Review: Assassin's Heart by Sarah Ahiers

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Series: Assassin's Heart #1
Pages: 420
Copyright: 2016 
Publisher: HarperTeen
Buy: Amazon

Summary: from Good Reads

In the kingdom of Lovero, nine rival Families of assassins lawfully kill people for a price. As a highly skilled member of one of these powerful clans, seventeen-year-old Lea Saldana has always trusted in the strength of her Family. Until she awakens to find them murdered and her home in flames. The Da Vias, the Saldanas’ biggest enemy, must be responsible—and Lea should have seen it coming. But her secret relationship with the Da Vias’ son, Val, has clouded her otherwise killer instinct—and given the Da Vias more reason than ever to take her Family down.

Racked with guilt and shattered over Val’s probable betrayal, Lea sets out to even the score, with her heart set on retaliation and only one thought clear in her mind: make the Da Vias pay.

Feelings: 
Assassin's Heart by Sarah Ahiers created a world where angry ghosts rule at night except where those faithful to the God Safraella, the goddess of death, murder, and resurrection. Lea Saldana is the first person narrator, and while I liked her character I felt like the story was a little predictable. There was a lot of obvious foreshadowing that took away from any surprise.

Once Lea gets to Yvain and meets Alessio, Les, the story got a little more interesting for me. However, it still remained predictable. Les was probably my favorite character. He was the reason Lea grew throughout the story.

This novel was just alright. I enjoyed parts of it, but I didn't feel like it was anything special.

Review: Black Bird Volume 11 by Kanoko Sakurakouji

Genre: Shoujo
Series: Volume11
Pages: 200
Copyright: 2011
Publisher: VIZ Media LLC
Buy:  Amazon

Summary: from Good Reads
Sho has miraculously returned to the tengu village, and while he seems content to live quietly on the outskirts, Kyo has learned the hard way not to trust his brother. To make matters worse, the villagers are resentful that Kyo won't share the restorative power of the Senka Maiden with them. But most demons don't possess Kyo's willpower, and one taste of Misao's blood would send them into a frenzy. Is it possible for Kyo be a good leader and a good husband?

Feelings:
The conflict between Kyo and Sho is back in the story. This time though Sho is more powerful. He, also, seems to be less human and to care less about others. 

Misao worries about what will happen to her and Kyo's relationship as she begins to pity Sho. 

I am not sure how I felt about this volume. I am not as enamored with the series as I used to be. However, I feel invested and I'm going to see it through to the end.

Review: Black Bird Volume 10 by Kanoko Sakurakouji

Genre: Shoujo
Series: Volume10
Pages: 200
Copyright: 2011
Publisher: VIZ Media LLC
Buy:  Amazon

Summary: from Good Reads
The past returns to haunt Kyo and Misao when Kyo’ s long-lost father suddenly reappears. But the reunion is less than happy, for Lord Yo is suspected of murdering his wife! Misao learns the real story of the deadly incident, but it is hardly comforting. Should she tell Kyo about his mother's fate, or should she protect him from a truth he might not want to know?

Feelings:
Kyo has parents. For a long time he seemed parent-less. Misao gets to know Kyo's father, even though, Kyo doesn't want her to. Kyo's parents introduction brought a new conflict to the story, but it also brought us back to the conflict between siblings.

This volume wasn't as interesting to me. I'm a little more than half way through the series now, and I need to decide if I want to put the time in to finish it, or if I have read as much as I want. I think I'm going to give it another volume, and see what I think after that. 

Review: Daughter of the Ganges by Asha Miro

Genre: Memoir
Series: No
Pages: 274
Copyright: 2007
Publisher: Atria Books
Buy: Amazon

Summary: from Good Reads
Growing up in an Indian orphanage, Asha Miró dreamed that someday she would be adopted. At the age of six, her wish finally came true, but only at the misfortune of another. A Catalan family was in the process of adopting twins when one of the children suddenly fell ill and died -- a twist of fate that led the family to adopt Asha instead. Leaving a life of poverty behind, Asha was given a second chance.

Twenty-one years later, Asha takes a heart-wrenching trip back to India to uncover her native roots. Full of unexpected encounters, this adventure informs and touches Asha beyond her expectations. She visits her old orphanage, speaks with her former caretakers, explores the land that she might not have ever left, and comes to form a more solid identity. Yet one trip is not enough. Eight years later she returns, this time visiting the small rural village where she was born. While uncovering the details behind her adoption, Asha discovers the only living member of her immediate Indian family: a sister she never knew she had.

Feelings: 
This felt a lot like a journal to me. When I got to the end, I found out that it was take from a journal. The writing was very easy to read and didn't have the complexity of story that many memoirs have. I would have enjoyed this more if it had been written with more imagery. I felt like I was told everything and I didn't see the scenery of the story except on rare occasions. There were parts that were very detailed but for the most part it was simply written and didn't do a good job giving a feel for the places the author wrote about.

This book contains two shorter essays put together. The second added closure to the story that the first didn't have. It also showed how easy it is to get the story wrong when there are not good records. 

Margaret says that my father, Radhu Ghoderao, loved me a lot, so much so that he came to Mumbai to see me before I was adopted by my parents in Barcelona, but I did not recognize him. "Who is this man?" Mother Adelina asked me. "The Postman!" I apparently answered. p. 150

Asha does not find out about this on her first visit when she ask Mother Adelina about her past.

I find it difficult to understand how Mother Adelina managed to conceal such an incredible anecdote. I can't deny the anger that I feel. A father--my father--who traveled all the way to the city to see his daughter for the last time before she set off for a distant country to be adopted by a family, is an image from my story that is completely unknown to me and has a huge impact. p.151

She struggles with the fact that she wasn't given all the facts and that others kept what they knew from her. I'm glad that in the end she is able to meet her sister and they are able to talk about the past and it answers many of Asha's questions. However, the story didn't have the emotion that I was looking for.

This was written for families adopting a child from a foreign country or children who were adopted into a different country and are wanting to know what it was like for someone else. I recommend this to those readers. However, if you are looking for a good memoir this would not be one I would recommend.

 

Review: Black Bird Volume 7 by Kanoko Sakurakouji

Genre: Shoujo 
Series: Volume 7 
Pages: 200 
Copyright: 2011 
Publisher: VIZ Media LLC 
Buy: Amazon

Summary: from Good Reads
There is a world of myth and magic that intersects ours, and only a special few can see it. Misao Harada is one such person, and she wants nothing to do with magical realms. She just wants to have a normal high school life and maybe get a boyfriend. But she is the bride of demon prophecy, and her blood grants incredible powers, her flesh immortality. Now the demon realm is fighting over the right to her hand...or her life!

Misao knows her relationship with Kyo is dangerous, but she's used to being the one in peril! Will she be able to stand it when the tables are turned and Kyo is threatened? As leader of the tengu clan and boyfriend of the Senka Maiden, Kyo gets a lot of attention in the demon world, and very little of it is good. From the wrath of a reincarnated dragon to the hatred of a demon hunter, Misao must face the fact that she isn't the only one at risk in the relationship. But how can she just stand by while Kyo is threatened?!

Feelings: 
Kyo and Misao are struggling with their relationship. I enjoy the fantasy side of this manga, but the relationship between Kyo and Misao is beginning to seem a little childish to me. Kyo doesn't seem like he is that nice, he punishes Misao for what seem like inconsequential things to me.

It doesn't look like things are going to change, Raikoh's appearance in the story may end up causing Kyo and Misao to become a little more adult in their relationship. That's my hope anyway.

I'm going to keep reading the series to see what happens. I'm invested now.

Review: Bobcat and Other Stories by Rebecca Lee

Genre: Short Stories
Series: No
Pages: 212
Copyright: 2013
Publisher: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
Buy: Amazon

Summary: from Amazon
Rebecca Lee, one of our most gifted and original short story writers, guides readers into a range of landscapes, both foreign and domestic, crafting stories as rich as novels. A student plagiarizes a paper and holds fast to her alibi until she finds herself complicit in the resurrection of one professor's shadowy past. A dinner party becomes the occasion for the dissolution of more than one marriage. A woman is hired to find a wife for the one true soulmate she's ever found. In all, Rebecca Lee traverses the terrain of infidelity, obligation, sacrifice, jealousy, and yet finally, optimism. Showing people at their most vulnerable, Lee creates characters so wonderfully flawed, so driven by their desire, so compelled to make sense of their human condition, that it's impossible not to feel for them when their fragile belief in romantic love, domestic bliss, or academic seclusion fails to provide them with the sort of force field they'd expected.

Feelings: 
Let me start by saying while this book is highly recommended, had my doubts from the start. Bobcats don't have tails and this one does. The back cover made me dislike the author and designer a little for not knowing more about bobcats and placing this image with a tail on the cover. I know this is just a fictional cat and not a real one, but it still bothered me. This led me to dislike the book a little from the start. I'm not sure why the stories were in the order they were in, but I felt like the weakest stories were at the beginning of this collection. I liked Min best of all the stories in the collection. All the stories had some connection to a university setting which was interesting. These were not the type of story I would generally enjoy reading. They show the darker side of life, and I prefer to focus on the happy parts.

Bobcat:
The first story in the collection is about a dinner party in which marriage is questioned and not everything is how it seems. Yes, there is a bobcat in the story, but it seems to be more metaphorical than real. The story was well written, but I didn't really feel that I wanted to spend time with the characters in the story nor was there a redeeming character whom made me like the story. The story did have a twist at the end I wasn't expecting. This was another of those life sucks stories.

The Banks of The Vistula:
A student wants to be noticed and different so she plagiarizes a paper. This story was a bit more interesting than the first story in the collection. I still felt that the story was a little bit flat, and I wasn't really connected to any of the characters. Life will disappoint you, was the feeling I got from it.

Slatland:
A young girl struggles with depression and goes to see a professor who specializes in child psychology. As a adult she sees the professor again and wonders about the technique he used for helping see the bigger perspective. The story was a bit odd, but I enjoyed it. I would not have wanted to spend anymore time with the characters than the short story length, but I found it interesting.

Min:
I think this might have been my favorite story in the collection. A young man invites his best friend Sarah back to Hong Kong after they graduate from college. She is given the job of reviewing applications for his future wife. The story also looks at immigrants and the politics of housing refugees from Vietnam. Following Sarah through her time in Hong Kong and her struggle with finding a woman she feels will be right for Min was engaging.

World Party:
A professor on a discipline committee at the University examines another professor, Stuart Applebaum's involvement as the leader of a protest group on campus. The story has a bit of a nostalgic review of past events, because of little facts that come from the future. It added an interesting quality to the story.

Fialta:
An architect student takes a spot as an apprentice at Fialta, and is attracted to one of the other apprentices. However, there is a rule of no dating and this becomes the central conflict of the story. The story was a bit long and slow at times but it held my interest.

Settlers:  
The last story takes a look at friendship and relationships over time and the way we imagine things that aren't always what they seem to be. The ending of the story had a finality that felt right for concluding the collection of stories. This wasn't my favorite in the collection but it was an interesting story in that the University setting was the least obvious.

Review: The House of the Four Winds by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory

Genre: Adventure Fantasy 
Series: Book One of One Dozen Daughters  
Pages: 300 
Copyright: 2014  
Publisher: A Tor Book 
Buy: Amazon

Summary: from Good Reads
The tiny nation of Swansgaard is a lovely place with abundant natural resources, including the royal family, which has been blessed with twelve daughters and a son. As this boisterous baker's dozen approaches adulthood, the king and queen lovingly tell their daughters, "You must make your own fortune, for we cannot enrich you without impoverishing our people or leaving our lands defenseless, and that we will not do."

Happily, the princesses of Swansgaard are eager to meet this challenge, for they yearn for adventures both near and far from home.

Clarice, an expert swordswoman, is the first to depart. Disguising herself as Clarence, she signs on for a voyage to the New World. The captain is vile and blackhearted, and the crew soon mutinies. Clarice becomes first mate - and finds her heart captured by the new captain, Dominick, who is, to his own surprise, increasingly attracted to Clarence.

Now outlaws, Dominick and his crew turn to piracy - though their hearts are not entirely in it. They soon run afoul of the Pirate Council, who orders them to retrieve the Heart of Light. All who have searched for this great treasure have vanished, with neither ships nor crews ever seen again and no sign of their fates ever discovered.

But none before have carried with them the sorceress Shamal, who stakes a claim of her own on Dominick's heart.

Feelings:
This book says it is Book One of One Dozen Daughters, however, I see no indication that there will be more books to come.

I'm going to admit to doing something when I go to the library to pick books that adds some randomness to what I read. When I don't have a lot of time to look at books or I can't find the book I was looking for, I will pick up the first book I see with a fantasy sticker on the spine. This was such a book. Looking at the cover, I knew it was not going to be the best book I've ever read. Sometimes though reading a book with mediocre writing is alright if the story is interesting. That being said I enjoyed the story, but at times the dialogue felt fake.

Clarice is an interesting character and I enjoyed reading from her point of view. The story starts with her leaving home, and then we skip six months of her adventures to when she decides to book passage on a ship to the New World. She is told that three ships will be leaving soon, and the first two ships she tries to book passage on she finds do not have any room for a passenger. The third ship is not highly recommended but as the only option she books passage on it. While she doesn't like the captain of the ship, she find Dominick, the navigator, enjoyable company and decides if he is sailing on the ship it can't be too bad.

Once out to sea things do not look good though, and Clarice wonders at her choice. This is when the book dragged a bit for me. It wasn't until the second half when they get to the pirate haven that it started to pick up for me, and I started to enjoy it more.

Every once in a while a pirate book can be great fun, and this was that for me. The writing wasn't great, but I did enjoy reading it.