timebound

Timebound by Rysa Walker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time travel. Complicated. Historical. Try and keep up, ok?

This is the story of Kate, unassuming granddaughter of a woman from the 24th century. She's a regular girl shuffling between her divorced parents, starting school yet again, focused on logical things that make sense and relatively happy with her life. When her grandmother steps back into her life despite a rocky relationship with Kate's mother, things start to get interesting. Turns out Kate has the time-traveling gene, making her the only candidate able to stop a murder at the 1893 World's Fair.

And somebody is messing with time, changing events on a large scale, disrupting Kate's life and family altogether. Fortunately she still has her grandmother and she meets a boy. Enter instalove. It's easy to forgive in this case because the boy is pretty great. These characters are all engaging, with depth and substance. Kate is quick on her feet but not overly confident and sufficiently upset over the timeline change. The secondary characters are all likable, especially Kate's dad Harry. There's even a dog.

Add to that the historical element of the 1893 World's Fair and this turns into one seriously complex story.

This plot is not overly difficult to follow but you do have to pay attention. The trouble is the time travel. Usually it's difficult to pull off because of the constant paradoxes creating plot holes. In this case, the rule is that you can pretty much jump anywhere - but meeting yourself creates two sets of memories which can be difficult to reconcile. There are rules set by the Chronos organization that dictate some basic things, like not changing major things that can create big ripples and generally staying out of the way, limiting their interaction to just observation. There is the mention of some scientist theorizing that there are multiple timelines branching off every time a decision is made - the multiverse idea that explains a lot.

Here's an example of the way this book is complicated: Kate intially has a dream-like encounter with a guy she doesn't know. Then she meets a stranger on a train who knows her. His name is Kiernan - she's 16 and he's a bit older than her, probably around 20-25. Then later, when Kate travels to 1893, she meets an 8 year old boy who turns out to be Kiernan. She meets him yet again as the somewhat-older-than-her guy. He knows her but from a different timeline. And while this is happening, we have the major temporal events happening that are causing changes in the timeline such that Kate's whole world shifts. In one timeline she doesn't even exist.

My problem with this kind of time travel is the inconsistency in the changes. Apparently only really big things change the timeline. But what about the small things? There is really no butterfly effect in this story in as much that small changes don't affect the general outcome. In addition, any changes that happen can be fixed by just traveling back again and undoing what was done. We follow one linear timeline because the time travelers follow one linear timeline. But why is that when multiple timelines happen? The only thing I can figure is that the travelers can jump from one timeline to the next and back again. The trick is to figure out what the big change was that happened to alter the original timeline.

And all this is ok as long as the author sticks her established rules. This gets very, very tricky when the characters can jump the timeline, make a mistake, then jump to 5 minutes before they made the mistake and tell themselves not to make the mistake. But - it's pretty cool when the characters are together and Kate has to jump to a later time, she jumps, meets the people she was with, then jumps back to 5 minutes later than when she left. There are little details that creates loops that tend to bug me; loops make you wonder where everything began.

If you can get past the headache of all this time traveling, the book is really enjoyable. It's a great story about a girl who doesn't like change but adapts out of necessity - and then has to adapt on a grand scale. Each character is quirky and well-defined. Sacrifices have to be made for the greater good. And then there's the overall problem of the bad guys changing things, which isn't clear other than the fact that they're doing it and nobody knows why. Ultimately Kate has to get to the bottom of that. This first book does a lot of world building and establishing the situation and characters. It's a good setup for the future books in the series.

And that ending. What a wonderful, romantic twist.

Kate Rudd narrates this on audio and she is fantastic. She was able to enhance the story and make the characters highly likable. I especially enjoyed Connor, who always talked with food in his mouth. He was the comic relief.

Obviously this isn't your basic little time travel romance. There are a lot of characters and a lot of time traveling. But overall it's a great read; I decided to suspend my questions about the way the time travel worked and just go with it. If you can do that, you get a great story.

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